False alarm on WarnMe

The campus’s WarnMe system delivered a false alarm to about 65,000 staff members and students at about 6:30 p.m. Aug. 20.

The message told of a utility failure that brought down the Los Rios Community College District website. In fact, the message was intended for staff and students of the Los Rios district.

UC Davis and the Los Rios district use the same emergency alert provider, Tennessee-based W.A.R.N. LLC (Wide Area Rapid Notification), which, in distributing the Los Rios message, inadvertently included the UC Davis messaging list.

“The messages were sent out so quickly, the notification was completed before there was any indication that UC Davis groups were receiving alerts.” said Valerie Lucus-McEwen, director of Emergency and Continuity Management for UC Davis.

“W.A.R.N. has taken steps to guard against similar miscommunication," she said. “Both W.A.R.N. and Los Rios expressed regret that the message was misdirected to our campus.”

UC Davis’ WarnMe system sends emergency messages to e-mail accounts, phones and similar devices that are listed in the campus directory.

In addition, if you choose, you can have WarnMe messages delivered to your personal e-mail accounts, cell phones and other devices. To register your accounts and other numbers (or to update them), log on to the WarnMe website (using your Kerberos password or passphrase), and click on “Edit my WarnMe information now!”

Chilled-water shutdown

Campus utility crews are planning a major shutdown of the chilled-water system today and tomorrow (Aug. 27 and 28), affecting 26 buildings — their cooling systems and any other equipment that uses chilled water.

Utility officials had earlier announced a chilled-water shutdown for last weekend (Aug. 20-22), affecting 16 buildings. But that shutdown did not happen.

Instead, officials decided to combine a couple of projects into one — and plan for one big shutdown from 3 p.m. Aug. 27 to 3:30 p.m. Aug. 28.

The shutdown is meant to accommodate the following:

• A major pipeline construction project between Shields Library and the new Physical Sciences Building along the arboretum waterway.

• A tie-in for the new Student Community Center that is being built kitty-corner from the Outdoor Adventures building (next to the Silo).

• Valve repairs.

The Aug. 27-28 shutdown will affect these buildings:

AOB4 (School of Education), Art, Art Annex, Chemistry, Chemistry Annex, Dutton, Enology, Everson, Freeborn, Hart, Kerr, King, Memorial Union, Mrak, Music, North, Olson, Physical Sciences Library, Physics, Roessler, Shields Library, South, Sproul, Wellman, Wickson and Wright.

Wall calendars delayed

UC Davis’ 2010-11 wall calendars are not back from the printer yet. They were supposed to be available today (Aug. 27) in campus bookstores. The calendars are now expected no sooner than the middle of next week.

For the folded format, you can simply visit any bookstore on the Davis and Sacramento campuses, and buy however many you need, on a first-come, first-served basis, while supplies last. The flat format (rolled for easier transport) will be available at only two locations: the main store on the Davis campus and the health system branch in Sacramento.

Free delivery is available in the folded format only, with orders being taken by e-mail, fax or via the bookstore’s online supply catalog (if you do not already have a user account, you will be prompted to register your department).

The cost is 80 cents apiece, or, for departments, 72 cents (taking into account the customary 10 percent discount for departments).

To order folded copies for delivery, send an e-mail with the following information to Kelly Holt, kgholt@ucdavis.edu:

• Department

• Contact name

• Phone number

• Delivery location (building and room)

• Quantity

• UC Davis Financial Information System (DaFIS) account or billing identification

You can fax a departmental purchase order, with the same information, to (530) 754-7819.

Questions? Contact Holt by e-mail: kgholt@ucdavis.edu.

Sympa transition nearly done

Information and Educational Technology announced Aug. 18 that it had mostly completed the transition of campus e-mail lists to Sympa software, except for a few special cases.

A spokesman said IET staff finished the work on Aug. 17, a day ahead of schedule, successfully moving more than 10,000 lists and archives. The IET staff started the transition in July, moving 800 to 1,500 lists per week.

A spokesman said nearly all of the migrations were routine, and list owners received confirmation messages soon after their lists and archives were moved.

Anyone with questions about the migration or the e-mail list service should contact the IT Express Computing Services Help Desk at (530) 754-HELP (754-4357).

Sympa replaces Listproc, which had grown outdated and no longer met campus security standards. IET began the replacement project last year; all new lists have been created with Sympa since June 22.

IET announced that it will continue to provide access to the Listproc-based service for a few more months, then retire it permanently on Dec. 14.

Campus e-mail list service.