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Briefs: Motorcyclists collide, suffer major injuries

Two Bay Area men suffered major injuries after their motorcycles collided in Woodside Sunday afternoon, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The crash occurred at about 1:10 p.m. on state Highway 84 east of Old La Honda Road, about halfway between Skyline Boulevard and the town of La Honda, according to the CHP.

A white 2009 Ducati motorcycle driven by a 23-year-old Alameda man was traveling west on Highway 84 when, for unknown reasons, it crossed into the eastbound lane as he was approaching a 1973 green Norton motorcycle ridden by a 54-year-old San Francisco man, the CHP said.

The motorcycles collided, causing both men to be ejected from their vehicles, according to the CHP.

The Alameda man suffered head trauma and was knocked unconscious, while the San Francisco man suffered a broken right leg, according to the CHP. Both men were taken to Stanford Hospital.

Great ShakeOut earthquake drill

If you see someone drop to the floor at 10:15 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 15, don't be alarmed. It's just an earthquake drill.

In time for the 20th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake, a statewide preparedness drill called the Great California ShakeOut is being held. People are encouraged to "drop, cover and hold on" at 10:15 a.m. as if it was a real earthquake.

The towns of Portola Valley and Woodside, the Woodside Fire Protection District and CERPP, the Citizen Emergency Response and Preparedness Program, are participating in the event by activating the CERPP radio network for check-ins with the Town Emergency Operations Centers.

For more information about the Great California ShakeOut, go to www.shakeout.org.

Atherton holds workshop on sudden oak death

The virulent pathogen that strikes down oak trees is the topic of a workshop to be held from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Oct. 17, at the carriage house at Holbrook-Palmer Park, 150 Watkins Ave in Atherton.

The featured speaker is Matteo Garbelotto, the University of California, Berkeley researcher who has done extensive work on sudden oak death. He will discuss the latest in prevention, detection, research and treatment.

To attend the workshop, make reservations by calling Atherton town arborist Kathy Hughes Anderson at 752-0526 or via e-mail to kanderson@ci.atherton.ca.us.

Stanford professor on sleep disorders

For many Americans, sleeping is a disorderly affair, says Dr. William C. Dement, a professor at Stanford University's School of Medicine. Bad things can happen, he says, when sleep is elusive, including chronic exhaustion and death by traffic accident.

Dr. Dement, who founded the sleep research laboratory at Stanford in 1970 and who has been called the Father of Sleep Medicine, teaches a popular undergraduate class on sleep and dreams.

At a Cafe Scientifique event set for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13, at SRI, Dr. Dement will speak about sleep disorders, what sleep is, its relation to your biological clock, and what can happen when you don't get enough of it. Doors open at 5:15 p.m.

The public is invited to this free event. Use the SRI entrance at Middlefield Road and Ringwood Avenue in Menlo Park. The event includes a drawing for a $30 gift certificate from Kepler's Books.

Cafe Scientifique, sponsored by the pharmaceutical firm ROXRO PHARMA and SRI, is a monthly meeting where the public can explore and debate scientific and technological issues in a non-academic setting. For more information, go to www.cafescisv.org.

Hewlett Foundation names new officer

Helena Choi, an expert in health policy issues in the developing world, will join the population program of the Menlo Park-based William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, a foundation spokesman announced Sept. 23.

As a program officer for the foundation, Ms. Choi will focus mainly on grantmaking for research that explores the relationships among population dynamics, reproductive health, and economic growth, and that helps sub-Saharan Africans overcome problems of access to timely, accurate information on population science.

For the past five years, she has served as a project program officer with Public Health Watch, a project of the Open Society Institute in New York City.

March marks HIV awareness

An HIV Awareness March will begin at 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16, in East Palo Alto. Participants will march from Jones Mortuary at 660 Donohoe St. to East Palo Alto City Hall at 2415 University Ave., where community members will have a chance to speak at 6 p.m.

The march is sponsored by the San Mateo County Health System's STD/HIV Program. The first HIV Awareness March was held in 1996.

Half of new HIV infections in the United States are among the African American community, according to the San Mateo County Health System. In San Mateo County, 3 percent of the population is African American, with 23 percent living in East Palo Alto.

For more information, call Danielle Castro, program supervisor for the STD/HIV Education and Prevention Program of San Mateo County, at 573-2898 or e-mail dacastro@co.sanmateo.ca.us.