La Jolla to get ‘pelican brown’ ash cans The Surfrider Foundation will install the first 10 of 120 cigarette ash cans Oct. 6 in spots with heavy foot traffic on Girard Avenue and Prospect Street. The foundation’s Strategic Ash Can (SAC) initiative began in 2006 in Ocean Beach with 40 installations and it has also reached parts of Pacific Beach. Surfrider Chairman Manase Mansur said he presented the idea to the La Jolla Town Council about six weeks ago and members were extremely welcoming to the proposal and wanted to get started with installation right away. Mansur said the cans cost about $200 each and he hopes to secure funding for about 120 of them. La Jolla officials identified 91 spots in the Village that need ash cans, and he said there are about 30 other locations in La Jolla Shores and Bird Rock that are in need of SAC installation. Mansur also said Surfrider has found a manufacturer in San Diego County to produce the product, which will be made especially for La Jolla in a “pelican brown” color. The Surfrider Foundation has about 5,000 members in San Diego, making it the largest chapter in the world. The foundation will look to secure funding from local businesses for the SAC initiative in La Jolla. LJ Shores Association seeks nominations The La Jolla Shores Association is requesting input from its members on nominations to its board of directors, which deals with numerous issues affecting residents and business owners in the La Jolla Shores area. Any member of the neighborhood association may run for a position on the board, and more information will be presented at the next meeting Oct. 13 at 7 p.m. The meeting will take place in Building T-29 of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. World open-water record set at La Jolla Cove Six Ventura County men set a new world record for open-water relay swimming Sept. 20, when the men swam into La Jolla Cove after spending more than four days in the ocean. The swimmers call themselves the Ventura Deep Six, and they beat the previous record by more than 100 miles. The men started swimming at Ventura Harbor on Sept. 16, reached Santa Barbara the next day and then journeyed south to La Jolla, swimming a total of 202 miles. Chronicling the feat via videos on a Facebook page, one man spoke of dire lack of sleep and fish that actually drew blood by nibbling on his toes. The men swam around the clock in one-hour shifts. UCSD ranked 32nd-best university in the world The Times Higher Education, a London-based higher ed magazine, has ranked The University of California San Diego No. 32 in a worldwide analysis of universities. In conjunction with Thomson Reuters, the “World Universities Rankings 2010” placed less importance on heritage and reputation than in previous years and gave more weight to research and teaching, said Times Higher Education editor Ann Mroz in a recent statement. This global honor comes as UCSD celebrates its 50th anniversary.