It had been over two years since the UC Davis men’s tennis team last faced UC San Diego, but it hadn’t been long enough to forget the result. The Aggies took their revenge on their non-conference opponent, defeating the Tritons 4-3, after losing by the same score in the two teams’ last meeting Apr. 21, 2006. “We haven’t had success against San Diego for the last few seasons,” said senior No. 3 Justin Garcia. “This win was a great sendoff for our seniors.” The victory concluded the home careers of Garcia, Daniel Elefant and Henri Landes.

The car of the future exists today. At least that is what Andrew Frank, UC Davis professor of mechanical and aeronautical engineering, believes. Frank is one of the many experts featured on PBS’ “NOVA” premiere of Car of the Future. The program will air Tuesdayat 8 p.m. Car of the Future examines the evolutionary changes that make cars more energy efficient. Tom and Ray Magliozzi, co-hosts of NPR’s “Car Talk,” take to the streets to find which alternative energy vehicle can challenge today’s gas-guzzling, high-powered cars and become the car of the future – or at least replace Tom’s 1952 MG TD Roadster.

Event: Big West Conference Championships Where: Tijeras Creek Golf Course – Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. When: Today and Tuesday, all day. Who to watch: Consistency is key to the Aggies’ success, and Ramie Sprinkling has it. The junior from Camarillo, Calif. leads the Aggies with a 73.0-stroke average per 18 holes, with two fourth-place finishes on the year.

080421_ca_opentextbooks.CHeadline: “Open textbooks” becoming popular, says CalPIRG studyLayercake: Publishers argue that they are already offering cheaper editions to studentsBy PATRICK McCARTNEYAggie Staff Writer While most classes continue to use traditional, commercial textbooks, professors are increasingly willing to choose so-called “open” alternatives, according to an Apr. 15 California Public Interest Research Group report. One thousand professors […]

Kim’s Mart, Davis’ only Asian market, is undergoing an expansion, which will be complete mid-May. “We’ve been [at 636 Fourth St.] for 12 years,” said owner Chur Jun. “I have been thinking about expanding for a long time now.” Kim’s Mart will inhabit the space two doors down at 628 Fourth St., which was previously Pallen’s Martial Arts. When renovations are complete, the grocery will be twice its original size. “The store is too crowded now,” Jun said. “We need more space for people and products.”

Remember when the world was a better place? I don’t, but I wasn’t alive during the 1950s. I’ve heard that back then things were great! Women finally won the right to wear pants. There was a soda shop on every corner. The only threat to society was bongo-wielding beatnik Maynard G. Krebs from the Dobie Gillis show. Well, him and communists. You know, because that whole Cold War thing was going on. The Soviet Union and Cuba just would not get off of America’s ass. But since no one ever dropped the bomb, things were pretty peachy keen. In fact, things were so peachy keen in the 1950s that UC Davis served as a symbol for good old fashioned community spirit. According to Davis Wiki, the school started a tradition called “Hi Aggie Spirit.” Here’s how it worked: If you were on campus and you encountered someone you didn’t know, you were encouraged to say “Hi, Aggie!” Your new “Aggie” friend would respond by saying “Hi, Aggie!” back to you.

I’m writing this horizontally, which is to say, I’m lying on my bed, typing with the laptop on its side. It’s Sunday. My hangovers always isolate in the stomach. No headaches, just horned animals, knocking their heads together and scraping their hooves against my stomach lining. Sometimes the collision is especially violent, and that’s when I stop typing to stare at the wall, waiting for it to pass.

The Schaal Aquatics Center was packed at 4 p.m. when eight Aggies were scheduled to play the final home women’s water polo game of their collegiate careers. An hour-and-a-half later, the game finally began and not a single person had left their seat. The delay, due to the absence of referees, did not deter anyone from honoring the eight seniors in their final farewell at Schaal. UC Davis came out like they had been waiting for this game much longer than an hour-and-a-half, letting itspresence be known by tyrannizing the Tigers, 14-5, for the team’s 10th straight victory.

TODAY Post Secret Davis exhibit 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Griffin Lounge, Memorial Union Learn what secrets UC Davis students and staff are keeping at this awareness exhibit. Sponsored by Students Against Sexual Violence. Asian Pacific Culture Week kickoff 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Quad Check out performances, a Bruce Lee look-alike contest and more!

While one would expect normal car thieves to target the stereo system or items from the glove compartment, the latest underbelly of vehicle theft stems from an item not within the car itself: catalytic converters. The converter is a device used to reduce the toxicity of emissions from an internal combustion engine. They were first widely introduced in the mid-’70s to comply with tightening Environmental Protection Agency regulations on auto exhaust. And now, largely due to trace amounts of precious metals within the converters – such as platinum, palladium or rhodium – thefts are on the rise. Sergeant Glenn Glasgow of the Davis Police Department said law enforcement officials often deal with the thefts in waves, with the latest rash occurring in January.

Your style has always been seen as acoustic folk rock. How is your newest album, The Con, different, and why did you make that change? We always saw ourselves as songwriters, so there wasn’t much emphasis on developing the band with instrumentation. With So Jealous and The Con, we had the chance to think a lot more about the instrumentation and worked a lot on it. We went so far as to put our own drums down and mapped out what we wanted our songs to sound like.… When we first started making music, we were 18, where you go into a studio and rattle something out.

080421_sp_column.CHeadline: Bred for competitionBy Michael Gehlken Zephyr the Destroyer and the UC Davis Division I athlete have much in common. Both train for months on end. Both have a strong supporting cast to push them to their limits. Both know what it’s like to have thousands of screaming fans cheer them on. There is just […]