39.7 F
Davis

Davis, California

Tuesday, January 13, 2026
type here...
Home Blog Page 924

You’re majoring in what?

Campus Editor
-
1

Editor’s note: You’re Majoring in What? is a new Aggie column that features students of UC Davis’ lesser-known majors.

Alicia Berg is a fourth-year hydrology major from San Pedro, Calif.

What is hydrology?
Hydrology is the study of water in all aspects. This includes the physical, biological and chemical elements of water and its distribution around the planet.

Why did you choose it as your major? Is it something you’ve always wanted to study?
When I was in high school I traveled to Kenya many times. I saw firsthand how people regarded water. It is the ultimate life source and is beyond precious. I was raised in LA and my personal water supply was never an issue that I had to deal with. Once I became aware of the value of water, it was like a switch I couldn’t turn off. After that I knew what I wanted to study, and I actively pursued it.

There are different concentrations in hydrology. What is yours?
I focus on surface water and especially aquatic systems, like wetlands.

What jobs can you get with hydrology? What do you plan to do?
You can get a variety of jobs because everywhere in the world needs to manage their water sources. I plan on working with restoration and conservation projects either through the state or nonprofit organizations. I also hope to be involved with the education process of water awareness for youth and communities.

Are there any hydrology classes you’d recommend to students who are considering this major?
HYD 10: Water, Power, Society is a really good introduction course to the history of water in California (which is incredibly complicated and fascinating) and general water processes. Also, HYD 143 is a course on eco-hydrology that incorporates many facets of hydrology and gives a good basis of Excel models for studying hydrologic data.

How big or small are the classes?
The classes are small. I’ve had classes as small as seven people and as big as 40.

What’s the best part about majoring in hydrology?
It is a science that reaches into many disciplines and gives a solid education base that can be used to further specialize in the field. It is also a tight-knit community, and the students are friendly and helpful to one another. I have learned an incredible amount about my environment, politics, mathematical models and technical science.

Are there any downsides?
It is definitely a challenging major. All of the prerequisites are the same as the ones for engineers. Many of the courses can be overwhelming at times, but the reward of success is beyond worth it.

MUNA SUDEK can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

Aggie Arcade

Arts Editor
-
0

This is the last Aggie Arcade of the quarter, which means summer vacation is right around the corner. Obviously I’m excited about the much-needed break, but that’s not the only great thing about next week. This year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) begins on June 11, which marks arguably the most exciting time of the year for video game enthusiasts like myself.

E3 always features big game announcements, but all eyes will be on Microsoft and Sony this year as they show off their brand new consoles, the Xbox One and PlayStation, 4 respectively. Although each company already held separate events to reveal each system, E3 will be the first time we get to really see games in action on the next-generation hardware.

Microsoft is the one company with a lot of unanswered questions in regard to the Xbox One’s library of games. Executives promised numerous exclusive titles for the upcoming console at the reveal event last month, but we didn’t actually see many of those games. Forza Motorsport 5 made an appearance and that will almost certainly be playable at E3. But what other big-name releases does Microsoft have up its sleeve?

Apparently Rare, the developer behind franchises such as Banjo-Kazooie and Perfect Dark, will revive an old series and bring it to the Xbox One. I mentioned Banjo-Kazooie and Perfect Dark because those are my best two guesses. We can’t forget that Perfect Dark Zero was a launch title for the 360 back in 2005, so it wouldn’t be shocking to see the studio repeat the process for Microsoft’s next console.

Aside from that, we don’t know a whole lot about Microsoft’s plans for E3. The mystery adds an air of intrigue to the company’s press conference, but part of me also worries about the lack of information. I went into the Xbox One reveal event not knowing what to expect and my overall feeling was one of disappointment. I hope that gets replaced by a far more positive reaction following E3.

Sony’s appearance at the expo will likely be more predictable, but that may be a good thing. I know that games like Knack, The Witness, Killzone: Shadow Fall and Deep Down will be shown at the event, and I’d love to see more of each of those titles. At this point all I’m looking for is a solid launch lineup to justify an immediate purchase of the system — the company has nearly sold me already just based on the reveal event back in February. It would be nice to see a surprise or two for the PS4 though.

And then there’s the strange case of Nintendo, which has no new hardware to display. The Wii U continues to face slumping sales, and E3 may be the last big opportunity for the company to salvage some level of success. Although it relies far too heavily on the nostalgia of famous mascots to garner interest, I admit that the announcement of a new Super Mario or Zelda game would capture my attention. At this point the Wii U really needs that system seller.

Even though I express a certain level of pessimism when it comes to this year’s E3, I imagine I’ll still wake up like an excited kid on Christmas Day when the event begins on June 11 — well, I have my last final that day, so I have to wake up early anyway. But the point is, E3 2013 will be fascinating to watch, regardless of the outcome.

ANTHONY LABELLA can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

—-

In this week’s Aggie Arcade I play The Swapper, an indie puzzle game that came out just last week on Steam. Cloning represents the key mechanic in this striking sci-fi game — players can create up to four clones that react to the original character’s actions. In addition, the player can then swap between clones. Needless to say, things get complicated pretty quickly.

This also means I get stuck a few times in the video — I blame it on the pressure of performing while recording. In fact, I solved the puzzles with relative ease shortly after making this video (I promise!). I guess it’s possible that I’m just bad at puzzle games … I’ll leave that for you to decide.

The Nelson Gallery to implement new teaching resource

Arts Editor
-
0

The Richard L. Nelson Gallery, established in 1976 and currently located in Nelson Hall, is in the process of creating a new teaching and learning space that it will be implementing in fall of 2013. The space will utilize the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, also located in Nelson Hall.

According to Robin Bernhard, the Nelson Gallery’s Art Collection Manager, the new space is designed to “incorporat[e] an experimental and flexible space into the existing Nelson Gallery that will be dedicated to research, course instruction and special projects in all fields and disciplines across campus.”

The classes are to be a direct collaboration between participants and the Gallery’s Permanent Collection. Also known as the Fine Arts Collection, it houses 5,000 objects that historically range from antiquities to contemporary art, according to Bernnhard. Classes that take full advantage of the collection will get priority class reservation for the project space.

Along with the incredible selection of pieces of art, instructors and classes will also have access to “classroom meeting space, equipment (i.e. projectors), display space, preparatory and installation assistance, lecture space, meeting space, performance space, chairs [and] tables,” Bernhard said.

Students, teaching fellows, researchers and faculty members can book the space for classes, along with already established university courses making reservations. The ideal class size is 25 or less. They can utilize the space for a one-time event, regular meetings or a quarter-long session.

In order to introduce the project space to the community, the Nelson Gallery will hosting monthly events such as tours, performances, lectures or new project openings, starting Oct. 24.

Bernhard is now reviewing classes for fall 2013. For more information, or to inquire about class reservations, contact her at (530) 752-3775 or rlbernhard@ucdavis.edu.

— Tanya Azari

Davis Music Fest to rock out Downtown

Arts Editor
-
0

On June 22 and 23, a South by Southwest (SXSW) style experience will come to Davis for its third iteration.

The Davis Music Fest will feature approximately 40 artists playing at venues all over town, including Central Park, Delta of Venus and Sophia’s Thai Kitchen.

Danny Tomasello, the director of the Davis Music Fest as well as the nonprofit Music Only Makes Sense, used the music festival SXSW as a model for his festival.

“We’ll use any venue that has the manpower to run the show and coordinate volunteers. We put the bands in that space and get volunteers for three hour shifts. As long as we have the venue doing the work, we’ll work with them,” Tomasello said in a phone interview.

The headlining artist, bluesy rock musician JD McPherson, will perform at the Mondavi Center, marking the first time the Mondavi Center partakes in the Davis Music Fest.

According to Tomasello, the Mondavi Center reached out to the festival’s organizers.

“The Mondavi Center was interested in being involved in the festival and they suggested JD McPherson, since they thought he would be a good fit for the festival,” Tomasello said.

McPherson expressed excitement about playing at the festival.

“We have played a few festivals and they’re always a good time,” McPherson said in a phone interview. “It’s interesting to see folks who haven’t seen us before. I also love that part of the country, so we’re real excited to play there. It’s a beautiful place.”

The way the lineup came to be was through a booking committee, musicians contacting the festival, as well as fan input. The general criteria, according to Tomasello, was that the bands “could sell tickets on their own, even for a few bucks.”

The festival organizers wanted to select local artists as well as musicians that Davis music fans wouldn’t see normally.

Alicia Murphy, a fourth-year hydrology major, is one of the festival’s performers. She will play at Sophia’s Thai Kitchen at 6 p.m. on Saturday, and she views this show as the beginning of a four month tour.

“I’ve always wanted to play at Sophia’s,” Murphy said. “Playing there is a big deal for me because it’s a hot spot in town. It’s got a hot vibe, nice lights and nice drinks. I’m pretty stoked.”

While marketing the festival and reaching out to the public, Tomasello experienced support from the community.

“People know about us. I’ve gone to the Davis Farmer’s Market to promote the festival and people have come up to me and told me that they had a blast before. People have bought me beers and have high-fived me in the street,” Tomasello said.

Murphy hopes that people come out to the festival.

“It’s a good opportunity to bar hop, get a taste of the local music scene and to just enjoy the town for what it is.”

JOHN KESLER can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

Column: Make it up

Arts Editor
-
0

There’s something strange about watching Davis squirrels approach us on the Quad with hungry eyes, opening their mouths as if about to speak. And there’s something uncanny about seeing a Davis cockroach scamper across our linoleum floors like a hockey puck after months of hiding in the shadows.

Yes, these sights are common to us all as Davis residents. And since I’d rather see literal hockey pucks scattered on my kitchen floor, and since I’d prefer to hear that squirrel ask me for a piece of my banana in a hoarse smoker’s voice, can’t I just pretend these things are true?

I’ve found that everyday sights and experiences can be turned into artistic subjects just by looking at them with your head twisted at an angle. It’s like when you’re in an art gallery, you’re looking at literally, say, a picture of a bell pepper. But is it really just a bell pepper? With those smooth curves and suggestive twists, doesn’t it sort of look like a sultry fetus? Did you ever think a fetus could also look sexy?

Sometimes it’s more fun to fill in the gaps in your understanding of the unknown by creating your own version of the story. When you walk into your bedroom and find two naked strangers passed out on your bed, and you ask yourself, “Uh, what the hell?” isn’t it better to tell yourself, “This isn’t my room. I’ve barged in on a scene from an alternate universe”?

Well, maybe not. But the point is, we can make things up — in fact, we should make things up, and often. In small ways, we can help ourselves make life a little more interesting in order to suit our various needs. Whether directly art-related or not.

Sometimes my need for turning the inexplicable or the mundane into something exciting means seeing those patterns on trees as eyeballs, and staring back at them intently. Or looking at squirrels gather in the shadows beneath the trees and watching them scatter like marbles as I bike through them. Or making up worlds where stalkers become almost loveable, or where you can use your hair to capture fish like a net.

As an observer in this world, I try to build things out of whatever becomes available to me. So am I saying that art can be found outside of art galleries, and perhaps in our own lives and minds every single day? Yes. That’s what I’m saying.

I love art. I’ve been in love with drawing and painting since I was a wee child, I’ve dabbled in photography and I study art history out of my interest in how art shapes us and how we shape art. I love the art of making things up so much that I’m dedicating my last year in Davis to writing a Thesis in Fiction. I love looking at art, living in it and making it, in all of the forms art takes.

Due to my love and respect for the arts and as the newly appointed arts editor, I assure you that we will be reporting real art events. Real concerts, live theater performances, physically present works of art in galleries that exist. And all of these events will be covered by real reporters, providing true facts and unfabricated quotes. And it’ll be great.

But in this column, I will talk about things I may or may not make up, depending on how important I find it to revamp things I see into a more artistically-refined subject. I will give you a glimpse into the way I see the world (which, I warn you, might get a little funky) and I hope my vision freaks a lot of you guys out (while, hopefully, you people are sadistic like me and come crawling back to this column to swallow up a weekly dosage of oddities).

Let’s just say I’m doing this for our own good. Because we all need to incorporate art into our lives, in whatever screwed up way we can. I’d rather see these little Davis bike rides as something more like rides on a broomstick that hovers awkwardly close to the ground, as I often imagine, and hope you will too.

Feel free to tell CRISTINA FRIES how awkward her interpretation of art is at arts@theaggie.org.

Arts Week

Arts Editor
-
0

ART/GALLERY

MFA Art Studio Exhibition opening reception
Friday, June 7, 5:30 p.m., free
Nelson Gallery
2013 Master of Fine Arts candidates in Art Studio present their work at the Nelson Gallery, located in Nelson Hall. Come view the works by talented artists Andrew Armas, Jason Engelund, Evan Jose, Sarah Julig, Andrea Muñoz Martinez, John Tronsor and May Wilson.

MUSIC

University Chorus Concert
Friday, June 7, 7 p.m., $8 student, $12-17 regular
Jackson Hall, Mondavi Center
The UC Davis Department of Music’s University Chorus will perform folk songs, traditionals, Shaker tunes, Randall Thompson’s setting of “Alleluia,” American spirituals in arrangements by Moses Hogan and works by contemporary and popular composers Eric Whitacre and Morten Lauridsen.

Desert Noises
Friday, June 7, 9 p.m., $5 ages 21+
Sophia’s Thai Kitchen, 129 E St.
With musical influences like Fleetwood Mac, Tame Impala and Tom Petty, these indie rockers create rich, jangling tunes that mimic the majesty and ruggedness of the American landscape. Along with The Parson Red Heads and Said the Whale, these bands are in the midst of a west coast tour. Enjoy a night of indie rock on the deck of Sophia’s Thai Kitchen.

Tom Brosseau & Tom Watkins
Saturday, June 8, 9:30 p.m., $5 ages 21+
Sophia’s Thai Kitchen, 129 E St.
Tom Brosseau’s threadbare folk music joins with Grammy Award-winning Tom Watkins (from Nickel Creek and supergroup Works Progress Administration). This duo comes together to bring you a night of indie-folk and bluegrass music.

THEATER

Davis Shakespeare Ensemble presents ‘As You Like It’
Thursday, June 13, 8 p.m., $10 – $15
UC Davis Arboretum Gazebo, 1 Garrod Drive
Davis Shakespeare Ensemble’s second annual summer productions presents one of The Bard’s most celebrated comedies. Don’t miss the laughs, the romance and live mountain music in this production, influenced by Appalachian culture and music.

OTHER

Author event: ‘As She Left It’ with Catriona McPherson
Friday, June 7, 7:30 p.m., free
The Avid Reader, 617 Second St.
Author Catriona McPherson will discuss her new paperback fiction, As She Left It, a story about uncovering secrets and revealing characters’ dark pasts. Copies of her book will be available for purchase.

Davis Flea Market
Sunday, June 9, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m., free

Second Annual Creative Writing Farewell Reading
Wednesday, June 12, 7 p.m., free
Wyatt Deck, UC Davis Arboretum
Graduating writers from the Creative Writing MA program will read selections from their theses in the second annual graduate reading on Wyatt Deck. Come enjoy the works of fiction and poetry by these talented student writers. Complimentary refreshments will be provided.

— Cristina Fries

Former UC Davis employee to lose health insurance payment

Campus Editor
-
0

Karen Strack, a former UC Davis employee with the Department of Food Science and Technology, is currently battling her health maintenance organization (HMO) to retain funding for medical rehabilitation after being diagnosed with a rare neuropathy known as Guillain–Barré syndrome. Health Net, the insurance company utilized by the University of California for its retirees, is threatening to cancel Strack’s coverage due to insufficient progress with her illness.

Although she is still receiving treatment after an appeal, Strack states that Health Net is actively trying to cancel her coverage.

A document warning of her impending payment termination was issued on May 23, just 21 days after she checked into the Woodland Nursing and Rehabilitation Center for nursing services and physical therapy. Strack had also been receiving IV injections of immunoglobulin at Sutter Health in Sacramento for almost a month.

“Your Medicare provider and/or health plan have determined that Medicare probably will not pay for your current skilled nursing services,” the document stated. “Patient is working with Physical and Occupational Therapy and has reached a plateau in rehabilitation.”

Her termination date was set for May 25, two days after it was delivered to her at the Woodland facility.
Strack’s Medicare plan is currently managed by Health Net, an option that many insurance providers offer to recipients in order to find money-saving options with their coverage.

“I chose Health Net because I couldn’t afford Blue Cross,” Strack said. “Since I was diagnosed, I’ve been fighting and fighting for my coverage.”

A case manager is assigned to each patient receiving Health Net benefits, who overlooks patients’ files based on physician assessments and determines authorization for further treatment authorization. If they determine a patient has received enough treatment, their funding is terminated and healthcare providers are forced to stop providing unless the patient can pay on their own.

Strack is adamant that her dismissal is not founded on physician assessments advising her dismissal.

“The doctors are not saying to send me home. They assured me that they’re not trying to let me go,” Strack said.

Ben Piper, administrator at Woodland Nursing and Rehabilitation Center declined to comment on the specifics of her case.

“We’re providing her company and hoping she gets the support she needs,” Piper said.

A physical therapy evaluation sheet, filled out when Strack was first admitted to the Woodland Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, maps out long-term goals for her treatment. Among them are the ability to “safely [perform] bed mobility tasks with independence without use of siderails,” “safely perform functional transfers” and “safely ambulate on level surfaces 350 feet … ”

When first diagnosed, Strack was unable to speak, walk or move her limbs. Since then, she states that she has made considerable progress. However, Strack says that she still cannot walk on her own or perform everyday tasks without assistance.

“I can’t use the toilet by myself, I can’t take a shower by myself — in most states, it’s illegal to send you home without being able to take care of yourself,” Strack said.

Despite this, Health Net and Strack’s case manager have decided that she does not require additional treatment at the facility.

Brad Kieffer, media and public relations officer with Health Net, declined to comment on the specifics of the case, citing federal regulations for patient privacy.

Strack and her son Scott will continue to appeal for her retention at the facility. They are unsure whether or not their funding will be cancelled on a week-by-week basis.

“This is an absolute tragedy,” Scott Strack said. “I can’t believe they’re trying to pull the plug. She’s supposed to continue therapy at home when she can’t even get to the toilet or get to bed on her own.”

Strack feels that her Health Net is neglecting her need for rehabilitation with a full-time staff for the sake of profit.

“If you’re not progressing at a certain pace, Health Net [doesn’t] care about you. They don’t care about relapses, they only see progression. I worked at UC Davis for 36 years — this is totally unjust. I am not going to make my son bathe me, and wipe me down after [using] the bathroom. I’m just not going to do it.”

ADAM KHAN can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

UC Davis to offer new hands-on filmmaking course in fall

Arts Editor
-
0
UC Davis to offer new hands-on filmmaking course in fall

After nearly a decade of existence, two of UC Davis’ “newest” majors, film studies (FMS) and technocultural studies (TCS), are planning to merge, becoming cinema and technocultural studies (CTS). As part of the early curriculum being organized for the newly unified program, at least one course, CTS 20, will serve as a lower-division introduction to the arts of filmmaking. This course, also known as “Filmmaking Foundations,” will be the first of its kind in several ways.

While other courses in the past at UC Davis have instructed students in filmmaking, notably ART 12 (Beginning Video), TCS 100 (Experimental Cinema) and TCS 104 (Documentary Production), CTS 20 is unique in its adherence to filmmaking in general, adopting a less specialized format that should attract a variety of students from all majors.

Another positive aspect of the new course is that it has no prerequisites, making it an appealing introduction to the major for those curious about it. At the same time, it will bridge a curricular rift sometimes felt between the old TCS and film programs.

“Before, these hands-on production classes were only offered to TCS majors. Now they are offered to both,” said Brittany Storozinski, a fourth-year FMS and TCS double major.

The course description for CTS 20 includes hands-on development of skills along with an education in classic film narratives.

“[CTS 20 is] a basic introduction to photographic principles and editing concepts … [and] an applied introduction to film language where students get to not only learn terminology, but to actually understand it by putting it to use,” said associate TCS professor and course instructor Julie Wyman.

Wyman said that additionally, film-viewing is part of the course structure.

“Students learn by viewing films that have been important historically and artistically, and by engaging with various filmmakers’ experiments through a series of lab exercises that produce short video pieces,” Wyman said.

For students currently within the TCS and FMS majors, the proposed course could present the best of both worlds, being equal parts theory and practice. Jaimey Fisher, the current program coordinator for CTS, confirmed that this was a major aim for the class.

“Part of the goal in consolidating FMS and TCS was to bring more production to FMS and more studies/history to TCS,” Fisher said. “This course is an example of efforts in that direction.”

CTS 20, which will satisfy the arts/humanities and visual literacy general education requirement, is currently scheduled for Mondays and Wednesdays during the Fall Quarter of 2013, with extra lab time for film viewing and production. For more information, contact Julie Wyman on the TCS website.

ANDREW RUSSELL can be reached at arts@theaggie.org. XXX

Column: Sexplanations

Opinion
-
0

Summer is upon us, as is graduation and being thrust into the real world as full-fledged, degree-carrying adults. So let me arm you with some advice for your newly found adulthood — learn how to sext.

In this modern and completely attention-deprived culture, learning how to break through your sexy new prospect’s cluttered inbox is necessary. Sexting is so wildly pervasive, really, that if you can’t give good sext, then your actual sexual skills will never be put in use.

For beginners, sexting is simply dirty talk via text messaging. I have had many laments from friends claiming they’re uncomfortable with dirty talk in bed and even more so when typing to a slightly abstract and intangible entity. If you are one of those shy and quite conservative people, I don’t suggest this route when flirting, but if you’re willing to learn, and crave naughty behavior here and there, then I suggest the following tips.

Firstly, get comfortable or get drunk — or both. I have had the most success in egging on friends to respond to a risqué text after a few glasses of wine, and I have personally found the most success with myself at the end of the day once binding skinny jeans are off and it’s just me and my favorite Victoria’s Secret purchases. It’s the comfort factor; also who doesn’t feel sexy when in his or her undies texting their object of desire?

Dirty talking is best done in these situations because the inhibitions are gone. They aren’t hindering you or deterring you, you’re just free to textually string together your favorite sex act. I suggest the use of many adjectives in dirty sexting, the more descriptive the better: you will have your crush on the other end salivating and wanting a whole lot more.

Just dirty sexting is also so harmless and fun that in my experience and expert opinion, it can be done just about everywhere. There is nothing more exciting than receiving a sexy text while out with friends or even stuck in a two hour summer session class — it’s fun, it’s flirty and will make time pass quite quickly. Being that sexting is so rampant and accepted in our generation I see nothing wrong in starting one with a former, current, or hopefully future flame when you get the itch to do so.

Secondly, learn how to take some decent and safe nudes. The number one rule here: don’t send anything that can identify you, aka no face. Less obvious features you should steer clear of sending are anything distinguishable ­— tattoos, piercings, items of clothing, etc. If this sexting relationship ever goes sour, you don’t want it traced back to you. A naked body is a naked body and they all look the same in a dimly lit phone camera photo.

You should also delete any of these sexy yet highly incriminating photos from your phone: just ask Scarlett Johansson and Vanessa Hudgens (remember that? Ha). Having private photos taken from your phone and proliferated via internet is pretty horrendous. Hence the “no identifiable features” rule, but deleting these photos on your end grants you a peace of mind that if ever you allow someone to crack your iPhone code they won’t go and tweet your private nude stash.

Once you’ve cropped the photo, also make sure your chosen body part is looking as desirable as possible. In more technical terms get hard, get big, get wet, get perky. There is no bigger boner kill than seeing a half assed nude ­— literally and figuratively. I can speak for myself when I say that penis pictures are always mildly unpleasant, but more so when flaccid.

Thirdly and lastly, have fun with it. Summer is a few months of hot, sticky and sweaty hazy days, your libido is going to be revved to full throttle so make the best of it. Keep some fine looking people in your little black book, or as we call it nowadays your contacts, and make the most of it. You’ll be surprised as to how hot and bothered you can get someone with a few key phrases and words — naughty, wet, summer.

Go forth now fellow Aggies and utilize your knowledge on sexting and nudes — you can thank me later.

MARISSA HERRERA will be sexting British boys during her summer abroad in London. She can be reached at mdherrera@ucdavis.edu.

Police Briefs

City Editor
-
0

FRIDAY
Flippant
On Lake Boulevard, an elderly man was shoplifting by putting items into his pants.

SATURDAY
What in the world
An unknown man was knocking on someone’s door on Russell Boulevard; when she answered all he would say was that his name was Cosmo and nothing else.

MONDAY
Too juiced
An intoxicated college-aged student was passed out in front of Jamba Juice on First Street.

A close shave
A group of kids threw a shaving cream bottle cap at someone’s head on Glide Drive, giving her a headache.

TUESDAY
Frittering about
There was a hang-up call to the police on Drexel Drive, and all that was heard was a group of people having a conversation about fries.

Fratricide
On Drake Drive, someone’s roommate tried to poison his rat, so he was concerned the roommate would try to poison him, too.

Police briefs are compiled from the City of Davis daily crime bulletins. Contact EINAT GILBOA at city@theaggie.org.

Tech Tips

Science Editor
-
0

It’s a balmy evening in Davis, a perfect time and temperature for a breezy cruise on your bike through town. You saddle up the good ol’ cruiser, head out and have a splendid evening — but all of that is about to change.

At the beginning of your intended return back to your apartment, you notice that you’ve conveniently removed and forgotten your bike light. Upon your ride up Third Street, you end up flipping over your handlebars because someone decided it was a good idea to put their unwanted twigs, lawn-clippings and leaf debris in a neat pile by the curb.

Truth be told, you probably wouldn’t have seen the road obstruction even if you had your bike light, which provides a dim, pathetic excuse for an illuminated path. Fortunately, however, design students at Sichuan University in China are on their way to releasing a new device that will improve the reliability of bike lights.

The Lumigrid bike light design is an ingenious one to say the least. Instead of the tunneled light beam that is oftentimes insufficient in alerting us of objects on the road ahead, Lumigrid technology projects a distinct, clear-cut light-grid onto the ground before the bike. Not only will the intensity of the beam effectively alert cars, pedestrians and other bikers of your whereabouts, you’re about 500 percent more likely to spot upcoming potholes and road imperfections than the guy next to you. The unique grid produced by the Lumigrid projector beam warps with imperfections on the upcoming ground. The gridlines themselves don’t cast shadows on convex or concave areas of the road like traditional bike lights, but instead illuminate variations via the deformation of the grid.

While forgetting your bike light is a deeply annoying, recurring problem that may never go away, Lumigrid may soon provide a safer and more vivid alternative to traditional night cycling.

EMILY SEFEROVICH can be reached at science@theaggie.org.

Column: Culture Fiend

Opinion
-
0

He put his dirty fingers deep inside his cheeks and turned them inside out. His giant brown eyes bugged and his teeth glowed shiny white and orange — gold fillings shimmered from the back of his cave and his face loomed large over his crooked body.

He was hunched over a baby, pulling his typical baby-entertaining face — the one that made my one-year-old nephew Dylan cry and my four-year-old niece Claire laugh. He never could make Claire cry, no matter how hard he pulled at her face. She only giggled or screamed, “Papa, you’re so silly.” She cried at his funeral though, when he was stuffed into a too small box for his too huge personality.

She came up to me after the service. Her tiny face, which houses the largest blue eyes I have ever seen, tilted up towards me, and in a conspiratorial tone she whispered, “My papa is gone you know, he died.”

Tony Kast was Jewish. At least he told everyone he was. But when the Jehovah’s Witnesses knocked on the door of our cabin in the woods, he would invite them in. He would ask them to explain the hierarchy of Heaven and would let them leave tiny looseleaf bibles. But more than the free items, he liked arguing with them. “But if God only likes certain folk, how come …” The knockers didn’t stay for long, and soon they stopped leaving pamphlets altogether, forsaking us in the middle of the forest, with no electricity.

To them, Tony was already damned, damned with too much damn curiosity.

I helped him build those wooden stairs, the ones leading to the front door, and he let me sand the bookshelves that held all of our favorite books — Maupassant, Somerset, Tolstoy.

No matter how much he read, there were some things that only a daughter could teach him.

Tall, thin, spectacled Tony didn’t know that some women shave their pubic hairs. He seemed surprised when I told him. He didn’t know that it isn’t appropriate to piss in a jar rather than stop at a rest area; hell, he didn’t even know that rest areas were called rest areas, he simply knew them as piss spots.

He sat in a kitchen with my mother and I and spoke about how he had only ever met one rape victim, unaware that both women he was addressing were survivors. Rather than ruin his comfortable reality, we let it lie.

He didn’t know to be uncomfortable in the waiting room of our Southern Oregon Planned Parenthood, sitting patiently and chatting with the nurses while hands exchanged birth control pills and condoms in the back.

He didn’t know a lot of things, but he sure knew how to pull a funny face, how to cry at his daughter’s graduation and how to pull the trigger of a .45 Magnum, tight against his front teeth.

When Tony grew up, he swam naked at the YMCA, he rode motorcycles across California, ate matzah and had sex for the very first time on his wedding night. Four children and various Polaroid pictures of him passed out on the couch, his arms wrapped around his first wife, are all that’s left of his life before me.

He tells me that she was an alcoholic. “Drank three fingers a day,” he would exclaim, almost proudly. Even though they had divorced 30 years before, he still kept his wedding band on his keyring, and when he was stressed he would rub it — between his half-thumb, a nub created in a skill saw accident, and his forefinger.

The gold wore thin, and after the funeral when his kids tried to loot the cabin, it was nowhere to be found. We had to pry open the safe, next to where his favorite gun or at least a note should have been, to find the wan band sitting alone on the shelf.

Tony Kast was a man, a 67-year-old Jew, who built our log cabin with two incomplete rough hands and later stuck those same fingers in his sloppy wet mouth.

If you would like to hear more stories of her father, email KATELYN RINGROSE at knringrose@ucdavis.edu.

Column: Tree of liberty

Opinion
-
0

Over the past dozen and a half columns, I have explained how the system we have today is not capitalism, and that, despite the blame that capitalism receives for many of our current problems, it is the return to laissez-faire that we need to live in a free and flourishing society.

But is this not too idealistic? I do not think so, and this is for two reasons.

First, economics is on our side. Free markets work. As we can see in a myriad of examples, government intervention and regulation has historically been highly destructive, because of its arbitrary nature and the lack of relevant information that bureaucrats have access to.

Take for instance the life-saving drugs that may have to wait extra months or years to pass FDA approval before they can enter the market. Or consider the inefficiency caused by requiring that ethanol be present in gasoline — which, besides being harmful to engines, results in fewer miles per gallon.

And free-market capitalism, to the extent it has existed, is responsible for the greatest increase in standard of living that the world has ever seen. It has made people’s work more efficient and sensible through an ever greater division of labor, all the while shortening the work day and increasing wages. Since producers and innovators in a free market are able to rely fully on their own judgment and effort, they can find the most profitable ways to devise products and services that consumers want.

The real heroes of capitalism, such as as Andrew Carnegie and Cornelius Vanderbilt, were geniuses who made products cheaper to consumers and improved quality. The businessmen that instead act to deceive others through fraud, such as Bernie Madoff, or attempt to fix prices, will inevitably meet their demise in a capitalistic system.

Second, capitalism is the system most closely associated with the American sense of life and the individualism that has long been an important aspect of our culture. We value self-reliance, independence, hard work and the freedom to pursue our dreams. Consider that Atlas Shrugged still sells hundreds of thousands of copies per year.

But this does not change the fact that for capitalism to emerge victorious from the political discourse, in which it is being viciously attacked or misrepresented by both conservatives and liberals, we need to reconfigure our understanding of morality and of the real purpose of government.

Capitalism is the system that promotes self-interest. But this sense of self-interest does not mean evils such as lying, cheating and stealing that we often associate with that concept. Capitalism promotes long-term self-interest: the choice and pursuit of rational values, productive work and integrity. And everyone benefits from those who pursue their self-interest in this way.

Capitalism is not a system where mindless greed or “consumerism” can flourish — in that system, each individual is responsible for her own life and cannot get away with irrationality, wastefulness or laziness.

And yet, we cannot fully rely or act on our own judgment lest we are free from government coercion, or the arbitrary interference of others. It is only physical force that can violate your autonomy, by rendering your thought irrelevant and by severing the connection between your values and your actions and rightful property. This is why we need a constitutionally limited government to protect our rights to life, liberty and property, and nothing else.

We do not need a government that tells us what food to buy, how to teach our children, what imperialistic wars we ought to endorse or how we ought to hire and pay workers. But today this is exactly what our government does, and rarely is it questioned by our politicians.

It is only through understanding this that we can fully prevent the misery and poverty that is inevitably attached to a tyrannical regime — and as long as the case for capitalism is not grasped, this is what we are heading toward.

TRISTAN DE LIEGE believes history is on his side. He can be reached at tflenaerts@ucdavis.edu.

Best of Police Briefs

City Editor
-
0

Aug. 15
An unmentionable crime
A burglar entered someone’s laundry room and stole 20 pairs of panties for the second time on Cowell Boulevard.

Aug. 24
Weeding Rainbow
A person was riding a bike through the neighborhood saying he was working with the schools to plant dandelions on Menlo Drive.

Oct. 27
A meaty crime
On L Street, someone ordered veggie pizza only to find that it had chicken on it, and as the restaurant remade it with chicken again, the man thought the employees did it on purpose.

Nov. 9
Rage on, Aggie
There were two party complaints in the same area on A Street.

Nov. 30
Petty theft
A person on Hanover Drive had their identity stolen and the identity thief used the person’s email to send obscene things to the victim’s mother.

Jan. 25
Bathing beauty
Someone was concerned with their neighbor’s mental state as the neighbor hadn’t bathed in years, forcing the person to drive past with their hand over their eyes on Fiesta Avenue.

Feb. 9
Not-so-Jolly Green Giant
Someone was passing by the park on Alhambra Drive with two friends when a male in a moss monster suit jumped out of the bushes and scared them.

March 5
Clearly the right number
There was a hang-up call to the Davis Police Department; in the background were male subjects talking about drinking, driving and smoking weed on Hanover Drive.

April 10
The perfect crime
An unknown suspect entered a home through an unlocked door and stole three MacBook Pros on Apple Lane.

May 19
Brohemian
A guy in a gray tank top, gray shorts, black knee-high socks and black shoes called the police saying he smoked too much weed, had marijuana poisoning and needed their assistance getting home on First Street.

May 23
Bending the rules
Somebody believes college students are vandalizing the “No Parking” sign at the corner of Picasso Avenue and Cezanne Court by bending it more and more so that it becomes increasingly hidden by a tree.

Police briefs are compiled from the City of Davis daily crime bulletins. Contact EINAT GILBOA at city@theaggie.org. XXX

City News Highlights

City Editor
-
0

Residents anticipating Whole Foods opening
Oct. 18 — Whole Foods Market opened in Davis Commons on Oct. 24 and was well-received by community members.
— Originally reported by Matt Costello

Organic community in Davis fights for Prop. 37
Oct. 24 — A panel discussion hosted by UC Davis Slow Food advocated for Proposition 37 and increased awareness of genetically modified foods (GMOs). Panelists discussed reasons for labeling and the adverse effects of GMOs on the environment.
— Originally reported by Julie Webb

Wild turkeys rampant across town
Nov. 13 — The City of Davis took efforts to educate residents about how to approach wild turkeys and the hazardous effects of feeding the local wild turkey population.
— Originally reported by Meredith Sturmer

University of Beer hosts grand opening
Jan. 15 — University of Beer opened in January at 615 Third St. and became the newest addition to the downtown Davis bar scene. The new venue offers a selection of 60 beers.
— Originally reported by Joe Steptoe

New Harmony Mutual Housing opens in East Davis
Feb. 26 — New Harmony Mutual Housing Association at 3030 Cowell Blvd. opened in February and is a green living community that uses solar power to generate 75 percent of its energy needs.
— Originally reported by Melissa Gaherty

Ratepayers sue City of Davis over water rates
March 6 — Ratepayers filed a class-action lawsuit against the City of Davis claiming the city does not pay for water used at city-owned facilities. Ratepayers also expressed concern over Measure I, which increased water rates for the Woodland-Davis Clean Water Agency surface water project.
— Originally reported by Paayal Zaveri

Beating suspect charged with hate crime
April 4 — Davis resident Lawrence “Mikey” Partida was attacked in an alleged hate crime by Clayton Garzon on March 13. Garzon’s bail was increased at the urging of prosecutors and the local Sikh community. After the preliminary hearing, the judge ruled that Garzon will stand trial for assault and hate crime allegations.
— Originally reported by Meredith Sturmer

Double homicide in South Davis incurs shock, sadness
April 18 — Police were investigating the deaths of two elderly South Davis residents. The case was labeled as a double homicide and it is still under investigation.
— Originally reported by Paayal Zaveri

Drug Initiative in Davis targets unused prescription pills
May 9 — The Davis Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration held events to encourage the public to get rid of expired and unused prescription pills. This was an effort to avoid abuse of unused prescribed medicines, which is a major public safety issue.
— Originally reported by Sydney Cohen

Sequester impacts California, nation
May 16 — The sequester initiated by President Barack Obama will affect California with budget cuts to areas like primary and secondary education, environmental funding and public health programs in the California State Department of Health Services.
— Originally reported by Meredith Sturmer

CITY NEWS HIGHLIGHTS 2012-13 was compiled by PAAYAL ZAVERI. She can be reached at city@theaggie.org.

1...923924925...1,791Page 924 of 1,791

Sections

Campus News
City News
Opinion
Features
Español
Arts & Culture
Science & Tech

Resources

Advertising
Classifieds
Contact

Best of Davis

2023
2022
2021
2020
2019

Projects

Diversity Report
Senior Issue

©2021, ASUCD. Designed by Creative Media.