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Chevrolet's racing success helps breed the fastest, most powerfulproduction Corvette ever built
The new Z06 achieves 500 horsepower in an approximately 3130-pound(1419.7 kg) package and is expected to deliver 0-60 performance of lessthan 4 seconds, eclipse the quarter-mile in less than 12 seconds anddeliver a top speed of more than 190 mph on a race track.
The links between racing and the production Z06 are both direct andindirect, as the vehicle was developed in conjunction with theforthcoming C6-R racecar, but they boil down to the application oflessons that could only have been learned after countless laps ofendurance racing - everything from suspension geometry to aerodynamics.What the engineers developed was a totally unique vehicle that has itsown powertrain, body structure and chassis system which are distinctfrom other Corvette models.
Previous Z06 models, from the original 1963 model to the 2001-04editions, incorporated suspension and/or engine upgrades thatcomplemented existing Corvette systems. Not surprisingly, the specs forthe '06 read like the blueprint of a champion. They include:
* LS7 7.0-liter/427-cubic-inch Gen IV V-8 with lightweight reciprocatingcomponents
* 500 horsepower (373 kw) at 6200 rpm
* 475 lb.-ft. of torque (657 Nm) at 4800 rpm
* 7000 rpm redline
* Titanium connecting rods and intake valves
* Aluminum body structure with one-piece hydroformed perimeter railsframe and magnesium front cradle
* Carbon-fiber composite front fenders and front wheelhouses
* Huge 14-inch (355-mm) cross-drilled front disc brakes with six-pistoncalipers and 13.4-inch (340-mm) cross-drilled rear rotors withfour-piston calipers
* 18 x 9.5-inch front wheels with 275/35ZR18 tires and 19 x 12-inch rearwheels with 325/30ZR19 tires
* Curb weight of 3130 pounds / 1419.7 kg (estimated)
* Vehicle developed simultaneously with C6-R racecar.
LS7 engine
The all-new LS7 of the '06 Z06 reintroduces the 427-cubic-inch engine tothe Corvette lineup. Unlike the previous 427 engine, which was abig-block design, the new 7.0-liter LS7 is a small-block V-8 - thelargest-displacement small-block ever produced by GM and a tribute toits 50 years as a performance icon.
With 500 horsepower and 475 lb.-ft. of torque, it also is the mostpowerful passenger car engine ever produced by Chevrolet and GM. The LS7is easily identified under the hood by red engine covers with blacklettering.
The LS7 shares the same basic Gen IV V-8 architecture as the Corvette's6.0-liter LS2, but the LS7 uses a different cylinder block casting withpressed-in steel cylinder liners to accommodate the engine's wide,104.8-mm-wide cylinder bores; the LS2 has 101.6-mm bores. And whencompared to the LS2, the LS7 also has a different front cover, oil pan,exhaust manifolds and cylinder heads.
For more on the newest Z06 and the LS7 427 small block see theApril 2005 issue of Corvette Fever on sale February 15th


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Maybe. Researchers aren't sure why, but it seems that regularly fasting — severely restricting food and drink for one to two days a week — can potentially improve your heart health.
It's difficult to tell what effect fasting has on your heart health because many people who routinely fast often do so for religious reasons. These people generally tend to not smoke or drink alcohol, which also can reduce heart disease risk.
However, at least one study has indicated that people who follow a fasting diet may have better heart health than people who don't. This may be because people who routinely fast show self-control over how many calories they eat and drink, and this behavior may translate into weight control and better eating choices when they aren't fasting.
Periodic fasting and better heart health may also be linked to the way your body metabolizes cholesterol and sugar. Regular fasting can decrease your low-density lipoprotein, or "bad," cholesterol. It's also thought that fasting may improve the way your body metabolizes sugar. This can reduce your risk of gaining weight and developing diabetes, which are both risk factors for heart disease.
More study is needed to determine whether occasional fasting can reduce your risk of heart disease. If you're considering periodic fasting, talk to your doctor about the pros and cons. Keep in mind that following a heart-healthy diet and exercising regularly also can improve your heart health.
Donald Hensrud, M.D.
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Padres officially tab Ross as fifth starter
SAN ANTONIO -- The worst-kept secret of Padres camp became official on Friday when Padres manager Bud Black named Tyson Ross as the fifth starter in the rotation.
Ross, who was acquired from the A's in November for two players, will start on April 6 when the team visits the Rockies at Coors Field.
"I'm really excited about it," Ross said Saturday. "It's going to be a great opportunity for me to get the ball every five days. I think I've made some strides in Spring Training, and now I look forward to that continuing into the season."
Few pitchers in camp made as many strides from February to now as Ross did. Working closely with his new pitching coach, Darren Balsley, Ross made subtle mechanical changes along the way, working on tempo and pitch selection. He learned how to use the run in his four-seam fastball to his advantage.
"I understand the movement I have better now and now I'm just trusting it, throwing it over the plate and challenging hitters," said Ross, who had a scoreless inning streak of 15 1/3 innings at one point.
"I think I've had confidence before, but everything I've gone through the last couple of years, but I feel now I'm at the height on everything. I feel like I have grown from my experience and I feel I'm in a solid place."
Balsley has noticed the difference.
"I think it's been more mental than physical. I think he realizes he doesn't need to overthrow to make a quality Major League pitch," Balsley said. "He's realizing his talent level and he believes in it."
Corey Brock is a reporter for MLB.com. Keep track of @FollowThePadres on Twitter. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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To register to vote in the State of Minnesota an individual must meet the following qualifications:
- Be a United States Citizen
- Be at least 18 years of age
- Be a Minnesota resident for at least 20 days before the election
- Not be a convicted felon without having civil rights restored
- Not under guardianship of the person where you have not retained the right to vote
- Not have been found be a court to be legally incompetent to vote
Must register to vote at least 20 days before the election or on Election Day at the polls.
Can select party affiliation at the polls.
Can select party affiliation at the polls.
Can register to vote in person or obtain a mail-in application from:
- County courthouses
- City halls
- Other public buildings throughout the state
- Many telephone books
- Your state tax booklet (in even-numbered years)
- State motor vehicle offices (when applying for or when renewing your state driver's license or state identification card)
You can also obtain a voter registration application online.
Absentee Voting:
The easiest way to vote by absentee ballot is to do so in person, at your county auditor or city or township clerk's office, starting 46 days prior to Election Day.
To obtain an absentee ballot through the mail, complete the Absentee Ballot application and send it to your county auditor. A ballot will be sent to you when it is ready (as early as 30 days before Election Day).
An absentee ballot application can also be found online.
Mail-in absentee ballots must be delivered to the County Auditor by Election Day. If submitting the ballot in person, it must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. on the day before Election Day. You can also have someone else return your ballot but they must do so by 3:00 p.m. on Election Day (this person cannot be a candidate and cannot return ballots for more than three voters).
For more election and voter information you can contact the Minnesota Secretary of State's Office.


text: doppelscropped2.jpg Arts, Culture & Media Two guys walk onto a plane PRI's The World November 02, 2015 There's a photo doing the rounds on the web of two red-bearded men. The doppelgangers met as they took their seats — next to each other — on a plane. That story and a quick background brief doppelgangers.


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Megan Racing Rear Lower Chassis Brace Honda 88-95 Civic Del Sol Blue
Product Details
The durability and longetivity of each MR strut bar with its CNC machined, 6061 billet aluminum construction. The 1.75" width and 0.75" thickness make them very unique compared to others, and the price is still very affordable. The rear lower tie bar installs underneath the trunk between the rear axles. It stabalizes your vehicle and gains extra handling while cornering.
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Yu battles command, remains baffled by A's
Rangers ace walks five, falls to 1-8 in 10 starts vs. Oakland
OAKLAND -- Rangers manager Ron Washington said Yu Darvish didn't have his good fastball command on Tuesday night. Darvish disagreed slightly with that assessment.
"Not just the fastball, I didn't have command of any of my pitches," Darvish said.
The result was another rough outing that left Darvish with a 4.94 ERA against the Athletics over the past three seasons and a 2.88 ERA against everybody else. That pretty much sums up his troubles against his arch-nemesis, troubles that continued.
Darvish allowed seven runs (four earned) in five-plus innings and is now 1-8 in 10 career starts against the A's after a 10-6 loss at the Coliseum. He is 0-3 with a 7.59 ERA in four starts at Oakland.
"For some reason, I don't have good numbers against them," Darvish said. "But I have to prepare for my next start. I'm not facing just the A's."
Darvish, who threw his first Major League shutout in his last start, managed to get through the first inning without giving up a run but was scored upon in each of the next five innings. Darvish gave up eight hits and walked a season-high five batters. He threw 99 pitches before leaving in his shortest outing since a 4-0 loss to the Athletics on April 28, when he lasted just 3 1/3 innings.
"We're fortunate," Athletics manager Bob Melvin said. "His stuff's so good. On top of that he's got like seven different pitches. You try to eliminate a couple, just not to get overload in your head as far as what you're looking for, but we've been really fortunate. We've made him work, we've made him throw some pitches, and we've got a few guys squaring him up and some guys have some good numbers off him, but it's not easy. He's about as good as you get."
Darvish was 6-1 with a 1.83 ERA in his last seven starts before the Athletics knocked him around.
"I don't know what it is about Darvish's style or how it just fits into our hitting patterns," Derek Norris said. "But one through nine, that guy was just grinding out every at-bat, whether he came away with an out or not. Every guy, it was a battle, and there weren't a lot of early outs. You could tell he was grinding, and that eventually wore him out and to the point where we got to him and scored some runs."
Washington said it all came down to lack of fastball command.
"Tonight he wasn't commanding his fastball," Washington said. "If he had been able to it would have been a different story. But he couldn't command his fastball, and after that there wasn't anything there he could find to get into the zone. It just wasn't his night.
"I don't know if he was frustrated. He was out there searching. Usually he finds something but tonight he couldn't find anything. He doesn't panic because he usually finds something in his repertoire. He just didn't find it."
Catcher Chris Gimenez said part of the problem was home-plate umpire Andy Fletcher wasn't giving Darvish the low strike zone.
"He had good stuff, we were just missing down in the zone," Gimenez said. "He wasn't giving us down in the zone and they made us pay for having to come up into the middle. They are a very sound team and they did an excellent job of making him put it up in the zone and not swinging at things that start in the zone and go out of the zone."
Darvish left the game with two on and nobody out in the sixth. The Athletics were leading 5-3 when Aaron Poreda came in and got two outs. But Shawn Tolleson gave up a three-run home run to Norris. The Rangers scored three in the top of the seventh but Norris doubled home two more runs in the eighth.
Those were the big blows on a night when the Rangers knocked Athletics starter Tommy Milone out of the game in the sixth. Rookie second baseman Rougned Odor was 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs.
"They are a really good team," Washington said. "They can score runs. We gave them some early opportunities and they took advantage of it, but the big blows were the three-run home run and the two-run double."
T.R. Sullivan is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Postcards from Elysian Fields, and follow him on Twitter @Sullivan_Ranger. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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Oak Bay Guest House
1052 Newport Avenue
Victoria, British Columbia, V8S 5E3, Canada
(250) 598-3812
Things to Do
About Us
April 13 - No water in the Shower
Boy, was my face red! This morning, our guests from the Garden Room came down early to an apparently enjoyable breakfast and only on leaving, did they mention that they hadn't been able to shower because there was no water coming out of the bathtub fawcet! Turns out that last week, the plumber had been by to replace a few washers in the various bathtubs and the various shut-off valves had been turned off. Since they weren't marked, we had no idea what they actually did . As that particular room was empty, no one noticed the lack of water in the tub, until after the fact. It's too bad that these guests weren't as enterprising as the ones who stayed with us previously (see article of The Lost Key)! Truly a Fawlty Towers moment!
Shades of Fawlty Towers
Gracepoint comes to Oak Bay
How It Came To Be
The Door Code
The Lost Key
Owner for a Week
March 1/12 - The New Doorbell
The Mouse Killa (March 8,2012)
April 11 - Wish I were really Sybil
April 13 - No water in the Shower
Basil's Fawlty Moment
Door Bell Saga Continues
The Pitfalls of Packaging
Oak Bay Guest House
1052 Newport Avenue
Victoria, British Columbia, V8S 5E3, Canada
(250) 598-3812
Site Map
Privacy Policy
Victoria Web Design and Hosting


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For over 60 years, Clarks Originals has been one of the most trusted footwear manufacturers in the world. Clarks introduced its Desert Boot at the Chicago Shoe Fair in 1950, and it remains a bestseller today. Perhaps the most widely recognized Clarks model, the Wallabee, was first released in 1961. Inspired by a moccasin, the Wallabee has become an American classic, beloved for its timeless design and supreme comfort. With their signature crepe soles, Clarks Originals shoes will continue to set the standard for premium casual footwear for years to come.
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This year has been good to investors so far.
The Dow Jones industrial average is up approximately 11 percent on the year. Household-name stocks -- namely consumer staples -- are soaring. Shares of Coca-Cola have risen more than 17 percent so far this year. Johnson & Johnson is up more than 21 percent.
Investors remain leery of the markets, so they're buying the big, safe stocks. But is it possible that this collective flight to safety is telegraphing a spring correction?
There's an old saying on Wall Street: "Sell in May and go away." Of course, it's not always a profitable move. If we could all simply follow this rule, everyone would be able to time the market and walk away with profits.
However, the sell-in-May mantra has actually worked very well for the past couple of years. In 2011, stocks enjoyed a fast start until they stumbled in late April. As it turns out, this was an early warning sign to the eurozone troubles that would eventually sink the market 19 percent in August and September.
2012 began with the same script. Stocks stair-stepped higher in an orderly fashion until a sharp drop in May, and June gave back all of the year's gains.
Fast-forward to 2013, and you will notice surprisingly similar price action in the broad market. Investors have enjoyed a steady rise in stocks with little interruption.
But recent market action indicates that investors might be readying for yet another spring slump. First-quarter earnings have been disappointing so far, with many management teams forecasting continued economic headwinds.
According to Bespoke Investment Group, out of the 200 companies that have reported earnings so far this season, only 58 percent were able to beat consensus earnings estimates. Revenue numbers came in even worse.
"Unfortunately, top-line revenue numbers haven't been pretty," Bespoke reports, noting that nearly 44 percent that have reported "have beaten revenue estimates, which would be the weakest reading seen since the financial crisis. Last earnings season, we saw a big bounce in revenue beats (when revenues beat expectations) after two very weak quarters, but it looks now like we're reverting back to what we saw in the middle of 2012."
As an investor, this should tell you to remain cautious. Don't chase the flashy momentum stocks this spring. This might be a fine strategy for traders, but if you're investing for the long haul, there's no reason to place wild bets on risky stocks while the broad market is flashing warning signs.
You can't allow complacency to creep into your investing routine. It's important to remember that greedy investors get slaughtered. You want to put your hard-earned dollars into the best possible stocks -- without taking unnecessary risks. If we're entering yet another "sell in May and go away" market, you'll have plenty of time for bargain hunting this summer.
Greg Guenthner, CMT, occasionally blogs about investing at Bankrate. The views expressed are entirely his own and do not reflect those of Bankrate.com.


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The Course Syllabus: A Report
Copyright © 2005 Bill Petkanas
There are as many ways to create a syllabus as there are types of professors.
The course syllabus is an important document. It is usually the first contact with our students and it sets up the expectations and requirements for what is to follow. It's worth asking, then, what should it be? How should I construct it?
I addressed this question to the literature on college teaching with the expectation that I would discover the answer. Surely, I thought in my innocence, the considerable interest and research on pedagogy would have produced the recipe for excellent syllabi. I was not disappointed.
There are, it turns out, as many different recipes for great syllabi as there are research projects dedicated to discovering them. It seems an excellent syllabus, like an excellent pot of chili, is a matter of taste and style. Good cooks know how to review recipes and take from this one and that one, the elements which will help them create their own fabulous chili. It seems that the same is true of the course syllabus. The recipes for a great syllabus below are available for you to follow or to use to generate ideas for your syllabi.
All of them come from research in which excellent college teachers have been identified through some set of criteria and those instructors were observed and/or interviewed. One aspect to be aware of is that many or all of those studied are institutions which allow course "shopping" (the practice that allows students to sit in on courses for a week or so and then decide on which ones to register for). This system may place a great deal more importance on the syllabus than we experience. Even so, the researchers found many good reasons to create complete, detailed syllabi. Keep in mind that this is by no means an exhaustive review of how to make a syllabus.
The Promising Syllabus
Ken Bain
Background: Ken Bain's What the Best College Teachers Do studied teachers who were identified as excellent (criteria involved student satisfaction, evidence of sustained influence on students, and a sense of excitement). The study then examined these teachers to see how they prepare, teach, relate with students, conduct classes and evaluate their students.
The Syllabus as promise contains three parts.
- The Promise. Lay out the educational promises and opportunities that this course will make available to students. It is an invitation to participate in a set of educational goals. It may begin with a story to set up what is exciting about the content of the course and then make the promises about what students will be able to do when they invest their effort in the course.
- Ways to fulfill the promise (formerly called "requirements" or "assignments.") This section explains what is expected of the students with full explanations of how these activities, papers, etc., work to fulfill the promise. The section insists that students are responsible for making the promise come true, which include the learning objectives and whatever habits of the heart or mind that may accompany the objectives.
- Ways to assess the nature and progress of learning (formerly "grading policy.") This should address grading as a dialog, e.g., "we will look at the following in order to provide feedback and assess your ability to _____."
The Learning Centered Syllabus
Judith Grunert
Background: Judith Grunert is at the Center for Instructional Development at Syracuse University. She advocates moving from instructional paradigms to learning paradigms. In terms of the syllabus, this means shifting the focus from what is covered in a course to what students need to be successful learners in a course.
The syllabus should be a very detailed document, more like a handbook than the one or two pages which is typically given to students. It should set high expectations for the students and for the instructor. There are six steps in planning to construct a syllabus.
- Develop a good rationale for the course. Consider writing a syllabus as an act of scholarship, complete with grounded assumptions and rules of evidence. Determine why the course begins and ends where it does. Consider what students should find fascinating. Explain where this course fits in with other courses.
- Determine goals and how they will be assessed. Consider how the means of assessment will be connected to the learner's world and frames of reference. Consider multiple ways of assessing learning and include some forms of self-assessment.
- Define the content. Consider what is worth knowing in terms of the course. Focus on the most important knowledge, skills and values. Be aware that too much content often means poorly learned (and soon forgotten) content. If critical thinking is an element, develop the problems, questions, issues that will best support it.
- Structure active involvement. Decide where different approaches will best suit the desired outcomes and use accordingly. A mix of modes of involvement may work best, choosing from training and coaching, lecturing and explaining, inquiry and discovery, groups and teams, experience and reflection.
- Identify and develop course resources. Identify what people, material and strategies will facilitate learning. List what readings, panels, speakers, lectures, collaborative activities, videos, maps, studios, labs, data bases, internet sites, etc., will assist in learning. Consider how you might challenge students to identify further resources.
- Focus on student learning when constructing the syllabus. After completing steps one through five, you are ready to begin writing the syllabus. This document establishes a point of contact, sets the tone for the course, describes purposes, logistics, expectations, and responsibilities. It can serve as a resource document and as a learning contract, among other things. Grunert suggests the following checklist for a syllabus:
- Title page
- Table of contents
- Instructor information
- Letter to the student
- Purpose of the course
- Course description
- Course and unit objectives
- Resources
- Readings
- Course calendar
- Course requirements
- Evaluation
- Grading procedures
- How to use the syllabus
- How to study for this course
- Content information
- Learning tools
As you might guess from the length of this list and the fact that she suggests that all handouts, assignments, etc., be distributed in this package, the syllabus becomes a long, detailed and complete document. She suggests the title "course handbook" rather than syllabus and, judging by the examples of tables of contents, are likely to run more than 75 pages. Examples of each the categories on the checklist are included in her book.
The Demanding Syllabus
Sharon Ann Baiocco
Background: Sharon A. Baiocco's Successful College Teaching is based on extensive interviews with 30 award-winning professors. Their teaching situations ranged from nine student labs to 400 student lecture classes. She found their syllabi to be rigid frames to communicate course information, model good planning, and demonstrate that the instructor understands the demands of the class and cares about the student. The demands are challenging and serious, but the language shifts between stern and warmly supportive.
Course objectives should be explicit and behaviorally oriented. Students should know what they will be expected to do and how this relates to the course content. For example, Demonstrate knowledge of ___ through ___ (discussion, term papers, examinations, written reports, etc.).
Course policies should be firm and limited to that which is essential and enforceable. Some examples include: all work must be typed, will not be accepted after the due date, no incompletes, no exceptions will be made, do not make travel plans before the exam date, do not enter after the scheduled start time of a class, and so on. These statements are emphatic, clear, and designed to encourage an expectation of high quality and conscientiousness. For some of these it is desirable to have the students decide on the requirements so that they buy into the due date, paper, report, etc.
In concert with the rigid frame is the supportive language which conveys a sense of interest on the course as well as the student. For example, "This particular material may be hard to understand at first, but trust me that after we reach a certain point, it will become clear. Don't get overwhelmed, just hang in there with me." And "individual assistance is always available by appointment," which also forestalls excuses that schedule conflicts were a problem in seeking help.
The Practical Syllabus
Barbara Gross Davis
Background: Barbara Davis's Tools for Teaching is a compendium of strategies for improving the teaching practices of college instructors. She describes teaching tools that cover traditional practical tasks as well as newer, broader concerns.
A well prepared syllabus will introduce students to you and your course, guides them through the weeks ahead, and demonstrates that you take you teaching seriously. For new faculty, she suggests looking over your colleagues' syllabi to get started and gives some practical advice on how to proceed.
- Anticipate students' questions. These often include, why should I take this course, what are the requirements, how will I be assessed, what are the course policies, how does it fit with my education, and do I have enough previous knowledge?
- Keep the syllabus flexible. Be prepared to issue a revised schedule mid way through the semester.
- Include more, rather than less, material. Richly detailed syllabi reduce student anxiety and can be a valuable tool for negotiating a course. Using headings, lists, tables, or charts to make information accessible. Informal language helps students feel comfortable with the instructor. If it becomes very lengthy, include a table of contents.
- Provide basic information. Explain the ways students can contact you in detail and when you're available for consultation.
- Describe prerequisites or other assumed prior knowledge so students can assess their readiness to succeed in this course.
- Give an overview of the purpose of the course. Explain what the course is about and how it fits in with the department or program. Consider writing an essay on the topic of the course to include in the syllabus and refer to it during the semester.
- State the general learning goals. Highlight the three to five major knowledge goals, competencies, or skills that you hope each student to master.
- Explain the structure of the course. Clarify why the course topics are arranged the way they are and the logic of the concepts and their order.
- Describe the requirements and format of the class, especially any fieldwork or other meetings at times other than the scheduled class time.
- List the readings and their availability (bookstore, on-line, on reserve, etc.) in detail. Describe any other physical requirements.
- List assignments, term papers, exams, and their due dates. Explain how these assessments relate to the expectations of the course. List the requirements for papers.
- State how grades are determined and what weight is given to each requirement. This can help students budget time and effort. If there are any special circumstances (extra credit, dropping the lowest quiz grade, etc.) articulate that here.
- Discuss course policies. Explain your housekeeping rules as they pertain to attendance, lateness, late assignments, extensions, classroom behavior, etc. Invite students with special needs to see you about accommodating them.
- Provide a course calendar or schedule. Update as needed. Include reading assignments, test dates, etc.
- Schedule feedback periods for you to get information from students as to how they see the course progressing. List important drop dates.
- Estimate student workload. Give students some idea of what they should expect to do outside of class to prepare for class and to complete assignments.
- Include helpful hints and ideas. Some possibilities include: how to study for this class, a glossary, references, copies of past exam questions, campus resources/labs, list of campus activities related to the course.
- Leave space for and encourage students to write down the names and numbers of a couple of classmates to contact if they miss a class.
The Minimalist Syllabus
John M. Carroll
Background: John Carroll, a professor of computer technology and psychology is an advocate of minimal information. The concept of minimalism in training is borrowed from the teaching of computer skills. John Carroll and the contributors to his books on computer training claim that less information is better, especially for technological skills or where the use of technology is an important element in a course.
This approach stresses ownership of information via experiential learning. Reading a syllabus (or anything else) is viewed as a passive activity. Learning is best when the student actively engages in the practical application of the subject matter. In this view, the more skeletal the instructions (or syllabus) the better. Students would need little time to absorb the basic requirements and ideas in the course and be able to spend more time involved in the application of skills, leading to better learning.
Carroll, J., ed. (1990). The Nurnberg Funnel: Designing Minimalist Instruction for Practical Computer Skill. Boston: MIT Press.
_____. (1998). Minimalism Beyond the Nurnberg Funnel. Boston: MIT Press.
Bain, K. (2004). What the Best College teachers Do. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Baiocco, S.A. (1998). Successful college teaching: problem-solving strategies of distinguished professors. Needlam Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Davis, B.G. (1993). Tools for Teaching. San Francisco: Josey-Bass.
Grunert, J. (1997). The course syllabus: A learning centered approach. Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing.


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SAN FRANCISCO Gap Inc. reported earnings per share for the second quarter, which ended July 31, increased 9% to 36 cents per share on a diluted basis, compared with 33 cents per share on a diluted basis last year. Net earnings grew 3% to $234 million compared with $228 million for the second quarter last year.
"Our economic model helped us deliver both sales and earnings growth for the second quarter, while we navigated some challenges along the way," said Glenn Murphy, chairman and chief executive officer of Gap Inc. "Looking forward, we're committed to our strategy of growing sales and market share in North America as we also invest in our long-term global and online growth initiatives."
Second quarter net sales were $3.32 billion compared with $3.25 billion for the second quarter last year. The company's second-quarter comparable-store sales increased 1% compared with a decrease of 8% for the second quarter last year. The company's online sales for the second quarter of fiscal year 2010 increased 15% to $258 million compared with $224 million for the second quarter last year.


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The 26th annual conference of the National Association of Presidential Assistants in Higher Education (NAPAHE) will take place in Washington DC from Friday, March 1, 2013 to Sunday, March 3, 2013. In addition to plenary sessions and keynote speakers, this conference will offer a wide selection of breakout sessions, roundtable discussions, and opportunities for networking with other professionals in the field. To view a detailed agenda, click here.
If you are planning to attend the NAPAHE conference, consider staying at our Washington DC lodging, a quick walk or bus ride from the conference venue. For directions from the Guest House, please see the map below.
View Directions to the Omni Shoreham Hotel from the American Guest House in a larger map


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Authentic Cheap Nike pays careful attention to the appearance of their shoes, and the Free Run+ is no different in this regard. It's a great looking shoe, and comes in just about any color you can imagine – this fact alone seems to be a testament to Nike's confidence that the shoe would be a big seller. Ads for the Free Run+ are colorful and highlight the shoe's flexibility, and it's one of the few more minimalist shoes that you will see on the walls of shopping mall shoe stores.One oddity about this shoe is that it has a curved last and an offset lacing system, which makes it look like the shoe bends medially when viewed from above. it's one of the most comfortable shoes that I own and I often wear it out and about simply for this reason. As for sizing, the shoe runs true to size for me, and the fit is nearly perfect. The forefoot is plenty roomy for my medium width foot, and the heel through arch fit is nice and snug. There is a bit of arch support, which will likely turn off those more interested in truly minimalist shoes, though it is slightly less pronounced if you remove the insoles.


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Executive Director of Lincoln's Community Development Resources Named Nebraska Financial Services Champion
Rick Wallace (above, center), the executive director of Lincoln's Community Development Resources, has earned the nod as the SBA's Nebraska Financial Services Champion for 2012.
Nebraska District Director Leon Milobar (above, right) presented the award to Wallace in a ceremony hosted by the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce June 28 at the Nebraska Club.
Nebraska Business Development Center Omaha Director Cliff Mosteller (above, left) nominated Wallace for the honor.
The SBA Nebraska District Office named one outstanding financial services provider to represent the state based on the amount and quality of assistance given small businesses to obtain financing outside of normal duties, advocacy for changes in the financial services industry to assist small companies, encouragement of the flow of investment capital to small ventures, active support for legislative or regulatory action with measurable results designed to help small firms.
Wallace, a native of Hastings, Neb., had the business know-how to help start-up businesses after years running a highway construction firm in Nebraska. With a mission to help others to start their own successful business, Wallace's organization in Lincoln, then known as the Self Employment Loan Fund (SELF), would make loans up to $5,000 to low- and moderate-income residents who sought funding to start a business. As these businesses grew, they would pay off their loan so the money in turn could finance further start-ups.
In 2003, SELF became CDR, and a certified SBA microlender; the next year, CDR became a Community Development Financial Institution under the U.S. Treasury Department, with a core purpose to offer financial products and services to people and communities underserved by traditional financial markets. By 2007, the non-profit could loan up to $100,000 to start or expand a small business.
"Our mission was to make a big impact with small amounts of money," Wallace said.
Then, in 2010, the SBA certified CDR as a 504 lender, able to use a powerful economic development loan program to offer small businesses in Nebraska another avenue for business financing, while promoting business growth, and job creation. The 504 Loan Program provides approved small businesses with long-term, fixed-rate financing used to acquire fixed assets for expansion or modernization. 504 loans are made available through Certified Development Companies, such as CDR, SBA's community based partners for providing 504 Loans.
Wallace continues to partner with lenders, Chambers of Commerce and economic development associations across the state through online marketing and word-of-mouth to help promote CDR's ability to offer loans under the 504 program. CDR already has a strong history of providing capital to more than 250 small businesses in the Lincoln area, creating more than 500 new jobs, many in economically-distressed areas of the city.
In economic downturns, SBA guaranteed loans, including the 504 program, typically become more attractive because the SBA provides lenders with some cushion for their risks. Lenders can provide SBA guaranteed loans for all business needs but typically turn to SBA for new businesses or businesses with less than adequate collateral, lower credit scores and smaller equity injections typically required for conventional loans.
Finally, in 2011, Lincoln business pioneer Alice Dittman and Barbara Bartle, President of the Lincoln Community Foundation, announced the creation of Alice's Integrity Loan Fund – a $1 million micro-lending program to assist business visionaries who have been underserved by traditional financial institutions. Dittman, once the CEO of Cornhusker Bank, saw an opportunity for her passion to meet a need within the community.
Dittman selected CDR to administer the program by providing technical assistance to loan recipients; using resources already established through the Nebraska Business Development Center, SCORE, the University of Nebraska Lincoln and Southeast Community College, the Fund will offer one-on-one assistance, networking, and educational opportunities as well as seed capital for small businesses.
Wallace also served as a Public Process Consultant in the Antelope Valley Investment Study which aims to improve downtown Lincoln transportation and include 90-some businesses in an effort to spur neighborhood revitalization.


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Celebrate European art with a Baroque Poster or Print
One of the gems of European art is the Baroque movement, which began in 17th century Italy. As well as fine art, the Baroque style encompasses sculpture, dance and literature. The architecture of the period is extremely grand and many palaces were built in this style.
Classical Beauty of a Baroque Poster
This emotional and dramatic style was approved of by the Roman Catholic Church for its often religious themes and is known for its complexity. Color is used to dramatic effect. Baroque was also loved by the Italian Medici dynasty. The word "Baroque" translates as "rough or imperfect pearl", showing its luxurious qualities. Famous artists of this style include Rubens, Caravaggio and Velazquez. Bernini was one of the most important sculptors and his work inspired later 18th century artists across Europe.
Baroque Poster
A Baroque poster from ARTFLAKES will give a classical look to any home. A poster of Baroque architecture would brighten any living room or hallway and a piece of canvas art would complete a romantic bedroom. ARTFLAKES supplies beautiful Baroque posters and canvas art along with many other styles and themes. Why not buy an art print perfect for a fine art lover today?


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PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y. According to the PC Games Digital Downloads: Analyst Report, from The NPD Group, in 2009, 21.3 million PC Game full-game digital downloads were purchased online in the United States compared with 23.5 million physical units purchased at retail during the same period.
While NPD's point-of-sale research shows that PC physical retail sales experienced a year-over-year revenue decline in 2009, it was still slightly larger than PC digital download sales on a unit basis, NPD reported. PC digital downloads represented close to half of unit sales across digital and retail at 48% in 2009, and accounted for 36% of dollar sales.
NPD found that free online gaming has taken its toll on digital retailers.
"The popularity of social network gaming increased from Q3'09 to Q4'09 as 4.8 million more people played games on a social network in the United States," said Anita Frazier, industry analyst, The NPD Group. "This demonstrates how consumers can now experience casual types of games through myriad vehicles, broadening the competitive landscape."
Free mobile gaming is also capturing the attention of gamers, illustrated by the 30% increase in usage of the iPhone and the iPod Touch as gaming devices from Q2'09 to Q4'09, according to NPD. Furthermore, 97% of those who downloaded a game app in Q4'09 downloaded a free version of a game.


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It has been 23 years since the Nikkei began to collapse and 19 years since we saw signs of deflation in Japan. Now, the Japanese government is finally preparing to aggressively target stimulating its country's economic activity by implementing massive monetary depreciation and directly monetizatizing new Japanese sovereign debt.
If the government succeeds in pursuing this path, the impact this will have on global capital markets is extraordinarily difficult to anticipate.
One of the primary reasons economists cite for the ineffectiveness of the fiscal and monetary interventions Japan has pursued over the past 20 years to successfully cause an increase in domestic economic activity there is that it has been too timid and with each stimulus measure. The government and central bank have been too far behind the demographic drag Japan has been experiencing for their actions to achieve their goals.
In the past few months, even as the Japanese have increasingly indicated their intentions to embark on this strategy, I have thought it was more political rhetoric than real strategy. Theoretically, this process would require the Japanese government to attempt to directly manage the value of the yen vs. other currencies, especially the U.S. dollar and euro. Part of that process would require the Bank of Japan not only to directly monetize new Japanese sovereign debt but to also purchase and attempt to manipulate down the long-end sovereign yields in the U.S. and Europe.
This is akin to the Japanese government attempting to exert control over not only the Japanese economy and Bank of Japan, but over much of the global capital markets.
At this point, we don't know if they will really make the attempt, how large the intervention will be, or what the response to it by global private capital and monetary, fiscal and government authorities in the rest of the world will be. But if they do begin this process, it should cause 10-year sovereign yields in the U.S., Germany and Japan to begin to move toward convergence. The dominant question is whether that means Japanese yields will rise to meet German and U.S. yields or if the German and U.S. yields will decline toward the Japanese yields.
The 10-year yield in Japan is about 80 basis points right now. The German yield is 1.43 and the U.S. 1.85%. All have risen over the past month, but the U.S. yields have risen the most.
Private sector Japanese investors appear to be unwinding their carry trades from first-tier global sovereign debt in the U.S., Germany, and the U.K., and recirculating the proceeds into Japanese equities. Meanwhile, concerns about a depreciating yen and the negative impact on real returns to Japanese investors take precedence to nominal returns achieved by investing outside of Japan.
This is helping to propel global equity prices higher, but it is also putting upward pressure on global long-end sovereign bond yields. The 10-year sovereign yields in the U.S., Germany, the U.K., Australia, and Japan have all been rising over the past month.
If the Japanese government successfully institutes these yen depreciation and management policies, long-end global sovereign yields will likely begin to decline soon afterwards because public money will soak up first-tier sovereign debt and force private capital increasingly into global equities, corporate bonds, real estate, gold, other hard assets, Japanese equities, and sovereign debt of second tier countries, such as Brazil.


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Next four games:
vs Tennessee
@ Houston
@ Kansas City vs Houston
I see the only loss coming at Houston and then they'll rap up the #1 seed and the division, which means they'll rest their stars in week 17, which means the Colts should win that one. The other two a definite win-able games. KC is 2-10 and Tennessee is 4-8. We could be 11-5 at the end of the year. Who would've thought?!?!?!


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WASHINGTON (AP) -- A senior New York Police Department official says law enforcement has interviewed at least 13 people since 2005 with ties to Iran's government who were seen taking pictures of New York City landmarks. Police consider the activity to be pre-operational surveillance.
Mitchell Silber, the NYPD's director of intelligence analysis, told Congress that New York's international significance as a terror target and its large Jewish population make the city a likely place for Iran or its proxy terrorist group, Hezbollah, to strike.
Silber says the 13 people interviewed by law enforcement were ultimately released.
U.S. officials long have worried that Iran would use Hezbollah to carry out attacks inside the United States. The concerns have grown in recent months as tensions between the U.S. and Iran escalate.


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Local Environmental Public Health System Assessment
The Farifax County Health Department's Division of Environmental Health concluded the initial phase of a Local Environmental Public Health System Assessment (LEnvPHSA) in November 2010. The process was developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the purpose of providing a standardized approach toward evaluating environmental health programs against a set of nationally recognized Environmental Health Program Standards.
The National Association of City and County Health Officials (NACCHO) evaluated this process as Fairfax County will be the first jurisdiction in the United States to apply LEnvPHSA to the extent that the agency is planning.
Assessment Final Report
The Local Environmental Public Health System Assessment (Assessment) was selected as the instrument that would be used to inform the broader Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships (MAPP) initiative.
This Assessment instrument consists of ten model Standards, which are based on the ten Essential Services. Each model standard is evaluated against a set of 3-12 assessment questions that serve as measures of performance. The responses to these questions indicate how well the model standards - which represent the spectrum of environmental public health activities that should be provided by the local environmental health system in any jurisdiction -are being met. A total of 38 participants representing 13 organizations/agencies participated in this Assessment.
View Local Environmental Public Health System Assessment final report (PDF).
Community Environmental Health Profile
The process aims to bring all of the diverse components of the environmental health system together to promote continuous improvement of the national environmental public health system and foster improvement at the local level through the following efforts:
- - Build capacity to provide the ten Essential Environmental Services
- - Build community accountability for environmental public health services
- - Build consistency of services across environmental health system programs
This document was used to conduct a comprehensive the Local Environmental Public Health System Assessment (LEnvPHSA) posted on this webpage above.
View the Community Environmental Health Profile (PDF).
Partnership for a Healthier Fairfax
View other assessments that are part of the
Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships (MAPP) process.


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Mini Neapolitan Baked Alaskas Recipe
Surprise-there's ice cream inside! With fancy looks and decadent flavor, this recipe's a real showstopper. Kids and adults will love this scaled-down classic. —Taste of Home Test Kitchen
Featured In: 32 Recipes For Your Baking Bucket List
VERIFIED BY Taste of Home Test Kitchen
- 4 foil muffin liners
- 4 chocolate wafers
- 1 cup reduced-fat strawberry ice cream
- 3 egg whites
- 6 tablespoons sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Flatten muffin liners; place on a baking sheet. Place a wafer on each. Scoop 1/4 cup of ice cream onto each wafer; freeze.
- Meanwhile, in a small heavy saucepan, combine the egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar; beat on low speed with a portable mixer for 1 minute. Continue beating over low heat until mixture reaches 160°, about 12 minutes. Remove from the heat; add vanilla. Beat until stiff peaks form and sugar is dissolved, about 4 minutes.
- Remove baking sheet from freezer; immediately spread meringue over ice cream, sealing to edges of wafers. Broil 4-6 in. from the heat for 1-2 minutes or until meringues are lightly browned. Serve immediately. Yield: 4 servings.
Originally published as Mini Neapolitan Baked Alaskas in Healthy Cooking December/January 2009, p15
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2012.04.25 Leon Shulters: Ohio Interstate system should be completed
The State of Ohio has not completed the interstate highway system as of now, according to a news report in the Toledo Blade.
The interstate highway system is completed throughout the United States. I disagree with this statement. Where is Interstate 80 and 90 through the state of Ohio? Interstate 90 in Ohio starts in Elyria, Ohio, and goes east to the Pennsylvania line. Interstate 80 starts in Youngstown, Ohio, and goes to the Pennsylvania line. The most miles traveled in Ohio on Interstate 80 and 90 are toll road miles.
An interstate highway is toll free. You pay for the interstate highway system through the fuel taxes.
My argument is this: Ohio should complete the interstate highway system before they sell any highway.
– Leon H. Shulters
County Road 10-3, Lyons, Ohio


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I spoke to Varney & Company's Charles Payne this morning about the emerging market selloff and what is driving it.
At its heart?
Current account deficits. Turkey, South Africa, Argentina and Brazil—the countries that have been in the headlines the most of late—all have large current account deficits. Part of this is due to slowing commodity exports to a slowing China, but the strength of the local consumer economy—particularly in Turkey and South Africa—is a factor as well.
All else equal, a country that persistently imports more than it exports will see its currency weaken. Of course, all else is rarely equal, and large capital inflows in the form of direct investment and portfolio investment can cause a country's currency to remain strong even in the face of persistent deficits. This was certainly the case for the United States during the "strong dollar" days of the late 1990s.
It was just a few years ago that emerging market finance ministers fretted that too much capital was flowing their way and causing currency values to rise to the point of choking off economic activity. Annoyed by the rapid appreciation of the real, Brazilian finance minister Guido Mantega declared that he was fighting a "currency war" to keep the real competitive, and that he had no intentions of losing.
Ah, those were the days.
It is important to realize that, while emerging currencies can always go lower, this is not 1997. We are not on the verge of a major emerging market crisis, unless something radically changes from today's status quo. Unlink in 1997, most of the countries seeing their currencies come under pressure are on floating exchange rate regimes and, frankly, a little depreciation is not entirely a bad thing if it boosts exports and closes the current account deficit. In the meantime, we're getting some fantastic bargains in many emerging stock markets.
Google Sells Its Handset BusinessI also spoke with Mr. Payne about Google's (GOOG) selling its handset business to Lenovo.
Leave it to Google to keep us all guessing. When Google first bought Motorola Mobility in 2011, we all assumed it was a "land grab" for the company's patents. Google was getting sued on multiple fronts for alleged patent infringement related to its Android operating system.
We all expected Google to keep the patents…and dump the hardware business. Yet Google surprised us all by making a go at it as a manufacturer.
In the final analysis, was it a bad move for Google? Not really. After various assets were stripped and sold off, Google ended up paying about $4 billion for the patent portfolio. Given Google's cash hoard, that is pocket change, and we may never know the extent to which Android needed those patents to avoid punitive lawsuits.
Going forward, Google will have a cleaner balance sheet without the hardware business, and selling to Lenovo makes good business sense. Lenovo has a great presence in emerging markets, and it helps reduce Google's dependency on Samsung.
About the author:
Mr. Sizemore has been a repeat guest on Fox Business News, quoted in Barron's Magazine and the Wall Street Journal, and published in many respected financial websites, including MarketWatch, TheStreet.com, InvestorPlace, MSN Money, Seeking Alpha, Stocks, Futures and Options Magazine, and The Daily Reckoning.


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Will someone other than Android or iOS start gaining mindshare and how does that affect the whole telco infrastructure
mbakal 2700018HB6 Comment (1) Visits (3243)
The first question may boil down to the CSPs ability to compete not just on price and connectivity but also on functionality. With more phones and OSes driving differentiation CSPs can get back to what they do best, building out different functionality, selling secure services for infrastructure, etc. In building out this functionality it enables them to target different segments of the market specifically like secure services for business users, specific networks for industry needs, etc. With everyone always choosing only certain OSes the options on phones the end users in these business chose were getting much more limited and hence the CSPs were limited in how to differentiate.
The other question is why should consumer care? In this case the reason is because more OSes mean the potential for not just increment improvement but true innovation. The ability to tightly integrate to your own company's network or directly onto your Windows machine are some of the ways innovation can occur. Add to those basic concepts different ideas about the best UI experience and we can see true innovation in a strongly growing marketplace.


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One hundred years after his birth, Alberto Vargas is still regarded as "The King of Pin-Up Art."
You can see it in the way he painted the nape of a neck, the flush of a cheek, the sensuous curve of a voluptuous breast. Stand in front of one of Alberto Vargas' paintings of a beautiful woman, such as "Reflection in Mirror," and what you see is a man in love, passionately in love, and trying to use his art to express the depth and delicacy of his feelings. Gaze at the way he always rendered women, so glorified, so idealized, and you cannot help but wonder: Who was the real-life woman who could inspire such eloquent testaments of love and adoration?
Her name was Anna Mae Clift, and for the six decades Vargas was one of America's most celebrated and distinctive illustrators, she was his one true love. She was also Vargas' first model, his inspiration for "Reflection in Mirror" and countless other paintings, and she was the archetype for his fabled Vargas Girl, the luscious pin-up published each month in Esquire in the 1940s and early 1950s and then for 16 years in Playboy. But Anna Mae was far more. For 44 years, she was Vargas' wife, his business manager, his confidante and his devoted companion. Anna Mae was also Vargas' fiercest protector in the long, nasty legal battle the couple waged with Esquire over money, contracts and, above all, the rightful ownership of Vargas' name and artistic output.
Now, on the 100th anniversary of her creator's birth, it is appropriate to pay tribute, via the accompanying photos, to The Vargas Girl, a unique and enduring American icon. So beautiful, so accessible, The Vargas Girl made her way from the Ziegfeld Follies to magazines, posters, calendars, even decks of cards. In the Second World War, she made her way onto posters supporting the war effort, onto the noses of the bombers and fighter planes going into battle, and she went right to the front lines, tucked in the knapsacks of men far away from their homes and sweethearts. With his Vargas Girls, and the seductive portraits he did of many of the most beautiful women in Hollywood, Vargas came to occupy a permanent space in the male imagination and in our popular culture as a whole. With a style and subject matter as distinctive and easily recognized as those of Norman Rockwell, Vargas will long be remembered, like Rockwell, as one of the twentieth century's premier figures in American magazine illustration and commercial art.
But this is also an appropriate time to pay tribute to Anna Mae and to bring Alberto Vargas and his art into a whole new light. In a cruel irony, the sexy image and the fabulous success of his Vargas Girl have totally obscured far richer dimensions of Vargas' life and work. Indeed, while Vargas is known the world over as "The King of Pin-up Art," his gift for portraiture and his exceptional mastery of the medium of watercolor have been almost completely overlooked. His idealized Vargas Girl has stirred the hearts of millions of American men, and yet even her beauty pales next to the real-life, little-known love story Alberto shared with his Anna Mae. While Vargas' work has often been praised as capturing and reflecting the wholesome zest and openness of The American Girl and the national spirit, the course of Vargas' life and work--and the troubles he had with the magazines that made him famous--reflect something darker and probably closer to the truth. Indeed, when seen in a fuller light, the life of Alberto Vargas stands out as a tragic story of exploitation, greed and genius wasted.
Joaquin Alberto Vargas y Chavez was born on Feb. 9, 1896, in the mountain city of Arequipa, Peru. Alberto was the first of six children born to Margarita and Max Vargas, a prominent photo-grapher known throughout Peru for his portraits and landscapes. As a young boy, when he wasn't in school, Alberto often spent time in his father's studio, getting to know the equipment and the basics of the craft.
Like many well-to-do Peruvian families, Max and Margarita wanted their children to have a first-rate education, preferably in one of Europe's finest schools. When Alberto reached adolescence, the family plan was for him to go to Switzerland to complete his studies and then do apprenticeships at the best photo studios in Geneva and London. Afterwards, he was to return to Arequipa and work with his father. Max Jr., his younger brother, would go with Alberto to Europe and begin preparing for a career in banking.
Though he agreed to the plan, in his heart Alberto harbored a different ambition. Since he was a young boy, his real love had been drawing. In quiet moments in the photo studio, he taught himself to sketch and do caricatures. According to many accounts, even as a boy Alberto had an evident gift for art and drawing.
In 1911, as planned, Max Vargas sailed for Europe with Alberto and Max Jr., en route for Switzerland. Their father took them by way of Paris, where he was to be awarded a gold medal for a photo study he had done of Inca ruins.
For young Alberto, then 15, the museums of Paris were a revelation. The art of Ingres and other great masters thrilled him, and Alberto threw himself into trying to emulate their work. In later trips to Paris he would spend entire days in the Louvre, sketching the classical Greek statues and teaching himself how to draw the human form and give it life. Parisian museums, galleries and magazines were filled with paintings celebrating the female form--without clothes or any other inhibitions--and Alberto was deeply inspired by them as well.
Still, good son that he was, Alberto spent the next five years as his father intended: studying in elite schools in Switzerland, learning French and German in addition to his native Spanish, and beginning a photo apprenticeship in a prestigious studio in Geneva. A photo taken of Alberto at the age of 17 shows a shy, soulful young man with a Latin air, soft, delicate features, a wisp of a moustache and the tailoring of a fashionable young dandy, right down to the silk handkerchief in the breast pocket of his suit and the jewelled stick-pin set just below the rakish knot in his tie.
Then came war. In 1916, with the gruesome battles of the First World War raging across Europe, a jittery Max Vargas sent an urgent cable instructing Alberto to immediately make his way to London. Alberto did as told, but wartime restrictions halted his journey in Paris. So, on new orders from his father, Alberto wound up on a ship bound for New York City, with a planned connection back to Peru. Max Jr. was to join him in New York as soon as possible. This would prove to be a fateful detour; from this point on, nothing in Alberto Vargas' life would go according to his father's plan.
Vargas arrived in the port of New York on a glorious autumn morning in October 1916. The sunlight was dazzling and the streets were a raucous swirl of color, movement and that raw vitality that is so unique to the island of Manhattan. Vargas had never felt such excitement. Everything he saw was so new, so exotic. The placid towns and lakes of Switzerland seemed an arid desert by comparison. Vargas spent his first days in America just walking the streets, taking in the sights and sounds and all the electricity in the air.
What excited him most were the American women. They were not shy and demure like the Latin women back home in Arequipa. They were not stolid and fleshy like the women in Geneva. They were not coy and coquettish like the women he had seen in Paris. No, to his eyes American women seemed unique. He liked their jaunty stride, their openness, their air of independence and their look of healthy, uncomplicated sensuality. At noon, when work stopped and women came rushing out of shops and office buildings for their midday break, Alberto fell into a complete romantic swoon.
"From every building came torrents of girls," he would later recall of his first days in America. "I had never seen anything like it.... Hundreds of girls with an air of self-assuredness and determination that said, 'Here I am, how do you like me?' This certainly was not the Spanish, Swiss or French girl!"
Within a few days of his arrival, Vargas had made up his mind: he was not going back to Peru. He was going to find a way to stay in America. In this same rush of independence, he made another decision: he would pursue his true love, painting. Did he have the necessary talent? Could he succeed as a painter? Was there any way he could stay in New York, amid all these fabulous women, and find a way to make a living? Vargas had no idea. Though he knew that following his dream might prove to be pure romantic folly, he was still determined to give it a try.
And then it happened. Just a short time later, Vargas was walking along Broadway, in the heart of the theater district, when something magical caught his eye. It was a mass of luscious red hair, bouncing along through the crowd. "It was so sunny her hair was shining like fire," says Astrid Vargas-Conte, Vargas' niece and his aide and confidante during the last eight years of his life. "Alberto followed that hair and saw that it belonged to a young woman. She looked warm and vivacious and Alberto fell in love right there. He followed the girl to a theater where she worked and he asked the doorman for her name."
The theater was the home of the Greenwich Village Follies, and Vargas learned that the girl with the flaming red hair was named Anna Mae Clift. As the artist later told his niece, he waited at the theater for several hours, until rehearsal was over. When Anna Mae came out, Vargas shyly approached her and, in his broken English, introduced himself. He told her he was an artist and that he would love to paint her portrait, but he had no money with which to pay her. Anna Mae liked him right away and agreed to pose for him, at no cost. Vargas, of course, was overjoyed.
For Anna Mae was a painter's dream: she had a lithe, delicate body, and under that mass of red hair she had the most extraordinary set of eyes. Most of the time they were the palest of blue, but if something triggered her volatile temper, that blue would turn dark and intense. Vargas adored her and was mesmerized by the quixotic nature of her moods and beauty. She came from the tiny backwoods town of Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee, but to Vargas she seemed of noble blood and spirit; in fact, to him she was the dream embodiment of all the romanticized notions he had formed about The American Woman. Anna Mae began posing for him regularly, always declining payment, but Vargas never dared reveal to her his true feelings and passion. Instead, he poured them into his art and into his private diary.
"What a girl!" he wrote in one entry. "The more I see of her, the less I know of her. But why be down-hearted? You might spend a lifetime and not know one woman! Her haughtiness and regal allure confuse yet fascinate me, beyond my pals' comprehension. How am I so lucky, or is it my conceit that I alone seem to penetrate a trifle deeper, below her sphinx-like surface.... Her eyes overpower me; I've never been able to gaze at her for more than a second or two, even when I paint her. A feeling overwhelms me that she may contemplate my naked soul."
The early art born of this chance encounter comes as shock today, especially for anyone who knows Vargas only through his pin-up art and the Vargas Girls published in Esquire and Playboy. His early paintings of Anna Mae and other young showgirls in New York show a master's touch, and many have echoes of Ingres, Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec's renderings of Parisian dance halls and cabarets. His 1920 portrait of Lila Lee, also known as "Yellow Canary," reveals his gift for rendering and animating the nude female body. Likewise, his soulful 1930 portrait of the Ziegfeld Girl Caja Eric, with its shades of Rembrandt and Vermeer, reveals his depth and sensitivity as a portraitist.
Seeing these early works in the original is cause for both joy and sadness. The originals are high art, and yet the world knows Vargas' art almost exclusively via magazine reproductions, which suggest nothing of the sort. For while Vargas sometimes worked in oil, pastels or pen and ink, his preferred medium was watercolor, and no magazine reproduction can do a watercolor justice. Seen in their original form, Vargas' watercolors reveal a technique and grace that few artists can even approach. Examine some of his best originals and all you can do is gaze in awe and wonder: "How in the world did he do it?" Somehow Vargas found ways to use watercolor to achieve the subtlest effects: a nuance of skin tone, the texture of the hair at the nape of a woman's neck, the intricate detail and shading of the heel of a stocking or the tip of a breast. Clearly, even in his early 20s, Vargas was already a master watercolorist.
His stunning portrait "Spanish Lace," painted in 1928 and also known as "Spanish Gypsy," is a perfect illustration of the prodigious talent evident in Vargas' early work. The beauty of the gypsy woman, the rich color of her eyes and lips, the play of light on the raven black of her hair, the extraordinary delicacy of the lace shawl draped over her shoulder--few artists can achieve these effects in any medium. And as his "Spanish Lace" makes clear, few artists this century could convey feminine beauty with as much feeling and reverence as Alberto Vargas.
Seeing Vargas' early work in its original form raises two disturbing questions about the way his life and career unfolded. In his 20s, Vargas was clearly a very serious painter of enormous promise, driven by a desire to emulate the great European masters. What became of this prodigious talent? And how did Alberto Vargas wind up being known not as one of the great painters of the twentieth century, but as The King of Pin-up Art?
Necessity is a mother. When Vargas chose to stay in New York, and not return to Peru to work for his father, Max Vargas extended his best wishes to his wayward son and told him there would be no more financial support. The young man was left to fend for himself, with no command of the English language and no evident means of support. Worse, in a high-flying showgirl he knew he had found his muse and one true love, and he simply did not have the means to hire her to pose for him, much less to court her. So, like many immigrants to America, Vargas went out to find whatever work he could.
According to his autobiography, produced in collaboration with Reed Austin, an art director at Playboy, and published in 1978, Vargas first found work retouching negatives for a photographer on Fifth Avenue. His first art-related job was at Butterick Patterns, where he drew hats and heads for its sewing books. In late 1917, he sold three pen-and-ink drawings for five dollars each. When he sold five more for $30 each, he quit Butterick to try his luck as a freelance artist.
His timing was good. The First World War was drawing to a close, the Jazz Age was not far off and New York was a thriving center of fashion, publishing and commercial art. Vargas got freelance work from several New York-based newspapers and magazines, and he worked hard to develop his command of watercolors. By now, his subject matter was almost exclusively women. To achieve an unusual softness and finish to his portraits, he worked with an airbrush, a tool with which he had much earlier experimented in his father's studio.
Soon, Vargas' work caught the eye of the theatrical producer Florenz Ziegfeld, whose Ziegfeld Follies were then in their heyday. In 1919, Ziegfeld offered him a full-time position to paint lush, idealized promotional portraits of his fabled Ziegfeld Girls. It was a huge break for Vargas, and with a single handshake, he and Ziegfeld sealed a verbal agreement that would soon turn Vargas into the official portrait painter of the Ziegfeld Girls. For the next 12 years, the job would provide him money, stature and an endless array of beautiful women to paint. The shy, diminutive immigrant from Peru had landed in clover. Or so it would seem.
While Vargas provided the artistry, it was Ziegfeld who set down the aesthetic and moral standards. Sensuality and allure were the aim; sex should be suggested, but never declared. As Vargas later put it, from Ziegfeld he learned "the delicate borderline between a nude picture and a wonderful portrait with style and class." Or, as he also put it, he learned "the difference between nudes and lewds." Vargas' temple now was Broadway's New Amsterdam Theatre, not the Louvre, and Ziegfeld set the standard, not Ingres. Unfortunately, much of Vargas' work from the 1920s was destroyed in a fire at a warehouse used by Ziegfeld.
Throughout the 1920s, alongside his work for Ziegfeld, Vargas took on major assignments from the most prominent newspapers and magazines in America. He also did advertisements, brochures, covers for sheet music and portraits on a commission basis. His income grew, and so did his collections of books and fine clothes. Beyond that, though, Vargas was never self-indulgent or interested in money. "Alberto lived to paint," says his niece, Astrid Vargas-Conte. "He didn't paint to live."
During this period, Vargas guarded his love for Anna Mae Clift, without daring to declare his affections. He was an artist, she was his muse and inspiration, and he did not want to do anything that might jeopardize this rapturous connection. Besides, Anna Mae was a beautiful showgirl and a bit of a gadfly and party girl; Alberto never dared imagine she might want to settle in with him. According to his niece, though, in 1930, after many years of friendship, Anna Mae had made up her own mind; she suggested to Vargas the idea of marriage. Of course, he agreed. "Alberto was so shy he could never ask her," his niece says. "He was afraid she might say no."
The 1930s were the era of Art Deco and Hollywood glamour queens, and Vargas was swept up into both. His illustrations of the period have a definite Art Deco look, and in 1934 Twentieth Century Fox Movie Studios brought the Vargases out to Hollywood. He painted portraits of Fox's leading women and men, helped design movie sets and painted renditions or direct portraits of Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Dorothy Lamour, Paulette Goddard, Barbara Stanwyck and even the child star Shirley Temple.
With such beauties posing in the intimacy of their studios, many painters might have become sexually rambunctious. Not Vargas, by all accounts. His heart and his affections were totally consumed by Anna Mae. Now a full-time wife, she rained affection on Vargas. She cooked for him, she doted on him, she did all the shopping, paid all the bills, answered the phone and steered visitors away from the small studio where he worked, just behind the bungalow they had bought in Westwood. They never had children; their lives totally revolved around each other. In essence, Anna Mae spun a cocoon around her husband, so he could devote himself to his art.
"I've never seen such compassion between two people," says Austin, who often went out to California and stayed with the Vargases when he was working at Playboy. "I had never seen such ease or grace between a couple, such mutual respect."
In 1939, their idyllic cocoon was ripped open. Vargas, then working at Warner Brothers Studios, joined a small band of studio artists in a union walkout. As a result, he was promptly blacklisted, not just at Warner Brothers but at every studio in town. The word went out in Hollywood that Vargas was a communist. For eight months the Vargases had no income. Friends chipped in, and the couple took in boarders and borrowed on insurance policies. But none of it was enough. Finally, in May 1940, Vargas took a bus back to Manhattan, with his portfolio under his arm and only one suit left to his name.
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text: W.Va. GOP to make Voter ID an issue in 2013 By The Associated Press January 1, 2013 Story Share CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Armed with their largest share of the House of Delegates in decades, West Virginia Republicans plan to resume their push to require voters to show photo identification at the polls, adding the state to a growing group that expect to debate the topic this year.House Minority Leader Tim Armstead said the GOP proposal would mandate a photo ID while helping those who don't have such identification to obtain one. The bill is expected during the 2013 regular session of the Legislature, which begins Feb. 13."Requiring identification when voting is a simple step that we can take to make our elections fairer and to ensure that the outcome of our elections actually reflects the will of our citizens," said Armstead, a Kanawha County lawyer."People are required to show identification to cash a check, to enter many sporting and other events, and to open bank accounts."West Virginians now must provide proof of their physical address when they register to vote at a state or county office. They must then sign a poll book, which contains a copy of their signature, before they cast their ballot. Voters who register by mail must show identification the first time they show up to vote."I feel as though we have strong voter ID laws and requirements," said Secretary of State Natalie Tennant, West Virginia's elections chief.Both Armstead and Tennant, a Democrat, cited the latest round of election fraud that has long plagued the state and in particular its southern counties.Three now-former Lincoln County officials -- a commissioner, sheriff and clerk -- all pleaded guilty last year to federal charges arising from an attempt to sway the 2010 Democratic primary with fraudulent absentee ballots. Tennant's office helped investigate the conspiracy. Earlier episodes of fraud involved schemes to buy primary votes in Democratic-dominated Lincoln and Logan counties. "A stronger voter ID law would not have stopped what took place there," Tennant said of the absentee ballot plot. "We don't have a problem with voter impersonation. We may have a problem with people trying to manipulate the system in other ways, but let's not focus on finding a solution to a problem that doesn't exist."Tennant said she instead hopes to enlist Republican lawmakers to support a measure from her office that aims to help counties keep their voter rolls up to date. Attempts to attract GOP co-sponsors for that proposal did not succeed during last year's session. The 2012 Voter ID legislation, meanwhile, never emerged from the initial committee to which they were referred in the House and state Senate.At least 33 states have passed voter ID laws, according to research by the National Conference of State Legislatures. Court challenges temporarily blocked photo ID requirements in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Two other states -- Ohio and Virginia -- have bolstered their laws in recent years but each allows for non-photo IDs.But NCSL counts Virginia among 11 states where the debate over voter ID continues, with supporters advocating for a strict photo ID requirement. While Armstead's caucus now holds 46 of the West Virginia House's 100 seats, Democrats hold the rest as well as 25 of 34 Senate seats. Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin is also a Democrat.Armstead said the West Virginia GOP proposal contains language meant to ensure that legitimate voters won't be stopped from casting their ballots."Allegations that requiring a voter ID would disenfranchise certain groups or prevent our citizens from voting are simply unfounded," Armstead said.Tennant said she remains willing to consider additional ID requirements. She cited technology that would provide precincts with digital copies of voters' photos. "If you can assure me that there's no cost on the voter, that the burden is not on the voter, then I am willing to look," Tennant said. "This is different than your driver's license, or getting on a plane, or buying beer or cigarettes. This is a right. Those are privileges, and we should not put undue burdens on someone's right."Voter ID was an issue in this year's election battle between Tennant and her Republican opponent, Brian Savilla. Tennant defeated Savilla by more than 158,000 or nearly 25 percent, the largest margin of any of the non-federal races for statewide office. A freshman delegate who challenged Tennant instead of seeking a second legislative term, Savilla was also outraised by Tennant in a low-spending contest that competed with the races for such offices as state Supreme Court, governor and U.S. Senate for voter attention. Story Share Story Share Trending Now 1 Derek Redd: Marshall thinks outside the cable box for broadcasts 2 New leaders begin to emerge for Marshall football 3 Former State Police captain now chief in Winfield 4 Philanthropist Betty Schoenbaum of Shoney's fortune turns 100 5 Rod Run and Doo Wop brings classic cars, music to Boulevard for 12th year Off-duty trooper run over by shoplifting suspect Previous Story Bill to avert 'fiscal cliff' heads to House Next Story


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Helen Navarette: A visitation and viewing are scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m., Tuesday, March 25, at the Woodland Funeral Home, 305 Cottonwood St., Woodland. A funeral mass is scheduled for 10:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 26, at Holy Rosary Catholic Church, 301 Walnut St., Woodland. Burial will follow at Monument Hill Memorial Park, 35036 CR-22, Woodland. A reception will follow burial at Tumulty Hall, 315 Walnut St. Woodland.
William "Bill" Henry Sanford Jr.: A graveside service and burial is scheduled for 2 p.m., Tuesday, March 25, at Monument Hill Memorial Park, 35036 CR-22, Woodland. A celebration of life will be held for family members after the funeral. Donations in Mr. Sanford's name can be made to the Yolo SPCA. Kraft Brothers Funeral Directors is assisting the family with arrangements.
William Christopher "Chris" Mortensen: A funeral service is scheduled for 10 a.m., Wednesday, March 26, at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery, 5810 Midway Road, Dixon.
Stanley Allen Coppock: A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m., Thursday, March 27, at the Unitarian-Universalist Church, 27074 Patwin Road, Davis.
Tom Stevens: An interment ceremony will be held at 11 a.m., Saturday, May 31, at Monument Hill Memorial Park, 35036 CR-22, Woodland. An informal gathering of family and friends will be held following the internment.


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Give your nesting bird comfort and privacy at an economical price. Nest Box comes fully assembled. Constructed with 1/2" plywood and dowel perch. Hinge top opens for easy access and maintenance. Maintains stable nest temperature and humidity for successful hatching.
Please click on "More Information" for tips on satisfying nest-making urges.


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For additional information about U.S. recalls and salmonella cases linked to the Daniella mangoes, please see "U.S. distributor, retailers recall Daniella mangoes"and "United Supermarkets joins mango recall"
(UPDATED COVERAGE, Aug. 27) Canadian officials updated a public warning about Mexican mangoes, identifying Daniella brand as those being recalled by distributor North American Produce Sales because of possible salmonella contamination.
Several illnesses have been confirmed in relation to consumption of the fruit, according to the Canadian government.
The Daniella mangoes were sold individually. Their stickers included the Price Look-Up code of 4959 and other information, according to the Canadian Food inspection Agency. Retailers sold the mangoes between July 12 and August 14.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency posted the original voluntary recall notice from the Vancouver, British Columbia-based distributor Aug. 24.
The CFIA updated notice said the fruit "may have been" distributed in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon.
The CFIA notice did not include any other traceability information. Officials at the distributor were not immediately available for comment.


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Canvas Learning Management System Overview
8/26/2013 - Canvas is available to all faculty for all courses. For more information about Canvas at UT Austin, visit http://canvas.utexas.edu.
The Course and Learning Management System (LMS) Evaluation was a collaborative project between the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) and Information Technology Services (ITS). The goals of the project were to gather requirements from the university community for a next-generation LMS, conduct a fair and impartial assessment of the LMS options available, and recommend a LMS that meets the stated academic and technical needs of campus. A Request for Proposal (RFP) was issued in summer 2011, and after careful review and evaluation, the two finalists (Blackboard and Instructure Canvas) were only separated by a few points. As such, the recommendation of the customer steering committee was to move forward with a dual award. Additional information on the evaluation project can be found here: https://its.utexas.edu/projects/course-mgmt.
Moving to a different LMS is a significant proposition: faculty, students, and support staff would need to learn a new system, and faculty would need to move approximately 12,000 courses. According to peer institutions, transitions from one LMS to another take from 1-3 years and require significant investment, both in terms of time and staff. Before making such a decision, it is critical that Canvas has been thoroughly tested in an active classroom setting by University of Texas at Austin faculty and students.
About Canvas:
Canvas is a cloud-hosted learning management system from Instructure (Higher Ed). Canvas recently surpassed the 200 customer threshold and is in use by Auburn University, Brown University, New Mexico State University, and the Utah Education Network (including University of Utah and Utah State University). It is currently being rolled out by the University of Maryland and the University of Washington.
In June 2011, the Course and Learning Management System Evaluation Project Steering Committee recommended two options be considered for the university's learning management system: Blackboard and Canvas (by Instructure). The purpose of this project is to evaluate the use and effectiveness of Canvas. This project will include (1) the implementation work necessary to use Canvas, (2) the limited use of Canvas during academic year 2012-13, (3) evaluating its effectiveness, and (4) presenting the preliminary results.
- May 2012 - Completed contract with vendor and determined initial courses to be included.
- July 2012 - Finalized courses to be included for Fall Semester 2012.
- Oct-Nov 2012 - Determined initial courses to be included for Spring Semester 2013.
- Nov-Dec 2012 - Gathered feedback from faculty and students.
- December 2012 - Finalized courses to be included for Spring Semester 2013.
- April-May 2013 - Gathered feedback from faculty and students.
- June-July 2013 - Presented findings to project steering committee and Research and Educational Technology Committee.
- July 2013 - Proposal to transition to Canvas as the university's central learning management system was unanimously endorsed by the Strategic IT Accountability Board.
- Fall 2013 - Canvas is available to all faculty for all courses. For more information about Canvas at UT Austin, visit http://canvas.utexas.edu.
For more information on the project, please send an email to firstname.lastname@example.com


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World CupLogic puzzles require you to think. You will have to be logical in your reasoning.
An alien spaceship landed on Earth. They knew that earthlings are divided into three groups: those who always tell the truth, those who always lie, and those who do both, alternating between true and false statements, starting with either.
"Let's go!" said the alien captain.
The aliens approached three earthlings, who each were from a different group, and asked, "Who won the last World Cup? Who came in second? Who came in third?"
One of them responded, "Zaire first. Uruguay second. Spain third."
Another one said, "Zaire first. Spain second. Uruguay third."
The third one said, "Uruguay first. Spain second. Zaire third."
The aliens returned to their spaceship and flew back to where they came from. Do you know which response was the true ranking in the World Cup?
AnswerUruguay came in first, Spain second, Zaire third.
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During the Vietnam War, U.S. Navy swift boats patrolled the dangerous waters of the Mekong Delta. Fifty sailors from those units died in the line of duty.
This month, as the U.S. military inches forward with its controversial plan to open combat to women, the Navy will notify Congress it is ready to allow female sailors to step into jobs that are the modern equivalent of those Vietnam river patrols.
Women will soon be able to serve aboard 30-foot to 50-foot shallow boats designed to take on bad guys at close range, with a crew of a half dozen sailors.
A select subset of these "riverine" sailors also goes ashore to infiltrate enemy turf, gather information and blow up stored weapons.
That mission — now opening to female sailors — could lead to hand-to-hand combat, the kind of ground fighting that the American military until now has reserved for men.
It's just a small corner of the Navy. Only 2,500 people serve in the active-duty coastal riverine force, about half of which is in on the West Coast, headquartered in Imperial Beach.
But advocates for equal access in the armed forces say that's progress.
"This is a good example of how the policy is supposed to be implemented," said Greg Jacob, a former Marine infantry officer who is policy director of the Service Women's Action Network.
"The Navy has thrown the doors open to the riverine course and let women in. They didn't say, 'We're going to do an experiment,' like the Marines and the Army," Jacob said.
The Army, Marines and Navy SEALs have until 2016 to present a plan to integrate women in fighting units, or prove why it's not feasible. That deadline was set in January by then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta when he removed the longtime restriction that kept women out of direct combat jobs. Females have been allowed to serve on warships and fly combat missions since the mid 1990s.
The Marines are now allowing the first women through the 8-week enlisted infantry course, but only to study their performance for decision-making. The only women to attempt the 13-week Marine Corps infantry officer course have dropped out before finishing.
Unlike Marine Corps infantry and the Navy SEALs, there is no special physical fitness test with pull-ups or pushups that female riverine sailors must pass to be eligible for the newly opened combat positions.
Both males and females have to finish a 12-week on-the-ground training course at the Marine Corps' Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. They'll learn small-squad tactics, fighting in urban terrain and the joys of lugging a pack full of gear, plus weapons, over miles.
Four women have graduated from the Lejeune riverine security team course since it opened to females. All four are assigned to an East Coast riverine company that has the potential for combat security teams, though none are up and running at present.
Those sailors declined to be interviewed. But, in a Navy news story, some of the women discussed the difficulty level of the course, including the lack of sleep in the field and the necessity of staying on their toes.
"It'll make you actually see for sure if you really want to do this," sailor Audrey Warren said.
Now they will be eligible for combat jobs, though it's not a given they will be chosen. Their commanders will have to select them for those positions.
Cmdr. Joe Fauth leads Coastal Riverine Squadron 3 in Coronado. In March, his squadron will add what will be the only West Coast riverine company that performs the combat mission.
It is relocating to Imperial Beach from Yorktown, Va., as part of a realignment of the sea service's riverine forces.
"We would evaluate a female sailor just like we would evaluate a male sailor who wants to be part of the riverine security team," Fauth said in a recent interview.
"They would have to be very solid in their physical fitness. You wouldn't take someone who is barely meeting standards. … And you determine that after some time observing."
Megan Searcy is one San Diego sailor who wants to try it.
She's a 24-year-old master at arms, the Navy's cops, who has already served two years in the coastal forces. Her work there to date has been providing security for Navy supply ships going in and out of Bahrain.
"Being a female in the military, you always have guys who say you can't do this or that. It's about showing people that you can do it," said Searcy, a petite 5-foot-4 woman who has learned tactics as a Navy master at arms to take down someone larger than herself.
"I'm physically able to do it, and I want to do it," she said. "It might be a bit more strenuous or a little bit difficult, but as we've shown just being in the military, we can overcome anything."
She has started hitting the gym twice a day. Lifting weights is her new focus.
"Most women are all about cardio and being slim, but you can't just be slim," she said. "You have to have the muscle to carry your own weight."
Searcy is deploying with her unit in December. Returning in June, she'll get her first crack at the combat job.
Other female riverine sailors in San Diego can begin being considered for the new role in March.
"It's only a matter of time before we have female RST (riverine security team) members," Fauth said.
Tom Cutler, who commanded riverine patrol boats in Vietnam, said there's no doubt that it's a combat job. Some canals his crew navigated were so narrow, there was no way to turn around.
"If you go into this, you have to expect it will be combat, and it will be up close and personal," said Cutler, who wrote the 1988 book "Brown Water, Black Berets: Coastal and Riverine Warfare in Vietnam."
A challenge for riverine crews might be bathroom privacy on basic patrol boats with no facilities. For past generations, the "head," or toilet, was over the side of the boat.
"But I know men and women have adapted in other situations," Cutler added.
America's military river force has hopscotched from service to service since Vietnam.
For some years, the Marine Corps held part of the role. It switched back to the Navy in time for sailors to patrol the Tigris and Euphrates rivers following the 2003 Iraq invasion.
Providing security for U.S. Navy ships is still the coastal group's priority in the Persian Gulf.
But, coming full circle, Navy riverine forces will return their focus to Asia, this time for friendship.
"Where we're looking to expand now is in the Pacific," said Capt. Chris Peterschmidt, commodore of Coastal Riverine Group 1 in Imperial Beach.
The Navy recently sent two U.S. riverine command boats to Japan in preparation for joint training exercises next year with nations in the "Islamic crescent," which includes Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.
"We're finding that doing these partnership-building exercises … the riverine skill-sets and our boats match very well with what they have in their inventory," Peterschmidt said.
And, down the road, Vietnam might join that list.
"The ironic thing is, that the birth of the riverine force really traces back to Vietnam," Peterschmidt said. "And now we can foresee doing joint riverine exercises with them."