By Sharon Kerrigan Gomez

Natalie Yanish, South Tahoe Association of Realtors 2014 president, passed the gavel to Brooke Hernandez, incoming president for 2015 at an Installation and Awards Dinner earlier this month at Edgewood Tahoe.

Sue Lowe, broker for Chase International Realty, was the installing officer and Ken Daley(of Re/Max Realty Today expertly emceed the event.

Ginger Nicolay-Davis of Help U Sell Lake Tahoe Properties and Theresa Souers of Pinnacle Real Estate Group of Lake Tahoe honored outstanding members for their contributions to the association this year:

• Ellen Camacho (Deb Howard & Co) was honored with one of STAR’s community service awards for her tireless efforts with multiple organizations in the South Lake Tahoe community, including Soroptimist International of South Lake Tahoe and St. Theresa Church, as well as with STAR’s Community Service Committee.
• Colleen Manzer (Re/Max Realty Today) received a community service award for her efforts throughout the community, especially her incredible commitment as chair of Soroptimist International of South Lake Tahoe’s annual wine tasting and silent auction fundraiser, which directly benefits women and youth in South Lake Tahoe.
• Joe Filipko (Chase International South Tahoe Realty) was presented with the distinguished service award, and thanked for dedicating multiple years as STAR’s Multiple Listing Service Committee chair. He guided this committee through a lockbox exchange using new blue tooth technology, and has embarked on MLS data share discussions with neighboring organizations. Joe dedicates valuable time attending conferences at the state and national level exploring cutting edge technologies that members might benefit from, as well as stays abreast of current issues and trends effecting MLS’ throughout the nation.
• New Realtor member Rhonda Keen (Help U Sell Lake Tahoe Properties) was recognized as the rookie of the year for jumping in as Scholarship chair in 2014 after having been a member for less than a year. She launched STAR’s first silent auction fundraiser at this event, which raised $875 for future scholarships.
• Realtor of the year award was given to Craig Woodward (Deb Howard & Co), with gracious thanks for dedicating multiple years as Local Government Relations chair. He was praised for his tireless efforts attending local government agency meetings on STAR’s behalf, working with the Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce’s Government Affairs Committee, and especially on their new Independent Expenditure Committee which identified business friendly candidates in the local election and encouraged local constituents’ votes.

The members installed on the new board of directors for 2015:

• Brooke Hernandez, president (Chase International South Tahoe Realty)
• Ellen Camacho, president-elect (Deb Howard & Co)
• Jim Wire, vice president (Chase International South Tahoe Realty)
• Michelle Benedict, secretary-treasurer (Pinnacle Real Estate Group of Lake Tahoe)
• Natalie Yanish, immediate past president (Deb Howard & Co)
• Amanda Adams, director (Re/Max Realty Today)
• Sheila Edner, director (Chase International South Tahoe Realty)
• Jill Moffett, director (Sierra Sotheby’s International Realty)
• Jessica Seifert, director (Century 21 at Tahoe Paradise)
• Dan Spano, director (Paradise Real Estate)
• Flip Walker, director (Pinnacle Real Estate Group of Lake Tahoe)
• Craig Woodward, director (Deb Howard & Co)
• Jesse Yohnka, director (Re/Max Realty Today)

Sharon Kerrigan is executive vice president of South Tahoe Association of Realtors.

By BBC

Doing yoga may be a good way to protect against heart disease, particularly if you cannot do more vigorous exercise, research suggests.

A review in the Netherlands of 37 studies involving nearly 3,000 people found yoga was independently linked to a lowering of heart risk factors such as high blood pressure and cholesterol.

Yoga does not count toward the recommended physical activity that we should all do each week.

Experts say it may still be beneficial.

Yoga is an ancient form of exercise that focuses on strength, flexibility and breathing to boost physical and mental wellbeing.

Read the whole story

By KRNV-TV

MINDEN — Christmas Day is typically a big day at the movie theater. This year, there is one controversial movie that is helping draw the crowds.

It is the comedy “The Interview”. The Ironwood Cinema 8 in Minden is the only local theater showing this movie. It is selling out in theaters that are showing it across the nation, and Minden is no exception.

“According to marketing theory, this kind of event makes people even more hungry to watch it,” said South lake Tahoe resident Ryan Wong. “For example, something people who haven’t known it before and see it on the news and, ‘Oh, that’s a good one’ and probably want to watch it, but not only for the content itself. It’s probably for the, ‘I must support the freedom.'”

Read the whole story

By Rebecca Adams, Huffington Post

When picturing the typical American family, you can forget about a “Leave It To Beaver”-type image. Currently, 54 percent of kids in this country don’t live in a home with two heterosexual parents in their first marriage, according to a recent Pew Research Center report.

“It’s important to keep in mind that what many define as ‘traditional’ is based on a 1950s-style family,” Gretchen Livingston, Senior Researcher at Pew and author of the study, told HuffPost in an email. “But in many ways, the 1950s and early 1960s were an anomaly, especially in terms of the fact that people were marrying quite young and also having relatively large families.”

Nowadays, only 46 percent of kids live in that aforementioned “traditional” family. Instead, 15 percent of today’s kids are living with two parents in a remarriage, 34 percent live with an unmarried parent, 4 percent live with cohabiting parents and 5 percent don’t live with either parent.

Read the whole story

By Clyde Haberman, New York Times

Once upon a time, a new technology happened along. It was called radio. Soon enough, some people began plucking wireless transmissions out of the air for their own purposes.

One clever young man in Washington figured out how to intercept messages that Navy units sent to one another.

“He has represented himself to be at distant naval stations or at sea on warships equipped with wireless apparatus,” a magazine called Electrical World reported in 1907. Back then, this fellow’s actions were not unlawful. They amounted nonetheless to a form of piracy.

As radio grew more sophisticated, so did those intent on beating the system. In 1960s Britain, radio pirates flourished on unlicensed stations that broadcast from ships anchored beyond territorial limits. They found eager audiences in young people who tuned in for the latest from the Rolling Stones, the Kinks and the Who. (Talkin’ ′bout my generation.)

Then the world went digital. Naturally, pirates tagged along. One of them, the online sharing service Napster, forms the core of this Retro Report offering, the final installment in the current series of video documentaries examining the consequences of major news stories from the past.

Napster did not last long, two years. But for a while at the dawn of this century it claimed to have 70 million registered users. It spawned a host of Internet music-swapping providers, more than a few of them falling on the dubious side of the law. Most important, it irrevocably altered not only the way in which Americans absorbed music but also their belief system in what they should pay.

The conviction theologically held by many boiled down to a single word: nothing.

“You have a generation of people now who expect their music for free,” Greg Hammer, managing director of Red Bull Records, a branch of the energy-drink company, told Retro Report. “It’s very difficult to change.”

Read the whole story

By Nicholas Bakalar, New York Times

Planning to read in bed tonight? It may be better to read an actual book instead of an e-book reader. A small study has found that reading light-emitting electronic devices before bedtime is a recipe for poor sleep.

Researchers randomly assigned 12 healthy young adults to one of two activities: reading a light-emitting e-book in a dimly lit room for about four hours before bedtime on five consecutive evenings, or reading a printed book for the same amount of time.

All participants did both tasks.

Read the whole story

Brian Turner, celebrated author and director of Sierra Nevada College’s MFA program in creative writing, will read from his latest book, “My Life as a Foreign Country: A Memoir”, on Jan. 8 in Prim Library.

Turner has enjoyed tremendous national attention and accolades for his writing about his experiences of war).

Turner, who enlisted in the U.S. Infantry after earning his MFA from the University of Oregon, served in Bosnia-Herzegovina with the 10th Mountain Division and as an infantry team leader in Iraq with the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. The book retraces his war experience — pre-deployment to combat zone, homecoming to aftermath – in an account which combines recollection with the imagination’s efforts to make reality comprehensible.

A reception begins at 6pm, reading at 7pm at the Incline Village college.

2015 Kia Soul improves upon the year before. Photos/Larry Weitzman

By Larry Weitzman

All new in 2014, the new 2015 Kia Soul, while maintaining the character and appearance of the original, has received significant improvements that actually enhanced its uniqueness. More interesting is the fact that while a younger hip generation is its prime customer because of its remarkable utility; the Soul is appealing to the everyday compact buyer who is looking for a bit more than buying an appliance.

Soul is extremely practical, a mini CUV without the stigma of owning an SUV or CUV, yet giving its owner the pride of owning what looks to be a tricked out custom car. Its lines are different, but are done with slick proportions. Just check out the side window lines giving the Soul movement while standing still. Everything fits and has purpose.

Specifications
Price
$15,896 to about $28,195
Engines
1.6L 16 valve DOHC (CVVT) inline four 130 hp @ 6,300 rpm
118 lbs.-ft. of torque @ 4,850 rpm
2.0L 16 valve DOHC (CVVT) inline four 164 hp @ 6,000 rpm
151 lbs.-ft. of torque @ 4,000 rpm
Transmission
Six speed manual
Six speed automatic
Configuration
Transverse mounted front engine/front wheel drive
Dimensions
Wheelbase 101.2 inches
Length 163.0 inches
Height 63.0 inches
Width 70.9 inches
Track (f/r) 61.4/61.9 inches
Ground clearance 6.5 inches
Weight (1.6/2.0) 2,714/2,837 pounds
Weight distribution (f/r) 60/40 percent
Steering lock to lock 2.85 turns
Turning circle 34.8 feet
Wheels (opt) 7.5X18 inch alloys
Tires (opt) 235/45X18
Fuel capacity 14.2 gallons
Cargo volume (rear seats down/up) 61.3/24.2 cubic feet
Passenger volume 101.0 cubic feet
Performance
0-60 mph 9.15 seconds
50-70 mph 5.34 seconds
50-70 mph uphill 8.67 seconds
Top speed Well into triple digits
Fuel economy EPA rated 23/31/26 mpg city/highway/combined. Expect 27 mpg in rural country driving 32-33 mpg on the highway at legal speeds.

Now here is where it gets good. Based on the Rio chassis and its relatively long 101-inch wheelbase, the Soul looks as if its wheels are positioned at the vehicle’s extremes because it is only 163-inches long (that’s 9 inches shorter than a Rio). Soul looks stable because it is 3 inches wider than a Rio giving it a much wider track of over 2 inches. And even though it stands about 5 inches taller, most of the weight is carried low in the chassis so you don’t get that SUV “head tossing feeling.” In practical terms, it is a brilliant design.

Under the hood, Soul also stole the 130 hp (at 6,300 rpm) 1.6L inline four cylinder out of the Rio, but added a kicker, a 2.0L inline four that punches out 164 hp at 6,200 rpm and a torque curve that peaks at 151 pounds at a relatively low 4,000 rpm. Connected to a universally shared six speed auto cog swapper, the Soul generates some actual moxie.

While 0-60 mph comes up in 9.15 seconds, the Soul feels much quicker. Throttle response and linearity are about perfect making the Soul feel a second or two quicker. Passing performance is good with 50-70 mph coming up in 5.34 seconds and the same run up a six percent grade only slowing about three seconds to 8.67 seconds. Overall the Soul feels like it really scoots.

EPA rates the Soul at 23/31/26 mpg city/highway/combined. In 400 miles of varied driving it does a bit better. Highway mileage at 70 mph settled in at 32-33 mpg, but overall fuel economy in rural driving average between 28-29 mpg. And when you average the total 400 miles, which included performance testing, city stop and go, some time on the highway and two-lane country roads fuel economy dropped to 26-27 mpg which is a schosh better than the EPA combined number. Go with the 2.0L engine, the fuel economy loss of perhaps an mpg is far outweighed by the Soul’s improved performance and personality.

Remember that wide track I spoke of before? When you combined that 62-inch track with MacPherson struts up front and a semi-independent transverse torsion beam rear end plus 18 x 7.5 inch alloys shod with super-wide 235/45 series tires and you have a vehicle that goes where you point it without complaint. Also helping in the handling department is a quick electric rack that is just 2.85 turns lock to lock. Turn in is very quick with those low profile tires. Flinging the Soul through a series of dozens of corners in a stretch of road that resembles a four mile long contorted snake was excellent, never faltering, never losing its line and with Gorilla Glue like grip. Steering feedback was good as was its over the road on and off center feel. Is it a Porsche? No, but it certainly drives like a small sports sedan and is surprisingly good when the road bends. Turning circle is a tight 34.8 feet.

On the flip side, the Soul delivers a smooth ride especially on the highway while doing a good job of absorbing the punishment from less than friendly roads. No head tossing, no kickback through the steering wheel and no jarring. And despite its upright appearance, there is no wind noise and road noise is quelled. The engine spins a reasonable 2,300 rpm at 70 mph and is inaudible.

Braking is done by four-wheel disc brakes (vented in front) with all the bells and whistles such as ABS, EBD, ESC, VSM, BAS, TCS, Hill start assist and TPMS, a virtual alphabet soup of safety. All that was able to halt the forward progress of the Soul in 42 feet from 40 mph. Very good. If that doesn’t float your boat, then its front, side and side curtain airbags will. Perhaps we take too much for granted when you have such automobile safety as even inexpensive cars like the Soul are remarkably safe. But please remember nothing can overcome inattention and stupidity.

Once you are ensconced in the leather driver’s perch as in my top of the line Soul Exclaim, identified as “!” you will feel the bit of luxury that is in its genes. And sure, the interior is top quality with excellent fit and finishes. The room is copious front and back and behind the back seat is about 25 cubic feet of cargo capacity. Lower the rear seat and the volume more than doubles.

Instrumentation is complete with big speedo and tach plus a full trip computer, but the real light show starts when you activate the sound system. The main speakers in the doors change colors and the more powerful the music; it seems as if the lighting effect also intensifies. Maybe it is just me, but it is a fun treatment. Hey, it’s a hip car and unique. It’s not my fault it’s so practical as well. Demographics show that the average age of a Soul buyer is 41.

Leg room for those in the back seat.

Pricing starts for a base model with a six-speed manual tranny at $15,100, plus $795 for the boat from Korea. Step up to the automatic and add $2,000. But at least buy the “+” model. For an additional $1,500 you get the 2.0L engine plus the choice of several desired options which are not available in the base Soul. My ride was a loaded Exclaim which stickers at $20,700 and has standard features like LED lighting and trick wheels and tires. It also had two option packages, the Sound and Sunroof Package ($2,600) which is self-explanatory (the sunroof is the whole roof) and a package Kia calls “The Whole Shabang (Kia’s spelling, not Webster’s and it’s $2,500). It means what it says with items like leather, heated seats front and rear, HID headlights and more. All toll the price of admission for this full boat Soul is $28,195. Let’s face it; hamsters never had it this good. Ask Janet Evanovich’s main protagonist, bounty hunter Stephanie Plum.

Larry Weitzman has been into cars since he was 5 years old. At 8 he could recite from memory the hp of every car made in the U.S. He has put in thousands of laps on racetracks all over the Western United States.

Mansfield F.W. Smith

Mansfield F.W. Smith was a pioneer and innovator in the field of otology and widely known for the use of new and innovative procedures to correct the architecture of the inner ear.

He died Dec. 18. He was 85.

Mansfield instilled in his children a love of nature, the mountains and Fallen Leaf Lake. He spent every summer at the lake. He founded the local fire department and served as a volunteer firefighter and physician with the department well into his 70s.

Mansfield was born in San Marino on July 28, 1929, to Margaret Williams Smith and Robert L.I. Smith.

He attended Governor Academy, UC Berkley and George Washington University School of Medicine. He did his surgical internship at Madigan Army Hospital and otolaryngology residency at University of Michigan.

He practiced otology in San Jose, taught at University of Stanford Medical School and UC Davis Medical School.

Mansfield was published in numerous medical journals and texts and cofounded the Northern California Transplant Bank. His interest in medicine extended to politics and policy making and he put energy into both. He served on the board of the California Medical Association and as president of nearly every medical association related to his specialty.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his brothers Gilbert L.I. Smith and Robert L.T. Smith, and his second wife Linda Ramsey.

He is survived by his first wife Charlotte Rosson, his children Jennifer S. May, Wendy Smith Novick (Tom) and Mansfield F.W. Smith (Donna), seven grandchildren who called him Manpa, and many friends and colleagues.

A gathering in his memory will be Jan. 10th in the UC Davis Alumni and Visitor Center from 2-4pm. A celebration of his life will this summer at Fallen Leaf Lake.

In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to the Fallen Leaf Lake Volunteer Fire Department, P.O. Box 9415, South Lake Tahoe, CA 96158 or the California Transplant Donor Network, 1000 Broadway, Suite 600, Oakland, CA 94607.

By Robert J. Cerfolio

As we end the year, it’s time to think about self-improvement for the New Year.

Habitual procrastination can really hurt you in the long run because waiting to take care of something that’s obviously important to you – health, money, family matters – weighs on your subconscious.

Understanding one’s personal “line of gratification” is the foundation for sticking to self-improvement goals.

There are many kinds of lines of gratification. For some, they’re the number of zeroes in their bank statement; for others, the curves of their muscles after they leave the gym. It’s good and healthy to look back on your hard work and admire what you have accomplished before moving on to the next task.

Here are tips on how to make those lines of gratification more impressive:

• Be an early riser. The main reason operating rooms hum into action at 7am is tied to human physiology; the bodies of patients are better able to handle the stress of surgery at that time.

People are generally better off getting work done early in the day when we’re better prepared for stress and performance. And getting a job done early frees you up later in the day.

• Love what you do. Why wouldn’t you want to take ownership, responsibility and pride in what you do for a living? When you treat a job as only a means to a paycheck, you are missing the point. If your job isn’t the one you’d really love to have, don’t make it worse with a negative attitude. Instead, make it your own. Make it a point of personal integrity and principle to challenge yourself to achieve something every day. After all, 40 hours a week is a long time to stay anywhere.

• Ask yourself: Did I really try my best? “I tried my best” is a common refrain from those who haven’t reached their goals. An honest response you can ask yourself is, “Am I sure?” This question is not about being overly critical. It’s simply about realizing that if you had practiced or studied an extra 10 minutes each day, you would’ve been that much closer to your goals.

• Set specific, measurable goals. Results define goals. Every individual should have clear goals that are objective and measurable. Goals such as “to be happy,” “to do well at work” or “to get along” are too nebulous. To be successful, you have to be able to define your goals by measurable results.

• Find the high ground. In anything you do, aspire to live up to the noblest, highest aspect of your job. Certain jobs – such as police work, firefighting, teaching or working in health care – are service oriented, so it’s easier to feel good about your contributions. Look for the contributions you’re making in your job and take pride in what you’re doing to make the world a little better.

• Be the go-to guy or girl. This takes time, practice and the confidence necessary to want the ball in a critical situation. Being the go-to guy or girl means being willing to take responsibility and risk failing. A go-to person is also willing to speak up about problems or changes necessary in a business or organization, and suggest solutions.

Robert J. Cerfoli0 is the James H. Estes Family endowed chair of lung cancer research and full professor chief of thoracic surgery at the University of Alabama in Birmingham.