This hasn't been the best year for Casey Gwinn, San Diego's city attorney. The 41-year-old graduate of UCLA law school, who was elected in 1996 and reelected four years later with no opposition, began 2001 …
November 29, 2001
Thursday, November 29
Did San Diego City Attorney Casey Gwinn try to get Don Bauder fired from the Union-Tribune?
Grisly Grinders in Wildcat Canyon
Highway Patrol officer Gwen Goodwin steers her black-and-white Ford squad car north on Ashwood Street past Lakeside's El Capitan High School until she comes to a four-way stop. Straight ahead, the road starts to climb. …
November 29, 2001
Relating to the public Embattled
Relating to the public Embattled San Diego Unified School District superintendent Alan Bersin has tapped the ranks of local public relations professionals to come up with his new "Executive Director of Communications and Community Relations." …
November 29, 2001
Can we nuke every computer in the country with one well-placed bomb?
Matt: Is it true that a well placed nuclear bomb detonated over the central United States would erase the hard drive of every computer in the country? I guess no one would really care whether …
November 29, 2001
Where is Old Zealand?
Old Matt: I know where Old England is, I know where Old York is. I know where to find Old Hampshire, Old Mexico, Old Orleans. But where is Old Zealand? --Clueless, the Net New Zealand …
November 29, 2001
Why does Mickey Mouse only have three fingers?
Hey: Why do Disney characters like Mickey Mouse, Pluto, and Goofy have only three fingers instead of four? I know Donald Duck has a wing, so that can be drawn with as many fingers as …
November 29, 2001
Why does a mint make a drink of water seem colder?
Matt: Why does water seem colder when you drink it after eating mints? -- Fern, somewhere unspecified So you've been spending a lot of time sitting around the family room, sucking Wint-O-Greens with a Sparkletts …
November 29, 2001
Where exactly are the boonies?
Hey, Mr. Matt: Where are you from if you're from the boonies? -- My Hometown, the Boonies Nobody was from the boonies before the mid-1960s or so. That's when the word "boondocks" was shortened to …
November 29, 2001
Ramble with map and compass amid the tortured landscape of Palm Wash in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.
Thousands of years of cutting and polishing by flash floods and winds have produced the intricate rock formations and slot-like ravines you'll discover at the foot of the Santa Rosa Mountains in far-eastern San Diego …
November 29, 2001
Ridout Plastics — beyond Preisendorfer surfboards
Its influence was not as far-reaching as Oprah’s Book Club, but its consequences were likely far more devastating. Though we smirk at its mass appeal and its seeming insincerity, all Oprah’s list does is make …
November 29, 2001
Wednesday, November 21
Take Wing, Toussaint, Turning Point – San Diego transitional homes
Leaving home is one of the defining events of growing up. The first taste of freedom from parental boundaries can be exhilarating. But for teens in San Diego County’s foster care system who have lost …
November 21, 2001
Fear for My Life
Yousef refuses to disclose where hawala transactions take place, since a major hub of such transactions, Al Barakaat, was closed down by the government just a week before. "That's a big hit to Somalis.”
November 21, 2001
Too Many Mansions
"That gentleman has done nothing but harass us at every opportunity. As a result of his claims, we've spent thousands and thousands of dollars to be on the cautious side of safety for the community.”
November 21, 2001
Cash and carry (2)
The Partnership for Student Achievement, the political committee that last year funneled more than half a million dollars into a negative TV advertising campaign against San Diego Unified School District board member Frances Zimmerman, is …
November 21, 2001
Return of the Native
In memory, I, a toddler, am seated on old George Marston’s lap. On another evening, Laurence Klauber tells me all about snakes, while in a corner, Colonel Fletcher booms on about the virtues of real estate.
November 21, 2001
Why do some birds tweet and some birds screech?
Matt: Why do some birds make song, where others hoot (owls), caw (crows), or coo (pigeons)? What is the explanation for such a range of sounds from similar species? -- GC in LJ What's the …
November 21, 2001
How do you get out of a sinking car?
Dear Matt: My friends and I were talking and started wondering how to escape a sinking car. In the movie stunt people seem to escape with ease, yet in newspaper articles it seems that many …
November 21, 2001
Can a big meal temporarily affect your hearing?
Dear Matthew Alice: I recently heard that eating a big meal can affect a person's hearing. After a person has eaten, he cannot hear as well. Is this true? -- P.S., San Diego Can you …
November 21, 2001
Hike or bike to pleasantly forested Henninger Flats, in the San Gabriel Mountains overlooking Pasadena.
Park-like Henninger Flats is a cool "sky island" in the front range of the San Gabriel Mountains, just behind and above the cities of Pasadena and Altadena. The flats and slopes hereabouts have been the …
November 21, 2001
Thursday, November 15
San Diego Chargers vets: Bahr, Mojsiejenko, Keys, Bingham, Herrmann, Trumaine Johnson, Allert, Perretta, Klotz, Kemp, Hudson, Gibson, Belotti, Sears
“About the old L.A. Chargers and San Diego Chargers: We got an average of 25,000 people in the L.A. Coliseum and a little more in Balboa Stadium, but it was wide-open football — we’d throw 50 times a game.”
November 15, 2001
Dot-Com Survivor
Bob Tommaso's view of the San Diego job market is grim. At 56, he is one of San Diego's many victims of the dot-com implosion, out of work since September 2000. "I was working at …
November 15, 2001
Hot Mafia loot from La Jolla
Some stray uranium from La Jolla's own General Atomics, formerly known as General Atomic, has apparently found its way into the hands of the Sicilian Mafia, setting off alarms across Europe. The Guardian in London …
November 15, 2001
Men in overalls
I miss my dad at odd times. My father died last March. He was 72. For the 20 years before his death, he suffered from heart disease. He had two triple-bypass surgeries and more heart …
November 15, 2001
How did six feet become the standard burial depth?
Hey, Matt: How did six feet become the standard burial depth? -- LB, Poway Was it ever? Don't think so. S'mattera fact, there's no law in California or in most other states that says a …
November 15, 2001
Dogs can smell better than people, but exactly how much better?
M: While sipping on a cocktail, my Uncle Crazy was babbling scores of unproven facts, when out came the claim that our best friend, the dog, as a sense of smell 200,000 times better than …
November 15, 2001
Experts predict 2001's Leonid meteor shower will roar.
Will the annual Leonid meteor shower deliver a last hurrah this year and next or fade toward insignificance sooner rather than later? By analyzing new data provided by the observed performance of the shower in …
November 15, 2001
Thursday, November 8
A novel of Mission Hills: Oakley Hall's Corpus of Joe Bailey
A novel from Mission Hills.
November 8, 2001
Oakley Hall explains Corpus of Joe Bailey
Read first part of the novel. In 1953 Judy Garland made a splendid appearance at the opening reception for the Kentucky Derby. She was wearing a navy-blue, full-length coat; navy-blue, calfskin opera pumps with very …
November 8, 2001
A romantic loner in San Diego' Gaslamp
The Dorseys, Louis Prima, Duke Ellington, the “Sweet Bands” like Sammy Kaye’s and “Blue Barron.” Guy Lombardo and Ralph Flanagan, I figure they’re all here somewhere tonight.
November 8, 2001
Julian's Apple Survivors
At this time of year, the pies in Julian are made with fresh apples from Julian orchards. The Julian Pie Company gets its apples from Crown Orchards in the Farmer's Road area north of town. …
November 8, 2001
Condos Invade Little Italy
"I'm horrified," says Quigley. "They're really not learning, I don't think, from the idea of making something that's unique to Little Italy. They're doing it in the most superficial way possible, which is stylistic.”
November 8, 2001
Payback time
One of the most enthusiastic backers of 1998's Proposition MM, the San Diego school district's $1.51 billion mega-bond issue, was the Union-Tribune, repeatedly editorializing in favor of the measure, which had been packaged by district …
November 8, 2001
Why do we eat chickens and not, say, seagulls?
Matt: How did humans come to their regular raising and consumption of chickens? Why not pigeons, seagulls, or crows? How long has man been eating chicken, and why is this particular type of fowl so …
November 8, 2001
Who decides what songs are played on oldies stations?
Heymatt: By now the role of "independent promoters" in funneling record company money to radio stations in exchange for a coveted spot on their extremely limited play lists is pretty well known. But what's the …
November 8, 2001
Explore the rich tidepools of Little Corona Beach in Orange County
Some of the finest tidepools in Orange County — indeed in all of Southern California — await you on this short, absorbing, and possibly time-consuming walk north of Crystal Cove State Beach. Successful "tidepooling" requires …
November 8, 2001
Thursday, November 1
How Bob and Amy and Chris and Samantha and Ted and Roy and Kurt and Becky Found Love on the World Wide Web
BOB | Age: 35 Q How did you meet your Internet date? A I met her when she responded to the ad that I placed on Love@aol. She’s the only girl who responded to me. …
November 1, 2001
Kolender's Friends Chip in
It's been seven and a half years since Bill Kolender, backed by almost every member of San Diego's downtown establishment, demolished Sheriff Jim Roache's reelection hopes. Four years earlier, Roache had defeated John Duffy's hand-picked …
November 1, 2001
Maienschein and Butkiewicz
With the fate of the downtown baseball stadium hanging in the balance and many of the city's other construction projects and pay boosts threatened by recession-induced budget problems, proponents are seeking to influence the spending …
November 1, 2001
Immigrant secrets
Ah Quin pawned some jewelry. When he suffered general financial instability toward the end of his life, he also had to sell some of the dozen businesses in San Diego in which he was involved.
November 1, 2001
Bloop
It had to happen sometime. The Man Who Wasn't There is the first Coen brothers movie to disappoint me. That’s not to say that it’s not good, certainly not to say that it’s not even …
November 1, 2001
Visit Imperial County's Pumpkin Patch, where stone pumpkins dot the barren desert landscape
Stone pumpkins numbering in the hundreds, baked beige and reticulated by exposure to the summer desert sun, lie in a patch of several acres at the Imperial County site known as Pumpkin Patch. The spherical …
November 1, 2001
What's the deal with girls' bikes?
Dear Matthew Alice: Why are there men's and women's bikes? If the center bar was originally placed to accommodate "ladies wear," then what gives? I saw a newer design this week, and it was not …
November 1, 2001
Why are some envelopes marked "Place Stamp Here"?
Dear Matthew Alice: I was paying my bills when a question occurred to me that only you could answer. Why is it that envelopes that come with bills are always marked "Place Stamp Here" or …
November 1, 2001
Did Dr. Laura lie to me?
Dear Matt-Al, Knower of Any and All Stuff Profound and Minute: A couple of months ago I watched Dr. Laura on a cable news commentary program. She stated to her hosts that her TV show …
November 1, 2001
Take a spin on a bicycle over the flat roads of Borrego Valley.
The sun-blasted desert days of summer are over, and Borrego Springs now boasts salubrious temperatures along with its bone-dry air. This community of several thousand residents (in the winter season, at least) squarely placed in …
November 1, 2001