He was young and he was in Vietnam, and he took two sniper bullets in the head. The miracle was that he survived. However, his face was disfigured. He was blind, with much of his …

Mattster: My girlfriend has a Siamese cat. It gives me the creeps. The thing is cross-eyed. Really! It just lies under the coffee table and stares at me. At least I think it’s staring at …

Dear Matthew Alice: So why, when ice floats (it’s less dense than the surrounding liquid), do piroghi and ravioli sink when frozen and float when thawed? Do other pastas have this same buoyancy? Why? What …

The murders have sent gays in San Diego into a panic. From the Chee-Chee Club downtown to the International Male fashion store in Hillcrest, people said they "knew nothing" about Cunanan or were unwilling to talk.

I met Barbie and Ken (not their real names) at a downtown food line for homeless people. She still has permission to crash on my couch if she needs to get away from him, but …

Morris Cerrullo, the La Jolla evangelist and faith healer who once bought the now-ramshackle El Cortez Hotel because he said God told him to, is in hot water with English authorities. The London Sunday Telegraph …

Matt: I just came back from a camping trip and I need to know...how does a pine tree make that whistle when the wind blows through it? There’s nothing in it that’s tubular, like a …

Deirdre and I went home to my parents' for Easter. I still find myself calling it "home," even though I have been living and working in San Diego for almost two years and married for …

Records show that Blachford owns two residences in La Jolla, one at 100 Coast Boulevard, valued at $922,000 and which Cunanan once listed as his address, and the other, valued at about $1.3 million, on Pepita Way.

Matmail: Having been recently subjected to the virus that causes chicken pox, I was struck by the thought, I have no idea why it is called CP. Where do chickens figure into this heinous disease? …

Mr. M. Alice: What kind of animal is Goofy? My ex-girlfriend (this dispute isn’t the whole reason for our breakup, but a good part of it) maintains that he is a dog, but “Tut-tut,” I …

Her friends, her family, my father point at her schizophrenic mother. Or her distant father, who wanted a son, who made it clear he disapproved of daughters by speaking to my mother only in French.

Where do you find a refuge from the 20th Century? Down a dusty drive in the highland backwoods of Potrero, about 45 miles east of San Diego. It sits huddled beneath clusters of century-old olive …

Valerie is an African-American woman living on a hill in Valencia Park. She is 37, but she looks younger. She has a round face surrounded by a curtain of heavy braids and large eyes that …

Big Nick Canepa, star sportswriter for the Union-Tribune, is already hyping a downtown ballpark and demanding expensive changes in the press box at the existing Mission Valley stadium, all the while taking swipes at the …

Matmail: Did you ever hear of the Great Boston Molasses Flood, sometime back in the ’20s? Lots of people drowned in a nasty, sticky, slow death, like.wasps. Details, please. — Tim, @uvm.edu Just my kind …

There are about 30,000 beehives in San Diego County, and just now, Alan Mikolich and I are standing amid 140 of them. Mikolich is a commercial beekeeper, one of the dozen or so in San …

Everett Dirksen seems to have said it best: "A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money." The late money." The late Senate Republican minority leader was talking about the …

'I was on the speakerphone with Ballard Smith, Ron Hahn, and one of the Shihadeh brothers. I said, 'What do you me mean, "fit the mold"? You got hot dogs, you got nachos, you got …

Frustration is growing over the San Diego City Council's policy of discussing major issues such as stadium expansion and water rate increases behind closed doors, as well as limiting public comment at its sessions to …

9:41 p.m. Where are their faces? Friday night, and dozens of headless musclemen on video, strutting at some outdoor gay-pride event. Near-naked, their bronzed muscles stretched by steroids and molded by Nautilus machines, a cross …

Dear Matthew Alice: Why is it that some beans can be purchased fresh, dried, or canned, but some beans cannot be found anywhere in their fresh state, i.e., kidney beans, lima beans, pinto beans, garbanzos. …

Dear Matt: What creates the bumps in a “washboard” dirt road? And is it really true that if you drive on them fast you can decrease the jarring effect? — P.R., Encinitas To make your …

M. Alice: Ever since I began to choose the plastic bags over the paper ones to bring my groceries home, I've observed a very strange behavior in my cat. She seems obsessed with licking the …

Two years ago, city officials announced plans to proceed with a radical new idea they had long toyed with: building a plant to make drinking water from raw sewage. As the news spread, protests began …

Dear Matt: Two quickies for you. (1) Why is North Island called an island? Last time I went through Geography 101, that whole side of the bay is a peninsula. (2) People always say that …

To the All-Knowing One: I frequently see a guy sitting at busy North County street corners, holding large black-and-white signs with cryptic messages on them, like, “Mutton or Wool?” or “Listen to Your Mother, Have …

You're out for dinner. Your waiter, hovering tableside, recites tonight's specials while you feign interest, a captive listener with a frozen smile on your face. You might wonder, as he rattles on about the wonders …

The SS Catalina is about to move again. This time she's being hauled south from Ensenada to Puerto Vallarta, to be turned into a party gambling ship. And J.C. Wilkinson wants to know why she …

Investigators for the state's joint legislative task force on government oversight are snooping around San Diego's multibillion-dollar sewer treatment program. In a letter sent late last week to the state Department of Health Services, the …

This is a spot quiz. Who is making the following statements? You look too much like your father to be my child. There is nothing for nice girls to do past midnight. I'm not here …

Dear M.A.: How come when you let your dog lick the remaining food off a plate, it’s so slimy? You can soak the plate in water for hours, and it’s still slimy. Only scrubbing with …

There's an unbroken line from highchair to dining chair that follows my profile faithfully.

Dear Matmailen in Cloven-landen: My friend Marky-Mark and I have heard a lot of scary statements in regard to the ingredients and health risks of clove cigarettes. Our preferred brand: Djarum Specials, long lasting, smooth, …

Hi, Matt: Now that summer’s coming on, I’m going to be drinking a lot more water than usual. Tell me, if I slug down a bunch of water all at once, is there a danger …

One afternoon about four years ago, my brother John called me during office hours. I had finished my family practice residency about six months before and was just starting my own practice in Berkeley, California. …

They tell Manuel to bring the truck in. Instead of continuing up 805 to Mission Valley, we get off onto 94 east, take it to 125 north, then 8 east through El Cajon, and north on 67, back to Bud’s.

Has Jacor, the megamillion-dollar radio holding company that owns or controls ten San Diego stations, including KSDO, KGB, and KOGO, broken antitrust laws in its haste to gobble up the local radio market? Jacor confirms …

In mid-February, Bug, our neighbor's orange-yellow cat, disappeared. Last week, a woman in a Jeep Cherokee pulled up in front of our house. She asked me if I had seen Ivan, a black cat with …

San Diego's reputation as a gung ho military town is fading fast. Latest evidence: Richard Nixon's lucky city, which during the Vietnam War sported American flags on the roof of every downtown highrise, has the …

Dear Matthew: How can fish survive in the Arctic and Antarctic without freezing? — Bart, Chula Vista Fish adapted to very cold water have evolved unique antifreeze systems. Certain proteins in their blood bind to …