Dear M.A.: Tropical waves are "faster," allowing for smaller, thinner boards and more fun. Up north it's like surfing with the emergency brake stuck on. It's the salt. The spray from northern waves often smells …

Matmail: On vacation in Ecuador, I met an 80-year-old man who claims that during World War II, he and his German parents were rounded up by the Ecuadorian government at the request of the U.S. …

“Lucille was my best friend for 50 years. You probably remember her as Lucy from I Love Lucy, in which she seemed happy. But she was not happy all the time at all."

Mat: Here is one that has always bugged me. It seems logical that when I look at something in a mirror, the critical distance my eyes should have to focus is between me and the …

You can take the boy out of the car, but sometimes you just can’t get the car out of the boy. Especially if he grew up in the ’50s and ’60s, the hot rod and …

The Bayside Trail, sweeping downward from the old lighthouse at Cabrillo National Monument, offers an incomparable view of the city of San Diego and its watery environs. Amid the sweet,pungent sage scrub and chaparral vegetation, …

I love baseball. I grew up watching the Yankees suffer through the misery of the '80s -- despite having Mattingly and Winfield and Guidry -- on WPIX Channel 11, listening to Phil Rizzuto exclaim, "Holy …

Those unfamiliar with the Anglican Communion's range of belief and practice were puzzled in early August when, on the lawn of Kent University in England, Bishop Emmanuel Chukwuma of Nigeria tried to lay hands on …

Erie Stanley Gardner, creator of the Ferry Mason books and television series, lived in Temecula for the last 32 years of his life, but he loved Baja California. He traveled there as often as he …

By 4:00, the sky over the Salton Sea has become a bird ballet. White pelicans in long, straight lines of 10, 20, sometimes 30 glide inches off the water. Seagulls hover in the strengthening breeze like kites.

Dear Matt: We've been driving around in Baja lately and wondered how come there are so many empty shell houses, most of them with no roofs, some with rebar sticking out the top of the …

Dear Mr. Answerer-of-All-That's-Weird: Why do people take the second or third copy off a pile of Readers? -- Crazy Cats of Clairemont I thought everybody knew. That's where all the good stuff is. The top …

To: [email protected]: There are lots of packaged foods out there with a big splash on the front saying "99% FAT FREE." On the back it says, for example, total fat 1 gram, which equals 2% …

O Matt: Today I was watching Gunsmoke, and one cowboy called another "yellow," alluding to cowardice. Why "yellow"? Is this some sort of dis against Asians, or maybe people with liver disease? -- Jaundiced Joe …

Thousands of years of cutting and polishing by water and wind erosion have produced the chaotic rock formations and slotlike ravines you'll discover in Anza-Borrego's Calcite Mine area. During World War II, this was an …

My earliest remembered taste of alcohol is of a sip of Black Russian given to me by my mother at a relatively early age — say, ten. Thinking of it brings to mind an old …

In 20 years, are you likely to meet yourself? Could someone clone another you from a Kleenex you dropped? Will your insurance premium depend on your DNA test results? Will a federal DNA data bank …

Lisa Whitney's cerulean-blue Jaguar glides through the streets of La Jolla at 8:15 a.m. Its driver is bound for a "pitching session" with the La Jolla Real Estate Brokers Association. She is dressed in a …

I try to be a decent, good-natured, and tolerant person, but there are some things that, for no conspicuous reason, I hate. I hate, for example, stuffed animals tied to the grills of trucks. I …

The Michigan prosecutor bristles on the phone. “Mindy Brass is a convicted drug dealer out of California. I doubt anybody in the media or in the public would care two cents about her if she …

Matthew Alice: Every year...at HALLOWEEN...media reports that the famed magician HOUDINI did not contact his wife AFTER he died. Not true!! This letter is on page 75 of Nothing So Strange -- the biography of …

Dear Matt: Maybe you can help me ease my curiosity and assuage the paranoia that accompanied my thoughts after reading a job vacancy requirement. Recently Alaska Airlines advertised vacancies for the position of flight attendant. …

On a mid-November night in 1833, millions of Americans awoke to strange flashes of light. Peering outside, they discovered the night sky ablaze with meteors, pouring from the constellation of Leo at a rate of …

If you like time travel but don't own a working time machine, try an automobile ride to the Viejas Casino and Turf Club. Travel east on I-8, past El Cajon, climb the grade to Alpine, …

Marie can't really remember when it began. Her memory is hazy about the earliest days of her hospitalization. She only only knows that at some point, one of the perpetually smiling volunteers gave her white …

Dear Matthew Alice: Who is the Emmy named after? And the Tony? The Grammy? Who decreed that all these major awards have to end in y? What about the Pulitzer Prize? When will you be …

At every step in her life where she made choices, Betty claims, she remains comfortable with the choices she made. But she never chose to go shoot two people, let alone kill them, she says.

Dear Matt: The other night when my family and I pondered this question I had a "Eureka." I realized only one guy (and a few elves) would be able to sort this one out. Our …

Fortuna Mountain, in East County's Mission Trails Regional Park, presides over a great deal of as yet undeveloped territory. Peering north and northeast from Fortuna's 1291-foot summit, you can see thousands of acres of empty, …

This is the joke among the Navy's evangelical chaplains. "Question: What do you have to do to get promoted in the U.S. Navy? "Answer: If you're a Roman Catholic, you've got to be able to …

'Downtown, Open Sunday, 2-5, 3 story, 3 fireplaces, Old Mansion, needs restoration, 3450 sf house. $249,000." -- ad in the San Diego Union-Tribune. "Boy, if these walls could talk." -- woman at open house. I …

When word leaked out two weeks ago that ex-Charger Tony Martin was under investigation for money laundering on behalf of a Miami-area friend, it wasn't the first time that the Atlanta Falcons' wide receiver's financial …