For years, lurid stories about the program's culture of booze, strippers, and kinky pre-game sex, financed by wealthy team boosters, have been making the rounds.

"Think globally, act locally." The Friends of Ruffin Canyon group in Serra Mesa have taken this slogan to heart by launching a prototypical effort to preserve one of San Diego's several dozen undeveloped urban canyons. …

Everybody knows what happened on 9/11/2001. Very few know that on 9/26/2001, the Securities and Exchange Commission told American municipalities that when they issue bonds for public projects, they should voluntarily "go beyond the limits …

On the computer monitor in front of him is a photo of two smiling men standing on the deck of a boat. At their feet, facing the camera: the great white shark the diver found in the tuna cage.

The telapia is seasoned with Spike. “I don’t use pepper, and I don’t use regular salt. They scared you away from salt 30, 40 years ago. We get a salt from, what is it, Utah?“

The annual "Excellence in Journalism Awards" will be handed out next Friday at a fancy banquet to be held by the San Diego Press Club at the posh Loews Coronado Bay Resort. But this year's …

O Great God of Useless Information: On a recent Beavis and Butt-Head Show, our two favorite metalheads are at a tractor pull. One of the tractors goes out of control, knocking over outhouses and releasing …

Matt: In school there was a rumor that Chairman Mao convinced the population of China that everyone should participate in the Great Leap Forward and kill ten flies every day to help rid the country …

During their early college years, Miss Johnson and Mr. Beaver broke up for two years. “We had been together for so long. We both had growing up to do. We needed to go our separate ways.”

The next time you lie in bed fuming over your inability to doze off, you might think of Randy Gardner. In the realm of sleeplessness, Gardner once made San Diego the center of the universe. …

Weir Canyon Regional Park forms a belt of open space along the south edge of Anaheim -- not the familiar Disneyland/convention center/stadium part of that city, but the Anaheim Hills section, where new and newer …

The book tells us that La Jolla is a "posh suburb" of San Diego. "I know La Jolla is part of the city," says a chastened Starr. "That got by us."

With the election approaching, I went looking several weeks ago for bumper stickers that might signal the way San Diego is leaning in the presidential race. My investigation got its impetus from an August 30 …

What do a Santa Monica developer, a ritzy new subdivision proposed for North County's formerly sleepy Harmony Grove, and the San Diego mayor's race have in common? The answer is county supervisor Ron Roberts, who's …

Matt: I left some toenail clippings in the sink, and when I got home later, there was a stream of ants trying to carry them off. Usually they go for things like Popsicle sticks and …

Hey Matt: Just wondering, is there any scientific explanation for having déjà vu? -- Julia, the net Hey, Grandma, haven't we answered this question before? Sounds familiar. "No. And I told you no the last …

Hey Matt: You answered a question once about what dimples are. I have dimples I my cheeks, and my fried said they could disappear. I don't think that's possible, but I was honestly wondering. I'm …

Miss Abitria’s parents were less than thrilled. “My mom and dad are from the Philippines. They’re very traditional. They didn’t like the tattoos. My dad said, ‘This guy’s got a lot of baggage.’“

I love honey. I love honey! Like the bears. All day long my coffee has honey instead of sugar. My cereal has honey. My toast, honey on it. Always honey." David Rojas of San Marcos …

Dear Matthew Alice: I've been wondering about the current, regular winner of those eat-as-much-as-you-can contests on Coney Island. He's a skinny Japanese guy. Yet year after year he stuffs away more hotdogs into his gullet. …

As day breaks on many a September or an October morning, cone-shaped Mount Helix floats like a desert island above the cool, sopping-wet marine layer. While walking up along the mountainside on mornings like these, …

A funny thing has been happening to the old Coronado Branch Railroad on its way to recognition as a historical landmark. The California Historical Resources Commission designated the rail historic in the fall of 2001. …

As John Kerry and George W. Bush conduct campaign warfare over their respective service records and how they are portrayed by those so-called Section 527 political action committees, monied forces on both sides show no …

After leaving San Diego the Betsy went south, cruising the lower California coast for furs. In a letter to his brother in Boston, Captain Winship boasted that he’d been stopping in Spanish ports, hoodwinking authorities.

“We shopped all day in the Diamond District in downtown L.A.” Mr. Duncan says. “It took eight hours. We went into more than eight stores.” “We found the stone at one store and the band at another.”

What do people spend money on when they go out Saturday night? I went to a variety of locations to ask a variety of people. I hit Horton Plaza downtown, the Belmont Park roller coaster …

Hey Matt! Why do they call Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden? It certainly isn't a garden, or square. Shouldn't they call it Madison Round Arena or something? Or maybe name it after a bank …

Heymatt: Excuse my French, but why the f*** do people say "excuse my French" when they swear? -- DLJ, the net Everything naughty is French, yes? Well, the British think everything naughty is French. French …

Hey: Do goldfish blink? -- Maria, Escondido Now Maria, you haven't been doing that Three Stooges eye-poke at your pet, have you? Tsk-tsk. Fish don�t have eyelids. No eyelids, no blinking. To make up for …

Hey Matt: One day I was daydreaming out the window instead of working, in a high-rise building downtown. I noticed a fly parked on the widow outside. Being as I was on the 33rd floor, …

When reporters call him, says Bob Turner, he often thinks they have run out of airplane crashes. "The news media love mountain lions," he says. "They can hardly wait for attacks." So Turner wasn't surprised …

Few spirits have flown as high and low as those of former employees of the now-deceased San Diego legend, Pacific Southwest Airlines. On September 24 and 25, alums of the old airline, known as PSA, …

Mayor Dick Murphy, who's had much better luck staying ahead in reelection polls than building his long-promised new $150 million-something downtown library, is throwing an exclusive high-society bash tonight to hype yet another expensive design …

“I had dated other guys, I always had the sense that they wanted me for a trophy. Josh was different. It was as though he looked into me. He asked me questions and listened to the answers."

The San Jacinto Mountains, like many other mountain ranges in far Southern California and Baja California, are characterized by gradually sloping west slopes, and more steeply plunging east faces. The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway lets …

"A lot of people ask, 'What is it like sharing the same physical attributes?' I always look at my brother and I think that's what people think of me. We'll be going out, and I'll …

Hey Matt: I know that a rose by any other name is still a rose, but why are a billion roses in the U.S. 999,000,000 fewer roses than I'd get if I asked for the …

Climb Black Mountain in Rancho Peñasquitos for an inclusive view of San Diego's ancient marine terraces.

In the 1940s, there was a satirical radio quiz show in which panelists were stumped by questions such as, "Who is buried in Grant's tomb?" That show ennobled the words, "It pays to be ignorant." …

One house stands out on the 3200 block of Galloway Drive in University City. While most of the houses are Cape Cod or ranch style and feature traditional lawn and shrub front yards, 42-year-old Anthony …

“We ended up playing volleyball that Sunday at South Mission Beach. I had told her on Friday that a group of us were going to play. A single woman wouldn’t show up. But there she was.”