In 1944, at age 37, Thompson became a Marine. He lasted 12 weeks, plus a few in the infirmary, with rheumatic fever. His family got by on the salary Alberta made as switchboard operator at Solar.
March 30, 1995
Thursday, March 30
Metaphysical Okie: Jim Thompson In San Diego
The amount of water needed to make a raindrop
Dear Matthew: When a cloud is getting darker and darker, that’s because it’s filling up with water and getting ready to rain or snow. But if it needs a certain amount of water to make …
March 30, 1995
Russell Forester, the architect of Jack in the Box
McDonald’s, once known for its exuberant golden twin parabolas flanking a glass-and-steel pavilion, is now the most boring recitation of mansardism. Only the Wienerschnitzel chain still clings to its defining, red-roofed mini-A frames.
March 30, 1995
How atheists swear to God in court
Dear Question Guy: How do people swear in court if they don’t believe in God? Also, if there is an acceptable oath that doesn’t involve “the help of God,” why don’t they just use it …
March 30, 1995
How to go south on 805 from Sorrento Valley
Hi, Matthew: Why do drivers exit the 5 freeway going north at Carmel Valley Road just to get back on the freeway going south? I see this every day and cannot figure out what’s up. …
March 30, 1995
Spinach not all that successful in San Diego
Mr. Ledgerwood said that he’d been eating a lot of carrots and spinach lately. “I used to suffer a lot from arthritis, and now I’m just as clean as can be. It is a surprise to me.
March 30, 1995
Two San Diego spiritual consultants
I'm rolling west in my unheated van, make a right toward the ocean on prospect. It’s a crisp Monday morning and downtown La Jolla is already too crowded. I poke around Silverado and Girard seeking …
March 30, 1995
Thursday, March 23
Frank Chin does the California coast and takes on Asian icons
I don’t expect to be ambushed by the fans of Maxine Hong Kingston, David Henry Hwang, and Amy Tan in Portland. They show up to vent their moral outrage and save my soul.
March 23, 1995
What the blackness in space is
“MISCELLANEOUS ELOQUENCE: University of Washington astrophysicist Dr. Bruce H. Magon, quoted by The New York Times on the continuing inability of science to measure or infer what the ‘blackness’ in space is, even though, by …
March 23, 1995
Arizona Republic writer ignores nastiness of MTV Spring Break
Last year, MTV rolled into town for a spring break taping session at Mission Beach, and the Union-Tribune opened the floodgates of hype, churning out column after column about how hip and harmless the event …
March 23, 1995
Woman's World Shops leaves El Cajon
San Diego may have lost much of its aerospace industry, but that's nothing compared to the gaping hole El Cajon is about to face. Woman's World Shops - makers of extra-large clothing for the extra-big …
March 23, 1995
Press gives Fiesta Island dried sewage black eye
That gooey stuff spread out all over Fiesta Island may look like dried sewage and smell like dried sewage, but to Susan Hamilton, deputy. director of San Diego's clean water program, it's a precious commodity. …
March 23, 1995
John Moores blew more than $200,000 on Kathleen Brown in California and Ann Richards in Texas.
It's been 11 years since the Padres were number 1 at anything, but new owner John Moores tops the list of professional baseball team owners who contributed money to federal candidates or a national party …
March 23, 1995
Quick Picks now over 50 percent of Lotto winners
Matthew: I was curious to know what percent of Lotto winners win from Quick Picks. — Jim Sharkey, Pacific Beach Last time we profiled the “typical” Lotto winner, the Quick Pickers were really lagging, somewhere …
March 23, 1995
Lightning doesn't electrocute fish
Dear Matthew Alice: When lightning strikes the ocean, why doesn’t all the sea life get electrocuted? Wouldn’t it be just like a radio falling into someone’s bathtub? — C.B., San Diego Well, if we’re talking …
March 23, 1995
Why the proof is in the pudding
M.A.: Where did we get the stupid expression “The proof is in the pudding”? It doesn’t seem to mean anything to me. — Wondering, San Diego “Stupid,” like, why the proof s in pudding and …
March 23, 1995
Thursday, March 16
The pinch-hitters answer questions on the Padres strike
I asked how they felt about the union. Pete jumped on that one. “Well, they’re calling us scabs. They’re trying to intimidate people into not playing. They’re trying to enhance their position. And we’re trying to enhance our position.”
March 16, 1995
The correspondence of Hannah Arendt and Mary McCarthy
McCarthy said she felt sorry for Hitler who “was so absurd as to want the love of his victims.”. Arendt, offended, replied, “How can you say such a thing in front of me — a victim of Hitler!”
March 16, 1995
The four corners of San Diego County: In-Ko-pah, Imperial Beach, Camp Pendleton, Anza-Borrego
“San Diego? This isn’t a county, it’s a country!” This how it starts. Dave, sounding off after a couple of beers. Dave’s latest rave is San Diego County. You might call him a county nationalist. …
March 16, 1995
Arnold, OJ, and the brain from Planet Arous
A decisive factor in Schoenberg’s terminal discomfort with America had to be the unsettling presence of ruling modernist pickle-herring Igor Stravinsky. Both lived in L.A., hung out in emigre circles, they had friends in common.
March 16, 1995
People from other countries are pushy waiting in line
Dear Matthew Alice: This is a pretty strange question, but I just have to ask it. It’s been driving me crazy. Have you ever noticed that people from other countries sometimes are kind of pushy …
March 16, 1995
Thursday, March 9
Carlsbad's fields of flowers that drive folks wild
The ground must be soaked, so that the bulbs come out spongy and swollen and pliable. Then they must be dried, “If you dry ’em out in the sun, the bulbs just shrink up too small,”
March 9, 1995
Cerebral palsy in San Carlos
He was stuck in the apartment doorway. One of his neighbors walked by; Ken asked for help. The neighbor kept walking. Ken didn’t let anger overtake him. “It was a great opportunity to pray."
March 9, 1995
Barbarian pie plant
I would have thought that if rhubarb had any family, it would have been cousin to celery; rhubarb blades look like celery dyed red. But rhubarb is a member of the buckwheat family.
March 9, 1995
Thursday, March 2
On hunt for Amanda Gaeke from Landis Street to canyon near 32nd and Redwood
“It was 10 or 11 in the morning when they found her in that canyon full of bamboo. I still don’t believe that nobody could know nothing, because of where they found her."
March 2, 1995
Why 7-11s need padlocks
If a 7-Eleven is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, why are there locks.on the doors? And if you tied buttered toast to the back of a cat and dropped it from …
March 2, 1995
True blue of Chargers jerseys
Dear Matthew Alice: Various AFL teams this past season used “throwback” helmets that were reversed from their original colors. For example, the Buffalo Bills wore a “throwback” white bison on a red helmet, rather than …
March 2, 1995
Rumors about Einstein's eyes and brain
Dear Mr. Alice: Does Michael Jackson own Albert Einstein’s eyes? — A.A., San Diego C’mon into the Wild Rumors Wing of the Matthew Alice Museum of Famous Body Parts. Just take a seat on one …
March 2, 1995
Cliff May, inventor of the ranch house
"One of the county’s most appealing concentrations of ranch houses occurs in an unlikely place, the steep hillsides and winding streets of Del Mar…. several of these May mass-market houses were built in Del Mar as second homes.”
March 2, 1995