The arc of a singular life from Vietnam to Imperial Beach.
May 30, 1996
Thursday, May 30
Head injury patient finds his way in Coronado streets
Betsy was a gun
Dear Matthew Alice: Heavens to Betsy! This may not be the most interesting question you’ve ever had, but it may be one of the most difficult. Actually, I find it hard to believe you could …
May 30, 1996
The Rick Geary story
Matt: Who does the illustrations for your columns? How about a little background on his scene. He is good! — Mort Schwartz, Sr., Leucadia I guess some discreet horn-tooting won’t hurt. We sure have gotten …
May 30, 1996
Iceboats can hit 60 or 70 mph without breathing hard
I hear that ice-sailing boats can travel faster than the wind that propels them. How can this be so? The aerodynamic principles governing their motion must then apply to ocean vessels too, no? — D., …
May 30, 1996
Thursday, May 23
Dolphins kill San Diego's tuna industry
Many of the older generation think that the dolphin activists “ruined a beautiful industry.” Some think it was a big mistake not to publicly and legally challenge Sam LaBudde and the Earth Island Institute.
May 23, 1996
The unbelievability of a sacrifice fly
Dear Matthew Alice: Let’s talk baseball. I cannot bring myself to buy the concept of the “sacrifice fly.” Personally, I believe they are all failed home run attempts, though you’d never get a true believer …
May 23, 1996
You could live for four years on the cheese in a supermarket
To: Matmail: Here’s an easy one (I think). How long will the food in an average supermarket last a person if he were unfortunate enough to be locked inside until he starved or dehydrated? Will …
May 23, 1996
Thursday, May 16
Why San Diego asthmatics won't take their meds
THIS IS WHAT ONE KIND OF BAD ASTHMA ATTACK IS LIKE. At half-past midnight on a November night in 1991, my stomach suddenly felt uneasy. This was hardly unusual. For the past month, barely a …
May 16, 1996
My war with watches and clocks
Dear Matthew Alice: All my life I have adversely affected timepieces. Any clock that spends time near me gradually slows and eventually stops keeping time altogether. The process takes about five to ten months, no …
May 16, 1996
The balls on power lines at I-15 and Poway Rd. are so obvious
To: Matmail: What are those beach ball-shaped things that are strung on high-voltage power lines, such as the lines that cross I-15 at Poway Road? They are so obvious and so seemingly without purpose that …
May 16, 1996
I want to be Matthew Alice for a day
To: Matthew Alice: You've got the life. As I hang out reading your stuff. I’m thinking, “I want to be you.” Seems to me like a pretty good life. One catch. What do you make? …
May 16, 1996
Thursday, May 9
I wanted to get as far as I could from my father in La Jolla
On the hot, breathless, soft, fragrant afternoon of my graduation from Princeton it seemed that everything good was note merely latant but unavoidable, folded and in the bag. I’d worked like a Turk those past …
May 9, 1996
Debris of an early spring garden in San Diego
Last year I pulled bucketful after bucketful of radishes from the ground. I sat on the patio and scrubbed them clean. I ate a few, but most times I’d forget to bring them inside.
May 9, 1996
How something can be reduced 2 1/2 times
Matmail: How can anything be reduced more than one time? Like in today’s U-T food section, rats given low fat got 2 1/2 times less incidence of cancer. I’ve asked financial experts (who use the …
May 9, 1996
One out of four adults, regardless of sex, national origin, IQ, or mental stability, is a nail-biter
Why do so many people bite their nails? — Michelle, San Diego It's been studied scientifically, so there are a few reliable things we can say about onychopagia. Unfortunately, "why" isn't one of them. Every …
May 9, 1996
Dead men can vote by absentee ballot
Dear Matthew Alice: What would happen if somebody filed an absentee ballot but then died before election day? Would their vote count? — E.B., Serra Mesa If you’re lively enough to actually get the ballot …
May 9, 1996
A precise account of the business from Donut Touch on Mira Mesa Boulevard
I buy a shortening they have designed only for frying donuts —100 percent vegetable oil. A mix of cottonseed and soybean. Nobody uses lard anymore. Shortening ranges from $15 for a 50-pound box to $22.
May 9, 1996
Peckerwood — white-supremacist high schoolers in Lancaster-Palmdale area,
Have you ever heard of a prison group called Peckerwood? I'm curious to know if this association is similar to the Aryan Nation or worse. — Brent, La Jolla A few of them have ended …
May 9, 1996
Thursday, May 2
Origins of San Diego Repertory Theatre
“Our job is to create art,” said Sam Woodhouse, cofounder and codirector, with Doug Jacobs, of the San Diego Repertory Theatre. What started out as two scruffy performers calling themselves Indian Magique has, after two …
May 2, 1996