The Romans were as efficient at plumbing as they were at building roads, bringing water from the hills into Rome, and used an astonishing 300 gallons per person per day, more than twice what even Californians use.
June 26, 1997
Thursday, June 26
San Diego's Steve Garber – a thinking man's plumber
Why some restaurants charge tax on takeout food while others don't
Hey, Answer Stud: Something that really ticks me off is the tax policy on restaurant fast-food locations. At some locations I will take food to go and notice that I am not taxed. Others, I …
June 26, 1997
Anybody Who Saw Jan Kerouac Knew She Was Jack's Daughter
"In 1992, she got about $40,000, I think, for the renewal of the film rights for On the Road. She thought that with this money she could move to Key West. She loved the blue water there."
June 26, 1997
How they put flavor in pipe tobacco
Greetings, Matt: We’ve got a few questions about tobacco. How do they “flavour” pipe tobacco — you know, to make it smell like cherries? Also, what about menthol cigarettes. Is that minty zing in the …
June 26, 1997
San Diego attorneys Richard Barnett and Sheldon Sherman help drug dealers get money back
Some would say Richard Barnett and Sheldon Sherman are in the ill-gotten gains business. The two downtown attorneys earn money honestly, all right, but not always from honest people: they often help drug dealers get …
June 26, 1997
How the INS targets for secondary inspection at San Ysidro
If you're a law-abiding citizen and you've lived in San Diego for a while, you can get complacent about crossing the border. The lines at the San Ysidro checkpoint, the perfunctory exchange with the inspectors, …
June 26, 1997
Thursday, June 19
San Diego apartment owners tell their war stories
"Well, when I started out with the first rental I bought, I was still in college and I had been married two years," Bob Kevane recalls. "I worked at a warehouse downtown. There was one …
June 19, 1997
When Bob Dylan took off his sunglasses
Dear Matt: What the hell does Bob Dylan have in his right hand on the cover of the Highway 61 Revisited album? I’ve been trying to figure it out for a couple of years already. …
June 19, 1997
How much 20-pound bond paper weighs
Dear Matthew: I have some plain whitepaper, and it says right on the box that it's “20-pound bond.” The package of paper does not weigh 20 pounds, so what does that label mean? — Milene, …
June 19, 1997
How much liquor your average citrus fruit absorbs
I’ve been bothered by the thought recently that the slice of lemon I put in my rum and Coke is soaking up too large a portion of my rum. The other night at a PB …
June 19, 1997
Dallas priest molester Rudy Kos living in San Diego
I make a call to the San Diego Police Department's Sex Crimes Unit. "Have you ever heard of a priest named Rudy Kos? He's accused of molesting 11 boys - most of them altar boys …
June 19, 1997
A single mom in Normal Heights tells her story
Lillian's small house sits tucked between two dun stucco apartment rectangles in Normal Heights. Unlike most of the residences on her block, she has a front yard, and the walk leading to the tiny, ivy-covered …
June 19, 1997
Thursday, June 12
The tough nun from San Diego's Our Lady of the Angels
A nun helped to change my life. She was cool and aloof. Like the Catholic Church of the time, she was tough and she brooked no question to her authority. Times have changed. The Catholic …
June 12, 1997
At Sharon’s Worm World in Ramona, they live on horse manure.
Sharon has found vermiculture to be fun and profitable, but her friends and relatives thought it was a nutty idea. “They thought I was absolutely crazy.” They’ve changed their minds now that she’s making money,
June 12, 1997
I-15 as the first automated freeway
Mr. Alice: Just out of curiosity, what is with those rental trucks and cars parked in the I-15 car pool lanes when they’re not in use. Is this some top-secret mission? Are they having a …
June 12, 1997
The weird numbers inside the frame of your glasses
Dear Matt: What do those little numbers mean on the inside of the nose bridge of my glasses? Mine have the number 45 to the left, with a little square or box shape, and the …
June 12, 1997
Tijuana's St. Vincent de Paul society spreads charity to all the colonias
'The Crisis is deeper now than ever," says Father Jose Luis Mendez, referring to what Mexicans have come to call "La Crisis," the economic misfortune that has swept the country since the 1994 peso devaluation. …
June 12, 1997
A facelift without surgery
Mattster: My lady friend is thinking of buying a face exerciser. She says it will get rid of her wrinkles by building up her face muscles. It’s like a face-lift without surgery. It sounds nuts, …
June 12, 1997
Jim Eichel tells of colon cancer
Some weeks in family practice have themes. This week's theme was colon cancer. Monday morning I went up to the sixth floor of the hospital to check on Viola. Now 86 years old, Viola is …
June 12, 1997
Dedicated to Alan, who has CF
The last time I saw Allan, he was a broken man. Hooked up to machines that monitored his lifebeat; tubes pumping drugs in, needles taking blood out. His eyes were beyond bloodshot. Always slender, he …
June 12, 1997
Thursday, June 5
San Diego Chargers tickets should sell themselves
Just what are San Diego taxpayers paying the San Diego International Sports Council to do? And just how much will it ultimately cost? Those closely guarded secrets loom large asthe Sports Council, a group of …
June 5, 1997
The true color of Athena's eyes
Matthew Alice: In the recent teledrama the Odyssey, Athena appeared with spectacular blue eyes. In Andrew Lang’s translation of the Odyssey, she is consistently called gray-eyed. What is Homer’s word for the color of her …
June 5, 1997
Your index finger has nothing to do with an index
Hi, Matthew: Where did the index finger get its name? 2. Why do clocks run in the direction we call clockwise? Shouldn’t they run the other way in the Southern Hemisphere? 3. Is a person …
June 5, 1997
If someone hits you, why you see stars
Matt: I bashed my head on an open kitchen cabinet the other day. I saw stars, little flashes of light. Where did the light come from? — Michelle, San Diego They were made up by …
June 5, 1997
San Diego – one of the most termite-rich areas in North America
Some primal termite knocked on wood And tasted it, and found it good, And that is why your Cousin May Fell through the parlour floor today — Ogden Nash If my ears were sensitive enough, …
June 5, 1997
San Diego judge Michael Greer grabs for pension
In February, when ex-superior court judge Michael Greer stood before a federal judge for sentencing on the bribery charges he had pled guilty to several months before, he was contrite. The 62-year-old former presiding judge, …
June 5, 1997
Canine talent agency uses Morley Field – at its peril
His name is "Scat." Sounds like the name for an annoying cat, but Scat is a dual champion Shetland sheepdog. Not only was he deemed worthy of the title as a representation of his breed, …
June 5, 1997
San Diego Zoo's poster woman,Joan Embery touts Roundup
A commercial endorsement by San Diego Zoo horticulturist Cary Sharp, of the controversial herbicide Roundup, has set off a round of protest from the environmental group Greenpeace. The TV spots have Sharp strolling around what …
June 5, 1997
How they track semis on the I-5
Dear Matt: Picture this. I’m driving home from L.A. on the 5, approaching San Onofre. I pass under what looks like an overhead street lamp, only instead of a lamp, there's what looks like a …
June 5, 1997