He was young and he was in Vietnam, and he took two sniper bullets in the head. The miracle was that he survived. However, his face was disfigured. He was blind, with much of his …
May 29, 1997
Thursday, May 29
Wounded veteran Jerry Stadtmiller meets nurse at Vietnam Memorial who worked on his face
How cross-eyed Siamese cats see
Mattster: My girlfriend has a Siamese cat. It gives me the creeps. The thing is cross-eyed. Really! It just lies under the coffee table and stares at me. At least I think it’s staring at …
May 29, 1997
Why piroghi and ravioli sink when frozen
Dear Matthew Alice: So why, when ice floats (it’s less dense than the surrounding liquid), do piroghi and ravioli sink when frozen and float when thawed? Do other pastas have this same buoyancy? Why? What …
May 29, 1997
Friends remember Andrew Cunanan victim Jeff Trail
The murders have sent gays in San Diego into a panic. From the Chee-Chee Club downtown to the International Male fashion store in Hillcrest, people said they "knew nothing" about Cunanan or were unwilling to talk.
May 29, 1997
The violent life of homeless in downtown San Diego
I met Barbie and Ken (not their real names) at a downtown food line for homeless people. She still has permission to crash on my couch if she needs to get away from him, but …
May 29, 1997
Morris Cerullo scandal in London
Morris Cerrullo, the La Jolla evangelist and faith healer who once bought the now-ramshackle El Cortez Hotel because he said God told him to, is in hot water with English authorities. The London Sunday Telegraph …
May 29, 1997
How wind through a pine tree make that whistle
Matt: I just came back from a camping trip and I need to know...how does a pine tree make that whistle when the wind blows through it? There’s nothing in it that’s tubular, like a …
May 29, 1997
Tuesday, May 27
Matt Lickona as father-to-be confronts uncertainty
Deirdre and I went home to my parents' for Easter. I still find myself calling it "home," even though I have been living and working in San Diego for almost two years and married for …
May 27, 1997
Thursday, May 22
Andrew Cunanan — boy toy for socialites Norman Blachford and Lincoln Aston
Records show that Blachford owns two residences in La Jolla, one at 100 Coast Boulevard, valued at $922,000 and which Cunanan once listed as his address, and the other, valued at about $1.3 million, on Pepita Way.
May 22, 1997
Why they all it chicken pox
Matmail: Having been recently subjected to the virus that causes chicken pox, I was struck by the thought, I have no idea why it is called CP. Where do chickens figure into this heinous disease? …
May 22, 1997
Goofy is definitely a dog
Mr. M. Alice: What kind of animal is Goofy? My ex-girlfriend (this dispute isn’t the whole reason for our breakup, but a good part of it) maintains that he is a dog, but “Tut-tut,” I …
May 22, 1997
My mother and her lovers – evicted from apartment near El Cortez
Her friends, her family, my father point at her schizophrenic mother. Or her distant father, who wanted a son, who made it clear he disapproved of daughters by speaking to my mother only in French.
May 22, 1997
San Diego County's Potrero – refuge for canaries in the mine
Where do you find a refuge from the 20th Century? Down a dusty drive in the highland backwoods of Potrero, about 45 miles east of San Diego. It sits huddled beneath clusters of century-old olive …
May 22, 1997
Life in Valencia Park is simple
Valerie is an African-American woman living on a hill in Valencia Park. She is 37, but she looks younger. She has a round face surrounded by a curtain of heavy braids and large eyes that …
May 22, 1997
John Moores paid disgraced Clinton pal Webb Hubbell $15,000 in "legal fees"
Big Nick Canepa, star sportswriter for the Union-Tribune, is already hyping a downtown ballpark and demanding expensive changes in the press box at the existing Mission Valley stadium, all the while taking swipes at the …
May 22, 1997
The Great Boston Molasses Flood and the one in Nebraska
Matmail: Did you ever hear of the Great Boston Molasses Flood, sometime back in the ’20s? Lots of people drowned in a nasty, sticky, slow death, like.wasps. Details, please. — Tim, @uvm.edu Just my kind …
May 22, 1997
Thursday, May 15
San Diego beekeepers know all the flowering plants
There are about 30,000 beehives in San Diego County, and just now, Alan Mikolich and I are standing amid 140 of them. Mikolich is a commercial beekeeper, one of the dozen or so in San …
May 15, 1997
Mayor Susan Golding estimated $1.5 billion would upgrade San Diego sewers
Everett Dirksen seems to have said it best: "A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money." The late money." The late Senate Republican minority leader was talking about the …
May 15, 1997
Ballard Smith fires union food employees at Sports Arena
'I was on the speakerphone with Ballard Smith, Ron Hahn, and one of the Shihadeh brothers. I said, 'What do you me mean, "fit the mold"? You got hot dogs, you got nachos, you got …
May 15, 1997
UCSD sets up website for Peru's Tupac Amaru guerrillas
Frustration is growing over the San Diego City Council's policy of discussing major issues such as stadium expansion and water rate increases behind closed doors, as well as limiting public comment at its sessions to …
May 15, 1997
Gay bars in Hillcrest after midnight
9:41 p.m. Where are their faces? Friday night, and dozens of headless musclemen on video, strutting at some outdoor gay-pride event. Near-naked, their bronzed muscles stretched by steroids and molded by Nautilus machines, a cross …
May 15, 1997
Why you won't find fresh kidney beans, lima beans, pinto beans
Dear Matthew Alice: Why is it that some beans can be purchased fresh, dried, or canned, but some beans cannot be found anywhere in their fresh state, i.e., kidney beans, lima beans, pinto beans, garbanzos. …
May 15, 1997
What creates the bumps in a “washboard” dirt road
Dear Matt: What creates the bumps in a “washboard” dirt road? And is it really true that if you drive on them fast you can decrease the jarring effect? — P.R., Encinitas To make your …
May 15, 1997
Why a cat would lick plastic bags
M. Alice: Ever since I began to choose the plastic bags over the paper ones to bring my groceries home, I've observed a very strange behavior in my cat. She seems obsessed with licking the …
May 15, 1997
Thursday, May 8
San Diego — the only city in the world to mix drinking water with sewage
Two years ago, city officials announced plans to proceed with a radical new idea they had long toyed with: building a plant to make drinking water from raw sewage. As the news spread, protests began …
May 8, 1997
When North Island was really an island
Dear Matt: Two quickies for you. (1) Why is North Island called an island? Last time I went through Geography 101, that whole side of the bay is a peninsula. (2) People always say that …
May 8, 1997
David Wilcox, North County sign guy
To the All-Knowing One: I frequently see a guy sitting at busy North County street corners, holding large black-and-white signs with cryptic messages on them, like, “Mutton or Wool?” or “Listen to Your Mother, Have …
May 8, 1997
What and when San Diego chefs eat
You're out for dinner. Your waiter, hovering tableside, recites tonight's specials while you feign interest, a captive listener with a frozen smile on your face. You might wonder, as he rattles on about the wonders …
May 8, 1997
The SS Catalina hauled south from Ensenada to Puerto Vallarta
The SS Catalina is about to move again. This time she's being hauled south from Ensenada to Puerto Vallarta, to be turned into a party gambling ship. And J.C. Wilkinson wants to know why she …
May 8, 1997
Out at KOGO: ex-city councilman Fred Schnaubelt, plus Peter Weissbach
Investigators for the state's joint legislative task force on government oversight are snooping around San Diego's multibillion-dollar sewer treatment program. In a letter sent late last week to the state Department of Health Services, the …
May 8, 1997
San Diego homeless talk about their moms
This is a spot quiz. Who is making the following statements? You look too much like your father to be my child. There is nothing for nice girls to do past midnight. I'm not here …
May 8, 1997
Dog saliva is full of enzymes and antibodies
Dear M.A.: How come when you let your dog lick the remaining food off a plate, it’s so slimy? You can soak the plate in water for hours, and it’s still slimy. Only scrubbing with …
May 8, 1997
Thursday, May 1
Village Voice food critic Jeff Weinstein revisits his gustatory past in San Diego
There's an unbroken line from highchair to dining chair that follows my profile faithfully.
May 1, 1997
The dangers of clove cigarettes
Dear Matmailen in Cloven-landen: My friend Marky-Mark and I have heard a lot of scary statements in regard to the ingredients and health risks of clove cigarettes. Our preferred brand: Djarum Specials, long lasting, smooth, …
May 1, 1997
How much water a stomach can hold
Hi, Matt: Now that summer’s coming on, I’m going to be drinking a lot more water than usual. Tell me, if I slug down a bunch of water all at once, is there a danger …
May 1, 1997
UC San Francisco neurosurgeon Charlie Wilson takes my call
One afternoon about four years ago, my brother John called me during office hours. I had finished my family practice residency about six months before and was just starting my own practice in Berkeley, California. …
May 1, 1997
Inside a genuine 18-wheeler from Bud’s Trucking of Lakeside
They tell Manuel to bring the truck in. Instead of continuing up 805 to Mission Valley, we get off onto 94 east, take it to 125 north, then 8 east through El Cajon, and north on 67, back to Bud’s.
May 1, 1997
Has Jacor,, the megamillion-dollar radio holding company, broken antitrust laws?
Has Jacor, the megamillion-dollar radio holding company that owns or controls ten San Diego stations, including KSDO, KGB, and KOGO, broken antitrust laws in its haste to gobble up the local radio market? Jacor confirms …
May 1, 1997
Domenigoni Ranch, experts in coyote-killing
In mid-February, Bug, our neighbor's orange-yellow cat, disappeared. Last week, a woman in a Jeep Cherokee pulled up in front of our house. She asked me if I had seen Ivan, a black cat with …
May 1, 1997
San Diego has the highest noncompliance rate for draft registration
San Diego's reputation as a gung ho military town is fading fast. Latest evidence: Richard Nixon's lucky city, which during the Vietnam War sported American flags on the roof of every downtown highrise, has the …
May 1, 1997
Why fish don't freeze in freezing water
Dear Matthew: How can fish survive in the Arctic and Antarctic without freezing? — Bart, Chula Vista Fish adapted to very cold water have evolved unique antifreeze systems. Certain proteins in their blood bind to …
May 1, 1997