Erie Stanley Gardner, creator of the Ferry Mason books and television series, lived in Temecula for the last 32 years of his life, but he loved Baja California. He traveled there as often as he …
November 19, 1998
News & Stories
Harry Crosby finds painted animals in Baja's Sierra de San Francisco
Noel Allen's duck-hunt at Niland by the Salton Sea.
By 4:00, the sky over the Salton Sea has become a bird ballet. White pelicans in long, straight lines of 10, 20, sometimes 30 glide inches off the water. Seagulls hover in the strengthening breeze like kites.
November 19, 1998
Why are there so many abandoned homes along the beach of Baja?
Dear Matt: We've been driving around in Baja lately and wondered how come there are so many empty shell houses, most of them with no roofs, some with rebar sticking out the top of the …
November 19, 1998
Why do people take the second or third copy off a pile of Readers?
Dear Mr. Answerer-of-All-That's-Weird: Why do people take the second or third copy off a pile of Readers? -- Crazy Cats of Clairemont I thought everybody knew. That's where all the good stuff is. The top …
November 19, 1998
How are products able to get away with a label that says 99.9% fat free when there is more than .1% fat?
To: [email protected]: There are lots of packaged foods out there with a big splash on the front saying "99% FAT FREE." On the back it says, for example, total fat 1 gram, which equals 2% …
November 19, 1998
Why is the color yellow associated with cowardice?
O Matt: Today I was watching Gunsmoke, and one cowboy called another "yellow," alluding to cowardice. Why "yellow"? Is this some sort of dis against Asians, or maybe people with liver disease? -- Jaundiced Joe …
November 19, 1998
Hike to Anza-Borrego's Calcite Mine, where optical-grade calcite crystals were extracted during World War II
Thousands of years of cutting and polishing by water and wind erosion have produced the chaotic rock formations and slotlike ravines you'll discover in Anza-Borrego's Calcite Mine area. During World War II, this was an …
November 19, 1998
My baby son likes champagne
My earliest remembered taste of alcohol is of a sip of Black Russian given to me by my mother at a relatively early age — say, ten. Thinking of it brings to mind an old …
November 19, 1998
Paternity is the business of Genetic Profiles in Sorrento Valley
In 20 years, are you likely to meet yourself? Could someone clone another you from a Kleenex you dropped? Will your insurance premium depend on your DNA test results? Will a federal DNA data bank …
November 19, 1998
Lisa Whitney, relentless La Jolla real estate broker
Lisa Whitney's cerulean-blue Jaguar glides through the streets of La Jolla at 8:15 a.m. Its driver is bound for a "pitching session" with the La Jolla Real Estate Brokers Association. She is dressed in a …
November 19, 1998
Welcome to the Bad Fads Museum
I try to be a decent, good-natured, and tolerant person, but there are some things that, for no conspicuous reason, I hate. I hate, for example, stuffed animals tied to the grills of trucks. I …
November 19, 1998