The liturgical year rolls around. In each of the 13 years that have passed since I came back to the Catholic Church, I have lived the Church’s year like a shadow of the secular year. …
March 13, 2003
News & Stories
Ash Wednesday
San Diego veterans of World War II's Bataan Death March sue Mitsui, Mitsubishi
"I live a perfect life,” Lester Tenney told me. “I’ve been a very fortunate man.” We were sitting in the sunshine on his patio on Mount Soledad. Betty, his wife of over 40 years, had …
March 13, 2003
O.B. Bong Baron Takes Hit
As he dashed into downtown's federal courthouse for a hearing last Tuesday afternoon, Ocean Beach's Shea Artis McComb didn't appear to resemble a hardened kingpin of the narcotics underworld. But the lanky, 31-year-old McComb, attired …
March 13, 2003
Chimps with Nukes
In Jared Diamond's book The Third Chimpanzee, he points out that we share about 98 percent of our DNA with chimpanzees, which is not much greater than the difference between chimps and bonobo pygmy chimps. …
March 13, 2003
Not just San Diego
The federal government has kicked out all the tenants and boarded up the old Hotel San Diego, which now looms over lower Broadway like a ghost ship. It's supposed to be the site of a …
March 13, 2003
Explore native grasslands and climb Mugu Peak at Ventura County's Point Mugu State Park.
Up the coast, past Malibu and into Ventura County, Point Mugu State Park sprawls across more than 15,000 acres of ocean-facing hills, valleys, and canyons -- all of it emerald-green in the wake of the …
March 13, 2003
Is it a couch? Is it a sofa?
Hey Matt: What's the difference between a couch and a sofa? -- Jay, Bay Park Oh, maybe a hundred bucks. Actually, to Pa Alice they're pretty much the same thing, since he can easily fall …
March 13, 2003
Did Prohibition prohibit sacramental wine?
Heymatt: Was Communion wine affected by the Prohibition? -- Ike, downtown Yes. Prohibition made it extremely popular, since it was one of the few forms of alcohol not banned by the 18th Amendment. Between 1923 …
March 13, 2003
A squerble of eggs.
Hey, Matthew: I've been a long-time fan of your work, particularly the literary devoice of the Elves and Grandma. Here's my two-part question. Why is a baker's dozen actually 13? I'm guessing something along the …
March 13, 2003
Many, many nose problems.
Dear Matt: I read somewhere that a good piece of fruit smells like it should. A peach should smell peachy, for example. The other day I was browsing the produce aisles in Henry's, sniffing the …
March 13, 2003