Tijuana has long attracted people seeking medicine and medical procedures unavailable or unaffordable in their home countries. They've been joined recently by people seeking the means to kill themselves. And some of them are coming …
August 20, 2008
Blog Entries
- If You Get Pitch from L.A. Company called Property Tax Reassessment, Call the D.A.
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- Novatel Stock Down 24.3 Percent as Wireless Company Foresees Rough Times
- Maritime Terminals Create Good Jobs, Says Research Institute; Idea to "Double-Deck" 10th Ave. Terminal Would Hurt Economy
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News & Stories
Tijuana is the first stop to suicide
Why shabby Otay Park cost over $2 million
Ever wonder why public works cost taxpayers so much? Consider the case of one small project, the new Otay Valley Regional Park ranger station and restroom. Under a joint powers agreement among San Diego County, …
August 20, 2008
Olympic Issues
Here I sit, hunched over my pad of yellow stickies and pile of inconsequential receipts, my crayon poised in shaking fingers, and I’m livid. I write this to you in Crayola “Brick” on the reverse …
August 20, 2008
Bellies and Hornpipes
“American Tribal Style is an inclusive belly-dance form,” says dancer Sandi Kay. “The dancer in the lead position can cue the dancers on what move they’re going to do next, so every dance ends up …
August 20, 2008
Banker's Hill Stroll
With two steep ravines spanned by quaint footbridges, scores of well-kept, historically significant homes, and mature landscaping, Banker’s Hill is a monument to the elegance of the past. The work of early-century architects Irving Gill, …
August 20, 2008
Why Warner Springs Ranch is in hot water
The most attractive asset of the Warner Springs Ranch is the spring-fed, hot mineral water pool. So maybe it’s fitting that through the years, this backcountry ranch has been in financial hot water. After opening …
August 20, 2008
Democratic Convention Sports Preview
While watching the NBC Olympics on television, quietly enjoying the 105th consecutive evening of women’s beach volleyball, I had a sad thought: This is going to end someday. Then, like the morning sun rising over …
August 20, 2008
A river of people in a thirsty world
Traces of the old tile pattern still darken the stained concrete floor at Christ Lutheran, but they don’t distract much from the surface’s overall look — that of parched, cracked earth. It’s in sharp contrast …
August 20, 2008
America's Finest Fridays
We San Diegans are a self-congratulatory lot; the weather itself is, to us, a kind seal of approval on our meritocracy. After 28 years here, I see it much this way if I don’t think …
August 20, 2008
Child's Pose
Yoga is difficult for the one whose mind is not subdued. — Bhagavad Gita Despite all the dismissive things I’ve said about patchouli-wearing chakra tweakers, I still wanted to try yoga. Though my inherent impatience …
August 20, 2008
Life Under the Flight Path
On average, Lindbergh Field (also known as San Diego International Airport) performs 620 operations a day: 310 departures and 310 arrivals. All 620 of these operations are performed, whether planes are coming or going, over …
August 20, 2008
Emergency Care for Kids
At the family reunion swim party last week, there was an accident. Cousin Hugh jumped off the diving board into the water, and on his return to the surface another cousin dove headfirst on top …
August 20, 2008
Unforgettable: American Icarus II
AMERICAN ICARUS: BEACHEY COMES TO SAN DIEGO (Part Two) “Death was always my opponent,” said Lincoln Beachey at a celebration in his honor, “and I gave tremendous odds.” He spoke at the Olympic Club in …
August 20, 2008
Great, Until the Shooting
“The Static Lounge show was great, until that shooting during the last set by Cherry Chuck Gang,” says 40oz Chris of Massterpiece Entertainment, who helped promote the August 7 “DayGo Unity Concert.” The downtown event …
August 20, 2008
He Grabs the Gold
I’ve always been fascinated by sources of artistic inspiration. What triggered Hamlet, say, or The Iliad? What alchemy transformed ambient noise into Don Giovanni? Was it something writ large: a sign in the sky, a …
August 20, 2008
Big Label Blues (cont’d)
In early August, Encinitas record label and management company Surfdog Records released The Dave Stewart Songbook, Volume I. Stewart, best known for being half of the Eurythmics (with Annie Lennox), has produced tracks for Aretha …
August 20, 2008
Indian Cuisine 101
Samurai Jim confessed recently he’d never eaten Indian food. Curries, yes — his mother cooks them Japanese style. But he didn’t know a Samosa from a pakora, a poori from a naan. Well, we can’t …
August 20, 2008
Groove and Jam
With a band name like Moontucky Risin, you might expect to hear Southern-fried or Cajun-cooked rock, perhaps with a side of bluegrass or a pinch of rockabilly. And that’s what listeners got, back when cofounders …
August 20, 2008
Not Cool
Gary John, co-owner of the Air Conditioned Lounge in University Heights, believes his bar was unfairly implicated in news stories and broadcasts that covered the July 29 murder of 27-year-old Miguel Leon-Fregoso. In a July …
August 20, 2008
A Jungle Out There
Human pretension is generally good for a laugh. Two new comedies to do with the Creative Process, unequal in size, equally uneven in quality, equally unsteady in mood, deliver the laugh over and around constant …
August 20, 2008
Chill, Throwback, and Makeup Music
Artist: Slightly Stoopid Song: “The Fruits” (from the CD Slightly Not Stoned Enough to Eat Breakfast Yet Stoopid Heard By: Marlon Hendred, Mission Hills I thought it was pretty good, but it’s not like I …
August 20, 2008
Radio Contact with Airplanes, Sour Milk
Hey, Matt: Ever see big jets flying overhead, the ones leaving a white smoke trail? They fly right over our houses daily. Whee! Say, listen…I have a certain keen ol’ hand-held walkie-talkie, good for hiking, …
August 20, 2008
Click on the Radio
Webcast radio owner Luis Kaloyan said he launched X1FM and its streams of five music programs (alternative, electronic, disco, rock en español, classic rock) in 2006 because he had a “passion for the freedom of …
August 20, 2008
Dive Bar Dwellers
I’m sure most guys can say they’ve never had a drink thrown in their face or been slapped by a woman in a bar. Those are things you see in sitcoms. But I had one …
August 20, 2008
Matthew Sweet
A few years back, rock critic Chuck Klosterman listed Matthew Sweet as one of the most accurately rated (as opposed to over- or underrated) artists in rock history, saying, “Every Matthew Sweet album has only …
August 20, 2008
Self-Pay Machine
+44 bassist Mark Hoppus filed a lawsuit on August 11 against Missicom LLC of San Diego, alleging the firm embezzled funds “to the tune of over 1.5 million dollars.” Hoppus’s attorney, Howard King, says, “This …
August 20, 2008
Fogerty, the American Songwriter
As a recovering stand-up comic, I have had the opportunity to open for many national acts. Sadly, this is more a reflection of a concert promoter’s frugality than an indication of my amazing comedic talents. …
August 20, 2008
Back when the boogie board was selling like the hula hoop
Thirty Years Ago“I came across polyethylene foam in the 1960s,” he told me recently. “But it took a long time to turn it into something that could he used to ride waves. You could say …
August 20, 2008