I am a Facebook voyeur, and I have been guilty of shameless schadenfreude. Several years ago, I got a friend request from a man I didn’t know, but we had friends in common, so I accepted. All I knew is that he was a widower in his late 70s. He sent me a nice message. But after a few months of seeing his posts, I…
Ok, politics fans, it’s time to get past the shock and awe of Donald J Trump inching past Kamala Harris to become President of the United States on January 20. Nope, not a mandate. The media, by and large, has conceded their independence, starting with the Morning Joe hosts, the choreography of three major east coast newspapers disposing of their political editors, and the biggest…
San Diego County, as far as weather is concerned, often carries the smug air of a guest at the Thanksgiving table who neither brings nor takes too much—just clear skies and dry streets to boast about, while its neighbors to the north dabble in calamity. This week has been no exception. While Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo have been slapped about by…
As Thanksgiving Day 2024 dawned over San Diego County, the holiday’s veneer of tranquility was marred by a series of unsettling events, each unraveling the threads of peace. In the heart of Spring Valley, a domestic disturbance escalated into a fatal encounter. Deputies responded to a trespassing call involving a 34-year-old man, Victor Rendon Jr., reportedly armed and erratic. After ensuring the safety of children…
The holidays are here, darlings, and you know what that means—FOOD Bon appétit, my dears! It’s the most wonderful time of the year—yes, the holidays—and you know what that means: glorious food! Yes, the County of San Diego wants to make sure you savor every morsel this festive season. Because wasting food, my dears, is simply not in the spirit of holiday cheer! Did you…
In the surging foam of the Pacific swells, where the boundless blue mirrors heaven’s depths, there came again to Southern California’s shores a band of oceanic hunters, their presence rare as an albatross amid the doldrums. These orcas, sovereigns of the sea, whose brief sojourns here once stirred both awe and marvel, now returned, their black-and-white heraldry glistening like banners of some ancient, aquatic knightly…
Every November, numerous articles recount the arrival of 17th-century English Pilgrims and Puritans and their quest for religious freedom. Stories are told about the founding of Massachusetts Bay Colony and the celebration of the first Thanksgiving feast. In the popular mind, the two groups are synonymous. In the story of the quintessential American holiday, they have become inseparable protagonists in the story of the origins….
Ah, dear reader, let us weave a tale of holiday cheer, as though by the pen of Dickens himself, capturing the festive spirit that stirs the hearts of North County! Picture if you will, a panorama of joy and delight, wherein every corner bursts with the enchantments of the season, inviting families and friends to partake in yuletide merriment. Carlsbad: A Tapestry of Cheer Through…
The Escondido City Council, in its infinite suburban wisdom, gave the green light to bulldoze two old restaurant shells—one with whispers of history clinging to its bones—so four shiny new drive-thrus can spring up along the city’s arterial veins. Progress, they called it, at their Nov. 20 meeting. Unanimous nods all around. One of the doomed is the former DiCicco’s Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria, sitting…
The scientists at UC San Diego were jubilant, as jubilant as scientists could be when awarded 10 Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP) grants by the Department of Defense. Nine of these lucky researchers hailed from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, a place where the ocean was studied with the same reverence one might give to a long and difficult novel. It was the second year…