The San Diego Festival of Science & Engineering will blast off with Expo Day at Petco Park today, 10 am to 5 pm. Expo Day is the Festival’s signature event, where more than 130 local organizations provide interactive exhibits and activities to budding scientists The learning dressed up to have fun continues with Festival Week […]
In 1823 The Reverend Clement Clark Moore created “A Visit from Saint Nicholas.” The poem, better known as “The Night Before Christmas,” from its first line, is largely responsible for the contemporary conception of Santa Claus, his appearance, his method of transportation and his bringing toys to boys and girls on Christmas Eve. A […]
DEAR RICHARD LEDERER: Do you remember these high-flown words to “Three Blind Mice”?: Three rodents with defective vision, Three rodents with defective vision. Observe how they locomote. Observe how they locomote.. They all pursued the agriculturist’s mate. She severed their extremities with a kitchen utensil Have you ever observed such a phenomenon in your […]
Do you remember back in junior high when you were taught that a noun was a person, place or thing? But you probably didn’t learn that proper names can be nouns, as the following narrative demonstrates: Welcome to our fair city. We invite you to take one of our scenic tours. All tours include […]
In this year of electile dysfunction, with midterm elections hurrying near, political jokes can be very powerful. That’s why so many of them get elected. Will Rogers explained, “I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.” Jay Leno observed, “If God wanted us to vote, he would have given […]
What would you do if you opened your front door and saw Dracula, Frankenstein, a ghost, a ghoul, the Hulk, King Kong, a mummy, Quasimodo, a skeleton, a werewolf, a witch and a zombie standing on your steps? Hope it’s Halloween. We human beings are fascinated by monsters. We are somehow drawn to their ugliness. […]
Next Saturday, from 9 am to 4 pm at the Town & Country Hotel in Mission Valley, the U-T will offer its 9th annual Successful Aging Expo. Please explore the special Expo section in tomorrow’s paper. Free and worth every penny, the Expo will feature an aggregation of exhibitors, all-day entertainment and expert speakers on […]
In early September each year, Americans celebrate National Grandparents Day, to honor the many contributions that grandmothers and grandfathers make to humanity. It was about 30,000 years ago that grandparents were invented. That’s when homo sapiens started living long enough to see their children have children and could thus educate their grandkids about the […]
Next week, Comic-Con returns to San Diego, where, back in August 1970, it began life as the Golden State Comic Book Convention in the basement of the U.S. Grant Hotel. That first event drew about a hundred attendees. San Diego Comic-Con has become the largest gathering of comics and pop culture enthusiasts in the […]
“Have Smart Phones Destroyed a Generation?” asks SDSU psychologist Jean M. Twenge in a recent Atlantic magazine article. She concludes that, in many ways, they have, as evidenced by increases in isolation, depression and diminished social skills. Since the arrival of the Smart Phone in 2007, humankind has experienced a growing paradox. While the […]