Earthquakes rank right up there with smog...

Earthquakes rank right up there with smog and freeways among everyday topics of conversation in L.A., so you knew this happened somewhere:

During a meeting of Pepperdine officials Wednesday afternoon, Jon Crispin, a program development director, asked, “What are we doing about earthquake safety?”

It was 3:43 p.m.

When the room stopped shaking, someone cracked:

“Why don’t you ask about pay raises next?”

Freeway Spill du Jour: About three dozen diapers on the San Diego Freeway in West L.A.

Traffic was backed up for two miles.

Yes, they were disposable diapers.

Elvis-Head Sightings (cont.):

It appears to be the end of the line for the 1,400-pound float of the King’s noggin, which has appeared in the Rose Parade, a 7-Eleven parking lot in Memphis and a mall in Ridgeland, Miss.

While the Elvis head drew offers from the Mardi Gras as well as one St. Patrick’s Day Parade, the Mississippi Tournament of Roses Committee kept it on the sidelines after Presley’s Graceland estate protested.

“We’ve decided to dismantle the head,” said committee chairman Pat Frascogna. “It’s too big to keep moving around.

“I don’t see it being resurrected,” he added. “But with the king’s staying power, you never know.”

Big Chicken-Head Sightings:

Elvis’ noggin may be gone, but about 30 6-foot-tall cluckers spent Thursday afternoon tramping up and down Rodeo Boulevard.

Were they mutations of the infamous Freeway Chickens who fell out of a truck on the Ventura Freeway and took up residence on the roadside in the 1970s?

No, there was a perfectly logical explanation. The chickens were advertising a hamburger joint.

The logo wars continue.

In our last episode, you may recall, a First Interstate Bank official wrote a letter to the Downtown News in which he criticized the Civic Center logos of Bank of America, Security Pacific, Union Bank and Wells Fargo.

His anger stemmed from a series of letters in the Downtown News that characterized the “I’s” tacked to the top of the 73-story First Interstate Tower as corporate graffiti.

Now comes the next salvo. One Wilshire Building ran a half-page photo of the city skyline in this week’s Downtown News. Funny thing: It shows only the first 72 floors of FIT. That’s one way to say nay to the “I’s.”

There were no 73-floor buildings (or logos) when L.A. City Fire Station No. 29 opened in 1912. In that low-rise era, ceilings were closer to the ground.

Good ol’ 29 is still in business on Western Avenue in Hollywood. And the equipment has gotten bigger.

So, to prevent firefighters from banging their heads while standing on the engines, the station has several printed warnings posted. There are also drawings of a critter that deliver the same message:

Duck.