“YOUR PET MAY BE A SPACE ALIEN,”...

“YOUR PET MAY BE A SPACE ALIEN,” warns the Weekly World News tabloid, which says that 20% of the world’s dogs and cats could be from intergalactic animal shelters.

This comes as no surprise to Angelenos. Our continuing analysis of the 1,395-page list of L.A.’s dog names--it will take us years to finish--shows that 72 of the city’s 203,148 licensed mutts were christened Astro, 47 go by Yoda and 20 answer to Spock. Names of other possible canine aliens: Wookie (16), Princess Leia (2), Obi Wan Kenobi (2), and, of course, Trog (1).

Egg magazine’s current issue spotlights “100 Favorite Moments” on national TV (No. 98: “Geraldo hosts his show from a topless doughnut shop”). As a companion piece, here are 10 inspiring TV moments for Angelenos.

10--KNBC anchorman Kent Shocknek ducks under his desk during the Whittier earthquake (1987).

9--Lacking film clips of the Sugar Ray Leonard-Roberto Duran fight, KNBC sportscaster Stu Nahan shadowboxes the highlights himself (1980).

8--As she launches into “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” at the Academy Awards, Diana Ross exclaims: “Sing with me, Los Angeles!” (1990).

7--KNBC News promotes series on the death penalty with a photo of San Quentin’s gas chamber and the headline: “Tonight, we’ll take your breath away”(1988).

6--KABC News examines “Sexual Attraction--Find out what revs up your sex drive and turns on your neighbors. All this week with Dr. William Rader” (1986).

5--”Eye on L.A.” supplies special eyeglasses for viewers to watch “3-D Hawaiian Swimsuit Spectacular”; the glasses merely tint the screen red-blue (1987).

4--Sonny Bono reveals to KABC News that he’s always wanted to attend a cooking school in Italy (1985).

3--A.C. Nielsen Co. invalidates part of its ratings-sweeps results for L.A. after learning that KABC News aired a series on Nielsen voters during ratings-sweeps week (1987).

2--KABC News broadcasts four-part series, “Is Elvis Alive?” and concludes in final episode that he isn’t (1988).

1--With the search for Elvis over, KCBS News airs “The Search for Sleaze” and finds plenty of it (1990).

One of the handful of people who showed up at Belmont Pier for Monday’s Bait’s Rights demonstration, drawn by an ad in Santana sailing magazine, was Long Beach City Councilman Doug Drummond. He didn’t realize that the Save-the-Anchovies event was an April Fool’s joke.

The Radisson Hotel’s “Welcome to San Diego” marquee, visible Monday south of L.A. off the Santa Ana Freeway, was also an April 1 event--not part of a daring new marketing campaign by the City of Commerce.

miscelLAny:

Conversation item to break the ice while you’re waiting to vote April 9: The punched-out parts of the election ballot are called chads .