FAST AGING: Fossil experts say they guessed...

FAST AGING: Fossil experts say they guessed wrong on the age of the 26-foot baleen whale recently excavated at Laguna Niguel and on display at the Ralph B. Clark Park’s interpretive center in Buena Park. Paleontologist Steven W. Conkling says earlier estimates of 4 million years old was off--by 5 million years. . . . The new estimate is based on algae found with the skeleton. Says Conkling: “Considering how primitive the bones are, 9 million years old is a much more reasonable age for this guy--or gal.”

HOME PLANNING: Despite the economy, Orange County still ranked second nationwide last year in master-planned community home sales. Three of its planned communities made the Top 10 in the individual category, a national survey shows. . . . Most successful: Irvine Ranch, which sold 932 new units, followed by Rancho Santa Margarita (827) and Aliso Viejo (633). But only Irvine Ranch showed an increase from the previous year.

MAXIMUM ART: Irish actress Fionnula Flanagan, who will read the Molly Bloom soliloquy from “Ulysses” at the Irvine Barclay Theatre on Monday (F1), is a woman of many talents. She likes to paint but rarely finds the time to do it. So she keeps an easel with a blank canvas on it in her Beverly Hills living room “to shame myself.” . . . But some Hollywood guests have given the canvas an appraising look and told her how “perfect” it is. “They think it’s so minimalist,” Flanagan says. “What pretension!”

FAMILY AFFAIR: Most library news is so bad these days--fewer books, less staff--the Orange County Library system is thrilled with its latest gem: its San Juan Capistrano branch has won the John Cotton Dana Award from the American Library Assn., for its series of family programs in performing and visual arts concentrating on the county’s diversity. . . . Branch manager Jose Aponte, who created it, knows a little about the prestigious award: His mother won it 20 years ago for an art festival she created for a Farmingdale, N.Y., library.