They saw humor in the mistake: Heidi...
They saw humor in the mistake: Heidi Gilston, a spokesman for the Braille Institute on Vermont Avenue, wrote to say the folks there “thought it amusing” when the institute received the following phone call.
Braille operator: “Good morning, Braille Institute.”
Caller: “Hello, is this Blinkies?”
Operator: “No, this is the Braille Institute.”
Caller: “Isn’t that terrible? I asked for the number of a doughnut shop called Blinkies and they gave me your number.”
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We’re No. 52!U.S. News & World Report magazine’s academic survey of 204 of the nation’s universities ranked some locals thusly (only the top 26 got individual rankings; the also-rans were clumped in groups):
No. 5--Caltech.
No. 19--UCLA.
Nos. 27-51 included USC.
Nos. 52-102 included Pepperdine.
Pepperdine does appear to outrank its three competitors in one category: cheapskate grads. An average of merely 8% of Pepperdine’s alumni contributed to the school’s fund drives in 1991 and 1992, compared to 12% for both USC and UCLA and 33% for Caltech.
A final note: As always in stories dealing with Caltech, we are assuming that no brainy pranksters hacked their way into the U.S. News computers and secretly improved that school’s position.
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Living in THAT past?Getting back to USC, you would think the school would be anxious to forget its mediocre football ranking last year, caused in part by that disastrous loss to Fresno State. Yet, fans who attended USC’s game at the Coliseum last Saturday report that they were greeted by this recorded message over the P.A. system from the team’s star receiver:
“This is Johnny Morton, welcoming you to the 1992 football season.”
Or could that be a Caltech trick?
Frightful freebies: Real estate come-ons are common, especially in Southern California’s slow market. But Patt Richards of Arcadia came upon what seems to be an unusual offer involving some not-so-cuddly critters (see excerpt).
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Bakersfield law: The publication Jury Verdicts Weekly, in its “Interesting Court Cases” section, mentions that a vacationer injured after tripping aboard a cruise ship was awarded $170,000 in U.S. District Court in L.A.
The plaintiff was represented by two law firms, one of which was McKnight, McKnight, McKnight & McKnight of Bakersfield. We hope we got those names in the correct order.
miscelLAny:
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, those lucky souls in L.A. who owned TV sets could watch USC football games on KLAC-TV, the L.A. Rams on KFI-TV, comic Sid Caesar on KTSL-TV, singer Perry Como on KNBH-TV and bandleader Spade Cooley on KTLA-TV. KLAC is now KCOP (13), KFI is KCAL (9), KTSL is KCBS (2) and KNBH is KNBC (4). KTLA (5), believe it or not, is still KTLA.
