Conjuring up romantic visions of a Poseidon...

Conjuring up romantic visions of a Poseidon Adventure: Business Wire termed it “a first in the cruise industry.” Princess Cruises’ L.A. office proudly announced that it has installed a maritime “black box” recorder on board each of its ships in case “any type of incident (should) ever occur on board.”

That should inspire a champagne toast from the passengers.

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New spin on the fortune cookie concept: Bob Patterson of Marina del Rey bought a take-out meal from the Magic Wok restaurant in Venice and found a double message inside his cookie.

“NOW IS THE TIME TO TRY SOMETHING NEW,” the slip of paper said on one side. On the other, it said, “22 32 33 39 40 42.”

“It didn’t take long to crack the code,” Patterson said. “I began playing those numbers in the California Lottery. The second time, I won $5.”

Patrick Yong, one of the Wok’s managers, said some customers like the enclosed Lotto tips. “But to others,” he added, “it’s just a cookie.”Stop and smell the what?In West Hollywood, Robert Burton found two blocks of dueling spellers.

Long before the S & L scandals . . . “The Great Los Angeles Swindle,” a new book by Jules Tygiel, profiles C.C. Julian, a flamboyant oil and mining stock hustler who committed suicide in 1934 after being indicted for mail fraud. Some tidbits:

* Prior to the big oil finds here early in this century, a reporter wrote that fuel was so scarce in L.A. that local businessmen would “utilize for their furnaces the dried manure of the streets.”

* One con man observed in the 1920s that when it came to picking a victim for a get-rich scheme, “stock sellers know the average physician will fall quicker than anyone else.”

* The ads sent East by Julian for one mining venture “reportedly depicted ocean steamships laden with lead ore docked in Death Valley.”

* Film rights to “What Price Fugitive?” the autobiography of Julian, was purchased several years ago by actor George Hamilton, who “has attempted to interest producers in a film based on Julian’s version of events.”

* One businessman indicted (though acquitted) on usury charges was L.A. plumbing magnate Harry M. Haldeman. His grandson was H.R. Haldeman, “a plumbing expert of a different sort (who) would become embroiled in his own celebrated scandal,” Tygiel notes.

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Senor Nostradamus: Before a soccer game at Birmingham High in the Valley, announcer Val Rodriguez introduced the players on both teams. “Instead of going back to the benches after I was through so the game could begin, the players just stayed out there,” Rodriguez related. “Finally I said, ‘Hey, what are you guys waiting for--an earthquake?’ And they got off the field.”

At halftime, a 3.7 aftershock struck. “A couple of the people in the stands looked over at me,” Rodriguez said.

miscelLAny:

May is a great month for racing fans. There’s today’s Kentucky Derby. Then comes L.A.’s greatest racing spectacle--the Great Snail Sprints at the Puente Hills Mall. The public event, which will be held next Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons, is free (even the snails are supplied). But, please, no off-mud betting.