L.A., everyone’s role model:David Foy, a Pepperdine...

L.A., everyone’s role model:

David Foy, a Pepperdine University professor, has developed a widely used psychological inventory to measure post-traumatic stress disorder. It’s called “The Los Angeles Symptom Checklist.”

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A LITTLE ‘TWILIGHT ZONE’ MUSIC PLEASE: Three minutes after the 5.8 quake rolled through the area Wednesday, Channel 5 broadcast a rerun of the sitcom “Blossom.” The episode dealt with the aftereffects of a quake. The L.A. Symptom Checklist, in other words.

Which reminds us that, just as the Northridge quake was leveling parts of the Southland last year, TV’s Joe Friday could be heard intoning the following on a Nick at Nite episode of “Dragnet”:

“This is the city . . . Los Angeles, California.”

Don’t rub it in, Joe.

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AMAZING ANIMALS (CONT.): When last we spoke, you may recall, we mentioned a lost-and-found ad for a “neutered male, cat, very pregnant.” Now comes another unusual claim uncovered by readers Marla Gardner and Leonard Shannon--a dairy says it gets milk from “non-teated cows” (see excerpt).

Responds Shannon: “Bull.”

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POOR OLD CHARLIE: Every time we hear about problems with subway construction here, we think about the old hit by the Kingston Trio--”MTA.”

The song tells the story of poor Charlie, who took the subway to work one morning not knowing that the rates had been raised. He didn’t have enough change to disembark.

The song continues:

But did he ever return?

No, he never returned

And his fate is still unlearned.

He may ride forever ‘neath the streets of Boston;

He’s the man who never returned.

Our local MTA, by the way, raised its rates last February, ignoring the point of the song. No one was trapped aboard an MTA line here. But several groups representing passengers have sued to have the increases rolled back. In the 1990s, Charlie has become more militant.

miscelLAny:

Who says L.A. has no culture? Sotheby’s of Beverly Hills is holding an exhibition and auction through Saturday of “original artwork from MAD Magazine,” including “representations of . . . the infamous mascot, a smiling Alfred E. Neuman.” Remind us to check the Los Angeles Symptom Checklist sometime to see if Alfred E. Neuman could be suffering from some sort of post-traumatic stress disorder.