Another no-whinny situation:Art Vinsel was helping out...

Another no-whinny situation:

Art Vinsel was helping out with the preparations for the San Pedro Christmas Parade when he came upon the ornate entry from the youngsters at St. Peter’s Episcopal Day School. Amid “the Christmas ribbons, scrollwork and logos,” Vinsel says, was a small block-lettered plea:

“PLEASE PLACE US IN FRONT OF ALL HORSES.”

THE GLOBAL HIGHWAY: “Going into Darkness: Fantastic Coffins From Africa” is a book by Thierry Secretan about an unusual form of folk art in the African nation of Ghana. One photo shows a funeral scene for a fisherman who was buried in a sardine-shaped casket. Why do we mention this? One of the mourners is a man wearing an orange Caltrans shirt.

LIST OF THE DAY: The Mighty Ducks’ mascot, Wild Wing, has had his problems, falling into a wall of flames on one occasion and getting tangled up during a high-wire act on another. But WW’s veteran counterparts could have told him that a mascot’s life is no piece of cake.

Consider these untoward incidents:

* 1994: The head of Josie Bruin, UCLA’s female mascot, is stolen and never recovered, though the Daily Bruin later receives a note from the alleged thief. It is signed “Troche.” (Short for Trojan? A misspelling of Trojan?)

* 1992: Willy the Wave, the Pepperdine mascot, is hit with so much criticism over his appearance--”fuzzy banana” is one description--that he’s given a total make-over. He is transformed into a gnarly dude with a wave of blond hair, sunglasses and a buffed body.

* 1991: Traveler, USC’s equine rep, is ordered to “slow the gallops” on the sidelines after bumping a Stanford song girl. The previous year, he had thrown his rider and made a run at the USC bench when the Trojans were losing.

* 1991: In UCLA magazine, Joe and Josephine Bruin condemn Oski the Bear, their rival at UC Berkeley, as “a troublemaker.” (Oski, coincidentally, was on probation at the time for throwing a cream cake into the crowd at a basketball game.)

* 1989: Oski, on his way here, is humiliated at Oakland Airport when he flunks the metal detector test while in costume. He is forced to strip to his underwear in a restroom. But since his identity is a closely guarded secret, officials relent and do not order him to remove his head.

Wild Wing, our advice would be to get out of the business while you still can.

miscelLAny A Wilshire Boulevard landmark for a half-century, the Original Brown Derby, blew around the corner after shutting down in 1980. It landed in a mini-mall, where it has had several owners. Now, Don Manning notes, it has become a sort of Gray Derby.