Mayday! Mayday! Politicians Ahead!

John Fitzgerald of Highland Park and several other readers noticed that the flags were upside-down on the “I Voted” stickers they were given at the polls (see accompanying). Was the position of the Stars and Stripes a commentary on the quality of the candidates? After all, an upside-down flag is the international distress signal.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Marie Donnel of Camarillo came upon a crustacean who may or may not have a place to hang its hat. Erika Barber of Rancho Palos Verdes, meanwhile, found a Westside eatery trying one of the most daring ploys I’ve ever encountered in the restaurant biz--advertising that it serves airline food (see accompanying).

HACKED A CITY IN A PAINFUL PLACE: The Easy Reader newspaper in the South Bay reports that Hermosa Beach’s City Hall “was hit by the dread ‘Wazzu’ computer virus . . . causing no end of frustration for the perfectionists who run the place.”

The virus, the newspaper said, “randomly places the word ‘Wazzu’ in word processing documents (and) is easily spread from computer to computer. If it were to infect the wrong machines, ‘Wazzu’ could end up in a city ordinance and become the law of the land. . . .”

EASY FOR THEM TO SAY . . . : Bea Reynolds saw an ad placed by a San Gabriel Valley podiatry clinic claiming that its surgeons can remove bunions with little “scaring.”

CYNTHIA’S EVIL TWIN: West Hollywood City Councilman Paul Koretz says that his city, like Cypress, has an area where a developer honored friends and relatives with first-name streets. “I live on Cynthia,” Koretz said, “and within a quarter-mile are Phyllis, Lloyd, Norma and Willey.” He added, “When Cynthia crosses Doheny into Beverly Hills, its spelling changes to Cinthia.” Somehow, Cinthia seems more Beverly Hills-ish to me than Cynthia.

DON’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT GEOGRAPHY: In the Hollywood Reporter, Joe Quasarano spotted a real estate ad that began, “Crystal clear Caribbean blue waters are the setting for this one-of-a-kind family compound on 400+ feet of lake frontage located in Bellaire, Mich. . . .”

CARDINAL POINTS: Like you, I was excited over the debut of KKTR (1650-AM)--K-Traffic--a radio station that broadcasts only roadway mishaps (with an occasional commercial to break the monotony). If the no-nonsense station has one weakness, it’s the exclusion of reports from tipster-commuters. Part of the fun of being mired in a hopeless traffic jam is hearing that the station has been notified of the situation by a celebrity.

I’ve heard reports credited to such actors as Chevy Chase and Richard Crenna. Even Cardinal Roger Mahony has been a tipster.

When Bill Keene was the traffic-meister at KNX (1070-AM), he recalled mentioning a vehicle fire on the Ventura Freeway only to have Mahony phone to say “there was no tie-up--it was just an overheated car off to the side of the road.”

Then, Keene, continued, other tipsters phoned to take issue with Mahony. “But,” Keene added, “I wasn’t about to correct a cardinal.”

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John Schiermeier noticed that two letters were burned out on a movie complex in Glendale, changing its name to MANN EATRES and no doubt making Godzilla feel right at home with its up-the-Wazzu attitude.