Bad Timing on a Major Scale

In a commentary on children’s nightmares, Dr. James Dobson recounted how his daughter had once awakened in the middle of the night, crying that the walls of their L.A. house were going to cave in. Dobson, whose syndicated spots are heard on KNX-AM (1070), comforted her by telling her that her fears were groundless, and eventually she went back to sleep. A few hours later on that 1971 morning, the San Fernando quake struck.

SURE WE HAVE TRAFFIC PROBLEMS: But Art Vinsel of San Pedro sent me a corrected copy of a local Neighborhood Watch newsletter indicating that at least drivers from one former Soviet Bloc country are no longer considered a hazard (see accompanying).

L.A.--YOU CAN’T ESCAPE IT! On a visit to the Berlin Zoo, Jill Dorson of Santa Monica came upon, of all things, a directional sign for an attraction closer to the Golden State Freeway.

Notice how the German city’s calculations differ somewhat from those on a billboard posted by El Segundo a few years ago (see photos).

Then again, Berlin is practically family, being a sister city of L.A., while El Segundo is a not-altogether-friendly neighbor. I’ve always suspected that El Segundo resents the fact that its name translates as “The Second,” as in No. 2.

YOU GO, GIRLS: After I wrote about the seemingly mysterious reproduction of some male-less hens that fell off a poultry truck along the Hollywood Freeway, UCLA graduate student Diana Davis offered a theory.

I better let her explain.

“While I suspect a male was mixed in, all-female groups of turkeys and chickens can reproduce through parthenogenesis,” she wrote.

“This means no males are necessary. In birds, unlike mammals, the female has two different sex chromosomes, and the male has two copies of the same sex chromosome.

“During situations where males are absent, a flock of females will (rarely) produce viable eggs that will hatch almost inevitably into a male (the mother can provide both sex chromosomes needed to produce a male). Once you get the first male, reproduction is easy.”

No doubt he would have died with a smile on his face.

SEEING RED: Then, again, ex-Angeleno Jerry Feldner commented: “You may have found the guy who wrecked the chicken truck, but I know a rooster when I see one and I have certainly seen at least one (along that freeway). Ain’t no chicken going to live for 30 years. There was replenishment and recruitment of the young.”

Maybe word got around among the local roosters.

TWO-FACED? Or a solicitor who doesn’t know whether he’s coming or going?

Figis catalogs sent Marjorie T. Poe a flier that said: “Is this goodbye? This may be your last catalog.”

The other side of the flier said: “You are a new customer, Mrs. Marjorie T. Poe. So get six free gifts with your first order!”

miscelLAny:

You may remember the scene in TV’s “I Love Lucy” in which she is supposed to put wrappers under pieces of chocolate candy moving on a conveyor belt. She falls hopelessly behind and, in a panic, begins eating the candies and stuffing them into her clothing.

Watching KCET’s Huell Howser, I learned that technical assistance for the episode was supplied by See’s Candy Shops, a pioneer L.A. business (founded in 1921). See’s reps showed Lucy the right way to work the conveyor belt so she’d know how to look authentic when she goofed up.

Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATIMES, Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A., 90012 and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.