An Example of Edison Efficiency
Well, Southern California Edison may be billions of dollars in debt. But, as a refund check sent here by Richard Pridham of Downey indicates, the utility isn’t down to its last penny (see accompanying). Pridham noted that the 1-cent check wasn’t an example of bright thinking by Edison, inasmuch as it cost the company 27 cents in postage and who knows how much in staff time to prepare.
MEANWHILE, AT THE BIG ED . . . After seeing a seemingly suggestive flier for a company event at the Angels’ Edison Field (see accompanying), Jeanette Morrison of Torrance quipped: “I’ve reported this to the human relations office.”
WONDERS NEVER CEASE: Richard La Porte of Hermosa Beach came upon an ad placed by a company that said it can speak one of the languages used by our neighbors to the north (see accompanying).
Eh?
ANNALS OF STRANGE CRIMES: The police log of the Los Alamitos News-Enterprise listed this call: 5:20 a.m., “A man in a motorized wheelchair was reportedly going up and down the street whistling and making a lot of noise trying to wake people up.”
THE FREEWAY’S NO CAKEWALK: A reference here to the “Baby on Board” signs that cropped up in the back of car windows in the 1980s brought a note from Kathe Tanner of Cambria.
“I don’t know if the sign we kept in the back window of our van ever made drivers behind us navigate the streets more carefully,” she said. “But it did seem to produce a lot of grins and reduce the dreaded effect we now call ‘road rage.’
“The sign read, ‘Please be patient with me. If I’m driving slowly, I’m delivering a wedding cake.’ ”
L.A. INSULT OF THE WEEKEND: Listening to what began as a feel-good commentary about amateur golfer Greg Puga qualifying for the Masters golf tournament, I was jolted by an attempt at humor by CBS commentator Dick Enberg. He remarked that Puga grew up in East L.A.--an area, he said, “known for its gangs--certainly not for its golf.”
FANCY FOOTWORK: It’s always interesting to see the work of the scientists of tomorrow. Among the imaginative exhibits at a science fair at Stanford Middle School in Long Beach was “The Barefoot Tootsies Game,” by seventh-grader Melanie Rhoads.
Her goal was to determine if people could tell the gender of middle school students by studying their bare feet. Her conclusion after showing photos of 18 feet to classmates: No.
She theorized: “At this age the boys have not gone through their growth spurt yet, which made their feet look similar to the girls.’ Plus there was no hair on the boys’ feet yet.”
miscelLAny:
Hank Rosenfeld saw this sign in the parking lot of Gold’s Gym in Venice: “Remember . . . it’s not the kind of car you drive, it’s the size of the arm hanging out the window.”
Actually, the sign was missing the apostrophes in both “it’s.” But I was happy to drop some into this item. They weren’t heavy at all.
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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.