This Is the Offer: Can You Refuse?

When USC student Emmett Mavy told me he wanted to put his “WEB CEO” license plates on the market, I asked the DMV about such a transaction.

After several days of ruminating, the agency said that type of sale would be illegal--the plates belong to the state. But a spokesman told me that if the plates were on a car that was sold, the new owner could keep them.

Mavy, a USC student and a flexible businessman, said he will take that approach, throwing in his car for free.

Which means that for $45,000 you can have those “WEB CEO” plates on a Mazda RX7 GXL--a 1988 model.

OR YOU CAN TRY THIS APPROACH: A Sherman Oaks man who heads an Internet company writes: “Given the generally unfortunate history of Web-based businesses, I would like to point out that the wise Web CEO must be ever conscious of the need to control costs. I would like to say to Mr. Mavy that my plates were purchased directly from the DMV at retail, $70, at a tidy savings of $44,930 (see photo).”

GUIDE TO ADVENTUROUS DINING: Welcome to this week’s menu. If you’re ready, I’ll tell you today’s specials:

* Some crab cakes with a rather cottony taste (Fred Stone).

* Ribs that pack a jolt (Elizabeth Geiger).

* And pizza that is fresher and has a better taste only if you order $10 worth of it--to be delivered near or far (George Ushiro).

DEFINITELY OFF THE MENU: The San Fernando Valley Folklore Society, which investigates urban folk tales, says it is not true that “the average person swallows eight spiders a year.” Someone made up the stat as a joke and it quickly became gospel on the Internet.

JUST SIT RIGHT BACK AND YOU’LL HEAR A TALE: When a California license plate that said “3HRTOUR” was spotted on a BMW in Boston, I foolishly figured it was owned by an Angeleno who commuted via the 405 Freeway.

But Jack Crawford and several other readers pointed out that the plate obviously refers to a famous song, which goes in part:

Five passengers set sail that day for a three-hour tour. A three-hour tour. The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed . . . “ “Was Bob Denver driving [the BMW]?” asked Gary Marc Remson.

Yes, it’s the theme song to TV’s “Gilligan’s Island.”

STUPID DRIVER TRICKS: One suggested solution to reducing the risk of babbling on a cell phone while driving is to use the hands-free, headset variety. David Johannsen of Torrance saw a user of same on the San Diego Freeway. But she still had both hands off the wheel. “She was using them to gesture as she spoke,” he said.

miscelLAny:

It’s been a rough week for your columnist.

While researching a controversy about the invitations to the mayor’s inaugural ball in Carson, he reminded me that I wasn’t invited. Then, after I published an anonymous item about the Bel-Air Country Club, a reader mockingly wrote that he supposed I was a member.

And finally I found out I wasn’t even notified about a charity event in L.A. this Monday: The Steve Harvey Celebrity Golf Tournament.

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Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LA-TIMES, 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.