Sometimes, Perspective Is Everything; Other Times, Imagination Takes Over

First, some glad tidings out of Cypress. The Los Alamitos News-Enterprise reports that the resident who saw a plane that was in the act of crashing had actually seen “a large kite.”

An unmanned kite.

This lack of perspective reminded me of a couple of years ago when a resident told Seal Beach police he had spotted a heavily damaged pink Corvette being pounded by waves near the pier.

It turned out this resident had been trying out a new high-powered telescope and hadn’t quite mastered it. The stranded car was a Barbie toy.

Back on dry land: How health-conscious is Southern California? Dan Fink of L.A. noticed a parking area at a local university where even the vans are expected to be physically fit (see photo).

What irritates me, though, are un-athletic vehicles--the ones that can’t come to a stop when a light is turning red.

Michael Jeff of Lomita came upon the placard of someone who agrees with me (see photo).

More car talk: Diane Fradin of L.A. found a product containing a type of wax that is used to make vehicles shiny. Strange thing is, she found it on a bottle of cold medicine (see accompanying). It is an “inactive ingredient,” so it probably won’t make you shine.

Food for thought: You might need a pain reliever after tasting the cheese discovered by Elizabeth Johnston of Chatsworth (see accompanying).

Read all about it: I’m sure you went around with a smile on your face all day after learning that the county Board of Supervisors had given the L.A. Press Club a plaque for “more than 50 years of service.”

If you’re wondering why the supes were a bit vague about the time frame, you should know that the club has had an erratic history, having written its own obituary at least twice over the last century.

During Prohibition, for instance, the L.A. Press Club flourished as a meeting place where news hounds could guzzle the contraband beer and whiskey obtained by reporters who had accompanied the cops on raids of bootleggers.

Then, one day, a drunken reporter was thrown off the premises of the Press Club. Outraged, he phoned police, revealed the illicit goings-on there and demanded that the place be raided. The gendarmes, who were shocked (shocked!), did, with some reluctance. And that was the end of the press club until it was reorganized in 1947.

So the drunken reporter got his revenge. Whether he also phoned his newspaper and got a scoop about the raid is not known.

Note to radio station KXTA: With the tendency of UCLA’s basketball team to suffer unexpected defeats, maybe you folks at 1150 (AM) should rename the team’s radio show. The current name, “Bruin Breakdown,” has taken on a new meaning.

miscelLAny: Less than 5 inches of rain have fallen in these parts since July, making this one of the driest periods in years. And I’ll take the blame. You see, several months ago I did something that ensured the rain would stop. I had a new roof put on our house.