Back-Seat Feeder Keeps Front-Seat Driver Well-Fed for Rigors of Commute

Just when I thought I’d heard of every type of Stupid Driving Trick, Deborah Schaeffer of Rancho Palos Verdes wrote me about a guy in a minivan who “was being spoon-fed” by a woman in the back seat as he navigated a transition road off the Long Beach Freeway.

She noticed the driver seemed to be having some trouble keeping his food on the spoon--and his vehicle on the road.

Schaeffer guessed that the feeder was the guy’s wife, adding: “I don’t think a girlfriend would do this.” Having been married for 14 years, I have my doubts about the wife theory.

“Maybe it was his mom,” Schaeffer said.

Stupid Driving, Part II: Schaeffer, who’s obviously had a wild month on the roads, also found herself behind another minivan driver who sat at a “very long light playing his harmonica. He proceeded to play away as he made a long left turn and was still rocking out when he stopped to take another left.”

She added: “I was impressed--and very pleased that he was in front of me.”

And that’s the end of today’s spoons-and-tunes traffic report.

Saving on suds: “Am I a thrifty shopper or what?” wrote Bill Wagner of Summerland, who got an unbelievable deal on some very expensive beer (see accompanying).

Will the Riordan jinx strike again? Defeated candidate Richard Riordan has thrown his support to his rival, Republican nominee Bill Simon, in the gubernatorial race. But is that good news for Simon? Riordan, you’ll recall, endorsed Steve Soboroff, a loser in the mayoral primary last year, then switched his support to Antonio Villaraigosa, who lost in the mayoral general election.

Read the small print: Jeff Marcia of Pomona noticed that a lumber seller offered a delivery deal that would seem to apply only to its next-door neighbor (see accompanying).

Easy for them to say: Mitchell Loch of L.A. found a sign that was in need of an interpreter (see photo).

Looking down in the mouth: The L.A. Independent police log reported that a man was arrested after shoplifting “$47 in dental care products--whitening toothpaste, breath mints, tooth polish, a toothbrush and dental care gum.”

I wonder if the guy’s defense will be that he had just received a very stern lecture from a dental hygienist?

It’s a myth that Angelenos panic over a little rain: After all, the Channel 9 weathercaster managed to stay very calm the other night as she stood in front of a huge graphic that said “Storm Watch.”

Nor did she lose her composure when she stared into the camera and revealed the alarming news that the storm that day had dumped “between one-tenth and one-hundredth of an inch” of rain around the city.

All the nudes, all the time: Christopher Thell of USC wrote in the Daily Trojan newspaper about NakedNews.com, a Toronto, Canada, pay service in which anchors read the news while disrobing.

Asked for a comment, USC journalism professor Joe Saltzman quipped: “When you get right down to it, I’d much rather watch a NakedNews.com anchor read the news than Paul Moyer.”

miscelLAny: What does Moyer of KNBC-TV (Channel 4) have in common with the late Ted Knight, the actor who portrayed buffoonish news anchor Ted Baxter on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”?

Both Moyer and Knight served as honorary mayors of Pacific Palisades.

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Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LA-TIMES, ext. 77083.