Warning: Something to Smile About

OK, class, your homework assignment was to explain a warning involving a smiley character on a color printer cartridge box (see accompanying). And several of you filed interesting (and not always serious) theories:

* “No gambling on professional baseball” -- from Wayne Terry, who figured the icon was Pete Rose.

* “Don’t take photocopies of your face or other body parts (which they could not show)” -- Rick Straussman.

* “Don’t allow unauthorized repairmen to [mess] around with it” -- David Macaray.

* “Don’t expose package to freezing temperatures,” Perry Casapao, who thought the figure was a snowman.

* “No more Wal-Marts” -- Cecil Wiggins.

And the consensus ... Most respondents, from Maria Brown and professor Lou Nitti Jr. to 7-year-old Danny Irish, concluded that the warning meant, “Keep away from children.” (Commented Helen Doss, in an afterthought: “No adult restaurant should be without this sign.”) Then again.... Dave Kenney of Palos Verdes Estates pointed out that if the happy face is a kid, “how come his cap isn’t on backwards?”

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Another mystery: Gary Null of Valencia came upon an alternative mode of transportation for European-bound tourists that I wasn’t aware of (see accompanying).

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Speaking of travel: Arlene Silver called my attention to a sign at LAX in Friday’s Times (see photo). Before I read the article, I assumed the sign referred to a taxi service and that SIN meant Hollywood (not Singapore).

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Exotic locales (cont.): In Bowie, Texas, Dave De Vorre of Simi Valley snapped a shot of an intersection that could be taken as a reference to insects or marijuana (see photo). Imagine the surprise of a couple who make a wrong turn while searching for Lovers Lane.

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Forget about the Mars rovers ... : There are spectacular astronomical discoveries to be made here.

A caller told authorities of seeing “a large light in the sky, and said that it was as big as the moon but was not the moon,” the Seal Beach Sun’s police log said.

“Officers checked the area and determined that it was indeed the moon.” (But isn’t that what you’d expect them to say?)

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miscelLAny: The Seal Beach newspaper also reported an incident involving a man in a sweatshirt who was “going door-to-door stating he was in a contest and asking if he could join the residents for dinner.” Not another reality TV show!