Case Against Drunk Driver In the Can

Two L.A. police officers were outside a convenience store when they noticed a motorist stop his car “at an angle, taking up several parking spots,” reported the Thin Blue Line publication. “They then observed the driver tilt his head back and appear to pass out.” They then spotted “a large beer can in the center console, which happened to be quite cold to the touch.”

Thus ended a different kind of pursuit -- the suspect catching up with the cops.

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My little $1.5-million grass shack: Jack Goertzen, a retired state appellate judge, couldn’t help but notice what passes as “very spacious” in Dana Point (see accompanying).

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Road gauge: Mention was made here of Whittier psychologist Arnold Nerenberg’s suggestion that the Department of Motor Vehicles develop “a standard sign of apology” to reduce road rage. The DMV, as you may have noticed, moves somewhat slowly, so I asked for reader proposals. Here are a few:

* Professor Bertram Raven of UCLA told me that some years ago he co-wrote a proposal in the book “Social Psychology” for drivers to use “a moving right hand [that] would mean, ‘I am sorry.’ ” (see accompanying).

* Warren Larson of Shadow Hills and Joseph Mark Klein of Pacific Palisades each recommended a slapping-the-forehead gesture.

* “My wife says that Brazilians commonly use a thumbs-up sign (you said no one-fingered signals, but this is one thumb so it’s OK, right?),” said Steve Koenig of Fortaleza, Brazil.

* “In Japan, it is the custom to briefly turn on your emergency blinkers,” said Neil Duchane. “I have seen my father-in-law use it successfully.”

* “How about the popular two-finger ‘peace sign’?” asked Sam Fung of Newport Beach.

* Ron Phillips agreed with Fung, though he added that “friends from the U.K. have told me not to use it there as it seems to have a very different and offensive meaning. But between the strong beer and opposite-side driving, I don’t plan to drive over there.”

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Road gauge (cont).: Confronted by a threatening driver, I could see using any one of the above gestures -- or perhaps all of them just to be safe.

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Surprise testimony: During a phone interview with L.A.-based talk show host Jim Rome, Kansas basketball Coach Bill Self was asked how to stay sane in the crazy world of college sports. Don’t listen to the fans, he answered. Don’t read the Internet. And, lastly, “Don’t listen to talk radio.”

Said Rome: “Except this show. You can listen to this show.”

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miscelLAny: The pen is mightier than the machine gun? In a Pasadena doctor’s office, my colleague Bob Browning heard this lament: “My wife wanted to see the Oscar nominees, so we went to ‘Capote.’ After the movie started, I said to her, ‘I thought this was a gangster movie.’ She said, ‘No, that’s Capone.’ ”

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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.