Turns Out There’s a Plus After All to Not Mastering the Art of Writing Poetry
I just read that a researcher at Cal State San Bernardino found that poets die young -- at the age of 62.2, according to a study of almost 2,000 writers. I’m just relieved that my versifying never got started, due to my inability to rhyme anything with “Los Angeles.”
Pi in my face: And I got nothing but trouble when I tried printing MIT’s football cheer this way:
Tangent, secant, cosine, sine
Three point one four six five nine
Slipstick, logarithm, hyperbolic sine
Go Tech!
Mainly I learned that the correct value of pi is 3.14159, as about 314,159 readers reminded me.
Can’t we all get along? Maurice Sanchez of Irvine pointed out that I could have avoided the problem by using another cheer of nerdy schools:
Repulse them,
Repulse them,
Make them
Relinquish the ball.
Stage one art alert: You may have helped create a work of art without even knowing it. Kim Abeles’ “Presidential Smog Plates” consists of likenesses of presidents from McKinley to George Bush Sr. fashioned out of “particulate matter found in smog.” It’s one of Abeles’ many works on display at the El Camino College Art Gallery through Thursday.
She collected the matter for her smog series by setting out sheets of plexiglass stenciled with adhesive images in Southern California. Who knows if your car contributed?
Anyway, I’ve got to get over to the exhibit for a close-up view of her 62-inch by-42-inch photo, “Self Portrait with Files” (see photo).
I swear I see my column near the bottom of the stack.
Such a deal: Terence O’Brien noticed a “for sale” placard on a car that comes with an unusual accessory (see photo).
Food for thought: As for the item here about the spooky items at the L.A. County Coroner’s gift shop, Ron Johnson says he bought a couple of the towels with body outline logos. “They are great for guests,” he explained. “Keeps them from overstaying their welcome.”
miscelLAny: Cypress’ Tiger Woods, who recently announced his engagement, was involved in a Presidents Cup match in South Africa that was declared a tie because of darkness. Quipped columnist Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: “Poor Tiger. He’s not even married yet, and she’s already telling him he can go play golf, but he’d better be home by dark.”
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.
