Zebras

Was it my imagination or did all of the officials have yellow Pittsburgh Terrible Towels in their back pockets? WAYNE KAMIYA Hawthorne Maybe the Super Bowl refs didn't pound the nails into the Seahawks' coffin, but they surely provided the hammer. RICHARD TURNER Fontana Mr. Adande's Subpar Bowl column [Feb. 6] has more holes in it than Mad Max's radiator. Seattle showed no intention of laying an egg until the officials started inducing labor, and then the zebras offered to be the midwife.

Struggling to overcome a five-year slide and searching for an infusion of capital, General Automation of Anaheim said Tuesday that it will unveil the largest and fastest model in its Zebra line of computers at the International Spectrum computer show starting March 24 in Las Vegas.

Low-frequency radio waves can kill zebra mussels, which cause millions of dollars in damage by clogging water intake pipes at power plants and other installations, researchers reported Tuesday at an American Chemical Society meeting. Zebra mussels in an aquarium that were exposed to very low frequency electromagnetic waves--about 60 hertz, similar to what is emitted by a power outlet--died within 40 days, according to researchers from Purdue University-Calumet in Hammond, Ind.

An escaped zebra that bounded onto a suburban San Diego highway was struck and killed by a passing car, police said. The 18-month-old female zebra escaped Wednesday from the nearby farm of James Whipple, who said he has raised the animals as a hobby for 10 years. The driver, a 70-year-old resident of nearby Julian, said the 400-pound zebra ran into the path of his sport-utility vehicle at dusk, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Robert the Talking Zebra from the San Diego Zoo Safari Park will speak to you at the L.A. Times Travel Show on Sunday but if you want to see some real animals, you can see them at the booth every 45 minutes starting about 11 a.m. Animal guests include a python, a cockatoo and a cerval. The show closes at 5 p.m. (Robert talks with L.A. TImes Travel Editor Catharine Hamm in the above clip.)  

An old postal Jeep with black-and-white zebra stripes has been identified as the vehicle used in a double hit-and-run accident Thursday night in San Diego, police said. An unidentified couple, described as in their 30s, were walking in the area of Palm Avenue and Hollister Street about 10:30 p.m. when they were hit by the Jeep, police spokesman Bill Robinson said. Witnesses told police the Jeep's steering wheel was on the right side.

Alfonso Zirpoli, 90, a U.S. district judge in San Francisco known for his ruling halting wholesale questioning of African Americans in the 1974 "Zebra Killer" racial slayings. In that series of murders, 14 white people were killed and five black men were eventually convicted. But San Francisco police had indiscriminately stopped about 600 African Americans in a search for the killers. In a case brought by the National Assn.

A tiny, astoundingly prolific Eastern European shellfish has invaded the Great Lakes, permanently altering the fragile aquatic ecosystem and threatening a water supply that tens of millions of Americans and Canadians depend upon for drinking, electricity, industry and recreation. Zebra mussels--pinto bean-sized mollusks marked with brown and white zigzag stripes--are creating environmental havoc in the Midwest now.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the registration statement of Eltron International in Simi Valley, and a special meeting of shareholders to vote on its merger with Zebra Technologies will be held at 9 a.m. Oct. 26 at the Radisson Hotel in Simi Valley. The Eltron board of directors has selected Sept. 4 as the record date for eligibility to vote at the shareholder meeting. Both Eltron and Zebra plan to announce third-quarter earnings before the meeting date.

Hoping to spur sales of its Zebra computer line, General Automation Inc., the once financially ailing computer maker, has established a $10-million lease-purchase fund for its dealers through Wells Fargo Leasing Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Wells Fargo & Co. in San Francisco.