31 Days? It’s No Wonder Election Month Seemed Even Longer Than Usual

David Morin wonders whether it’s an attempt by Congress to stimulate the economy by extending the holiday season. While in Washington, he bought a House of Representatives calendar that had lengthened November (see accompanying).

Congress is nothing if not consistent, by the way. The December page has that month starting a day late.

Clothes line: You know how commercial Web sites make recommendations for customers with certain interests. Well, Mike Sternfeld of Pacific Palisades came across an Amazon.com page dedicated to modest folks (see accompanying).

Such a deal: Bob Nagayama of Tarzana spotted a nonpareil spelling error at a bakery (see photo).

More confusion: Susan Baker of L.A., meanwhile, came across a company that seems to specialize in rugs that know exactly where they are (see photo).

Behind closed doors: A building inspector knocked at the front door of a Paramount house and got no answer. But he could hear someone singing opera inside, the city’s newsletter reports. Peering through a window, the inspector “finally saw the resident lying on the living room floor, singing to his birds.”

Assaults on the English language (cont.): A botox/collagen/laser-facial practitioner advertises herself as an “aesthetics specialist.”

At peace, temporarily: You may have read that, in order for USC to win a Rose Bowl bid, UCLA must defeat Washington State this weekend. In other words, USC fans will be rooting for UCLA. How rare an occasion will that be? I remember a story told by USC grad Jay Berman about how, years ago, he was in Nikola’s on Sunset Boulevard, cheering for a visiting Soviet basketball team on TV. And this was during the Cold War era.

“I said, ‘Way to go, Vladimir,’ or something like that,” Berman recalled, “and this big guy sitting next to me said, ‘You’re rooting for the Russkies?’ I said, ‘Well, they’re playing UCLA.’ ”

miscelLAny: Remember when kids used to bring apples to their teachers? Now they have other ideas. The police log of the Saddleback Valley News in Laguna Hills included this item: “Disturbance ... Five male juveniles in a black new Jeep Cherokee are doing drive-by fruitings.” Hate those fruitings.

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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.