Frat House’s Way of Letting Off Steam Brings the Fire Department Running

Security guards and the Los Angeles Fire Department rushed to a USC fraternity house where a fire alarm had sounded, but “no smoke or fire was found,” the Daily Trojan reported. Cause of the alarm: steam from a hot shower. I bring this up only to refute the notion that college guys never bathe.

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Talk about a rush-rush society: David Johanssen of Torrance spotted a time-limit posting that at first glance would seem to require folks with heart problems to hurry up (see photo). It wasn’t a medical clinic, luckily.

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Food for thought: Susanna Enenstein of West L.A. dined at a restaurant where “my husband and I enjoyed fairly good service. It wasn’t until we received the bill that we wondered if we somehow offended our server early on. Apparently, we were lucky just to get our soup and bread” (see accompanying).

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On the 37th night before Christmas...: “Who goofed?” asked Don Barrett’s laradio.com Web site. That’s also what a couple of listeners of KOST-FM (103.5) wanted to know last week. They phoned to complain that the radio station wasn’t playing holiday tunes as promised on its new freeway billboards (see accompanying).

Yup, they just had to complain.

So the station hastily kicked the format into gear on Sunday, and now we get five weeks of the stuff instead of four, as advertised. Next thing you know, Rudolph and his friends will be crashing into someone buying a Thanksgiving turkey.

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I mean, didn’t we just get through, with ... what do you call that other celebration? Oh, that’s right, Halloween. Arlene Bernholtz of West Hills spotted the most unusual safety tip given to parents this year (see accompanying).

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miscelLAny: In the never-ending name game, Fay Anderson points out that a former DWP general manager has been appointed project manager for a group working to improve the water quality of Lake Arrowhead. His very appropriate name: Dan Waters.

And, adds Anderson, a Lake Arrowhead resident, the area has had rangers named Doug Forrest and Bob Wood.

San Diego Magazine editor Tom Blair, meanwhile, wonders if San Diego comic Russ T. Nailz has met the L.A. Chamber of Commerce president: Rusty Hammer. If you’re puzzled over that one, I’ll give you a moment to pronounce the comic’s name out loud.

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Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LA-TIMES, ext. 77083, and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.