Finally, a Whole Weekend for Celebrating Intestinal Fortitude

Apparently the NFL championship showdown isn’t the only “super” game this weekend. Bert Pierce of Burbank noticed a store ad’s reference to another event (see accompanying). I can just hear the printer explaining, “But I used spell check....”

A real jolt this time: A longtime Whittier financial institution has been acquired by Banco Popular, and, before it disappears, I’m reprising an old photo of its sign (see photo). Actually, it was supposed to say Quaker City. Had the name “Quake City” really been used, I think the city of L.A. would have sued.

Stop the Trojans! Sure, USC won the national championship in football and is feeling pretty good about itself. But is it now invading other colleges? Tom Bratter heard a Canadian news show identify a USC professor’s school as “the University of Southern California at Berkeley.”

Be sure to wear gloves: Joyce Rosenthal said of one gathering of authors at Cal State Fullerton: “Are these the latest ‘hot’ books?” (see accompanying).

Like tiptoeing through the tulips? Jane Benz of Tarzana saw a reference to a new kind of rose, one that evidently lacks thorns (see accompanying). It may be related to the “bare-root” variety.

Plate recall: Elizabeth Ivers doesn’t believe the NXTPREZ license plate that appeared in this column belonged to an aspirant for the White House, but rather a critic of the current administration. “I interpreted it as ‘Nix the president,’ ” she said.

A story with wings: An item here talked about the 1982 journey of North Hollywood truck driver Larry Walters, who went aloft in a lawn chair pulled by weather balloons. Afterward, I heard from Elyse Verse, Wayne Coombs, Nanci Lawson and other readers about a cinematic spinoff.

It was “Danny Deckchair,” an Australian movie about a cement truck driver who also sails off.

A storm blows him miles away, where he lands in a small town and marries Glenda, the town’s only parking cop.

Obviously, this is a guy who knows how to get around.

Strange cell scenarios: I mentioned seeing a guy yakking away on one of those infernal gadgets in the pool where I swim. Well, e-mailer phylly27 found another unlikely setting.

“Talk about living dangerously,” she said. “While having my hair cut at Mike’s on Broadway in Montrose, I saw another patron talking on his cellphone while having his hair shampooed. He finished talking before the haircut.”

Actually a guy living really dangerously would be one gabbing on a cellphone while being shaved.

miscelLAny: I wrote about a burglar parking his own car in the driveway of his victim -- who took down his license plate number. Columnist David Allen of the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin defended the IQ of the intruder: “Give him some credit: At least the burglar didn’t hand the homeowner a business card.”

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.