Robert Wuhl, eminent actor, writer and now historian (who knew?), makes his
way to the HBO podium as a special guest professor to regale viewers with some
of the stories that made up America...and the stories that America simply made
up! Filmed in front of a classroom of enthusiastic college students, the Emmy®-
winning star of HBO's Arli$$ delivers an imaginative, irreverent comedic "lecture"
that playfully examines some of the facts, myths, and myths-that-became-facts
that have permeated American history. Mixing current pop culture with historical
events, Wuhl explores the legitimacy of some quintessential American icons and
exposes some little-known truths.
~~~
About a month ago I got an e-mail from a PR firm representing "Robert Wuhl's 'Assume The Position'"'s DVD release, asking if I'd be interested in having a contest & they'd supply some DVDs in return.
Well, I like Robert Wuhl, and I like free stuff (a lot), so, that's how 'Today's Trivia Question' came about.
The only problem was there was no mention of how many DVDs they were talking about, so I didn't want to say anything until UPS delivered the package.
The box finally arrived, and there are 18 DVDs.
Altogether, 19 readers got 'right' answers, and last night I sent an e-mail to them.
If you believe you answered correctly and didn't receive get the e-mail, please let me know.
I'm going to keep the 'Today's Trivia Question', but there won't be any prizes.
Today's Trivia Question
Q; How many feet of wire does it take to make one Slinky?
Q: How many children did the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses father?
A: 110.
ducks was first with:
Ramses had many children by his many wives, from what is known Ramses had 100 to 150 or more children, about 96 sons and 60 daughters, but only the important children are known. (I can't remember where I got this one)
The writer Terence Gray stated in that Ramesses II had as many as 20 sons and 20 daughters but scholars today believe his offspring numbered over a hundred in total. In 2004, Dodson and Hilton noted that the monumental evidence "seems to indicate that Ramesses II had around 110 children--[with] 48-50 sons and 40-53 daughters (this is from wiki)
The writer Terence Gray stated in 1923 that Ramses II had as many as 20 sons and 20 daughters; more recent scholars, however, believe that his offspring were far fewer. (this is from the Egypt State Information Service)
Ergo, the answer appears to be somewhere between 40 (or less) kids to 150 depending on where you look for the information.
mj said:
I try to answer these from my personal trivia vault, but I'm dipping into
the Wikki for this. According to that illustrious source, he had about 110
acknowledged progeny in his 90 odd years. Busy boy he.
Buzzcook wrote:
Ramses II had an unknown number of children but estimates say there were
more than one hundred of them.
The old boy lived to 96 and was quite busy. There are engravings showing
Ramses II entertaining 10 ladys at a time. That could be self promotion
though, Ramses was also known to remove the names of earlier pharaohs
from monuments and replace them with his own.
One thing that seems to be pretty clear is that Ramses got a bad rap as
the guy who was mean to the Israelites. source, and scroll to the bottom.
Alan J. said:
All I could find was between 100 and 200 children. He reigned for 67 years and lived to be over 90 years old.
And, Sally P. wrote:
I got out some books on Egyptology and the best I could come up with (assuming I have the Ramses to whom you are referring - Seti's son, Ramses II, d. 1225 BC) is that he fathered over 160 children...
Now to put the books away :)
PS Ramses I (d. circa 1314 BC) ruled only one year, and was succeeded by his son Seti I - therefore I deduced you meant R/II :)
zEN mAN (observing (in utter disbelief) on FOX's "O'Reilly Factor" two new play pals.....cajoling, cavorting and kissing each others huge egotistical ASSes......Bill O'Reilly actually, in a moment of mutual endearment called Dennis "the Menace" Miller....."Milly"...and then in a frighteningly affectionate response, Miller actually called "Loofah" Bill O'Reilly....Billy ! It made me miss the most famous "illys"....."Milli Vanilli"...."Oh the Humanity"!)
CBS begins the night with a FRESH'Ghost Whisperer', followed by a FRESH'Moonlight', then a FRESH'NUMB3RS'.
Scheduled on a FRESHDave are Amanda Peet, Patrick Warburton, and Jeff Caldwell.
Scheduled on a FRESHCraig are Kenneth Branagh and Todd Sawyer.
NBC starts the night with a FRESH'Deal Or No Deal', followed by a FRESH'Friday Night Lights', then a FRESH'Las Vegas'.
Scheduled on a FRESHLeno are Halle Berry, Greg Grunberg, and Dwight Yoakam.
Scheduled on a FRESHConan are Josh Harnett, Jack McBrayer, and Brother Ali.
On a RERUNCarson Daly (from 9/14/07) are Sarah Shahi and the Tender Box.
ABC opens the night with '20/20', followed by a FRESH'Women's Murder Club', then a FRESH'Men In Trees'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Kimmel are Terry Bradshaw, and Keith Urban.
The CW fills the night with a FRESH'WWE Friday Night Steroid SmackDown!'.
Faux fills the night with the SERIES PREMIERE'The Next Great American Band'.
MY fills the night with the movie 'The Inner Circle'.
PLEASE check local PBS listings for a FRESH'Bill Moyers Journal', and a FRESH'NOW With Bill Moyers David Brancaccio'.
A&E has 'CSI: The 2nd One', another 'CSI: The 2nd One', and the movie 'Erin Brockovich'.
AMC offers the movie 'Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life', followed by the movie 'The Firm', then the movie 'Insomnia'.
BBC -
[12:00 PM] Cash in the Attic - Ep 19 Wickins;
[1:00 PM] Everything Must Go - Episode 13;
[1:30 PM] Everything Must Go - Episode 14;
[2:00 PM] The Weakest Link - Episode 4;
[3:00 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 8;
[3:30 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 9;
[4:00 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 16;
[4:30 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 17;
[5:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 4 Bonapartes;
[6:00 PM] My Family - Ep. 6 Second Greatest Story;
[6:30 PM] My Family - Ep. 7 Waiting To Inhale;
[7:00 PM] BBC World News America;
[8:00 PM] The Office - Episode 5;
[8:40 PM] Little Britain - Episode 3;
[9:20 PM] Absolutely Fabulous - Ep. 5 Poor;
[10:00 PM] World News Today;
[11:00 PM] The Office - Episode 5;
[11:40 PM] Little Britain - Episode 3;
[12:20 AM] Absolutely Fabulous - Ep. 5 Poor;
[1:00 AM] The Mighty Boosh - Episode 3;
[1:40 AM] The Catherine Tate Show - Episode 11;
[2:00 AM] The Weakest Link - Episode 5;
[3:00 AM] Hollyoaks - Episode 35;
[3:30 AM] Changing Rooms - Ep.4 Winchester;
[4:00 AM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 3 Kedleston 48;
[4:30 AM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 4 Ardingly 51;
[5:00 AM] Cash in the Attic - Episode 12;
[5:30 AM] Cash in the Attic - Episode 13;
[6:00 AM] BBC World News. (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has the movie 'Out Of Sight', followed by the movie 'Cliffhanger', then the movie 'Days Of Thunder'.
Comedy Central has 'Scrubs', another 'Scrubs', last night's 'Jon Stewart', last night's 'Colbert Report', 'Mind Of Mencia', another 'Mind Of Mencia', 'Comedy Central Presents', and another 'Comedy Central Presents'.
HBO offers a FRESHReal Time with Bill Maher - scheduled guests
include Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), republican propagandist Chris Matthews, and journalist Joel Stein. Plus via satellite, Pres. candidate John Edwards and chess grandmaster and Russian Pres. candidate Garry Kasparov
FX has the movie 'Spider-Man 2', followed by the movie 'Species', and 'That 70s Show'.
History has 'Howard Hughes Tech', 'Modern Marvels', and 'Hell: The Devil's Domain'.
IFC -
[07:00 AM] Marvin's Room;
[08:40 AM] The Chorus;
[10:20 AM] Hilary and Jackie;
[12:25 PM] Marvin's Room;
[02:05 PM] The Chorus;
[03:45 PM] Hilary and Jackie;
[05:50 PM] Marvin's Room;
[07:30 PM] The Deep End;
[09:15 PM] City of Industry;
[11:00 PM] The Henry Rollins Show #306: Joan Jett/Blood Brothers;
[11:30 PM] Samurai 7 Episode #17: The Remembrance;
[12:00 AM] Enter the Dragon;
[01:45 AM] Night at the Golden Eagle;
[03:20 AM] Media Lab Results;
[03:30 AM] Enter the Dragon;
[05:45 AM] The Henry Rollins Show #306: Joan Jett/Blood Brothers. (ALL TIMES EDT)
SciFi has 'Bionic Woman', 'Odyssey 5', followed by a FRESH'Flash Gordon', and a FRESH'Stargate Atlantis'.
Sundance -
[05:45 AM] Imagine...The Beatles in Love;
[06:45 AM] Language Does Not Lie;
[08:15 AM] September 30, 1955;
[10:00 AM] Drive;
[10:35 AM] Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea;
[11:45 AM] Drive;
[12:30 PM] Imagining Argentina;
[02:45 PM] Look Both Ways;
[04:30 PM] September 30, 1955;
[06:15 PM] Freeze Frame;
[08:00 PM] Episode 1: Eddie Vedder + Laird Hamilton;
[09:00 PM] Site Specific: Olivo Barbieri;
[10:00 PM] I Want You;
[11:30 PM] Mercy;
[12:00 AM] Morvern Callar;
[02:00 AM] Dr. John, Leann Rimes & Massive Attack;
[03:00 AM] Amongst Friends;
[04:30 AM] Breaking News. (ALL TIMES EDT)
British comedian Billy Connolly gestures as he arrives for the screening of the film 'Interview' at a cinema during the 51st London Film Festival, London, Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007.
Photo by Sang Tan
You'll be seeing Jon Stewart on the air with "The Daily Show" for at least three more years. And you can go online to see him on past episodes stretching back to 1999.
Stewart has signed a two-year contract extension that keeps him in the anchor chair of his Comedy Central "faux news" show through 2010, the network announced Thursday. His contract had been set to expire at the end of 2008.
In a separate announcement, Comedy Central unveiled a stand-alone "Daily Show" Web site stocked with video clips from every episode since January 1999, when Stewart took over.
The world's biggest library, the US Library of Congress, has teamed up with UNESCO and libraries from around the globe in an ambitious project to digitize priceless cultural material and make it available on the Internet.
"When The World Digital Library is launched, and we're looking at late 2008 or early 2009, if you have a computer, you will be able to join the biggest library in the world," Library of Congress spokesman Guy Lamolinara told AFP.
"Membership will be free, and downloading will be free. We will work with public domain material so we won't have copyright issues," he said.
The World Digital Library was the brainchild of Librarian of Congress, James Billington, who attended the launch of a prototype website for the project in Paris this week.
Donatella Versace and Iggy Pop arrive for Swarovski Fashion Rocks musical event for The Prince's Trust at the Royal Albert Hall in central London, Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007.
Photo by Yui Mok
A section of the street where the Motown sound originated has been renamed for Berry Gordy Jr., the music label's legendary founder.
The Detroit City Council unanimously voted to give a section of West Grand Boulevard the name, Berry Gordy Jr. Boulevard, Councilwoman Martha Reeves said Wednesday in a statement.
Berry Gordy Jr. Boulevard will stretch west from the John C. Lodge freeway to Grand River Avenue. It includes the block where "Hitsville USA," Gordy's former home and Motown recording studio, stands.
Bow wow, and take a bow: The furry and famous of the silver screen are being honored with their own walk of fame in London.
The first inductees will be six dogs chosen by public vote from a shortlist that includes Lassie, Toto of "The Wizard of Oz," cartoon superdog Gromit and Tintin's trusty companion, Snowy, organizers said Thursday.
The winners, announced Nov. 5, will receive a permanent plaque in Battersea Park, south London. The nearby Battersea Dogs Home is Britain's largest and best-known home for abandoned dogs.
The walk of fame is sponsored by the Kennel Club and television channel Sky Movies.
Everyone wants to work with Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Jack Nicholson - except Francis Ford Coppola.
"Pacino always wanted to do theater. He wanted to do `Peer Gynt.' He wanted to do Shakespeare. Pacino will say, `Oh, I was raised next to a furnace in New York, and I'm never going to L.A.,' but they all live off the fat of the land," Coppola says.
He calls De Niro "wealthy and powerful" - and more ambitious than Nicholson.
"I think if there was a role that De Niro was hungry for, he would come after it. I don't think Jack would," he says. "Jack has money and influence and girls, and I think he's a little bit like (Marlon) Brando, except Brando went through some tough times."
Russell Hitchcock (L) and Graham Russell of the music group Air Supply watch the basketball game between the Orlando Magic and Team China All-Stars at the NBA China Games in Macau October 18, 2007.
Photo by Bobby Yip
A "Late Show With David Letterman" crew member was briefly hospitalized for smoke inhalation in a small electrical fire at the building that houses the Ed Sullivan Theater.
Fire officials responded about 10 a.m. Wednesday after a report of an odor of smoke inside the building at 1697 Broadway, where Letterman does his late-night talk show at the historic 80-year-old theater. According to CBS, one crew member was taken to a hospital as a precaution, but then released.
A small fire that originated inside an air conditioning unit was blamed for the smoke. No other injuries were reported, and the Letterman taping - with guests Rebecca Romijn, Jimmy Walker and LeAnn Rimes - wasn't delayed.
A daughter of Diego Rivera criticized the Mexican art legend's famous third wife, Frida Kahlo, as a subpar painter whose work became pricey thanks to pop star Madonna's interest in it.
"During her life, she painted some 50 paintings, and the theme was her own image," Rivera told La Nacion newspaper in an article published Thursday. "They were repetitive; copies of one another."
"She was a perfectionist. When she was working on a painting, it would take her a long time and my father would help her so that she would finish them and sell them," she said. "I lived through this, that's why I say it."
"It has been said that my father made Frida suffer and I can tell you that ... Frida made my father suffer. Society today, in my opinion, is completely decadent and needs a decadent icon. Frida is the symbol of this decadence," she said.
Citing improper accounting practices, "Dharma & Greg's" co-creator, writer, executive producer and lead actress have filed suit against 20th Century Fox TV, claiming that they are owed $15 million in profit-participation payments.
At issue in the state court lawsuit, filed October 1 in Santa Monica, is the modified adjusted gross receipts agreement with co-creators Dottie Dartland and Chuck Lorre.
The plaintiffs claim that Fox improperly deducted those modified adjusted gross receipts payments to Dartland and Lorre from the gross receipts of the series, and that significantly understated their share of the modified adjusted gross receipts.
The plaintiffs include Jenna Elfman, Dartland, Michael Slessinger, executive producer James Burrows and More-Medavoy Management. Lorre is not a party to the litigation.
Artist Melanie Stimmell works on a floor mural at the entrance of the Entertainment for All Expo show room at the Los Angeles Convention Center Thursday, Oct. 17, 2007. E for All offers consumers access to the video games, interactive entertainment and related products. The E for All expo will be held from Oct. 18-21 in Los Angeles.
Photo by Damian Dovarganes
Bianca Jagger is getting evicted from her rent-stabilized apartment.
In a 3-2 decision, the state Supreme Court's Appellate Division agreed with the argument by Katz Park Avenue Corp. that the place could not be Jagger's primary residence since she was in the country on a tourist visa.
The appeals judges noted that Jagger, a native of Nicaragua, is a British citizen who also keeps at least one luxury apartment in London's Belgravia section.
The appeals court said a person with a B-2 tourist visa, the kind Jagger has, cannot claim to comply with the immigration statute's residence rules and at the same time claim a primary residence in New York.
A movie director withdrew a legal challenge Thursday aimed at blocking India's choice for a foreign film Oscar because the court hearings dragged on too long - rendering the petition pointless.
Bhavna Talwar launched a petition against the selection of "Eklavya: The Royal Guard" in the High Court earlier this month claiming bias because of close ties between its director, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, and several members of the Film Federation of India's selection committee.
But Talwar withdrew her petition Thursday, a day after the entry deadline set by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had passed.
Although Bollywood is the world's largest film industry based on the number of films it produces, none of its movies has won an Oscar for best foreign film.
A woman takes a stroll along a pathway between the Richelieu River and the Chambly Canal Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007 in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, Canada.
Photo by Paul Chiasson
Ang Lee's new spy thriller, "Lust, Caution," has been withdrawn as Taiwan's entry for the best foreign film category at next year's Oscars.
"An insufficient number of Taiwanese participated in the production of the film," said Oscar spokeswoman Teni Melidonian in an e-mail, violating a rule that requires foreign countries to certify that their locals "exercised artistic control" over their submission.
Taiwan has replaced "Lust, Caution" with Chen Huai-en's "Island Etude," about a university student's bicycle tour of Taiwan.
London's Science Museum canceled a Friday talk by Nobel Prize-winning geneticist James Watson after the co-discoverer of DNA's structure told a newspaper that Africans and Europeans had different levels of intelligence.
James Watson provoked widespread outrage with his comments to The Sunday Times, which quoted the 79-year-old American as saying he was "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours - whereas all the testing says not really."
He told the paper he hoped that everyone was equal, but added: "people who have to deal with black employees find this not true."
Watson, who serves as chancellor of the renowned Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., was to deliver a sold-out lecture at the Science Museum, but on Wednesday night the institution said Watson's comments had gone too far and the event had been canceled.
A photographer takes pictures of Nathan Coley's 'There will be no miracles here', which has been nominated for the 2007 Turner Prize, at the Liverpool Tate gallery, Liverpool October 17, 2007. The Turner Prize, one of the art worlds most controversial awards, launched Liverpool's year as European capital of culture on Thursday with a sombre shortlist of politically-orientated artists.
Photo by Phil Noble
A prostitute whom prosecutors say a defense contractor provided to former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham testified Wednesday that the congressman fed her grapes as she sat naked in a hot tub before they headed to a bedroom at a Hawaiian resort.
The woman spoke at the trial of Brent Wilkes, who is accused bribing Cunningham with $700,000 in cash and perks in exchange for help securing about $90 million in government contracts. Wilkes has denied the charges.
Donna Rosetta said she was chauffeured to a private villa at the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel in Kamelua, Hawaii, in August 2003 by an escort service she worked for. Cunningham and Wilkes invited her and a second woman to undress and slide into a hot tub before Cunningham invited her upstairs, Rosetta said.
Earlier in the day, Wilkes' nephew and employee Joel Combs testified that he found the escort service in the phone book on a $20,000 trip to Hawaii that also included catered meals and a diving trip captured on a video that was played for jurors.
Members of Congress apologized Thursday to a Canadian engineer seized by U.S. officials and taken to Syria, where he says he was tortured.
Maher Arar said he was ensnared in an "immoral" terrorism-fighting program known as extraordinary rendition.
The 37-year-old appeared before a joint hearing of House subcommittees by video from Ottawa, Canada. He remains on a U.S. government watch list.
Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian citizen, was detained by U.S. immigration agents on Sept. 26, 2002, as he stopped over in New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on the way home from a vacation. Days later, he was sent by private jet to Syria where, according to Canadian officials, he was tortured.
Deborah Kerr, who shared one of Hollywood's most famous kisses while portraying an Army officer's unhappy wife in "From Here to Eternity" and danced with the Siamese monarch in "The King and I," has died. She was 86.
Kerr's roles as forceful, sometimes frustrated women pushed the limits of Hollywood's treatment of sex on the screen during the censor-bound 1950s.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominated Kerr six times for best actress, but never gave her an Academy Award until it presented an honorary Oscar in 1994 for her distinguished career as an "artist of impeccable grace and beauty, a dedicated actress whose motion picture career has always stood for perfection, discipline and elegance."
Kerr (pronounced CARR) was the only daughter of a civil engineer and architect who died when she was 14. Born in Helensburgh, Scotland, she moved with her parents to England when she was 5, and she started to study dance in the Bristol school of her aunt. Kerr won a scholarship to continue studying ballet in London, and at 17 she made her stage debut as a member of the corps de ballet in "Prometheus."
She was invited to Hollywood in 1946 to play in "The Hucksters" opposite Clark Gable. She went on to work with virtually all the other top American actors and with many top directors, including John Huston, Otto Preminger and Elia Kazan.
In 1945 Kerr married Anthony Charles Bartley, whom she had met when he was a squadron leader in the Royal Air Force. They had two daughters and were divorced in 1959. A year later she married novelist-screenwriter Peter Viertel with whom she lived on a large estate with two trout ponds in the Swiss Alpine resort of Klosters and in a villa in Marbella, Spain.
Kerr is survived by Viertel, two daughters and three grandchildren.
Joey Bishop, the stone-faced comedian who found success in nightclubs, television and movies but became most famous as a member of Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack, has died at 89.
The Rat Pack lived it up whenever members were free of their own commitments. They appeared together in such films as "Ocean's Eleven" and "Sergeants 3" and proudly gave honorary membership to a certain fun-loving politician from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy, at whose inauguration gala Bishop served as master of ceremonies.
Away from the Rat Pack, Bishop starred in two TV series, both called "The Joey Bishop Show."
In the first series, Bishop played a TV talk show host.
Then, he really became a TV talk show host. His program was started by ABC in 1967 as a challenge to Johnny Carson's immensely popular "The Tonight Show."
Like Carson, Bishop sat behind a desk and bantered with a sidekick, TV newcomer Regis Philbin. But despite an impressive guest list and outrageous stunts, Bishop couldn't dent Carson's ratings, and "The Joey Bishop Show" was canceled after two seasons.
In 1941 Bishop married Sylvia Ruzga and, despite the rigors of a show business career, the marriage survived until her death in 1999.
Bishop, who spent his retirement years on the upscale Lido Isle in Southern California's Newport Bay, is survived by son Larry Bishop; grandchildren Scott and Kirk Bishop; and longtime companion Nora Garabotti.
A baby white lion, born on October 14, 2007, sleeps in a compound at the Olmense Zoo in Olmen, Belgium, October 18, 2007. White lions are almost extinct. They are not albinos but are the product of a recessive gene.
Photo by Yves Herman
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