Take 1850,
the date of the first publication of Harpers, divide by 16.97 a year
for subscriptions, multiply by 4,071 dead U.S. soldiers in Iraq, multiply
again by 432 dead U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, add $130
per barrel of oil since 1992, times the class of '08, subtracting
twenty-five thousand people times the class of '06, minus 80,000 dead
Chinese divided by 69 dams, plus 130,000 dead Burmese times five months of
rain in Chile plus a 34-year-old farmer in Kumamoto, exactly equals 54
people vomiting toxic chlorine gas plus Dick Martin dying at 86
plus Charles Booth dying at 104, divided by the Twin Cities
Republican National Convention times the fourth human foot washed ashore in
British Columbia, divided by three guns, minus two of them loaded, times the 640
percent increase in the cost of scrap metal times food riots in 30 countries,
plus 100 million to 950 million chronically hungry people divided by 20,000
tons of Japanese rice with a 300 percent increase in the price of potash
divided by the 35 years nobody noticed the fertilizer executive.
Allison Kilkenny: Apathy Doesn't Live in the Bronx (huffingtonpost.com)
Last Wednesday more than 160 students in the South Bronx refused to take another standardized test. They are sick of being dragged out of their classrooms to be treated as lab rats in the No Child Left Behind rotten matrix.
Juan Gonzalewz: Bronx 8th-graders boycott practice exam but teacher may get ax (nydailynews.com)
Students at a South Bronx middle school have pulled off a stunning boycott against standardized testing. More than 160 students in six different classes at Intermediate School 318 in the South Bronx - virtually the entire eighth grade - refused to take last Wednesday's three-hour practice exam for next month's statewide social studies test.
Instead, the students handed in blank exams.
A thriller in ten chapters (books.guardian.co.uk)
The Observer's literary editor Robert McCrum stood down this month after more than 10 years in the job. And what a tumultuous 10 years. When he started it was a world of 'cigarettes, coffee and strong drink'. But that has all changed - new writers, big money, the internet, lucrative prizes and literary festivals have all helped revolutionise the books world. Here he charts the changes in 10 short chapters - and wonders if an 'iPod moment' is imminent.
On the TV show Taxi, what was Rev. Jim's 'real' name?
A: John Anderson
B: James Caldwell
C: Carl Carlson
D: Jim Ignatowski
E: Bonafacio Marino
Source
Reverend Jim's real name was James Caldwell. After eating some "funny brownies", he changed his name to Ignatowski, believing it was "star child" spelled backwards.
"Taxi" (1978) - Trivia
Baron Dave ("I know when to stop." "When?"
"When the pretzels stop dancing." -- Rev. Jim to Elaine, Taxi) was first (and right on one count), but wrong, with:
Rev. Jim's real name was "Christopher Lloyd", but that's not one of
the answers., so I'll go with D.
mj answered:
He once tried to keep a horse in his apartment
That nice Polish boy, D, Jim Ignatowski.
Alan J replied:
Jim Ignatowski
Charlie, the only one who got it right, responded:
I was so sure of that that I was going to go with Ignatowski without checking, but it's actually
B: James Caldwell
Jim From CA answered:
That would be Rev. Jim Ignatowski.
Vic in AK wrote:
No Brainah D: Jim Ignatowski ....my favorite episode was when he , as a straight laced college student let his girlfriend talk him into eating a pot brownie and I almost pissed myself when after just one bite his face goes from normal studious college nerd to ...well Reverend Jim face
Sally said:
Jim Ignatowski (D) was Rev. Jim's 'real' name On the TV show Taxi.
But, he was only one of a fantastic cast which included: Danny DeVito (Louie De Palma) who was the dispatcher of the Sunshine Cab Company.
Others in that ensemble were, Judd Hirsch as Alex, Andy Kaufman who played Latka (and who can forget his gf/wife Simka played by Carol Kane?) Marilu Henner as Elaine, Tony Danza, played, "Tony," and Jeff Conaway who portrayed Bobby. Jim, as I said, was played by Christopher Lloyd and he was also the eccentric scientist in the, "Back to the Future Trilogy," BTW.
PS My garden and I survived a fierce thunder storm yesterday afternoon, but my lawn looks a fright today!! I sure wish the wind had blown my rake away while it was crapping up the yard - but, NO, so now I'll have to get out there and rake away! Yikes... :)
Debbie W responded:
D. Jim Ignatowski
And, Marian the Teacher answered:
Jim Ignatowski
Thanks to Sally and Charlie for the pictures of Rev. Jim.
CBS opens the night with a RERUN'Big Bang Theory', followed by a RERUN'How I Met Your Mother', then a RERUN'CSI: The Original One', followed by a RERUN'Without A Trace'.
On a RERUNDave (from 4/29/08) are Robert Downey Jr. and Alicia Keys.
On a RERUNCraig (from 5/2/08) are Kal Penn and Lake Bell.
NBC begins the night with a RERUN'The Office', followed by a FRESH'Last Comic Standing', then another RERUN'The Office'.
On a RERUNLeno (from 5/12/08) are Jack Black and Clay Aiken.
On a RERUNConan (from 2/26/08) are Will Ferrell, Rashida Jones, and Fred Simmons.
On a RERUNCarson 'The Scab' Daly (from 4/29/08) are Chelsea Handler and Serj Tankian.
ABC starts the night with a RERUN (but 'enhanced') 'Lost', followed by the SEASON FINALE'Lost'.
On a RERUNJimmy Kimmel (from 5/16/08) are Ryan Seacrest and Clay Aiken.
The CW offers a RERUN'Smallville', followed by a RERUN'Supernatural'.
Faux has a FRESH'So You Think You Can Dance'.
MY fills the night with the movie 'Hoosiers'.
A&E has 'CSI: The 2nd One', 'The First 48', followed by a FRESH'The First 48', and a FRESH'Crime 360'.
AMC offers the movie 'Jurassic Park', followed by the movie 'Patriot Games', then the movie 'Witness'.
BBC -
[12:00 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 11
[12:30 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 1
[1:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 3 Rococo
[2:00 PM] Cash in the Attic - Episode 6
[3:00 PM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 2 Kedleston 15
[3:30 PM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 3 Shepton Mallet 11
[4:00 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 3
[4:30 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 4
[5:00 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 2
[5:30 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 3
[6:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 2 Momma Cherri's
[7:00 PM] BBC World News America
[8:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 1 Ruby Tates
[9:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 3 Rococo
[10:00 PM] BBC World News America
[11:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 1 Ruby Tates
[12:00 AM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 3 Rococo
[1:00 AM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 1 Ruby Tates
[2:00 AM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 3 Rococo
[3:00 AM] Changing Rooms - Ep. 5 Buxton
[3:30 AM] Changing Rooms - Ep. 6 Chessington
[4:00 AM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 2 Kedleston 15
[4:30 AM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 3 Shepton Mallet 11
[5:00 AM] Cash in the Attic - Ep. 5 Maddison
[5:30 AM] Cash in the Attic - Ep. 6 Chislett
[6:00 AM] BBC World News (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has 'Top Chef', another 'Top Chef', still another 'Top Chef', and 'Step It Up & Dance'.
Comedy Central has 'Scrubs', another 'Scrubs', last night's 'Jon Stewart', last night's 'Colbert Report', 'Futurama', 'South Park', another 'South Park', and a FRESH'Reno 911!'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJon Stewart is Richard Clarke.
Scheduled on a FRESHColbert Report is David Sirota.
FX has the movie 'First Daughter', followed by the movie 'Pleasantville', then the movie 'Pleasantville', again.
History has 'Modern Marvels', 'Gangland', another 'Gangland', and 'Tougher In Alaska'.
IFC -
[06:00 AM] IFC Short Film Showcase
[07:00 AM] Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day
[08:30 AM] Seed
[09:55 AM] Sling Blade
[12:15 PM] Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day
[01:45 PM] Seed
[03:10 PM] Sling Blade
[05:30 PM] Lockdown, USA
[07:00 PM] Bowling For Columbine
[09:00 PM] At the Death House Door
[10:45 PM] Indie Sex: Censored
[12:00 AM] At the Death House Door
[01:45 AM] This Film Is Not Yet Rated
[03:30 AM] Bowling For Columbine
[05:30 AM] At the Death House Door (ALL TIMES EST)
SciFi has fills the night with 'Stephen King's Rose Red'.
Sundance -
[05:00 AM] Yves Saint Laurent: His Life and Times
[06:30 AM] Summer of the Serpent
[07:00 AM] Boom!
[09:00 AM] Episode 5: All Blessed Secrets
[10:00 AM] The Short Life of Jose Antonio Gutierrez
[11:30 AM] Tout Va Bien
[01:15 PM] Sleeping Dogs Lie
[03:00 PM] Chuck D's Musicians Studio
[04:00 PM] Drop Back Ten
[05:30 PM] Girls Town
[07:00 PM] Red Doors
[08:45 PM] Hung
[09:00 PM] Episode 3
[10:00 PM] John Mayer, Norah Jones & Richard Ashcroft
[11:00 PM] Episode 4: Isabella Rossellini + Dean Kamen
[12:00 AM] Episode 3
[01:00 AM] Episode 5: All Blessed Secrets
[02:00 AM] Episode 3
[03:00 AM] Episode 3: Quentin Tarantino + Fiona Apple
[04:00 AM] Episode 5
[05:00 AM] In Between Days (ALL TIMES EST)
Actor Kirk Douglas tries-out a playground slide at Lillian Elementary School in Los Angeles Wednesday, May 28, 2008, after he and his wife donated their 400th playground renovation to schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The 91-year-old Douglas and his wife Anne have donated a renovation a week over an 11-year period beginning in 1997. The couple provides a grant of $25,000 per playground, with the school's parents or supporters matching the amount in money or services.
Photo by Nick Ut
An 800-word Harry Potter prequel is one of 13 card-sized works to be sold at a charity auction in the British capital. Waterstone's Booksellers Ltd. says the cream-colored A5 papers - each slightly bigger than a postcard - were distributed to 13 authors and illustrators, including the boy wizard's creator J.K. Rowling, Nobel Prize winner Doris Lessing, novelist Margaret Atwood and playwright Tom Stoppard.
Rowling used both sides of her card to hand-write a prequel to her seven-book Harry Potter saga, while Lessing penned a story about the power of reading. Stoppard wrote a short mystery and Atwood was due to fill out her card remotely using a robotic arm controlled by computer linkup.
Other cards were completed by children's author Michael Rosen, illustrator Axel Scheffler, graphic novelist Neil Gaiman, Lisa Appignanesi, Richard Ford, Lauren Child, Irvine Welsh, Sebastian Faulks and Nick Hornby, who plastered his card with a collage.
The cards will go on sale at the "What's Your Story?" auction at Waterstone's flagship store in central London on June 10. The proceeds are to go to English PEN, the writers' association, and the British charity Dyslexia Action. Copies of the cards will be collated into a book to be made available at the bookstore and online in August.
Singer Mariah Carey throws the first ball before the start of Japan's professional baseball game between Yomiuri Giants and Rakuten Eagles in Tokyo May 28, 2008.
Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon
After more than two decades at 20th Century Fox TV, Emmy-winning writer-producer David E. Kelley is moving to Warner Bros. TV with a three-year deal.
Under the pact, said to be worth around eight figures, the man behind such shows as "Boston Legal," "Ally McBeal" and "The Practice," will develop series for broadcast and cable as well as digital projects.
He has been at Fox his entire TV career, since joining the writing staff of "L.A. Law" in 1986. He went on to become one of the most prolific producers in television, creating the Emmy-winning series "Picket Fences," "The Practice" and "Ally McBeal."
Hollywood producers and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists announced a tentative three-year contract deal Wednesday that puts more pressure on a larger actors union to do the same and avoid a crippling strike.
AFTRA said its deal establishes higher fees for downloaded content and residual payments for ad-supported streams and clips while preserving actors' right of consent to online use of clips containing their images or voice.
The agreement involves a handful of prime-time TV shows such as "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Rules of Engagement."
An ancient gold cup mysteriously acquired by a Taunton scrap metal dealer is expected to fetch some 500,000 pounds at auction after languishing for years in a shoe box under its current owner's bed.
Owner John Webber says his grandfather gave him the 5.5-inch (14-centimetre) high mug to play with when he was a child, back in 1945.
He assumed the golden cup, which is decorated with the heads of two women facing in opposite directions, their foreheads garlanded with two knotted snakes, was made from brass.
But he decided to get it valued when he was moving house last year and was told it was actually a rare piece of ancient Persian treasure, beaten out of a single sheet of gold hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus Christ.
Experts said the method of manufacture and the composition of the gold was "consistent with Achaemenid gold and gold smithing" dating back to the third or fourth century BC.
Jerry Seinfeld and Jessica Seinfeld arrive during the "Sex And The City" movie premiere at Radio City Music Hall in New York May 27, 2008.
Photo by Joshua Lott
Fix the gravesite. But don't touch the bones. That's the work order, in a nutshell, for brave architects contemplating a fixup job for the deteriorating gravesite of William Shakespeare at the Holy Trinity Church in his hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon.
The illustrious bard is believed by many to have personally penned the threat on a stone marker above his grave: It promises to bless anyone who spares the stones but curse any intruder who moves his bones.
That's all well and good, but the stones above his grave are starting to flake and fall apart. Clergymen have trod on the stones for nearly four centuries, and the foot traffic is taking its inevitable toll.
"We're avoiding the curse," said Jospehine Walker, a spokeswoman for the Friends of Shakespeare's Church group. "We are not lifting the stones, we are not looking underneath, and the curse is for the bones underneath, so the curse is irrelevant for this work."
Recording artist Colbie Caillat performs during the Na Lei Aloha Foundation's 'Peace Diversity Harmony By Reaching Out To Others' celebration in Waikiki, Hawaii, Tuesday, May 27, 2008.
Photo by Ronen Zilberman
Three sketches by Spanish master Goya that have been missing for 130 years will go on sale in London in July for an expected price of up to 3 million pounds.
The three, "Witches and Women", "The Constable Lampinos stitched inside a dead horse" and "Repentance", were last seen in public at a sale of Goya sketches in Paris in 1877.
Christie's, which will be auctioning the works on July 8 on behalf of the Swiss owners, said they were in good condition because they had had been kept away from daylight and had never been framed.
The Swiss family who have them had no idea they were missing and are unclear where they got them.
Gary Dourdan won't do time. The "CSI" co-star pleaded guilty to two of three counts of felony drug possession Wednesday but will not face prison following his drug arrest outside of Palm Springs last month, according to his lawyer. Dourdan could have served up to three years and eight months behind bars.
"Once Gary completes 30 hours of a diversion program, his case will be entirely dismissed," lawyer Shawn Chapman Holley told The Associated Press in an e-mail. "There is no jail time involved."
The 41-year-old actor was arrested after police found him asleep in his car outside of Palm Springs on April 28. He was allegedly parked on the wrong side of the street with the car's interior light on. Dourdan was charged with felony possession of heroin, cocaine and ecstasy.
Dourdan has played crime scene investigator Warrick Brown on CBS' "CSI" since 2000. The character was recently shot and killed during the eighth season finale.
Entertainer Bette Midler and daughter Sophie von Haselberg attend the premiere of 'Sex and the City' at Radio City Music Hall on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 in New York.
Photo by Evan Agostini
A judge on Wednesday approved Madonna's adoption of a Malawian boy she met in an orphanage in 2006.
The 49-year-old pop star wasn't in court for the ruling, which took Justice Andrew Nyirenda an hour to read. Nyirenda said he was satisfied that Madonna and her British filmmaker husband, Guy Ritchie, "are perfect parents" for David, who will be 3 in November.
David's mother died when he was a month old. His father, Yohane Banda, has said he believed he could not care for him alone, and that placing him in an orphanage was the best way to ensure David's survival. The father has said he didn't object to the adoption.
Along Utah's Nine Mile Canyon lies what some call the longest art gallery in the world - thousands of prehistoric rock carvings and paintings of bighorn sheep and other wildlife, hunters wielding spears, and warriors engaged in hand-to-hand combat. But now, a dramatic increase in natural gas drilling is proposed on the plateau above the canyon, and preservationists fear trucks will kick up dust that will cover over the images.
The more than 10,000 petroglyphs have been a source of fascination and speculation since their discovery in the late 1800s. The art is believed to be the work of the Fremont people, who lived in present-day Utah, Idaho, Colorado and Nevada from 700 to 1300 A.D., and the ancestors of modern-day Ute Indians.
The federal Bureau of Land Management has pronounced it "the greatest concentration of rock art sites" in the country.
But the scrubby, rugged landscape around the canyon is also rich in minerals. Oil and gas development along the West Tavaputs Plateau has been going on since the 1950s, though for most of that time consisted of no more than several dozen wells.
Then, in 2002, Denver-based Bill Barrett Corp. paid about $8 million for more than 47,000 acres of oil and gas leases in and around the plateau. The area now has 100 to 110 active natural gas wells by the BLM's estimate, and the agency is proposing to allow roughly 700 to 800 more to be drilled over eight years.
An artist brushes the face of wax figure of actress and singer Marlene Dietrich at the site of Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in Berlin May 28, 2008. The new museum will open in July.
Photo by Johannes Eisele
A draft treaty for a worldwide ban on cluster munitions was adopted on Wednesday although major powers including the United States did not attend the meeting.
The Dublin gathering attended by more than 100 nations made the final step towards agreement after a promise from Britain to stop using the devices. Cluster bombs can cause indiscriminate injury long after a conflict has ended.
Diplomats and activists said the text built on the lessons from the 1997 treaty to ban landmines and it did not allow exceptions.
Despite the draft treaty, the United States said it still opposed a ban on cluster munitions.
Archaeologists exploring an old military road in the Sinai have unearthed 3,000-year-old remains from an ancient fortified city, the largest yet found in Egypt, antiquities authorities announced Wednesday.
Among the discoveries at the site was a relief of King Thutmose II (1516-1504 B.C.), thought to be the first such royal monument discovered in Sinai, said Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities. It indicates that Thutmose II may have built a fort near the ancient city, located about two miles northeast of present day Qantara and known historically as Tharu.
A 550-by-275-yard mud brick fort with several 13-foot-high towers dating to King Ramses II (1304-1237 B.C.) was unearthed in the same area, he said.
The ancient military road, known as "Way of Horus," once connected Egypt to Palestine and is close to present-day Rafah, which borders the Palestinian territory of Gaza.
A ship worker stands in the interior of a 21.5-meter-long replica of a Phoenician ship in Arwad island, an ancient Phoenician city state just off the Syrian coast May 27, 2008. The ship will depart from Syria in August to embark upon the circumnavigation of Africa in a 17,000-mile voyage spanning 10 months, before it returns to Britain.
Photo by Khaled al-Hariri
Sales of Spam - that much maligned meat - are rising as consumers are turning more to lunch meats and other lower-cost foods to extend their already stretched food budgets.
What was once cheeky, silly and the subject of a musical (as Monty Python mocked the meat in a can), is now back on the table as people turn to the once-snubbed meat as costs rise, analysts say.
Food prices are increasing faster than they've risen since 1990, at 4 percent in the U.S. last year, according to the Agriculture Department. Many staples are rising even faster, with white bread up 13 percent last year, bacon up 7 percent and peanut butter up 9 percent.
The price of Spam is up too, with the average 12 oz. can costing about $2.62. That's an increase of 17 cents, or nearly 7 percent, from the same time last year. But it's not stopping sales, as the pork meat in a can seems like a good alternative to consumers.
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for May 19-25. Listings include the week's ranking, with viewership for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses. An "X" in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation.
1. (2) "American Idol" (Wednesday), Fox, 31.66 million viewers.
2. (1) "American Idol" (Tuesday), Fox, 27.06 million viewers.
3. (6) "Dancing With The Stars" (Tuesday), ABC, 20.12 million viewers.
4. (4) "Dancing With The Stars" (Monday), ABC, 19.22 million viewers.
5. (10) "Grey's Anatomy," ABC, 18.09 million viewers.
6. (14) "NCIS," CBS, 16.52 million viewers.
7. (14) "House," Fox, 16.36 million viewers.
8. (16) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 16.26 million viewers.
9. (17) "Two And a Half Men," CBS, 14.7 million viewers.
10. (22) "Criminal Minds," CBS, 13.15 million viewers.
11. (33) "Rules Of Engagement," CBS, 12.29 million viewers.
12. (26) "CSI: NY," CBS, 11.83 million viewers.
13. (25) "Hell's Kitchen," Fox, 11.44 million viewers.
14. (X) "Deal Or No Deal" (Thursday), NBC, 10.33 million viewers.
15. (47) "Bones," Fox, 10.3 million viewers.
16. (39) "Shark," CBS, 10.27 million viewers.
17. (54) "Ugly Betty," ABC, 8.75 million viewers.
18. (X) "Dancing With the Stars" special, ABC, 8.74 million viewers.
19. (57) "So You Think Can Dance" (Thursday), Fox, 8.74 million viewers.
20. (39) "Law & Order," NBC, 8.57 million viewers.
A double-headed red-eared slider turtle "Takara", named after a boy who found it at a park nearby and meaning "treasure" in Japanese, is displayed at Hinagiku nursery school in Moriyama, western Japan May 27, 2008. Researchers say it is very rare for such a turtle to be found alive and added that it is highly unlikely that the cause was due to pollution but rather a natural phenomenon.
Photo by Yuriko Nakao
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