Last time, I told you about the prefixes for metric numbering. And I was thinking about different words that have those prefixes built in. Like cent. It's 1/100th of a dollar, in essence, a centidollar. That makes sense (no pun intended). However, then the word century came to mind. But in this case, it means 100 years. Shouldn't it be a hectory? A century could be 1/100th of a year. And then there's millenium. Shouldn't that be kilenium? hmmmm... alright, on to the dump... --------------------------------------------------------------------- T GIVES UP HIS GOLD (from usatoday.com) 1980s pop-culture icon Mr. T (Rocky III, The A Team) was so touched by the plight of the victims of Hurricane Katrina that he has forever cast away the gold chains he so famously wore around his neck for more than two decades. The new Mr. T, who has been donating clothes and money to Katrina victims, will be seen this fall in a new reality series airing on TV Land, called I Pity the Fool, which will find the devout Christian assisting those in need. T, who has been privately visiting sick children in hospitals for years, says he might even be seen in a suit and bow tie on the show, if the occasion calls for it. The Chicago resident has moved to Sherman Oaks, Calif., to shoot the series, which will begin filming in October for a late-fall airdate. "Even though people call this a reality show, this is what I've been doing all my life — going to Iraq and visiting hospitals," he says. "I'm going to be a troubleshooter. Like Mission: Impossible, we'll pick out certain cases." One scenario would find him suiting up to work at a car dealership to assist a saleswoman who is being harassed by her male co-workers. Another situation would place him in a family's home, to help a parent whose child has fallen in with the wrong crowd. "TV has given me an opportunity to help the kids," says the 53-year- old. "A lot of times people ask me for an autograph, and I've felt bad because I didn't have a new show. Now I can entertain and also send a message." What will remain the same is T's signature mohawk and repeated use of the word "fool." "I might say, 'Don't be disrespecting no lady, fool.'" A cancer survivor, T says his T-cell lymphoma is being "controlled and killed." He continues getting monthly checkups and is viewing his new series as a pulpit. "The cancer was a test of my faith," he says. "God used me to do his will, to give somebody hope!" Mr. T turned down several offers to appear on other reality shows, including VH1's The Surreal Life, which he finds insulting to participants. He was particularly troubled to see celebrities eating sushi off the body of a naked woman. "Everybody on that show is through — they're washed up. I told them to give me $5 million and I'd do that show; you don't insult me! They ain't dealin' with no fool! My show's not about eating worms or swapping wives. The whole family can sit around and watch this." As for the gold chains, he says, "Because of the situation we're in now (after Katrina), I told myself, 'No, T, you can never wear your gold again. ' It's an insult to God." --------------------------------------------------------------------- PSYCHO SHOWER SCENE FACTS Facts about Alfred Hitchcock's famous thriller... Although there's practically no graphic violence in the famous scene, it has literally scared some people out of taking showers - including Janet Leigh. She said in her autobiography that she refused to take them anymore. It took seven days to shoot the 45-second scene. The blood washing down the drain was really chocolate sauce. Anthony Perkins (Norman Bates) did not actually act in the scene. He was on Broadway at the time of the shooting, starring in a play. According to Hitchcock, studio executives were more concerned about having a toilet flushing onscreen than they were about the implicit violence. Hitchcock got the movie past censors by first submitting a script with many more horrible scenes, knowing that by allow- ing them to be cut he would get more leverage on the others. By far, the most difficult shot was of Marion Crane's (Janet Leigh's) open-eyed stare as she lay dead outside the shower. It is one of the film's legends that if you look closely, you can see Leigh blink. (Mrs. Hitchcock said she saw it). --------------------------------------------------------------------- SPIDEY 3 VILLAIN RUMORS Tons of rumors going around online regarding the villain character(s) for Spider-Man 3. Topher Grace and Thomas Hayden Church as cast in the movie, but no one knows who as. One rumor I heard was that they would both be playing the Chameleon (as he can change his appearance). Another rumor says that there will be four villains in the movie - Sandman, Hobgoblin, the Vulture, and Venom. --------------------------------------------------------------------- R.I.P. GILLIGAN Bob Denver, whose portrayal of goofy first mate Gilligan on the 1960s television show "Gilligan's Island," made him an iconic figure to generations of TV viewers, has died, his agent confirmed Tuesday. He was 70. Denver died Friday at Wake Forest University Baptist Hospital in North Carolina of complications from treatment he was receiving for cancer, his agent, Mike Eisenstadt, told The Associated Press. Denver's death was first reported by "Entertainment Tonight." Denver had also undergone quadruple heart bypass surgery earlier this year. Denver's wife, Dreama, and his children Patrick, Megan, Emily and Colin were with him when he died. "He was my everything and I will love him forever," Dreama Denver said in a statement. Denver's signature role was Gilligan. But he was already known to TV audiences for another iconic character, that of Maynard G. Krebs, the bearded beatnik friend of Dwayne Hickman's Dobie in the "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis," which aired from 1959 to 1963. "Gilligan's Island" lasted on CBS from 1964 to 1967, and it was revived in later seasons with three high-rated TV movies. It was a Robinson Crusoe story about seven disparate travelers who are marooned on a deserted Pacific Island after their small boat was wrecked in a storm. The cast: Alan Hale Jr., as Skipper Jonas Grumby; Bob Denver, as his klutzy assistant Gilligan; Jim Backus and Natalie Schafer, as rich snobs Thurston and Lovey Howell; Tina Louise, as bosomy movie star Ginger Grant; Russell Johnson, as egghead science professor Roy Hinkley Jr.; and Dawn Wells, as sweet-natured farm girl Mary Ann Summers. TV critics hooted at "Gilligan's Island" as gag-ridden corn. Audiences adored its far-out comedy. Writer-creator Sherwood Schwartz insisted that the show had social meaning along with the laughs: "I knew that by assembling seven different people and forcing them to live together, the show would have great philosophical implications." --------------------------------------------------------------------- MAN WANTS HIS CANNONBALL ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A 45-year-old man is ready to explode over the fact that the police blew up his cannonball. Yale Metzger called police last week to have them examine the cannonball he found. Instead, the bomb squad arrived with a remote-controlled robot, hauled away the ball and blew it up. Officers say they did it to protect the public, but Metzger wants the Anchorage Police Department to replace his cannon- ball. Police feel that Metzger is "an idiot" for carrying the device around in his truck and then transporting it into downtown Anchorage. "Could it have exploded?" Metzger asked. "Sure. So could a meteor fall out of the sky and hit your truck." --------------------------------------------------------------------- NASA is planning on landing men on the moon again by 2018. --------------------------------------------------------------------- ELVIS TRIVIA Elvis didn't sing well enough to make his high school glee club. Although he has received many co-writing credits, Elvis never wrote a song. His manager (Col. Tom Parker) told song- writers that Elvis wouldn't record their songs unless he got credit - and half the royalties. Over the years, Elvis bought more than 100 Cadillacs and gave away around 20 of them. The first one he bought was a pink one for his mom. There are 50 dogs named Elvis registered in Los Angeles county. Elvis's favorite sandwich: grilled peanut butter and banana. According to one author, in 1960 Elvis began secretly dating Frank Sinatra's girlfriend, Juliet Prowse. Sinatra found out and one night showed up at Elvis's dressing room with two "unpleasant companions." Elvis refused to return Prowse's calls after that. Every day the U.S. Postal Service receives at least one letter on the advisability of issuing an Elvis stamp. Elvis's autopsy revealed that he had at least 10 different drugs in his system at the time of his death. --------------------------------------------------------------------- BREAD HEADS AND MORE POTHARAM, Thailand - The "human body parts" sitting on shelves and dangling on meat hooks inside a dark room are really not the work of an insane serial killer. Instead, what looks like putrefying body parts are in actuality the bread sculptures of 28-year-old art student Kittiwat Unarrom. He began his bakery of edible "body parts" in the hopes of making people ponder whether they are consuming food, or if food is consuming them. Customers can choose from human heads, arms, feet, and chicken and pig parts. Unarrom has been keep- ing busy with orders from curious folks, as well as pranksters who want to play a good joke on their friends. --------------------------------------------------------------------- JESUS OF SUBURBIA Those of you who are fans of Green Day's latest album, "American Idiot", may be happy to know the group plans on releasing the 9-minute 5-part punk rock opera "Jesus of Suburbia" as their 5th single from the album. It's unsure whether the song will get airtime due to its length, but the prospect of it has the band excited. Also, there's a lot of hype around the video, which I can't imagine will be played in its entirity on MTV - they don't like to spend more than 30 seconds airing a song when they have revenue producing ads for their crappy shows ready to brainwash its acne-faced audience. --------------------------------------------------------------------- DOUGHNUT FACTS Doughnuts originated in 16th-century Holland. They were cooked in oil, and were so greasy that the Dutch called them olykoeks, or "oily cakes." The Pilgrims, who'd lived in Holland, bought the cakes with them when they came to America. Their version: a round doughy ball about the size of a nut - a doughnut. The origin of the hole in the doughnut: Captain Hanson Gregory, a 19th-century Maine sea captain, was eating a doughnut while sailing through a storm. Suddenly the ship rocked violently and threw him against the ship's wheel - impaling his cake on one of its spokes. Seeing how well the spoke held his cake, Gregory began ordering all of his cakes with holes in them. Doughnuts were popularized in the U.S. after the Salvation Army fed doughnuts - cooked in garbage pails and served on bayonets - to troops during World War I. Soldiers got so hooked on them that they were called "doughboys." The French have a doughnut they call pet de nonne, or "Nun's Fart." According to legend, a nun living in the abbey of Marmoutier was preparing food when she farted, and the other nuns laughed at her. She was so embarrassed that she dropped the spoonful of dough she was holding into a pot of boiling water - accidentally making a doughnut. Doughnut-dunking was first popularized at the Roseland Ball- room in the '20s, when actress Mae Murray slipped and accidentally thrust a doughnut into a cup of coffee. The glazed doughnut is almost three times as popular as any other type of doughnut. --------------------------------------------------------------------- RAY'S QUESTION OF THE WEEK Where does happiness hide? 1) in love 2) in integrity 3) in fame 4) in money 5) in a rock n' roll band I have worked my hours. I am out of here. -Ray --------------------------------------------------------------------- NEW ON SMORGASBORD Check out the website - http://home.comcast.net/~longo13/ What's new: * SPRINKLES - new drawings and an animated Sprinkles. * FRIENDS - check out the "Crunch" link, as Bob has added a bunch of ultrasound pictures, plus a hiking page. ---------------------------------------------------------------------