Hey, it's something new. We're doing Know Your Current Events on Friday! Why? Not sure. Perhaps we wanted to go with a strong Bob Borden at the Demolition Derby remote for the Howard show. I don't really know the answer. I could probably find out, but I'm not all that interested. Whatever is whatever.

KNOW YOUR CURRENT EVENTS - Tonight's categories:
Know Your Current Events --- and that's it! Only one category! What's going on here?
CONTESTANT #1: Al, from Oxnard, California. Al is a building contractor. Dave asks, "Ever get involved in something called, 'kickbacks'?"
Question #1: "Countries around the world are spending billions to keep humans from being exposed to what?"
Al isn't sure. He may have guessed "bird flu." BUZZ! No, wrong answer. What we were looking for:
"Countries around the world are spending billions to keep humans from being exposed to what?" . . . . Answer: "The Regis Philbin Christmas Album"
Hey! One category . . . and Dave isn't showing the contestants the answers!

I check my records. Know Your Cuts of Meat was introduced when a staff member gave Dave a box of meat-themed index cards used as a study aid for those who study meat. Dave went through the box at the desk, commenting on each card (March 29, 1999). Two days later, April 1, 1999, Know Your Cuts of Meat was included as a category during Know Your Current Events. And two months after that, multiple categories were introduced to Know Your Current Events and Know Your Cuts of Meat (June 17, 1999).

QUESTION #2: "Who is the upcoming movie 'Walk The Line' about?" Al says, "Arnold Schwarzenegger?" BUZZZ! The correct answer: George W. Bush and his failed DWI tests."
Bringing down the gifts for Al was Vicki. Vicki says something about spending the weekend playing cards with a friend. Dave asks, "Poker?" Vicki responds, "Poker? I don't even know her that well." I know that's not exactly how it went down but that's the way I'm lazily reporting it.

CONTESTANT #2: Jennifer from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Jennifer is a lovely, soft-spoken gal, offering short answers to Dave's questions. Dave has a hard time getting a foothold, try as he might to get a good flow of conversation. What does she do in Minneapolis? Jennifer says she tries to stay warm. And for work? She's a web designer. Paul, hoping to drum up excitement, lets out a yelp of excitement over web designing. After a few more questions, Dave sheepishly asks, "Are . . . are we hitting it off?" Jennifer is here in New York with her husband. Dave asks in a whisper, "Have you had a chance to go by the library?"
QUESTION #3: "How many times has 50 Cent been shot?" Jennifer says "8?" BUZZZ! Answer: "9 times, or one less than I was shot."
QUESTION #4: "What can the New York Jets do to turn their dismal season around?" Jennifer answers: "Hire Mike Tice?" Hey, the Minnesotan knows her football! But, BUZZZ! Not the right answer. Answer: "It's a trick question - - - there's nothing they can do."

CONTESTANT #3: Kent from Noblesville, Indiana - just up the road from where Dave grew up! Kent works as an actuary, designing life insurance products. Dave has no idea what that means. Was Kent born in Noblesville? No, he grew up a few miles north in Huntington (I think that's the town he said), then went to college and became an actuary. Dave says, "And then you made the big move . . . to Noblesville."
QUESTION #5: "According to the CDC, what are the chances of a bird flu pandemic in the United States?" Kent answers, "25%?" No. Not 25%. Answer: "We don't know, because everyone at the CDC is out sick with bird flu."
QUESTION #6: "In the new movie, 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,' Harry faces what challenge?" Answer: "Looking and acting 16 even though he's now in his mid-20s."

And that was our new Know Your Current Event. Is the change for good? I dunno.
Funny KYCE. Dave provided more than a few "laugh-out-louds" off the top of his head. That guy is a funny man.

When I learned we would be doing only one category of KYCE, instead of 6 Big Ways To Win Big, and that Dave wouldn't be showing the answer, I tried to think back to what we needed to revisit. We haven't done it this way in over 6 years. We would need a BUZZ SFX; and the chyron person (puts up the print you see on the screen) wasn't here 6 years ago. The SFX guy was reminded of his responsibility (he was already ready), and it was pointed out to the chyron guy that he should not anticipate putting up the right answer when the contestant responds. It is likely to be the wrong answer. Other than that . . . I think that's the only changes.

WILL IT FLOAT? Tonight's item: 6 glass jars of applesauce in a cardboard base, covered with plastic. There are two small holes in the plastic. Dave and Paul say it will sink. And lovely ladies drop the applesauce in the Will It Float tank and it . . . sinks.

TOP TEN: THINGS YOU DON'T WANT TO HEAR AT A 7-11. We sent a guy over to a 7-11 to work the counter. The following are some things you would not want to hear at a 7-11.
#5. "You got a minute to talk about Scientology?"
#4. "I'm charging you an extra buck 'cuz you're ugly."
#3. "The sexual tension between us is palpable."
#1. "Want a foot-long? I bet you do."

SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN
The Senator is back from a trip up to Alaska, way up in the Yukon. "At the taxpayers' expense" he says with a wave of thanks. I laughed at his honesty. He was able to see firsthand the effects of Global Warming. Things, artifacts, objects, that have been buried for thousands of years under ice and snow are becoming visible with the melting that's taking place. He saw an axe that was 9,000 years old, implying that in 9,000 years the ice hadn't melted to this degree. Something has to be done now, soon, to stop the warming of the earth.

In light of Tom Delay and Scooter Libby investigations, how would the Senator describe what's going on in politics these days? McCain says that since he's been in Washington, the corruption has never been worse than it is now, adding that the influence of special interests is very bad today. He mentions Delay's and a lobbyist's dealings with 6 Indian tribes and their casinos. A lot of foul play and dirty politics is involved. He doesn't paint a very pretty picture of our leaders.
Dave asks if Bush has surrounded himself with rich oil barons who don't care about the rank and file America. Does this cloud his thinking and/or limit him to what he knows about the country and world around him? McCain believes Bush cares a great deal about the American people and sees him as a fine and decent man.
I think Bush makes his decisions based on the information provided him. It's the people that provide him with this information that I'm concerned about. The more information from different perspectives a person receives and considers, the better the decisions will be made . . . in theory, at least.

Senator John McCain also has a new book, now in stores, entitled "Character is Destiny." It's a collection of short essays about various people under headings such as "Honor," "Purpose," and "Strength" and stories about their lives which demonstrate their character. Senator McCain tells a personal story about his time as a POW during the Vietnam War where a young guard secretly took moments to make McCain's a little less painful. It was a lovely story. It looks to be an uplifting book, a book I expect to find under my arm soon.

ACT 5: "It's time for a Late Show Word Scramble. I N X N O - Can you rearrange these letters to spell the last name of a U.S. President? Can you do it? Don't lie to me! (Angry) Because if you say you can, but you really can't, I will find out and I'll make you very, very, sorry. I've had it up to here with your disgusting lies! You got that? Good!
(calm) This has been Late Show Word Scramble! Thanks for playing, and drive safely."

CARLA GUGINO: Va-va-va-voom. What a dress she's almost wearing! The low-cut was very eye-catching. I caught my eye going to the low-cut many times. She's in the CBS drama, "Threshold." "Threshold" originally was on Friday nights but has since moved to Tuesdays at 10:00 PM. Here's something I found exciting; Carla's aunt is Carole Merrill, the "Let's Make a Deal" lady. Carla made her first visit to New York City at the age of 14 to model with Elite Petite. She was allowed to say here because her mom was promised she and the other Elite Petite models would be chaperoned. But they weren't chaperoned. She was housed in an apartment with a bunch of other girls who were always partying in Eddie Murphy's house. Sounds about right. Living that short while in New York was a big difference from her time growing up in California. She lived in a teepee in northern California, in a town called Paradise. Next door lived a lot of gold prospectors. They lived in a bus. They spent their free time looking for gold. Says Dave, eyeing the fetching Ms. Gugino, "I bet they were looking. I'm looking now!"
We see a clip from "Threshold." Whoops. That's not "Threshold"! That's footage from some dancing alien movie.

And that was our show for Friday, November 18, 2005. Wahoo EXTRA!

At the beginning of the Senator's segment with Dave, McCain acknowledged Paul and thanked him for his support at the recent fundraiser for the Congressional Coalition of Adoption Institute.

I've been wondering when to bring this up and I'm sure it's going to produce a few groans from long-time Wahoo readers, but here goes. I use the Google quite a bit each day. It's a great tool and I'm learning more about it each time I use it. Just the other day when I was checking whether it was "convenient" store or "convenience" store, someone pointed out that there is a reference counter in the corner after you click a search.
Convenient Store had 171,000 references.
Convenience Store had 3,450,000 references. This convinced me that it's a Convenience Store, not a Convenient Store.

Then I tried one more thing, just out of curiosity. Don't hate me . . . I was just curious.
So I Google: Hermie Rudolph.
Listen, I know it's Hermie and not Herbie on the Rudolph TV special. Many of you went right to the Rankin source for the answer. I was never sure whether it was Herbie or Hermie, but even when I learned the dentist was Hermie, I saw "Herbie" in enough places to keep the debate alive. I know it's Hermie. Yes, I know it's Hermie.
So I Googled - Hermie Rudolph.
Hermie Rudolph got me a reference count of 13,700.
How about Hermey Rudolph: 15,600
Hermy Rudolph: 1,080.
Total Hermie count: 30,380.

And then I Googled - Herby Rudolph
Herby Rudolph: a mere 925.
And now for the final Google,
I Googled - Herbie Rudolph.
Herbie Rudolph resulted in a reference count of 127,000.

Final Tally:
Herbie: 127,925.
Hermie: 30,380.
Herbie Dentist Santa: 91,700
Hermie Dentist Santa: 31,100 (hermie and hermey)
Draw your own conclusions. Yes, I know it's Hermie.

I checked out the "Threshold" website. They've got a blogger over there. It's the first new CBS blog I ran across. Check it out, and compare.
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/threshold/blog.php
Hey, they offer a lot of information. Not bad for a first attempt. I'll have to search around for some more CBS blogs.
CBS News Public Eye - a blog about the news.
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/publiceye/main500486.shtml
And then there's something called "The Blog of Television." It's not CBS related
http://www.bcbeat.com/?q=node&from=110

I wish I didn't read any of these. They seem so much smarter than mine.

I don't know if the bird flu is like the mumps or like polio. What I mean is, does bird flu get a "the" in front of it? Every script I get I read just "bird flu." I keep wanting to put "the bird flu", such as, "He came down with the bird flu," the same way I would put "He came down with the mumps." You don't say "the polio", but you say "the mumps." I want to put bird flu in the "mumps" category. But I seem to be the only one around here who does.