10 for 10 (3rd Entry): Love Those Zoo Animals

Greetings to our blog readers in Saudi Arabia, India, and France....

Alas, we are running way, way behind in our efforts to post 10 entries in honor of our 10th anniversary of blogging, which is on Sept. 21st.

Life has been crazy and zany lately, and I promise our good friend Chris Knight of Reidsville, NC, that it is not due to watching hours of the '70s English sitcom "Are You Being Served?" on Youtube.

Here is a link to the Denver Zoo, the Philadelphia Zoo and the North Carolina Zoo (in Asheboro, NC, near Greensboro) in case you want to see a giraffe or another zoo animal of your choice in real life.

http://www.denverzoo.org/

http://www.philadelphiazoo.org/

http://www.nczoo.org/

http://www.zoo.com.sg/ (A link to the Singapore Zoo for our world audience)

Top Ten Things to Know for Today and This Week: William Shakespeare Turns 451

Here are ten things to know for today, April 23rd, 2015:

1) Today is National Children's Day in Turkey (pict. top)

2) Today is William Shakespeare's 451st birthday (pict. center)

3) Tampere is the third largest city in Finland

4) Serdar Kilic is the Turkish ambassador to the United States

5) Seville (Spain), Dnipro (Ukraine), Fiorentina and Napoli (Italy) advanced to the semi-finals of the Europa League.

6) Dynamo Kiev's Jeremain Lens (Netherlands, pict. bottom) got a red card in the team's 2-0 loss to Fiorentina today.

7) "Laverne and Shirley,"  an American sitcom, lasted 178 episodes over eight seasons (1976-83).

8) Nicholas Smith, 81, (Mr. Rumbold) is the surviving original cast member of "Are You Being Served?," a British sitcom that debuted in 1972, and lasted 10 seasons.

9) James Earl Ray, the accused murderer of Martin Luther King, Jr., in Memphis, Tennessee, died on this date of natural causes at age 70 in 1998.

10) Chile's Calbuco Volcano erupted for the first time in 42 years yesterday.

Happy 50th Anniversary to "The Jetsons"

The animate, universally-loved space-age cartoon sitcom "The Jetsons" debuted 50 years ago yesterday on Sept. 23, 1962. Since the show is set in 2062, in a world of flying cars and robotic house servants, it is now half-way to the time it was set in.

There is one member of the voice cast who is still alive as Janet Waldo who voiced the teenage Judy Jetson is alive in her late '80s. Penny Singleton (1908-2003), who voiced her mother Jane Jetson lived to be 95. Singleton also played the comic strip character Blondie on film.

It's hard to believe that in real time Elroy would be 60 and his sister Judy would be 66; perhaps they would be members of the AARP.

For more info about "The Jetsons," go to our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time:"

http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

http://www.cybercomm.nl/~ivo/

http://www.aarp.org

The Rabbit Ears Quiz (11 of 12)_ M*A*S*H

Today, we continue our long-running Rabbit Ears Quiz series with a look at "M*A*S*H, which is arguably the most popular television show made from a film. The movie, directed by Robert Altman, is my personal favorite one from 1970. The tv sitcom aired in 1972, and according to the IMDB, Altman did not care for the show, though the series was a success with audiences and critics alike.

The tv version of "M*A*S*H" actually outlasted the Korean War, which it is set in by eight years! Only three actors were in both the film and tv version, the main one of them is Gary Burghoff (Radar O'Reilly), who was the first actor cast for the tv show.

Alan Alda was the only actor who appeared in all the episodes. Alda, 76, has seen a resurgence in his acting career thanks to his Oscar nomination for his supporting role in the Martin Scorsese film "The Aviator" (2004).

Harry Morgan and Mike Farrell joined the cast after the fourth season of the series. Morgan, the oldest member of the cast, died last year at age 96. Farrell,73, is known for being one of the leading anti-capital punishment activists in America (editorial note: I am also a capital punishment opponent).

So, today, we are asking how many episodes did this show which ran for 11 seasons air. Is the answer:

A) 266

B) 256

C) 251

D) 236

As always, we will send the winner an 8-track copy of "The Oak Ridge Boys' Greatest Hits" (that is a joke).

http://www.tv.com/mash

http://www.alanalda.com

http://www.mikefarrell.org

The Rabbit Ears Quiz- Mork and Mindy (Entry 2 of 12)

Today, we continue our series on tv shows which infiltrated my developing years with a quiz question regarding "Mork and Mindy" (1978-82), which in my lasted much longer than the four seasons it was actually on the air.

Many young folks may not realize that 'Mork' was actually a spin-off of the very popular '70s sitcom "Happy Days." Mork, played by Robin Williams, visited the Cunnigham family in suburban Wisconsin during the fifth season of "Happy Days" in a strange episode entitled "My Favorite Orkan."

In spite of being a ratings bonanza during its first season, 'Mork' began to take a nose-dive in popularity during the show's third season. And, in the final season, Mork and Mindy were dubiously married.

Mork was from the planet Ork, and he was given instructions by a supreme deity named Orson. Minday was played by Pam Dawber.

Many people who haven't seen the show in years (it ran on Nick at Nite from 1991-95), may have forgotten that it was the rare sitcom to take place in a college town. So, we are asking for the name of that college town, where one also find a clock which is supposedly always accurate.

Your choices are:

A) Provo, Utah
B) Iowa City, Iowa
C) Boulder, Colorado
D) Lawrence, Kansas

Good luck, and sorry we have no prizes to give you, not even a cat toy!

SIDEBAR: I wanted to wish an Eid Mubarak to all of our Muslim friends, especially those living in Provo, Utah! Amazingly enough, I read that a surprising number of Muslims attend college at Brigham Young University.

And, though one may not associate UFOs with the Muslim world, there is indeed a UFO Museum in Istanbul, Turkey, which I have actually been to.

PSA- Kids Study for Your Exams.....

For today's Thursday PSA entry, we focus on exams. Now we fully realize that one may ask: "But, Mr. G why are you posting this now in late July? Schools are like closed now, aren't they?"

Well, there is this thing called summer school. And, my fellow instructors at Daytona Beach Community College (ok, now where I work, but there is such a place!) are indeed giving out exams right now!

This brings us to our image which is from the tv series "Welcome Back Kotter," which ran on ABC from 1975-79. John Travolta was in the mostly young cast which included Gabe Kaplan as Mr. Kotter.

There were 95 episodes of the series which took place at the fictional James Buchanan High School in Brooklyn.

Hopefully, those of you burdened with summer school were able to pass your exams!

Happy Father's Day from Robert Reed

We actually meant to post this much earlier in the day, but I was working on my exam for students at Woodrow Wilson Middle School in Roanoke, Va. (not actually where I work).

But, Happy Father's Day to all. Alas, my father Mehmet Gokbudak, a Turkish immigrant, died of a heart attack at age 62 in 1983 when I was just 13 years old but we remember him fondly. Perhaps, this entry is a bit ironic because he didn't like us watching "Happy Days" (as we discussed in an earlier entry) but he had no such qualms with "The Brady Bunch."

The series which starred Robert Reed (1932-1992) lasted from 1969-74, and it featured Florence Henderson and as the mom. Unfortunately, Reed died from complications due to AIDS, but there are many fans of the show who will never forget him.

I had expected many web sites and blogs dedicated to the show, but some of the ones I had found borrowed the Brady Bunch but they had nothing to do with the actual show (like some blog that has vampire in its name, but nothing to with Christopher Lee movies!). One of them was actually from an evangelist family in a place like Twin Falls, Idaho.

But one legit Brady blog features a 'guide to morals, themes, and definitions' of the show, which makes one think there might be someone writing a term paper on the sitcom as if it were an Akira Kurosawa film!

We leave with this quote from Reed, who was apparently an H.G. Wells fan:

"I've always thought of science fiction as being, at the same level, as 19th century business."

GIFT IDEAS FOR DAD: Well, it is really too late for this, but if you live in Denver, you may want to give him a cupcake from The Big Fat Cupcake located on 129 Adams Street which boasts that it won the 2009 Colorado Cupcake challenge!