4/5/05
John chatted with Professor David Strayer of the University of
Utah about a study showing how badly people drive when they are
talking on cell phones:www.psych.utah.edu/AppliedCognitionLab/.
3/10/05
John spoke with Malcolm Gladwell about his book 
Blink:
The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. The
race-relations test that we talked about is at implicit.harvard.edu.
2/8/05
We spoke with Jon Niednagel (pronounced NEED-noggle), founder
of the Brain Type Institute. Mr. Niednagel is making a fine
living with Brain Typing®, a measure of personality and
motor skills testing that can help determine the field in which
you might be most successful. He's had great success with helping
sports figures, and judging by the response we got, there's
a lot of hope he can help you and your children, too. Visit
Jon's web site at www.braintypes.com.
John read
today's Richard Roeper column (www.chicagosuntimes.com/output/roeper/cst-nws-roep08.html)
about the lists that Spy magazine used to create --
the listed items would all have something in common, but the
magazine would never say what the commonality was. So John made
up one such list of his own:
Fred Grandy
Mark Harmon
Art Garfunkel
Danny Ainge
Deion Sanders
and a quick-thinking
listener added
Bill Bradley
Arnold Schwarzenegger
to John's list. Can
you figure it out?
We also received a couple of other lists from listeners -- can
you figure out what the commonality in each one is?
Bjork
Sleeping Beauty
Rocky Mountain Reapers
Oldsmobile
Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Northern Lights
and one with an entirely
different theme:
Steve Miller Band
Botticelli
home
Spike Lee
Florida
General Motors
Greek mythology
Roman mythology
Walt Disney
Good luck!
Click
for the answers (no cheating!)
12/14/04
John participated in the sixth annual "Songs of Good Cheer"
holiday caroling show at the Old Town School of Folk Music.
He introduced the program and hit a special note during a performance
of "Angels We Have Heard on High:" "Glooooooooo-oooo-oooo--ooooooria!"
Check out the photos at ericzorn.com/goodcheer/photos2004,
including two of John near the bottom of the page.
12/09/04
John talked with a representative from the new wireless phone
directory. For info go to
wireless411service.com
11/9/04
Kerry Wood joined John Williams today to talk about the charity
bowling benefit he and his wife Sarah are hosting for Children's
Memorial Hospital. www.childrensmemorial.org/strikezone
or call 773-880-6868
10/7/04
Ever wonder what Bush, Kerry, Cheney and Edwards would look
like as women? Apparently, someone who is really good with Photoshop
did and the results are posted at many websites, including
this one.
9/9/04
A listener told John about a website to purchase phone
cards for troops overseas.
8/9/04
John played a bit of Carl Eller's Pro Football Hall of Fame
enshrinement speech. You can hear the entire enshrinement ceremony
by visiting www.profootballhof.com.
Eller's remarks begin at the 31:00 mark in the recording.
8/6/04
John chatted with a listener who was talking about some kids from
the Middle East who are coming over as part of an exchange program
and need a place to stay.
800-266-8510 or ayusa.org
8/6/04
John's face
is in the 2004 Richardson Farm Corn Maze, www.richardsonfarm.com.
5/4/04
John was speaking
with Julie Herscher whose son Joe is a Marine in Iraq. If you
want to send something for us to send along to Joe and the boys,
you can do so by sending it to:
The John Williams Show
Iraq Care Package
WGN Radio
435
N. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611
They are looking for chocolate, writing paper, envelopes, books,
AT&T phone cards with international minutes (they seem to be the
cheapest), Cubs t-shirts, board games, beef jerky, AA batteries,
or even just a letter from back home.
4/8/04
John read a parody of the "No Child Left Behind" act
called "No Dentist Left Behind." It can be found on
a number of websites including http://www.tsta.org/news/nodentistleftbehind.shtml.
A listener from Citizens for Reasonable and Fair Taxes sent a
rebuttal which John also read. It is reprinted
here.
3/15/04
John spoke about a list of cities that detailed how much crime,
average salaries, length of education, etc. The website is city-data.com
2/3/04 - John
chatted with Jason Niner about his effor to save money to buy
ads to get people to help save the show "Ed" on NBC.
Check out is efforts here.
1/6/04 - John
read this John
Kass column, from May. (Requires free registration.)
1/6/04 - Link
to heated fan Lou Manfredini
mentioned on John's show.
12/5/03 - John
is a big supporter of The Salvation Army. If you see a bell ringer,
please donate. If you would like to send a donation please go
to their website: salvationarmy.org
or mail to:
The Salvation Army
5040 N. Pulaski
Chicago, IL 60630
12/4/03- John
spoke with the Founder & COO of Despair, Inc. Dr. Lawrence
Kersten about their line of Demotivators,
a sort of anti-successory.
12/2/03 - What
would you put in your six disc car cd player if you had to drive
around for the rest of your life? Check out the
crews' CD Six-Packs.
10/16/03 -
John read a poem about our Cubbies
written by a listener in Naperville.
10/2/03
- Morton H. Kaplan wrote this poem, "Dusty
Baker, Championship Maker," to honor his late father
and celebrate the Cubs postseason run.
The
Story of Reverse The Curse!
As you all may well know, the last time the Cubs won the World
Series was 1908. Last time we were IN the Series was 1945. That
year, William "Billy Goat" Sianis, a Greek Immigrant
and owner of the former Lincoln Tavern, tried to bring a goat
to one of the series games. This was a publicity stunt to promote
his Billy Goat Tavern. The Cubs wouldn't let the goat in, however,
so Sianis cursed the team. Since the Billy Goat Curse, the Cubs
have come close, but they haven't made it back. (The notion
that they have been close is debatable, too, but beside the
point here.)
Sianis first came
upon his goat when one fell off a passing truck and wandered
in to his tavern. He took to wearing a goatee and went by the
nickname, "Billy Goat." And he changed his establishment's
name, too. Over the years, several efforts have been made to
lift the curse, but none have succeeded.
This year, we decided
rather than try to eliminate the curse, we would try to get
it to work for us. Reverse the Curse, as it were. More specifically,
we wanted to bring a goat to Houston. Tuesday, September 16th,
we looked at Houston's schedule. Their next home game was the
following Monday, the 22nd. If the Astros denied the goat admission,
maybe we could change our team's fortunes, once and for all.
For a few days, we
talked on the air about the idea. How can you rent a goat? What
if the plan backfired? Could we get down there in time? It was
fun and the audience got caught up in the idea.
Thursday, September
18th, a gentleman called to say how much he liked the idea,
how much fun he was having hearing about our "plans."
Don't let anyone dissuade you!, he said. I told this caller
that we loved the idea, too, but it was starting to look like
we wouldn't be able to pull it off. We were going to send Dave
Kaplan, but he had a previously scheduled remote broadcast to
get to that day. And Producer Matt couldn't get there for Monday's
game either!
Three listeners,
Dave, Jim and Bill (we still don't' know their last names),
decided that if we couldn't get there with a goat, well by golly,
they would! So Saturday the 20th, they bought airplane tickets
to Houston and four tickets to Monday's game. They rented a
SUV in Houston and bought a goat. (I know...).
And then,
as heard on WGN Radio Monday afternoon, they made a valiant
and successful effort to NOT get into the park. And to REVERSE
THE CURSE!
To hear
the audio click here: The
Curse is Reversed
To see the
photos click here: The
Curse is Reversed
Text
of the Curse:
Two years shy of 60 cursed,
For all this times, the Cubs were worst.
Armed with
goat and mystic verse,
We hereby
Reverse The Curse!
You had
your chance to let him in,
But now no more will the Astros win.
We'll take
our goat and leave this place,
Along with your hopes in this pennant race!
9/16/03
- Here are some photos taken by listener Bobbi of the trip to
San Juan to see the Cubs play the Expos: Set
1 | Set
2.
6/19/03
- Linda Greenlaw was chatting with John about the paperback
release of her book The Lobster Chronicles. Her new book is
about stories of the sea. If you have an interesting boating,
fishing or traveling on the sea (or Great Lakes) story you want
to share with Linda, email her at seafever13@aol.com.
5/29/03
Dave Lew mentioned this link to a page of images of tornado look-alikes
and illusions which were not tornadoes.
www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/notahose.htm
4/30/03
John talked to Amy Weiss from the Recording Industry Association
of America about the legality of downloading songs from the
internet. She advised us of several sites where you can purchase
songs legally:
aolmusic.com
pressplay.com
listen.com (Rhapsody)
applemusic.com
Also, she mentioned a site to have KaZaa removed from your computer:
musicunited.org
4/25/03
John spoke about a benefit for the Family of Mark Connolly.
Mark was only 45 and recently passed away due to cancer. He
left behind a wife and 10 children. The benefit is at the Irish
American Heritage Center at 4626 N. Knox in Chicago. It's on
Sunday, April 27 from 2-9 pm. They are auctioning off a bunch
of great items (including Cubs/Yankees Tix) and will have raffles
and a cash bar.
4/17/03
-We spoke to some listeners about ways to send money or cards
or any kind of help to American Soldiers and Iraqi civilians.
Here are some ways to do that.
-unicef.org
-The Daily
Mirror in London is raising funds for Ali - the boy who lost
both of his arms.
-The Department
of Defense has a lot of links for ways to support U.S. Service
Personnel.
4/16/03
John spoke today about the "Le
Woogie" card trick. Check it out for yourself. Thanks
to listener Carl Ano for passing it along to us.
2/18/03
John talked with Carl Hawkinson, Illinois Director of Homeland
Security. After discussing the duct tape phenomenon, he suggested
visiting www.state.il.us/security/
or calling 1-866-GET-INFO to prepare yourself for a disaster.
Also - John
had a President's Day Quiz (a day late). Here is the full quiz
- with answers at the bottom - as provided to us by Ryan Morton
of Schaumburg
1) Q: What
state is the birthplace of the most Presidents?
2)
Q: Who was the first President to wear trousers?
3)
Q: What President opened the first official Presidential Library?
4)
Q: What President inspired a slogan for Maxwell House Coffee
by saying "It's good to the last drop?"
5)
Q: We've had 42 men serve as President (Grover Cleveland was
the 22nd and 24th). How many Vice-Presidents have we had?
6)
Q: We've had four left-handed presidents but only one who was
ambidexterous. Who?
7)
Q: What President, who ran for the office three times, has more
campaign buttons than any other President?
8)
Q: What President had the most children, 15?
9)
Q: What President asked a girl to marry him on their first date?
10)
Q: What President is often credited with the invention of the
pedometer, lazy susan, and swivel chair?
11)
Q: What future President modeled on the cover of Cosmopolitan
in 1942?
12)
Q: What bachelor president recieved many pets as presents from
people who thought he was lonely. His collection of animals
(all of which he donated to a zoo) included terriers, bald eagles,
and elephants.
13:
Q: What state adopted the red carnation as its flower because
President William McKinley wore one for good luck?
14:
Q: What President suggested a play to the head coach of a team
going to the Super Bowl?
15:
Q: Who is buried in Grant's tomb?
Answers:
1-A: Virginia (8)
2-A: James Madison (4th President). James Monroe returned to
wearing knickers after Madison, but all our presidents following
him have worn long pants.
3-A: Herbert Hoover (31st) Every President after him with the
exception of Richard Nixon has a library.
4.-A: Teddy Roosevelt (26th)
5.-A: 46
6-A: James Garfield (20th). He could simoultaneously write in
Greek using one hand while writing in Latin with the other.
7-A: Richard Nixon (37th). Besides having an incredible amount
of pinbacks in 1960, 1968, and 1972, Nixon also had his name
on many buttons in 1952 and 1956 when he was Dwight D. Eisenhower's
running mate.
8-A: John Tyler (10). He was married twice (first President
to be wed while in office). His last child was born when he
was 70.
9-A: Lyndon B. Johnson (36th). He and "Lady Bird"
were married two months later.
10-A: Thomas Jefferson (3rd). Many of Jefferson's inventions
were designed by Europeans but perfected by him.
11-A: Gerald Ford (38th). He also modeled inside Look in 1940.
12-A: James Buchanan (15th)
13-A: Ohio
14-A: Richard Nixon. He suggested a play to Don Shula for Super
Bowl VI. When his play failed, he hit the Oval Office wall and
broke his hand.
15-A: No one! Grant's body is resting above ground, so he's
technically not buried.
1/17/03
Here's the story John read on the air about the way to look
at tax cuts and discussed with John Barry from the taxfoundation.org.
Let's put the proposed tax cuts in terms everyone can understand.
Suppose
that every day, ten men go out for dinner. The bill for all
ten comes to
$100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would
go something
like this.
The first four men -- the poorest -- would pay nothing; the
fifth would pay $1,
the sixth would pay $3, the seventh $7, the eighth $12, the
ninth $18, and the
tenth man -- the richest -- would pay $59.
That's what
they decided to do. The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant
every
day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement until one day,
the owner threw
them a curve (in tax language a tax cut).
"Since
you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going
to reduce the cost
of your daily meal by $20." So now dinner for the ten only
cost $80.00.
The group
still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes.
So the first
four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But
what
about the other six -- the paying customers? How could They
divvy up the $20
windfall so that everyone would get his "fair share?"
The six
men realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted
that from everybody's share, Then the fifth man and
The sixth man would end up being PAID to eat their meal. So
the restaurant owner
suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by
roughly the same
amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should
pay.
And so the
fifth man paid nothing, the sixth pitched in $2, the seventh
paid $5,
the eighth paid $9, the ninth paid $12, leaving the tenth man
with a bill of $52
instead of his earlier $59. Each of the six was better off than
before. And the
first four continued to eat for free.
But once
outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.
"I only
got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man,then,
pointing to the
tenth. "But he got $7!". "Yeah, that's right,"
exclaimed the fifth man, "I only
saved a dollar, too, ........It's unfair that he got seven times
more than me!".
"That's
true!" shouted the seventh man," why should he get
$7 back when I got
only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!".
Wait a minute,"
yelled the first four men in unison, "We didn't get anything
at
all. The system exploits the poor!"
The nine
men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next
night he didn't show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and
ate
without him.
But when
it came time to pay the bill, they discovered, a little late
what was
very important. They were FIFTY-TWO DOLLARS short of paying
the bill! Imagine
that!
And that,
boys and girls, journalists and college instructors, is how
the tax
system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most
benefit from a
tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy,
and they just
may not show up at the table anymore. They might just take their
business
offshore, or something; they're getting beaten up no matter
what they do.
Where would
that leave the rest? Unfortunately, most taxing authorities
anywhere
cannot seem to grasp this rather straightforward logic
1/2/2003
John spoke with a listener about changes that occur in your
body when you quit smoking, Here is the text of the article
that ran in the Sun-Times awhile back.
AFTER YOU STOP
Here's how
your health improves after you quit smoking, according to
the American Lung Association:
After 20 minutes: Blood pressure decreases;
pulse rate drops; body
temperature of hands and feet increases.
Eight
hours:
Carbon monoxide and oxygen levels in blood return to
normal.
24 hours: Chance of having a heart attack begins
to drop.
48
hours: Nerve endings start regrowing; ability to smell
and taste
is enhanced.
Two
weeks to three months: Circulation improves; walking
becomes
easier; lung function increases.
One
to nine months: Coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue
and shortness
of breath decrease.
Five
to 15 years: Stroke risk is reduced to the level of
those who
have never smoked.
10
years: Risk of lung cancer drops to as little as one-half
that of
continuing smokers. Risks of ulcers and of cancers of
the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney and pancreas also
decrease.
15
years: Risk of heart disease is now at a level similar
to that of
people who have never smoked.
11/21/02
Ready to improve your vocabulary? John has been speaking quite
a bit about American Heritage Dictionary's 100
Words Every High School Graduate Should Know.
11/19/02
John spoke about an amazing story about a mom and her autistic
son. It was in the Science Times section in Tuesday's (11/19)
New York Times. The story was titled "A Boy, A Mother and
a Rare Map of Autism's World." You can view the story at
nytimes.com if you register
with them.
10/1/02
John came up with a new pledge for Republicans and Democrats.
Raise your right hand:
Republicans:
I still pledge to be a good winner, to be a fair critic, to
allow for fair criticism, to not confuse it with a lack of patriotism
and to stop bringing up or blaming things on you know who.
Democrats:
I still pledge to be a good loser, to not say things like malfiance
and fizile, to be a fair critic and not a political opportunist,
and to stop describing him as the appointed president.
8/31/02
Pop Up-Ads
Recently John was lamenting about the volume of pop-up ads appearing
on his screen with his new internet service at home. Many listeners
emailed their suggestions for getting rid of the ads. Here is
a sampling of their advice.:
-- A
suggestion for stopping your pop-up ads John, Some pop-up ads
are just going to happen. Others are caused by "adware" or "spyware"
that you may have unknowingly downloaded to your computer. Some
of the common file sharing systems--ones used for swapping music
for instance--install this type of software as part of their install.
You can do something about this. There are some great free tools
for this sort of thing. Ad-aware: this is a free program that
is able to sniff out and remove "adware" and "spyware." The website
to download it from is: www.lavasoftusa.com I'd recommend installing
it and scanning your system. You might be surprised at how quickly
those pop-ups go away. Bill
-- Zone
Alarm is at www.zonelabs.com . You want the good stuff:
ZoneAlarm Pro 3.0
It's worth it for a few dollars. Try the free basic one
first, then upgrade. This product is the
firewall that: Protects you from hackers and marketers peering
into your computer, and
Protects you from viruses.
AdSubtract is at www.adsubtract.com You want the good stuff:
AdSubtract Pro It blocks, selectively, advertisements, animations,
auto-refresh, pop-ups, pop-unders, background images, background
music, cookies, referrers, Java applets and Java script. You can
decide which ones
to turn on or off. You will never see another ad unless
you indicate that you want to by turning
off the controls.
-- John,
I apologize that this is so long, and if you have gotten rid of
all your pop up ads then delete it now. Many called in with advice
on Tuesday August 27, 2002 about how to get rid of the pop up
ads you are getting. I also called, I had said to use the ALT
F4 as others said, also that you are looking for the X in the
upper right hand corner of the ad, but in the upper left hand
corner, if you right click that there will be a 'close' to click.
BUTTTTTT the reason for this email is to explain how to get rid
of msbb.exe if you have it on your computer. I found out that
this program tracks where you have been and sends you extra ads.
It is launched when you sign on and opens you to a ton of ads.
to find it... go to Start >> Find >> files or folders >> type
in msbb >> click find now If you have this on your computer..
THAT is what is helping to overload you with ads. You can not
totally get rid of the file, but you can render it inactive. Go
to Start >> Run >> type msconfig.exe >> hit ok >> click on StartUp
tab >> scroll thru those and if msbb is there.. UNCHECK it. Now
it will NOT launch when you start your computer and the amount
of your ads will go down 75%. Good Luck, Anne
-- John,
I've heard you mention that your kids like to use the KaZaa file-sharing
service. KaZaa causes a lot of pop-up ads on your computer. I
know this for a fact because after I installed KaZaa on my computer,
the amount of pop-up ads increased dramatically. I recently did
a format of my computer's hard drive and re-installed of my software
EXCEPT KaZaa, and the amount of pop-up ads has decreased. One
of your listeners mentioned the program called Ad Aware. (which
is available from a company called LavaSoft, their website is:
www.lavasoft.com) You might want to download and install the Ad
Aware program. It may help with your pop-up plight!! -Shawn West
Dundee, IL
-- Careful
using programs that eliminate pop-up ads, because they can also
eliminate pop-up windows that aren't ads but are windows you actually
want. You might want to check with someone who is computer savvy
before you do anything.
Good luck everyone!!
8/23/02
We all laid out our list of the 5 greatest inventions:
John:
1. Seedless Watermellon 2.ATM 3.Internet 4.bar code 5. Water
noodle
Annie: 1.Radio/mass communications 2.The Internet 3.Rock
N' Roll/electric guitar
4. Take Out Food 5.Pat & Ron (alternates: The Penalty Shot,
Plastic Bottles of Water, Under eye concealer, Indoor Plumbing,
The Microwave oven, The Answering Machine, Starbucks, The Pen
Eyeliner, The walkman, Protein Bars, Convertibles)
Dave Stewart: 1.Nanobots 2.Cloning 3.Internet 4.Democracy
5.Birth Control pills
(alternates: Food Preservatives, Sound and Video recording,
Intermittent windshield wipers.)
Andy Masur:
1.The Wheel 2.Air conditioning 3.Antibiotics 4.Cable TV 5.Baseball
Matt: 1. Epidural 2.Caller ID 3.VCR 4.Elevator 5.Mellon
Baller
8/22/02
John spoke about a new cd that aims to fight illiteracy in this
country by getting people excited about the written word. It's
a cd of songs inspired by books by artists such as Bruce Springsteen.
The cd is Chapter
One: Songs Inspired by Literature. You can visit the Songs
Inspired by Literature website at SIBLproject.org
8/7/02
-The guys that play John's voicemail song are appearing in their
show Triple Espresso
at
The Marcus Center for The Performing Arts in Milwaukee through
September 7th.
8/6/02
Crop Circles
-John spoke with Karen Douglas of The
Crop Circle Yearbook Series.
She also mention the website for a new Documentary coming out
called Crop Circles.
Update from John: The school is being "overwhelmed" with
our listeners' generous efforts. Several hundred spiral notebooks
and socks and uniforms have arrived, for instance. The staff at
Wentworth is sorting through the boxes and has asked us to pass
along some information. As they have plenty of clothes and notebooks,
it appears as though they may now have enough. (Storage is becoming
an issue! What a nice problem!) It is not clear how many of the
other items on the list have arrived - it will be soon - but the
staff there tells us that they don't have many electric fans for
the classrooms. A few more desktop copiers would also be appreciated.
(The larger office models, with sometimes expensive service contracts,
are not as practical as the smaller units). We will update our
record of what they have received soon. For now, the call is still
out for fans and desktop copiers. Thank you again for all your
efforts! WGN Radio's listeners are ready and willing when a good
cause comes to them. Through our Wentworth project, one has.
Helping
Wentworth School
Here is the list of school supplies John Williams is trying
to gather for Wentworth School.
Wentworth is a K-8 public school in one of Chicago's poorest,
most challenging neighborhoods.
-- 98% of the student body lives in poverty, over a third are
in the foster care system.
-- K-6 classes average around 25 students per classroom. The
upper classes
average over 30 students per classroom.
--While a large portion of the students score in the lowest
quarter in standardized tests, many
do better than the national average and all could benefit greatly
with some basic supplies.
John asked the teachers at Wentworth to make up a list of things
they need the most. He is
encouraging listeners to help supply as many of them as possible.
Wouldn't it be a great show
of support to these teachers and students if we could provide
these items? Contact information
follows the list. Please make arrangements with the school to
send or deliver anything you can.
And please let us know about it as well. Any individual donations
are greatly appreciated. If you
belong to a club or service organization, please bring this
up to your members. We'd love to tell
Chicagoland about how much you helped!
1. Copy machines. Functioning, new or used machines.
The teachers need several, ideally to
copy take-home assignments. Because of the transient student
population, books and other
learning materials that go home often don't make it back to
the school.
2. Plastic see-through book bags. Especially for grades
4 - 8, these will discourage bringing
weapons to school. Hopefully, this will make the school safer
and reduce the number of students
that get expelled.
3. (NEEDS ALREADY FILLED) Good condition, new
or used clothes that meet the school uniform requirements. Though
Wentworth is a public school, it has adopted a white top, blue
bottom, uniform. 80% of the students comply. Eliminating designer
labels and providing as much uniformity as possible
has been benificial to the students. Pants, skirts, jumpers,
blouses, shirts, etc. in grade
school sizes are welcome.
4. (NEEDS ALREADY FILLED) Notebooks.
5. Homework journals. Take-home books in which the students
can write down each day's
homework assignments.
6. Books to take home. Any books, puzzles, word games
or educational/fun learning aides the
kids can take home and possibly keep. Disney books, for example,
are very popular.
7. Electric pencil sharpeners for each classroom.
8. Electric fans. Wentworth has no air conditioning.
Ideally, oscillating fans. (Wentworth
has classes throughout the summer.)
9. Balls for gym class and recess. Basketballs, footballs,
jump ropes, etc.
10. Individual pocket calculators. Especially for the
upper grade students.
11. SRA kits. (The school can describe these when you
call.)
12. (NEEDS ALREADY FILLED) Socks. Preschool and
kindergarten students in the winter sometimes come to class
without socks. Though this is not a high priority at Wentworth,
there is no substitute when it is cold!
Thank
you for looking at the list. The school phone number is 773-535-3394.
Fax: (773) 535-3434.
The address is: Daniel S. Wentworth School, 6950 S. Sangamon
St., Chicago, IL 60621.
The website for the Chicago Public School system is http://www.cps.k12.il.us
Let's see how many of these items we can knock off the list!
If you are able to help, please let
us know what you are doing. Drop a quick note to John - his
email address is:
JohnWilliams@wgnradio.com
8/1/02
John supports the Salvation Army whenever he can and encourages
you to do so as well.
You can find out more about them at salarmy.org.
Or you can always send a donation to them at:
Salvation Army
5040 N. Pulaski
Chicago, IL 60630
7/30/02
On August 5th, we'll ask your opinion on our first movie club
selection, Vanilla Sky.
Ponder these points and write back with your answers or give them
to us the first
Monday in August (the 5th) on our show.
1. Would you have jumped off the roof at the end of the film?
2. Penelope Cruz's character is real or imaginary?
3. Who do you think says the movie's last line, "Open your eyes."
4. Was this movie more effort than it was worth?
5.On a scale of 1 - 23 (1 is low, 23 high), how would you rate
it?
6. What should the next movie be?
Email your answers to John
Williams.
7/11/02
The John Williams Movie Club has picked it's first feature: Vanilla
Sky. Starring Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz and Cameron Diaz. Directed
by Cameron Crowe. It's now available on video and DVD. Check it
out and tune in for our discussion of the movie on August 5th.
5/21/02
- Explore
your family history at www.ellisisland.org
- Dictionary publishers and English teachers recoil in horror
when they hear about www.freespeling.com
5/13/02
John played
some music featured on the last episode for Dr. Mark Green (Anthony
Edwards) on E.R. The song was "Over The Rainbow" by
Israel
"IZ" Kamakawiwo'le.
5/6/02
-John spoke with Dawn Wells of Gilligan's Island fame. She is
in town starring in The Vagina Monolgues at the Apollo Theatre
through June 2. Check out her website.
-John also spoke with Comptroller Dan Hynes about helping raise
buttons for a holocaust memorial in Peoria. Get more info. here.
-John had Lawrence Schiller on the show to talk about his book:
Into
the Mirror: The Life of a Master Spy Robert P. Hanssen.
4/26/02
The latets Men's Health Magazine suggested that The Piano, Henry
and June, Bull Durham, and The Thomas Crown Affair were great
movies to cuddle up with your spouse. The ladies told us on
our voicemail segment that there are other great "turn
on" movies. Some for a single scene - the piano scene in
Pretty Woman - and some for the whole shebang. We'll let you
figure out which is which, but either way, here is what our
listeners suggested:
Pretty Woman
From Here To Eternity
The Last
of the Mohicans
Body Heat
Sliver
Dirty Dancing
Someting To Talk About
The Piano
Don Juan DeMarco
9 1/2 Weeks
Sex, Lies, and Videotape
The Postman Always Rings Twice
Two Moon Junction
True Lies
Good
Luck!
4/3/02
John spoke with Professor Kendall Thu of Northern Illinois University
about his study which shows that NCAA referees seem to keep
nationally televised games close by calling more fouls against
teams in the lead. Check out the full report here.
2/15/02
After a storm in Mexico devastated Monarch Butterfly Colonies,
John spoke with Lincoln Bower, Professor of Zoology and Biology,
about the wonders of this species. For more information you can
email Dr. Bower directly at brower@sbc.edu.
Also:
to help track the Monarch Butterfly, go to these websites:
lerner.org
and mlmp.org
2/14/02
John spoke with Leonard Pitts, syndicated columnist with the Miami
Herald.
They discussed the website yforum.com
John played music from the cd "Old Love." You can order
it if you go to
NealandLeandra.com
1/17/02
Can History Repeat Itself?
We compared the 1985 Bears to the 2001 Bears.
1985:
2 years after George Halas died.
2001: 2 years after Walter Payton died.
1985:
Fewest points allowed.
2001: Fewest points allowed.
1985:
2 regular season shutouts.
2001: 2 regular season shutouts.
1985:
Last game of season won by 20 (37-17)
2001: Last game of season won by 20 (33-13)
1985:
QB - Jim M.
2001: QB
- Jim M.
1985:
Highest Scoring Defense
2001: Highest Scoring Defense
1985:
Pre-season record 1-3
2001: Pre-season record 1-3
1985:
Kevin Butler made 83.8% of field goals.
2001: Paul Edinger made 83.8% of field goals.
1985:
First loss of season to a Super Bowl team from previous season
(Miami).
2001: First loss of season to a Super Bowl team from previous
season (Baltimore).
1985:
Five Bears in Pro Bowl.
2001: Five Bears in Pro Bowl.
And
Finally....
1985: Super Bowl held in New Orleans.
2001: Super Bowl held in New Orleans.
1/10/02
John read about
Capitalism
Capitalism:
You have two cows.
You sell one and buy a bull.
Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows.
You sell them and retire on the income.
Enron Venture Capitalism:
You have two cows.
You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using
letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then
execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so
that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five
cows.
The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary
to a
Cayman Island company secretly owned by the majority shareholder
who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company.
The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option
on one more.
LINKS
FROM 2001
