WGN Radio - Kathy & Judy

Links and Information from Past Shows
(Here's where to check for links and other information discussed by the Girlfriends. Note: Links referred to on this page are not associated in any way with WGN Radio. Thus, we cannot be responsible for the nature or accuracy of the content found on the sites.)

Friday, 6/28/02 -- Judy thought a news story about cherry pieces in steak was a hoax -- but listeners say it's not only real, it's healthy. We learned about Plevalean, and you can too, at www.plevas.com.

Kathy's I-PASS appears to be on the fritz. Callers shared stories and possible solutions, ranging from dead batteries to malfunctioning machines to expired credit cards. Visit www.illinoistollway.com/ipass.htm to see some of the Frequently Asked Questions about I-PASS.

Kathy also read the following public service announcement: "Last weekend, the Woodstock Jaycees collected mobility items at the Woodstock Harley Davidson on Rt. 47 in Woodstock. If you have any items you'd still like to donate you can drop them off at the Harley dealership until July 25. New? Hardly used? Broken? Doesn't matter! Jaycees will donate to Project Mobility where they will be fixed and sent to 3rd world countries. Wheelchairs in other countries can cost someone 3 year's wage! Please call (815) 342-0450 if you have any questions."

In talking about technology we could do without, one listener mentioned those devices that let you go to the bathroom while sitting, say, at a stadium or ballpark. Before your imagination runs wild (and stop it, that's gross), visit www.stadiumpal.com/stadiumgal.html to see what we mean.

Thursday, 6/27/02 -- Judy read a USA Today article about fancy wedding cakes. One of the bakeries mentioned, Royale Icing, is based in Oak Park! We talked with a couple of callers who have had cakes made by Margaret Lastick, who owns the bakery. You can visit her web page (and see some pretty fancy cakes, including a birthday cake in the shape of Wrigley Field) at www.royaleicing.com.

Wednesday, 6/19/02 -- TODAY, A COUPLE OF UPDATES NOT FROM ANY SPECIFIC SHOW -- Kathy has written a ten minute play titled "'Til Death" that will be presented as one of eight "Porch Plays" at Normal's Heartland Theater the last two weekends in June 2002. The website for the Theatre is www.heartlandtheatre.org/HeartlandWeb_files/page0004.htm.

We've also received an e-mail from Darren Qunell, a AAA Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician, who read about our February 27 conversation on car seat safety. The web site we mentioned is his! He writes, "My website is based in Warrenville, Illinois, and also includes a checkup event list for the Chicago area. This might also be useful for listeners who are looking to have their car seat installation checked, or want to learn more from a trained child passenger safety technician: www.car-safety.org/seatcheck.html. Finally, I should also mention that the toll free number for reporting unrestrained children is actually hosted by Central DuPage Hospital, in cooperation with the West Chicago Police and Fire Departments. Incidentally, DuPage County recently cut funding for its car seat distribution program, which included its support as lead organization for the DuPage County SafeKids coalition. To my knowledge, they are no longer affiliated with local child passenger safety initiatives."

Monday, 6/17/02 -- Judy read a stratling story about skin care and sun tanning/burning from Sunday's (6/16/02) Tribune; read it while you can at www.chicagotribune.com/features/health/chi-0206160388jun16.story.

Tuesday, 6/11/02 -- Kathy heard of a new, fun book exchange program, that basically involves finding books like lost treasure. Check out www.bookcrossing.com/ to see what she was talking about.

We interviewed Jeff Daniel, president of Rock Rover Communications. His company is the one which makes those compilation CDs sold in stores like Williams-Sonoma, The Gap and Pottery Barn. Their web site is www.rrcmusic.com/; while they don't sell discs through the site, there are some links as to where to find some of them. (Try visiting the retailer's web sites to find the CDs.)

Finally, we closed the show talking about Diane Sawyer's interview on Good Morning America with Annabel Davis-Goff... and how awkward it was to have Mike Nichols' wife interviewing Mike Nichols' ex-wife. See the transcript of the interview at abcnews.go.com/sections/GMA/GoodMorningAmerica/GMA020611Davis_Goff.html.

Monday, 6/10/02 -- Over the weekend, Kathy took part in a program called Young Eagles, helping introduce kids to the wonders of flying. Operating from both Meigs Field and Schaumburg, Kathy thinks it's a great chance for kids who might not otherwise get to fly. Best of all, it's free, and is run by the Tuskegee airmen who served in World War 2, so it can be educational too. For more information, call the Meigs Field reservation line at 312/409-5621, or visit the web page at www.friendsofmeigs.org/Tuskegee_Airmen_Dodo_Chapter/html/Young_Eagles_Program.html; you can also learn about the Schaumburg chapter by calling 630/543-9213, or visit members.aol.com/eaa101/page3.html. We also got an e-mail from Girlfriend Pat, who says: "I wanted to let you know that the EAA also sponsors a Young Eagles day at Aurora Municipal Airport in Sugar Grove on the last Sunday of the month. They take children from 8-17 for a plane ride within 5 miles or so of the airport. Aurora Airport is a mile west of Rt. 47 on Rt. 30 (about 5 miles west of Aurora). The next one is June 30th from 9-2."

Friday, 6/7/02 -- An interesting discussion about after-the-fact contraception taught us about the difference between the morning-after pill and RU-486; we also learned about a toll-free number to learn more about emergency contraception: 1-888-NOT-2-LATE, and you can learn more about this number at jamwa.amwa-doc.org/vol53/pdf/53_5_15.pdf (you do need Adobe Acrobat Reader to see this page).

Thursday, 6/6/02 -- For the second day in a row, we briefly visited the concept of goat meat as fine cuisine. While there are many places online to find such recipes, one we found was www.geocities.com/qanbinc/recipes.htm. We also heard from caller Rosie, who says if you visit virtually any of the Mexican restaurants in Pilsen on 26th Street, you can order "barbacua" (the spelling may be wrong) to try some of the barbecued goat delicacies out there.

Wednesday, 6/5/02 -- We had our first-ever Impromptu Geography Bee on the Kathy & Judy Show today. OK, so we borrowed it from the National Geographic Geography Bee. It was won by a *10-year-old* from Michigan. If you think you know your geography, you'll want to check out www.nationalgeographic.com/geobee/, the official web site of the Geography Bee, which has sample questions (updated on a regular basis!) to test your knowledge.

We also talked about lightning strikes, and how that affects victims. It's probably worth checking out the National Weather Service's web site about this, www.nws.noaa.gov/om/wcm/lightning/medical.htm, to learn not only about how lightning strikes affect people, but also for tips and stats about lightning strikes.

Monday, 6/3/02 -- Kathy read an e-mail about the U.S. Mint considering the move to stop producing the penny. Hogwash. Read more about teh coins we use, and find a LOT of trivia about money at the Mint's web site; you can start with this link, which addresses the rumors about eliminating the one cent piece: www.usmint.gov/faqs/circulating_coins/index.cfm?flash=yes#anchor9.

Wednesday, 5/29/02 -- We talked about the American Girl Doll Sale at the Madison Children's Museum, 100 State Street, Madison, WI 53703. For information, call (608) 256-6445 or visit www.kidskiosk.org/sale.html. The sale is July 13th and 14th.

Tuesday, 5/28/02 -- After reading an article about pet communicators, and we heard from Noreen McCluskey, a pet empath who'd talked with us in fall of 2000. We learned (we think) more about what she does for a living, and even had her address one caller's question about her dogs. If you choose to believe in this kind of thing, you'll want to see Noreen's web site at www.butterflytree.net.

We got a call from a woman whose friend found a bird in Starbucks; she didn't know where to take it for care. One caller suggested the Willowbrook Wildlife Center (www.dupageforest.com/EDUCATION/willowbrook.html) which cares for native animals. We also heard from KARE for Wildlife in Kane County, which also cares for many animals. Learn more about them at www.kareforwildlife.org.

Monday, 5/27/02 -- Judy read about what Time Magazine is calling "The Bombshell Memo" -- details about the FBI whistle-blower who accuses her bosses of ignoring warnings before the 9/11 attacks. Read the article and the memo online at www.time.com/time/covers/1101020603/story.html.

We discussed theater-release movies using captioning for deaf or hard-of-hearing audience members. Some groups claim that a lack of such captioning is a violation of the American with Disabilities Act. We did learn of some theaters which show captioned movies, and the elading company that provides such a service is Tripod (www.tripod.org/); you can see which theaters show these captioned films at www.tripod.org/dedicated_screens.html -- please make sure to see which table heading you're looking under on that page, as a majority of it is theaters that show such movies at least monthly or bi-monthly.

Thursday, 5/23/02 -- The FBI says 2600 people fell victim to the e-mail scams where the author asks for your bank account information in order to cut you in on a percentage of a large sum of money. (You can learn more about these scams at the United States Secret Service's web site, at www.secretservice.gov/alert419.shtml.) We spent a fair amount of time talking to callers who have dealt with this and other such fraud cases. One place to help stop this madness is the Federal Trade Commission -- while they can't help you get lost money back, they can start investigations into people and companies who run such scams. Visit rn.ftc.gov/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01 to learn how to file a complaint about spam (unsolicited commercial e-mail) and see if you can help make a difference.

We talked about those motivational signs that seem to hang in every office. You can find those at www.successories.com. But, if you've got a Kathy & Judy attitude, you should probably check out www.despair.com, for some demotivational parodies and other dark fun stuff.

Wednesday, 5/22/02 -- We began our day the way most people do, talking about Branson, Missouri. We wonderd what the hottest ticket in Branson is, and the first two callers emphatically said that ticket is for Japanese violinist Shoji Tabuchi. Learn more about the fiddlin' wizard at his web site, www.shoji.com. Andy Williams' name also came up, which brough us to the name Claudine Longet, which led us to a web site called "Cuddle Up With Claudine Longet!" which you can find at home.earthlink.net/~elbroome/longet/.

Caller Lisa told us about a show called "World's Best Bathrooms" on the Travel Channel. The show will re-air o Sunday, 5/26, at 9p Central, and again Saturday, 6/1, at 9p. Visit travel.discovery.com/schedule/episode.jsp?episode=784146000 to learn a little more about it.

We talked about the highly addicting vide game called "Golden Tee," which led us to learn about Golden Tee Widows -- women whose husbands are so involved with this game, they're always off playing it at a bar or tavern. At the end of the conversation, we got a call from Jim Zielinski, one of the two co-designers of the game; see him and the rest of the Incredible Technologies gang at www.eprairie.com/printer/article.asp?newsletterID=1975 (Jim's picture is near the bottom of the page).

Monday, 5/20/02 -- In our never-ending quest to link to information about EVERYTHING, we learned some about chimpanzees today, and at what age they begin to reach various motor skill milestones. Learn more with us at www.savethechimps.org/facts_lifecycle.asp.

Thursday, 5/16/02 -- Judy reflected on the poem "When I Am An Old Woman, I Shall Wear Purple," and wondered what men looked forward to in their golden years. One caller named Art was so inspired, he put together his own poem:

When I'm An Old Man
--------------------------------------
I'm not gonna shave
I'm gonna misbehave

I'm gonna gawk at the gals at the pool
Sit there with my mouth wide open and drool

I'm gonna drink booze all day long
I'm gonna play loudly all my old heavy metal rock songs

One things for sure
I'll still have my hair
Whether it's moved from my head to my back
It'll still be there...

Tuesday, 5/14/02 -- Kathy unveiled the name of the second selection of Radio Readers. Our second book is called Wild Nights: Nature Returns to the City by Anne Matthews. This one is non-fiction, but Kathy is already infatuated with the marvelous prose about a topic which should prove interesting to us city dwellers. Feel free to get it at your local bookstore or library or buy it from the wgnradio.com/store by clicking on the book title above. We'll be discussing it sometime in July (we're aiming for July 12). Stay tuned for more details.

Friday, 5/10/02 -- Lots of calls today about Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, whose song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World" was featured in last night's ER episode. Man, do people love this song -- this actually marks the third year in a row we're including information about it on our links & information page! This is the same song that was featured in the E-Toys commercial a while back. You can find the song on the Meet Joe Black soundtrack, the Finding Forrester soundtrack, or on Israel Kamakawiwiole's album, "Facing Future," or even a different version of the song on his album, "Ka 'Ano'i." Whew.

We also debuted "Radio Readers," our new book club feature on the Kathy & Judy Show. We discussed Like Normal People, a novel by Karen E. Bender. If you'd like to write Karen about the book, you may do so at karrob@aol.com.

Thursday, 5/9/02 -- a brief discussion about the specific names for clothing nuns wear led to a number of phone calls. We figure the best way for you learn more -- and have some fun while doing it -- is to check out a web page a listener told us about, featuring nun dolls. It's at www.blessings-catalog.com/.

Wednesday, 5/8/02 -- We closed the show talking about ring tones, and which new songs are popular (Judy found a survey saying the two most popular tunes now are "Beat It," by Michael Jackson, and "Enter Sandman," by Metallica). A quick search gave us a couple of web sites where you can download many popular songs, if your phone allows such downloads; check out www.zingy.com or www.supermegaphone.com to see what we mean. Some tunes will cost you though. You should also check the web page for your long distance carrier, as they often have downloadable ring tones, and often they're free.

Tuesday, 5/7/02 -- Judy learned about the world of putting those grill marks on steak and chicken, and how important it is to Grill Masters throughout Chicago. One caller mentioned branding irons, developed to allow chefs to put their initials on their work. See and buy one for yourself at www.williams-sonoma.com/.

Neil Steinberg joined us on the show today, fresh off the publication of his new book, Don't Give up the Ship: Finding My Father While Lost at Sea.

Monday, 5/6/02 -- Judy read some facts about spiders, which prompted Kathy to remember the factoid that, no matter where you are, you're always within three feet of a spider. That made us scratch our head (and look frantically around the room), but some searching on the web has a lot of sites referring to this as fact. One such site is www.discovery.com/exp/spiders/reports/report11.html (in the first paragraph), and we figure if it's good enough for the Discovery Channel web site, it's good enough for us

We tried out a segment on what crazy things you've learned about your neighbors. One caller said, as a child, her neighbor was Anna Sage. We delved into a very brief history lesson, but you can learn more at www.crimelibrary.com/americana/dillinger/8.htm.

Near the end of the show, we discussed synesthesia, a harmless disorder that causes some people to see letters in color, or taste shapes, or feel sounds. It does sound a little different, but scientists are now saying it's a real thing, and may be more prevalent than you'd think. We first read about synesthesia at abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/DyeHard/dyehard020328.html. Part of our conversation included a caller who talked about Stroop Effect, which sounds like virtually the same condition; learn more about that, and play some interactive games related to Stroop Effect at faculty.washington.edu/chudler/words.html.

Friday, 5/3/02 -- A recent Wall Street Journal article talked about how people are shopping for hospitals, based on the hospitals' mortality rate. The article mentioned a few web sites which tallied such information, some focusing only on some states. The sites listed in the article are: www.healthscope.org, www.healthgrades.com; www.healthcarechoices.org; www.hospitaliq.net; and www.qualitycounts.org.

We somehow got diverted to talking about a chewing gum ban in Singapore; read about it at www.sfgate.com/examiner/bondage/BOND-23960.html.

We also had a caller ask if the planetary alignment was making people have a bad week. If you're unclear about what the whole planetary alignment business is about, you can find some information about it at www.space.com/spacewatch/planet_align_020426.html. If you're having a bad week, well, it's Friday, things will get better. (We're psychic, we know this.)

We talked about a couple of relatively new devices on the market: one was the Tele-Zapper, which is designed to block telemarketer calls before your phone rings. learn more about that at www.telezapper.com/default.asp. Finally, Kathy mentioned the "Herbie Hydrant," a new device to help firefighters track down kids in a house fire. Learn more about it at www.herbiehydrant.com.

Thursday, 5/2/02 -- Intrigued with this week's cover of Time Magazine, we welcomed Arlene Blaha to the show to educate us about autism. Arlene is the Executive Director for the Autism Society of Illinois. Learn more by visiting the website, autismillinois.com, emailing the society at autismill@aol.com, or by calling 630-691-1270. We also suggest visiting the Maap Services, Inc. website for more information on autism, asperger's and PDD. Maap stresses early intense intervention, as it can make a big difference in an autistic child's long-term prognosis.

After talking about QVC's contest for the best new inventions, we received a call from the winner of QVC's Iowa contest. Betty won with her great invention, "The Bedrizer". Check out the blue ribbon invention by visiting www.bedrizer.com or call 800-321-9447. Other callers were not so willing to share their ideas since they did not have a patent. If you think you have the next best thing since sliced bread, one of our listeners suggested the book Patent It Yourself by David Pressman.

Wednesday, 5/1/02 -- We talked about a just-released child care study, questioning the percentage of child care givers with proper training or credentials. We got one call from Sue, who works with a chapter of the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies. Learn more about the national group at www.naccrra.org/. (Other web sites involved with the study we mentioned are: Center for the Child Care Workforce: www.ccw.org; University of Washington, Human Services Policy Center: www.hspc.org; and the Department of Health and Human Services, National Child Care Information Center: www.nccic.org.)

At the end of the show, we talked about people who are excited to watch dozens (or in one case, even thousands) of old videotapes of their family. We got a number of phone calls about how to transfer one video format (Super 8, VHS) to another (VHS or DVD). We talked about this very topic last June 14, and here's the info we supplied then: Kathy read a Wall St. Journal article about transferring VHS tape to DVD. The reviewer mentioned two places, both accessible via the net: www.lifeclips.com and www.yesvideo.com. Each offers diferent pricing and features with their product (it's also worth picking up today's WSJ to learn more about each service). We also got a phone call from Len, who works at Vidtech, a company in Lisle that does various types of video transferring and other features: you can learn more about that company at www.vidtechav.com, or call them at 630/241-0292. Lastly, Pat called us with a Super 8 film dilemma -- he found 25-to-30-year-old film that had been exposed, but never developed -- and who develops such old film anymore? Well, apparently Rocky Mountain FIlm does, as they specialize in old and outdated films. Learn about them at www.rockymountainfilm.com.

Tuesday, 4/30/02 -- Last night, Kathy caught the premiere of Frontier House, a PBS series putting regular people in the desolate Montana Territory, circa 1883, to see how they'd fare. Apparently, not well. The final two parts of the show air tonight and tomorrow night (4/30 and 5/1), from 8-10p on Channel 11 in Chicago. Get caught up on the show at www.pbs.org/wnet/frontierhouse/.

Justine Shapiro joined us in studio, to talk about her movie "Promises." This Academy Award-nominated documentary features the view and thoughts of several Israeli and Palestinian children, and their opinions of each other. It will have limited theatrical release starting May 3. You can learn more about the movie and related projects at www.promisesproject.org/.

Monday, 4/29/02 -- The a cappella group Chapter 6 joined us in studio today, before they head off for this weekend's National Harmony Sweepstakes A Cappella Festival (www.harmony-sweepstakes.com/). Learn more about the group (and buy their CDs soon!) at www.chapter-6.com.

Thursday, 4/25/02 -- A brief conversation about what baby names are popular (and doesn't this topic of conversation just always seem to pop up?) led us to find the web site www.babycenter.com/babyname/popnames.html, which lists not only the most popular baby names of last year, but also those from the 1990s as a decade.

Tuesday, 4/23/02 -- New regulations for child car seats was one of the hot topics today. Judy wanted to point out a USA Today article, at www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2002-04-23-child-seats.htm, which had some news on a new manufacturer of child seats.

Monday, 4/22/02 -- We started the show talking about "The Rookie," a new tearjerker of a movie from Disney. It got us talking about which baseball movie is the best of the bunch, and we found a website which published the results of a poll asking the exact same question. It's at www.bostonbaseball.com/whitesox/movies2.html.

We also talked about computer viruses, and odd e-mails getting sent out recently. That reminds us it's a good idea to post a web site from Symantec, which is a reliable computer security firm, as they list the hoax e-mails and virus warnings that you might want to know about. That web site is symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html.

We got into a conversation about Blue's Clues, which is soon to be hosted by Joe instead of Steve. Adults can learn more about the show and dealing with the upcoming switch at www.nickjr.com/grownups/home/shows/blue/.

Thursday, 4/18/02 -- We discussed a new program, designed to get single moms living together with their children, to create support both emotionally and financially. Visit www.coabode.com/ to learn more about it.

Wednesday, 4/17/02 -- Chicken pox and shingles was a focal point of the show today. The relationship between the two, and information on vaccinations, can be found at www.babycenter.com/refcap/baby/babywellness/1725.html?CP_bid=. We also had a call from the secretary of the Illinois Vaccine Awareness Coalition, which has serious reservations about such vaccination. Learn more about them at www.vaccineawareness.org, or call 847/836-0488.

Friday, 4/12/02 -- We talked about fan clubs for rock groups, and how people of all ages are joining in. One caller, Lisa, wanted to know more about the fan club for Aerosmith. Their web site is www.aeroforceone.com.

Thursday, 4/11/02 -- It's National Alcohol Awareness Day, and Judy asked about screenings to determine if one has a problem with alcohol. We found one such screening test online, at www.alcoholscreening.org/screening/index.asp.

Wednesday, 4/10/02 -- Kathy & Judy were alarmed by a piece on NBC's Dateline last night, involving some teenagers who are facing criminal charges after videotaping an attack on a female friend of theirs. There's some question as to how legitimate the attack was, and whether the woman in the film was aware of what she was in for. While Dateline's web site didn't have any information about this story when we posted this, a Detroit television station does, at www.clickondetroit.com/det/news/stories/news-138707620020408-130420.html.

Kathy mentioned a website called www.ecomponline.com, where you can see the salaries of executives in hundreds of publicly owned companies... just to see what your boss makes (and then you can pull your hair out).

A lot of today's Speak Your Piece dealt with the Illinois Tollway's I-PASS system, and if you have to come to a complete stop at the tollbooths. There's a definite answer at www.illinoistollway.com/, if you then click on the red "I-PASS" tab at the top of the screen, then "the faq's" on the left-hand side. The very first question deals with this issue.

Monday, 4/8/02 -- We started the show by talking about Time magazine's "Making Time for a Baby" article, discussing women and careers as well as women, aging and infertility. You can read more about these articles at www.time.com/time/covers/1101020415/story.html.

Kathy mentioned an online Breast Cancer Risk Assessment tool she'd read about this weekend, which the National Cancer Institute designed to help recognize your risk of contracting breast cancer within the next five years. Read more about it at bcra.nci.nih.gov/brc/

Judy saw a "60 Minutes" piece on fighting cancer, which included an interesting confrontation between a doctor and an insurance company. You can read about the show and the features revolving around this issue at www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/04/04/60minutes/main505402.shtml.

Thursday, 4/4/02 -- We talked about a new brand of jeans that are all the rage: Seven jeans, which are designed to make your posterior look better. We talked with Dennis, whose daughter runs www.shopbop.com, where these jeans can be bought on line, or in her Madison, WI shop. (Also, Judy mentioned she'd bought custom-fit jeans she had tailor-made. She bought them at the Levi's the Original Store, at 600 N. Michigan Ave.)

Wednesday, 4/3/02 -- Kathy is back from her vacation to Paris! Besides the many sights in the city and in Versailles, she also was impressed by CNN International. Not only were the anchors exceptionally smart, she said, but she saw mainly female anchors and reporters, and each was breath-takingly beautiful. Learn about the CNN International reporters by visiting www.cnn.com/CNN/anchors_reporters/.

Due to the scarcity of available books, the date of the Radio Readers has changed from April 19 to May 10 (both are Fridays).

Monday, 4/1/02 -- Elizabeth Berg joined us as a guest co-host. Her new book, Ordinary Life: Stories is now available!

They started the conversation talking about flower shows; Elizabeth said she knew of an upcoming show in Oak Park's Cheney Mansion. Learn more about this historic site at www.cheneymansion.com/.

Friday, 3/29/02 -- Judy talked about a Good Housekeeping Institute study about Pirate's Booty, which is a tasty cheese snack. Best of all, its nutrition label says it has only 2.5 grams in fat -- the bad news is, the GHI study showed a serving actually has 8.5 grams of fat in a 1 ounce serving! Check out magazines.ivillage.com/ to read more. Off the air, a caller recommended subscribing to the Nutrition Action Health Letter, published by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Learn more about it at www.cspinet.org/nah/.

Actor/director/former Saturday Night Live cast member Tim Kazurinsky joined us as a guest host. His current project is a movie called "Strange Relations," which has already met both critical and viewer success in England. Find out what all the hub-bub is about by watching its US premiere this weekend (3/31 at 7p Central) on Showtime. Learn more about the movie at www.sho.com/movies/movies_product.cfm?titleid=113858.

Wednesday, 3/27/02 -- As Kathy prepares for her vacation starting later today, she wondered about the safety of her film, especially with the upgraded and heavy-duty x-ray machines installed in airports since 9/11. Many callers say they've had film ruined in recent weeks, and at the Kodak web page, there's an article warning about this very thing (www.kodak.com/US/en/motion/support/technical/transportation.shtml, and a smaller such article at www.kodak.com/global/en/service/tib/tib5201.shtml#SEC1). Some callers mentioned there are special protective bags for photographic film; you can learn about one of these at www.simacorp.com/fsfact.htm.

Tuesday, 3/26/02 -- We discussed the Highland Park program which plans to sterilize some of the deer overpopulation, instead of killing them. One caller said an Audubon Magazine article says such birth control programs don't work -- you can read that at magazine.audubon.org/webstories/deer_birth_control.html. Caller Jose then supported killing the deer and using the meat to feed the hungry. In fact, Jose said there's already such a program, which you can learn about at www.huntersagainsthunger.com/. He also mentioned chronic wasting disease (CWD), a fatal brain disease amongst deer, and he compared that to mad cow disease. That comparison was a generalization, and we didn't have time to go into it further -- you can learn more about CWD at www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/wildlife/whealth/issues/CWD.

We created a feature called "I Heard It On the Radio," after a caller swore she'd heard Kathy & Judy once say more people are injured by falling coconuts than by sharks. We have no idea what she was talking about, but we did find a possible quote about it at www.calacademy.org/. Another caller asked about the program we'd once discussed to donate cell phones to abuse victims -- you can learn more about the Call To Protect program at www.wirelessfoundation.org.

Thursday, 3/21/02 -- We rehashed Liza Minnelli's guest appearance on the Larry King show from last night, and judging by your reactions to the interview, maybe all isn't as perfect as Liza's making life out to be. Judge for yourself by reading a transcript of the interview at www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0203/20/lkl.00.html.

As many of you have already noticed, demand for our first Radio Readers book club selection, Like Normal People by Karen E. Bender, has exhausted the supply at our wgnradio.com/store partner Barnes & Noble. They're replenishing their supply, and there is still nearly a month to go before the first club meeting. (Hope you homonym fans enjoyed the previous sentence.) Meanwhile, you can visit www.addall.com for a listing of other sources for the book.

Wednesday, 3/20/02 -- Judy found a study saying more women are doing car maintenance themselves. There's even a web site dedicated to women and cars, at www.herauto.com/.

Kathy found a story about getting your passport in a hurry -- check out www.travel.state.gov/passport_services.html for answers to all kinds of questions about passports. You can also visit www.travel.state.gov/ppt_cg.html to learn more about getting your passport on short notice (within 14 days) from the Chicago Passport Agency, at the 230 S. Dearborn location one of our callers mentioned.

Tuesday, 3/19/02 -- We talked about hypochondria, and found an online self-test for this "extreme depression of mind or spirits often centered on imaginary physical ailments," as Mirriam-Webster defines it. Visit www.uib.no/med/avd/med_a/gastro/wilhelms/whiteley.html for the 14 questions.

We learned male cheerleaders, despite any stereotypes, are almost always straight. We found a list of famous cheerleaders, including former presidents and others you might not have suspected, at cheerleading.about.com/cs/famous/index.htm.

The girls raved about spray-on tanning booth they saw on the a morning news show earlier this week (see details on the story at abcnews.go.com/ we found out these types of tans are actually relatively common. You can learn more about them (including locations) at www.mystictan.com and www.mist-on.com.

Monday, 3/18/02 -- The Wedding has finally taken place: Liza and David are off to Thailand for their honeymoon. In case you missed any of the coverage, the good folks at Yahoo! News have a video slideshow for you to see at story.news.yahoo.com.

We discussed the new airport security device, which acts like a full body x-ray screener. That means it gives some pretty vivid images -- at least, Kathy & Judy believe they are, though Steve doesn't so much. You can see an example x-ray scan at www.steveyuhas.com/, if you scroll about 2/3 of the way down the page.

The John Nash interview on 60 Minutes had us wondering about the genetic link for schizophrenia. Kathy remembered a study about older fathers being more likely to have schizophrenic children -- read about that study at www.msnbc.com/news/558493.asp.

Friday, 3/15/02 -- Smoking in the movies is apparently as prevalent as ever. See an L.A. Times article addressing this issue at www.calendarlive.com/top/1,1419,L-LATimes-Search-X!ArticleDetail-52741,00.html. There are a bunch of interesting quotes about smoking, including about cigarette use in movies, at quitsmoking.about.com/library/blquotes.htm.

Thursday, 3/14/02 -- Just before tip-off of the NCAA Tournament, everyone made their Final Four picks.

Wednesday, 3/13/02 -- Kathy & Judy announced their Radio Readers book club. It's a pretty simple concept. Every other month we will spend a full hour talking about a book that we've all read. The books will always be paperbacks, and they will NOT be interminably long. Our first book is called Like Normal People by Karen E. Bender. It costs about $13.00 and is 270 pages. Feel free to get it at your local bookstore or library or buy it from the wgnradio.com/store by clicking on the book title above. We'll hold our first official book meeting on Friday, April 19. We're really excited about it, and we hope you are too! (Due to the scarcity of available books, the date of the Radio Readers has changed from April 19 to May 10 (both are Fridays).)

We talked about former priest John Geoghan, who has been connected to molesting boys throughout his tenure at various parished in Boston. There's an excellent (and long) in-depth review all about Geoghan at www.boston.com/globe/spotlight/geoghan/.

We also talked about the National Geographic story about their most famous photo -- the subject, an anonymous green-eyed "Afghan girl," has finally been identified. You can visit www.nationalgeographic.com to learn about the story and how the woman now located; one of the pop-up windows also gives details on the Afghan Girls Fund, designed to help women and children and Afghanistan. If you'd like, you can go the site to directly learn abut the Fund at news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/03/0312_020312_afghanwomen.html.

We talked with David Reinstein, head coach of the New Trier High School Scholastic Bowl team, talked about this weekend's upcoming championship competition. See the brackets and follow this Saturday's competition at www.ihsa.org/activity/scb/.

Wednesday, 3/6/02 -- Kathy read about a peculiar new service -- the company will send e-mails to loved ones for you after you've passed away. Sounded a little creepy to us, but hey, they're still in business. Check out www.timelessemail.com for details.

Kathy also praised CollegeIllinois! as a good program to help you handle soaring costs for higher education -- pay now, for your kids later. Learn more about the 529 savings program at www.collegeillinois.com, or call them at 877/877-3724. Their current registration window closes on March 27, so you'll want to find out about them sooner than later.

Monday, 3/4/02 -- The girls loved a Sun-Times article about Marilyn Miglin, authored by Debra Pickett. A milk-licious read at http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-lunch03.html.

In talking about weight loss, one caller recommended Weight Watchers clients check out Dotti's Weight Loss Zone, at http://dwlz.com/sitemap.html. You can find many points values for restaurants and fast food chains, as well as many other types of food in already-calculated points.

The conversation changed into weights and measurements, where Kathy brought up the phrase, "A pint is a pound the world 'round." A web page talks about the veracity of this very phrase, at http://www.inu.org/kitchen/weights.htm.

Thursday, 2/28/02 -- We started the show by thanking Bill & Kim from La Petite Pastry II (at 5610 W. 63rd St. in Chicago -- 773/735-7383) for making us some spudnuts this morning. Now we get what got everyone so excited about the other day!

We also talked about United Airlines' new plan to teach pilots how to use stun guns. If you'd like to learn more about exactly what stun guns are and how they work, check out www.howstuffworks.com/stun-gun.htm.

Judy talked about getting calcium into your diet -- but that there has to be more ways to do that than just drinking milk. There's a list of calcium-rich foods at ag.arizona.edu/maricopa/fcs/bb/highCalciumFds.html.

Our friends The Chenille Sisters (www.thechenillesisters.com) stopped by the studio! Not only did they perform a couple of songs from their forthcoming album, Room to Breathe (which will be available March 12), they also did some taping for their upcoming PBS show, featuring stops at some of the country's more colorful places. We asked listeners for their fun places to visit. Here's where you recommended, plus some corresponding web sites where available:

Kempton, IL -- town of only 300 has fabulous murals all over its downtown buildings.
Andover, IL -- part of its Colonial Days festival involves the Lawn Tractor Square Dance: a professional square dance caller gets 8 drivers to tango on their trucks (Sat, May 18, 2002, at 2p at the Andover Lake Park). For complete details about the festival, please call 309/937-1255 or e-mail hctourism@netexpress.net.
Fountain City, WI -- Rock in the House features a... well, you figure it out (www.greatriver.com/Rock/inhouse.htm)
Amboy, IL -- there's a special story behind their wood sculptures (www.lib.niu.edu/ipo/oi011016.html)
LaCrosse, KS -- the barbed wire museum. Yes, really. (www.rushcounty.org/BarbedWireMuseum/)
Byron, IL -- turkey testicle festival. Say no more (www.turkey-testicle-festival.com/)
Crystal Lake, IL -- Cardboard Cup Regatta (www.loc.gov/bicentennial/propage/IL/il-16_h_manzullo2.html)
Cocke County, TN -- Ramp festival, honoring the relative of the onion (www.loc.gov/bicentennial/propage/TN/tn-1_h_jenkins5.html)

One more interesting site to visit: Milwaukee's Pabst Theater on Saturday, March 2, where The Chenille Sisters will perform another concert! See details about this show and other upcoming performances at www.thechenillesisters.com/schedule.html.

Wednesday, 2/27/02 -- During Speak Your Piece, a caller complained about kids who aren't safely buckled into their car seats -- we think it's worth re-listing informationwe posted a few months ago: Kathy mentioned a web site and phone number where you can report children who do are not safely secured in cars. The main web site is www.safekids.org/ , which has information about the national project; you can also visit www.nhtsa.dot.gov or www.car-safety.org for more tips on keeping children safe in the car, especially when it comes to car seats. The local SafeKids project is hosted by the DuPage County Health Department, which sends a nice note to those who have been reported to their phone line, suggesting that someone had seen their kids being unsafe, and perhaps that's something they should be more aware of. To learn more or a report such a driver, locally or anywhere in the country, please call 866/933-KIDS.

Tuesday, 2/26/02 -- In a conversation about fat and perceptions of being overweight, caller Mike mentioned an enlightening Frontline program called "Fat." There is a lot of good information about the program and the various subjects that were covered in this broadcast, and it makes for awfully good reading. Find out more at www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/fat/.

Monday, 2/25/02 -- One caller asked why the official US Olympic berets are being made by a Canadian company. We found a n answer to that very question at www.taipeitimes.com/news/2002/02/24/story/0000125225. That conversation led another caller off-air to mention a web site where you can find only US-made clothing products, which is www.buyunionnow.com/.

We heard about several interesting characters in your neighborhoods -- the guy who dresses like Superman, Chicken Man, Winston the guy who colelcts cigarette butts, and more. One caller mentioned The DanzMan, who even has his own web site: www.geocities.com/thedanzman/.

Friday, 2/22/02 -- Judy asked about the Olympic skaters, and how they might make paid appearances a matter of weeks after the games. It's a tricky question, but may best be answered at www.sltrib.com/2002/Jan/01202002/sports/sports.htm.

Thursday, 2/21/02 -- Judy's recommended reading: the Vanity Fair article about Liza Minnelli.

Lyle Dean and a number of callers introduced Kathy & Judy to "spudnuts" -- a pastry kind of like a doughnut, only it's made with potato flour. We talked with Debbie Diemer, owner of The Confectionery in Morton, IL, where they still sell spudnuts. They don't have a web page, and they don't ship -- but if you'd like to call her to learn more, you can do so at 309/263-8702.

We then got a spudnuts recipe from a girlfriend named Lucy. Here it is: "I am from Idaho, that's where spudnuts originated from. My mom still does huge funds raisers selling the spudnuts, want a recipe, this is from Vada Green, the best school cook around, she is now in heaven making spudnuts - and Krispy Kremes are a lot like them."

1 pint milk scalded and cooled
add: 4 Tbsp. butter
3 pkg. yeast and 1 tsp. sugar, (dissolve in cooled milk)
1 C. mashed potatoes (russetts-the brown ones)
3 Tbsp. sugar
2 beaten eggs
2 tsp. salt
5-6 cups flour (enough to handle dough)

Knead wheel; let rise twice, cut, place on oiled wax paper. Let rise until double. Fry in hot oil.

For glaze: Mix 1 pakage powder sugar with hot water and 1 tsp vanilla; add maple, chocolate or whatever. Dip fried donuts into glaze and lay out on wazed paper until icing is set. Don't make glaze to thin. Eat until you are sick."

Wednesday, 2/20/02 -- Kathy asked about mattress flipping, and if and when people do it. There's a good HGTV article about how to buy a good mattress, and how and when to flip it, at www.hgtv.com/HGTV/project/0,1158,DEID_project_25784,FF.html. As we learned in the conversation, some mattresses must be flipped in order to maintain the mattress warranty. We found a press release from Sealy Mattress about this very thing, at www.sealyme.com/news/warranty.htm.

Kathy mentioned a new item called "Digital Angel," which looks like a wristwatch, but does much more. It's a device that helps you determine the location and health of a loved one -- which seems like a great idea especially for older relatives who might wander off. You can learn more about it at www.digitalangel.net.

The Illinois State Treasurer's office has listed names of people who are entitled to unclaimed money -- maybe you're one of them! Check out www.cashdash.net to find out.

Tuesday, 2/19/02 -- The new Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue is out -- and the girls think this year's cover photo is the most explicit one yet. You can see the cover at sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/2002/swimsuit/.

Kathy & Judy were knocked over by hearing about a Naperville school's $1 million health club; imagine their surprise when reading about a high school near Rockton, IL, which recently finished building a $3.2 million dollar dome. You can read about that project at www.hononegah.org/construction/construction.htm.

We discussed Sarah Jessica Parker and how she cares for her family financially. There's a web page we found (which we think transcribes an SJP piece from a Swedish television station) which carries a lot of the details we brought up, at www.efanguide.com/~sjp/aftonbladet2.htm.

More TV shows are being broadast in "letterbox" format -- with the blacks lines at the top and bottom of the screens. There's an interesting and informational article from the Boston Herald on how these technologies work... and how some TV sets can help you avoid the black lines. Visit www2.bostonherald.com/entertainment/television/tvco12202001.htm to see more.

The very end of the show got us talking about the "Slowly I Turned..." bit, and where that exactly started. Well, there's a lot of discussion about its origin -- read www.niagarafallsreporter.com/slowly.html to learn more.

Monday, 2/18/02 -- A few days ago, Steve Bertrand mentioned a book that listed important world events by year -- he'd said it was a good bathroom book, listing only one year on each page, and it was a quick and fascinating way to look at all of what's happened over the years. Today, he found the book: The Timetables of History: A Horizontal Linkage of People and Events, by Bernard Grun and Daniel J. Boorstin.

A conversation about how kids can be picky eaters led a girlfriend to e-mail us an article about kids who are not: check out www.americanwaymag.com/lifestyle/feature.asp?archive_date=2/15/2002 for a fun read.

To close the show, Judy voiced her dismay at a recipe involving olive oil, which was way heavy on calorie content. Olive oil isn't all bad, though, as we learned by reading my.webmd.com/question_and_answer/article/1671.52229.

Friday, 2/15/02 -- Kathy & Judy got serious with Harvard Law School professor Randall Kennedy, who has written a controversial new book about "The N Word" because, as he says, "I wanted to try to defang the word." The book is, N-----: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word. Kennedy explores the causes and effects of how the word is used, and how it is perceived both inter- and intra-racially.

What does it take to travel to Cuba? Well, either governmental permission, or a rebel sense of adventure. Visit the Department of State's web page addressing this issue, at www.state.gov/www/regions/wha/cuba/travel.html.

Judy read an article about medical procedures used to stop girls from growing abnormally tall. Synthetic estrogen is a key component in the program, and in girls of that young an age, it can cause some serious side effects. Learn more about the issue at www.msnbc.com/news/699416.asp.

Thursday, 2/7/01 -- We learned of a men's clothing store which targets shorter men. It's called Napoleon's Tailor, and their web page says it has a complete line of men's clothing for those 5'8" and under. Learn more about them by visiting www.napoleonstailor.com/.

Kathy mentioned the bleacher seats at the Academy Awards will now only be made available by reservation. You can apply for a seat by visiting the official Oscar web site at www3.oscars.org/bleachers/form.html.

The girls also tried to learn about Personal Video Recorders, like the services TiVo offers. Learn about TiVo by checking out www.tivo.com. One caller mentioned an article about how hackers are messing with the TiVo system in a salon.com article, which can be found at www.salon.com/tech/feature/2001/06/20/tivo_hack/print.html; that segued into a conversation about salon.com's premium service, which the caller recommended -- you can learn more about this pay service at www.salon.com/premium/intro/index.html.

Tuesday, 2/5/02 -- Such a show today. A controversial "Vince" call told the story of his 5-year-old son, who had an arson intervention by a suburban fire department. To learn some more about the Illinois Youthful Firesetter Intervention Association, check out members.aol.com/ilyfia/IndexILYFIA.html. That page is linked from the main Illinois State Fire Marshal's office web page, which is www.state.il.us/osfm/.

We also read an AP wire story of the cat Skittles, who traveled some 300 miles to be back with its family/ While we heard some stories from callers who had similar tales, loyal listener Chris found the web site www.straightdope.com/columns/011102.html, and if you know anything about Cecil Adams' Straight Dope columns, you'll know that just about anything he writes is worth reading in determining just how accurate such stories can be.

Thursday, 1/31/02 -- Judy asked about asparagus, and before long, we heard a caller who mentioned the "Asparagus Institute." Close enough -- there's an actual Michigan Asparagus Advisory Board. Learn all about them, get recipes, find suppliers and more, all this at www.asparagus.org/. James asked about the phenomenon of "asparagus pee," which is... well, you can figure out what it is. You can also read more about it at www.discovery.com/area/skinnyon/skinnyon970115/skinny1.html.

Wednesday, 1/30/01 -- Handwriting analyst Dale Roberts joined us in studio to see if he could identify WGN show hosts just by looking at their handwriting samples. And wow, could he ever. You might want to check out Dale's web site, www.writeinsights.com, to see the type of work he does -- and to line him up for your next party or work function!

Tuesday, 1/29/02 -- A day and date which will live infamy, as it marked the debut of, "So You Think You Know Your National Anthems?" This is the new game show in which contestants try (and fail miserably) to name random national anthems we play for them. One listener told us about www.imagesoft.net/flags/anthems.html, a web site which has many such anthems available for you to hear in MIDI format.

An AP story says US Attorney General John Ashcroft is having the semi-nude statues draped, to cover any body parts that might be seen as offensive. A picture of one such statue -- please be aware it is uncovered, and may not be suitable for those easily offended by such statues -- can be seen at dailynews.yahoo.com/h/p/ap/20020117/us/1011308506ashcroft_king_wx121.html.

Calvin Trillin joined us in studio, to talk about his marvelous new book, Tepper Isn't Going Out. He'll be at Barbara's Bookstore in Oak Park tonight at 7:30p if you'd like to stop by and say hello. (Part of the conversation involved parking violations and curiosities; a listener led us to the web page www.ci.chi.il.us/Revenue/Parking/ParkingViolations.html, which lists all of the Chicago parking violations. You might be surprised to see what some of them are!)

Monday, 1/28/02 -- Kathy and Judy talked about how state officials have begun to ship disabled students from the Illinois Center for Rehabilitation and Education on Chicago's West Side to nursing homes around Illinois. The stories in the media are focused on Lorne Mackey, 21, who is being moved from the school to a nursing home hundred of miles away. The reason for the harsh moves is all based on the fact that Governor George Ryan has decided to cut funds to the school. If you disagree with the Governor and would like to voice your opinion, please email governor@state.il.us. You can also read Bob Greene's column on the topic.

Friday, 1/25/02 -- Judy heard of a book that asks if a person goes into marriage knowing it won't last, treating it instead as a sort of training ground for future life, and maybe a future marriage. The book is, Starter Marriage and the Future of Matrimony, by Pamela Paul.

Thursday, 1/24/02 -- Judy asked about the electronic ab-exercisers that appear on just about every television infomercial out now. Listener Linda sent us a web page she'd found about how they work, which sheds some light on the hows and whys these could work -- you can read it at http://www.leonardfitness.com/ems.htm.

Wednesday, 1/23/02 -- If there's one topic that gets the phones ringing, it's dealing with telemarketers and junk mail. We learned the state of Indiana has a new privacy law in the books to allow state residents to opt out of call lists (see www.ai.org/attorneygeneral/ for more information about that plan). We also received an e-mail from loyal listener Alan, who provides some help on dealing with excess sales pitches:

A good resource (though not a great site in terms of design) is www.junkbusters.org . They have a page of what you can do to reduce the amount of junk mail/calls/etc. at www.junkbusters.com/self.html, they also have assorted other pages of information like a links page at www.junkbusters.com/links.html with an absurd amount of information about junk mail, etc.

And we post something along these lines every year, so this is a good a time as any: For information from the Direct Marketing Association on how you can cut back on national junk mail, visit www.the-dma.org/consumers/consumerfaqs.html#less. Kathy and Max also discussed getting your name taken off national calling lists. You can learn about that by visiting www.the-dma.org/consumers/consumerfaqs.html#few. And, to help limit the marketing material you receive through e-mail, check out the DMA's official e-mail service at www.e-mps.org.

Tuesday, 1/22/02 -- A very troubling but insightful article in this week's edition of Time Magazine (though the article isn't posted online) by Timothy Roche, entitled "The Yates Odyssey." It paints a very detailed and disturbing picture of the Texas mother who murdered her five children. It's definitely worth reading. It also mentions the web site that Rusty Yates has put together, which really bher Kathy -- you can see that at http://www.yateskids.org/.

Judy heard about a new children's book called The Three Pigs, by David Wiesner, which sounds like a very fun read. But we then learned there are various stories that take-off on that same fairy tale -- there's a 1991 book called True Story of the Three Little Pigs, by John Scieszka; there's also the very funny The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig, by Eugene Trivizas, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury; there will also be a book published in April 2002, called The True Story of the Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf (Elephants), by Liam Farrell. Whew.

Thursday, 1/17/02 -- Quite an interesting conversation today about helping your pets (especially dogs) get used to having a new baby around the house. One e-mailer recommended a book on this very topic, Childproofing Your Dog: A Complete Guide to Preparing Your Dog for the Children in Your Life, authored by Brian Kilcommons and Sarah Wilson. The e-mailer says she's had several clients who have put the book to good use, and with success each time.

Friday, 1/11/02 -- Talking about old cars, Kathy wondered if the urban legends were true about those crowns that used to be in many 70s model cars. Nope, it's an urban legend. Get the whole story at www.snopes2.com/business/alliance/crown.htm.

A brief discussion about herpes had some callers asking, "Just what is herpes anyway?" Visit www.herpeshelp.com/page.php?section=about_herpes to learn more.

A discussion about creating a politically correct statue in memoriam of the NYC firefighters caused quite a stir. There's talk that the three firefighters who were pictured raising the flag, who all happen to be white males, would be changed to include a black and Hispanic firefighter. One of the myriad of topics that developed from this conversation questioned just how many minorities are in the New York Fire Department. Some of those answers are in a November 2000 (note the date) New York Times article addressing diversity in the NYFD. Read the article at www.nytimes.com/learning/students/pop/001117snapfriday.html.

Lots of serious issues today! Another involved carrying guns in Illinois. One caller said there's no law allowing any type of transportation of firearms. But that's not the case -- you have to have Adboe Acrobat to read the brochure, but you can find Illinois' official brochure on "Commonly Asked Questions on Transporting Firearms" by following this link: www.isp.state.il.us/docs/form0000.pdf. (Requires free Acrobat Reader.)

Thursday, 1/10/02 -- Judy was puzzled by the fat content in a salad recipe she found, and compared the nutritional value of that to a McDonald's Big Mac. To see the nutritional information for McD's products, visit www.mcdonalds.com/countries/usa/food/nutrient_breakdown/index.html.

Wednesday, 1/9/02 -- We read a very interesting (and somewhat gossipy) piece about Michael and Juanita Jordan, which you can find at www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/38604.htm.

Tuesday, 1/8/02 -- Judy read about a new clothing line called Prison Blues, manufactured by prisoners at Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution. Learn more about it at www.prisonblues.com.

Monday, 1/7/02 -- Anytime we talk about organ donation, it's good to have some facts. Visit www.sos.state.il.us/departments/drivers/programs/registry.html to read up on the Illinois Secretary of State's program.

Friday, 1/4/02 -- Kathy saw Ann Jillan or a television movie last night, and wasn't sure if she's now dead or alive (answer: alive). We learned of a couple of web sites that are dedicated to asnwering such questions: The Dead People Server at dpsinfo.com/dps.html#top gives a listing of celebrities' passings by year; there's also www.dead-or-alive.org, which has a larger list, sortable by last name (and those who died on this date in history -- today's famous name is T.S. Eliot).

Thursday, 1/3/02 -- Kathy is fascinated with the idea of buying night vision binoculars and scopes for personal use -- www.nightvisionstore.com is one of many, many places on the web that sell such items.

The night vision story turned into a conversation about a Sony videocamera, which can apparently be adapted with a lens that basically lets you see through people's clothes. Sure sounds incredible, but even Good Morning America covered this story (abcnews.go.com/sections/GMA/GoodMorningAmerica/). Read more about it at www.capturemag.com/preview/index.php3?content=naked; or at http://cooltech.iafrica.com/technews/667462.htm. And if you'd like a silly web site based on a similar premise, visit www.bbspot.com/News/2000/8/video_card.html.

Wednesday, 1/2/02 -- Kathy mentioned she saw a "sun dog," an atmospheric effect that looks like a halo or partial rainbow arc around the sun. If you missed it, the other day, see a picture of what a sun dog looks like, and why they exist at www.amtsgym-sdbg.dk/as/halo/.

Links from 2001