The Google Zeitgeist Money Machine

Week Ending September 25, 2006

elin nordengren

Elin Maria Pernilla Woods (born Elin Maria Pernilla Nordegren, January 1, 1980, in Stockholm, Sweden) is a former bikini model, better known as the wife of pro golfer Tiger Woods.

Elin's mother, Barbro Holmberg, is a politician who served as migration and asylum policy minister of Sweden, while her father, Thomas, is a radio journalist who has served as bureau chief in Washington, D.C. for the Swedish Broadcasting media.

Elin and her twin sister Josefin had been working as nannies for Swedish golfer Jesper Parnevik when he introduced her to Woods during the 2001 British Open. In November 2003, Tiger and Elin attended the Presidents Cup tournament in South Africa and became officially engaged when Tiger proposed at the luxury Shamwari Game Reserve. On October 5, 2004, Tiger and Elin were married by the 19th hole of an exclusive golf resort in Barbados. The ceremony reportedly cost over $1.5 million. Privacy was achieved by buying out the island's sole helicopter charter company and by booking the entire hotel - 200 rooms ranging in price from $700 to $8,000 per night.

ryder cup

The Ryder Cup is a golf trophy contested biennially in an event called the "Ryder Cup Matches" by teams from Europe and the United States. The Matches are jointly administered by the PGA of America and the PGA European Tour.

The competition began following an exhibition match in 1926 of a team representing American professionals against a similar one representing the British PGA on the East Course, Wentworth Club, Virginia Water, Surrey, UK.

Early matches between the two sides were fairly even, but after the Second World War, repeated US dominance led to a decision to extend the representation of the British & Irish team to Europe in 1979. This change was partly prompted by the success of a new generation of Spanish golfers of the time including Severiano Ballesteros. He and Antonio Garrido were the first Spaniards to play in the event in 1979. Europe has also been represented since then by players from Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and Sweden.

As a result of this change the event has enjoyed more competitive matches and since 1985 Europe has begun to dominate in the way that the Americans had done in the thirty years after World War II.

deal or no deal

Deal or No Deal is a television game show format owned by Dutch-based production company Endemol, known for creating such shows as Big Brother and Fear Factor.

The basic format of Deal or No Deal consists of a number of cases (usually 26, but varies in some countries) each containing a different amount of money. Not knowing the sum of money in each case, the contestant picks one case which potentially contains the contestant's prize. They then open the remaining cases, one by one, revealing the money they contained. At predetermined intervals the contestant receives an offer from the bank (run by "The Banker") to purchase the originally chosen case from the contestant, the offer being based on the potential value of the contestant's case. The contestant must then decide whether to take the deal from the bank, or to continue opening cases. If the contestant decides not to take the deal and reveals low value cases, then the next bank offer is likely to be higher (as the contestant's case is proven not to contain these low values). Alternatively, there is risk in revealing higher values, lowering future offers from the bank. The aim of this system is to try to make an exciting and suspenseful game.

The format of Deal or No Deal varies in each country. In the UK version, for example, contestants choose from 22 boxes rather than 26 briefcases. The concept of pitting a contestant against an in-house adversary (in this show, the Banker) is unusual, though not unique, among game shows.

america's next top model

America’s Next Top Model is a competitive reality television show created by supermodel Tyra Banks. It premiered in May 2003 and was one of UPN's highest rated shows. The show is the first of the shows among regular programming on UPN's successor network, The CW.

ANTM pits contestants against each other in a variety of competitions to determine who will win a $100,000 modeling contract with makeup manufacturer CoverGirl. Most cycles' prizes have also included a photo spread in Elle, and representation by Ford Models; the seventh cycle prize includes coverage in Seventeen and representation by Elite Models.

The premiere season featured judges Kimora Lee Simmons, Beau Quillian, and Janice Dickinson, who bills herself as the world's first supermodel. By the second season, only Tyra and Janice remained judges. Subsequent seasons' judges have included ex-male fashion model and fashion photographer Nigel Barker and fashion editor and stylist Nolé Marin. After season four, Janice (amid rumors of personality conflicts with some other judges) and Marin were replaced by Twiggy, who had attained modeling fame in the 1960s, and Miss J. Alexander, who had been the show's runway coach since the first cycle. The fashion model-aspirants are also coached through photo-shoots by Jay Manuel, a stylist and personal friend of Tyra Banks. Jay is known as the Mr. J to J. Alexander's Ms. J. Janice Dickinson has continued to make intermittent guest appearances on the show after leaving the judging panel, giving advice to the contestants.

Each season of America's Next Top Model has from ten to fourteen episodes and starts with ten to fourteen contestants. Generally, one contestant is eliminated per episode (though there have been cases of a double elimination or no elimination) by consensus of the judging panel. Makeovers are administered to all remaining contestants early in the season, and a trip to an international destination is scheduled at about two-thirds through the season.

Each episode of Top Model, covering the events of roughly a week of real time, features a fashion challenge, photoshoot, judging and critique of each contestant and her performance by the panel led by Tyra Banks, and the elimination of one or more contestants. Many shows are associated with themes in the world of modeling, such as dealing with the press in interviews, selling a commercial product, or appearing in a runway show.

An episode usually begins with the contestants receiving training in an area concurrent with the week's theme. For example, contestants may get coached in runway walking, improvesational acting, or applying make-up to suit various occasions. A related challenge soon follows, such as a mock runway show or interview, and a winner is chosen by a judge. She receives some prize, such as clothing, a night out, or an advantage at the next photoshoot, and she is usually allowed to share the benefits with a certain number of other contestants of her choice.

The next segment is a photoshoot, and each contestant's performance will reflect heavily on her judging for that week. Each season features photoshoots such as bikini or lingerie shots, beauty shots, posing nude or semi-nude, posing with a male model, and posing with an animal. Usually one photoshoot per season is replaced with a commercial shoot, though in one episode of Cycle 2, the remaining contestants appeared in Tyra's music video for "Shake Ya Body" in lieu of a photoshoot.

The final segment of each episode is judging. First, contestants are given a challenge in some area such as posing, selling a product, runway walking, or choosing a representative outfit or make-up look to satisfy a given prompt. Then each contestant's photo is shown and evaluated by the judging panel. After all photos have been evaluated, the contestants leave the room as the judges deliberate. The elimination process is ceremonious, as Tyra reveals and hands out the photos of the contestants that have not been eliminated one-by-one, each time saying "You are still in the running towards becoming America's Next Top Model." The last two contestants who have not received their photos are brought up as "the bottom two," and Tyra critiques each one before revealing which of the two has been eliminated.

The format varies slightly when only three contestants remain. In the series finale, the three remaining aspiring models compete in one last photoshoot or commercial, followed by a judging session in which the judges eliminate the contestant they feel to be the weakest. The final two then compete in a runway show in front of the judges, and both their performance there and during the entire competition is considered when the judges declare a winner.

tmx elmo

The new Elmo doll, announced at the American Toy Fair 2006, is called TMX (meaning Tickle Me (Elmo) Ten or Tickle Me Extreme). The full look of the doll was not revealed until it debuted live on ABC's Good Morning America and arrived on store shelves on September 19, 2006. Even the box it comes in is designed so that the doll can not be seen without purchasing it. A preview flap is included, but upon opening, you see Elmo's eyes. He says "Ah, ah, ah, ah! No peeking!" and giggles. It requires six AA batteries (which are included), and costs approximately $40USD. Toy experts say that the delay is unprecedented, with only a few people in the media allowed to preview the product, all signing confidentiality agreements. In a promotional clip, Jim Silver, co-publisher of Toy Wishes magazine says "The first reaction I had was, 'Where are the wires?' Because I didn't think anything like that could move on its own."

Toy analyst Chris Byrne told USA Today, "This is a quantum leap forward, another breakthrough in the preschool plush category." Byrne believes sales will be high, but the reaction won't be as unprecedented. "The culture has moved beyond that, the whole hot-toy phenomenon." He cites the fact there hasn't been such a craze since Furby in 1998. However, some members of the media are expecting a large response.

The new doll rolls around on the floor laughing and smashing his fist on the ground, begging to stop.

Toys R Us stores and Amazon had a pre-sale program for the doll, the first included elaborate in-store displays with a digital countdown to the doll's launch. Amazon took more presale orders than it could fulfill.

As with the original Ticke Me Elmo doll, demand for the new toy has given rise to extreme acts by some people. One person in Tampa, Florida was allegedly threatened with a gun to hand over a TMX toy.

Though the doll sells at $39.99 USD is had gone up to $1,000 on ebay. Most prices on ebay, are about $80. However, it currently has many prices but still sells mostly for around $80.

Kari Ann Peniche

Kari Ann Peniche (born March 20, 1984) is a beauty queen from Gresham, Oregon, who has competed at Miss Teen USA and held the Miss United States Teen title. She was stripped of her title after appearing nude in the November 2004 issue of Playboy Magazine. Peniche won the Miss Oregon Teen USA 2002 title in November 2001 and competed in the Miss Teen USA 2002 pageant broadcast live from South Padre Island, Texas, in August 2002. She failed to place in the pageant, which was won by Vanessa Semrow of Wisconsin. At the end of her reign she crowned Tami Farrell as the new Miss Oregon Teen USA; Farrell went on to win the Miss Teen USA title.

The following year she represented Oregon in the Miss United States Teen pageant, which she won. She was later stripped of her title after appearing nude in Playboy magazine. Peniche claimed that there was nothing in her contract about not doing nude shoots, and since the issue did not hit stands until after her reign had ended, she did not think it would be a big deal.

Peniche attended Portland Lutheran High School in Gresham, Oregon. The school is a private Christian school of approximately 120 people. Since relinquishing her title, Peniche appeared on The Howard Stern Show and The Playhouse, a morning talk show in her hometown. She has a minor part in a movie called Grilled starring Ray Romano, Kevin James, and Burt Reynolds. The movie came out in 2006.

In September 2006, it was reported that Peniche was engaged to singer Aaron Carter. . The engagement was broken off only 10 days later. . Peniche had previously dated Aaron's older brother, Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter.

grey's anatomy

Grey's Anatomy is an Emmy award-winning popular American primetime television medical drama. The pilot episode aired on ABC on March 27, 2005. The story revolves around Dr. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), a surgical intern at the fictional Seattle Grace Hospital in Seattle, Washington. The show features an ensemble cast, but Meredith is featured as the main character, with a voice-over narration at the beginning and end of most episodes.

The title of the show is a pun on the title of the famous anatomy textbook, Gray's Anatomy.

Grey's Anatomy, despite its popularity, has its share of detractors. The show has been widely criticized by various groups, many of them medical, for inaccurately presenting medical situations and greatly exaggerating the degree to which doctors and medical professionals fraternize with one another. In particular, the show was initially targeted as showing a disrespect for nurses (several lines of dialogue had doctors referring to nurses in sarcastic or belittling ways; in the pilot episode, Meredith is offended when Alex thinks she is "just" a nurse). The creator defended this line saying that it shows what would be offensive to a surgeon and that in the scenes after it is seen that the nurses know more than the new interns. Second season episodes seem to address this, as a nurses' strike shows how lost the hospital is without them.

However, supporters of the show have defended its lack of realism, claiming that a dry, precise medical show would lack the charms that make Grey's Anatomy so popular with its wide audience and pointing out that very few TV programs, including ones purporting to be far more serious, hew strictly to realism.

Another criticism drawn against the show is the parallels of Grey's Anatomy's format with the NBC drama comedy, Scrubs. Both shows use a diary style narration by the main character, with many similarities between the characters on both shows. Given that Scrubs first aired in 2001, some have noted that Grey's Anatomy has "borrowed" these elements and popularised them for the mass audience, even to the point of Scrubs referencing it directly with the main character Dr. John "JD" Dorian stating Grey's Anatomy is "Like they took our lives, and put it on TV."

In 2005, ABC gave the hit show a vote of confidence by announcing that Grey's Anatomy would receive the coveted post-Super Bowl time slot which aired on February 5, 2006 The special episode got a record-high 38.1 rating. The network's faith in the show was proven further when it removed it from its comfortable post-Desperate Housewives berth and scheduled it opposite the CBS ratings blockbuster CSI: Crime Scene Investigation in fall 2006. The gamble paid off dramatically, with the season premiere drawing 3 million more viewers than its formidable crime drama competition.

The series has twice been featured as a subject of special episodes of the ABC News program 20/20, including one 2006 episode on the realism of the sometimes outlandish medical stories of Grey's Anatomy, and real cases similar to them . Additionally, a 2005 broadcast of ABC News Nightline more specifically covered Grey's Anatomy's multiracial cast and race relations depiction in entertainment.

talk like a pirate day

International Talk Like a Pirate Day is a parodic holiday invented in 1995 by two Americans, John Baur ("Ol' Chum Bucket") and Mark Summers ("Cap'n Slappy"), who proclaimed September 19 each year as the day when everyone in the world should talk like pirates. For example, instead of "hello," an observer of this holiday would greet his mates with "Ahoy, me hearty!" The date was selected because it is the birthday of Summers' ex-wife and would consequently be easy for him to remember.

At first an inside joke between two friends, the holiday gained exposure when Baur and Summers sent a letter about their invented holiday to the American syndicated humor columnist Dave Barry in 2002. Barry liked the idea and promoted the day. There have been reports that this holiday was being celebrated in the New Zealand town of Wainuiomata at least as early as 2000, after local media reported the existence of Talk Like A Pirate Day. Growing media coverage of the holiday after Dave Barry's column has ensured that this event is now celebrated internationally.

Baur and Summers found new fame in the 2006 season premiere episode of ABC's Wife Swap, first aired September 18, 2006. They starred in the role of "a family of pirates" along with John's wife, Tori.

Actor Robert Newton, who portrayed Long John Silver in the 1950 Disney film Treasure Island, is the patron saint of Talk Like A Pirate Day, and the specific accent that Newton used came from English West Country dialects. The association with pirates of peg-legs, parrots and treasure maps were all literary inventions of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel, Treasure Island (1883). The influence of Stevenson's book on parody pirate culture cannot be overestimated.

Seamen in the days of sail spoke a language far apart from the norm. It was so full of technical jargon as to be nearly incomprehensible to a landsman. For example, few could follow these instructions:

Lift the skin up, and put into the bunt the slack of the clews (not too taut), the leech and foot-rope, and body of the sail; being careful not to let it get forward under or hang down abaft. Then haul your bunt well up on the yard, smoothing the skin and bringing it down well abaft, and make fast the bunt gasket round the mast, and the jigger, if there be one, to the tie. --The Seaman's Manual (1844), by Richard Henry Dana, Jr.

Even more baffling are some of the phrases used by sailors in the 17th century:

If the ship go before the wind, or as they term it, betwixt two sheets, then he who conds uses these terms to him at the helm: Starboard, larboard, the helm amidships... If the ship go by a wind, or a quarter winds, they say aloof, or keep your loof, or fall not off, wear no more, keep her to, touch the wind, have a care of the lee-latch. all these do imply the same in a manner, are to bid him at the helm to keep her near the wind. --former pirate Sir Henry Mainwaring (see Harland (1984) p.177)

rachel ray

Rachael Domenica Ray (born August 25, 1968 in Cape Cod, Massachusetts) is an Emmy-winning television personality and author who currently hosts the syndicated series Rachael Ray. In addition, she currently hosts (either in first-run or reruns) at least four different programs on cable television's Food Network (30 Minute Meals, $40 a Day, Inside Dish, and Rachael Ray's Tasty Travels), and has authored a series of cookbooks based on the 30 Minute Meals concept.

Ray's family is Italian-American on her mother's side and French-American on her father's side. Her family owned a restaurant in Massachusetts, while her mother managed restaurants in upstate New York. Rachel grew up in Lake George, New York, and her first job was at the candy counter at Macy's in New York City. She helped open Agata & Valentina, a New York City market. Moving back to upstate New York, she started managing pubs and restaurants at the famed Sagamore Resort on Lake George. From there, she became a buyer and chef at the Cowan & Lobel market in Albany, New York. Ray credits the concept of 30 Minute Meals to her experience working at a gourmet food store where people were reluctant to cook. She began teaching a cooking course showing people how to make meals in thirty minutes or less. With the success of her "30 Minute Meals" classes, Schenectady, New York TV station WRGB, the local CBS affiliate, asked her to continue on their newscasts. This, along with a public radio appearance and the publication of her first book, led to a Today Show spot and her first Food Network contract. She also cut a few commercials for Schenectady-based grocery chain Price Chopper, which stocks all her books at their stores and retains her as an occasional spokesperson.

Ray teaches simple recipes that she claims can be prepared in 30 minutes or less. Like many cooks, she uses garlic and chicken stock as simple ways to boost flavors. She emphasizes using fresh herbs whenever possible. She states that measuring "takes away from the creative, hands-on process of cooking" and instead favors approximations such as "half a palmful" and "eyeball it". On her television programs, she has introduced catchphrases such as "E.V.O.O." (extra-virgin olive oil), "Yum-O!", "So delish!", "G.B." (garbage bowl)", Spoonula, Stoup (Cross between a soup and stew.) and "How good is THAT?" She often refers to sandwiches as "sammies".

She claims to dislike baking desserts and to be notorious for burning bread under the broiler. Ray says her Sicilian maternal grandfather, Emmanuel Scuderi, served as a strong influence on her cooking. To critics of her shortcut techniques, Ray responds, "I have no formal anything. I'm completely unqualified for any job I've ever had."

amaranth

The amaranths (also called pigweeds) comprise the genus Amaranthus, a widely distributed genus of short-lived herbs, occurring mostly in temperate and tropical regions. Although there remains some confusion over the detailed taxonomy, there are about 60 Amaranthus species. Several of them are cultivated as leaf vegetables, cereals, or ornamental plants.

Members of this genus share many characteristics and uses with members of the closely related genus Celosia.

Several species are raised for amaranth grain in Asia and the Americas. Amaranth grain is a crop of moderate importance in the Himalaya. It was one of the staple foodstuffs of the Incas, and it is known as kiwicha in the Andes today. It was also used by the ancient Aztecs, who called it huautli, and other Amerindian peoples in Mexico to prepare ritual drinks and foods. To this day, amaranth grains are toasted much like popcorn and mixed with honey or molasses to make a treat called alegría (literally "joy" in Mexican Spanish).

Amaranth was used in several Aztec ceremonies, where images of their gods (notably Huitzilopochtli) were made with amaranth mixed with honey. The images were cut to be eaten by the people. This looked like the Christian communion to the Catholic priests, so the cultivation of the grain was forbidden for centuries.

Because of its importance as a symbol of indigenous culture, and because it is very palatable, easy to cook, and its protein particularly well suited to human nutritional needs, interest in grain amaranth (especially A. cruentis and A. hypochondriaca) was revived in the 1970s. It was recovered in Mexico from wild varieties and is now commercially cultivated. It is a popular snack sold in Mexico City and other parts of Mexico, sometimes mixed with chocolate or puffed rice, and its use has spread to Europe and North America. Besides protein, amaranth grain provides a good source of dietary fiber and dietary minerals such as iron, magnesium, phosphorus, copper, and especially manganese.

The flowers of the Hopi Red Dye amaranth were used by the Hopi Indians as the source of a deep red dye. This dye has been supplanted by a coal tar dye known as Red No. 2 in North America and E123 in the E.E.C., also known as amarynth.

The genus also contains several well-known ornamental plants, such as A. caudatus (love-lies-bleeding), a native of India and a vigorous, hardy annual with dark purplish flowers crowded in handsome drooping spikes. Another Indian annual, A. hypochondriacus (prince's feather), has deeply-veined lance-shaped leaves, purple on the under face, and deep crimson flowers densely packed on erect spikes.

Amaranths are recorded as food plants for some Lepidoptera species including The Nutmeg and various case-bearers of the genus Coleophora: C. amaranthella, C. enchorda (feeds exclusively on Amaranthus), C. immortalis (feeds exclusively on Amaranthus), C. lineapulvella and C. versurella (recorded on A. spinosus).