Still stumped? Here's your last hint: William Shatner named this actor's character after his oldest daughter.
Give up?
As Lt. Leslie and other minor characters, actor Eddie Paskey has dined with Khan, frozen with Sulu and swooned to the Vulcan nerve pinch. Along with stand-in duty for William Shatner, Paskey appeared in 59 episodes of the original Star Trek series -- more than even George Takei (Sulu) or Walter Koenig (Chekhov).
Now Paskey will be making an appearance here at Weekend Edition, and we'd like YOU to ask the questions!
So pull your best Picard maneuver, take the con and tell us what you'd like to know about "The King of the Redshirts" -- as Paskey was dubbed by Star Trek Communicator magazine. You can find out more about him on his Web site.
Submit your questions in the comment field below. We'll put your best to Paskey both on air and online here at Soapbox.
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Davar Iran Ardalan, Senior Producer
Here's a timeline of key events since Roxana's arrest in January.
Jan. 31 - Roxana Saberi is arrested in Iran
Feb. 10 - Saberi calls her parents in Fargo, N.D. - two quick phone calls - on the second call she asks her parents not to go public
Feb. 28 - NPR breaks the story that she has been arrested on 5 p.m. Newscast and on npr.org
March 1 - NPR's Weekend Edition Host Scott Simon interviews Roxana's father, Reza Saberi, from Fargo
March 2 - Committee to Protect Journalists issues a statement on behalf of Roxana Saberi
March 2 - Committee to Protect Journalists circulates Facebook petition for Saberi's release
March 2 - Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans raises serious concern over Saberi's fate
March 2 - The National Iranian American Council strongly condemns Saberi's arrest
March 3 - Iran's judiciary announces Saberi is being held at Tehran's Evin prison
March 5 - At a news conference in Brussels, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calls for Iran to release Saberi
March 8 - Saberi gets first visit from lawyer Abdolsamad Khorramshahi
March 9 - Committee to Protect Journalists delivers Facebook petition to Iran's U.N. Mission in New York
March 10 - Seven major news outlets including NPR, ABC and BBC issue statement on behalf of Saberi
March 31 - Reza and Akiko Saberi (Roxana's parents) visit North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan in Washington, D.C. Senator Dorgan phoned Iran's ambassador to the UN and asked that he expedite the renewal of the Saberi's Iranian passports and their entry into Iran.
March 31 - Reza and Akiko Saberi visit North Dakota Congressman Earl Pomeroy who reiterates his concern and that of North Dakotans for Roxana.
April 5 - Reza and Akiko Saberi go to Iran
April 8 - Saberi is charged with espionage
April 9 - The E.U. presidency issues a statement on Saberi
April 13 - Saberi stands trial behind closed doors
April 18 - NPR's Weekend Edition reports that she has been sentenced to eight years in prison.
April 18 - Secretary Clinton issues a statement on her sentencing
April 18 - In a White House statement, President Obama says he is "deeply disappointed" about the news
April 19 - At a summit in Trinidad, Obama says he is "gravely concerned" about Saberi's well-being
April 19 - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calls on Iran's judiciary to ensure justice
April 19 - Saberi family retains Shirin Ebadi's law firm, Defenders of Human Rights Center, to join the defense team.
April 19 - The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran urges the Iranian government to end its campaign of detaining and mistreating journalists including Roxana Saberi.
April 20 - Iran's judiciary leader, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, orders the appeals process to be quick and fair
April 21 - Abdolfatah Soltani, a human rights lawyer in Shirin Ebadi's law firm still has no access to Roxana Saberi.
April 23 - Northwestern University holds a rally in support of Saberi
April 23 - The Council on American-Islamic Relations prepares delegation to Iran to seek her release. U.S. Muslims will ask for "gesture of reconciliation" to improve relations
April 24 - World press freedom groups call for Saberi's release
April 25 - Saberi's parents report that Roxana began a hunger strike 5 days ago.
It's been two years, almost to the day, that Christopher Buckley's mother, Pat, died. Less than a year later, Chris, in his mid-50's, lost his father, too. Pat and Bill Buckley were famously luminous, witty and glamorous. Chris, who has won the Mark Twain Prize for American Humorists, is sharp and satirical.
But losing both of his parents in such a short time has called out his most personal, poignant book. "Losing Mum and Pup" is the name, and on Weekend Edition Saturday, he'll walk us through his parent's old apartment, and through that last year of their lives, which caused Christopher to confront loss, pain, and the ties between families.
We have a Rough Cut sneak preview of the interview here. Bill Buckley was an avid sailor who hit upon the idea of burying some old coins and costume jewelry in a small box and burying it, then unrolling an old "treasure map" that he and Chris could use to find it:
Some exciting news for fans of the Will Shortz puzzle: In September, NPR will release the CD Sunday Puzzles featuring great puzzles and conversations with the Puzzlemaster from NPR's Weekend Edition.
NPR
This collection features Shortz and NPR host Liane Hansen in stimulating conversation, guiding listeners through puzzles filled with creative wordplay. Programs include the one aired just before Shortz's appearance on The Simpsons (with prizes announced by Mr. Burns and Smithers, voiced by Harry Shearer), Hansen's birthday show (her children read the list of prizes), and two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks as a mystery guest who sticks around to help the delighted contestant.
Do you have a favorite puzzle episode you remember from our show? Post it here!
This morning, the father of jailed Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi told NPR that Iran's Revolutionary Court has sentenced his daughter to 8 years in prison for espionage. Ms. Saberi's lawyer was not allowed to ask the court about bail. Roxana Saberi has reported from Iran for NPR, the BBC, and other news organizations. She has been jailed at Evin Prison in Iran since January 31st. NPR's CEO, Vivian Schiller put out this statement:
"We are deeply distressed by this harsh and unwarranted sentence. Ms. Saberi has already endured a four month confinement in Evin Prison, and we are very concerned for her well-being. Through her work for NPR over several years, we know her as an established and respected professional journalist. We appeal to all of those who share our concerns to ask that the Iranian authorities show compassion and allow her to return home to the Untied States immediately with her parents."
Still stumped? Here's your last hint: William Shatner named this actor's character after his oldest daughter.
Give up?
As Lt. Leslie and other minor characters, actor Eddie Paskey has dined with Khan, frozen with Sulu and swooned to the Vulcan nerve pinch. Along with stand-in duty for William Shatner, Paskey appeared in 59 episodes of the original Star Trek series -- more than even George Takei (Sulu) or Walter Koenig (Chekhov).
Now Paskey will be making an appearance here at Weekend Edition, and we'd like YOU to ask the questions!
So pull your best Picard maneuver, take the con and tell us what you'd like to know about "The King of the Redshirts" -- as Paskey was dubbed by Star Trek Communicator magazine. You can find out more about him on his Web site.
Submit your questions in the comment field below. We'll put your best to Paskey both on air and online here at Soapbox.
Joe Queenan is on our show this week with his remarkable memoir, Closing Time, about growing up in a Philadelphia housing project with an abusive father and an indifferent mother. Joe says that he found solace and growth in books, music, and the company of an unlikely assortment of older men who took an interest in him. Listen to an excerpt!
Father Maurice Chase is 90 years old. He's a former assistant to the president of Loyola Marymount University who used to spend his days raising money from Los Angeles' rich, famous and philanthropic. But for the past 24 years he's spent his days raising hundreds of thousands of dollars - from some of those same rich, famous and philanthropic Angelenos - to give away on the streets of LA's Skid Row. But there's a twist: Father Chase doesn't put the money into social programs. Despite criticism, he hands it out the money in cold, hard cash.
Last Sunday, the line to greet Father Chase stretched an entire block, in both directions. Before Father Chase, or "Father Dollar," as he is known to many who benifit from his generosity, started handing out $1, $2, $3 and even $100 bills, he suggested that we hop into my car to chat about what has become his life's work.
For pictures of the long lines, check out my Twitter feed, @jacobsoboroff, and scroll down to last Sunday.
You can learn something important doing any story--and it's not always what you thought you'd learn. I was reminded of that this week after hearing that Mark "The Bird" Fidrych had died at the age of 54, apparently while making repairs to a pickup truck on his farm in Northborough, Mass.
Survivors of this past week's devastating earthquake in Italy's central Abruzzi region are celebrating a solemn Easter today as they continue to mourn nearly 300 victims. Boot-shaped Italy is prone to earthquakes: it has two active volcanoes and it straddles two fault lines. Which begs the question: why do so many of the country's buildings fall like a deck of cards when the earth trembles?
In modern-day Great Britain, Balls, Death, Smellie and Cockshott are declining. Got your attention now?
I mean that people bearing those last names are increasingly deciding to change them. Richard Webber of King's College London is a professor of geography who specializes in the study of surnames, and he says that more and more modern Britons are choosing to change names that make people gasp. I guess that if you can't give your descendants a fortune, than at least you can see to it that no one calls them Smellie or Cockshott.
I know that in at least one of the world's languages, the name Scott Simon must mean something ugly or profane. In the meantime, do you have a name that you'd like to nominate for possible retirement?
Aman and Amir Ardalan -- two of the luckiest spectators to ever enter Oriole Park -- with their official Major League baseballs. Davar Ardalan/NPR
What are the chances of this? My sons Aman and Amir both got Major League baseballs during Thursday's game between the Yankees and the Orioles in Baltimore. First, Yankees rightfielder, Nick Swisher was walking off the field and a Yankees fan sitting next to my son Aman yelled - "give the kid a ball, give the kid a ball" - but Swisher was on his way to the dug out and not close enough to do it. A couple minutes later, Swisher came out of the dug out and gave Aman a ball!
Two innings later, the fan in front of us caught a ball and the same fan next to Aman pointed to Amir and said "give that kid the ball, give that kid the ball" and after 5 minutes of touching his game ball the Orioles fan turned to Amir and gave him the ball!
All the Yankees and Orioles fans around us said it is unheard of for 2 brothers to get 2 balls at one game! Now, I only wish that we had brought all our eight children to the game. We'd have more game balls than Ken Griffey Jr by now!
When I read about Natasha Hunt, a math teacher from England, who is trying out for the 2012 British Olympic team, I remembered a significant moment in my life when I realized that I would never be an athlete.
I was attempting the hurdles with my sisters in our garden. When I say hurdles I mean jumping over the wooden washing pole that should have been propping up my mum's clean sheets. I geared myself up for the big jump. My sisters were holding the pole at one end, while the opposite end was pressed against the stone wall that ran along the parameters of the garden. As I started sprinting, I began to feel myself lifting effortlessly from the ground. I felt like a bird whose wings were about to expand, preparing to soar into the blue sky. As I started to make my leap, my sisters lifted the pole, my foot caught on it and I flopped to the ground like a fledging with broken wings. I think I faded in and out of consciousness for a few minutes. Luckily, I only fractured my arm.
Since that day, I have had a phobia of being elevated off the ground - and of participating in most sports. So, the idea of becoming an Olympian never crossed my mind, until I heard Natasha Hunt's story. Listen to this week's show to find out how an average woman is transforming herself into a professional athlete.
We asked you to send us your best garlic recipes, and you delivered. We handed them over to Chester Aaron, garlic farmer extraordinaire, to sift through all those garlic-inspired dishes. Eight pounds of garlic later (seriously), he picked his favorite three.
Then we asked three judges here in DC to pick a winning recipe. Let me introduce our judges:
Chef Carla Hall: competitor on Bravo's Top Chef and the owner of Alchemy Caterers.
Chef Rock Harper: winner of the TV show Hell's Kitchen on Fox and the executive chef at a new restaurant, Ben's Next Door.
And Bonny Wolf: NPR's food essayist and the host of the final round.
We actually have a tub of the winning recipe on our table here at Weekend Edition, and I can confirm that it is one powerful concoction. All three of the top recipes will be on our website tomorrow, so you can be the judge.
Might I suggest you follow the winning dish with a course of breath mints -- spearmint, perhaps?
