A Webby Award is an international award presented annually by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences for excellence on the internet with categories in websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile.^[1]

Two winners are selected in each category, one by members of The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, and one by the public who cast their votes during Webby People’s Voice voting.^[1]

The award is one of the older and better-known internet-oriented awards and has come to be associated with the phrase "The Oscars of the Internet."^[2][3][4]

History[link]

2008 Webby Awards, Chocolate Rain.

The Webby Awards began in 1995, sponsored by the Acedmy of Web Design and Cool Site of the Day. That first year, they were called "Webbie" Awards.

Today's Webby's were founded by Tiffany Shlain when she was hired by the The Web Magazine (an IDG Publication) to establish the awards. The event was held in San Francisco from 1996 to 2004 and quickly became known for their "5 word Acceptance Speeches". After the first year the awards became more successful than the magazine and IDG closed the publication. Shlain continued to run The Webby Awards with the help of Maya Draisin until 2004. ^{[5] [6]}

The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, which selects the winners of The Webby Awards, was established in 1998 by co-founders Tiffany Shlain, Spencer Ante and Maya Draisin. ^[7] Members of the Academy include David Bowie, Martha Stewart, Harvey Weinstein, Arianna Huffington, Matt Groening, Biz Stone, Internet inventor Vint Cerf, Virgin Group Chairman Richard Branson, and R/GA Chairman and CEO Bob Greenberg.^[1]

Since 2005, The Webby Awards has been operated and owned by Recognition Media, which also operates the Telly Awards and other awards programs.^[8] In 2006, The Webby Awards launched new categories honoring interactive advertising and original film and video that premiered on the Internet.

In 2007, The Webby Awards launched new categories honoring mobile Websites.

In 2009, the thirteenth Annual Webby Awards received nearly 10,000 entries from all 50 states and over 60 countries.^[9] That same year, more than 500,000 votes were cast in The Webby People's Voice Awards.^[10]

In 2012, the sixteeth Annual Webby awards received 1.5 million votes from more than 200 countries for the People's Voice awards. ^[11]

Nominative Procession[link]

Thousands of entries are submitted during the Call for Entries procession, and each is first rated by Associate Members of the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences. Entries that receive the highest marks during this first round of voting are included on category-specific shortlists and further evaluated by Executive Members of the Academy.

Executive Academy Members with category-specific expertise evaluate the shortlisted entries based on the appropriate Website, Interactive Advertising & Media and Film & Video criteria, and cast ballots to determine Webby Honorees, Nominees and Webby Winners. Price Waterhouse Coopers audits the results.

In addition to the award given in each category by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, another winner is selected in each category as determined by the general public during People’s Voice voting. Winners of both the Academy-selected and People’s Voice-selected awards are invited to the Webbys.^[12]

Awards granted[link]

The Webby Awards are presented in over a hundred categories among all four types of entries. A website can be entered in multiple categories and receive multiple awards.

In each category, two awards are handed out: a Webby Award selected by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, and a People's Voice Award selected by the general public.^[13]

Past winners include Amazon.com, eBay, SimplyHired.com, Kayak.com, Yahoo!, iTunes, Google, FedEx, BBC News, CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, Annie Lennox, NPR, Salon Magazine, Facebook, Meetup, Wikipedia, Flickr, ESPN, Comedy Central, PBS, The Onion News Network, The Office Webisodes, and My Damn Channel.

Each year, the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences also honors individuals with Webby Special Achievement Awards. Past Webby Special Achievement winners include Al Gore, Prince, David Bowie, Meg Whitman, Tim & Eric, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Lorne Michaels, Craig Newmark, Thomas Friedman, Stephen Colbert, Michel Gondry and the Beastie Boys.^[13]

Ceremony[link]

Since 2005, The Webby Awards has been presented in New York City.^[14] Comedian Rob Corddry hosted the ceremony from 2005 to 2007. Seth Meyers of Saturday Night Live hosted in 2008 and 2009, B.J. Novak of NBC's The Office in 2010, and Lisa Kudrow in 2011.^[15]

The Webbys are famous for limiting recipients to five-word speeches, which are often humorous, although some exceed the limit. In 2005 when accepting his Lifetime Achievement Award, former Vice President Al Gore's speech was "Please don't recount this vote." He was introduced by Vint Cerf who used the same format to state, "We all invented the Internet."^[16] In 2008, Stephen Colbert shouted “Me. Me. Me. Me. Me”^[17] when accepting his award for Webby Person of the Year. Accepting the award for Best Political Blog in 2008, Arianna Huffington’s speech was “President Obama ... Sounds good, right?"^[17]

Other popular speeches include "Can anyone fix my computer?"^[18] (the Beastie Boys); "Everything you think is true"^[19] (Prince); "Thank God Conan got promoted"^[20] (Jimmy Fallon), "Free, open... Keep one Web"^[20] (Sir Tim Berners Lee), “Holy - Fucking - Shit, Buzz Aldrin"^[21] (Jake Hurwitz), and "Holocaust. Did it happen? Yes." (Sarah Silverman).

Criticism[link]

The Webbies have been criticized for their pay-to-enter and pay-to-attend policy (winners and nominees also have to pay to attend the award ceremony), and thus for not taking most websites into consideration before distributing their awards.^[22][23][24] Gawker, its Valleywag column, and others, have called the awards a scam, with Valleywag saying, "...somewhere along the way, the organizers figured out that this goofy charade could be milked for profit."^[25]

In response, Webby Awards executive director David-Michel Davies told the Wall Street Journal that entry fees “provide the best and most sustainable model for ensuring that our judging process remains consistent and rigorous and is not dependent on things like sponsorships that can fluctuate from year to year.”^[24]

See also[link]

Internet portal

• International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences
• Streamy Awards
• WebAwards

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Joanna Glasner, "Usual Suspects Dominate Webbys" - Wired News, May 9, 2006
• Jack Shafer, "What? You've Not Been Honored by the Webbys?", Slate Magazine, April 9, 2008
• Leslie Walker, "Webby Awards Salute Online Originality", Washington Post, June 8, 2003

External links[link]

• Official website
• Webby Awards at YouTube
• 2007 Acceptance speeches
• Current winners

David or Dave Karp may refer to:

• David Karp (novelist) (1922–1999), American novelist and television writer who also used the pseudonym Wallace Ware
• David A. Karp, American sociologist
• David Karp (pomologist) (born 1958), American culinary journalist
• David Karp (entrepreneur) (born 1986), founder of Tumblr
• Dave Karp, a character in the 1992 film The Mighty Ducks

This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2009)

Steve Wilhite of CompuServe invented the GIF file format which went on to become the de facto standard for 8-bit images on the Internet until the late 1990s.^{[citation needed]}

Steve Wilhite remained on the CompuServe/AOL payroll into the first decade of the 21st century working on a variety of CompuServe systems. These included CompuServe's wire protocol for their GUI clients in the 1980s, new service features in the early 1990s, web chat software in the late 1990s, and investigating web community models until his departure after being disabled by a stroke.^{[citation needed]} He has since recovered.

Wilhite's name comes up frequently in debate over the pronunciation of the GIF acronym.^{[citation needed]} Steve Wilhite always used the pronunciation that sounds like Jif peanut butter and if asked would usually reply "Choosy programmers choose 'jif'."

External links[link]

• The GIF Pronunciation Page

This biographical article relating to a computer specialist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Jerry Seinfeld
Seinfeld at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival Vanity Fair party
Birth name	Jerome Allen Seinfeld[1]
Born	(1954-04-29) April 29, 1954 (age 58)[1] Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Medium	Television, Stand up
Nationality	American
Years active	1976–present
Genres	Observational comedy, Political satire, Black comedy
Subject(s)	Avant-garde, American culture, Human behavior, American Politics, Gender differences, Everyday life
Influences	Bill Cosby,[2] George Carlin,[3] Robert Klein,[3] Abbott and Costello,[4] Jean Shepherd, Michael Gough, Pat Hingle, Don Rickles, Ricardo Montalban[5]
Influenced	Carol Leifer, Ricky Gervais, Mitch Hedberg
Spouse	Jessica Seinfeld (1999–present), 3 children
Notable works and roles	Jerry Seinfeld' on Seinfeld
Signature	128px
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Comedy Series 1993 Seinfeld
Golden Globe Awards
Best Actor – Musical or Comedy Series 1994 Seinfeld
Screen Actors Guild Awards
Outstanding Ensemble – Comedy Series 1995 Seinfeld 1997 Seinfeld 1998 Seinfeld
American Comedy Awards
Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series (Leading Role) Network, Cable or Syndication 1992, 1993 Seinfeld Comedy Club Stand-Up Comic – Male 1988 Lifetime Achievement

Jerome Allen "Jerry" Seinfeld^[1] (born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and television and film producer, best known for playing a semi-fictional version of himself in the sitcom Seinfeld (1989–1998), which he co-created and co-wrote with Larry David, and, in the show's final two seasons, co-executive-produced.

In his first major foray back into the media since the finale of Seinfeld, he co-wrote and co-produced the film Bee Movie, also taking on the lead role of Barry B. Benson. In February 2010, Seinfeld premiered a reality TV series called The Marriage Ref on NBC. Seinfeld directed Colin Quinn in the Broadway show Long Story Short at the Helen Hayes Theater in New York which ran until January 8, 2011.

Seinfeld is known for specializing in observational humor, often focusing on personal relationships and uncomfortable social obligations. Comedy Central ranked Jerry Seinfeld as one of the twelve greatest stand-up comedians of all time in its four-part special The 100 Greatest Standups Of All Time.^[6]

Early life[link]

Seinfeld was born in the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. His father, Kalmen Seinfeld (1918–1985), was of Austrian Jewish background and was a sign maker;^[7][8] his mother, Betty (1915- ),^[9] is of Syrian Jewish descent.^[10] Her family identified their nationality as Turkish when they emigrated to the United States in 1917.^[10]

Seinfeld grew up in Massapequa, New York. In September 1959, his mother enrolled him at Birch Lane Elementary School, Massapequa High School.^[11] At the age of 16, he spent a short period of time volunteering in Kibbutz Sa'ar in Israel.^[12] He went to SUNY Oswego, and after his sophomore year he transferred to Queens College, City University of New York, graduating with a degree in communications and theater.^[7]

Seinfeld developed an interest in stand-up comedy after brief stints in college productions.^[13] In 1976 after graduation from Queens College, he tried out at an open-mic night at New York City's Catch a Rising Star, which led to an appearance in a Rodney Dangerfield HBO special.^[7] In 1979 he had a small recurring role on the Benson sitcom as "Frankie", a mail delivery boy who had comedy routines that no one wanted to hear, but he was abruptly fired from the show due to creative differences.^[7] Seinfeld has said that he was not actually told he had been fired until he turned up for the read-through session for an episode, and found that there was no script for him.^[14] In May 1981 Seinfeld made a highly successful appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, impressing Carson and the audience and leading to regular appearances on that show and others, including Late Night with David Letterman.^[7]

[edit] Seinfeld

Seinfeld with Julia Louis-Dreyfus at the 1997 Emmy Awards

Seinfeld created The Seinfeld Chronicles with Larry David in 1989 for NBC. The show was later renamed Seinfeld to avoid confusion with the short-lived teen sitcom The Marshall Chronicles and, by its fourth season, had become the most popular and successful sitcom on American television. The final episode aired in 1998, and the show has been a popular syndicated re-run. The show also starred Saturday Night Live veteran Julia Louis-Dreyfus, as well as experienced actors Michael Richards and Jason Alexander. On the show, Seinfeld played a caricature of himself. He has said that his show was influenced by the 1950s sitcom The Abbott and Costello Show. Citing Jean Shepherd as an influence in his commentary for "The Gymnast" episode on "Seinfeld, Season 6," he said, "He really formed my entire comedic sensibility--I learned how to do comedy from Jean Shepherd." Seinfeld also holds the distinction of being the only actor to appear in every episode of the show.^[15] From 2004–2007, the former Seinfeld cast and crew recorded audio commentaries for episodes of the DVD releases of the show. Seinfeld himself provided commentary for numerous episodes.

[edit] Post-Seinfeld

1998–2006[link]

After his sitcom ended, Seinfeld returned to stand-up comedy instead of pursuing a film career. In 1998, Seinfeld went on tour and recorded a comedy special titled I'm Telling You for the Last Time. The process of developing and performing new material at clubs around the world was chronicled in a 2002 documentary, Comedian, which focused also on fellow comic Orny Adams, directed by Christian Charles. He has written several books, mostly archives of past routines.

In the late 1990s, Apple Computer came up with an advertising slogan called "Think different" and produced a 60-second commercial to promote the slogan which showed people who were able to "think differently", like Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and many others. This commercial was later cut short to thirty seconds and ended up paying tribute to Jerry Seinfeld. This commercial aired only once, during the series finale of Seinfeld.^[16]

Seinfeld at the 1997 Emmy Awards.

In 2004, Seinfeld also appeared in two commercial webisodes promoting American Express, titled The Adventures of Seinfeld & Superman, in which he appeared together with an animated rendering of Superman, who was referenced in numerous episodes of Seinfeld as Seinfeld's hero, voiced by Patrick Warburton, who had portrayed David Puddy on Seinfeld. The webisodes were aired in 2004 and directed by Barry Levinson. Seinfeld and "Superman" were also interviewed by Matt Lauer in a specially-recorded interview for the Today show.

On November 18, 2004, Seinfeld appeared at the National Museum of American History to donate the "Puffy Shirt" he wore in the famous Seinfeld episode of the same name. He also gave a speech when presenting the "Puffy Shirt", claiming humorously that "This is the most embarrassing moment of my life."

Seinfeld had a special appearance on May 13, 2006, Saturday Night Live episode as Julia Louis-Dreyfus' assassin. Louis-Dreyfus was the host of that episode and in her opening monologue she mentioned the "Seinfeld Curse". While talking about how ridiculous the "curse" was, a stage light suddenly fell next to her. The camera moved to a catwalk above the stage that Seinfeld was standing on, holding a large pair of bolt cutters. He angrily muttered, "Dammit!", angry that it didn't hit her. Louis-Dreyfus then continued to say that she is indeed not cursed.

2007[link]

On February 25, 2007, Seinfeld appeared at the 79th Academy Awards as the presenter for "Best Documentary". Before announcing the nominations he did a bit of a stand-up comedy routine about the unspoken agreement between movie theater owners and movie patrons. One of the winners of the award was Larry David's now ex-wife, Laurie.

On October 4, 2007, Seinfeld made a brief return to NBC, guest-starring in the episode "SeinfeldVision" of 30 Rock as himself.^[17]

2008[link]

On February 24, 2008, Seinfeld appeared as the voice of his Bee Movie animated character Barry, at the 80th Academy Awards as the presenter for "Best Animated Short". Before announcing the nominees, he showed a montage of film clips featuring bees, claiming that they were some of his early work (as Barry).

Amidst his spring 2008 tour Seinfeld made a stop in his hometown of New York City for a one-night-only performance on June 2, 2008 at the Hammerstein Ballroom to benefit Stand Up for a Cure, a charity aiding lung cancer research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

In August 2008 the Associated Press reported that Jerry Seinfeld would be the pitchman for Windows Vista, as part of a $300 million advertising campaign by Microsoft. The ads, which were intended to create buzz for Windows in support of the subsequent "I'm a PC" advertisements, began airing in mid-September 2008 and were cut from television after just 3 installments, Microsoft opting instead to continue with the "I'm a PC" advertisements,^[18] and instead continued running the Seinfeld ads on the Microsoft website as a series of longer advertisements.^[19]

2009[link]

In March 2009, it was announced that Seinfeld and the entire cast of Seinfeld would be appearing for a reunion in Larry David's HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm. The fictional reunion took place in the seventh season's finale.

Seinfeld appeared on an episode of the Starz original series Head Case. Like many of his previous guest appearances on sitcoms he played himself.

In Australia, Seinfeld appears on a series of advertisements for Greater Building Society, a building society based in New South Wales and south eastern Queensland.^[20] His appearance in these ads were highly publicized and considered a coup for the society, being only the third time Seinfeld had appeared in a television commercial.^[21] The advertisements were filmed in Cedarhurst, Long Island, with the street designed to emulate Beaumont Street in Hamilton, where the Greater's head offices are located.^[22] Seinfeld also wrote the scripts for the fifteen advertisements that were filmed. The ads largely aired in the Northern New South Wales television market, where the society has most of its branches.

Seinfeld was the first guest of Jay Leno's new talk show, The Jay Leno Show, which premiered on September 14, 2009.

2010s[link]

Seinfeld was featured on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update sketch to do the "Really!?!" segment with Seth Meyers. Seinfeld was also executive producing and occasionally starring as a panelist in The Marriage Ref. On August 30, 2010, Seinfeld made a notable surprise guest appearance on The Howard Stern Show, repairing the falling out the two had in the early 90s.

Seinfeld toured the U.S. in 2011 and made his first appearance on stage in the U.K. in thirteen years. In July 2011, he was a surprise guest on The Daily Show, helping Jon Stewart to suppress his urge to tell "cheap" "Michele Bachmann's husband acts gay" jokes.^[23] He launched a personal archives website at JerrySeinfeld.com. In 2011 he appeared in the HBO special Talking Funny with fellow comedians Chris Rock, Louis C.K. and Ricky Gervais.

Books[link]

Seinfeld is also a bestselling author, most notably for his book Seinlanguage. Released in 1993, the book went on to become a number one New York Times bestseller. The book, written as his television show was first rising in popularity, is primarily an adaptation of the comedian's standup material. The title comes from an article in Entertainment Weekly listing the numerous catch-phrases for which the show was responsible.

In 2002, he wrote a children's book titled Halloween. The book was illustrated by James Bennett. There are also several books about both the sitcom and Seinfeld himself, though many of them are not written by Seinfeld.

Seinfeld wrote the forewords to Ted L. Nancy's Letters from a Nut series of books and Ed Broth's Stories from a Moron. Both authors were rumored to be pseudonyms for Seinfeld or a friend of his. Neither Nancy nor Broth have been seen publicly, although Seinfeld is heavily involved in pitching their books for television.

In promoting Broth's book, Seinfeld hosted a toast in the author's honor. Broth did not attend.^[24]

Seinfeld also wrote the foreword to the Peanut Butter & Co. Cookbook, from his favorite sandwich shop in New York City.

Personal life[link]

Jessica and Jerry Seinfeld in 2010.

Seinfeld dated Carol Leifer, a fellow comedian and rumored to be the inspiration for the character of Elaine from his eponymous sitcom Seinfeld, although both parties deny it.^{[citation needed]} When he was in his late thirties, Seinfeld began a romantic relationship with then-seventeen year old high school student Shoshanna Lonstein.^[25] A while later, after meeting Jessica Sklar at the Reebok Sports Club, he began dating her. Sklar, a public relations executive for Tommy Hilfiger, had just returned from a three-week honeymoon in Italy with Eric Nederlander, a theatrical producer and scion of a theater-owning family. Sklar divorced Nederlander and married Seinfeld on November 14, 1998.^[26] Comedian George Wallace was the best man at the wedding. After the nuptials Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld bought Billy Joel's Amagansett, Long Island house for $32 million in March 2000.

Seinfeld and his wife have one daughter and two sons; daughter Sascha was born in 2000,^[27] son Julian Kal was born in 2003,^[28] and Shepherd Kellen was born in 2005, all in New York City.^[29][30] His son Julian's middle name, Kal, is the first name of Seinfeld's father and also the first name of Seinfeld's hero Superman, aka Kal-El. Among Seinfeld's best friends are fellow comedians Larry Miller, George Wallace, and Mario Joyner.^[31]

In 2000, Jessica Seinfeld launched Baby Buggy, a charity that provides clothing and gear for underprivileged women and children. She is the author of the best-seller Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food, released by HarperCollins in October 2007.^[32]

Seinfeld is recorded as having made several political contributions, including George W. Bush and Al Gore's presidential campaigns in 2000, and subsequently to four Democratic Party primary candidates in 2000 and 2004.^[33]

Seinfeld says that he has practiced Transcendental Meditation for most of his life,^[34] and he appeared at a 2009 benefit for TM.^[35] Seinfeld has admitted dabbling in Scientology when he was in his twenties,^[36] though he says he was never in the organization.^[37][38] The association came to light in 1992.^[37]

A fan of the New York Mets, Seinfeld periodically calls Steve Somers' show on WFAN-AM, a sports talk radio station, as "Jerry from Queens."^[39] Seinfeld called four innings of a Mets game on SportsNet New York June 23, 2010, reuniting with analyst Keith Hernandez who appeared in the Seinfeld two part episode The Boyfriend.^[40]

Personal wealth[link]

According to Forbes magazine, Jerry Seinfeld's annual earning from Seinfeld in 1998 was $267 million, making him the highest-earning celebrity that year.^[41] He reportedly turned down $5 million per episode, for 22 episodes, to continue the show for a tenth season.^[42] He earned $100 million from syndication deals and stand-up appearances in 2005 and $60 million in 2006.^[43][44] He also earned $10 million for appearing with Bill Gates in Microsoft's 2008 ads for Windows.^[45] Between June 2008 and June 2009, Seinfeld earned $85 million, making him the highest-paid comedian during that 12-month period.^[46]

Car collection[link]

Seinfeld, an automobile enthusiast and avid collector, owns a large Porsche collection. He rented a hangar at the Santa Monica Airport, in Santa Monica, California, for an extended period of time during the 1990s for storage of some of the vehicles in the collection. After his return to New York City, he was involved in an extended dispute with several neighbors over the proposed building of a $1.4 million multi-story garage to contain the cars.

One tally has Seinfeld owning 46 Porsches. Reporter Paul Bannister reports that Seinfeld's collection includes Porsche 911s from various years, 10 Porsche Boxsters each painted a different color, and the famous 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder, the same model and pearl-grey color that actor James Dean was driving when he crashed and died. The Discovery Channel television show "Chasing Classic Cars" claims that Seinfeld owns the first and last original Porsche 911s produced. The centerpiece is a $700,000 Porsche 959, one of only 337 ever built. To his initial despair, he was not allowed to drive it as US emission and crash tests were never performed because Porsche refused to donate four Porsche 959s for destruction tests, rendering the car "not street-legal". He imported the car "for exhibition purposes", which stipulates the car may never be driven on American roads.^[47] The car was made US street legal in 1999 under the "Show and Display" federal law.^[48][49] In several episodes of Seinfeld, Seinfeld drives a Saab 900 (NG) convertible, but a Porsche-themed painting, depicting a Porsche 904 GTS race car competing in the 1964 Targa Florio race in Italy, is visible on a wall in his apartment, as well as a Porsche racing poster featuring a 550 Spyder depicting the 1958 Targa Florio. In another episode, he is seen hiding behind a red Porsche 911RS parked on the street. In addition, an issue of Excellence, a Porsche-centered publication, is featured prominently on an outdoor magazine rack in one episode and on at least one occasion he is seen reading an issue of Road and Track magazine from circa 1990 with a cover article on the Porsche 964. He also wrote an article for the February 2004 issue of Automobile, reviewing the Porsche Carrera GT. For the story he was awarded Road Pest — Silver at the 2004 International Automotive Media Awards.

Credits[link]

Film[link]

Television[link]

[edit] Writing credits for Seinfeld

The list below only includes episodes mainly written by Seinfeld, as he and Larry David rewrote the drafts for each episode.

Season 1

• The Seinfeld Chronicles (with Larry David)
• Male Unbonding (with Larry David)
• The Stake Out (with Larry David)
• The Stock Tip (with Larry David)

Season 2

• The Ex-Girlfriend (with Larry David)
• The Pony Remark (with Larry David)
  • Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series (1991 - Episode "The Pony Remark")
• The Busboy (with Larry David)
• The Jacket (with Larry David)
• The Chinese Restaurant (with Larry David)
• The Phone Message (with Larry David)

Season 3

• The Stranded (with Larry David and Matt Goldman)

Season 4

• The Shoes (with Larry David)

Season 5

• The Sniffing Accountant (with Larry David)
• The Raincoats (with Larry David, Tom Gammill, and Max Pross)
• The Opposite (with Larry David and Andy Cowan)

Season 6

• The Kiss Hello (with Larry David)

Season 7

• The Cadillac part 1 and 2 (with Larry David)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jerry Seinfeld

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Jerry Seinfeld

Wikinews has related news: Seinfeld on HBO award: "Awards are stupid"

• Jerry Seinfeld's Personal Archives
• Jerry Seinfeld at the Internet Movie Database
• Jerry Seinfeld at the Internet Broadway Database
• Jerry Seinfeld on National Public Radio in 1987
• Jerry Seinfeld on National Public Radio in 2002
• Jerry Seinfeld on National Public Radio in 2007
• Jerry Seinfeld Goes Back to Work on Time.com - 26 SEP 07
• How Automobile got Jerry to write the Porsche GT Review
• Jerry Seinfeld at Emmys.com

Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg in 2007
108th Mayor of New York City[1]
Incumbent
Assumed office January 1, 2002
Preceded by	Rudy Giuliani
Personal details
Born	Michael Rubens Bloomberg (1942-02-14) February 14, 1942 (age 70) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Political party	Democratic Party (until 2001) Republican Party (2001–2007) Independent (2007–present)
Domestic partner	Diana Taylor
Residence	Upper East Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S.
Alma mater	Johns Hopkins University (BS) Harvard University (MBA)
Occupation	Businessman, politician, philanthropist
Religion	Reform Judaism[2]
Net worth	US$22 billion (2012)[3]
Signature
Website	Official NYC Mayoral website MikeBloomberg.com

Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman and politician who is currently Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $22 billion in 2012, he is also the 11th-richest person in the United States.^[3] He is the founder and 88% owner of Bloomberg L.P., a financial data-services firm.^[4][5][6]

A Democrat before seeking elective office, Bloomberg switched his registration in 2001 and ran for mayor as a Republican, winning the election that year and a second term in 2005. Bloomberg left the Republican Party over policy and philosophical disagreements with national party leadership in 2007 and ran for his third term in 2009 as an independent candidate on the Republican ballot line. He was frequently mentioned as a possible independent candidate for the 2008 presidential election, which fueled further speculation when he left the Republican Party.^[7] There was also speculation that he would run as a vice-presidential candidate.^[8] Bloomberg did not, however, seek the presidency nor was he selected as a running mate by any of the presidential candidates.

In the fall of 2008, Bloomberg successfully campaigned for an amendment to New York City's term-limits law, in order to allow him to run for a third term in 2009. Bloomberg won the election on November 3, 2009.^[9]

Early life[link]

He was born at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston on February 14, 1942.^[10] His family was Jewish. His father, William Henry Bloomberg (1906–1963), was a real estate agent, and the son of Alexander "Elick" Bloomberg, an immigrant. His mother, Charlotte Rubens Bloomberg, was born on January 2, 1909, in New Jersey, the daughter of a Russian-born immigrant and a New Jersey–born mother. She died, aged 102, on June 19, 2011.^[11]

The family lived in Allston, Massachusetts, until Michael Bloomberg was two years old; they then moved to Brookline, Massachusetts, for the next two years, finally settling in Medford, a Boston suburb, where he lived until after he graduated from college.^[12] Bloomberg is also an Eagle Scout.^[13][14]

Bloomberg attended Johns Hopkins University, where he joined Phi Kappa Psi, worked as a parking lot attendant to pay his tuition, and graduated in 1964 with a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering.^[15] Later he received his Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.^[16]

Business career[link]

In 1973, Bloomberg became a general partner at Salomon Brothers, a bulge-bracket, Wall Street investment bank, where he headed equity trading, and later, systems development. In 1981, Salomon Brothers was bought, and Bloomberg was fired from the investment bank and given a $10 million severance package.^[17] Using this money, Bloomberg went on to set up a company named Innovative Market Systems. His business plan was based on the realization that Wall Street (and the financial community generally) was willing to pay for high quality business information delivered as quickly as possible and in as many usable forms as technically possible (such as graphs of highly specific trends).^[18]

In 1982, Merrill Lynch became the new company's first customer, installing 22 of the company's Market Master terminals and investing $30 million in the company. The company was renamed Bloomberg L.P. in 1986. By 1987, it had installed 5,000 terminals. Within a few years, ancillary products including Bloomberg Tradebook (a trading platform), the Bloomberg Messaging Service, and the Bloomberg newswire were launched. As of 2009, the company had more than 250,000 terminals worldwide. His company also has a radio network which currently has its flagship station as 1130 WBBR-AM in New York City. He left the position of CEO to pursue a political career as the mayor of New York. Bloomberg was replaced as CEO by Lex Fenwick. The company is now led by president Daniel Doctoroff, a former deputy mayor under Bloomberg.

As the mayor of New York, Bloomberg declines to receive a city salary, accepting remuneration of $1.00 annually for his services. He maintains a public listing in the New York City phone directory, residing not in Gracie Mansion – the official mayor's mansion – but instead at his own home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, at 17 East 79th Street between Madison and Fifth Avenues. He owns additional homes in London, Bermuda and Vail.^[19]

Bloomberg says that he frequently rides the New York City Subway, particularly in the commute from his 79th Street home to his office at City Hall. An August 2007 story in The New York Times asserted that he was often seen chauffeured by two New York Police Department-owned SUVs to an express train station to avoid having to change from the local to the express trains on the Lexington Avenue line.^[20]

Bloomberg wrote an autobiography, with help from a ghost writer, called Bloomberg by Bloomberg (1997, ISBN 0-471-15545-4).

Wealth[link]

In March 2009, Forbes reported Bloomberg's wealth at $16 billion, a gain of $4.5 billion over the previous year, enjoying the world's biggest increase in wealth in 2009.^[21] At that time, there were only four fortunes in the U.S. that were larger (although the Wal-Mart family fortune is split among four people). He moved from 142nd to 17th in the Forbes list of the world's billionaires in only two years (March 2007 – March 2009).^[22][23] In March 2011, his total wealth had increased to $19.5 billion, ranking 12th in the Forbes 400 and 30th in the world.^[3] As of 2012, Forbes ranks his fortune at $22 billion.^[3]

Philanthropy[link]

Bloomberg's personal net worth, in addition to aiding his political career, has allowed him to engage in substantial philanthropic endeavors, including the donation of over $300 million to Johns Hopkins University,^[24] where he served as the chairman of the board from 1996 to 2002.

According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Bloomberg, through his Bloomberg Family Foundation, donated and/or pledged $138 million in 2004, $144 million in 2005, $165 million in 2006, and $205 million in 2007, making him the seventh-largest individual contributor to philanthropy in the U.S. for 2007.^[25] 2006 recipients include the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; World Lung Foundation and the World Health Organization. In 2008, Bloomberg's website announced a combined donation of $500 million with Bill Gates to help governments in developing countries with tobacco control.^[26]

According to The New York Times,^[27] Bloomberg has been an “anonymous donor” to the Carnegie Corporation each year for the last several years, with gifts ranging from $5 to $20 million. The Carnegie Corporation has distributed this contribution to hundreds of New York City organizations^[28] ranging from the Dance Theatre of Harlem to Gilda's Club, a non-profit organization that provides support to people and families living with cancer.

In 1996, Bloomberg endowed the William Henry Bloomberg Professorship at Harvard with a $3 million gift in honor of his father, who died in 1963, saying, "throughout his life, he recognized the importance of reaching out to the nonprofit sector to help better the welfare of the entire community."^[29] Bloomberg also endowed his hometown synagogue, Temple Shalom, which was renamed for his parents as the William and Charlotte Bloomberg Jewish Community Center of Medford.^[2][30]

Bloomberg reports giving $254 million in 2009 to almost 1,400 nonprofit organizations, saying, "I am a big believer in giving it all away and have always said that the best financial planning ends with bouncing the check to the undertaker."^[31]

On July 21, 2011, Bloomberg announced that he would donate $50 million to Sierra Club's “Beyond Coal” campaign, the grassroots organization’s efforts to close older coal plants and prevent new ones from being built. The gift, spread out over four years, will come from Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Awards and honors[link]

At the 2007 commencement exercises for Tufts University, Bloomberg delivered the commencement address. He was awarded an honorary degree in Public Service from the university. Likewise, Bloomberg delivered the 2007 commencement address at Bard College, where he was also awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.^[32] In February 2003, he received the "Award for Distinguished Leadership in Global Capital Markets" from the Yale School of Management. Bloomberg was named the 39th most influential person in the world in the 2007 Time 100.^[33] In September 2007, Vanity Fair ranked him #9 in its "Vanity Fair 100: The 2007 New Establishment."^[34]

In May 2008, Bloomberg was awarded an honorary doctorate of laws from the University of Pennsylvania, where he delivered the commencement speech to the class of 2008.^[35] Bloomberg also delivered the commencement address to the class of 2008 at Barnard College, located in New York City, after receiving the Barnard Medal of Distinction, the College's highest honor.^[36]

It was announced on January 14, 2011, that Bloomberg had been selected as the speaker for Princeton University's 2011 baccalaureate service.^[37]

Bloomberg was also awarded a tribute award at the 2007 Gotham Awards, a New York-based celebrator of independent film. On November 19, 2008, Bloomberg received The Hundred Year Association of New York's Gold Medal "in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York." Additionally, he was awarded an honorary doctorate at Fordham University's 2009 commencement ceremonies.^[38]

In 2009, Bloomberg received a Healthy Communities Leadership Award from Leadership for Healthy Communities – a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation national program – for his policies and programs that increase access to healthful foods and physical activity options in the city.^[39] For instance, to increase access to grocery stores in underserved areas, the Bloomberg administration developed a program called FRESH that offers zoning and financial incentives to developers, grocery store operators and land owners.^[40] His administration also created a Healthy Bodega initiative, which provides healthful food samples and promotional support to grocers in lower-income areas to encourage them to carry one-percent milk and fruits and vegetables.^[41] Under Bloomberg's leadership, the city also: passed a Green Carts bill,^[42] which supports mobile produce vendors in lower-income areas; expanded farmers' markets using the city's Health Bucks program which provides coupons to eligible individuals to buy produce at farmers' markets in lower-income areas;^[43] and committed $111 million in capital funding for playground improvements.^[44] New York also was one of the first cities in the nation to help patrons make more informed decisions about their food choices by requiring fast-food and chain restaurants to label their menus with calorie information.^[45]

Harassment controversies[link]

Bloomberg has previously been accused of sexually harassing women under his employment, which he has denied.^[46][47] In 1997, a former Bloomberg L.P. employee who became pregnant while employed filed a lawsuit accusing Bloomberg of saying, "Kill it!" and "Great, No. 16," which may have been a reference to the number of pregnant women in the company.^[46] In December 2008, Conde Nast Portfolio published a story – "Mayor Bloomberg's Delicate Condition" – which reported that in September 2007 the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a class-action lawsuit against Bloomberg's company on behalf of three women who worked on the business side, plus a group of women who worked at Bloomberg's company between 2002 and the present. The article said the plaintiffs "now total 72, out of about 500 women who took maternity leave during that time, a high percentage, according to the agency".^[48]

Elections[link]

2001 election[link]

In 2001, the incumbent mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani, was ineligible for re-election, as the city limited the mayoralty to two consecutive terms. Several well-known New York City politicians aspired to succeed him. Bloomberg, a lifelong member of the Democratic Party, decided to run for mayor as a member of the Republican Party ticket.

Voting in the primary began on the morning of September 11, 2001. The primary was postponed later that day. In the rescheduled primary, Bloomberg defeated Herman Badillo, a former Congressman, to become the Republican nominee. Meanwhile, the Democratic primary did not produce a first-round winner. After a runoff, the Democratic nomination went to New York City Public Advocate Mark J. Green.

In the general election, Bloomberg received Giuliani's endorsement. He also had a huge spending advantage. Although New York City's campaign finance law restricts the amount of contributions which a candidate can accept, Bloomberg chose not to use public campaign funds and therefore his campaign was not subject to these restrictions. He spent $73 million of his own money on his campaign, outspending Green by five to one.^[49] One of the major themes of his campaign was that, with the city's economy suffering from the effects of the World Trade Center attacks, it needed a mayor with business experience.

In addition to serving as the Republican nominee, Bloomberg had the ballot line of the controversial Independence Party, in which "Social Therapy" leaders Fred Newman and Lenora Fulani exert strong influence. Some say that endorsement was important, as Bloomberg's votes on that line exceeded his margin of victory over Green. (Under New York's fusion rules, a candidate can run on more than one party's line and combine all the votes received on all lines. Green, the Democrat, also had the ballot line of the Working Families Party. He also created an independent line called Students First whose votes were combined with those on the Independence line). Another factor was the vote in Staten Island, which has traditionally been far friendlier to Republicans than the rest of the city. Bloomberg handily beat Green in that borough, taking 75 percent of the vote there. Overall, Bloomberg won 50 percent to 48 percent.

Bloomberg's election marked the first time in New York City history that two different Republicans had been elected mayor consecutively. New York City has not been won by a Republican in a presidential election since Calvin Coolidge won in 1924. Bloomberg is considered a social liberal, who is pro-choice, in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage and an advocate for stricter gun control laws.

Despite the fact that 68 percent of New York City's registered voters are Democrats, Bloomberg decided the city should host the 2004 Republican National Convention. The Convention drew thousands of protesters, many of them local residents angry over the Iraq war and other issues. The Police Department arrested approximately 1,800 protesters, but according to The New York Times, more than 90 percent of the cases were later dismissed or dropped for lack of evidence.

2005 election[link]

Bloomberg was re-elected mayor in November 2005 by a margin of 20 percent, the widest margin ever for a Republican mayor of New York.^[50]

Bloomberg spent over $1 million on his campaign by late October 2005 and was projected to exceed the record of $74 million he spent on the previous election. In late 2004 or early 2005, Bloomberg gave the Independence Party of New York $250,000 to fund a phone bank seeking to recruit volunteers for his re-election campaign.^[51]

Bloomberg visiting with Grand Rabbi Moshe Leib Rabinovich of the Munkacs Hasidic sect in Brooklyn, 2004

Former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer won the Democratic nomination to oppose Bloomberg in the general election. Thomas Ognibene sought to run against Bloomberg in the Republican Party's primary election.^[52] Bloomberg's campaign successfully challenged enough of the signatures Ognibene had submitted to the Board of Elections to prevent Ognibene from appearing on ballots for the Republican primary.^[52] Instead, Ognibene ran only on the Conservative Party ticket.^[53] Ognibene accused Bloomberg of betraying Republican Party ideals, a feeling echoed by others.^{[54][55][56][57][58]}

Bloomberg opposed the confirmation of John Roberts as Chief Justice of the United States.^[59] Though a Republican at the time, Bloomberg is a staunch supporter of abortion rights and did not believe that Roberts was committed to maintaining Roe v. Wade.^[59]

In addition to receiving Republican support, Bloomberg obtained the endorsements of several prominent Democrats: former Democratic Mayor Ed Koch; former Democratic governor Hugh Carey; former Democratic City Council Speaker Peter Vallone, and his son, Councilman Peter Vallone, Jr.; former Democratic Congressman Floyd Flake (who had previously endorsed Bloomberg in 2001), and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.^[60]

2009 election[link]

On October 2, 2008, Bloomberg announced that he would seek to extend the city's term limits law and run for a third mayoral term in 2009, arguing that a leader of his field is needed during the Wall Street financial crisis. "Handling this financial crisis while strengthening essential services ... is a challenge I want to take on," Bloomberg told at a news conference. "So should the City Council vote to amend term limits, I plan to ask New Yorkers to look at my record of independent leadership and then decide if I have earned another term".^[61] On October 23, 2008, the City Council voted 29–22 in favor of extending the term limit to three consecutive four-year terms, thus allowing Bloomberg to run for office again.^[62] After two days of public hearings, Bloomberg signed the bill into law on November 3.^[63]

Bloomberg's opponent was Democratic and Working Families Party nominee Bill Thompson, who had been New York City Comptroller for the past eight years and before that President of the New York City Board of Education.^[64] Bloomberg defeated Thompson by a vote of 50.6 percent to 46.0 percent.^[65]

After the release of Independence Party campaign filings in January 2010, it was reported that Bloomberg had made two $600,000 contributions from his personal account to the Independence Party on October 30 and November 2, 2009.^[66] The Independence Party then paid $750,000 of that money to Republican Party political operative John Haggerty Jr.^[67]

This prompted to an investigation beginning in February 2010 by the office of New York County District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. into possible improprieties.^[68] The Independence Party later questioned how Haggerty spent the money, which was to go to poll-watchers.^[69] Former New York State Senator Martin Connor contended that because the Bloomberg donations were made to an Independence Party housekeeping account rather than to an account meant for current campaigns, this was a violation of campaign finance laws.^[70] Haggerty also spent money from a separate $200,000 donation from Bloomberg on office space.^[71]

Mayoralty[link]

Bloomberg attending the opening night of the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival

Bloomberg assumed office as the 108th Mayor of New York City on January 1, 2002. He won re-election in 2005. As mayor, Bloomberg initially struggled to gain high approval levels from the public; however, he subsequently developed and maintained high approval ratings.

Bloomberg's re-election means the Republicans have won the previous four mayoral elections (although Bloomberg's decision to leave the Republican Party and be declared an independent on June 19, 2007, resulted in the Republican Party's losing the mayor's seat prior to the expiration of his second term). Bloomberg joins Rudy Giuliani and Fiorello La Guardia as re-elected Republican mayors in this mostly Democratic city. (John Lindsay was also elected mayor of New York twice while a registered Republican; however, Lindsay did not receive the Republican Party nomination during his 1969 campaign for re-election but ran successfully on the Liberal ticket and joined the Democratic Party during his second term.)

Bloomberg has said that he wants public education reform to be the legacy of his first term and addressing poverty to be the legacy of his second.^[72] Some have alleged that he made certain decisions regarding the closure of seventeen day-care centers across the city for political reasons.^[73] According to the National Assessment of Educational Performance, fourth-grade reading scores from 2002 through 2009 rose nationally by 11 points. However, on May 10, 2010, The New York Times reported:

"According to the test [NAEP], New York City eighth graders have shown no significant improvement [in math or reading] since they began taking it in 2003, mirroring the largely flat performance of American eighth graders as a whole during that period. In the city, the lack of improvement held true across ethnic groups and also among lower-income students."

The annual New York City Department of Education Budget noted that spending for education was $12.5 billion in 2002 and $21 billion in 2009.^{[citation needed]}

Bloomberg has chosen to apply a statistical, results-based approach to city management, appointing city commissioners based on their expertise and granting them wide autonomy in their decision-making. Breaking with 190 years of tradition, he implemented what New York Times political reporter Adam Nagourney called a "bullpen" open office plan, similar to a Wall Street trading floor, in which dozens of aides and managerial staff are seated together in a large chamber. The design is intended to promote accountability and accessibility.^[74] Some have seen this approach to the New York education system as largely unsuccessful because of skewed numbers. Under the reformed approach, a school must do better than the previous year to receive funding. Because of this requirement, many successful schools were closed for being "unsuccessful" because of their inability to raise test scores, even though they were the top performing schools, while many unsuccessful schools received the bulk of funding for simply raising their scores slightly.^[75]

Political stands[link]

Some of the policies Bloomberg advocates parallel those of either the Democratic or the Republican party platform. He is socially liberal, supporting abortion rights, gay marriage, gun control, and amnesty for illegal immigrants, for example. On economics, foreign, and domestic issues, Bloomberg tends to be conservative. He opposed a timeline for withdrawal from the Iraq War, and criticized those who favored one. Economically, he supports government involvement in issues such as public welfare and climate change, while being strongly in favor of free trade, pro-business, and describing himself as a fiscal conservative because he balanced the city's budget.^[76] Bloomberg has been cited for not allowing many emergency officials at the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks to attend the tenth anniversary observation of this day.^[77] He also is at odds with many around the United States for not allowing prayer at the ceremony marking the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. ^[78]