Daily News from New York, New York • 290

Weekend news views GMO GOODS NEWS! BY JAY vmsimm mm I I WYjF ff A. -t- l. Contestants sure to seek 'Inspiration' AND LO! Unto the Parish of Trinity Church there came an idea, and the idea was a weekly prime-time TV religion game show. And verily, it came to pass. It's called "Inspiration, Please," a knock-off of an old radio and TV show called "Information, Please," and it starts in October on the Faith and Values Channel, which is carried on 1,450 cable systems piped into 24 million homes.

The surprising thing is that nobody thought of this before. The idea came from Trinity, the richest, most celebrated Episcopal church in the United States, and the single biggest force behind the five-year-old, New York-based interfaith channel. "The idea, said executive producer Linda Hanick. "is to promote biblical literacy in a fun, entertaining way." Taping of the first 13 episodes starts in Jury at the "Inspiration, Please" format fast three contestants using bells and buzzers to compete for a shot at the next round, with progressively tougher questions. The icebreakers aren't that tough.

One, for example, asks for the name of 13 Popes and the MGM lion. Get that one, and the next question asks what name of 14 Popes means mild or temperate weather. About half the questions come from the Bible: Name the first killer in the Bible, for example. Get that right, and the next question asks for the name of the third child of Adam and Eve. Questions deal mainly with Protestant.

Catholic and Jewish traditions but also include Eastern religions. They were prepared by an interfaith team that includes Baptist, Episcopal, Jewish and Reformed Church members. There are also movie and music questions. (This gets tricky contestants will hear a couple bars of "Maria," but not the one from "West Side Story-" This version is from "The Sound of Music," because Maria is a nun.) Was there ever any doubt about "Inspiration, "There was some initial skepticism," said Hanick, whose Faith and Values production credits include dramas, documentaries and a just-aired, one-hour special starring Garrison Keillor, taped at St. Michael's Church on the upper West Side.

"Some people thought it was frivolous," she said, "but then we realized what it really was, what it could do All that's missing now are contestants, but Hanick will take care of that June 26, 27 and 28 during auditions at Trinity. But call first The number is (212) 602-0740. Oh yeah, Pope Clement is the mild-weather pope, and Adam and Eve's third child was Seth. Robert CL Lmm lis, said he was chosen to host "Inspiration. Please" in part because he already is familiar with the Bible "but I'm brushing up on it before we start filming." There are a growing number of Christian comics, but, like him, they mostly ap- RELIGION Trinity Place studios in the heart of Wall Street.

The grand prize is a trip for two to of course the Holy Land. The emcee is pear in churches, said Lee, whose bio identifies him as "the funny bone in the body of Christ" CHARLES W.BELL Nj. mtH MAEDER Why are there always eight ravens sitting on the Tower of London? Because the superstitious British royals apparently quite genuinely believe an ancient legend that says the monarchy will end if the ravens ever leave, that's why. And for hundreds of years now just about the first order of business when the royals wake up in the morning is to make dam sure all eight ravens are up there on the tower. And of course they always are, as the royals, no fools they, have clipped the ravens' wings.

Probably the ravens also are glued down. Not going anywhere, these ravens. So anyway, it was quite the ceremony the other day as two new ravens joined the tower ftock, brought in from the Outer Hebrides to replace two birds the royals had to get rid of because they were forever bickering. Munln and Huglne are the newcomers' names, and they're on duty as we speak, faithfully insuring that the line will continue arid there will always be an England. THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL In 14 hundred and 92.

Cohanbus sailed the ocean blue, and this was 94 years after Prince Henry St Clair of Scotland sailed the ocean blue and got to the New WorM first. Prince Henry, in fact landed in Rhode Island at the end of his fabulous but unheard-of 1398 voyage. This is, at any rate, the yam being peddled by Henry's heir Baron St Clair Bonde, who is trying to put together a gala 6OOU1 Anniversary Celebration of his ancestor's feat and hoping to build a replica of Henry's tub and re-create the trip. Practically no one is paving any attention to the baron, but he's gamely trying to raise $400,000 anyway. Leave it to Cambodia to decide that something like a crocodile farm is going to be a really terrific tourist attraction.

A big one has just opened, right in downtown Phnom Penh, and its owner, a Mr. Peter Chiang, confidently expects 70.000 visitors a year. "There are not many tourist spots in Phnom Penh except trie royal palace and the pagodas," Mr. Chiang notes. Modern Times, Cont'd: In Venice, the lagoon is getting choppier and choppier all the time, thanks to some newly constructed shipping channels that have disrupted the previously serene flow of things, and.the city's gondola polers have just said goodbye to the good old days.

Effective soon, they say, the stoned Venetian Gondola will be fitted out with outboard motors. One thing about those ancient Egyptian tombs, they really are just all over the place. Burial chambers full of pharaohs everywhere you turn in this country. Ar-cheologists have just uncovered still another one underneath somebody's house in the southern village of Kournet Marei apparently the tomb of a pha-raoh cat named Tuthmosls who died about 3,500 years ago and what's more, the state Supreme Council of Antiquities thinks there's a whole gang more of them that the entire town was built right on top of. tw.

Excavators are on their wayjnjto start tl digging up Kournet Marei, whose current residents evidently have to move somewhere else. Robert G. Lee, a Christian standup comic whose credits include warming up audiences for "Roseanne," "Fra-sier," "Wings" and other sitcoms. "Oh. sure, I've told dirty jokes," he said this week, "but not for a long time.

I only do clean humor now." Lee, a Presbyterian from Indianapo- Another key figure is Don Epstein, a producer and writer whose quiz show credits include "The $25,000 Pyramid" and "College Bowl," and who produces and'or writes the "Miss Universe" and "Miss USA" contests and the annual Country Music Association awards. Quiz show fans will recognize the iiGn cM-s-oIldls ff filaisEsai surreal. Maybe it was jet lag; maybe it was the general cosmic weird ness that permeates Alaska. It was definitely something. People were talking As a lover of nature and a rugged outdoorsman, I enjoy going to remote wilderness areas where I can relax, recharge my batteries and possibly be eaten.

DAVE BARRY about the urban moose problem. It had been a very snow-intensive winter, even for Alaska, and there were moose wandering all over Anchorage. This can create problems, because moose, in addition to being humon-gous, are the disgruntled postal workers of the animal kingdom. People also were interested in Craig's court case. So in late April I hopped on an airplane, then another airplane, then eight or nine more airplanes, until finally I reached Alaska (Official State Motto: "Speak Up! Our Ear ax Is It was evening, but there was still plenty of daylight left, and I knew that within just a few miles of downtown there were many spectacular, unspoiled areas, virtually untouched by hu to tow canoes on railroad tracks.

At 10 p.m. it was still light outside, but I was exhausted, so I trudged back to my hotel, keeping a wary eye out for moose and other dangerous urban criminal elements. Yes, Alaska does have crime. Here are some cases: From The Sitka Daily Sentinel: "A man was reported to be beating on a boy, but the two turned out to be having a dandelion fight" And two alarming items from The Petersburg Pilot: "A caller reported that he had received a report regarding someone speeding in a forklift at Chatham Strait Seafoods." "A caller reported that he had returned to his residence and a ball was missing from the front porch. The caller stated that neighbors had seen an individual take the ball and use knives on it" Despite this crime wave, I made it safely back to the hotel.

I immediately went to bed to rest my body for further Alaskan adventures, which could, I knew, require me to leave the vicinity of the hotel. But that is the price you pay when- you possess'the kind; of, pioneering -spirit such as. Lewis and Clark, both of whom--and don't try to tell me this is a coincidence are dead. man civilization. So I went to a bar.

There I had a few beers with my friend Craig Med red. who splits his time between writing a column for The Anchorage Daily News and trying to get himself killed. Craig is. a serious, by which I mean clinically insane, sportsman. He's the kind of ptiv who's alwavs hearting out It turned out that Craig had been arrested and tried on charges of towing a canoe on a railroad track.

It had something to do with hunting ducks. As it happened, Craig's lawyer was also in the bar (this kind of coincidence occurs often in Alaska, which has only about 150 residents total). He came over to discuss the case, which ultimately came out in Craig's favor. The lawyer said this was be- to the wilderness for days at a time. crawling around in the snow, chewing pine eones for nutrition, engaging in cause Craig groveled before the judge, viuv vau tiuvi mggvu jpvi UI15 vuar ai uivugii viaig lyy 1 UllUg 03 ail lenge like hunting wolverines with a affirmation of the fundamental right of letter opener.

every American not stated explicitly My evening at the bar with Craig was in the Constitution, but clearly implied.