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A Mysterious Crime in Northern California; 9/11 Conspiracy Ads

Aired November 11, 2004 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: Checking the top stories this hour, a flag-draped coffin holding Yasser Arafat's body on its way to Egypt. The funeral will be held tomorrow in Cairo, and afterwards, Arafat's body will be flown to Ramallah. More reaction to his death, live from the United Nations at the top of the hour.
The Mideast will likely be high on the agenda in two days of talks between President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Blair heading to Washington right now. The pair will talk about progress in Iraq, and Mr. Blair is expected to urge the president to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace effort.

And some ABC viewers will not be able to watch a Veterans Day showing of "Saving Private Ryan." At least eight stations have canceled the movie. They are worried the language and violence could violate FCC indecency rules. We'll have more on this story as well later on LIVE FROM.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: There's no known victim and no suspect, but in northern California, there is videotaped evidence of a mysterious crime.

Reporter Ed Laskos of CNN affiliate KTTV has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is our victim here. She walks out, towards the right. She does that, suspect vehicle pulls up. She looks back, and she starts running as fast as she can.

ED LASKOS, KTTV REPORTER (voice-over): Reporter: Then the car drives away, but it's not over, watch. Moments later, she makes another run for it. Watch though as she's chased down. A man reaches her, grabs her, throws her over his shoulder, and carries her back to the car where...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He walks past one tail light and stops, puts her in the trunk.

SGT. JERRY RODRIGUEZ, CORONA CALIFORNIA POLICE: To kidnap somebody and actually stuff them in the trunk of the car, it's pretty gutsy on their part.

LASKOS: Gutsy, you bet, because look around, the mall is crowded, shoppers everywhere, and it goes down right out in the open. They drive up and strike, never thinking they'd be caught red-handed. Surveillance cameras roll, and it's all caught on tape. RODRIGUEZ": People that actually saw her get picked up and put in the trunk -- and we do know from one of the store clerks that she was actually screaming for help, for somebody to call the police.

LASKOS: Here's the car, think you can find it? It's a black Toyota Solara, newer model, a two-door hatch back coupe. And a closer look at the tape brings another clue.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you look at the front, passenger-side tire, it looks like it's a donut, a spare tire.

LASKOS: The only clues to help the woman who's last seen running for her life.

RODRIGUEZ: It's pretty brazen in public to kidnap somebody and actually stuff them in the trunk of a car.

PHILLIPS: Well, police are trying to further enhance that videotape now. We're going to follow the story and bring you any update.

GRIFFIN: A California man says there's more than meets the eye in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. He is launching a multimillion-dollar ad blitz to try to find answers. Some people say he's crossing a very delicate line.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick reports on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The two ads suggest a government conspiracy and cover up, raising questions like why did a building two blocks from the World Trade Center Towers seem to implode?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was not hit by aircraft. It had no significant fire and no explanation for its collapse has been given.

FEYERICK: Another ad asking why plane parts at the Pentagon seem to have disappeared.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The photos show no cabin, no engines, and no tail.

FEYERICK: The 9/11 commission requested eyewitnesses to both events. A spokesman saying the official report, which makes no mention of any government conspiracy, speaks for itself. But the ads, paid for by California millionaire James Walters, are taking on a who killed JFK-like quality. And they're fueling efforts like 9/11 Citizenswatch, asking New York's attorney general to launch a criminal investigation into what they believe is a government coverup.

KYLE HENCE, 9/11 CITIZENSWATCH: I think there's clear evidence for convening grand juries, and examining the bodies of evidence that the independent community of researchers, and others -- family members, have brought forward. FEYERICK: Even those who dismiss the more outlandish conspiracy theories say the 9/11 report is incomplete.

(on camera): Many people in the rest of the country probably think there's closure on this. Is there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not really, because there's still a lot of unanswered questions.

FEYERICK (voice-over): Glenn Corbett is helping investigate the collapse of the Towers for the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

GLENN CORBETT, JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE: The ads seem to implicate bombs and explosives, and the use of missiles on both the Pentagon and the World Trade Center complex. And the evidence, really, just doesn't support that from what we've found so far.

FEYERICK: Not only did Walters shell out 3 million for the TV ads, which got a lot of air time before the presidential elections, he also bought newspaper ads, and helped bankroll a Zogby Poll. The results of which he found 66 percent of those requested want the 9/11 investigation reopened.

Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: All right. Now for something completely different. When was the last time that you read an encyclopedia?

GRIFFIN: Fourth grade?

PHILLIPS: Fourth grade. Well, A.J. Jacobs, believe it or not, has read the entire encyclopedia.

A.J., you just can't seem to get enough, can you?

A.J. JACOBS: I love it. It's fascinating.

PHILLIPS: We're going to talk to him, coming right up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Ahead on LIVE FROM, you'll meet the man who read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. Won't that be interesting? But first, CNN's continuing series of weight and body image. The men take center stage.

Here's Adaora Udoji.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL, MBO PATIENT: If you could just point me in the direction, maybe. ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Strolling in Central Park is a victory for 24-year-old Michael. A year ago, he could barely go outside, ashamed to be seen.

MICHAEL: I felt like I had become some sort of a monster.

UDOJI: He thought he was ugly, scrawny, that people mocked him.

MICHAEL: For months at a time, I would just run on a treadmill and eat just maybe an apple and a piece of bread in the whole day. And...

UDOJI: How long would you be on that treadmill for?

MICHAEL: Up to two hours a day.

UDOJI: Obsessed with physical imperfections, no one else saw, he dropped on out of school. Four years he spent a prisoner in his parents house often thinking about suicide. Then he found the Bio- Behavioral Institute and was diagnosed with body dysmorphic disorder, or BDD.

DR. FUGEN NEZROGLU, BIO-BEHAVIORAL INSTITUTE: I think that a lot of individuals feel that body dysmorphic disorder is a manifestation of vanity. And it's not. As I said, it's really people feel worthless.

UDOJI: They don't know why, but, she says, pressure for bodily perfection is all around. And American diatetic association study found, up to one-third of teenage boys wish for a stronger body.

Doctor Fugen Nezroglu estimates BDD effects 2 percent to 13 percent of all Americans, usually starting around 16. Muscle dysmorphia, or bigaxeia, (ph) another aspects overwhelming affects males. It's the opposite of anorexia, now matter how big their muscles, men see a small person. For some, it's extreme.

NEZROGLU: They can't go to class. They can't go to work. They are excessively exercising. They're using steroids, or protein shakes. They are avoiding certain foods.

UDOJI: She said BDD is treatable with behavioral therapy. Michael says now he's excited about living again. He's in therapy and also taking classes with dreams of becoming an architect.

Adaora Udoji, CNN, Long Island, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: Tonight on "AC 360," supermodel secrets for staying thin. Is that a diet of deception? That's tonight at 7:00 Eastern, right here on CNN. LIVE FROM's know-it-all, he's up next. There he is.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: Well, while the rest of us were reading "The Da Vinci Code" or one of Oprah's Book Club selections, my next guest was engrossed in titles like "Geomorphing To Immunity" or "United to Zoroastrianism" or his personal favorite, "Manege to Ottawa."

A.J. Jacobs read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. Avid reader, bored, or just simply out of his mind? A.J. wrote about his trivial pursuit in his new book, "The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest To Become the Smartest Man in the World." A.J. Jacobs joins me right now.

It's pretty intimidating sitting next to you. You should be doing what I'm doing.

A.J. JACOBS, AUTHOR, "THE KNOW-IT-ALL": Sure, I'm take your job.

PHILLIPS: All right. Are you crazy?

JACOBS: Well, you know, my wife thinks so. But I just felt that my -- after college, my brain had turned to mush, and I decided that I needed to do a mental triathlon. And this was my mental triathlon.

PHILLIPS: Did you ever start reading and start to fall asleep and...

JACOBS: A couple of times, yeah I'll admit to it. I have nothing against the Portuguese people, but I was reading about Portuguese literature and I said, "What the heck am I doing?"

PHILLIPS: Now, your dad attempted this, but he only got to the B's.

JACOBS: That's right. He made it to about Borneo or Botany Bay, so I want to finish what he started and remove that black mark from our family history.

PHILLIPS: Now, has this caused a bit of contention between you and Julie, your wife?

JACOBS: Yes. Well, part of the book is the "Cliff's Notes" to the encyclopedia. So, you know, you can always have something to say at a cocktail party.

But part is about my life and my eccentric family. And my wife -- unfortunately, I had so much information I couldn't help but share it. And after a while, she started fining me $1 for every irrelevant fact I inserted into conversation. So, she made a good bundle.

PHILLIPS: How much money did she make?

JACOBS: She -- enough to put our son through college.

PHILLIPS: That's great. All right, so as you're reading volume after volume after volume, what sticks out in your mind, if you can remember -- if your mind isn't mush again since college? What did you learn? JACOBS: Oh, way too much. I learned that the Egyptians not only made mummies of their cats, but they made mummies of mice so the cats would have something to eat in the afterlife, which I thought was very considerate.

PHILLIPS: That is very considerate. Smart.

JACOBS: Yeah. That the Bayer Aspirin Company invented heroin. I learned that Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author, was obsessed with the number 64 and wrote it on scraps of paper wherever he went.

So, I just learned the most bizarre -- I learned some profound stuff, too, but there's just so much bizarre stuff in the encyclopedia.

PHILLIPS: Well, I heard you tried out for "Jeopardy," but they wouldn't let you.

JACOBS: That's true. I wish it was because I was too smart, but they would not let me on because I interviewed Alex Trebek in my day job as an editor at "Esquire."

PHILLIPS: Oh, OK. So, in all fairness, you can't come on the show after you've, you know, talked to the host.

JACOBS: Right. Now we're best friends apparently, so he calls me every night with the answers. So, I was -- but did I go on -- in the book, I talk about some adventures, and I went on "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?"

PHILLIPS: Right. How did you do?

JACOBS: Well, they asked me the one question I did not know the answer to. So, it was...

PHILLIPS: And that was?

JACOBS: It was the meaning of the worth erythrocyte.

PHILLIPS: Erythrocyte.

JACOBS: All the doctors who are watching are rolling their eyes because it's a red blood cell. So...

PHILLIPS: You don't remember that from the encyclopedia?

JACOBS: Well, now I'll always remember it. So, at least I'll never forget that piece -- it cost me $32,000.

PHILLIPS: Jeez. So, you work for "Esquire." You've done a lot of things -- I mean, writing-wise and on NPR and all these different things.

Do you find yourself going back to the encyclopedia, things that you've learned, you know, kind of to connect with people? "Oh, yeah, you've been to such and such? Well, let me tell you about..." JACOBS: Absolutely. Wherever I am, these facts pop up. And I can't help -- if I'm at a fish restaurant, I'll talk about how the people of London ate fish out of the London Aquarium during World War II. So, I can't help it. Or I go to an Italian restaurant, olive oil was used in Egyptian times to help build the pyramids. It was used as a lubricant for heavy building materials.

PHILLIPS: I thought she was married to Popeye. That's not in the encyclopedia?

JACOBS: That didn't quite make the cut.

PHILLIPS: OK. So, I want to know what you think of volume -- I was looking through, you know, the volumes. What do you think of number 19, "Excretion to Geometry?"

JACOBS: That's a fine volume. Actually my favorite is the letter Q, though, because it was so short, just 200 pages. And I learned a great scrabble word, "Qa" -- just the two letters Q-A -- a Babylonian liquid measurement. So...

PHILLIPS: It's not question and answer, OK.

JACOBS: It doesn't have an ampersand in the middle, so...

PHILLIPS: All right. We have got a quiz for you.

JACOBS: Oh, my goodness.

PHILLIPS: Because I mean, I thought the volume number eight was your favorite, "Manege to Ottawa."

JACOBS: "Manege to Ottawa" is a fine volume. Absolutely.

PHILLIPS: And why exactly did you like this volume?

JACOBS: Well, I don't know. It seems to imply something about the Canadians, but -- which I don't know whether it's true or not.

PHILLIPS: All right. So, I have got a question for you. Are you ready?

JACOBS: OK.

PHILLIPS: All right. Page 369, in case you might remember.

JACOBS: Yes.

PHILLIPS: What is a mouflon?

JACOBS: A mouflon.

PHILLIPS: A mouflon.

JACOBS: That is an interesting question. I'm glad you asked. I did learn... PHILLIPS: This is calling stretch time, right, A.J.?

JACOBS: I was hoping you would ask from the "Z" volume, because that's more fresh in my memory.

I will say I learned in the "B" volume that our brains, after the age of 20, lose 50, 000 brain cells per day. So, I think mouflon might have been in the brain cells I lost yesterday.

PHILLIPS: So, you're dodging the question. There's your mouflon, buddy. Small, wild sheep of Corsica, Sardinia, and Cypress.

JACOBS: Oh, now I remember, yes.

PHILLIPS: Now it's all coming back.

JACOBS: That's right. I do know that oysters change their sex according to the temperature of the water. So, that's my animal fact for you.

PHILLIPS: So, the warmer the water, the more...

JACOBS: The more female they go.

PHILLIPS: Interesting. Does one taste better than another?

JACOBS: Didn't have that.

PHILLIPS: Wasn't in there.

JACOBS: That's right.

PHILLIPS: A.J., you're a piece of work. Here it is, "The Know- It-All: One Man's Humble Quest To Become the Smartest Person in the World." Well, what do you think: Are you the smartest person in the world now?

JACOBS: Well, I'm not as smart as Albert Einstein, but I think I'm up there with his lesser known cousin Alfred Einstein, who is a music historian who made it into the encyclopedia. So, I'm still holding out hope I'll make it into the encyclopedia.

PHILLIPS: A.J., stick around. I need some help with some scripts.

JACOBS: OK.

PHILLIPS: OK.

JACOBS: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Thank you.

GRIFFIN: You guys really got my erythrocytes going.

PHILLIPS: Those red blood cells. GRIFFIN: Next up, comedy and controversy. What's Bill Cosby saying now? The Cos sits down with CNN for some frank talk about race and child rearing. We'll take a look when LIVE FROM returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in New York. This tree-raising in Manhattan drew a lot of attention this morning. Workers lifted this towering Norway spruce into place at Rockefeller Center to usher in the holiday season. Check out that trunk. Well, this giant measures 71 feet tall, 40 feet wide, and it will be decorated for ceremonial lighting on November 30th.

GRIFFIN: Bill Cosby may have gained his fame and fortune telling jokes and funny stories. But lately, many of his stand-up routines have triggered more controversy and self-analysis than belly laughs. Cosby has been taking on the African-American community to task for what he says are a wide range of failures. CNN's Paula Zahn sat down with the crusading comedian.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Do you ever get tired of having to be funny?

BILL COSBY, COMEDIAN: It has been like this for 40 years, 41 years. It's been like this.

ZAHN (voice-over) Bill Cosby is one of America's beloved entertainers.

COSBY: Because he has found a way to make a living even though he is stupid.

ZAHN: For the past six months he has also become a lightning rod for controversy.

COSBY: Your strength and your empowerment, the more you invest in that child, the more you're not going to let some CD tell your child how to curse.

ZAHN: Cosby's out and out offensive against parental irresponsibility, juvenile delinquency and personal values in the low- income African-American community has led to harsh criticism.

COSBY: Do they really say something?

ZAHN: We met for his first in-depth interview about the controversy months after it began.

(on camera): Some of your harshest critics agree with what you're saying needs to be done in these communities. What they objected to was the airing of dirty laundry in public. They were mad at you.

COSBY: Let them stay mad as long as they don't have good sense. That's the other part that I said. I don't care what right-wing white people are thinking. How long are you going to whisper about a smallpox epidemic in your apartment building when bodies are coming out under the sheets?

ZAHN (voice-over): Cosby refuses to whisper. His message is loud and clear.

COSBY: I didn't take this as a job. I took this as an emotion. No, and I'm not stopping either.

This is about little children and people not giving them better choices. You can't blame other things yet. You've got to straighten up your house, straighten up your apartment, straighten up your child.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: You can see more of Paula Zahn's interview tonight on CNN. Be sure to watch "PAULA ZAHN" at 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific.

PHILLIPS: And a side note to that, the word is out Bill Cosby's animated classic TV show "Fat Albert" will release on DVD next month, all seven hours worth. Can't wait for that.

Well, coming up on our second hour of LIVE FROM, hoo-ah, airing "Saving Private Ryan." Hoo-ah! I've got to say it better. Will it put your local station in jeopardy with the FCC or is something else behind that drama? LIVE FROM's hour of power begins right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired November 11, 2004 - 13:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: Checking the top stories this hour, a flag-draped coffin holding Yasser Arafat's body on its way to Egypt. The funeral will be held tomorrow in Cairo, and afterwards, Arafat's body will be flown to Ramallah. More reaction to his death, live from the United Nations at the top of the hour.
The Mideast will likely be high on the agenda in two days of talks between President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Blair heading to Washington right now. The pair will talk about progress in Iraq, and Mr. Blair is expected to urge the president to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace effort.

And some ABC viewers will not be able to watch a Veterans Day showing of "Saving Private Ryan." At least eight stations have canceled the movie. They are worried the language and violence could violate FCC indecency rules. We'll have more on this story as well later on LIVE FROM.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: There's no known victim and no suspect, but in northern California, there is videotaped evidence of a mysterious crime.

Reporter Ed Laskos of CNN affiliate KTTV has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is our victim here. She walks out, towards the right. She does that, suspect vehicle pulls up. She looks back, and she starts running as fast as she can.

ED LASKOS, KTTV REPORTER (voice-over): Reporter: Then the car drives away, but it's not over, watch. Moments later, she makes another run for it. Watch though as she's chased down. A man reaches her, grabs her, throws her over his shoulder, and carries her back to the car where...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He walks past one tail light and stops, puts her in the trunk.

SGT. JERRY RODRIGUEZ, CORONA CALIFORNIA POLICE: To kidnap somebody and actually stuff them in the trunk of the car, it's pretty gutsy on their part.

LASKOS: Gutsy, you bet, because look around, the mall is crowded, shoppers everywhere, and it goes down right out in the open. They drive up and strike, never thinking they'd be caught red-handed. Surveillance cameras roll, and it's all caught on tape. RODRIGUEZ": People that actually saw her get picked up and put in the trunk -- and we do know from one of the store clerks that she was actually screaming for help, for somebody to call the police.

LASKOS: Here's the car, think you can find it? It's a black Toyota Solara, newer model, a two-door hatch back coupe. And a closer look at the tape brings another clue.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you look at the front, passenger-side tire, it looks like it's a donut, a spare tire.

LASKOS: The only clues to help the woman who's last seen running for her life.

RODRIGUEZ: It's pretty brazen in public to kidnap somebody and actually stuff them in the trunk of a car.

PHILLIPS: Well, police are trying to further enhance that videotape now. We're going to follow the story and bring you any update.

GRIFFIN: A California man says there's more than meets the eye in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. He is launching a multimillion-dollar ad blitz to try to find answers. Some people say he's crossing a very delicate line.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick reports on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The two ads suggest a government conspiracy and cover up, raising questions like why did a building two blocks from the World Trade Center Towers seem to implode?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was not hit by aircraft. It had no significant fire and no explanation for its collapse has been given.

FEYERICK: Another ad asking why plane parts at the Pentagon seem to have disappeared.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The photos show no cabin, no engines, and no tail.

FEYERICK: The 9/11 commission requested eyewitnesses to both events. A spokesman saying the official report, which makes no mention of any government conspiracy, speaks for itself. But the ads, paid for by California millionaire James Walters, are taking on a who killed JFK-like quality. And they're fueling efforts like 9/11 Citizenswatch, asking New York's attorney general to launch a criminal investigation into what they believe is a government coverup.

KYLE HENCE, 9/11 CITIZENSWATCH: I think there's clear evidence for convening grand juries, and examining the bodies of evidence that the independent community of researchers, and others -- family members, have brought forward. FEYERICK: Even those who dismiss the more outlandish conspiracy theories say the 9/11 report is incomplete.

(on camera): Many people in the rest of the country probably think there's closure on this. Is there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not really, because there's still a lot of unanswered questions.

FEYERICK (voice-over): Glenn Corbett is helping investigate the collapse of the Towers for the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

GLENN CORBETT, JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE: The ads seem to implicate bombs and explosives, and the use of missiles on both the Pentagon and the World Trade Center complex. And the evidence, really, just doesn't support that from what we've found so far.

FEYERICK: Not only did Walters shell out 3 million for the TV ads, which got a lot of air time before the presidential elections, he also bought newspaper ads, and helped bankroll a Zogby Poll. The results of which he found 66 percent of those requested want the 9/11 investigation reopened.

Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: All right. Now for something completely different. When was the last time that you read an encyclopedia?

GRIFFIN: Fourth grade?

PHILLIPS: Fourth grade. Well, A.J. Jacobs, believe it or not, has read the entire encyclopedia.

A.J., you just can't seem to get enough, can you?

A.J. JACOBS: I love it. It's fascinating.

PHILLIPS: We're going to talk to him, coming right up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Ahead on LIVE FROM, you'll meet the man who read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. Won't that be interesting? But first, CNN's continuing series of weight and body image. The men take center stage.

Here's Adaora Udoji.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL, MBO PATIENT: If you could just point me in the direction, maybe. ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Strolling in Central Park is a victory for 24-year-old Michael. A year ago, he could barely go outside, ashamed to be seen.

MICHAEL: I felt like I had become some sort of a monster.

UDOJI: He thought he was ugly, scrawny, that people mocked him.

MICHAEL: For months at a time, I would just run on a treadmill and eat just maybe an apple and a piece of bread in the whole day. And...

UDOJI: How long would you be on that treadmill for?

MICHAEL: Up to two hours a day.

UDOJI: Obsessed with physical imperfections, no one else saw, he dropped on out of school. Four years he spent a prisoner in his parents house often thinking about suicide. Then he found the Bio- Behavioral Institute and was diagnosed with body dysmorphic disorder, or BDD.

DR. FUGEN NEZROGLU, BIO-BEHAVIORAL INSTITUTE: I think that a lot of individuals feel that body dysmorphic disorder is a manifestation of vanity. And it's not. As I said, it's really people feel worthless.

UDOJI: They don't know why, but, she says, pressure for bodily perfection is all around. And American diatetic association study found, up to one-third of teenage boys wish for a stronger body.

Doctor Fugen Nezroglu estimates BDD effects 2 percent to 13 percent of all Americans, usually starting around 16. Muscle dysmorphia, or bigaxeia, (ph) another aspects overwhelming affects males. It's the opposite of anorexia, now matter how big their muscles, men see a small person. For some, it's extreme.

NEZROGLU: They can't go to class. They can't go to work. They are excessively exercising. They're using steroids, or protein shakes. They are avoiding certain foods.

UDOJI: She said BDD is treatable with behavioral therapy. Michael says now he's excited about living again. He's in therapy and also taking classes with dreams of becoming an architect.

Adaora Udoji, CNN, Long Island, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: Tonight on "AC 360," supermodel secrets for staying thin. Is that a diet of deception? That's tonight at 7:00 Eastern, right here on CNN. LIVE FROM's know-it-all, he's up next. There he is.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: Well, while the rest of us were reading "The Da Vinci Code" or one of Oprah's Book Club selections, my next guest was engrossed in titles like "Geomorphing To Immunity" or "United to Zoroastrianism" or his personal favorite, "Manege to Ottawa."

A.J. Jacobs read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. Avid reader, bored, or just simply out of his mind? A.J. wrote about his trivial pursuit in his new book, "The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest To Become the Smartest Man in the World." A.J. Jacobs joins me right now.

It's pretty intimidating sitting next to you. You should be doing what I'm doing.

A.J. JACOBS, AUTHOR, "THE KNOW-IT-ALL": Sure, I'm take your job.

PHILLIPS: All right. Are you crazy?

JACOBS: Well, you know, my wife thinks so. But I just felt that my -- after college, my brain had turned to mush, and I decided that I needed to do a mental triathlon. And this was my mental triathlon.

PHILLIPS: Did you ever start reading and start to fall asleep and...

JACOBS: A couple of times, yeah I'll admit to it. I have nothing against the Portuguese people, but I was reading about Portuguese literature and I said, "What the heck am I doing?"

PHILLIPS: Now, your dad attempted this, but he only got to the B's.

JACOBS: That's right. He made it to about Borneo or Botany Bay, so I want to finish what he started and remove that black mark from our family history.

PHILLIPS: Now, has this caused a bit of contention between you and Julie, your wife?

JACOBS: Yes. Well, part of the book is the "Cliff's Notes" to the encyclopedia. So, you know, you can always have something to say at a cocktail party.

But part is about my life and my eccentric family. And my wife -- unfortunately, I had so much information I couldn't help but share it. And after a while, she started fining me $1 for every irrelevant fact I inserted into conversation. So, she made a good bundle.

PHILLIPS: How much money did she make?

JACOBS: She -- enough to put our son through college.

PHILLIPS: That's great. All right, so as you're reading volume after volume after volume, what sticks out in your mind, if you can remember -- if your mind isn't mush again since college? What did you learn? JACOBS: Oh, way too much. I learned that the Egyptians not only made mummies of their cats, but they made mummies of mice so the cats would have something to eat in the afterlife, which I thought was very considerate.

PHILLIPS: That is very considerate. Smart.

JACOBS: Yeah. That the Bayer Aspirin Company invented heroin. I learned that Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author, was obsessed with the number 64 and wrote it on scraps of paper wherever he went.

So, I just learned the most bizarre -- I learned some profound stuff, too, but there's just so much bizarre stuff in the encyclopedia.

PHILLIPS: Well, I heard you tried out for "Jeopardy," but they wouldn't let you.

JACOBS: That's true. I wish it was because I was too smart, but they would not let me on because I interviewed Alex Trebek in my day job as an editor at "Esquire."

PHILLIPS: Oh, OK. So, in all fairness, you can't come on the show after you've, you know, talked to the host.

JACOBS: Right. Now we're best friends apparently, so he calls me every night with the answers. So, I was -- but did I go on -- in the book, I talk about some adventures, and I went on "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?"

PHILLIPS: Right. How did you do?

JACOBS: Well, they asked me the one question I did not know the answer to. So, it was...

PHILLIPS: And that was?

JACOBS: It was the meaning of the worth erythrocyte.

PHILLIPS: Erythrocyte.

JACOBS: All the doctors who are watching are rolling their eyes because it's a red blood cell. So...

PHILLIPS: You don't remember that from the encyclopedia?

JACOBS: Well, now I'll always remember it. So, at least I'll never forget that piece -- it cost me $32,000.

PHILLIPS: Jeez. So, you work for "Esquire." You've done a lot of things -- I mean, writing-wise and on NPR and all these different things.

Do you find yourself going back to the encyclopedia, things that you've learned, you know, kind of to connect with people? "Oh, yeah, you've been to such and such? Well, let me tell you about..." JACOBS: Absolutely. Wherever I am, these facts pop up. And I can't help -- if I'm at a fish restaurant, I'll talk about how the people of London ate fish out of the London Aquarium during World War II. So, I can't help it. Or I go to an Italian restaurant, olive oil was used in Egyptian times to help build the pyramids. It was used as a lubricant for heavy building materials.

PHILLIPS: I thought she was married to Popeye. That's not in the encyclopedia?

JACOBS: That didn't quite make the cut.

PHILLIPS: OK. So, I want to know what you think of volume -- I was looking through, you know, the volumes. What do you think of number 19, "Excretion to Geometry?"

JACOBS: That's a fine volume. Actually my favorite is the letter Q, though, because it was so short, just 200 pages. And I learned a great scrabble word, "Qa" -- just the two letters Q-A -- a Babylonian liquid measurement. So...

PHILLIPS: It's not question and answer, OK.

JACOBS: It doesn't have an ampersand in the middle, so...

PHILLIPS: All right. We have got a quiz for you.

JACOBS: Oh, my goodness.

PHILLIPS: Because I mean, I thought the volume number eight was your favorite, "Manege to Ottawa."

JACOBS: "Manege to Ottawa" is a fine volume. Absolutely.

PHILLIPS: And why exactly did you like this volume?

JACOBS: Well, I don't know. It seems to imply something about the Canadians, but -- which I don't know whether it's true or not.

PHILLIPS: All right. So, I have got a question for you. Are you ready?

JACOBS: OK.

PHILLIPS: All right. Page 369, in case you might remember.

JACOBS: Yes.

PHILLIPS: What is a mouflon?

JACOBS: A mouflon.

PHILLIPS: A mouflon.

JACOBS: That is an interesting question. I'm glad you asked. I did learn... PHILLIPS: This is calling stretch time, right, A.J.?

JACOBS: I was hoping you would ask from the "Z" volume, because that's more fresh in my memory.

I will say I learned in the "B" volume that our brains, after the age of 20, lose 50, 000 brain cells per day. So, I think mouflon might have been in the brain cells I lost yesterday.

PHILLIPS: So, you're dodging the question. There's your mouflon, buddy. Small, wild sheep of Corsica, Sardinia, and Cypress.

JACOBS: Oh, now I remember, yes.

PHILLIPS: Now it's all coming back.

JACOBS: That's right. I do know that oysters change their sex according to the temperature of the water. So, that's my animal fact for you.

PHILLIPS: So, the warmer the water, the more...

JACOBS: The more female they go.

PHILLIPS: Interesting. Does one taste better than another?

JACOBS: Didn't have that.

PHILLIPS: Wasn't in there.

JACOBS: That's right.

PHILLIPS: A.J., you're a piece of work. Here it is, "The Know- It-All: One Man's Humble Quest To Become the Smartest Person in the World." Well, what do you think: Are you the smartest person in the world now?

JACOBS: Well, I'm not as smart as Albert Einstein, but I think I'm up there with his lesser known cousin Alfred Einstein, who is a music historian who made it into the encyclopedia. So, I'm still holding out hope I'll make it into the encyclopedia.

PHILLIPS: A.J., stick around. I need some help with some scripts.

JACOBS: OK.

PHILLIPS: OK.

JACOBS: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Thank you.

GRIFFIN: You guys really got my erythrocytes going.

PHILLIPS: Those red blood cells. GRIFFIN: Next up, comedy and controversy. What's Bill Cosby saying now? The Cos sits down with CNN for some frank talk about race and child rearing. We'll take a look when LIVE FROM returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in New York. This tree-raising in Manhattan drew a lot of attention this morning. Workers lifted this towering Norway spruce into place at Rockefeller Center to usher in the holiday season. Check out that trunk. Well, this giant measures 71 feet tall, 40 feet wide, and it will be decorated for ceremonial lighting on November 30th.

GRIFFIN: Bill Cosby may have gained his fame and fortune telling jokes and funny stories. But lately, many of his stand-up routines have triggered more controversy and self-analysis than belly laughs. Cosby has been taking on the African-American community to task for what he says are a wide range of failures. CNN's Paula Zahn sat down with the crusading comedian.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Do you ever get tired of having to be funny?

BILL COSBY, COMEDIAN: It has been like this for 40 years, 41 years. It's been like this.

ZAHN (voice-over) Bill Cosby is one of America's beloved entertainers.

COSBY: Because he has found a way to make a living even though he is stupid.

ZAHN: For the past six months he has also become a lightning rod for controversy.

COSBY: Your strength and your empowerment, the more you invest in that child, the more you're not going to let some CD tell your child how to curse.

ZAHN: Cosby's out and out offensive against parental irresponsibility, juvenile delinquency and personal values in the low- income African-American community has led to harsh criticism.

COSBY: Do they really say something?

ZAHN: We met for his first in-depth interview about the controversy months after it began.

(on camera): Some of your harshest critics agree with what you're saying needs to be done in these communities. What they objected to was the airing of dirty laundry in public. They were mad at you.

COSBY: Let them stay mad as long as they don't have good sense. That's the other part that I said. I don't care what right-wing white people are thinking. How long are you going to whisper about a smallpox epidemic in your apartment building when bodies are coming out under the sheets?

ZAHN (voice-over): Cosby refuses to whisper. His message is loud and clear.

COSBY: I didn't take this as a job. I took this as an emotion. No, and I'm not stopping either.

This is about little children and people not giving them better choices. You can't blame other things yet. You've got to straighten up your house, straighten up your apartment, straighten up your child.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: You can see more of Paula Zahn's interview tonight on CNN. Be sure to watch "PAULA ZAHN" at 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific.

PHILLIPS: And a side note to that, the word is out Bill Cosby's animated classic TV show "Fat Albert" will release on DVD next month, all seven hours worth. Can't wait for that.

Well, coming up on our second hour of LIVE FROM, hoo-ah, airing "Saving Private Ryan." Hoo-ah! I've got to say it better. Will it put your local station in jeopardy with the FCC or is something else behind that drama? LIVE FROM's hour of power begins right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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