Etc...

Are you embarrassed yet?

The deadline for filing 2004 income tax returns is a month away. In most cases, however, if you miss it - or don't pay on time - no one need know but you and the folks at the revenue service . Now, contrast that with Rajahmundry, a city in southern India. As of last week, according to its best calculations, residents were $1.15 million behind in remitting the property taxes they owed. Demands for payment were being ignored. So was an offer to waive penalties and interest on the unpaid levies. What to do? And then in a flash of inspiration , the authorities decided the time had come to make the nonpayers face the music. So they hired drummers to bang away outside each delinquent's residence until he paid in full.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame feted three bands and two solo artists at this week's 20th annual induction ceremony, held in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. The band U2 and singer Percy Sledge were among the greats voted into the hall (which is in Cleveland) by about 1,000 recording executives, fellow musicians, and critics. An artist becomes eligible 25 years after his or her first recording. U2, which is still going strong, made it in at the first availalble opportunity. The 2005 inductees:

The Pretenders New wave rock band featuring Chrissie Hynde, one of the first women to front a popular rock band
Buddy Guy Blues guitarist called by Eric Clapton, "without a doubt, the best guitar player alive"
Percy Sledge R&B singer/songwriter, best known for his 1966 hit "When a Man Loves a Woman"
The O'Jays R&B vocal group with nine chart-topping songs,among them "Love Train"
U2 IdealisticIrish rock quartet whose leader, Bono, believes rock 'n' roll can be a force for change
- www.rockhall.com/ Associated Press