Actors’ inequity

Not with a “Bang,” but a whimper: Production of CBS’s hit show, “The Big Bang Theory,” has been delayed by a contract dispute with its top actors, who are seeking a significant salary boost.

The actors, who portray brilliant but nerdy physicists and engineers, also are demanding that the bullies on the cast of “NCIS: Los Angeles” stop taping “Kick Me” signs on their backs and giving them atomic wedgies.

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Yes, chef: The Food Network is offering a new free smartphone app that taps into the knowledge of its resident chefs, including Alton Brown and Giada De Laurentiis, presenting recipes, tips and other tools for the home chef.

Paula Deen, who recently launched her own food channel, also has a similar app that prompts you while cooking with suggestions like, “Add some more butter,” “Bacon! Bacon! Bacon!” and “C’mon, Hon. Put in more butter than that.”

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Don’t know much about history: On this day in 1873, inventor Andrew S. Hallidie successfully tested a cable car he had designed for the city of San Francisco.

Hallidie said he didn’t invent the cable car so much to provide a vital transportation mode in the hilly city but because he needed the cable cars to market a new San Francisco treat he had invented: Rice-a-Roni.

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