Saturday, September 11, 2010
No Tongue
Q: What do you call a person who speaks one language?
A: An American.
So after her on-air interview, and she had snapped a few pictures with the morning show crew, I found myself alone with Angela as she packed up the promotional photos she autographed routinely at appearances.
"Would you like one of these, too?" she asked.
"No thanks... Black and white could never capture the way I'm going to remember the color of your eyes." They seemed to pick up the brilliant emerald green of her dress.
Her smile was always radiant. Knowing this one was personal... Priceless.
"Seven languages, really?"
"Yes, of course there's Dutch and... "
"No wait! Please say a sentence in each and let me guess."
She was game. And I rattled off Italiano, Español, Français and Deutsch correctly before stalling somewhere in Scandinavia.
"I can't tell if that's Dansk, Norsk or Svensk," I shrugged.
"That's why I only count them as only one language!" she laughed.
"I really do have to go. Are you sure you don't want a photo?"
"I'd rather have your phone number."
"And why is that?" she teased.
"Wie sonst kann man unter so vielen Amerikanern lernen?" I asked in the only common tongue I'd studied: German. (How else can one learn among so many Americans?)
"Nobody will ever believe this," I thought as she scooted out the door on her way to appear on KABC's Good Morning LA, who had been promoting Holland's Angela Visser, the reigning Miss Universe 1989, all morning long.
Speaking In Tongues
Trailer from PatchWorks Films on Vimeo.
‘Learning in Two Languages’ series & 'Speaking In Tongues' site.
A new PBS documentary profiles four kids who are attending dual immersion public schools in San Francisco. The filmmakers are husband and wife team Ken Schneider and Marcia Jarmel, whose own kids go to a dual immersion school and speak fluent Chinese.
 | Dual Immersion Learning Audio Embed: BBC, PRI & WGBH's The World 9/10/10, Reporter: Patrick Cox. |
War Of Words
NPR reported readers of The Baltimore Sun objected to a recent front-page headline: "Opposing votes limn difference in race." Limn means "to describe" or "illuminate." A reader wrote in to say she'd never heard of it, and thought it "unbelievably arrogant & patronizing."
Beyond seemingly snobby, needlessly French and ineffectual headline writing, fact is there are many words in English that don't get used all that often outside of crossword puzzles and Scrabble tournaments... And all those words take up a lot of space.
Video: ABC/Nightline 9/9/10.
For an art project, a student in Britain has created a "Dictionary of Lost Words." It's filled with words that failed to make it into the Oxford English Dictionary.
There's freegan, a person who eats free food found in Dumpsters; nonversation, a pointless conversation; and wikism, supposedly factual information that is completely inaccurate.
Suffering from xenolexica?
It's the grave confusion experienced when faced with unusual words.
Filmmaker Bill Lichtenstein wrote about "Save the Words," a new web site from Oxford University Press, publishers of the Oxford English Dictionary, seeks to prevent the extinction of words that are endangered due to lack of use, which determines what in or out.
The latest edition of The New Oxford American Dictionary is out, with more than 2,000 new words and phrases, including "vuvuzela," "microblogging," "staycation" and "turducken" -- a culinary crime against nature of chicken stuffed inside a duck stuffed inside a turkey... Catherine Soanes, head of online dictionaries for Oxford University Press, talks about the new additions.
Beyond seemingly snobby, needlessly French and ineffectual headline writing, fact is there are many words in English that don't get used all that often outside of crossword puzzles and Scrabble tournaments... And all those words take up a lot of space.
Video: ABC/Nightline 9/9/10.
There's freegan, a person who eats free food found in Dumpsters; nonversation, a pointless conversation; and wikism, supposedly factual information that is completely inaccurate.
Suffering from xenolexica?
It's the grave confusion experienced when faced with unusual words.
Filmmaker Bill Lichtenstein wrote about "Save the Words," a new web site from Oxford University Press, publishers of the Oxford English Dictionary, seeks to prevent the extinction of words that are endangered due to lack of use, which determines what in or out.
The latest edition of The New Oxford American Dictionary is out, with more than 2,000 new words and phrases, including "vuvuzela," "microblogging," "staycation" and "turducken" -- a culinary crime against nature of chicken stuffed inside a duck stuffed inside a turkey... Catherine Soanes, head of online dictionaries for Oxford University Press, talks about the new additions.
 | Turducken & Vuvuzela Go Legit Audio Embed: Weekend Edition Sunday 8/22/10, Host: Rachel Martin. |
No Joy In Splitsville
 | Dodger Divorce Audio Embed: Berger & Prescott, podcast via Facebook. |
Friday, September 10, 2010
Let's Make A Deal
False Claims, Real Extortion
When To Cover The Crazies
Videos: MSNBC
Has media coverage of the planned burning of Qurans by the Rev. Terry Jones and his tiny Florida congregation given this provocative event too big a stage? Or has the coverage been reasonably proportioned in view of the larger controversy over a proposed Islamic center in New York City? Melissa Block talks with NPR's David Folkenflik about coverage of the event.
When To Cover The Crazies
 | Anything & Everything's Bad News Audio Embed: Dave Ross, KIRO-FM/Seattle, 9/9/10 |
Videos: MSNBC
| Blown Out Of Proportion? Audio Embed: All Things Considered 9/9/10. |
Not So Much God As Gravity
In a new book called The Grand Design, Stephen Hawking wrote the Big Bang was an inevitable consequence of the laws of physics. His coauthor appeared on MSNBC's Countdown to defend the conclusion.
Video: MSNBC
Video: MSNBC
In Your Face Reality TV
Home Shopping Hosts Brook & Claire's
Product Launch & Unexpected Return
From: The Amazing Race on CBS
Product Launch & Unexpected Return
From: The Amazing Race on CBS
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Love Thy Neighbor
@BorowitzReport 9/8/10: Bad news for that Koran-burning dude in Florida... It's available on Kindle.
| Inflamed Idiocy, Indestructible Ideas Audio Embed: Dave Ross, KIRO-FM/Seattle, 9/8/10. |
Videos: MSNBC
Gainesville Grits Its Teeth
 | In The Book Burner's Back Yard Audio Embed: BBC, PRI & WBUR's Here & Now 9/9/10, Host: Robin Young. |
Deja-Voodoo
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Indecision 2010 - Are You Ready for Some Midterms? | ||||
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Videos: Comedy Central & MSNBC
Coerced Self-Censorship
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Video: Newsy.com
The Communications Decency Act protects websites from what users post on them. Jeff Jarvis writes about media & news and teaches journalism at City University New York. Ryan Calo is a senior research fellow at Center for Internet & Society at Stanford Law School looks at the legal issues at stake... Beyond the fact that sex ads provide a third of Craigslist revenues.
 | Delousing The List Audio Embed: APM's Future Tense 9/8/10, Host: John Moe. |
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Money Pit
haglundc/Flickr
Economist James Kwak says "the American dream" of home ownership was always a bad dream with respect to building wealth... A lot of risk, for returns that are modest at best–over the last century, when homes only gained about one percent a year in value. Kwak is co-founder of the economy blog, “The Baseline Scenario,” and co-author, with economist Simon Johnson, of “13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover And The Next Financial Meltdown.”
| Audio Embed: BBC, PRI & WBUR's Here & Now 9/7/10, Host: Robin Young. |
French Fracas
Photo: Philippe Desmazes/AFP/Getty Images
A Muslim stonemason in France has been immortalized by having his face carved as a gargoyle on the side of a medieval cathedral. But a far-right group in Lyon has said the carving, which includes the inscription ‘God is Great’, is an affront to the Catholic Church. | Audio Embed: BBC, PRI & WGBH's The World 9/7/10, Reporter: Anita Elash. |
Fried Beer Won!
Now amateur chef Mark Zable's recipe of ravioli-like pockets of pretzel dough filled with Guinness has been named "most creative" at the Big Tex Choice Awards for fried foods.
However, the overall "Best taste" award went to a 'Fried Frito Pie' which consists of chili and cheddar cheese encased in chips and then battered and fried. It's probably best served with fried beer.
Video: NBC
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Un-Natural Selection
| Human Evolution's Next Steps Audio Embed: All Things Considered 9/6/10, Reporter: Joe Palca. |
Nevada Nastiness
She blames Reid for all NV's economic failings...
He uses her own words to show she's a whack job.
CNN's Jim Acosta somehow didn't make her run away, and got him to talk, too.
He uses her own words to show she's a whack job.
CNN's Jim Acosta somehow didn't make her run away, and got him to talk, too.
International Flavor
 | New World Flamenco Audio Embed: Echoes, an ambient music program on public radio with extensive archives of subscriber downloads. |
Monday, September 6, 2010
Subsidized Unemployed?
Free Market Arch-Hardliner host Lawrence Kudlow debated the theory and reality of whether extending benefits subsidizes and therefore creates more unemployment... Proponent Robert Barro, a Harvard University economist cites historical precedents drawn from the Regan era recession of the early 80's. Robert Reich, former Clinton Labor Secretary who now teaches at Stanford, doesn't buy any of it.
Video: CNBC
Video: CNBC
Door #1, or Door #2
The double-edged sword of "Bush tax cuts"
The Washington Post's: Five Myths About the Bush Tax Cuts
| So What Now? Audio Embed: Dave Ross, KIRO-FM/Seattle, 9/3/10. |
#41
Believe it or not, in the early MTV era, it never made the Top 40!
Huey Lewis and the News live, featuring Tower of Power Horns
Workin' for a Livin' first appeared on Picture This (1982)
Huey Lewis and the News live, featuring Tower of Power Horns
Workin' for a Livin' first appeared on Picture This (1982)
Sunday, September 5, 2010
GOP Heavyweight
Some interviews make more news after they air... Once what's said sinks in.
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, chairman of the Republican Governors' Association, has been described as the "most powerful Republican in American politics"... Because of his fundraising prowess, he's also mentioned as a possible Presidential contender. Here he talks about Mississippi's recovery from Hurricane Katrina, the aftermath of the Gulf oil spill and the significance of conservative figures Glenn Beck & Sarah Palin.
Dissecting Rewritten History
Living through extraordinary times makes vivid memories... Ones less likely to fade over time, unless you want to bleach out the bloodstains of the past and purposely twist those memories.
Video: MSNBC
| Exchanging Pleasantries Audio Embed: Weekend Edition Saturday 9/4/10, Host: Scott Simon. |
Dissecting Rewritten History
Living through extraordinary times makes vivid memories... Ones less likely to fade over time, unless you want to bleach out the bloodstains of the past and purposely twist those memories.
Video: MSNBC
For Stockholders, Only
A Quick Recovery For Balance Sheets...
Built On Carnage In The Workforce
The U.S. unemployment rate surged far higher and has remained higher than in other major industrial countries. It's now at 9.6 percent.
The big shift came when companies cut American workers more aggressively than in foreign firms faced with the current financial crisis.
Illustration from the article: Fortune 500s Sharpen Their Axes.
Built On Carnage In The Workforce
The big shift came when companies cut American workers more aggressively than in foreign firms faced with the current financial crisis.
| Banking Blood Money Audio Embed: Weekend Edition Saturday 9/4/10, Host: Scott Simon with Reporter: John Ydstie. |
Too Much Is Not Enough
Dave Matthews Band - Too Much - Crash (1996)
The Who - It's Not Enough - Endless Wire (2006)
New Money, Old MO
American currency reimagined by the San Francisco design firm Dowling Duncan... Part of the Dollar ReDe$ign Project.
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
Greed never went away, but Gordon Gekko is back 9/24/10.
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