|
||||||
|
Story Archives of 'You Tell Us'
Is Internet Access a Fundamental Right?
By Katrina Ingraham on Monday, March 8, 2010.
There’s the right to free speech, the right to party, but what about the right to surf the web? A survey conducted for the BBC World Service has found that 87 percent of internet users, and 70 percent of non-internet users, feel that internet access should be considered a fundamental human right. 27,000 adults across 26 countries took part in the poll.
What Does "To Kill A Mockingbird" Mean to You?
By Robin Respaut on Monday, March 1, 2010.
Tomorrow we’ll bring you a special presentation of Word of Mouth. In conjunction with New Hampshire’s Big Read initiative, we’re taking a modern-day look at an old literary classic… Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Character Atticus Finch’s ambition to defend the undefendable has inspired many attorneys in of today’s courtrooms, including U.S. Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
Is Obesity A National Security Threat?
By Virginia Prescott on Thursday, January 28, 2010.
Last night, President Obama singled out First Lady Michelle Obama’s work in preventing childhood obesity. New Hampshire’s First Lady, Susan Lynch, is backing mandatory childhood obesity screening. Researchers, however, are finding that being overweight is dangerous not only on a personal level, but poses a national security threat. It's estimated that around 13-17 percent of young men and women of prime military recruitment age would fail weight requirements for enlistment. Among active duty military, obesity-related illnesses cause three times more lost time than the overall rate and cost an estimated two billion a year.
Former Surgeon General David Satcher, declared “a state of emergency when it comes to obesity." The alarm has stirred a group of retired senior military leaders to form a bipartisan non-profit called Mission: Readiness. Amy Dawson Taggart is the group's national director and joined us on the show today.
GOOD- Is Obesity a National Security Problem?
(Photo by Combined Media via Flickr/CreativeCommons)
What Does it Mean to be a Good Man?
By Virginia Prescott on Thursday, January 7, 2010.The steady decline of jobs in the traditionally male sectors of construction and manufacturing leaves many men struggling, and millions of families dependent on mothers for financial support.
Masculinity is also under revision after a crop of films, you tube videos and pop culture takes on the bromance – the murky rites of male friendships. From Wall Street traders to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, from prison inmates to stay-at-home dads to gay men fighting for the right to marry, what does it mean to be a man today?
Tom Matlack is co-creator, along with James Houghton and Larry Bean, of The Good Men Project: Real Stories from the Frontlines of Modern Manhood. Its a four-pronged effort, which includes a book of essays, an interactive website, a documentary film, and live events that encourage men to talk about their what being a good man means to them.
What does being a good man mean to you?
Comment below and we'll read your thoughts on the air!
Sticking to Resolutions
By Avishay Artsy on Monday, January 4, 2010.Remember those resolutions you made as the clock struck midnight on Thursday night? How are they coming along? Perhaps you've already made it to the gym a couple times or did helpful things for strangers. But there's a really good chance it won't last - according to a 2007 survey, 88 percent of resolutions fail.
Name That Decade!
By Virginia Prescott on Tuesday, December 15, 2009.Hard to believe that ten years ago Y2K doomsayers predicted mayhem when clocks struck twelve on January 1st, 2000.
The power stayed on and no planes fell from the sky. But who would have suspected that by the decades end that planes would have been weapons to attack America’s capitol and its largest city, two iconic buildings would have fallen, the U.S. would be fighting wars on two fronts and that the economy would have collapsed along with the newspaper business?
The Aughts, as I prefer to call them, have been a bumpy ride. But they also brought about hybrid cars, the election of a black president, the use of “google” and “to friend” as verbs, and revivals of ballroom dancing and gardening. Clearly, we can’t predict what is to come with a lot of accuracy, but we can look back.
We’re asking for your help in naming the decade that was, and here to toss around some labels for the Aughties is Brady Carlson, who has been watching much of it unfold from his perch as NHPR’s director of new media.
(Photo courtesy Dier via Flickr/Creative Commons)
If Print is Dead, What Do We Do With All The Books?
By Virginia Prescott on Monday, December 14, 2009.
Many published authors have a short list of words they despise. Yet few words strike fear in the heart of a writer’s as the word “mulch,” as in "to mulch a book". Nearly twenty five percent of books published each year get mulched, shredded and discarded. With more books being published each day, that figure is expected to climb, especially as busy Americans have less time to devote to reading an actual book.
Bruce McCall prefers parody to panic. He equates reading books to Jane Fonda workout videos... so passe. He joins us now to talk about his new book (!), 50 Things to Do with a Book (Now That Reading Is Dead).
Los Angeles Times: "Reading? Aren't books good for anything else?"
(Photo courtesy pteittinen via Flickr/Creative Commons)
Christmas Cards: Passe?
By Virginia Prescott on Wednesday, December 9, 2009.
This week at Word of Mouth we’ve asked the skeptics of Christmas gift shopping to question how we do the holidays. Next up on the holiday guillotine is Christmas cards. Yes, it’s the time of year when we dress up all the kids and pets in festive sweaters for a family photo. Seal that up with a cheerful note and a glittery card and pop it in the mail. But, in the age of email, Facebook and Twitter, have Christmas cards become passé?
Writer and blogger Jane Roper has been wondering whether it’s the year for her family to ditch the cards. She blogs for Baby Squared at Babble.com.
DoubleX: "Why Bother To Send Holiday Cards?"
(Photo by jspad via Flickr/Creative Commons)
What Happened to Second Life?
By Virginia Prescott on Wednesday, December 2, 2009.In 2006, word began to spread about a new world. A virtual world where you could do everything you do in normal life – take a college class, buy clothes from an American Apparel store, attend a concert put on by a real band.
It was called Second Life, and it pulled news media and everyday Americans in - even the character Dwight Schrute, from the NBC comedy The Office.
Newspapers were quick to jump on the story – Reuters assigned the Second Life beat to a full-time reporter - for a while at least. Reuters pulled its correspondent in October 2008. Toyota’s Scion came out in Second Life, and closed after. American Apparel closed up shop a year after opening a virtual store. Today, Second Life is by no means deserted, but it does feel differently.
Reporter Lauren Hansen checked in on Second Life for BBC News Magazine, and joins us with what she found.
We also hear from listners Chris Dahlen, a freelance writer in Portsmouth, NH, and composer Jan Pulsford, whose avatar is named JaNa KYoMooN.
BBC News: What happened to Second Life?
New World Notes: Five Facts About Second Life the BBC Doesn't Understand
Linden Labs: Mark Kingdon’s interview with the BBC
The New York Times: Portrait of an Artist as an Avatar
(Image courtesy janet.powell via Flickr/Creative Commons)
How Green Is Your Pet?
By Virginia Prescott on Monday, November 23, 2009.
There are few pleasures in life like being met at the door by your loyal dog, panting and eager to greet you. Or relaxing with a good book while a cat purrs on your lap. Our furry little friends bring happiness into our lives, but they also eat – a lot.
Some in the eco-minded set, ever vigilant about identifying the drags on the planet’s resources, are now setting their sites on household pets. Yes, like it or not, good old Fido and Fluffy are huge energy hogs. According to some estimates, the energy needed to grow food to feed a medium-sized dog is more than the energy used by two Toyota Land Cruisers.
Reporter Kate Ravilious investigated the ecological pawprints of our companion animals for New Scientist magazine, and joins us with what she dug up as part of our "next green thing" series.
New Scientist: How green is your pet?
(Photo by Sephiroty Fiesta via Flickr/Creative Commons)
