now posting regularly

Ooh, another fantastic week for NPR, and I can even happily say that I got to listen to a dear friend on one broadcast! Let's get right to business:

• "Virginia Islamic School's Expansion Met Protests"-- I'm not sure how to react to this story from Weekend Edition Sunday, because it's truly one to ponder. There are many factors in play here, even if all the parties involved won't openly admit it. I can honestly say that I understand, at various levels, several perspectives of this issue, but I don't have any idea how something like this can come to a resolution that all parties will welcome. Very, very interesting.

• "Lancet Renounces Study Linking Autism And Vaccines"-- After reading this on NPR's health blog (via the Facebook fan feed), all I can say is that it's about time. However one may feel about the possibilities of a connection between autism and vaccines, it's been clear, for a very, very long time, that the 1998 paper first making this link was flawed and questionable. While I agree that more research into the potential causes for autism are clearly needed, I do hope that they will be presented to the public with more responsibility than this one was.

• "Geek's Dream Lab Could Create Jobs In Michigan"-- This is another story for my hubby. I absolutely know that when he hears this one, he'll be wishing he could visit. (And I'm thinking that he would love to bring JAM along!) This is a really cool short piece from All Things Considered.

• "Cities take a spin with bike sharing"-- Not that I'm too talented on a bicycle, but I just love, love, love this idea! The money quote from this piece from Marketplace: "And people ask me all the time, is it like Zipcar on bikes? I always say no, it's Zipcar on steroids." Yeah, baby!

• "Guns, Tumors And The Limits Of The Human Eye"-- Another really fascinating story from All Things Considered. And after you listen to the story, you've got to check out the online quiz to test your own eyes. I thought it was crazy hard. I should definitely not be in any of these uber-important screening jobs, that's for sure.

• "Can You Tell Your Life Story In Exactly Six Words?"-- Yay! I love this challenge! I joked about it once and gave it an authentic go two years ago. This Talk of the Nation piece speaks with two editors of the "Six Word Memoirs" collections. These sound like the perfect books to have sitting around to gaze at when you have a free moment and want to think about concise declarations. This one's going on the wish list, since it's all about authors. Too cool.

• "Environment: Global Water Security"-- This week a fantastic friend, Geoff Dabelko, participated in a panel discussion on The Diane Rehm Show about an issue that he specializes in- the connections between water and security on the international scale. I can't say that I understand all of the intricacies of this discussion, but these panelists surely are experts in their field, and the issue is most definitely worthy of the attention. Give it a listen, and you can imagine how often I'm hugely impressed by my pal's knowledge and career experiences.
  

Happy to be giving props to NPR,