now posting regularly

Considering this is a big holiday week, let this week's NPR round-up be my gift to you.  As you can see by the number of bullet points down there, I'm in an awfully generous mood, huh?

• "Student Stress, Competition and the Educational “Race to Nowhere”"-- Thank you to On Point Radio for bringing this to my attention-- this is the education film I want to see.  (Sorry Waiting for Superman...)  The quote from the trailer that touched me the most went something like, "The things that get our kids to think and create get pushed aside."  Yup.  I'll be trying to find a showing of this in the area if anyone local wants to join me!

• "Neurotheology: This Is Your Brain On Religion"-- This Talk of the Nation piece is intriguing, and the small excerpt here certainly makes the case for the benefits of meditation.  I'm very interested in how religion and religious beliefs affect people, and this fell right into that category.

• "Predictions For 2011 — From 1931"-- You've got to check out this Planet Money piece, and I promise you'll be amazed by how close some of these folks got it eight years ago!

• "Flip Side Of New Penny Features Union Shield"-- I love that I heard this All Things Considered story just a day or two after Red showed me one of these new pennies.  She was sorting coins, one of her favorite activities (my little CEO in training...), and she brought to my attention that one of the pennies was "just not like the other ones!" 

• "How A 'No' Led To A 'Yes' In 1959"-- Oh Morning Edition, you and your StoryCorps, you get me every time.  A story to confirm that even players can get serious and commit!

• "It's Rude! It's Crude! It's Stupid! Just Sayin'"-- Scott Simon doing what he does best- making me chuckle.

• "Bones Found On Island Could Be Amelia Earhart's"-- This Associated Press piece was put up on the NPR Facebook feed and immediately caught my eye.  It will be a while until anything can be confirmed, but how great it would be to have this mystery put to rest.

• "Facebook Invasion Robs Sense Of Online Security"-- This Weekend Edition Sunday story got me so mad.  It's not even shocking, but still just got under my skin.

• "'Flash' Is The Key To A Joyful Mob's Success"-- Even though I can't sing, and I can't dance, I would so, SO love to be involved with a flash mob.  This All Things Considered story talks about the aspects of it that can be a little more challenging.

• "Weird And Wonderful Books: 2010's Hidden Gems"-- I love all these end of the year book lists, and I was overjoyed to see a book of short stories that I read (and was deeply impressed with) make it on this list!

• "'Bird Songs Bible' Tweets, The Old-Fashioned Way"-- If you're looking for a last minute gift for moi, this All Things Considered piece shares one that hits the mark.  (Don't worry, I'm just kidding.  I didn't get you anything either.)  We have one of the Cornell Labs books, that does have a chip in it that plays some birds' calls, but this one is the definitive tome.  It's definitely going on the wish list.

• "Readers Review: "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" by Dr. Seuss"-- The Diane Rehm Show devoted an entire segment today to discussing this piece of classic children's literature, and I enjoyed every second of it that I was able to catch.  This book is in our "12 Books of Christmas" pile this year, but it hasn't been unwrapped yet... only 3 nights to go, and I'm looking forward to it getting unveiled, since my two younger kids have never heard the book!  They have seen the old animated special, though, so it will be instantly recognized.

Happy NPR to all, and to all a good local station (yay WAMU!),