Category: News & Pop Culture

Fly free in Russia

The food and beverage service probably wasn’t the greatest, but I’m sure he had plenty of legroom:

A 15-year-old boy from the Urals suffered acute frostbite after riding the wing of a Boeing-737 plane on a two-hour flight from Perm to Moscow, Russian radio station Mayak reported on Monday.
After clinging on for the entire 1300-kilometer (808-mile) flight to Vnukovo Airport, the boy, named Andrei, collapsed onto the tarmac. His arms and legs were so severely frozen that rescuers were at first unable to remove his coat and shoes, the radio station said.

Seems he could have found an easier way to ride as a stowaway but then again I’m sure the views were terrific.
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Big steps taken in Little Rock

This is a few days past the official anniversary, but 50 years ago this week the schools of Little Rock, Arkansas were integrated.
NPR has had some great coverage on the historic event, including recent speeches from the nine students who entered Central High School on Sept. 25, 1957 with military escorts.
I’ve really enjoyed listening to their coverage throughout the month of September.

Listen to NPR’s All Things Considered coverage

Evo Morales on the Daily Show

Bolivian President Evo Morales was on the Daily Show this week and made some great points on equality and saving human life. Morales was a farmer without high school education and became the first indigent president of Bolivia.

“I understand we all have rights. It’s not just intellectuals or professionals who can become president. People who have other experiences, who have a working life as well can become president.”

I know that we’re different not only in our nations but among the nations… those differences among the nations must be respected. But what better among political leaders presidents or with social movement leaders than coming together to think about how we can support life and humankind. It is my sense that in this new millennium it should be the millennium of life. And from here or from Cuba, Venezuela, Europe or Africa we need to create and come together to save lives and humankind.
In recent days at the United Nations I have heard a lot of talk about global warming, climate change but they don’t say why and where all that is coming from.
There appear to be few political leaders or movements that say where is all this coming from. Perhaps from western culture. Perhaps excesses in relation to industry. Or perhaps because of excessive luxury, excessive consumption. And if we all think about humankind then we must figure how we can change the situation.
And I personally know there are presidents and countries who send troops abroad to save lives but there are also presidents and countries who send troops abroad to take away lives.
If we compare these two things and weigh these two things, surely we’re going to come to a conclusion that these policies must change and in this millennium the key guideline must be to save lives.
And please don’t consider me a part of the Axis of Evil.

Austin City Limits

ACL has announced their lineup for the upcoming season.
Looks like a great schedule.
They’ll start the season off with Norah Jones on Oct. 6.

Five years, several Grammys and millions of records later, Norah Jones makes a triumphant return to the ACL stage. The Texas-born chanteuse showcases both old favorites and songs such as “My Dear Country” and “Thinking About You” from her recent bestselling album Not Too Late.

I haven’t found a schedule yet, but Brian Bailey’s reporting the show, going into it’s 33rd year will also feature Wilco, Van Morrison, Regina Spektor, Lucinda Williams, and John Mayer this season.
More great reasons to have a DVR – if it works properly.

StoryCorps

KERA’s “Think” had a great show yesterday with StoryCorps founder Dave Isay.
The StoryCorps project records American stories from all walks of lives by inviting individuals to bring a family member to the booth and spend 40 minutes interviewing them.
Once the session is over, the participants receive a copy of the interview and one copy is sent to the Library of Congress for safe keeping so generations to come can listen and learn from the stories.
From Think:

StoryCorps, the revolutionary project to record American stories, is visiting North Texas and we want you to participate. We’ll spend this hour with StoryCorps founder and MacArthur Fellow, Dave Isay. We’ll also hear a few of the remarkable stories the project has collected since its inception in 2003.

You can listen to the show here
Or find out more and listen to other clips at the StoryCorps website.
Such a great idea. If you’re in the Dallas/Fort Worth area I’d really recommend trying to get a family member to join you during a StoryCorps interview.
Or read the DIY Guide and record stories for your own family.

UMHB 48, Texas Lutheran 0

UMHB put the spank on Texas Lutheran yesterday.
Very nicely done. This is the third game UMHB seems to have walked all over their opponents.
It may easily be one of the best teams, if not the best teams the school has ever produced.
Should we start planning a trip to Salem yet?

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