Category: New News

I guess it’s my week of posting about some of my favorite people:

From The Writer’s Almanac, November 28: It’s the birthday of the comedian who has interviewed Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Jimmy Carter, John McCain, Tom Cruise, and Tom Hanks, and on whose show Senator John Edwards announced that he was running for president of the United States. Jon Stewart, (books by this author) the host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, was born in New York City on this day in 1962. He was raised in New Jersey.

Stewart took over as the host of The Daily Show in January 1999. For the previous 15 years — since he’d graduated from college with a psychology degree — he had worked as a bartender, busboy, shelf-stocker, construction worker, soccer coach, puppeteer for children with disabilities, and he’d been employed by the State of New Jersey and the City University of New York.

All this time Stewart was trying to make it on the New York comedy scene. He lined up a gig at the Bitter End in Greenwich Village but was jeered off stage halfway through his act. Then he got a nightly 1:45 a.m. slot at the Comedy Cellar; his audience at first consisted mostly of the place’s bartenders and staff. He became a friend and frequent guest on David Letterman’s Late Night and was a candidate to replace him on NBC when Letterman left for CBS. Conan O’Brien got Letterman’s spot in 1993, but Stewart got his own MTV show, which had the second-highest ratings on the network but was cancelled after two seasons. In 1999, Comedy Central’s The Daily Show picked up Jon Stewart.

In 2007 a Pew Research poll indicated that Jon Stewart ranked as the 4th Most Admired Journalist — tying with Tom Brokaw, Brian Williams, Dan Rather, and Anderson Cooper. When Senator John Edwards announced his candidacy for president on The Daily Show, Stewart replied: “We’re a fake show, so I want you to know this may not count.”

Each morning on the day of the show, Stewart and the Daily Show team of writers gather for a morning meeting. They sift through material gathered via TiVo, Web sites, newspapers, and magazines looking for — as one show producer said — stories that “make us angry in a whole new way.” In an article titled, “Is Jon Stewart the Most Trusted Man in America?” New York Times writer Michiko Kakutani reported on The Daily Show ritual: At lunchtime, Stewart is scrutinizing the jokes that will appear at the top of the night’s show; by 3 p.m., a script has been written; at 4:15, there’s rehearsal, followed immediately by rewrites; and then show is taped in front of a live audience in the studio at 6 p.m.

Stewart, who proposed to his wife through a crossword puzzle with the help of puzzlemaster Will Shortz, is also the author of a few books, including America (The Book): A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction (2004), which held the No. 1 New York Times Bestseller spot for 18 weeks in a row. He hosted the Academy Awards in 2006 and 2008. 

A taste for irony has kept more hearts from breaking than a sense of humor, for it takes irony to appreciate the joke which is on oneself. – Jessamyn West

The Daily Show with John Stewart and its cast of news anchors, from Steven Colbert, Steve Carrel, (who are both famous, talented and successful with their own projects), Samantha Bee, Wyatt Cenac, and more–have been a near nightly tradition at our house for years. Whether or not you agree with the show’s political bias, it’s hard not to recognize intelligent comedy when you hear it. It takes intelligence and hard work to be funny, really funny, and not to take ourselves so seriously. Laughter gives us strength; and although sometimes what we’re laughing about hurts, writers have the power of saying boldly, loudly, “The emperor isn’t wearning any clothes!” 

The television show Sesame Street turns 40 this year.

One of my first school memories is my first grade teacher telling us about this new television show called Sesame Street. My mom was very busy with two little baby girls – my sister Laura was a baby, and Anne would be on the way soon, if she wasn’t already there. I pretty much ignored them. I was almost five years older than Laura, and really didn’t want younger sisters to interfere with my perfect little world of Barbies, dress up, and reading. I loved to write little books, too. I remember liking Sesame Street, but growing out of it pretty quickly. My sisters, however, loved it, and were a better age to appreciate it. While I watched it, my favorites were Kermit the Frog, and Bert & Ernie. I could never quite figure out why Bert was always so grumpy. Squidward has taken his place these days, to Spongebob’s Ernie. But Squidward and Spongebob never taught anyone how to read. It was revolutionary, too- Oscar the Grouch was the first anti-hero I had ever encountered; later came Max in Where the Wild Things Are. (If you don’t know what an anti-hero is, why don’t you research that and get back to me?)

If you have little brothers, sisters, nieces or nephews who are about 3 to 4 years old, please have them watch Sesame Street. My sister Anne could read a newspaper when she was 3 years old. Now, as an adult, she routinely tromps me and Laura on Facebook Scrabble on a regular basis, using words that I didn’t know existed. She’s a kindergarten/first grade teacher in Texas, and she rocks. Laura is super-smart, organizing intense school functions, raising her kids, and all-around amazing mom and friend.

If you didn’t watch Sesame Street when you were little, and feel like you missed out on some early reading opportunities, I’m sorry. But it’s never too late to get hooked. I’m not suggesting you start watching Sesame Street —only, it’s not too late to read. A lot. Of  books. Now. Don’t live in a trashcan of ignorance your whole life.

http://www.biomimicryinstitute.org/

There’s a new hybrid of science — biology and engineering — called “biomimicry” (by-o-mim-ih-cree – I make up my own pronunciation tricks, by the way…). “Mimicry” is means to copy, to mimic.  Now, biomimicry is what IDEAS do scientists and engineers take from nature to help humankind, such as

From: http://biomimicryinstitute.org/about-us/what-is-biomimicry.html

Biomimicry (from bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning to imitate) is a new discipline that studies nature’s best ideas and then imitates these designs and processes to solve human problems. Studying a leaf to invent a better solar cell is an example. I think of it as “innovation inspired by nature.”

The core idea is that nature, imaginative by necessity, has already solved many of the problems we are grappling with. Animals, plants, and microbes are the consummate engineers. They have found what works, what is appropriate, and most important, what lasts here on Earth. This is the real news of biomimicry: After 3.8 billion years of research and development, failures are fossils, and what surrounds us is the secret to survival.

Like the viceroy butterfly imitating the monarch, we humans are imitating the best adapted organisms in our habitat. We are learning, for instance, how to harness energy like a leaf, grow food like a prairie, build ceramics like an abalone, self-medicate like a chimp, create color like a peacock, compute like a cell, and run a business like a hickory forest.

The conscious emulation of life’s genius is a survival strategy for the human race, a path to a sustainable future. The more our world functions like the natural world, the more likely we are to endure on this home that is ours, but not ours alone.

Main Entry: mim·ic·ry

1 a : an instance of mimicking b : the action, practice, or art of mimicking
2 : a superficial resemblance of one organism to another or to natural objects among which it lives that secures it a selective advantage (as protection from predation)

Focus on the “superficial resemblance of one organism to another or to natural objects among which it lives that secures it a selective advantage…” Basically, what do some animals do to hide so they survive? They don’t want to get eaten. Well, who does? So…what do they do?

This lead me to think about: what do we humans do to survive in our natural habitat?

Well, many of you try to keep your hoods on. Or your hats. You don’t wear anything that is not the ‘normal’ clothing, so you don’t stand out. You won’t read your papers to the whole group, or do a presentation. You won’t raise your hand, take a risk–you might be wrong, and people might think you’re a geek, a nerd, you’re dumb, etc. Some of you survive by doing  just the opposite – standing up in class, shouting a bad word at the teacher (well, not me, but a guest teacher –you’re too smart to say a bad word to me) and you make your escape – you escape from the lesson, the learning, the assignment – and you spend your time in mental camouflage in the detention room.

You escape to get a drink of water, go to the bathroom (where we know you are texting your friends), and once in awhile, when you’re actually in class, or post an assignment, you take a risk–you show what you learned, or where you need help. And you hear another reminder to take off your hood. “Oh, my bad,” you say, yet–you were just trying to survive.

Perhaps it’s time to make a new survival plan: Mimick those behaviors of students who are successful. We just talked about this, but it bears repeating. I’m not trying to make you all into little robots who can recite or who know everything. I’m trying to help you survive the big, bad, world out there–build your background knowledge so you have skills and strategies to navigate the world. Look outside the classroom. Acting like a turtle and putting your hood on, or bellowing like a lion to bolt out of class doesn’t get you too far.

Those survival behaviors again: Ask Questions. Read Directions. Ask Questions again.

Wondering about the end of the world? Well, there’s a word for the study of that. (Anytime you read “ology” on the end of something it means the “study of,” or branch of knowledge.)

So here’s a handy word when it comes to the end of days:

Eschatology means the study of the end of days, the end of life, or the furtherest point of existence. For example, right before the bell rings during 7th period. On a Monday afternoon.

How can I be a famous actress?

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114100515

Why is the U.S. so violent?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPBHtjZmSpw

How can I raise happy children?

Still searching…

What is the difference between a legend and mythology? The big difference is in mythology, some sort of deity (god/goddess) is usually causing mischief or interference, or is simply present. Mythology is awesome, it’s true.  But legends can be SCARY! Along with folktales, fables and fairy tales, legends are used to scare the pants off of us. Take for example the legend of La Llorona, or the crying lady. Legend has it that a woman had a cheating husband–when she found out, her rage and jealousy so consumed her, she sought the worst kind of revenge, and drowned her children in the river. Immediately she was filled with remorse, and wanted to save her children, but it was too late. She is seen haunting the riverside, clawing at her eyes till she cries blood…

What’ the moral of the story? What do you think? Even if you have a cheating spouse, hurting your children is never the answer, the worst thing you can do? It’s a sad story, that’s for sure, but if I ever saw her,  that would scare the heck out of me!

 

http://www.lallorona.com/1legend.html