Shia and Sunnis – Exploring the Differences

NPR.org is running a 5 part series exploring the Muslim world’s sectarian divide.  Kicking off today, “The Partisans of Ali” traces the differences between Shia and Sunnis from the origins in the 7th century to the present conflicts and how the US presence in Iraq has affected the surrounding areas.  Read more here.

Valentines Votes are in…

NPR.org asked you what your favorite love songs were, and you answered.  Now you can hear them and read listener submitted stories.  Is yours on there?  Disagree with the picks? let us know!

read and listen here.

Eisenhower Hour Special Valentines Program: Love in the 50’s

Dr. Bob celebrates Valentines Day early this year with his special Love in the 50’s.  Hear love songs from Elvis, Nat King Cole, the Platters, and more. Celebrate Valentines early this Friday at 11a.m. and Sunday at 6p.m. on WKMS.

Let us know what you thought of the program with a comment below!

Special Program this Friday: the Philosophy of Peaceful Disobedience

Tomorrow at noon WKMS airs a Black History Month special titled “the Philosophy of Peaceful Disobedience.” This one-hour program features reflections on Dr. Martin Luther King’s inspiration for non-violent change, Mahatma Gandhi of India. One of Dr. King’s speechwriters, Rev. Vincent Harding and Gandhi’s grandson, Dr. Arun Gandhi, reflect on peaceful disobedience.

To let us know what you think of the program, or to share your story with us, comment below!

Download the Radiolab Podcast

Radiolab is available for download at http://feeds.wnyc.org/radiolab. If you missed the series, or if you have a favorite segment you’d like to hear again, here’s your chance.

What did you think of the series? Leave a comment and let us know!

Haves and Have Nots – This week on

All this week Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Talk of the Nation consider income inequality in America.  You can follow the series online here. 

What do you think?  Is it “fine and well if the rich are getting a lot richer, as long as most other people make some economic progress and have the opportunity to make a lot more,” or has something “gone awry in our economic system, threatening the underpinning of the American Dream” ?

The Dog Ate It…

Writer’s Almanac noted that today’s the seventieth anniversary of the publication of Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, and that the first manuscript was destroyed by Steinbeck’s dog just before completion.  In today’s digital world, it’s horrifying to imagine losing even a few digital photos, and manuscripts are often backed up in multiple places (my own writing resides on no less than three seperate computers, plus hard copies). The day of “the dog ate it” is thankfully gone for many writers, but the adventure of finding that lost manuscript are still driving some collectors (see The Guardian’s First Drafts article). 

There’s also a book with some amusing antecdotes related to Steinbeck’s dogs, including what happened after the manuscript became lunch (Slater, John F. “‘My Dog Ate It’.” Readings on John Steinbeck. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven P, 1996. 125.  Excerpted from Slater’s “Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men” in A Study Guide to Steinbeck: A Handbook to His Major Works. Ed. Tetsumaro Hayashi, 1974. 130-31. ). A quick trip to the library may yield a followup post there. 

In the meantime, do you back up your work, or has the dog gotten away with papers of your own?

Tom Fenton’s Not Convinced…

In his latest post on theworld.org, former foreign correspondent for CBS News Tom Fenton expresses concern over the media’s portrayal of the war in Iraq.  From his journal:

The American public is getting an increasingly limited and distorted view of what is going on in Iraq because so little first-hand reporting is now possible or even attempted by the American media. This is a particularly vexing problem for television journalists who sometimes risk their lives to do first-hand reporting and then find that their companies are reluctant to broadcast their reports.

Go get all the details here, and leave a comment on what you think.

Happy Groundhog Day!

Enjoy this week’s snow, according to Phil the groundhog it’ll soon be gone. Punxsutawney, PA’s rodent-in-residence has predicted an early spring this year. If you couldn’t be among the masses who traveled to witness the forecast firsthand, you can still get your groundhog fix courtesy of this ad campaign from Visit PA. Watch humans dressed as Phil and his “shadow” journey across the country to make it back to Pennsylvania in time for this morning’s proceedings.

If you’re wondering where we came up with this wierd tradition, here’s a little background (mainly from  wikipedia):

In traditional weather lore, if a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day and fails to see its shadow because the weather is cloudy, winter will soon end. If the groundhog sees its shadow because the weather is bright and clear, it will be frightened and run back into its hole, and the winter will continue for six more weeks.

Medieval French, German, and Celtic peoples all marked this tradition on Candlemas day.  Superstition told that if the weather was nice on that day, the second half of Winter would be stormy and cold.  A Scottish legend put it this way:

As the light grows longer
The cold grows stronger
If Candlemas be fair and bright
Winter will have another flight
If Candlemas be cloud and rain
Winter will be gone and not come again
A farmer should on Candlemas day
Have half his corn and half his hay
On Candlemas day if thorns hang a drop
You can be sure of a good pea crop

 The belief then developed that a hedgehog or a marmot fleeing from his shadow indicated the power of the oncoming season, and the animals became local stars for a day. Without any hedgehogs in America, people adopted the groundhog as the new world’s weather forecaster.  

For the early Christians in Europe, it was also the custom on Candlemas Day for clergy to bless candles and distribute them to the people in the dark of Winter. A lighted candle was placed in each window of the home.  

The weather continued to be important to the early Christians.  If the sun came out on February 2, the day halfway between Winter and Spring, it meant six more weeks of wintry weather.

The earliest known American reference to Groundhog Day can be found at the Historical Society of Berks County in Reading, Pennsylvania. The reference was made Feb. 4, 1841 in Morgantown, Berks County, Pennsylvania storekeeper James Morris’ diary: “Last Tuesday, the 2nd, was Candlemas day, the day on which, according to the Germans, the Groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he pops back for another six weeks nap, but if the day be cloudy he remains out, as the weather is to be moderate.”