Thursday, June 30, 2005
A few reasons to listen to NPR
I often listen to NPR in the morning and the evening while making breakfast and dinner to have some news and information that is above the level the kids and I work at most of the day and to be able to talk with people I meet at the park or pool. I sometimes wonder why I bother, Dr. Dan Gottlieb and Voices in the Family generally gets my blood in a boil and the general liberal slant to most news stories can get my right of center hackles up. I guess in part it is sort of a know how the other half thinks so you can have better conversations thing for me. But there are also often interesting science and cultural news that you don't get most other places. I especially like Studio 360 (enough that I will even get up at 7 on a Saturday most weeks and sit with my coffee and some paper work and listen to it before I start my day).
Anyway tonight on All Things Considered there were a couple of fun items that made it worth the listen with out making my maternal blood boil or my conservative hackles rise.
1) They put sleep deprivation and sacrifice for your child during the first month of life into a new perspective. It could be worse I could have been an Orca whale, instead of just feeling like one.
It seems that the Orca new born, as well as other sea mammals like dolphins, have to keep moving to keep warm and avoid predators until they gain enough size and body fat they can't stop moving in order to sleep. If they did they might either freeze or become a snack so the mom keeps moving too, for a whole month neither really sleeps.
2) I learned something about how bacteria cultures are grown and a new innovation for being able to control and study them more effectively. I found myself wondering if this is the kind of thing my friend Steve does in the new research lab he is setting up and if this is a cutting edge technology he might be able to use, and if so if I might be able to see it in action some day.
3) I found out that our friend Peter Liethart is not the only reason to go to Moscow, Idaho some day. At least if I decide to retire in an RV.
Anyway tonight on All Things Considered there were a couple of fun items that made it worth the listen with out making my maternal blood boil or my conservative hackles rise.
1) They put sleep deprivation and sacrifice for your child during the first month of life into a new perspective. It could be worse I could have been an Orca whale, instead of just feeling like one.
It seems that the Orca new born, as well as other sea mammals like dolphins, have to keep moving to keep warm and avoid predators until they gain enough size and body fat they can't stop moving in order to sleep. If they did they might either freeze or become a snack so the mom keeps moving too, for a whole month neither really sleeps.
2) I learned something about how bacteria cultures are grown and a new innovation for being able to control and study them more effectively. I found myself wondering if this is the kind of thing my friend Steve does in the new research lab he is setting up and if this is a cutting edge technology he might be able to use, and if so if I might be able to see it in action some day.
3) I found out that our friend Peter Liethart is not the only reason to go to Moscow, Idaho some day. At least if I decide to retire in an RV.
