Patt Morrison for Tuesday, 12/08/09

PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

1-3 p.m.

 

CALL-IN @ 866-893-5722, 866-893-KPCC; OR JOIN THE CONVERSATION ONLINE ON THE PATT MORRISON BLOG AT KPCC-DOT-ORG

 

 

1:06 – 1:19

Global climate conference - all eyes on Copenhagen

What's being touted as the last, best chance for an agreement to protect the world from global warming opened Monday in Copenhagen.  As delegates from 192 nations gathered for the two-week conference, the U.S. EPA announced it has concluded that greenhouse gases are a danger to Americans and must be regulated. With the Obama administration seemingly ready to act on climate policy, the possibility appeared to increase that a deal might be struck aimed at weaning countries off fossil fuels and other pollutants.

 

Guests:

TBD

 

 

1:21 – 1:39

Can you trust your nurse?

Screening shortcuts in the midst of a nursing shortage are allowing for many unlicensed nurses to avoid supervision or consequences by jumping from one temporary nursing position to another.  Investigative reporting operation ProPublica has uncovered some damning evidence of everything from professional indiscretions to major safety violations in the nursing field. How is it possible that nurses that have been reported for falling asleep on the job and stealing from patients are still being placed by staffing agencies? Why aren’t temporary staffing firms being held accountable to anyone but their clients?

 

Guests:

UNCONFIRMED

Tracy Weber & Charles Ornstein, from the L.A. Times & ProPublica

 

 

1:41 – 1:58:30

The latest in dental technology

For many, the idea of a trip to the dentist conjures up the sadistic Orin Scrivello character from Little Shop of Horrors, but surely dental technology has developed far beyond guess-and-check methods involving laughing gas…or has it? Patt continues KPCC’s special series on dentistry and checks in with a dentist and periodontist for the latest and greatest in dental technology, from titanium to bone grafting and stem cells. Why are we still drilling teeth, what new materials are out there and how long before stem cells are used to stamp out gum disease? They answer our questions and yours.

 

Guests:

Dr. Sigmund Abelson D.D.S., Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs and professor of clinical dentistry at USC’s School of Dentistry
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-         newest technological advances have been in optical imaging (Cad/Cam)/milling machines, saliva testing and  laser technology to replace drilling

-         Dr. Abelson may refer to a “prepared tooth,” which means it a nice way of saying it’s been drilled

 

Dr. Michael Zidile, periodontist

CALL HIM

 

 

2:06 – 2:30

"Christmas Blather" -- holiday shopping reports -- contradictory and useless

"We won't know if holiday shoppers were naughty or nice until well after the Christmas trees have been mulched. For true insight, we'll have to wait for the quarterly earnings results of major retailers, when we will see how much stuff they sold and how much green stuff they got to keep. But in this age of ceaseless aggregation and dissemination of information, it's likely the updates will continue unabated. My survey predicts the volume of online holiday retail-sales discussions was up 6.2 percent on Black Friday, 17.4 percent on Cyber Monday and will finish up 4.9 percent for the whole season."  So says Dan Gross, who's been writing about the contradictory and mostly useless retail reporting for Slate and Newsweek, as he tries to make sense of all the numbers.

 

Guests:

Daniel Gross, the Moneybox columnist for Slate and the business columnist for Newsweek. His latest book, "Dumb Money: How Our Greatest Financial Minds Bankrupted the Nation," has just been published in paperback.

CALL HIM:

 

 

2:30 – 2:58:30

Our Front Pages - the best of "The Onion"

“Canada signs nonaggression pact with the United States.” “Secondhand smoke causes secondhand coolness.” “New Starbucks opens in restroom of existing Starbucks.”

There is only one publication that could produce eye catching headlines like these, and win awards for it. The Onion could be deemed the last bastion of reliable, unbiased, and definitive news reporting in a world dominated by superficial, mediocre, non-onion-related media outlets. For the past 21 years The Onion’s media empire has expanded from a humble local weekly to a national print readership, to more recent a booming website that attracts seven million people a month. Now they have released "Our Front Pages," the highly anticipated compilation of their best hilarious headlines.

 

Guests:

Joe Garden, writer and features editor for "The Onion"

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Jonathan Serviss

Producer, Patt Morrison Program

Southern California Public Radio

NPR Affiliate for Los Angeles

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626.585.7821, office

415.497.2131, mobile

jserviss@kpcc.org / jserviss@scpr.org

www.scpr.org