Patt Morrison schedule for Friday, August 10, 2012

GUEST HOST IS KPCC’S ALEX COHEN – PATT MORRISON RETURNS MONDAY, AUGUST 13TH

 

1:06 – 1:30 - OPEN

 

 

1:30 – 1:39

Slate Explainer Brian Palmer ponders why famous killers have three names

America’s past is littered with infamous killers like Lee Harvey Oswald, John Wilkes Booth, John Wayne Gacy, and most recently, Wade Michael Page, who committed a mass shooting at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Slate’s Brian Palmer, no middle name, looked at why history’s notorious murderers often become known by three names.

 

Guest:

Brian Palmer, writer for Slate and the Washington Post

 

 

1:41:30 – 1:58:30

Airline luggage – lost and found

Airlines are losing your luggage at the lowest rates since statistics have been kept. According to SITA, the airline-owned entity that tracks baggage handling mishaps, better than 99 percent of all passengers received their bags in the right place at the right time in 2005. That’s an error rate of nine lost bags per thousand, down from the high in 2005 of 18 per thousand. Are you buying the statistics? Is this merely a reflection of fewer checked bags since it costs more to check bags now than it used to?

Guests:

Brett Snyder, “The Cranky Flier” at Crankyflier.com

UNCONFIRMED
Patrick Smith, author of commercial pilot, industry expert

 

2:06 – 2:19

Does separating boys and girls help them learn better?
One of the ongoing and growing controversies in the new academic reality in the aftermath of the No Child Left Behind reforms is the proliferation of single sex public education. Proponents believe that separating boys and girls for certain classes in mixed gender schools allows the curricula to be catered to the way they believe each gender learns. Dr. Leonard Sax, founder of the National Association for Single Sex Public Education believes that with proper teacher training for single-sex educational environments, girls are more likely to take classes in math and science and boys are more interested in subjects like music, drama and foreign languages. But the opt-in practice has its detractors as well; including the American Civil Liberties Union, which has launched a national campaign called Teach Kids, Not Stereotypes and sent cease-and-desist letters to schools in five states that are implementing the practice. Critics say that schools that are currently implementing single-sex public education are doing so in a way that violates both the U.S. Constitution and Title IX, a federal statute that protects against sex discrimination in schools. Parents and school officials want the best for kids, but how can putting boys and girls in separate classes improve their education? Would you opt to put your kids in single-sex classes? Why?


Guests:
Amy Katz, cooperating attorney with the ACLU Women’s Rights Project

Leonard Sax, founder and director of the National Association for Single Sex Public Education

Edward Colación, principal of Central Los Angeles Middle School #3, a school with an opt-in single-sex instructional focus

 

2:21:30 – 2:50 - OPEN

 

 

 

2:50 – 2:58:30
Got wishes? Summer’s biggest meteor shower is here
The Perseids meteor shower is our solar system’s annual free August fireworks. The celestial show can have a theoretical peak of 90-100 meteors per hour at locations without light pollution and it brings thousands of sky watchers out to places like The Griffith Park Observatory’s annual viewing event. The Perseids begin slowly every July and build to a peak around every August 12^th. So why is 2012 anything special? In 2011, the Perseids fell on the night of a full moon, which meant that most of the ‘shooting stars’ - actually particles of interplanetary dust leftover from the comet 109/P Swift-Tuttle that generate streaks of light as they pass through Earth’s atmosphere - were washed out by the bright light of the moon. But this year the show is ripe for viewing; the 2012 Perseids peak the night of Sunday, August 12^th, which falls only a handful of days from the darkness of a new moon. For the best possible show be prepared to drive far from Los Angles’ considerable light pollution, however. Joshua Tree, anyone? Will you bring out your lawn chair and sleeping bag for the Perseids this year?    

Guests: TBD

 

 

 

 

 

 

Producer - Patt Morrison
89.3 KPCC - Southern California Public Radio
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626-583-5171  – office
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jarmstrong@kpcc.org