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The Brian Lehrer Show

Wednesday, October 09, 2002
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    Wisdom of the Ages

    The mania for school standards has spawned a whole array of new tests of children's intellectual, emotional, and mathematical capabilities. But a Yale researcher now says we've missed the most important quality: wisdom. Also: linguist and lefty hero Noam Chomsky.

Stealing Beauty

Now you can arrive like an emperor and not a rat: Penn Station will be moving to the old Post Office. Architect James Sanders, co-writer of "New York: A Documentary" with Ric Burns and author of Celluloid Skyline: New York and The Movies gives a history on the Penn Station.

Phoning on Forrester

Listeners comment on Forrester’s doubt that a gun control law could have prevented the Maryland serial killer.

A Match Made in ... the Senior Center

Julie Ferman, founder and CEO of Cupid's Coach, a web-based match-making service, pairs up the over-50s.

Chomping Words

Noam Chomsky, professor of Linguistics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and author of On Nature and Language (Cambridge University Press, 2002), discusses his new book and the war on Iraq.

KaZaAm!

Lisa Napoli, former columnist at MSNBC, reports on the record industry’s suit against the KaZaA, a digital music file-sharing technology similar to Napster.

Uncommon Indicators

The Brian Lehrer Show

The Brian Lehrer Show wants to hear how the economy is affecting the little things in your daily life. Share your stories and photos of the downturn.

Just Launched! The Uncommon Economic Indicators Video Contest. All the details here!

The Rocky Road Ahead

The Brian Lehrer Show

Ray Young, the chief financial officer of General Motors, talks about GM’s bankruptcy.

Then, Damon Lester, president of the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers, and Greg Williams, former owner of the recently closed Huntington Chevrolet in Huntington Station, NY., discusses the effect GM’s bankruptcy has had on dealerships and their employees.

Tweet If You Use Twitter

The Brian Lehrer Show

Farhad Manjoo, Slate's technology columnist and the author of True Enough: Learning To Live in a Post-Fact Society talks about what Twitter means and how different groups use it.

What's your take on Twitter? How do you use it? Comment below!

Don't Say That, Literally

The Brian Lehrer Show

John Flansburgh of the band They Might Be Giants discusses the running list the band keeps of "things we can no longer say." (a few examples: "my bad" "don't go there" "one hundred and ten percent" and "voted off the island")

What would be on your list of banned words or phrases? Comment below!

From Denmark with Love

The Brian Lehrer Show

Jesper Grunwald, senior managing editor with the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, talks about the Danish economy, biking to work, and why the Danes are allegedly the happiest people in the world.

Squatting, Then and Now

The Brian Lehrer Show

As former squats in the East Village make the transition to coops, making homes from abandoned housing is again an issue. Andrew Reicher executive director of Urban Homesteading Assistance Board, Frank Morales an Episcopal priest involved in East Village/Lower East Side squatting and homelessness activism since the late '70s, and Rob Robinson, a leader of the Housing Campaign of Picture the Homeless, discuss the return of squatting.

Video Picks

The Brian Lehrer Show

Check out some recent video clips of interviews with guests and Brian Lehrer's weekly Web video picks.