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The Brian Lehrer Show

Monday, April 09, 2007
  • (<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sugarpond/239781227/" target="_blank">sugarpond</a>/flickr)
    (sugarpond/flickr)

    The Human Hive

    Identity is harder to define in a digital age. Technology expert John Henry Clippinger says the internet and social networks are changing the very meaning of individualism. Plus: The Don Imus flap; looking for a pattern in the city’s recent building collapses; whether Hillary Clinton should act like the underdog in the Democratic primary; and a live-action thriller talk show host from Staten Island.

    See Brian's video picks

News Radar

Brian talks with listeners about what they think are the day's most important stories.

Top Dog, Underdog

Jonathan Alter, senior editor and columnist for Newsweek magazine, thinks Hillary Clinton's strategy should be to act like an underdog to beat Barack Obama.

I-Mess

Lori Tharps, co-author of Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America and writer of the blog My American Melting Pot, takes on the Don Imus flap.

Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America is available for purchase at Amazon.com.

The Human Hive

John Henry Clippinger, senior fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School and the author of A Crowd of One: The Future of Individual Identity (PublicAffairs, 2007), says technology is challenging the primacy of the individual over the social group.

A Crowd of One: The Future of Individual Identity is available for purchase at Amazon.com.

Beware of Historic Building

Does the recent spate of building collapses say anything about the city's building code? Patricia Lancaster, commissioner of the city's Department of Buildings, Ric Bell, executive director of the American Institute of Architects, New York Chapter, and Lockhart Steele, publisher of Curbed, a blog about New York real estate discuss the issue.

B.O.B.

Sara Valentine, performer and performance curator who represented Staten Island in P.S.122's Best of the Boroughs (B.O.B.) Festival with Little Miss Big Mouth, a "live-action thriller talk show."

Visit Sara Valentine’s Little Miss Big Mouth blog.

This week's other B.O.B. representatives on The Brian Lehrer Show:
Tuesday - Okwui Okpokwasili
Wednesday - Edith I. Freni
Thursday - Nia Love
Friday - Kwikstep

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.

Cast your vote for our video contest semi-finalists.

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.