The Brian Lehrer Show

Eiffel Tower at night (Chris Brookes/flickr)

They Think, Therefore They Lose

Friday, August 10, 2007

What’s the problem with France? One of the country’s new cabinet ministers says French people think too much. An American journalist living in Paris and a French journalist living in New York compare notes with guest host Marty Goldensohn. Also, Vauhini Vara of The Wall Street Journal and Lifehacker.com’s Gina Trapani on 10 things your IT department won’t tell you.

Listen to the whole show

Market Woes

As markets around the world have suffered losses over fear of a credit crisis, Floyd Norris, the chief financial correspondent for The New York Times, talks about where this problem stems from and whether this will lead to a global recession.

Runoff Worries

Wednesday’s heavy rainfall calls attention to NYC’s sewer system and the problem of stormwater runoff. Jarrett Murphy, investigations editor at City Limits, and Basil Seggos, chief investigator at Riverkeeper, discuss the issue and the options the city is exploring.

Riverkeeper’s "Sustainable Raindrops: Cleaning New York Harbor by Greening the Urban Landscape"
Jarrett Murphy’s report on stormwater runoff

Secrets of the IT Department

Wall Street Journal reporter Vauhini Vara spoke to technology and security experts to find out how to get around the rules of your office IT department and why in some cases you may not want to. She explains her findings with Gina Trapani, editor of the Lifehacker blog and author of Lifehacker, 88 Tech Tricks to Turbocharge Your Day.

Lifehacker, 88 Tech Tricks to Turbocharge Your Day is available for purchase at Amazon.com

Lifehacker

Vite Alors! Are the French Getting Faster?

In the action-oriented government of President Nicolas Sarkozy, has the old French habit of over-thinking become passé? Newsweek Paris bureau chief Christopher Dickey and France-Amérique editor Pascale Richard weigh in on the debate.

Follow Up: Blogging the Borough of Dreams

Queens bloggers have been overshadowed by their colleagues in Brooklyn. We attempt to remedy the oversight with Meg Cotner of OuterB and Joey in Astoria, Kel Sawyer of The Progressive Southside, and Steve Tiszenkel of Queens Central.

OuterB
Joey in Astoria
The Progressive Southside
Queens Central

Follow Up: Fighting Bankification

Council member Gail Brewer's Upper West Side district could be called the ground zero of bankification. She joins us to talk about her efforts to devise solutions to the excessive proliferation of banks at the expense of local businesses.