Ken Levine on celebrities who give their kids ridiculous names like Sunday, Apple, Pilot Inspektor, and Reign Beau.
Ken Levine on celebrities who give their kids ridiculous names like Sunday, Apple, Pilot Inspektor, and Reign Beau.
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Categories: linkomatic

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9:00 AM
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Categories: where's the show?
After Elizabeth Mateo had back surgery, she discovered that the doctor had left her a little something to cheer her up.
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7:59 AM
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Today's stories include a suspect the cops wouldn't pick up, a woman who really didn't want to do jury duty, and a surprise during a robbery at a pizza place.
Listen, then click here to subscribe to these podcasts via iTunes!
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12:02 AM
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Categories: knuckleheads, podcasts
You can't make this stuff up. Because there aren't enough dolls that teach young girls how to be skanks...

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12:00 AM
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Categories: picture of the day
Both presidential candidates and Secretary of Defense Bob Gates have vowed to put more US troops in Afghanistan to fight the Taliban, which we didn't finish off at the end of 2001 because we turned our heads towards Iraq. With more bad news coming from that region in the last couple of weeks, I spent some time today on WLS/Chicago talking with Anna Mulrine, senior editor at US News, who is just back from seeing for herself what's going on in Afghanistan. Listen.
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7:37 PM
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Categories: podcasts, war/terrorism

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12:03 AM
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Categories: where's the show?
Try this one next time you're at the pool...
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12:00 AM
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Categories: picture of the day

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12:38 PM
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Categories: movies, television
This morning on WLS/Chicago, I talked with Daniel Gardner about his new book, "The Science of Fear: Why We Fear The Things We Shouldn't -- And Put Ourselves In Greater Danger."
From tomatoes with salmonella to crime in our cities, avian flu to airline crashes, there's a lack of perspective on what matters and what we really should worry about. The media and various government agencies share responsibility for exploiting those fears, along with Americans who know nothing about statistics and how they can be exaggerated.
Listen, then get the book.
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12:13 PM
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Categories: podcasts


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12:03 AM
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Categories: picture of the day, where's the show?
Today's stories include too many people mooning a train, a bad giveaway at the lake, and a manhole problem in Michigan.
Listen, then click here to subscribe to these podcasts via iTunes!
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12:02 AM
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Categories: knuckleheads, podcasts
Today on WLS/Chicago, I talked with Brooks Jackson, director of FactCheck.org, the group that listens to what politicians say, and then determines whether they're telling the truth, bending the truth, exaggerating facts, or simply lying.
We talked about some of the egregious claims John McCain and Barack Obama have promulgated in their speeches and campaign ads, and whether they're living up to their promise of a different kind of presidential race this year but seem willing to say anything to get your vote. We also discussed whether politicians in general believe what they say, and whether they distort more information about themselves or their opponents.
Jackson and his FactCheck.org crew provide a terrific public service, a job far too many media outlets fail to even undertake, let alone execute so well.
Listen.
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4:13 PM
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Categories: campaign '08, podcasts

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6:00 AM
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Categories: poker/vegas
Today's stories include a bee vs. a helicopter, a toilet seat attack, and a lesson in why you shouldn't steal from people you know.
Listen, then click here to subscribe to these podcasts via iTunes!
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12:02 AM
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Categories: knuckleheads
Welcome to beauty pageant school, ladies. Today, we'll learn how to make an entrance without falling down. As you'll recall, Miss USA slipped and fell while being introduced at the 2007 Miss Universe pageant. We must do everything we can to make sure it doesn't happen to a representative from the same nation two years in a row!
Cut to Sunday night on NBC...
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12:00 AM
1 comments
Categories: picture of the day, television
Today on WHAS/Louisville, I talked with TV critic Aaron Barnhart about the death of Tony Snow and how Fox's coverage of it compared to the attention NBC paid to Tim Russert. We also discussed what a CNN exec had to say about the impact of an "SNL" skit on their campaign coverage and -- with Aaron at the TCA Press Tour in Hollywood -- the new series HBO is promoting, the slew of docu-series coming soon, and what went wrong with his Elvis Costello interview.
Note: While this audio is certainly listenable, I apologize for a couple of drop-outs and other quality problems.
Listen, then click here to subscribe to these podcasts via iTunes!
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11:32 AM
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Categories: podcasts, television

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5:18 AM
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Categories: poker/vegas

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12:03 AM
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Categories: where's the show?
Today's stories include an honor ceremony with no honorees, a little magic marker deception, and a guy who tried to sell his vote.
Listen, then click here to subscribe to these podcasts via iTunes!
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12:02 AM
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Categories: knuckleheads, podcasts
Art Benjamin is a math professor with the remarkable ability to do complex problems in his head. I met him at James Randi's Amazing Meeting last month, where he gave us a demonstration of his abilities and explained how, unlike the way most American students are taught to do math, he does the calculations from left to right.
For instance, when add 58 and 37, you start with the ones column and 8+7=15. You write down the 5, and carry the 1. Then you do the tens column, 5+3=8, plus the 1 you carried, which makes it 9. That gives you the answer of 95.
In Benjamin's method, you do it exactly the opposite, and you keep the running total in your head. You start with 50 + 30 (not 5 plus 3) equals 80, then you add 8 for 88, then you add 7 for 95. You don't have to write anything down, don't have to carry anything, and get to the result much quicker -- and it's especially helpful when adding a longer list of numbers.
The only other person I've seen promoting this method of arithmetic is Scott "Human Calculator" Flansburg, who I first met about 20 years ago when he was a guest on my show. As he described it, I realized that this is the way I've been doing math since I was a kid, which always led to problems with teachers who wanted me to show my work -- but I couldn't because all the work was in my head! As my daughter has grown up, I have taught her this left-to-right method, which she grasped easily, and she has had problems with teachers who insist she do it the other way around, too.
I asked Benjamin why. He explained that we're dealing with generations of math teachers who learned there's only one right way to determine an answer, and they can't accept any other route to the solution. Changing that would mean a wholesale revision of the way math is taught in America, but it's the adults who have to change. Children, he says, who are taught to read from left to right will naturally do math the same way unless you break them of the habit. This may explain why so many people say they're "bad at math." They're not -- they just have trouble doing it in the unnatural way we've been taught. Moreover, math should be about finding your own method to the correct answer, not simply learning how to do it by rote.
I don't have video of Benjamin at TAM6, but here he is at the TED Conference doing his Mathemagics demonstration, challenging audience members with calculators to do three digit squares, and then moving on to some really hard calculations. He also explains how he changes numbers to sounds and words as a mnemonic device...
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12:00 AM
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Categories: picture of the day
Listen to Paul on WLS/Chicago
July 21-25 (5-9am CT)
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July 21-22 (Noon-2pm CT)
What happened to Paul's St. Louis show? Click here.