What Does China Want?

We’ve all seen extensive coverage of the Beijing Olympics this month. But what is the takeaway for China and its government? We’ll spend this hour with Ross Terrill, fellow at the Fairbanks Center for East Asian Research at Harvard University. He’ll speak to the World Affairs Council of Dallas Fort Worth this evening.

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Verbal Blunders and What they Mean

Uh … this hour … we’ll … ahh … explore why it’s often so tough to get that … uh … sentence out and what that difficulty says about the speaker with Michael Erard. His book, “Um …: Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders, and What They Mean” (Anchor, 2008), is now out in … uh … paperback.

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Words and Politics

What are the candidates saying and does the language they select influence what you hear? We’ll talk this hour with political consultant and pollster Frank Luntz, Ph.D., whose 2007 book “Words That Work: It’s Not What You Say, It’s What People Hear” (Hyperion, 2007) has been updated for the recent paperback edition.

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Composing for the Culture

What is the role of music in everyday life, in films, and culture? In April, we were joined by someone who knows. Golden Globe winner Philip Glass is one of the most highly acclaimed musical artists of the twentieth century. Glass was in town for a Nasher Salon Series event.

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The New Psychology of Time

What is your personal relationship with time? We’ll explore the psychological importance of time this hour with Stanford Professor Emeritus Philip Zimbardo. He’s the co-author of “The Time Paradox: The New Psychology of Time That Will Change Your Life” (Free Press, 2008).

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Energy Policy and Politics

How are the McCain and Obama campaigns addressing energy policy? What does it mean for Texas? We’ll talk this evening with W. Bruce Bullock, Director of SMU’s Maguire Energy Institute and Elizabeth Souder, energy reporter for The Dallas Morning News.

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The Dallas Myth

What defines a city like Dallas? Scholar Harvey Graff scrutinizes the town known throughout the world for its big business, big thinking, and even bigger self image in his new book “The Dallas Myth: The Making and Unmaking of an American City” (Minnesota, 2008).

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Man On Wire

Why would someone string a high-wire between the World Trade Center Towers, risking arrest and certain death to walk between them over 1,300 feet in the air? We’ll talk with director James Marsh, whose film “Man On Wire” profiles the man who actually did it in 1974.

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How Pakistan's deterioration harms Afghanistan

How does Pakistan’s instability affect its neighbor Afghanistan? We’ll examine the situation this hour with Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, vice president of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. His Daily Standard piece, “A Dangerous Neighbor: How Pakistan’s deterioration harms Afghanistan,” is available on-line.

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