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The Range Of On Point
Friday, January 6, 2012
Actor Ben Kingsley arrives at the premiere of "Young Adult" in Beverly Hills, Calif., Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011. "Young Adult" opens wide in theaters Dec. 16, 2011. (AP)

Actor Ben Kingsley arrives at the premiere of "Young Adult" in Beverly Hills, Calif., Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011. "Young Adult" opens wide in theaters Dec. 16, 2011. (AP)

We love the endless variety of stories we get to pursue. Here’s just a piece of the week ahead:

We’ll look at Americans’ upward mobility falling behind Europe’s and the dangerous dance over the Strait of Hormuz. We’re live from New Hampshire on primary day, broadcasting with NPR from the Comfort Inn in Manchester. Then with Viggo Mortensen on playing Sigmund Freud, and with acting great Ben Kingsley on his amazing career and new film, Hugo.

How lucky we are!

 
  • http://twitter.com/JoanieGentian Joanie MacPhee

    in NH *only*on primary day?
    at the Radisson in Manchester?
    or??

  • Tina

    How lucky we are to get to listen and participate in the fantastic show you and your staff put together!!!  Thank you!!

    • Tim E

      Hear, hear!

  • Anonymous

    Ah, the Range of On Point.   What about the meta point of technology out of control (drones, identity theft, FCC losing
    democracy, etc) as a topic?    What about systems out of control:  mercenaries and letters of marque and reprisal, The Washington Post’s Top Secret America series,  the laws multiplying a la the sorcerers apprentice, and the internet as echo chamber for validating your opinion, whatever it is?
    And the third meta point: politics (and logic) out of control
    with money as speech, and the press not funded, questioning not allowed to conclude.

    Can you gather portions of you excellent programs and deliberate each of these three meta failures.

    Maybe include Lewis Lapham, or other adepts of the overview.

  • Anonymous

    Dear Tom,   I am listening to many of your shows in a row.   One more ‘range’ comment.  The show you did on bird flu research is an explicit version of ‘Joy’s Worry’.  Bill Joy who invented the computer mouse, and maybe unix if I recall correctly, said about ten years ago that in a decade script kiddies and biotech will converge and you will get real viruses, made by teenagers and watch out!    

    This is a political point; we are approaching the time for limits.  The drone boom underscores that point.  Either we do it consciously for ourselves or the emerging police state will do it to us.

    Some guidance would be to look deeply into the meaning of the ancient Greek word ‘sophrosyne’.    It is a mix of personal discipline, social awareness and wariness of the infinite.  The Greeks knew that the mind could trap itself in infinity, which  was not real, unlike our own spreadsheet wizards.  They were wary of infinity, as infinite ‘free’ speech, infinite service, or infinite security.   They respected limits.   We must do that with our technology.  

  • Mel

    I love OnPoint.  Here is a suggestion for a segment that ties to the eTextbooks segment,  an article in the Sunday NY Times about Apple’s manufacturing operations in China and what it means to middle class jobs.  Thousands of Chinese workers sleeping in dorms, working 12-hr days for $17/day just so we can get the latest iPhone a couple of weeks faster?  Hard to believe.  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and-a-squeezed-middle-class.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=apple%20middle%20class&st=cse 

    I wonder where the eReaders for these eTextbooks will be made.

  • JOANNE BILLO

    I look forward to your show every day.  The variety of topics is  enlightening.  I find it fascinating to explore these topics with you.  Your ability to ask questions from multiple perspectives is superb and helps my brain to stay on the cutting edge of thought and analysis.  Thanks for a great job!

    JOANNE

  • Terry Tree Tree

    Thanks Alex and Tom!

  • http://twitter.com/TimothyLWood1 Timothy L. Wood
ONPOINT
TODAY
May 23, 2013
261 Comments
In this 2010 photo, a sign announcing the acceptance of electronic Benefit Transfer cards is seen at a farmers market in Roseville, Calif. (Rich Pedroncelli/AP)

Congress says food stamps are costing the country too much and debating big cuts. One in every seven Americans is using them to eat. What’s going on?

May 23, 2013
41 Comments
In this 2011 photo, U.S. Navy sailors participate in intense 10-minute workout intervals. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Michael K. McNabb/U.S. Navy)

Rock-hard bodies in a fraction of the time. We’ll look at the 7-minute workout and the promises of high-intensity exercise.

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After Oklahoma’s giant twister, does Tornado Alley need to change the way it builds and lives in the age of superstorms?

 
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Apple CEO Tim Cook is sworn in on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, May 21, 2013, prior to testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent subcommittee on Investigations hearing. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

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On Point Blog
On Point Blog
Is American Coming Undone?
Thursday, May 23, 2013

New York writer George Packer says yes. He reflected on the nation’s core institutions failing the American people.

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WIRED’s Bill Wasik On The Henry Fords Of Today
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He talked about how Google and Tesla are paving the way of innovation and how technological development is related not only to creativity but to environmental responsibility.

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Switching Shows For Our Second Hour Today
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