Saturday, February 18, 2012

A Salute to General Weirdness


To download an audio file (save it on your hard disk): Click on this link for instructions.

New World Notes News
Vol. 5, No. 7 -- February 18, 2012

This week in New World Notes, radio program #207, February 21, 2012

A Salute to General Weirdness


In brief

Instead of gloom and doom, we take note of events that are just, well, weird.

How about a plan to reduce carbon emissions in Australia by shooting wild camels? (Their burps and farts contain methane, you see.) How about a required history unit on Estee Lauder in Texas schools?

Plus journalist Conn Hallinan's "Are You Serious?" Awards, newspaper items from Connecticut, and satire (or is it?) by The Onion, Roy Zimmerman, and George Carlin.

Above: Rancher pursues feral camel in Australia (MSNBC).
Below: Troubadour of contemporary American weirdness
 Roy Zimmerman, in 2008 (photo by Kenneth Dowst).

Notes, credits, & links

George Carlin performs a lesser-known sketch, "The Book Club."

Roy Zimmerman sings "America."

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "radar") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford.

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. The show is archived at both radio4all.net and (from #90 onwards) The Internet Archive. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio. See the gray sidebar on the right ("CONTENTS [Links]") for a table of contents.

Series overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.

Above: George Carlin, some years back. Below: Is this for real?
Is this a joke? Right-wing politics has gotten so preposterous in recent years, there's no telling.

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • February 28 -- The Art of the Rant
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):

A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net
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Saturday, February 11, 2012

Valentine's Day Special: The Diamond Cartel


To download an audio file (save it on your hard disk): Click on this link for instructions.

New World Notes News
Vol. 5, No. 6 -- February 11, 2012

This week in New World Notes, radio program #206, February 14, 2012

Valentine's Day Special:
The Diamond Cartel

Real ad from the Belgian couture house Natan. An ironic
comment on DeBeers' diamond ads?

In brief

Our ironic salute to Valentine's Day features an expose' of the worldwide diamond cartel (a.k.a. DeBeers). And of how a U.S. advertising agency--hired by the cartel to increase sales--invented and marketed the "tradition" of the diamond engagement ring.

Plus a few ironic and/or kinky love songs by Tom Lehrer and The Kinks.

Originally broadcast as NWN #51 in February 2009.

Real (above) and parody (below) ads in the DeBeers' recent
"Seize the Day" campaign

Notes, credits, & links

Lyn Gerry, of "Unwelcome Guests," reads from Edward Jay Epstein's article, "Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond?" in Atlantic Magazine, February 1982. The article is available online, here.

Epstein's book, The Diamond Invention, also is available online.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "inflexible deadlines") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford.

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. The show is archived at both radio4all.net and (from #90 onwards) The Internet Archive. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio. See the gray sidebar on the right ("CONTENTS [Links]") for a table of contents.

Series overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.

Above: Another parody (of a real DeBeers ad campaign).
Below: from Epstein's The Diamond Invention.

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • February 21 -- A Salute to General Weirdness
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):

A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net
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Saturday, February 4, 2012

Are We Broke? and What Can We Do?


To download an audio file (save it on your hard disk): Click on this link for instructions.

New World Notes News
Vol. 5, No. 5 -- February 4, 2012

This week in New World Notes, radio program #205, February 7, 2012

Are We Broke? and
What Can We Do?


In brief

The more our country crumbles, the more the government says it can't afford to help us. Three voices offer three different solutions.

Annie Leonard says there's plenty of money: just force Congress to close corporate loopholes and support new "green" industries instead of "the dinosaur economy." Kevin Carson says forget it: Big Government will always serve the powerful . . . so let's develop an alternative economy. Chris Hedges says that civil disobedience is our only option.

Includes the entirety of Annie Leonard's new video, The Story of Broke . . . plus some reflections by K.D.

Above: Annie Leonard. Below: Kevin Carson

Notes, credits, & links

The Story of Broke is available on YouTube.

Thanks to Robin Upton and Unwelcome Guests for Chris Hedges' recent talk at Hofstra University (from which I have played excerpts).

Kevin Carson's essay--which I slightly condensed and edited for radio--is from CounterPunch, November 28, 2011.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "spreading chestnut tree") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford.

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. The show is archived at both radio4all.net and (from #90 onwards) The Internet Archive. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio. See the gray sidebar on the right ("CONTENTS [Links]") for a table of contents.

Series overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.

Above: Chris Hedges. Below: Still from The Story of Broke.

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • February 14 -- For Valentine' Day: The Diamond Cartel
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):

A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net
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