Coming up on Focus: Mad Men, The War on Drugs, and Bond….James Bond
Coming up next week on Focus, we’ve got a little something for everybody – from James Bond to gardening, we welcome you to join our conversation!
Focus
Talk with the Veterinarians
This hour on Focus, we’re talking about pet care. Sally Foote, a small animal vet from Tuscola who specializes in dog and cat behavior, will be here to walk us through some of the best ways to help scaredy cats (and dogs) through thunderstorm season, and Dr. Brendan McKiernan, who directs the UIUC Veterinary Teaching Hospital, also joins us. We welcome your questions this hour!
Dr. Foote will be giving a public talk on pets and thunderstorms at Prairie Land Feeds on Sunday April 7th. Find more information here.
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Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
The technologies encompassed by the term “unmanned aerial vehicle” are vast and include everything from hobbyist drones that look like toy helicopters to units that are equipped with cameras and are being used to monitor crop damage. This hour on Focus, host Jim Meadows talks with Matthew Schroyer, a graduate of the UIUC who is also the founder of the Professional Society of Drone Journalists. We’ll talk with him about the things drones could help us do, and we’ll ask him about the privacy concerns the technology raises. Chris Anderson, CEO of 3D Robotics, former Wired editor and founder of the website DIY Drones and Nancy Cooke, Professor at Arizona State University and Science Director of the Cognitive Engineering Research Institute in Mesa, Arizona, also join us.
Watch a video of Matt explaining and flying his drone.
Are you excited by the possibilities of this kind of technology? Or does it scare you? Why? Join our conversation. Post in the comments section below or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter @Focus580.
Homelessness a Concern in C-U
A new emergency shelter for the homeless recently started serving families in Champaign county, filling the unmet need for sheltering services for families with children. But funding for the shelter will likely dry up before the end of this year. Even with the new emergency shelter in operation, Nancy Hiatt, Executive Director for the Center for Women in Transition, says there’s a huge unmet need for sheltering and rehabilitation services in East Central Illinois.
This hour on Focus, we’ll talk with Hiatt and Beverly Baker, the Director of Community Impact at the United Way of Champaign County. They’ll tell us about the challenges of providing shelter to families and to homeless men and women. Host Jim Meadows also talks with one woman form Champaign who has been working to get back on her feet and recover from homelessness and drug addiction for the past two years. She’ll tell us about the stigma associated with being homeless and how difficult it really is to regain footing after losing everything.
The Lawyer Bubble
The Illinois State Bar Association is calling for changes in the way the state educates it attorneys. This hour on Focus, we’ll talk about the changes the association wants made and why. According to a new report, the debt load students are graduating with is playing a big part in the decrease in available and affordable legal services in the state. This hour on Focus, host Jim Meadows talks with President of the Illinois State Bar Association John Thies about the problem.
Steven Harper, author of the new book “The Lawyer Bubble” and an Adjunct Professor at Northwestern University’s School of Law and Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, also joins us. He’ll tell us about what he believes is a problematic and growing gap between the goals of law schools and law firms.
Have you ever had a difficult time accessing legal advice? Have you been in a situation where you needed help but couldn’t afford to pay for an attorney? We want to hear from you! Join our conversation. Post in the comments section below or find us on Facebook and Twitter.
Play Ball!
In 1974 on opening day at Comiskey Park in Chicago, several naked fans rushed the field, disrupting the game and starting a riot in the stands; in 1907, the Phillies won a game against the New Your Giants because fans threw enough snowballs onto the field to force a forfeiture. Crazier things have happened.
This hour on Focus, John Thorn, Official Historian for Major League Baseball, joins guest host Jeff Bossert to talk about baseball history. We’ll talk about what Thorn does as MLB historian and what makes opening day so iconic in American culture. Then, during the second half of the hour, Donald Spivey, a UIUC grad and a Professor of History at the University of Miami joins us to talk about pitching legend Satchel Paige. Spivey will be giving a lecture at Eastern Illinois University this evening about Paige and his legacy. Find more information here.
Do you love opening day? Why? Who are you rooting for this season? Join our conversation! Post in the comments section below or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter @Focus580.
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Sports
Next Week on Focus: MLB Opening Day, Drones and The Lawyer Bubble
Next week on Focus, we'll talk with the official historian for Major League Baseball and an Urbana man working with unmanned aerial technology for both journalistic purposes and to inspire high school students to study math and science. We'll also address the unmet need for homeless services in the area and talk about the growing disconnect between law schools and law firms in Illionis and why it matters.
First Magnitude, a Book of the Bright Sky
This hour on focus, host Jim Meadows talks with Jim Kaler about his new book “First Magnitude, a Book of the Bright Sky,” a beginner’s guide astronomy. We’ll talk with Kaler about what to watch for in the sky this spring and how to appreciate the stars in an area with lots of light pollution.
Kaler joined the faculty at the University of Illinois in 1964 and has held Fulbright and Guggenheim fellowships. He has been recognized for his work by the University of Liège in Belgium, the University of Mexico, the University of Illinois, the Great Lakes Planetarium Association, the American Astronomical Society and the Middle Atlantic Planetarium Society. He is former president for the Astronomical Society of the Pacific’s board of directors.
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Space Exploration
Cyber-Security a Growing Concern
Cyber-security breaches at Apple, Microsoft, The New York Times, Twitter and Facebook are all just part of the growing concern in the US about computer hacking. Protecting digital information is quickly becoming a top priority for businesses and individuals, especially as computers and digital technologies play an increasingly important role in our lives when it comes to things education and banking.
Who are the hackers? How are they getting into our computers and why? This hour on Focus we talk with to University of Illinois Chief Privacy and Security Officer Michael Corn and Computer Science Professor Roy Campbell about cyber security.
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National Security,
Technology
Biting the Bullet and Taking the Cake: Idioms and Our Language
Christine Ammer is the author of more than a dozen reference books including “The Facts on File Dictionary of Cliches,” “Fruitcakes and Couch Potatoes and Other Delicious Expressions” and her latest, “The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms.” This hour on Focus, host Jim Meadows talks with Ammer about the origins of our favorite phrases and about what an idiom really is.
We also want to hear from you this hour! What expressions roll off your tongue? Do you have a favorite one that’s of note? Maybe you have a question about the origins of something you say… Give us a call, post in the comments section below or connect with us on Facebook or Twitter @Focus580.
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Language and Linguistics