Calling them unmanned aerial vehicles sounds just as scary as calling them drones, but what do we really mean when we talk about this technology? This hour on Focus, we talked about drones, how they are being used and how they’re not. We also heard from an Urbana man working to advance the use of unmanned aerial vehicles in journalism and to inspire high school students to study math and science.
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.
At homeless shelters in the Champaign-Urbana area, budget cuts due to the sequester are especially unwelcome. This hour on Focus, we talked about the unmet need for sheltering and rehabilitation services in the area and will hear from a mother who has been working for the last two years to get back on her feet.
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.
Legal services are increasingly expensive and, in some places in the state, hard to find. This hour on Focus, we talked with John Thies, President of the Illinois State Bar Association, which is calling for change in how the state educates it attorneys, and Steven Harper, author of the new book “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.
Do you know the first president to throw an MLB opening day pitch? Did you know in 1907, there was an epic snowball fight at an opening day game in New York that determined the outcome? Starting today, Major League Baseball is officially in season, and this hour on Focus, we talked with John Thorn, the official historian of the MLB and Donald Spivey, who has spent his career studying Satchel Paige.
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.
Do you love MLB Opening Day? Who’re you rooting for this season? Does the idea of drone technology scare you or excite you? Find out more about what’s coming up next week on Focus and join our conversation.
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.
Long have we been fascinated by the wonder and mystery of the night sky. This hour on Focus, we talked with Jim Kaler about his new book “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.
Cases of computer hacking have been in the spotlight lately, especially since President Obama made cyber security one of his key priorities in this year’s State of the Union Address. But who is doing the hacking and why? Today on Focus we talked about cyber-security and what we’re doing to protect against cyber criminals.
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.
The devil really isn’t in the details, and rarely does anyone literally pull your leg. But we still use these expressions. Why and where do they come from? This hour on Focus, we talked with Christine Ammer, author of the new American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms.
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.
When you hear the word terrorism, what is your first reaction? How different is that reaction now than it was before September 11? This hour on Focus, we talked with Stanford Professor Martha Crenshaw, about global terrorism and how concerns have changed in the last decade. We also talked about the use of drones in the US military.
This hour on Focus, host Jim Meadows talks with Political Science Professor Martha Crenshaw, a pioneer in the study of terrorism, about the use of drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles, and their use in counterterrorism. We also talk with her about how our views of terrorism have changed since 2001.
Crenshaw is a Senior Fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University.
What’s your fondest memory of Assembly Hall? A concert? A speech? Today on Focus, we remembered 50 years of the Hall with Fred Kroner, author of the new book “A Saucer Coming to Rest, A Half Century of Assembly Hall” and Kevin Ullestad, Assembly Hall’s Director.
Assembly Hall has been the focus of attention since its inception more than a half century ago. With new plans to renovate the space, we remember the hall this hour on Focus. We’ll talk about how many people thought the funds should go to academics when the hall was first built and how some said the design was doomed to collapse.
