NPR's On Point

On Point with Tom Ashbrook from WBUR and NPR. Tumblr curated by associate producer Nick Andersen, with help from staff.

[onpointradio]

It’s Star Wars Day, aka May The Fourth (Be With You) (And Also With You)

Listen back to some archive classics about the galaxy far, far away --

'Star Wars' And The Evolution Of Space Fiction (December 18, 2015)

The Force Is Strong With This Franchise (October 06, 2014)

We’re not going to lie to you, folks -- we on staff really, REALLY love “Star Wars.”

[onpointradio]

Now, we always share links, images and videos here to encourage you to listen to the entire attached broadcast. That’s only natural for a talk show such as us, right? We thought so.

But.

In the odd event you feel too busy to make this happen, the above screengrab from CNN on Tuesday night basically sums up the entirety of our conversation. 

“It’s not clear this is a strategy so much as it is a foreign policy for President Trump,” POLITICO’s Susan Glasser told us today. 

(President Trump’s Affection For Despots, May 3, 2017)

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We invited the wonderful Neil deGrasse Tyson on our air today to discuss his new book, “Astrophysics for People in a Hurry,” and he came prepared for a quick digest with the follow four ~amazing~ facts:

-- There are more microbes in one linear centimeter of your lower colon than there are humans who have ever been born.

-- There are more molecules of water in a cup of water than there are cups of water in all the world’s oceans.

-- There are as many air molecules in a breath of air as there are breaths of air in the earth’s atmosphere.

-- Dark energy is a measurement that the universe is accelerating in its expansion. If this continues, which we think it will, then in trillions of years, our nearest galaxies will have accelerated beyond our horizon of detection.

Listen in, and learn a bit before hurrying off to the next stop in your busy, non-astrophysicist life.

(Neil deGrasse Tyson Brings Astrophysics Down To Earth, May 2, 2017)

[onpointradio]

National Public Bakeries 

 On Point with Tom Ashbake 

 Wisconsin Public Pastries 

Thanks to our friends at Wisconsin Public Radio for being such generous hosts this week, and for the delicious and beautiful cookies!

(#OnPointListens: Listening to a Divided Milwaukee, April 21, 2017)

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Checking out all the (W)right stuff in Milwaukee, on the fourth stop of our national listening tour! Tune in tomorrow 11/10c for the conversation from Milwaukee! 

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Dean James Ryan of the Harvard Graduate School of Education offers up five essential, simple questions for your every day life:

Wait, What?

I Wonder?

Couldnt We At Least?

How Can I Help?

What Truly Matters?

And Did You Get What You Wanted From This Life, Even So? (BONUS QUESTION)

('Wait, What?' (And Other Big Questions), April 12, 2017)

[onpointradio]

Remember when?

(The Boston Globe Imagines — And Rejects — A President Trump Front Page, April 11, 2016)

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DO IT

DO IT

DO IT

DO THE (side) HUSTLE 

(The Necessity of the Millennial Side-Hustle, April 6, 2017)

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Visit Original Link

Another day, another charming Ricky Skaggs number.

Here, the bluegrass master plays a new, original composition. It’s so new, it doesn’t even have a title yet! It’s a tasty track, and worth a Thursday listen.

(Bluegrass Icon Ricky Skaggs, April 5, 2017)

[onpointradio]

Visit Original Link

Spend your afternoon with a plaintive track from the legendary musician Ricky Skaggs -- “Halfway Home Cafe” by Paul Overstreet. 

“It’s just an incredibly great song,” Skaggs told us. “I wish I could write songs like this.”

(Bluegrass Icon Ricky Skaggs, April 5, 207)

[onpointradio]

We couldn’t NOT share this fantastic comic panel from cartoonist Tom Gauld after today’s exploration of new trends in popular dystopian fiction.

(And the fact that the opening line from George Orwell’s “1984,” printed below, fits in so neatly helps)

“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” 

The future is now -- and it’s absolutely terrifying. Take a listen! Read a new book! Get some recommendations! All here.

(A Fictive, Failing Dystopian Future, April 3, 2017) 

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The #BlackWomenAtWork hashtag matters to more than just black women -- and our caller, Catherine, laid it out pretty explicitly.

We can all learn from this outpouring of public confession -- hear more from our conversation here. 

(Hearing From #BlackWomenAtWork, March 30, 2017)

[onpointradio]

“The task before us is momentous but it should not be beyond us. After all, the institutions and the leaders of the European Union have succeeded in bringing together a continent blighted by war into a union of peaceful nations, and supported the transition of dictatorships to democracy. Together, I know we are capable of reaching an agreement about the UK’s right and obligations as departing member state, while establishing a deep and special partnership that contributes towards the prosperity, security and global power of our continent.” -- PM Theresa May, formally initiating the United Kingdom’s negotiation process to leave the European Union in a letter to European Council President Donald Tusk

Read the full letter here.

(Brexit Formally Begins, March 29, 2017)

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Reminder: they’re all Good Dogs.

(Emotional Support Animals In The Spotlight, March 28, 2017)

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“Human beings are truly the weakest species on the planet.” -- Dr. Bill Schindler, aka Professor Caveman

Disagree? Learn from his wise words on our broadcast today, and figure it out for yourself.

(New Lessons On Ancient Survival Methods, March 24, 2017)

[onpointradio]

Love After Love

The time will come when, with elation you will greet yourself arriving at your own door, in your own mirror and each will smile at the other's welcome, and say, sit here. Eat. You will love again the stranger who was your self. Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart to itself, to the stranger who has loved you all your life, whom you ignored for another, who knows you by heart. Take down the love letters from the bookshelf, the photographs, the desperate notes, peel your own image from the mirror. Sit. Feast on your life.

-- Derek Walcott, poet and author, who died last week at age 87.

(Reliving The Poetry Of Derek Walcott, March 22, 2017)

[onpointradio]

A visit to Tampa would not be complete without a visit to Dysfunctional Grace Art Co. where the owner is raising a baby squirrel. 

But actually.