There’s something about NPR’s Morning Edition that always puts me in a good mood, maybe it’s because when I least expect it, they surprise me with something outright hilarious. On September 10, Robert Krulwich reported on a trend among Russian leaders: throughout the 20th century, they alternate between bald and hairy. Random, yes, but it resulted in a little song that cracked me up as I drove to work, which is why I selected this news story as Sarah’s Favorite Sound Bite 2008. Check out the article “Baldness Pattern: A New Cold War Analysis,” and click Listen Now. Be sure to listen to the full story to hear the funny song!
Brilliantly creative? Gigantic idiot? You decide.
Elsewhere Online
Tagged: NPR
December 26th, 2008
Sarah’s Favorite Sound Bite 2008
December 19th, 2008
For-the-Love-of-Links Friday | Week of December 19, 2008
Today is Day 19 of NaBloPoMo, and I haven’t missed a beat. I gotta say, I’m getting a newfound energy regarding my blogging, and I have plans for the first of the year over on BloggersGuide.net. Anyway, here is my set of recommended reading for your weekend:
- NPR Mix Your Own Podcast. This is for the NPR addicts out there. I haven’t tried this yet, but it looks promising. You can mix your own podcast of your favorite NPR news and shows.
- Marathoning Will Still Be “Trendy” in 2009. Thanks to lifestudent, I now know that my attempt at a marathon in 2009 will be in vogue. And you all know me, I’m the trendiest person you know <sarcastically rolls eyes />.
- Why I (Still) Blog. I’ve really enjoyed Brazen Careerist’s “Why I Blog” contest this week, and here’s a notable entry. Maybe I should write a post of my own…
- Hot Holiday Hair–See What Your Hair Can Do. That’s right, I favorited a how-to-do-your-hair video. But it was really useful to me–the girl whose default hairdo is a ponytail.
- CSI: Springfield. I’m so glad Jason of the Life of Jason persuasion got to check out the new crime lab in Springfield this week. And I’m glad he shared his pictures!
That’s your reading assignment. I hope you’ll find these links as fun as I did. Have a great weekend!
April 15th, 2008
FreeRice.com Feeds the World While You Improve Your Vocabulary
I spend a lot of time online, and believe it or not, sometimes I run out of things to do. In these rare moments, I usually turn to online Set, a mind-bending card game. (Want more info, check out Linden’s post.) But thanks to the NBC Nightly News, I found something new to do: feed the world and improve my vocabulary. FreeRice.com donates 20 grains of rice for every vocabulary word you get correct. So far, they’ve donated over 26 billion grains of rice, and they donated over 178,000,000 grains yesterday.
How can FreeRice.com help you? Well, as a former English teacher, I can tell you that it’s important to have a useful vocabulary when writing in college and when writing on the job. If you’re a student, you’ll do better on your ACT, SAT, GRE, LSAT, and GMAT, and you’ll probably get better grades. And let’s face it, next to listening to NPR and playing Set, I can think of no better way to feel and look smart (and to make others think you’re smart).
This was my last word: lupine, which means wolfish. Harry Potter fans out there should see the connection and smile. And I didn’t know that five minutes ago! I’m smarter already!
April 4th, 2008
For-the-Love-of-Links Friday | 4 April 2008
Hooray for Friday! I’m so glad the end of the week is here because I have some great reading for you. You definitely don’t want to miss the April Fool’s Day accounts or the definition of wikidemia. Read on…
- Funny April Fool’s Day Jokes. I love April Fool’s Day, and these two accounts of jokes caught my attention. In Band Gets Dropped By Label, an old pal from college fools his friends into thinking his band’s label dropped the band. And lifestudent was ready to give up running when she heard that there are bills on the books to make runners wear helmets during races!
- Banned From Being a Lead Pastor. Well, after a ton of work on EternityJC.com, turns out that my pal Marc is not qualified to be a lead pastor. So much for all my hard work! (OK…it’s sort of a joke…just read the post!)
- Christina Applegate’s Thoughts on Herself If you’re not watching Samantha Who? on ABC, I think you should be. Christina Applegate stars in this clever comedy as a formerly mean girl amnesiac. Turns out that in real life, she’s pretty cool (and a runner).
- SNL Comes to Primetime Everyone knows that I’m an NPR junkie, but did you know that I also like getting my news on Saturday nights? And starting this fall, we’ll be able to get a dose of mid-week news, too. Yippee!
- Lofts 4 Sale. This is really for Springfield natives, but lofts at the Heer’s Tower are going on sale! If only I had $2500 to get in on the action!
- Define Wikidemia. As a former educator who did not allow my students to use Wikipedia as an academic source, I’m a little bit sad to learn that indeed there is a word to describe works that come only from a wiki source.
- It’s Never Too Early. I’m not ready to start bearing children, but, gosh, I hope to have a little editor on my hands! Check out this elementary-schooler who put the folks at the Smithsonian in their place!
- Wanna Be a Serious Blogger? I’ve dabbled in this blogging thing for more than a year, and I still love it, but I’m not sure you can call me a serious blogger? Seriously, can you call my posts of my fear of monkeys serious blogging? How about you? Are you a serious blogger?
There’s your weekend reading. Hope you enjoy!
January 1st, 2008
Sarah’s Favorite Sound Bite 2007
In September—on my brother’s birthday, in fact—Joe Palca of NPR reported that the moray eel has a second set of jaws with which it grabs its prey. Pretty gruesome, yes, but after the story Joe and Morning Edition co-host Steve Inskeep sing a wonderful rendition of “That’s Amore,” (You’ll have to visit the article page to listen to the bite.) which consequently became my favorite sound bite of 2007. Enjoy!
December 27th, 2007
Sarah’s Favorite Podcast 2007
I sit at a desk all day, so to fill the silence in my little office, I either listen to NPR or podcasts most of the day. Many of you know that I’m a web developer for a church, so when I came across the Geeks & God podcast, it was only logical that I would latch on to it. Matt and Rob discuss all things church, Web, and technology related, and they’ve really helped me stay up-to-date on what’s happening right now in church web development. Even more, since my thesis title was “Church 2.0: A Look at Church Web Development in Light of Web 2.0, this podcast is a natural fit.
