Story Archives of 'You Tell Us'

Idea Smackdown: Round III

By Jen Nathan on Thursday, November 19, 2009.

Ding! Another round of Championship Ideas Smackdown has begun.

In the right corner: a slew of clever ideas.

In the left corner: overwhelmed producers who can't decide what to schedule first.

YOU are the referee. Let us know what you want to hear on Word of Mouth next week:

  • Health Care in the People's Republic
  • Death to Receipts
  • Muslim Teen Handbook
  • How Green is Your Pet?
  • Psychology of Terrorism

Why Not Open a Restaurant?

By Virginia Prescott on Wednesday, November 18, 2009.

The restaurant business is a crap shoot. Three out of four restaurants close within three years. So, it might seem downright nuts to open a new restaurant during the worst recession since the great depression.

Food writer Regina Schrambling discovered that some savvy owners of new eateries are doing brisk business by serving up simplicity. She wrote about the trend in Entrepreneur magazine, and she joins us as part of NHPR’s Working It Out project. We also hear from Diane Downing, owner of Firefly American Bistro & Bar, which opened in downtown Manchester, NH the day after Christmas of last year.

Entrepreneur: Why Now is the Time to Open a Restaurant

The Eagle Tribune: New Restaurants Replace Closed Eateries

Forbes: So, You Want To Open A Restaurant

(Photo courtesy Joe Penniston via Flickr/CreativeCommons)

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Is NBC Too Big to Fail?

By Virginia Prescott on Monday, November 16, 2009.

Think back to the pre-cable days when three networks: ABC, CBS, and NBC ruled the air warves. NBC is the oldest – founded in 1926 by the Radio Corporation of America, back when television was a mere twinkle in Philo Farnsworth’s eye.

Since then NBC has been home to hits like The Cosby Show, Friends, The Olympics, and the first Academy Awards Show. The network invited viewers to “Come Home to NBC,” where everybody knows your name. The peacock’s feathers have faded in the ratings in recent years, and audience share plummeted when Jay Leno moved to the 10pm slot this Fall.

Now media giant Comcast plans to swoop in and buy NBC universal, a move that could signal the beginning of the end for network TV. Joining us with more is Mark Harris, who wrote about the beleaguered network for New York magazine.

New York Magazine: Is Broadcast TV Too Big to Fail?

The Associated Press: Broadcast Pioneer NBC Prepares for Cable Takeover

Backstage: Is Broadcast TV Too Big to Fail?

(Photo by Jezlyn26 via Flickr/Creative Commons)

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Idea Smackdown: Round II

By Jen Nathan on Wednesday, November 11, 2009.

Ding! Another round of Championship Ideas Smackdown has begun.

We had a killer ideas meeting yesterday and now we need YOU to tell us what you want to hear on Word of Mouth next week:

  • Death to Receipts
  • Microcinemas
  • Tech Crafting
  • The 2012 Industry
  • Private Prisons
  • Carbon Footprint of Pets
  • School House Rock for Science
  • DIY Video Game Designers
  • Is NBC Too Big To Fail?
  • A Mixtape for your Kitchen

Idea Smackdown

By Jen Nathan on Friday, November 6, 2009.

Word of Mouth has more ideas than it knows what to do with, so let us know what you'd like to hear next week.

Here's a list of things we're considering. Add a comment with the idea(s) you think should win this grueling match. Let the best ideas win.

  • Female mobsters
  • Health care in China
  • Online-only churches
  • The subprime student loan crisis
  • Why boldness is bad for science
  • Paul Bunyan chic
  • Census conspiracy theorists

Refusing to Join Facebook

By Virginia Prescott on Monday, October 26, 2009.

While it seems like everyone and your grandma is on Facebook at this point, there are some holdouts. Even people in their 20s and 30s are refusing to join the ranks of the social networking site’s 300 million members. As the Washington Post reports, these so-called Facebook refuseniks cite privacy and data ownership among their concerns, but avoiding Facebook can lead to real social alienation.

We're joined by Washington Post staff writer Ian Shapira, and by Mary Flanagan, the chair of digital humanities at Dartmouth College.

The Washington Post: In a Generation That Friends and Tweets, They Don't

(Photo by Laughing Squid via Flickr/Creative Commons)

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Can You Raise A Gender-Neutral Child?

By Virginia Prescott on Thursday, October 15, 2009.

Popular science loves to extol the differences between male and female brains. Remember the study that made headlines back in the '80s about women being better at holistic thinking? It was based on a single study suggesting that the fibers connecting womens' right and left brains are larger. More recent research suggests that boys’ brains are hard-wired for aggression and girls brains’ for communication.

Neuroscientist Lise Eliot took a long, hard look at these studies and hundreds of others. She found that there are, in fact, very few structural differences between the brains of boys and girls. Instead, she argues, it’s the way that parents and teachers respond to slight behavioral differences that encourage boys and girls to pursue different interests and develop different abilities.

Dr. Lise Eliot joins us now from Chicago where she’s a professor at Rosalind Franklin University. She’s also a mother of three and author of the new book Pink Brain, Blue Brain.

The Washington Post: The Tiny Differences in the Littlest Brains

Newsweek: Pink Brain, Blue Brain: Claims of sex differences fall apart.

Salon: Good luck raising that gender-neutral child

Scientific American: Girl Brain, Boy Brain?

(Photo by EraPhernalia Vintage via Flickr/Creative Commons)

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What Would You Do With A Year Off With Salary?

By Todd Bookman on Tuesday, October 13, 2009.

You know the economy is rocky when even law firms are having trouble making ends meet. To save cash, big firms are delaying the start dates of their new associates - some for several months, others for a full year.

To help young esquires bridge the time, many firms are giving their deferred-hires stipends. Though only about one-third the size of the nearly $200,000 new hires normally make, the stipends ranging from $45,000 to $90,000 are still a pretty big paycheck for not having to show up.

Should Pink Ribbons Be Banned?

By Virginia Prescott on Wednesday, September 30, 2009.

Get ready for pink-ribbon season! October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Now in its 25th year, the event promotes awareness of a disease that strikes one in eight women in their lifetimes. And it’s expected to claim nearly 40,000 lives in the U.S. this year alone.

Efforts to bring attention to the disease and raise money for a cure are ongoing. But some women with breast cancer, as well as survivors are troubled by what they see as exploitation. A growing number charge that companies capitalize on suffering to boost profits. And many regard the proliferation of pink ribbons as a marketing ploy.

We’re joined by Kris Frieswick. Her mother passed away from breast cancer, and her article on the dark side of pink-ribbon marketing will appear in this Sunday’s Boston Globe Magazine. We also talk to Jeanne Sather, a blogger in Seattle who's currently battling metastatic breast cancer and blogs at The Assertive Cancer Patient. She's known in the breast cancer community for her fight against using pink ribbons as a marketing tool, and is leading a "Boycott October" campaign.

"Pink Ribbons, Inc.: Breast Cancer and the Politics of Philanthropy" by Samantha King

Jeanne Sather's blog post debunking the "one in eight" statistic

(Photo by Premier Packaging via Flickr/Creative Commons)

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What Are Your Must-Read Blogs?

By Avishay Artsy on Monday, August 24, 2009.

Here at Word of Mouth, we spend a lot of time reading our favorite blogs, and we're always discovering new ones. We rely on them to keep us informed on the latest ideas, trends, research and discoveries. The best ones are a pleasure to read and feel like a much-needed guiding hand through the sometimes overwhelming volume of information available online.