Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Our top five language stories this month: why the disappearance of the Bo language is a big deal; the Olympics are being broadcast for the first time in, among other languages, Cree; when pandas move from the U.S. to China, do they have to learn a new language?; lawsuits concerning Arabic flashcards in hand baggage and speaking Spanish in English-only school; and the Pentagon’s latest attempts to equip soldiers with real-time speaking translator-bots.Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Four of Canada’s ‘First Nations’ – the Lil’wat, Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh – together with the Vancouver Olympic Committee officially hosted the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games which finished on Sunday. The World’s Andrea Crossan reports on the Olympic legacy for the four native tribes. Download MP3
Canadians don’t know how to celebrate? “You’ve to to be kidding me, eh?” says Andrea Crossan, producer and reporter for The World. Andrea was in her hometown, Vancouver, to cover the games for The World. Read her Reporter’s Notebook, and listen in to her coverage.
The World’s Carol Hills reviews the week’s news through political cartoons. This week pop culture icons in trouble: Google goes to jail, Abbey Road studios are up for sale, Toyota’s image is in tatters, and it turns out the shape of a hot dog actually matters.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The World’s Carol Hills looks back at the week’s big stories through political cartoons. This week: lots of news from the ancient world including the final word on King Tut’s death; a 21st century Olympic Games in Vancouver; and a Greek economy that’s more fragile than the country’s ancient ruins.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Eurozone leaders say they will come to Greece’s rescue. But Greece’s Finance Minister wants details as to how exactly other eurozone nations will bailout his country. In this podcast we explore what went wrong with Greece and what it means for the rest of us.
Also, an update from Haiti: How to bring jobs to the millions of unemployed. And a small flower shop near Vancouver that is putting together 1,800 bouquets for all the Olympic medal winners.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The death of a luge competitor who left the track at high speed has cast a shadow over the Winter Olympics in Canada ahead of the opening ceremony. Georgian Nodar Kumaritashvili’s sled flipped and he smashed into a steel pole at the Whistler Sliding Centre. The World’s Katy Clark has been following events. Download MP3 (Photo: Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images)Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Canada becomes the center of the sporting world tonight with the opening of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The World’s Katy Clark offers a preview of the Games, which run through February 28. Download MP3
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
This is no ordinary soccer ball. It’s called sOccket, and it’s got some tech inside that allows it to store up energy while it’s being kicked around. After 15 minutes, the ball’s stored up enough juice to power an LED light, or even charge up something else. Too cool. In this week’s podcast, we’ll talk to one of the people behind the sOccket. We’ll also hear about a high-tech treadmill for training Swedish skiers, and we’ll “embed” with some folks looking to keep information flowing into and out of Iran. We end with a segment on listeners Mark Dytham and Astrid Klein in Tokyo. They are architects who are trying to crowdsource new design and building ideas for post-earthquake Haiti. Wow.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
When the Olympic winners take the podium over the next two weeks, they won’t just get a medal. They’ll also get a flower bouquet. All those bouquets had to come from somewhere, of course, and it turned out to be “Just Beginnings Flowers” owned by June Strandberg (pictured). The World’s Jason Margolis visited the little flower shop that could in the Vancouver suburb of Surrey. Download MP3 (Photo: Jason Margolis)
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The Swedish cross-country team has gotten some high-tech training help from the country’s Winter Sports Research Center. They’ve been training on a high-tech treadmill designed to realistically recreate the course they’ll be skiing during the Winter Games in Canada. Programming that treadmill required some sophisticated GPS measurements (pictured), as The World’s Clark Boyd explains. Download MP3 (Photo: Matej Supej)
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
It took seven years of planning, construction, hassle and heartache. Finally, the party is about to begin. Starting February 12th, British Columbia will host the Winter Olympics for 17 days. (And the Paralympics to follow.) Canadian taxpayers are on hook for CDN $6 billion, by some estimates. What did British Columbia get for all that money? Was it all worth it?
Also on this edition of the podcast, news about Toyota and Moscow McDonald’s turns 20. (Photo credit: © VANOC/COVAN)
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The Olympics are just nine days away. It took seven years of planning and preparation to get ready for 17 days in February, then the Paralympics to follow. But people involved with the Games are hoping the Olympic glow will last a lot longer than just a few weeks. Their rosiest projection: A flawless Games will bring in an extra 4 million visitors to British Columbia over the span of two decades. Jason Margolis has more. Download MP3 (Photo credit: © VANOC/COVAN)Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Was it worth it? That’s the question many people are asking in British Columbia with the Olympics just days away. Seven years of planning, construction, and hassle. All told, Canadians will have spent about $6 billion Canadian dollars just to build the infrastructure to prepared for the Games. That’s about $5.6 billion American dollars. The World’s Jason Margolis visited British Columbia to ask. Download MP3 (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darryl Dyck)
