Monthly Archives: November 2011

KLRU to Participate in Nationwide Emergency Alert System (EAS) Test

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The first nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) will take place on Wednesday, November 9, 2011 at 1 p.m (CST).

The test will start at approximately 1 p.m. and will last :30 seconds. At this time, the public will hear a message indicating that “This is a test.” The audio message will be the same for both radio and television and ALL radio and television stations will be running this test.

The test will be conducted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The purpose of the test is to help government organizations and EAS Participants (radio and TV broadcast stations, cable operators and satellite radio and TV) determine the reliability of the EAS system. The test will serve as a benchmark for measuring the effectiveness of the EAS system, and for improvements in the EAS system going forward. FEMA and the FCC intend to conduct National EAS Tests on an annual basis.

Regular programming will be interrupted during the test. Once the test is completed we will join the program in progress.

Thank you for your patience.

Dive into Underwater Week with The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!

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The Cat in the Hat Knows Lot About That! is taking another trip – this time under the sea!

The week of November 7-11 will become “Underwater Week” for the Cat, Nick, Sally and all their friends above and below sea level.

Young Cat-viewers also have a new way to learn with the show beyond the broadcast. Last week, PBS KIDS launched their largest offering of interactive math content for preschoolers to date. Designed to help children ages 2-8 build critical math skills, there are more than 40 new games accessible on computers, mobile devices, and interactive whiteboards including many featuring The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! Available free on the new PBS KIDS Lab website (PBSKIDS.org/lab), each suite links a set of games across platforms so that kids engage with the same characters as they move from device to device.

November 7: #126

Blue Feet Are Neat
Synopsis: Nick and Sally are trying out their new blue rubber boots but they keep getting stuck in the mud! Cat knows just who can help them – Buster, the Blue-footed Booby bird. Buster is only too happy to show them how his wide, flat blue feet help him move easily over the muddy shore. With Cat’s help to make their boots wide and flat, Sally and Nick can now walk across the mud without getting stuck – just like Buster!
Educational Objective: How the feet of the Blue-Footed Booby bird is adapted to its shore habitat – to walk on muddy shores and dive for fish in the ocean.

A Little Reef Magic
Synopsis: Nick has difficulty learning a “disappearing” magic trick, when who should appear but The Cat in the Hat! He takes Nick and Sally to the coral reef of Scoobamareen. There they learn that distraction is a great way for some sea creatures to hide themselves from other fish who might be looking for a bite to eat. Back at home, Nick and Sally use what they learned to make their stuffed panda disappear!
Educational Objective: Reef fish use a variety of physical ‘tricks’ to discourage predators.

November 8: #129 *Premiere!

Digging the Deep
Synopsis: Nick and Sally are exploring how deep they can dig in the sandbox. The Cat arrives to whisk them away to the deepest place he knows – the bottom of the Swirly Whirly Ocean! They meet up with Aurilia the Angler fish who guides them to the very bottom of the ocean floor. Now that they’ve gone as deep as deep can be, it’s off to find the next adventure!
Educational Objective: Exploring the different levels of the ocean environment, down through the deep Twilight Zone to the ocean floor.

Puddle Puzzle
Synopsis: Nick and Sally are excited to jump in the giant puddle in their backyard – but it’s gone! Where did it go? With the help of Cat’s Seussian camera, they see that the puddle has turned into water vapour. Off they go to the Bluey Blue Sky to follow their puddle. They discover that the water vapour rises high into the sky, then cools off and falls as rain. They go back home and are delighted to see that their puddle is back.
Educational Objective: The sun turns water into vapour, which rises up to form clouds. As the air cools, the water vapour condenses back into water droplets, which soon return to the earth again, as rain.

November 9: #130 *Premiere!

Help with Kelp
Synopsis: It’s Fish’s birthday and Nick and Sally want to get him a special present, but who can they ask for ideas? Cat’s friend Gary the Garibaldi fish might have an idea! Off to the Briny Blue Sea where they meet a variety of creatures in a kelp forest who use the kelp for both food and protection. Back at home they make a picture of the kelp forest for Fish. It’s the best present he could ever hope for!
Educational Objective: Exploring the wonderful variety of animals that depend upon underwater forests of giant kelp.

Treetop Tom
Synopsis: Nick and Sally are playing when their ball gets caught up high in the branches of a tree. Oh how they wish they were tall! Being tall is something Cat’s friend Treetop Tom knows all about. They meet the giraffe in the So Sunny Savannah, and with the help of Cat’s “tallerizers”, Nick and Sally are as tall as Tom! They soon learn that being small has its benefits, and luckily, Cat has stilts so he can get their ball out of the tree back at home.
Educational Objective: Seeing the world through the eyes of the tallest mammal on earth – the giraffe.

November 10: repeat of #118

Incredible Journey
Synopsis: Nick and Sally are playing in their homemade Thingamajigger, when the Cat arrives to take them on a real adventure! Off they go to meet salmon Sam, who is returning to the pool where she hatched so she can lay her eggs. With the help of the Subber-e-blubber, they follow Samantha underwater, upriver on her incredible journey!
Educational Objective: When they are ready to lay eggs, salmon make a long journey upstream, against all odds, to return to the pool where they, themselves, were hatched.

Bamboozled
Synopsis: Sally needs to find a gift for her stuffed panda, Pammy. Who better to ask than a real panda? The Cat takes them to meet Zhu Zhu, a giant panda who helps the kids to discover all the wonderful things you can do with her favorite food, bamboo. Bamboo turns out to be a perfect gift for Pammy!
Educational Objective: Bamboo is an incredible plant (in fact, a type of grass) that can be used for many things, from food to flutes to furniture!

November 11: repeat of #104

A Plan for Sand
Synopsis: Nick and Sally are playing in their sandbox, but there’s not enough room for them to build their castles. The Cat arrives to take them to the biggest sandbox they’ll ever see! In the desert, they meet Carmela the Camel who teaches them about how camels are adapted to live in the dry, sandy climate.
Educational Objective: Camels’ bodies are perfectly adapted to life in a dry, sandy desert. Their eyelashes keep sand out of their eyes, their wide feet help them walk on top of the sand, and their humps store fat when food is hard to find.

Whale Music
Synopsis: Nick and Sally have made a song to sing to their moms, but they can’t get the ending quite right. The Cat in the Hat takes them to meet the best singing teacher in the world, Humphrey the Humpback Whale! While bobbing in the ocean, Humphrey teaches the kids that whales communicate by singing, and that it’s not how you sing that matters, but what you’re saying in the song. The kids return home to delight their mothers with their song!
Educational Objective: Whales communicate with one another by “singing.” Also, they use their blow-holes to breathe, and can jump out of the water in a maneuver called “breaching.”

Women, War & Peace: War Redefined 11/8

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Watch Women, War & Peace Trailer on PBS. See more from Women War and Peace.

Women, War & Peace, a new five-hour series airing at 9pm Tuesdays through October and November, is a comprehensive global media initiative on women’s strategic role in global conflict.  Women, War & Peace challenges the conventional wisdom that war and peace are men’s domain and places women at the center of an urgent dialogue about conflict and security. Featuring narrators Matt Damon, Tilda Swinton, Geena Davis and Alfre Woodard, the series reveals that the majority of today’s conflicts are not fought by nations and their armies, but rather by gangs, insurgent groups, and warlords armed with small arms and improvised weapons.  Women have become primary targets in these conflicts and though they are suffering unprecedented casualties they are simultaneously emerging as critical partners in brokering peace and as leaders in forging new international laws governing conflict.  With depth and complexity, Women, War & Peace spotlights the stories of women in conflict zones from Bosnia to Afghanistan, and Colombia to Liberia.

November 8 – War Redefined

War Redefined, the capstone of Women, War & Peace, reframes our understanding of modern warfare through incisive interviews with leading thinkers, Secretaries of State, and seasoned survivors of war and peace-making. Their insights reveal how the post-Cold War proliferation of small arms has changed the landscape of war, so that in many conflicts today it is more dangerous to be a woman than a soldier. Simultaneously, they describe how women are changing the rules of engagement in conflict hotspots all over the world. War Redefined includes probing conversations with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her female predecessors, Condoleezza Rice and Madeleine Albright; Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee; Bosnian war crimes investigator Fadila Memisevic; Zainab Salbi, Founder of Women for Women International; globalization expert Moises Naim; and Cynthia Enloe of Clark University, among others. Narrated by Geena Davis. Produced and Written by Peter Bull. Co-produced by Nina Chaudry.

Review: Austin Film Festival 2011

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After months of trading ten-dollar bills to sit in a theater for two hours, while disappointing films like Transformers III, The Hangover 2, and Rise of the Apes flashed in front of me, I was quickly losing faith in the film industry the way the Autobots lost faith in their fearless leader Optimus Prime when a Decepticon cuts off Optimus’ arm in battle.

Enter: the Austin Film Festival.

For those feeling like they’ve been wandering through a barren desert of movies that deliver a message shallower than a gutter puddle, the Austin Film Festival provided an oasis for weary blockbuster-filmgoers to take shelter and feast.

For a behind-the-scenes look at the Austin Film Festival, tune into KLRU’s series, On Story. Showcasing exclusive footage from past festival panels, as well as interviews with the screenwriters and filmmakers behind the films, On Story gives viewers a chance to experience the Austin Film Festival in a unique way. Every episode of On Story pairs interviews and panel discussions with a short film from a Texas filmmaker who was featured at the Austin Film Festival.

As a first-time festivalgoer, I had no idea what to expect, so I decided my only objective would be to see and do as much as possible on Saturday and Sunday. Below is a tasting of some of the films I saw, including ones that made me think “what on earth?”, films I appreciated, but did not necessarily love, and films that made me want to be a better person:
more →

PBS Arts Festival: Blue Ridge Mountains Banjo 11/4

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Watch PBS Arts from the Blue Ridge Mountains: Give Me the Banjo – Preview on PBS. See more from PBS.

Discover even more unique art from the nation’s emerging artists as the PBS Arts Fall Festival continues its nine-week celebration of the arts. Tune in each week for new full-length performances, artist and performer profiles, behind-the-scenes documentaries and mini-films about the art scenes in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Chicago, Cleveland, and more.

Go on a musical odyssey narrated by Steve Martin through the history of the banjo’s arrival in America, and trace the roots of America’s early jazz, blues, folk, and country music on PBS Arts from the Blue Ridge Mountains: Great Performances “Give Me the Banjo” on Friday, November 4, at 8 p.m.

Next up, learn how the ancient traditions of handcrafted tools and household items serve as inspiration for four artists from the Blue Ridge Mountains in the mini documentary titled, Hand Made.

Then get a behind-the-scenes look into Austin’s creative culture as you visit working artists’ spaces for interviews and demonstrations on 2011 East Austin Studio Tour.

Steve Miller Band and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band bring great American music to the Austin City Limits stage at 10 p.m.