2013 National Geographic Bee

national geographic bee

Austin fifth grader student Chinmay Murthy, from Paragon Preparatory Middle School, will represent Texas in the 2013 National Geographic Bee airing Friday, May 24 at 1 pm, Saturday, May 25 at 5 pm and Sunday, May 26 at 5 pm. By using materials prepared by the National Geographic Society, students from around the country compete in the annual National Geographic Bee. The National Geographic Bee is constructed to encourage teachers to include geography in their class rooms in order to increase student and public interest in the subject.

Prepare for the 2013 National Geographic Bee and take Take a GeoBee Quiz!

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KLRU Q Saturday at the Movies – 5/18

KLRU Q - Night at the Movies

KLRU-Q’s Saturday Night at the Movies presents a full-length feature film every Saturday night, plus extra content that gives the evening an exciting spin. Each film explores the work of legendary actors and actresses through many important films from their careers. Here is a peek of what this Saturday has in store:

7:00 Just Seen It – “Episode #205
Just Seen It is the review show where film school graduates and working entertainment professionals review the newest in theaters, on TV and cable as well as offer industry interviews.

7:30 – On StoryThe Heart Of The Superhero
The creative minds behind the films Thor, The Avengers, Hulk, The Incredible Hulk, Elektra, The Green Lantern, X-Men: The Last Stand, X2, and X-Men: First Class divulge the complexities of memorable heroes and villains, and how some of the best supernatural films tap into the most basic of human elements.

8:00 – Hollywood Stars Film PackagePlanet Of The Apes
An astronaut (Charlton Heston) goes by time warp to a future planet ruled by smart apes who keep humans as slaves.

9:55 – Pioneers Of TelevisionScience Fiction
This episode explores how storytellers Gene Roddenberry and Rod Serling (of “The Twilight Zone”) used the future as a stage for modern morality plays, and William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols and other science-fiction stars describe how they prepared to interact on-camera with a malevolent alien force … or, perhaps, a giant radish.

10:55 - Video Games Live
The power and emotion of a symphony orchestra mixed with the excitement and energy of a rock concert and the technology, fun and interactivity of a video game all completely synchronized to amazing cutting edge video screen visuals, state of the art lighting, and special FX.

 

Science Night 5/22

Nature The White Lions at 7 pm
This is the story of two remarkable and extremely rare white lion cubs on their journey to adulthood. Both are female, sisters born as white as snow in May 2009, in South Africa’s Kruger Park. Growing up on the savanna, they must not only overcome the same survival challenges that all young lion cubs must face, they must also overcome the threats their high visibility brings.

NOVA Secrets Of The Sun at 8 pm
It contains 99.9 percent of all the matter in our solar system and sheds hot plasma at nearly a million miles an hour. The temperature at its core is a staggering 27 million degrees Fahrenheit. It convulses, it blazes, it sings. You know it as the sun. Scientists know it as one of the most amazing physics laboratories in the universe. Now, with the help of new spacecraft and Earth-based telescopes, scientists are seeing the Sun as they never have before and even re-creating what happens at the very center of the Sun in labs here on Earth. Their work will help us understand aspects of the sun that have puzzled scientists for decades. But more critically, it may help us predict and track solar storms that have the power to zap our power grid, shut down telecommunications, and ground global air travel for days, weeks, or even longer. Such storms have happened before-but never in the modern era of satellite communication. SECRETS OF THE SUN reveals a bright new dawn in our understanding of our nearest star-one that might help keep our planet from going dark.

Secrets of the Dead Airmen And The Headhunters at 9 pm
This program investigates a fantastic WWII tale of jungle ambushes, extreme engineering, blow darts defenses, and enemy headhunting. In 1945, an American B24 bomber is shot down over Japanese — controlled Borneo. The airmen bail out and survive, only to find themselves isolated and lost in the impenetrable jungle. Briefed to fear the “savage” Dayak inhabitants, the Americans are instead taken in by these tribes and become witness to a compassionate, resourceful people who shatter stereotypes, protect them from the Japanese, and eventually deliver them safely into the hands of an eccentric British Major who orchestrates their rescue by building a bamboo runway deep in the Borneo interior.

 

 

Online discussion on Austin after 10-1

civic summit austin after 10-1

Watch on KLRU or join our online community discussion starting at 9 pm May 16th. Take part in the online screening now

KLRU’s ongoing dialogue on civic engagement, Why Bother? takes an in-depth look at how the change to Austin City Council’s governing structure will impact voters. Experts and community members from across the city meet to discuss issues that are most important to them, to try to figure out how 10 separate districts will reconcile their differences once the new council is elected.

 

 

Highlights: May 19 to May 25

KLRU Highlights

Great Performances At The Met presents Rigoletto at 2 pm Sunday. Director Michael Mayer has placed his new production of Verdi’s towering tragedy in Las Vegas in 1960.

Jenny’s own jubilation comes in the form of potential love interest on Call The Midwife Episode #208 at 7 pm Sunday.

Tragedy strikes on the day polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton comes to the store on Masterpiece Mr. Selfridge, Part 8 at 8 pm Sunday.

60′s Pop Flashback: Hullabaloo at 10 pm Sunday returns to the era of go-go dancers, mod mini-skirts and swinging pop-rock sounds.

Antiques Roadshow at 7 pm Monday visits the Space Needle in Seattle and talk about World’s Fair posters.

American Masters at 8 pm Monday takes a look at the life of Mel Brooks, a comedy giant of our time that has earned more major awards than any other living entertainer.

On Protect Your Memory With Dr. Neal Barnard at 9:30 pm Monday, Barnard dives into three simple steps which you can take to derail the degenerative processes that could otherwise derail you and your memory.

Ghost Army at 7 pm Tuesday tells the true story of American G.I’s who ricked the enemy with rubber tanks, sound effects and visual illusions during the World War II.

Constitution USA With Peter Sagal Created Equal at 8 pm Tuesday takes a in-depth look on how the notion sof citizenship, equal protection, due process and personal liberty are being used to fight for same-sex marriage, voting rights, affirmative action and immigration reform.

Frontline The Untouchables at 9 pm Tuesday investigates why Wall Street’s leaders have escaped persecution for any fraud related to the sale of bad mortgages.

On Story presents Explosive Action at 10 pm Tuesday. The writers behind Wanted, The Bourne Ultimatum, Con Air, and Snitch discuss how they use action scenes to further the plot, convey tension, and build toward a satisfying climax.

On Mel Leipzig: Everything is Paintable at 10:30 Tuesday, the renowned realist painter from Trenton, New Jersey is profiled in this documentary filmed over three years by producer Eric Schultz.

Nature presents The White Lions at 7 pm Wednesday. This is the story of two remarkable and extremely rare white lion cubs on their journey to adulthood.

NOVA Secrets Of The Sun at 8 pm Wednesday reveals a bright new dawn in our understanding of our nearest star-one that might help keep our planet from going dark.

Secrets of the Dead  Airmen And The Headhunters at 9 pm Wednesday investigates a fantastic WWII tale of jungle ambushes, extreme engineering, blow darts defenses, and enemy headhunting.

Overheard with Evan Smith presents award-winning American playwright and screenwriter Tony Kushner at 7 pm Thursday.

The Daytripper heads to Fort Davis to visit the Davis Mountains and explore the U.S. Fort that helped settle this vast desert at 8:30 pm Thursday.

SXSW Flashback 2013 at 9 pm Thursday presents clips from and info about the films you loved or that slipped under your radar this past year.

You Don’t Know Jack Soo at 9:30 pm Thursday tells the story of the pioneering American entertainer and Oakland native who became the first Asian American to be cast in the lead role in a regular television series, “Valentine’s Day.”

Austin fifth grader student Chinmay Murthy competes in this year’s National Geographic Bee  at 1 pm Friday and 5 pm Saturday.

Rebel: Voces Special Presentation at 9 pm Friday chronicles the story of Loreta Janeta Velazquez, a Cuban-born teenager from New Orleans who fought disguised as a man during the American Civil War.

On Victory Garden presents Urban Oasis at 4:30 Saturday, Jamie Durie  visits a city oasis that sits atop the Frank Gehry – designed Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

Austin City Limits presents alternative rock icon Radiohead at 7 pm Saturday.

Community Cinema: Love Free or Die

The June 2013 Community Cinema film is Love Free or Die with screenings and discussions in both Austin and Round Rock. All screenings will start at 7 pm, are free and open to the public.

Screenings take place June 4 at Austin’s Windsor Park Branch Library (5833 Westminster Dr.) and June 27 at Round Rock Public Library (216 E. Main Street).

LOVE FREE OR DIE by Macky Alston
Faith, love, marriage, homosexuality, and the Episcopal Church collide in the first openly gay Bishop, Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

Special thanks to
Austin American-Statesman

KLRU Q Saturday at the Movies – 5/11

KLRU Q - Night at the Movies

KLRU-Q’s Saturday Night at the Movies presents a full-length feature film every Saturday night, plus extra content that gives the evening an exciting spin. Each film explores the work of legendary actors and actresses through many important films from their careers. Here is a peek of what this Saturday has in store:

7:00 – Just Seen ItEpisode #204
Just Seen It is the review show where film school graduates and working entertainment professionals review the newest in theaters, on TV and cable as well as offer industry interviews.

7:30 – On Story Elements Of Great Horror
Professional horror writers explore how great drama lies at the core of the most frightening films, and discuss the style and techniques used to invoke fear, suspense and thrills that linger long after the credits roll.

8:00 – Hollywood Stars Film PackageRain Man
A wheeler-dealer (Tom Cruise) meets his brother (Dustin Hoffman), an institutionalized autistic-savant and heir to $3 million.

10:15 – Hollywood Stars Film PackageHoosiers
A college basketball coach leaves the Navy in 1951 and becomes coach of an underdog Indiana high-school team.

 

 

Science Night 5/15

Nature Great Zebra Exodus at 7 pm
When thunderclouds begin to gather over Botswana’s Kalahari each year, 20 000 zebras begin an ancient journey, as southern Africa’s biggest animal migration gets underway. In a never-ending quest for grass and water, the striped herds make their epic trek across the vast otherworldly landscape of the Kalahari’s Makgadikgadi Pans, through prides of lions, and past families of meerkats, taking on the desert salt pans in their own way. The story of this spectacular annual migration is told through the eyes of zebra stallions, their mares, and their young, revealing the trials and triumphs and the fascinating social bonds that hold zebra families together.

NOVA Decoding Neanderthals at 8 pm
Over 60,000 years ago, the first modern humans—people physically identical to us today—left their African homeland and entered Europe, then a bleak and inhospitable continent in the grip of the Ice Age. But when they arrived, they were not alone: the stocky, powerfully built Neanderthals had already been living there for hundred of thousands of years. So what happened when the first modern humans encountered the Neanderthals? That question has tantalized generations of scholars and seized the popular imagination. Then, in 2010, a team led by geneticist Svante Paabo announced stunning news. Not only had they reconstructed much of the Neanderthal genome—an extraordinary technical feat that would have seemed impossible only a decade ago—but their analysis showed that “we” modern humans had interbred with Neanderthals, leaving a small but consistent signature of Neanderthal genes behind in everyone outside Africa today. In “Decoding Neanderthals,” NOVA explores the implications of this exciting discovery.

Secrets of the Dead Cavemen Cold Case at 9 pm
A tomb of 49,000 year-old Neanderthal bones discovered in El Sidron, a remote, mountainous region of northern Spain, leads to a compelling investigation to solve a double mystery: How did this group of Neanderthals die? And could the fate of this group help explain Neanderthal extinction? Scientists examine the bones and discover signs that tell a shocking story of how this group may have met their deaths. Some bones bear distinct signs of cannibalism. Was it a result of ritual or hunger? Neanderthal experts are adamant that they were not bloodthirsty brutes. What happened here 49,000 years ago will take viewers on a much bigger journey – from El Sidron to the other end of the Iberian Peninsula, where scientists are excavating beneath the seas off Gibraltar in search of Neanderthal sites.