Photo, above: Will Change Come Fast Enough for Mississippi River Floodplain Policy? Jun 12th, 2013 flooding on the Mississippi River. This spring a 45-foot swing in water levels took the Mississippi River from near-dry in places, to near-historic crests in just a few months.  Two years ago, floodplain managers were advocating for policy change on the Mississippi River. But that change is slow.  “We need some retreat from our rivers,” said Larry Larson, executive director of the Association of State Floodplain Managers in 2011. They need to re-evaluate the entire system.”  Since then, some landowners have sold out, but others like those in tiny Dutchtown, Mo., have been “jumping through hoops” for years seeking a buyout from the Federal Emergency as saying, “In a New York minute. I’m 75 years old — I can’t fight this.”  -- U.S. Coast Guard photo by Isaac Pacheco.  See: Hour 1, Block A, Theodoric Meyer, ProPublica, on "From Maine to Oregon, local floodplain managers say FEMA's recent flood maps - which dictate the premiums that 5.5 million Americans pay for flood insurance - have often been built using outdated, inaccurate data."

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW

Hour One

Sunday 18 August 2013 / Hour 1, Block A: Theodoric Meyer, ProPublica, in re: "From Maine to Oregon, local floodplain managers say FEMA's recent flood maps - which dictate the premiums that 5.5 million Americans pay for flood insurance - have often been built using outdated, inaccurate data. Homeowners, in turn, have to bear the cost of fixing FEMA's mistakes."

Meyer explains where the problems are happening, how FEMA got the data wrong and how cuts in funding to FEMA have exacerbated the problem.  [more]

Sunday 18 August 2013 / Hour 1, Block B:  Andrew Pollack, NYT, in re:  His Corporate Strategy: The Scientific Method  - The scientific rebel J. Craig Venter created headlines — and drew comparisons to Dr. Frankenstein — when he announced in May that his team had created what, with a bit of stretching, could be called the first synthetic living creature.  Two months later, only a smattering of reporters and local dignitaries bothered to show up at a news conference to hear Dr. Venter talk about a new greenhouse that his company, Synthetic Genomics, had built outside its headquarters here to conduct research.  The contrast in the fanfare reflects the enormous gap between Dr. Venter’s stunning scientific achievements and his business aspirations.  Dr. Venter, now 63, made his name as a gene hunter. He was co-founder of a company, Celera Genomics, that nearly left the federally funded Human Genome Project in the dust in the race to determine the complete sequence of DNA in human chromosomes. He garnered admiration for some path-breaking ideas but also the enmity of some scientific rivals who viewed him as a publicity seeker who was polluting a scientific endeavor with commercialism.  [more]

Sunday 18 August 2013 / Hour 1, Block C: Michael Belter, Science magazine, 19 April 2013, in re: Anthropocene.  Archaeologists Say the ‘Anthropocene,’ or "Age of Man," Is Here—But It Began Long Ago.

Sunday 18 August 2013 / Hour 1, Block D: Nicholas Wade, NYT, in re: Hemophilia B Gene Therapy Breakthrough   Hemophilia B is the first well-known disease to appear treatable by gene therapy, a technique with a 20-year record of  . . .  "In a Breakthrough for Gene Therapy, An Injection Works on Hemophilia B"   [more]

Hour Two

Sunday 18 August 2013 / Hour 2, Block A: The New Good Life: Living Better Than Ever in an Age of Less by John Robbins (1 of 2)

Sunday 18 August 2013 / Hour 2, Block B: The New Good Life: Living Better Than Ever in an Age of Less by John Robbins (2 of 2)

Sunday 18 August 2013 / Hour 2, Block C: Hopper: A Journey into the American Dream by Tom Folsom (1 of 2)

Sunday 18 August 2013 / Hour 2, Block D: Hopper: A Journey into the American Dream by Tom Folsom (2 of 2)

Hour Three

Sunday 18 August 2013 / Hour 3, Block A: The Honored Dead: A Story of Friendship, Murder, and the Search for Truth in the Arab World by Joseph Braude (1 of 2)

Sunday 18 August 2013 / Hour 3, Block B: The Honored Dead: A Story of Friendship, Murder, and the Search for Truth in the Arab World by Joseph Braude (2 of 2) 

Sunday 18 August 2013 / Hour 3, Block C: Sex and the Citadel: Intimate Life in a Changing Arab World by Shereen El Feki (1 of 2)

Sunday 18 August 2013 / Hour 3, Block D: Sex and the Citadel: Intimate Life in a Changing Arab World by Shereen El Feki (2 of 2)

Hour Four

Sunday 18 August 2013 / Hour 4, Block A: The Lost Bank: The Story of Washington Mutual-The Biggest Bank Failure in American History by Kirsten Grind (1 of 4) 

Sunday 18 August 2013 / Hour 4, Block B: The Lost Bank: The Story of Washington Mutual-The Biggest Bank Failure in American History by Kirsten Grind (2 of 4)

Sunday 18 August 2013 / Hour 4, Block C: The Lost Bank: The Story of Washington Mutual-The Biggest Bank Failure in American History by Kirsten Grind (3 of 4)

Sunday 18 August 2013 / Hour 4, Block D: The Lost Bank: The Story of Washington Mutual-The Biggest Bank Failure in American History by Kirsten Grind (4 of 4)

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Music

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