University of Southern California
Assistant Research Professor in History at the University of Southern California and director of the Aerospace History Project at the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West; co-author of The World in the Curl: An Unconventional History of Surfing; editor of Blue Sky Metropolis: The Aerospace Century in Southern California
SoCal's Aerospace Influence Southern California was once synonymous with aerospace. And the region has a long history in aviation going back to the early 1900s. So what happened?
A Totally Rad History of Surfing Did Christian missionaries really try to stop Hawaiians from surfing? A new book provides at some interesting facts and dispels some myths about the history of that ancient sport. The jacket of this new book has a picture of two middle-aged guys in wetsuits floating on surfboards. They're professors at UC Santa Barbara and their book is The World in the Curl : An Unconventional History of Surfing. One is Peter Neushul and the other is Peter Westwick, who joins us here in our studio.
Private Enterprise in Low Earth Orbit PayPal billionaire Elon Musk admits, "There's a lot that can go wrong." But his Dragon space capsule could be the first private mission to reach the International Space Station as soon as next week. Launch is scheduled for Saturday from the Air Force Station at Cape Canaveral.
Last Space Shuttle Flight Leaves a Southern California Legacy In the 1950's black and white sit-com The Life of Reilly, Reilly and his buddy, Gillis, drove on something called a freeway to get to their jobs in an airplane factory. It was there, where eventually Howard Hughes built his Spruce Goose. Those bits of news were just the tip of the iceberg. One could make the case that Southern California wouldn't really exist without aerospace. Now, consolidation, outsourcing and other factors have shrunk the local industry to a shell of its former self. Tomorrow, the Space Shuttle Atlantis will blast off for the final time. We look back at the central role played by aerospace industry in the growth of Southern California, and examine its potential resurrection.
Terrorism and tweets, hate speech and murder Just days before an election, Britain is coping with a rash of deadly terrorism, and Prime Minister Theresa May is on the defensive. And again today, President Trump has tweeted criticism of the Mayor of London. Later, a double murder in Portland, Oregon has revealed the ugly past of a supposedly “progressive” city. One immediate question: is “hate speech” protected by the First Amendment?
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.
Trump's new look at civil rights and global warming President Trump is reportedly ready to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. We look at the possible consequences. On the second half of the program, we hear about cuts in Obama-Era civil rights programs called for by the Trump Administration's first budget plan.
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.