Long Live PBS

I am so glad that we get two PBS station because I always seem to realize a show I wanted to watch was on with about 15 minutes left. But the PBS station that we get on satellite is one day behind compared to the other PBS station we get. Which means I usually get to watch Frontline on Wednesday because I never can remember at 8:45 that Frontline is on at 9. But I have been watching Frontline episode from previous years. I saw one about the effect of the O.J. Simpson verdict on the law and race is this country. When discussing the trial in a law class, a student summed up the trial saying the LAPD framed a guilty man. The Frontline I saw last night was Frontline World and they had three short stories. The saddest one was about the current situation in Zimbabwe with Robert Mugabe as president. Mugabe was very important in Zimbabwe's war for Independence, and following becoming an independent state, the economy of Zimbabwe was one of the best in all of Africa. But in the 1990s the economy hit a plateau and now there is hyperinflation of the Zimbabwe dollar (inflation rate is about 1000% and the government has started to print a 100,000 bill). And now thousands of Zimbabwians are escaping to South Africa only to be returned. An journalist from South Africa said that most nations around the world aren't sure of how to fix the problems in Zimbabwe because the country has gone from being on of the most stable countries to a country with 80% unemployment under the same ruler. (In the case of South Africa, Mugabe was an integral part in helping ending apartheid, so the government of South Africa is hesitant to use force to remove him from office). I learned yesterday that the Australian Soccer team is know as Socceroos. And that the Queen costs the each person of the UK one pound and sixty pence per year. (Which is an increase of ten pence from last year, the extra ten pence is due to Charles and Camille's increased traveling over the past year).
Tuesday, I helped Natalie with the 4-H roundup on campus. She was doing a workshop about using computers in engineering. So I learned how to use the program that she was teaching to the kids to help them. Even though she told them to follow her so they could learn how to use the program, one kid decided that he understood the program enough and so he work ahead. And then by the end when the kids were supposed to have an illustration of the effect of force on a beam, the kid had it totally wrong. And now I am helping Natalie update/revise the Soil and Water Conservation books. The ones we are working with were written by Natalie predecessor (who is apparently infamous in the case of my parents) and the books are not very good. But, since my Bachelor's degree was in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences (with a focus on water quality) the subject is right up my alley. And Natalie is very good about wanting to change the books so the kids using the books can use the books as a starting point and then recommending resources for kids to use as they continue with the subject. Well, I need to get to work (on cherries and cleaning the kitchen!) My mom comes home tomorrow!!

"Who? Who in the media tricked you?"-Bobby Hill to Peggy regarding the beauty of big feet.