To Be Big in China Requires Playing by China’s Censorship Rules (0:32)

Guest: Stanley Rosen, Professor of Political Science and International Relations, University of Southern California

Fresh back from a couple of exhibition games in China this week, NBA star LeBron James set off a fire storm with his reaction to a tweet that had set off an earlier firestorm. “You know when you’re misinformed or you’re not educated about something –and I’m just talking about the tweet itself –you never know the ramifications that can happen. And you know we all seen what that did.” The tweet was fairly short and quickly deleted. It was posted by the general manager of the Houston Rockets and it read “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.” China’s communist government immediately condemned the tweet –it sees the Hong Kong protests as a violent separatist movement. The timing was bad, because LeBron’s LA Lakers and the Brooklyn Nets were just about to head off to China for some pre-season games and a bunch of publicity to gin up support for the NBA in China–which is a really lucrative market for the league. Chinese companies pulled sponsorship from the NBA and team appearances were cancelled. Chinese TV networks refused to broadcast the games. The NBA apologized to China, but that’s tricky because here in America we believe in free speech and furthermore, what the Houston Rocket’s executive tweeted about supporting Hong Kong protesters is a pretty mainstream view in the West. And so, American media and entertainment companies are in a tough spot. The Chinese market is a gold mine, but reaping those profits means cooperating with China’s communist censors.

Butchers Aim for More Sustainable Meat Eating (20:45)

Guest: Kate Kavanaugh, Cofounder and CEO of Western Daughters Butcher Shoppe

A former vegetarian is the last person I’d expect to see behind the counter at a butcher shop carving steaks off a carcass. But that’s Kate Kavanaugh’s story. She’s part of a movement the New York Times recently called “ethical butchering.” Kavanaugh says “sustainable” might be a better word.

Crowdfunding Saves a Stretch of Pristine Wilderness in British Columbia (37:28)

Guest: Andrew Day, CEO of the British Columbia Parks Foundation

Up north of Vancouver, along Canada’s Pacific coast, glaciers have carved narrow, finger-like fjords that are spectacular. One of them is sometimes called the “Yosemite of the North” because of its high cliffs and waterfalls. Princess Louisa Inlet is its actual name and recently a stretch of its shoreline went up for sale. Logging companies were eyeing it, until the British Columbia Parks Foundation stepped in with a bold plan. They were going to crowdfund $3 million to buy the land for preservation as a public park. With just three months to round up the cash, they did it.

The Apple Seed (51:10)

Guest: Sam Payne, The Apple Seed, BYUradio

Sam Payne from The Apple Seed shares a spooky story in honor of October. 

Increasing Recess Time (1:01:47)

Guest: Lauren Zolkiewicz

In many school districts pressure to have kids perform well on exams has led to cutting time from other programs and activities –including recess. But some say that’s a big mistake.In one of the largest school districts in the country one parent, who is also a high school teacher, has worked tirelessly to make a difference for her child and thousands of other children in one way: longer recess. Lauren Zolkiewicz is a mother and high school teacher who is passionate about free, unstructured play being built into the elementary school curriculum. Through her movement “More Recess MCPS”, she has begun a pilot program that has doubled recess time in six of her district’s schools.

Proving Einstein Right: The Daring Expeditions that Changed How We Look at the Universe (1:12:21)

Guest: Sylvester James Gates, Jr., Theoretical Physicist, Brown Theoretical Physics Center Director, Co-Author of "Proving Einstein Right: The Daring Expeditions that Changed How We Look at the Universe"

100 years ago, a total solar eclipse changed our understanding of the universe and made Albert Einstein famous. Up till then, Einstein was just an academic with some intriguing ideas about gravity. But a group of adventurous astronomers set out to test Einstein’s theory of relativity. To do that, they needed to take pictures of the stars during total solar eclipses. And to do that, they had to travel to Russia on the brink of war and deep into the Brazil’s Amazon jungles. Finally, on May 29, 1919, after eight years of failed attempts, astronomers captured the evidence they needed to prove Einstein was right.