Roughly Speaking

2:07: Liz Bowie, the Sun’s senior education reporter, talks about the reaction to Maryland Gov Larry Hogan’s decree that all public school systems start their academic year after Labor Day and end by June 15.14:52: Paula Gallagher, Baltimore County librarian, reviews three books — one about “pseudocide,” or faking one’s death; an excellent memoir about going gluten-free and a first-time novel that takes us back to Steinbeck’s Cannery Row.Links:http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-school-labor-day-20160831-story.htmlhttp://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/bs-md-labor-day-local-districts-20160901-story.htmlhttp://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Playing-Dead/Elizabeth-Greenwood/9781476739335http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/247616/in-memory-of-bread-by-paul-graham/9780804186872/http://thepenguinpress.com/book/monterey-bay/

You can’t learn to throw a curveball from words and pictures in a book. Why is that? Jonathan Flombaum, an assistant professor in the department of psychological and brain sciences at Johns Hopkins University, mixes philosophy with some neuroscience to come up with an answer. We also talk about algorithms, machine leaning, deep learning, three-pointers and autonomous cars. Flombaum’s work at the Visual Thinking Lab at Hopkins focuses on big questions about the brain: What we already know about how it works and, more importantly, what we don’t know, and why so much of the brain’s process is a mystery to us.Links:http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/dan-rodricks-blog/bal-learning-to-throw-the-curve-ball-and-other-mysteries-of-the-brain-20160831-story.htmlhttp://www.jhuvisualthinkinglab.com/

2:37/42:05: Julie Lawson, executive director of Trash Free Maryland, talks about the amount of micro-plastics her organization has found in the Chesapeake Bay and efforts underway to reduce the kind of pollution barely discernible to the eye. Also, Lawson talks about Trash Free Maryland’s project to recover and track some of the merchandise lost by Main Street stores during the Ellicott City flood late last month, including ceramic Christmas figurines.13:01: Rona Kobell, reporter with the Chesapeake Bay Journal, discusses Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s decision to roll back septic rules for new houses put in place by his predecessor, Martin O’Malley. Plus, O’Malley-era oyster sanctuaries — watermen want some of them opened to harvest, and they might get their way. Rona also has a story about ex-offenders being put to work planting trees in Baltimore neighborhoods in dire need of things green.Linkshttp://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/dan-rodricks-blog/bal-last-and-found-a-flotilla-of-figurines-from-the-ellicott-city-flood-20160830-story.htmlhttp://www.baltimoresun.com/features/green/blog/bal-bill-aims-to-end-use-of-plastic-microbeads-in-personal-care-products-20150207-story.htmlhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/local/microbeads-soon-will-be-banned-from-toothpaste-soaps-shampoos/2016/01/07/254166a8-b4c1-11e5-a842-0feb51d1d124_story.htmlhttps://trashfreemaryland.org/2016/08/10/help-us-track-the-ectreasures/http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-septic-20160823-story.htmlhttp://www.bayjournal.com/article/green_jobs_helping_ex_cons_turn_over_a_new_leaf

2:13: Dr. John Cmar, an infectious disease specialist based at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, gives an excellent primer and update on Zika following news that Johns Hopkins Medicine plans to establish the world’s first center devoted to the mosquito-borne virus.27:58: The Sun’s media critic David Zurawik’s head almost explodes as he gets into … all of it: Trump, Clinton, Bannon/Brietbart, Ailes, The New York Times, Vietnam, lies and moral authority.48:38: Catherine Pugh, the Democratic candidate for mayor of Baltimore in November’s election, says she’s been researching “best practices” for approaching some of the city’s chronic problems. She speaks with Dan about the Department of Justice report on the Baltimore Police Department and her idea for tackling unemployment in the city’s most distressed neighborhoods.

2:49: The Baltimore Police Department has been using a surveillance plane to investigate all sorts of crimes, from property thefts to shootings, reports Bloomberg Businessweek, and some Baltimore citizens are outraged about it. Sean Gallagher, IT editor of ars technica, talks about how the system works and the company behind it.14:16: Plus, who hacked the hackers at the National Security Agency? More from Sean on a story that has the information security world buzzing and bolstering system defenses.Links: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-secret-surveillance-20160824-story.htmlhttp://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/07/a-tivo-for-crime-how-always-recording-airborne-cameras-watch-entire-cities/http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-nsa-hacked-auction-20160815-story.html

Michael Steele, former chair of the Republican National Committee and Maryland lieutenant governor, says he’s spoken privately with Donald Trump about "some of the crazy," and says the Republican presidential nominee "is his own worst enemy." With his controversial and offensive statements, Trump has been "writing the commercials for Hillary Clinton," says Steele, but he adds that a much-needed change is now underway, thanks to Trump’s new campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway. Steele, who served as RNC chair from 2009 to 2011, is a political analyst for MSNBC.

2:06: John Dickerson, host of "Face The Nation" on CBS, talks about Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and presidential campaigns of the past. Dickerson is a contributor to Slate and its podcast "The Political Gabfest." He is the author of “Whistlestop: My favorite stories from Presidential Campaign History.”24:37: Sheri Parks, our American culture commentator, talks about the Rio Olympics, race and gender, and about the prominent roles black women have played in the summer games. Parks, associate dean in arts and humanities at the University of Maryland College Park, is the author of “Fierce Angels: The Strong Black Woman In American Life and Culture.”Links:http://www.cbsnews.com/face-the-nation/http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/gabfest.htmlhttps://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FD96JQ6/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8----btkr=1#nav-subnavhttps://www.amazon.com/Fierce-Angels-Strong-American-Culture/dp/0345503147

With a remake of “Ben-Hur” opening in theaters nationwide, film critics Linda DeLibero and Christopher Llewellyn Reed talk about the long, loud and lavish line of Hollywood epics that stand iconic in American cinematic history, including the remarkable productions of “Ben-Hur” from 1925 and with Charlton Heston in 1959. Plus, Chris and Linda review two new films, “Hell or High Water,” and “War Dogs."Links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nO2DPqO6Bghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irQdcfOZpCUhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQoqsKoJVDwhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdFIkMY1SUI

Elizabeth Letts, author of the best-selling book, "The Eighty-Dollar Champion," talks about how she discovered the great story of champion jumper Snowman and the horseman who saved him from the slaughterhouse, Harry de Leyer. Snowman is the subject of a documentary film due for release in September. Letts has a new book, due out next week, also about saving horses. "The Perfect Horse" tells how the Nazis stole priceless European stallions and set out to develop a super breed of horses, built for war. It also chronicles the men of a U.S. Army unit who carried out a secret mission at the end of World War II to save the stallions from certain death.Links:http://www.elizabethletts.com/elizabeth-letts/http://www.elizabethletts.com/the-eighty-dollar-champion-snowman-the-horse-that-inspired-a-nation/https://vimeo.com/111068304http://www.elizabethletts.com/the-perfect-horse/

As the new school year begins, Jennifer Green, co-founder and CEO of Baltimore-based Urban Teachers, talks about her program’s success in preparing hundreds of college graduates for lasting careers in city schools. Since 2010, Urban Teachers has used a demanding, medical school-style residency model to develop new teachers for jobs in Baltimore and other low-income school districts across the country.Links:http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/blog/bs-md-teacher-residency-20140817-story.htmlhttp://www.urbanteachers.org/