November 10, 2011

Thursday's Show

Middle East

Saudi Women Drive Change Despite Mixed Signals()  

A Saudi woman drives a car in Riyadh in June as part of a campaign to defy the kingdom's ban on women driving. The image is from a video released by Change.org.

Authorities continue to go after women who flout Saudi Arabia's ban on female drivers, but King Abdullah has pledged to give women more political power in the coming years. Conflicting messages from the kingdom on women's rights stir up hope, fear and frustration.

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Technology

Before Leaving The Bar, A Chance To Breathalyze()  

 A new SipSmart breathalyzer kiosk awaits drinkers at Caputi's, a sports bar in suburban Buffalo, N.Y. Customers swipe a credit card and then blow into a plastic mouthpiece attached to the side of the machine. Seconds later, their blood alcohol level flashes on the screen.

WNEDOne company is selling breathalyzers to bars allowing patrons to self-test and see whether they've exceeded the legal limit. But some bar owners worry that patrons might decide to drink less if they see their blood alcohol level is too high.

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Politics

Perry Has An 'Oops' Moment At GOP's Michigan Debate()  

GOP presidential candidates (from left) former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, Rep. Michele Bachmann, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, businessman Herman Cain, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Rep. Ron Paul, and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, pose before a GOP presidential debate at Oakland University in Auburn Hills, Mich., on Wednesday.

The eight Republican presidential hopefuls focused on the economy and jobs. But there were dramatic moments on other issues: The audience booed a question about sexual harassment allegations against Herman Cain, and Rick Perry had an embarrassing memory lapse about one of his own proposals.

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Hard Times: A Journey Across America

Alabama's 'Rocket City' Hopes For Another Boom()  

In 1962, President John Kennedy (center) and Vice President Lyndon Johnson visited Dr. Wernher von Braun (left), who designed the Saturn rocket in Huntsville, Ala.

Huntsville is the shining star in Alabama's economy. Scientists there designed the rockets that put man on the moon. In the past 50 years, it's become a magnet for high-tech space and defense jobs. But with NASA downsizing and the specter of defense cuts looming, Huntsville finds itself in limbo.

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Science

Credit Controversy: Who Made A Key Astronomical Discovery?()  

American astronomer Edwin Hubble looks through the eyepiece of the 100-inch telescope at the Mount Wilson Observatory in Los Angeles, 1937. In 1929, Hubble proposed that the more distant a galaxy is, the faster it appears to be receding from us, a concept that has become known as Hubble's law.

A letter found deep in archives in London has helped settle the debate over who deserves credit for what many say is the most important astronomical discovery of the 20th century: the realization that the universe is expanding.

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Fine Art

For Gertrude Stein, Collecting Art Was A Family Affair()  

Gertrude Stein and family pictured outside their Paris apartment circa 1909-10.

In the early 1900s, Gertrude Stein and her brothers filled their Paris apartments with avant-garde art. The Steins bought paintings right out of the studios of young, scandalous artists — Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and others — who met and mingled at the Steins' salons.

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