Although it's illegal to assemble a gun in California, how easy is it to acquire the components? Also, the prices for electric cars are dropping; why are consumers still not buying in? Then, would you go to a "bookless" digital library, what are the words to "Louie, Louie," and how young is too young to recruit athletes? Later, are Asian Americans changing the Asian stereotype, and should people take a class in dressing for work? All that and more, today on AirTalk.
Should California Legislature tighten restrictions on building and enhancing firearms?
The police are investigating details concerning the Santa Monica shootings that left five people dead. They found a AR-15 type rifle on gunman John Zawahri when he was shot. In his duffel bag, they found an upper receiver, a handgun, and firepower for the rifle and handgun. The police are still running tests on the weapons, but how will this incident affect California's gun laws that are on the Legislature floor?
Currently, SB374 proposes to expand the definition of illegal firearms to include anything with a detachable magazine. Also, SB53 wants to run background checks on those who purchase ammunition.
How easy is it to build or enhance a gun? Will this shooting affect pending legislation?
Guest:
Sharon McNary, KPCC Reporter
Why aren’t people buying electric cars?
General Motors just slashed the price of its electric model the Volt to try and make up for lagging sales. Nissan is also offering huge discounts on leases of their all-electric Leaf. The price of an all-electric car now rivals many popular non-electric models.
If the price tag is no longer a barrier to people buying electric cars, and they’re good for the environment, and they’re no longer a novelty...why aren't they selling? Are Chevy and Nissan doing an effective job of marketing the vehicles? Is there a broader marketing strategy for electric vehicles that would make them sell better? Do you own an electric car? Why? Would you consider buying one? Why not?
Guest:
Sasha Strauss, founder of Innovation Protocol
Click here to see a map of electric vehicle charging stations.
New library set to open... with no books
Say goodbye to the printed page and hello to a new library with no books. An all-digital "bookless" library is set to open this fall in Texas’ Bexar County. The library will look more like an Apple store and give the community access to 10,000 digital titles. The $1.5 million facility will not house a single printed book, but will offer 150 e-readers on loan that patrons can use in their home. Budget cuts are causing libraries across the country to close.
Is converting them to digital a way to save community libraries? Would you still go to a library that had only e-readers? They can be cheaper and make technology accessible to rural or low income areas but what are we losing by giving up the printed book?
Guests:
Laura Cole, project coordinator for Bexar County and the BiblioTech
Susan Neuman, professor at University of Michigan's school of education and researcher in the field of child literacy
When tax dollars meet paranoia: The FBI’s two-year quest to figure out the lyrics to “Louie, Louie”
A fine little girl, she wait for me;
Me catch a ship across the sea.
I sailed the ship all alone;
I never think I’ll make it home
Three nights and days we sailed the sea;
Me think of girl constantly.
On the ship, I dream she there;
I smell the rose, in her hair.
Me see Jamaica moon above;
It won’t be long me see me love.
Me take her in my arms and then
I tell her I never leave again.
Are you hearing something that we’re not? The FBI did. They spent two years investigating the song, "Louie, Louie" and its lyrics for obscene messages. The song, famously mumbled by The Kingsmen, infuriated a Florida high school teacher in 1964. She wrote a letter to the FBI insisting that something be done to ‘stamp out this menace’.
So, the FBI spent two years analyzing the lyrics by listening to the song at different speeds and trying to decipher the words. After all the man hours and tax dollars that were invested into this investigation, perhaps the FBI's only payoff was more versions of this song and the memorable scene from ‘Animal House’.
Do you hear obscene lyrics while listening to Louie Louie? Do you remember alternative versions that may have been NSFW? Do you think that this was good use of the FBI’s resources?
Louie, Louie,
Me gotta go.
Louie, Louie,
Me gotta go.
Guest:
Jon Wiener, professor of History at the University of California Irvine and author of “How We Forgot the Cold War: A Historical Journey across America”
USC signs 8th grader to football scholarship
How young is too young to recruit athletes? This week, USC offered a football scholarship to a 15-year-old incoming freshman to Upland High School. Nathan Tilford is a 6-foot-2, 190 pound receiver who is about to start summer practices at his new high school. USC offered a scholarship to a 13-year-old seventh grader a few years ago, and other schools have been doing the same. LSU offered a football scholarship to an eighth grader last year.
Why are schools making offers to these students so early? And how early is too early?
Guest:
Jeremy Crabtree, Senior Coordinator of Recruiting for ESPN RecruitingNation
Is it hip to be Asian in America?
Used to be that the U.S. was the world's cultural exporter writ large, but take a look at American pop culture today, and chances are, what you'll see is a lot of influence coming from Asia.
The shift has compelled one writer to proclaim that it is actually kind of cool now to be Asian in America. This increasing popularity has advanced the position of Asian Americans by making the culture mainstream and breaking down stereotypes.
"Asian Americans have had to endure quite a few stereotypes over the years. Being cool isn't one of them, until recently," said Phil Yu, blogger behind the influential Asian American blog, Angry Asian Man.
Those Asian stereotypes have been negative and positive, from all Asians are short to all Asians are good at math.
"In the end, to even just identify an entire group in one way is just kind of useless. I don't think much good can come out of that," said Eric Nakamura, owner of Giant Robot, a magazine, retail space and art gallery based in Santa Monica focusing on Asian and Asian American pop culture.
With thriving Asian-American communities, says Yu, a generation of young people is growing up comfortable in their own skins.
"They're creating an identity out of this Asian-American youth culture, and that maybe wasn't quite so possible or didn't come as easy a couple generations before," Yu said.
That was because earlier generations were more concerned with fitting in. Now Asian pop culture is exerting its influence on stateside taste like never before -- from boba drinks to the rise of K-pop to the popularity of Japanese fashion brands like Uniqlo. Globalization is one reason why, the power of the Internet is another, and then there's the rise of Asia as an economic super continent.
This phenomenon has been going on for a while, but it's not necessarily about setting trends or being cool, says Yu.
"It's really about being comfortable in your own skin and saying this is my lifestyle," said Yu.
Guests:
Phil Yu, blogger behind the influential Asian American blog, Angry Asian Man
Eric Nakamura, owner of Giant Robot -- which is a magazine, a retail space and an art gallery based in Santa Monica focusing on Asian and Asian American pop culture
Nuran Alteir contributed to this online article.
Want to learn to dress well? There’s a class for that
People just don’t dress up like they used to. A professor at the University of Notre Dame says she wants to revive the lost art of dressing. Linda Przybyszewski teaches a class called “A Nation of Slobs: The Art, Ethics and Economics of Dress in Modern America.” The class description promises to answer “why the rogues in 19th century novels leer over women’s ankles” and why women used to gloves even when it wasn’t cold.
Have we become a nation of slobs? Why do we put less effort into dressing nicely these days?
Guest:
Katy Werlin, fashion historian who runs the blog, The Fashion Historian