Dinner Mate Episode 4 _TOP_

Before The Penguin became best known as Batman's archenemy in Gotham City, he was a boozing dandy who lived in London. The Penguin's friends all thought that if he just met the right woman, he might be inclined to settle down and avert the disastrous, alcoholic path his life appeared to be taking. His friends held a dinner party at which he was introduced to a woman they believed would make a perfect mate for him-- a singing nanny named Poppins, who, like him, traveled about by umbrella. Everyone thought the two eccentrics would get on most splendidly. Everyone, of course, was wrong.

Dinner Mate Episode 4

French Language Popular Music is immensely engaging.We'll bring it to you by introducing the artists and songs in English. No French Language skills required. In each episode we introduce 6 artists with one of their songs. We paraphrase a portion of their song in English before the Audience hears it in French. This greatly helps in overcoming the Language Barrier. Our selection includes the latest songs in Paris, Montreal and Brussels as well as the enduring classics from years gone by. In this episode you'll hear:Alain Bashung, (France), Tant de NuitsLinda Lemay, (Canada), La MarmailleLuc de La Rochelliere, (Canada) , Beaute Perdue.Joyce Jonathan, (France), Je Ne Sais PasAlain Souchon, (France), La Vie ne Vaut RienMaurane, (Belgium), Mes Rivieres au Bord de L'eau

This is an audio portrait of one of the final vestiges of the Bowery, New York's notorious skid row. In the first half of the century, the mile-long Bowery's bars, missions and cheap hotels (or flophouses) were home to an estimated 35,000 down-and-out men each night. Today, only a handful of flophouses, virtually unchanged for half a century, are all that remain of this once teeming world. For several months in 1998, David Isay and Stacy Abramson had unprecedented 24-hour access to the Sunshine Hotel, one of the last of the no-frills establishments. "It was like stepping into King Tut's Tomb," Isay says. "The Sunshine is this fascinating, self-contained society full of unbelievable characters. While it's a profoundly sad place, it is, at the same time, home to men with powerful and poetic stories." The Sunshine Hotel was awarded the Prix Italia, Europe's oldest and most prestigious broadcasting award, in 1999.

Narrator: Yellowstone Lake is huge, roughly twice the area of Washington DC. It the largest high-altitude lake in North America. And, it is thought to have held the single biggest population of Yellowstone Cutthroat trout in the world.TODD - estimates were in the range of about four million or so catchable Cutthroat Trout in Yellowstone Lake. That's a lot of Cutthroat in the system.

Narrator: But then, over one decade, everything changed dramatically. By the mid 2000s cutthroat had practically disappeared from Yellowstone Lake. Biologists estimate the Yellowstone Cutthroat population plummeted from over 3 million fish to less than 300,000. Some big new factor had to be causing the decline. Again, Todd Koel.

JOHN CATALDO - It seems like we're always at work in the summer and somehow at least my impression is that 80% of the fires we get are when I'm at home eating dinner. So, fires and telemarketers are who finds me a seven o'clock at night, at my home.

Narrator - And both John and Roy say that warmer overall temperatures associated with climate change are likely to complicate fire on the landscape. With predictions of fire becoming more likely in the park, the overall makeup of forests will likely change too. Some tree species, such as lodgepole pine are expected to decline, while others like Douglas fir become more prevalent. And this changing environment in Yellowstone poses new challenges that have fire managers like John looking toward the future.

JOHN CATALDO - Essentially from where I'm sitting, because I'm one of the ones making the decision whether a fire should be encouraged to be on the landscape or suppressed, is I just keep defaulting to fire is what this ecosystem needs. Ultimately if climate change dictates that the ecosystem looks differently or functions differently, it's going to be with fire in it. We're not going to start going backwards and putting out fires out of fear of climate change.

ANDREW RAY: They're advertising their presence. They're ultimately trying to attract a mate, but they're letting other males know they're present, that they've got the spot of the pond and then they're letting a female know where they are. They're so small, the vocalizations can help bring in the female.

ANDREW RAY: One of the consequences of a warmer climate is less snow and less water to fill places like this. So the sounds that we hear, that are unique to this place, and the organisms that are present in these habitats, they don't have the ability to escape that. They don't have the ability to move away from that. There will most certainly be water and snow in Yellowstone long into the future. But a river with fish or a deep lake with fish is very different than this place that's before us. And so I guess the thing I want people to think about is there are biodiversity and physical consequences to a warming temperature. And these special habitats that are so biologically rich, they're the most threatened by a changing climate.

ANDREW RAY: I think it's relatable because a lot of us have had experiences with amphibians and we can still have those today.ANDREW RAY: But amphibians, like so many organisms, are experiencing declines. It's an opportunity to discuss our impacts, societal impacts on biology, but it's also a place to talk about discovery and to talk about biodiversity and to talk about climate change and to talk about the value of parks and protected places.CHORUS FROG SOUNDS SLOWLY FADING INMUSIC FADING UNDER

"Vital signs," like blood pressure and pulse rate, are used in medicine to track human health. Paying attention to the little things can often help us better understand what's going on in the big picture. Scientists can monitor ecological "vital signs," too. In this episode, biologist Andrew Ray shows us that a little creature can tell us a lot about the Yellowstone ecosystem.

Narrator: In addition to the couple of dozen animals in Yellowstone, there were an estimated 300 or so bison that survived in privately-owned herds across North America. In fact, a few animals from those private herds were brought to Yellowstone to start a breeding program. And after decades of protection and restoration efforts, the number of bison in Yellowstone grew from a couple of dozen animals to a few thousand.

Rick Wallen: The concern really is that the livestock industry has worked really hard for many decades to eliminate the disease in livestock. So their concern is legitimate. They've worked hard, cleaned up their industry, and they'd like to see this additional threat eliminated. 041b061a72