Colin McEnroe Show - RSS/Podcast

Regulating Fido: Animal Laws In Connecticut

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:34:15 EST

This year the state legislature will consider bill that would forbid the outdoor the tethering of dogs between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., prohibit pet shops from selling dogs and cats bred at commercial animal mills, establish the idea of an animal advocate -- probably a law student working pro bono -- to investigate and argue for the welfare of an animal subject to cruelty, and prohibit municipalitie...

Second-Time Blues: The Difficulties Of Doing It All Over Again

Mon, 20 May 2013 14:39:11 EST

Once upon a time in a second term, a president used his power to go after journalists in Hartford. I could be talking about President Obama's justice department seizing AP phone records, including some from AP's Hartford office. But I could also be talking Thomas Jefferson in 1806.

Sick of Federalists and sick of Connecticut and sick of people trash talking about him, Jefferson arranged for...

The Nose: Jolie's Medical Choice, Royal Polo, & A Revival Of '24'

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:21:04 EST

I'm one of those odd people who still gets physical newspapers thrown into his driveway.

On Monday, I was paging trough the New York Times and came upon Angelina Jolie's now-famous essay about her decision to have her breasts removed preventively, after learning of her high genetic risk factor for beast cancer. I had the odd sensation of looking at my laptop on a nearby table and knowing th...

Get To Know Your Bike Helmet & Ride To Work!

Thu, 16 May 2013 13:27:03 EST

This weekend -- and maybe sooner -- a lot of us will buckle on bike helmets which, we hope, will protect if we topple. One the show today, we'll look a little closer at that plastic and polystryrene bubble on your noggin. The truth about it may be more complicated that you dreamed.

But that's no reason not to bike. In fact, the more people ride bicycles, the safer bicycling gets. There rea...

To Serve Man: Cannibalism In History, Pop Culture, And Nature

Wed, 15 May 2013 14:10:26 EST

Two cannibals are eating, and one of them says, "I don't like my mother in law," and the other one says: "So just eat the noodles."

Old joke and one of scores and scores of jokes about cannibalism. It's one of the ultimate taboos, so why is there so much comedy about it?

Maybe the answer is contained in the question. Cannibalism kicks one of our massive anxiety tripwires, and we c...

Connecticut Farms Are Thriving

Tue, 14 May 2013 14:07:55 EST

Got an email today from a farmer we know down in Gales Ferry.

He writes: "We use new technologies on a daily basis, from our UCONN weather station with computer modeling to predict disease and insect emergence, to UV processing of our sweet cider as an alternative to pasteurization. In the orchard, we are planting new, high density orchards to make use of emerging technologies f...

The Future of the Novel

Mon, 13 May 2013 13:59:15 EST

Listen to this quote: "I have just ... paid a depressing visit to an electronic computer which can write sonnets if fed with the right material... I have a feeling that by Christmas it will have written its first novel, and possibly by next Christmas novel sets will be on sale at Woolworths and you will all be able to buy them, and write your own." That was the writer Lawrence Durrell iss...

Living With Food Allergies

Mon, 06 May 2013 13:58:56 EST

No one can escape the issue of extreme food allergies. Maybe it's you who is allergic to peanuts, dairy, shellfish, citrus. Maybe it's your little son or daughter. Or maybe you don't have any allergies, but because you eat food, you find that other people's allergies affect your life. Are you ever asked to keep peanuts out of the snack you're bringing to school? Or to keep dairy out of the cake...

Poor Old Shine: Celebrating The Roots Of Americana Music

Mon, 06 May 2013 16:30:17 EST

It's possible to oversell the idea of a modern revival of so-called American roots music. Maybe that revival is always happening.

Nick Spitzer's terrific public radio show "American Routes" has been around since 1998, when it was featuring people like Steve Earle. So, you know ... the Lumineers and Mumford and Sons didn't exactly invent anything.

On the other hand, there seems to be som...

The Nose: Koch Brothers Eye Tribune's Newspapers, UConn Student Gets Attacked Online

Fri, 03 May 2013 10:27:10 EST

It has been widely reported -- but not heavily discussed -- that Charles and David Koch are the leading suitors to buy the eight newspapers belonging to the Tribune Company. One of those eight newspapers is the Hartford Courant.

The Kochs are fabulously rich and deeply conservative. One of their big complaints is that mainstream media does not adequately represent the views of people like t...