WeatherBrains 222: New Orleans Focus
WeatherBrains Episode 222 is now online (Apr. 27, 2010). If you are crazy about weather, this is THE netcast audio program for you!
WeatherBrains - April 27, 2010Our special guest for this show is author John M. Barry. He is a prize-winning and New York Times best-selling author whose books have won more than twenty awards. In 2005 the National Academies of Science named The Great Influenza, a study of the 1918 pandemic, the year’s outstanding book on science or medicine, and the Center for Biodefense and Emerging Pathogens gave Barry its 2005 “September Eleventh Award” for his contributions to pandemic preparedness. In 2006 the National Academies also invited him to give its annual Abel Wolman Distinguished Lecture; he is the only non-scientist ever to give that lecture. In 1998 Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America, won the Francis Parkman Prize of the Society of American Historians for the year’s best book of American history.
Both The Great Influenza and Rising Tide have proven influential in recent years. Barry was invited by the Bush and Obama administrations to advise on pandemic preparedness and response, and he has advised other federal, state, United Nations, and World Health Organization officials on influenza, water-related disasters, crisis management, and risk communication. A member of advisory boards at M.I.T’s Center for Engineering Systems Fundamentals and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Barry was also the only non-scientist on a federal government Infectious Disease Board of Experts.
After Hurricane Katrina, the Louisiana Congressional delegation asked him to chair a bipartisan working group on flood control. In 2007 a Democratic governor appointed him to both the Southeast Louisiana Flood Control Authority East, which oversees six levee districts in the metropolitan New Orleans area, and the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, which develops and implements the hurricane protection plan for the state. In 2009 a Republican governor reappointed him to both positions.
The National Academies of Science has recognized his expertise in entirely different areas, inviting him to give not only the 2006 Wolman Lecture on water resources, but also the keynote speech at its first international scientific meeting on influenza. Similarly, he has been keynote speaker at both a White House Conference on the Mississippi Delta and an International Congress on Respiratory Viruses; he has spoken at the National War College, the Council on Foreign Relations, Harvard Business School, and many similar venues. He is also co-originator of Riversphere, a $100 million center being developed by Tulane University which will be the first facility in the world dedicated to comprehensive river research.
His articles have appeared in such scientific journals as Nature and Journal of Infectious Disease as well as in lay publications ranging from Sports Illustrated to The New York Times, The Washington Post, Fortune, Time, Newsweek, and Esquire. A frequent guest on every broadcast network in the US, he has appeared on such shows as NBC’s Meet the Press, ABC’s World News, and NPR’s All Things Considered, as well as on such foreign media as the BBC and Al Jazeera. He has also served as a consultant for Sony Pictures and contributed to award-winning television documentaries.
In addition to serving on advisory boards at Johns Hopkins and MIT, he is on the board of the Society of American Historians, American Heritage Rivers, and the advisory board for the National Mississippi River Museum in Dubuque. Before becoming a writer, Barry coached football at the high school, small college, and major college levels. Currently Distinguished Scholar at the Center for Bioenvironmental Research of Tulane and Xavier Universities, he lives in New Orleans.
Other discussions in this weekly podcast include topics like:
A very interesting double rainbow from Paul Friend in England. Note they are not parallel.
Our mail bag has been getting some attention and Kevin puts it in perspective.
Severe Weather Favorite Spots – From Wallace Williams
From The Weather Center:
WeatherBrains 101: Weather radar is an essential tool to meteorologists for remotely monitoring what is happening in the atmosphere. In this episode the focus is on precipitation mode of the WSR-88D radar. What does this mode do and how does it do it? All the details are in the audio from the professor.
TWIWH: Bill Murray looks back at the week of April 28th.
Listener Surveys: Okay, we continue to drive this topic into the ground, but we really do like to hear from you. Many thanks to everyone who has taken the time to fill out the Listener Survey. The survey takes just a minute or two to complete and provides us with an opportunity to learn where you are and hear your thoughts and comments on the show. Click here to take the survey.
Web Sites from Episode 222:
Picks of the Week:
JB Elliott – J.B. gets the HORN again!
Bill Murray – Severe weather has favored spots from Science News
Kevin Selle – Vote for Kevin to win his own TCBY franchise!
James Spann – Jackson, MS NWS radar images/damage pictures of the April 23-24 tornado outbreak.
The WeatherBrains crew includes your host, James Spann, plus other notable geeks like JB Elliott, Kevin Selle, and Bill Murray. They bring together a wealth of weather knowledge and experience for another fascinating netcast about weather.
