1. Laughter A Universal Language

    Posted in: Videos on Sunday, May 27th, 2012

    ice cream, bread, & laughter

    I’m headed for Turkey in a couple of hours where I’ll be sampeling ice cream from street vendors at every chance.  I’m willing to put my waist line at risk for two reasons, OK three reasons since reason number one is my serious addition to ice cream.  But beyond my weakness reason number two, the ice cream in Turkey is really good, but even better than the taste is reason number three, the show the vendors give you when they make your cone.

    I talk about ice cream as performance art this week on my radio show, National Geographic Weekend.  I’ve watched the routine dozens of times but it always leaves me laughing and even when you don’t speak the language, laughter opens the lines of communication.

    In this video after serving up a little ice cream I also try to make bread with some Turkish women in a small village.  This time the laughter is related to my feeble attempts to master their bread making skills.  You can hear the full story of laughter as the great universal language on National Geographic Weekend.

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  2. Bob Ballard Undersea Explorer

    Posted in: Videos on Wednesday, October 19th, 2011

    Bob Ballard & the Nautilus

    Bob Ballard, National Geographic Explorer in Residence, has made same amazing undersea discoveries in his career, finding the Titanic, the Bismark, PT 109, and numerous other famous ships once lost to the oceans, but he has never had a summer of exploration like this one.  Using his new ship the Nautilus, a high tech exploration platform, he located a record number of sunken ships in the waters off Turkey.

    I visited Bob on the Nautilus to get a tour of the ship he’s been describing to me for two years.  He showed me some of the high definition video of his new discoveries and proudly described the two remote operated vehicles that uncover the secrets 13,000 feet below the ocean’s surface.  The complete interview with Bob will air on my radio show National Geographic Weekend this week, but this video will give you some of the highlights of our conversation and well as giving you a look at the Nautilus.

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