Alaska, Hagfish, and Colin Powell - October 18

Wednesday, October 18, 2023

Today is International Necktie Day, Meatloaf Appreciation Day, Chocolate Cupcake Day, World Menopause Day, Alaska Day, and Hagfish Day.

Animal Cam of the Day: Alaska Department of Fish and Game Web Cams
Dessert of the Day: Cream-filled Chocolate Cupcakes
LGBT History Resource of the Day: Considering Matthew Shepard Collection

On This Date
Today's Birthdays
Songs of the Day
Today's Theme:  ALASKA, HAGFISH, and COLIN POWELL
Watch

ON THIS DATE

• 1775 - Black poet Phillis Wheatley is freed from slavery.
• 1867 - The United States takes possession of Alaska after purchasing it from Russia for $7.2 million.
• 1898 - The United States takes possession of Puerto Rico from Spain.
• 1968 - Dr. James D. Watson of the US and Dr. Francis Crick and Dr. Maurice Wilkins of Britain win the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology for their work identifying the double-helix molecular structure of DNA.
• 1972 - Congress overrides President Nixon's veto and passes the Clean Water Act.
• 2019 - NASA Astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch take part in the first all-women spacewalk. 

BIRTHDAYS

• 1587 - English poet Lady Mary Wroth
• 1898 - Singer Lotte Lenya
• 1919 - Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau
• 1926 - Musician Chuck Berry
• 1939 - Assassin  Lee Harvey Oswald
• 1961 - Trumpet player Wynton Marsalis
• 1973 - Journalist James Foley
• 1975 - Baseball player and Red Sox coach Alex Cora
• 1984 - Bassist and singer Esperanza Spalding
• 1987 - Singer and actor Zac Efron

SONGS OF THE DAY 

• Lotte Lenya - Mack the Knife - LISTEN
• Chuck Berry - Johhny B. Goode - LISTEN
• Wynton Marsalis  - Haydn Trumpet Concerto - LISTEN
• Johnny Horton - North to Alaska - LISTEN
• Esperanza Spalding - Overjoyed - LISTEN

THEME: ALASKA

• Grades PreK-1 - Sesame Street - Ookyook Song (1:59) - VIEW
• Grades PreK-1 - PBS LearningMedia - Between the Lions - Summer Is Fun in Alaska! (0:23) - VIEW
• Grades PreK-2 - Molly of Denali Series - VIEW, READ, DO
• Grades K-2 - PBS LearningMedia - Wild Alaska - Chris Kratt Talks About What Animals Need to Survive in Alaska (1:48) - VIEW
• Grades K-12 - PBS Learning Media - Wild Alaska Collection - VIEW, READ, DO
• Grades 6-12 - NHPBS Video - Indie Alaska Series - VIEW

THEME:  HAGFISH

• Grades 4-12 - NHPBS - Wildlife Journal Junior - Agnatha - Lamprey, Hagfish - READ
• Grades 6-12- PBS LearningMedia - Nova - Fabric from Hagfish Slime (Available in Spanish) (5:04) - VIEW, READ, DO
• Grades 6-12- PBS LearningMedia - Nova: Gross Science - Would You Wear Clothes Made of Slime? (1:48) - VIEW, READ, DO

THEME: COLIN POWELL

• Grades 6-12 - PBS LearningMedia - The Bush Presidency - Dick Cheney and Colin Powell (2:56) - - READ and VIEW
• Grades 6-12 - NHPBS Video - National Memorial Day Concert - Colin Powell Honors Women in Military Service (1:49) - VIEW
• Grades 6-12 - NHPBS Video - National Memorial Day Concert - Colin Powell On the Meaning of Memorial Day  (3:41) - VIEW
• Grades 6-12 - NHPBS Video - PBS NewsHour -  Colin Powell's Speech at the 2020 DNC Convention (2:36) - VIEW
• Grades 9-12 - NHPBS Video - High Point Unversity Presents Colin Powell (56:45) - VIEW

Watch 

NHPBS - 11.1 Comcast (802) Live Stream More Options

NATURE - The Platypus Guardian
Wednesday, 10/18 from 8-9 pm NHPBS
Peter Walsh is a Tasmanian with no background in natural history, yet he has become obsessed with one of nature's least understood and most unlikely creature, the platypus. Walsh is on a mission to observe and understand the animals and save them from urban development in the capital city of Hobart. He has befriended one particular female he named Zoom. She lets him into her secretive world and a relationship like no other develops. Walsh will reveal the life of this enigmatic creature, but his time is precious as he manages with his MS diagnosis. NATURE - The Platypus Guardian Preview and Extras Streaming Video

NOVA - Ancient Earth: Life Rising
Wednesday, 10/18 from 9-10 pm NHPBS
For billions of years, life teemed in Earth's oceans while the land was desolate and inhospitable. See how life made the leap to land, transforming a barren, rocky landscape into the lush, green world we call home. NOVA Ancient Earth: Life Rising Preview

SECRETS OF THE DEAD - Jurassic Fortunes
Wednesday, 10/18 from 10-11 pm NHPBS
Discover the world of dinosaur collecting, a controversial hobby with a booming market. Hear perspectives on the fossil trade from private collectors, paleontologists, and others, as "Big John"—the largest Triceratops fossil ever found—is assembled in Italy and auctioned in France. SECRETS OF THE DEAD - Jurassic Fortunes Preview Streaming Video

NHPBS EXPLORE - 11.2 Comcast (801) More Options

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE - Zoot Suit Riots
Wednesday, 10/18 from 11 am-12 pm NHPBS EXPLORE
In June 1943, Los Angeles erupted into the worst race riots in the city to date. For ten straight nights, American sailors armed with make-shift weapons cruised Mexican American neighborhoods in search of "zoot-suiters" — hip, young Mexican teens dressed in baggy pants and long-tailed coats. The military men dragged kids — some as young as twelve years old —  and viciously beat them. AMERICAN EXPERIENCE - Zoot Suit Riots Streaming Video
AMERICAN EXPERIENCE - Zoot Suit Riots Streaming Video - (Spanish)

AFRICAN AMERICANS: MANY RIVERS TO CROSS - The Black Atlantic (1500-1800)
Wednesday, 10/18 from 3-4 pm NHPBS EXPLORE
Beginning a full century before the first documented '20-and-odd' slaves arrived at Jamestown, Virginia, the episode portrays the earliest Africans, both slave and free, who arrived on these shores. But the Trans-Atlantic slave trade would soon become a vast empire connecting three continents. AFRICAN AMERICANS: MANY RIVERS TO CROSS Streaming Video

AFRICAN AMERICANS: MANY RIVERS TO CROSS - The Age of Slavery (1800-1860)
Wednesday, 10/18 from 3-4 pm NHPBS EXPLORE
The Age of Slavery illustrates how black lives changed dramatically in the aftermath of the American Revolution. For free black people in places like Philadelphia, these years were a time of tremendous opportunity. But for most African Americans, this era represented a new nadir. AFRICAN AMERICANS: MANY RIVERS TO CROSS Streaming Video

NH WORLD - 11.3 Comcast (965) More Options

POV - My Way to Olympia
Wednesday, 10/18 from 7:30-8:30 pm NHPBS WORLD
Who better to cover the Paralympics than Niko von Glasow, the world's best-known disabled filmmaker? Unfortunately -- or fortunately for anyone seeking an insightful and funny documentary -- this filmmaker frankly hates sports and thinks the games are "a stupid idea." As he meets a one-handed Norwegian table tennis player, the Rwandan sitting volleyball team, an American archer without arms, and a Greek paraplegic boccia player, his own stereotypes about disability and sports get punctured. POV - My Way to Olympia Preview Streaming Video

POV - I Didn't See You There
Wednesday, 10/18 from 8:30-10 pm NHPBS WORLD
Spurred by the spectacle of a circus tent outside his Oakland apartment, a disabled filmmaker launches into a meditative journey exploring the history of freakdom, vision, and (in)visibility. Shot from director Reid Davenport's physical perspective - mounted to his wheelchair or handheld - "I Didn't See You There" serves as a clear rebuke to the norm of disabled people being seen and not heard.  POV - I Didn't See You There Preview Streaming Video

Pressroom Contact

Carla Gordon Russell
Director of Communications
crussell@nhpbs.org
(603) 868-4339