August 4, 2012 – Hour 1

Rudy opens the show by checking in with an organizer of one of America’s more unusual festivals. Kendell Montavy is with the Jaycees in Orlean, MO, and he describes the annual Testicle Festival put on by the Jaycees and local members of the Future Farmers of America. It’s a celebration of the glory of . . . deep-fried turkey testicles. And how do you immerse yourself in another culture when you’re visiting a place for a short time? Travel journalist Frank Bures has some helpful suggestions. Then, New York City is proposing to add 2,000 more taxis to its streets. Mathematical economist and environmental activist Charles Komanoff say while adding those cabs will cut one minute of waiting time for someone trying to hail a cab during rush hour, it’ll slow down traffic severely and cost half a billion dollars in lost productivity. And perhaps you heard the report that New York’s JFK airport and Los Angeles’ LAX are the two most dangerous airports when it comes to spreading any eventual pandemic. Ruben Juanes is an associate professor at MIT, earth scientist, and author of the paper that made the news. He chats with Rudy about how his study reached its conclusions. [See Rudy’s fan page on Facebook for a link to that report–“Rudy Maxa TV Show” is how the page can be found on Facebook.] And, as usual, Rudy wraps up the first hour with some of his deals of the week.