June 30, 2008

The Rundown for Tuesday


Camera by Meena Ramamurthy

 

A Ghost Bike Flies Its Colors

Ghost Bike

The "ghost bike" at 36th Street and Sixth Avenue in New York City.

You never really get used to seeing them, or at least I don't: ghost bikes, junkers painted white and chained to a street sign or bridge railing. They record the spots where cyclists have been killed by cars. Two of them mark a popular car-free bike path in Manhattan -- a reminder that there may be safest and safer, but there's no such thing as perfectly safe.

I've been wondering for a while now whether the ghost bike above commemorates David Smith. He was killed in December 2007, at the age of 65, while riding the same bike lane I take to work. The white cycle sits on the northwest corner of 36th Street and Sixth Avenue. It catches my eye in the last three minutes of my ride.

Smith was knocked out of the lane when a passenger in an illegally parked truck opened the door. A second truck hit him. I remember reading that his partner of 36 years was a man. I remember thinking, Hit the door. Fall toward the curb. Stay out of traffic.

As if, in the moment, a cyclist really has much choice about what happens.

This morning, I zipped up a very quiet Sixth Avenue -- it's amazing what 5:30 a.m. does to traffic -- dodging takeout containers and bottles left over from the city's Gay Pride celebration. And there was the ghost bike, newly decorated with flowers and a rainbow flag. Happy Pride, David Smith. Wish you were here.

 

The Saga of Florent Takes an Unexpected Turn

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Zena Barakat/NPR
 

A month ago, we profiled the closing of the famous New York restaurant Florent. Owner Florent Morellet was forced to close his namesake diner due to a skyrocketing rent price. Last week, there was a new plot twist in the Florent soap opera. The landlord, Joanne Lucas, will re-open the restaurant tomorrow under the name of the diner that existed before Florent opened his place in 1985: R & L Restaurant.

The original R & L was opened by Lucas' father in 1955. She told The New York Times she didn't have the heart to close the restaurant that had been in her family for years. The restaurant's look and food will remain basically the same, as Florent's chef is staying on board.

Last night, longtime friends of the restaurant convened for the final hours for what they know as Florent. Neighborhood regulars and former and current staff reunited for champagne and cake. Letters from the prophetic menu boards were packaged in tiny gift boxes as party favors.

Continue reading "The Saga of Florent Takes an Unexpected Turn" »

 

Video: The Most



An Australian man put his life up for auction on eBay, but his worldy possessions didn't bring in as much cash as he had hoped.

It's the BPP's Most.

Accidental fungus leads to promising cancer drug / Wal-Mart Plans New Logo to Update Image / Military joins Pride parade / Decoding body language

 

Open Thread: Obama Poster Likened to Hitler's

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Click to play.

Alex Pardee
 

On today's show, Steve Seidman, chair of the strategic communication department at Ithaca College, talked about the iconography of Democrat Barack Obama.

Seidman says some of the campaign's posters remind him of images from history. He argues the "Dream" poster, which shows Obama with a halo, might offend some religious people. But it was this bit that got our Twitter crowd going:

"He's gazing into the distance, almost like a visionary. This is a common approach I've noticed in my research. I would say that I've seen Nixon posters, Carter posters, George Bush -- the second Bush -- posters, even Adolf Hitler. Posters in his election campaigns in Germany have shown him gazing into the distance."

Judge for yourself: Google Images for "Hitler election posters"

 

Linkfest: Scientists Mark Anniversary of Asteroid Blast

The centennial anniversary of an asteroid blast that occurred near Lake Baikal over Siberia serves as a reminder that the earth is vulnerable to meteors and other rocks from space.

It's the BPP's Ramble.

'Into the Wild' pilgrimages increase in Alaska / New York City keeps the cannoli but drops the trans fats / Devo sues McDonald's over Happy Meal toy

 

Linkfest: Man Auctions Life, Ends Up Disappointed

An Australian man put his life up for auction on eBay, but his worldy possessions didn't bring in as much cash as he had hoped.

It's the BPP's Most.

Accidental fungus leads to promising cancer drug / Wal-Mart Plans New Logo to Update Image / Military joins Pride parade / Decoding body language

 
June 28, 2008

Farewell to Rachel Martin

For this edition of the "BPP Picture Show," our weekly behind-the-scenes feature, we say farewell to our host Rachel Martin. Rachel leaves us to join ABC News as a DC-based weekend correspondent. We'll miss you, Rachel. All our love, and best of luck.


 
June 27, 2008

The Rundown for Monday


 

Top 5: Call It A Ritual?

Everyone needs more music, right? How about five songs in less than a minute each?

No big philosophy here. Just tracks I've been playing enough to screw up the perfect distribution of randomness on my iTunes shuffle setting. I'm going to try to post five songs every week, so if anyone out there has some secret awesomeness tucked away, drop a note in the comments below.


Wolf Parade, Ponytail, et al, after the jump.


Continue reading "Top 5: Call It A Ritual?" »

 

Video: The Most



Vintners in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France are up in arms over the declining price of wine. Seven thousand of them took to the streets in protest.

It's the BPP's Most.

Hybrids great on gasoline savings but not expense, study finds/ N.Y. millionaire gets 11 years in prison for enslaving workers/ Goldy to Victoria's Secret: Take off/At the top of Google trends: Bleach portal/ French winemakers on rampage/ An art star creates a splash in New York

 

Rachel Martin Exits, Adds Pictures



I remember watching this video for the first time, back in December. Rachel Martin and Win Rosenfeld went to Washington, D.C., to make a video report about Goodwill reinventing itself as hip place to buy clothes.

I thought, hey, Rachel Martin looks just like a TV news reporter. And now she's going to be one. Today was her last day as a show host. Rachel's moving on to ABC News. We'll miss her a ton, but it's only natural. Watch the clip and you'll see what I mean.

 

Where Do You Stand on the Court's Gun Decision?

Yesterday the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that Washington, D.C.'s ban on handguns is unconstitutional. Today the nation's best-known liberal and conservative editorial pages weighed in. After the jump, read what they said and tell us what you think...

Continue reading "Where Do You Stand on the Court's Gun Decision?" »

 

Synchronized Shelving: Battle of the Librarians


Book cart drill teams let loose at last year's library conference.

On the show today, Julius C. Jefferson of the Library of Congress talked about the need for more African-American male librarians. He's in Anaheim, Calif., for the 2008 American Library Association Conference, where he'll convene a panel called "An Endangered Species: The Black Male Librarian." Other sessions will look at reaching out to teens, creating new uses for library spaces and evaluating cataloging systems ("Dewey or Don't We"). But one conference highlight mentioned by numerous librarians, including our own Kee Malesky, is the Book Cart Drill Team.

Jefferson has never participated in the event, but this year a colleague signed him up as a joke. He says the floor show is a hoot, but not necessarily a way to lure young black men to the profession.

 

'The Real World' Is Coming -- What Should We Do?

Next month the New York City borough of Brooklyn officially jumps the shark. The Real World: Brooklyn begins filming.

As you may know, a fair number of BPP staffers live in Brooklyn, including Ian Chillag and me (although not together). And as luck would have it, the seven degenerates headed our way will be living literally a few blocks down the road (0.6 miles from Ian and one mile from me).

Now I enjoy eating disorders, casual sex, abs, and low-grade alcoholism as much as the next public radio listener. But I'm not exactly psyched about the arrival of "The Real World: Brooklyn."

However, like it or not, it's coming. So I figure, we might as well make the best of it. But how? I want to find some way for Ian and me to cover our new neighbors' high jinks for the BPP, preferably without having to stay up past 10 pm.

Any ideas?

 

Linkfest: French Winemakers Uncork Rage

Vintners in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France are up in arms over the declining price of wine. Seven thousand of them took to the streets in protest.

It's the BPP's Most.


Hybrids great on gasoline savings but not expense, study finds/ N.Y. millionaire gets 11 years in prison for enslaving workers/ Goldy to Victoria's Secret: Take off/At the top of Google trends: Bleach portal/ French winemakers on rampage/ An art star creates a splash in New York


 

Linkfest: Beer Maker Pulls Alcoholic Energy Drinks

Following an investigation by attorneys general in 11 states, Anheuser-Bush will take the caffeine out of alcoholic energy drinks. The number one brewery in the United States says the drinks had less caffeine than a Starbucks coffee.

It's the BPP's Ramble.

Japan wireless carrier NTT DoCoMo tests eye, touch controls for consumer electronics /
Crocodile welcomed into Australian pub by drinkers
/ Kudryavtseva Turns Sharapova Into Fashion Victim at Wimbledon

 
June 26, 2008

The Rundown: Now With SOUND!


Camera by Meena Ramamurthy

 

Giant Squid! Giant Squid!

Researchers have found the carcass of what they're pretty sure is a giant squid floating in Monterey Bay off the California coast.

The carcass is in rough shape -- researchers were alerted to it by the sight of a flock of gulls feeding on it. They're still excited, because giant squid carcasses are rare, and each one offers a chance to learn more about the biology of the mysterious deep-water invertebrate.

This squid, they estimate, was probably about 25 feet long. There are pictures of it on the San Jose Mercury News website.

They're not 100 percent sure it's an architeuthis, but they think they'll know later today after a necropsy.

So while it's not as cool as that time Japanese scientists photographed a live giant squid for the first time ever, it's good news for the squid watchers.

 

Forever Everglades?

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Laura Silver/NPR
 

From the Army Corps of Engineers "Waters of Destiny"

As much as I love the outdoors, I never thought much about the Everglades. I thought of South Florida as a haven for retirees, strip malls, backyard canals and little else. But last spring, I visited the national park as part of an environmental fellowship for journalists. I experienced my first cypress dome and saw tropical flowers growing from trees.

It's a miracle there's any of it left. Maps of the Everglades past, present and future water flow shows the creep of suburban development and the retreat of the endless "river of grass." After a deadly hurricane in 1926, farmers and builders began calling for control of the entire Everglades water system. The Army Corps of Engineers worked to tame Mother Nature, documenting some of its efforts in a 1950s promo film, Waters of Destiny.

This week, U.S. Sugar announced its plan to sell 175,000 acres to the state of Florida. "We're embarking on perhaps the largest restoration project on the planet," ecologist Nick Aumen told us today. "It's an opportunity to reclaim agricultural land that was once Everglades."

 

Open Thread: On the 'Juno' Effect

On our show today, journalism professor Jane Brown took on the "Juno Effect" -- the idea that movies about unexpected pregnancy may encourage very young women to become mothers.

Brown says the research she has done indicates that the Juno effect is quite real. "In the context of parents still not comfortable talking with their children about sex, with schools talking only about abstinence until marriage and with religion saying it's still a sin, the media have become very powerful sex educators," she argues.

Me, I learned everything I wanted to know from The Breakfast Club. Or maybe Hotel New Hampshire. The question is whether I learned everything I needed.

 

The Most, 06.26.08



 

The Quavers Perform at the BPP

The Brooklyn-based band The Quavers use all sorts of gadgets to create their self-described "porch techno" music. Here's their performance of "Green Plastic Soldiers."


 

Linkfest: NBC Settles 'Predator' Case

NBC Universal has reached a deal with a woman claimed Dateline NBC: To Catch a Predator drove her brother to suicide. Patricia Conradt had sought $105 million, alleging the show "steamrolled" authorities to arrest her brother. Terms of the settlement weren't disclosed.

It's the BPP's Ramble.

Settlement in N.Y. lawsuit over NBC's Predator/ Mayor fuming over Tariq Aziz cigar case probe/ Germany's late goal beats Turkey in Euro 2008/ Boy tackled by Colorado mayor gets restraining order

 

Linkfest: An 80-Story Spinning Skyscraper

Here in New York, we've got a revolving restaurant on top of a Midtown hotel. But in Dubai, they're planning a building whose levels will spin independently -- all 80 of them.

It's the BPP's Most.

Dubai plans "moving" skyscraper/ Does Maya calendar predict 2012 apocalypse?/ Some potters secede from annual festival in North Carolina/ Wolves seem torn between selecting Mayo or Love/ In energy-stingy Japan, an extravagant indulgence: posh privies/ Study: Teachers not being taught math properly

 
June 25, 2008

I Know Who's Not My City

Today Mike Pesca talked to Professor Richard Florida about his new book, "Who's Your City?" The basic premise of the book is that whatever choice you made to live where you live probably affected your fate more than any other decision you have ever made.

This being 2008, there's a nifty lil' website to go with the book, and it includes some fun interactives, like a "place finder" a quiz that helps you figure out where you should be living.

I took it and found out that I should NOT be living where I live. I'm going to take it again and see if I can do better, because I don't want to move!

Who's YOUR city?

 

The BPP's Twin Radio Show

Today during The Most I reported that astronomers are close to discovering Earth's twin. As the article explains, "Momentum is building: Just last week, astronomers announced they had discovered three super-Earths -- worlds more massive than ours but small enough to most likely be rocky -- orbiting a single star."

The truth is, astronomers are pretty far behind. I actually found Earth's twin a few weeks ago. It just took a little snooping around with my telescope. Anyway, I looked into it further and found that on Earth's twin, there's a Bryant Park Project twin. That's right, a show just like ours, but on this other planet. I hooked up a satellite in my apartment in Brooklyn and recorded some of it. Check it out:


I don't know about you, but I can't tell the difference. (Kudos to Matt Martinez for turning this bit up to 11.)

 

The Rundown for Thursday


Camera by Meena Ramamurthy

 

I Just 'Can't Get You Outta My Head'

Yesterday I was singing this song all day -- thanks to Ian (it's his ringtone.) Today I thought I had finally escaped it, but in a moment of weakness, I started singing it again. So instead of ignoring it, I've decided to relish it and fully rock out at my desk with this live performance from the Swedish rock band Europe.

Enjoy!

 

Should Raw Milk Be More Accessible?

Watch this video and tell us what you think. (After that check out more of our raw milk story.)


 

Storm Trooper Pride

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Gay Empire Attack!, artist Suckadelic

Christie's Images Ltd. 2008
 

Not everything on the block at Christie's Pop Culture auction has stood the test of time.

The artist Suckadelic created "Gay Empire Attack!" in 2007. But just because this Storm-Trooper art is recent, doesn't mean it's devoid of nostalgia or -- craftsmanship.

"These aren't painted, these are hand cast," said Simeon Lipman, the head of pop culture at Christie's. "This guy actually hand-makes all these figures."

In addition to this work, Suckadelic has a few other lots in the auction:

Graff-At, 2002, a Star Wars vehicle customized by professional graffiti artists, with tags in the Aurebesh language, a fictional letter system created for in-world use for the six Star Wars films. The largest tag on the side of the souped-up Graff-at--"Rebel."

Darth Blowout, 2005, a circus punk doll holding a light saber

Crucifett, 2003, an action figure assemblage which shows Boba Fett cruxified on the wings of an X-Wing fighter

 

Pop Culture, Get Your Pop Culture

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Click to play.

Caitlin Kenney, NPR
 

Want to buy a Tony Soprano tracksuit or a check signed by Marilyn Monroe? Pop culture goes on the auction block today at Christie's in New York. On the show today, we talked to Christie's resident pop culture expert, Simeon Lipman, about where this memorabilia comes from and what it's worth.


 

Linkfest: Bridesmaid Spot Up for Auction

A Virginia bride wants the wedding of her dreams, but doesn't have the funds... so she started an auction on eBay. The winner will get to be a bridesmaid at her wedding next April.


It's the BPP's Ramble.


World has at least 10 million millionaires
/ Kids protest gas prices after losing cable TV / How to manage an office of 20 somethings / How to Manage 20-Somethings, from Gawker


 

LInkfest: Earth May Have a Twin

Got doppleganger? Planet hunters predict that Earth has a twin planet somewhere in the Milky Way.

It's the BPP's Most.

Angry brides left without dresses / Mobile phone battery dead? Try dancing / Shaquille O'Neal is asked to return special deputy badges / Researchers hit a homer with 'The Odyssey'


 
June 24, 2008

The Rundown for Wednesday


Camera by Meena Ramamurthy

 

Mermaids on Parade

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Mermaids and a merman at Coney Island.

Josh Rogosin
 

NPR New York audio engineer Josh Rogosin shares some photographs...

This past Saturday I spent the day in the sun at one of my favorite places on earth -- Coney Island, Brooklyn. I usually don't need any excuse to ride the infamous Cyclone Roller Coaster but this time I happened to have one -- the 25th annual Mermaid Parade.

Continue reading "Mermaids on Parade" »

 

The Most : 06.24.08



A former office manager and Oregon hotel night clerk penned a tale of redemption. Now, William P.Young's "The Shack" has topped best-seller lists.

It's the BPP's Most.

Pentagon nominates first woman four-star general
/ Stranded hiker uses sports bra to attract rescuers / Boy George denied visa for outstanding legal issues / Remembering George Carlin

 

Top Three Japanese Game Shows

Today on the show we talked to Gavin Purcell , the blogger behind TV in Japan, about the magic of Japanese game shows. This week ABC premieres its new show "I Survived A Japanese Game Show." Purcell gave us some good insight on what makes these shows so fun to watch, and why they might not translate perfectly to mainstream American audiences.

Of course, Japanese game shows have been bringing joy to YouTubers for years. Frankly it's a wonder it took a major American network this long to start ripping them off. Here's my personal top three. I don't even know what most of them are called, but they're awesome. Vote for which one you like best, and submit your own for consideration...

NUMBER THREE


Continue reading "Top Three Japanese Game Shows" »