If you have a teenager at home, this might be the answer to your prayers. Called PocketFinder, it's about the size of a cookie. You can dump into your kid's backpack and then track him or her on the internet in real time. Per The New York Times:

PocketFinder lets you designate safety zones and danger zones, and alerts you if the device enters or leaves such areas. It can also track how fast the device is moving and notify you if a preset speed limit is exceeded (parents of teenage drivers, take note).

Big technological breakthrough... Or big brother (big mother?)?

Earlier today, the Iraqi government announced a ban on Blackwater Worldwide, a contracting company that provides protection to many Americans in Iraq, including high-ranking diplomats. (As you may know, Blackwater has had a checkered history in the country.)

Noah Shachtman, writing on WIRED's Danger Room, says that, the ban might not do much:

Sure, Blackwater as a corporate entity probably won't be roaming the streets of Baghdad or Mosul for much longer. But the individual mercenaries who've been working for years in Iraq, serving as a Praetorian Guard for the State Department's diplomats -- those guys likely will be able to stay.

The other day, I was horrified to hear someone I like respond to the death of The Washington Post's "Book World" section by saying, "Well, I can just get reviews on Amazon."

That, of course, is a little like saying you don't need foie gras 'cause there's plenty of chicken livers to be had. Who needs Tolstoy!? We've got Robert James Waller! THANKS, AMAZON, FOR ALL THE LIT CRIT! So long, Updike!

I could go on, and will, at length, to understanding friends, like brilliant writer-critic-poet Lizzie Skurnick. Luckily, my friends are smarter, and more people listen to them, and in Lizzie's case, read them. So just go over there and shed your tears on The Old Hag.

In our first hour, you be the experts. We've been talking about the economy and your life on a recession. But what are we missing? What DON'T we know about how you are coping in this recession? How are you adapting to a recent job loss? Call in, email, or blog us your comments. Remember, you are our guests. The platform is yours. At the end of the hour, we'll hear audio from Governor Rod Blagojevich speaking in his own defense at his impeachment trial at the Senate earlier today.

Okay, so my favorite football team did not make the Super Bowl this year. But it doesn't matter. There's just something about the lead-up hype and the fanfare football music and the trail mix recipes and commercial sneak peeks that gets you so pumped for Super Bowl Sunday! And now there is more to get excited about! In our second hour, former sports columnist Allen St. John will talk about his new book, "The Billion Dollar Game: Behind the Scenes of the Greatest Day In American Sport" and his year-long journey documenting every nook and cranny that goes into preparing for the big game. What do you want to know about the Super Bowl? Here's your chance to ask. Then, are you a snow wimp, or a snow warrior? President Obama has put the people in D.C. in the wimp category because schools in the area closed with less than an inch of snow on the ground. And he just got here!!! So we close schools at the SUGGESTION of snow. What of it??!?!?!

In my humble opinion, NPR could learn a thing or two from our friends at Slate.

Should this behavior get your phone confiscated?

Source: Michael Smith/Newsmakers

It's a modest proposal, as simple as that. Hawaii state senator Clarence Nishihara, a democrat, has advocated for more than a simple fine if you get busted driving and using your cell phone. According to Truemors, he says those who don't shut up and focus on the road should face "confiscation of their beloved cell phones. He's a former school principal, a pro at effective discipline, it seems."

I don't know about you, but around D.C., where we have a cellphones-while-driving ban, no one seems to give a hoot about the law. If you talk&drive or text&drive, would you stop if you knew you could lose your phone?

Friends, weep for us. At least three horsemen arrived in my inbox in the last hour or so. First, the WaPo killed its Sunday stand-alone book review section, Book World (smarts particularly on the day after we lost John Updike, a lit-crit great). Second, Domino magazine, one of the greatest design magazines ever, has folded. And now, it looks like the U.S. Postal Service might have to cut one of its mail delivery days! That's right, neither snow, nor rain, nor heat nor gloom of night stays our mail -- but the friggin' economy? That's another story.

R.I.P. Domino. I just barely learned my Biedermeier from my Thonet. Plus, you gave me my favorite summer recipe.

Remember the mercy rule? I think it was 10 runs in little league baseball. Not sure about basketball, but fairly certain it comes before the score hits 100-0. From the Dallas Morning News

The Covenant School fired its girls basketball coach Sunday, the same day he posted a message on a youth basketball Web site saying he disagreed with school officials who had publicly apologized for the team's 100-0 victory over Dallas Academy.

Reaction on this one is split, what do you think?

Neal Conan is back! And so is Ken Rudin. There's lots to talk about with the Political Junkie this week, including the growing economic stimulus package, cabinet confirmations in the Obama administration, and the swearing in of New York's new junior senator. And Ken will have a double whammy trivia question for you, so get ready. We'll also talk with Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) about his proposed constitutional amendment to end gubernatorial appointments to senate vacancies. At the end of the hour, we'll hear two reactions on Obama's choice to give his first television interview as president to the Arabic satellite news channel Al Arabiya.

Earlier this month, the Pentagon decided it will not award the Purple Heart medal to war veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, calling it a "secondary effect caused by witnessing or experiencing a traumatic event". Some agree with the Pentagon's decision, while others feel mental health care needs to improve to reduce the stigma attached to post-traumatic stress disorder. In our second hour, we'll hear from two sides of the debate. And we want to hear from you. If you are a veteran or in uniform, should PTSD sufferers be considered for the Purple Heart? After that discussion, Farhad Manjoo, a technology columnist for Slate.com, will talk about Microsoft's Photosynth software that transforms digital photographs into a 3-D experience.

Alan Schwarz is a friend of TOTN, and an incredible sports writer. In case you missed it, he wrote about degenerative brain disease in relatively young football players for today's New York Times. It's a scary, depressing story about guys who give their all for a sport I love dearly. He profiles Tom McHale, who died in 2008, from a lethal combination of oxycodone and cocaine. Police determined his death was accidental, but in the subsequent autopsy, doctors performed a test on McHale's brain and found evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy. C.T.E. is a progressive condition that "results from repetitive head trauma and can bring on dementia in people in their 40s or 50s." According to Dr. Ann C. McKee, who's working on a paper on C.T.E. cases in football,

the brain damage Tom McHale developed -- which drug abuse cannot cause, doctors added -- probably played a role in his self-destruction in his final years. "You would expect the symptoms of lack of insight, poor judgment, decreased concentration and attention, inability to multitask and memory problems."

All six NFL veterans between ages 36 and 50 who have been tested for C.T.E. have had it. You can read much more in Alan's article.

You know the economy is rough when these stories start flying...

According to the Northeast Assisted Fertility Group, the number of women filling out applications to donate eggs has doubled.... The women make as much as $10,000 after their eggs are retrieved. The number of potential sperm donors grew by 15 percent in 2008 compared to 2007.

Last summer in Louisville, Kentucky, 15-year-old Max Gilpin passed out during football practice. He never regained consciousness and three days later, he died.
Witnesses at that practice reportedly said the coaching staff denied water to Gilpin and his teammates, and overheard the coaches say they would run the players until someone quit. Gilpin's parents filed a civil suit against the coaches and a grand jury in Jefferson County indicted head coach David Jason Stinson for reckless homicide. Yesterday, Stinson pleaded not guilty for Gilpin's death. In our first hour, we'll hear about the details in the case and debate whether or not Max Gilpin's death was a tragic accident or a punishable crime. Tell us what you think. Should the head coach be charged? At the end of the hour, we'll talk with fantasy writer Neil Gaiman about winning the top prize in children's literature, the John Newbery Medal , for his children's novel "The Graveyard Book."

Scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. has traced the lineage of notable American-Americans using DNA testing. His latest book, "In Search of our Roots," traces the roots of nineteen prominent African-Americans--from Oprah Winfrey to Maya Angelou to Chris Rock. In our second hour, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. will talk about searching for our genealogical roots. Tell us your story. Have you researched your family history? Were you surprised by what you found? Following that, we'll talk about cashing in on Barack Obama-inspired merchandising. "Yes, Pecan" ice cream anyone?

Here's something we keep talking around, but haven't quite pinned down the talk show on: terrorist rehabilitation. There have been some interesting articles on the process of rehabilitating religious extremists, and its efficacy. Slate's got a quick explainer on how it works in Saudi Arabia, excerpted below.

Detainees ... are sent to a former desert resort outside Riyadh. There they swim in a pool, play soccer and volleyball, use Playstation, do art therapy, and learn to practice a more moderate form of Islam. They also take classes taught by clerics and social scientists. Coursework covers 10 subjects, from religious concepts like jihad (religious struggle) and takfir (calling someone an unbeliever) and walaah (loyalty) to psychological courses in self-esteem. The clerics impart the laws of Wahhabism--the dominant form of Islam in Saudi Arabia--which prohibit jihad unless there is an official fatwa. At the end of six weeks, students take an exam. If they pass, they may be approved for release. (That is, if they have already served out their original jail sentence.) If not, they have to take the class again.

Fascinating, but we haven't quite figured out a role for callers in the conversation. Stay tuned...

Mickey Rourke looking... er... like himself, at the SAG Awards.

Source: Getty Images/Alberto E. Rodriguez

Anyone out there a fan of MTV's (erstwhile) reality show Tough Enough? I never missed it -- it was bizarrely addictive -- some of its alums went on to both guts and glory. Well, add Mickey Rourke to a new, strange reality show about pro-wrestling. He has won a Golden Globe, and been nominated for a SAG and an Oscar for his role in The Wrestler, and is now considering actually climbing into the ring for WWE's Wrestlemania 25. Some people are worried it might cost him the Oscar... I'm worried it might cost him the health of his noggin.

Think that grads of top-tier colleges find and keep jobs faster than the rest of us? Kathleen Kingsbury dug into this for The Daily Beast and says, not so fast.

Today, with pragmatism trumping prestige, certain campuses have become the favorite hangouts of corporate headhunters-and many of them are not the gold-plated universities you might assume. (Some of them you've probably never even heard of.). ... A Daily Beast analysis unearthed surprising evidence that suggests certain low-profile colleges are high on the lists of America's corporate talent scouts.

Bill Kristol, who has been a guest on this show many times, will no longer write a weekly column for The New York Times. And as Richard Perez-Pena writes, Kristol went out with a whimper, not a bang:

A single sentence printed below Mr. Kristol's column in Monday's paper broke the news: "This is William Kristol's last column." His column, itself, made no reference to his departure, and the paper did not release a statement.

A few months ago, George Packer, of The New Yorker, showed some clairvoyance. In "After Kristol," a post on his blog, Interesting Times, Packer argued that Kristol "didn't take his column seriously," and that "it's time for the newspaper to move on."

He went on to suggest some replacements: Peggy Noonan, Michael Gerson, and Andrew Sullivan, to name a few.

What do you think? Who should replace Bill Kristol?

Neal Conan is out today, but you'll still hear a familiar voice. Lynn Neary has done a quick- change and will don the Talk of the Nation host cap today. Here's what we've got planned for today's show:

Since the recession began over a year ago, millions of people have lost their jobs... and their health insurance. Tough financial times also face those who still have health insurance, forcing many to cut back on their medical treatments and health care. In our first hour, we'll continue our series on your life in a recession with your healthcare in a recession. Are you cutting back on your healthcare? What are you doing to reduce your costs? Then on our opinion page, Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune syndicated columnist, will discuss his column entitled, "Is black the 'new black'" and why he believes "it is more than a little early to declare blackness to be an advantage" in light of Barack Obama's presidency.

Last week, President Obama signed an executive order banning torture and calling for the closure of Guantanamo Bay prison within the next year. And one of the most pressing questions surrounding Obama's order is: Where will the detainees go? GITMO inmates may not be accepted, or safe, in their native countries. Few in the U.S. are rolling out the welcome mat. What are your views about the possibility of Guantanamo detainees being moved into your state? We'll talk about that in our second hour. Then, John Allen, senior correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter, will discuss the controvery surrounding Pope Benedict XVI's decision to reinstate four traditionalist bishops, including one who has denied the full extent of the Holocaust.

All the Inauguration euphoria finally seems to be settling down, and reality's coming back with a thud: We're still in a recession, folks, and bad news continues to roll in. I got my check via 60 Minutes' Scott Pelley, who visited Wilmington, OH. DHL -- the shipping company -- is the town's biggest employer, and it's shutting down domestic operations. Then, a friend pointed out this article in The Boston Globe about how impossible it is to date when you have no money. Call me Pollyanna, but after all that I went in search of anything marginally positive that could possibly, maybe come out of these rotten times. I found a ray of light in the Los Angeles Times. In spite of all those reports about the re-emergence of Spam as a family staple, Elena Conis reports tightening your food budget may tighten your physique, too.

The quest for a healthful and cost-conscious diet suggests Americans will be eating more meals cooked at home, upping their produce and whole-grain intake and eschewing sodium. "It's the back-to-basics bailout diet," says Shelley McGuire, professor of nutrition at Washington State University in Pullman.

What do you think? Is this a little too optimistic, given the cost of healthy foods relative to the cost of junk? How's the economy been affecting the way you eat?

Today, Talk of the Nation becomes Talk of the World. For our entire first hour, we'll ask listeners around the world how they believe American power should be established internationally. Which specific places do you feel the U.S. needs to act as policeman? And in what region would partnership serve as a better option?

When I was a little kid, I had visions of becoming a veterinarian. I poured through books about animals and insects, learning all about their habits, quirks, and instincts. It was probably discovering that the sight of blood makes me queasy that led me to write that I dreamed of being a vet than actually becoming one. But one thing I didn't notice until looking at our second hour today is that of all the literature that describes every animal in the kingdom, WE are probably the most complex of them all. Hannah Holmes noticed that, too. We'll talk to her about the quirks, the habits, and the true nature of the homo-sapien... and her new book, "The Well Dressed Ape: A Natural History of Myself." After that, Linda Holmes, NPR's Monkey See blogger, runs down the just-announced nominations for the 2009 Oscar awards. Who made the list? And who didn't?

Thanks for listening.

We hear from a lot of people on the radio show with a lot of interesting experiences (did you hear the show about arson? We got a call from an arsonist who served his time and shared his story. On a show about interrogation techniques, we got a call from an Air Force officer who had been waterboarded. Fascinating.) Anyway, we rarely hear from callers overseas. It happens, but not often. Today, we'll flip the tables and look for callers and commenters from overseas. The first hour will not be Talk of the Nation, but Talk of the World. And we needed a lot of help to pull it off. NPR actually has a worldwide division, and they were instrumental in finding broadcasters around the world to carry this show. Svetlana Stepanova is the one tasked with getting us on the radio in foreign countries, and I asked her to take us inside the process of getting an international show off the ground:

Take us behind the scenes on this project... How do you find radio stations in foreign countries willing to pick up Talk of the World?

I booked several broadcasters from Europe to take the election special in November; the same broadcasters are now on the list of "invitees" plus a few more.

Where?

Sweden, Switzerland, Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Poland and Latvia

Do you expect any new stations this time around?

The invitees list expanded to include Macedonia, South Africa and Australia. And that's not a final list of the countries whose residents could tune in to the show.

What do you mean?

Anyone in any part of the world with an access to a computer could hear this special at npr.org; anyone who has a satellite dish could tune to our Worldwide satellite signal; folks in the military service could listen to this special, as well. No wonder we had callers from Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, Iran and West Africa among others in November. I am looking forward to hearing voices from unexpected places.

We knew President Obama would be behind bullet-proof glass for the inauguration, and in a bullet-proof limo for the parade ("the beast")... but a bullet-resistant suit, too?!?!?

From WIRED:

According to some reports, he wore a suit made by a clothier specializing in bullet-resistant clothing during the inauguration ceremonies.

Last week, my W-2 arrived. C'mon! It's only January! I've got more than two months left to procrastinate, right?

Speaking of IRS-related procrastination, this post, by Noam Scheiber, of The New Republic, caught my eye. It seems that Tim Geithner, President Obama's nominee to be Secretary of the Treasury, blamed his failure to pay his taxes, in part, on TurboTax.

Here's a really quick peek:

Today, on the Political Junkie, NPR's Ken Rudin will look at the job ahead for newly sworn-in President Barack Obama. And Constitutional law expert Jonathan Turley will talk about the constitutionality of a misread oath. And now that there has been a changing of the guard (and political parties), Los Angeles Times columnist Jonah Goldberg will explain why he believes conservatives may find "real benefits to being out in the wilderness." We'll end the hour with your letters about how you listened to -- and heard -- yesterday's Inauguration Day events.

In the midst of a severe financial crisis in the country, guests will talk about the lessons of the New Deal, a series of programs initiated by Franklin D. Roosevelt, which Obama and his advisers say has inspired their proposed recovery package. Our ender topic is coming up. Stay tuned.

At what point does commercial excitement over the inauguration of Barack Obama get ridiculous? I can't pin it down, but I can say that there's a staggering variety of presidential products available for purchase around D.C. And have you seen the new Pepsi campaign? The "Prince of Petworth," a district blogger, snapped a photo of the Obama product he thinks crosses the line: "Obama Marketing Has Finally Jumped The Shark." So, if you're here, are you stopping at every intersection to peruse the wares for sale on the street corners? If not, do you shop the swag stores online and count the days (OK, we're down to one now) till the Inauguration on your Obama calendar? What's the most bizarre piece of presidential paraphenelia you've seen?

In our first hour today, we'll talk with Gene Robinson, the first openly gay Episcopal bishop, about delivering the invocation at President-elect Barack Obama's kickoff inaugural event at the Lincoln Memorial yesterday. And about the controversy that erupted when he was consecrated as a bishop. Then we will hear audio of the entire "I Have a Dream Speech" as we mark the 80th birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In our second hour, we'll talk about the future of affirmative action under the Obama administration. We'll speak with Dahlia Lithwick, whose Newsweek article "A Complicated Record on Race" outlines Obama's record on affirmative action. We'll also hear opposing viewpoints on the issue. Shanta Driver is chairwoman of By Any Means Necessary, a coalition that defends affirmative action. And John McWhorter is an author and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute who is against affirmative action. Following that discussion, we want to hear how you are observing Martin Luther King Day and this national day of service.

Most people who tuned into the pre-inaugural concert on the National Mall last night missed the invocation by Bishop Gene Robinson. HBO didn't carry it during their broadcast, and the speaker system reportedly went out on the Mall, so even if you were there you missed most of it. Robinson will be on the show today, but if you want to know what he actually said in full, here's a link to the transcript on Episcopal Cafe. And here's the video taken by Christianity Today:

Confirmation hearings aren't all fun and games? This exchange, between Attorney General-designate Eric Holder and Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI), may prove to be the exception to the rule:

News yesterday that Steve Jobs, the founder and CEO of Apple, is sicker than we thought. Or perhaps more accurately, as sick as we thought, but not as sick as he said he was just a few weeks back.

There is already a lot of speculation about his leave of absence. Farhad Manjoo, at Slate, asks "what will the company be like in Steve Jobs' absence?" And Saul Hansell, of The New York Times, wonders "what if Steve Jobs doesn't come back to work?"

Would Apple be the same without Jobs at the helm?

In our first hour today, we'll talk about the future of the pro-life movement. With a pro-choice president taking office next week and a pro-choice majority in the U.S. Senate, many pro-life supporters have to conclude that an outright ban on abortion won't happen in the immediate future. Some pro-lifers say it's time to find common ground with pro-choice groups. But others argue that there can be no compromise with what they regard as murder.

Can there be a common ground on abortion?

Following that discussion, we want to know: Is your relationship suffering under the weight of the recession? Whether your lover has just been hit by unemployment, or you and your spouse are living in a cash-strapped household, Chicago Tribune syndicated columnist Amy Dickinson will offer some tips on how to keep your relationship from buckling.

If you live in London, Barcelona, or here in D.C., you may have come across an advertisement that reads, "Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness' sake." Those two sentences have sparked a widespread discussion about faith, and particularly atheism. In our second hour, we're going to talk about the ads we've been seeing here. Our guests include the director of communications at the American Humanist Association, and a D.C. resident who ran an ad campaign that promotes belief in God.

At the end of the hour, the chief executive officer for Physicians for Human Rights will talk about investigating the health crisis in Zimbabwe. The death toll from a cholera outbreak in the region has risen beyond 2,000.

This is too good to be true... Right?

Bizarrely enough, it seems that yes, this is an offical video from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi featuring cats and a rickroll. I have no more words.

*Updated To Add: The video's no longer available... What the heck is going on here?

If you've been through a divorce, you know, there's that moment where you have to spit up your stuff. That first-edition of A Farewell To Arms? Mine. That abstract painting you can see a horse in if you squint? Yours (definitely). And then... there's the little matter of the vital organs. In 2001, when Dr. Richard Batista give his wife a kidney, he didn't expect to ask for it back -- but after their estrangement, he's changed his mind. I know, I know, it's a bit tabloid, but read this interesting take from Sally Satel; she uses it as a peg for her argument that we should be able to pay for organ donation.

Coming up today, Ken Rudin, our beloved Political Junkie, will talk about the first of the confirmation hearings for President-elect Obama's cabinet picks, and President Bush's farewell session with the press corps. And of course he'll have this week's trivia question. Then, Reginald Washington, a specialist in African American genealogy, will shed light on how the White House was built using slave labor.

In our second hour, we'll talk to people who have lost everything. We'll hear about people who are victims of natural disasters. And in this sluggish economy, thousands lost everything when the stock market plummeted. And more recently, investors lost their life savings in the Bernard Madoff scam. What is it like to suddenly lose everything and completely start over? We want to hear your stories. Following that, New Yorker writer Jill Lepore will explain the new rules and battles over breast feeding, and why some women are opting out of nursing their newborns.

I'm a bit behind on this (you probably got an application in already) but what a great gig... your own (basically your own) tropical Australian island! From BBC:

No formal qualifications are needed but candidates must be willing to swim, snorkel, dive and sail. In return, the successful applicant will receive a salary of A$150,000 ($103,000, 70,000) for six months and get to live rent-free in a three-bedroom villa, complete with pool. .... The new recruit will work for just 12 hours a month. Duties include feeding some of the hundreds of species of fish and collecting the island's mail.

I'll be working on my application if you need me.

In D.C., drunks flock here. It's aromatic.

Source: Alicia Griffin

Since I was a little girl, I've always relished the first moment I step into someone's home -- with one sniff of my significant schnoz, I could discern so much about who lives there, and how. Mothballs, spaghetti, Glade Plug-Ins (cheaters! They hide the smells that reveal your secrets); the best are the combinations of smells, like lavender from the kitchen cleaner, fresh laundry, and garlic -- that's what I imagine my home smells like. Your own is the hardest to figure.

Anyway, there are specific, public places that have particular aromas too, and now they're -- where else? -- on a Google map. A Japanese website, Nioibu.com, invites users to plot the smells they encounter around the world. The site's not translated, but even if you can't read Japanese, you can glean quite a bit. Further, from the Chicago Tribune article,

The site's nearly 200 registered users -- who self-generate the scent dispatches -- have produced smell-o-grams from all over the globe, reporting on spots that smell of "steam coming out of a rice cooker," "used socks in the summer," "toasty odor of cow dung" and "cats with halitosis." (These last two come from spots in Japan.)

The U.S. is only sprinkled with reports, including one from Phillips Hall, a dorm at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Mo.

A translated version of the smell club member's description of her dormitory: "American body odor and perfume and so on create the smell of living in American dormitories. An interesting harmony is created. It's kind of a sweet smell on our floor but the boys' floor smells ... not so good."

Perceptive, and evocative. If I were to plot points, two come immediately to mind: Athens, Ga. smells like roasting coffee, thanks to Jittery Joe's*. And Adams Morgan, the party district of D.C., well... It smells like booze, vomit, and pizza. Lovely! So where and what would you plot on the map?

*Coffee's a dominant scent in the U.S., according to one map user.

One of my favorite guests, Ta-Nehisi Coates of The Atlantic, has a great piece in this month's issue about Michelle Obama, called "American Girl: The Radical Normalcy of Michelle Obama." He begins it with this provocative sentence: "The first time I saw Michelle Obama in the flesh, I almost took her for white."

Coates' dad, Paul, a publisher and former Black Panther, asks him some good questions about that lede in this [hilarious, but incisive] interview, which is on The Atlantic's website:

Read the piece. Tell me what you think.

Take a peek at what we're working on today:

In our first hour today, we'll be joined by Ted Koppel, NPR News Analyst and former anchor of ABC's Nightline, and David Sanger, chief Washington correspondent for The New York Times. Sanger has just written a book entitled, The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power. Each of them will discuss what the new administration's top foreign policy priority should be. Following that, we'll talk about the buzz surrounding the debut of the all-electric car. Sounds good on paper, but will we really want to drive it?

One week from today, Barack Obama will be sworn in as 44th president of the United States. Millions will pack the streets of Washington D.C. Hundreds will pack the Inaugural Balls. And dozens of streets will be blocked for miles. And did I mention the planned airtight security? We'll look ahead to January 20th with a reporter on Inauguration watch, a historian of the Senate, and one of the Little Rock Nine who has been invited to Obama's inauguration. Got a question about Inauguation day? Call in our blog us in our second hour. (And no, you can't sleep in the NPR building.) Then Jackie Northam, NPR's foreign desk correspondent, will discuss reports that President-elect Barack Obama may issue an executive order to close the prison camp at Cuba's Guantanamo Bay as soon as he takes office. What will it take to close Gitmo?

To take the whole quiz, or just check it out, go here.

Source: The New York Times

After much hemming and hawing, Gov. David Paterson of New York finally released a copy of the questionnaire every candidate for the Senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton has to take. Wanna be considered? Here are some of the gems you'll come up against:

"Please provide the URL address for any personal website, including any MYSPACE or FACEBOOK page, for you or any member of your immediate family."

And this bit of genius:

"Have you ever maintained, or written for, a weblog (a "blog")?"

Thank god they explained that tricky weblog/blog business. ("Oh my god, that weblog I kept for years with all the nude pictures was actually one of those so-called 'blogs!?'")

Today something finally got through the deluge of inauguration missives and directions -- the Sundance Film Festival starts on Thursday. I can't help but feel that in any other January, talk about Sundance would rate fairly high on TOTN's buzz list, but this year, it's not even the elephant in the room, as my boss pointed out -- it's the flea.

It seems really unfortunate to have the independent showcase going on at the same time as the biggest political event in ages, particularly since the show in Washington, DC is supposed to draw jet-loads of celebrities. It could mean the average Joe has an easier time getting into screenings in Park City, but it could also mean less attention for worthy movies. And, according to Neil Miller at FilmSchoolRejects.com, there are 37 films he plans to see, and 13 films he thinks are the cream of the crop.

Here are four he highlights that sound especially intriguing:

Big Fan: "[Patton] Oswalt takes the lead as a 35-year old Staten Island parking-garage attendant who is the self-described 'world's biggest New York Giants fan.' But after a misunderstanding with one of the Giants' players, he is sent down a path that will test his devotion to the extreme."

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men: "It's Jim from The Office. Writing and directing a movie. What more reason do I need to give? Taken a step further, Brief Interviews is based on an very interesting compilation of short stories by the late David Foster Wallace."

I Love You Phillip Morris: "The buzz around this film, which is the one that will forever be known as the love story between a Texas policeman turned con artist (Jim Carrey) and his sensitive fellow prisonmate (Ewan McGregor), is red hot. As in big heaping pile of memorably controversial A-list-actor-kissing-scenes hot. But I've got a feeling that there's much more to it than that. This writer/director tandem (Ficarra and Requa) previously wrote the script for Bad Santa, which as you know was a much more clever movie than it ever received credit for."

Dead Snow: "The story of eight medical students and their encounter with Nazi zombies in the Norwegian mountains, might just be enough to account for a few sleepless nights. And I won't be complaining -- Nazi zombies are f***ing awesome, man."

Quite a lineup! Check out Miller's article, and this film guide, and tell me -- which films are you hoping get distribution deals?

In our first hour today, we'll talk with Charles Fried, a Harvard Law School professor, and Jonathan Turley, professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University, about how the incoming administration should deal with the legacy of President Bush's war on terror. They each represent opposing sides in the debate. Fried's views appeared among two others in the op-ed section of Sunday's New York Times. We'll talk with each of them about what is to be gained in prosecuting a previous presidential administration, and the pitfalls of a possible prosecution. Then on our opinion page, Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby will talk about a new campaign in the fight against obesity: mandatory calorie counts on restaurant menus. His op-ed is entitled, "Want a warning label with those fries"?

In our second hour, we'll continue our series on your life in a recession with a look at your STATE in a recession. Reporters in California, North Carolina and Detroit talk about how the recession is affecting people in those areas. And we want to hear from you. How is the economy hitting the state where you live, and how does that affect you? Then, we'll talk with The Mumbai Mirror columnist Aseem Chhabra about the movie Slumdog Millionaire, last night's big winner at the Golden Globe Awards.

Want to totally freak yourself out? The Boston Globe is here to help, with tips on how to make yourself hallucinate LSD-free.

The first thing to know is that the mind isn't a mirror, or even a passive observer of reality. Much of what we think of as being out there actually comes from in here, and is a byproduct of how the brain processes sensation. In recent years scientists have come up with a number of simple tricks that expose the artifice of our senses, so that we end up perceiving what we know isn't real - tweaking the cortex to produce something uncannily like hallucinations.

Intriguing, yes? Here's one of the tricks: Tune a radio station to pure static (preferably not between the hours of two and four, thanks!). Next, lie down and tape half a ping-pong ball over each eye. What you're going for here is sensory deprivation, so I assume some other sort of blindfold could work, but the Globe says ping-pong balls, and I report faithfully. They say that within minutes, "you should begin to experience a bizarre set of sensory distortions," things like seeing "horses prancing in the clouds" and hearing the voice of a dead relative. It's called the Ganzfield Procedure. Trippy!

I feel for this guy... The Smoking Gun reports that a spokesperson in US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald's office made a "remarkable screw-up" when he emailed reporters a copy of a criminal complaint, accidentally including the names of confidential witnesses.

In announcing felony charges against two men for their roles in an alleged $15 million Ponziesque swindle, the spokesman for Chicago U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald (he of Rod Blagojevich- and Scooter Libby-prosecuting fame) e-mailed reporters a 62-page U.S. District Court complaint filed against John Walsh and Charles Martin, principals of the now-defunct One World Capital Group. Included in the document was a one-page key that identified by name sources referred to in the complaint only by monikers such as "Employee A," "Customer D," or "Individual F."

The sender reportedly realized his mistake -- and sent an urgent note asking journalists to destroy the complaint. SG posts the list of names, blurred of course.

In our first hour today, we'll talk about the future of the web with Clay Shirky. Shirky keeps his eye on social and economic trends on the web and will explain what social networking, crowdsourcing and tweeting could all mean for the future of the web. Shirky's latest book is entitled, "Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing without Organization". Then, we'll talk to a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle about rioting in Oakland, California over the fatal shooting of an unarmed man by a BART police officer.

Leon Panetta has recently been selected as President-elect Obama's choice as CIA director, and some say Panetta may not have the credentials to meet the challenges of entering the agency at such a difficult time. In our second hour, intelligence experts look at Leon Panetta's appointment and the challenges facing the agency. Following that, travel writer Rick Steves will share his experience as a tourist in Iran.

He can sling webs, but can he dance?

Source: cbcastro

Well, it should be. I officially had my mind blown this morning. Poking around the interwebs for story ideas, I found news that a new Spiderman musical is possibly coming to Broadway this year. Ok, next! But wait. Music by U2! Julie Taymor will direct! From the breathless writeup in The Sun:

Speaking for the first time about the project, guitar lord The Edge has revealed: "It is happening. We've written a lot of the songs at this point. "It's in a pretty good state, and I hope it'll open this year. We're not sure where in the world, but most likely it will be in New York."

Now that's interesting! I dug deeper, lest I fall fall for some sort of bizarro tabloid "news." But Wired had it in the fall, so I think it's OK for me to be completely pumped about this final quote from The Edge. He said the show won't have a full orchestra -- it'll still have a small cohort of traditional orchestra players, but "the core will be a rock 'n' roll band." Sweet!

Regret and vacation time don't often go together, but I was bummed to find out I missed Neal's New Year's Eve karaoke credits. Yes, I said karaoke credits. I was out all week, the office was largely empty -- and apparently giddy -- and director Gwen managed to cajole America's favorite talk show host into singing credits to the tune of "King of the Road." Not exactly Roger Miller, but if you missed the performance, here it is:

In our first political junkie segment in the new year, Ken Rudin runs down the political news of the week, including Bill Richardson withdrawing his nomination as Commerce secretary, Obama's pick to head the CIA, Roland Burris-- in or out of the US Senate seat from Illinois, Al Franken declared the victor in the Minnesota recount... and it still ain't over. And of course Ken will have a trivia question for you. Then, Harry Shearer, best known as the voice for Mr. Burns and Ned Flanders on The Simpsons, will talk about catching politicians on silent video moments before they go before a live broadcast.

In our second hour, we'll break down the ethics of political favors. "You vote for my issue, I'll back yours." That type of thing. We'll talk with EbonyJet.com writer Eric Easter about how some favors cross the line. His article for the website is entitled, "Are We All Corrupt?" And we want to hear from you. Have you ever asked, or been asked for a favor that you thought crossed into a grey area? Then, we'll discuss a New York Times report that includes details given by India's dossier of how the terror attack on Mumbai was planned, mounted, and directed from inside Pakistan.

Ah, nostalgia... check out this delicious happy-sad mix brought to you by the letter K(ottke).

A couple years ago, Sarah reminded me of one of my favorite old CTW memories -- the wonderfully terrifying "Milk" episode of Sesame Street, another gem she found on YouTube. I'm dying to be reminded of any other favorites from that fuzzily magic TV time...

I don't get to go to the Consumer Electronics Show this year, but I'm trying to follow the reporting. And this year is different. The economy is in the tank, people are spending less, and gadget makers are paring down displays and getting back to basics with many gizmos. Here's a little light reading...

NPR: Recession May Affect How Gadgets Pitched At Expo

Going in, the recession is the No. 1 worry, but consumer electronics is a retail industry that is in better shape than many others. The reason, marketers say, is called nesting. When the economy is bad, people want to stay home to be entertained by their electronics.

BBC: Tech show bucks global downturn

Big themes for the show included a big focus on mobile video, location services via handsets as well as net access and broadcast technologies for cars.

WIRED: Cheap Thrills: Gadget Makers Bet on Budget Gear in 2009

A few titanic, feature-heavy SLRs (Exhibit A: Canon 5D Mark II) will sail through CES but so will a fleet of thrifty shooters that anchor cheap thrills by way of thoughtful touches. Look for small shooters that incorporate printers, Wi-Fi, and web browsers.

Bad news in the world of independent media. Or semi-independent media. Or once-was-independent media.

Romenesko reports that the salaries of bosses at Village Voice Media have been cut by 15 percent. That news comes on the heels of another announcement, that long-time columnist Nat Hentoff -- and two other employees -- got the ax.

This whole industry is suffering, trimming jobs, looking to -- or wincing at? -- an uncertain future. When things get dismal, it helps to reminisce. If you've got a few minutes to spare, read this piece -- or as much of it as the gatekeepers at newyorker.com will allow -- by Louis Menand, on the storied history of the Village Voice.

Really?

There's a joke around here, usually told by Neal, whenever we want to book a hard-to-get guest: "And while you're at it, why don't you go after J.D. Salinger?"

We've been unsuccessful so far.

The reclusive author of The Catcher in the Rye turned 90 on New Year's Day. How did he celebrate? With cake in his cabin, in Cornish, New Hampshire? Who knows?

In The Guardian, Nicolaus Mills, who teaches English at Sarah Lawrence College, muses on Salinger's literary legacy: "If we want to put Salinger in historical context we need to think of him like Ernest Hemingway -- an American writer who was profoundly changed by war." Mills points to his short stories, which he says are too-often overshadowed by Catcher.

Some-58 years after Salinger's first novel was published, what do you think of the author and his oeuvre? Have you read his short stories? How has his work affected you?

Hello everyone! Gwen's hard at work on our second hour show -- more on that in a moment -- so here's what you can expect on Talk of the Nation today.

In our first hour, Israel. The U.S. government has long had a policy of supporting Israel to the tune of about three billion dollars a year in military aid. Those are dollars on top of considerable political and diplomatic support. So, we'll have Stephen Walt and Aaron David Miller on to opine on what sort of influence that translates into, and how the U.S. should use it. We'll follow that discussion with something altogether different: Who owns that recipe? I read recently about a dispute between a food blogger and America's Test Kitchen over a recipe the blogger revamped then posted on her website. America's Test Kitchen asked her to take it down, prompting our conversation on the ethics and legality of printing and sharing recipes. When do you get to call a recipe your own? Strike that! Turns out the dispute may not have gone down how we thought. Still an interesting issue, but we're working on something else instead. Stay tuned!

In our second hour, sit back and just listen. We're celebrating the 70th birthday of Blue Note Records, with three fantastic guests -- Bruce Lundvall, Blue Note's current president; jazz historian and archivist Michael Cuscuna; and Blue Note musician Bill Charlap. They'll regale us with stories and insight, and we'll also hear plenty of the label's amazing releases. Enjoy!

New year, new pyramid.

Source: Copyright (c) 2008 Harvard University.

 

New Year, old resolutions. Found this pyramid from the Harvard School of Public Health, and couldn't help but notice it looks awfully different than the one I remembered from my youth. My actual pyramid has an awful lot of string cheese at the bottom, I gotta be honest. But what cracks me up about this one -- helpful as it no doubt is -- is that it sort of looks like socks are the main component of a healthy diet. Well, they do have a lot of fiber...

It feels like we haven't had a sunny day around here in months. It can't be just my inability to go to bed early that makes it so hard to get up in the morning -- I blame the fact that it's dark till 7am, and for the past bazillion unsunny days, it's dark all day. Misery loves company, so I present to you Cute Things Falling Asleep.

That's "Sleepy Kitty 10," rated on scale of 1-5, 4 for cuteness and 3 for sleepiness by site creator Nick Malis. Whether you've got seasonal affective disorder or simple malaise, that's just got to make things a little better.

The survey was done, the results are in... "Today is the most stressful day of the year." Why?

A combination of the cold weather, economic gloom and end to Christmas festivities will leave workers battling the January blues. It will leave people more likely to become irritated by the slightest things. According to researchers the most common complaints are the sounds of colleagues eating noisily, which annoys nearly a quarter of people. This is followed by sniffing, an irritant to 26 per cent and talking too loudly on the phone, which was cited by 21 per cent.

Ok, so it's not the most scientific poll, but if you were on vacation for the last week or so (like me), and are back in the cubicle for the first time today it rings true. One bit of career advice, though: the article mentions "releasing tensions through shouting and screaming." You might want to wait till you get home.

A delicious deal.

Source: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

A pub chain in Britain has announced "indefinite" reductions on beer, wine and spirits -- to 99p. I highly recommend you read the article in its entirety, as it includes a competitor using expressions like "bloody nose" to describe the imminent price war. Of course, with 99p beers, there may be an actual bloody nose somewhere along the way. It made me think what recession pricing would really get me stoked? 99 cent coffee? Hot dogs? Movies?

Here's a quick look at today's show:

President-elect Barack Obama meets with congressional leaders later today to discuss a $775 billion economic recovery plan that aims to create 3 million jobs while providing tax relief. In our first hour, we'll talk with two economists, to hear what they think the stimulus plan should include. Then, on our opinion page Clarence Page, syndicated columnist for The Chicago Tribune, will explain why he feels Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is playing to white guilt in choosing Roland Burris to fill the Senate seat left vacant by Obama.

In 2006, Norah Vincent spent the year disguised as a man. The deception triggered a brutal bout of depression and she checked herself into a mental institution. In our second hour, Vincent will talk about committing herself into three separate mental institutions, each with different ways of treating patients. She documented her experiences in her latest book, entitled Voluntary Madness: My Year Lost and Found in the Loony Bin. Following that, Scott Shane, a reporter for The New York Times, will talk about his profile of Bruce Ivins, a suspect in the 2001 anthrax mailings. In his article, Shane describes Ivins as an "amateur juggler with mental illness, alcoholism and secret obsessions with hints of violence."