The other day, the Red Line Metro, here in Washington, had some major delays. When I was able to board a train, the car was packed. Halfway to the Woodley Park stop, we came to a standstill.

"The car in front of us has a malfunctioning door. We're waiting for it to clear the platform."

For those of you who haven't lived in Washington, here's what that means: Everyone has to get off the train with the malfunctioning door. Then, they stand on the platform, waiting for the next train. While that is happening, subsequent trains -- like the one I was on -- have to wait. When the subsequent trains get to the next station, where all the passengers from the preceding train are waiting, it's a huge mess. Everyone tries to cram into the car.

So, as I said, that situation played out on Tuesday, and when it did, I couldn't help but look around at this crammed car, with people standing shoulder to shoulder, as the air got thicker and thicker, wondering, of course, what would happen if someone on the train had Swine Flu!

The horror! The humanity!

Jeffrey Goldberg, of The Atlantic, posted about a similar experience, at a coffee shop, on his blog:

I was in a Starbucks today when I was struck by an allergy-induced cough. Three people stared at me with something approaching panic. "Don't worry, it's just Marburg," I said, which caused them to visibly relax. Not that they knew what Marburg was. They were just glad to hear that I didn't have the dreaded swine flu. (Fun fact about Marburg: Those who manage to recover from Marburg frequently suffer from orchititis. Look it up.)

Have you seen people start to panic? Are your friends wearing masks?

A couple arriving at Los Angeles International airport from Mexico. MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images

The Global Jukebox
Who is dominating the music scene in your country -- and how are YOU discovering the new talent that's making you hum, tap your toes, or shake your hips? Talk of the Nation becomes Talk of the World in today's first hour. We'll check in with Nairobi DJ Adrian Washika in Kenya to hear what he's spinning these days. We'll talk with Bannine Eyre, Senior Editor at AfroPop.org. And internationally acclaimed musician Jean-Paul "Bluey" Maunick joins us to talk about what it takes to get noticed across borders, and how his band, Incognito, hit #1 on iTunes in Italy.

The Case For Home Funerals
Max Alexander built a casket for his father-in-law with plywood and screws from Home Depot. He washed the body with water and lavender oil, in the comfort of the living room. His mother-in-law held her husbands hands, and spoke to him. In the second hour today, we'll talk about the movement to home funerals. Many argue they're more intimate, more comfortable, more cost effective, and better for the environment. Max Alexander shares his story. And Lisa Carlson, author of Caring for the Dead: Your Final Act of Love joins us. We'll also talk with funeral director Glenn Taylor about this trend, and how it changes his business. If you have experience with home funerals, tell us your story.

One Step From Pandemic
The World Health Organization is telling people to brace for the next flu pandemic. They've raised the pandemic alert to its second-highest level, phase 5. Nearly 100 cases have been confirmed in a dozen US states. Health officials continue to stress that there is no need to panic. At the end of the second hour we'll talk with health care providers about what they're seeing and hearing from patients.

I read an article a couple of days ago that I just can't get out of my head -- "The Surprising Satisfactions of a Home Funeral" on the Smithsonian site*. Max Alexander's father-in-law and father died in quick succession in late 2007. One, his father-in-law, merely requested simplicity. His father, on the other hand, had elaborate plans for his funeral, from the Sinatra song he wanted played to the inscription on his headstone. For his father-in-law, the family opted for a home funeral. Max and his son built the coffin, and when Bob Baldwin passed away, Max and his wife and her sister cared for his body. Days later, when Max's father Jim died, Max couldn't see Jim till after he was embalmed, and was struck by the differences in the two passings.

I could tell you that sorting out the details of these two dead fathers taught me a lot about life, which is true. But what I really want to share is that dead bodies are perfectly OK to be around, for a while.

It's a profoundly affecting article, and Max will also tell his story on our air today. I just wanted to give the article that moved me so much a little more time to sit with all of you. Read it, if you're so inclined, and tune in at 3 EDT to hear more from Max.

*Credit to the Ideas Blog for leading me to it!

What you can't see is the flies.

Source: Barrie Hardymon

Google, the ever present, ever fun, has brought emojis to town. (In this case, your email is the town.) Among the best: Two beers clinking, several flower bouquets, what appears to be an ice cream cone with fireworks shooting from it, and a little guy with an exploding head. My favorite, which I sent to Sarah this morning (see above! See? See?!!), is a little pile of poop with a few flies. Sarah, who is a journalist, and an observant gal, asked me, "where the bees came from." I replied as follows: "AHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH." What I'm sort of curious about is why emojis are so popular -- I'm having a great time with the poop today, but seriously, it takes an extra step, and seems time consuming to use them regularly. But don't worry, I was raised right. Tomorrow, I will send Sarah flowers.

The Guardian has a wonderful film blog. "Clip joint" is a regular feature on the site. Basically, the editors gather a series of clips, centering on a single theme. This week: cameos. What do they lead with? Hitchcock, of course. Aficionados know he regularly appeared in his movies.

Can you spot him in this scene, from To Catch A Thief?

Here's a novel way to keep parents in check during kids' sports games. Make them watch the game from 100 yards away. At the end of last season, several parents of a 13-year old girl's soccer team in the D.C. suburbs got in the face of a referee. As the Washington Post reports:

After the game, a Bethesda parent approached the referee and accused him of making the wrong call, the report says. The parent "started to raise his voice," according to the report. More sniping occurred, and "the tone and behavior of the parents was aggressive." Then another Bethesda parent allegedly yelled at the referee's daughter, "Your father should be fired!" "It's embarrassing," one of the parents said. "This is seventh-grade soccer."

The league decided to punish ALL of the team's parents. So for two games at the start of this season, those parents sat a football field length away from the action, some trying to follow along with binoculars.

Again, from the Post:

Potomac lawyer Philip Page watched his daughter Jacqueline play through binoculars, which was "very maddening." Especially because he wasn't even at the game where the unsportsmanlike conduct occurred.
"We accepted our punishment, and we're abiding by it," Page said. "One of the functions of sports is to teach sportsmanship. When we as parents violate that, the girls need to see there are consequences to those actions."

The Presidential Superbowl party at the White House. Pete Souza

 

Bless this digital age. The White House just released a bunch of new photos to its Flickr stream, and they're worth a look. Sure, they've all been cleared, so they're not unfiltered or anything, but they're an interesting take on the first 100 days of Barack Obama's presidency. I've really missed Heather Brand's shots of the McCain campaign for McCain Blogette, and this set of photos has a similar feel. I know what they say to me, but what do they say to you?

President Obama welcomes Penn. Senator Arlen Specter to the Democratic party. MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter was a guest on Talk of the Nation this past Monday, and during his interview, he told Neal Conan that he knows the polls look bleak, but that he's "working on a gameplan" to stay in the Senate. Yesterday, the Republican became a Democrat. This new "gameplan" is so big that today we've decided to supersize our Political Junkie segment to the full hour. (Ken Rudin will be so happy!!) What does this mean for the Democrats and the Republicans? And what's in a (party) name, anyway? We'll find out.

The rate of unemployment is rising across the country, and so are the numbers of people looking for new jobs. Standard wisdom says it's probably time to polish up your resume. But with people showcasing their talents on YouTube and networking on Linkedln, are resumes relevant anymore? In our second hour, we'll talk to the head of hiring for Southwest Airlines, with a social media specialist and a human resources consultant about how to get noticed in the current job market.

Then, have you been collecting your college rejection letters? Tell us about the worst (and, surprisingly, the most comforting) rejection letters you received from that (fingers-crossed) college you applied to.

An interesting piece on coaches tweeting caught my eye in USA Today. Twitter is ideally suited to follow sports news and scores, and it's not surprising that it would have collected a flock of sports fans, coaches, and players. But here's the part that really caught my eye.

As Twitter's popularity grows, [LSU football coach Les] Miles to Kentucky men's basketball coach John Calipari to USC football coach Pete Carroll to Texas women's basketball coach Gail Goestenkors are reaching out to fans and recruits. Athletic departments are creating accounts to provide the latest news.

The NCAA considers Twitter updates to be similar to a blog and not a direct form of communication with a recruit. "As long as the coaches are not using Twitter to contact individual prospective student-athletes and are abiding by other recruiting rules, there is not an issue with them using Twitter," NCAA spokesman Bob Williams wrote in an e-mail.

Interesting, eh? Anyone who's ever watched the coaches on Friday Night Lights blithely break the rules in high school football, might want to pay attention to this one.

It's no coincidence that the digital camera you've got your eye on is exactly $199.99 at every shop you visit. For the last few years, manufacturers were legally allowed to set minimum prices for retailers. That helped keep profits up, but cut down on deals for the rest of us. Until now. The Wall Street Journal reports today that the state of Maryland banned minimum pricing, with more changes in the works.

A congressional subcommittee is scheduled to hold a hearing today in which several opponents of minimum-pricing agreements are expected to testify, including eBay Inc. and Federal Trade Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour. Hearings are expected next month in the U.S. Senate on a bill called the Discount Pricing Consumer Protection Act. Introduced by Sen. Herb Kohl (D., Wis.), it is aimed at circumventing the Supreme Court's ruling and making minimum-pricing agreements between manufacturers and retailers illegal under federal law once again.

The Journal goes on to say that some 30 other states could pass their own versions of the Maryland law.

In preparation for our show about getting noticed as a job applicant, here's this gem from that little serial of wisdom, The Hills. And it looks like it's pretty darn easy to get a job at People's Revolution. Here's the quote I really wanted to include. "Her [Stephanie Pratt's] interview was such a folly that she might just be genius."

(No, that's not a mistake.)

Just a few minutes ago, Sen. Arlen Specter decided to switch his party affiliation, to run as a Democrat in 2010.

Yesterday, we spoke with the senator, mostly about an article he wrote for The New York Review of Books. But in the course of the conversation, Neal read an email from Russ:

Many suspect strongly that Republicans are going to dump Senator Specter in the coming midterm elections. Many Pennsylvania Democrats would support him as an independent, myself included, but we are watching his record carefully.

Neal continued, "Well, that election is, I guess, more than a year away. Senator Specter, nevertheless, in opinion polls currently, you trail a Republican opponent."

In retrospect, the Senator's response is very illuminating:

Well, it is true that the polls are bleak. When I voted for the stimulus package, one of just three, and was in position, along with Senator Snowe and Senator Collins, to provide the decisive votes, there was a very strong adverse reaction. There was a resolution filed in state committee to censure me. The state chairman and the national chairman said they didn't know if they could support me. My office was picketed. And it's a tough proposition. I've overcome some challenges before, and I'm working on a game plan.

So, it seems, he has.

Awesomeness. Jennifer Reese at Slate is thinking differently about the money she forks over at the grocery store. She's handy in the kitchen, so she took six staples she usually buys at Safeway or a local bakery and made them at home, to see if it's cheaper to make them or to buy them. And her methods were pretty exacting:

Except where noted, I chose the most affordable products and ingredients available (i.e., the 10-pound sack of generic sugar instead of a tiny pouch of organic cane sugar from Whole Foods) and priced everything down to the last grain of salt. Based on an estimate from my utility company, it costs around 32 cents per hour to run an electric oven. To melt butter slowly over a gas burner: 9 cents per hour. To boil water, more like 14 cents per hour. I take it as a given that everyone knows better than to quit their job -- any job -- to take up cracker-baking, so I attached no value to time. I happen to love messing around in the kitchen.

I'll tempt you with just one spoiler: Bagels. "Cheaper than store-bought? Dramatically... Better than store-bought? These are by far the best bagels I've ever eaten." Click through to read her conclusions on jam, yogurt, cream cheese, crackers, and granola.

Deals at a Chevy dealership in Illinois.Scott Olson/Getty Images

General Motors is racing to ward off bankruptcy, but many analysts predict their attempts to radically cut debt and costs won't be enough. Meanwhile, the company will phase out Pontiac and Saturn and cut many dealerships. It's a tough time for car companies, for auto workers... and for car dealers. In our first hour, we'll hear from car salesmen about how their business and their sales pitches have changed.

At the end of the hour, we'll talk with Joshua Green, senior editor for The Atlantic, about a California pot school that teaches you how to become a trained professional in the "cannabusiness." We're talking about the LEGAL use of marijuana, folks.

The Talk of the Nation staff came across a startling statistic: In America, epilepsy takes as many lives as breast cancer. In our second hour today, we'll talk with Dr. Orrin Devinsky, a professor of neurology and director for the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center in New York, about the neurological disorder, the often overlooked myths about the disease, and the treatments. We'll also hear stories from people who are living with epilepsy.

Then, Philip Gourevitch, staff writer for The New Yorker, will talk about re-visiting the people of Rwanda fifteen years after the Rwandan genocide.

The CD shop is becoming a relic, but there's money to be made in vinyl. The Los Angeles Times reports that in some cases local record stores and turntable shops are turning a profit.

"By the end of 2008, over 50% of our business was in new vinyl, which amounts to millions of dollars a year," said Matt Wishnow, founder of the New York-based online music retailer Insound.com. Its turntable sales increased 200% in 2008, with the company shipping dozens daily during the holiday season.

Not enough to pull the major label music business out of it's nosedive, but new grist for vinyl purists.

LP fan? What makes vinyl so special?

Sarah's excellent roundup of Bea Arthur moments got me thinking of one of my favorite Maude moments, which of course, featured the great Bea. In this clip, Maude took on three of the great sitcom TV taboos -- women over forty, women over forty having sex, and abortion. Ironically, it wasn't really until Sex and The City that a comedy delved into all that again.

The late actress Bea Arthur, from 2005. Paul Hawthorne/Getty Images

In case you missed the news, beloved actress Bea Arthur died over the weekend. Words failed me completely, and I just squawked when I saw the headline. Once I recovered, my mom, sister and I sat around reminiscing -- mom filled in the Maude story for us, and my sister and I talked about Dorothy Zbornak, and the resonance the Golden Girls have with our generation, in places like The O.C..
Luckily, others found some more obscure Bea on tape. Danny Miller at Huffington Post unearthed an absolutely ridiculous video of Arthur and Rock Hudson playing "a couple of boozing, middle-aged suburbanites who were musing about the happy-go-lucky drug-addled kids of the day" that's definitely worth your time. Gizmodo's Jack Loftus wracked his brain for a gadget-y tribute to Bea, and (with help from a Neatorama remembrance) found two examples of the actress embracing her geekdom -- as a singing bartender on the night shift in the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special, and in a cameo on Futurama, as "Femputer, the computer leader of a tribe of Amazonian women who didn't care much for men." And finally, Dashiell Bennett on Deadspin called her a "legendary human being," and resuscitated a late '80s Canadian PSA in which she reminds kids to be good sports.

Taking precautions inside Mexico City's main bus station. Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images

This week marks President Obama's 100th day in office. It's a day of reckoning of sorts, where the media and the public evaluate the president's successes and failures, and assess how well he's delivered on his campaign promises. In our first hour, we'll talk with NPR correspondent David Greene who has just wrapped up a 100 day cross-country road trip talking with Americans about the president and the economy. We'll also be joined by David Gergen, professor of public service at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, for his assessment of Barack Obama's first 100 days.

Then, we'll talk with Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) on our opinion page at the end of the hour about why he wants to roll back presidential powers.

Some governments around the world are bracing for a possible swine flu pandemic, and President Obama's administration is closely monitoring the growing number of cases that are emerging across the U.S. and in Mexico. In our second hour, health experts will answer your questions about the swine flu outbreak and tell you what you need to know.

Then, actor and playwright Christopher Durang will talk about his latest production, Why Torture Is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them, a play about terrorism and torture... that's surprisingly funny.

There's some sad news from New York: S.I. Newhouse Jr., the chairman of Conde Nast, has decided to close Conde Nast Portfolio, a magazine many of us here, at Talk of The Nation, have read and admired -- and yes, something from which we've stolen/borrowed ideas, from time to time. (Such is the nature of the talk show business, people!) Jeff Bercovici, Portfolio's media reporter, has the scoop -- from his editor, Joanne Lipman:

Lipman said the magazine is ahead of its business plan on various business metrics, and also noted that it won a National Magazine Award last year after publishing only a handful of issues, a very accomplishment. But a sharp and extended downturn in ad revenue has made success elusive.

Got a minute? Make a buck. Okay, maybe a dime. But seriously, with the economy in the tank and cash hard to come by, I appreciated Popular Science putting together a list of 5 ways to "Make Quick Money on the Web."

2. Answer Questions Become an agent for the KGB-the Knowledge Generation Bureau - at kgb.com. Inquiring minds text questions (say, "What are hot dogs made of?") to 542542 (kgbkgb), which are relayed to agents online. You do some digging, send back a quick, accurate response, and pocket a cool dime each time.

Here's the full list.

In the grand tradition of the shameful joy we feel when someone talented and beautiful is revealed to be mediocre and airbrushed, came this little tidbit from Howard Stern by way of TMZ (whose tagline, I believe, is "we put the 'reude' in 'schadenfreude'").

If you've ever wondered what a cat sounds like when it's being strangled, then you're gonna love the supposed raw, unedited, "board mix" of Beyonce Knowles from her "Today Show" performance last year -- courtesy of Howard Stern. The King of All Media ran the supposedly leaked audio clip on his Sirius radio show yesterday.

Listen, I've seen the Destiny's Child Behind The Music more than once -- I knew that gal could sing. So, when the whole thing was revealed as a hoax -- I felt virtuous.

Just as Mathew Knowles told us, the audio clip that many people believed was leaked from "Today" was indeed a fake. In fact, TMZ found the person behind the prank who was surprised it went as far as it did, saying, "It's a little bit crazy. No one in their right mind would sound like that, and no one would cheer for someone singing like that."

Britney, you are not off the hook.

Over the last few years, it has been interesting to note which news organizations use the word "torture," and which don't. Several newspapers enclose the word in quotation marks; while others precede it with complicated caveats ("techniques often regarded as torture," for instance.)

Andrew Sullivan, perhaps more than any other working journalist, has chronicled usage -- or lack of usage -- on his blog. Today, he references a post by Steve Chapman, a columnist and editorial writer for the Chicago Tribune, on Reason magazine's website:

...if effectiveness is the only gauge, why even debate whether these techniques fit the definition of torture? The problem with using "it worked" as an argument is that it justifies too much. By that rationale, we can justify subjecting enemy captives to every form of torture ever devised. We can even justify torturing and killing their spouses, siblings, parents, and children, right in front of them.

Cheney and others have yet to advocate going that far. But if they really believe what they say about the techniques we've used, here's a question they need to answer: Why not?

Lonely girls, kittens, and kids dancing to "Jai Ho" have all had their days in the YouTube sun. Now, someone at Funk Jelly is making the case for metal grannies, complete with a top-6 list. These grandmas rock at clubs and festivals, not on porches. I'm not sure it's going to catch fire, but it's weirdly perfect timing for TOTN, because we're wrapping up our show today with members of the metal group Anvil. They've been slogging out the rock-n-roll lifestyle for 30 years... Wonder if they're popular with the over-60 crowd?

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testifies before the House Foreign Affairs Committee Wednesday in Washington, DC. TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images

Here's what's happening today:

Our first hour will feature a discussion about Pakistan. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said yesterday that Pakistan "poses a mortal threat to the security and safety of our country and the world." As the Taliban closes in on Pakistan's nuclear-armed capital, should the rest of the world worry? We'll talk with NPR national correspondent Jackie Northam, Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid and PBS Frontline Worldcorrespondent Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.

We're working on our segment for the end of the hour. Stay glued to our website for an update!!

Africa is much more than media images of poverty and debt, argues Wangari Maathai. It's time, she says, for African leaders to move past the legacy of colonialism and take responsibility for their own futures. In our second hour, we'll talk with the Nobel Peace Prize winner about her plan to tackle the many challenges facing Africa.

At the end of the second hour, we'll talk about holding fast to a lifelong dream. Twenty-five years ago, the heavy metal band Anvil was red hot. Decades later, with no big-time record contracts or platinum albums, Anvil hangs on to the thin hope of hitting it big... as 50-year old rock stars. Sound familiar? Tell us your story. What dream do you refuse to give up, no matter how far fetched?

Journalists don't make a lot of money. We often hear that we should save for retirement, so many of us try to set a bit aside every month. Now, as layoffs grow and 401(k)s shrink, Jeffrey Goldberg wonders in The Atlantic: How did we get here? And how do we recover?

My crucial mistake was believing that the brokers and wealth managers and cable-television oracles who make up the financial-services industrial complex actually had my best interests at heart. Or so say the extremely smart-and wealthy-people I asked to help me figure a way out of my paralysis. One of these people was Robert Soros, the deputy chairman of the fund started by his father, George. I went to see him at his office, where he spent two hours performing an autopsy on my assumptions.

"You think a brokerage should be a place you go to pay commissions for fair and unbiased advice, right?" he asked.

"Yes," I said.

"It's not. It never has been."

You have to eat it! Acid Zebra

 

Perhaps surprisingly, I can readily recall the first time I drank mezcal, "a Mexican liquor distilled from the fermented juice of certain species of agave."

At a late-night party, in a small apartment high on East Hill, in Ithaca, New York, my friend George produced a half-full bottle of the stuff.

One of his peers, a grad. student in creative writing, had thrown the bash. She had transformed her abode into a cantina of sorts, complete with corridos, twinkling lights, and mole. Packed into that place, on a particularly cold night, we almost forgot that we were in upstate New York, where snow was still falling, late into spring.

I was fascinated by the bottle -- and the worm, therein.

"You going to eat that, George?!" I asked early on.

"Maybe," he said. "It goes to the guy who finishes the bottle."

Over the course of several hours, we passed the mescal around. It had a great, smoky taste. I'm not shamed to admit that I worried the last swill would be mine. In fact, it was.

I thought the worm would be chewy, flavorful, maybe salty. It wasn't. I assumed it would pack an especially strong kick. It didn't.

This morning, I was amused to read an article in The New York Times about a mezcal renaissance in New York. (Is it just me, or is there a renaissance for everything in New York?)

Mezcal suffered from its association with college binges on cheap mass-produced bottles, the ones with the agave worm in the bottom. (The worm, actually a larva that can infest the agave plant, is mainly a ploy to help sell lesser mezcals and -- sorry, spring-breaker -- is not hallucinogenic.)

Rest assured, this public radio producer can't afford the good stuff, which, according to The Times, costs upward of $50 per bottle. For more on the worm, check this out.

Oh man. YourTango.com made the above video, "Facebook Manners And You." Pretty funny, and totally true -- rule #1? Don't change your Facebook status without consulting your significant other. Time's Claire Suddath found the video, and offered 10 more rules of her own, including two of my favorites:

1. Stop taking quizzes. Nobody cares what literary time period you are.

and

10. Cryptic status updates about your mental state -- "Rachel is trying so hard," "Rachel wishes things were different," "Rachel is starting her life over" -- don't make you sound intriguing, just lonely and pathetic.

So here's the challenge: What's your #1 Facebook etiquette rule that neither YourTango nor Claire Suddath listed?

Tax protesters march in Austin, Texas. Earlier, Texas Gov. Rick Perry fired up another anti-tax "tea party" with his stance against the federal government and for states' rights, saying that officials in Washington have abandoned the country's founding principles. AP Photo/Harry Cabluck

Today on the political junkie, Ken Rudin and (Washington for that matter) tackle the release of the "torture memos." Also, real life derails former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's plans for reality TV stardom. And of course this week's trivia question. Then, we'll talk with Baltimore musican Dan Deacon and listen to some of his music and how he's fueled his tour van with veggie oil. Happy Earth Day! That's all in our first hour.

In our second hour, we'll talk about hyper-local news with Andrew Donohue, the editor of the hyper-local newsite in San Diego that won one of investigative journalism's highest awards. We'll also talk with Jon Brod, co-founder and CEO of the hyperlocal newsite, Patch. With traditional news outlets cutting back, can small, local websites fill the investigative void? We'll ask them. Stay tuned for our topic at the end of the hour.

I searched NPR! (And Idris Elba.)

Source: Google

 

I know it's totally possible that Google is evil and we'll all be Googbots at some point, but at this point in Google history, bring on the tyranny! Some of the coolest things (besides the aforementioned evil) are brewed in the Labs section of Google, and the most recent thing to suck my time and attention is their new news timeline feature. Type in a search, say, "Valerie Plame," and like magic, a timeline will appear, with all the stories that involve that search. It's pretty awesome. Go forth and waste your day, Googbots. On another, related subject, The Guardian asks, Why couldn't a newspaper have done this?

News organisations [British sic -- Britsic!] will have to become more innovative in creating new features that showcase their content and build services that they can sell to end their over-reliance on advertising as a source of revenue. What do you think it will take for news organisations to become more innovative?

Probably time, and money. But it is the burning question we're all trying to answer -- after I'm done playing with Google Timeline.

A few weeks back, the infamous Talk of the Nation "No-Prize" metamorphosed from, well, nothing, into a navy-blue t-shirt. Every time we get a winner, I ask for a photo of him/her in the shirt...

Keep listening to Talk of the Nation, and maybe some day you'll be here, among these ranks!

John Madden gets plenty of love -- and his share of gentle ribbing, too (BOOM!). As he plans his newly announced retirement, he's been all but eulogized in the press. One of the most thoughtful takes on Madden's retirement came from Leonard Cassuto in today's Wall Street Journal. John Madden not only entertained us for decades, he wrote, he made us smarter:

From an unlikely perch in the broadcast booth, Mr. Madden has been serving as America's teacher. Using complex diagrams and -- dare I say it? -- intellectual explanations, Mr. Madden gave the average fan credit for wanting to know more than just who caught the ball. His memorable turns of phrase ("boom!") have given whimsical cover to the real work he's done making his students -- anyone who watches sports -- better, more alert, more knowledgeable viewers. If Howard Cosell showed that televised sports offered more than just a game to watch, John Madden honored their significance with his in-depth approach to announcing.

Intellectual or not, got a favorite Maddenism?

If you enjoyed the Facebook Haggadah (I know I did) than you're sure to enjoy this little gem from the Atlantic website: Facebook Group: World Leaders. My favorite? "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad joined the group People Who Always Have To Spell Their Names For Other People."

President Obama visits CIA Headquarters. SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

Here's what's coming up today:

In our first hour, we'll talk with former CIA agent Robert Baer, and former deputy director Richard Kerr about President Obama's decision to release detailed secret memos on harsh interrogation techniques. The memo reveals that CIA interrogators waterboarded one suspect 183 times and another suspect, 83 times. Is this declassification a first step toward welcome transparency, or a helpful assist to terrorists? We'll hear from both sides. The end of that hour? Well, it's a surprise... which is code for we're still working on that segment of the show. As always, keep an eye on the Talk of the Nation page for the latest.

Spring has sprung, and along with it the inspiration to clean. Last Sunday, The Washington Post featured in their "Outlook" section some serious spring cleaning ideas of a different sort. Listed in an article entitled "10 Things We Should Toss" were items such as throw out the Vice Presidency, trash the prom, toss your television. So now it's your turn. What institution, tradition or person do you want to target for spring cleaning? Here's the caveat: It has to be something you have a personal or professional connection to. Call in or send us an email.

Then, at the end of the hour, we'll talk about the power consumers have over product branding. Recently, Tropicana spent millions of dollars to revamp its image, only to scrap the new look when customers revolted. We'll talk with creative director Scott Montgomery about how image consultants no longer have the final say over product branding.

It sells itself: From Portfolio, an anonymously-penned "Confessions of a TARP Wife." Sure, there's some delicious poor-rich-lady detail:

I've bought exactly two things this year -- makeup and panty hose. If I buy a present for someone, I have the package sent to their home. I don't want to be spotted climbing into a taxi, laden with Bergdorf Goodman shopping bags.

Boo-hoo, Bergdorf bags. But more interesting, I think, is the balancing act she describes.

As you can see, being a TARP wife means, in short, making decisions according to a complex algorithm: balancing the need to look like your world hasn't crumbled beneath you -- let's not alarm the investors! -- with the need to appear duly repentant for your subprime sins.

Honestly, I clicked this headline looking forward to some good old-fashioned schadenfreude. But I really did end up feeling for this woman, whose husband apologizes constantly for their changed life, and who shivers when her daughter muses about going to business school. "I hope she didn't notice my instantly negative reaction, stemming completely from concern about the cost," she writes, "I cannot bring myself to shake her foundation." Now I'm guessing that's a sentiment shared by many -- if not all -- parents.

I spent a long weekend in New Orleans, where I ate -- and drank -- well, listened to lots of live music, and painted a few doors in St. Bernard Parish.

It was my first visit to the city, and I wasn't sure what to expect. Principally, I wondered how long a shadow Katrina still cast. Signs of the storm are everywhere. On every other house, there is still spray paint on siding. Who would've thought that this sort of official graffiti would become an historical artifact? On a bus, from the airport to the French Quarter, we passed through some areas that look terrible, as if the storm hit only a few months ago. It was startling to note how close these dilapidated buildings were to the downtown.

When we left our hotel, the innkeeper told us to tell our friends to come visit, to spread the news that the city isn't underwater. It isn't. The legacy of Katrina, horrible as it is, seems to have been overshadowed by a population -- smaller than it used to be, of course -- that proudly and truly loves New Orleans. It's impossible to overlook or ignore.

Today, we'll talk to Dave Cullen about his comprehensive book on Columbine -- today is the ten-year anniversary. The event inspired a raft of fictional school shooting accounts, from movies like Gus Van Sant's Elephant to the cluster of novels that followed. The event bullied its way into the imaginations of so many people that it's not surprising that so many fiction writers have used it as a jumping off point, but their efforts, in my opinion, have varied in quality. Here's a small review of just three of the books I've read that use a school shooting as the central premise:

Nineteen Minutes, by Jodi Picoult.
I like Picoult a great deal; she's got a nice way of writing her female characters, and her books are compulsively readable. However, this is by far the weakest of the three. It takes the false premise that school shootings happen because of bullying (in the case of Columbine -- that's one of the central myths), and worse, adds an improbable twist -- not even worthy of an airport mystery -- towards the end. There are worthwhile parts of the book, namely the rich characterization of the shooter's parents, but all in all, a mediocre effort from a good writer.

The Hour I First Believed, by Wally Lamb.
This is the most recent of the books, and it does something odd that the other two avoid -- it uses the real Columbine as its central event. Lamb did a great deal of research, and even goes to the trouble of a re-enactment of the massacre, along with long extracts from Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris's journals. The book focuses on the husband of a fictional Columbine teacher that survives the shooting in a library cabinet -- if focus is the right word, given Lamb's sprawling plot. And the unwieldiness of the story (which, I'm not kidding you, also includes 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the Iraq War) isn't helped by Lamb's writing style, which is, for me, very hard to read.

We Need To Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver.
By far the best of the three, Shriver (who is another gal with a somewhat androgynous name) creates a suspenseful and thoughtful book around a school shooting -- told in the first person as a series of letters from the mother of the shooter to her husband. Kevin, the murderer, is portrayed as a psychopath, which is somewhat harder of a literary device to tackle. Shriver does it admirably, and still manages to make the book both thrilling and relate-able. It's a terrifying book, but still, a must-read.

Still need a summer internship? Tweet for Pizza Hut. Salary "Competitive (with other Twitterers)." What does that even mean? Thx, NYT.

Past due? "Go bankrupt in 2009" iStockphoto.com

Here's what's happening on the show today:

Today marks ten years since two Columbine high school students fatally shot their classmates and teachers. In the years since then, most of what people believe about the motive behind the shooting is wrong. In our first hour today, we'll talk with author Dave Cullen about some of the myths that still exist about Columbine and how we've reached many wrong conclusions about why the shooters did it. We're still working on our Opinion Page segment for the end of the hour. Keep an eye on our website for an update.

This is Newsweek's financial guru Jane Bryant Quinn's advice for the new year: "Go bankrupt." In our second hour, Quinn will make the case for filing for bankruptcy, and Gail Cunningham of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling will tell us why we may want to think twice before taking that plunge. Have you been down that road? We want to hear about when you decided to file, and how you were able to recover. Then at the end of the hour, we'll talk to tennis great Monica Seles. She won the French Open at age 16. Then again at 17. And AGAIN at 18. But in 1993, her life and career changed when a deranged fan ran onto the court and stabbed her in the back. Today, she'll talk about that event, her love for the game of tennis, and her new autobiography called, Getting A Grip.

A preview of the soon-to-launch "Today's Talk" Newsletter.

We broadcast. We blog. Now we email, too. On Monday, we launch our new Talk of the Nation email newsletter. Want to know what's coming up on the show every day? Sign up. Wondering what you missed on yesterday's show? Sign up. Want to listen to some of the best segments of the week? Sign up. You get the idea.

It'll go out every weekday at noon (ET) with an update on what's happening that day on the show (as far as we know, anyway. The joy of live radio is things can change until the very last minute). We'll also ask you to help out... send us your own experience with the topic of the day. And if you ever miss a show (or part of one) we'll also tell you what you missed on the previous day. Every Friday, we'll pick out some of the highlights of the week with a "Best of This Week's Talk" selection.

To sign up, go to npr.org/email and click the box next to Talk of the Nation.

We hope to add new features and bells and whistles to the newsletter as time goes on. And don't be shy; tell us what you like and don't like. I also promise to improve my typing and HTML skills in coming weeks, but please be forgiving to start!

The Noisettes -- fronted by vocalist Shingai Shoniwa -- top the U.K. charts. Simone Joyner/Getty Images

 

Music is universal. It bridges cultures and borders. And it's fun to talk about. We're still working on the exact details of NPR's next Talk of the World, but the focus will be on hit music around the globe. What's the hot music where you live? Who are the top artists? And who in your country are the tastemakers... the DJs, critics, artists, and others who can make or break an act. Introduce us to your favorite artist. You call call, email, Skype, Tweet, and listen LIVE on Thursday April 30, 2009, 2:00pm ET, 19:00 GMT.

The rant that Geoffrey Pullum will give on our air today regarding the mostly-venerated Elements of Style by Strunk and White, isn't the first time he's roared on this subject. I'm a devoted reader of the Language Log blog, and remember well this little gem on the subject. In fact, my favorite, back in 2004, was his deft connection between the Red Sox winning the World Series, and his favorite grammatical scapegoat.

Strunk had been born in 1869. That is, he was old enough to read the news when General Custer led his men to massacre at the Little Big Horn. Strunk was a grownup with a Ph.D. when Dracula was first published. By the time White was his student and had to buy the privately published precursor of what would become Strunk & White, the professor had reached the age of 50. It was 1919...But what I'm saying about the extreme age of the outdated nonsense in Strunk & White can perhaps best be put like this: White's formative experience in Strunk's class was so long ago that the Red Sox had just won the World Series the year before.

Now, I am a fan of both the Elements and Mr. Pullum -- the former because I don't wish to engage in heresy all the time, and the latter, because he sanctions the use of the passive voice. If I can get someone to write a grammar book that claims a child laughs every time I use an em-dash -- well, I'd like them too.

Balloons launched for Virginia Tech's 2009 Day of Remembrance. buridan

 

Today, classes are canceled at Virginia Tech. The campus is remembering the students and teachers who died when one disturbed classmate armed himself and stormed the campus. More than 3,000 have already completed the 3.2 mile "Run for Remembrance," and right about now, students, teachers, administrators, and others are gathering for a picnic and afternoon of ceremonies and reflection. If you're so inclined, take a moment to just soak in the photo above and send some mental goodwill to Blacksburg.

Many families are hit hard by the recession. PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images

There's more to Mexico than spring break and immigration debates. It's the United States' second largest trading partner. In our first hour, guests will talk about President Obama's upcoming visit to Mexico and how we are directly affected by what happens south of the border. Then, "Ask Amy" syndicated columnist Amy Dickinson will discuss the role parents play in this economy. In good times, parents often help their children with down payments, tuition, free room and board. Now, Amy says parents can add a new word for the new economy: "No."

It turns out the idea that this recession hurts everyone equally could just be a myth. It's not the middle-class families who are bearing the brunt of the recession. In our second hour, Steven Greenhouse, labor and workplace correspondent for The New York Times, and Andrew Sum, professor of economics and director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, will each talk about who is being hit the hardest in this slumping economy. Then, linguist Geoffrey Pullum, co-author of The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, explains why he is NOT celebrating the 50th anniversary of Strunk and White's The Elements of Style. Pullum published his own grammatically correct article for this week's Chronicle of Higher Education entitled, "50 Years of Stupid Grammar Advice."

I can't get enough of email blunder stories. This is partly because I pride myself on my quick electronic reflexes, which, as you can imagine is not always something to pride yourself on. Of course, everyone who uses email has had at least one of these experiences. (If you haven't, bless your heart, I have no interest in being friends with you, and good luck with your perfect organic garden.) For me, the real killer is auto-fill, that helpful little Outlook function that automatically fills in the email address as you start to type. So, y'know, you start to type your basic "OMG ISN'T MARK SO ANNOYING" to your friend Mary, and bingo, whaddya know, you've sent it to, you guessed it, Mark. This happened to me (pre-NPR, it's all bliss and donuts here) years ago: Mary* was my co-worker, Mark* was my boss, and all kinds of hi jinks ensued to get the email out of the boss' inbox. Also, before IM, I typed a lot of quick one liners to Sarah, and that auto-fill function was super handy, until I fowarded a girly email about flirting with a possible guest to... my boyfriend, whose name also begins with "s." Happy ending, though -- my boyfriend replied with aplomb ("flirting at work is essential"), and he is now my fiance. (I suspect the whole experience absolved him of his own work-flirt. We're made for each other, clearly -- and anyone else on the phone.)

Okay. I've confessed. What are your worst email gaffes?

*Names have been changed. A little.

Well, Gwen's off on jury duty today (on tax day... The country's taking her for all the civic duty she can give today), so you're stuck with me. I'll keep it brief.

In our first hour today, it's Wednesday, so of course Political Junkie Ken Rudin joins us. He'll have another fascinating trivia question for the masses, and he and Neal will run down all the juicy political news, including the latest out of Minnesota, Bloomberg's party-switching, and the tea parties happening as I type. We'll follow that segment with one on e-mail gaffes, so get ready to tell us all about the time you accidentally forwarded an email to your mother-in-law that was meant for your best friend.

Hour two's going to be great. Nelson George, music writer extraordinaire, has written about his own life in his new book, called City Kid: A Writer's Memoir of Ghetto Life and Post-Soul Success. I've read just a snippet of it (you'll be able to too, at our website), and can't wait to hear George's tales of loving Anita Baker, attending early hip-hop shows, and all the rest. Next, another sort of profile: Mark Bowden of Vanity Fair dug deep for a profile on Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr., publisher of the The New York Times, to get the story on how the Gray Lady is really faring in these tough times for print journalism.

Whether you're a good egg who got her taxes done months ago, or a master procrastinator with a 5:15 p.m. appointment at your local H&R Block today, it's April 15th, and time to pay the piper. Or maybe get paid. Either way, here's a little gift from Time: Top 10 Tax Dodgers. From Al Capone to Wesley Snipes, just be glad your picture's not included!

The New York Post reports on what it calls a "trend" in New York city:

People are buying CZs instead of the real thing," said one West 47th Street gemologist who asked not to be named to "maintain his reputation." "They buy settings here and then go fill it with a fake."

No real bling in the ring? Even in a lousy economy, life continues... weddings, birthdays, etc. How has the recession changed your celebrations?

Sure, everyone takes Psych 101. But do you think we all actually know the same stuff? A new approach at some universities will require that your degree reflect a defined set of skills rather than another multiple choice test. In our first hour today, Phyllis Safman, assistant commissioner for academic affairs at the Utah System of Higher Education, and Gary Rhoades, General Secretary for the American Association of University Professors and a Professor of Higher Education at the University of Arizona, will examine whether or not education "tuning" is better, or just different. Along those education lines, at the end of the hour we'll talk about how the college essay has turned into a lean, mean sophisticated money-making machine, invisible to plagiarism-detection software. Tom Bartlett, senior reporter for the Chronicle of Higher Education will explain about how essay mills are multiplying and going global. Ever bought an essay? Fess up, and let us know.

A stroke victim has hallucinations of his beloved dead wife - and chooses not to get treatment for them. A victim of congestive heart failure is prescribed "one set of memoirs" -- and finishes his story in time to die peacefully at home. Dr Sherwin Nuland, clinical professor of surgery at the Yale University School of Medicine, has collected stories like these from some of his and his colleague's most memorable patients. His new book is entitled, The Soul of Medicine: Tales from the Bedside and in our second hour, Dr. Nuland will recall some of his bedside tales. We are working on our ender topic right now, but included in that segment, Neal will read some of your email and web comments, so stay tuned.

Yes you have to open your heart. But also your nose.

Source: Eric Hood/iStockphoto.com

I'm sure everyone has had -- or heard about -- this experience. You're on a date, the guy is adorable, he's smart, he's paying the check. What's not to like? He hugs you goodnight, and ... something's off. He doesn't smell right. And Mr. Wonderful doesn't smell bad, either, he just doesn't smell quite right. It's called chemistry, and yes, it's a science. So much so that a new dating company is creating a database of smell to determine whether a potential partner's scent will work for you. From Science Daily, news of a start-up that has developed a test to determine your own body odor and enter it as a code in a database. You can find out if the guy who shares your interests also shares your smell profile. Fast Company has this analysis:

Goofy as it sounds, the idea is backed by solid science. In the 1990s, women were asked to smell t-shirts of various men and rate the attractiveness of the scent. But scent, it turns out, also carries reliable information about the make-up of our immune systems. And it turns out that the women, unconsciously, ranked the scent of men whose immune systems were most different than their own as being the most attractive.

It gives me great pleasure when I can recommend an old book because of a new(ish) story, and the past week's breathless pirate siege has given one of my favorite books new life. Cornish novelist Daphne Du Maurier is best known for her gothic mystery-romances, such as Rebecca, but to my taste, her very best novel isn't a mystery at all, it's a PIRATE romance. Frenchman's Creek features a bored housewife, a French pirate, and general heaving between the two. Go forth and get a copy. One more reason to go pick it up and take a vacation while you fly through it? The sexiest sea-sickness scene (don't say that out loud) in all of boat-lit. It begins with the removal of a pair of ruby earrings. HOT.

A few months ago, The New Yorker published an article by Graeme Wood, an editor of The Atlantic, about the Afghan National Police. (If you haven't read it, you should.)

For an update on the development of the Afghanistan army, perhaps you should consult this video, narrated by John McHugh, a reporter for The Guardian. (You can read all his dispatches here.) According to him, "US soldiers view their Afghan counterparts as ill-disciplined, badly led and with a crippling taste for hashish."

Here's a quick look at what's coming up on the show today:

The Obama administration is floating a plan that would allow small investors to buy into the bailouts at a relatively low price and potentially make money from their tax dollars. But some economists warn that purchasing shares of toxic assets is risky business. In our first hour, economists will talk about the pros and cons of bailout bonds. Then, on the Opinion Page,
Fred Ikle will explain why he feels the United States is not doing enough to prevent pirates from attacking ships. In an op-ed for The Washington Post, Ikle suggests that applying the right of self-defense to crews threatened by would-be pirates would justify killing the pirates as they attempted to board a ship, and it might prevent future standoffs.

With so many studies on health and nutrition appearing to contradict each other, it's hard to decide which foods are good for you and which ones are bad. In our second hour, Allison Aubrey, NPR's consumer health reporter, decodes some of the latest nutrition news, and Mark Bittman, a food writer and cookbook author, will tells us how we can inject some nutritional wisdom into our cooking. Then, Dahlia Lithwick, contributing editor of Newsweek and senior writer for the online magazine Slate, will explain why she believes we need more female justices on the Supreme Court.

Want to live a long life? Relax. Seriously. According to a new study, not being neurotic correlates with living to a ripe old age. From study author Thomas Perls, director of the New England Centenarian Study at Boston University Medical Center:

"We've seen centenarians go through huge amounts of stress, and time and time again they've shown us how ... it doesn't get to them."

That'll definitely make me think twice before getting all riled up about something that really doesn't rate. Likeability and a large social circle also seem to support a long life. Maybe nice guys really do finish last -- and that's a good thing!

The Los Angeles Times has a cool new project, called "Money Walks," worth checking out. (Thanks to Victoria Loustalot, of The New Yorker's Book Bench, for the tip.) Every week, a different author adds a new chapter to a serialized novel-in-progress. So far, Mary McNamara, Seth Greenland, Diana Wagman and Tod Goldberg have contributed.

On Monday, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates unveiled his recommendations for the next defense budget. His proposals include prioritizing spending on health care for troops and veterans and projects that would that would help the United States fight conflicts similar to those in Iraq and Afghanistan. In our first hour, we'll talk about what the Pentagon's choices reveal about the future of conflicts the U.S. is likely to face, and how defense spending should be prioritized. Then, we'll talk with Maestro David Robertson, the conductor of the St. Louis Symphony. Last Saturday night at Carnegie Hall, his scheduled soloist failed to make it to the performance. Robertson relinquished his baton and stepped in with full voice...and actually played the kazoo!! We'll hear a little of that performance and talk about the courage it takes to step in at the eleventh hour and become the "pinch hitter."

Last week, the Iowa Supreme Court upheld a ruling that the state could not deny citizens marriage licenses based on their sexual orientation. And in New York, Governor David Patterson said he will introduce legislation to legalize same sex marriage. States across the country are examining marriage laws and finding themselves in the battlegrounds of the marriage debate. So what is the overall strategy? In our second hour, guests examine how advocates on both sides of the issue are reaching out to the legislators, the judges, the voters. And in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of East Africa, four Somali pirates continue to hold an American captain hostage. The Pentagon has been monitoring the situation, and a Naval vessel and other boats are en route. At the end of the hour, retired Navy Commander John Patch will explain why he cautions against confusing piracy with terrorism, and he talks about a piece he wrote about the impact of piracy for Proceedings magazine, entitled "The Overstated Threat."

The mighty lubricant. papalars

Shelterrific highlighted this awesomeness: the WD-40 website lists more than 2,000 uses for the wondergrease! My favorites on a quick perusal are "Unclogs shower heads" and "Softens stiff leather sandals" -- I never would have thought of either of those, and what with spring cleaning and spring footwear, they could really make a difference for me. So take a look and see if you're using it for something that has yet to make the list.

The story of the Exodus -- on Facebook.

Source: Carl Elkin

 

Why is today different from all other days? Because it's time to make the annual pilgrimage home for Passover. (And because I must excavate the little bit of Hebrew I know from the dusty shelves of my mind, in order to do the four questions, until my niece is old enough to do it. I think she's faking, personally.) My family likes to use a pre-World War II Haggadah -- I suppose there's something poignant in reading about Pharaoh before Hitler. But this year, my favorite Haggadah is by far, this one: Moses Is Departing Egypt: A Facebook Haggadah. I'm pretty sure you don't need to be Jewish to read it, so go forth and giggle.

On his blog, The Best Defense, Tom Ricks, whom we've interviewed many times on this program, has compiled a list of the top ten books "anyone interested in U.S. military history should read." Conveniently, he has grouped them chronologically. Battle Cry of Freedom, by James M.McPherson, is on the list. (We talked to him last year.) There's also Catch-22, by Joseph Heller, and Band of Brothers, by Stephen Ambrose. Fans of military history, what books are on your list?

It's time for another political junkie, and another "no prize" t-shirt give-away!! NPR's Ken Rudin will talk about the week in political news, and he'll be joined by Congressman-elect Mike Quigley, who won the seat vacated by President Obama's chief of staff in Illinois's fifth congressional district. Also, Rachel Stassen-Berger, political reporter for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, will discuss the recount in Minnesota. Then, at the end of the hour, our one-and-only film guru, Murray Horwitz, will be back to talk about your nominations for favorite movies that celebrate the common man. *cue Rocky music*

Not long ago, many people thought that religion around the world had taken a downward spiral. The Economist actually wrote God's obit in one of their past issues. In our second hour, the same editors of the magazine will join us to talk about their new book, God is Back, and why they believe religion and faith are being resurrected around the world. At the end of the hour, we'll talk with Stephen and Isaac Yoder, a father and son team who writes a column on parent-teen money issues for The Wall Street Journal, about how to handle the frustration of being placed on a college wait list.

Mark Tracy at Slate's BizBox pulled together some articles on what sells in a recession: nostalgia and free food. Apparently, that old jingle "the touch, the feel of cotton, the fabric of our lives" is coming back, and Denny's and CiCi's Pizza are offering free food.

The ad campaign I'm obsessed with, however, is Old Navy's newest. Have you seen it? In case you haven't, here are "The SuperModelquins":

Now, I can't be sure they're filming mannequins instead of actors because of the bottom line, but it makes me *think* they are, and that makes me think they care about my bottom line. And that makes me think they're onto something!

From a 1970's children's book.

Source: www.blameitonthevoices.com

I got a ticket the other day -- I was parked for FIVE MINUTES at an expired meter (!@$#$#!!!!), when a young man walked up, and ticketed the car. Sigh. That's why this still from an old 1970s children's book really made me giggle. And pay the ticket, happily.

As our callers today proved, international adoption is a long, emotional, and sometimes expensive process. But there's a reason it is sometimes so hard -- it's rife with possible tragedy. For a really interesting read, check out this piece of reporting in Mother Jones.

*(I'm sure I could have thought of a less tongue twisting title.)

President Obama seems to be poised to make good on his promise to loosen travel and financial restrictions for Americans with relatives in Cuba. In our first hour today, guests will talk about how the president's pledge will affect U.S. relations with Cuba, and how it could play out within Cuban-American families. Tell us what you think about the new changes. We especially want to hear from Cuban-American listeners. What are you and your family saying? And do those opinions vary by generation? At the end of the hour, Academy Award-winning actor Michael Caine will pay us a visit, to talk about his long-running film career, and his latest role as a retired magician, navigating the beginning stages of dementia. The British drama is called, Is Anybody Out There?

Thousands of Americans adopt children from other countries each year. Their reasons may vary, but many have to face difficult questions like: What country do I choose? And why adopt internationally when so many kids in this country need parents? Guests in our second hour will discuss all that's involved in international adoption, and how the decision to adopt from a foreign country can affect the lives of American families and children in need. Then, we'll speak with
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., about the legacy of historian John Hope Franklin, who passed away late last month. Gates wrote a tribute to Franklin for The Root.com entitled, "John Hope, the Prince Who Refused the Kingdom."

Canadian pharmacies lure Americans with their cheap prices, Marylanders cross the border into DC for discounted liquor, athletes head to Mexico for steroids. And folks from Washington state? They motor to Idaho for... Soap. From the Los Angeles Times:

Retailers in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, say the sight of apologetic but defiant Washingtonians loading their carts with dishwasher detergent is becoming increasingly common. "We go, 'Are you coming from Spokane?' And they kind of chuckle and say, 'Yeah,' " said Donna Wilkinson, an assistant manager at Costco.

Why? Well, last July, Spokane County "adopted a near total ban on sales of water-softening phosphates in dishwasher detergent... in an attempt to slow the flood of pollutants that is sucking oxygen out of the endangered Spokane River." Sounds like a decent idea. Don't want the fish to suffocate, or foam to gather on the banks, right? But while the river may be getting cleaner, dishes in Spokane households are filthy. In the words of working mom Patti Marcotte,

"With the 'green' stuff, the dishes come out with a real slippery texture -- like somebody poured a cup of grease in some dishwater -- and a white film. Just really gross. And then the food gunk just mixes around the dishwasher and when it stops, it just settles on whatever's there. I mean, it's bad."

Eeeew!!!

Last night, my hometown Tar Heels defeated the Michigan State Spartans.

There was wonderful concision on the front page of the Raleigh News & Observer: "Tar Heels Triumph." In the USA Today: "Michigan State suffers another Detroit debacle courtesy of UNC." And on the back page of the New York Daily News, Dick Weiss declared, "No bailouts for Michigan State in NCAA final loss."

That last one stings a bit, I realize. (The Huffington Post had a parody article along the same lines: "Obama Asks Michigan State Spartan Coach to Step Down.")

Was it hard to root for the team most people wanted to lose -- "Michigan State's basketball team providing relief to distressed state" and "Detroit Forgets Auto Misery to Root for Michigan State Victory"?

I'll let Roy Williams, UNC's coach, answer that one. Here's what he told reporters on Monday morning, before the game:

We want to win a national championship, period, the end. And if you would tell me that if Michigan State wins, it's gonna satisfy the nation's economy, then I'd say, "Hell, let's stay poor for a little while longer."

At the very least, the barkeeps in Chapel Hill are a little bit richer. As we mentioned on the show yesterday, a party on Franklin Street, downtown, always follows a big UNC win. If you've never seen what it looks like, check out this amazing panoramic shot from last night.

On his blog, Andrew Sullivan, of The Atlantic, is challenging American newspapers "to get over themselves," to stop complaining, to look at the way other periodicals, around the world, are maintaining relatively stronger readership. As more and more papers cut their staffs and shut their doors, Sullivan's commentary may seem sacrilegious, but he has pointed to some beautifully-designed newspapers in Italy, which, in his estimation, are reinventing how information can be presented on the page. Have a look.

Do you think newspapers should get over themselves? What would you like to see them do?

Today's guest host will be Lynn Neary, and here's what's happening:

As Americans around the country are being laid off, more and more people are looking for jobs in fields that they previously wouldn't have considered, otherwise known as "survival jobs." In our first hour, we'll discuss how widespread the search for a survival job has become, and how difficult it is to find one in the current recession. And we want to hear from you. Have you had to make compromises in your work life? Tell us your story. Then, in light of tonight's NCAA men's championship game, Derrick Jackson, columnist for The Boston Globe, will explain why he believes that since universities and coaches make so much money off of "amateur" student athletes, it's time to pay the players as well.

Jayanti Tamm grew up fully devoted to the teachings of Guru Sri Chinmoy. But at age 25, she decided to let go of her life as the chosen disciple of his inner circle. In our second hour, we'll talk to Tamm about her new memoir, Cartwheels in a Sari, and ask her why she made the decision to lead a more independent life. And we want to hear your story. If you've been part of a consuming faith, that you eventually left, what made you leave? And what made you a follower of that faith? At the end of the hour, writer and New York Daily News syndicated columnist Stanley Crouch will give his review of the new HBO show, "The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency."

I love stealing great stories from my friends' Facebook pages -- somehow, no matter how much news I consume, I miss even the stories that are tailor-made for me. By way of Maud Newton's feed, I discovered two of my favorites on a single page, David Carr on David Simon, this time, on the development of Simon's new series, Treme, set in post- Katrina New Orleans. Although Simon says it is not really a show about the aftermath of Katrina, but instead about "why New Orleans matters," it is Carr who makes an interesting point about why television -- some of it -- matters, these days.

One of the unacknowledged benefits of a media environment that has atomized beyond the networks -- endless cable channels, digital production and all kinds of new formats -- is that it has created a sweet spot to reconsider history somewhere between the rain-lashed correspondent shouting back to the evening news anchor and, years later, the History Channel deconstruction of great and terrible events.

I spent much of the weekend watching Battlestar Galactica, which spent an entire season exploring an allegory based on the Iraq War, as well as Masterpiece Theatre's Little Dorrit, itself based on a Charles Dickens satire of government failure. In the wake of explosive news failures, it's beginning to look like fiction may be at least one excellent way to fill the crater that's left.

The lovely Reba McEntire. Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Remember our show from last week, Just One Joke? Well, Reba McEntire made a late entry last night at the Country Music Awards at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. From the Los Angeles Times:

"Michael Phelps and Willie Nelson are teaming up for a country album," said host Reba McIntyre (sic) in her opening monologue. "They'll be covering the Doobie Brothers!"

Gotta love that Reba McEntire.

Michael Moore says GM is getting what it deserves. Scott Olson/Getty Images

Michael Moore has never had much love for General Motors. Back in 1989 he stalked GM CEO Roger Smith relentlessly in Roger & Me and pressed him to explain the devastating economy in Flint, MI. Now, with President Obama essentially firing Rick Wagoner from the CEO post, Moore takes another shot at the upper floors of GM in an open letter on the Daily Beast:

I write this letter to you in memory of the hundreds of thousands of workers over the past 25-plus years who have been tossed into the trash heap by General Motors. Many saw their lives ruined for good. They turned to alcohol or drugs, their marriages fell apart, some took their own lives. Most moved on, moved out, moved over, moved away. They ended up working two jobs for half the pay they were getting at GM. And they cursed the CEO of GM for bringing ruin to their lives.

We're trying to reach Michael Moore for the show next week, and let you talk to him. Stay tuned.

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Today, Talk of the Nation begins a new series that looks at the human drive to solve problems. Once a month, we'll address a difficult problem and find at least one person who has had real, measurable success in solving it. We begin with nursing homes, and talk with Dr. William Thomas, a geriatrician and founder of The Eden Alternative, about how he has re-invented elder care with what he calls the Green House Project. Then, our very own web guru and associate producer Sarah Handel, will tell you how you can participate online. She has launched a new website for our show called "What Works," and at the end of the hour, Sarah will explain how you will be able to offer your ideas of problems you would like us to explore and find the best solutions for!

Today, leaders from the twenty most rich and powerful nations have gathered in London, and after tense discussions about the rattled world economy, they reached a one trillion dollar agreement to tackle the global financial crisis. In our second hour, we'll talk about the importance of the G-20 summit and what the world's leaders hope to accomplish. Then, we'll talk with Cary Fukunaga, the writer and director of a new feature film, Sin Nombre, that follows two teenagers on a harrowing journey by train through Mexico to the border with the United States. Fukunaga will talk about how he got the idea for the film and his own experience with taking that same dangerous train ride... three times.

You are an essential part -- yes, you! -- of Talk of the Nation's What Works series. There are a bazillion problems in the world that need fixing, but we want to talk about the ones that you want to talk about. So tell us: What needs fixing in your world?
Do you work in a shop where kids hang out during school hours, so you want to know what works to solve truancy?
Did you fall off your bike and crack your collarbone, so you want to know what works to keep potholes repaired?
Whatever the problem is, if it's one many of us share, we want to look into it and see who's solving it creatively, and how. So tell us what needs fixing, and we'll try to figure out what works.

Talk of the Nation's staff scours the Internet daily looking for the good stuff to cover on the show, but we can't get to everything. What's more, we know our audience is smart, and you've got loads to contribute. So here's your chance: Do you know of an example of what works? A solution to a problem that your community, office, or state has tackled and solved?
Did your county council figure out how to get dog owners to pick up after their pets?
Did your office take steps to conserve energy, and actually see a drop in its energy bill?
We want to know what the problem was, how you -- or they -- solved it, and what evidence you have that your solution works. So tell us: What Works?

Captured by cash. Steve Wampler

Key to happiness, maybe not. But money appears to be useful for more than just gas (or contributing to your public radio station). New Scientist reports:

Simply thinking about words associated with money seems to makes us more self-reliant and less inclined to help others. And it gets weirder: just handling cash can take the sting out of social rejection and even diminish physical pain.... Put bluntly, it looks as if money is acting as a surrogate friend. Could that explain why some people focus on extrinsic aspirations at the expense of real social relationships?

The question they eventually get to: can money be addictive? No definitive answers are given, rather an argument that economists' models can't be taken seriously unless they figure in people's sometimes irrational desire for money.

A friend of mine had an iconic role for a year on the soap opera Guiding Light. I asked him once, what it was like. "It's hard," he said. "Really, really hard. The hours are long, and it's difficult to do this kind of acting. There's no preparation -- it's just 'action!' and then you've suddenly got to convincingly be the guy who killed his twin brother and stole his wife. Or whatever." Now, this is a super talented actor -- I've seen him do all kinds of theatre -- everything from The Sound Of Music to How I Learned To Drive. It was the first time I thought about soaps as something other than camp -- though I watched them for years, off an on (I'm an AMC, OLTL, and GH, fan myself). Ever since then, soap operas have always impressed me. The amount of creative energy expended is breathtaking. Every day, a full hour of scheming, kidnapping, possession, passion(s), adultery, amnesia, millionaires (somehow no one is richer than millions), family legacies, heaving bosoms, raised eyebrows, and groundbreaking storylines. Imagine writing all that, let alone acting it. And watching it! Please -- the first time I ran into a soap actor on the street in NYC, it was all I could do not to yell, "Edmund! Maddie is not Dmitri's baby!!"

All this is to say that the longest one of these bubbly marvels, Guiding Light (it was The Guiding Light prior to 1972), is ending its seventy-two year run in September. While it's too much to ask that the residents of Five Points, Selby Flats, and Springfield rest in peace -- and why would we want them to? -- here's hoping their final storylines are filled with the drama and delightful histrionics we've come to expect, and love. And please, listen to the clip from 1941 -- that's right, NINETEEN FORTY ONE -- we're talking BEFORE THE END OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR. And before Roger Thorpe.

Meghan Daum highlights the dangers of surfing real estate sites like Zillow.com in a recent column in the Los Angeles Times. Her home is now worth $50,000 less than what she paid for it (at least according to the website). The problem: housing appraisal sites don't understand her, or her house... And certainly don't tell the whole story.

After all, just as a healthy long-term romantic commitment involves learning to focus on your partners' intrinsic, substantive qualities as his or her youth and beauty fades, shouldn't your relationship to your home transcend the cold calculations of the market? In other words, in the wake of mass depreciation, a little individual appreciation goes a long way. So bye-bye, Zillow! I don't need your stinking thinking in these troubled times. But if the economy of 2005 ever comes back, I'll be weighing myself on your scale at least once an hour.

Anyone else surfing the appraisal sites these days? Or have you given up on that pastime?

Happy April Fool's Day. Okay, this entry is no joke. Not until the end. Here's what's happening today. Seriously.

It's Political Junkie time, and this week Ken Rudin will talk about the G-20 economic summit that's about to get underway in London, dropped federal charges against Alaska senator Ted Stevens, and tax troubles for Obama nominee Kathleen Sebelius. All that, and the trivia question AND a t-shirt for the winner of the no/know prize. Then, we'll talk with long time White House and Washington correspondent Sam Donaldson about his decision to step back from full time work after forty-two years with ABC News.

Health reports say eating red meat increases your risk of cancer, but a little bit of dark chocolate a day is good for you. And ad campaigns are praising high fructose corn syrup, claiming it to be just as healthy as sugar. With all the conflicting information about what to eat, how do you decide what's good for you? In our second hour, we'll talk with two health reporters about whether its better to keep up with all the health studies, or ignore them completely. Then, it's time for a little fun. On this April Fool's Day, comedian Matt Kazam and listeners like YOU take center stage and give us your best joke. Just one joke... but make it a good one, and short. Give us your best, and we'll rate it with a chuckle, or a guffaw.

Have you seen the venerable Guardian's headline today?

Twitter switch for Guardian, after 188 years of ink

* Newspaper to be available only on messaging service

* Experts say any story can be told in 140 characters

Ok, in case your heart skipped a beat or your blood pressure rose, relax and check your calendar. Back with me now? Ok. Twitter's been getting some heat (jumped the shark, where "vapidity rules," riddled with ghosts) lately. But the New York Times' ideas blogger -- Tom Kuntz -- found Ryan Bigge's brief history of brevity. It's impossible for me to summarize (funny, right? A long, complex article on conciseness?), there is no pithy paragraph to excerpt. Instead, here's my favorite modern example of dazzling brevity.

Another, more profane, but no less compelling example of effective terseness appears in the first season of The Wire. In episode four, two homicide detectives re-investigate a six-month-old apartment crime scene on a hunch. This sounds bland and straightforward, except the dialogue between the two cops involves variations on the f-word, and nothing else, for four minutes. Just as with Mandarin, a language that relies upon inflection in pitch to make the same syllable convey different meanings, actors Wendell Pierce and Dominic West turn the word around in their mouths, using it to register disgust, anger, frustration and surprise. And without any exposition, the viewer is able to understand how a vital piece of evidence was overlooked.

Here's the scene. And here's to Twitter!