Fair warning: I'm about to write a post on a TV show I do not watch. OK?

So anyway, much of the buzz on the Internetz the past few days has been about the ABC reality show, The Bachelor. Apparently, bachelor (or is that Bachelor) Jason Mesnick proposed to one woman, Melissa, in the show finale, then, gasp and horror, dumped her for the other finalist, Molly, in the post-season special. Drama! Bloggers have been speculating that the network planned the whole switcheroo, which show host Chris Harrison denies. In a blog for Entertainment Weekly, he writes, in duplicate, "We are not responsible for, nor have we ever scripted, the ending of this show."

So, we have a category called "Buzz" in our morning meeting, and this certainly fit the bill, though I was pretty sure it didn't fit our show. My boss pointed out, though, that it might be time for a reality TV check-in. Do you just assume they're all fake? Do you watch them? What's your favorite*?

*Randy Jackson Presents America's Best Dance Crew all the way, baby! Go Quest Crew!

We here at TOTN have taken a bold leap into an unknown universe: Twitter. If you don't know what it is, it's kind of a micro-blogging tool, kind of a conversation facilitator, and a perfect technology for you to fill us in on the talk of your nation. Basically, we update it with questions we hope you will answer and news we think you'll find interesting -- what's coming up on the show, the question we're asking of listeners for a particular segment, what guest you'd recommend on a specific topic. If you subscribe to our feed, you'll get our "tweets" on your Twitter page, or even on your cell phone, if you're so inclined. And then you can tweet back to us with your insights and answers. We've already begun reading Twitter-submitted responses on air, and will continue to do so. Our sadly demised sister show, the Bryant Park Project, really managed to use Twitter to converse with their audience, and we aspire to the standard they set. In addition to that, since the great stuff you've been writing already isn't readily viewable anywhere on NPR.org, I'll be doing a weekly wrap of the great tweets that didn't make it to air. So, if you're on Twitter already, subscribe to us @totn. And if you're interested in joining the Twitter party, go here to give it a whirl.

Source: Sarah Handel

How do you want to be buried? For Fredric J. Baur of Cincinnati, the answer was easy -- in the iconic item he designed, the Pringles potato crisp can.

For oil heiress Sandra Ilene West, it was a vintage Ferrari.

What about you? Send us an email through this form, and include your phone number if you'd like a chance at telling the world on-air next week.

The Newseum.

Source: ktylerconk

Tomorrow, we're back at the Newseum, and we've got two shows for you -- half special coverage, half TOTN regular style. First show is all about the world's longest homestretch in the Democratic nominating contest, but the second show is where we need your help.

This past January, Buffalo started a specialized veterans court -- a court meant to address problems specific to veterans: like substance abuse, mental health, even traffic issues caused by PTSD or the simple lack of civilian driving skills. NPR's Libby Lewis has done the reporting on this, so we've invited her to the Newseum tomorrow to tell us about it -- along with the project director for Buffalo's vet courts. Here's where you come in: if you're a vet and have been involved with the legal system, tell us your story. We want to hear about your experience -- we're looking for personal stories, and we'd like to hear from you about what you (or a loved one) would want in a specialized court for veterans. And if you've participated in Buffalo's project, by all means, let us know that too.

AND: if you're in the Washington area (that means you, Baltimore, Falls Church, Richmond, etc!!), let us know if you want to attend the live broadcast for either hour. It's at the Newseum, which is gorgeous, and worth the trip even with out added TOTN bonus. It's free, fun, and you can see Neal and Ken live (both red-heads, btw) if you want to come for the two o'clock broadcast, and Libby Lewis at the three o'clock show (not a red-head, but super smart). Here's what to do.

To reserve your complimentary tickets, send an email to tickets@npr.org or call 202. 513. 3959. When reserving tickets, please indicate which show you would like to attend, 2-3, 3-4 or both. A post-show Q&A with our host, Neal Conan, can be arranged for school groups.

Every morning at 9 o'clock, the TOTN staff gathers 'round to take stock of the day's news. Heaven help the producer who overslept and failed to even catch the headlines... on rare occasion when this happens to me, I feel behind all day. Once we get the major stories covered, we like to dig a little deeper to see what's going on that people are truly talking about at the dinner table, in the morning carpool, and queued up at the grocery store. We have various strategies for it -- our executive producer seems to host and/or attend an immeasurable number of dinner parties stocked with interesting people, which always get the gears in her brain grinding on new topics, whereas I like to go online to check out the local papers in places I used to live, and places where my friends and family still reside. We can't cover the entire country every day, however, which is where you come in. You, our loyal TOTN listeners, literally DO span the country and the globe. So we want to know: What's going on in your town? What is everyone talking about? Maybe you live in Dubuque, Iowa, where the noise levels in the city's only dog park grate on residents' nerves. Or maybe you live in Memphis, where the death of famed photographer and local legend Ernest Withers is the talk of the coffeehouse or barbershop. We want to know about these stories, and even if they seem of limited interest -- geographically, demographically, whatever -- if people are talking about it, there's generally a nugget in there that speaks to a broader human discussion or truth. So tell us: what's the buzz where you live? We want to turn your stories into on-air content, so if you've got links, please send them along...

The other day I read an article in the Washington Post that caught my eye. It was more of a local story than a national one, but the headline was arresting: "Police Feel Wartime Pinch on Ammo: Target Practice Cut To Conserve Bullets." According to the article, the demand for small-arms ammunition to outfit American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan has begun to affect police departments in the DC-metro area. Due to slow delivery of new rounds of ammunition, officials in three local counties are rationing bullets provided to officers and cutting back on target practice. This made me think about the war at home... the last time we really talked about it at length was after Katrina hit, when the lack of National Guard troops (and equipment) available to help with the rescue and recovery became shockingly clear. That made us wonder: how does the war manifest at home for you? How has your community changed or adapted due to changes forced by our military commitments abroad? If we come up with enough examples, we're thinking of doing some shows on this... so please leave your stories in the comments section, and if you've got articles from your local news outlets, we'd love to see those too!

Being one of the only permeable membranes at NPR affords us a little bit of freedom, and today, given the events in Minnesota, we thought we'd take advantage of it. As I said earlier, having the height of normality turn into a nightmare is something that doesn't happen very often, but when it does it's terrifying. We'd really like to hear from our listeners/readers in Minnesota this hour; or anywhere else that's gone through this kind of event. Let us know what you saw, how you got through it, and how you're feeling now.

It's a cliche to call structural failures like the bridge collapse in Minnesota a "nightmare," but the truth is, there's almost no other way to describe it. There are certain things we take for granted about our structural world -- skyscrapers, bridges, tunnels -- and when these things fail, it makes everything concrete seem made of straw. It's particularly true when there's no extra risk assumed when you set out -- no hurricane, earthquake, or other apparent catalyst -- but simply the most normal of commutes suddenly turned upside down. It happens rarely; but when it does, it can't help but bring back other days, other commutes, other nightmares. There are parts of a landscape that are so essential they disappear on most days -- it's only human to notice the view from a bridge, not the bridge itself. Boston, Philadelphia, New York are just a few of the places that have seen this infrastructure fail spectacularly, and tragically. I'm sure they're thinking about Minnesotans today, and we wondered, how do you recover psychologically from such a deep fissure in your daily world? If you're from one of these places, what is your advice to Minnesotans today? And of course, if you're from Minnesota, and the Interstate 35W bridge is part of your life, let us know how you're feeling today.