The Two-Way
11:14 am
Tue May 22, 2012

We Should Have Known: Megaseconds Are Much Longer Than Milliseconds

Typos and mistakes are part of the news business — as anyone who regularly reads this blogger surely knows. We don't want them to happen, but they do.

Sometimes they're kind of quirky and educational.

Check out this correction from The New York Times:

Read more
Around the Nation
10:59 am
Tue May 22, 2012

Rebuilding Joplin, One Year After Tornadoes

Originally published on Tue May 22, 2012 1:06 pm

Transcript

NEAL CONAN, HOST:

As the sun rose in Joplin, Missouri, today, a sunrise service was held to commemorate emergency workers, hospital staff, survivors and the 161 killed in a monster tornado a year ago. Yesterday, President Obama delivered the commencement address at Joplin High School and praised the town for its spirit of perseverance and resilience. While much of the rubble has been cleared out and new houses and stores sprout up, scars remain, not all of them visible.

Read more
NPR Story
10:59 am
Tue May 22, 2012

The Definition Of Success For Talks With Iran

Originally published on Sun May 27, 2012 5:33 am

Transcript

NEAL CONAN, HOST:

This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan in Washington. Talks that President Obama calls the last chance for negotiations reconvene tomorrow in Baghdad. The U.S. and five other great powers will meet with Iranian officials to discuss that country's nuclear ambitions.

Read more
NPR Story
10:59 am
Tue May 22, 2012

Young Voters, Once Buoyed By Obama, Turn Away

Originally published on Tue May 22, 2012 1:06 pm

In 2004, then-candidate Barack Obama campaigned on a message of hope and gained overwhelming support from young voters. In an op-ed in the Los Angles Times, Neal Gabler writes that many of those young voters are disappointed with his tenure, and they've turned to "DIY politics" instead.

The Two-Way
10:43 am
Tue May 22, 2012

The Father Of The Couch Potato, Inventor Of Wireless Remote Dies At Age 96

Originally published on Tue May 22, 2012 3:35 pm

Before you sink into your couch, before you flip through channels tonight when you get home, take a minute to think about the guy who made being a couch potato possible:

Back in 1955, Eugene J. Polley invented the "Flash-Matic," or the world's first wireless TV remote control. Back then, you held it like a gun and it acted like a flashlight using visible light to trigger photo cells on the TV to change channels.

Polley, whose engineering career with Zenith spanned 47 years, died on Sunday. He was 96.

Read more
The Two-Way
9:58 am
Tue May 22, 2012

U.S.-Bound Passenger Jet Diverted Due To 'Security Issue' On Board

Originally published on Tue May 22, 2012 11:47 am

There was a "security issue" aboard a US Airways flight from Paris to Charlotte, N.C., earlier today, and the plane was diverted to Maine's Bangor International Airport, where it landed around noon ET.

Read more
The Two-Way
9:55 am
Tue May 22, 2012

Mexican Police Arrest 'El Loco' In Beheading Of 49

Credit Alexandre Meneghini / AP
Army soldiers flank Daniel Ramírez, alias "El Loco," during his presentation to the media in Mexico City on Monday.

The Mexican military trotted out Daniel Jesus Elizondo Ramírez or "El Loco," yesterday, to face the media. They accused the Zeta leader of directing the mutilation and beheading of 49 people.

Earlier this month, the bodies were dumped at the entrance of the town of San Juan.

The AP reports that Ramírez was directed by the top Zeta leaders to dump the bodies and hang banners around the country that shunned responsibility.

Read more
The Two-Way
9:28 am
Tue May 22, 2012

Auction Of Reagan's Blood Draws Condemnation

Credit Mike Evens / AFP/Getty Images
March 30, 1981: President Ronald Reagan, moments before he was shot.

Originally published on Wed May 23, 2012 11:06 am

An online auction of a vial said to contain blood drawn from President Reagan on the day he was shot in 1981 is "a craven act and we will use every legal means to stop its sale or purchase," says a spokesman for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation.

Read more
Book Reviews
9:02 am
Tue May 22, 2012

'Right-Hand': A Lush Prequel To 'Mason's Retreat'

Originally published on Tue May 22, 2012 9:22 am

Whenever I think about Christopher Tilghman's writing — and I have many times since his atmospheric novel, Mason's Retreat, came out more than 15 years ago — I think of critic John Leonard. John, among many other distinctions, was my predecessor as book critic for Fresh Air and, every once in a while before his death in 2008, we'd have occasion to talk or exchange e-mails about books. I remember John sending me a note in 1996, in which he mentioned Mason's Retreat and said of Tilghman, "He's the real deal."

Read more
Theater
9:02 am
Tue May 22, 2012

David Alan Grier's 'Sporting Life' On Broadway

Credit Courtesy of the American Repertory Theater
In Porgy and Bess, David Alan Grier plays the drug dealer Sporting Life, a role closely associated with Sammy Davis Jr. and Cab Calloway.

In 1935, George Gershwin brought the script for his folk opera Porgy and Bess to the opera's original cast, which was entirely made up of African-American actors. "[In the original], every other word was N-word this, N-word that," says actor David Alan Grier. "[And] there's a very famous story: Al Jolson really wanted to play Porgy, in blackface."

Read more

Pages