Music Reviews
9:00 am
Fri May 25, 2012

James Burton: The Teen Who Invented American Guitar

Originally published on Fri May 25, 2012 12:11 pm

What were you doing when you were 16?

When he was 16, James Burton was inventing the American guitar. He'd been born in Dubberly, La., in 1939, and was apparently self-taught on his instrument. At 15, he cut a single backing local singer Carol Williams, and then one day he came up with a guitar riff that he liked. He took it to a singer from Shreveport he was touring with, and they worked out a song to use in his act. One thing led to another, and it wound up on a record called "Suzie Q," credited to Dale Hawkins, the singer.

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The Salt
8:59 am
Fri May 25, 2012

Stand Back When Snapping Turtles Crop Up In The Garden

Originally published on Fri May 25, 2012 2:09 pm

Late spring in a New England vegetable garden is usually a time for the last asparagus, the crisp lettuce and arugula, the first pea shoots, and the first sprouting of warm-weather crops like peppers and zucchini. What you don't expect to see planted in your beds are snapping turtles. But that's just what turned up in mine twice this week.

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The Two-Way
8:44 am
Fri May 25, 2012

Consumer Confidence Highest Since Before Recession, Survey Says

Credit Scott Olson / Getty Images
If consumers are in the mood to shop, that could give the economy a lift.

Originally published on Fri May 25, 2012 9:13 am

Here's news that could affect both the economy and the presidential race:

Consumer confidence has improved "in each of the past nine monthly surveys" and is now at "its highest level since October 2007," according to the latest Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Survey of Consumers. The most recent recession officially began in December 2007, and lasted into early summer 2009.

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Movie Reviews
8:30 am
Fri May 25, 2012

A Wes Anderson 'Kingdom' Full Of Beautiful Imagery

Credit Focus Features
Edward Norton plays a scoutmaster in search of his lost charge in Wes Anderson's latest film, Moonrise Kingdom.

Originally published on Fri May 25, 2012 12:11 pm

Many people are rapturous over the work of Wes Anderson, and for them, I expect, Moonrise Kingdom will be nirvana. The frames are quasi-symmetrical: a strong center, often human, with misaligned objects on each side suggesting a universe that's slightly out of balance, like a series of discombobulated dollhouses.

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It's All Politics
8:14 am
Fri May 25, 2012

#FollowFriday: A Tiny Shred Of Political Authenticity

Credit Bill Pugliano / Getty Images
Rep.Thaddeus McCotter, R-Mich., is a regular on Twitter. Here, he plays guitar at a festival last July in Whitmore Lake, Mich.

Originally published on Fri May 25, 2012 9:56 am

Note: We've asked NPR journalists to share their top five (or so) political Twitter accounts, and we're featuring the series on #FollowFriday. Here are recommendations from reporter Andrea Seabrook (@RadioBabe).

I have a thing about political fakes on Twitter. I HATE them. And when I say fakes, I mean a handle that appears to be a senator or representative, but is very obviously written by some 22-year-old staffer.

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The Two-Way
7:51 am
Fri May 25, 2012

Man At Center Of Federal Agency's Las Vegas Scandal Leaves His Job

Credit J. Scott Applewhite / AP
Jeff Neely during an April 16 hearing on Capitol Hill. He declined to answer any of the lawmakers' questions.

Jeff Neely, the regional official at the General Services Administration who hosted a 2010 taxpayer-funded conference in Las Vegas that became a scandal as details about excessive spending, gifts and lavish parties were revealed, has left his job at the agency.

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Wildlife Forensics
7:32 am
Fri May 25, 2012

In Ashland, A Crime Lab For 34,000 Species

The illegal trade of wildlife is big business- worth an estimated $5 billion a year, and growing. But who do you call to investigate a crime when the victim is an elephant, or a butterfly?

Turns out, there’s only one forensics team in the world that can handle crimes involving thousands of rare and endangered species. The team works at the U.S Fish and Wildlife Forensics Lab in Ashland, Oregon. The lab isn’t open to the public. But reporter Amelia Templeton got a glimpse inside.

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Puget Sound Acidification
7:28 am
Fri May 25, 2012

Algae and Puget Sound Acidification Linked

Credit Photo by Ashley Ahearn / Northwest News Network
Christopher Krembs, an oceanographer with the Washington Department of Ecology, photographs algae in Puget Sound.

The ocean absorbs a large portion of the CO2 that we release into the atmosphere from our power plants and tail pipes. But when it gets there that CO2 makes the water more acidic and less hospitable for some creatures, like shellfish. In Puget Sound some shellfish hatcheries have already lost millions of oyster larvae because of exposure to acidic water.

Ocean acidification has scientists and policymakers in the Northwest concerned. Washington Governor Chris Gregoire has convened a panel on Ocean Acidification, which met this week. Ashley Ahearn reports.

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Liquor Store Auctions
7:22 am
Fri May 25, 2012

Washington State Sells Off Final 18 Liquor Stores

Earlier this month the State auctioned off the rights to sell liquor in their current stores. 167 licenses were sold, but 18 buyers fell through. Bidders either couldn’t come up with all the money, or struggled to work out lease conditions for the retail space. Thursday, a live auction sold the remaining 18 stores. Lesley McClurg reports.

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Author Interviews
7:17 am
Fri May 25, 2012

From 'App' To 'Tea': English Examined In '100 Words'

Originally published on Mon May 28, 2012 1:07 pm

This interview was originally broadcast on April 2, 2012.

Linguist David Crystal describes English as a "vacuum cleaner of a language." Speakers merrily swipe some words from other languages, adopt others because they're cool or sound classy, and simply make up other terms.

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