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World Cafe
1:13 pm
Fri November 30, 2012

Freelance Whales On World Cafe

Credit Courtesy of the artist
Freelance Whales.

Freelance Whales' members make huge tiny music. Their instruments tend to produce delicate sounds: banjos, violins, xylophones, drums played delicately with brushes. But their songs are arranged in such a way that these small sounds form grand, swelling passages that start out softly, then build to something majestic.

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The Two-Way
1:01 pm
Fri November 30, 2012

Israel OKs Plans For New Settlements In East Jerusalem, West Bank

Originally published on Thu December 13, 2012 5:41 am

A day after the United Nations General Assembly voted to upgrade Palestinians to a non-member observer state, Israel announced it had plans to expand existing settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

The New York Times has the lay of the land:

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The Salt
12:38 pm
Fri November 30, 2012

Some Restaurants In Israel Declare A Kosher Rebellion

Credit David Silverman / Getty Images
Israelis eat at a kosher McDonald's restaurant in Tel Aviv.

Originally published on Thu December 13, 2012 5:41 am

The Carousela cafe in West Jerusalem is one of a handful of restaurants and cafes in Israel staging a bit of a rebellion by defying Jewish religious authorities who claim they are the only ones who can certify restaurants as kosher, or in compliance with Jewish dietary laws.

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Middle East
12:28 pm
Fri November 30, 2012

In Istanbul, A Byzantine-Era Fleet Surfaces Again

Originally published on Mon December 3, 2012 5:24 pm

In Istanbul, major public transit projects are back under way after years of paralysis. The problem wasn't a lack of financing, but the layer upon layer of ancient artifacts that turned up every time the earthmovers started their work.

The excavation began eight years ago on projects intended to ease Istanbul's notoriously clogged traffic.

The job included building a tunnel under the Bosphorus Strait and linking it to a rail and subway network. When the dig was stopped several years ago, eyes rolled and shoulders shrugged.

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Pop Culture
12:22 pm
Fri November 30, 2012

That's So Random: The Evolution Of An Odd Word

Credit Paramount/The Kobal Collection
The use of the word random as slang found its way into Amy Heckerling's 1995 hit film, Clueless, starring Alicia Silverstone.

Originally published on Fri November 30, 2012 3:44 pm

Random is a fighting word for young Spencer Thompson. The comedian posted a video to a Facebook page entitled I Hate When People Misuse the Word Random.

"The word random is the most misused word of our generation — by far," he proclaims to a tittering audience of 20-somethings. "Like, girls will say, 'Oh, God, I met this random on the way home.' First of all, it's not a noun."

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The Two-Way
12:07 pm
Fri November 30, 2012

Say It Ain't So, Joe: Bazooka Bubble Gum Is Killing Its Tiny Comics

Credit Bazooka Bubble Gum
The latest "comic of the week" on Bazooka Bubble Gum's Facebook page.

Many of us are still not over the demise of Twinkies. Now there's this.

Bazooka Bubble Gum is redoing is packaging and, says The New York Times:

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The Two-Way
11:54 am
Fri November 30, 2012

Free-Speech Debate In India Heats Up

Credit Julie McCarthy / NPR
The case against Shaheen Dhada has set off a free-speech debate in India. Her father, Farooq Dhada, shown here with her, says in India, freedom of speech "exists only on paper."

Originally published on Sat December 1, 2012 9:37 am

It looks like the case in India against two young female Facebook users has been dropped. But the debate over free speech in India is still heating up.

As we've reported, two young women were arrested last week for a Facebook comment that criticized the shutdown of the city of Mumbai for the cremation of a controversial political leader.

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It's All Politics
11:50 am
Fri November 30, 2012

Kerry: In the Shadow of Rice's Firestorm

Credit Mandel Ngan / AFP/Getty Images
Committe Chairman John Kerry , D-MA, speaks during the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the nomination of Robert Beecroft to be ambassador to Iraq Sept. 19 in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

Originally published on Fri November 30, 2012 1:19 pm

President Obama has yet to make known his choice to replace Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, but plenty of Republicans have made theirs: John Kerry.

And that puts the Massachusetts senator and former Democratic presidential nominee in a bit of a bind. As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he'd normally be one of the loudest voices defending U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice against GOP attacks that she mishandled her role in explaining an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. But she's the other top contender for the Cabinet post.

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Author Interviews
11:24 am
Fri November 30, 2012

'Times' Advice Guru Answers Your Social Q's

This interview was originally broadcast on Dec. 5, 2011. Social Q's is now out in paperback.

Need advice on when it's appropriate to break up with someone over email? Want to know how to react if your dinner companion whips out a cellphone midway through a meal? What about how to deal with your annoying relatives during the holidays?

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NPR Story
10:58 am
Fri November 30, 2012

What Obamacare Means For Patients

Originally published on Thu December 6, 2012 2:02 pm

Transcript

IRA FLATOW, HOST:

This is SCIENCE FRIDAY, I'm Ira Flatow. Now that President Obama's been re-elected, it's clear that at least the president won't try to repeal Obamacare. But with all the political mud-slinging about the Affordable Care Act, the details sort of got lost, didn't they? Do you actually know what the law does for you, and just as importantly what it doesn't do, what changes to your health care kick in on January 1, what major changes kick in in 2014 and thereafter?

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