NPR Listeners: Stodgy, Whiney, Insufferable Snobs?


Updated 03/03/11 9:12 AM · Posted by · 1 comment

The Worse NPR Letters to the Editor

As a dedicated NPR listener (I can't really manage to get any other channel on my shower radio), I appreciate that the station balances hard and sometimes depressing news coverage with lighter pieces on pop culture. But the more vocal listeners of public radio hate it, leaving some to wonder if they're just a bunch of complaining snobs. In a piece for Slate, noninsufferable NPR listener Farhad Read more

Do You Want to Know the Secret Recipes Behind Iconic Foods?


Updated 02/20/11 1:35 PM · Posted by · 4 comments

Do You Want to Know Coca-Cola's Secret Recipe?

Earlier this week the NPR radio show This America Life claimed to have discovered the secret recipe to Coca-Cola. However, yesterday, Coca-Cola made it clear that the original formula is still safe. Every so often, this sort of news story pops up, where someone says they've found the secret recipe to a certain insanely popular dish, like Coke or Kentucky Fried Chicken's spice blend. But what I'm Read more

Download of the Day: NPR Valentines


Updated 02/10/11 2:35 PM · Posted by · 0 comments

NPR e-Valentines

Attention NPR fans! If you're on the hunt for some geeky valentines, look no further. The brilliant minds behind the radio station have created an adorable line of free e-valentines to email, link to, or post via Facebook. Eight different designs refer to different NPR programs and are sweet enough to convey the Valentine's Day spirit without being overly cute or lovely-dovey. Click through the Read more

Don't Kill the Messenger: Media vs. Literature


Updated 02/10/11 4:24 PM · Posted by · 5 comments

MTV's Skins Compared to Shakespeare on NPR

If teens have sex in real life, why can't they on television? The question has already been asked, and the answer is usually "because ad revenues say so." But today Robert Thompson, a professor of culture at Syracuse University, pinned TV and film up against books by asking how is Skins different than explicit sex and adult plot lines in literature. Well, we could end the argument by saying more Read more

Hidden World of Girls Project Lets Parents Peek Inside


Updated 07/14/10 2:01 PM · Posted by LilSugar · 2 comments

Understand your daughter better by taking a peek at The Hidden World of Girls Project @npr

Dear Diary...lots of girls keep their thoughts under lock and key. It's said that many girls grow up believing they can do anything and then become tweens and lose that confidence. The Hidden World of Girls Project gives parents some insight into the minds of their daughters. NPR's initiative asks women to take a picture of a diary page of their youth and upload it to Flickr in an effort to Read more

40 Years Later: Woman in Famous Photo Recognizes Herself


Updated 09/04/09 1:02 PM · Posted by TresSugar · 8 comments

Woman in Robert Frank Photograph Recognizes Herself 40 Years Later

I love this story! The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is currently exhibiting Robert Frank's photographs from his landmark 1959 work The Americans, widely viewed as the photographic analogue to Jack Kerouac's beat classic On the Road. Frank and Kerouac both had similar sensibilities, wanting to show the sprawling, diverse, and melancholy side of postwar America. Kerouac, in fact, wrote the Read more

Writer Boldly Goes Where No Mother Has Gone Before


Updated 06/22/09 11:10 PM · Posted by TresSugar · 36 comments

Writer Boldly Goes Where No Mother Has Gone Before

I've had a love/hate relationship with Ayelet Waldman for some time, but the more I read her work and listen to her speak, the more I realize that my ambivalence is with the subjects she discusses more than it is with her: motherhood, work, feminism, and the idea of "having it all." Waldman, whose husband is writer Michael Chabon, caused a bit of controversy a few years ago when she declared (in Read more

Have Hookups Triumphed Over Dating?


Updated 06/10/09 8:14 PM · Posted by TresSugar · 18 comments

Have Hookups Triumphed Over Dating?

The hookup is spreading! First high school students were too cool to attach a relationship to sex. Then college students followed the trend. And now— working single people can't give up their friends with benefits. NPR reports: Young people can tell you all about the rules of casual sexual encounters, but they're hard pressed to describe a conventional date they've been on lately. One Read more

Bust a Move: Can Your Pets Dance?


Updated 05/09/09 11:42 AM · Posted by PetSugar · 7 comments

Snowball the Dancing Cockatoo

I don't normally listen to NPR, but I caught a story the other day about animals that dance and just couldn't turn it off. In conjunction with the radio program, they put together a video on their website where I could see some of the animals that were featured on the show. One of the amazing dancing animals was a white cockatoo named Snowball. Unable to tear myself away from Snowball's smooth Read more

Experiment Shows Spiked Eggnog Might Be Safer


Updated 12/10/09 1:33 PM · Posted by YumSugar · 4 comments

Experiment Shows Spiked Eggnog Might Be Safer

A recent experiment suggests spiked eggnog may be safer to drink than its PG counterpart. NPR attempted to solve the age-old mystery of whether adding alcohol to eggnog, which contains raw eggs, eliminates risk of food poisoning. To answer the question, NPR sought the help of Rockefeller University microbiologist Vince Fischetti. Fischetti compared bacteria levels in store-bought, alcohol-free Read more