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What's That Sound? Preserving The Noise Of Old Gadgets

By editor

Originally published on Sat June 9, 2012 9:58 am

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Technology is making a lot of things quieter. A dozen years ago, we recorded a lot of our interviews on magnetic tape.

LIANE HANSEN: This is WEEKEND EDITION. I'm Liane Hansen.

5:10 am

Sat June 9, 2012

'Mission': Secrecy And Stardom On The Edge Of War

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Mission to Paris book cover

Credit Rainer Hosch / Rainer Hosch

Alan Furst is the author of several novels including Night Soldiers, Dark Star and Spies of the Balkans.

By editor

Originally published on Sat June 9, 2012 9:58 am

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Fredric Stahl is "the sympathetic lawyer, the kind aristocrat, the saintly husband, the comforting doctor, or the good lover." At least onscreen.

He's an American movie star, born in Vienna, and says "my dear" with a kind of dreamy, trans-European cosmopolitan allure that makes him seem "a warm man in a cold world." He's also the hero of Alan Furst's new novel, Mission to Paris, set in Furst's favorite locale: Europe on the brink of war.

5:09 am

Sat June 9, 2012

Saving Niagra Falls, One (Tightrope) Step At A Time

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Credit Gary Wiepert / AP

Nik Wallenda walks a tightrope in the rain during a training session for his upcoming stunt in Niagara Falls, N.Y.

Credit David Duprey / AP

Spectators watch Nik Wallenda practice in Niagara Falls, N.Y. Local officials are hoping the stunt revives flagging tourism.

Credit David Duprey / AP

High-wire performer Nik Wallenda will try to cross the Niagara Gorge on a tightrope this Friday. The seventh-generation member of the Flying Wallendas spent months getting the necessary permissions from Canada and the United States for the cross-border stunt.

By Daniel Robison

Originally published on Tue June 12, 2012 6:42 pm

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Niagara Falls has long been a magnet for daredevils, but strict laws have kept them away for more than a century. That's expected to change Friday, when circus performer Nik Wallenda will walk a two-inch-thick wire above the giant waterfall. It's an exception officials hope will rescue tourism — and the city's economy.

5:08 am

Sat June 9, 2012

The Young And The Jobless: Hopes On Hold In Spain

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Credit Denis Doyle / Getty Images

Graffiti on a wall in Madrid reads, "We want to work, let the businessmen who have gotten rich from our labor pay for the crisis." Nearly 50 percent of young adults in Spain are unemployed.

Credit Cristina Quicler / AFP/Getty Images

People wait in line in front of a government employment office in the Cruz Roja suburb of Sevilla.

By editor

Originally published on Sat June 9, 2012 8:46 pm

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The crowd of job seekers at an unemployment office in downtown Madrid looks different than it did a few years ago.

When the housing market went bust, construction workers flooded the lobby. Now, labor reforms have made it easier for corporations to fire workers without seniority. So now young people, including those with an education, are unable to find work.

Jaime Garcia de Sola, a former intern at an investment bank, was one of those waiting in the unemployment line.

1:03 am

Sat June 9, 2012

How 'The Queen Of British Ska' Wrestled With Race

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Credit Ebet Roberts / Redferns

Pauline Black in 1980.

Credit Yad Jaura

Pauline Black was raised by a white working-class family. She decided to get in touch with her biological family in her 40s.

By editor

Originally published on Sun June 10, 2012 6:44 am

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The British ska-revival band The Selecter formed in the late 1970s, playing what can be described as rock fused with calypso and American jazz.

Much of what set the band apart was its charismatic lead singer, Pauline Black. As one of few women in a musical movement dominated by men, she was called "The Queen of British Ska."

That experience is one of many recounted in her new memoir, Black by Design, which has just been released in the U.S.

7:29 pm

Fri June 8, 2012

Kishi Bashi: Unique Performances In Time

Credit Jennifer Leigh

Kishi Bashi is the stage name of Japanese-American multi-instrumentalist K. Ishibashi.

By editor

Originally published on Sat June 9, 2012 9:58 am

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Consider this name: Kishi Bashi. It has a pleasant, repetitive character with a nice — if unusual — little loop. It's an apt stage name for a musician who's creating something haunting, beautiful and maybe a little off-kilter through the technology of looping.

7:35 am

Sat June 2, 2012

Just Deserts Follow Attempted Pastie Tax

Credit Justin Tallis / AFP/Getty Images

Protesters gather outside Downing Street in London to deliver a petition against the so-called "pasty tax," a government bid to levy 20 percent tax on hot takeaway food.

By Scott Simon

Originally published on Sat June 2, 2012 1:39 pm

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Sometimes, politicians eat their words. This week, the British government reversed course on a plan to place a 20 percent tax on all foods sold hot — with no exemption for pasties.

Pasties are hand food, baked for Cornish miners to eat when they could put aside their pickaxes. People eat pasties today as they sit on a bench for a few minutes' respite or walk along the street between chores. They have become comfort, convenience, pub-crawling and football-watching food.

6:55 am

Sat June 2, 2012

French Open Hasn't Been Great For Americans In Paris

By editor

Originally published on Sat June 2, 2012 10:01 am

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Time now for sports!

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SIMON: It's the French Open and you know, already, there's almost not an American left in Paris - Andy Roddick, Serena and Venus Williams all out already. And elsewhere, the NBA semifinals are in full swing. But let's hold the hardwood and go first to the clay. Howard Bryant of ESPN.com and ESPN the magazine joins us now from the Roland Garros Stadium in Paris. Howard, thanks for being with us.

HOWARD BRYANT: Hey, Scott, how are you doing?

6:55 am

Sat June 2, 2012

Mubarak Convicted In Charges Of Protesters' Deaths

By editor

Originally published on Sat June 2, 2012 10:01 am

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(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Hosni Mubarak has been sentenced to life in prison for his role in deaths of hundreds of protesters during the revolution that ousted him last year. The former Egyptian president is the first Arab leader to be hauled in for trial by his own people.

(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD)

6:55 am

Sat June 2, 2012

As Killings Continue In Syria, A Look At UN's Role

By editor

Originally published on Sat June 2, 2012 10:01 am

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Last night in Syria, the third massacre in a week. This time a dozen workers were found shot to death, their bodies dumped in a field. The United Nations has called for an investigation into the mass killings last weekend in Houla of more than 100 people, many of them women and children. We're joined now from the United Nations in New York by Kieran Dwyer. He's the chief spokesman for the U.N. Peacekeeping Department. Mr. Dwyer, thanks for taking the time to speak with us.

KIERAN DWYER: Hello.

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6:36 am

Sat June 9, 2012