The latest segments from The Takeaway

'Compliance': A Controversial Tale of Authority

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 21:00:00 PDT

In 2004, a McDonald’s manager in Kentucky received a disturbing call from a police officer. He told her one of her employees was under suspicion of stealing from customers, and that he needed her help.

Over the phone, he gave her several bizarre instructions. He began by asking her to strip search her employee, and to enlist an accomplice to commit even more intrusive acts. Several forms of sexual assault followed.

Of course, the caller was not a police officer. It was the latest in a decade-long string of hoaxes, in which cop impersonators convinced fast food managers to abuse their young female employees.

But how could this happen? How could these managers leave their conscience — and their rationality — at the door?

Craig Zobel is the director of a new movie based on this true story. "Compliance" is an exploration our relationship to authority, and it launches a limited release today.

Why Ecuador May Have Chosen to Offer Asylum to Assange

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 21:00:00 PDT

On Thursday, Ecuador announced that in keeping with its “tradition of protecting those who seek refuge in its territory,” it has decided to grant political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Assange only met the Ecuadorean president Rafael Correa in June on Assange’s television show on Russia Today. And as the costs, both economic and political, of such a decision seem tremendous for a small Latin American country, many are left wondering why Ecuador has decided to do this in the first place.

Ernesto Capello, associate professor of Latin American history at Macalester College, takes a closer look.

Follow Friday: Romney Picks Ryan, Escalating Attack Ads, and More Campaign News

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 21:00:00 PDT

Mitt Romney's VP pick, Rep. Paul Ryan, dominated the headlines this week, as did Mitt Romney's announcement that "over the past 10 years [he] never paid less than 13 percent" in taxes. Outlandish political rhetoric also abounded this week, as Vice President Joe Biden told a predominantly-African-American audience that a President Romney would "put y'all back in chains."

Farai Chideya, distinguished writer-in-residence at New York University’s Journalism Institute and Ron Christie, Republican political strategist and Takeaway contributor, discuss the week's top stories.

Have Financial Markets Polluted Our Moral Code?

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 07:39:56 PDT

Banking scandals have dominated the headlines this summer. Earlier this summer, the Libor scandal rocked banks across the pond and throughout the United States. In July, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations accused HSBC of severe regulatory failures, including laundering money for Mexican drug lords and bypassing American sanctions against Iran. Finally, this week, the British bank Standard Chartered agreed to a settlement of $340 million for secretly helping the Iranian government launder $250 billion.

These scandals and more led Jim Rogers, American investor and Chairman of Rogers Holdings and Beeland Interest, to tell The Takeaway, "We’ve had a long bull market, but that’s finished. Finance is now going to be a terrible place to be."

That may be good news for Michael Sandel, professor of political philosophy at Harvard University and author of "What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets." Sandel argues that market-driven thinking has corrupted our moral code — not just on Wall Street, but in our everyday lives.

First Non-Profit Brewpub Opens in Portland

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 07:39:37 PDT

There are few among us who don’t love a frosty mug of cold beer. You might stop off at a bar for lunch or spend the night out with friends. But in any case, you are enjoying yourself.

Now, Oregonians will have a chance to imbibe and pay it forward at the same time. A handful of do-gooders are opening the first non-profit brewpub in the brewpub capital of the world, Portland. Staffed entirely by volunteers, The Oregon Public House expects to donate up to $10,000 each month to local charities and community organizations. Ryan Saari is the director of The Oregon Public House.

'The New New Deal': The Rare Pro-Stimulus Argument

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 07:39:28 PDT

As President Obama campaigns for reelection, as he delivers speech after speech in swing states from Ohio to Florida, there's one word that’s completely off-limits.

So what is that word-which-must-not be named? It's "stimulus."

The stimulus, formally known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, passed in 2009. The Act is so hated, and, according to Michael Grunwald, so poorly understood by the American public, that, Grunwald says, "A year after Obama signed the bill, the percentage of the public that believed it had created jobs was lower than the percentage that believed Elvis was alive."

In sum, the stimulus has become a political third rail in Obama’s reelection campaign.

Michael Grunwald is a senior national correspondent for Time Magazine and the author of "The New New Deal: The Hidden Story of Change in the Obama Era." He explains why he believes the stimulus is "President Obama’s most ambitious and least understood piece of legislation."

Special Ops Group Takes a Shot at Obama Over Bin Laden and Leaks

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 07:33:37 PDT

Attack ads have been a fixture of this election, but on Wednesday a 22-minute-long video titled “Dishonorable Disclosures” was released by the Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund.

The ad criticizes President Obama and his administration for taking full credit for the killing of Osama Bin Laden, and for leaking vital secret information about the mission to the public.

While the organization, which is set up as a 501(c)(4), claims to have no partisan leanings, they’ve already raised about a million dollars and have hopes to raise more in order to have the ad broadcast on television in swing states.

Scott Taylor is the president of the Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund and a former Navy Seal and Iraq war veteran.

Negative Campaign Rhetoric Reaches a New Low

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 06:53:42 PDT

As Americans, we’ve grown accustomed to watching attack ads and hearing candidate criticism during the presidential campaign season, but what happens when that sort of negative rhetoric dominates the political narrative? Can we see past it to focus on the real issues at stake?

This election season, the campaign rhetoric appears to be overwhelmingly dominated by back-and-forth name-calling and character assaults. Kathleen Hall Jamieson, the Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, takes a closer look at what's really being said.

Assange Granted Asylum

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 06:17:15 PDT

Ecuador's government says it will grant political asylum to the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange.

Assange has been inside Ecuador's embassy in London since June. He's been seeking asylum in Ecuador in an effort to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faces allegations of sex crimes. Yesterday, Ecuador's foreign minister said the UK had threatened to enter the embassy to arrest Assange.

Joining us from London is John Burns, London bureau chief for our partner The New York Times.

Voting Controversies in Ohio

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 05:58:21 PDT

There has been a lot of controversy regarding Ohio's early voting practices lately. In 2008, the state allowed citizens to vote for the president on weekdays and weekends before election day, but this year that time frame will be more limited.

Democrats say this is a direct attack on their party, as left-leaning minorities and lower-income citizens often utilized early voting in 2008, while Republicans say the limitations are more resourceful and cost effective.

At the center of this battle is the Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, who is currently being sued by Obama for America as a result of these early voting directives.

Pakistani Air Force Base — and Rumored Home of Nuclear Weapons — Attacked

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 03:45:57 PDT

Islamist militants are believed to be behind an attack this morning on a major Pakistani Air Force base where some of the country’s nuclear weapons are thought to be stored. A gun battle that lasted several hours killed eight attackers and one security official.

Joining us now from Islamabad is Ilyas Khan, correspondent for our partner the BBC.

Bain Capital and Off-Shoring

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 03:42:41 PDT

As Mitt Romney continues to hammer President Obama over the stagnant economy, the former Massachusetts governor's own time in the public sector, as the CEO of Bain Capital, continues to come under scrutiny.

Bain Capital has money invested in hundreds of companies. One of those companies is Sensata, a technology firm that makes sensors found in cars and airplanes.

But when Sensata began shutting down American plants and sending those jobs overseas, employees who had spent their entire lives at one company suddenly found themselves out of work — and wondering what would happen if Romney were elected "America's CEO."

Phillip Martin, senior investigative reporter for our partner WGBH in Boston, spoke to a former Sensata employee about his past, present, and what's left of his future.

Forget the Economy — What Could Really Swing the Election

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 03:42:40 PDT

After 236 years of democracy, the 15th Amendment, the 19th Amendment, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, you'd think Americans would have voting down to a science.

But small battles are raging on in parts of the country over voters' rights and the cost of letting everybody cast a ballot.

A Pennsylvania voter ID law may keep up to 750,000 voters — mostly poor, minority, and Democratic — out of the polls this year. That difference could push the swing state into the Romney column.

In Ohio, early voting hours, a practice that is particularly beneficial to poor workers without a lunch break to spare, are more limited than they were in 2008. The state went blue last time around. Obama for America is suing Ohio's Secretary of State and Attorney General.

M.L. Schultze, news director at WKSU in Cleveland, says we might be able to forget the economy: this election could go down in history as a study in voter rights.

The Olympics Mark New Frontier in the Future of Network Broadcasting

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 03:42:39 PDT

Maybe the news that came out of this year's Olympics wasn't that NBC netted 219 million viewers. We know that when the network spends record-breaking amounts of money to put the spectacle on, advertisers line up to buy air time.

But this year, the spectacle of the broadcast on multiple platforms became fully integrated into the advertising strategy like never before.

Bob Garfield, Takeaway friend at On The Media, explains how the digital revolution is changing our collective experience of the viewing of that epic quadrennial moment, and how it might give a sense of the future of network broadcasting.

Listeners Respond: Experiencing America's National Parks

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 11:29:36 PDT

We're wrapping up our Summer in the Parks series today with responses from listeners. Listeners have texted, posted, and phoned in their favorite memories of national parks all over the country. The Takeaway shares some of these personal testaments of how the national parks have changed the lives of Americans for decades.

Andrew from Mill Valley, California quit his day job after a particularly meaningful camping trip on the Pacific shore. Another listener, London, hiked the Zion Narrows at Zion National Park, forgetting about her wet socks as she reveled in the beauty of the canyon. Annette rattled off at least five distinct colors that made up the most beautiful sunset she's ever seen, which lasted over an hour at the Navajo Tribal Park. And Mary jumped down a waterfall and caught fish in her hand at Coffee Lake.

Young Undocumented Immigrants Fight for a Chance to Stay

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 06:53:41 PDT

For the first time in this country, as many as 1.7 million young undocumented immigrants will be eligible to apply for deferred action status under an ambitious immigration initiative by President Obama that goes into effect today. It will allow young undocumented people to work and live freely in the United States without fear of being deported.

The program will provide two-year renewable work permits and deportation deferrals to illegal immigrants brought to this country as children. In order to apply, individuals must be 31 or younger and have been in this country since they were 16. They also must be in school, have graduated from high school, or have been honorably discharged from the military.

While the deferred status is only temporary, it also offers opportunities to obtain Social Security numbers, apply for driver’s licenses, and request financial aid for college — luxuries that many American citizens take for granted. Moreover, it’s a chance for young immigrants to step out of the shadow of their undocumented status.

Angy Rivera and Yohan Garcia are both undocumented and will be joining hundreds of thousands of others like them, to begin the application process today.

Facebook's 51st Employee on Quitting the Social Network

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 06:53:20 PDT

Facebook has forever changed our real-world interactions. Most of us have far more friends on Facebook than we do in real life, but so often, its through Facebook that we learn the latest about our peers: new partners, new babies, new jobs.

Facebook keeps us connected, but what happens with that connectivity comes at the expense of our privacy? At what point do these virtual friendships start to replace — or hamper — our real friendships?

That's Katherine Losse's story, but Katherine wasn't just any Facebook account-holder — she was the company's 51st employee, and Mark Zuckerberg's ghost writer. But by 2010, she decided to jump out of the social media world and get back into the real world. Katherine quit Facebook, leaving that network of 900 million people for a small town of 2,000 people where she decided to make friends the old fashioned way: in person.

Katherine Losse now lives in Marfa, Texas. She writes about her experience at Facebook in her new book, "The Boy Kings."

Kirby Ferguson: Creating is Stealing

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 06:52:54 PDT

You've probably heard the American tune, "This Land is Your Land." What you probably haven't heard is "When the World's on Fire," the song whose melody Woody Guthrie stole to write his patriotic ode.

Now think about the last time you did something creative. Did you have help? If the answer is no…the answer is still yes.

That’s according to Kirby Ferguson, a filmmaker and creator of the four-part video series, “Everything is a Remix.” In the series, Ferguson takes viewers through a long history of artistic borrowing in film, from scenes ripped off by Star Wars to countless homages paid by Quentin Tarantino in the Kill Bill series. He's also bent on outing melody thieves like Led Zeppelin, who shamelessly took hooks and lyrics from their blues predecessors.

And it’s not just in music and movies that artists steal from other artists. It’s already happened in design during the war of smartphones. What did Apple steal from Samsung and what did Samsung steal from Apple? If we’re ever going to stop clogging up our legal pipes with endless patent lawsuits, Ferguson says we have to accept the ugly truth that creativity is stealing.

Early Facebook Investors Can Start Selling Shares Thursday

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 04:07:56 PDT

From the start, Facebook investors have had a bumpy ride. Later this week it could get even bumpier when rules that have thus far kept early investors from selling their shares expire. When they do, the markets could be overwhelmed with a deluge of Facebook shares.

Henry Blodget, CEO and editor-in-chief of Business Insider, explains what's in store.

Cities Across America Tackle Immigration Policy

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 04:07:40 PDT

Today marks the start of the application acceptance for the Department of Homeland Security’s deferred action program for immigrants, allowing for undocumented immigrants brought to this country as children to work and live freely for two years.

As hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants begin applying for temporary legal status today, dozens of cities around the country have already begun changing their immigration policies to make it easier for undocumented immigrants to find legal work and feel safe in their neighborhoods.

Adolfo Hernandez is the director of Chicago’s Office of New Americans.

Regulators and British Bank Reach Settlement Over Money Laundering

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 04:07:11 PDT

British bank Standard Chartered reached a settlement with the Department of Financial Services New York’s top banking regulator over allegations that it laundered some $250 billion dollars for Iranian clients. Standard Chartered agreed to pay $340 million — a paltry sum next to the total figure linked to the banks Iranian clients.

The settlement lets the bank keep its license to operate in New York and avoids an embarrassing public showdown. Jessica Silver-Greenberg, a reporter for The New York Times, explains the significance of the settlement.

Yes, Your Date Can Smell Your Fear

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 03:26:53 PDT

If you've ever worried that an animal could smell your fear, you could be right. You might still be right even if that animal was a fellow human, like your boss or your date.

According to New York Times science columnist Natalie Angier, animals can smell fear in each other. But that doesn't mean they react the way we'd think. The Eurasian roller, a small bird found in Spain, was found to stay away from its nest upon smelling its terrified young's vomit. Lab rats placed downwind of their murine companions imitated any rat they could smell being electrically shocked. And minnows, despite not having noses, know to flee when they sense the pheromones emitted by the skin of an injured compatriot.

Humans aren't immune, either. Test subjects, upon sniffing swabs placed under the armpits of movie-goers, could immediately tell who had seen the scarier film. They labelled the scent as not only stronger, but more "aggressive."

So next time your heart skips a beat at a horror movie, fear not. You can tell if your date is a fellow wimp just by taking a whiff.

Immigration Policy in the Romney White House

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 03:23:29 PDT

Thousands of applications are expected to pour in today from young people hoping to get work permits, despite the fact that they're undocumented immigrants. President Obama's executive action to defer deportation of some young immigrants who were brought to the United States before they were sixteen could grant deferrals to over 1.5 million undocumented residents under the age of 31.

The program is slated to last for two years. But what would happen if Romney were in the White House?

Jordan Fabian, politics editor for Univision, notes this isn't the first time Mitt Romney has been coy about his position on immigration reform. But with his selection of Paul Ryan as a running mate, the Republican ticket will have to make its position known soon.

Are Robots the Future of Telecommuting?

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 16:10:32 PDT

Robots have long been part of the American imagination. But as reporter Rachel Emma Silverman recently discovered, robots may soon be part of the American reality… in the workplace.

Rachel writes for the New York-based Wall Street Journal, but she lives in Austin, Texas. Rachel reports on developments in the American workplace, and recently she decided to try a new development herself. For a few weeks this summer, Rachel telecommuted to her New York offices as a robot, QB-82.

"During my robot days, I interacted with co-workers I'd never met before, as well as others I hadn't talked with in years; each of them was compelled to greet me as I cruised down the hall," Rachel writes. But, of course, QB-82 also had its downside: "I also nearly careened into glass walls, got stuck in an elevator, could barely hear the discussions in story meetings and got little other writing or interview work done while botting into the newsroom," she explains.

Remembering Helen Gurley Brown

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 09:10:27 PDT

Her 1962 book, "Sex and the Single Girl" was an American revelation: not only did unmarried women have sex, but they liked it, too. And as the editor of Cosmopolitan magazine from 1965-1997, she laid the blueprint of the most successful women’s magazine in the world.

Helen Gurley Brown died yesterday in New York, aged 90.

Jennifer Scanlon, professor of the humanities in gender and women’s studies at Bowdoin College and author of "Bad Girls Go Everywhere: The Life of Helen Gurley Brown."

Edith Zimmerman is editor of The Hairpin and wrote the recent New York Times Magazine feature: “99 Ways To Be Naughty in Kazakhstan: How Cosmo Conquered the World.”

Chris Christie Will Be Republican National Convention's Keynote Speaker

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 06:13:00 PDT

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has been announced as the keynote speaker for the Republican National Convention, which begin in Tampa on August 27. Bob Hennelly is a senior reporter for our co-producer WNYC.

Defected Syrian Prime Minister Speaks Out

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 06:07:35 PDT

In his first appearance since defecting from Syria last week, the former prime minister, Riad Hijab, has denounced the government he once served.

Hijab spoke live on Jordanian Television and said he didn't want to lead but to serve as a soldier in the rebels' cause. He appealed for Syrian soldiers to put down their weapons and join the rebels.

Hugh Sykes is the correspondent for our partner the BBC. He joins us from Amman.

The Complicated Science of Slumber

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 05:51:47 PDT

As any new parent, night-shift nurse, or early-morning radio host knows, the quality of our waking hours is determined by the time we spend snoozing between the sheets. But for all the strides science has made in neurology, remarkably little is understood about the science of sleep, as journalist David K. Randall discovered. After a sleepwalking accident left Randall limping around the Reuters newsroom, he decided to investigate the field of sleep studies, "a land where science is still in its infancy and cultural attitudes are constantly changing."

Randall's research uncovers significant insights into the science of sleep, and the extent to which the our sleep habits affect relationships, health, work and much more in our waking hours. He chronicles it all in his new book, "Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep."

How to Sell Austerity in a Presidential Election

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 05:51:29 PDT

When Mitt Romney selected Paul Ryan as his running mate, he inevitably brought along Ryan's budget plan, too. It's a plan that restructures Medicare and Social Security, while at the same time lowering taxes across the board. In short, it dramatically downsizes the role of government in America.

But does austerity ever work as a campaign slogan? Walter Mondale tried to get serious about the federal deficit in 1984. "Mr. Reagan will raise taxes," he said at the 1984 Democratic National Convention, "and so will I. He won't tell you. I just did."

Mondale lost in one of the biggest landslides in history. Presidential historian Doug Wead says plenty of presidents have appealed to the cheaper angels of our nature… but have rarely done so in campaigns.

The Power of a Petition

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 03:44:06 PDT

It was just a month ago that The Takeaway spoke to Carole Simpson about being the first, and only, female to have ever moderated a presidential debate. Just yesterday, The Commission on Presidential Debates announced that she would not be the last. They announced that CNN's Candy Crowley will be moderating a debate this year.

This development comes amidst a petition started by three high school students in Montclair, New Jersey, who asked the Commission to select a female moderator. The petition, which was started on change.org, received over 180,000 signatures.

Elena Tsemberis is one of the students who started the petition.

The Dangers of Unilateralism for the U.S.

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 03:32:05 PDT

Are the Americans out of control? Is the fiscal cliff math, the denial ridden presidential campaign and the whimsical pattern of federal regulations over the financial sector trying the patience of the rest of the world? Why should the United States ever be concerned about the patience of investors and bankers in Asia and Europe and Saudi Arabia?

Is the unilateral style of the number 1 economy in the world on the way out the door? Is unilateralism driving the U.S. economy toward number 2 or number 3 status in the world.

Perhaps a case in point is the Standard Chartered Bank controversy thatgets a hearing this week in New York State where state bank regulator Benjamin Lawsky has made a name for himself. Lawsky has accused Standard Chartered of laundering Iranian cash against U.S. sanctions something the Bank denies. Settlement talks are reportedy underway but around the world has the Lawsky case against standard Chartered become a bridge too for for the international community?

Is the "fiscal cliff" math, the denial-ridden presidential campaign and the whimsical pattern of federal regulations over the financial sector trying the patience of the rest of the world? Many believe that the unilateral style of the U.S. is driving the country out of its "number one" spot in the global economy.

An example of this unilateralism, and the dangers that it suggestions, lie in the Standard Chartered Bank controversy. A hearing, set for this week in New York, pits state bank regulator Benjamin Lawsky against Standard Chartered, which he accuses of laundering Iranian cash against U.S. sanctions. Settlement talks are reportedly underway, but is leaving many to wonder if the Lawsky case has become a bridge for for the international community.

Kishore Mahbubani, dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore and author of the forthcoming book "The Great Convergence," explains why the U.S. should be concerned about the patience of investors and bankers in Asia and Europe and Saudi Arabia.

How Does an Olympian Adjust to Retirement?

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 03:31:35 PDT

Team USA has arrived home, and some Olympians are coming home to a different life, one without rigorous daily training and intense competition. You could could almost call it normal.

With the exception of sponsorship stars like Michael Phelps or Jessica Ennis, many newly-retired athletes can expect a much more obscure existence once the magic of the five games fades.

Gymnast Dominique Moceanu was the youngest member of the “Magnificent Seven” from Atlanta 1996. Since her retirement before the 2000 games in Sydney, Moceanu has coached, studied, got married, and had two children.

The All Male Presidential Election of 2012

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 02:50:26 PDT

In 2008, with Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and Sarah Palin's vice presidential candidacy, having a female in The Oval Office seemed just around the corner. Yet, with Governor Mitt Romney's choice of Paul Ryan for vice president, we are once again looking at an all-male ticket.

Is there hope for women in 2016? Former ABC news correspondent Lynn Sherr explains.

Ryan's Medicare Rhetoric Could Hurt in Florida

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 02:05:28 PDT

There's no question that Mitt Romney's selection of Paul Ryan as his running mate has galvanized this election. Ryan was greeted with support (barely) loud enough to drown out several hecklers at the Iowa State Fair yesterday on his first solo campaign stop. Experts are saying Paul Ryan is a perfect fit for Iowa. He's Catholic, conservative, and Midwestern.

Florida, though, could be another matter.

In a state where Medicare cuts are a "third rail issue," Mitt Romney set out on several campaign stops yesterday, conspicuously, by himself. Sergio Bustos, politics editor at the Miami Herald, says that Ryan's selection could even force the candidate to change his stump speech.

Horacio Soberon-Ferrer, an independent voter, doesn't see it that way at all. He's excited by the selection of Ryan, and while he hasn't decided who he's voting for, the new vice presidential candidate has him paying more attention than ever.

Testing the Psychology Behind Fonts

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 09:56:04 PDT

Last month, filmmaker Errol Morris published a quiz on the New York Times website, titled "Are you an Optimist or a Pessimist?" Participants answered questions about safety in the modern era and their life outlooks. On the surface, the quiz seemed straightforward.

Morris was using the quiz to test people on something quite different. To make the quiz, Morris used a computer program that randomly changed the book passage to one of six different fonts every time a new user opened the page. The aim of the experiment was to see how people respond to different fonts.

Errol Morris joins The Takeaway with the results.

The History of Politics in the Olympic Games

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 08:53:33 PDT

The ancient Greeks came up with the idea for the Olympics more than 2,700 years ago, but since then there have been some notable changes.

Like uniforms. The Greeks once played their games naked — no foreign-made uniforms for them. This helped them avoid the kind of political hot water the U.S. Olympic Committee found itself in with its made-in-China team outfits.

But don't be misled. The Olympics have always been about politics as much as games. In ancient times, the Olympics provided a time of “truce” between warring Greek city-states. They became a proxy for the political and military contests between places like Sparta and Athens.

That geopolitical one-ups-manship still exists, even since the games were revived in 1896. The most notorious case of politics came during the so-called “Nazi Olympics” of 1936. The Olympic torch relay, first introduced that year in Berlin, was meant to provide a symbolic connection between ancient Greece and Rome and Nazi Germany as the center of civilization. The Germans also believed that their “Master Race” rhetoric would be matched by the domination of their athletes. However, American sprinter Jesse Owens emerged as the hero of the games, and put that idea to rest with his four gold medals.

During World War II, the Olympics was put on hold. But when they returned in 1948 — in a bombed-out, rebuilding London — the Germans and Japanese were not welcomed.

As the Cold War heated up, the Olympics became the athletic equivalent of war, mainly between the Soviets and the U.S. But in one of the most memorable Olympic moments, the water polo pool was a real battlefield. The Hungarians defeated the Soviet team in 1956, but only shortly after Soviet tanks had crushed the Hungarian Revolution.

In 1980, President Jimmy Carter announced that America, among others, would boycott that year's Moscow Olympics to protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. And four years later, the Soviets issued a counterstrike, boycotting the LA Games, citing “anti-Soviet hysteria” in America.

Few Olympic moments were more political than in the 1968 Mexico City games, when American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos held their gloved hands aloft on the medal podium. Castigated for giving what was widely construed as a “Black Power” salute in that turbulent year for American history, the sprinters later claimed that it was actually a “human rights salute."

But all of these political moments pale, of course, to the events of 40 years ago, when 11 Israeli athletes and a West German police officer were killed by terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympics. That Olympic massacre remains a political firestorm because the International Olympic Committee this year refused to include a moment of silence to honor the memory of that dreadful day.

The Games may be ending, but the politics and warfare are never on hold. Remember how the games were originally a proxy contest between the big political powers of ancient Greece? Take a look at the medal count, and you'll see three of the top geopolitical powers of our day — the U.S., China, and Russia — all in an arms race to be number one.

Kenneth C. Davis is the author of "Don't Know Much About History" and the forthcoming "Don't Know Much About the American Presidents."

2016 Olympic Planning Underway

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 08:42:40 PDT

The 2012 Olympic Games ended with a dramatic musical closing ceremony in London last night. There was a three-hour show with British pop stars including George Michael and the Spice Girls.

The Olympic flame was extinguished, and there was an official handover to the country that will host the next Games, the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Julia Carneiro, the Rio Correspondent for our partner the BBC, joins us with a preview of what we can expect from Rio in 2016.

The Agenda: Paul Ryan, Syria and Post-Olympics London

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 08:07:34 PDT

This week, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan travel to Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio and Florida. The United States' debt is announced on Thursday, and a judge is expected to rule on the voter identification law in Philadelphia.

Callie Crossley is the host of Boston Public Radio on WGBH. Marcus Mabry is editor-at-large at The International Herald Tribune, the international edition of The New York Times.

The 205 National Anthems of The Olympics

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 08:07:03 PDT

There is something slightly different about London's Olympic medal ceremonies: the music. This year, the London Philharmonic recorded all 205 of the world's national anthems. Composer Philip Sheppard and sound engineer Jake Jackson were in charge of the effort.

The Takeaway caught up with them recently, and they told us about some of the project's bigger challenges, as well as the complications involved in so many national anthems.

My Year Living Without Copyrights

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 07:59:42 PDT

There is one common thread that binds most products we use on a daily basis: they are copyrighted. But on August 1, filmmaker Sam Muirhead announced that he would attempt to live without all these products, in an effort to immerse himself in the open source movement. This means he will have to find alternatives from everything to the beer he drinks to the socks he wears.

Muirhead is calling the experiment the “Year of Open Source,” and he will be documenting his experience on his website.

A Guide To the Paul Ryan Budget

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 07:59:07 PDT

Before this weekend, we didn’t know much about what Mitt Romney’s economic policy would look like. But that’s all changed with the announcement of Wisconsin’s Paul Ryan as his running mate. Ryan’s proposed budget plan has shaken up the race. It would bring deep cuts to health, education, transport and a reconfiguration of income tax.

Ryan would reduce government spending from 24 percent of GDP to 19.8 percent in the space of a decade. This would shave $3.3 trillion off the deficit, even though revenue could plummet by $2 trillion.

James Surowiecki is a journalist with The New Yorker.

Wisconsinites React to the Romney-Ryan Ticket

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 06:38:05 PDT

To most of America, Mitt Romney’s new running mate Paul Ryan is still a relatively fresh face, but some voters have known him for over a decade. Ryan was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1998 to represent Wisconsin’s first district in the southeast corner of the state. The district contains the small city of Janesville, where Ryan grew up, and the southern portion of Milwaukee County.

Owen Robinson is a conservative blogger at Boots and Sabers. He lives in Milwaukee. Vivian Creekmore is a retired social worker and one of the vice chairs of the Democratic Party in Ryan’s hometown, the Rock County Democrats.

Mohamed Morsi Forces the Retirement of Military Chiefs

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 06:30:03 PDT

The new civilian president of Egypt, Mohammed Morsi, has called on Egyptians to rally behind him after he removed one of the most powerful military men from the armed forces.

Sebastian Usher is the Arab Affairs editor for our partner the BBC.

Looking at the Romney-Ryan Ticket

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 06:29:49 PDT

On Saturday, Mitt Romney announced that Rep. Paul Ryan from Wisconsin would join him on the Republican ticket in November.

Ryan gained traction in the party with his budget plan, which was touted as the prime example of a conservative economic plan. Even President Obama granted that Ryan is an intellectual force in the GOP.

And while Democrats might not see Ryan as much of a threat, some Republicans think he's more than his ill-favored budget plan.

Ron Christie is a Republican political strategist.

Listeners Respond: The Electric Guitar Turns 75

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 06:29:35 PDT

To celebrate the 75th birthday of the electric guitar on Friday, we spoke with Rudy Pensa, a guitar expert and the owner of Rudy’s Music in Manhattan. Rudy and Todd Zwillich, who was guest-hosting on Friday, worked their way through the history of the electric guitar.

But there were a few important parts of that history that we didn’t mention. And Roger, a listener from Long Island, commented on our website and reminded us that Muddy Waters was the man who electrified the Chicago blues in the 1940s, and was a major inspiration for the generation of blues musicians that followed him.

We also asked listeners for their favorite guitar licks. A few suggested Steely Dan, including Julie from Great Neck, New York, who sang "Reelin' in the Years" for us over the phone.

Another listener, Erin from Franklin Square, New York, suggested "Sweet Child o' Mine" by Guns N Roses.

Patti suggested "Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers," written by Stevie Wonder and performed by Jeff Beck. She said she liked its "beautiful, haunting guitar intro."

And Casey from Vancouver called in to suggest that U2’s guitarist, The Edge, had created a few good riffs. He recommended the one that starts off "Where the Streets Have No Name."

Lastly, in a plug for surf guitar, Guy from Portland suggested "Surf Rider" by Nokie Edwards of The Ventures.

Check out the playlist we created from your answers to "What song do you think best showcases the abilities of the electric guitar?"

Olympics Recap, Paralympics, and Rio 2016

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 06:29:22 PDT

The closing ceremony for the Olympics was last night, but the Paralympics are still to come. They begin in London on August 29 and continue until September 9. All the while, Rio De Janeiro is preparing to host the Olympics in 2016.

Dan Damon is the host of BBC World Update. Vincent Dowd is the Arts Correspondent for our partner the BBC.

'Hi. I'm a Cyborg.'

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 13:02:52 PDT

A while back, Brooklyn native and theverge.com editor Ben Popper stepped into a piercing parlor near Pittsburgh for an appointment. He wasn't getting an earring, though. He was getting a small magnet implanted in his finger.

The magnet allows him to interact with invisible electromagnetic fields. Popper feels the pulse of magnets, microwaves, and even the third, electrified rail on the subway.

The magnet was installed by one of a dozen people in the Pittsburgh area interested in do-it-yourself "cybernetics" — the study of how technology can play a role in human behavior. They're part of what he calls a growing movement to see machines play a role in the human body. And according to them, we're already seeing it: Google's new glasses, for example, which will allow you to surf the web as it displays inches from your eyes.

But imagine if this technology wasn't on you, like with Google's glasses, but in you. This is not science fiction — it's happened already. Popper also reports a new invention in development by the Pittsburgh "biohackers," which features a LED screen displaying a person's vitals through their skin.

"They want to evolve the human body with machines, and they think that rather than waiting for some giant corporation to do it, they should just take it upon themselves," Popper says. "They use implants that are medical-grade safe." Unfortunately for these "grinders," as they call themselves, the piercing parlors are not licensed to use a number of medical tools, including anesthesia.

At the more established end of the spectrum is Professor Kevin Warwick at the University of Reading in England. With the approval of the university's medical board, Warwick has turned himself into a human laboratory. He's had electronic sensors implanted in his arm so that his wife can give him a loving squeeze from thousands of miles away.

"What we're looking at is sensory substitution," Warwick says. "When they feel the magnet moving, it actually relates to an ultrasonic signal or an infrared signal, so it extends the range of senses. The ultrasonics could be useful for someone who's blind, [as they] could actually feel the distance to objects in their finger."

Despite the warnings of a wide range books and movies that warn of the perils that await whoever fuses their bodies with cybernetic devices, Warwick is extremely optimistic about the benefits of electronic implants. He gives the example of deep brain stimulation, a technology involving a sort of "brain pacemaker" that treats the tremors caused by Parkinson's Disease.

"If we can upgrade, if we can enhance, then why not?" the professor asks. "I've had electrodes fired into my nervous systems by neurosurgeons. Partly, that has been to look at how this can help people with disabilities, but partly it's to look at how we can improve our performance, how we can improve how we are as humans."

The Electric Guitar Turns 75

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 10:31:31 PDT

On August 10, 1937, the Electro String Corporation was awarded the first-ever electric guitar patent. Invented by G.D. Beauchamp, the instrument was known as the Rickenbacker Frying Pan.

The new sound of the electric guitar was a dramatic shift from the strum of the acoustic guitars that had been played for centuries. For the first time the guitar could hold its own in a band and it revolutionized the sound of popular music for decades to follow.

Rudy Pensa is a guitar expert and the owner of Rudy’s Music in Manhattan. He discusses the history of the electric guitar, and its evolution into modern culture. A 63-year-old originally from Argentina, Pensa started playing the guitar when he was nine or ten years old.

"In New York City, John D'Angelico [was] making violins and cellos," he says. "He realized that jazz was starting to get big, and developed this amazing jazz guitar." From there, the electric guitar began to move from the back of the stage to the front.

By the 1970s, it had rocketed to the forefront of the rapidly growing hard rock scene. Legendary guitarist Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin was one of the first to perform solos, bending the strings as had never been done before. Pensa hesitates to name him the outright greatest, as rock star Jimi Hendrix was another pioneer of the electric guitar. Gibson.com's list of the top 50 guitarists of all time has Hendrix at the top spot, but the guitar expert is adamant in sharing the top honor between the two masters.

"I will never say which one is better. I'll put two crowns on each head, the two together," Pensa says. "Hendrix was playing the [Fender] Stratocaster, and Jimmy Page was playing the [Gibson] Les Paul standard at the time."

25 Years Later: Lynne Cox's Historic Swim Across the Bering Strait

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 10:18:44 PDT

Before there was Michael Phelps or Ryan Lochte, there was Lynne Cox. And while she’s never competed for Olympic gold, she did break down barriers when she swam across the Bering Straight, from the island of Little Diomede in Alaska to Big Diomede, then part of the Soviet Union.

Her 2.7-mile swim — which took place in 40 degree waters — crossed what was known as the "Ice Curtain," the border between the United States and the USSR. Both Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev praised her success, and the world applauded her accomplishment. This weekend marks the 25th anniversary of that swim.

"I trained in very, very cold water for many years," Cox says. "That Bering Strait swim took 30 years of preparation." Beyond the Cold War implications, the swim also provided information on how much cold human beings can stand, and opened the door to extended research in that field.

At the end of the day, though, it was just another tough swim for Cox. "One stroke in front of the other," she says. "You think about it, dream about it, prepare for it." It took 11 years just to secure approval from the Soviets before then-General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev granted her permission.

"You feel this huge surge of cold rushing through your body," Cox recalls. "It was really, really hard."

At the age of 15, Cox broke the record when she swam the English Channel. Since then, she has successfully navigated New Zealand's Cook Strait, the Strait of Magellan, and even the Cape of Good Hope. Researchers have attributed her ability to swim in cold temperatures in part to perfectly distributed body fat, which acts as a natural insulator.

"Last summer it took one brave American by the name of Lynne Cox just two hours to swim from one of our countries to the other," Gorbachev said soon after the swim. "We saw on television how sincere and friendly the meeting was between our people and the Americans when she stepped onto the Soviet shore. She proved by her courage how close to each other our peoples live."

Bobak Ferdowsi: The New Face (and Hair) of NASA

listenerservices@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio) — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 09:53:22 PDT

NASA reached a historical milestone on Monday, successfully landing the rover Curiosity on the face of Mars. Within hours, Curiosity was sending back pictures of the red planet, and making waves across the internet.

But the internet wasn’t just looking at pictures of Mars. Many had their eyes on NASA scientist Bobak Ferdowsi, the flight director of the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Mission at the Jet Propulsion Lab in California. He’s also young, good-looking, and has a mohawk speckled with bleached blonde stars — not the typical look for a rocket scientist.

From the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California, overnight sensation Bobak Ferdowsi talks about the implications of the Curiosity landing and his newfound fame.

"It's really flattering, and it's cool that in some way I represent or have let people see that NASA can have all sorts of faces and all sorts of looks," he says. In the days that followed the successful landing, Ferdowsi has been besieged by marriage proposals via Twitter. Fortunately, his girlfriend has taken such requests with good humor.

The mohawk is the latest in a series of haircuts for Ferdowsi, who changes it up every time a big mission comes up on his team's schedule. "This time, [the mohawk] was voted on by my team," he says. Other options included a reverse mohawk, and one write-in ballot requested that Federowsi shave in a reproduction of Gale Crater, Curiosity's landing site on Mars. "I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out."

Despite the waves of attention that the young scientist is generating across the Internet, he says that the momentous occasion belongs to the entire team at NASA. "I think people are just surprised that there's a guy like me on this project," he says. "We have all sorts of people on this project, [but] I'm just one of them, and it's amazing to me still that I get to be a part of something so cool."

The team has been performing checkups on Curiosity's equipment, testing the rover's cameras and communication devices. So far, everything has been functioning properly, and the rover will soon be ready to collect and analyze samples of the Martian landscape.

After a month of testing, Ferdowsi says, "We'll start driving in earnest." The rover's drivers will don 3D glasses to steer Curiosity around the Martian landscape in search of samples.

As the excitement over the landing dies down, the fresh new face of NASA will be coming in at around 10 a.m. every day — on Mars time — to oversee operations. Ferdowsi recalls how much time and effort went into the $2.6 billion operation, and says how much both the successful landing and the public reaction meant to the team members.

"It's a really exciting mission for all of us, and I think the whole public was excited and engaged to see that landing, and I hope it's just the first of many to come," he says.