Apr 4th, 2009 · Depending on when you last updated your computer, your spell checker might invite you to change the name of the president of the United States to the first name of the world's best-known terrorist. When is a word is common enough to be added to the dictionary?
Nov 14th, 2008 · The trial of five men accused of plotting to attack the Fort Dix Army base in New Jersey may hinge on the testimony of a government informant: Mahmoud Omar, an Egyptian national with a checkered past. But defense attorneys say there was no conspiracy, except for the one Omar tried to create.
Aug 14th, 2008 · The winning entry in a contest for bad writing came from Garrison Spik. The assignment was to write a terrible first sentence for an imaginary novel. Spik won $250 with this: "Theirs was a New York love, a checkered taxi ride burning rubber, and like the city, their passion was open 24/7, steam rising from their bodies like slick streets exhaling warm, moist, white breath through manhole covers stamped 'Forged by DeLaney Bros., Piscataway, N.J."
Jul 17th, 2008 · BPP producer Dan Pashman tries to sell the rest of the show on doing a segment about the hybrid sport that combines chess and boxing. Tomorrow, checker wrestling, perhaps?
Jul 10th, 2008 · Sera Cahoone got her start playing drums for a few widely adored bands in the Pacific Northwest, most notably Band of Horses and the spell-checker-defying Carissa's Wierd. But her self-titled, self-released 2006 album marked her as a fully formed talent — a warm and inviting singer whose songs convey world-weariness and homespun grace. Cahoone stopped by the NPR offices to perform a few songs at the desk of All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen.
Nov 14th, 2007 · Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, twice ousted under suspicion of corruption, is now being hailed as a symbol of hope in Pakistan. Longtime Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid weighs the tangled history and uncertain future of an opposition leader.
Jul 20th, 2007 · After sorting through 500 billion, billion possible moves, computer scientists have created a computer program that will never lose a game of checkers. But human players need not despair: if a human plays perfectly against the computer, the game will end in a draw.
May 21st, 2007 · Liz Pappademas says she was "born in the back seat of a Checker cab in front of Lincoln Center in New York," but grew up in San Francisco, where she wrote and recorded her latest CD, 11 Songs. It's a beautifully downbeat collection of piano-driven art-pop tunes reflecting on cheery themes of broken hearts, bitterness and murder.