NPR News Nuggets: Not All Dads Wear Capes, Modern Art & Italian Living

Here's a quick roundup of some of the mini-moments you may have missed on this week's Morning Edition.

A dad's dedication

A parents' love of their children can do amazing things. Just look at how Lily Potter's love for Harry saved him from Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter series. It's pretty impressive even for a piece of literature. However, not all love is life-saving — but in some cases it can save a cell phone. As Morning Edition host Rachel Martin said on Monday, one father from New Jersey went through trash — literal garbage — for his son. What happened was Ethan Roncace's phone got thrown out with the trash at his high school. While some parents might have been upset and written it off, that was not the case for Ethan's dad Craig. Craig was not about to let the cell phone be the one that got away.

Like any good modern day sleuth, Craig had a handy dandy app that let him track Ethan's phone. It was on the move, headed directly to the city dump. Trash is not pretty, or particularly aromatic, but that didn't matter to Craig. He suited up and started digging through a mountain of trash. And you know what? He found the phone. As Fox News reports, workers were about to dump the pile where Craig found the phone into a massive hole. So while we're celebrating all the mothers out there this weekend, Father's Day is coming up next month and it's safe to say Craig deserves a medal. You know the saying, no cell phone gets left behind.

Art takes a fruity twist

If you've ever had the aspirations of being an artist, the good news is there's still time and it might be easier than you ever imagined. Can't draw? No big deal. Can't paint? That's OK. Sculpting not your thing? No biggie. Excellent at shopping for produce? Yep, that's the only skill you need. As Morning Edition host David Greene said on Tuesday, a fresh piece of produce was all it took to convince one museum that a new type of art had emerged and needed to be protected. Scottish business student Ruairi Gray and his friend Lloyd Jack decided they wanted to find out what exactly could be classified as art. So they bought a pineapple and placed it on a white table at a museum exhibition. Then they left.

When the two returned a few days later the museum had placed a protective glass case over the pineapple, erm I mean art, to keep it from being damaged, or maybe attacked by fruit flies. That's unclear. Gray told The New York Times "We weren't sure how the glass case got there, and initially assumed it was bungling curators. We couldn't believe our eyes, and didn't expect our lowly little supermarket pineapple to become a global star." The lesson here is to dream big and place fruit in random areas. You never know what might come of it.

Italy's calling

If you've ever dreamed of living in Italy and enjoying all it has to offer, now's your chance. The good news is it won't cost you a fortune, so you really don't need to wait for retirement. As Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep said on Friday, the Italian village of Bormida is in need of some residents since the population fell below 400. The village is subsidizing and offering very low rents to those who buy or rent property. The Guardian reports that Bormida "sits 420 meters above sea level in the north-west Liguria region" and is fairly close to the sea. As for the residents, they said there's not much to do, but the village does have forests, goats, the church and good food. And who needs much more in life than that anyways?

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