Strange News

How To Get A Bear Off Your Truck? This Garbage Man Found Out

6:41am August 04, 2016

A bear in New Mexico climbed atop a garbage truck and rode at least 5 miles. (Maybe he thought it was an Uber?) Finally the driver took a suggestion to back up to a tree so the bear could climb down.

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Atheists In Australia Tell Jedi They're Mucking Up The Census

6:07am August 04, 2016

As of 2011, 64,000 Australians claimed their religion as "Jedi." An atheist organization urged them not to do so in the upcoming census, saying it makes Australia look more religious than it is.

Cargo pants started out as a staple of military clothing and became a trend that saw its peak in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Recently there's been a backlash against cargo shorts.

Economy

Despite Pockets Of Popularity, Are Cargo Shorts Gauche?

12:32pm August 03, 2016

by NPR Staff

Sales of cargo shorts have fallen for the first time in a decade, according to a market research group. The Wall Street Journal reports that this men's fashion staple may no longer be in vogue.

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Dutch Man's Online Love Match Turns Out To Be A Missed Connection

6:12am August 03, 2016

The man met a woman online and flew to China to meet her, expecting her to greet him. He wandered the airport for 10 days and she didn't show, so he went home. She apparently thought he was kidding.

World News

Police In Paraguay Find Blinged-Out Prison Cell, Occupied By Drug Lord

9:41am August 01, 2016

The prison cell had been upgraded to a luxury three-room pad with plasma screen TV, library and kitchen.

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Music & Culture

Aquapalooza: Welcome To Your New Favorite Music Festival ... Under The Sea

4:19pm July 27, 2016

by Nancy Klingener

Reporter Nancy Klingener takes NPR to the annual Underwater Musical Festival in the Florida Keys, as part of All Things Considered's feature on off-kilter summer festivals.

Helen Gurley Brown in her office at Cosmopolitan magazine in the 1960s .The legendary editor, subject of two new biographies, knew sex sells – and food brings in ad money. She cannily combined them with features like "After Bed, What? (a light snack for

Books
Arts

Collards And Canoodling: How Helen Gurley Brown Promoted Premarital Cooking

10:37am July 26, 2016

by Nina Martyris

The legendary Cosmo editor, subject of two new biographies, knew sex sells – and food brings in ad money. She cannily combined them with features like "After Bed, What? (a light snack for an encore)."

National

You Can Watch A Rare, Stinky 'Corpse Flower' Bloom On Live Video

6:24pm July 24, 2016

by Merrit Kennedy

And this way, you don't have to smell its famous, disgusting odor, which has been compared to rotting meat. The strange "horticultural jewel" is at the New York Botanical Garden.

Kidlington is home to a number of 17th century cottages near its medieval church. This is the most historic part of the village, but it's not where the tourists went. Instead, tour buses dropped them off in a residential area built in the 1960s and 1970s.

World News

Why Did Busloads Of Asian Tourists Suddenly Arrive In This English Village?

7:00am July 23, 2016

by Lauren Frayer

Residents of Kidlington awoke one morning to find hundreds of foreign tourists snapping photos on their front lawns. For six weeks, the visitors continued to come by the busload. Then they vanished.

An award-winning yogurt-maker is in prison for burning down a yogurt factory.

Arts

In Prison, The Passion That Drove A Yogurt-Maker To Arson Still Burns

4:04pm June 30, 2016

by Dan Charles

The yogurt entrepreneur who set fire to his factory remains in prison, but he's in better spirits now. "He's dreaming again," says his wife.