Books
12:51 pm
Wed March 14, 2012

Bad Girls Of History, How Wicked Were They?

With great power comes not-so-great nicknames. At least, that was the case for some of the most notorious queens and female rulers in history:

Egypt's Cleopatra: "Serpent of the Nile."

Rome's Agrippina: "Atrocious and Ferocious."

England's Mary Tudor: "Bloody Mary."

France's Catherine de Medici: "The Black Queen."

France's Marie Antoinette: "Madame Deficit."

China's Cixi: "The Dragon Empress."

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The Two-Way
12:43 pm
Wed March 14, 2012

Vehicle Explodes On Airfield In Afghanistan, Where Panetta Landed

Credit Scott Olson / Getty Images
U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, center, is greeted by Col. John Shafer, left, with RTC 6 Wednesday at Foward Operating Base Shukvani, Afghanistan. As Panetta was landing at another base, an Afghan drove a truck onto the airfield until it crashed and exploded.

Originally published on Wed March 14, 2012 4:31 pm

The Pentagon says an Afghan drove a stolen truck onto the airfield of a British base in southern Afghanistan at high speeds until it crashed into a ditch and exploded into flames.

The incident at Camp Bastion happened around the same time that U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta landed in the country.

"At no point was the Secretary or anyone on the aircraft in any danger from this incident," the International Security Assistance Force said in a statement.

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Shots - Health Blog
12:31 pm
Wed March 14, 2012

Chill Out For A Better Workout

Credit iStockphoto.com
This would be a lot more fun on the rocks.

Cooling a person's hands while exercising can make for a better workout, especially for people who hate to exercise because it makes them all hot and sweaty.

This might help the many, many people who have a hard time keeping up with exercise because it's just plain uncomfortable.

Researchers tested the idea with obese women in their 30s and 40s who worked out on a treadmill. The women whose palms were cooled with a device that circulated ice water were able to exercise longer than the women whose palms were exposed to room temperature water.

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The Two-Way
12:30 pm
Wed March 14, 2012

25-Year-Old Sets Record As Iditarod's Youngest Winner

Credit Marc Lester / Anchorage Daily News/Landov
Dallas Seavey holds his leaders, Diesel, left, and Guiness, after he arrived at the finish line to claim victory in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Nome, Alaska, on Tuesday, March 13, 2012.

Originally published on Wed May 23, 2012 10:57 am

There's a new record in the Iditarod: A 25 year old has become the youngest musher to win the approximately thousand-mile trans-Alaskan sled dog race.

Dallas Seavey slid into Nome, Alaska, at 7:29 p.m. yesterday with nine dogs, finishing the race in nine days, four hours, 29 minutes and 26 seconds.

"We went into this race with a dog team that I knew had the ability to win the Iditarod," Seavey said in a post-race press conference in Nome. "We spent most of the race building a monster – a dog team that couldn't be stopped."

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Technology
12:00 pm
Wed March 14, 2012

Controversy Comes To Boil Over 'Homeless Hotspots'

For this year's South By South West conference, some of Austin's homeless were equipped with mobile Wi-Fi devices and t-shirts inviting attendees to use these hotspots to get online. Reactions have ranged from support, to disbelief, to outrage. Host Michel Martin discusses the ethical implications with a technology reporter and an ethicist.

Election 2012
12:00 pm
Wed March 14, 2012

Alabama Voters Shifting Further To The Right?

Rick Santorum won the Alabama and Mississippi primaries last night, despite being outspent by GOP front-runner Mitt Romney. Santorum's wins raise questions about the candidates' ability to connect with the party's base. Host Michel Martin speaks with Mississippi Public Broadcasting's Jeffrey Hess and John Archibald of The Birmingham News.

NPR Story
12:00 pm
Wed March 14, 2012

Two Young Men, Two Very Different Directions

Credit Amy Ta / NPR
The Washington Post Metro section for March 9, 2012 shows two stories, side by side, of two very different men.

I am dating myself here, but do you remember the 1983 film Trading Places? Where the comedians Dan Akroyd and Eddie Murphy played an investment broker and a street hustler, respectively, whose places in life were switched by the owners of Akroyd's fictional firm?

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Books
12:00 pm
Wed March 14, 2012

Bad Girls Of History, How Wicked Were They?

Egypt's Cleopatra was called "Serpent of the Nile," and England's Mary Tudor, was called "Bloody Mary." But were these names fair? That's the question editor Shirin Yim Bridges raises in the tween book series, The Thinking Girl's Treasury of Dastardly Dames. She speaks with host Michel Martin as part of Tell Me More's biography series.

Television
12:00 pm
Wed March 14, 2012

Film Aimed At Getting Bystanders To 'Speak Up'

As many as a quarter of U.S. students report being a victim of bullying. This Sunday, the Cartoon Network will air Speak Up, a new documentary that shares the stories of victims. Host Michel Martin speaks with bullying expert Duane Thomas and Aaron Cheese, a student featured in the film.

The Two-Way
11:50 am
Wed March 14, 2012

Goldman Sachs Starts To Fire Back At Exec Who Quit In Scathing Op-Ed

Credit Chris Hondros / Getty Images

Originally published on Wed March 14, 2012 2:25 pm

Greg Smith is a fairly ordinary name — but it's now one that's all the talk of Wall Street after he quit his position at Goldman Sachs today in one of the most amazingly public ways:

With an essay in The New York Times that accuses Goldman Sachs of having a money-is-everything culture that is "toxic and destructive."

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