Louisiana's Supreme Court ruled today that Justice Bernette Johnson has the seniority that entitles her to become the panel's chief justice at the end of January, NPR's Debbie Elliott tells our Newscast Desk.
Originally published on Tue October 16, 2012 5:09 pm
We Killed: The Rise Of Women In American Comedy is a sprawling oral history that grew out of a Marie Claire piece. It has the loose structure of most similar books (of which there are more and more), though the introduction unfortunately ties it to the tired "women aren't funny" assertions that apparently we're not through talking about yet.
Former South Dakota Sen. George McGovern, the Democratic Party's 1972 presidential nominee, has moved into a hospice care facility in Sioux Falls, his family and friends tell The Associated Press and other news outlets.
The 90-year-old World War II veteran is "coming to the end of his life," his daughter, Ann McGovern, tells the AP.
The baristas at Chinatown Coffee in Washington, D.C., were suspicious of the dark color of the beans, but pleased with the taste.
Credit AFP / AFP/Getty Images
Civet feces are collected and cleaned for the beans, which are naturally fermented during digestion.
Credit ADEK BERRY / AFP/Getty Images
At a coffee shop in Indonesia, one cup of kopi luwak can go for around $9 U.S.
Credit Sonny Tumbelaka / AFP/Getty Images
In captivity, civets don't choose what they eat. "It's unripe and its robusto," says coffee connoisseur Oliver Strand, dismissing it: "That's of zero interest." Robusto coffee, he explains, is indigenous to Africa, and not what the animal would eat in the wild.
Credit Paula Bronstein / Getty Images
A coffee "bean" is actually the seed of a cherry-sized fruit that grows on the coffee plant. Civets eat the whole fruit. The seed is separated from the pulp in the digestive process.
Credit Paula Bronstein / Getty Images
In the wild, the civet "cat" is naturally drawn to the best, ripe fruits on the coffee plant; that's why, effectively, they would produce the best beans, in small batches.
Credit Paula Bronstein / Getty Images
Capitalizing on the fact that civet coffee can fetch a pretty penny, small producers have started "farming" it. That is, keeping civets in captivity and feeding them coffee fruits once a day.
Credit Claire O'Neill / NPR
Andrew Shields, a barista at Chinatown Coffee, makes a custom cup of civet coffee, following the instructions to use a French press.
Originally published on Tue October 16, 2012 4:03 pm
I can't remember when I first heard about what I affectionately refer to as "cat poop coffee." But I do remember not believing it was real. I'm still having a hard time, to be honest.
But cat poop coffee — that is, civet coffee (or "kopi luwak," as pronounced in Indonesian) — is real, and really expensive. Like $60 for 4 ounces of beans — or in some boutique cafes, at least $10 a cup. That's a bargain compared to what it costs for elephant poop coffee; but I digress.
Here's your chance to weigh in on mutant forms of bird flu that have been in the news — the U.S. government wants to know just how scary you think these new viruses are.
You Can't Do That On Film, an independently made 2004 documentary about Nickelodeon's '80s-afternoon staple You Can't Do That On Television, comes out today on DVD. It's got a treasure trove of interviews from an impressive number of the show's kid stars (Alasdair! Hey, Moose!), now adults who, almost to a person, look back on the sketch show with nothing but affection.
Kano, in northern Nigeria, has been called the "epicenter" of the current polio outbreak. This part of Nigeria is the only place in the world where polio cases are increasing.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
The emir of Kano state is the highest-ranking Muslim leader in northern Nigeria. Wada Mohamed Aliyu, seen here, is the emir's point man on polio. Local imams boycotted polio vaccination in 2003 and 2004, but now solidly support immunization.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
The small farming village of Minjibir, in northern Nigeria, has seen six cases of polio this year. Polio was eliminated from the Western Hemisphere in the early 1990s. It was stamped out in Europe a few years later.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Ado Ibrahim carries his son Aminu through the village of Minjibir in northern Nigeria. Aminu, 4, was paralyzed by polio in August.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Adamu Ali carries his 4-year-old son, Omar, who was stricken with polio earlier this year. They live in the village of Minjibir.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
A polio immunization poster is taped on a walk-in refrigerator at a new cold storage facility at a hospital in Kano. The oral polio vaccine must be kept refrigerated; that's been a challenge in a place with only intermittent access to electricity.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
A nurse at the health clinic in Minjibir prepares to distribute free bed nets to combat malaria. Campaigns like this one, which offers services for malaria, attract local residents to the clinic. While they're there, residents are encouraged to get their children vaccinated against polio.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
At the health clinic in Minjibir, women wait for their children to receive the polio vaccine.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Sahya Idriss, a service provider at the health clinic in Minjibir, carries a vial of the polio vaccine.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
A child is vaccinated against polio at the Minjibir health clinic. The procedure, in which two drops of vaccine are pinched into a child's mouth, only takes a few seconds. Children should get at least three doses of the vaccine, spread out over time.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Hawa Bello, a social mobilization consultant with UNICEF in Kano, meets with community volunteers. The volunteers are given a small stipend to guide polio immunization teams through their individual neighborhoods. It's the volunteer's job to make sure every child under 5 in a given neighborhood gets vaccinated.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Men of all ages gather at a welding shop run by polio victims. The men make hand-cranked tricycles and customized motor scooters for people paralyzed by polio.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Sani Mohamed is a welder and mechanic at a shop run by polio victims in Kano.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
A man naps at a scooter and tricycle shop run by polio victims in Kano.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
A child crosses a bridge over the cement-lined Gogo stream, which flows behind the main market in Kano. Sanitation workers regularly test the sewage here for the presence of the polio virus.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Sahya Idriss, a service provider at the health clinic in Minjibir, carries a vial of the polio vaccine.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Ado Ibrahim carries his son Aminu through a village in northern Nigeria. Aminu was paralyzed by polio in August.
Credit Wikimedia Commons
The city of Kano has been called the epicenter of the current polio outbreak. It's located in the central part of northern Nigeria.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Wada Mohamed Aliyu is the representative for the emir of Kano state, the highest-ranking Muslim leader in the area. Local imams boycotted polio vaccination in 2003 and 2004, but they now solidly support immunization.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
A child is immunized against polio at the health clinic in a farming village in northern Nigeria. The procedure involves pinching two drops of the vaccine into the child's mouth. For full protection, the child needs three doses, spaced out over time.
Polio was eliminated from the Western Hemisphere in the early 1990s. It was stamped out in Europe a few years later. And now, even the Congo and Somalia are polio free.
But in Africa's largest oil-producing nation, Nigeria, polio has been a difficult, contentious foe.
"Hi, this is Alan Cumming's Suit. No, I'm not one of those obnoxious inanimate objects with a Twitter feed. I'm just a suit. Just one brightly colored suit against the world. Sometimes, Alan Cumming's Hair and I get together on Skype and talk about what kind of look we're going for, but sometimes, we just show up and see what happens.
Female Marines unload their rifles after a patrol with Afghan soldiers in Helmand province in June. The Marine Corps leadership has started an experiment to determine whether female Marine lieutenants have what it takes to become infantry officers and lead on the battlefield.
Originally published on Tue October 16, 2012 12:45 pm
Cuba announced another set of significant reforms today. This time, President Raúl Castro announced the country is lifting exit visa requirements for most of its citizens.
Beginning January 14, Cuban citizens, with the exception of some professionals like doctors, will no longer need to apply for permission to leave and they won't need a letter of invitation from someone living abroad.
