Letters from our listeners
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Kai Ryssdal: Two stories in particular resonated with listeners over the past couple of weeks.
Many of you wrote — with brows knitted, no doubt — about our story on yarn stores struggling in the down economy.
Pat Kirtland’s owned the Yarn Barn in Andersonville, Virginia, for 37 years.
Pat Kirtland: Our industry is great in a weak economy. More people are staying home and want something to do. With the cost of heating homes this winter, this is the perfect time to get those needles clicking so they can set the thermostat down and be comfy this winter.
But if you want to hang that knit garment up to dry, you’ll probably have to find a spot inside. We told you last week about the American ambitions of an Australian company that makes clotheslines. They’re used all over the place down under apparently, but the company’s U.S. marketing campaign could run into trouble because a lot of homeowners associations here don’t typically like the look of blue jeans and unmentionables flapping in the wind.
Carole Press of Menlo Park, California, spoke for the overwhelming majority of you who just couldn’t understand objections to an outdoor clothesline.
Carole Press: Is there anything nicer than getting into a freshly made bed with line-dried sheets? The smell is wonderful. I moved here from Ireland eight years ago and still cannot understand why Americans do not make use of the free sunshine to line dry their laundry.
A quick fix to point out this week. In our report on racing executive Max Mosely’s fight with British tabloids, we identified him as the Formula One boss. He gets called that a lot, but Formula One’s actually the racing league. Mosley’s official title is President of the FIA — that’s the French acronym for Formula One’s governing body.
We used some sound that irked F1 purists, too.
Race announcer: Gentlemen, start your engines.
That’s really more Indy 500 than Monaco Grand Prix. This is the start of an F1 race.
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