TEXT OF INTERVIEW
KAI RYSSDAL: This final note on the way to the weekend. In case it got by you, i is Friday. Which means it’s time for a break from the big news of the week. There won’t be any health care or G-20 in what’s about to follow.
Just Rico Gagliano and Brendan Newnam doing that thing that they do — asking the Marketplace staff about the stories that didn’t make the headlines.
Brendan Newnam: New York reporter Jeremy Hobson, what story are you going to be talking about this weekend.
Jeremy Hobson: Well, Brendan, since I’m in L.A., I’m going to give you California story. It is from San Joaquin County. The sheriff’s department has bought a vehicle that is so big they can’t even drive it on the roads.
Newnam:Wait, what do you mean?
Hobson: They needed an emergency-response vehicle and it weighs so much that it’s illegal in California to drive.
HOST: So somewhere in San Joaquin County, this vehicle’s just driving in circles trying to catch itself to give itself a ticket.
Rico Gagliano: Stacey Vanek-Smith, senior reporter. Go.
Stacey Vanek-Smith: Well models are going to start coming with warning labels.
Gagliano: Explain.
Vanek-Smith: The French are looking into a law that would require a warning label on a picture that had been modified to make the model look skinnier. You know, like in ads and magazines.
Gagliano: And why?
Vanek-Smith: To combat anorexia.
Gagliano: Well, see, now that’s admirable, but I think on certain magazines, wouldn’t you have to put a warning label on the entire front cover, because it’s all just like a ridiculous fantasy? It would be like, “Warning: There is no such thing as anti-aging cream.” “Warning: You cannot win him back.”
Vanek-Smith: But the horoscopes are true.
Newnam: Amy Scott, bureau chief for New York City, what’s your story?
Amy Scott: Well apparently, relaxed cows are more productive.
Newnam: Wow, have you been reading “The Far Side” again?
Scott: No, this comes from Reuters actually. New regulations in Norway apparently allow dairy cows to relax for up to half a day on soft rubberized mattresses and that’s making them produce more milk.
Newnam: That’s amazing.
Scott: It’s pretty amazing.
Newnam: I have to have a Norwegian cow negotiate my next contract.
Ryssdal: For a full helping of what Rico and Brendan have to offer check out their podcast. It is called The Dinner Party Download.
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