TEXT OF STORY
KAI RYSSDAL: This final note: We find ourselves on another Friday afternoon, wanting a break from the big news and ready to hear what didn’t make the headlines. Courtesy of Brendan Newnam, Rico Gagliano and the Marketplace staff.
A word before we begin: Menu items one and two aren’t necessarily meant for younger ears.
Brendan Newnam:Stacey Vanek-Smith, senior reporter for Marketplace, what’s your story?
Stacey Vanek-Smith: Well, a man in Japan just got married to a virtual girl from a video game.
Newnam: And they say that video games make people isolated and act strange.
Vanek-Smith: Yeah, clearly, that’s not the case here! It was part of a video game called “Love Plus” and there was a virtual lady and they got married.
Newnam: I guess it’s one way to stop cyber sex — virtual marriage.
Vanek-Smith: The virtual headache. It’s coming.
Rico Gagliano: George Judson, managing editor, what story are you going to be talking about this weekend?
George Judson: There will be no sidewalk Santas in New York this year.
Gagliano: I don’t understand. What?
Judson: Well, the sidewalk Santas work for the Volunteers of America and there’s no money to pay them.
Gagliano: I don’t get it. Sidewalk Santas…?
Judson: The men in Santa costumes collecting money for the needy?
Gagliano: There’s only one Santa, George. And he lives in the North Pole.
Judson: I think I need to tell you something.
Gagliano: I’m not listening.
Newnam: Millie Jefferson, production assistant at Marketplace. What story are you going to be talking about this weekend?
Millie Jefferson: Well, apparently North Korea is putting its first pair of designer jeans on the market.
Newnam: Are you serious?
Jefferson: Yeah, they’re going to be sold in Sweden for 215 American dollars.
Newnam: Wow, so the nuclear centrifuge everyone was concerned about was really this humongous stonewashing machine.
Ryssdal: Dinner Party Download is the podcast. Marketplace.org is where you’ll find the link.
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