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Are you a teenager with a story to tell? NPR and Radio Diaries want to hear it. Write it down, photograph it (and record it if you want) and then submit it to the storytelling site Cowbird.

Beginning in 1996, Radio Diaries gave tape recorders to five teenagers to create audio diaries about their lives. Starting on May 6, All Things Considered will revisit these original diarists, now in their 30s, to document their lives for NPR listeners.

And now the hunt is on for new teen diarists.

We are looking for personal, surprising stories from teenagers today. You can write about anything as long as it's true – like, the first time you fell in love, your most favorite place in the world, the moment you knew you weren't a kid anymore, something compelling about your family.

If you're a teenager who wants a chance to produce a radio diary for NPR, please submit your story to Cowbird through May 31. Two will be picked to produce audio stories with Radio Diaries, and a selection of these stories will be featured on NPR.org next week.

Looking for inspiration before you begin to write? Check out what other teens have submitted so far or listen to the original Teen Diaries. You can also take a look at this Radio Diaries DIY handbook for audio diary help.

Here's how it works:

1) Join Cowbird. It's free!

2) Click "Tell a Story" on the right. Tell your story — but please don't upload material that you don't own, like copyrighted songs, clip art or photographs.

3) Before you publish your story, click the spiral icon that says "Sagas" on the right, then click "Teens."

4) Click "Publish" and you're done! Your story will be considered for posting on NPR.org and Radio Diaries.

If chosen to appear on NPR.org, authors under the age of 18 will be contacted for parental/guardian consent.

The technique works, thanks in large part to one of those precociously naturalistic child-actor performances from the sad-eyed Onata Aprile. She's not the only one making these lives feel honestly lived-in, though; the entire cast is doing standout work.

Coogan has made a career of playing the sort of egotist he inhabits in Beale, and Moore astutely goes right up to the edge of making Susanna an irredeemable monster before backing off and giving her just a touch of humanity.

The real surprise is Alexander Skarsgard as Lincoln, a sweetly naive bartender whom Susanna marries in a hurry, purely out of revenge — Beale has married Margo immediately after their divorce. Skarsgard, best known stateside for his brooding intensity as Eric on HBO's campy vampire soap opera True Blood, plays Lincoln as the tender, caring parental surrogate Maisie needs, presenting him at first as a bit of a simpleton, but then ensuring that that first impression gives way to a sense that he simply shares a childlike natural trust with his new stepdaughter.

Margo and Lincoln, unfortunately, are as much pawns in the bitter, nasty games that Beale and Susanna play with each other as Maisie is. That does give the three something in common, of course, all of them being human collateral damage in the constant emotional warfare. It comes as no surprise when the real parents' neglect of both their partners and their child brings the castoffs together into an alternate family unit.

The honesty of these performances helps compensate for some clumsiness in the plotting; screenwriters Nancy Doyne and Carroll Cartwright sometimes seem unsure how far to stray from James' text. Mrs. Wix, the elderly woman who takes over as Maisie's nanny, is a key character in the book, for instance. In the movie she's reduced to a single brief scene before disappearing entirely, never to be mentioned again. Her appearance feels as if it comes out of a sense of duty to the original rather than to the film that's actually being made; leaving her out completely would have made more sense, given that the filmmakers want to concentrate on the contrasts between Maisie's relationships with her real parents versus her unofficially adoptive ones.

The film raises more uncomfortable questions about Maisie's uncertain future than it ever answers, but that's in keeping with the emotional honesty the filmmakers are striving for. If Maisie knew everything, there'd be nowhere left for her to go after the credits roll.

On the comedic potential of having children

"Babies should be classified as an antidepressant. It's pretty hard to be in a bad mood around a 5-month-old baby. That's not to say that when they're screaming it's a delight, but — you see the creativity that is kind of inherent, that, you know, growing up kind of squashes a lot, and the point of view of a comedian is just to look at the world differently, and I think that children have that. There's something about being a parent that has, I think, made me a better comedian.

"[Getting five kids into bed] is like dealing with terrorists. You have to cajole them, and you have to negotiate ... it's really the opposite of a hostage situation — instead of trying to get people out of there, you're trying to keep them in there: I'll give you whatever you want! What do you want, a helicopter to Cuba? Anything, just stay in there and don't hurt anyone."

On planning family outings

"I'm not really sure how Moses did it. I'm sure he was like, I wanted to leave for the Promised Land two weeks ago, and I can't get everyone to put their sandals on. So if you're taking your kids even someplace where they would want to go, you could say, 'Let's get ice cream,' and they still will just sit there, as if they were unsure what ice cream is. You have to dress them, and then there's always a shoe that's missing, and then when you're about to leave, of course that's when you have to change a diaper. And if it's during the winter, you might as well just not do it, because the gloves and mittens — you know, it'll be spring anyway."

On being the youngest of six

"[It] really only prepares you to be parented by really exhausted parents. It doesn't necessarily prepare you to be a parent of any sort. But, you know, my parents' generation, there was a different approach, I think specifically for fatherhood. They brought home the bacon, which did not mean actually buying the bacon or bringing it home, or even cooking the bacon — they just ate the bacon ... my father did nothing, and he didn't feel guilty at all. And I right now, I have a winter sling for a baby and a summer sling, and I still feel guilty."

On whether he'll ever move to the suburbs

"I understand the value of a yard. I understand the value of a kid just coming home covered in dirt because he was playing in mud. But that can also be accomplished — and there's a lot of values of living in a city environment. The people that I meet that grew up in a city, whether it's New York or Boston, I like them. They're well-adjusted. They're not freaked out by two men holding hands. They're not freaked out by socio- or economic or cultural differences, and that's, I think, an important gift to give children."

Read an excerpt of Dad Is Fat

The government of Kazakhstan says it's cooperating with U.S. officials in the investigation of the Boston Marathon bombings, a day after two men from the Central Asian country were charged in connection with the blasts that killed three people and wounded more than 250.

"As we have repeatedly stressed, Kazakhstan strongly condemns any form of terrorism," a statement from Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry office read, according to The Boston Globe. "The Kazakhstan side is cooperating with the U.S. law enforcement bodies in their investigation."

The Globe writes:

"The brief statement also outlined the charges against Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov, who were both charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice. They allegedly disposed of a backpack and a laptop that they found in the dorm room of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is accused of planning and executing the Boston bombings.

'We would like to emphasize that our citizens did not receive charges of involvement in the organization of Boston marathon bombings,' the Kazakhstan foreign minister's office said. 'They were charged with destroying evidence.'

The foreign minister's office also said that Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov were receiving 'the necessary consular assistance' but did not elaborate on what that assistance might entail.

'Their guilt has not been proven and the investigation is ongoing,' the statement read."

Penny Pritzker, one of the nation's richest people and a "longtime political supporter and heavyweight fundraiser," as The Chicago Tribune writes, is President Obama's choice to be his next secretary of commerce.

The president announced the news this hour at the White House. He also said that one of his economic advisers, Michael Froman, is his choice to be the next U.S. trade representative.

As USA Today notes, Pritzker's nomination could rile some of Obama's other supporters:

"Pritzker, who raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Obama's two presidential campaigns, is on the board of Hyatt Hotels Corp. Her personal fortune is estimated at $1.85 billion, and she is listed among the 300 wealthiest Americans by Forbes magazine. ... Hyatt and the hospitality workers union have been involved in a long contract battle, and workers have protested the company's treatment of them. The AFL-CIO and other organizations have called for a global boycott of Hyatt properties. ...

"Senators may also grill Pritzker over the 2001 collapse of family-owned Superior Bank, which specialized in sub-prime lending, and federal lawsuits against her family over Caribbean tax shelters."

The trial in Munich of an alleged neo-Nazi woman accused as an accomplice in a string of murders of mostly ethnic Turks is, as The Associated Press writes, "forcing Germans to confront painful truths about racism and the broader treatment of immigrants in society."

Last month, NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reported on the impending trial of Beate Zschaepe, 38, set to begin Monday after being delayed last month. Zschaepe is charged with complicity in the murders of eight Turks, a Greek and a German policewoman between 2000 and 2007.

Zschaepe is the sole survivor of the group blamed for the killings — the self-styled National Socialist Underground. Four men alleged to have helped the killers in various ways will also be tried, according to the AP. Zschaepe is also accused of involvement in at least two bombings and 15 bank robberies carried out by her accomplices Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Boenhardt, who died in an apparent murder-suicide two years ago, the news agency says.

As Soraya reported last month:

"For years, German authorities failed to see a link between the crimes, even though the same gun was used in all of the shootings. They also rejected any link to right-wing extremism.

"German authorities instead blamed the victims, falsely accusing the non-German ones of ties to criminal and drug gangs. Police searched at least one home of a victim's family with drug-sniffing dogs."

When it comes to learning about unfamiliar ways of living, author A.J. Jacobs believes the best way is to immerse yourself completely. The editor at large for Esquire magazine assumes the role of a "human guinea pig," taking on challenges many of us would find taxing. For his book The Know It All, he read the entire encyclopedia — from A to Z — in one year. In The Year of Living Biblically, he followed every single rule in the Bible, from loving thy neighbor to stoning adulterers. And for Drop Dead Healthy, his quest to become the healthiest person alive, Jacobs wrote the book while walking on a treadmill. In case you're wondering, he clocked in over 1000 miles.

Jacobs takes a breather to chat with Ask Me Another host Ophira Eisenberg about how he usually comes usually comes up with these ideas: out of pure ignorance. He admits that he knew nothing about the Bible, so he decided to learn about it from the inside-out. "I'm Jewish, but I'm Jewish in the same way the Olive Garden is Italian," he says. Jacobs also shared that he was shocked by the information his doctors provided as he started the journey toward bodily perfection. He adds, "My body is what they called 'skinny-fat,' so I looked like a snake that had swallowed a goat."

For an Ask Me Another Challenge, we thought it would be fitting to quiz Jacobs on famous people who go by two initials and a last name. And one lucky grand prize winner of the show won a piece of the beard he grew during his year of living Biblically.

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Mutual funds, which have topped $13 trillion, are the way many Americans interact with the financial markets. You may have come across mutual funds when you set up an individual retirement account or a company-sponsored retirement account like a 401(k).

A "basket" of stocks, bonds or both, mutual funds are seen as safer to own than individual stocks. Having many in one basket spreads the risk, especially over time. But high fees, lack of diversification, or a focus on short-term gains can put your nest egg at risk.

John Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Group of mutual funds and a giant in the mutual fund industry, is known for his long-term approach to investing and for his faith in the stock market. Bogle, who is 83, is president of Bogle Financial Markets Research Center and the author of several books, including The Clash of the Cultures: Investment vs. Speculation.

He spoke recently with NPR's David Greene about the need for a government "gatekeeper" to protect Americans' retirement savings.

The shooting death of a 2-year-old girl in Kentucky at the hands of her 5-year-old brother has opened up yet another debate about gun control.

While no one favors the idea of 5-year-olds using weapons without supervision, there is no consensus on the appropriate age to start hands-on training with firearms.

"Many people who have firearms familiarize their kids with firearms early on, because they want them to know that this is not something to be trifled with," says Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, a gun rights advocacy group.

But while some hunters and other gun owners want to instill in their kids a sense of heritage and a healthy respect for safety, public health advocates believe there's little benefit in allowing any children to handle guns.

The American Academy of Pediatrics states bluntly in a policy statement that the best way to prevent firearm injury is to keep guns out of children's homes and communities.

"In terms of safety, why would you want these kids around incredibly dangerous products?" says David Hemenway, director of Harvard University's Injury Control Research Center. "It's hard to imagine how this increases safety at all — let's play with a dangerous product."

In order to keep children safe, Americans need to treat guns with the same care that they use when it comes to cars and swimming pools, says Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, a gun control advocacy group. But that won't necessarily be the result of any new laws or regulations.

"Decisions around guns should be looked at as an issue of parental responsibility," Gross says. "We think it's up to parents to make sure they're fully educated about the risks of guns around the home."

Not Common But Dangerous

The number of children unintentionally killed by firearms is relatively small — an average of about 125 per year, according to the Brady Campaign.

Of course, the total number of shootings is much higher. More than 3,000 children are treated for accidental shootings in emergency rooms each year.

Shootings are likely to inflict greater harm than other types of injuries. Half of the youths treated for gun injuries at two Colorado trauma centers required intensive care, compared with less than a fifth of those with other types of injuries, according to a study published last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Thirteen percent of those gun victims died, compared with less than 2 percent of the children injured in other ways.

Hemenway says it's much more difficult to find reliable data on the number of children who shoot other people, as opposed to how many children are shot. But his own research has shown that when children are shot accidentally, it's usually someone around their own age holding the weapon — or, often, older brothers.

Training To Avoid Accidents

Anyone who has been around children (especially boys) knows they are likely to pretend almost any object is a gun and will pretend to shoot people with it.

Small children and real firearms, therefore, are accidents waiting to happen.

Last month, a man in the Cincinnati area was arrested after his 3-year-old son shot himself in the arm while reaching for a loaded gun that was hidden under a bed.

Next week, Democratic Rep. John Tierney of Massachusetts intends to introduce a bill that would require gun makers to "personalize" weapons so that they will fire only for their owners. Such technology exists, but as with other gun restrictions, his legislation faces an uncertain future.

In the meantime, everyone from gun manufacturers to the Boy Scouts posts information on their websites related to gun safety for kids. For the most part, the tips involve common sense.

Keep weapons locked and unloaded, and keep ammunition secured elsewhere. Never point a gun at anyone else.

"There are still far too many parents in our country who think that just hiding the gun is enough," says Gross, the Brady Campaign president. "Parents think that children don't know where guns are hidden, or that their kids know better."

Gun clubs and groups such as the Boy Scouts and 4-H routinely offer firearms safety instruction to children. "Sometimes, the younger kids seem to pay attention better than the older kids," says Robert L. Weiman, who trains about 130 kids a year as a volunteer safety instructor at the Monticello Rod & Gun Club in Minnesota.

Minnesota, like a number of other states in recent years, has lowered the minimum age at which children can receive hunting licenses to 10.

Weiman says it makes no sense to him that 10-year-olds can hunt with adult supervision, but aren't allowed to take his safety course until they reach their 11th birthdays.

"I know a lot of 10-year-olds personally who could go through that course with no problem at all," he says. "Ten-year-olds are as capable of understanding what we're teaching them just as well as a 12-year-old."

Marketing To Children

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The shooting death of a 2-year-old girl in Kentucky at the hands of her 5-year-old brother has opened up yet another debate about gun control.

While no one favors the idea of 5-year-olds using weapons without supervision, there is no consensus on the appropriate age to start hands-on training with firearms.

"Many people who have firearms familiarize their kids with firearms early on, because they want them to know that this is not something to be trifled with," says Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, a gun rights advocacy group.

But while some hunters and other gun owners want to instill in their kids a sense of heritage and a healthy respect for safety, public health advocates believe there's little benefit in allowing any children to handle guns.

The American Academy of Pediatrics states bluntly in a policy statement that the best way to prevent firearm injury is to keep guns out of children's homes and communities.

"In terms of safety, why would you want these kids around incredibly dangerous products?" says David Hemenway, director of Harvard University's Injury Control Research Center. "It's hard to imagine how this increases safety at all — let's play with a dangerous product."

In order to keep children safe, Americans need to treat guns with the same care that they use when it comes to cars and swimming pools, says Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, a gun control advocacy group. But that won't necessarily be the result of any new laws or regulations.

"Decisions around guns should be looked at as an issue of parental responsibility," Gross says. "We think it's up to parents to make sure they're fully educated about the risks of guns around the home."

Not Common But Dangerous

The number of children unintentionally killed by firearms is relatively small — an average of about 125 per year, according to the Brady Campaign.

Of course, the total number of shootings is much higher. More than 3,000 children are treated for accidental shootings in emergency rooms each year.

Shootings are likely to inflict greater harm than other types of injuries. Half of the youths treated for gun injuries at two Colorado trauma centers required intensive care, compared with less than a fifth of those with other types of injuries, according to a study published last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Thirteen percent of those gun victims died, compared with less than 2 percent of the children injured in other ways.

Hemenway says it's much more difficult to find reliable data on the number of children who shoot other people, as opposed to how many children are shot. But his own research has shown that when children are shot accidentally, it's usually someone around their own age holding the weapon — or, often, older brothers.

Training To Avoid Accidents

Anyone who has been around children (especially boys) knows they are likely to pretend almost any object is a gun and will pretend to shoot people with it.

Small children and real firearms, therefore, are accidents waiting to happen.

Last month, a man in the Cincinnati area was arrested after his 3-year-old son shot himself in the arm while reaching for a loaded gun that was hidden under a bed.

Next week, Democratic Rep. John Tierney of Massachusetts intends to introduce a bill that would require gun makers to "personalize" weapons so that they will fire only for their owners. Such technology exists, but as with other gun restrictions, his legislation faces an uncertain future.

In the meantime, everyone from gun manufacturers to the Boy Scouts posts information on their websites related to gun safety for kids. For the most part, the tips involve common sense.

Keep weapons locked and unloaded, and keep ammunition secured elsewhere. Never point a gun at anyone else.

"There are still far too many parents in our country who think that just hiding the gun is enough," says Gross, the Brady Campaign president. "Parents think that children don't know where guns are hidden, or that their kids know better."

Gun clubs and groups such as the Boy Scouts and 4-H routinely offer firearms safety instruction to children. "Sometimes, the younger kids seem to pay attention better than the older kids," says Robert L. Weiman, who trains about 130 kids a year as a volunteer safety instructor at the Monticello Rod & Gun Club in Minnesota.

Minnesota, like a number of other states in recent years, has lowered the minimum age at which children can receive hunting licenses to 10.

Weiman says it makes no sense to him that 10-year-olds can hunt with adult supervision, but aren't allowed to take his safety course until they reach their 11th birthdays.

"I know a lot of 10-year-olds personally who could go through that course with no problem at all," he says. "Ten-year-olds are as capable of understanding what we're teaching them just as well as a 12-year-old."

Marketing To Children

Enlarge image i

Penny Pritzker, one of the nation's richest people and a "longtime political supporter and heavyweight fundraiser," as The Chicago Tribune writes, is President Obama's choice to be his next secretary of commerce.

The president announced the news this hour at the White House. He also said that one of his economic advisers, Michael Froman, is his choice to be the next U.S. trade representative.

As USA Today notes, Pritzker's nomination could rile some of Obama's other supporters:

"Pritzker, who raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Obama's two presidential campaigns, is on the board of Hyatt Hotels Corp. Her personal fortune is estimated at $1.85 billion, and she is listed among the 300 wealthiest Americans by Forbes magazine. ... Hyatt and the hospitality workers union have been involved in a long contract battle, and workers have protested the company's treatment of them. The AFL-CIO and other organizations have called for a global boycott of Hyatt properties. ...

"Senators may also grill Pritzker over the 2001 collapse of family-owned Superior Bank, which specialized in sub-prime lending, and federal lawsuits against her family over Caribbean tax shelters."

Niffenegger deftly modulates the degree to which contemporary trappings find their way into her tale. Where magical transformations abound in classic fairy tales, the transformation at the heart of Raven Girl employs a more prosaic but no less miraculous sort of wizardry, as the Doctor describes to his patient while showing her slides on his computer:

"The images showed ... similarities between wing bones and arm bones. How the wing might attach to the shoulder; the muscles and tendons that must serve new purposes. The stem cells that must be reprogrammed to grow wings rather than arms. The sequence of surgeries: amputations, attachments. Neurons must be trained to fire, nerves must be rerouted. The brain must recognize the new wings, the immune system must not reject them."

If you're interested in studying in China, a new scholarship program could help you on your way. Rivaling the prestigious Rhodes scholarships, the new Schwarzman Scholars program was announced recently by Stephen Schwarzman, CEO and co-founder of Blackstone Group, one of the world's biggest private-equity firms.

The financier says he plans to raise $300 million, including $100 million of his own money, to fund a new program aimed at bringing students from around the world to study at Beijing's Tsinghua University.

Schwarzman spoke to NPR's David Greene soon after coming back from China, where Schwarzman made the announcement. Schwarzman said he was motivated by the disparity between China's rapidly growing economy and the slower growth of Western, developed economies. If this disparity continues, he said, "it will interfere with normal trade relations, economic relations, perhaps create military tensions, and we're already seeing some of those things."

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, who sparked plenty of discussion about work-life balance when she prohibited telecommuting this past winter, took a step in the opposite direction, Tuesday: Mayer expanded Yahoo's parental leave policy.

Reuters reports:

"Under Yahoo's new policy, new mothers and fathers can take up to 8 weeks of fully-paid leave. If a woman gave birth to the baby, she is entitled to an additional 8 weeks of paid leave, for a total of 16 weeks paid leave.

"Yahoo previously did not provide paid leave to fathers and the total amount of paid maternity leave varied from state to state, but was generally six weeks.

"New parents will now also get up to $500 for expenses such as child care and laundry, Yahoo said."

We physicists are all romantics. Don't laugh; it's true. In our youth we all fall deeply in love. We fall in love with a beautiful idea: beyond this world of constant change lies another world that is perfect and timeless.

This eternal domain is made not of matter or energy. It's made from perfect, timeless mathematical laws. Finding those exquisite eternal laws — or better yet, a single timeless formula for everything — is the Holy Grail we dedicate our lives to.

Unless we lose faith in that Grail. That's what's happened to physicist Lee Smolin, author of the new book Time Reborn. As he puts it:

I used to think my job as a theoretical physicist was to find that formula. Now I see my faith in its existence as a kind of mysticism.

This Saturday, May 4th, is Free Comic Book Day, the comics industry's annual attempt to sail out past the shallow, overfished shoals where Nerds Like Me lazily and inexpertly spawn, to instead cast their line into the colder, deeper waters where Normals Like You swim free, blissfully unconcerned about the myriad nettlesome continuity issues surrounding Supergirl's underpants.

Yes, Free Comic Book Day is about you, O person who hasn't set foot in a comics shop in years, or ever. It's the industry's attempt to change that state of affairs: Walk into a participating shop this Saturday, and they will hand you a bunch of free comics. Or maybe just one free comic. Or maybe they'll let you pick from a table heaped with piles of free comics.

The point is: Free comics! Woo!

This year there are a whopping 52 different FCBD comics that stores may have in stock, most of which you can preview on the Free Comic Book Day site. On this same site, you can enter your zip code and find the closest participating shop.

Understand that not every shop will have every comic. There are 12 titles that most shops will likely carry (those designated "Gold Comics" on the FCBD site) and 40 others that some shops will order, and others will not (designated "Silver Comics").

That's a lot of books to choose from, and that's where the staff comes in: Tell them what you like — what movies, books, television shows you seek out, and they'll be able to find something that should line up with your tastes, whether or not it's an FCBD offering.

Herewith, however, is Monkey's See's annual FCBD Cheat Sheet. Below, we'll list several different kinds of prospective FCBD customers and match them with the Free Comic Book Day comics best suited to them. Find yourself, or a reasonable analogue thereof, on the list below, and hie your butt to the nearest FCBD-participating comic shop this Saturday.

Yes, let's begin with you, there, with the peanut butter on your sweater.

A. I've got kids. I want them to read good things.

Excellent! Some really nice all-ages comics on offer this year:

Marble Season – An excerpt from the great Gilbert Hernandez's new semiautobiographical graphic novel. When your kids are done with it, read it for yourself.

Mr. Puzzle – Chris Eliopoulos' stretchable, bendable superhero.

Molly Danger – Jamal Igle's all-ages book about a brave and resourceful ten-year-old superhero. Great for girls, boys and parents and non-parents who're looking for a fun, light book amid the current glut of grim, depressing spandex fare.

Top Shelf Kids Club – The usual suspects show up in this sampler for younger kids – Owly! Johnny Boo! Korgi! Pirate Penguin vs. Ninja Chicken! But in this case, the usual suspects are some of the very best kids' comics out there. So: Win.

Scratch 9 – Superhero cat who can summon each of his nine lives to fight eee-vil. (Ben 10? Scratch 9? See what they did there?)

Rated Free For Everyone – Sampler comic from Oni Press featuring a story from Chris Schweizer's historical tales of the Crogan clan, and an introduction to Mermin, the mer-boy.

Mouse Guard/Rust Flip Book – Archaia's collection includes original short stories from Mouse Guard (a great book), an upcoming Jim Henson's Labyrinth graphic novel, and an adventure of Jet Jones the rocket-boy.

World of Archie – The continuing adventures of America's favorite sweater-vested, tic-tac-toe-headed ginger.

Dragon Ball and Rurouni Kenshen Restoration – The Viz Comics sampler looks to be the only manga represented on FCBD, which makes precisely no sense, but these two series are hugely popular in Japan, having spawned anime series, films, video games, etc. Don't know if these specific stories make for particularly good jumping-on points, but at the very least you and your kids might get a sense of what all the fuss is about.

Finding Gossamyr – A special FCBD story that rounds out the world of the popular fantasy web series, in which a math prodigy is transported to a world where mathematics are magic.

Action Time Buddies – A web series that parodies Adventure Time, My Little Pony and many, many more.

BEST BETS: Marble Club, Molly Danger, Top Shelf Kids Club.

Ok? Yes, you there. In the mini-van.

B. I've got kids, too. But the backseat DVD player just conked out, and we're driving to Tampa. So.

So quality isn't the looming issue for you.

Right.

You want books you know they will read.

Yes. Quietly.

... What am I, Supernanny over here? Let's leave it at: books you know they'll read because they're already familiar with the characters. So we're talking licensed tie-ins of existing properties, then. Of which there are a kajillion. But you should —

Look, could you speed this up? Our youngest is getting that look on his face. We shouldn't have bought them the Pixie Stix back in Raleigh-Durham, I see that now.

Fine, fine. I was saying: You should know that licensed tie-ins have a spotty track record. But as long as you go into it knowing that there's no knowing how good they'll be –

Oh god, they're gnawing on each other's feet now. This is going downhill fast. Game over, man, game over—

Hold on, help is on the way!

It's An Ugly Doll Comic And Other Stuff – It's got, like, Pokemon in it.

Kaboom! Summer Blast – Grab-bag collection of such beloved properties as Adventure Time (which, let's just note, is a very, very good comic in its own right), Regular Show, Peanuts, Garfield, Ice Age, etc.

Sponge Bob Freestyle Funnies – Nickolodeon's wildly popular member of the phylum Porifera in square ... well, technically they're shorts, no?

Pippi Longstocking Color Special – Fairly crude reprints/translations of Swedish Pippi comics first published in the 1950s.

Bongo Free For All Comics – Dependably great Simpsons/Futurama comics.

The Tick – All new stories of the greatest superhero to ever boast an eating-utensil-based battle cry.

Sesame Street and Strawberry Shortcake – Together at last! I guess!

The Smurfs – Belgium has given the world two things: Thick crunchy delicious waffles, and this sobering account of a ruthlessly paternalistic socialist dystopia.

Star Wars/Captain Midnight/Airbender – Darth Vader and Boba Fett hangin' out, sipping blue Mandalorian space-Prosecco, getting mani-pedis, just having a girls' night out. Um, presumably. Also a story of Captain Midnight (yes, the radio guy), and a tale from Avatar: The Last Airbender Totally Not the Blue Cat People Whose Tails Are USB Ports Or Whatever.

NFL Rush Zone: Season of the Guardians – This is a comic based on an animated series that premiered in 2010, and about which I know precisely nothing. Here's the synopsis of the show's second episode. I have not made any of the following up:

"After school, Ish revisits the Chargers' stadium where he learns about the history of the Shards, the Rusherz and a powerful object called the Core; The Rusherz' home planet which held the Core was peaceful, until an evil overlord named Sudden Death attacked the planet to take the Core for himself, but the Rusherz stopped him by drilling to the Core at the center of the planet and freeing it, destroying the planet in the process and casting the Core and the Rusherz into space. The Rusherz followed the Core to Earth, where it crashed upon landing and broke into 32 Shards (which are recognized as the symbols of the 32 NFL teams). Knowing Sudden Death would not stop until he had the Core, the Rusherz each took a Shard, built the 32 NFL stadiums to hide each one in and assigned the 32 teams to guard their respective Shard in those stadiums. If Sudden Death retrieves all the shards and rebuilds the Core, he'll use the Core's power to turn everything into Blitzbots."

... Does, uh ... does that help?

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: New Animated Adventures – A comic book based on an animated series which is an update of an animated series that was based on a comic book.

Sonic The Hedgehog – A comic based on a video game.

Disney Fairies – A comic based on a series of DVDs.

Grimm – A comic based on a television show which might be a little grim/dark/gory for little kids.

BEST BETS: Bongo, The Tick

Ok. You there, in the back?

C. I used to read superhero comics when I was a kid, but then I discovered (girls/boys) and haven't really spared them a thought since. I keep hearing there's some good stuff, there.

There's some great superhero books you need to check out. Fantastic Four, Hawkeye, Daredevil, Young Avengers, Wonder Woman, Invincible, Batgirl, Dial H for Hero. None of them are FCBD offers this year, I'm afraid. Here's the ones that are:

Infinity – A preview of Marvel's big summer superhero event.

Superman Special Edition – Includes a preview of an upcoming Superman comic, and a reprint of a December 2006 story which reintroduced the character of General Zod into DC continuity. A continuity that has since been disposed of. Not once, but twice. But hey, who's counting? (Me. I am counting. Me.)

DC Nation Super Sampler – Stories introducing two new animated series, Beware the Batman and the (welcome! Groovy!) return of Teen Titans, Go!

Hulk and the Agents of SMASH/Avengers Assemble – Two stories from comics based on two Marvel animated series.

Absolution: The Beginning – Reprinting the first two issues of the Christos Gage/Daniel Gete "superheroes gone bad" series, which began in 2009.

Stan Lee's Chakra The Invincible – Set in Mumbai, this new series follows a young technological prodigy who develops a mech-suit capable of unlocking his mystical chakras. But not in the sexy way.

The Red Ten – A spandex-clad take on Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians."

Valiant Masters - Reprints of stories from the 90s, the XXXXTREEEEME!!! era of Poochie-fied, hyperviolent comics storytelling. Your mileage may vary, but I find this stuff testosterrible.

BEST BET: I dunno. Teen Titans Go was a great series. The Red Ten, maybe? And Chakra, for at least taking the genre in a different direction?

Yes, you there, with the ear-trumpet.

D. I remember, back when I was a but a barefoot boy with cheek of tan, taking a shiny-new Indian-Head nickel over to Ol' Mr. Crumblefeather's Feed Store every Saturday morning, where I'd buy me a fizzy drink and some penny candy and Li'l Orphan Annie comic book.

Uh-huh.

Then, with the change I got back, I'd take myself over to the five and dime to buy my mother some ribbons and buttons and lotions, after which I'd head over to the motion picture show and –

Okay, gramps, we get it. You harbor fond, if frankly economically and numismatically questionable, memories of comics in the olden-timey days. So for you:

Buck Rogers – Reprints of old Buck Rogers comics from the pre-TV, pre-Twiki, pre-Erin-Gray-in-the-white-catsuit, era. You were warned.

Prince Valiant – Reprints of ye olde Arthuriane comicse.

BEST BETS: Either. Both.

E. I like science fiction. It never really occurred to me to try a comic, though.

Atomic Robo and Friends – This is your best bet on Free Comic Book Day. Ask for it if you don't see it. It's great. Fun and funny. Both at once.

2000 AD Sampler – Several comics from Britain's long-running science-fiction anthology comic, including a new Judge Dredd tale. But if that doesn't fill you with enough Dredd....

Judge Dredd Classics — ... you can always pick up this sampler of old-school JD comics.

Valiant 2013 — Excerpts from Valiant's current line of science-fiction comics.

Aphrodite IX – In a post-apocalyptic world, there be dragons. If you need to know more than that before committing, this probably isn't for you.

Endangered Weapon B and the Tentacles of Doom – So is steampunk considered science fiction, nowadays? I can never keep up with you crazy kids and your rigid taxonomies. Anyway – dirigibles, a grizzly bear in a mech suit, the lost Library of Alexandia, squid-thingies-that-are-probably-aliens, more. As if more is needed.

The Steam Engines of Oz – Preview of an upcoming series set 100 years after Dorothy offs the Wicked Witch of the West. Also previews several titles in Arcana's new steampunk line of comics.

BEST BET: Atomic Robo and Friends. Seriously.

F. I Am A Disaffected Narrow-Chested Self-Styled Intellectual Given to Wearing Knit Hats Out-of-Season Who Disdains Superhero Comics As Puerile Fodder for Idiot Children And Who Finds Science Fiction And Other Genres Asinine Who Much Prefers To Read Mature, Richly Nuanced Literature About Narrow-Chested Self-Styled Intellectuals Given to Wearing Knit Hats Out-of-Season.

... You seem fun.

Who Are Also Maybe Starting a Band.

I see. Okay, gimme a minute. Because this isn't going to be easy. Historically, Free Comic Book Day has dutifully reflected the current status of the comics marketplace, which is to say: wholly dominated by superheroes, licensed tie-ins, and genre fare.

But this is a once-in-a-year opportunity to show the truly limitless breadth of comics storytelling, and FCBD offerings have never done a particularly good job of representing that. There are plenty of comics that fit your description, trust me. You'll just have buy them.

Let me get back to you on this one, okay? Yes, you there, with the clear-eyed gaze and friendly expression.

G. I'm just curious to see what's out there. I have no particular interest in superheroes, but other genres – Western, Thriller, Horror, Fantasy, whatever – are fair game. I like a good story.

Well, aren't you just exactly who comics shops hope to meet on Saturday.

Kellerman/L'Amour Sampler – Two excerpts from upcoming comics adaptations – an Alex Delaware thriller by Joe Kellerman, and a "Louis L'Amour" Western yarn that's actually a new story.

The Walking Dead – You've seen the show and wished they'd stop wringing their hands and maybe kill a freaking zombie already. Now read the book.

Mass Effect/Killjoys/RIPD – If you go by the cover, this looks like just another adaptation of a video game, which would mean it belongs up with licensed tie-ins. But it also includes two other stories, Killjoys and RIPD, both of which – but especially RIPD, about a police force that enforces supernatural law – show a bit more promise.

Damsels – A Fables-ish take which examines the life of fairy tale characters (in this case, The Little Mermaid) outside the tales we know.

FUBAR – Sampler-pack of "American History Z" stories about the American Experience ... and zombies, including an incident at Valley Forge.

Ramayan Reloaded Preview – A series of short stories providing background information on the various characters and settings featured in the series Ramayan 3392AD, which serves up a clever post-apocalyptic take on the events and characters of great Hindu epic, The Ramayana.

The Strangers – Here's how writer Chris Roberson describes this new series: "Swinging sixties supernatural super spies." Here's how I feel about that: "I'm in."

BEST BETS: Walking Dead, Damsels, Ramayan Reloaded, The Strangers.

Yes, you there. Clutching that beat-up old issue of Maxim with a strange fervor.

H. I like boobs. And guns. And chicks with boobs and guns.

Got just what you're looking for:

Worlds of Aspen 2013 – Here's what we know: The preview on the FCBD site is just a series of pin-ups. It may be all we need to know.

BEST BET: I can't help you here, buddy.

I. I wish to know more of these strange ... "comical books" of which you speak.

Bleeding Cool Magazine – An online gossip/news (but mostly gossip) comics site has published a guide to collecting comics.

Overstreet Comic Book Marketplace – Overstreet's guide is a staple of FCBD, and offers a dispassionate series of tips for the beginning collector.

BEST BET: Overstreet.

... And that's everything. Good. Now go forth ...

F. Wait, What About ...

You again. Yeah, okay, listen, Mr. Mature, Nuanced Relationship Story Blah Blah Superheroes Are Dumb Blah, you're just gonna have to suck it up and buy something, I'm afraid. Maybe next year, the FCBD organizers will wise up and throw you a bone, but not this year.

Happily, most stores will stock lots and lots of great somethings in which adults very like you negotiate the world of jobs, relationships and mortality utterly without the aid of spandex, magic, or rayguns. Without knowing exactly what kind of stories you like, I can't reliably guide you to them – that's something to discuss with the staff on Saturday. But here's some titles to ask them about:

Love and Rockets. Strangers in Paradise. Blankets. Habibi. Box Office Poison. Jimmy Corrigan. Fun Home. Are You My Mother? You'll Never Know. Too Kool To Be Forgotten. Make Me a Woman. Ice Haven. Ghost World. The Voyeurs. Marbles. The Underwater Welder. Heads or Tails. Stitches.

Okay? We good? Now, you and all the rest of you. Take yourself, and your kids, to the nearest comics shop on Saturday. Talk with the staff. Ask them questions. Answer theirs.

Discover something.

If you're interested in studying in China, a new scholarship program could help you on your way. Rivaling the prestigious Rhodes scholarships, the new Schwarzman Scholars program was announced recently by Stephen Schwarzman, CEO and co-founder of Blackstone Group, one of the world's biggest private-equity firms.

The financier says he plans to raise $300 million, including $100 million of his own money, to fund a new program aimed at bringing students from around the world to study at Beijing's Tsinghua University.

Schwarzman spoke to NPR's David Greene soon after coming back from China, where Schwarzman made the announcement. Schwarzman said he was motivated by the disparity between China's rapidly growing economy and the slower growth of Western, developed economies. If this disparity continues, he said, "it will interfere with normal trade relations, economic relations, perhaps create military tensions, and we're already seeing some of those things."

Pope Francis has equated the wages paid to Bangladeshi workers who died in last week's building collapse to "slave labor."

More than 400 people were killed in the April 24 collapse of the Rana Plaza building outside Dhaka; the building housed several garment factories that made products for Western brands.

News reports say that workers at the factories housed in the building were paid about 38 euros a month (about $50).

"This was the payment of these people who have died," the pope said, according to Vatican Radio. "And this is called 'slave labor!' "

Francis' comments came at a Mass Wednesday to mark the feast of St. Joseph the Worker.

"Not paying a just [wage], not providing work, focusing exclusively on the balance books, on financial statements, only looking at making personal profit. That goes against God!" the pope added, according to Vatican Radio.

As NPR's Jim Zarroli reported in March, Francis' "writings and public comments make clear his sympathies lie with the world's desperate and destitute. In the process, he has sometimes cast a suspicious eye on the institutions of capitalism, once branding the International Monetary Fund's debt policies 'immoral.' "

The pope's comments follow a meeting between major retailers and labor activists in Germany this week to work out a deal on improving working conditions in Bangladesh, where the garment sector is a $20 billion industry. NPR's Steve Henn reports on All Things Considered:

"At the meeting, activists pushed retailers who use factories in Bangladesh to start spending their own money to make those workplaces safer.

"The proposed deal would have an enforceable arbitration clause, would require the use of highly qualified fire and safety inspectors — and require those inspection reports to be made public. It would also mandate that the Western brands pay for any needed repairs. Workers would also have the right to refuse to enter buildings they believe are unsafe."

Say the words "crop insurance" and most people start to yawn. For years, few nonfarmers knew much about these government-subsidized insurance policies, and even fewer found any fault with them. After all, who could criticize a safety net for farmers that saves them from getting wiped out by floods or drought?

But consider this: According to a new analysis, crop insurance allowed corn and soybean farmers not only to survive last year's epic drought, but it also allowed them to make bigger profits than they would have in a normal year. A big chunk of those profits were provided through taxpayer subsidies. In fact, crop insurance has grown into the largest subsidy that the government provides to America's farmers.

Economist Bruce Babcock from Iowa State University carried out the new analysis. It was commissioned by the Environmental Working Group, a long-time critic of agricultural subsidies.

"We really saw, in 2012, how the crop insurance program performs," he says. "It kind of reveals itself."

What's revealed, first of all, is the fact that the vast majority of farmers are signing up for a version of insurance that Babcock calls the "Cadillac." This kind of policy covers two different kinds of losses: lower harvests or lower prices.

Here's why it's Cadillac insurance and why it ends up costing taxpayers billions of dollars. Last year, farmers got a poor harvest. At the same time, because corn and soybeans were in short supply, prices soared, which benefited farmers greatly. The insurance, however, paid farmers for the lost yield — but paid them at the higher, post-drought market price. Essentially, farmers reaped the drought's benefits, yet were protected from its harm.

"Those farmers made more money than they anticipated making when they planted the crop. That's clear," says Babcock.

In all, payouts added up to $16 billion last year, a new record, most of which was paid by taxpayers. According to Babcock, if farmers had instead signed up for another kind of crop insurance, which simply pays a farmer for revenue that's lost because of crop failure, payouts would have come to just $6 billion.

According to Babcock, the government should limit its subsidies to this simpler, "plain-Jane" insurance policy, which is a perfectly adequate safety net for farmers. Under the current system, he says, government subsidies make "Cadillac" insurance artificially cheap, dramatically driving up the cost of the program. (On average, the premiums that farmers pay cover only about 40 percent of the cost of crop insurance.) "It just seems to me that a lot of money could be saved," he says.

Congress is once again starting work on a new version of the farm bill, which sets the rules for crop insurance. It tried to pass a new bill last year, but failed.

Bolivian President Evo Morales expelled the U.S. Agency for International Development from his country, accusing it of undermining his government.

"We have decided to expel USAID from Bolivia," Morales said in a May Day speech outside the presidential palace in La Paz.

He said he'd ordered the country's foreign minister, David Choquehuanca, to notify the U.S. Embassy of the decision.

Bolivia's official ABI news agency reported that Morales accused USAID, which has been in Bolivia since 1964, of political interference with peasant unions and other social organizations and conspiring against his government.

The Associated Press notes that U.S. foreign aid to Bolivia has fallen from $100 million in 2008 to $28 million last year.

Morales also said the U.S. must changes its mentality of "domination and subjugation" of Latin America, criticizing Secretary of State John Kerry's remarks that the region was America's "backyard."

U.S. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell called "baseless" the allegations that the U.S. was undermining the Bolivian government. The AP reports:

"In a 2010 Freedom of Information Act request, The Associated Press asked USAID for descriptions of the Bolivian recipients of grant money. The response did not go into detail, but did include such items as $10.5 million for 'democracy-building' awarded to Chemonics Int. Inc. in 2006 'to support improved governance in a changing political environment.'

"A related USAID brochure said components of the three-year 'Strengthening Democratic Institutions' program included 'teaching basic citizenship principles and skills' in all of Bolivia's nine states.

"A similar program in Venezuela, bearing the same name, was described by then-U.S. ambassador to Caracas William Brownfield in a November 2006 diplomatic cable as being aimed at countering attempts by that country's late president, Hugo Chavez, to centralize power and suppress civil liberties.

"The cable, classified as secret, was published by WikiLeaks, and the program was administered by USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives, whose Web page says it operates 'in priority countries in crisis.' "

This week, major retailers including Wal-Mart, Gap and others met with labor activists in Germany, hoping to hammer out a deal to improve working conditions in Bangladesh.

The meeting came less than a week after a devastating building collapse in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, killed more than 400 workers. At the meeting, activists pushed retailers who use factories in Bangladesh to start spending their own money to make those workplaces safer.

The proposed deal would have an enforceable arbitration clause, would require the use of highly qualified fire and safety inspectors — and require those inspection reports to be made public. It would also mandate that the Western brands pay for any needed repairs. Workers would also have the right to refuse to enter buildings they believe are unsafe.

Tchibo, a large German retailer, and PVH, which owns Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, signed onto the agreement several months ago. But because the deal requires four signatories, labor activists need two more companies to sign on before it could go into effect. They've set a deadline of May 15 to strike a deal.

According to some of the meeting negotiators, among the U.S. retailers in attendance, Gap is probably closest to the labor activists on the details of the deal. A couple of European retailers caught up in the recent scandal surrounding the building collapse are now under a lot of pressure and could also end up signing on.

But Wal-Mart, the 900-pound gorilla in the industry, is still pretty far away from making any such detailed commitments.

What Auditors For Wal-Mart Found In Bangladesh

Most factory audits are never made public. These — paid for by Wal-Mart — were salvaged from the site of the Tazreen factory fire in Bangladesh, which killed 112 last November.

In South Africa, controversial images of a frail and ashen Nelson Mandela being visited by South Africa's current president aired on national television this week. Some people claimed it was a political publicity stunt.

The footage is fueling fresh debate about what is proper and what constitutes invasion of privacy regarding the ailing, 94-year-old former president and anti-apartheid legend.

President Jacob Zuma, accompanied by two other top officials of the governing ANC party, visited Mandela at his Johannesburg home on Monday.

Mandela was recently discharged from the hospital where he was treated for pneumonia and a lung infection. After the apparently brief encounter, the South African leader told the nation that Mandela was doing well.

"The doctors are happy. He's looking very good. He's in good shape. We had some conversation with him, shook hands, he smiled. He's really up and about — and stabilized. We are very happy. He's fine," Zuma said.

Looking Bewildered

The images of a bewildered Mandela suggested otherwise.

He was sitting up in an armchair surrounded by his medical team, two grandsons, the president and the ANC bigwigs, all of whom were apparently joking and laughing. Mandela did not join in, but Zuma stood by the medical assessment.

"The doctors' report corresponded with his own appearance as we saw him. So we're very happy about it," Zuma said.

When one of the Mandela grandsons took a cellphone flash photograph, the Nobel peace laureate visibly winced, blinked and closed his eyes — as if he was in pain.

Doctors say Mandela's eyes are extremely sensitive because of years of working amid the glare of a limestone quarry when he was a political prisoner on Robben Island.

South Africans have taken to social networks, mobile phone texts, newspapers and television to criticize the broadcast as exploitative and undignified. Redi Tlhabi took calls and texts on her show on Radio 702.

"Of course and obviously we are going to talk about images of Nelson Mandela in our open line," Tlhabi said. "There is an outcry in some quarters, and in some other quarters, hey, it's justified or justifiable, and there was nothing wrong with it."

One text read, "Redi, I get that [Mandela] is old, that he's an ANC icon and poster child for the organization. But I get the impression that he was not aware of his surroundings and was used as a showpiece, almost like a medieval circus act."

Many callers and texters were quite angry, while others were forgiving. But most were uncomfortable, asking whether this is the proper way to treat a frail, sick and elderly Mandela.

The words that cropped up most frequently were "disrespect," "intrusion," "invasion," "privacy" and "PR stunt." Some South Africans have accused Zuma and the ANC party of playing politics with an eye on elections next year.

Jackson Mthembu, the ANC spokesman, jumped to the party's defense, referring to Mandela by his clan name, Madiba.

"Madiba, an icon of all South Africans, an icon of the world, an icon of the ANC. We don't think we have done a wrong thing by sharing this icon with the world," he said.

But Guido Piras, filling up his car at a gas station, says he thinks Mandela was used as a puppet.

"I think it's quite depressing," he said. "I think he's elderly. He's a man with a lot of dignity, and he should be left alone."

Look at photographs from the Bangladesh garment factory collapse, and you can see clothing in the rubble destined for a store called Joe Fresh, one of the many retailers using supercheap fashions made overseas to keep shoppers buying often.

But in the aftermath of the tragedy, would customers pay more if they knew the clothes were made by workers treated fairly and safely?

At the Joe Fresh store on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue, customers are bombarded with pastel polo shirts, button-down shirts and chino pants. On one shelf, you might find clothes made in Peru, Vietnam and China. Toward the back, there are piles and piles of shorts, just $19 each, and each made in Bangladesh.

Outside the store, Reene Schiaffo emerged with a bag full of Joe Fresh merchandise. She says she knew about the Bangladesh factory collapse but gives the company the benefit of the doubt.

"It didn't affect my sale, because I know a lot of times these retailers don't exactly know where the stuff is being made," she says, "but they have to pay attention more because that's not acceptable."

Of course, Joe Fresh has many competitors. Nearby Herald Square has become a kind of mecca for what the industry calls fast fashion — clothes so cheap they are almost disposable. On a block with Zara, H&M, Gap and Uniqlo, I asked shoppers if they'd pay more if they knew the clothes came from safe factories that treated workers well.

Most, like Ingrid Lelorieux of France, said yes.

"If it's between 5 and 10 percent, I will," she says.

Enlarge image i

There's free range and then there's free rein — around your house.

When Julie Baker's backyard birds started spending more time inside, it was tough to keep them clean. So she got innovative.

She sewed up a cloth diaper – chicken-sized, of course – added a few buttons and strapped it onto her little lady.

One thing led to another, and eventually, a business was born.

Enlarge image i

Perhaps the most revolutionary thing about Discovery's nifty new science series The Big Brain Theory, hosted by Kal Penn, is how ordinary it is.

Right from the title, Big Brain plays into the same fascination with nerd culture that fuels The Big Bang Theory, and that fueled other reality shows like Beauty And The Geek and this season's King Of The Nerds. But while it does highlight the personalities of engineers and scientists, Big Brain is refreshingly devoid of comments about not dating, living with parents, or being socially awkward in some magnificently conspicuous way.

The structure is simple in Wednesday night's opener: a bunch of science types (most are young enough that it feels like a very grad-school vibe) form two teams, and they're given a challenge. Here, they each get a pickup truck loaded with explosives set to blow up if the g forces are too high, so they have to figure out how to cushion/decelerate/protect the box so that when the trucks run into each other head-on, they don't explode.

When Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts was tapped to replace Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, his state — and national — party bosses were wringing their hands.

Why? The prospect of Republican Scott Brown launching another campaign to return to the Senate, where he served after winning a special election in 2010 to complete the term of the late Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy. Brown lost to Democrat Elizabeth Warren last November year in a race for a full Senate term.

But Brown opted not to run for Kerry's seat, and now it will go to either Rep. Ed Markey, a Democrat who has been a congressman for nearly four decades, or Republican newcomer Gabriel Gomez, a state businessman and former Navy SEAL.

Both won their party's primary races Tuesday, and will face off in the general election on June 25.

To get a flavor of current politics in Massachusetts, how the marathon bombing affected the primary races, as well insight on Scott Brown's political ascendency and decline, we turned to two prominent politicos from the state:

Enlarge image i

Muslims across the globe tend to be deeply committed to their faith and believe that it should shape not only their personal lives, but the societies they live in, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center.

Pew's face-to-face survey of more than 38,000 Muslims, including those in the United States, produced a telling snapshot of attitudes and beliefs.

"In all but a handful of the 39 countries surveyed, a majority of Muslims say that Islam is the one true faith leading to eternal life in heaven and that belief in God is necessary to be a moral person," the survey released on Tuesday concludes, adding that, "Many also think that their religious leaders should have at least some influence over political matters. And many express a desire for sharia – traditional Islamic law – to be recognized as the official law of their country."

Muslims living in the United States are much more likely than those in other countries to have close friends who are non-Muslim, the study concludes. And U.S. Muslims are also much more likely to be open to the idea that religions other than Islam can lead to eternal life in heaven.

However, in a mirror of attitudes of American Christians, more U.S. Muslims living inside the United States are at odds with the scientific theory of evolution than those living elsewhere, Pew says.

Nine out of ten Muslims (including women) who were surveyed in Iraq, Morocco, Tunisia, Indonesia, Afghanistan and Malaysia expressed the view that "a wife is always obliged to obey her husband."

On the subject of suicide bombing or other violence used in the name of Islam, 81 percent of Muslims in the United States disapprove, with fewer than one-in-ten saying violence is justified "often" or "sometimes" to defend Islam. However, Pew notes that "substantial minorities in several countries say such acts of violence are at least sometimes justified, including 26 percent of Muslims in Bangladesh, 29 percent in Egypt, 39 percent in Afghanistan and 40 percent in the Palestinian territories."

Other findings include:

— Support for making sharia the official law of the land was highest in countries such as Afghanistan (99 percent), Pakistan (84 percent) and Morocco (83 percent).

— Some 37 percent of Muslims in Jordan, 41 percent in Malaysia and 53 percent in Afghanistan say religious leaders should play a "large" role in politics.

— Muslims around the world overwhelmingly view as immoral behaviors such as prostitution, homosexuality, suicide, abortion, euthanasia and consumption of alcohol. But attitudes toward polygamy, divorce and birth control are more varied.

— While a majority of Muslims in most countries disapprove of so-called "honor" killings, in Afghanistan and Iraq majorities say they condone the practice of extra-judicial executions of women who allegedly have shamed their families.

— At least half of Muslims in most countries surveyed say they are concerned about religious extremist groups, including two-thirds or more of Muslims in Egypt, Tunisia, Iraq, Guinea Bissau and Indonesia.

— Substantial percentages of Muslims in sub-Saharan Africa perceive hostility between Muslims and Christians.

This Saturday, May 4th, is Free Comic Book Day, the comics industry's annual attempt to sail out past the shallow, overfished shoals where Nerds Like Me lazily and inexpertly spawn, to instead cast their line into the colder, deeper waters where Normals Like You swim free, blissfully unconcerned about the myriad nettlesome continuity issues surrounding Supergirl's underpants.

Yes, Free Comic Book Day is about you, O person who hasn't set foot in a comics shop in years, or ever. It's the industry's attempt to change that state of affairs: Walk into a participating shop this Saturday, and they will hand you a bunch of free comics. Or maybe just one free comic. Or maybe they'll let you pick from a table heaped with piles of free comics.

The point is: Free comics! Woo!

This year there are a whopping 52 different FCBD comics that stores may have in stock, most of which you can preview on the Free Comic Book Day site. On this same site, you can enter your zip code and find the closest participating shop.

Understand that not every shop will have every comic. There are 12 titles that most shops will likely carry (those designated "Gold Comics" on the FCBD site) and 40 others that some shops will order, and others will not (designated "Silver Comics").

That's a lot of books to choose from, and that's where the staff comes in: Tell them what you like — what movies, books, television shows you seek out, and they'll be able to find something that should line up with your tastes, whether or not it's an FCBD offering.

Herewith, however, is Monkey's See's annual FCBD Cheat Sheet. Below, we'll list several different kinds of prospective FCBD customers and match them with the Free Comic Book Day comics best suited to them. Find yourself, or a reasonable analogue thereof, on the list below, and hie your butt to the nearest FCBD-participating comic shop this Saturday.

Yes, let's begin with you, there, with the peanut butter on your sweater.

A. I've got kids. I want them to read good things.

Excellent! Some really nice all-ages comics on offer this year:

Marble Season – An excerpt from the great Gilbert Hernandez's new semiautobiographical graphic novel. When your kids are done with it, read it for yourself.

Mr. Puzzle – Chris Eliopoulos' stretchable, bendable superhero.

Molly Danger – Jamal Igle's all-ages book about a brave and resourceful ten-year-old superhero. Great for girls, boys and parents and non-parents who're looking for a fun, light book amid the current glut of grim, depressing spandex fare.

Top Shelf Kids Club – The usual suspects show up in this sampler for younger kids – Owly! Johnny Boo! Korgi! Pirate Penguin vs. Ninja Chicken! But in this case, the usual suspects are some of the very best kids' comics out there. So: Win.

Scratch 9 – Superhero cat who can summon each of his nine lives to fight eee-vil. (Ben 10? Scratch 9? See what they did there?)

Rated Free For Everyone – Sampler comic from Oni Press featuring a story from Chris Schweizer's historical tales of the Crogan clan, and an introduction to Mermin, the mer-boy.

Mouse Guard/Rust Flip Book – Archaia's collection includes original short stories from Mouse Guard (a great book), an upcoming Jim Henson's Labyrinth graphic novel, and an adventure of Jet Jones the rocket-boy.

World of Archie – The continuing adventures of America's favorite sweater-vested, tic-tac-toe-headed ginger.

Dragon Ball and Rurouni Kenshen Restoration – The Viz Comics sampler looks to be the only manga represented on FCBD, which makes precisely no sense, but these two series are hugely popular in Japan, having spawned anime series, films, video games, etc. Don't know if these specific stories make for particularly good jumping-on points, but at the very least you and your kids might get a sense of what all the fuss is about.

Finding Gossamyr – A special FCBD story that rounds out the world of the popular fantasy web series, in which a math prodigy is transported to a world where mathematics are magic.

Action Time Buddies – A web series that parodies Adventure Time, My Little Pony and many, many more.

BEST BETS: Marble Club, Molly Danger, Top Shelf Kids Club.

Ok? Yes, you there. In the mini-van.

B. I've got kids, too. But the backseat DVD player just conked out, and we're driving to Tampa. So.

So quality isn't the looming issue for you.

Right.

You want books you know they will read.

Yes. Quietly.

... What am I, Supernanny over here? Let's leave it at: books you know they'll read because they're already familiar with the characters. So we're talking licensed tie-ins of existing properties, then. Of which there are a kajillion. But you should —

Look, could you speed this up? Our youngest is getting that look on his face. We shouldn't have bought them the Pixie Stix back in Raleigh-Durham, I see that now.

Fine, fine. I was saying: You should know that licensed tie-ins have a spotty track record. But as long as you go into it knowing that there's no knowing how good they'll be –

Oh god, they're gnawing on each other's feet now. This is going downhill fast. Game over, man, game over—

Hold on, help is on the way!

It's An Ugly Doll Comic And Other Stuff – It's got, like, Pokemon in it.

Kaboom! Summer Blast – Grab-bag collection of such beloved properties as Adventure Time (which, let's just note, is a very, very good comic in its own right), Regular Show, Peanuts, Garfield, Ice Age, etc.

Sponge Bob Freestyle Funnies – Nickolodeon's wildly popular member of the phylum Porifera in square ... well, technically they're shorts, no?

Pippi Longstocking Color Special – Fairly crude reprints/translations of Swedish Pippi comics first published in the 1950s.

Bongo Free For All Comics – Dependably great Simpsons/Futurama comics.

The Tick – All new stories of the greatest superhero to ever boast an eating-utensil-based battle cry.

Sesame Street and Strawberry Shortcake – Together at last! I guess!

The Smurfs – Belgium has given the world two things: Thick crunchy delicious waffles, and this sobering account of a ruthlessly paternalistic socialist dystopia.

Star Wars/Captain Midnight/Airbender – Darth Vader and Boba Fett hangin' out, sipping blue Mandalorian space-Prosecco, getting mani-pedis, just having a girls' night out. Um, presumably. Also a story of Captain Midnight (yes, the radio guy), and a tale from Avatar: The Last Airbender Totally Not the Blue Cat People Whose Tails Are USB Ports Or Whatever.

NFL Rush Zone: Season of the Guardians – This is a comic based on an animated series that premiered in 2010, and about which I know precisely nothing. Here's the synopsis of the show's second episode. I have not made any of the following up:

"After school, Ish revisits the Chargers' stadium where he learns about the history of the Shards, the Rusherz and a powerful object called the Core; The Rusherz' home planet which held the Core was peaceful, until an evil overlord named Sudden Death attacked the planet to take the Core for himself, but the Rusherz stopped him by drilling to the Core at the center of the planet and freeing it, destroying the planet in the process and casting the Core and the Rusherz into space. The Rusherz followed the Core to Earth, where it crashed upon landing and broke into 32 Shards (which are recognized as the symbols of the 32 NFL teams). Knowing Sudden Death would not stop until he had the Core, the Rusherz each took a Shard, built the 32 NFL stadiums to hide each one in and assigned the 32 teams to guard their respective Shard in those stadiums. If Sudden Death retrieves all the shards and rebuilds the Core, he'll use the Core's power to turn everything into Blitzbots."

... Does, uh ... does that help?

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: New Animated Adventures – A comic book based on an animated series which is an update of an animated series that was based on a comic book.

Sonic The Hedgehog – A comic based on a video game.

Disney Fairies – A comic based on a series of DVDs.

Grimm – A comic based on a television show which might be a little grim/dark/gory for little kids.

BEST BETS: Bongo, The Tick

Ok. You there, in the back?

C. I used to read superhero comics when I was a kid, but then I discovered (girls/boys) and haven't really spared them a thought since. I keep hearing there's some good stuff, there.

There's some great superhero books you need to check out. Fantastic Four, Hawkeye, Daredevil, Young Avengers, Wonder Woman, Invincible, Batgirl, Dial H for Hero. None of them are FCBD offers this year, I'm afraid. Here's the ones that are:

Infinity – A preview of Marvel's big summer superhero event.

Superman Special Edition – Includes a preview of an upcoming Superman comic, and a reprint of a December 2006 story which reintroduced the character of General Zod into DC continuity. A continuity that has since been disposed of. Not once, but twice. But hey, who's counting? (Me. I am counting. Me.)

DC Nation Super Sampler – Stories introducing two new animated series, Beware the Batman and the (welcome! Groovy!) return of Teen Titans, Go!

Hulk and the Agents of SMASH/Avengers Assemble – Two stories from comics based on two Marvel animated series.

Absolution: The Beginning – Reprinting the first two issues of the Christos Gage/Daniel Gete "superheroes gone bad" series, which began in 2009.

Stan Lee's Chakra The Invincible – Set in Mumbai, this new series follows a young technological prodigy who develops a mech-suit capable of unlocking his mystical chakras. But not in the sexy way.

The Red Ten – A spandex-clad take on Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians."

Valiant Masters - Reprints of stories from the 90s, the XXXXTREEEEME!!! era of Poochie-fied, hyperviolent comics storytelling. Your mileage may vary, but I find this stuff testosterrible.

BEST BET: I dunno. Teen Titans Go was a great series. The Red Ten, maybe? And Chakra, for at least taking the genre in a different direction?

Yes, you there, with the ear-trumpet.

D. I remember, back when I was a but a barefoot boy with cheek of tan, taking a shiny-new Indian-Head nickel over to Ol' Mr. Crumblefeather's Feed Store every Saturday morning, where I'd buy me a fizzy drink and some penny candy and Li'l Orphan Annie comic book.

Uh-huh.

Then, with the change I got back, I'd take myself over to the five and dime to buy my mother some ribbons and buttons and lotions, after which I'd head over to the motion picture show and –

Okay, gramps, we get it. You harbor fond, if frankly economically and numismatically questionable, memories of comics in the olden-timey days. So for you:

Buck Rogers – Reprints of old Buck Rogers comics from the pre-TV, pre-Twiki, pre-Erin-Gray-in-the-white-catsuit, era. You were warned.

Prince Valiant – Reprints of ye olde Arthuriane comicse.

BEST BETS: Either. Both.

E. I like science fiction. It never really occurred to me to try a comic, though.

Atomic Robo and Friends – This is your best bet on Free Comic Book Day. Ask for it if you don't see it. It's great. Fun and funny. Both at once.

2000 AD Sampler – Several comics from Britain's long-running science-fiction anthology comic, including a new Judge Dredd tale. But if that doesn't fill you with enough Dredd....

Judge Dredd Classics — ... you can always pick up this sampler of old-school JD comics.

Valiant 2013 — Excerpts from Valiant's current line of science-fiction comics.

Aphrodite IX – In a post-apocalyptic world, there be dragons. If you need to know more than that before committing, this probably isn't for you.

Endangered Weapon B and the Tentacles of Doom – So is steampunk considered science fiction, nowadays? I can never keep up with you crazy kids and your rigid taxonomies. Anyway – dirigibles, a grizzly bear in a mech suit, the lost Library of Alexandia, squid-thingies-that-are-probably-aliens, more. As if more is needed.

The Steam Engines of Oz – Preview of an upcoming series set 100 years after Dorothy offs the Wicked Witch of the West. Also previews several titles in Arcana's new steampunk line of comics.

BEST BET: Atomic Robo and Friends. Seriously.

F. I Am A Disaffected Narrow-Chested Self-Styled Intellectual Given to Wearing Knit Hats Out-of-Season Who Disdains Superhero Comics As Puerile Fodder for Idiot Children And Who Finds Science Fiction And Other Genres Asinine Who Much Prefers To Read Mature, Richly Nuanced Literature About Narrow-Chested Self-Styled Intellectuals Given to Wearing Knit Hats Out-of-Season.

... You seem fun.

Who Are Also Maybe Starting a Band.

I see. Okay, gimme a minute. Because this isn't going to be easy. Historically, Free Comic Book Day has dutifully reflected the current status of the comics marketplace, which is to say: wholly dominated by superheroes, licensed tie-ins, and genre fare.

But this is a once-in-a-year opportunity to show the truly limitless breadth of comics storytelling, and FCBD offerings have never done a particularly good job of representing that. There are plenty of comics that fit your description, trust me. You'll just have buy them.

Let me get back to you on this one, okay? Yes, you there, with the clear-eyed gaze and friendly expression.

G. I'm just curious to see what's out there. I have no particular interest in superheroes, but other genres – Western, Thriller, Horror, Fantasy, whatever – are fair game. I like a good story.

Well, aren't you just exactly who comics shops hope to meet on Saturday.

Kellerman/L'Amour Sampler – Two excerpts from upcoming comics adaptations – an Alex Delaware thriller by Joe Kellerman, and a "Louis L'Amour" Western yarn that's actually a new story.

The Walking Dead – You've seen the show and wished they'd stop wringing their hands and maybe kill a freaking zombie already. Now read the book.

Mass Effect/Killjoys/RIPD – If you go by the cover, this looks like just another adaptation of a video game, which would mean it belongs up with licensed tie-ins. But it also includes two other stories, Killjoys and RIPD, both of which – but especially RIPD, about a police force that enforces supernatural law – show a bit more promise.

Damsels – A Fables-ish take which examines the life of fairy tale characters (in this case, The Little Mermaid) outside the tales we know.

FUBAR – Sampler-pack of "American History Z" stories about the American Experience ... and zombies, including an incident at Valley Forge.

Ramayan Reloaded Preview – A series of short stories providing background information on the various characters and settings featured in the series Ramayan 3392AD, which serves up a clever post-apocalyptic take on the events and characters of great Hindu epic, The Ramayana.

The Strangers – Here's how writer Chris Roberson describes this new series: "Swinging sixties supernatural super spies." Here's how I feel about that: "I'm in."

BEST BETS: Walking Dead, Damsels, Ramayan Reloaded, The Strangers.

Yes, you there. Clutching that beat-up old issue of Maxim with a strange fervor.

H. I like boobs. And guns. And chicks with boobs and guns.

Got just what you're looking for:

Worlds of Aspen 2013 – Here's what we know: The preview on the FCBD site is just a series of pin-ups. It may be all we need to know.

BEST BET: I can't help you here, buddy.

I. I wish to know more of these strange ... "comical books" of which you speak.

Bleeding Cool Magazine – An online gossip/news (but mostly gossip) comics site has published a guide to collecting comics.

Overstreet Comic Book Marketplace – Overstreet's guide is a staple of FCBD, and offers a dispassionate series of tips for the beginning collector.

BEST BET: Overstreet.

... And that's everything. Good. Now go forth ...

F. Wait, What About ...

You again. Yeah, okay, listen, Mr. Mature, Nuanced Relationship Story Blah Blah Superheroes Are Dumb Blah, you're just gonna have to suck it up and buy something, I'm afraid. Maybe next year, the FCBD organizers will wise up and throw you a bone, but not this year.

Happily, most stores will stock lots and lots of great somethings in which adults very like you negotiate the world of jobs, relationships and morality utterly without the aid of spandex, magic, or rayguns. Without knowing exactly what kind of stories you like, I can't reliably guide you to them – that's something to discuss with the staff on Saturday. But here's some titles to ask them about:

Love and Rockets. Strangers in Paradise. Blankets. Habibi. Box Office Poison. Jimmy Corrigan. Fun Home. Are You My Mother? You'll Never Know. Too Kool To Be Forgotten. Make Me a Woman. Ice Haven. Ghost World. The Voyeurs. Marbles. The Underwater Welder. Heads or Tails. Stitches.

Okay? We good? Now, you and all the rest of you. Take yourself, and your kids, to the nearest comics shop on Saturday. Talk with the staff. Ask them questions. Answer theirs.

Discover something.

As it considers a "spectrum of military options" it could take to assist the groups battling against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, the Obama administration is leaning toward giving lethal arms to some of those rebels, a senior administration official has told NPR's Kelly McEvers.

Wednesday on Morning Edition, Kelly told host Renee Montagne that it's most likely, according to the official, that the arms would be shoulder-fired missiles capable of taking down military aircraft.

Some other news outlets are reporting similar stories.

The Washington Post writes that "President Obama is preparing to send lethal weaponry to the Syrian opposition and has taken steps to assert more aggressive U.S. leadership among allies and partners seeking the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad, according to senior administration officials."

According to The New York Times, "the White House is once again considering supplying weapons to Syria's armed opposition, senior officials said Tuesday."

The Los Angeles Times adds a cautionary note about the timing of such a decision: "The White House is considering providing weapons to the Syrian rebels, officials said Tuesday, but no decision is imminent and President Obama seemed to soften his public threats to the Syrian government over its alleged use of chemical weapons."

The reports follow Tuesday's news conference at the White House. During it, the president discussed whether Assad had crossed a "red line" drawn by the U.S. — by using chemical weapons against his own people as he tries to suppress an opposition that has been battling against his forces for more than two years.

"What we have now is evidence that chemical weapons have been used" in Syria, the president said. But he added that it isn't yet known "how they were used, when they were used [or] who used them."

So, while he has said the use of such weapons would be a "game changer," the president added that "I've got to make sure I've got the facts" before taking action. If it is proved that the Assad regime used chemical weapons, Obama said, "we would have to rethink the range of options that are available to us."

Sending arms to the Syrian opposition does, of course, raise the concern that those weapons might some day fall into the hands of anti-U.S. Islamist extremists. Kelly reports that the U.S. appears to have chosen the fighters it likes and believes there is a "knowable pipeline" through which the arms could get into the right hands if the decision is made to send them.

Up to now, U.S. assistance has focused on humanitarian aid and some training of rebel fighters.

Last week's factory collapse in Bangladesh killed at least 386 people. Hundreds more are still missing, making it one of the largest manufacturing disasters in history.

This is just the latest horrific accident in the garment industry despite more than a decade of auditing aimed at improving working conditions in the developing world.

Disasters in the garment industry just keep coming. In September 2012, a fire at the Ali Enterprises factory in Pakistan killed nearly 300 workers. Six weeks later in November, a fire in the Tazreen factory in Bangladesh killed 112 people. And then last week, there was the Rana Plaza collapsed.

These factories made clothes for major Western retailers including Benetton, Wal-Mart and J.C. Penney. All of them had been inspected by what are known as social auditors. This social auditing industry once promised to root out the most dangerous and unsafe working conditions in the developing world.

In the past 20 years, it's become a big business inspecting factory working conditions and safety.

The social auditing industry traces its beginnings to child sweatshop scandals of the 1990s.

But the original story — that of Cather's cousin Grosvenor, born on the farm next to her father's — was too compelling. In the letter, Cather described taking care of Grosvenor when he was little. "We were very much alike, and very different," she wrote. "He could never escape from the misery of being himself, except in action, and whatever he put his hand to turned out either ugly or ridiculous. ... I was staying on his father's farm when the war broke out. We spent the first week hauling wheat to town. On those long rides on the wheat, we talked for the first time in years, and I saw some of the things that were really in the back of his mind.

"I had no more thought of writing a story about him than of writing about my own nose," she continued. "It was all too painfully familiar. It was just to escape from him and his kind that I wrote at all."

It's a brutally honest letter, and Jewell says that comes through in the novel. Though the character of Claude contains some elements of Cather herself, "he kind of was a person who was not a very strong person. ... He was intelligent but did not have good application of intelligence, didn't have the confidence to make strong choices in his life, was not really in control of his life. And Cather, as a woman who was so in control of her life, who was so confident in who she was, from a very young age, I think had little interest in the kind of weakling that she understood her cousin to be. But it's to her credit that she saw him differently, that she suddenly realized something about him and saw him with much more tenderness."

More Willa Cather

Author Interviews

Public Gets a Glimpse at Cather's Private Letters

Look at photographs from the Bangladesh garment factory collapse, and you can see clothing in the rubble destined for a store called Joe Fresh, one of the many retailers using super-cheap fashions made overseas to keep shoppers buying often.

But in the aftermath of the tragedy, would customers pay more if they knew the clothes were made by workers treated fairly and safely?

At the Joe Fresh store on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue, you're bombarded with pastel polo shirts, button-down shirts and chino pants. On one shelf, you might find clothes made in Peru, Vietnam and China. Toward the back, piles and piles of shorts, just $19 each, and each made in Bangladesh.

Outside the store, Reene Schiaffo emerged with a bag full of Joe Fresh merchandise. She says she knew about the Bangladesh factory collapse, but gives the company the benefit of the doubt.

"It didn't affect my sale, because I know a lot of times these retailers don't exactly know where the stuff is being made," she says, "but they have to pay attention more because that's not acceptable."

Of course, Joe Fresh has many competitors. Nearby Herald Square has become a kind of Mecca for what the industry calls fast fashion — clothes so cheap they are almost disposable. On a block with Zara, H&M, Gap and Uniqlo, I asked shoppers if they'd pay more if they knew the clothes came from safe factories that treated workers well.

Most, like Ingrid Lelorieux of France, said yes.

"If it's between 5 and 10 percent, I will," she says.

Enlarge image i

In the aftermath of last year's Newtown, Conn., school shootings, the Entertainment Software Association, which serves computer and video game publishers, issued a statement saying that years of research has shown no connection between entertainment and real-world violence.

But there's still a connection between video game makers and real-world gun makers.

Ralph Vaughn worked in public relations for Barrett Firearms Manufacturing for six years. He says part of his job was to relay messages between Barrett executives and video game companies to help the two sides come to a deal.

According to Vaughn, "[Barrett was] approached by many, many companies: video game [companies], gun safe companies, Airsoft companies."

All those companies wanted permission to use the Barrett brand.

A Different Kind Of Gun License

Gun sales spiked after the Newtown shooting, and first-person shooter games are doing blockbuster business. Last year, Call of Duty earned half a billion dollars in a day.

Technology

Video Game Violence: Why Do We Like It, And What's It Doing To Us?

On cable TV, there's a whole truckload of reality shows that make fun of working class, white Southern culture. They are some of the most popular and talked about new shows, too, such as Here Comes Honey Boo Boo and Duck Dynasty.

MTV tried cashing in on the redneck TV trend with its own hyped-up platform for young Southern kids behaving badly, Buckwild. It played like a Southern-fried version of Jersey Shore. Its stars were a dimwitted crew of young people in West Virginia drinking hard and riding pickup trucks through ditches filled with mud.

Then, one of them died, along with two other people, in a vehicle stuck in mud. The show wasn't shooting at the time, but Shain Gandee's death was enough to make MTV stop production.

Still, there are plenty more places to see blatant stereotypes of white subcultures, beyond the hicksploitation served by Buckwild. Over on VH1, Mob Wives are the cliche in-your-face Italian mafia matriarchs. AMC has backward, barely educated rural kids wandering around New York City in Breaking Amish. And barely legal prospective brides brag about marrying their cousins in My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding on TLC.

That's a big pile of the worst stereotypes about white, working class people around.

And here's the thing: There aren't nearly as many new shows like this about African-Americans or Latinos, especially if they are working class. Shows like Real Housewives of Atlanta and Love and Hip Hop Atlanta, show off more lavish lifestyles and have been around longer.

Late last year, the Oxygen channel tried to create a new one, developing a pilot featuring rapper Shawty Lo bragging that he had 11 kids by 10 different women. It was supposed to be called All My Babies' Mamas.

The backlash against this travesty was immediate and powerful. Radio personalities complained on air, harsh coverage came from CNN and Fox News, and more than 30,000 protesters signed a petition against the show on Change.org.

It worked. Oxygen announced it wouldn't develop the series.

So why haven't these other shows stereotyping white people seen protests just as strong?

I suspect it's because too many folks see stereotypes as a problem mostly for people of color.

We've got lots of practice criticizing degrading images of black and brown people. Activists know how to gather the news stories, book the media appearances and assemble the petitions to press their case. Advertisers get nervous and programmers think twice.

What many forget is that it can be just as easy to stereotype white, working class folks, and just as hard to scrub those stereotypes off your TV screen.

Eric Deggans is the TV and media critic for the Tampa Bay Times, a freelance contributor to NPR and author of the new book, Race-Baiter: How the Media Wields Dangerous Words to Divide a Nation, published by Palgrave Macmillan.

On the benefits of converting to digital projection

"I'm the guy doing the work here, so I won't have to splice movies together and carry film cans up and down stairs. I see one of the great benefits as being when a movie is made and opens at 1,000 theaters all at once, they won't have to have 1,000 prints printed; they'll only have to make 1,000 discs, or maybe they'll even do it all over the Internet and there will be no discs."

On what he plans to do next

"Well, I'm a jack-of-all-trades, licensed at none. I'll keep doing that; and I build straw-bale houses, so I'll keep doing that."

On what will take his job's place

"Well, I'm not sure what happens next, but my feeling is that the skill set involved in being the projectionist is going to be being able to push a button. Therefore, I've been telling the other projectionists that if they want job security here, they better learn to pop popcorn."

Hollywood Jobs

Private Screening: How Hollywood Watches Its Work

We physicists are all romantics. Don't laugh; it's true. In our youth we all fall deeply in love. We fall in love with a beautiful idea: beyond this world of constant change lies another world that is perfect and timeless.

This eternal domain is made not of matter or energy. It's made from perfect, timeless mathematical laws. Finding those exquisite eternal laws — or better yet, a single timeless formula for everything — is the Holy Grail we dedicate our lives to.

Unless we lose faith in that Grail. That's what's happened to physicist Lee Smolin, author of the new book Time Reborn. As he puts it:

I used to think my job as a theoretical physicist was to find that formula. Now I see my faith in its existence as a kind of mysticism.

We physicists are all romantics. Don't laugh; it's true. In our youth we all fall deeply in love. We fall in love with a beautiful idea: beyond this world of constant change lies another world that is perfect and timeless.

This eternal domain is made not of matter or energy. It's made from perfect, timeless mathematical laws. Finding those exquisite eternal laws — or better yet, a single timeless formula for everything — is the Holy Grail we dedicate our lives to.

Unless we lose faith in that Grail. That's what's happened to physicist Lee Smolin, author of the new book Time Reborn. As he puts it:

I used to think my job as a theoretical physicist was to find that formula. Now I see my faith in its existence as a kind of mysticism.

Congress decided last week to ease the effects of the across-the-board federal spending cuts on travelers upset over airport delays. But low-income Americans who rely on government housing aid are still feeling the pain.

Housing authorities across the country have all but stopped issuing rent vouchers as they try to deal with the cuts known as sequestration. Many newly issued vouchers have been rescinded, leaving some people homeless or doubled up with family and friends.

And the cuts come at a time when there's a severe shortage of affordable housing across the country.

'Homeless Again'

Melissa Rothkugel, 28, had waited seven years for a housing voucher to help cover her rent in Connecticut. Last year, she lost her job, became homeless and got pregnant. So you can imagine how happy she was in February when she got a letter telling her she had finally been approved for aid.

"I actually broke down and cried," she recalls. "Because, I mean, when they issued me the voucher, I thought everything was going to start getting better and looking up."

She filled out the paperwork, attended orientation in Hartford and started to look for an apartment. But within days she was rushed to the hospital to give birth to a baby daughter. A week later, she got another letter that made her cry.

"It said, due to the budget cuts, that they were revoking my voucher," she says. "So I was back to square one in being homeless again."

Now, she, her baby and her boyfriend are living in her brother's basement.

Rothkugel's voucher was one of 88 rescinded by the city of Hartford in response to federal spending cuts.

'No Recourse'

Hartford isn't alone. In Fort Worth, Texas, 99 vouchers were canceled for families that hadn't yet signed leases. In Minnesota, more than 160 vouchers have been put on hold.

In Fairfax, Va., Roger Bottomley thought a voucher was within reach after 10 years of homelessness, when he was scheduled for an interview this month with the local housing authority. Then it was canceled.

"They didn't have the money for it, the way I understand it," he says.

So he's still living on the street.

"I stayed at the bus stop last night," he says. "It wasn't too cold out."

Across the country, housing authorities say their hands are tied. They have to cut about $2 billion this year in public housing and voucher programs that subsidize rents for the poorest Americans. It's part of the larger stalemate in Washington over how to deal with the budget.

"There is no recourse," says Alex Sanchez, executive director of the housing authority in Santa Clara County, Calif. "We're simply passing on what the Congress decided."

The Santa Clara County housing authority has 25,000 people on its waiting list. But there will be no new vouchers this year. The agency has also asked the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for permission to raise the amount that tenants already in the program will have to pay. Sanchez says it's a hardship on his clients — who are mostly elderly and disabled — but he hopes it will do the trick.

"The very last step we want to take is to actually take people off the program," he says. "But if the cuts continue, I don't believe there will be any other alternative."

'Inflicting Pain'

Sanchez says he thinks Congress should reverse the sequester. But it doesn't look promising.

President Obama has called the sequester "dumb." But he said at a news conference Tuesday that the kind of action lawmakers took last week — to prevent the furloughing of air-traffic controllers — is too short-sighted.

"They should be thinking about what's going to happen five years from now, 10 years from now or 15 years from now," he said. "The only way to do that is for them to engage with me on coming up with a broader deal."

But the president's broader deal would include more tax revenue, something Republicans vehemently oppose. They want deeper spending cuts instead. In the GOP radio address this past weekend, Pennsylvania Rep. Bill Shuster blamed the sequester mess squarely on the president.

"There are some in the Obama administration who thought inflicting pain on the public would give the president more leverage to avoid making necessary spending cuts and to impose more tax hikes on the American people," he said.

But to people like Rothkugel in Connecticut and Bottomley in Virginia, this is all business as usual. They don't expect to get help anytime soon.