NPR News reel

So, with that said, let's jump in here. First thing we have for you is a voice-over from Chris Kelly at KQW in Pittsburgh. That concerning and fatal accident yesterday afternoon on the kind of on the Bourbon Crawford County line in Southeast Kansas number two. Soundbite from Michelle Philip, the spokesperson of Western Resources on the merger between KCPL and Western number three. Soundbite from the esteemed gentleman from Kansas Senator Pat Roberts on the first act. And the voice and fist things we have for you come from DePica Postmaster Steven Pinkerton on the breast cancer stamp, which went on cell today nationwide. Hi, Steve Lee. How's that going, Dan? Oh, pretty good. Here are your leads. First up, Southeast Kansas authorities worked into the evening yesterday, sorting out a highway crash that killed two people and injured 10 others.

Chris Kelly has details. 40 seconds, standard Q. Chris, of course, with KKW in Pittsburgh. Number two. In separate meetings this morning, shareholders of Western Resources and Kansas City Power and Light voted to approve the proposed merger agreement between the two companies. Western Resources spokesperson Michelle Philip, 14 seconds on the bite. The alky not trading or the alky is trading yet tag West our energy will serve over a million electric customers in Kansas and Missouri. Next, Kansas Senator Pat Roberts is calling for passage of the Family Investment and Rural Savings Tax Act in the U.S. Senate. Roberts says the legislation is necessary to give farmers and ranchers financial planning tools. 12 seconds alky world market place to add the legislation to do three things.

It provides IRA type accounts for farmers, reduced capital gains taxes by 5% and also make permanent income averaging. Next. Postal customers can now help fight breast cancer when mailing letters. The U.S. Postal Services new breast cancer semi postal stamp is available nationwide. To peak its postmaster, Stephen Pinkerton says the first class stamp will sell for 40 cents. 12 seconds on this first bite, the alky is breast cancer. Tag the eight cents search charge on the stamp will go to the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense to find research efforts. Statistics indicate breast cancer claims the life of a woman every 12 minutes. Number two, the U.S. Postal Services unveiling a 40 cents stamp today to peak its postmaster, Steve Pinkerton says the stamp is the result of the 1997 stamp out breast cancer act. 15 seconds on this bite again, the alky breast cancer.

Tag 70% of the proceeds will go to the National Institutes of Health and 30% will go to the Department of Defense. The 40 cents breast cancer stamp features a woman and is captioned, fund the fight, find a cure. Okay, here's your sound. First up, Chris Kelly, 42nd standard QN-321. Reconvolved to five vehicles and closed Highway 69 between your Northeast corner in Fort Scott for most of the afternoon. The dead were identified at 65-year-old Abeddi Dura set and 43-year-old Iona Love, both of Fort Scott. A Pittsburgh family, a woman from Ulysses, Kansas, a Galena man and three other passengers in the Dura set band were injured. The wreck happened when a semi-trailer truck driven by 28-year-old Maulvin Real Paget Ray of Joplin, re-rend at a car stopped for construction zone near a one-lane bridge. The car was knocked into another, sending both into a ditch. The semi went on to strike a band head-on, which didn't fund into the path and struck a fifth vehicle. Emergency units from Fort Scott and Crawford County were summoned to the scene.

Chris Kelly, Pittsburgh. Next up, Michelle Philip, 14-Seconds-LQ trading yet in three, two, one. The value of the transaction has been estimated to be in the neighborhood of two billion. It's a little difficult to tell right now because the valuation of the new stock, which would be Westart Energy, obviously hasn't started trading yet. Next up, Symitur Pat Roberts, 12-Seconds-LQ World Marketplace, three, two, one. We have a three-part tax bill that I think will go a long way toward giving farmers and ranchers the risk management tools they need to stay competitive. In today's very tough world marketplace. Next up, Stephen Pinkerton, 12-Seconds-LQ breast cancer, three, two, one. It's a standard first-rate stamp. It's non-denominational. It's sort of blue to green to orange. And it says, fund the fight, find the cure, breast cancer.

Again, Pinkerton, 15-Seconds-LQ. So-called partial birth abortions and putting new restrictions on all other abortions after the 22nd week of pregnancy. Ben Bellman, Kansas Information Network, Topeka. Next up, Dave Seabold, 32nds-LQ, and three, two, one. A hearing officer decided earlier this month that the city had not negotiated in good faith with international brotherhood of electrical workers local 15-23. The board agreed with the hearing officer after hearing arguments from both sides. City Attorney Paul Kreitz says the city is still considering what their next action will be, which could include filing a review in district record. Negotiations were halted last August when city officials refused to meet with union representatives, as long as a recently fired city worker remained on the bargaining team. Dave Seabold, Coffeeville. Okay, that's news call. Of course, our number here at the Kansas Information Network, 800-232-607-800-232-6007. That, of course, the number to call with questions, comments, criticisms, and above all else contributions.

Again, 800-232-607. That's news call. Thank you. Good day. Hello, everyone. This is meteorologist Rob Peppers for the Kansas Information Network. Showers and thunderstorms covered much of the state of Kansas during the last 24 hours, with the most concentrated and heaviest rainfall occurring from portions of central and north central Kansas into the east central part of the state. In fact, several areas from Selina, eastward to junction city and in southeast to just north of Emporia reported rainfall amounts of two to four inches with perhaps up to four and a half in isolated spots. Rainfall was a little bit more scattered though across the southern and western parts of the state, but even there, there were a few spots which had significant rain. And we're still seeing scattered showers and thunderstorms in the eastern half of the state and also up in north central and northwestern Kansas.

Otherwise, temperatures continue to be quite a bit cooler than they were earlier in the week. In fact, much, much cooler in many areas with temperatures now mostly in the 60s and 70s. And we will see a mix of sun and clouds right along the Oklahoma border this afternoon. Otherwise, skies look to be mostly cloudy across the state of Kansas with more showers and thunderstorms developing or pushing across the state. That's expected to see some redevelopment later this afternoon into the nighttime hours with again the potential for some localized heavy rainfall with the best shot at scene heavy rain tonight in the central and eastern part of the state and with a frontal boundary. Opening up themselves to at least discussion and criticism of their own handling of it, I can't think of another example where news organization has not only apologized for. People under this magnitude, but where critics, and in this case, the people who were fired were put on the air and allowed to have their say, you certainly can't accuse CNN of sweeping this under the rug. They made Kaplan available for reliable sources, the program that I appear on. But none of this completely mitigates the damage. It does enable CNN to say that we have taken steps to deal with the mistakes that we have made here, but it doesn't mitigate the fact that some pretty serious errors and judgment were in fact made.

Was there, by the way, somebody on this program who was either nominally or by function, the editor and who actually said after looking over the program, this passes my scrutiny. It's okay or I asked them to go back and fix that and they did or check that and they didn't. Well, the person who probably most closely approximated that role would be Pamela Hill, the woman who resigned, who was the entourage of the CNN magazine programs. But it went to two levels above her at the Atlanta headquarters, Rick Kaplan and Tom Johnson, the chairman of CNN, who himself has twice offered to resign, but that resignation has been turned down by Ted Turner, the founder of the network. Those guys, television professionals, looked at this, raised some questions, but obviously didn't raise enough questions and it sort of raises the issue of, what was the great rush to get this on the air? We're talking about an alleged incident in Laos that happened 28 years ago. They weren't going to get beat on this story. And the only impetus that I can see for not holding it up even after CNN's own Pentagon reporter raised questions about the validity of the story was that they had the debut of this program,

and CNN in time, and this obviously would make for a very splashy debut, probably made a bigger splash than they had imagined. Howard Kurtz, thank you very much for talking with us. Thank you. Howard Kurtz covers the media for the Washington Post. tapes and transcripts of all things considered are now available, call toll free 1-888-NPR News. For program listings, visit our website at www.npr.org. All things considered as a production of National Public Radio, which is solely responsible for its content. This is NPR, National Public Radio.

Support for National Public Radio comes from this and other National Public Radio stations. Other contributors include Archer Daniels Midland Company, helping Americans to lead healthier lives by making antioxidants such as vitamin E from soybeans and vitamin C from corn, ADM, supermarket to the world, on the worldwide web at www.ADMWorld.com. This is NPR, National Public Radio. I'm Bob Edwards. While most of America is sound asleep, the morning edition team is hired at work. By the time you get up, our workday is in full swing, and we're ready to bring you a full program of news, features, and conversation. So, rest easy. We'll keep tabs on the news. When you wake up, we'll be right here. NPR's morning edition.

It's all things considered, I'm Robert Siegel. And I'm Linda Worthheimer in this half hour, Nutria, on the menu. Closing arguments in Prokipsi. And remembering the author of Eloise. Absolutely love the plaza.

In New York City, members of the UN General Assembly voted to upgrade the status of the Palestinian delegation. Both the United States and Israel voted against the move. Israel saying that it contradicts Middle Eastern peacemaking. NPR's Linda Gradstein reports from Jerusalem. The General Assembly passed the upgrade resolution by a vote of 124 in favor to 4 against with 10 abstentions. It gives the Palestine Liberation Organization rights closer to those of a member state. A statement by Israel's foreign ministry said the decision creates a negative precedent and contradicts the principles of the peace process and the spirit of Oslo. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu played down the United Nations vote saying the PLO achieved only minor corrections in its status. The decision came as Israeli Palestinian peace talks have been deadlocked for almost a year and a half. Today, two Israeli cabinet ministers called on Netanyahu to respond within days Israeli pullback from the occupied West Bank. NPR News Jerusalem.

In Nigeria, government officials say that leading political prisoner Masood Aviola has died on an apparent heart attack. He became ill during a meeting with a visiting U.S. delegation. He reportedly was scheduled to get out of prison sometime next week. On Capitol Hill, the Senate is considering a slim-down version of product liability legislation. It would set a national cap on punitive damages for small businesses. The White House is backing the compromise, but opponents are pressing for changes. NPR's Peter Kenyon has more in the story. President Clinton vetoed the last product liability bill to cross his desk on the grounds that it was unfair to consumers. But this year, Republicans have removed many of the provisions the White House found offensive. The cap on punitive damages, for example, is now limited to firms with fewer than 25 full-time employees and revenues that don't exceed $5 million. Washington Republican Slade Gorton says product lawsuits have gotten out of hand. There's not much point in selling $100,000 worth of materials in a year. If it's going to cost you a million dollars a year, successfully defend yourself against lawsuits.

Critics say the bill still protects business at the expense of consumers. Some Democrats are pushing to exempt small gun manufacturers from the bill's protections. The measure would already exempt tobacco companies from the damages cap. Peter Kenyon and NPR News, the Capitol. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrials moved down seven points to close at 9,085.04 in active trading. This is NPR News. Puerto Rico, a general strike in protest of a planned sale of the government-owned telephone company, has closed banks and shops. Thousands of people are taking part in the 48-hour walk-out. One of the focal points of the demonstration is the International Airport at San Juan. Many protesters today gathered in front of the airport, causing a traffic jam. A human rights group is accused of local and federal governments of looking the other way when it comes to police brutality. NPR's Barbara Bradley has more in that story. After examining 14 cities, human rights watch concluded that police brutality remains a problem in the US. The organization said police departments often don't punish violent police officers, even after the officers have been sued. It also blamed the Justice Department for failing to prosecute police for civil rights violations.

However, the report was thin on numbers, and spokesman could not say definitively whether police have, in fact, become more aggressive. In New York City, where statistics are available, complaints have risen by more than a third since police began arresting offenders for smaller crimes in 1993. Even there, the activists could not say whether people were complaining more because abuse has increased, or because there's a complaint mechanism, Barbara Bradley, and Pierre News, Washington. Chancellor Media is buying Lynn Television for more than $900 million in stock. Chancellor is one of the largest owners of radio stations in the country, and this is its first entry into television. Lynn's current CEO has been named President of Chancellor's Television Operations. In trading in Europe, the dollar was mixed. I'm Ann Taylor, NPR News, Washington.

Support for National Public Radio comes from National Public Radio stations, Jennifer and Ted Stanley, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. This is all things considered. I'm Linda Worthheimer. And I'm Robert Siegel. Louisiana has a novel approach to saving the states in endangered wetlands, encouraged people to eat nutria. Those are the orange tooth rodents that have been chewing away thousands of acres of marshland. Most Louisiana residents regard the nutria as swamp rats, and are not that interested in nutria cuisine. NPR's Debbie Elliott reports that the state has launched a full-scale campaign to change people's minds.

On a Saturday morning at the Louisiana Nature Center in New Orleans, Art Commier is stirring two big kettles. Would you like to try some of these nutria tamales? Very good. Commier is dishing up free samples of his hot tamales and spaghetti sauce at NutriFS 1998. So if we can get them started here, if we can get occasions interested in eating all of these nutris balls, they're going to be in trouble. We'll be able to keep them under control. NutriaFest is one way the state of Louisiana is trying to persuade people to eat nutria, the muskrat-like rodent that's overrun the state's swamps eating away threatened wetlands. It's inevitable in Louisiana that somebody's going to make a joke, oh my gosh, if we can figure out some good recipes for them, that would solve the problem. It's a typical Louisiana response. Dr. Bob Thomas is the former director of the Louisiana Nature Center, where the NutriaFest was born. The event features all kinds of dishes, including smoked nutria, cajun jerk nutria, and even screaming Mongolian nutria, along with the more traditional cajun recipes, like nutria jambalaya and sauce pecan.

Thomas admits the state has taken on a tall task, trying to convince residents that the annoying creatures with bright orange incisors, hunched backs, and long skinny tails belong on the dinner table. Some people are bothered by the orange teeth. I think what it is, I see around here, they're so common, and they're in our roadside ditches and stuff along our highways and byways, but they get run over a lot. They're very slow moving animals. And so you see dead nutria on the roads everywhere you go. I would be willing to wager that if you drove around anywhere in the United States and saw dead cows on the side of the road, people would stop eating beef. Roadkill aside, wildlife officials say alligator, crawfish, and even redfish were a hard sell at first. Now they're considered staples of cajun cuisine. So the state has turned to cajuns, like Art Commie, to help develop the market for nutria. Commie spend eating nutria meat for nearly 20 years.

It's a meat that really takes to the season that you're cooking with. If you're cooking like a sauce pecan, it's going to make a heck of a sauce pecan. If you're cooking like these tamales we have over here, it's incredible. Here it really is. The story of how nutria became such a problem here as as interesting as the ways it can be prepared. In 1937, E.A. Macklehenny, the inventor of Tabasco hot sauce, imported 13 nutria from Argentina. The South American natives Golden Brown fur was popular in Canada and Europe and Macklehenny wanted to start a fur business in Louisiana. His nutria collection had grown to 150 within two years. But soon, the business was wiped out. Greg Lenskom is with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Hurricane came through in 1940, knocked the fence down, and he was just devastated. I was fortunate enough to talk to a gentleman that worked for him. And he said, Mr. Macklehenny said, well, that's the end of the nutria. We'll never see any more of the alligators only every one.

But he underestimated the nutria. Indeed, from those 150 animals, Louisiana's nutria population grew to 20 million by 1960. For the next 20 years, fur trappers kept the nutria population under control harvesting more than a million pelts a year. But prices fell as the fur trade declined in the 80s. So did the nutria harvest, leaving the fast breeding animal to take over the state swamps. In the desolomon swamp near New Orleans, Lenskom points out groups of nutria resting on clumps of twigs and leaves. And there's one right in the base of the willow tree. You see the one right there? Any place that they can build a slightly elevated platform to get up out of the water. Lenskom says, today there are as many as 18 nutria per acre in Louisiana's wetlands. With web-tined feet, sharp front claws and long front teeth, the nutria moves slowly through the swamp, pulling up plants and chewing away their roots. Dotted along the edge of the green marsh are dark areas of mud or water where there's little or no vegetation. Lenskom says that's where nutria have been feeding.

As they pull with their front paws, they're digging down to get to the base of these plants and you can see how the mud is pulled up. Lenskom says a 1996 air survey showed that nutria had eaten away more than 80,000 acres of Louisiana wetlands. For landowners, it's a costly problem. Bill Berry is director of wetlands management for Burlington Resources, the nation's largest private owner of coastal wetlands. We lose our land, you know, when the nutria have what they call, you know, an eat-out area. Of course, then they destroy all the vegetation. We have these very friable organic soils and then here comes a high tide, here comes a winter storm, here comes a hurricane and it just washes that land away and never to return. Nutria have also been wreaking havoc and rice and sugarcane fields and eating holes in the state system of storm levies. In Jefferson Parish, a suburb of New Orleans, officials say nutria have caused more than $8 million in damage by burrowing tunnels that undermine drainage canals, sidewalks and streets.

The state would like to get the nutria off the land and into stores and restaurants. Starting next year, the state will offer a dollar subsidy to trappers and 75 cents a pound to nutria processors. The incentive payments are part of the state's $2.1 million nutria marketing project. Right now, the only retail outlet for Louisiana Nutriop is Calvin's Bokaj Market in Baton Rouge. In the meat counter between the crawfish and the stuffed chicken, nutria hind quarters sell for $1.79 a pound. Market owner Calvin Linsley says he sold about 200 pounds of nutria meat since he started carrying it two months ago. He calls it the latest trend in Louisiana cooking. I had some guy that called me the other day. Then he pulled up ice chest and hand bought three nutrients. He's going to go home and he's going to smoke one stew one and do something else with one. And he's going to bring it back to his work the next day. Let everybody try.

So it's just a bad gimmick, I guess, I don't know. It's a fad the state would like to export. Greg Linscomb says the state recently sent a representative and a Cajun chef to Japan. And there'll be one of the largest food shows in the world with 700 pounds of nutria meat trying to interest people in other parts of the world in the product. And I think it'll go real well. Europeans have been eating nutria for years, where it's considered a delicacy under its French name, Ragon Dan. The state has even hired Chef Philip Perola of the Louisiana Culinary Institute to create gourmet nutria cuisine. At the Nutria Fest, Perola's student, Michelle Casano, demonstrated the new recipes, including Nutria Fettuccini, Ragon Dan Allarange, and Nutria Opois with the Brandy Black Pepper Sauce. We're going to use nutria that we baked in mustard with this. You basically take your hindsight, rub it down with mustard, a little bit of pepper, seasoning, bake it in the oven for an hour, and then pull the pieces off and we're going to use it with this sauce.

Tom Black liked what he tasted. This has cream in it, and this is the cream. This is terrific. On the meat it's sort of tender as well. Very good. No, I'd buy it. I'd eat it. Other opinions varied. It's different, but it's good. It's not nasty. It's not delicious. It's okay. I can't really tell that it's Nutria. It's Nutria. It doesn't have a little bit of the wild flavor, or it doesn't have something that distinguishes it immensely from a regular tamale. It's very tasty. We're not eating anything. We're not touching anything. But the smoke neutral is pretty good. It rolls good.

I wouldn't order it in the restaurant, but I'll taste it. It's that kind of attitude that makes Mike Gelpie of New Orleans skeptical about the state's Nutria Marketing Plan. Maybe another place is where they don't know what they're eating, but locally I think there's a stigma attached to it. I think everybody here knows what a Nutria looks like, and doesn't want to eat something that looks like that. Still, state officials are optimistic about the possibilities for Nutria. Art Comye says, for a state that's losing 35 miles of coastal wetlands each year, marketing Nutria is worth a try. The Nutria is not the total answer, but it's one part of the puzzle that can help to at least slow it down. Louisiana's Nutria Demonstration Project started last fall and will run for five years. By then, state officials hope Nutria Jambalaya will be as popular as Crawfish A2Fay. Debbie Elliott and VR News, New Orleans. La la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la. Food fads come and go, and commentator Lenore Scanese isn't hot on trendy cuisine.

In fact, she's big on the basics, especially when it comes to dessert. At my little dinner party on Saturday night, I served a layer cake for dessert and everyone was surprised. Apparently, layer cakes are not very in at parties anymore unless they have about seven candles stuck in them and a couple of little mermaid nymphets. But what happened to this once proud American dessert that it has descended into juvenile novelty? While pie has kept its dignity intact and even ridden a tide of rustic chic, like quilts, cakes have sunk like bad soufflays. There's something at once too simple and sinful about them. Too simple and that they lack cognac in the batter or a truffled hazelnut raspberry glaze. No one serves layer cake brulee. But there's sinful too and that there's absolutely nothing redeeming about a layer cake health wise, unless you count frosting as one of your four basic food groups, which by the way I happen to do. But most people don't.

So they end their suowraise with poached pears, a dessert guaranteed to send chills up the spines of fruit flies. Or they serve brick hard biscotti when they know everyone would really rather have a gooey chocolate chip cookie. Or they bring out that damn smug pie again. Thing is, everyone loved having layer cake at my house. It made them feel young and happy and full. To me, that's what every dessert should strive for. In fact, that's what every person should strive for. So ta ta tiramisu. Give me a slice of life. Lenore Skinesi is a columnist for the New York Daily News. The New York Daily News.

It's all things considered. The New York Daily News. This is all things considered. I'm Linda Worthimer.

And I'm Robert Siegel. Closing arguments wrapped up today in the defamation trial of three advisers to Toana Brawley, the Reverend Al Sharpton, Alton Maddox, and Sea Vernon Mason. In 1987, Brawley, who was black, claimed that she had been raped by a gang of white men in upstate New York. She was 15 years old at the time. Brawley's advisers repeatedly named a local prosecutor, Stephen Pagones, as one of her attackers. Pagones sued for defamation after a grand jury exonerated him and found ample evidence that she had made up the story. The jury is expected to receive the case tomorrow. From Pekipsi, New York, NPR's Melissa Block reports. After three days of defamation from the defense team, today it was the plaintiff's turn, while each of the defense lawyers took a full day, William Stanton, representing Stephen Pagones, spent just under an hour and a half on his closing arguments.

And he responded to the defendant's charges that this case was about trying to silence them and deny their First Amendment rights. This case is not about civil rights. Stanton said it's not about a massive cover-up. Simply put, this case is about defamation. Stanton accused the defendant of lying in court. They're trying to create stories to justify their defamation he told the jurors. Don't believe them. Don't be fooled. To back up his claim that the defendant's acted with recklessness or actual malice, Stanton said they ignored clear evidence that indicated Broly's story was false. Five times in his summation, Stanton repeated that the defendant's purposely avoided the truth if the evidence didn't fit with what he called their preconceived storyline. Stanton summarized the defendant's thinking about the contradictory evidence this way. We don't want to know that. We're running with this. We're going to become famous. This is our road to power.

Stanton said they didn't care who they stepped on or stepped over. They destroyed lives for their own self-advancement. That's the reason they perpetrated this lie. He went on, quoting the Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Garbals. If you could repeat the lie long enough and loud enough and often enough people will start believing it. He cautioned the jurors, don't fall into that trap. Stanton also highlighted the fact that Tawana Broly never appeared to testify in court. Where is Tawana Broly? Stanton asked, why isn't she here? And wrapping up, he told the jurors, these men are dangerous. They're bad, they're evil. Don't let them get away with this. Later, outside the courtroom defendant Severan and Mason said Stanton's summation exposed him as an absolute racist. He did everything but called us niggas. He said we were dangerous, we were evil, we were bad. Why don't you use the n-word you racist? Automatic said Stanton's summation reminded him of the 1930s case of the Scotsboro boys in Alabama. He obviously is banking on the fact that this is a racist community. And out of that racism, he's fanning the claims of prejudice.

And I think that as I indicated yesterday, it's very clear that there is no evidence in this case that he has failed musically. And the only thing that he wants in this county is a judicial mention of three black men. Reverend L. Sharpton was not in court today. Plaintiff Stephen Pagonus expressed relief that the case is finally going to the jury ten years after he filed suit and after a nearly eight months long trial that spanned four seasons. I think that we have established unequivocally that Mason Maddox and Sharpton acted with a reckless disregard, acted with malice. I think it's clear that through their lies and their acts, they set race relations back. They heard a lot of people. I'm hoping that the jury comes back and finds my favorite holds accountable for all the damage that they've caused. Tomorrow the judge will instruct the jury on the law governing defamation. There are 22 counts. The jurors will have to answer a total of 113 separate questions on those counts. The jury does not have to be unanimous. A vote of five out of six jurors is required to find the defendant's liable for defamation.

Melissa Block and Pierre News, Pachypsey, New York. We learned today of the death of Kay Thompson, the nightclub singer, who made a name for herself with the children's book published in 1955. I am Eloise. I am six. So begins Eloise, a book for precocious grown-ups about a little girl who lives at the Plaza Hotel. Eloise is a terrifying child and a bit of a brat who keeps the staff of the Plaza on their toes while somehow getting everyone to tolerate her and many even to like her. She rides the elevators and roams the halls of the big hotel, spying on guests and crashing their parties and ordering room service. Ooh, I absolutely love room service. They always know it's me and they say, yes, Eloise. And I always say, hello, this is me, Eloise. And as you kindly send one roast beef bone, one raisin, and seven spoons to the top floor, and charge it, please, thank you very much.

Then I hang up and look at the ceiling for a while and think of a way to get a present. I absolutely dislike school, so Philip is my tutor. He goes to and over. My mother knows the Dean. He wears red garters and is boring, boring, boring. When we have our French lesson, he reads in French about La Patite cuisine, the Marie and her Jordan. And sometimes I listen to him, but not very often. Here's what makes Philip angry. He says, allores, new commissarons. And I say, allores, new commissarons. And he says, shall we settle down, Eloise? And I say, shall we settle down, Eloise? And he says, that's quite enough, Eloise. And I say, that's quite enough, Eloise. And he says, I mean it, Eloise. And I say, I mean it, Eloise. Right back at him. And he looks at me with fiercely eyes. And I look right back at him with fiercely eyes. And he says, that will do, Eloise. And I say, that will do, Eloise.

And then he stands up and says, very well, Eloise. And then I stand up and say, very well, Eloise. And then he walks around the room. And then I walk around the room. And then he screams, Nanny! And then I scream, Nanny! And Nanny comes in yelling, no, no, no, Eloise. And claps her hands on Skipper D and Nee. Gibble over and hide behind the television or fall dead behind a hidden door. And then Nanny puts her arm around Philip. And she calls her in service and says, send three of everything, please. It's said that Ms. Thompson got the idea of Eloise from the many nights she spent in hotels during her years as a nightclub singer. She would entertain her backup singers, the likes of Andy Williams, pretending to be a little girl who talked in a high-pitched voice. Those improvisations became a book when Illustrator Hillary Knight gave shape to the horrible little girl. And Ms. Thompson suddenly had a hit on her hands. There was a doll and TV specials. And the plaza itself had a room for a while that they'd show young visitors who asked to see where Eloise lived.

K. Thompson told an interviewer in 1975 that she thought she might have discovered the secret of life. A lot of hard work, a lot of sense of humor, a lot of joy, and a whole lot of tralala. Eloise had a lot of tralala. Her creator, K. Thompson, died last week in New York. Her lawyer says she was in her 90s. Selections from the book, Eloise, were read by Emily Dickinson Mason. You're listening to NPR's All Things Considered. Support for National Public Radio comes from this and other NPR stations.

But commentator David Weinberger says we're closer than you may think. Computers are getting emotional, and it's a good thing. Rosalind Picard, at MIT, in her book Affective Computing, makes a case for giving computers the ability to recognize emotions and maybe to act as if they have emotions. To see how this makes sense, you have to consider the changing role of computers. When they started, computers were calculators, figuring out the trajectory of shells and munching through census statistics. Then more and more tools were added from word processors through accounting software. But once the Macintosh and Windows came along, our computer became not a tool but a place in which we use these computer tools. That's how emotion gets in. Places are emotional. They have character. Children are very attuned to the affective quality of places. We adults are too, although for most of us basements just aren't as scary as they used to be. But we feel snug in our bedroom, relaxed in a particular corner of our living room, social in our kitchen. Places have affect.

The Windows or Macintosh desktop is also a place with emotional affective qualities. The background graphic we choose, the way we arrange the icons, the names we give to our files, all make the computer very personal so that using someone else's laptop feels intrusive. And with the worldwide web, the computer now is more than a desktop. It opens up this strange virtual world in which we can visit other people's places, each with its own emotional, evocative, affective qualities. That's one way computers are emotional. But that's very different from having a talking, feeling computer like how in 2001. And we may end up with computers that respond as if they were humans. But well before that, computers will evolve into better and better places. Computers, telephones, and televisions are already rapidly converging, which will make computers even more adept as communication devices, as transporters, into virtual places. So computers will bring us richer and richer emotional environments and experiences, but perhaps in the form of meaningful, resonant places, not so much as virtual people who act like our friends and like how plot behind our backs.

Our world is already imbued with emotion. Why would the world open by computers? Be any different. David Weinberger is the editor of the Journal of the Hyperlinked Organization. We're listening to NPRs, all things considered. This is NPR, National Public Radio.

If you're tardy for work, you have to get a note from the mayor's office. I think that unknown higher office that the mayor is campaigning for is going to be principal of the United States of America. You know when he starts walking in the ladies room looking for smokers, he's gone too far.