NPR's 404 Page | Hacker News Reader

NPR's 404 Page

npr.org

85 pointsWingForward29 comments

NPR is the best thing that has happened to radio and media. All Things Considered, Fresh Air, On Point, and Car Talk are some of the best programs on radio.

please don't forget Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Greatest news quiz show ever.

Oh, yeah, for sure. They had They Might Be Giants on a few days ago. That was awesome.

You forgot the best one... this american life

That's PRI not NPR, which is relevant because NPR famously rejected the show (then had to license it from PRI because it's so good).

I once heard Ira Glass talking about why he didn't make it on NPR... he was hosting the national phone-in show for a few months, and they would have expert panels discussing things like the Cold War. One day, some national security expert -- evidently trying to play the folksy card -- responded to a question by saying, "Well, it's like my grandmother says, blah blah blah". Glass' immediate instinct was to say, "Oh really? Tell me more about your grandmother!" He always wanted to go for the marginal, overlooked thing. I love that story.

One other point before I get off this NPR binge: has anyone else noticed that Ira Glass' vocal mannerisms have been picked up by the new generation of NPR journalists? This is really annoying. It's like a whole generation of singers imitating Bob Dylan. Listen, people: it was cool when he did it; you are making asses of yourselves. The worst offenders are the people on that "Planet Money" team; I can hardly listen to them. Ok, rant over.

TAL is actually produced by Chicago Public Radio and distributed by Public Radio International.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_american_life

Which is funny because Ira Glass specifically warns against that. Talk like yourself. But then again, maybe we imitate masters to learn before we figure out which ones of the things we're imitating are right, and which are just effects we're cargo culting.

Though he's certainly the most oft-imitated, it's not just Ira Glass who's mannerisms have been copied. The folks on Marketplace all sound alike - even the women sound like Kai Ryssdal. Additionally, the very odd cadences of Robin Bloom on WHYY have caught on to some degree amongst other voices on NPR.

Now you're touching a nerve. I'm a big NPR fan, have listened to Wait Wait since they started, and it pains me to say: that show has deteriorated. Most of their panelists suck, especially the ones who seem to appear most often. I find myself cringing at how lame they are... not a good sign for a comedy show.

I'll throw in my favorites: Forum and Marketplace.

Kai Ryssdal has to be one of the best financial news persons, with his rather interesting sarcasm that he uses very effectively.

I whole-heartedly agree! But sir, you forgot Radiolab! http://wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/

OnPoint has some of the most interesting topics and guests of any show I've ever listened to and the discussion is notoriously civil. Also today's episode looks interesting: "Google v. China" http://www.onpointradio.org/2010/01/google-vs-china

After three years of searching for the Apollo 11 tapes, NASA concluded that the footage of the first manned moon landing is probably lost forever.

How come I never knew that Apollo 11 footage was lost?

I'm wondering why my comment downmodded; I'd like to know in what way I may have violated community guidelines, so I don't again. I suppose my comment was not useful, is that it?

Yes. Only you know why you hadn't seen the coverage of the lost Apollo tapes. So, your comment was about as useful to the conversation as, "where oh where did I put my car keys?"

Fair enough. I'll keep that in mind for the future.

If his question were taken literally, then that might be a good explanation. But it seems pretty obvious that he is asking why it isn't more widely known that something so important was lost.

Two potentially instructive responses might be "The lost Apollo 11 tapes have been all over the news and everyone except you knows about them" or "NASA only recently admitted this embarrassing fact and it was released on Sunday morning to minimize media coverage."

BTW, I didn't downvote until his comment was briefly at +2; it wasn't a bad comment, just a vague/rhetorical/possibly-paranoid comment I wouldn't want to encourage.

If he had clarified that he was wondering why it hadn't gotten more coverage, I would have pointed out I remembered a bunch of coverage a few years ago -- coverage that even yielded a Wikipedia article, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11_missing_tapes>, with a 3+ year edit history.

Instead, he seemed genuinely interested in why someone would have disliked his comment, so I gave a likely answer.

Your comment was off-topic, but given that this kind of a fluffy article I don't think that's a huge sin. Maybe people assumed you were making some kind of moon landing hoax statement?

Well, the quote was from the 404 page, but I can see how it could be seen as off-topic. In any case, it seems the situation has reversed now, so no point discussing this minor point.

Actually, I thought I remembered seeing last summer that the tapes were recovered in Australia. I searched and found this article:

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/110442/WORLD-EXCLUSIVE-N...

"... The revelation of the loss only came two years ago. Dr O'Brien says there is no indication as to when exactly the tapes were lost, but he guesses that it was "way, way back". When Dr O'Brien learnt of the tape loss, he was contacted by Guy Holmes from data recovery company SpectrumData, who offered to try and get hold of the information. Mr Holmes has kept the tapes in a climate-controlled room since then, and it was only when he stumbled upon a 1960s IBM729 Mark 5 tape drive at the Australian Computer Museum Society that his company had the ability to unlock the information. ..."

A more detailed article here, "Fridge-sized tape recorder could crack lunar mysteries", ABC News, Nic MacBean ~ http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/11/10/2415393.htm There is a point made in the article by Dr. Harrison (Jack) Schmitt - last astronaut on the moon - that the "dust detector" data collected by Dr. O'Brian is the most significant environmental problem that has to be investigated. Finding the vision tapes while historically significant isn't as important as the data for future missions.

yes 404 pages can be cool. see http://www.instantshift.com/2009/03/24/creative-404-error-pa...

there, now I am ontopic so i can afford to rant: why is this interesting?

That's way way better than leaving someone feeling like they've been thrown in the dumpster!

So now...the quest to find a page that will give us a 500 error message ^_^

what is special about it?

"It's a shame that your page is lost, but at least it's in good company; stick around to browse through NPR stories about lost people, places and things that still haven't turned up." Followed by: Amelia Earhart, Jimmy Hoffa, Waldo, etc.

Not helpful for the person who's trying to find the missing page, but entertaining.

It is a good example of using a little humor to help defuse a user's frustration.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com