NPR Columns: Simon Says Podcast

With candy bars or a pack of gum costing a dollar or more these days, perhaps it's time to get rid of pennies and nickels altogether. The problem, NPR's Scott Simon says, is picking which historic profiles should get the boot.

NPR's Scott Simon muses on momentous news this week — the Baseball Writers Association elected no one to the Hall of Fame. The shutout might be a classic reminder that cheating sometimes brings quick riches, but it can't buy respect.

After an act of kindness by a New York City cop, Jeffrey Hillman went from being an anonymous, overlooked street person to a public figure whose life was dissected as if he was running for office.

The satirical news source announced that its Sexiest Man Alive for 2012 is Kim Jong Un, North Korea's supreme leader. In some parts of the world, there may be little room to argue.

Jesse Jackson Jr. has a famous name and fabulous contacts, and had what looked like boundless prospects when he was first on the national stage in 1988. But this week, he resigned from Congress after his self-hospitalization this summer and an ongoing ethics investigation.

In a week in which the news has been filled with a fiscal cliff, rockets, sex and security, a restaurant review also raised a ruckus. New York Times critic Pete Wells took on Food Network star Guy Fieri's new restaurant, but his motives for doing so remain elusive.

The term "congressional gridlock" suggests that people in Congress at least run into each other. But I've begun to think a more critical problem might be that politicians of opposing parties are almost strangers to one another.

On Halloween night this week, millions of children tumbled into their neighborhoods dressed as superheroes. But that night, true superheroes were at work in uniforms, not costumes.

Japanese-American Frank Tanabe was sent to an internment camp after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Even so, he volunteered to serve in the U.S. Army and fought for his country. Tanabe's last battle was living long enough to cast one last ballot.

The Center for Responsive Politics says that 942 superPACs have raised more than $403 million during this election season. A beguiling pitch aimed at people eager to contribute to a political campaign can also have some of the makings of a classic con.

Paddy Roy Bates,the self-proclaimed prince of Sealand, died this week at the age of 91. In 1965, Bates boarded an artillery platform seven miles off the English coast and set up Radio Essex, a "pirate" music station. But he didn't stop there.

Voting can be a chore, but getting more people to vote by allowing early voting may not be doing the candidates or the electorate any favors.

"What happened to Jimmy Hoffa?" is one of the great persisting questions of the past generation. The latest tip has lead to a spot under a driveway outside Detroit, in the long search for the former teamster union head.

Using three keystrokes to suggest a smile may not be a great scientific advance, but the emoticon has been simple, useful and enduring.

The Russian president admitted this week that many of his highly publicized stunts are staged. Critics charge that state-run media may have returned to a time when Russians don't turn to the news for news so much as clues to what people in power expect them to think.