Play Live Radio
Next Up:
Available On Air Stations
More info.

Panel Questions

BILL KURTIS: From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME... the NPR News quiz. I'm Bill Kurtis. We're playing this week with Luke Burbank, Dulce Sloan and Faith Salie. And here again is your host, who shot a man in Reno just because he used the phrase begs the question wrong.


KURTIS: It's Peter Sagal.



In just a minute, Bill takes a trip of his own to Rhyme-ania to solve a crisis there in our Listener Limerick Challenge. If you'd like to play, give us a call at 1-888-WAIT-WAIT. That's 1-888-924-8924.

Right now, panel, some more questions for you from this week's news. Dulce, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg posted a video on Facebook saying that he's going to continue to work from home, where he is now expanding his skill set by learning to do what?

DULCE SLOAN: Be a person.

SAGAL: No. That one's completely beyond his capabilities. This is something more within his grasp.

SLOAN: Can I have one more clue?

SAGAL: Yeah. Well, he's already got his black belt in dork. So this is the next logical step.

SLOAN: A martial art?

SAGAL: Yes. He is learning to fight.


SAGAL: That is what he's doing. Mr. Zuckerberg, who is the physical manifestation of the phrase, it's actually kara-TAY (ph)...


SAGAL: ...Is apparently using his downtime between destroying democracies to learn how to fight with ancient weapons. He posted videos of himself shooting arrows at bowling pins and throwing a spear at a sheet of plywood while inexplicably wearing noise-protection earmuffs. Hey. You know what's cool? Not that.

KURTIS: (Laughter).

SLOAN: He's finally hit the top level of nerd, white-dude stuff.

SAGAL: Oh, absolutely.

SLOAN: You know there's a bunch of swords in his house that he probably got in an auction. He's now the big boss in the video game.

SAGAL: Right.

SLOAN: There was nothing else for him to do.

SAGAL: Also, why is he shooting arrows at bowling pins? - one more reason to never go bowling with Mark Zuckerberg. He's like, oh, do you bring your own bow, or do they rent them there?

LUKE BURBANK: (Laughter).

SAGAL: Faith, as part of a just released summer collection, luxury brand Prada is releasing a $1,000 what?

FAITH SALIE: Well, gosh. Is it a piece of exercise equipment?

SAGAL: Sort of.

SALIE: Please don't tell me it's a water bottle to drink out of.

SAGAL: It's not a water bottle.

SALIE: OK. Barbells? Weights? What's happening?

SAGAL: We're not even sure if they inflate it first.

SALIE: A ball, an exercise ball?

SAGAL: It's a ball. It's a volleyball.


SALIE: What?

SAGAL: It is part of Prada's new outdoor collection. Nine hundred and ninety five dollars will get you Prada's signature volleyball. The toned man servants hired to play volleyball with you will set you back another 10 grand.

KURTIS: (Laughter).

SALIE: My late mother would call that sinful.

SAGAL: It's true.

SALIE: That is a sinful price.

SLOAN: And my alive mother would call that a hustle.

SAGAL: It's true. Now, this is part of a...

SALIE: And they'd both be right, Dulce.

SLOAN: Both are right. Both are inappropriate. And both are a con job.

SAGAL: This is part of a new collection of outdoor goods for people who have always wanted to enjoy outdoor recreation but were upset by how inexpensive it is.

SALIE: (Laughter).

SAGAL: Luke, we observed an important anniversary this week. A hundred and one years ago, the U.S. Postal Service announced that you would no longer be able to send what through the U.S. mail?

BURBANK: A hundred and one years ago?

SAGAL: Exactly 101 - June 14, 1920.

BURBANK: 1920 - you are no longer allowed to send Germans through the mail.


SALIE: No. You can still do that.

BURBANK: That's the only guess I can think of. Can I get a hint?

SAGAL: Yeah. Well, you don't need to lick the stamp because their faces are always so sticky anyway.

BURBANK: (Laughter) Children.

SAGAL: Children.



SAGAL: As of June 14, 1920, you could no longer send children through the mail. And it happened all the time. In 1913, for example, an 8-month-old baby in Ohio was mailed to his grandmother for only 15 cents. In 1915, a mail carrier arrived on the train in Jackson, Ky., with a 3-year-old girl who had a shipping tag sewn to her dress with an address and 33 cents in stamps.

BURBANK: Well, I mean, you know...

SAGAL: You could do it.

BURBANK: ...Who I blame for this, the Bible, the whole Moses thing. Like, you want your kid to grow up and free...

SAGAL: Yeah.

BURBANK: ...An entire people - throw him in a basket. Mail them down the Nile.

SAGAL: Pharaoh's daughter invented...

SLOAN: (Laughter).

BURBANK: But you know this is coming back. Like, they will relegalize this at some point because Amazon will deliver...


BURBANK: ...Your...

SALIE: Oh, Prime.

SAGAL: Exactly.

BURBANK: ...Small child to...

SALIE: If you have a Prime membership...

SAGAL: Oh, yes.

BURBANK: ...Their piano recital by way of drone.

SALIE: (Laughter) Yeah.

SAGAL: Yes. The next business that Amazon will drive out of business is obstetricians.

SALIE: (Laughter).

SAGAL: We'll deliver your baby in the next day.

SALIE: That's so good. You want to get pregnant? We can (laughter) give you next-day delivery. You don't even have to gestate.

SAGAL: If - I'm telling you. If Apple is working on health care, Amazon is working on this.


CAT STEVENS: (As singer) In the midnight moonlight, I'll... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
