Comedians Ashley Nicole Black ( A Black Lady Sketch Show ) and Chelsea Devantez ( Bless This Mess ) order this audio quiz about infomercials just in time to get free shipping and handling. Heard on D.J. "Shangela" Pierce: Quaran-Queen. Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit JONATHAN COULTON, BYLINE: Hey, everybody. This is Jonathan Coulton. You know me from ASK ME ANOTHER, but I'm also a singer-songwriter. I'd like to take this opportunity to play a song that I wrote. This is called "Theme From Ask Me Another." (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) COULTON: From NPR and WNYC, coming to you from our respective homes in beautiful Brooklyn, New York, it's NPR's hour of puzzles, word games and virtual backgrounds, ASK ME ANOTHER. I'm Jonathan Coulton. Now here's your host, Ophira Eisenberg. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) COULTON: Well, that was perfect, as usual. Why don't I call Ophira, see if she's around? (SOUNDBITE OF BELL) OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST: Hello. COULTON: Hi, Ophira. How are you? EISENBERG: Jonathan

Copyright 2020 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air . DAVID BIANCULLI, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. I'm TV critic David Bianculli. I've watched many broadcast and streaming specials since the coronavirus began affecting our lives, but one in particular really got to me. It was the recent 90th birthday salute to Broadway composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim, featuring performances from an array of musical theater stars. This is Donna Murphy. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) DONNA MURPHY: (Singing) Isn't it rich? Are we a pair? Me here at last on the ground, you in midair - send in the clowns. BIANCULLI: Nothing I've seen on TV since the pandemic hit has impressed me quite like "Take Me To The World," the star-studded 90th birthday salute to Stephen Sondheim. It was shown April 26, is still available for viewing and will be for some time. Aimed to raise funds for a favorite charity of his, Artists Striving To End Poverty, "Take Me To The World" was presented on YouTube and Broadway.com

Updated at 6:12 p.m. ET Andy Serkis, the physically nimble actor largely known for his CGI-assisted roles, did some quarantine reading, performing the entirety of The Hobbit in a livestream on Friday. On a Gofundme page established for the event, Serkis wrote that he would conduct the 12-hour marathon reading of J.R.R. Tolkien's beloved fantasy novel to raise funds for COVID-19 relief efforts. Depending on his copy, that's some 300 pages of Bilbo Baggins' adventure from his humble hobbit hole in the Shire to the mountain lair of the fearsome dragon Smaug – and back again, read and performed by Serkis. The actor began reading the novel at around 10 a.m. in the United Kingdom (that's 5 a.m. ET). "Together we'll face the might of the trolls, journey to the magical Rivendell, encounter the giant spiders in the labyrinths of Mirkwood, and the evil goblins living among the roots of the Misty Mountains, until we meet the dragon Smaug, and see the Battle of the Five Armies," Serkis wrote on

Beanie Feldstein does not like the way teenage experimentation and growth gets dismissed as just a phase. "There tends to be the sort of stigma or judgment," she says, whether it's about dress, mood, makeup, or music choice. What she loves about her latest film, How to Build a Girl, is that it gives teen phases the respect they deserve. "Those phases matter ," she says. "It doesn't mean they're going to last, but they do matter. ... I think we could all be reminded of that lesson — especially adults." How to Build a Girl is a film adaptation of Caitlin Moran's 2014 semi-autobiographical novel about an awkward teen turned music critic. Feldstein stars as Johanna Morrigan, a 16-year-old growing up in England in the 1990s. Johanna "hasn't found her people yet," says Feldstein, and her closest confidants are her heroes (Julie Andrews, Freud, Sylvia Plath, Karl Marx) whose pictures are taped to her bedroom wall. Feldstein admits she sometimes felt nervous during filming, but found thinking

You might not be able to pack your bag, get on an airplane and jet off to some new exciting place right now, but don't worry, you can still travel and explore here with World Cafe Sense of Place. In this series, we take you deep into one city's music scene, and today, we're kicking off our sessions from Los Angeles, with more to come every Friday in May. We start with a bit of an overview from someone who really knows what he's talking about. Nic Harcourt is a legendary name in LA radio. He hosted Morning Becomes Eclectic on KCRW for many years, and now he's a host at our affiliate station, 88.5 KCSN/KSBR. We recently connected with Nic via video chat to find out what's going on right now, the new LA bands you need to be listening to: Freedom Fry, The Buttertones, Los Abandoned, Pure Protein and Brad Byrd. Hear songs from each of them at the top of the playlist below, which also features artists and songs you'll be hearing in the coming weeks. Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit

Dr. Grace Farris is chief of hospital medicine at Mount Sinai West in Manhattan. She also writes a monthly comics column in the Annals of Internal Medicine called "Dr Mom." You can find her on Instagram @coupdegracefarris . Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

In this time of fear and uncertainty, people are going back to the land — more or less. Gardening might just be overtaking sourdough baking, TV binging and playing Animal Crossing as our favorite pandemic coping mechanism So here I am in my back yard, where I've got this lovely four foot by eight food raised garden bed — brand new this year, because yes, I'm one of those people who are trying their hand at gardening. I've got tomatoes, I've got cucumbers, I've got radishes, I've got beets sprouting up, I've got what I think might be a zucchini and a spaghetti squash, but the markers washed away in a storm. And I had some watermelon seedlings, but they died in the last cold snap. So that's why I'm out here today — driving in stakes and draping plastic wrap for the next cold snap. I have to be extra careful now, because I couldn't actually replace my watermelon seedlings — garden centers and hardware stores have been picked clean. Jennifer Atkinson is a senior lecturer in environmental

Updated at 1:55 p.m. ET Little Richard, the self-described "king and queen" of rock and roll and an outsize influence on everyone from David Bowie to Prince, died Saturday. He was 87 years old. Wayne Chaney, his longtime bandleader and tour manager, tells NPR that Little Richard died at his brother's home in Tullahoma, Tenn., after a battle with cancer. Rolling Stone was the first to report on his death. With his ferocious piano playing, growling and gospel-strong vocals, pancake makeup and outlandish costumes, Little Richard tore down barriers starting in the 1950s. That is no small feat for any artist — let alone a black, openly gay man who grew up in the South. He was a force of nature who outlived many of the musicians he inspired, from Otis Redding to the late Prince and Michael Jackson. His peers James Brown and Otis Redding idolized him. Jimi Hendrix, who once played in Little Richard's band, said he wanted his guitar to sound like Richard's voice. The late David Bowie was 9

Die Sterberate Corona-Infizierter in Russland ist extrem niedrig. Die Regierung verweist bei der Frage nach den Gründen auf den Erfolg der russischen Strategie – einige Bürger dagegen trauen der Zählweise der Toten nicht.

Nach dem Ausbruch des Coronavirus in einer Fleischfabrik in Coesfeld werden die Lockerungen teilweise verschoben. Mit mehr als 50 Infizierten pro 100.000 Einwohner gilt der Kreis als Risikogebiet.

Die Corona-Auflagen beschäftigen auch die deutschen Gerichte. Denn mittlerweile sind rund 1000 Eilanträge von Klägern gegen die Einschränkungen eingegangen, so der deutsche Richterbund.

In den USA haben allein im April 20 Millionen Menschen ihren Job verloren, infolge der Corona-Pandemie. Präsident Trump versucht, durch Optimismus gegenzusteuern, und zweifelt die Zahl der Todesopfer an.

Wie sind Beschränkungen bei sinkenden Infektionszahlen überhaupt noch zu rechtfertigen? Und werden nach dem neuen Notfallmechanismus bei neuen Ausbrüchen ganze Städte abgeriegelt? Hessens Ministerpräsident Volker Bouffier (CDU) hält die kommende Phase für heikel.

Der Konflikt zwischen seiner Partei und Boris Palmer spitzt sich zu: Die Grünen fordern den Tübinger Oberbürgermeister auf, die Partei zu verlassen, der Beschluss fiel einstimmig. Palmer weist die Forderung entschieden zurück

In der Fleischfabrik Westfleisch in Coesfeld hat sich das Corona-Virus in den letzten Tagen rasant verbreitet: Mindestens 151 Mitarbeiter sind infiziert. Trotzdem ist lange nichts passiert.

Nach einem internen Bericht der Europäischen Grenzschutzagentur Frontex ist mit einem Zustrom von Migranten an der Grenze zwischen der Türkei und Griechenland zu rechnen. Der Bericht liegt WELT vor.

Die Corona-Erkrankungen im Umfeld des Weißen Hauses häufen sich: Die Sprecherin von Vizepräsident Mike Pence hat sich mit dem Coronavirus infiziert, ebenso ein Assistent von Trumps Tochter Ivanka. Der Präsident gibt sich unbeeindruckt.

Die Coronavirus-Pandemie bestimmt weiterhin das Leben überall auf der Welt. Laut Robert-Koch-Institut liegt die Reproduktionszahl in Deutschland derzeit bei 0,83 – ein leichter Anstieg zu den vergangenen Tagen. Sehen Sie alle Entwicklungen hier live.

Nicht nur in Deutschland wurde am 8. Mai der Opfer des Zweiten Weltkriegs gedacht. In Großbritannien feierten Menschen Menschen gemeinsam auf den Straßen – und die Queen wandte sich in einer Ansprache an die Bürger.

Wer eine Reise nicht antreten will, hofft, dass sein Geld von der Rücktrittsversicherung zurückerstattet wird. Doch die zahlt nur bei nachgewiesener Krankheit – und nicht bei Pandemien wie dem Coronavirus. Vor allem ein Vorgehen ist riskant.

In vielen Staaten vor allem Skandinaviens nutzt fast die gesamte Bevölkerung eine digitale Bankverbindung. In Deutschland sind es 86 Prozent. Vor allem Jüngere aber nutzen lieber das Smartphone als den Bankschalter

Der Strompreis ist auf ein Rekordhoch gestiegen – nicht zuletzt wegen der Energiewende. In kaum einem anderen Land zahlen Verbraucher so viel für Elektrizität wie in Deutschland. Doch mit ein paar einfachen Tricks lässt sich viel sparen.

Die allgemeine Reisewarnung ist die höchste Eskalationsstufe der Hinweise des Auswärtigen Amts. Normalerweise wird sie nur für Kriegsgebiete und besonders gefährliche Regionen ausgesprochen – jetzt gilt sie weltweit. Was Reisende wissen müssen.

In den kommenden Monaten könnten viele Kreditnehmer in Zahlungsschwierigkeiten kommen. Schon nach kurzer Zeit können Banken dann das Darlehen kündigen. Doch es gibt Hoffnung. Das sollten Verbraucher jetzt wissen.

Wenn der Rasen nur langsam wächst und sich Moos breit macht, könnte es am pH-Wert der Erde in Ihrem Garten liegen. Ist die Erde „sauer“, hat also einen niedrigen pH-Wert, hilft die Zugabe von Kalk. Was Sie darüber wissen müssen.

Ein dichter und widerstandsfähiger Rasen braucht viel Pflege. Daher sollten Sie mindestens ein Mal im Jahr Ihren Rasen vertikutieren. Was Sie dabei beachten sollten, erfahren Sie hier.

Egal ob in Fugen, an Wänden oder an Fenstern: Schimmel in der Wohnung sieht nicht nur alles andere als schön aus, sondern ist auch gesundheitsschädlich. Wir erklären Ihnen, was Sie gegen Schimmelbefall tun können. 

Für fast alles, das verloren gehen kann, ist ein GPS-Tracker ein nützliches Gadget – mit ihm lässt sich bestimmen, wo zum Beispiel das gestohlene Fahrrad abgeblieben ist oder wo man das Auto geparkt hat. Hier erfahren Sie, was Sie im Vorfeld über die Nutzung wissen sollten und welche Produkte ihr Geld wert sind.

Wer in Corona-Zeiten lieber zur Arbeit radelt, sollte seinen Arbeitgeber ruhig nach einem Dienstfahrrad fragen. Weil sich das für beide Seiten lohnt, haben Sie gute Argumente, um Ihren Chef zu überzeugen. Diese Regeln sollten Sie kennen.

Brückenteilzeit heißt das neue Schlupfloch, das Privatversicherten den Wechsel in die gesetzliche Krankenversicherung ermöglicht. Die Flucht aus dem teuren PKV-Tarif funktioniert unter ganz bestimmten Bedingungen.

Sattgrün und dicht. Ihren Rasen pflegen Sie richtig, wenn Sie diese vier Regeln befolgen: Ihren Rasen vertikutieren, kalken, düngen und lüften.

Den Garten umgraben ist eine anstrengende Aufgabe. Aber eine Gartenfräse kann helfen. Lesen Sie hier, wie Sie Ihren Garten umgraben und worauf Sie achten sollten!

Wer sich einen schönen Rasen wünscht, braucht ein schlaues System für die Bewässerung. Doch wie geht es richtig und welche technischen Hilfen gibt es? Hier erfahren Sie, worauf Sie achten müssen.

Zahlungen per Karte oder Handy nehmen in der Corona-Krise stark zu, manche Experten sagen schon den finalen Tod des Bargelds voraus. Doch so schnell wird das nicht gehen. Nach Covid-19 könnten Scheine und Münzen ein Comeback erleben.

Ein TV-Stick ist die Lösung für all jene, die keinen Smart-TV besitzen, aber auch auf ihrem Fernseher auf Netflix, Amazon Prime & Co. zugreifen wollen.

Viele Privatversicherte bereuen ihren Eintritt in die PKV und suchen nach einer Möglichkeit, sie wieder zu verlassen. Normalerweise ist das extrem schwierig. Doch die Corona-Krise ermöglicht einen solchen Exit. WELT erklärt, wer jetzt die Chance dazu hat.

Viele Senioren möchten mobil telefonieren und Apps zur Organisation des täglichen Lebens nutzen. Allerdings sind moderne Smartphones häufig auf jüngere Nutzer zugeschnitten. Doch es gibt Ausnahmen. Hier erfahren Sie, worauf Sie beim Kauf achten sollten.

Ein satter, grüner Rasen ist der Traum jedes Hobbygärtners. Ein solcher Rasen braucht dafür sehr viel Pflege und das Rasen lüften ist dabei ein wichtiger Teil. Wir zeigen Ihnen, wie einfach das geht.

Ein deutscher Anwalt hält es für möglich, dass Covid-19-Infizierte erfolgreich auf Schadensersatz klagen können. Es gehe um Summen von bis zu 7500 Euro. Der Nachweis orientiert sich an einem Muster, das bereits erfolgreich angewandt wird.

Bei jedem dritten Gebrauchtwagen in Deutschland soll der Tacho manipuliert worden sein. Selbst die elektronische Überwachung ist nicht fehlerlos. Was Käufer tun können, um nicht übers Ohr gehauen zu werden.

Spaß macht es nicht unbedingt, aber wer einen Garten hat, muss regelmäßig den Rasen mähen. Vom Rasentraktor bis hin zum Mähroboter – hier erfahren Sie, welcher Rasenmäher zu Ihnen passt und welches das beste Modell ist!

Die richtige Poolreinigung ist wichtig, damit Schwimmen und Planschen auch wirklich Spaß machen. Hier erfahren Sie, worauf Sie achten sollten und welche Produkte Ihnen die Arbeit erleichtern. 

About 17 million people have applied for unemployment benefits in the U.S. in recent weeks. It's an astonishing number that's nearly 10 times what the system has ever handled so quickly. But, by one estimate , that money is still not flowing to about half of those people who desperately need it. And others are only getting a trickle of what they should be receiving. Many people have been out of a job for a month now. That's a long time to be without your income in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. "It's really intense and it's really frightening," says Nicolena Loshonkohl, a hair stylist NPR has been checking in with in Roanoke, Va. She's a single mom with a 2-year-old daughter. As a regular employee at a local salon, she says it was pretty easy to file for unemployment online. And she's now started to get payments. Loshonkohl feels fortunate about that. But so far, she's only receiving $340 a week. And that doesn't cover her rent, health insurance, food and other basic costs of

Updated at 4:04 p.m. ET $600 per week. That's what the federal government is now offering to people who've lost their jobs because of the coronavirus. For many workers and employers, that money is a godsend — a way to keep food on the table while also cutting payroll costs. But the extra money can create some awkward situations. Some businesses that want to keep their doors open say it's hard to do so when employees can make more money by staying home. "We basically have this situation where it would be a logical choice for a lot of people to be unemployed," said Sky Marietta, who opened a coffee shop along with her husband, Geoff, last year in Harlan, Ky. Their goal was to provide good coffee, good Internet service and some opportunity in a community that has been starved of all three. "We're very committed to helping to transform the downtowns and main streets in eastern Kentucky," Marietta said. When the couple advertised for workers, nearly 100 people applied for just a handful of

Editor's note: This is an excerpt of Planet Money 's newsletter. You can sign up here . US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP via Getty Images As the global economy shuts down, the U.S. Federal Reserve has begun sending billions of dollars to central banks all over the world. Last month, it opened up 14 " swap lines " to nations such as Australia, Japan, Mexico, and Norway. A "swap line" is like an emergency pipeline of dollars to countries that need them. The dollars are "swapped," i.e., traded for the other country's currency. The Fed has also started allowing around 170 foreign central banks that hold U.S. Treasury bonds to temporarily exchange them for dollars. Sending billions of dollars abroad in the middle of a historic economic crisis might seem crazy: As America's economy crumbles, why are we moving our precious dollars *out* of the country? The answer has to do with the Fed's unique position in the global economy. Dollars are the lynchpin

"You can't really have a concert if you can't have an audience," David Roode muses. His career as a concert trombonist in Cincinnati went abruptly on hold when stay-at-home orders took effect in March. "I had months of gigs that were just canceled." Roode and his wife, a concert pianist, have done some recording while on lockdown in Cincinnati. And they've tapped into savings they typically rely on during the slower summer months. "If I kind of burn through my summer money now, then when the summer comes and there's no work, there might be more of a problem," Roode says. He's done some soul-searching about the role of a musician during a pandemic. "The medical professionals are the ones who are on the front lines who are really making a difference," Roode says. But he thinks artists and performers will eventually be in demand again. "I really think when this is all over, people are going to want to go hear concerts and they're going to want to have that experience." Read more stories

Maxwell Kirsner used to build sets for a company that staged big events in New York City. Those events dried up suddenly in mid-March. "I was laid off on Friday the 13th," he recalls. The timing actually turned out to be fortunate, as Kirsner was able to apply for and start receiving jobless benefits before the huge wave of layoffs that soon followed, overwhelming unemployment offices. His fiancée, Natalie Borowicz, and others who worked for the same company got pink slips a few weeks later. When we spoke, some were still waiting for their benefits to begin. "They're struggling to pay rent and buy food and all that," Kirsner said. "We're all in the same boat, but we're all on different seats on that boat." He's grateful that his bosses and coworkers continue to check in on one another regularly, and he hopes to return to work someday. "The light at the end of the tunnel is that it's New York City, and eventually, events have to come back," he said. "So, part of me has faith, but part

Editor's note: This is an excerpt of Planet Money 's newsletter. You can sign up here . The Planet Money team on GoToMeeting with a goat (Listen to our recent episode, " Making It Work ") Planet Money Like a decent chunk of the American workforce, Planet Money is now working remotely. Every morning, we have an all-staff video conference on GoToMeeting. We use Slack for conversations. We record in closets and use Dropbox to transfer the files. We're making the best of it — we're happy to have the work — but no one really loves it. Since the birth of the personal computer, futurists have been predicting the death of the office. If we can chat over video and instantly exchange messages and files, they figured, why would we endure stressful commutes in fossil-fuel-burning vehicles just to sit side by side in brick-and-mortar buildings? I mean, we're mostly staring at screens there anyway. But the office has proven more stubbornly useful than we had imagined. Between 2005 and 2015, despite

There's a call Laura Jean Truman is dreading, and she's convinced it's just a matter of time before it comes. Truman, who's a server at Manuel's Tavern in Atlanta, says the source of her angst is the fear that sometime in the next few weeks her boss is going to call and say it's time to go back to work, putting her in the position of having to make a choice between her safety and being able to pay the bills that continue to arrive despite the coronavirus. "Right now, everyone who is not working at restaurants is able to be on unemployment," she told NPR. "But once restaurants decide to open, and if we decide that we don't feel safe going back into those restaurants, we then are no longer eligible for unemployment because then we have a job opportunity that we're turning down," Truman explained. "It's a tremendously scary thing to have to think about," she said. The predicament is one in which millions of people receiving state unemployment benefits along with federal dollars from the

Updated at 8:38 a.m. ET The telephone lines are still jammed at the nation's unemployment offices. Another 3.8 million people filed claims for jobless benefits last week, according to the Labor Department . While that's down from the previous week's 4.4 million, a staggering 30.3 million have applied for unemployment in the six weeks since the coronavirus began taking a wrecking ball to the U.S. job market. That's roughly one out of five people who had a job in February. The pandemic has cut a wide swath of destruction through the economy, as restaurants, retailers and businesses of all kinds closed their doors in an effort to slow the spread of the virus. Don't see the graphic above? Click here. An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll found half the people surveyed had either lost a job or had their hours reduced because of the pandemic and the aggressive public health measures to contain it. The sudden job losses are all the more striking after a long period of record low unemployment, in