All Things Considered

When the Democratic National Convention arrives in Charlotte in 2012, one company will be front and center. Duke Energy has secured an unusually prominent role in the city's hosting effort — even offering its assets as a backstop for the potential cash shortfalls.

The statue that adorns the U.S. Postal Service's Lady Liberty Forever stamp looks a lot like the Statue of Liberty. But look closer: the statue seems to have a wider nose, the eyelids are a bit more distinct and her brow is furrowed.

Linn's Stamp News, the premiere publication of American philately, got a tip so Jay Bigalke, and associate editor for the publication, compared the stamp to a picture he took of the Statue of Liberty in New York City and another picture he took of the replica of the Statue of Liberty that's in front of the casino New York, New York in Las Vegas.

Last weekend, the people of Iceland went to the polls to make a big decision: Should they pay for the mistakes of a bank that failed in the financial crisis?

It was called Landsbanki. During the boom, its balance sheet became larger than Iceland's entire economy. Its high-interest savings accounts attracted hundreds of thousands of people from the U.K. and the Netherlands.

Four times in eight months, I've been caught up in science-fiction worlds that seem remarkably like the world I actually live in — urban, brightly lit, not filled with aliens, zombies or futuristic gadgets. Just a lot of people with control issues.

The sound that begins Colin Stetson's newest album is like a massive oil tanker listing into jagged rock, tearing away at the hull. In fact, it's merely Stetson's chosen instrument, the bass saxophone — and from those earliest notes, you realize the sheer power of the horn in the hands of a master.