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KURTIS: From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME, the NPR News quiz. I'm Bill Kurtis. We are playing this week with Hari Kondabolu, Amy Dickinson and Paula Poundstone. And here again is your host at the Chase Bank Auditorium in downtown Chicago, Peter Sagal.
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PETER SAGAL, HOST:
Thank you, Bill. In just a minute, Bill tames the ancient Greek monster known as the Rhymera in our Listener Limerick Challenge game.
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SAGAL: If you'd like to play, give us a call at 1-888-WAITWAIT. That's 1-888-9248-924. Right now, panel, some more questions for you from the week's news. Hari, this week, a bipartisan group of senators announced legislation to stop what from spying on Americans?
HARI KONDABOLU: Facebook?
SAGAL: No.
KONDABOLU: The CIA?
SAGAL: No.
KONDABOLU: NPR?
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SAGAL: Shh.
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KONDABOLU: Our phones?
SAGAL: No, these are all obvious. We all know these things are constantly staring at us and taking our secrets, especially NPR. And, yes, I'm talking about you.
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KONDABOLU: So it's not a...
SAGAL: But this is not a - these things hold your milk, your eggs and your secrets.
KONDABOLU: The refrigerator.
SAGAL: The refrigerator.
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SAGAL: We have all sorts of internet-connected appliances now. And, you know, fridges, coffee pots - and primary among them are the refrigerators. And they can be hacked into at any time. Worse, the refrigerators are angry. You left a leftover tuna sandwich in me for six weeks.
AMY DICKINSON: (Laughter).
SAGAL: I'm tweeting your Social Security number right now.
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PAULA POUNDSTONE: I didn't know that refrigerators were on the internet.
SAGAL: Yeah, everything is on the internet.
KONDABOLU: Wait, is there a camera? Like, why...
SAGAL: Well, as a matter of fact, there are refrigerators now that, with cameras and recognition and scanners, can tell what's in the refrigerator, can tell what you're missing and, like, order new food for you from Amazon or...
DICKINSON: This is so depressing.
POUNDSTONE: I still have ice trays.
DICKINSON: Yeah.
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DICKINSON: Like, the metal ones where you pull out the - yeah.
POUNDSTONE: Yeah. I'm lucky if my refrigerator keeps my food cold.
SAGAL: Yeah, I still have one of those birds with a fan from "The Flintstones."
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SAGAL: No, it's true. And so the government is trying to crack down, making sure that these things cannot, in fact, be hacked into.
POUNDSTONE: Why would they bother making legislation about refrigerators?
SAGAL: Well, they want to maintain your privacy.
DICKINSON: Yeah.
POUNDSTONE: But why would the refrigerators know anything more than how long your mayonnaise had been in there?
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POUNDSTONE: I mean, what information is your refrigerator going to have, even on it's best day of sleuthing?
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POUNDSTONE: This is creeping me out.
DICKINSON: Yeah.
POUNDSTONE: I'm alone a lot now, you know, and I'm home. I just - you know, the idea that I'm going to, you know, go into the back room and call someone. I'm going to hear from the kitchen, I heard that.
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DICKINSON: Hello, Paula.
KONDABOLU: I really don't want to be judged by my refrigerator. That's another fear.
SAGAL: No, out of all things.
KONDABOLU: Like what I'm going to buy, what I'm eating.
DICKINSON: So like, really, Hari?
POUNDSTONE: I have almost no food in my refrigerator. The whole thing's just waiting for information.
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SAGAL: Paula, this week, a bus driver in India was reprimanded for failing to collect a ticket from a passenger, even though the passenger was what?
POUNDSTONE: Even though the passenger was a dog.
SAGAL: Close.
POUNDSTONE: A bird.
SAGAL: Yes, what kind of bird?
POUNDSTONE: Parrot?
SAGAL: Back up, more common.
POUNDSTONE: A pigeon.
SAGAL: Yes, a pigeon.
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SAGAL: I'm amazed you knew that.
POUNDSTONE: Of course, I knew that.
SAGAL: How did you know that?
POUNDSTONE: My refrigerator told me.
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SAGAL: It is inspiring.
POUNDSTONE: Yeah, late last night. I was getting a soda. And my refrigerator said, you know, over in India, a bus driver got in trouble for not getting a ticket from a pigeon.
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POUNDSTONE: You might need that for WAIT WAIT.
SAGAL: Yeah.
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DICKINSON: Wait, so this - you're supposed to get a ticket from a...
SAGAL: This is the thing. It is kind of inspiring. This pigeon stood up for its own right to ride a bus, but this modern day Gross-a Parks (ph)...
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SAGAL: ...Didn't please everyone. So this bus driver in India was cited for allowing this bird to ride on his bus without a special permit for animals. Even worse, the pigeon was, like, pigeon-spreading so bad, it took up two seats.
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POUNDSTONE: Wait, why was the pigeon on there? Did someone carry it on? Or...
SAGAL: No, the pigeon actually landed on the side of the bus, and the bus went along with the pigeon. And, apparently, in India, people carry animals on buses all the time, and they're required to buy a ticket for their animals. And there was no ticket purchased for this pigeon.
KONDABOLU: I respect the hell out of that pigeon. I feel like that's what I would do if I was a pigeon. But you can fly. You have wings. I'll take the bus.
SAGAL: Yeah.
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KONDABOLU: That is - the laziness involved in that pigeon.
SAGAL: That is, like, absolutely true.
POUNDSTONE: Yeah, yeah. I'd like to - I'd like to poop down the side of it if I could.
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POUNDSTONE: I never even thought of the fact that the pigeon could have flown.
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SAGAL: You were so outraged that you forgot about that.
POUNDSTONE: What airline would take a pigeon?
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KONDABOLU: I love the idea of, like, a bird flying an airline - like flying on an airplane - just going, I'm not impressed.
(LAUGHTER) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.