The Story on WUNC

The Free Help Guy Wants To Make Your Life Better

Dick Gordon — Thu, 23 May 2013 17:57:15 +0000

A man in London – who shall remain anonymous – took leave from work earlier this year, and undertook a six-month mission of offering help to anyone who asks for it.

Some requests, like walking a dog or pairing a homeless person with a generous family, have been simple. Others have been more complicated. For example, he often gets e-mails from teenage girls asking for help with problems he’s not qualified to solve.

“There are definitely some things that I think, for the respect of the people getting in touch, I need to be careful with,” he says.

Witnessing The Moore Tornado From Air And Ground

Dick Gordon — Wed, 22 May 2013 17:10:27 +0000

As a mile-wide tornado tore across the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore on Monday night, it destroyed houses, flattenedd schools and threw cars into the air.

Host Dick Gordon speaks with three people who witnessed it from the ground, from the air and from a shelter.

He speaks with Alonzo Adams, a photographer who captured images as a giant black funnel cloud advanced toward a neighborhood. (See a photo gallery.)

For IRA Prisoner, Hunger Strike Was Last Resort

Dick Gordon — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:40:13 +0000

In the fall of 1980, imprisoned members of the Irish Republican Army demanded to be recognized as more than common criminals by the British government. They refused to wear the prison uniform, refused to do prisoner work, and, eventually, refused to leave their cells.

But they were making little progress. So IRA members at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland decided to refuse to eat.

The Man Who Quantifies Every Moment Of Every Day

Dick Gordon — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:08:19 +0000

Chris Dancy keeps metrics on himself for every moment of every day.

He knows the number of steps he travels in a day, his average heart rate, and the amount of food he’s eaten. The “Quantified Man,” says keeping statistics makes him a better employee and it’s in the future of everyone’s work.

Piecing Together The Delage Coupe

Dick Gordon — Fri, 17 May 2013 23:56:05 +0000

Host Dick Gordon of The Story speaks with David Cooper, the part-sleuth, part-mechanic who restored a rare 1937 Delage Aerosport Coupe.

There were only 12 ever built in the 1930’s in France.They were made by hand, and the interior was handpicked by the few customers.

Cooper says that finding the oversize chrome fenders and original chassis meant researching the story of Millicent Rogers, the American heiress who owned the car and outlined her specifications with her lipstick.

Melinda Gates On What Mothers Everywhere Want

Dick Gordon — Thu, 16 May 2013 19:59:56 +0000

When philanthropist Melinda Gates travels the world, she looks for opportunities to have personal conversations with women. And she listens: about children’s health, about parenting, and about infectious diseases.

Editing An Encyclopedia That Changes By The Minute

Dick Gordon — Wed, 15 May 2013 21:32:04 +0000

On April 16, 2007, Sue Gardner was following the news of the Virginia Tech shooting on every major web site she could find. The one where she learned the most was not a news site – it was the free encyclopedia Wikipedia. The content, she says, was more comprehensive.

“It was better than CNN, and better than the CBC,” she says. “I found that fascinating. How could that be?”

As Costa Concordia Sank, Newlyweds Allowed Others To Take Life Boats First

Dick Gordon — Tue, 14 May 2013 18:45:51 +0000

It was a Sunday night early last January, and Benji Smith and Emily Lau were celebrating their honeymoon aboard the Costa Concordia cruise ship.

They were traveling near Tuscany when it happened: The ship scraped a rock that tore through its hull, flooding its engine room, and sending the ship tilting onto its side. More than 4,000 people were on board.

As Politicians Talk Tightening Gun Laws, Charlotte Gun Store Sells Like It's The Holidays

Dick Gordon — Mon, 13 May 2013 16:33:32 +0000

In the weeks after the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School this past December, President Obama began talking about tightening gun control – and firearm sales boomed. Larry Hyatt runs Hyatt Guns in Charlotte, N.C., and he says that he’s seeing a growing demand for "high capacity" guns and that he’s selling as much as he would over Christmas. He stocks 7,000 guns in his store, making it one of the biggest in the country. He tells host Dick Gordon about the one thing he’d like to see changed in Washington.

One String Is All You Need

Dick Gordon — Fri, 10 May 2013 21:46:22 +0000

Andrew Chin, a.k.a. Brushy One-String, had a vision as a child where he was playing a guitar with just one string. Since then, he’s crafted a unique style playing on one string, blending in his percussive style and utterly original voice.