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The Canadian mint stops distributing pennies on Monday. Canada stopped making one-cent coins last year to cut costs, since each penny cost 1.6 cents to make. Most stores will round out change to the nearest five cents.

The manager of Le Petit Syrah in Nice imposed a cost on rudeness. Demand "a coffee," and it's $9.50, in dollars. Say "please," and the price drops to $6. And if you greet the waiter with a friendly "bonjour," the bill comes to $2.

The first installment in a 6-part series from ward-winning producer Julian Crandall Hollick (HAH-lick). Four years ago, ollick was invited to live with the poor, illiterate pavement-dwellers on Apna treet, in downtown Bombay. The pavement dwellers are, for the most part, orking poor people who can't afford traditional housing. In the first episode, The Dance of the Water Spirits," Julian looks at the daily struggle to obtain ne of the necessities of life - water.

Jacki talks to Lynda MacCartney, the curator of the C.I.A. exhibit centre in the C.I.A. HQ in Langley Virginia about the new exhibit on the film director John Ford. Ford, who received a total of 6 oscars, worked for the Office for Strategic Services, the precursor to the present-day C.I.A. during World War two. During his work with the OSS Ford pioneered aerial camera techniques that saved many lives and pushed the medium of film in new directions..

In the first part of a series on female vocalists, NPR's Special Correspondent Susan Stamberg profiles singer Stacey Kent. Kent's, new album was inspired by the singing and dancing of Fred Astaire. It's called, Let Yourself Go: Celebrating Fred Astaire. (6:42) Let Yourself Go: Celebrating Fred Astaire by Stacey Kent is available on Candid-Navarre; ASIN: B0000

Host Bob Edwards talks with author Gore Vidal about his new novel, The Golden Age. In the final volume of a series of historic novels, Vidal writes about the 1940's, a decade that saw the end of World War Two and the dawn of American dominance in everything from business to ballet. Vidal says it was during this time that marked the death of the American republic, as the U-S transformed into a global empire. (6:38) {Stations: "The Golden Age" by Gore Vidal is published by Doubleday ISBN: 0-385-50075-0}

Noah talks with LAPD detective Gil Escontrias about the rash of spandex robberies. Detective Escontrias says armed gangs have been stealing the yarn and bolts of the synthetic fabric from textile mills. Last year, over $2 million dollars worth was stolen in Los Angeles. He says the yarn is worth 6 times that of other fibers, so it's easy to find buyers who don't care where it came from. He notes that underpaid textile employees are targeted by thieves looking for access to the material.

Robert talks to Mimi Sheraton, author of The Bialy Eaters: The Story of the Lost Bread and a Lost World, about the book. It recounts her journey to Bialystok, Poland, where the bread rolls with roasted onions in the middle get their name. There she found the story of a Jewish community which numbered 50,000 before World War Two, and now is reduced to just five people. No bialys remain, either. She then went on a round the world journey to find Bialystok survivors. (6:00) The Bialy Eaters: The Story of the Lost Bread and a Lost World, by Mimi Sheraton, is published by Broadway Books, 9/12/00.

Host Renee Montagne talks to author, Michele Serros about her new book, How to Be a Chicana Role Model. The book tells the story of a Chicana writer who's trying to find a way to embrace two very different cultures--without losing her identity in the process. (6:53) Stations: How to Be a Chicana Role Model by Michele Serros is published by Riverhead Books; ISBN: 15732

Federal prosecutors say they will retry both Charles Keating and his son (Charles Keating, III) now that their convictions on federal fraud chages have been set aside by a federal judge. The elder Keating became a symbol of the Savings and Loan debacle after federal regulators seized Keating's Lincoln S&L, which cost taxpayers an estimated $2.6 billion. The convictions were overturned because members of the jury knew of and improperly discussed the elder Keating's earlier conviction on state fraud charges. That conviction has also been overturned.