Small talk: The ‘Home Alone’ house, fishing for plastic
Tess Vigeland: And for our final note today. A look back at the week’s news — the stories that didn’t quite make the headlines. Courtesy of Rico Gagliano, Brendan Francis Newnam and select members of the Marketplace staff.
Rico Gagliano: Jennifer Collins, reporter. What story are you going to be talking about this weekend?
Jennifer Collins: I’m going to be talking about the “Home Alone” house.
Gagliano: From the movie?
Collins: Yeah. Actually, the “Home Alone” house is up for sale: $2.4 million, you could have it yourself.
Gagliano: That’s probably what the movie cost back in the ’80s.
Collins: The movie grossed $500 million, so it’s really a bargain.
Gagliano: If you think about it that way. Why are they selling it?
Collins: Well apparently the couple that owns it, their kids have moved away, and well, they’re feeling like…
Gagliano: Don’t say it.
Collins: A little home alone.
Brendan Newnam: Avishay Artsy, assistant producer for Marketplace. What story are you going to be talking about?
Avishay Artsy: Well recently, Turkish police officers were going to people’s doors dressed as doctors and handing out heart medication.
Newnam: Why would they do that?
Artsy: Well apparently there have been a lot of confidence crimes in Turkey recently, and they’re trying to educate the public about how gullible they are. And they’re right — 86 out of 100 households took the pills and swallowed them right away.
Newnam: Isn’t this just going to make people mistrust the police for doing this stuff to them? ‘Officer, I would have pulled over sooner but I wasn’t sure if you were my optometrist or not.’
Gagliano: Rod Abid, senior producer of the Marketplace Morning Report. What story are you going to be talking about this weekend?
Rod Abid: Well this one comes from the European Union, where the fisheries chief has announced they’re going to pay fisherman to catch plastic rather than catching fish.
Gagliano: Because there’s a lot of pollution?
Abid: There’s that, but it’s also an incentive to keep them from overfishing.
Gagliano: So that they don’t endanger depleted fish stocks or something.
Abid: That’s exactly right.
Gagliano: And you know fish sandwiches at fast food places have tasted like plastic for decades, so who’s going to notice?
Vigeland: You can hear more of what Brendan and Rico have to offer on their podcast, the Dinner Party Download.
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