Are Apple CEO Steve Jobs and "Satanic Verses" author Salman Rushdie long lost brothers? You tell me.

Very strange indeed. -andy

Mark your calendars: On Tuesday, December 4 at 2pm ET, NPR and Iowa Public Radio will jointly host a Democratic candidate presidential debate in Des Moines. The event will be a first for the current election cycle, as it will be an audio-only debate - just the candidates in a two-hour conversation with NPR moderators, and not a TV camera in sight. It should make for an interesting discussion.

Meanwhile, there are four ways you can get involved in the debate:

Propose a question. Our debate moderators want to hear from you and find out what kinds of questions you'd like to see asked of the candidates. In particular, NPR is interested in hearing your best thinking regarding some of today's hot-button topics, including immigration, the environment, Iran and Iraq, China and healthcare, among others. And if you'd rather pitch a question on an issue that you think isn't being discussed much, you can do that too. You can also comment on any of the questions proposed by other people.

Blog from the debate. If you're a blogger who can figure out a way to get to Des Moines for December 4, please feel free to request media credentials for the debate. NPR hopes to have some bloggers participating at the event, liveblogging the debate and interviewing people in the spin room afterwards. Of course, you're more than welcome to liveblog it from anywhere else, but if you can get to Des Moines, it's an amazing experience to observe the spin room first-hand.

Discuss the debate as it happens. NPR news blogger Tom Regan will be liveblogging the debate as it plays out, along with a group of NPR reporters who will work to fact-check claims of the candidates. You can dive right in to the scrum by posting your own punditry in the blog's comment threads. Or, if you're a blogger, create a post of your own and tag it nprdebate so Tom and others can follow the conversation.

Mash it up! Following the debate, NPR will post the audio online. If there's anything creative you want to do with it, go for it, as we won't be placing any licensing restrictions on how it can be used. Again, it'd be great if you could tag anything you do with it nprdebate - I'm sure I and others will be eager to check it out.

I'm not sure when the Republican debate will be - they were shooting for the same week but the candidates had scheduling conflicts. Hopefully it'll be sorted out soon. -andy

Christopher Lydon Live in the Studio, originally uploaded by andycarvin.

They're back!

Yesterday, Radio Open Source host Chris Lydon and producer Mary McGrath circulated an email announcing the return of the cutting-edge radio show, one of the first to weave blogging and social media into the core mission of the program. After going on an indefinite hiatus this summer because of funding cuts, Radio Open Source has moved its operation to Brown University.

Bolivian Dancers, originally uploaded by andycarvin.

I was trying to take a picture of the faces of these Bolivian dancers performing in today's Montgomery County Thanksgiving Parade in Silver Spring, but by the time my camera phone took the picture, they turned to their right and jumped in the air. It's probably the one time I'm actually glad it takes the Treo 700pm something like a gazillion seconds before it shoots the picture. Now if could only have half-decent resolution....