4 years ago we spoke with The Nation's Washington editor, Christopher Hayes who was fresh off the presidential campaign trail.  He was tired, somewhat dispirited and he vowed never again to get so caught up in the minutiae of campaign coverage.  Hayes now hosts Up with Chris Hayes on MSNBC and so Brooke checks in with him to see how that vow is working out.

Not long ago, writer Emily McCombs received a friend request from a man who had raped her in her adolescence. She talks to Brooke about how you handle that particular social networking quandary, and about how the interaction was ultimately a surprisingly positive one for her.

Sigur Rós - Flugufrelsarinn (performed by Kronos Quartet)

As popular as Facebook is, it has its share of detractors, especially among public intellectuals. Novelist Jonathan Franzen spoke for many when he said that platforms like Facebook are “great allies and enablers of narcissism" and that "to friend a person is merely to include the person in our private hall of flattering mirrors.” Where’s this frustration coming from? Is it fair? Writer Paul Ford talks to Brooke about an essay he wrote last year that sought to answer that question.

This article was originally posted on the blog of the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation, www.impatientoptimists.org

We’ve all heard the old saw that “one death is a tragedy, a million deaths a statistic.” It’s the guiding principle of public relations for those engaged in building support for humanitarian causes. In fact, it’s more than a principle; it’s an inescapable truth.

On this week's show we ran a story about the Chinese toy maker In Icons and its plans to release a Steve Jobs action figure. Perhaps good news for the legions of Apple fans, the news was less warmly embraced by Apple itself, who threatened legal action against the toy manufacturer.

But as PC World reported yesterday, In Icons has stopped production on the controversial doll. Tandy Cheung, the Hong Kong businessman behind the doll said in a statement that "though we still believe that we have not overstepped any legal boundaries, we have decided to completely stop the offer, production and sale of the Steve Jobs figurine out of our heartfelt sensitivity to the feelings of the Jobs family."

A Chinese toy maker is set to release a Steve Jobs action figure next month, but Apple is hoping to halt the sales of the doll by threatening legal action against the manufacturer.  Apple successfully stopped a similar doll from being sold back in 2010, but the rules this time around might be different.  Brooke speaks to paidcontent.org legal writer Jeff Roberts, who says the rules protecting personality rights don't carry on after death in most places.

I'd say we get an email at least once a week from a listener asking us why Bob pauses when he says "edited...by Brooke" at the end of every episode. Even as a member of the OTM staff, that question will remain one of life's great mysteries, like the sound of one hand clapping, or why people dislike cilantro.

Comic artist Tyler Crook (you can find him on his website and on facebook) has obviously spent a considerable amount of time thinking about Bob's weekly pregnant pause and has drawn a cartoon imagining what happens in the studio during recording. It's pretty great.

Joseph Farrell, the man that made test screenings and market research Hollywood's industry standard, died last week at age 76. Brooke talks to Los Angeles Times film writer Rebecca Keegan about Farrell's influence on the industry and how Hollywood uses test screening today.

Playwright, poet and former President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Havel died this week at the age of 75.  Brooke remembers his famous essay The Power of the Powerless and his notion of living "within the truth."

A week ago footage of an anonymous woman, knocked to the ground in Cairo, dragged and beaten by Egyptian soldiers, ricocheted around the world.  During the attack the woman, unconscious, had her shirt pulled up over her head, exposing her blue bra.  Cairo journalist Issandr El Amrani tells Brooke how the 'blue bra girl' has become a potent symbol of Egypt's political turmoil.

Since human space flight has been conceivable there’s been an accompanying media and pop-culture myth – ‘space madness’.  Initially the supposition in pop-culture was that only the truly crazy would volunteer to be blasted into space.  And for over 50 years there’s been a corresponding premise, that time in space must affect sanity.  Brooke speaks with Matthew H. Hersch who’s written about ‘space madness’ real and imagined. 

David Bowie - Space Oddity

On Tuesday, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) called for a complete ban on cellphone use by drivers – no texting, no web surfing, no talking – not even on a hands-free device. The advisory is non-binding but states pay close attention to the NTSB. Chairman Deborah Hersman talks to Brooke about the NTSB's decision.

Live streaming, the act of broadcasting a video to the internet in close to real time, is quickly becoming a staple tool of twenty-first century protestors. From Occupy Wall Street to the Egypt election last week to the Russian election this week, activists use cell phones as weapons of transparency: not only documenting but broadcasting events as they happen. Brooke talks to Mans Adler, founder of live streaming platform Bambuser.

In the aftermath of the News of the World phone hacking scandal, the British government launched an investigation known as the Leveson Inquiry to look into the practices and ethics of the British press. This week, one of the most shocking testimonies of the inquiry came from former NOTW reporter Paul McMullan. Brooke speaks to McMullan about his testimony and why he thinks deceptive reporting tactics are necessary.

Teenagers are often considered careless when it comes to what they post online, but a new study from the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project suggests that teens are more savvy about internet privacy than they are given credit for. Brooke speaks to Pew Senior Researcher Mary Madden about what teens are doing online.

Oddisee – Brain Wash Remix Instrumental

The media, the security industry and some members of congress have pounced on reports about the potential for hackers to wage cyber war on the United States, wreaking havoc on our nation's infrastructure. Brooke talks to Jerry Brito, the director of the Technology Policy Program at George Mason University's Mercatus program, who says that the rhetoric around cyber warfare doesn't square with reality.

Nicolas Jaar – Problems with the Sun

Pollster lingo for a politician’s popularity rating at any given moment is favorability. Voters are asked: do you like your public official right now? And at this moment the answer is an unqualified 'no'. Brooke talks to pollster Tom Jensen, who recently embarked on a quest to figure out who exactly Americans are still able to agree that they do like.

Bill Evans – Santa Claus is Coming to Town

After a long court battle, Bloomberg.com has obtained crucial details about Federal Reserve lending during the financial crisis. We now know which banks got what amount of money. That's information lawmakers didn't have when they were crafting financial regulations. Brooke spoke with Bloomberg's Bob Ivry, who says that if law makers had known more - the financial regulations we have now might look very different. 

Stateless – Ariel

In 1977 a former beauty queen with a 168 IQ named Joyce McKinney became British tabloid fodder when she supposedly kidnapped her Mormon boyfriend at gunpoint and for 4 days kept him as her sex slave.  She's the subject of Errol Morris' documentary Tabloid. Morris talked to Brooke in July of 2011 about what makes for tabloid fare, then and now.

10cc - The Things We do for Love