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In a new anthology of baseball essays, sportswriter Stefan Fatsis celebrates his beloved, 31-year-old baseball glove. He talks to Robert Siegel about how he set out to find out about his mitt's history and what he learned along the way.

In 1851, two chess masters sat down for a practice game in London. What should have been a throwaway game intensified and was quickly dubbed "the immortal game." David Shenk, author of a new history of chess called The Immortal Game, describes the historic match.

In a tiny village in central Cameroon, musician Blick Bassy discovered his sound. Bassy now lives in Paris, but he continues to sing in his native language, Bassa. Bassa is one of the 250 or so languages spoken in Cameroon, and Bassy fears it is dying out.

Columbia law professor Tim Wu writes that information technologies have all gone through a similar life cycle: "Information technologies give rise to industries, and industries to empires." Wu says this cycle ultimately destroys the innovative spirit that creates new information technologies and the openness that typifies them in their early years. In his new book, The Master Switch, Wu asks if the Internet is next. NPR's Robert Siegel asks Wu if the history of various information technologies -- the telephone, movies, radio, television -- can predict the future of the Internet.

Frustrating customer service stories are commonplace. For her book Your Call Is (Not That) Important To Us, Emily Yellin looked into the history and future of customer service. She thinks it's possible things will improve.

This Wednesday will mark the 100th day President Barack Obama has been in office, a time to assess the new administration's progress. The president is taking on his job at a tough time in history — the economy is in a recession and the country is involved in two wars. And yet, he remains popular. This week, NPR will be airing stories each day that measure the president's progress in key areas against the goals he set for his presidency.

Pope Francis' status as the first Jesuit marks a momentous milestone in history.