Slow Burn podcast

#History #Society #Binge-Worthy Documentary #Politics #News #Documentaries #Slate

38:05

In late 1972, U.S. Marine Captain Ron Forrester disappeared on a bombing run into North Vietnam. Back home in Texas, his family could only wait and hope. Audio subscribers to Texas Monthly can get early access to episodes of the series, plus exclusive interviews and audio. Visit texasmonthly.com/audio to join. Go to HelloFresh.com/FLIGHT10FM to get 10 Free Meals with a Free Item For Life.…

Slow Burn

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Slow Burn illuminates America’s most consequential moments, making sense of the past to better understand the present. Through archival tape and first-person interviews, the series uncovers the surprising events and little-known characters lurking within the biggest stories of our time. Want more Slow Burn? Join Slate Plus to unlock full, ad-free access to Slow Burn and your other favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Slow Burn show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/slowburnplus to get access wherever you listen. Season 10: The Rise of Fox News How a cable news channel became a cultural and political force—and how a whole bunch of people rose up to try and stop it. Season 9: Gays Against Briggs A nationwide moral panic, a California legislator who rode the anti-gay wave, and the LGBTQ+ people who stepped up and came out to try and stop him. Season 8: Becoming Justice Thomas Where Clarence Thomas came from, how he rose to power, and how he’s brought the rest of us along with him, whether we like it or not. Winner of the Podcast of the Year at the 2024 Ambies Awards. Season 7: Roe v. Wade The women who fought for legal abortion, the activists who pushed back, and the justices who thought they could solve the issue for good. Winner of Apple Podcasts Show of the Year in 2022. Season 6: The L.A. Riots How decades of police brutality, a broken justice system, and a video tape set off six days of unrest in Los Angeles. Season 5: The Road to the Iraq War Eighteen months after 9/11, the United States invaded a country that had nothing to do with the attacks. Who’s to blame? And was there any way to stop it? Season 4: David Duke America’s most famous white supremacist came within a runoff of controlling Louisiana. How did David Duke rise to power? And what did it take to stop him? Season 3: Biggie and Tupac How is it that two of the most famous performers in the world were murdered within a year of each other—and their killings were never solved? Season 2: The Clinton Impeachment A reexamination of the scandals that nearly destroyed the 42nd president and forever changed the life of a former White House intern. Season 1: Watergate What did it feel like to live through the scandal that brought down President Nixon?

200 episodes

Slow Burn

10,173 subscribers

updated 2 days ago

Series home•Feed

200 episodes

#History #Society #Binge-Worthy Documentary #Politics #News #Documentaries #Slate

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Slow Burn

1
Decoder Ring | Off-the-Wall Stories of Off-Label Use 54:01

2 days ago54:01

54:01

Products often tell you exactly how they’re intended to be used. But why leave it at that? As a culture, we have long had a knack for finding ingenious, off-label uses for things. In this episode, we take a close look at a few examples of products that are ostensibly meant for one thing, but are better known for something else entirely. We explore Q-tips, which we are explicitly told not to put into our ears; the Hitachi Magic Wand, the iconic sex toy marketed as a body massager; the musical washboard; and the children’s electrolyte solution Pedialyte that many adults swear by as a hangover cure. You’ll hear from Hallie Lieberman , author of Buzz: A Stimulating History of the Sex Toy ; Jacqui Barnett of the Columbus Washboard Company ; Christopher Wilson , curator and chair of the Division of Home and Community Life at the Smithsonian; musician and educator Súle Greg Wilson ; zydeco musicians C.J. Chenier and Steve Nash; Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall , author of Hungover: The Morning After and One Man’s Quest for the Cure ; as well as writers Roberto Ferdman , Dan Brooks , and Kaitlyn Tiffany . Decoder Ring is produced by Willa Paskin, Max Freedman, Katie Shepherd, and Evan Chung, Decoder Ring’s supervising producer. We had additional production from Sofie Kodner. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director. Special thanks to Kate Sloan, Dr. Carol Queen, Bryony Cole, Amber Singer, Molly Born, Laura Selikson, and Nell McShane Wulfhart. If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, please email us at DecoderRing@slate.com , or leave a message on our hotline at 347-460-7281. Sources for This Episode Bishop-Stall, Shaughnessy. Hungover: The Morning After and One Man’s Quest for the Cure , Penguin, 2018. Brooks, Dan. “ Letter of Recommendation: Pedialyte ,” New York Times Magazine, Jan. 26, 2017. Comella, Lynn. Vibrator Nation: How Feminist Sex-Toy Stores Changed the Business of Pleasure , Duke University Press, 2017. Dodson, Betty. “Having Sex with Machines: The Return of the Electric Vibrator,” Dodson and Ross, June 9, 2010. Feran, Tim. “ Pedialyte Is Not Just For Kids ,” Columbus Dispatch, July 19, 2015. Ferdman, Roberto A. “ The strange life of Q-tips, the most bizarre thing people buy, ” Washington Post, Jan. 20, 2016. Kushner, David. “Inside Orgasmatron,” Village Voice, March 26, 1999. Lieberman, Hallie. Buzz: A Stimulating History of the Sex Toy , Pegasus Books, 2017. Lieberman, Hallie. “ Selling Sex Toys: Marketing and the Meaning of Vibrators in Early Twentieth-Century America ,” Enterprise & Society, June 2016. Russel, Ruth. “Hangover Remedies? I’ll Drink to That!,” Idaho Statesman, Jan. 1, 1978. Sloan, Kate. Making Magic , 2024. Tiffany, Kaitlyn. “ How Pedialyte got Pedialit ,” Vox, Sep. 10, 2018. Williams, Dell. “ The Roots of the Garden ,” Journal of Sex Research, August 1990. Wulfhart, Nell McShane. “ The Best Hangover Cure ,” Slate, Aug. 29, 2013. Want more Decoder Ring? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock exclusive bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the Decoder Ring show page. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

Slow Burn

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Decoder Ring | How “Chicken Soup” Sold Its Soul 50:49

16 days ago50:49

50:49

Chicken Soup for the Soul was the brainchild of two motivational speakers who preach the New Thought belief system known as the Law of Attraction. For more than 30 years, the self-help series has compiled reader-submitted stories about kindness, courage, and perseverance into easily digestible books aimed at almost every conceivable demographic: Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul , Chicken Soup for the Grandma’s Soul , Chicken Soup for the Golfer’s Soul , and on and on. Since 1993, these books have sold more than 500 million copies worldwide, becoming the best-selling non-fiction book series of all time. But in recent years, the company has become many other things that seem lightyears away from inspirational publishing: a line of packaged foods, a DVD kiosk retailer, and a meme stock. In this episode, with the help of journalist Amanda Chicago Lewis , we tell the story of how this feel-good brand went from comfort food to junk. This episode was written by Willa Paskin and Max Freedman and produced by Max. It was edited by Evan Chung, Decoder Ring’s supervising producer. Our show is also produced by Katie Shepherd. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director. Special thanks to Rachel Strom. If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, please email us at DecoderRing@slate.com , or leave a message on our hotline at 347-460-7281. Want more Decoder Ring? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock exclusive bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the Decoder Ring show page. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

Slow Burn

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Decoder Ring | Spring Break Forever 50:08

30 days ago50:08

50:08

The infamous annual ritual of spring break—where thousands of college students head to the same warm location and go crazy—can seem like it’s always been here. But it hasn’t. The spring break phenomenon is a holdover from midcentury teen culture that has endured by changing, just enough, to be passed from one generation to the next. In this episode we’re going from the beaches of Fort Lauderdale to Daytona, from the movie screen to the TV set, from MTV to Instagram reels, from its start to its surprisingly recognizable present, as we follow the evolving, self-reinforcing rite that is spring break. You’ll hear from former MTV staffers Doug Herzog , Salli Frattini, Alan Hunter, and Joe Davola , along with John Laurie, Kaylee Morris, and Slate writer Scaachi Koul . This episode was written by Willa Paskin and Katie Shepherd and produced by Katie. It was edited by Evan Chung, Decoder Ring’s supervising producer. Our show is also produced by Max Freedman. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director. Thank you to Bob Friedman and Allan Cohen, producers of Spring Broke ; David Cohn, Derreck Johnson, and Ivylise Simones. If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, please email us at DecoderRing@slate.com , or leave a message on our hotline at 347-460-7281. Want more Decoder Ring? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock exclusive bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the Decoder Ring show page. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus to get access wherever you listen. Sources for This Episode Koul, Scaachi. “ From ‘Girls Gone Wild’ to ‘Your Body, My Choice’ ,” Slate, Dec. 13, 2024. Laurie, John. “ Spring Break: The Economic, Socio-Cultural and Public Governance Impacts of College Students on Spring Break Host Locations ,” University of New Orleans Dissertation, Dec. 19, 2008. Mormino, Gary R. Land of Sunshine, State of Dreams: A Social History of Modern Florida , University Press of Florida, 2008. Schiltz, James. “ Time to Grow Up: The Rise and Fall of Spring Break in Fort Lauderdale ,” The Florida Historical Quarterly, Fall 2014. Spring Broke , dir. Alison Ellwood, Bungalow Media + Entertainment, 2016. Thompson, Derek. “ 2,000 Years of Partying: The Brief History and Economics of Spring Break ,” The Atlantic, March 26, 2013. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

Slow Burn

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Decoder Ring | How Books About Things That Changed the World… Changed the World 58:24

6 weeks ago58:24

58:24

Look in the nonfiction section of any bookstore and you’ll find dozens of history books making the same bold claim: that their narrow, unexpected subject somehow changed the world. Potatoes, kudzu, soccer, coffee, Iceland, bees, oak trees, sand, chickens—there are books about all of them, and many more besides, with the phrase “changed the world” or something similarly grandiose right there in the title. These books are sometimes called “microhistories” or “thing biographies” and they’ve been a trope in publishing for decades. In this episode, we establish where this trend came from, figure out why it’s been so persistent, and then we put a bunch of authors on the spot, asking them to make the case for why their subjects changed the world. The writers you’ll hear from include: Simon Garfield ( Mauve: How One Man Invented a Color That Changed the World ) Mark Kurlansky ( Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World ) George Gibson, publisher of Cod and Dava Sobel’s Longitude Historian Bronwen Everill Slate writer Henry Grabar ( Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World ) Gastropod co-host Nicola Twilley ( Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves ) Tim Queeney ( Rope: How a Bundle of Twisted Fibers Became the Backbone of Civilization ) Leila Philip ( Beaver Land: How One Weird Rodent Made America ). This episode was written by Willa Paskin and produced by Evan Chung, Decoder Ring’s supervising producer. Katie Shepherd and Max Freedman also produce our show. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director. Thank you to Joshua Specht, author of Red Meat Republic : A Hoof-to-Table History of How Beef Changed America ; Dan Koeppel, author of Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World ; Tina Lupton; Dan Kois; and Nancy Miller. If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, please email us at DecoderRing@slate.com , or leave a message on our hotline at 347-460-7281. Want more Decoder Ring? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock exclusive bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the Decoder Ring show page. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

Slow Burn

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Supercommunicators | 3. How to Have the Hardest Conversations 30:40

8 weeks ago30:40

30:40

The final installment of our series explores the conversations that most of us dread, like frank discussions of our differences or a negative performance review at work. We often anticipate that these chats will go badly—and end in hurt feelings or embarrassment—but there are proven ways to make them easier to navigate. Host Charles Duhigg talks with psychologist Jay Van Bavel about strategies for having the hardest conversations. And: Vernā Myers, Netflix’s former vice president for inclusion strategy, tells the story of what happened inside the company after an executive was fired for using a racial slur. This Slate miniseries dives into the art and science of meaningful conversations, inspired by Duhigg’s bestselling book, Supercommunicators . The guides we mention in this episode can be found at charlesduhigg.com/tools/ Supercommunicators was produced by Sophie Summergrad and Derek John, who also did the sound design. Our technical director is Merritt Jacob and our supervising producer is Joel Meyer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

Slow Burn

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Decoder Ring | Truck Nutz (Encore) 41:29

8 weeks ago41:29

41:29

Truck Nutz is a brand name for the dangling plastic testicles some people affix to the bumpers or hitches of their vehicles. Also sold as Bulls Balls, Your Nutz, and other brand names, these plastic novelties have a powerful symbolic charge and are often associated with a crass, macho, red state audience. But truck nuts are a surprisingly complicated signifier whose symbolic power is increasingly divorced from their real-world usage. On this episode, we talk to owners and users of truck nuts, investigate the origins of the accessories, and deconstruct the meaning of these oft-joked-about symbols. We’ll also take a tour of other novelty testicle products, including Bike Balls (testicular bike lights), Gunsticles (plastic testicles for guns), and Neuticles (prosthetic testicles for neutered pets), to better understand the maligned symbolism of truck nuts. Links and further reading on some of the things we discussed on the show: Ad for Monster Truck Nuts Truck Nutz Prank Call Elie Mystal’s writing on truck nuts for Above the Law Austin Vasectomy in Austin Texas This episode was written by Willa Paskin and edited and produced by Benjamin Frisch. Decoder Ring is produced by Katie Shepherd and Max Freedman. Evan Chung is our supervising producer. If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at DecoderRing@slate.com. Or you can also call us now at our new Decoder Ring hotline at 347-460-7281. We love to hear any and all of your ideas for the show. Want more Decoder Ring? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock exclusive bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the Decoder Ring show page. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

Slow Burn

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Supercommunicators | 2. How to Communicate Without Words 28:37

10 weeks ago28:37

28:37

Why is it that we can tell someone “I’m totally fine!” and they instantly know we’re not? Gestures, facial expressions, tone of voice, and other subtle nonverbal cues play a huge role in how we connect with one another. In this episode, host Charles Duhigg explores how we communicate without words, including a deep dive into the visual and tonal cues embedded in one of the biggest sitcoms of all time, The Big Bang Theory . He talks with Dr. Dustin York, a professor at Maryville University who studies nonverbal communication and worked in public relations for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. He also sits down with Dave Goetsch, a co-executive producer and longtime writer for The Big Bang Theory , and journalist Jessica Radloff, who wrote an exhaustive book about the show . This Slate miniseries dives into the art and science of meaningful conversations, inspired by Duhigg’s bestselling book, Supercommunicators . Supercommunicators was produced by Sophie Summergrad and Derek John, who also did the sound design. Our technical director is Merritt Jacob and our supervising producer is Joel Meyer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

Slow Burn

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Decoder Ring | Jerry Lewis’ Lost Holocaust Clown Movie 58:52

10 weeks ago58:52

58:52

In 1972, Jerry Lewis—the actor and filmmaker known for slapstick comedies like The Nutty Professor —took the biggest risk of his career when he decided to make a drama called The Day The Clown Cried , about a circus clown who ends up in Auschwitz. This could have been a landmark as one of the first portrayals of the Holocaust in American cinema. Instead, it became a different kind of landmark: allegedly, one of the worst movies ever. The Day The Clown Cried was never released, and only a handful of people have ever seen it. But the unbelievable concept alone has been enough to make this lost movie a holy grail for curious film buffs. In this episode of Decoder Ring, producer Max Freedman traces how The Day The Clown Cried became such a legendary disaster, why it’s impossible to see, and whether it actually deserves its rotten reputation. You’ll hear from comedian Patton Oswalt; Shawn Levy, author of King of Comedy: The Life and Art of Jerry Lewis ; Henry Gonshak, author of Hollywood and the Holocaust ; Chuck Denton, whose father Charles co-wrote The Day The Clown Cried ; and Jean-Michel Frodon, film critic at slate.fr . If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at DecoderRing@slate.com. Or you can also call us now at our new Decoder Ring hotline at 347-460-7281. We’d love to hear any and all of your ideas for the show. Want more Decoder Ring? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock exclusive bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the Decoder Ring show page. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

Slow Burn

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Supercommunicators | 1. How to Talk to Anyone 32:22

11 weeks ago32:22

32:22

Why are some people able to talk with just about anyone—about almost anything? One answer may lie in the questions we ask—and how deeply we ask them. Stick with us here… In this episode, host Charles Duhigg examines why deep questions are so powerful and how to ask them in everyday life. He talks to Nick Epley, psychology professor at the University of Chicago and lifelong researcher of deep questions. And we catch up with Mandy Len Catron, 10 years after she wrote the viral New York Times article “ The 36 Questions That Lead to Love .” This Slate miniseries dives into the art and science of meaningful conversations, inspired by Duhigg’s bestselling book, Supercommunicators . Supercommunicators was produced by Derek John and Sophie Summergrad. Our technical director is Merritt Jacob. Joel Meyer is our supervising producer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

Slow Burn

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Introducing Supercommunicators 1:15

11 weeks ago1:15

1:15

In a new miniseries inspired by Charles Duhigg’s bestseller, the former host of Slate’s How To! podcast sits down with psychologists, social scientists, and even a Hollywood writer to explore how to ask the right questions, communicate without words, and find meaningful connections in our lives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

Slow Burn

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Decoder Ring | The Scratch-Off Ticket’s Instant Win 40:18

12 weeks ago40:18

40:18

You may never have thought very hard about scratch-off tickets, but that’s part of their power. They’re a form of gambling that’s simply a pedestrian part of American life. But not so long ago, they were risky and innovative, the killer app of their time and the must-play game of the state lottery. In this episode, Ian Coss, host of the new podcast series Scratch & Win , is going to walk us through the history of the scratch-off ticket: its invention, its popularization, and its connection to the explosion in gambling that’s now all around us. This episode of Decoder Ring was produced by Katie Shepherd. Decoder Ring is also produced by Willa Paskin, Evan Chung and Max Freedman. Derek John is Executive Producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director. Scratch & Win is a production of GBH News. It is produced by Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss and edited by Lacy Roberts. Its editorial supervisor is Jenifer McKim with support from Ryan Alderman. Mei Lei is the project manager, and the Executive Producer is Devin Maverick Robins. If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, please email us at DecoderRing@slate.com . And you can also now call us at our Decoder Ring hotline — that number is 347-460-7281. We love hearing your ideas, and we especially enjoyed all the messages we got about our last episode on the ’90s swing craze. Keep ‘em coming! And even better, tell your friends to check us out. Want more Decoder Ring? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock exclusive bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the Decoder Ring show page. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

Slow Burn

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Decoder Ring | Jump, Jive and Fail: The ’90s Swing Craze 1:06:01

14 weeks ago1:06:01

1:06:01

When we recently got a couple of listener emails asking about the swing revival of the late 1990s, host Willa Paskin’s first, knee jerk reaction was just: no. She lived through it, and remembers it as being so incredibly corny and uncool. Insofar as the swing revival persists in the cultural memory, it’s usually as a punchline or as head-scratcher, a particularly odd-seeming fad. But then we started talking to everyone who was anyone in the swing scene, from Big Bad Voodoo Daddy to the dancers in the infamous Gap khakis commercial. It turns out the 90’s swing revival is more involved, more interesting and, OK, maybe cooler than we ever imagined. It’s about an underground scene that went above ground in a major way, and how that level of success can obscure what’s happening while it’s happening—but also long after it’s over. This episode was written and produced by Willa Paskin, Evan Chung, and Sofie Kodner with mix help from Max Freedman. Decoder Ring is produced by Willa Paskin, Evan Chung, Max Freedman and Katie Shepherd. Derek John is Executive Producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director. Thank you to listeners Lorraine Denman and Alex Friendly for originally asking us about the ‘90s swing revival. In this episode, you’ll hear from Mando Dorame , Michael Moss, Scotty Morris, Tom Maxwell , Sylvia Skylar, Christian Perry, Steve Perry, John Bunkley, and Carl Byrd . Thank you to Kerstin Emhoff, Tom Breihan, Stephanie Landwehr, and Ken Partridge, whose conversation and book Hell of a Hat: The Rise of '90s Ska and Swing was extremely helpful. If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at DecoderRing@slate.com. Or you can also call us now at our new Decoder Ring hotline at 347-460-7281. We love to hear any and all of your ideas for the show. Want more Decoder Ring? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock exclusive bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the Decoder Ring show page. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

Slow Burn

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Decoder Ring | I am Tupperware, I Contain Multitudes 46:09

16 weeks ago46:09

46:09

The storage container is a stealthy star of the modern home. It’s something we use to organize more of our stuff than ever before, and also something other people use to organize their stuff for our viewing pleasure. Its role as a source of soothing, satisfying, potentially viral clicks is new, but storage container innovations are not – something we had occasion to remember when Tupperware, the company, recently filed for bankruptcy. Tupperware was the original container craze. In today’s episode we’re going to connect it to the contemporary one, because as it happens, for a long time now, we’ve been filling empty plastic boxes with far more than just leftovers. This episode was reported and produced by Olivia Briley. It was edited by Willa Paskin. Decoder Ring is produced by Willa Paskin, Evan Chung, Katie Shepherd and Max Freedman. Derek John is Executive Producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director. In this episode, you’ll hear from Amanda Mull who wrote the articles “ Tupperware Is in Trouble ” and “ Home Influencers Will Not Rest Until Everything Has Been Put in a Clear Plastic Storage Bin .” And from Bob Kealing, the author of Tupperware Unsealed Brownie Wise, Earl Tupper, and the Home Party Pioneers. If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at DecoderRing@slate.com Want more Decoder Ring? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock exclusive bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the Decoder Ring show page. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

Slow Burn

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Introducing Planet Money: Can Money Buy Happiness? 30:02

18 weeks ago30:02

30:02

People often say that money can't buy you happiness. Sometimes, if you ask them to tell you more about it, they'll mention a famous 2010 study by Nobel Prize winners Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton. That study found that higher household income correlates with greater emotional well-being, but only up to around $75,000 a year. After that, more money didn't seem to matter. This was a famous study by two famous academics. The result stood for over a decade. And it feels good, right? Maybe the rich aren't so much happier than anyone else. But researchers have recently done a complete 180 on this idea. In 2021, psychologist Matt Killingsworth found nearly the opposite: That more money does correlate with more happiness. And that the relationship continues well beyond $75,000 per year. Today on the show: Does more money mean fewer problems? Two researchers with totally different takes come together to hammer out a better understanding of the relationship between money and happiness. This episode was hosted by Sally Helm and Nick Fountain. It was produced by Sean Saldana, Sam Yellowhorse Kesler, and Emma Peaslee. It was edited by Meg Cramer and fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Engineering by Cena Loffredo. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

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Decoder Ring | Mailbag: Fruit Snacks, Waterbeds, and Lobster Tanks 52:38

20 weeks ago52:38