Shows
Slow BurnDecoder Ring | The Red String Board ConspiracyThere’s a ubiquitous prop in just about every police procedural and conspiracy thriller: a cork board pinned with documents, newspaper clippings, and Polaroid photos, all connected by a web of red string. They go by many names, including pin boards, string boards, evidence boards, investigation walls, conspiracy walls, and walls of crazy. These boards can be vehicles of insight or manifestations of madness—and in many cases, both. But where did they come from? And can they really solve a crime?In this episode, we try to unwind the red string board all the way to its...
2025-10-2246 min
Slate Culture FeedDecoder Ring | The Red String Board ConspiracyThere’s a ubiquitous prop in just about every police procedural and conspiracy thriller: a cork board pinned with documents, newspaper clippings, and Polaroid photos, all connected by a web of red string. They go by many names, including pin boards, string boards, evidence boards, investigation walls, conspiracy walls, and walls of crazy. These boards can be vehicles of insight or manifestations of madness—and in many cases, both. But where did they come from? And can they really solve a crime?
In this episode, we try to unwind the red string board all the way to its...
2025-10-2251 min
Slate Daily FeedDecoder Ring | The Red String Board ConspiracyThere’s a ubiquitous prop in just about every police procedural and conspiracy thriller: a cork board pinned with documents, newspaper clippings, and Polaroid photos, all connected by a web of red string. They go by many names, including pin boards, string boards, evidence boards, investigation walls, conspiracy walls, and walls of crazy. These boards can be vehicles of insight or manifestations of madness—and in many cases, both. But where did they come from? And can they really solve a crime?
In this episode, we try to unwind the red string board all the way to its...
2025-10-2251 min
Decoder RingThe Red String Board ConspiracyThere’s a ubiquitous prop in just about every police procedural and conspiracy thriller: a cork board pinned with documents, newspaper clippings, and Polaroid photos, all connected by a web of red string. They go by many names, including pin boards, string boards, evidence boards, investigation walls, conspiracy walls, and walls of crazy. These boards can be vehicles of insight or manifestations of madness—and in many cases, both. But where did they come from? And can they really solve a crime?In this episode, we try to unwind the red string board all the way to its...
2025-10-2246 min
Rereading Our ChildhoodRereading Little Women, with Jamie StiehmOn this episode, syndicated columnist Jamie Stiehm joins us to reread Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel Little Women, which was published in two parts in 1868 and 1869.Mentioned on this episode:Other books by Alcott: Little Men (1871), Eight Cousins (1874), Rose in Bloom (1876), Jo’s Boys (1886)Also mentioned:Peyton Thomas’s tweet saying Alcott was transPeyton Thomas’s New York Times guest column saying that Alcott was transPeyton Thomas’s podcast Jo’s Boys (on Apple and Spotify)Film adaptations: Little Women (1933), with Katharine Hepburn (tra...
2025-07-1654 min
Welcome to FloridaEpisode 193: Janet RenoGreat news for conservation in Florida starts this episode!Janet Reno is best known as being the first female U.S. Attorney General during the Clinton Administration. She was also a Floridian, born and raised in Miami. Judith Hicks Stiehm has written the definitive biography of Reno, "Janet Reno: A Life." Judith Hicks Stiehm's daughter Jamie Stiehm joins us to discuss Reno.
2024-02-2734 min
Why Are They So Angry?Can You Spell Racism?Spelling bees seem like innocent competitions where the idea of systemic racism should be foreign. But flashback to the year 1908, and Dr. Carol François and Kourtney Square, her niece, will tell about how the level playing field of the national spelling bee was unleveled by systemic racism and a Black/African American girl almost became the first national spelling bee winner years before Zaila Avant-garde’s historic 2021 win. Want more, take our course Systemic Racism: See it, Say it, Confront it at www.whyaretheysoangry.com and find us anywhere at www.podpage.com.whyaretheysoangry
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2021-07-2735 min