Complete with video and archival images, we track down the offensive phrase’s roots and consider whether it’s time to retire it.
50 Things That Made the Modern Economy - Billy Bookcase
Low cost, functional and brilliantly efficient, an Ikea Billy bookcase rolls off the production line every three seconds. There are thought to be over 60 million of them already in service. Few could find the Billy bookcase beautiful. They are successful because they work and they are cheap. And – as Tim Harford explains in this fascinating story – brilliantly boring efficiency is essential to the modern economy. The humble Billy bookcase epitomises the relentless pursuit of lower costs and acceptable functionality.
Producer: Ben Crighton
Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon
The Gist - Jamelle Bouie on the Trump Cabinet
So, who is Donald Trump’s most troubling Cabinet pick? Is it Jeff Sessions, who received an 11 percent score on civil rights issues from the NAACP? Or Rex Tillerson, who was unprepared for questions about Vladimir Putin’s regime? Or Ben Carson, who didn’t seem to know anything about the mandate of Housing and Urban Development? Slate’s chief political correspondent weighs in on the first week of hearings for Trump’s Cabinet picks. In the Spiel, it’s Lobstar time again.
Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at Slate.com/gistplus.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
ATXplained - The History, Mystery and Misery of MoPac
The glorified parking lot known, at least officially, as Loop 1 has given many a driver plenty of time to ponder its quirks while stuck in traffic.
The post The History, Mystery and Misery of MoPac appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
The Gist - How Should We Talk About Whiteness?
This week, race was front and center at the confirmation hearing for Trump’s attorney general nominee, Jeff Sessions. Cory Booker and the head of the NAACP testified that Sessions’ history of alleged racist comments and his voting record suggested he could not fairly uphold the rights of all Americans. The Alabama senator fired back that he was not a racist and had fought to honor historical figures like Rosa Parks. The whole affair raised questions about how to discuss race, “whiteness,” and issues of identity politics in the Trump era. Marc Lamont Hill is a professor at Morehouse College, a frequent commentator on CNN, and a host for BET News. His new book is Nobody: Casualties of America’s War on the Vulnerable, From Ferguson to Flint and Beyond.
In the Spiel, Kellyanne Conway’s war on the media.
Today’s sponsor:
LifeAfter. What happens to our digital lives when we’re gone? LifeAfter, a new series from GE Podcast Theater and Panoply, the creators of last year’s award-winning The Message, explores these very questions. Listen and download LifeAfter wherever you find your podcasts.
Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at Slate.com/gistplus.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bay Curious - Why Aren’t There Any Strip Clubs in the East Bay?
In the 1960s, San Francisco was in the midst of a sexual revolution. Officials across the Bay in Oakland wanted none of it.
Reported by Adizah Eghan. Produced and edited by Olivia Allen-Price, Vinnee Tong, Paul Lancour, Suzie Racho and Julia McEvoy. Theme music by Pat Mesiti-Miller.
Ask us a question at BayCurious.org.
Follow Olivia Allen-Price on Twitter @oallenprice.
Pod Save America - “We had plenty of ethical fun.”
Jon and Dan talk about Obama's farewell and Trump's press conference. Then, former Obama ethics czar Norm Eisen joins to talk about Trump's decision to retain ownership of his business empire.
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, please visit crooked.com/podsaveamerica.
For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.
The Gist - Twenty-Four Grueling Hours in Trumpland
Between the shady unverified intelligence dossier, Trump’s strange press conference, and the Rex Tillerson hearings, this has been a head-spinning 24 hours. We called up Slate’s War Stories correspondent Fred Kaplan to make sense of it all. Kaplan is most recently the author of Dark Territory: The Secret History of Cyber War.
In the Spiel, an analysis of President Obama’s farewell and the meaning of activism.
Today’s sponsor:
Policy Genius. Shop and compare all the top-rated life insurance companies in one place. Go to PolicyGenius.comtoday to save over 70 percent off other prices for life insurance.
Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at slate.com/gistplus.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Gist - How the Onion Remade Joe Biden
If you’ve been reading the Onion the past eight years, you know that Vice President Joe Biden is a hair metal–loving party machine. He’s set up a fog machine at the State of the Union address. He’s regaled crowds with stories from his historic summer of ’87. And he’s been busted many, many times for his shady side hustles. Chad Nackers, head writer at the Onion, talks about how his site created a whole new character to satirize Obama’s tee-totaling vice-president, and the delicate balancing act of finding jokes that don’t normalize the next president. For the Spiel, don’t worry, the Amazon Echo won’t turn on you, Space Odyssey–style. It’ll just order stuff you don’t want.
Today’s sponsors:
Indochino, the company that’s reinventing men’s fashion. Go to Indochino.com to get any premium suit for just $389, plus free shipping, when you use promo code gist at checkout.
Rocket Mortgage from Quicken Loans. When it comes to the big decision of choosing a mortgage lender, work with one that has your best interests in mind. Use Rocket Mortgage for a transparent, trustworthy home loan process that’s completely online at QuickenLoans.com/gist.
Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at slate.com/gistplus.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Gist - The Secret to Meaningful Work
Are millennials really less money-focused than their forebears were? Do the kings of finance obsess over money because society doesn’t give them another way to measure their success? How can we make ditch-digging meaningful work? On The Gist, behavioral economist and Wall Street Journal columnistDan Ariely weighs in; think of him as the Dear Abby for the smartphone set. Ariely is the author of Payoff: The Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivations. For the Spiel, surely the glitz and glamour of the Golden Globes will stop Trump! Right?
Today’s sponsors:
ZipRecruiter. Post your job listing to all the top job sites with a single click. Try it for free by going to ZipRecruiter.com/gist.
And by Lifeafter. What happens to our digital lives when we’re gone? LifeAfter, a new series from GE Podcast Theater and Panoply, the creators of last year’s award-winning The Message, explores these very questions. Listen and download LifeAfter wherever you find your podcasts.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices