Decoder Ring

Various contributors, including Emma Grant and Grace Kretcher, provide commentary and personal takes on Sherlock fandom and the Johnlock conspiracy. They unpack how close readings, publicity, and online theory-building fueled intense belief. Tensions, doxxing, and a convention confrontation reveal real-world consequences. The story traces why hopeful shipping turned into factionalism and heartbreak.

Lane Brown, features writer and lifelong Kubrick fan who investigated the Eyes Wide Shut conspiracy, joins to unpack wild theories. He recounts the film’s infamous orgy scene, Kubrick’s perfectionism and the movie’s production myths. The conversation tracks how Epstein-era revelations reignited speculation and why shadowy narratives persist.

Richard Peterson, retired director who led California prune marketing, shares the story of trying to rename prunes 'dried plums' and even creating prune burgers. The episode traces marketing stunts, FDA pushback, lobbying wins, and why the rebrand fizzled. It ends with a pivot back to celebrating prunes and what that teaches about identity and branding.

Nitish Pahwa, Slate writer on energy and politics, and Simone Randolph, communications director at OSMRE, discuss Coalie, a viral cartoon coal. They trace Coalie’s origin as an in-office mascot, the agency’s public rollout, and how the image collided with political messaging and late-night ridicule. Short takes on design choices, legal limits on promotion, and what comes next for Coalie.

W. David Marks, author and culture critic behind Blank Space, argues the 21st century shows a gap in cultural innovation. He contrasts rapid 20th-century shifts with slower modern change. He uses examples from the Beatles to Taylor Swift, debates the internet and TikTok’s role, and outlines how small scenes can reignite inventive culture.

We are really lucky to get lots of listener suggestions for the show, more good questions than we can possibly answer in a mailbag episode once or twice a year. So we’re starting a new segment we call… Decoder Rings Back! Every month, host Willa Paskin will personally call up a listener to answer their question. In this inaugural installment of Decoder Rings Back, Willa calls up listener Dustin Malek about his cultural mystery: Why did the Mona Lisa, of all paintings, become the most famous in the world, bar none? Willa shares the story of daring heist that turned Leonardo da Vinci’s enigmatic smiling subject into a celebrity.Future episodes of Decoder Rings Back will only be available to Slate Plus subscribers. So if you want to be sure not to miss them, sign up for Slate Plus! You’ll get exclusive episodes and ad-free listening not just on our show, but all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or visit slate.com/decoderplus for access wherever you listen. This episode was produced by Max Freedman. Decoder Ring is also produced by Katie Shepherd and Evan Chung, our supervising producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at DecoderRing@slate.com or leave a message on our hotline at (347) 460-7281.Sources for This EpisodeCumming, Laura. “The man who stole the Mona Lisa,” The Guardian, August 5, 2011.Hoobler, Dorothy, and Thomas Hoobler. “Stealing Mona Lisa,” Vanity Fair, April 16, 2009.Hoobler, Dorothy, and Thomas Hoobler. The Crimes of Paris: A True Story of Murder, Theft, and Detection, Bison Books, 2010.Isaacson, Walter. Leonardo da Vinci, Simon & Schuster, 2018.Roberts, Sam. “Happy Birthday to the Man Who Stole the Mona Lisa and Took It to Italy,” The New York Times, October 7, 2022.Sassoon, Donald. “Mona Lisa: The Best-Known Girl in the Whole Wide World,” History Workshop Journal, Spring 2001.Sassoon, Donald. Mona Lisa: The History of the World’s Most Famous Painting, HarperCollins, 2016.“The Theft That Made The 'Mona Lisa' A Masterpiece,” NPR, July 30, 2011.Zug, James. “Stolen: How the Mona Lisa Became the World’s Most Famous Painting,” Smithsonian Magazine, June 15, 2011. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We can’t make this show without you, our listeners. Today, you can help support Decoder Ring – and get a really good deal. To join Slate Plus for just $59/year, visit slate.com/decoderplus on December 31st and type in the promo code DECODER50 at checkout. Slate Plus members get to listen to episodes of Decoder Ring (and all your favorite Slate podcasts!) with no ads, and get access to exclusive bonus episodes.You can join Slate Plus at any time from the Decoder Ring show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, but the discount code DECODER50 will only work through the end of 2025. Subscribe today at slate.com/decoderplus. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Decoder Ring listeners write in with some excellent mysteries, and for our last episode of the year we’re solving three of them. Why do children play in boxes full of sand? Why do rock bands pretend like the show is over when everybody knows they’re coming back for an encore? And what was up with those school assemblies where you’d get to skip class to learn about…yo-yos?The voices you’ll hear in this episode include yo-yo masters ”Dazzling Dave” Schulte and Dale Oliver, children’s book author Rob Peñas, Pulitzer Prize-winning design critic Alexandra Lange, and music journalists Brian Wise, Michael Walker, and Travis Andrews. You can find all the music from the segment about encores in this YouTube playlist.This episode was produced by Max Freedman, Katie Shepherd, and Evan Chung, Decoder Ring’s supervising producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director. We had additional production from Joel Meyer.If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at DecoderRing@slate.com or leave a message on our hotline at (347) 460-7281.Get more of Decoder Ring with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of Decoder Ring and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus for access wherever you listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Steve Dorman, creator of VideoMate, shares behind-the-scenes insights about the quirky 1987 dating tape featuring single men directly appealing to women. Julie Fuhrman, a former Great Expectations matchmaker, reveals the surprising successes and challenges of the video-dating service. Together, they discuss the bizarre heyday of video dating, its sharp decline with the rise of online platforms, and the ongoing struggle of intimacy in video formats today. They also ponder whether Gen Z can revive the concept in a new light.

Americans are currently besotted with protein. It’s touted as being good for muscle growth, weight loss, skincare, mental acuity, longevity, and much else besides. It’s sold to men, women, children, the elderly— you can even buy protein for your pets. The protein supplement market alone is worth $21 billion and growing—and extra protein is being added to coffee, cereal, pasta, beer, ice cream, and popcorn.But as frenzied as we currently are about protein, this is not the first protein boom—or even the second. Protein has been promoted as a charismatic, cure-all nutrient for nearly two centuries. In this episode, with the help of Samantha King and Gavin Weedon, the authors of Protein: The Making of a Nutritional Superstar, we look closely at all our protein crazes and their associated protein products—from beef tea to whey powder—and see what they can tell us about our current protein mania. This episode was produced by Max Freedman. Decoder Ring is also produced by Willa Paskin, Katie Shepherd, and Evan Chung, our supervising producer. We had editing support from Josh Levin and fact-checking by Sophie Summergrad. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at DecoderRing@slate.com  or leave a message on our hotline at (347) 460-7281.Get more of Decoder Ring with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of Decoder Ring and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus for access wherever you listen.Sources for This EpisodeKing, Samantha and Gavin Weedon. Protein: The Making of a Nutritional Superstar, Duke University Press, 2026.Baker, Ryan. “Protein has become America's latest obsession. Companies like General Mills and PepsiCo are capitalizing on it,” CNBC, July 22, 2025.Brock, William H. Justus von Liebig: The Chemical Gatekeeper, Cambridge University Press, 1997.Callahan, Alice. “The More Protein, the Better?” New York Times, April 9, 2025.Draper, Kevin. “America’s Protein Obsession Is Transforming the Dairy Industry,” New York Times, July 16, 2025.Gayomali, Chris. “Big Food Gets Jacked: How protein mania took over the American grocery store,” New York Magazine, Feb. 12, 2025.“The Great Protein Fiasco,” Maintenance Phase, Aug. 31, 2021.Liebig, Justus von. Researches on the Chemistry of Food, Taylor and Walton, 1847.McLaren, Donald S. “The Great Protein Fiasco,” The Lancet, 1974.Oncken, John. “Stingy, 'half-way' dairy farmer's curiosity changed the world,” Wisconsin State Farmer, April 27, 2022.“Subject of Whey Disposal Discussed in UW Bulletin.” Wausau Daily Herald, Aug. 28, 1965.Torrella, Kenny. “You’re probably eating way too much protein,” Vox, Jan. 30, 2024.Wilson, Bee. “Protein mania: the rich world’s new diet obsession,” The Guardian, Jan. 4, 2019.Wu, Katherine J. “Should We All Be Eating Like The Rock?” The Atlantic, Aug. 28, 2023. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.