Stuff You Should Know

Selects: How Black Friday Works

Josh Clark and Charles W. "Chuck" Bryant examine the origins, evolution, and current state of Black Friday in the United States. They trace how the day after Thanksgiving became associated with holiday shopping through department store parades, how the term "Black Friday" arose from Philadelphia police and transportation workers, and how retailers later reshaped its meaning into a profit narrative. The hosts discuss the economics of holiday retail, doorbuster tactics and their risks, violent and deadly crowd incidents, worker and scheduling issues around Thanksgiving openings, and counter-movements like Buy Nothing Day and China's Singles Day.

Nov 29, 2025

Julia Child, la Grandes Gourmande

Hosts Josh and Chuck explore the life, career, and cultural impact of Julia Child, tracing her path from privileged Pasadena upbringing and World War II OSS service to becoming America's most influential cookbook author and television chef. They discuss her late start in cooking, her revelatory first French meal, her training at Le Cordon Bleu, the creation of 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking', and the launch of 'The French Chef' on PBS. The episode also covers why she was so beloved-her humor, mistakes on camera, feminist outlook on the kitchen, love of butter and wine, hallmark recipes, and her distinctive final resting place in an underwater cemetery.

Nov 27, 2025

Short Stuff: Pies

The hosts discuss the history and evolution of pies from ancient galettes in Egypt through Greek and Roman adaptations, medieval English meat pies, and global pie-like dishes. They then spotlight several iconic pies-pumpkin, apple, cherry, Boston cream, and key lime-exploring their origins, cultural associations, and personal preferences for how they should be served and enjoyed.

Nov 26, 2025

Rice is Nice

The hosts explore rice as a global staple food, covering what rice actually is, its major species and varieties, and how it is grown in different environments. They discuss environmental impacts such as methane and nitrous oxide emissions from rice paddies, arsenic contamination and health considerations, and global patterns of rice production and consumption. The episode also highlights notable rice dishes and desserts from around the world and concludes with listener mail reflecting on the show itself.

Nov 25, 2025

Selects: Rockettes: Still Kicking After All These Years

Hosts Josh Clark and Charles W. "Chuck" Bryant explore the history and inner workings of the Rockettes, from their origins as the Missouri Rockets inspired by the British Tiller Girls to their long residence at Radio City Music Hall. They cover how precision dance works, the troupe's role in saving Radio City, the grueling but coveted life of a modern Rockette, and controversies around representation and political performances. The episode also touches on updates to the show under director Linda Haberman and ends with a listener story about participating as a mock victim in a search-and-rescue dog exercise.

Nov 22, 2025

Graffiti: So Cool It's A Pillar of Hip Hop

Josh and Chuck explore graffiti as a core pillar of hip hop culture, tracing its development from early Chicano mural influences and Philadelphia tagger Cornbread through New York City's subway writing scene of the 1960s-80s. They break down key styles (tags, throw-ups, pieces, wild style, Cholo style), tools and techniques, the subculture's rules and rivalries, and the ongoing tension between graffiti as art and as vandalism. The hosts also highlight how photographers, films, gallery shows, and a few star artists helped move graffiti into the global art world while authorities simultaneously tried to eradicate it from city infrastructure.

Nov 20, 2025

Short Stuff: Victorian Flower Language

Josh and Chuck discuss floriography, the elaborate language of flowers that was especially popular during the Victorian and Regency eras. They trace its roots to the Ottoman Empire, explain how specific flowers, colors, arrangements, and even how bouquets were held or accepted communicated complex coded messages. The hosts illustrate how this system was used in literature and courtship, highlighting both its nuance and its potential for confusion.

Nov 19, 2025

AM Radio: Solid Gold

The hosts trace the history and cultural impact of AM radio, from its early 20th-century technical breakthroughs and global spread through its "golden age" of dramas, soap operas, news, and political addresses. They explain how AM evolved into a youth-oriented Top 40 music medium and later the mellow 1970s "AM gold" era, while also covering regulatory milestones like the Fairness Doctrine and the rise of talk radio after its repeal. The episode concludes with a focus on AM radio's continuing importance for emergency alerts, its technical characteristics, and current debates over carmakers dropping AM receivers, particularly in electric vehicles.

Nov 18, 2025

Selects: How Personality Tests Work

Josh and Chuck explore the history and mechanics of personality tests, focusing on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), the Big Five traits, the Rorschach test, and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). They discuss how these instruments were developed, how they are used in workplaces and legal settings, and the major scientific criticisms around their validity, reliability, and potential for misuse. The episode also touches on how people relate to labels, why these tests feel accurate, and ends with an email about anxiety, productivity guilt, and stepping away from television.

Nov 15, 2025

Pop Tarts: No Fruit Necessary

The hosts explore the history and cultural impact of Pop-Tarts, tracing their origins from the Kellogg brothers' Battle Creek Sanitarium through the cereal wars between Kellogg's and Post to the invention of the toaster pastry. They detail how Pop-Tarts were rapidly developed in response to a competitor's idea, how the product evolved in flavor, form, and marketing, and how it became an iconic but nutritionally dubious, ultra-processed food. The episode also covers fire hazards, lawsuits, international ingredient differences, and the nostalgic pull Pop-Tarts still have for adults.

Nov 13, 2025

Short Stuff: Third Man Syndrome

Josh and Chuck discuss "third man syndrome," a phenomenon where people in extreme, often life-threatening situations report sensing a distinct, guiding presence that feels like another person with them. They explore classic accounts from Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic expedition, mountaineers like Frank Smythe and Joe Simpson, and survivors of the 9/11 attacks, then consider possible explanations ranging from an innate survival mechanism to the bicameral mind hypothesis. The conversation stays grounded in reported experiences while acknowledging that science has no definitive explanation yet.

Nov 12, 2025

Selects: How Conversion Therapy Doesn't Work

The hosts examine the history, methods, and impact of conversion therapy, also known as reparative or ex-gay therapy, which claims to change a person's sexual orientation from gay to straight. They trace its roots from early pseudo-scientific psychological practices to its adoption by the Christian right as a major culture-war issue, and detail why the medical and psychological communities now condemn it as ineffective and harmful. The episode also covers specific abuse stories, research findings on mental health risks, legal efforts to ban conversion therapy for minors, and the movement's public unraveling through high-profile ex-gay leaders who later renounced it.

Nov 8, 2025

The Mystery of the Death Valley Germans

The hosts recount the disappearance of a German family in Death Valley National Park in July 1996, tracing their planned vacation, the discovery of their abandoned minivan, and the initial failed search efforts. They then follow retired civil engineer and desert explorer Tom Mahood's detailed reconstruction of the family's decisions and route, culminating in his 2009 discovery of their remains nine miles south of the van. The episode highlights how misleading maps, underestimated desert danger, and reasonable but tragic choices led to the deaths, while also exploring theories that circulated in the years when the case was cold.

Nov 6, 2025

Short Stuff: "Peace" Pipes

The hosts discuss the misnomer of the term "peace pipe" and explain that many Native American cultures simply refer to them as pipes or ceremonial pipes used in a variety of solemn and communal contexts, not just peace treaties. They describe the geographic spread, cultural meanings, construction, and materials of these pipes, with special attention to sacred red pipestone from Pipestone National Monument and Lakota traditions around the Chinunpa. The episode closes by emphasizing that these practices are ongoing and remain sacred parts of contemporary Native cultures, as highlighted by a quote from Yankton Sioux tribal member Gabriel Drapeau.

Nov 5, 2025

What To Do With All This Nuclear Waste?

Josh and Chuck discuss what nuclear waste actually is, how it is produced in nuclear reactors, and the different forms it takes. They explain current storage methods like spent fuel pools and dry casks, national and international strategies for long-term disposal including Finland's deep geological repository, and the stalled Yucca Mountain project in the U.S. They also explore emerging ideas such as recycling spent fuel, transmutation, vitrification into glass or ceramics, and touch on policy, security risks, and connections to artificial intelligence-driven demand for nuclear energy.

Nov 4, 2025

Selects: How Extinction Works

Josh and Chuck explain how extinction works, distinguishing between slow background extinctions and rare but catastrophic mass extinction events. They walk through the history of scientific ideas about extinction, the Big Five mass extinctions in Earth's history, and evidence that we are likely entering a human-driven sixth mass extinction. The episode also touches on de-extinction efforts, ecological cascades from species loss, and a listener letter about how interrogation settings can make innocent people appear guilty.

Nov 1, 2025

SYSK's 2025 Shocktober Halloween Spooktacular

Josh and Chuck present their annual ad-free Halloween Spooktacular by reading and lightly commenting on two public-domain horror stories. First they perform E.F. Benson's "Caterpillars," about a haunted Italian villa, grotesque luminous caterpillars, and a possible supernatural link to cancer. Then they read Allison B. Harding's science-fiction tale "The Deep Drowse," in which a writer and his wife survive a mysterious global sleep catastrophe thanks to an air-sealed room, only for animals to inherit the Earth.

Oct 30, 2025

Short Stuff: The Bell Witch

Josh and Chuck recount the 19th-century legend of the Bell Witch, a purported haunting of the Bell family in Adams, Tennessee. They describe the family's strange encounters, the escalation from eerie animals and noises to physical attacks and a talking witch, and the deaths and ruined relationships attributed to the entity. The hosts also cover theories about the witch's identity, the real historical records behind the people involved, and how the story lives on today as a local tourist attraction.

Oct 29, 2025

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre: Masterpiece

The hosts take a deep dive into the 1974 horror film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, exploring why it is widely regarded as a masterpiece despite its low budget and brutal subject matter. They walk through the full plot beat by beat, then detail the movie's origins, inspirations, difficult production, and chaotic distribution history, including mob-linked financing and rating battles. The conversation also covers the film's critical reevaluation, influence on the horror genre, and why they believe its particular mix of naivete, constraint, and inventiveness can never truly be replicated.

Oct 28, 2025

Selects: The Great Finger in the Wendy's Chili Caper

Josh Clark and Charles W. "Chuck" Bryant recount the 2005 Wendy's chili finger case in which Anna Ayala claimed to find a human fingertip in her bowl of chili at a San Jose Wendy's. They walk through the immediate fallout for Wendy's, the internal and police investigations, the exposure of the hoax, the discovery of whose finger it really was, and the legal and financial consequences for Ayala, her husband, and the restaurant chain. The hosts also briefly touch on other verified cases of fingers found in fast food and read a listener email about the Adidas-Puma feud episode.

Oct 25, 2025

THE HUMAN SCREAM

Hosts Josh and Chuck explore the human scream, examining its acoustic properties, evolutionary functions, and how the brain uniquely processes it compared to normal speech. They discuss research on the "roughness" domain that makes screams and artificial alarms especially effective at triggering amygdala-based fear responses, even during sleep. The episode also covers different emotional types of screams, iconic film screams, extreme metal vocal techniques, the potential role of screaming in pain control, and the limited evidence for primal scream therapy.

Oct 23, 2025

Short Stuff: Curse of Broken Mirrors

The hosts explore the superstition that breaking a mirror brings seven years of bad luck and trace its roots through ancient Greek and Roman beliefs about reflections and souls. They discuss how mirrors evolved from reflective water and polished metal to glass, why mirrors came to be associated with the soul, and where the "seven years" idea may have originated. The episode also covers various folk remedies for broken-mirror bad luck, and other mirror- and glass-related superstitions surrounding death, demons, and marriage rituals, tying it all to the Halloween season.

Oct 22, 2025

[Insert Your Own Catchy Title About Younger Dryas Here]

The hosts explain the Younger Dryas, a sudden return to near-ice age conditions about 12,900 years ago that interrupted the warming after the last glacial maximum. They describe what Earth was like during the preceding ice age and the brief warm Bølling-Allerød interstadial, how the Younger Dryas abruptly cooled the Northern Hemisphere while warming much of the Southern Hemisphere, and how this affected humans, megafauna, and early agriculture. They then walk through the main scientific hypotheses for what triggered the event and close by noting how its abrupt end opened into the Holocene, when agriculture and complex civilizations emerged.

Oct 21, 2025

Selects: How ESP Works (?)

Hosts Josh Clark and Charles W. "Chuck" Bryant explore extrasensory perception (ESP), outlining different proposed phenomena such as telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, retrocognition, mediumship, psychometry, and telekinesis. They trace the history of parapsychology from early work by William James and the Society for Psychical Research through J.B. Rhine's laboratory studies with Zenner cards and later experiments like Ganzfeld setups, Princeton's PEAR random number generator research, and Daryl Bem's controversial precognition studies. Throughout, they contrast believers' interpretations with skeptical explanations involving coincidence, attentional bias, subliminal cues, and issues of scientific rigor and reproducibility.

Oct 18, 2025

VH-1: MTV for Your Parents

Josh and Chuck trace the history of VH1 as the mellower, adult contemporary counterpart to MTV, from its 1985 launch through multiple reinventions. They cover the channel's early focus on older artists, its successful 1990s rebrand with shows like Pop-Up Video, Storytellers, and Behind the Music, and its later pivot into pop culture countdowns and reality TV. The episode also examines VH1's role in Black-focused programming, the ethical controversies around shows like Celebrity Rehab, the Jasmine Fiore murder scandal, and VH1's current identity anchored in reality franchises and reruns.

Oct 16, 2025

Short Stuff: China's Corpse Walkers

The hosts discuss a Chinese funerary custom from the Zhangji region of Hunan province in which Taoist priests would "walk" corpses back to their birthplace so the dead could be properly buried and avoid becoming restless, problematic spirits. They explain the beliefs behind corpse walking, how the rituals supposedly worked with black cats and magical reanimation, and then reveal the practical mechanics of how priests likely created the illusion using bamboo poles and group transport known as corpse herding. Along the way, Chuck shares a personal story about rescuing and nursing a kitten named Olivia back to health.

Oct 15, 2025

Selects: How Schoolhouse Rock Rocked: Featuring Bob Nastanovich of Pavement

The hosts revisit the history and cultural impact of the educational cartoon series Schoolhouse Rock, tracing its origins in a 1970s advertising agency, the role of jazz musician Bob Dorough, and the evolution of its themed seasons on math, grammar, civics, and science. They discuss standout songs, how the show balanced sophisticated music with kid-friendly concepts, its decline with the computer-focused Scooter Computer and Mr. Chips segments, and its 1990s revival and later stage and media adaptations, including tributes and critiques of its simplified historical narratives. In an added interview, Pavement's Bob Nastanovich describes how the band came to record a highly personalized version of "No More Kings" for the 1990s tribute album, and the episode closes with a listener letter about grief, nostalgia, and family memories tied to the show.

Oct 11, 2025

Everyone Deserves A Good Death

The hosts explore the concept of a "good death" and how modern hospice care aims to provide comfort, dignity, and holistic support to people who are terminally ill. They trace the history of hospice from its modern origins with Cicely Saunders and Florence Wald through the creation of the Medicare hospice benefit, explain how hospice works today, and discuss its strengths and structural problems, including caregiver burdens and for‑profit abuses. The episode closes with practical end-of-life planning advice and a listener mail segment on Gen Z communication and the "Gen Z stare."

Oct 9, 2025

Short Stuff: The Call is Coming... FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE

The hosts discuss the classic urban legend known as "the call is coming from inside the house," also called "the babysitter and the man upstairs," explaining its narrative structure, cultural impact, and why it resonated in the pre-cell phone era. They share related campfire-style horror stories and their own experiences with being scared and startling others. The episode then explores a likely real-life inspiration for the trope, the 1950 unsolved murder of 13-year-old babysitter Janet Christman in Missouri, and how this case and others influenced horror films like "When a Stranger Calls," "Black Christmas," and "Halloween."

Oct 8, 2025

The Happy Place of Saturday Morning Cartoons

Josh and Chuck take a nostalgic and critical look at the era of Saturday morning cartoons, tracing how they emerged, peaked, and eventually disappeared from broadcast television. They discuss the programming's cultural role for kids, the heavy commercialization and sugary-food advertising attached to it, and the regulatory battles over violence and marketing to children. The episode also covers the impact of deregulation, the rise of cable and gaming, and how these shifts ended the Saturday morning ritual while leaving a strong shared cultural legacy.

Oct 7, 2025

Selects: How Mail Order Marriages Work

The hosts examine the history, mechanics, and ethical debates surrounding so‑called mail-order marriages, from colonial America and frontier settlements through 19th‑century matrimonial ads to the modern international marriage brokerage industry. They discuss how these arrangements have at times expanded women's agency and legal rights, while also creating serious power imbalances, immigration-related vulnerabilities, and potential overlaps with human trafficking. The episode also covers contemporary legal safeguards, data limitations, and evolving forms such as LGBTQ mail-order marriages, before closing with a listener email about losing a parent to COVID-19 and the importance of vaccination.

Oct 4, 2025

The Mystery of the Sleepy Sickness

The hosts explore encephalitis lethargica, also known as the sleepy sickness, a mysterious early 20th-century epidemic that caused profound sleep disturbances, movement disorders, psychiatric changes, and often death. They explain von Economo's classification of acute and chronic forms, the later emergence of post-encephalitic parkinsonism, and how Oliver Sacks's work with L-DOPA inspired the book and film 'Awakenings.' The episode reviews competing theories about the disease's cause and transmission, modern autoimmune hypotheses, and the haunting experience of patients who were conscious yet immobile for decades.

Oct 2, 2025

Short Stuff: La Lechuza - The Witch Owl

Hosts Josh and Chuck explore the legend of La Lechuza, a terrifying owl-woman figure from folklore along the Texas-Mexico border and other Spanish-speaking regions. They describe her appearance, behaviors, and various versions of the story, including how she lures or punishes people and her supposed connection to witchcraft or demonic forces. The discussion also covers possible pre-Columbian roots, how Christian influence may have transformed an older deity into a demon, modern gender-focused interpretations, and appearances of La Lechuza in pop culture and local hoaxes.

Oct 1, 2025

Why Would Anyone Want to Appease Hitler?

Josh and Chuck examine why Britain, France, and other powers pursued a policy of appeasement toward Hitler in the 1930s. They walk through key events from the Treaty of Versailles to the invasions of Czechoslovakia and Poland, explaining the political, economic, and emotional forces that made leaders reluctant to confront Nazi Germany. The hosts also explore counterfactual scenarios about how different choices might have changed the scale and course of World War II and draw parallels to contemporary debates over Russia and Ukraine.

Sep 30, 2025

Selects: How Area 51 Works

Josh Clark and Charles W. "Chuck" Bryant trace the history of Area 51 from its origins as part of a World War II bombing range and Nevada nuclear test site to its role in developing secret U.S. spy and stealth aircraft. They explain how black projects, the U-2 and SR-71 programs, and extreme security practices shaped the base, and how Bob Lazar's 1989 claims helped fuse Area 51 with UFO and alien lore. The hosts also discuss Roswell myths, more outlandish conspiracy theories, modern operations at the base, and a 1990s worker-health lawsuit that forced the U.S. government to finally acknowledge the facility's existence.

Sep 27, 2025

SYSK's Fall True Crime Playlist: The Hinterkaifeck Axe Murders

Hosts Josh Clark and Charles W. "Chuck" Bryant recount the 1922 Hinterkaifeck axe murders in rural Bavaria, where six members of the Gruber household, including a new maid, were brutally killed on their isolated farm. They walk through the eerie lead-up of strange noises and footprints, the grisly discovery and forensic details, and the major suspects, especially neighbor Lorenz Schlittenbauer, while discussing why the case remains officially unsolved. The episode ends with lighter tangents about Steve Guttenberg and a listener mail story about a formative hunting experience.

Sep 26, 2025

SYSK's Fall True Crime Playlist: SYSK Live: The DB Cooper Heist

In this live episode recorded in Seattle, hosts Josh Clark and Charles W. "Chuck" Bryant recount the 1971 hijacking of Northwest Orient Flight 305 by a man calling himself Dan Cooper, better known as D.B. Cooper. They walk through the hijacking step by step, the FBI and law enforcement response, the subsequent manhunt and investigation, later discoveries like the Tina Bar cash find, and the many suspects proposed over the years. The episode also explores how the case shaped aviation security, spawned a subculture of "Cooperists," and grew into a lasting American true-crime legend that remains officially unsolved.

Sep 26, 2025

SYSK's Fall True Crime Playlist: Who Committed the 1912 Villisca Ax Murders?

The hosts recount the 1912 Villisca axe murders in Iowa, describing the Moore family and Stillinger girls, the killer's methodical actions inside the house, and the chaotic discovery that destroyed much of the crime scene evidence. They examine early suspects including state senator Frank F. Jones and traveling preacher George Kelly, then lay out the modern theory that the crime was likely part of a series of connected Midwestern axe murders committed by an unidentified serial killer using the railroad. The episode closes with a listener email about how their earlier hookworm episode helped a listener's cousin finally receive an accurate medical diagnosis.

Sep 26, 2025

SYSK's Fall True Crime Playlist: The Tylenol Murders, Part I

Josh and Chuck recount the 1982 Chicago-area Tylenol murders, in which seven people died after ingesting cyanide-laced extra-strength Tylenol capsules. They walk through the broader context of a tense year in America, the detailed timeline of each victim's death, how investigators discovered cyanide in the capsules, and the ensuing public panic and copycat tampering incidents. The episode closes with the formation of a multi-agency task force and the leading "mad poisoner" theory that the tampering occurred at or around retail stores rather than in the factory.

Sep 26, 2025

SYSK's Fall True Crime Playlist: The Chowchilla Bus Kidnapping

Hosts Josh Clark and Charles W. "Chuck" Bryant recount the 1976 Chowchilla school bus kidnapping, in which 26 children and their bus driver Ed Ray were hijacked, transported, and buried alive in a moving van trailer as part of a bungled ransom plot. They detail the conditions inside the buried trailer, the escape led largely by 14-year-old Mike Marshall with crucial help from Ray, and the frantic search and relief in the town of Chowchilla. The episode also examines the wealthy but inept perpetrators, the planning and failures of the crime, the legal aftermath and parole debates, the long-term trauma experienced by the victims, and closes with a listener email about structural reasons behind racial disparities in traffic ticketing.

Sep 26, 2025

SYSK's Fall True Crime Playlist: The Tale of the Bloody Benders

Hosts Josh and Chuck recount the story of the "Bloody Benders," a 19th-century family of serial killers who operated a small inn and store along the Osage Trail in southeastern Kansas. They describe how the Benders lured travelers into their crude roadhouse, murdered and robbed them, how the crimes were eventually discovered after the disappearance of a doctor and his neighbor, and how the family escaped and was never definitively found. The episode also explores Kansas's violent frontier context, later investigations into the Benders' true identities, theories about their fate, and the case's legacy in books, media, and local lore.

Sep 26, 2025

SYSK's Fall True Crime Playlist: The Harvey's Casino Bombing of 1980

The hosts recount the 1980 Harvey's Casino bombing in Lake Tahoe, a meticulously planned extortion attempt involving a uniquely sophisticated 1,000‑pound dynamite bomb that ultimately detonated without injuring anyone. They walk through the placement of the bomb, the detailed ransom note and helicopter instructions, the failed money drop, the FBI's risky attempt to disable the device, and the investigation that led to mastermind John Waldo Burgess Sr., his family, and accomplices. The episode closes with listener mail about using positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) in child behavior management.

Sep 26, 2025

SYSK's Fall True Crime Playlist: The Strange Unsolved Murder of Ken McElroy

Hosts Josh and Chuck recount the history of Ken Rex McElroy, a violent criminal who terrorized the small town of Skidmore, Missouri for decades through theft, assault, sexual abuse of minors, and systematic intimidation of witnesses and officials. They describe how repeated failures of the legal system and law enforcement to stop him culminated in a daytime vigilante killing in front of dozens of townspeople, none of whom ever cooperated with investigators. The episode explores McElroy's background, his pattern of coercive marriages to underage girls, the shooting of grocer Bo Bowenkamp, the town meeting that preceded his death, and the unresolved questions around who pulled the trigger.

Sep 26, 2025

SYSK's Fall True Crime Playlist: The Harrowing Story of the North Hollywood Shootout

The hosts recount the 1997 North Hollywood shootout, detailing the backgrounds of bank robbers Larry Phillips and Emil Matasoranu, their prior crimes, the meticulously planned Bank of America robbery, and the ensuing 44‑minute gun battle with hundreds of police officers. They describe how the event exposed gaps in police firepower, contributed to the militarization of U.S. police forces, and raised ethical questions about medical treatment of wounded suspects. In a closing listener mail segment, they read and respond to a detailed correction from Kenton "Factor" Grua's widow about a previous episode, emphasizing accuracy and sensitivity when portraying real people.

Sep 26, 2025

SYSK's Fall True Crime Playlist: The Unsolved Indiana Dunes Disappearances

Hosts Josh Clark and Charles "Chuck" Bryant examine the unsolved 1966 disappearance of three young women-Patricia Blau, Ann Miller, and Renee Brule-from Indiana Dunes State Park on Lake Michigan. They reconstruct the women's last known movements, the delayed but extensive search, and eyewitness reports involving mysterious boats. The hosts then explore multiple theories ranging from accidental drowning to links with an illegal abortion clinic and a violent Chicago crime figure, emphasizing how little hard evidence exists and how haunting the lack of resolution is for the families.

Sep 26, 2025

SYSK's Fall True Crime Playlist: How The Great Train Robbery Worked

Josh Clark and Charles W. "Chuck" Bryant walk through the 1963 Great Train Robbery in the UK, in which a gang robbed the Glasgow-to-London mail train of around £2.6 million without using guns. They explain how the plan came together, how the heist was executed, the role of the inside man, and how forensic mistakes at a rural hideout helped police track the robbers. The hosts also cover the dramatic trials, harsh sentences, escapes and long years on the run-especially Ronald Biggs-along with the robbery's cultural legacy and a closing listener segment about fermented horse milk (kumis).

Sep 26, 2025

A Tribute To The Far Side

Hosts Josh and Chuck pay tribute to Gary Larson's single-panel comic The Far Side, tracing its origins from Larson's quirky family and love of biology through his break into syndication and eventual global success. They analyze what makes the humor work, walk through several iconic panels, and explore Larson's perfectionism, his choice to end the strip before it declined, and his deep connection with the scientific community and conservation. The episode closes with a listener correction about the relationship between dolphins, orcas, and whales.

Sep 25, 2025

Short Stuff: Death Cap Mushroom

The hosts discuss the death cap mushroom, a highly poisonous fungus responsible for a significant percentage of mushroom-related fatalities. They explain its symbiotic relationship with certain trees, how it spread from Europe to North America, why it is considered invasive in some regions, and what its toxins do to the human body. They close with strong cautions about mushroom foraging and basic identification traits of death cap mushrooms.

Sep 24, 2025

Tdhtdhtdhtdhtdh: Sound Effects!

The hosts explore how sound effects are created for films and TV, focusing on the craft of Foley artists and the history of sound design from silent movies to modern blockbusters. They discuss Jack Foley's pioneering work, the tools and techniques used on Foley stages, iconic examples from films like Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Titanic, and Fight Club, and the heavy use of constructed audio in nature documentaries. The episode also touches on how sound departments are undervalued relative to their impact and ends with a correction about Teen Vogue's reputation for serious journalism.

Sep 23, 2025