“Birthday suit”, “in the buff”, “wearing nothing but a smile.” Call it what you will, on today’s show we’ll strip bare the American nudism movement and we’ll explore the progressive-era origins and continuing tensions over what it means to take it all off.
Then, we’ll hear about two young men who embarked on a bold crime spree, stealing thousands in gold and weapons. The hitch? It all went down in a video game.
Listen to the full show
Naked: A Cultural History of American Nudism
Brian Hoffmanis the author of the new book Naked: A Cultural History of American Nudism which takes a look at the American nudism movement from its roots in Germany to its definition as a therapeutic health movement.
Unexplained Sounds
Unexplained phenomena often involve things we can see but can’t explain. UFO’s, elaborate crop circles, or why do some people think that dress is blue and black when it’s clearly gold and white? (Or vice versa.) But what about the things we can hear but have no explanation for? Producer Logan Shannon spoke with Caitlin Schneider of Mental Floss about some of her favorite sound mysteries.
Related: Mysterious Sounds From The Depths Of The Sea To The Sky Overhead
The Mystery of the Great Wall of Sandwich
Completed in 1875, the Great Wall of Sandwich is a shoulder height granite wall that runs more than a mile. Together with its 7 foot tall statue of Niobe, the great wall became something of a tourist attraction in the early 20th century. But in 1941, a hurricane toppled the statue, and its shattered pieces went missing for nearly 70 years. NHPR’s Sean Hurley recently visited Sandwich to learn more about the wall and to find out how Niobe was finally recovered.
You can read more and listen to this story again at this link: Solving the Mystery of the Great Wall of Sandwich, N.H.
Prosecuting Online Crime
Kashmir Hillis senior editor at Fusion’s Real Future column, where she wrote about how prosecutors dealt with a case involving theft in a video game.
