Making Coal Cute Again

Decoder Ring by Slate Podcasts

Feb 11, 202643:28Society & Culture

Three weeks ago, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum shared an unusual tweet : a cartoon image of himself with his arm draped around a giant, anthropomorphized lump of coal. This piece of coal has big googly eyes...

Related Episodes

Continue listening to more episodes from Decoder Ring.

Bridget in the Buff

Sep 23, 2026 - 1:03:33

In the early 1970s, a jigsaw puzzle of a cheerful, young, naked, fat woman known only as “Bridget in the...

What Even Is a “Podcast” Anymore?

Sep 9, 2026 - 59:16

Podcasts are everywhere. They’re more popular and influential than they’ve ever been. But at the same tim...

McGruff Takes a Bite Out of Crime, Part 2 (Encore)

Aug 26, 2026 - 42:59

McGruff the Crime Dog arrived on the scene at the dawn of the 1980s, just as a firehose of anti-drug PSAs...

McGruff Takes a Bite Out of Crime, Part 1 (Encore)

Aug 12, 2026 - 33:44

McGruff the Crime Dog arrived on the scene at the dawn of the 1980s, just as a firehose of anti-drug PSAs...

The Fight Over Sunlight

Jul 29, 2026 - 52:18

The sun has always been a hot topic. For centuries, we’ve flip-flopped over whether our health depends on...

Weapons of Map Destruction

Jul 15, 2026 - 48:53

Most of us use GPS—the Global Positioning System—on a daily basis: to find our location when we’re drivin...

We Are Monumentally Bad at Statues

Jul 1, 2026 - 48:50

It seems like the only time you hear about new statues these days is when something goes horribly wrong....

The Tootsie Shot (Encore)

Jun 17, 2026 - 35:59

You know the Tootsie Shot. It’s that image that pops up all the time in movies set in a dense city: a rea...