Very Special Episodes

Hello, Very Special listeners! Today we're dipping into the archives of Zaron's other podcast, Ridiculous Crime, to share a tale of dog excellence from World Cup history. In 1966, England hosted the FIFA World Cup, an incredible honor and landmark moment for English football. Jus ...  Show more

Thanks to her McDonald’s fortune, Joan Kroc was one of the world’s wealthiest people. And she was determined to die nearly broke. * Special thanks to our guests Lisa Napoli, Dick Starmann, and Stephanie Bergsma. Go check out Lisa's excellent book Ray & Joan. Hosted by Dana Schwar ...  Show more

Comic Sans is a punchline. A design crime. Cultural shorthand for bad taste. But the notorious font's legacy isn't one of failure. Because Comic Sans succeeded in ways its critics never saw coming. * Hosted by Dana Schwartz, Zaron Burnett, and Jason EnglishWritten by Bess Lovejoy ...  Show more

In 1968, a woman wrote a romantic story about Kirk and Spock, passed it quietly among friends, and hoped it would never see the light of day. Before vanishing entirely, The Ring of Soshern had become the stuff of legend. The quest to recover it would lead back to a community of w ...  Show more

In the winter of 1939, Finland faced overwhelming odds. The Soviet Union was invading with hundreds of thousands of troops. Standing in their way was an unlikely defender: a shy farmer and expert marksman who would later become known as “The White Death.” But behind the myth was ...  Show more