Prologue
On every British nuclear submarine, there is a safe. Inside that safe is another safe. And inside that safe is a handwritten letter from the British Prime Minister, to be opened only if the country has been decimated by nuclear war. Host Ira Glass talks with journalist Ron Rosenbaum about these peculiar letters. (7 minutes)
This story includes excerpts from a radio documentary called "The Human Button" (click to listen or right-click to save the file), which originally aired on BBC Radio 4 in December, 2008. For more information visit Radio 4. Ron Rosenbaum wrote about it on Slate and in his book How The End Begins.
Needle In A Crapstack
If you don't pay the rent on a self storage unit, eventually all of your stuff can go up for auction. But the people bidding aren't allowed to dig around. They just peer in from the outside with flashlights, guessing where there are valuables. Jon Mooallem visited auctions in Northern California, and learned the surprising techniques people use to tell junk from treasure. Jon is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, and is author of the book Wild Ones. (16 minutes)
He Shapes Ship Shapes By The Sea Shore
Fred van Doorninck and George Bass were unlikely candidates for pioneering underwater Byzantine archaeology—Fred hates water, and George found the Byzantine era boring. But that's exactly what they did, when they devoted 50 years to uncovering the mysteries of a shipwreck. Along the way they changed how we think about a thousand years of history. Planet Money's Adam Davidson tells the story. (12 minutes)
The Answer To The Riddle Is Me
On October 13, 2002, David MacLean woke up in India with no memory of who he was or how he got there. He had no choice but to let the people who recognized him—and even strangers—fill in his identity. David wrote a book about the experience of losing his memory, called The Answer to the Riddle Is Me. (20 minutes)
Related
Act Three: Small Town In The Big City
Act One: Mr. Boder Vanishes
Act One: When I Grow Up
Staff Recommendations
The Ghost of Bobby Dunbar
In 1912, a four-year-old boy went missing in Louisiana. Eight months later, he was found. But two grief-stricken mothers both claimed the same boy as their own.
Kindness of Strangers
A locksmith tells the story of an act of kindness he committed, hoping for a small reward. That, and other stories of kindness in New York City.
