Slate Daily Feed21 Touko 2025

Slow Burn - Decoder Ring | The Glaring Problem with Headlights

Something seems to have happened to car headlights. In the last few years, many people have become convinced that they are much brighter than they used to be—and it’s driving them to the point of rage. Headlight glare is now Americans’ number one complaint on the road. The story of how and why we got here is illuminating and confounding. It’s what happens when an incredible technological breakthrough meets market forces, regulatory failure, and human foibles.

So if you feel like everyone’s driving around with their high beams on all the time, it’s not your imagination. What once seemed like an obscure technical concern has gone mainstream. But can the movement to reduce glare actually do something about the problem?

In this episode, you’ll hear from Nate Rogers, who wrote about the “headlight brightness wars” for The Ringer; Daniel Stern, automotive lighting expert and editor of Driving Vision News; and Paul Gatto, moderator of r/fuckyourheadlights.

This episode of Decoder Ring was written by Willa Paskin and Olivia Briley, and produced by Olivia Briley and Max Freedman. Our team also includes Katie Shepherd and supervising producer Evan Chung. Merritt Jacob is our Senior Technical Director.

If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, please email us at DecoderRing@slate.com, or leave a message on our hotline at 347-460-7281.

Want more Decoder Ring? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock exclusive bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the Decoder Ring show page. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus to get access wherever you listen.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(4958)

What Next - What the Hell is a Peptide?

On the heels of the success of GLP-1s like Ozempic, other peptide treatments are flooding the marketplace—and advertising spaces. But even as the Trump administration’s FDA discusses approving more tr...

30 Heinä 26min

Slow Burn - Decoder Ring | The Fight Over Sunlight

The sun has always been a hot topic. For centuries, we’ve flip-flopped over whether our health depends on soaking up its rays—or shielding ourselves from them. The current conventional wisdom is clear...

29 Heinä 52min

ICYMI - We Need To Talk About Jimothy

In a matter of days, Jimothy the raccoon went from a neighborhood mascot to a viral sensation. But unlike the internet animals who came before him, Jimothy has no owners, and isn’t protected by a zoo....

29 Heinä 31min

Decoder Ring - The Fight Over Sunlight

29 Heinä 52min

What Next - Trump's Forever War

The US can’t leave Iran in charge of the Strait of Hormuz, but it can’t wrestle control away without committing ground troops—but it also can’t keep going on like this. So where does that leave everyo...

29 Heinä 27min

What Next - The DSA's Biggest Hater Likes One of Their Policies

In the wake of the success among members of the Democratic Socialists of America, The Atlantic’s Jonathan Chait has turned in a series of articles that call the group anti-democratic, against the Demo...

28 Heinä 26min

Death, Sex & Money - How a Very Polite Danny McBride Creates Characters That Go Berserk

The man behind artful and goofy comedies like The Righteous Gemstones and Eastbound and Down talks about finding his people at an upstart public film program in North Carolina, crafting characters tha...

28 Heinä 57min

What Next - How Charlie Kirk Went From Martyr to Meme

In the immediate aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s murder, the NFL was holding moments of silence, Ezra Klein was waxing about how he was ‘practicing politics the right way,” and criticizing Kirk online cou...

27 Heinä 28min