99% Invisible8 Jun 2021

Flag Days: Good Luck, True South

Correction: Our staff producer pronounced the the Japanese word "ōbōn" incorrectly in this episode. It is pronounced OH-bohn not oh-BAHN.

Let us be the first to wish you a Happy Flag Day, beautiful nerds! Anyone who has listened to 99% Invisible regularly knows we have a thing for flags, which can beautiful things that give communities something symbolic to rally around. This year, we decided to get the celebration started early then keep the party going with two whole weeks of flag-related stories. They look like normal Japanese flags (hinomaru) at a glance, but upon inspection, they are covered in handwritten notes often radiating outward in kanji from the central red circle (a sun against a field of white). Different messages are written in different hands directly on the fabric. These so-called "good luck flags" were gifted to soldiers, particularly during WWII, as part of a send-off from loved ones -- and their name in English comes from one of the most commonly written phrases on them: good luck. Antarctica is a wonderfully strange place, and not just because of its infamously frigid climate. This huge landmass doesn’t have an independent government or even a permanent human population. It also has a lot of flags, though strangely: no single official one. Flag Days: Good Luck, True South

Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week early.

Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(808)

If Mosquito Hawks Can Fly

A Louisiana man born into slavery designs an airship with hopes to take flight. Those plans are interrupted, but maybe not forever. Listen to Family Lore wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe to S...

14 Jul 41min

100 Objects #8: Billy Possum

In 1902, an American classic was born: the teddy bear. Named after President Theodore Roosevelt, the toy became a huge hit, and sparked an idea…maybe every president from then on should have their own...

10 Jul 36min

The Score

We keep score of everything these days. But what happens when the numbers start changing what we actually care about? Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free...

7 Jul 26min

100 Objects #7: The Otis Pamphlet

Before the Declaration of Independence was even a twinkle in the founding fathers' eyes, there was James Otis. Journalist Jack Hitt returns to tell the wild, tragic story of America’s forgotten proto-...

3 Jul 37min

Transatlantic Fiber-Optic Expialidocious

Before the internet went global, one undersea gamble made it possible. Jane Ruffino’s story, "Say Goodbye to the Undersea Cable That Made the Global Internet Possible," appears in the May-June issue ...

30 Jun 31min

100 Objects #6: "Sharpened Screwdriver"

In this episode, Roman and historians Heather Ann Thompson and Elliot Williams tell the story of the sharpened screwdriver: the object at the heart of the 1984 Bernhard Goetz subway shooting. In a dif...

26 Jun 40min

The Most Exciting Change America Has Ever Seen

Billions of state quarters disappeared from circulation...and that was exactly the plan. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week early. Star...

23 Jun 43min

100 Objects #5: Blue Back Speller

In this episode, Roman and historian Imani Perry follow the Webster Blue Back Speller from the early days of the United States, to the heart of Black intellectual life. Through the lives of Booker T. ...

19 Jun 45min