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Care and Feeding | Slate's parenting show

Decoder Ring: The Quest for a Homemade Hovercraft

Care and Feeding | Slate's parenting show

Slate Audio

Kids & Family, Society & Culture, Parenting

4.4 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 4 September 2023

⏱️ 43 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On this episode from our friends at Slate's Decoder Ring podcast: When Slate’s Evan Chung was a kid, he was obsessed with a mysterious advertisement that ran for decades in the scouting magazine Boys’ Life. Under the enticing headline “You Can Float on Air,” the ad assured Evan—and generations of scouts—that a personal hovercraft could be theirs for just a few bucks.  In this episode, the adult version of Evan journeys halfway across the country to wield power tools, summon his latent scouting skills, and conscript his father into a quest three decades in the making.  Will Evan float on air? Scout’s honor: You’ll just have to listen.  This episode was written by Evan Chung, who produced this episode with Decoder Ring’s Willa Paskin and Katie Shepherd. It was edited by Willa Paskin and Joel Meyer. Derek John is Slate’s executive producer of narrative podcasts. Merritt Jacob is our senior technical director. If you haven’t yet, please subscribe and rate our feed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And even better, tell your friends. If you’re a fan of the show and want to support us, consider signing up for Slate Plus. As a member, you’ll get to listen to Decoder Ring without any ads—and your support is crucial to our work. Go to slate.com/decoderplus to join Slate Plus today.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Spark your creativity with the Sims.

0:04.0

Sometimes you might feel like you're not creative

0:07.0

and you have to go in search of your creative spark again.

0:10.0

Maybe this is catching up with creative friends,

0:13.0

experimenting with a new look or trying out a new recipe

0:16.0

and thanks to the Sims, inspiration is just one game and one spark away.

0:21.0

Ready to spark something? Download the Sims 4 and play for free.

0:27.0

Hey mom and dad are fighting listeners.

0:30.0

We're off for Labor Day but we wanted to share this wonderful episode

0:34.0

from Slate's Dakota Ring podcast.

0:36.0

It's about a father and son's journey to build a hovercraft

0:39.0

that was advertised for years in Boy's Life magazine.

0:42.0

I'm going to turn it over to host Willa Paskin

0:45.0

and senior producer Evan Chung.

0:47.0

We'll see you back here with a very exciting episode on Thursday.

0:50.0

You won't want to miss it.

0:57.0

Back in the 20th century,

0:59.0

science fiction promised us all sorts of exciting technology

1:02.0

like teleportation devices and jetpacks and tractor beams.

1:06.0

But there's one device that Slate Senior producer Evan Chung dreamed about

1:10.0

more than all the others.

1:12.0

I always wanted a hovercraft.

...

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