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Doomed to Fail

Taylor Pineiro, Farz Sokhansanj

We bring you stories of history's most notorious disasters and epic failures. Join us as we analyze the red flags and ask the important questions. How did things go so wrong? Could these disasters have been avoided?

Join us as we laugh, learn, and explore the most epic failures of all time.

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29 episodes
weekly
Avg 39 min
English

Episodes 29

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#263
October 5 · 29 min
Ep 263: The Beast of Gévaudan
Let's get spooky!!! Here's a time in France where a wolf was killing people - did it walk on its hind legs?? Did it die and come back to life??? Find out more!
September 30 · 44 min
Re-release: Eligible Receiver 97 - War Games Part 2
In War Games Part 2, we talk about the 1997 Game 'Eligible Receiver' where "Government Hackers" were able to disable civilian power grids, get into top-secret government networks, and take command of a ship. We chat about how the internet is really young, and how we are really old, and how everything that Hollywood can imagine is probably true.
September 28 · 1 hr 4 min
Re-Release: War Games Pt 1: Able Archer 83
It's a re-release week! We're tired. Join us this week as we explore the intense geopolitical tensions of the Cold War era through the lens of military exercises and simulations. Today, we unravel the significance of "war games" during Ronald Reagan's presidency, including the pivotal Able Archer 83 exercise. Discover how a NATO simulation inadvertently escalated tensions with the Soviet Union, shedding light on the delicate balance of international security perceptions. We'll also talk about
#262
September 21 · 30 min
Ep 262: AI Apocalypse - We've been here before
Everyone, calm down! Let's talk about more end times! We'll chat NORAD (which is not an acronym) and the Cold War - we'll tell you about some of the possibly hundreds of times that we almost went to war, again. Like when Stanislav Petrov made the decision not to alert people when he thought that maybe war was starting. What could possibly go wrong????
September 20 · 38 min
Re-Release - the SR-71 Blackbird (the plane in the Ryan Reynolds movie 'Mayday!')
New on Netflix is this Ryan Reynolds movie where we can only assume he's playing 'Ryan Reynolds in a plane' but it's a COOL plane at least!! Here's a re-release of the dish!
#261
September 14 · 44 min
Ep 261: Timur - He was a fan of skulls
Today in 'things could be worse' at least the early 15th century warrior king Timur (aka Tamerlane) isn't knocking on your city walls demanding piles of heads. Because for real that happened, Timur's empire spanned Central Asia and was characterized by wall-to-wall bone-chilling terror (including flaming camels!), whilst saving the artists & scientists building a cultural renaissance out of whoever didn't die. We're talking Genghis Khan ancestry, Persian expansion, and more!
#260
September 8 · 56 min
Ep 260: Hurricane Katrina - 21 years later
Let's talk about one of the worst disasters in American history - Hurricane Katrina in 2005. We'll learn what a hurricane IS, how it affected the New Orleans area, and how massive oversight and poor planning caused thousands of deaths.
#259
August 24 · 47 min
Ep 259: Malaysia Airlines Flight 370: MH370
We're back with another plane crash! This one is a doozy and a mystery, did the captain plan this? Where was the plane for 6 hours, and where is it now? We'll talk about mental health, flying over the ocean, and how scary the ocean is in general!
#258
August 17 · 57 min
Ep 258: The Dulles Brothers - John Foster & Allen
You've heard their names, but what did the Dulles brothers actually do? Today we will ;tldr their extraordinary resume that spans from World War I to Vietnam. Both the Secretary of State and the Director of the CIA at the same time, the Dulles brothers, John Foster and Allen, shaped the United States policies both at home and abroad for decades.
August 13 · 24 min
Re-Release: Morgan's Wonderland - A Happy Story!
Let's do a quickie re-release & learn about an inclusive amusement park for all - Morgan's Wonderland! It's a happy story about a father who built something magical for his daughter and shared it with the world!
August 10 · 36 min
Re-Release - The Hindenburg Disaster
Let's bring it back to one of the most notorious disasters in history - the crash of The Hindenburg! We learned SO many things in this one from 2024 - it crashed at the end of a journey that took it from Europe and over NYC -- there are pictures of The Hindenburg Blimp flying over New York City hours before it crashed with SWASTIKAS on its tail feathers! And more!
#257
August 3 · 30 min
Ep 257: A Tragedy on the Ground - The Collapse of Terminal 2E at Charles de Gaulle Airport
We checked, and the bars at Charles de Gaulle open around 7am - which means the people who were killed in the collapse of Terminal 2E on May 23, 2004, were probably just annoyed to be there. Today, we'll dig into what brought on the collapse, from the French government to a history of concrete; it's a ride! Please let us know if you have ever once felt safe on a jet bridge.
#256
July 27 · 30 min
Ep 256: Don't Breathe - The Great Smog of London
In the not-so-distant past, 1952 to be exact, London experienced several days of pea-soup colored, deadly fog. The combination of coal, diesel engines, cold weather, and an anticyclone (which is a new word for us) ended up causing 12,000 deaths. Dig out your kn95 masks and join us for The Great Smog of London.
#255
July 20 · 52 min
Ep 255: A week in hell - Memorial Medical
Post the initial storm of Hurricane Katrina the power went out at Memorial Medical Hospital. Doctors faced the near impossible question of - do we leave these people here in the heat and humidity, or do we help them pass on? Learn the story of Dr. Anna Pou and what she decided to do.
#254
July 14 · 35 min
Ep 254: We absolutely want this to succeed - The Women's Pro Baseball League
Wooo sports! The Women's Pro Baseball League starts up on Aug 1 - and the four official teams are named after four incredible women! Let's learn about them! The San Francisco Firebells are named for - Firebell Lil - aka Lillie Hitchcock Colt - a firefighting volunteer & patron The New York Heights are named for - Dorthy Height - a Civll and Women's rights leader right up there with MLK The Boston Hunters are named for - Harriot Kezia Hunt - who, despite not being allowed to go to medical schoo
#253
July 6 · 45 min
Ep 253: Don't trust anyone - Dr. Christopher Duntsch
Seriously - some doctors got C's and they still get to be doctors! Today, we'll talk about Dr. Christopher Duntsch, who is a liar and a fraud and hurt A LOT of people doing surgery that he was not qualified to do.
#252
June 29 · 39 min
Ep 252: Things Could Be Worse! - 536 CE
Let's talk about the 'worst year to be alive,' it's not this one - it's 536 CE! Of course, that's just a guess, but it's an educated guess because we know that there was a volcano that blotted out the sun - and THAT was the beginning of a mini-ice age that ushered in famine, mass migration, wars, and the plague!
#251
June 22 · 37 min
Ep 251: They're Out There - Lost Cosmonauts
How far do you think humanity went during the Space Race? Do you think that we (and really, we mean humanity) let people go out to space and just left them there??? It's possible!
#250
June 15 · 55 min
Ep 250: Taylor's Goriest Episode - The Halifax Explosion
Let's talk about the 3rd biggest man-made explosion ever (only eclipsed by the nuclear bombs). In 1917, ships were zooming back and forth between North America and Europe - bringing men (boys), supplies, ammunition, you name it, to the efforts of WWI. In December, a French ship called the SS Mont-Blanc is filled to the brim with the most explosives imaginable, when they get to Halifax and an empty Norwegian ship, the Imo, sails on the wrong side of the harbor. The slow (like 6mph) collision ha
#249
June 9 · 35 min
Ep 249: An Almost Disaster - The Citigroup Center
Let's talk about the almost-disaster of The Citigroup Center - 601 Lexington Ave in NYC. This building was built on a lot that wasn't empty when they got there, and they made an objectively weird deal with a church on the corner: they would build their building over the church's footprint. This caused the building to be built on stilts - everything SEEMED ok until some people did some math & the right people were finally alerted. A huge (secret) retrofit was undertaken before the building destr

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