The Day's Dumpster Fire
A small little podcast where your hosts, Kara and Ed, look at historical and not so historical cases where we don't celebrate humanity's success but its most fantastic failures. There are always lessons to be learned in failure and humanity has run amuck with fool proof plans that immediately go sideways and fall apart shortly after executing those plans. Join us as we scour the "human-verse" in search for the most poignant, and often hilarious, failures and try to pull out what can be learned from these failures.
Episodes
52 episodes
The Panama Canal Fire - Episode 51
Have you ever been lucky enough (or unlucky enough) to take on a project from a coworker or fellow student who single handedly ran the entire thing into the ground? Did this person do such a terrible job that it cost them their job? Moreo...
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1:36:46
Deja's BAAACK And Celebrating 50 Episodes Fire - Episode 50
Nobody thought it possible that Ed could edit 50 episode of The Day's Dumpster Fire... especially Ed. But here it is in all it's glory. More importantly Deja is back so Kara needs to mediate and work overtime in keeping them in check because th...
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1:07:12
Charlotte's Story of the Holocaust and Survival- Episode 49
Hey there!We got a very different episode for you. We'd even prefer not to call it an episode, but rather an interview with a remarkable woman: Charlotte Adelman. In conjunction with the Arizona Jewish Historical Society, lin...
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1:04:33
American Dust Bowl Fire - Episode 48
In today's episode, Kara is going to ask you if you have ever had "buyer's remorse" and if you have ever had a business venture fail due to factors outside your control. Most of us have either experienced one or the other and many o...
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1:39:37
Willem Barentsz VS. The Polar Bears Fire - Episode 47
Hey all, It's a bit late, but Ed and Kara out Episode 47 out on thedaysdumpsterfire.com which involves the crazy stuff that goes on in the waters around the North Pole like lots and...
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1:49:59
The Byford Dolphin Incident Fire - Episode 46
In this episode, Ed takes you into the world of saturation diving where you'll learn how the human body can adapt to absorb extreme conditions only found at the bottom of the ocean. When we go swimming at the pool, we take it for gr...
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2:02:10
Roanoke: I left it right HERE Fire - Episode 45
Welcome back to The Day's Dumpster Fire where we don't celebrate humanity's successes but its most fantastic failures. On today's episode, Kara explores one of America's earliest myster...
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1:34:00
Thalidomide: Morning Sickness and Nazis Fire - Episode 44
Have you or someone you love every had the misfortune of being pregnant and having to deal with morning sickness? Some women are lucky and they never get it. Some women get it mildly in their first trimesters. Other women are unlucky to have a ...
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1:40:57
Titanic Sinking With Students Fire - Episode 43
In this episode, Kara and Ed did something they normally don't do and that is to record an episode of the show live in their classroom. They also brought on students to talk about one of the largest oceanic disasters of all time, the sinking of...
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1:45:47
Vietnam War Fire Part 2 - Episode 42
In this episode, Kara follows up on her exploration into the dumpster fire that is the Vietnam War. She left off in the Vietnam War Part I right at the height of 1969. So if you...
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1:33:57
Vietnam War Fire Part 1 - Episode 41
Boy oh boy does Kara have an episode for you. In one of the biggest dumpster fires in American history, Kara dives into the first half of the Vietnam War. Yes! technically it's a "police action" but let's face it... it's an actual war when we l...
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1:57:27
Marv's Big Bulldozer of Destruction - Episode 40
In this episode, Ed and Kara have a "pallet cleanser." Instead of massive wars with hundreds of thousands of people dying, in this episode no one dies (thankfully) but some buildings, both personal and city owned, don't get off so easily. Marvi...
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2:08:23
Napoleon Bonaparte's Greatest Blunder Fire Part 2 - Episode 39
If you're seeing this episode in your pod catcher and you haven't listened to Episode 38. Napoleon Bonaparte's Greatest Blunder Fire Part 1, be sure to do that before listening ...
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1:44:18
Napoleon Bonaparte's Greatest Blunder Fire Part 1 - Episode 38
In this episode, Ed opens the book on one of history's most iconic military leaders, Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon is most famous for his wars that were so uniquely titled that they became known as the "Napoleonic Wars." For most of his reign, i...
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1:35:32
Transatlantic Telegraph Fire - Episode 37
Hey there! Today's episode is going to check all the boxes that go into classifying something as a legit historical dumpster fire. Is there a huge problem? Check. Is there a plan to solve that problem? Check. Does humanity plan out the solution...
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1:49:38
King Louis XVI Fire Part 2 - Episode 36
Hey everyone! The gang is back this week to conclude the story of one of the most useless monarchs in French history, King Louis XVI. Everyone knows that Louis lost his mind in the end (actually he lost his head and by extension his mind went w...
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1:08:02
King Louis XVI Fire Part 1 - Episode 35
Finally the trio are back together again in the bedroom turned into a janky recording studio. With some of the issues of trying to figure out how a mixer works behind Ed, the group can focus on more ambitious projects... like a multipart explor...
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1:33:17
Fad Diets Fire With Special Guest Elara - Episode 34
Hey everyone!After a brief pause in the month of July, Ed finally figured out how to use the fancy new mixer. Many episodes were recorded in July, but Ed messed them all up... who would have thought something intended to improve life an...
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1:57:26
Franz Ferdinand and WWI Fire - Episode 33
Somehow Ed and Deja were able to meet in person and record together in the same room while Kara lives on the opposite end of the Phoenix metropolitan area. However, it took them over an hour and half to figure out how to set up a microphone.&nb...
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1:00:24
Terra Nova Fire Part 2 - Episode 32
The time as come to share the rest of the events that befell Robert Falcon Scott and his crew between January and March of 1912. If you have not listened to Episode 31. Terra Nova Fire, you might want to go back take a listen to that episode be...
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1:30:29
Terra Nova Fire Part 1 - Episode 31
After a brief hiatus due to Ed always struggling with editing software and a few temper tantrums, the gang is back with an episode like no other. In this episode, Ed dives into the Terra Nova ship / expedition in the 1910s, where t...
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59:29
Caligula on Fire - Episode 30
In this episode, Kara comes out swinging with one of the most strangest dudes in all of human history... Roman Emperor Caligula. In four short years, Caligula reshaped the glam-life of the ultra wealthy and put together a rather st...
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1:03:04
Salmon Rushdie and His Book Fire Part 2 - Episode 29
Hey there!Guess whose back? Deja's back, Deja's back, Deja's back.... But in this episode no one is talking about a monster... but maybe Salman Rushdie...Salmon Rushdie wrote a book that landed himself on the wrong side of a hug...
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1:23:48
Salmon Rushdie and His Book Fire Part 1 - Episode 28
It turns out that Ed doesn't know how to hit the "upload" button on Sunday when everything is supposed to be published. So it's a day late but not a dollar short. Deja is back and she's got a banger episode that will be a two parter! In...
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1:37:46