Doomed to Fail
by Taylor Pineiro, Farz Sokhansanj
Latest episode
Re-Release: Inaugurations - what is the next step?
Re-Release: Inaugurations - what is the next step?
About this podcast
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.
Episodes
The newest 50 of 368 episodes
- Re-Release: Inaugurations - what is the next step? · 31 minMy friends - what's the next step after a super calm week of elections (haahha j/k it's Taylor, I'm scheduling this from Monday, we ok?) Let's go back to learn how we celebrate…
- Re-Release: Warren G. Harding & The Teapot Dome Scandal · 34 minOh, AMERICA, you boob. (You know what I mean) So much space from sea to shining sea why NOT suck it dry for all the resources????? JUST KIDDING, DON'T DO THAT! In a world of…
- Re-Release: Gary Hart - A guy who wanted to be president! · 47 minStill alive? Good - happy Midterm week with this story of a presidential hopeful! Join us on "The Enigmatic Journey of Gary Hart," a deep dive into the life and career of one of…
- Re-Release: Andrew Jackson - a murderer and a jerk · 41 minA reminder that things have always been crazy? Whatever happened to changing the $20 bill? Andrew Jackson - orphaned by age 14, really became President of the United States and…
- Re-Release: Some lesser known Vice Presidents · 1 h 7 minWe say lesser-known because, unless someone is currently the VP, can you really name them??? Or any one outside of your lifetime besides the headless body of Spiro Agnew in…
- Ep 264: The New England Vampire Panic · 25 min · Episode 264How far would you go to save your family from consumption? Would you try some of the off-the-beaten-path remedies? We're not taking essential oils, we're talking the smoke of…
- Ep 263: The Beast of Gévaudan · 30 min · Episode 263Let'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!
- Re-release: Eligible Receiver 97 - War Games Part 2 · 45 minIn 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…
- Re-Release: War Games Pt 1: Able Archer 83 · 1 h 4 minIt'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…
- Ep 262: AI Apocalypse - We've been here before · 31 min · Episode 262Everyone, 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…
- Re-Release - the SR-71 Blackbird (the plane in the Ryan Reynolds movie 'Mayday!') · 39 minNew 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!
- Ep 261: Timur - He was a fan of skulls · 45 min · Episode 261Today 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…
- Ep 260: Hurricane Katrina - 21 years later · 57 min · Episode 260Let'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…
- Ep 259: Malaysia Airlines Flight 370: MH370 · 47 min · Episode 259We'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…
- Ep 258: The Dulles Brothers - John Foster & Allen · 58 min · Episode 258You'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…
- Re-Release: Morgan's Wonderland - A Happy Story! · 25 minLet'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…
- Re-Release - The Hindenburg Disaster · 37 minLet'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…
- Ep 257: A Tragedy on the Ground - The Collapse of Terminal 2E at Charles de Gaulle Airport · 31 min · Episode 257We 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…
- Ep 256: Don't Breathe - The Great Smog of London · 30 min · Episode 256In 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…
- Ep 255: A week in hell - Memorial Medical · 52 min · Episode 255Post 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…
- Ep 254: We absolutely want this to succeed - The Women's Pro Baseball League · 35 min · Episode 254Wooo 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…
- Ep 253: Don't trust anyone - Dr. Christopher Duntsch · 45 min · Episode 253Seriously - 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…
- Ep 252: Things Could Be Worse! - 536 CE · 39 min · Episode 252Let'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…
- Ep 251: They're Out There - Lost Cosmonauts · 37 min · Episode 251How 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!
- Ep 250: Taylor's Goriest Episode - The Halifax Explosion · 55 min · Episode 250Let'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…
- Ep 249: An Almost Disaster - The Citigroup Center · 35 min · Episode 249Let'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…
- Ep 248: MOVE - The Bombing of Philadelphia · 31 min · Episode 248So! It's 1985, and we're in Philadelphia, PA. A group called MOVE has moved into the neighborhood - and they are a little annoying. They have a bullhorn where they talk about…
- Ep 247: Contaminated - The Goiânia Accident · 32 min · Episode 247Let's talk about a real accidental nuclear accident - it's economic collapse, tied to poor security, that leads to deaths. In Brazil, while the economy collapsed in the 1980s…
- Ep 246: Wings of Doom! - The Mothman & The Silver Bridge · 42 min · Episode 246Buckle up for an engineering disaster! In 1967, the Silver Bridge collapsed, killing 46 people in the freezing Ohio River. Were there warning signs? The bridge itself passed…
- Ep 245: The Texas Killing Fields - Part 2 · 30 min · Episode 245Join us for part 2 of the Texas Killing Fields!
- Ep 244: Arsenic Obsession - The Valentine Meat-Juice Incident · 44 min · Episode 244Today let's talk about the 'murder' of James Maybrick - a businessman in Liverpool in the 1880s who loved to medicate with poisions. A good…
- Ep 243: The Stars at Night are Big and Bright - The Texas Killing Fields · 32 min · Episode 243True Crime Tuesday (it's Monday) - let's explore the Texas Killing Fields - an expanse of land near Galveston (which is near the ocean) that has been used for decades to drop…
- Ep 242: Don't Stop Believin' - glee · 45 min · Episode 242I feel like glee is one of the most 'you had to be there' shows on TV? It's FULL of 2010s pop songs, remixes, and awkwardly improbable teenager shenanigans. Today we'll talk…
- Ep 241: A Ship of Dreams (and Gold) - The SS Central America · 28 min · Episode 241Picture it - it's 1857, and you are on a ship filled with gold from San Francisco to the East Coast of the USA! There are so many things that could go wrong crossing Panama…
- Ep 240: Fighting for Education for all - Malala Yousafzai · 33 min · Episode 240Today we have the not-doomed story of Malala Yousafzai - who campaigned for girls to go to school in Pakistan when the Taliban was invading her area and demanding that women and…
- Ep 239: Parasocial murder - Grant Amato · 35 min · Episode 239Today, we learn about Grant Amato - a former nurse (dishonorably discharged) and dude in love with a 'cam girl' - so in love that he stole a TON of money from his family and also…
- Ep 238: Olympic retro - Tonya Harding & Nancy Kerrigan · 47 min · Episode 238We're back! Happy Women's History Month! We think this counts - well, specifically, Taylor thinks this counts. The main characters are women, and the men in this story are SUCH…
- Women's History Month! Yay! (Sad noisemaker sound followed by popping balloons and probably some crying) · 22 minJoin me as I ramble through our Women's History episodes! Find them anywhere you listen to podcasts! Learn some stuff! Cry with me! Ep 1 - Part 1: Catherine the Great & Peter…
- Re-Release: The Atlanta Olypmic Bombing · 51 minWe're travelling this week so one more Olympics Episode for you! This one is wild - it's 1996, and the Atlanta Olympic Centennial Park is open late. Security guard Richard Jewell…
- Re-Release: Terror in Munich - Olympics 1972 · 53 minPart 3 of our Olympics Episodes is here for re-release! We're back in Germany (well, West Germany now) for the 1972 Summer Olympics. A team from Israel is held hostage by the…
- Ep 237: Real Life Super-Villain? - Carlos the Jackal · 52 min · Episode 237When does someone turn into a super villain? Let's talk about Carlos the Jackal - part serial killer, part terrorist, full guy who just wants to make a mess. We'll walk through…
- Re-Release: Lucy Letby - Who would harm a baby? · 43 minNetflix just released 'The Investigation of Lucy Letby' so let's re-relase our episode on this horrible story!
- Re-Release: Berlin 1936 - The Olympics under the Third Reich · 58 minIn 1936, the Olympics were hosted in Berlin, Germany. You guessed it - things were not great. We'll talk about the wonderfully talented American Jesse Owens, the invention of…
- Ep 236: A Stolen Ship to Freedom - Robert Smalls · 38 min · Episode 236It's Black History Month! Today, we're talking about Robert Smalls. Smalls was born enslaved, worked on ships for the confederacy whilst enslaved, and then took it upon himself…
- Re-Release: The Ancient History of the Modern Olympics · 44 minHere we go! Happy Olympics 2026! Let's re-visit our episode where we went over how it started in Ancient Greece, & how it got to be a modern event! Greece still gets special…
- Ep 235: Fallacies of logic - Second Order Thinking with Juan Carlos Pineiro · 1 h 13 min · Episode 235Today we have a guest!! Juan Carlos Pineiro - the creator of the Re:Mind Mental Model set (and also Taylor's husband) is here to walk us through three examples of doomed…
- Ep 234: 911 - From Switchboards to Text Messages, what's your emergency? · 31 min · Episode 234Let's talk the invention of 911 (that's 999 or 0118 999 881 999 119 725 3 if you're British). Did you know it wasn't full adopted in the US until the 2000s?? We'll go over AT&T…
- Ep 233: FBI files - Crypto scams, family annihilators, and Olympic cartels · 37 min · Episode 233Today (amongst Heated rivalry chatter), we're talking the FBI's most wanted! The list, which is more publicity than anything, was started by who else but J. Edgar Hoover! We…
- Ep 232: We remember you! - Pluto (formerly the planet) · 34 min · Episode 232Let's talk about space!! We do have small panic attacks thinking about how Jupiter is huge and always raining. But, we're focusing on the little guy - Pluto! We'll talk about…
- Ep 231: Wash your hands! - Typhoid Mary · 32 min · Episode 231Hello and welcome to 2026! Let's start it out with the story of Mary Mallon, who spread Typhoid Fever around NYC in the early 1900s. For a while, Mary didn't know that she was a…
