The Constant: A History of Getting Things Wrong
A podcast about exactly what it says it is: examining the bad ideas, mistakes and accidents that misshaped our world.
- Update frequency
- every 13 days
- Average duration
- 51 minutes
- Episodes
- 216
- Years Active
- 2017 - 2025
It's All a Lie
What if I told you everything you knew was a lie? Okay, well what if a 17th century French librarian told you everything you knew was a lie?Check out Don't Stop for Monkeys (https://dontstopformonkey…
00:52:56 |
Tue 06 Apr 2021
Zoo Story
On March 8th, 1874, the animals escaped from The Central Park Zoo. Check out Don't Stop for Monkeys (https://dontstopformonkeys.weebly.com/), or else.Get 10% off your first month of online counseling…
01:05:57 |
Tue 23 Mar 2021
Crackpots
Some things are ordered and some are chaotic. This story is neither.Get $75 credit to upgrade your job post at indeed.com/theconstant (http://www.indeed.com/theconstant)Get 10% off your first month o…
00:43:53 |
Tue 09 Mar 2021
On The Rocks
What do the modern flat earth movement, the history of animal experimentation, the invention of civil engineering, ballet, pantomime, and the first British robot all have in common?The Eddystone Ligh…
00:55:58 |
Tue 23 Feb 2021
How to Solve a Murder (Pt 3)
We no longer make people walk hot coals, or swim witches, or touch dead bodies. But everything we know about solving crime is still wrong.The National Registry of Exonerations (https://www.law.umich.…
01:26:05 |
Tue 09 Feb 2021
How to Solve a Murder (Pt 2)
On part two of this three part series on forensics, we're bridging the gap, between the ancient and modern means of solving crimes. How did forensic science get into courts in the first place? And is…
00:54:40 |
Tue 26 Jan 2021
How to Solve a Murder (Pt 1)
Fingerprints, DNA, blood spatter, ballistics. Before any of those forensic sciences, investigators and courts had a very different suite of tools for solving crime. On this episode, we're looking at …
01:10:01 |
Tue 12 Jan 2021
Lick The Earth
For the last episode of 2020, we're returning to our fair city, Chicago, for the unlikely story of a hard-scrapple hobo who formed his own independent, autonomous district on the non-existent east si…
01:13:52 |
Tue 15 Dec 2020
It's a Secret to Everybody
For The Constant's third birthday, here are three stories out of the secret feed. Medicinal gold, the story of theater's greatest Hamlet, and a melancholy Christmas tale, all for you. Visit https://a…
00:44:30 |
Tue 01 Dec 2020
Deserted
In September of 1822, a ship carrying 70 immigrants left London bound for St. Joseph, a bustling city on The Mosquito Coast in the small Central American nation of Poyais. They were followed by hundr…
01:01:28 |
Tue 17 Nov 2020
Presidents in Bathtubs
How do you thread the needle between political and apolitical, frivolous and serious, fun and relevant, on this extremely stressful election day? I don't know, but here's an episode about presidentia…
00:53:26 |
Tue 03 Nov 2020
Gef
It's almost Halloween, so how's about a spooky bonfire tale. The spookiest story from the spookiest place we can think of. The story of Gef, The Talking Mongoose. Visit andstillivote.org (andstillivo…
00:51:21 |
Tue 20 Oct 2020
1876
This is the story of the worst American presidential election (so far). Get a free trial of The Great Courses Plus by going to https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/theconstant (https://www.thegreatco…
01:03:48 |
Tue 06 Oct 2020
The Rest of The Story
In 1899 a plan was hatched. To start a war? To sell newspapers? Or to tear down The Great Wall of China?Get a free trial of The Great Courses Plus by going to https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/the…
00:43:36 |
Tue 22 Sep 2020
In The Air Tonight (I Can Feel It)
You know what you haven't heard enough about recently? How disease spreads. On this episode we finally circle back to the oft mentioned miasma theory, AKA Bad Air Make You Sick. Get a free trial of T…
01:07:54 |
Tue 08 Sep 2020
Run for Your Life
There was no Olympics this year, but it's almost the anniversary of the single worst event in the history of the games: The 1904 Olympic Marathon. Get a free trial of The Great Courses Plus by going …
01:15:21 |
Tue 25 Aug 2020
Apocalypse Now and Then
Some days it feels like we're living at the end of the world. And by "some days" I mean "literally every day ever". Take a ride with us through some of the best apocalypses to never happen! Check out…
01:10:59 |
Tue 11 Aug 2020
Real Facts, and Beer
Here is a story about the city I love, Chicago.Get a free trial of The Great Courses Plus by going to: https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/theconstant (https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/theconstan…
00:30:17 |
Tue 28 Jul 2020
Reductio Ad Absurdum
The Earth is Flat! That is the conclusion that many ancient societies once drew. Then, in the 19th century, belief in the flat earth started to return, and in the last decade this easily disprovable …
01:26:20 |
Tue 14 Jul 2020
Fish Story
Sharks have been known to eat a lot of weird stuff. Fur coats, license plates, cannonballs, chicken coups, even a suit of armor. But the strangest thing ever found within the belly of a shark was... …
00:33:06 |
Tue 16 Jun 2020
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are the property of Mark Chrisler. This content is not affiliated with or endorsed by eachpod.com.