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
The Cold, Hard Truth, Pt 2
Two men, two islands, two claims for The North Pole. In part two of The Cold, Hard, Truth we're looking at the expedition formed in the wake of Peary and Cook's battle for The Pole. An expedition for…
01:06:40 |
Tue 02 Jun 2020
The Cold, Hard Truth, Pt 1
On September 7th, 1909, The New York Times announced that Robert Peary was the first person to ever reach The North Pole. But a week earlier, The New York Herald had said the same thing about Frederi…
00:57:44 |
Tue 19 May 2020
The Airship
In December of 1909, the vice president of a Worcester Massachusetts steamfitting company decided he wanted to fly. This is his story. Get 10% off your first month of online counseling by visiting:ht…
00:42:05 |
Tue 05 May 2020
Use The Accident
Here's a change of pace: what about stuff we got wrong for the better? On this episode we've got 13 short stories of mistakes that went right. From jazz to physics to chemistry to frozen dessert, we'…
00:51:51 |
Tue 21 Apr 2020
True Crime
Hey! I think we invented a new kind of podcast this week! It's a crime story, but it's also true. We're calling it "True Crime". I think there might be a market for this!Get a free trial of The Great…
00:42:58 |
Tue 07 Apr 2020
Light and Shadow of American Life
In almost seventy episodes chronicling bad ideas and loopy frauds through the ages one name has come up again and again. From phrenology to mesmerism to a strange ghostly bowl of molasses, he's the F…
01:01:02 |
Tue 24 Mar 2020
The Foolkiller Pt 5: The White Whale
Here we are. We've examined arctic explorers, secret armies, zany daredevils, Wisconsin whiz kids and so many more only to come up empty. This is the end of the rope. Can we solve the mystery of The …
01:51:11 |
Tue 10 Mar 2020
The Foolkiller Pt 4: The Unusual Suspects
We're onto the long shots now: An Irish-American secret society bent on war with Canada, a kid genius out of Oshkosh and an Indiana shoe factory owner. With so few options left, one of them--surely--…
01:05:26 |
Tue 25 Feb 2020
The Foolkiller Pt 3: The Man from The East
Amid all the confusing and contradictory reporting that accompanied the discovery of The Foolkiller submarine in 1915 Chicago, there are a handful of mentions of an "Eastern man". On this episode, we…
00:55:05 |
Tue 11 Feb 2020
The Foolkiller Pt 2: Infinite Distress
A proper story has three acts, but the story of The Foolkiller submarine is missing two of them. Today, we're looking at act 2: the brief window of time during which we know where this giant steel cr…
01:03:11 |
Tue 28 Jan 2020
The Foolkiller Pt 1: Tears Falling from The Sky
In November of 1915, a submarine was found at the bottom of The Chicago River. It had been there for at least ten years, was 40 feet long, and contained the remains of a man and his dog. To this day,…
00:46:28 |
Tue 14 Jan 2020
It's Wonderful Redux
For our last episode of 2019 and season 6, we're revisiting last year's Christmas episode. Stick around through the end to hear a tease for next season's big multi-part opening story, and check out t…
00:30:59 |
Mon 30 Dec 2019
The Christmas Bullet
Throw on another yule log and gather round the fire For a new Constant episode is about to transpire It's a holiday one, though it contains little joy About a con named Christmas and his terrible plo…
00:17:55 |
Tue 17 Dec 2019
Perpetuum Mobile
Happy Second Birthday to The Constant! To celebrate, we're tackling the story that everyone advised Mark not to tell, that Mark himself failed over and over again to write: The Brownian Ratchet. And …
00:54:53 |
Tue 03 Dec 2019
Suck and Blow
Everything you've ever learned about physics, chemistry, astronomy, and even biology, is wrong. That was the conclusion reached by Alfred Lawson, major league pitcher, avionics pioneer, populist poli…
00:35:17 |
Tue 19 Nov 2019
Necessity
In the first century BC, The Greek philosopher Carneades asked a question: is it moral to kill an innocent person to preserve your own life? Two thousand years later, a court in England settled the m…
00:54:09 |
Tue 05 Nov 2019
The Curse
Did someone say "more mummies"? No? You didn't hear that? It sounded like "more mummies" but it was kind of muffled and droning? OH GOD WHAT'S THAT!? It's still October, and we're still being spooky.…
00:40:20 |
Tue 22 Oct 2019
Chewing The Fat
In 2009, Peruvian police offered a disturbing solution to the murders of 46 people in the city of Trujillo. It was sensational, shocking and unbelievable. Yet, it was tied to a long, rich--and now la…
00:45:12 |
Tue 08 Oct 2019
A Pain in The Glass
In April of 1954, Seattle was home to one of the weirdest events in American history: residents were gripped with fear as a mysterious force roamed the city, leaving hundreds of thousands of dollars …
00:47:06 |
Tue 24 Sep 2019
A Dreamcast Deferred
On 9/9/99 The Sega Dreamcast had the most successful product launch of literally any commercial product in history. It quickly came to dominate the market, outperforming all its competition. Less tha…
01:37:19 |
Tue 10 Sep 2019
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