http://traffic.libsyn.com/badideas/Bone_Wars.mp3 Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope were paleontologists who made amazing advances in a golden ago of fossil discoveries in America near the end of the 19th century. But their competition between each other left a dark mark on the field of paleontology and left both men broke and broken by the ends…
http://traffic.libsyn.com/badideas/Aral_Sea.mp3 The Aral Sea was once the fourth largest body of water in the world. Today it has all but disappeared, leaving the area around it ecologically devastated. In this episode we explore the decisions and mistakes that led to this massive environmental disaster.
http://traffic.libsyn.com/badideas/Triplacast.mp3 Network Olympics coverage is terrible, and has been for a long time. These days we can get around that with internet streams of of the events as they happen, but in 1992 if you wanted to watch the Olympics you had to watch NBC’s delayed overproduced feed. That is, until a New York company…
http://traffic.libsyn.com/badideas/Bad_Ideas_Osborne_1.mp3 How did the Osborne Corporation go from being an industry leader in the “luggable” computer market, to going bankrupt less than five years later? This is the story of the Osborne Effect, the miscalculation that is commonly believed to have sunk the Osborne Corporation, and why it doesn’t tell the whole story of this…
http://traffic.libsyn.com/badideas/Bad_Ideas_Love_Canal.mp3 In 1890 William T. Love had a dream of a city powered by electricity, and supplied by ships that would traverse the canal he intended to build around Niagara Falls. But things went badly for Love, and he had to abandon his dream with the town unbuilt and the canal only partially dug. But…
