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Ed is back for another "recent" historical dumpster fire in which a chemical that manufactures a chemical necessary for nylon production explodes in the largest non-WWII explosion in British history. They Nypro Flixborough chemical facility was built in the late 60's to be a sleek, state of the art facility that turned an extremely flammable substance called cyclohexane and turn it into caprolactam. Caprolactam is one of the key ingredients to making nylon which is a ubiquitous substance found everywhere in the modern era. Without nylon, everything from clothing to car parts to kitchen utensils and even surgical implants would be impossible.

On paper and in the minds of the workers and their families, the Flixborough facility was the wave of the future and offered a means of a modern livelihood... until one of the massive reaction tanks that turns 20 tons of cyclohexane into caprolactam develops a crack and could potentially result in an explosion that could destroy the entire complex.

In this case, the dumpster fire isn't the crack, or what managers refused to do that often results in dumpster fires, but it's what the managers DID do that caused so many problems... or one big one!

Take a listen and hop on over to the Day's Dumpster Fire website for show notes, sources, and pictures of what happened to this facility and how it affected an entire community in the English countryside.

Some other episodes that were mentioned in this episode that you might find interesting are:

Nuclear Power Plants

Victorian Bread Making

The Boston Molasses Flood

Byford Dolphin Incident

The Deepwater Horizon Incident

All of the above episodes have something common with the Flixborough Chemical Fire. Send Ed and Kara an email at thedaysdumpsterfire@gmail.com when you notice the connection or what they all have in common? In other words, what often gets in the way of safety, sound practices, engineered solutions, and quotas in manufacturing that turns into a dumpster fire or contents for this podcast?

Hey before you go!

If have ideas for future episodes that you want Kara and Ed to look into, email them at thedaysdumpsterfire@gmail.com. They would love to hear from you!

You can also send them a text message by clicking on the link at the top.

Be sure to head on over to www.thedaysdumpsterfire.com for the ever growing library of historical dumpster fires.

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In today’s episode, Ed is back with a dumpster that can be traced back to the last decade instead of the last century. Kara’s monumental time travel into the Great Depression that changed America forever left off with the nation as the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world. While that’s pretty comforting to thin, about as an American, for those outside America, that wealth is a bull’s eye for those with the skills to “hack” into it.

Therefore, Ed is going to talk about the greatest bank heist in world history: the Bangladesh Bank Heist of 2016. This is where some very creative and skillful hackers put together a plan to rob the Bangladesh Bank and subsequent United States Federal Reserve of nearly $1billion! The heist itself only took a night to implement, but the plan dated back to the end of October 2014 and for over a year, these hackers hatched a plan so creative, detailed, and ambitious, any notion of failure was out the window. Even if failure did rear its ugly head, which happens often in this show, the hackers would still walk away with tens of millions of dollars.

In this episode, Ed will explain:

Part 1. What electronic banking is, how it’s different from banking in the 1800s, the pros and cons of electronic banking and how it changed the landscape of bank robbing.

Part 2. What happened on that fateful February 6th, 2016, day when office workers of the Bangladesh Bank arrived to work, only find that computers and one special printer weren’t working.

Part 3. The origins, identification, and the plan to steal nearly $1 billion in a single night. The elaborateness of this plan will blow you away!

Part 4. The execution of the plan on February 5, 2016, and how things went right from the beginning and how a misspelled word nearly brought the entire operation down.

Part 5. The outcome, who the hackers were, the nation state actors in play, and how does this affect your life.

Be sure to check The Day’s Dumpster Fire website of the complete catalog, detailed show notes, and Kara’s artwork.

Some other episodes you will like:

Episodes 41 & 42 – America’s Involvement in the Vietnam War

Episode 9 - Therac-25 Fire: a great episode that is computer themed much like this episode, but with the twist of what can happen when the computer can't keep up with the human user and people are getting zapped.

Hey before you go!

If have ideas for future episodes that you want Kara and Ed to look into, email them at thedaysdumpsterfire@gmail.com. They would love to hear from you!

You can also send them a text message by clicking on the link at the top.

Be sure to head on over to www.thedaysdumpsterfire.com for the ever growing library of historical dumpster fires.

Check us out on the ol Instagrams!
https://www.instagram.com/thedaysdumpsterfire/

Send a text

The time has come! We thought we'd never get there, but Kara's PhD scholarly review of the Great Depression comes to its climactic end in this episode. This is quite possibly Kara's most ambitious episode yet and this doesn't even include all the extra stuff you can find on at thedaysdumpsterfire.com!

In Part 1. Kara dove into the causes of the Great Depression and dispelled some myths such as the "Crash of 29" was solely responsible for the entire economic collapse of the country.

In Part 2. Kara looked into what Herbert Hoover tried to do to correct things in American and how it ultimately was too little, too late. This led to Franklin Delano Roosevelt winning the 1932 election by a landslide.

In Part 3. Kara discusses Roosevelt's strategy in which the federal government would invest hundreds of millions of dollars into the economy to get people working again and banks up and running. In this episode, you'll be introduced to the "alphabet soup" in which a multitude of three-lettered government agencies sprung up across the country intending to right the ship and get America back on track economically. While the government funneling money into the economy may have been met with a sigh of relief to some. Many other workers were growing frustrated by low wages, long hours, and dangerous work, fueled by corporate greed and apathy. As a result, strikes formed coast to coast, and even though unemployment was rampant, so were the number of angry workers who were fed up being taken advantage of.

Lastly, in Part 4. Kara analyzes Roosevelt's second New Deal program that focused heavily on recovering the arts such as movie making and writing. This new New Deal brought in a number of lawsuits from dissenters (such as Roosevelt's own Vice President!!!) and eventually the supreme court had to get involved. Roosevelt didn't just stop there, he used the unemployed to build hospitals, schools, bridges, dams, hundreds of miles of roads, and airfields. However, this came at a cost as the fledgling "communist scare" tried its best to undermine Roosevelt's plan of recovery. Lastly, Kara sheds light on how the Great Depressions wasn't just an America only ordeal. The rest of the world was struggling in various degrees and this laid the canvas for which World War II would be painted on.

Some other episodes mentioned that you will find interesting:

Episode 13. Hindenburg

Episodes 59-62. Prohibition

Hey before you go!

If have ideas for future episodes that you want Kara and Ed to look into, email them at thedaysdumpsterfire@gmail.com. They would love to hear from you!

You can also send them a text message by clicking on the link at the top.

Be sure to head on over to www.thedaysdumpsterfire.com for the ever growing library of historical dumpster fires.

Check us out on the ol Instagrams!
https://www.instagram.com/thedaysdumpsterfire/

Send a text

Welcome back for Kara's part 3 of her exploration into one of America's most influential dumpster fires in history, the Great Depression.

In Part 1. Kara dove into the causes of the Great Depression and dispelled some myths such as the "Crash of 29" was solely responsible for the entire economic collapse of the country.

In Part 2. Kara looked into what Herbert Hoover tried to do to correct things in American and how it ultimately was too little, too late. This led to Franklin Delano Roosevelt winning the 1932 election by a landslide.

In Part 3. Kara discusses Roosevelt's strategy in which the federal government would invest hundreds of millions of dollars into the economy to get people working again and banks up and running. In this episode, you'll be introduced to the "alphabet soup" in which a multitude of three-lettered government agencies sprung up across the country intending to right the ship and get America back on track economically. While the government funneling money into the economy may have been met with a sigh of relief to some. Many other workers were growing frustrated by low wages, long hours, and dangerous work, fueld by corporate greed and apathy. As a result, strikes formed coast to coast, and even though unemployment was rampant, so were the number of angry workers who were fed up being taken advantage of.

Some other episodes of The Day's Dumpster Fire you might find interesting:

The Dust Bowl - Episode 48

Prohibition - Episodes 59-62

So sit back and take a listen into a time period on American history when a generation of men and women who would grow up to change the world were trying to figure out how to make ends meet!

Hey before you go!

If have ideas for future episodes that you want Kara and Ed to look into, email them at thedaysdumpsterfire@gmail.com. They would love to hear from you!

You can also send them a text message by clicking on the link at the top.

Be sure to head on over to www.thedaysdumpsterfire.com for the ever growing library of historical dumpster fires.

Check us out on the ol Instagrams!
https://www.instagram.com/thedaysdumpsterfire/

Send us a text

In this episode, Kara continues here investigation of the Great Depression. In the Great Depression Part 1, Kara dug into the various factors that caused the Great Depression such as:

• Over using or extending credit
• The Dust Bowl of the midwest (check out The Dustbowl Fire - Episode 48 for more.
• The stock market crashing in 1929
• And so much more!

In this episode, a newly elected Herbert Hoover inherits a thriving economy of 1928 and what was looking like four mor years of a thriving nation. However, by the time 1930, everything has imploded and now Hoover has to pull the nation out of this economic and political quagmire. In this episode Kara is going to talk about:

• Hoover's philosophies on what Americans need to do to fix things
• What happens when politically things don't go according plan
• What happens when thousands of WWI vets don't get paid and Hoover uses the military ON those vets
• How Hoover treated WWI vets and influence on his reelection campaign of 1932
• Lastly, who takes Hoover's place and why

Kara is brining her A-game in this episode and there's a lot to it. So sit back and relax and be grateful that you're not Herbert Hoover!

Be sure to check out thedaysdumpsterfire.com for a massive catalog of history's dumpster fires where we don't celebrate humanity's successes, but its most fantastic failures!

Hey before you go!

If have ideas for future episodes that you want Kara and Ed to look into, email them at thedaysdumpsterfire@gmail.com. They would love to hear from you!

You can also send them a text message by clicking on the link at the top.

Be sure to head on over to www.thedaysdumpsterfire.com for the ever growing library of historical dumpster fires.

Check us out on the ol Instagrams!
https://www.instagram.com/thedaysdumpsterfire/

Send us a text

In this episode, Kara is taking us way back to her favorite time period... when everything went to crap or in other words the Great Depression. She starts off with one of the most tremendous dumpster fires of the 20th century which was the stock market crash of 1929. While it was not the sole cause of the Great Depression, it was a foreboding sign of the things to come. Afterwards, Kara describes how the American work force went from one of the most prosperous in the world to mass unemployment and despair.

Side note, while things were bad in America, the rest of the world (especially Europe) was in WAY worse shape all things considered!

In this episode Kara will explain:

• The background of the Crash of 29
• The social implications of hundreds of thousands of Americans losing their homes
• How the beginnings of the Great Depression affected not only white men, but women and African Americans
• The life of the "hobo" and the misconceptions about what they were about
• And even a hint as to what America tried to do to put the dumpster fire out.

The events that surround the Great Depression stem from the Dust Bowl of the mid-west which you can listen to in Episode 48.

If you're fascinated with this dumpster fire as well as many more, check out the complete library at www.thedaysdumpsterfire.com

Lastly, if you're interested in this time period, you will probably find these episodes of The Day's Dumpster Fire interesting:

Episode 13. The Hindenburg Fire (Not the Blimp, but the Other One)

Episode 14. The Boston Molasses Flood Fire

Episodes 23 & 24. I Love the Smell of Lead Fire

Episodes 59-62. Prohibition Fire

Hey before you go!

If have ideas for future episodes that you want Kara and Ed to look into, email them at thedaysdumpsterfire@gmail.com. They would love to hear from you!

You can also send them a text message by clicking on the link at the top.

Be sure to head on over to www.thedaysdumpsterfire.com for the ever growing library of historical dumpster fires.

Check us out on the ol Instagrams!
https://www.instagram.com/thedaysdumpsterfire/

Send us a text

It might be a few days late, but not more than $70 billion short.

In part two of the Deepwater Horizon dumpster fire, Ed describes the ecological, economical, and legal fallout from the Deepwater Horizon explosion back on April 20, 2010. The explosion itself cost the lives of 11 me, which unto itself an unmitigated tragedy that will affect generations to come.

However, when the drill rig buckled and sank two days later, an underwater oil geyser developed that spewed up to 210,000 gallons of crude oil per day into the Gulf of Mexico.

This resulted in the largest ecological disaster in American history, and the results of this disaster are still around today.

Ed will break down what happened shortly after the explosion, how the massive oil leak was eventually contained, the impact the oil spill had on the ecology and economy of the coast lines of the Gulf of Mexico, the ramifications that followed suit against the companies involved, and perhaps what just caused the problem to begin with.

For more details, head on over to the the Daysdumpsterfire.com!

If you find this episode interesting, check out the below suggestions for your watery dumpster fire itch:

Episode 27. First Oil Spill Disaster (the Torrey Canyon Incident)

Episode 37. The Transatlantic Telegraph

Episode 46. Byford Dolphin Incident

Hey before you go!

If have ideas for future episodes that you want Kara and Ed to look into, email them at thedaysdumpsterfire@gmail.com. They would love to hear from you!

You can also send them a text message by clicking on the link at the top.

Be sure to head on over to www.thedaysdumpsterfire.com for the ever growing library of historical dumpster fires.

Check us out on the ol Instagrams!
https://www.instagram.com/thedaysdumpsterfire/

Send us a text

After Kara's eight week long marathon of talking about Prohibition (Kara had been researching this four part series since July!). Ed has decided to get off the editing couch and put together an episode of his own.

The Deepwater Horizon drill rig was one of the most powerful and highly regarded oil drilling rigs in the 2000's and for good reason. It held safety records for the longest running times of no serious accidents, it held the record for the deepest well ever drilled on the bottom of the ocean, and the Transocean crews that manned it were some of the most experienced the oil industry could supply. The Deepwater Horizon was heralded as "Lucky" because of its perpetual successes!

However, on April 20, 2010, everything changed when the drill rig suddenly exploded at around 10pm at night in a fireball that engulfed the entire rig 40 miles off the coast of Louisiana. This explosion eventually caused the rig to buckle and sink to the bottom of the ocean thus severing an oil pipeline that spewed 210,000 gallons of oil per day into the Gulf of Mexico for over 80 days. This led to the largest oil related disaster in American history.

Worse yet, this disaster cost the lives of 11 crewmen working on the rig and on top of all the environmental issues that ensued, many questions remained as to why those 11 men had to die.

In this episode Ed will explain:

• Why does the world revolve around oil (it's not just for gasoline, there are so many other reasons)
• How to we get it out of the ground, and what happens when there isn't enough land on the planet to support the demand for oil
• A very brief description as to how deep sea oil drilling works
• What was the Deepwater Horizon semi-submersible drill rig
• And lastly, what events incited the most horrific oil related disaster in history

In case you want more, check out these other related episodes:

First Oil Spill Disaster - The incident involving the Torrey Canyon oil tanker running aground near England

Byford Dolphin Incident - The incident involving an explosive decompression of 4 saturation divers which killed them instantly in a gruesome manner.

You can find the above episodes plus so much more at thedaysdumpsterfire.com

Hey before you go!

If have ideas for future episodes that you want Kara and Ed to look into, email them at thedaysdumpsterfire@gmail.com. They would love to hear from you!

You can also send them a text message by clicking on the link at the top.

Be sure to head on over to www.thedaysdumpsterfire.com for the ever growing library of historical dumpster fires.

Check us out on the ol Instagrams!
https://www.instagram.com/thedaysdumpsterfire/