Show Notes
A bank robber disappears inside a 21-story apartment building while police close in. A short time later, he turns up badly injured in the basement—with the stolen cash still on him. His escape involved one of the worst plans in criminal history: a garbage chute, a 210-foot fall, and an astonishing amount of luck.
Then, Polaroid was once one of America’s most innovative companies, transforming photography by letting people hold a picture in their hands just moments after taking it. So how did a company that dominated instant photography and generated billions in sales end up bankrupt just a decade later? Lindsay and Jethro trace the remarkable rise, spectacular fall, and unlikely resurrection of Polaroid—and the technology that nearly killed it before helping make it cool again.
Plus, a listener discovers that karma, bath towels, garage doors, and security cameras can be an especially unforgiving combination.
It’s another trip into the wonderfully questionable side of human decision-making on The Shallow End with Schnebly and Toth.
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The Shallow End Episode 231: Porch Pirate Karma and the Woman Who Declared War on Delivery Robots
A teenage robber walks into a convenience store on Christmas Eve, waves a gun around, and demands money. Unfortunately for him, the man behind the counter has a few surprises of his own. Meanwhile, a Wisconsin woman decides she's going to become a substitute teacher. No credentials. No authorization. No apparent interest in actually teaching. What could possibly go wrong?
This week, The Shallow End opens the mailbag—and apparently our listeners have been making questionable decisions all over the world.
Some bad ideas take careful planning. Others apparently require a counterfeit money operation, Abraham Lincoln’s corpse, and absolutely no consideration for how much a lead-lined coffin weighs.
A homesick teenager makes the worst travel decision in aviation history: in 1965, Brian Robson had friends nail him into a wooden crate and ship him from Australia toward Wales as air freight. When the crate is rerouted to Los Angeles—and turned upside down—his 36-hour plan becomes a horrifying four-day ordeal.