August 7, 2017
EP. 196 — Why Society Is Very Bad At Helping People Choose Jobs
Do you know what you want to do with the rest of your life? Well the good news is nobody really knows. You’re not alone! The bad news is you were supposed to know by age 13 or so. And if you didn’t know back then, society’s been watching you flail around ever since. We’re a nation of human beings, facing more change and “economic anxiety” than ever before. And if you look close enough, you’ll realize the answer to that problem has a lot less to do with border walls and coal jobs, and a lot more to do with welcoming immigrants, encouraging adaptability, and rethinking our entire educational system.
On this week’s podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by Jason Pargin (aka David Wong) and Kristi Harrison, to point out our ongoing national crisis of mis-preparation derailing the lives of America’s teenagers, middle-aged parents, and everybody in between.
East Coast! The Cracked Podcast is coming to you! The Cracked Podcast will be a part of the Now Hear This podcast festival in New York, taking place September 8th-10th. For $20 off your ticket, head to NowHearThisFest.com and enter code ‘CRACKED’ at checkout.
West Coast! Pack an extra life, some elixirs and a poke ball. The next live Cracked Podcast is Saturday, August 12th at 7pm at the UCB Sunset Theatre in Los Angeles. Alex Schmidt asks Michael Swaim, Adam Ganser, Monika Scott, Mike Drucker and Christian Ramirez, “what is the best video game universe to live in?” Tickets are $7 and available here: https://goo.gl/WCKg8f
*Extremely Michael Caine Voice* Master Wayne, now that it’s August, it’s Christopher Nolan month on Cracked Movie Club. Join hosts Tom Reimann and Abe Epperson for crazy behind-the-scenes stories, philosophical fan-theories and jokes – lots of stupid jokes – about Christopher Nolan’s filmography, starting with The Prestige: https://goo.gl/saER6v
To hear the newest episode each and every Thursday, search for Cracked Movie Club in your podcast app of choice or click here to find it on Apple Podcasts: https://goo.gl/fQ2o72
And if you were really hurting for more Cracked podcasts, we have great news for you. We’re proud to announce our newest podcast venture, Cracked Gets Personal. In this 10-part miniseries, Cracked’s Robert Evans and Rick and Morty’s Brandon Johnson are adapting some of Cracked’s most popular Personal Experience articles into an audio-documentary. Hear what it’s like to live a day as a heroin addict, a garbageman, and rural ER doctor. The first two episodes premiere on Wednesday, August 16th and you can subscribe now by searching for Cracked Gets Personal on your podcast app of choice or clicking here to find it on Apple Podcasts: https://goo.gl/Q1bFap
FOOTNOTES
Article: Cracked: 6 Facts That Will Clear Up Your Confusing Life: https://goo.gl/vL8M9f
Article: Cracked: 5 Reasons You Hated School (That You Were Right About): https://goo.gl/PSH13C
Book: Tony Wagner & Ted Dintersmith: Most Likely to Succeed: Preparing Our Kids for the Innovation Era: https://goo.gl/LXNPZN
Video: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO): Coal: https://goo.gl/f75xiG
Article: Washington Post: If Trump restricts skilled immigrants, the U.S. could lose jobs to other countries: https://goo.gl/kWJWmp
Article: New York Times: Rural Areas Brace for a Shortage of Doctors Due to Visa Policy: https://goo.gl/7UHTja
Article: Washington Post: U.S. faces 90,000 doctor shortage by 2025, medical school association warns: https://goo.gl/6pKpbB
Article: Fortune: Technology will replace 80% of what doctors do: https://goo.gl/2yP1eY
This episode is brought to you by Squarespace (www.squarespace.com code: CRACKED) and ZipRecruiter (www.ziprecruiter.com/CRACKED).
Recent Episodes
January 26, 2020
Freedom sucks…and that is why we have to defend it. Because our democracy involves doing a lot of stuff that takes energy, takes time, and lacks that Michael Bay Quality that only a surprise missile launch can provide. So on this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt and special guest Jason Pargin (who writes for Cracked as David Wong) are exploring the ways being afraid of everything (an easy action) can stop us from being free. Discover the decades-long tradition of some Americans wanting to give up everything in exchange for not needing to think, the centuries-long tradition of people inciting fake panics, and the reasonable ways you can help change things for the better.
Footnotes: https://www.cracked.com/podcast/why-fear-based-democracies-arenE28099t-free-with-jason-pargin/
January 19, 2020
How’s your local shopping mall doing? Have you checked on it lately? Swing by sometime, because its department store might’ve turned into a call center or a hospital or a go-kart track. On this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by the one and only Kai Ryssdal (Marketplace, Make Me Smart) for a look at surprising, strange, and shocking stories from all over the U.S. economy. Discover an international pig flu, a 26-word statement that built the modern Internet, and more amazing ways cash is ruling everything around you. By the way, if you’re an American listener, you spent the past few years funding an astonishingly huge bailout. Surprise! Listen for details!
Footnotes: https://www.cracked.com/podcast/5-parts-u.s.-economy-that-are-stranger-than-you-think
January 12, 2020
Movies, TV, gaming: three things that are theoretically a waste of time. Oh sure, they deliver value in the art sense, and comfort in the goofing-off sense. But what if they’re more valuable than that? What if consuming shows and playing video games (accidentally) turns people into real-life heroes? On this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by comedians/writers Caitlin Gill and Alex Watt for a look at the surprising number of times that exact thing happened. They’ll explore stories of regular people who saved a life thanks to skills gained randomly from cartoons, sitcoms, ‘World Of Warcraft’, and more silly entertainment.
Footnotes: https://www.cracked.com/podcast/9-times-pop-culture-accidentally-taught-people-to-save-lives/