Things That Don’t Work The Way You Think

So you think you know how the world works, right? You watch one episode of ‘Mythbusters’ and suddenly you’re an expert on ballistics, germ theory and aeronautical engineering.

Tell me then, Jonas Salk, why you always get sick on airplanes. You’re probably thinking it has something to do with the recycled air. Five hours spent breathing the same diseased air as the commoners back in coach and you’re bound to come down with something, right? Wrong, you aristocratic pig!

You can actually blame the airlines and flight attendants for this one. Don’t you think it’s weird how the plane gets clean in the 20 minutes between when the plane lands and when they ask you to board? Yeah, that’s because they don’t clean it. Every surface on an airplane is a plastic germ-ridden hellscape trying to eat you from the insides out. That’s why you get sick when you fly.

There are plenty of other everyday systems and things whose inner workings are taken for granted like that. Jack O’Brien is joined this week by Cracked editors Soren Bowie and Kristi Harrison for a roundup of things that don’t work how you’d expect: from airplanes, to soap, to the world economy.

Also, make sure to join us at our next live podcast taping!

Tickets are just $5 and are available  here: https://goo.gl/QtlWid

Footnotes:

USA Today: 5 Myths About Germs on Airplanes: http://goo.gl/7KrnF7

Slate: How Welfare Reform Failed: http://goo.gl/CIB1S1

And The Band Played On (Book): https://goo.gl/OkI1Qx

And The Band Played On (Movie): https://goo.gl/KRZvfz

Oklahoma vs. Harvard Debate (Start at 0:43): https://goo.gl/3bDplo

Cracked: 6 Inside Facts About Jeopardy From a 74-Episode Winner: http://goo.gl/gRKtzC

Cracked: 6 Counterintuitive Tricks to Beating Popular Game Shows: http://goo.gl/f9BDt

The Economist: Age Invaders: http://goo.gl/QL6q1J

IMF: What Is The Demographic Dividend?: http://goo.gl/aAobvU

This episode is sponsored by Spotify, Magoosh, Casper Mattresses, and Loot Crate.