Videos
Podcasts
Blogs
Quizzes
GamesStuff You Should Know
The digital duo Josh and Chuck deconstruct your world.
Podcast Transcript | Listen to the Podcast Now
Comment Now
Recent Postings by Category
BrainStuff
- Thank You and Best Wishes to Marshall Brain
- Contest – Design a $300 house and win $25,000
- How the Philtrum works – the place under your nose where your face comes together
The Coolest Stuff on the Planet
- Sailing, Takes Me Away…To The Seychelles
- Cute Animal Tuesday: Black Vulture
- Traveling on the Orient Express
Keep Asking
- Why can a 5 foot 8 inch man dunk a basketball on a 10 foot rim while some people of taller stature can’t?
- What happens to our sun once it runs out of fuel?
- How do we know the age of the universe?
Stuff Mom Never Told You
- Who invented the Christmas card?
- How the Kinsey Report Fueled Whiskey Sales
- How to Get Your Wedding Announcement into The New York Times
Stuff to Blow Your Mind
- The Seven Deadlies: Pride Cometh Before the Brain
- Warhammer 40K: 25 Years of Orks in Space
- A Visit to the Tellus Science Museum
Stuff You Should Know
- The Southern Death Cult, the Maya and Georgia
- Deformed Baby Spider Brains
- Amazing Medical Conditions: Maple Syrup Urine Disorder
The Stuff of Genius
CarStuff
- Was Chrysler’s “It’s Halftime in America” Super Bowl commercial a little too political?
- Why is NASA studying car safety?
- Tips for in-car Navigation Systems
How-to Stuff
- How to Make the Most of a Gallery Crawl (When You’re on a Shoestring Budget)
- How to Swim with Dolphins (When Deep Water Terrifies You)
- How to Cure a Homemade Cookie Craving Without Turning on the Oven
PopStuff
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 43: Drag Queens: You Better Work!
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 42: Road Trip!
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 41: Celebrity Couples
Stuff They Don't Want You To Know
Stuff to Change the World
- Who will own the Arctic?
- Obesity: The New Global Crisis
- Bill Gates Makes For A Pretty Decent Cartoon
Stuff You Missed in History Class
- Butch Cassidy: Should we read between the lines?
- Are we rooting for D.B. Cooper?
- Party Time: A Look at Unconventional Politics
Announcer
Welcome to Stuff You Should Know from HowStuffWorks.com.
Josh Clark
Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I’m Josh Clark, and guess who is with me.
Chuck Bryant
Ronald McDonald.
Josh Clark
Yes. Yeah. I met Ronald McDonald at my cousin’s 15th birthday party.
Chuck Bryant
Really?
Josh Clark
Yeah, he’s pretty cool.
Chuck Bryant
Isn’t that weird? That’s the first thing that came into my head. I guess it means I’m hungry.
Josh Clark
I guess so. Are you hungry? Did you eat today?
Chuck Bryant
No.
Josh Clark
This is going to be a fun one, Chuck. We’re talking about credit default swaps.
Chuck Bryant
Oh.
Josh Clark
I know, we’re going to try to make it sexy.
Chuck Bryant
Yes. Should I go ahead and give the caveat here?
Josh Clark
If you want. Go ahead.
Chuck Bryant
I just want folks to know we usually – Josh and I do a lot of prep work and both have a pretty good understanding, but I’m not ashamed to admit that I didn’t quite understand this one.
Josh Clark
It’s pretty thick, Chuck.
Chuck Bryant
Might be a little different today. Josh is going to be teaching me along with you.
Josh Clark
Are you prepared?
Chuck Bryant
As prepared as I can be.
Josh Clark
I appreciate you dressing like a little school girl today to really kind of complete everything and round it out.
Chuck Bryant
Yeah, yeah.
Josh Clark
Okay, so let me give you an analogy. So Chuck, imagine if I went to your health insurance provider and said, “Hey, I want to buy Chuck’s policy,” and they said, “Okay,” and they sold it to me.
Chuck Bryant
And you would be in charge of that policy.
Josh Clark
I would own the policy, so I would be accepting monthly payments from you. Everything would be fine. I’d be probably running around trying to keep you out of accidents, that kind of thing. But if you did get into an accident, I would be on the hook to pay your medical expenses. Right?
Chuck Bryant
You bet you would be.
Josh Clark
You
and I are both fully aware that I don’t have the money to pay your medical expenses.
Chuck Bryant
No.
Josh Clark
So basically what would happen is I’d pay as much as I could until I bankrupted myself, and then you’d be on the hook to pay your medical expenses.
Chuck Bryant
Okay, I get that.
Josh Clark
So you’d be in trouble. It’d bankrupt you, and we’d both be up the creek.
Chuck Bryant
I understand so far.
Josh Clark
Are you with me so far?
Chuck Bryant
Yeah, it makes sense.
Josh Clark
Now imagine if you owned two other peoples’ life – or health insurance policies just like I owned yours. Okay. Now let’s say that accident you got into was a three car pileup just in a mind boggling coincidence with the other two people whose health insurance policies you owned.