This American Life: What is Wrong in China

We see it so often: Made in China.

However, something being made in china has such a larger significance than these three simple words. Quite frankly these three words may have been the greatest and worst thing to ever happen to the American economy.

There is one thing that is for certain. When American companies outsource their production to Chinese companies like Foxconn, which is the center of injustice in this addition of This American Life our economy is not the only thing going sour.


Prior to listening to the smooth, serenading voice of the Ira Glass I was under the impression that our outsourcing of manufacturing jobs had a large effect on the American economy. Well it certainly does. However, the discussion of whether or not this is helping or hurting our economy is an issue that should be placed neatly on the back burner. There is a much larger fish to fry, unfortunately one we are unable to catch, much less see. I ask for you to allow Ira Glass & guest Mike Daisy to take on a journey to a land, which has existed for many years yet is unknown to many.

It is a land of toxic waste. It is a land of suicide. It is a land of repetition. It is a land underage child labor. It is a land of cruel and unusual punishment.

To be blunt, there is no sum of money that would motivate you to step inside the shoes of someone who makes an iPhone. Now this not meant to single out Apple. But what it is meant to do is for you to know what is going on behind the Great Wall. A Great Wall of secrecy if I must say so myself.

You know the drill. Listen & Learn.


I would love to hear feedback as to what you think about this episode of This American Life.


Download: MR. DAISEY AND THE APPLE FACTORY
Twitter: @ThisAmerLife


Oh yeah, follow me too: @podcastgreg

Week 15 Picks: Tebow Time?

People Will be Tebowing All Across America Today.

But After They See The Patriots, Will it Continue?

Uhh.

Hell Nah.

Week 15, sunday edition, is here at last. I have had trouble sleeping these past few nights knowing that the battle between QB gods was only a few days away. Will Tebow Time continue? Will Brady's arm be too much to overcome in the 4th quarter? Who Knows. But what I do know is this: my picks are so hot that not even Cowboys coach Jason Garrett could ice me. 

Miami vs. @Buffalo (pick) 

Did the Bills really beat the Patriots this year? Were the Bills really once 5-2? Yes to both of those and a No to a victory today for the Bills.

Pick: Miami

@Chicago vs. Seattle (+3.5)

The Seattle Seahawks are sneaky good. Beastmode. Skittles. Yada yada. I forsee an outright victory as long as they contain Hester on special teams. Tavaris Jackson FTW! 

Pick: Seattle(+3.5)

Tennessee vs. @Indianapolis (+6.5)

funny.

Pick: Tennessee(-6.5)

Green Bay vs. @Kansas City (+14)

Always tough laying 14 points on the road. However, KC has no QB and have failed to compete in the past several weeks. Blowout losses against the Patriots and Jets in recent weeks point to a slaughter.

Pick: Green Bay(-14)

Cincinnati vs. @St. Louis (+6)

Cincinnati needs a victory to stay in playoff contention. Sam Bradford is out. The Bengals have a solid rush D, which should prevent Jackson from carrying the Rams to victory. I like the Bengals for a touchdown victory.

Pick: Cincinnati(-6)

Greg's Gurantee

New Orleans vs. @Minnesota(+7)

One thing to note here. Minnesota is laying claim to the league's 27th ranked pass defense. New Orleans has the best passing offense in the league. AND THEY ARE ONLY A TOUCHDOWN FAVORITE!?!?!?!

Pick: NOLA(-7)

@New Jersey Football Giants of The Meadowlands vs. Washington(+7)

DO the NJFGTM stink it up like you know they do when they should easily win? Everything points to a Giants victory, especially given the dismal season by the skins. However, Washington went toe to toe with the mighty Patriots offense last week and that gives the gamblers a cause for concern. It is going to be a chilly one in Jersey. The ingredients are here for a Meadowlands Meltdown: but it is going to be too cold to formulate. The skins have no motivation.

Pick: Giants(-7)

@Houston vs. Carolina(+6.5)

If Carolina was given 7 I would be all over it. However, Houston's defense is sneaky good. 3rd in pass defense and 4th in run defense. There is no way you knew that. When it comes down to it Houston is gonna make the stops and Cam Newton doesn't play D.

Pick: Texans(-6.5)

Detroit vs. @Oakland(+1)

Must win game for both teams. Both are not known to step up when needed to. A tie here would be poetic justice. Yet, these are far to uncommon. I think the absence of Oakland's rushing attack in recent games gives the edge to the Lions.

Pick: Mo.Town(-1)

Brady vs. @Tebow(+6.5)

No way the Patriots don't win this game. No way the don't win by more than 7. Poor line here. Take advantage. Brady is gonna look to pad the lead well in the advance of the tebow quarter (4th).

Pick: Patriots(-6.5)

@Philadelphia vs. New Jersey Jets(+3)

oooooohlala: Rex Ryan an underdog against the eagles. Didn't take too long for the Philly support to rise up once again. But seriously have we seen this before or have we seen this before? Philly is not that great of a football team and the Jets play their best ball when they are counted out.

Pick: NYJ(+3)

@Arizona vs. Cleveland(+7)

McCoy is out for the Browns. The Cardinals are one of the hottest teams in the league and are at home. Playoff bound?

Pick: Zonaaa(-7)

Baltimore vs. @SandyEggo(+2.5)

Baltimore is going west. This is always a difficult trip for any east coast team, especially with a late game. West coast teams are 54-28 in Monday Night games, and while I recognize that this is a Sunday Night game this statistic that can't be overlooked. Chargers are gaining a little momentum. Look for them to squeeze it out. This is a dicey pick, I would undoubtedly recommend it if it was a plus 3.

Pick: San Diego(+2.5)

Follow ME on the twitter: @podcastgreg

Saturday Night F00tball

Saturday NIght Football is Back! So Am I!
Phew, I didn't know what to do with out another Saturday of no football. Last week was a killer after the college slate ended.
So here we are Mid-December.
Must Win for the 'boys.
What A Stage!
What a Matchup!
Tampa is coming off 7 straight L's . . .
Couldn't ask for more. Well, except for a missed field goal by Dallas to end the game.

Dallas sits here as a 7 point road favorite. Tampa has the 27th ranked pass defense with a cute 28th rush defense to match. Listen, Romo will have the passing game in hands. Tampa will struggle, especially if they fail to win any significant battles in the special teams game. I would say this has the classic Romolapse waiting to happen late in the 4th quarter, especially given the must win scenario. However, Tamap Bay has done nothing imppressive with the ball in the past few weeks and I do not for see a dominant performance from the Tampa O.

Dallas vs. @Tampa Bay (+7)

The Pick: Dallas

While you are too bored waiting around for Sunday's games to start take a listen to Rich Eisen's Podcast. I will have a profile later this week. As well as picks tomorrow.

Rich Eisen Podcast:
http://richeisen.nfl.com/2011/12/15/rich-eisen-podcast-matt-damon-al-michaels-rob-lowe-and-mike-florio/

Week 13 Picks: Thursday Edition

Been quite some time since VY had a celebration.

I forsee a boogydown. Tonight.

The Emerald City will turn Philly Green.

Just had to throw it you. I am jumping back into the football pick'em for the remainder of the year.

Thursday Nights Tilt has the taste of a regurgitated turkey. yeah it is that bad.

Seattle v. Philly. No pun on the stinky birds.

But you got to have the pick.

I like Philadelphia (-3) here. Yeah that got their a$$ handed to them vs. THE patriots, but I expect them to be able to squeeze by pete carrol and the 12th man tonight.

rest of the picks and more posts this weekend.

Baseball PhD Podcast: MLB Realignment

Yes, I know it is hockey season and you are all fidgeting in your seats awaiting more NFL picks. BUT I am a baseball fan at heart and this is just an issue that must put forth. REALIGNMENT. Yes, just recently the Houston Astros have agreed to be sold on the terms that they will be moved to the American League. While I admire MLB's idea to make both the American and National Leagues have an equal amount of teams, 15, I do, however disagree with this move. When it comes to realignment they might as well tear it all up and create divisions that will create more natural rivalries. I mean come on why are the Oakland A's and San Francisco Giants not in the same division given their proximity and success of the Bay Bridge series. Why don't we get this all year round like Yankees vs. Red Sox.

After going back to a podcast that was recorded this summer, by Baseball PhD, I couldn't help but come up with my own ideas on how the realignment should work.

Take in mind that the Designated Hitter will be eliminated.
With six divisions each team will play each division opponent 14 times.
They will also play each other team in baseball in one four game series.

- alternating home and away each year
This comes out to a total of 156 games.
Yes, we are eliminating the 162 game schedule, offering more off days for the players and making more room for postponed games.
Each division will send their top seed to the playoffs.
The next best four records will play in a three game series (wild card round).
The winners will face the #1 and #2 seeds in the second round.
This will be followed by a semi-finals and then World Series, which has the possibility of having the two best teams, record wise, in the World Series every year.

Here are my new divisions.

Northeast
Boston Red Sox
New York Mets
New York Yankees
Philadelphia Phillies
Pittsburgh Pirates

Atlantic Coast
Baltimore Orioles
Washington Nationals
Atlanta Braves
Miami Marlins
Tampa Bay Rays

Great Lakes
Toronto Blue Jays
Minnesota Twins
Milwaukee Brewers
Detroit Tigers
Cleveland Indians

Great Plains
Chicago Cubs
Chicago White Sox
St. Louis Cardinals
Cincinnati Reds
Kansas City Royals

California
San Francisco Giants
Oakland A's
Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
San Diego Padres

Western
Seattle Mariners
Texas Rangers
Houston Astros
Colorado Rockies
Arizona Diamondbacks

I love this. More rivalries. Higher Attendance. More intensity. More Hype.

No reason for MLB not to look into this.

DO YOU AGREE? DISAGREE? I would love to hear what everyone has to say.


Be sure to check out Baseball PhD
Twitter: @BaseballPhD
Podcast: Download

Also: Bet on TEBOW tonight. He is everyone. Everyone loves him. That is all.

Starting A Podcast: Skeletor's Mouthpiece

And welcome to the classroom. Or podroom if you will. Yup, I do it all watch sports, eat, sleep and now educating my peers. Fu*king exhausting. But for you, the reader, I will always reach further and faster than the competition. So here we go.

I have got a little wisdom to pass along to you today: How to start a podcast.

Featured on our Monday Pod Pack was Skeletor's Mouthpiece, a recently established podcast in England. Skeletor's Mouthpiece is run by Dan Scractcher & Adam Roberts.

I was able to ask them some questions about how they got started and advice they have for the future podcasters of the world. So put on your reading glasses, make a little bit of room in that multitasking mind of yours and soak it in.

PodWorld: What gave you the motivation to start a podcast?

Skeletor's Mouthpiece: We've known each other for 16 years and met at school through our mutual friend Nick Wheadon (the guy who keeps falling off his chair in episodes 5 & 6), pretty much straight off the bat we were talking shit and goofing around. As we have gotten older we have tried ways to do something creative together as we live in rural England and creative stimulation is hard to come by, mainly trying to come up with good ideas for film/T.V scripts, Adam even wrote some stand up. Most of these are much like the podcast, heavy amounts of toilet humour. It's quite a big part of the British sense of humour, especially in our age group as we grew up watching a generation of excellent comedians on t.v such as Harry Enfield, Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson. I figured we had good chemistry as we have been friends for so long so why not give it a try.............plus I thought the world needed to know about how much of a tool Roberts is, mission accomplished I'd say.

PW: Are podcasts becoming as big in England as they are here in the US?

SM: As far as I can see Podcasts are universally becoming more and more popular and it's an exciting and relatively inexpensive new way to get 'material', if you can call what we do material, out to a large audience.

PW: Any advice for future podcasters?

SM: look into hosting sites seriously and take into account the amount of time you are going to spend doing all the stuff that isn't as fun as recording. Also try not to put any undue pressure on yourself like time constraints or the quality of your 'material', the interweb is a large place and if people will listen to us two then there's an audience for everything.

Also, type "how to podcast" into google. There are some great guides out there that make the whole process very easy. Once you have your platform sorted then you can start thinking about content. Or, if you are like us, just switch a mic on and try to let the content develop itself. If you are slightly more ambitious then I'd read up on basic sound recording, Dan and I both have experience with this so have managed to get a decent enough amateur sound using my home studio set-up. There are certain impressions I feel you have to make to be taken seriously and a good sound quality helps to lend an air of legitimacy. Saying that though...you could just record it into an Iphone. That works too.

Well there you have it folks! A nice educational touch to the blog. Yes, I know my NFL picks are very educational in terms of how to lose $. But this one tops it all. Hopefully we will have a few more of these in the coming posts.

Big thanks to Adam & Dan. Don't forget to follow them on twitter:@skeletorspiece

Monday Pod Package: Skeletor's Mouthpiece

Pod-World Presents . . . Skeletor's Mouthpiece

Well folks you are in for a little bit of a treat today. We are going across the pond!

Yes, England may not like our dollar but they do love podcasts.

I got the chance to talk to two budding podcasters: Dan Scratcher & Adam Roberts, who have recently created a podcast: Skeletor's Mouthpiece.

Viewers beware explicit humor is not frowned upon in this podcast but is welcomed with open arms from the Queen herself, i joke. But still, you know I find nothing more humorous than a fowl mouth, and Skeletor's Mouthpiece provides exactly that.

Recently on the Pcast the boys have covered getting fertility tests, giraffe molesters, stories from days past and well wanking off . . . a huge theme of the show.

Wanking off aside, these guys really captivate the audience with real life stories about what is going on in their lives and poke fun at themselves. I cant express enough how much I love these types of podcasts and how well they work in podcast form. The podcast world is turning into a niche market and overtime I believe these guys will only continue to grow, for as soon as you listen you will be itching to plug in for the next episode.

You Know The Drill Pod fans.

download.plugin.enjoy

Follow on Twitter: @SkeletorsPiece

Download: The podcast

*Check Back on Wednesday For Exclusive Interview about How they Got Started and How to Start Your Own PODCAST

-Do you have a podcast? Want to be featured on Pod-world? Follow me on twitter @podcastgreg