American Optimism Slumps to Record Low, According to a Poll from Gallup

That’s less than ideal. Just remember, it’s always darkest just before the lights go out completely

Taiwanese High-School Requires Students to Scale Rock Climbing Wall to Receive Graduation Certificate

This reminds me of the high school I went to in Colorado. They required everyone to take a gym class because she didn’t want any fatties graduating from her high school. Maybe instead of having students climb a wall, they could require them to balance their checkbook?

More Stories Below, but first some new content in the News Sidequest Podcast Universe…

Auditory Anthology

SCI-FI SHORT STORIES - NARRATED BY DARREN MARLAR & PRODUCED BY KEITH CONRAD

The Night Signal - They Took My Dog - After seventeen minutes of missing time and a flash of blinding light, a professional skeptic’s aging dog returns with a miraculous new lease on life and a mysterious nightly appointment with the stars.

The Night Signal - They Took My Dog Keith Conrad / Darren Marlar Episode

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Also Worth A Look…

• Doctors warn against dangers of health misinformation from AI sources - Here’s thing, even though the AI may have access to the entirety of human knowledge, it isn’t actually examining you, so it’s not really going to know what’s going on. Until of course someone invents some sort of RoboDoc that actually can examine you

• A postcard arrived: ‘If you’re reading this I’m dead, and I really liked you’ - How creeped out would you be if you got something like that in the mail? Actually, that might be another business idea. I can execute your harmless pranks from beyond the grave

• Smartphones will be banned from the classroom by fall after Whitmer signs bills - Interestingly, it’s just smartphones. So they aren’t really concerned with anyone making phone calls. They just don’t want them to have internet access. It might also be throwing a bone to parents who are worried about kids being reachable in an emergency

• Trump’s tariffs cost American households $1,000 last year: Research group - You probably could have pretty easily come up with better things to spend your money on than Trump’s tariffs

• Amazon delivery drone smashes into apartment building, goes up in smoke weeks after collisions halted program: ‘Man down’ - I suspect we’re going to see more of this happening as the skies are filled with more and more drones

• New York state bar owner forced to eat Wendy’s chili for one month - He lost a bet. If he actually survives the experience, he’ll know not to do that ever again

• National Guard soldier leaves rifle in New Orleans bathroom - In fairness, if you said the training manual completely left out what to do with your rifle when you’re in the bathroom I would 100% believe you

• Ramen shop manager arrested after punching himself in the face to stage a fake $4K robbery - Smart enough to know that if he involved someone else in the plan, they might turn on him. Not smart enough to know he was going to get caught anyway when they lined up the bruises on his hands with the ones on his face

• Valentine’s Day spending is expected to be record-setting this year, data shows - The pressure’s on now. Don’t be the one who cheaps out

• Thomas Edison proposed to his second wife in Morse code - Actually, maybe you don’t have to spend a lot of money on Valentine’s Day. Just learn Morse code