Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify | RSS Feed

This Restaurant Stopped Charging for Food. And Profits Are Up

They’re taking donations. That’s actually pretty heartwarming, and not a bad business model to consider at any time, but especially when the economy is less than stellar

Why the years seem to speed up as we age, and how focusing on one thing might make time feel slower again

It seems like you could think of it like your brain compressing memories like a computer compresses files

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 Enormous Word by William Oberfield - Captured by alien invaders who believe nuclear weapons are an impossible myth, a desperate resistance fighter swallows Earth's last capsule of Uranium-235 and baits his torturers into triggering the ultimate human atomic bomb.

The Enormous Word by William Oberfield Keith Conrad / Darren Marlar Episode

Listen on Apple | Listen on Spotify | Listen on Amazon | RSS Feed

Become a paid subscriber to listen to all of our episodes completely ad-free! You’ll also get access to a deeper dive on the stories we share and the authors!

Also Worth A Look…

• Gen Zers are arriving at college unable to even read a sentence—professors warn it could lead to a generation of anxious and lonely graduates - Gen Zers would be very upset about the accusation, but they can’t actually read the article anyway

• Nearly half of Americans say they’re worse off financially than a year ago, NY Fed finds - I’m surprised it’s only half. Even if you’re making more money, it’s a pretty good bet that any increase is being cancelled out by inflation

• Study: Reading Manga On Paper May Help The Brain Process Stories - I think that probably carries over to reading text as well. I’ve noticed that I read ebooks much more efficiently, but it seems to make a little less of an impact

• Fewer Americans say democracy is central to country’s identity - This headline feels a little misleading. It is in fact down from surveys in the past, when it was around 80%, but it’s still about 2/3 of Americans. Getting 2/3 of Americans to agree on anything seems pretty good at the moment

• Dad has baby magazine delivered 19 years after ordering it - Just in time for his kids to start thinking about having kids. Of course some of the information might be a little out of date at this point

• People Are Now Getting Plastic Surgery to Look More AI-Generated - That seems less than ideal

• Virginia woman sues Outback Steakhouse after slipping on mashed potatoes - We used to have a proper society, where if you made a stupid mistake you’d just slink off and hope no one noticed. Or you’d come up with a better story if anyone asked. Now we make it everybody else’s problem so maybe we can get a big check

• California Woman Cleaning Garage Opens Freezer, Finds 20 Sticks of Live Dynamite - Where else would you keep your live dynamite?

• Mysterious cold blob could ‘disrupt life as we know it’ across Europe - Along with everything else we’re contending with at the moment, let’s add a “Mysterious cold blob” into the mix

• Bear Attacks Tourist and Tries to Drag Him from Car After Man Tried to Feed Him - I can’t believe I have to say this, but don’t feed the bears