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For Lots of Young People, the ‘Romance Recession’ Is Real

It’s tough out there in the streets, whether you’re swiping on an app or actually dealing with people in person

AI-Run Store Fires Human Worker in First Known LLM Termination

That had to be an extremely strange HR meeting

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

Pink Grass Planet by Sam Merwin Jr. - After five years stationed on the alien world of Lri-gTu-riANa, Ricardo Webb finally makes it home to Earth, his fiancée, and everything familiar he’s been dreaming about — only to discover that “home” doesn’t feel quite the way he remembers it.

Pink Grass Planet by Sam Merwin Jr. Keith Conrad / Darren Marlar Episode

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Also Worth A Look…

• Gen Z Redirects Retirement Savings Into Sports Betting, Survey Finds - That doesn’t seem like a very good long term strategy. I had far more sympathy for people who needed to use their retirement savings to pay the bills

• State Policies Aimed At Boosting Birth Rates Targeting The Wrong Factor, Study Suggests - It seems like the policies of a specific state or the current economic conditions don’t have much to do with that choice people make, they either want to have kids, or don’t. That makes sense to me, because it seems like those are things that are either temporary or can be changed if you wanted to have kids and it’s a decision that’s important enough that you would

• First the penny, now the nickel: Congress moves closer to making big changes with the money in your pocket - I think we’re quickly getting to a point where prices will just be rounded up or down to the nearest dollar and coins will no longer be a thing

• Landlord Cleaning Out Apartment Finds Stolen Picasso - I remember once I left a coat hanging up in the closet when I left an apartment and I made the trip back to get it. Hard to imagine going through the trouble of an art heist and then just leaving it somewhere

• Problem Drinking Declines in the US - Winston Churchill once said there are two types of problem drinkers: Those who drink too much and those who drink too little

• Whatever You Do, Don’t Be a ‘Larper’ - They act like this is a new thing. I’ve been calling a certain group of people “Civil war larpers” since 2015

• EVs Are Transforming Safaris—And Bringing Guests Closer to Animals - What could possibly go wrong with people getting closer to wild animals?

• Shake Shack worker allegedly robbed his own store, returned to work days later - Apparently he didn’t steal enough to set himself up for life. Rookie mistake

• Construction workers uncover $10 million in gold while building sewer under former brewery - If you need me, I’ll be searching the sewers

• Escaped 8-foot python causes fire at Forest Middle School in Bedford County - “Kill it with fire” seems like a good strategy to me