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Soaring beef prices have put burgers out of reach for some Americans

I’ll bet you never thought ordering a Big Mac was going to become a social flex, but here we are…

Singles in America survey reveals how relationships, marriage, money and family are changing

One of the key findings is that there is renewed interest in committed relationships and marriage. That seems to run contrary to everything we hear about with the single folks these days

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 Unobserved Observer by F. Davies-Mouncher - Late for school and dreading the stares of her classmates, Olivia gets an anxiety she never asked for when she suddenly realizes no one around her can see or hear her at all. What starts as a terrifying morning quickly turns into something else entirely, as Olivia begins to understand exactly what she can get away with when nobody’s watching.

The Unobserved Observer by F. Davies-Mouncher Keith Conrad / Darren Marlar Episode

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

We love bringing you stories from listeners just like F. Davies-Mouncher — if you’ve got a tale of your own itching to be told (sci-fi, horror, supernatural, or anything in between), we’d love to hear it. Submit your story at submissions.soundconceptmedia.com

Also Worth A Look…

• Merriam-Webster’s latest ‘glow-up’ adds 1,400 new words and definitions to its dictionary - Additions include ‘parasocial,’ ‘compute,’ ‘vibe coding,’ and ‘superfood,’ they also added ‘cuffing season’ which is apparently a time when single people seek short-term romantic partners

• The city that pays people to put down the phone and read a book - I guess you could verify the person isn’t using a phone after they sign up, but how could you verify they were using one to begin with? That smug friend of yours who has never had a cell phone could scam the system

• Why You Keep Waking Up At 3 A.M., According To Sleep Researchers - I used to have to wake up at 3am every day when I produced morning radio shows. You never get used to it, you just tolerate it

• Study shows marvels of the Roman Empire’s road network - Meanwhile, today we end up with three new potholes every time the city plows our streets

• Yellowstone Workers Pull Record Amount of Junk From Hot Springs - Among other things, they found a FIFA 2026 Men's World Cup hat, five AirPods, a Roblox bucket hat, 54 camera lens caps and 36 sunglasses

• Scientists Fuse Human Neurons Into Brains of Mice - Great. Now we’re creating mannimals and invertabroads. I see this ending well

• Woman Strips Naked On American Airlines Flight, Engages In Indecent Acts; Arrested After Landing - It’s like some people saw my comment about the dearth of people behaving badly on airplanes and said “Hold my tiny liquor bottle”

• Nearly 600 books were banned from Florida schools last year - At this point it would be much easier to create a list of the books you’re actually allowed to read in Florida schools

• Snake found browsing bread aisle at grocery store - That’s just Jock’s pet snake Reggie

• Part of Lake Erie Is Now the 'Gulf of Cleveland' - It’s easily identifiable, because it’s the part that’s always on fire