A reporter decided it was a good idea to switch to a landline phone in the smart phone age

They say it’s been “Miraculous.” How do you feel about the idea of taking a step back in terms of technology? What antiquated technology do you think we should bring back?

Mischievous Child Gets Combination Lockpad Stuck in His Nose

Oops. What’s the dumbest thing you did when you were a kid? When I was a toddler I decided to see what would happen if I stuck a fork in an electrical outlet. It actually threw me across the room, but I guess it was a lot of fun because I tried to do it again before my Mom was able to stop me. Obviously, after that my parents invested in outlet covers

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

Tales From the Blue Line - The Final Commute - When a night-shift train operator on Chicago’s Blue Line realizes a recurring passenger is actually a ghost from a 1983 accident, he decides to break every protocol to help her finally reach the stop she missed decades ago.

Tales From the Blue Line - The Final Commute Keith Conrad / Darren Marlar Episode

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Also Worth A Look…

• Bulletin Sets Doomsday Clock at 85 Seconds Amid Rising Global Risks - It’s the closest we’ve come to “Doomsday”… so far. They cited escalating technological and geopolitical threats such as nuclear war, climate change, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence risks amid collapsing international cooperation. You might want to set your 401k to “Aggressive”

• Yale Will Go Tuition-Free for Families Making Up to $200,000 - I’m already sewing some leather patches on my sleaves. Which is a little strange, since I’m wearing a hoodie

• Study Finds Meat Eaters Are More Likely to Live to 100, But There’s a Catch - Pass the steak. The catch is that your weight ultimately has a bigger impact, and believe it or not it’s actually bad news if you’re underweight

• Report: 10,000+ STEM Ph.D.s Exit Federal Agencies in 2025 - Having a bunch of people with STEM Ph.D’s without jobs seems like a good way to end up with a lot of comic book supervillains in real life

• Curbing your drinking? This number of drinks raises colon cancer risk - You have to have less than 14 drinks per week. If you can’t cut it down to that, we might have to have a talk

• More Bad News: A “Small Geyser” of Poop Water Is Flooding Into the Potomac River - There are so many other poop geysers in Washington, DC they didn’t think anyone would notice

• Burger King brawl lands five workers in jail after gun flashed in beef over tardiness - You expect that sort of behavior at a Jack’s or maybe a Hardees, but certainly not a Burger King

• Scientists: We've Found the Oldest Wooden Tools Ever - Believe it or not, the tools didn’t have “Craftsman” written on them

• US Population Growth Slows to a Crawl - That seems less than ideal