Condensed Soup

It's cuddling weather, and if you're lucky enough to have a bonfire or fireplace, here are some tips to keep you safe. Sorry, you can't recycle everything by burning...  7 Items You Should Never Burn in Your Fireplace (Emily Hayes, Martha Stewart, Nov 13, 2025) Ekstedt (official, accessed Nov 13, 2025) Instagram: @condensedsouppodcast condensedsoup@proton.me *This episode was recorded in a cruise...

Food storage can be the key to getting the most out of your groceries, both in reducing waste and maximizing nutrition. Here are some tips to keep your produce and other food as delicious as possible! Fruitful advice for getting the most from a refrigerator and making groceries last longer (Cheyanne Mumphrey, AP, Nov 9, 2025) Are You Storing Food Safely? (FDA (dot) gov, accessed Nov 12, 2025) The...

The art of doing nothing is now competitive. Think you've got what it takes to truly zone out? 'Space-Out Competition Rewards Day-Dreaming (Luis Prada, Vice, Oct 14, 2024) Could you do nothing for 90 minutes? In South Korea, it's a sport (Seung-ku Lee, National Geographic, Aug 18, 2025) Doing Something is Better Than Doing Nothing For Most People, Study Shows (Fariss Samarrai, UVA Today, Jul 3, 20...

Same-sex marriage in the U.S. is safe (for now). But it's a good reminder that our rights, while hard-won and God-given, are still fragile, and we have to be loud in our support and advocacy.  Supreme Court rejects call to overturn its decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide (Mark Sherman, AP, Nov 10, 2025) 'It is a kind of marriage': When Denmark held the first ever same-sex civil unions...

Meet the Trackchair, a cross-country mobility device that is letting disabled nature lovers hike and explore new terrain.  'Everyone said it was impossible': disabled hikers find freedom through off-road wheelchairs (David Wallis, The Guardian, Nov 8, 2025) Instagram: @condensedsouppodcast condensedsoup@proton.me *This episode was recorded in a cruise ship cabin.

This is your sign to clean your water bottle. The truth behind it AND some great tips on how to do it! Yes, you do need to clean your water bottle. Here's why and how (Adithi Ramakrishnan, AP, Nov 8, 2025) Are you cleaning your water bottle enough? (Jessica Brown, BBC, Mar 17, 2025) Your Water Bottle is Filthy. Here's How to Clean It. (Alma Avalle, Bon Appetit, Jan 12, 2022) Water We Doing? Gen Z...

Libraries are more than just havens for readers -- they have so much more to offer, bibliophile or not!  Musical Instrument Lending Library (Brooklyn Art Museum, accessed Nov 7, 2025) Ten Unexpected Things to Check Out at Public Libraries (Juhi Bhatia, Mellon Foundation, Oct 10, 2024) The Brooklyn Public Library now lets you borrow works of art for a three-week period (Laura Ratliff, Time Out, Oct...

If you live in Paris, you could secure an exclusive address for eternity (if you've got the cash). Plus, an ancient pet cemetery may prove we've always had special relationships with our pets. Paris residents can enter lottery to share cemetery space with Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde (Jack Guy, CNN travel, Nov 5, 2025) Graves of nearly 600 cats and dogs in ancient Egypt may be world's oldest pet c...

Japan is sending troops in to fight a rise in bear attacks. Do you know what to do if you run into a bear?  Japan deploys the military to counter a surge in bear attacks (Mari Yamaguchi, AP, Nov 5, 2025) Japan deploys troops to combat record wave of deadly bear attacks (Arata Yamamoto and Peter Guo, NBC News, Nov 5, 2025) Japan Deploys Military Forces After Spate of Bear Attacks (Newsweek, Nov 5,...

Old subway cars and other modern discards have been building up artificial reefs along the East Coast. Once used to ferry city dwellers from place to place, now they're homes for fish.  No Longer Full of Commuters, Atlanta's Old Subway Cars Are Now Filled With Fish (Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, Sep 16, 2024) Dumping subway trains into the ocean … in a good way (Phoebe Park, CNN, Feb 27, 2015)...

Norman Rockwell is famous for portraying the promise of the American dream -- but his heart lay in exploring how those promises are broken. We're Norman Rockwell's family. Trump's DHS has shamefully misused his work. (The Rockwell family, USA Today, Nov 2, 2025) Norman Rockwell + The Problem We All Live With (Amy Pastan, The Kennedy Center, accessed Nov 3, 2025) Instagram: @condensedsouppodcast co...

China is sending astronauts to the moon -- and a space station! (Is it out of spite?) China says it's on track to land astronauts on the moon by 2030 ahead of space station mission (Andy Wong, AP, Oct 29, 2025) China's Shenzhou 21 docks with space station, sets the country's own speed record (Andy Wong and Fu Ting, AP, Oct 31, 2025) Shenzhen: The city that built China's tech empire (Chen Xiangming...

Should a Disney World trip count as truancy? The first Condensed Soup at Sea episode starts off with some theme park tales that are less-than-usual. Disney Donates $1 Million for Hurricane Melissa Relief Efforts in Jamaica (Jackie Gailey, WDWinfo (dot) com, Oct 31, 2025) U.K. Influencer Family with 22 Kids Reportedly Fined for Pulling Them Out of School to Go to Disney World (Colson Thayer, People...

Penny for your thoughts! Except they don't make them anymore. Pennies are leaving circulation -- we chat the fallout.  McDonald's rounding cash transactions as some locations run short of pennies (Mike Snider, USA Today, Oct 31, 2025) Banks and retailers run short on pennies as the US Mint stops making them (Ken Sweet, ABC News / AP, Oct 30, 2025) What does the end of the penny mean? Here's what e...

This is a companion episode to yesterday's chat on the SNAP benefits freeze. Now we tackle what we can do and how we can help our communities -- and a reminder that if you need help, it's okay to accept it. Instagram: @condensedsouppodcast condensedsoup@proton.me *This episode was recorded in a hotel room. 

DoorDash is stepping in to help, as SNAP benefits are indefinitely paused on Saturday, November 1st. Here are some facts about SNAP benefits and the people that use them.  DoorDash unveils crisis plan as millions face possible loss of SNAP benefits (Bonny Chu, FOXBusiness, Oct 27, 2025) As millions of Americans prepare to lose SNAP benefits, some states are moving to bridge the gap (Megan Lebowitz...

Have you heard of chessboxing? It's chess. And boxing. Plus, a check-in with you and your communities.  James Canty Wins Heavyweight Chessboxing World Championship (Colin McGourty, Chess (dot) com, Oct 16, 2025) Chess Boxing (Chess (dot) com, accessed Oct 28, 2025) Chessboxing: the unique sport becoming a global hit (Justin Klawans, The Week US, May 29, 2025) Chessboxing By Hook or By Rook (Brett...

A one-man passion project provides Brazilians with an arthouse cinema and a Brooklyn art lover creates a lending library in her home. All around the world, passion projects are making art accessible. A man in Brazil turned his childhood dream into a small cinema for film lovers (Gabriela Sa Pessoa, AP, Oct 12, 2025) Gallery Particulier Makes a New Art World Possible (Elizabeth Lepro, UP Magazine,...

Rome's ancient ampthitheater, the Colosseum, will be hosting concerts -- and gladiator fights, maybe. Plus: how you can get a free breakfast next week.  World Series grand slam means free breakfast at Denny's How to get it. (Mike Snider, USA Today, Oct 25, 2025) Raves at Rome's ancient amphitheater? New Colosseum director sets the record straight (David Biller and Silvia Stellacci, AP, Oct 26, 202...

We love our coffee -- but prices are going up! Tariffs and weather changes have resulted in a reduced supply even while American demand is increasing.  US coffee prices spike due to tariffs and poor weather (Dee-ann Durbin and Chris Rugaber, AP, Oct 24, 2025) Tariffs and Climate Change Push Coffee Prices Up (Renata Carlos Daou, Lauren Rosenthal, and Eric Roston, Bloomberg, Oct 25, 2025) Daily coff...

dd 'It was a circus': Volcano crowds gather with limited oversight due to government shutdown (Mahealani Richardson, Hawaii News Now, Oct 23, 2025) Volcano dormant for 700,000 years could soon resume activity, scientists say, "Julie Jacobo, ABC News, Oct 24, 2025) The 1883 Krakatau eruption: A year of blue Moons (Tammana Begum, The Natural History Museum, accessed Oct 24, 2025) The Eruption of Mou...

A small update on the Louvre heist! Then: if your loved ones are Muppet fans, you might have some holiday shopping to do: The Jim Henson Company is auctioning off items from its collection for the first time ever.  Video captures Louvre jewel thieves emerging from museum in a cherry picker (Aicha El Hammar Castano, Jon Haworth, and Bill Hutchinson (ABC News, Oct 23, 2025) 'Quiet as a whisper': Ger...

Here's the buzz -- Iceland has had their hottest year on record -- and it's attracting both attention and mosquitos.  Mosquitoes found in Iceland for first time after record heat (BBC, Oct 22, 2025) The Weather & Temperature in Iceland (Nanna Gunnarsdottir, Guide to Iceland, accessed Oct 22, 2025) 7 Fascinating Mosquito Facts (Raid, accessed Oct 22, 2025) Mosquitos (Orkin Canada, accessed Oct 22,...

With the recent release of Sora 2, we've begun to see AI-generated videos that can easily fool even the most savvy.  What's real? How to spot a fake AI video (Jennifer Jolly, USA Today, Oct 20, 2025) Pikachu at war and Mario on the street: OpenAI's Sora 2 thrills and alarms the internet (Jared Perlo, NBC News, Oct 2, 2025) Hollywood pushes OpenAI for consent (Mandalit del Barco, All Things Conside...

Can they still call it the West Wing if there is no East Wing?  Also, you may have thought you were strong, but Ashraf "Strongman" Mahrous can chew you up and spit you out for breakfast. Literally. The wrestler just pulled a 700-ton ship by pulling a rope... with his teeth.  Construction begins on Trump's $250m White House ballroom (Anna Betts and Coral Murphy Marcos, The Guardian, Oct 21, 2025) A...