*Podcasts Archives

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Would you continue to work from home or take a $30,000 pay increase instead? Blind, an app where people can make anonymous career-related posts, surveyed employees from a bunch of big-name companies like Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan. The survey asked workers if they’d rather work from home permanently or get a $30,000-a-year raise. A whopping 64% said keep the 30k – we’d rather work from home. Some companies – like Apple and Salesforce– had an even higher percentage saying they wanted to keep working from home rather than get a $30,000 bump in pay – 69% for Apple and 76% for Salesforce. Just two companies of the 45 whose employees were surveyed – JP Morgan and Qualcomm – had a higher percentage of workers wanting the money over being able to work from home. (Forbes)

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Women have worn engagement rings as long as engagements have been around — but what about guys? Well, there’s a growing movement to have grooms-to-be put a ring on it, too. Tiffany has just launched its first line of “mengagement” rings for dudes, and the company is marketing them to both straight guys looking to show their commitment and gay men who plan to get hitched. According to shopping platform Lyst, demand for “male engagement rings” is up 39% this year, while the search term “men’s diamond rings” has increased 30% over the last 3 months. (Evening Standard)

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Want a date? Get a shot. A survey found that more than 50% of Gen Zers will only go on dates with people who have been vaccinated. And Tinder wants to help with that. They’ve teamed up with the White House to help members find a vaccination site near them. Members can also add stickers to their profile like “I’m Vaccinated” or “Vaccines Save Lives.” And from June 2nd through July 4th, members who add a sticker to their profile will get a free Super Like. Other dating apps, including Bumble, Hinge, Match, OKCupid, BLK, Chispa, Plenty of Fish, and Badoo are also participating in the vaccine promotion. (Tech Crunch)

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Lots of people plan to get in touch with nature this summer. According to a new survey, being inside for so long has people yearning to spend some time in the great outdoors. So where is everyone going? 51% said they want to drive to the nearest lake or river, 49% want to go to a national monument, and 47% want to visit a state park. And — no surprise — camping (41%), swimming (40%), and fishing (38%) were the top things people wanted to do.

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And, no, you’re not the only one sweating more than usual. In much of the country, May is feeling like July or August. Almost a month before official summer, over a dozen heat records are being set. Record temps are moving south for today and tomorrow. We could be seeing our first 100 degree reading of the year in Georgia. And then by the middle part of the week, the high-temp records move up to the northeast. 70 percent of the west is covered in drought – the driest it’s been in 127 years.

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Are you open to an open relationship? … A new YouGov poll found that 25% of respondents said they would be interested in having an open relationship. Men were more likely than women to be interested in the arrangement — 32% vs. 19%. Among married couples, men were also more open to the idea than women — 30% of husbands vs. 21% of wives. Millennials were the generation most receptive to a non-monogamous arrangement. 41% of Millennials said they would be interested, compared to 29% of Gen Zers, 23% of Gen Xers, and 12% of Baby Boomers.

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The country is finally opening up again . . . and one of the FEW negatives is that “pandemic hair” is going out of style.  Fast. So now that you’re going back to the barber, will you go with the pre-pandemic same-old-same-old . . . or take this opportunity to try something new? A new poll asked men what “classic hairstyle” should be brought back . . . and the #1 answer was:  The ’80s MULLET.  20% want it to be popular again. 15% of men would like to see the “curtain bangs” look from the ’90s make a comeback, and 10% would revisit the “undercut” look from the past decade. Also, Jason Momoa is the #1 “celebrity hair inspiration” for men.  Harry Styles is second, and James Dean is third.

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Want your significant other to propose? Make them some roasted chicken. Seems Meghan Markle was making a roasted chicken dinner when Prince Harry popped the question. There’s even a growing myth surrounding the chicken dish, coined engagement chicken, because other women have said that once they made the same meal, their partner proposed. Meghan didn’t reveal the exact recipe she made that night, but people are speculating that it was dish by chef Ina Garten, that Meghan had praised before. “There is nothing as delicious (or as impressive) as a perfectly roasted chicken,” Meghan told Good Housekeeping in 2016. “If you have an Ina Garten-level roasted-chicken recipe, it’s a game changer. I bring that to parties and make a lot of friends.” (Insider)

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The next time you fly, you could be asked to step on a scale before boarding the plane. Airlines need to calculate an aircraft’s weight and balance when boarding passengers. Unfortunately, the data that’s been used by airlines to guess the total weight of the passengers is outdated. In other words, Americans have gotten fatter and the FAA doesn’t know exactly how much we’ve plumped up. Therefore, passengers may soon be asked to check their weight before boarding a plane so that the FAA can collect new data. It’s all in the interest of safety. (Fox News)

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This is difficult news as we head in to Pride Month. More than 40 percent of LGBT teens in America say they’ve considered suicide in the past year. The new research (by the Trevor Project) surveyed more than 35-thousand gay teens and young adults and found that about 70-percent of them suffered through ‘poor’ mental health during the pandemic, with LGBT kids also reporting feeling a lack of safety.

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And, you’ve undoubtedly heard about the return of the Cicadas. This is one way to soften the noise a bit. According to some chefs, why not kill them and eat them? The Chicago Sun-Times says cicadas can be cooked into many unique dishes. The infamous bugs are consumed in many countries because they are full of protein. Experts recommend removing cicada wings and legs to reduce their crunchiness. They are best enjoyed while they are still soft and chewy. Cicadas can be used as pizza toppings or shrimp replacements in any recipe.

“Bug chef” David Gordon says, “We really have to get over our dislike of insects, which is really strong and deep-seated in most people in our culture. You could make stir fry. You can mix them into dough to make  banana bread, let’s say. You can batter them and deep fry them, which I think would be my favorite way.”