Condensed Soup

`Tis the season for holiday parties -- and with it comes the ubiquitous white elephant gift exchange! Are you ready?

White elephant (Wikipedia, accessed Dec 15, 2025)

Why is it called a 'White Elephant' Gift? (Joseph Bennington-Castro, History (dot) com, accessed Dec 15, 2025)

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*This episode was recorded in a cruise ship cabin.

The legendary Dick Van Dyke turned 100 this weekend. His try-and-try-again career is an inspiration!

Affable comedy acting legend Dick Van Dyke turns 100 years old (AP, Dec 13, 2025)

Dick Van Dyke biography and career timeline (PBS, Dec 2, 2025)

Dick Van Dyke Fast Facts (CNN, Dec 12, 2025)

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*This episode was recorded in a cruise ship cabin.

Sometimes it takes a fresh perspective to solve a problem. A bald volleyball coach stepped into help his players' hair problems.

How a bald coach solved volleyball's ponytail predicament (Alyssa Haddock, ESPN, Dec 1, 2025)

The inventor of the scrunchie dies, leaving behind a fabulous fashion legacy (Kai McNamee, NPR, Sep 17, 2022)

More atmospheric rivers coming for flooded Washington and the West Coast (Mary Gilbert, Alaa Elassar, CNN, Dec 13, 2025)

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*This episode was recorded in a cruise ship cabin.

One old, one new: the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris and Steinmetz Hall in Orlando take two very different approaches to allowing music to soar.

'The space is like an instrument': How Notre-Dame found its voice after fire muffled it (Richard Gray, BBC, Mar 6, 2025)

Orlando's Steinmetz Hall: One of the Most Acoustically Perfect Spaces (Iulia Popescu, AVIXA, Jul 12, 2022

Steinmetz Hall: Damian Doria, Acoustics (Ellen Lambert-Greaux, Live Design Online, Feb 3, 2022)

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*This episode was recorded in a cruise ship cabin.

Quicksand isn't quite what they show in the movies, but it is real! A hiker in Arches National Park was just rescued. Are you quicksand survival skills up to par?

Hiker mired in quicksand in Utah's Arches National Park is rescued unharmed (Mead Gruver, AP, Dec 11, 2025)

How to Get Out of Quicksand (It's Not LIke the Movies!) (Scott Fitterman and Dan Hickey, Wikihow, Feb 17, 2025)

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*This episode was recorded in a cruise ship cabin.

One of the year's most active meteor showers peaks this weekend! Pack your thermos!

How to watch one of the year's best meteor shower, the Geminids (Adithi Ramakrishnan, AP, Dec 9, 2025)

I Didn't Know That!: Shooting Stars (National Park Service, accessed Dec 10, 2025)

Shooting Star Meaning, Spirituality and Superstitions (Bambi Turner & Sascha Bot (HowStuffWorks, Aug 22, 2023)

What are shooting stars? (National Museums Liverpool, accessed Dec 10, 2025)

Why shooting stars aren't stars at all: Understanding meteors, meteorites, and meteor showers (TOI Science Desk, The Times of India, Oct 11, 2025)

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*This episode was recorded in a cruise ship cabin.

Australia just enacted a law limiting social media access to children under 16. Is this the start (or end) of something?

Millions of Australian children just lost access to social media. What's happening and will it work? (Hilary Whiteman, CNN, Dec 9, 2025)

Social media use damages children's ability to focus, say researchers (Dan Milmo, The Guardian, Dec 8, 2025)

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*This episode was recorded in a cruise ship cabin.

I can't help loving them -- those predictable, shiny Christmas romances that flood the market every holiday season. Are you on board? (I totally understand if you aren't.)

It's Love Week! How the TV holiday rom-com got so successful (Sylvie Douglas, NPR, Oct 21, 2024)

Hallmark's Formula for a Very Sappy Christmas (Nicholas Gilmore, The Saturday Evening Post, Dec 20, 2019

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*This episode was recorded in a cruise ship cabin.

Are we in for a world of ... white? Pantone thinks so. What this could mean (maybe).

Pantone's 'Cloud Dancer' color party is a recession indicator (Mia Sato, The Verge, Dec 5, 2025)

Backlash Hits Pantone After Color Of The Year Slammed as 'Tone Deaf,' 'Dystopian' (Mary Whitfield Roeloffs, Forbes, Dec 5, 2025)

You read that white: Pantone's 2026 Color the Year is 'Cloud Dancer' (Ivy Buck, Alina Edwards, NPR, Dec 4, 2025)

The World is Literally Getting Less Colorful, New Analysis Finds (Jessica Stillman, Inc., Feb 5, 2025)

Why is the World Losing Color? (Elvis Hsiao, UX Magazine, May 14, 2024)

Instagram: @condensedsouppodcast

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*This episode was recorded in a cruise ship cabin.

Did you know 1 out of 12 rams aren't that attracted to ewes? A German farm is saving these gay sheep.

Just not into ewes: 'gay sheep' escape slaughter and take over a New York catwalk (Julia Carrie Wong, The Guardian, Dec 5, 2025)

Flehmen (ScienceDirect, accessed Dec 6, 2025)

Same-Sex Behavior Among Animals Isn't New. Science is Finally Catching Up. (Barry Yeoman, National Wildlife Federation, Jul 4, 2023)

Rainbow Wool (official, accessed Dec 6, 2025)

All For Lunch (official, accessed Dec 6, 2025)

Instagram: @condensedsouppodcast

[email protected]

*This episode was recorded in a cruise ship cabin.