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Today’s Snark Factor 3 in 3 covers Meta tracking employees at work, SiriusXM taking over YouTube audio ad sales, and a study suggesting gold diggers come in both male and female varieties.

If you’re listening regularly and haven’t subscribed yet, that’s how you get this every weekday.

Sources:

New York Post - Meta workers outraged over software tracking keystrokes and mouse movements

SiriusXM Investor Relations - SiriusXM Media becomes exclusive audio advertising representative for YouTube in the U.S.

New York Post - Study reveals how to spot gold diggers, both men and women

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Today’s Snark Factor 3 in 3 has a little housing market drift, a little Vegas nostalgia, and one of those stories that makes you wonder whether mankind has finally started freewheeling into nonsense.

First, Zillow says home values are expected to rise just 0.3% by the end of 2026, with existing-home sales also barely moving as mortgage rates keep the housing market stuck in neutral. Then there’s Las Vegas, where the MGM Grand Buffet is set to close on May 31st, which feels like one more piece of old Vegas being quietly escorted out the side door. And finally, a Chinese automaker has reportedly patented a voice-activated in-car toilet, because apparently the future of transportation now includes asking your passenger seat for bathroom access.

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Evening edition! Audio is above.

Today’s Snark Factor 3 in 3 has a little bit of everything: a Navy carrier that seems to have been deployed since the invention of indoor plumbing, Walmart trying to make its stores more modern with wider aisles and more digital everything, and a reminder that the future may belong less to the guy in the conference room and more to the one wiring the building that keeps the AI servers from melting down.

Remember, The Snark Factor 3 in 3 is also available on your favorite podcast platform.

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Today’s Snark Factor 3 in 3 takes a look at three very different reminders that common sense is apparently hanging on by a thread.

New York City is pushing ahead with a plan for a city-owned grocery store in Harlem with a reported $30 million price tag, because, naturally, the best way to make food more affordable is to have the government spend a fortune getting into the supermarket business. Meanwhile, Top Gun 3 is officially in development, which means Tom Cruise is once again preparing to sprint past the concept of aging and climb back into a fighter jet. And PepsiCo has now discovered that customers tend to come back when snack prices stop looking like luxury goods.

So today we’ve got government groceries, immortal Maverick, and the shocking revelation that people prefer cheaper chips.

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Three stories, three minutes, let’s go.

Today I’m talking about what happens when everything gets a little cheaper, a little sadder, and a lot more ridiculous.

Cord-cutters are now cutting back on streaming costs, which is funny because the whole point of streaming was supposed to be saving money in the first place. Then there’s 7-Eleven, closing hundreds of stores while trying to become more of a food destination, which feels ambitious for a place most people visit only after better plans have failed. And then there are cruise weddings, which somehow take the inconvenience of a destination wedding and combine it with the low-grade panic of being trapped on a floating buffet.

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Sources:

Cord Cutters News - A New Study Shows Cord Cutters Are Cutting Back on How Much They Pay For TV

Associated Press - 7-Eleven expects to close hundreds of its stores in North America this year

New York Post - Cruise weddings are a cost-efficient but glamorous trend couples are partaking in

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Three stories, three minutes, evening edition — let’s go!

Today I’m talking about a federal court striking down a 158-year-old ban on home distilling, scientists arguing that lobsters feel pain, and why IRS staffing cuts suddenly have some people feeling a little too confident at tax time.

It’s one of those episodes where every story feels like a different version of the same basic truth: the second people think the rules changed, things get weird fast.

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Sources

Home distilling ruling: FOX6 Milwaukee

Lobster pain story: New York Post

IRS staffing / taxpayer behavior story: Wall Street Journal

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Hunter Biden says he’s too broke to pay his lawyer, but apparently still has enough energy to challenge Don Jr. and Eric Trump to a cage match.

Then there’s tax season, where the new advice is simple: if you’re mailing your return close to April 15, maybe don’t trust the system to suddenly become efficient just for you.

And finally, a semi full of gummy bears caught fire on Interstate 80 in Nebraska, creating what I can only assume was the sweetest-smelling disaster in recent highway history.

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Sources:New York Post — Hunter Biden says he’s too broke to pay lawyer, challenges Trump sons to cage matchCNBC — Mailing your tax return near the April 15 deadline comes with risk1011 Now — Semi full of gummy bears catches fire along Interstate 80

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Today’s Snark Factor 3 in 3 gets into a CIA tool called Ghost Murmur, which sounds less like covert technology and more like something overpriced and smoky on a cocktail menu.

Also in the mix: airline baggage data that somehow makes Allegiant look competent, which may be the most unsettling part of the story, and an Amazon driver accused of cutting out the middleman and starting her own private fulfillment center out of the garage.

Three stories.Three minutes.A little distrust of modern life.

Let’s talk tomorrow.

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Today’s three stories all had the same basic theme:Modern life is ridiculous, and somehow still getting more ridiculous.

A possible two-week ceasefire with Iran is being talked about as if the world just needed a timeout.

Lowe’s is putting serious money into training tradespeople, which is probably the clearest sign yet that America is starting to remember who actually fixes things.

And a baby born on a flight from Jamaica to New York is already wrapped up in citizenship questions, because apparently, even being born isn’t enough anymore. Now you also need coordinates.

Three stories, three minutes.

Let’s talk tomorrow.

Sources:CNBC — Trump says he agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran tied to reopening the Strait of HormuzLowe’s Foundation — $250 million investment to train 250,000 tradespeople over the next decadeNew York Post — Baby born on flight from Jamaica to New York sparks citizenship questions

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Three stories, three minutes, let’s go.

Today’s episode is about what CBS is putting in Stephen Colbert’s old time slot, why the Associated Press is offering buyouts as it moves further away from newspaper journalism, and the self-driving car in Austin that managed to turn the future into a dead duck.

So, late night gets cheaper, journalism gets smaller, and technology is still out here learning the hard way.

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Sources

MyFox8, “Here’s what’s taking over Stephen Colbert’s Late Show time slot”

Associated Press / Morning Sun, “AP says it will offer buyouts as part of pivot away from newspaper journalism”

KXAN, “Self-driving car runs over Mueller Lake Park duck, raising safety concerns”

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