3/23/26 - Monday Again and Life Hacks

Monday 3/23/26

Celebrate:

Cuddly Kitten Day

National Chia Day

National Chip and Dip Day

National Melba Toast Day

National Puppy Day

National Tamale Day

Near Miss Day

OK Day

Ravenclaw Pride Day

World Meteorological Day

–

Weekend Box Office

1. Project Hail Mary  $80.6M Best opening of the year so far.

2. Hoppers  $18.0M

3. Dhurandhar The Revenge  $9.6M

4. Ready or Not 2: Here I Come  $9.1M

5. Reminders of Him  $8.0M

–

Disney pulled the upcoming season of The Bachelorette after a leaked video showed the lead, Taylor Frankie Paul, in a physical altercation with her ex. The decision marks significant fallout for the franchise, losing millions, with the company stating its focus is on supporting the family. (and hopefully ending the franchise) They did a rerun of Idol last night, interesting to see what they will replace it with for the season.

–

CBS News is undergoing layoffs, as editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and president Tom Cibrowski seek to remake the broadcast news division.

Friday was ax day. Sad for 6% of the workforce.

But, the worst news is that after nearly 100 years, the CBS News Radio will be shuttered as of May. The top of the hour Radio news goes bye-bye. 

Unbelievable!!!!

You've done a great job since you took over. AND THAT IS SARCASM. Nice way to ruin one of the most respected new organizations ever in less than a year.

--

Life hack advice abounds in the era of optimization and influencers, but the desire to live life a little better is nothing new. Even ancient philosophers pondered the wisest uses of our time, energy, and resources. But in today’s more complicated world, the answers to such questions can be a lot more specific.

Young adults have been asking for “oddly specific” life tips, and people are delivering their favorite hacks. These aren’t the “surround yourself with positive people” kind of tips we typically see, but rather random, specific bits of advice. That's what one asked on Twitter and here are some tips.

When in an unknown small town, pick your restaurant based on the number of pickup trucks in the parking lot. Nobody goes on vacation in the pickup. Those are locals, who know where to eat.” 

“I wish I had practiced minimalism. I’m spending the second half of my life getting rid of expensive junk for free that I thought I needed. I wish I had invested that money for my future instead. That’s solid advice.”

“At work no matter what your job is or how much you are currently being paid, if someone offers to teach you a new skill… Get out a notebook and a pencil and say ‘Thank you, I want to learn how to do that!’ This is how you increase your value.”

and related,

“Always keep one skill you’re quietly improving that nobody knows about yet.”

“When you find a pair of shoes or sandals or a bra that fits you comfortably and perfectly, buy three more just like it immediately and save them in your closet. Everything good gets discontinued.” 

“Treat every microphone like it’s on.”

“When you drop something. Especially something small like a screw. Don’t grab wildly at it to keep it from falling. Concentrate on watching it fall with absolute focus.”

–

AI gets it wrong again.

A police department in Utah made headlines this week after an AI report-writing program went rogue. While analyzing body cam footage to draft a routine report, the AI picked up the audio from a movie playing in the background—The Princess and the Frog. The final official police report stated that the responding officer had "shape-shifted into a frog" mid-arrest. The department says they are "manually reviewing" all reports from now on.

--

Today's Useless Fact of the Day - On this day in 1857, Elisha Otis installed the first modern passenger elevator in a New York department store. Before this, "luxury" apartments were always on the bottom floors because nobody wanted to walk up the stairs. The elevator literally flipped the real estate market upside down, making the "Penthouse" the most expensive spot.

--