Michael and Mark are joined by returning guests, Burkey and Thurk. The wide-ranging conversation starts by visiting topics of disease, parenting, comedy and misunderstanding, and how some comedians can get away with saying almost anything. They address the focus on "negative" news in the media, how it shapes our perception of reality — and ripens us for targeted advertising, and that begged the question of whether the future will be better or not. Burkey made the distinction that government is people, not an amorphous blob designed to evade responsibility, and if the world is sometimes heartbreaking, one of the reasons is that people are making heartbreaking decisions about policy that affect the world, and the people in it. And that lead to a discussion of mandatory vs. ranked choice voting. The conversation eventually turns to language, its limitations, and our misuse or too-casual use of it, which can lead to misunderstanding.