The Best Paragraph I've Read:

“The gunpowder will come. Nothing can stop it—the same old story over and over. Man will increase, and men will fight. The gunpowder will enable men to kill millions of men, and in this way only, by fire and blood, will a new civilization, in some remote day, be evolved. And of what profit will it be? Just as the old civilization passed, so will the new. It may take fifty thousand years to build, but it will pass. All things pass. Only remain cosmic force and matter, ever in flux, ever acting and reacting and realizing the eternal types—the priest, the soldier, and the king. Out of the mouths of babes comes the wisdom of all the ages. Some will fight, some will rule, some will pray; and all the rest will toil and suffer sore while on their bleeding carcasses is reared again, and yet again, without end, the amazing beauty and surpassing wonder of the civilized state. It were just as well that I destroyed those cave-stored books—whether they remain or perish, all their old truths will be discovered, their old lies lived and handed down."

The paragraph comes from the short story: The Scarlet Plague. The author is Jack London who wrote the story in 1912. You can read the entire story here. Zac & Don discuss the story which was written in 1912 about a plague that hits in 2012. They discuss which predictions about the future Jack London got right. They also discuss their biggest takeaways from the story - Civilization is fragile & Nature will take everything back.

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

"A place that was once entirely utilitarian is now a place to line up to get into. On social media, people profess their love for the Pennsylvania convenience store Wawa and talk about Target like it’s a habit-forming substance. Recently, I saw a guy at a bar wearing $300 pants and a sweatshirt with a logo for Kirkland Signature, the Costco house brand. When Wegmans, a supermarket chain based in upstate New York, officially opened on Long Island in February, people—they prefer the term Wegmaniacs—started waiting in line thenight before… Fong’s Instagram account, @traderjoesobsessed, has more followers than Fiji has residents. The supermarket is now a brand unto itself, not just the building that houses the other brands, and its shoppers aren’t just brand-loyal—they’re fanatical."

This paragraph comes from the Atlantic. The article is titled: "What Your Favorite Grocery Store Says About You." The author is Ellen Cushing. You can read the full article here.

Zac & Don discuss the idea that where you shop says something about your identity. They wonder how brands became so powerful to people. They discuss whether Trader Joe's merits all of the accolades and love that it gets from shoppers/fans.

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

"The windswept town of Ellendale, N.D., population 1,100, has two motels, a Dollar General, a Pentecostal Bible college—and a half-built AI factory bigger than 10 Home Depots.

Its more than $15 billion price tag is equivalent to a quarter of the state’s annual economic output. The artificial-intelligence boom has ushered in one of the costliest building sprees in world history. Over the past three years, leading tech firms have committed more toward AIdata centers like the one in Ellendale, plus chips and energy, than it cost to build the interstate highway system over four decades, when adjusted for inflation. AI proponents liken the effort to the Industrial Revolution.

A big problem: No one is sure how they will get their investment back—or when. "

This paragraph comes from the Wall Street Journal. The article is titled: "Spending on AI Is at Epic Levels. Will It Ever Pay Off?" The authors are Eliot Brown & Robbie Whelan. You can read the full article here.

Zac & Don discuss the data that suggests maybe we are living in an AI bubble. They wonder if AI can generate the two trillion dollars in revenue it will need to pay for itself. They wonder if most people are happy to just use the free version. They also discuss this bubble prediction with the optimistic positive growth story they discussed a few weeks ago.

Zac & Don also discussed this article from the Economist on China's AI strategy. You can read that here.

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

"Crossing the border can be a little daunting the first time, some said. “Took us three years to work up enough nerve,” Ken Foshaug, a retired Coast Guard engineer who was staying at a nearby Sleepy Hollow R.V. park with his wife, told me. “All the guys holding guns and checking you out.Plus the whole thing of going to a foreign country to let someone drill into your teeth.” But Molar City was built on leaps of faith. It’s a place for the poor, the afflicted, the huddled masses without dental insurance. Just a shortwalk away, on the other side of the wall."

This paragraph comes from The New Yorker. The article is titled: "Mexico's Molar City Could Transform My Smile. Did I Want It To?" The author is Burkhard Bilger. You can read the full story here:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/08/04/mexicos-molar-city-could-transform-my-smile-did-i-want-it-to

Zac & Don discuss the idea of going to the dentist in Mexico. They also wonder why so many are afraid of going to the dentist and why dental coverage is so bad in America. In addition they discuss the history of human teeth and the vanity behind it all.

This week Zac & Don discuss all of Season 5 of the Against the Rules Podcast. This is the podcast by Michael Lewis. You can listen to individual episodes and the entire season here:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/against-the-rules-with-michael-lewis/id1455379351

Zac & Don wonder about what it means to be a sports fan when there is such a heavy emphasis on sport gambling. They also discuss sports gambling and the companies that work to only keep the losers playing.

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

This year, a team of researchers from Ohio State University and Oregon State University found that success in competitive youth sports might have more to do with money and opportunity than with talent and hard work.

 The researchers determined that 70 percent of 10th-grade high school students from families with high socioeconomic status played a high school sport, while only 43 percent of 10th graders from low socioeconomic status families played.

This paragraph comes from The New York Times. The article is titled: "Youth Sports Are a $40 Billion Business. Private Equity Is Taking Notice." The authors are Joe Drape & Ken Belson. You can read the full article here:

Youth Sports Are a $40 Billion Business. Private Equity Is Taking Notice. - The New York TimesZac & Don discuss the business of youth sports. They reflect on their own youth sport spending while also wondering what the impact is on kids and those kids who cannot afford to play. They wonder if America is identifying the best talent while also wondering what the end game is.

The following article from the New Yorker is also referenced in the discussion:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/06/30/heir-ball-how-the-cost-of-youth-sports-is-changing-the-nba

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

the big packaged food brands that dominated Americanpantries and refrigerators for decades are struggling as consumers spend less on brand-name cookies, spaghetti sauce and cream cheese. The companies are grappling with a number of stressors. Shoppers, feeling pinched by higher food prices over the past two years, are cutting back or trading down to less expensive private labels. Others areeschewing highly processed foods for healthier, more natural items. And the continued rise of weight-loss drugs like Ozempic are reducing cravings for sugary and salty snacks.

This paragraph comes from the New York Times. The article is titled: "As Consumers Lose Their Appetite, Food Brands Fight to Keep Wall St. Happy." The authors are Julie Creswell & Lauren Hirsch. You can read the full article here.

Zac & Don discuss the current plight of the large food brands that Americans have consumed for decades. They talk about some of the options that brands have at trying to grow again. Then Zac & Don have a fantasy food company draft with the following companies: Pepsi, Hershey, Campbells, Kraft/Heinz, General Mills, JM Smuckers, Mondelez, Conagra, and Nestle.

Zac's Picks: Hershey, Pepsi, Kraft/Heinz

Don's Picks: Nestle, Mondelez, Campbells

NPC Picks: General Mills, JM Smuckers, Conagra

In one year we will determine which set of three companies saw the biggest stock percentage increase.

Here is the spreadsheet keeping track of the competition. Both Zac & Don invested $100 equally among their three companies.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12ITjfJdOovZj3-0V3LA5Ph9YK5P31bcK-QhTFvktjsY/edit?usp=sharing

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

"Gen Z became the first generation in history to go through puberty with a portal in their pockets that called them away from the people nearby and into an alternative universe that was exciting, addictive, unstable, and - as I will show - unsuitable for children and adolescents. Succeeding socially in that universe required them to devote a large part of their consciousness - perpetually - to managing what became their online brand. This was now necessary to gain acceptavnce from peers, which is the oxygen of adolescense, and to avoid online shaming, which is the nightmare of adolescence. Gen Z teens got sucked into spending many hours of each day scrolling through the shiny happy posts of friends, acquaintances, and distant influencers. They watched increasing quantities of user-generated videos and streamed entertainment, offered to them by auto play and algorithms that were designed to keep them online as long as possible. They spent far less time playing with, talking to, touching, or even making eye contact with their friends and families, thereby reducing their participation in embodied social behaviors that are essential for successful human development. The members of Gen Z are, therefore, the test subjects for a radical new way of growing up, far from the real-world interactions of small communities in which humans evolved. Call it the Great Rewiring of Childhood. It's as if they became the first generation to grow up on Mars."

This paragraph comes from the book The Anxious Generation. The author is Jonathan Haidt.

Zac & Don are joined by Heidi Mercer, the Superintendent of Lake Orion Community Schools. The three discuss how children have grown up differently in the age of the smartphone. They talk about how family concerns and student behavior have changed over the past couple decades. They also discuss cell phone bans and how Lake Orion has arrived at its new policy as a new school year begins.

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

"The likelihood that AI may soon make lots of workers redundant is well known. What is much less discussed is the hope that AI can set the world on a path of explosive growth. That would have profound consequences. Markets not just for labour, but also for goods, services, and financial assets would be upended. Economists have been trying to think through how AGI could reshape the world. The picture that is emerging is perhaps counterintuitive and certainly mind-boggling."

This article is from The Economist. The article is titled: "What if AI made the world's economic growth explode?"

You can read the full article here:

https://www.economist.com/briefing/2025/07/24/what-if-ai-made-the-worlds-economic-growth-explode

Zac & Don discuss an interesting GDP growth scenario if AGI becomes a reality. How is the economy impacted with 20-30% growth? What happens to labor markets, the stock market, and interest rates? What should a person if AI takes all the jobs?

This is Part II of our Lonesome Dove discussion. Zac & Don discuss more of their favorite quotes while also wondering why the story does not get told from a Native American perspective. They wonder if the story gets a little too "Hollywood" and if they have interest in reading the sequels. Lots of spoilers.