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.

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

The Buc-ee’s representatives tried to outline the planfor about 300 locals packed into the cafeteria at Palmer Lake Elementary School on Dec. 3. But they were met with jeers. “We don’t want your Buc-ee’s, we don’t need your Buc-ee’s, we don’t desire your Beaver Nuggets,” lifelong Palmer Lake resident Alexandria Olivier shouted from the front, waving her arms angrily as the crowd applauded.

This paragraph comes from the Wall Street Journal. The article is titled: "The 'Cable Cowboy' Battles a Giant Gas Station for the Soul of the West." The article is written by Jim Carlton. You can read the full article here.

Zac & Don discuss the fight over Buc-ee's trying to build along a Colorado Highway. They discuss the issues along the lines of the Abundance and NIMBY Movements. They also wonder how the issue gets settled.

Zac & Don are reading Lonesome Dove. This week they reflect on the first third of the book. They wonder how a book can be so interesting while very little seems to be happening. They also wonder how authentic the characters are to those who lived in Texas during the late 19th century. They also try and speculate why a book written in the 1980's has been picking up in sales across the country recently.

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

Perot was the most successful third-party candidate in modern history. You helped run his campaigns and build the Reform Party. What advice do you have for Musk when it comes to building a new party?

My basic advice is: Go to rehab and then focus on creating a new political party from a position of seriousness, not of anger, not of retribution, not of retaliation. It’s a very significant mission. You’re going to be asking millions of people to volunteer, to assist you to accomplish that and to support your activities, and they need a serious leader, not somebody who’s flamboyant.

This paragraph comes from an interview on Politico.com. The interview is titled: "Advice for Elon Musk from the Most Successful Third-Party Campaign in Modern History." The Interview is conducted by Catherine Kim. You can read the full interview here.Zac & Don are joined by their good friend Kevin Kopec. The three discuss whether Elon Musk's new America Party has any chance of making an impact. They discuss the challenges that third parties have in getting established. They also wonder if Elon Musk is the right guy to lead the party and how does a third party even begin to make an impact politically.

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

"President Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the healthsecretary, set forth their vision on Thursday for how to “make America healthy again” with the release of an expansive report on a crisis of chronic disease in children. The report lays the blame on ultra processed foods, chemical exposures, stress, lack of physical activity and excessive use of prescription drugs, including antidepressants. The product of a presidential commission led by Mr. Kennedy, the report paints a bleak picture of American children, calling them “the sickest generation in American history.”

This paragraph comes from the New York Times. The article is titled: "Kennedy and Trump Paint Bleak Picture of Chronic Disease in U.S. Children." The authors are Sheryl Gay Stolberg & Dani Blum. You can read the full article here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/us/politics/kennedy-trump-maha-report.htmlZac & Don discuss whether today's generation are the sickest generation in history. They wonder whether our problem stems from the processed foods we eat or the lack of regular physical exercise. They also discuss the school lunch conundrum - is it better to have kids eat even if it's unhealthy food?

The follow article & podcast are also discussed on this episode:

MAHA Has a Pizza ProblemMcDonalds Broke My Heart

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

"Let’s say there’s another pandemic. This time, a lethal disease spreads through contact with other people’s fecal matter. Precision toilet cleaning becomes a matter of life and death. In the wake of this pandemic, an aptitude test—callit the T.I.Q.—is developed to measure one’s ability to rotate brushes three-dimensionally inside holes. Kids who score highly are trained for the Toilet-Cleaning Olympiad, meant to keep the citizenry battle-ready and internationally competitive. Eventually, the world crowns a toilet-cleaningchampion—not surprisingly, someone with an off-the-charts T.I.Q. This person is the very best at a skill that is crucial for the survival of humanity. Are they a genius?"

This paragraph comes from the New Yorker. The article is titled: "So You Want to Be A Genius." The article is written by S.C. Cornell. You can read the full article here:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/06/23/the-genius-myth-helen-lewis-book-review

Zac & Don discuss what genius is. Can they be recognized in society? They wonder if a genius is a specialist or have multiple skills. Can genius be taught to non geniuses?

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

"In a Reddit forum for people interested in buying American-made products, a commenter asked: “Is a completely made in USA life possible?” One person responded that it would require living like Ted Kaczynski, the infamous recluse known as the Unabomber who lived a primitive lifestyle in a remote cabin."

This paragraph comes from the Wall Street Journal. The article is titled: "Buying 100% Made in America Is Really, Really Hard. These People Are Trying." The author is Natasha Khan & Rachel Louise Ensign. You can read the full article here.

Zac & Don discuss buying America. They discuss whether it is possible to only buy American Made products. They also discuss whether having a product made in America or designed in America is better.

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

The Washington Post declared 2019 the Year of the Chicken Sandwich, which the paper translated into Latin—anno pulli—presumably so time travelers from the past could understand what was going on here. As a society, we had reached peak fried-chicken sandwich. LOL. Not even close. If, six years ago, the fried-chicken sandwich was a noveltyworth standing in line for, today it is a fact of eating in America. From 2019 to 2024, fried-chicken-sandwich consumption increased 19 percent at American restaurants, while burger consumption dropped 3 percent, according to industry analysis firm Circana. Over that same period, some 2,800 fast-food and fast-casual spots devoted to chicken cropped up across the country—and about1,200 burger joints disappeared.

This paragraph comes from The Atlantic. The article is titled: "The Golden Age of the Friend-Chicken Sandwich." The author is Ellen Cushing. You can read the full article here:

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/06/fried-chicken-sandwich-food-culture/682618/

Zac & Don discuss America's shift towards chicken sandwiches and away from burgers. They wonder if there is enough demand to support all the new restaurants. They wonder if there will be a new protein that Americans clamor for after chicken.

Zac & Don also discuss the following topics:

The Jockey who hit his horse too many times

The wiener dog who survived in Australia alone.

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

"College track and field once was a major spectator sport. Meets at Hayward Field were events. In 1970, Steve Prefontaine’s freshman year at Oregon, he competed in Pac-8 dual meets against Washington, Cal, UCLA, Washington State and Oregon State. Eugene Register-Guard printed pre-meet form charts that fans brought with them as they filled the stadium.

Dual meets engaged people who knew little about theintricacies of the sport, and were more interested in who won than how many runners cracked 13 minutes, 50 seconds in the 5,000 meters. People inside Hayward in May 1972 still talk about the 1,500-meter battle between Prefontaineand Oregon State Olympian Hailu Ebba in the Oregon-OSU dual. The winning time? Who knows? Who cares? The story was about what would prevail, Pre’s strength or Ebba’s speed. Pre won as a packed stadium roared. Flash forward 50 years, all of that is gone.

Dual meets have been largely pitched into history’s scrap heap. Star athletes going head-to-head in the 5,000 with the outcome of the meet hanging in the balance have been replaced by daylong invitational meets with no team scoring. Regular season college meets take place before mostly empty seats, even at the beautiful, 12,500-seat Hayward Field.

“Track and field has moved away from being any kind of team sport whatsoever,” Lananna says. “Our competitions are dreadful. They’re long, drawn out, fragmented, and the modern audience can’t relate to whateverit is we’re doing.” On any given spring weekend, a college track team might send its throwers to a throws-specific meet in one city, its distance runners to a distance carnival in another city, and its sprinters and hurdlers somewhere else.

 The regular season goal has become to find places wherecollege athletes can record times or marks that qualify them for postseason competition. Winning an event isn’t as important as a fast time or a long triple jump or throw. Spectators aren’t part of the equation."

This paragraph comes from an article in oregonlive.com. The article is titled: "Is the future of college track & field, including Oregon, in jeopardy? If we don't act now, we'll never save it." The author is Ken Goe. You can read the full article here:

Zac & Don discuss the sport of track. They debate whether track should bring back and feature dual meets. They also discuss whether track needs to change its scoring system and find a way to make its product into a more compelling TV program.

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

We’re so used to trying things for ourselves that it seems bizarre to imagine us ever stopping. And yet, more and more, it’s becoming clear that artificial intelligence can relieve us of the burden of trying and trying again. A.I.systems make it trivially easy to take an existing thing and ask for a new iteration. The technology is still developing, and yet already an A.I. can give you a custom recipe based on a photo of what’s in your fridge. Songwriting A.I.s can generate version after version of a new tune; image-creating A.I.s can tweak an image endlessly. Is the automated exploration of alternatives a good substitute for the organic equivalent? Is this kind of variation-creation the same thing as human creativity? These are important questions to askbecause, as A.I. grows more powerful, we will be tempted more and more to give up in advance and let it figure things out for us.

This paragraph comes from an essay in the New Yorker. The essay it titled: "Why Even Try if You Have A.I.?" The author is Joshua Rothman. You can read the full essay here:

Zac & Don discuss whether one should try without AI or if one should just use AI when trying to solve problems or complete tasks. They wonder how younger learners will be impacted if they never work through feedback loops.