The Best Paragraph I've Read:

The concept of a citizen council—a democratic forum with roots in ancient Greece—is straightforward: a selected group of people come together to discuss a matter of public policy, with the goal of making proposals or clarifying public attitudes. Hélène Landemore, a professor at Yale and the author of “Open Democracy,” which argues for a more inclusive system of participatory

This paragraph comes from the New Yorker. The article is titled: "How to Give Away a Fortune." The article is written by Joshua Yaffa. You can read the whole article here: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/09/09/how-to-give-away-a-fortune

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

"Educators sometimes assume Gen Z digital natives already know how to type because they’re so familiar with tech. After all, nearly half of teens say they are online “almost constantly,” according to a survey from

This paragraph comes from an article in the Wall Street Journal. The article is titled: "Gen Z-ers Are Computer Whizzes. Just Don't Ask Them to Type." The author is Georgia Wells. You can read the full article here:

https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/gen-z-typing-computers-keyboards-c83d15f0

You can read the driver license article here:

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

In his recent advisory on parents’ mental health, the United States surgeon general, Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, said out loud what many parents might have only furtively admitted: Parenting today is too hard and stressful. Of

So why has parental stress risen to the level of a rare surgeon general’s warning about an urgent public health issue — putting it in the same category as cigarettes and AIDS?

It’s because today’s parents face something different and more demanding: the expectation that they spend ever more time and money educating and enriching their children. These pressures, researchers say, are driven in part by fears about the modern-day economy — that if parents don’t equip their children with every possible advantage, their children could fail to achieve a secure,

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/14/upshot/parents-stress-murthy-warning.html

Zac & Don discuss whether parenting today is too hard and stressful. They wonder if there is any truth to the notion that parents feel they have to spend more time parenting their children.

Zac & Don also reference the following article and documentary.

How School Drop-Off Became a Nightmare

https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2024/09/school-drop-off-cars-chaos/679869/

Babies the Documentary

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1020938/

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

If everyone outside hard-core engineering, math or pre-med courses can easily get an A, the whole system loses meaning. It fails to make distinctions between different levels of achievement or to motivate students to work hard on their academic pursuits. All the while, it allows

https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/college-grades-have-become-acharade-its-time-to-abolish-them-ee4eb3fe

Zac & Don discuss whether there are too many A's being given in College and K-12 Public Schools. They discuss reasons why A's have become the most common grade and whether there are any solutions to this issue.

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

When we think about inequality, the first images that come to mind are often of poverty, unfairness, and social injustice. But what if we’re looking at inequality all wrong?

Consider another economy. In this economy, the Gini coefficient is a whopping 0.6—much higher than in the U.S. or just about any country in the world. Living in this

The economy we are talking about is the National Football League. Is comparing inequality within countries to inequality within a sports league an unfair or irrelevant comparison? We don’t think so. NFL inequality can teach us a lot about what inequality statistics mean.

https://www.barrons.com/articles/inequality-in-america-harris-nfl-sports-6f630bdf

Zac & Don discuss the Gini Coefficient and its measurement of wealth inequality in the NFL and the American economy. They wonder if the NFL can work as a model to think about inequality. Or are the pay numbers just too high and hard to comprehend? They also discuss the new Starbuck's CEO pay package and whether using stock market cap is a good metric to consider.

The following blog post on the CEO of Starbucks from Marginal Revolution is also discussed:

https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2024/08/why-top-ceos-earn-big-paychecks.html

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

"A lot about the world feels dark right now. We’re reeling from a turbulent presidential race. Processing an attempted assassination. Divided by protests—and a barrage of images on social media that feeds our anxieties. Sometimes, it seems as though we’re living in the worst of times. The truth is, we’re really not."

This paragraph comes from an essay in the Wall Street Journal. The title of the essay is: "The World Isn't Actually Going to Hell in a Handbasket" The author is Elizabeth Bernstein. You can read the full article here:

https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/relationships/moral-decline-study-psychology-8635c34b

Zac & Don discuss why everyone believes they are living in the age of moral decline. They wonder why everyone can't see that this has been an issue since the beginning of time.

The following biography by Warren Buffet is also discussed in the episode. You can find the book here.

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/07/22/were-pirates-foes-of-the-modern-order-or-its-secret-sharers

Zac & Don discuss pirates. They wonder why pirates continue to be popular today despite the reality being so different that what we imagine.

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

Is a Spin Magazine cover from 25 years ago. You can view it here.

Zac & Don discuss the 25th anniversary of the Spin Magazine with Axl Rose on it. They also share their lists of other things that they think "The World Needs Now..." including Salad Bars, 3 Sport Athletes, Jumping Jacks, Glass Bottles, and more!

Don went to the Olympics!

Zac & Discuss what it was like to be in Paris during the Olympics. They also discuss what it is like to attend a night of track and field events.

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

Once an emblem of summer — and the object of poolside fawning — the American lifeguard has somehow become an endangered species.

This paragraph comes from the Business Insider. The article is titled: "Lifeguard shortage: nationwide problem means closed pools, no swimming." The author is Kelli Maria Korducki. You can read the full article here:

https://www.businessinsider.com/lifeguard-shortages-jobs-american-pools-beaches-closed-swimming-lessons-baywatch-2024-7

Another Best Paragraph I've Read:

Everyone has their own tricks for staving off boredom on a long-haul flight. Some people load up on podcast episodes, others power through the available in-flight

This paragraph comes from GQ. The article is titled: "Why Men Are 'Raw-dogging Flights." The article is written by Kate Lindsay. You can read the full article here:

https://www.gq.com/story/why-men-are-rawdogging-flights

Zac & Don discuss two trends that have emerged in America this summer: The shortage of Lifeguards and the males who chose to do nothing on planes.