The Best Paragraph I've Read...

Drive-throughs! Are they Actually Efficient? Do they Promote Placelessness & Loneliness? Are they Bad for Cities & Public Safety? Don Explains Why One Should Never Order Fries from Drive-through!

The Best Paragraph I've Read: "Across the street, another strip was torn down to make way for a Raising Cane’s and a Chipotle, both also equipped with drive-throughs. This part of town was never exactly the height of urban design; it had long been sprawly, car-oriented, and not great for walking. But the redevelopment gave it another character entirely. Before, the businesses there were destinations you could walk to if you wanted. Now, an enormous concrete retaining wall was built outside the Chick-fil-A, closing it off from sidewalk access like a fortress to fast food capitalism. The place had become so hostile to anyone outside a car that no one was going to get in there on foot. It was not a destination, but a place meant to be driven through — which is to say, no place at all." This paragraph comes from Vox.com. The article is titled: "Mega drive-throughs explain everything wrong with American cities." The author is Marina Bolotnikova. You can read the full article here: https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/24089853/mega-drive-throughs-cities-chick-fil-a-chipotle Zac and Don discuss the continued rise of drive-through culture in America. They discuss the impact it has left on cities and whether using the drive-through is actually an efficient use of time. Don also makes a good case for never ordering drive-through french fries.

Trash Talk! Why Do People Do It? Is there a Science & Evolutionary Purpose For It? Should We Be Coaching & Teaching Kids How to Deal with Trash Talk? Don & Zac Share Their Best Trash Talk Moment!

The Best Paragraph I've Read: "When you look at the role that trash talk plays in creating group bonds, it has very clear applications in creating a sense of “us versus them.” When you talk crap about a rival, you’re reinforcing a sense of identity. You’re reinforcing who we are and who they are. One theory about why trash talk works to throw people off their game is that it leverages a fear of social isolation, of ostracization, of being kicked out. It’s taking advantage of that deep-seated, primal fear that we’re going to be left on our own, and we’re going to die. To bring it to a biological level, trash talk is suggesting you do not have the resources to survive." This paragraph comes from an interview with Rafi Kohan who is discussing his book on Trash Talk. The interview is conducted by Scientific American. The interviewer is Jessica Hullinger. You can read the full interview here: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/psychology-hacks-for-resisting-trash-talk/#:~:text=One%20theory%20about%20why%20trash,we're%20going%20to%20die. Zac and Don discuss Trash Talk. They talk about whether trash talk works and what it's ultimate purpose is. They also wonder if trash talk has a bigger impact on nice or mean people. They also share their best piece of trash talk they've ever given.

Rule Makers! Are There Too Many or Not Enough Rules, Regulations, Laws, and Policies? Is Life Worse or Better Off With More Rules? Is Making a Rule to Protect A Few Good For the Many?

The Best Paragraph I've Read: Organizations are trying to protect themselves from lawsuits, but the whole administrative apparatus comes with an implied view of human nature. People are weak, fragile, vulnerable and kind of stupid. They need administrators to run their lives. They have to be trained never to take initiative, lest they wander off into activities that are deemed by the authorities to be out of bounds. The result is the soft despotism that Tocqueville warned us about centuries ago, a power that “is absolute, minute, regular, provident and mild.” In his Liberties essay, Edmundson writes that this kind of power is now centerless. Presidents and executives don’t run companies, universities or nations. Power is now held by everyone who issues work surveys and annual reports, the people who create H.R. trainings and collect data. He concludes: “They are using the terms of liberation to bring more and more free people closer to mental serfdom. Some day they will awaken in a cage of their own devising, so harshly confining that even they, drunk on their own virtue, will have to notice how their lives are the lives of snails tucked in their shells.” This essay comes from the New York Times. The essay is titled; "Death by a Thousand Paper Cuts." The author is David Brooks. You can read the full article here: Opinion | Administrators Will Be the End of Us - The New York Times (nytimes.com) Zac and Don talk about the rule makers who keep making more and more rules in our society. Do we have too many rules or not enough? Are the rules getting in the way of people being able to build anything?

The All Mascot Bracket! Need NCAA Tournament Help? We Share Historical Mascot Data for EVERY Game! College Basketball Junkie Kevin Kopec Shares REAL BASKETBALL Analysis too! Who Has A Better Bracket?

The Best Paragraph I've Read: Need some NCAA Tournament bracket advice? How about just picking by mascot? Zac & Don use the Wall Street Journal's NCAA Tournament historical mascot data to pick their entire bracket. They found the mascot data from an article titled: "Cats vs. Birds: The Whimsical Way to Fill Out Your NCAA Tournament Bracket." The article is written by Rosie Ettenheim and Laine Higgins. You can read the full article here: ⁠https://www.wsj.com/articles/cats-vs-birds-ncaa-tournament-bracket-march-madness-b91b86ec Zac & Don are also joined by their good friend Kevin Kopec who is a College Basketball guru. Kevin give his tremendous insight into many NCAA tournament teams and picks his own bracket the traditional way. Who has a better bracket? Listen to find out. You can see Zac & Don's bracket along with Kevin's bracket online. You can also enter your own bracket in their bracket pool to see if you can beat either of them. Just click on the link below to join The Best Paragraph I've Read's bracket pool! https://fantasy.espn.com/tc/sharer?challengeId=240&from=espn&context=GROUP_INVITE&edition=espn-en&groupId=4c8f5970-17a8-4890-910d-2536f77777e5

Shameless Self Promotion!!! Crypto School the Book! What Happens If Schools Use Cryptocurrency? Don & Zac Reflect on Teaching, Schools, & Students While Discussing Zac's New Book - Now Available!!

The Best Paragraph I've Read: "So we're like lab rats?" asked Cassie. "Just a bunch of kids being experimented on? This is terrible! We're kids! We're precious. Our parents tell us at least ten times a day how special we are! We get hugs for flushing the toilet, and allowances if we remember to wash our hands! Your experiment doesn't make me feel special. It makes me feel like a Monopoly piece being moved around the board." This paragraph comes from the book Crypto School. The author is Zac Abeel. You can learn more about the book or purchase it here: https://www.amazon.com/Crypto-School-Zac-Abeel/dp/B0CVQT975H/ref=sr_1_1?crid=17SF8GKG18GSO&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Wgpi-UDUjrU0nUQ6IAa5tUlO4Fv-wvoNepR9Lm71HB6uMg1IDA34hIfART_aMR94oSFfkWO8WTrB0TticMdEl6jP7tVopt5ZCxnlILeefbrV1knx1ZQkVtlEnB_lmJpRiqxz2RdIjXBDLAM0N2kfyeceqqa1iSGcUURoEKtOPjsrvXoMrgSDQQl1LjGlkGOiNNVf2MJNsMVqnmbO4PsCD7Hjy_HTPbyWAiWbcahSnms.7GNJpzLpR7YTIVq-Eqr_fBfOKJh-7VoivEtqwqkSZRw&dib_tag=se&keywords=crypto+school&qid=1710284903&sprefix=crypto+schoo%2Caps%2C455&sr=8-1 Zac & Don discuss some of the ideas, characters, and plot in the story Crypto School. They also reflect on whether some of the story's ideas can be found in real classrooms. Could using cryptocurrency work in schools? Is it a good idea to let people just purchase their final grades? How much experimentation happens in school?