PGA | LIV Merger Investigated, AI & Media Companies Negotiate, and My Buc-ee's Baptism

Welcome to the Good Times, your stop for great writing, amusements, and fascinating stuff from the last week or so (in 5 mins or less).

Yes, we're doing this to amuse America (and ourselves), but we’ll also donate 10% of revenue to education and affordable housing charities when we start monetizing. So kick back and enjoy.

The Good Times Roundup

AI: AI and Media Companies Negotiate for News Content to Train Language Learning Models. Here we go again, tech and media trying to (legally) coexist. The implications for both sides are profound: AI companies need great content to produce great chat output, and deals with publishers shield them from government regulation (to a point). And for media, chat-generated news could steal their readers and thus their revenue. It’s an existential risk… but is a deal wise? Hollywood famously licensed their most valuable IP to Netflix in the early streaming days and audiences quickly followed. And [spoiler], they never fully returned. Furious lobbying for regulation may be the better road this time.

GOLF: Senators ask Department of Justice to Investigate LIV-PGA Merger. Not so fast say Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden. Both Senators asked the Department of Justice to review the LIV-PGA merger on antitrust grounds and only two days before, Richard Blumenthal called for the PGA's communications records during the dealmaking process, citing a particular interest in how the PGA Tour will remain a nonprofit post-merger (that is curious, isn't it). The longer this drags, the tougher it'll be for the PGA to gloss over any uncomfortable details, so two cheers for Government. Do your inefficient best.

MOON: Super Moon Coming in Time for the 4th. The moon will be full on July 3rd and at its perigee, or point in its orbit where it's closest to the earth. Called a 'Super Buck Moon,' it'll appear ~7% bigger in the night sky. Fun fact: there are 7 flags ‘flying’ on the moon, 6 American and 1 Chinese, but on the eve of the 4th it goes Super Buck (🤔…). Happy 4th everyone.

BASEBALL: Bob Gibson's 1968 season: NL MVP, 1.12 ERA, 8.96 innings per start. Bananas.

Take the Day Off 😴

George Costanza, lover of naps.

With every newsletter we'll run a featured article on topics ranging from kids, dogs, news, sports, or anything in between. We aim to amuse - put another way, if Mark Twain were alive today we'd desperately try to hire him. Thanks for reading and without further delay...  

Today's Article: My Buc-ee’s Baptism

I first heard the good news of Buc-ee's from a friend a year or so ago when after a recent stop, he burst into our living room and gushed like a toddler recounting a cartoon.

'The bathrooms!'

'100 gas pumps!'

'It's bigger than a Wal-Mart!'

'Jerky! Barbecue! Deer feed!'

'Deer feed?' I asked. 'Deer feed,' he replied. 'They sell furniture. And charcoal grills. And swimsuits.’

I had many questions. But like Bluto rallying the Deltas, there was no slowing his roll.

'And if you're lucky Buc-ee will be there!'

I pointed to the cartoon beaver on his cup with a flipped bill cap and giant buck teeth. Ridiculous, he looked like a stoned animator’s joke.

'That's Buc-ee?' I asked. He nodded. 'There's a line for pictures with him.'

My friend's mind had been blown by a gas station mascot (bless his heart). A first-time father with a newborn he probably wasn’t his sharpest, so I cut him slack and politely indulged his effusions.

Time passed and I forgot about Buc-ee's, that is until fate dropped one on I-75 between Nashville and Atlanta - the former's where I live and the latter's where I'm from, and once Buc-ee's landed in my orbit, it was impossible to miss. The blitz of billboards with one-liners from that goofy beaver started 100+ miles out, and they were everywhere.

One said 'Potty On!' And another 'Our aim is to have clean restrooms. Your aim will help.' And maybe my favorite: 'Only 150 miles to Buc-ee's. You can hold it.'

My wife gave me a 'should-we-try-it' look - worst case it’ll be a story she reasoned. I agreed, and the die was cast. Onto Calhoun, GA we went for our maiden visit.

Pulling into Buc-ee's is like pulling into Disneyland. Parking's streamlined, clean, and huge, and there's seemingly no bad spot in the whole lot (somehow!).

And the gas pumps, holy hell my friend wasn't lying, maybe three football fields worth. We found a pump right away, filled up with cheap gas, and then headed for the entrance where a 6-foot bronze beaver statue welcomed us, arms open.

The absurdity notwithstanding, I was sold instantly on the whole damn experience. The place is an explosion of fun in convenience store form and everyone’s giddy as they buzz around homegoods, beef jerky, barbecue, burritos, pool toys, clothes, grills, and branded snacks (animal crackers? no sir, just Beaver Buddies).

A vintage pickup truck sat near the entrance, jammed with stuffed animal beavers sporting 4th of July gear - I almost bought a Buc-ee-on-a-Harley t-shirt that read 'Sorry, Can't Hear You Over the Sound of Freedom Ringing!'

And as the billboard promised, the bathrooms were giant and pristine. Hell, I learned later that Buc-ee's collected an award for cleanest restroom in the US and holds the record for the 'world's largest convenience store' - the biggest location just opened Monday in Sevierville, TN and the Today Show covered it. It boasts more than 74K square feet (many Targets clock in at 40K, fyi).

And the cherry on top? Buc-ee, the big man himself, was there. Our 3-year-old beamed at him - she might've even jumped up and down - and we proudly took family pictures (Christmas card? I'm making a case).

20 minutes before Buc-ee was a joke and now I'm snapping selfies with him. My conversion was that fast.

How to explain it? It's inexplicable.

A ball field in Iowa or Buc-ee's? Check here for magic waters near you.

More Good Stuff

• Why Elaine always went to Jerry's fridge on Seinfeld

• Expressive dogs and one guilty looking cat

• A self-transforming Optimus Prime

• During the Cold War, the US built the Blackbird plane with Soviet titanium 

• World's 1st self-driving ferry now running in Sweden

• Ryan Reynolds wants to read you a bedtime story

Lastly, a Good Tune