Adjective…..having or showing great knowledge or learning. What is going on in your crazy mind, TTG? Plain and simple I am trying to find my way on a number of topics. I am hard to please. I know there are some great minds out there but the acclamation of genius I find hard to bestow. Show me what you got!

I don’t know about you but I limit my experts in either print or social media. I was watching a panel deciphering the NCAA football playoffs. I was hard pressed to know which ones out of the 4 commentators were at least qualified, much less competent in their particular expertise? I had never seen or heard of them before. 

We are inundated with sports and news channels. Let’s go on the low side and say there are fifteen of each. Multiply that by regional, division, country, region, military, hockey, and whatever  experts in each venue. Is it me or are we dragging up a lot of people who are pleasant but not savants? The real difficulty is that in the midst of the throngs there might be somebody who really gets it but is either drowned out by larger voices or isn’t really good at expressing him or herself. 

In spite of this we formulate our opinions based on this or that one’s ability to win us over. Even beyond whether you are watching, FOX, CNN or MSNBC, the plot line doesn’t vary. Ditto our our print media. WSJ, NYT, NY Post, Washington Post.  You for the most part will get the flavor du jour. I guess that sells copy or ad space but can you honestly say you are getting the truth. 

I have written too many times about algorithms. If I look up anything from Trump to the Broncos to progressive to conservative, I am automatically steered to that side of the street even if I was just trying to get a different viewpoint. Personally that pisses me off on two extremes. If you know me, I really don’t like to be defined as this or that. More importantly knowing what I do I like is to be able to venture to the other side so to speak without fear of being discovered. Hmmm.  Maybe that sounds a tad paranoid. 

Here in Flatland we have a thing called Foreign Policy. A half a dozen of us pick a topic from a list. We research it and do a presentation to a hundred plus of our fellow members. The talk is about forty minutes and then we open up to questions. I love doing it because you have to do a fair amount of research. One to elaborate on your topic and the other is to not look like an idiot when Q and A starts. My topic this year is Global Warming. I might do my delivery with a helmet and flak gear on. 

I have been poring over articles, news clips and documentaries of a sort. Simple? Cut and dry? Fugeddabout it. It’s not only about solar and wind but alternative avenues to solve the problem. First I had to approach the whole thing from the point of view there is no problem. Good stuff. More importantly I have found every possible scenario from some supposedly very smart people. As a babe in the woods and budding scholar which one do I take as Gospel truth ? 

I am flummoxed and at the same time fascinated by our world today. If you followed some very well paid wonks you would have missed this crazy stock market of the last year. 90% of the cognoscenti said this puppy was going to be on life support at best. Inflation, recession, doom? Step right up. That is not calling the shots in politics but your and my nest egg or college fund. Cold hard cash. Sorry Charlie. We just miscalculated. 

Israel with Mossad et al is considered beyond scary when it comes to intel and penetration of the enemy’s lair. That did not work out too well on October 7. People said there was absolutely no way Ukraine could stand up to the Russians. They have gone  not only head to head with ground forces but even blown up parts to the Russian fleet with drone speed boats. Have any of you thought about every major nation’s dependence on big ship navies? 

Where does this lead Teddy and the rest of us? Plain and simple you have to do your homework. We cannot accept the pablum as presented. That is not to become unbelievers. This is to go back to my Jesuit way if you will excuse me. Question everything. Go deep. Look at different opinions before we frame our own. Does it take work? Sorry, but it does. Can we sit back and go on cruise control? Sure we can and leave a shit show for our kids and grandkids. 

I hate to be a drag on our la la view of our world. A lot of my contemporaries say it is up to those who will follow. We have worked hard and now it is our time to rest. I do not fault you in any way but I will take issue. Our good times have been financed by largesse and a horrendous debt. Not only money but responsibility. I think we checked out of the real world without realizing our extended life expectancy and good times are leaving a big wake. 

I am not erudite. I am an average schmuck who sees the world from my little place here in Flalaland. I am sure a lot of people a lot smarter than me could and probably should call me to task.We are all trying to figure this out. Please don’t just think of ourselves. We have a big blue marble with a lot of pieces. It belongs to all of us.   

As always 

Ted The Great

Factoids. 

Predictions for the ending S and P 500 average in 2023 ranged from 3,675 to 4,500. The closing was 4796. 

A new study by three MIT scholars has found that false news spreads more rapidly on the social network X  than real news does — and by a substantial margin.

I read content from the Wall Street Journal, New York Times,BBC, CNN, NPR and Axios. Some of my favorite journalists at David Brooks, Tom Friedman, George Friedman, and Peter Zeihan. Their content is stimulating. You don’t have to agree with any of them but man it makes you think.