What On Earth Is He Talking About? A Platform Of Aggregation. Steam.
Maybe I self-evaluate my intelligence or lack there of too often. I am very aware of my strengths and weaknesses but I write a blog so I can’t be that much of a dumb ass (no comment please). The reality is that I admire very intelligent people which is interesting as very intelligent people and I are definitely not aligned. I like to challenge myself once in awhile to take in information or content that I am not necessarily interested in or follow (such as high intelligence quota subjects like sports).
Last week, I decided to watch two episodes of Cosmos: Possible Worlds. My first indication that I would be overmatched by this content were the credits that ran before the show opening. It is quite apparent that when I see Carl Sagan in the credits of any documentary, I either need to change the channel or have a biophysicist sitting next to me to give me the cliff notes. If Carl Sagan wasn’t enough, the first person I see on the first episode is none other than the American astrophysicist, cosmologist, and planetary scientist, Neil deGrasse Tyson. Red alert bells go off in my head as I now realize that this programming is going to be a mental shock to my system.
To no surprise, within the first twenty minutes of episode one, Neil deGrasse Tyson, with his smooth delivery and off the charts vocabulary, starts to discuss Cyanobacteria and the Cambrian explosion. Of course my brain starts to melt a bit as he describes Cyanobacteria, which in his words is something along the the lines of a phylum of prokaryotes consisting of both free-living photosynthetic bacteria and the endosymbiotic plastids that are present in the Archaeplastida autotrophic eukaryotes.
I no longer want to communicate with you if that description of Cyanobacteria made any sense to you….or if you even know how to pronounce most of those words. I don’t know how many times during the two episodes I repeated, probably out loud to myself, what the hell (my polite blog word) is he talking about? I did soak up the two episodes and immediately went to the bottle of Woodford Reserve to bring reality and balance back to my self-being. Self deprecating or not, reality does reveal that I am not the sharpest pencil in the stack.
I did read (yes, I do read) a bit about Neil deGrasse Tyson. While it is clear that we are are the opposite sides of the intelligence spectrum, I do like and acknowledge this quote from him: “Curious that we spend more time congratulating people who have succeeded than encouraging people who have not“.
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When I look for a good example of ‘aggregation’ I look to Google News. No, not all the content but the way Google News aggregates and matches up subject matter with news platforms and presents it in a simple, concise way. I want to take this type of aggregation platform and dovetail it with cord-cutting. You read it right, that’s what I want to do. So to my associates and readers who come from the sports/entertainment/technology/finance worlds….you better get ready to help get this idea to fruition quickly. The simple premise: Why should I cut the cord and what choices do I really have, based on the content I consume? How do I make my choices with non-linear and/or linear providers and what will it cost me? How do I pay and when? Anyone? Bueller? Anyone?
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Blowing of some steam:
- Yesterday could have started as one of the greatest sports weekends in Atlanta history. The Braves closing out their NLCS series and heading to the World Series and the Georgia Bulldogs beating the second-ranked Crimson Tide. Not.
- Today, the Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta United and the Braves have a chance to make the weekend better. The Falcons are in disarray and play away to Minnesota, United plays away to Toronto (in CT as you can’t travel to Canada), and the Braves have another opportunity to make it to a World Series. Any takers?
- A tale of two cities: Atlanta’s sports teams other than the Braves have had a tough Covid-19 year. In comparison, the Tampa Bay area is on fire. The Lightning wins the Stanley Cup, the Rays make it to the World Series, the Bucs are looking good and run by none other than Tom Brady, and the Rowdies sit atop their division in the USL Championship. It must be the water.
- To the Braves, manager Brian Snitker, and tonight’s starting pitcher Ian Anderson: do NOT throw one pitch within two feet of the plate to the Dodgers’ Corey Seager. Just don’t.
- To the Georgia Bulldogs: even with the bad-looking loss last night, there may be a lot to salvage by year-end. Get it together.
- To UCF: for years you have had a top five offense in the country. Why do you not believe in defense – this has been systemic for years. Yesterday, you score 49 points and lose 50-49? Ridiculous.
Adios, be safe, pay it forward, and have a Funday Sunday!