Reflections on a Friday Afternoon

I don't have any ideas to write about today. And I am tired. Pleasantly tired because I played golf and did not make a fool of myself doing it. In fact, I played well (not great, just "well"). But tired nonetheless. It is difficult to be creative when one is tired, isn't it? I mean, it is hard enough being creative (or faking it, as I do) when you have a lot of energy to burn.

And, right now, I have no energy at all.

So I'll ramble.

I wonder if you, like me, were almost mesmerized by the saga of the balloon flight yesterday. It was real life drama. Was there a 6 year-old boy in the little space at the bottom of the balloon? Would the balloon crash into something? When would it come down?

Was it a hoax?

I knew almost immediately after the balloon came down that the boy was not in it. It was clear from the struggle they had opening it. If it was secured that well, how could a 6 year old have opened it and then secured it? A bit before that, I began to notice the balloon was not acting like it had 35-40 pounds of ballast in the little area at the bottom. So I was already suspicious.

All through it I wondered how this tethered balloon could have gotten loose.

But was it planned or was it just a publicity opportunity taken when the balloon got away?

We'll find out eventually, I suspect.

But we all watched, didn't we? Even the folks on the NYSE floor were captivated, according to Neil Cavuto. Trading didn't stop but people were watching the drama unfold.

I thought it was a great example of how the news media operates. If you watched, there was constant speculation, incorrect "facts", rumors flying about, misinformation and more speculation.

It's why I tend to read the reports made well after the fact. The first reports are almost always wrong. They aren't lies, just wrong. Even well after the event, when all the facts are in, the reports are full of errors, it seems, but much more accurate than in the first few hours (or even days, in some cases).

Makes me wonder about history books.