I vacuum up information. It’s how my mind works.
I started reading when I started talking, not that I remember much about when I became verbal. I was a late bloomer when it came to talking but the opposite when it came to reading.
As you can tell, I have spent a lifetime catching up on spewing out words.
My range of interests is pretty wide, and one thing I have always been fascinated by is military matters, particularly strategy and technology. I read a lot on the subject and enjoy watching smart people who know their stuff discuss the technology.
One of my favorites is Alex Hollings, who is the editor of Sandboxx News. He is a former Marine and an airpower enthusiast. He produces short, informative, and entertaining videos focused on military aviation, and I catch every one of them.
Relatively short, information-packed, and touching on the backstory about which few people know.
And, he touches on controversies that are likely unfamiliar to enthusiasts who aren’t experts–giving you background that fills out your knowledge base without requiring you to delve into dense books and do more work than you are inclined to do to get a well-rounded picture.
Hollings will also break down some of the news of the day, filling out your knowledge base about stories that pop up into the news. As you have likely figured out, much of what you read in the MSM is written by people who don’t understand their subject matter and can either intentionally or unintentionally get it wrong.
I don’t know about you, but this annoys the heck out of me.
Hollings also writes for Popular Mechanics, and covers a somewhat different range of topics there.
As for websites on military matters, I often visit The War Zone, which covers news and more general military issues. It is a good place to visit if military matters interest you. The military blog at The National Interest is another site I visit fairly frequently. Megaprojects covers a wide range of technological issues, not just military, but you can get lost just drinking in a lot of fascinating information, although I trust its subject matter expertise less due to its wider range of focus.
Warographics is a more military-focused channel from the same team.
None of these sites will make you a subject-matter expert, but you will definitely become more well-informed. And they are just plain interesting.
Do you like these posts on things I like? If so, let me know in the comments.