The Far Middle episode 96 begins with birthday wishes to jazz guitarist Geroge Benson, and moves on to a timely dedication as Major League Baseball’s 2023 season gets underway in just eight days from this episode’s release.

Going back to 1996, for episode 96, when no baseball players were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, Nick offers a thoughtful look on players that aren’t in Cooperstown, but who have the career accomplishments to warrant induction.

Nick then transitions from America’s pastime to the time of Teddy Roosevelt during his tenure at the Civil Service Commission. Nick discusses Roosevelt’s efforts to upend the spoils system, and replace it with a meritocracy in terms of hiring government employees. The idea was to go from who you knew, to what you knew, explains Nick.

Related, Nick examines government today and how key positions are staffed. “I fear that our government has steered far, far away from where Teddy Roosevelt was looking to take it in the late 1800s,” says Nick. He asserts governmental decisions are not being made by those with the most experience and best skillsets, resulting in ineffective government being exposed at the worst possible times during crises.

The discussion of meritocracy is connected to America’s regional power grids, and the need to let competition drive the best generation sources to power our energy systems. Nick focuses on the PJM grid, and revisits Winter Storm Elliot that hit the mid-Atlantic on Christmas Eve this past December. Nick underscores that natural gas, in particular Appalachian natural gas, didn’t just save the PJM grid, it saved lives. Despite the facts, there are environmental groups looking to fool the public and force an agenda. Environmentalists are executing their new sneaky two-step technique, which Nick dubs their “tame and blame” campaign.

“If we allow natural gas to fairly compete and grow with private investment and innovation, then no more grid weakness, anywhere,” says Nick. He then presents six stark truths about wind and solar at scale on our power grid, which Winter Storm Elliot again exposed.

When climate policies of the Left start to infiltrate the infrastructure of the power grid, cracks are going to appear quickly. And the same can be said of office real estate today in America’s major cities. Nick explains how climate change policies are stressing both grid capacity of power pools as well as balance sheets of urban office tower companies.

In closing, Nick recalls Led Zeppelin’s best-selling album, Led Zeppelin IV, and in particular the track, “When the Levee Breaks.” In a similar vein, Nick argues that if, “the Left keeps ruling, the grid is going to break, and if the Left keeps ruling, the debt portfolio is going to break.”

Far Middle episode 95 begins with Nick offering, “everything you wanted to know about daylight saving time but were afraid to ask.” And on the topic of time, Nick dedicates this episode to “The Iron Man,” Cal Riken Jr., who in 1995 broke Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games played streak by playing in his 2,131^st straight game, a streak that spanned 17 years. In total, Ripken’s streak reached 2,632 games, “the equivalent of 16 seasons without missing a game.” Nick says you have time to sleep on this record as the soonest it could be broken by an active player would be in about a dozen years.

Leaving the ballpark, Nick proceeds along this episode’s string of connections, a format that’s the hallmark of The Far Middle and an ongoing tribute to the great Dr. James Burke.

“Cal Ripken is in the history books because of math; math has the ability to clarify the exceptional and to bring truth to a situation,” explains Nick as he delves into the math of externality accounting in the energy sector. Externalities look to capture the true net costs or benefits of an activity to society, quantifying direct and indirect impacts, both positive and negative.

The subject of externalities has always interested Nick. And that interest was recently reawakened following the request by a professor performing a study on externalities, asking Nick to offer his view on competitor natural gas-producing companies that tend to understate their companies’ environmental impact. “I saw this request as an opportunity to take a holistic view of the energy landscape and the context of energy externality accounting,” says Nick as he begins to walk through his response to the professor (explore further in Nick’s commentary, “Crunching the Numbers: Energy Source Externality Accounting”).

As a precursor to the professor’s request, Nick argues that externalities should be first analyzed on an energy source-versus-energy source basis, in other words, domestic natural gas compared to wind or solar energy sources.

Following the discussion of energy externality accounting, Nick springs backward to 1961 and the movie, Judgment at Nuremberg. “The movie deals with heavy, fascinating themes,” says Nick, analogizing the film to “a mental tennis match,” and suggesting it be required viewing for every American high school student.

Far Middle episode 94 begins with a remembrance of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. whose birthday is today, and the anniversary of his passing was also marked this week, 98 years ago this past Monday.

In a Far Middle first, Nick dedicates this episode to a day, specifically the memorable sports headlines from June 17, 1994, which included Arnold Palmer playing in his final round of a U.S. Open, Ken Griffey Jr. launched his 26^th long ball of the season to tie Babe Ruth for the most home runs before June 30^th, the World Cup got underway in the U.S., a tough-to-watch New York Rangers ticker tape parade, the Knicks and Rockets played game five of the NBA Finals, and the day culminated with the low-speed O.J. Simpson chase.

That day was the outset of what would be the trial of the century, and the start to when we began seeing some statements from O.J. that just didn’t add up. Those statements set the stage for this week’s Far Middle connections. Fast forward to today, and there’s something else not adding up: the zero carbon commitments by global corporations.

Nick proceeds to examine a survey by Bain & Company of 137 global companies from the fourth quarter of 2022. The survey found less than a quarter of those surveyed plan to buy carbon credits to meet their emissions pledges. At the same time, 90% of respondents pledged zero carbon commitments by 2050. Nick delves into how these two results expose a serious math problem and the underlying sham of carbon pledges.

All business and economic activity has a carbon footprint on a scopes 1 through 3 basis, and there’s no way global corporations will be net zero carbon without buying massive volumes of carbon offsets and credits, argues Nick. And if all these companies were to buy credits, credit prices would dramatically increase, and those costs would ultimately trickle down to those who can least afford higher-priced goods and services.

In the second half of episode 94, Nick looks at the evolution of Scientific American, and moves on to a few unconventional Far Middle topics.

Nick explains his opposition to the death penalty, using a wrongful execution surrounding serial killer John “Reg” Christie as an example why. Incidentally, if you haven’t seen the film 10 Rillington Place, based on Christie’s murders, add it to your watch list, recommends Nick. Staying on the topic of death, Nick recounts the strange worldwide tour and eventual burial of Eva “Evita” Perón’s embalmed body.

In closing, Nick looks back at the film Clue and its all-star cast. By the way, keep an eye and ear out for a future “best board game list” from Nick!

The Far Middle episode 93’s release date, March 1, coincides with the birthday of the late actor, Robert Conrad. Nick says as a kid he was obsessed with Conrad’s television series The Wild Wild West, as well as Conrad’s series, Baa Baa Black Sheep.

Moving on to this episode’s dedication, Nick honors Mario Lemieux’s 1992-1993 season. It was a season by the Penguins’ Center that embodied athletic achievement, personal endurance, and one “you could make a movie about.” Lemieux’s perseverance that season is, “Motivation for all of us, as we continue to achieve in our endeavors, and as we face life’s unpredictable challenges,” says Nick.

Nick stays on the ice as he moves from Penguin statistics to polar bear statistics. Referencing a study by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Nick highlights that the world’s population of polar bears has risen from the 1960s to today, while at the same time, carbon dioxide emissions have also increased. It’s an inconvenient fact that runs counter to the beliefs of the Church of Climate parishioners.

“The dynamic that we see, where an ideology insists on ignoring or suppressing facts and certainties that inconveniently counter its core beliefs, leads to quite damaging consequences, and they stretch beyond polar bears,” explains Nick as he next examines public education leadership not recognizing individual achievers in those education officials’ pursuit of “equal outcomes.”

Nick argues that if our public education leaders are intent on holding back the recognition of high-performing students, not only is our public education system doomed, but so too is our future economic competitiveness, and further, the viability of the U.S. is in serious peril.

Next up is a signature Far Middle trifecta connection, albeit one that illustrates the incompetence of government intervention under the cover of “saving the planet.” Electric vehicles are at the intersection of that trifecta connection.

Nick delves into contradictory federal policies that mandate and subsidize electric vehicles, while on the other hand prohibit the domestic mining of the vital materials for EV battery production, and then at the same time the State Department pledges to help build foreign EV supply chains—effectively offshoring environmental destruction and human rights abuses.

“As bad as it might be in the U.S. with our dysfunctional federal government, it could be much, much worse,” says Nick. “You don’t need to look beyond the Americas to see situations today that are indeed much worse.” This brings the conversation to Colombia where its new president, Gustavo Petro, is another faithful worshiper in the Church of Climate, an ex-guerilla, a 2023 Davos attendee, and at his side is a Minister of Mines and Energy who’s a professor and environmental activist. The path these two are prescribing for Colombia is about to make things much worse for the country’s residents, its economy, and its environmental health.

Leaving Bogotá, Nick heads to New York City to close this episode, connecting to the film Gangs of New York and two of its stars, Daniel Day-Lewis and Liam Neeson.

The Far Middle episode 92 features a unique dedication to a group of professional athletes who showcased a tenacity for greatness while on the gridiron, diamond, ice, and hardwood. These include two greats to wear the number 92 jersey: Reggie White, aka the “Minister of Defense,” and former Penguins winger and current Canucks coach, Rick Tocchet.

Nick shifts from the subject of tenacity for sports greatness to America’s tenacity for scientific greatness. On the surface, America’s scientific prowess looks better than ever, but unfortunately, the data reveals a different state of America’s scientific efficacy. Specifically, Nick looks at Consolidation-Disruption Index data trends, or CD Index, which measures the impact of research once published.

Nick cites three root causes of why scientific research and innovation are declining in America—causes analyzed at length in Precipice.

Meanwhile, something not on the decline in America is government spending, “a crisis of simple math,” says Nick. Government debt has increased by $8 trillion since February 2020, and we now find ourselves in a brutal, self-inflicted cycle. Nick lays out the options we face: either raise taxes, dramatically cut spending and entitlements, or default on our debt obligations.

And to those who argue that the Fed lowering interest rates is the key to reducing the federal debt burden, Nick says that’s merely a delay tactic that kicks the can of much-needed fiscal reform down the road.

Nick next offers an example of federal fiscal responsibility and compromise, going back to President Lyndon Johnson and Democratic Senator Harry Byrd of Virginia who came together to cut taxes and reduce spending in the FY 1965 budget. Nick contrasts the $100 billion federal budget of the early/mid-1960s to today’s budget of more than $6 trillion—questioning if listeners believe government today is 60 times more effective than it was during LBJ’s presidency.

Nick concludes by bringing the episode’s connections full circle as he highlights another individual who had a tenacity for greatness and who enjoyed the apt nickname, “The Great One.” Nick reflects on the legendary career of Jackie Gleason in conjunction with the anniversary of his birthday, which falls on February 26.