Friday, December 31, 2021
Quote of the Week...from Henny Youngman
Thursday, December 30, 2021
My Favorite Songs of 2021 As I Lived Through It
Wednesday, December 29, 2021
Weekly Short Stories: 1980 Science Fiction, Part 2
Tuesday, December 28, 2021
Paul McCartney's Erroneous Assumptions in the Get Back Movie
Monday, December 27, 2021
Rob Dial's Five Keys to Have More Energy Podcast
Rob Dial is a young entrepreneur and motivational coach who has a regular free 20-minute podcast called The Mindset Mentor, in which he lays out different ways the listener can change his or her life to the better...as you might have guessed, mindset is everything. His show three weeks ago centered around what he considers five important areas in which your energy level can be enhanced (or hindered if you ignore them): the music you listen to, the people you surround yourself with, the information sources you use, the food you consume, and whether (or not) you "force motion", i.e. deliberately maintain a state of physical activity. Now with music, most of us have our different individual tastes...Dial stresses that we should focus on music with uplifting moods and lyrics. With people, he divides the human race into "batteries" (energy enhancers) and "black holes" (energy drainers)...like with music, people who emit positives vibes are the ones to hang with. As for information, once again Dial stresses sources that give empowering news...he doesn't like to tune in to the standard newscasts since they're usually so negative. With food, it's clear that unhealthful diets loaded with sugar, salt and fat will keep the fatigue level high, as will excessive dependence on mind-altering chemicals such as alcohol. And his idea of "forced motion" promotes not only regular exercise but also a state of mind that emphasizes activity...walking and standing over sitting whenever the choice is available, for example. As for my reactions to these five areas Rob Dial emphasizes, I'm in general agreement while differing on some specific points. With music, I love beautiful hymns, instrumental classical music, and light ambient pieces...but I also like some pretty heavy, harsh-sounding hard rock stuff as well, and the lyrics can sometimes be a bit brutal. With people I agree that it's important to have positive, supportive folks around while also recognizing that for some other souls who may be missing out on that positive mindset, I may be in a position to play a supportive role in their lives...in other words, spread the faith. With information, I don't think I should just sit there for hours ingesting bad news off the cable news channels, but on the other hand I'd be deliberately delusional if I only cherry-picked news sources that omitted true-but-unpleasant important information. I don't exactly know of Rob Dial's dietary practices, but I can't think of anything I disagree with what he says about ingesting good vs. harmful substances...except that for some reason he's a big advocate of nicotine (the chemical, not tobacco). But I'm completely on board with his notion of "forced motion" and have practiced that principle long before I ever tuned in to this podcast. So in summary I'm generally in agreement with Dial's five principles of energy, with a few caveats. Oh, at the end of his presentation he mentioned that as a sixth energy source he sometimes likes to immerse himself in 45-degree (Fahrenheit) water...no thanks, dude...
Sunday, December 26, 2021
New Omicron Covid-19 Outbreak
Amid reports that COVID-19 cases are spiking, both in seasonal terms and due to the rise of the highly contagious Omicron variant, I'm getting two diametrically opposed narratives from the media. One is that hospitals are filling up and we're entering another period of sickness and death through mass infection, with the voluntarily unvaccinated suffering the worst effects of the disease...just as it happened this past summer with the Delta variant. The other narrative states that we're over Covid and are returning to our pre-pandemic lifestyles. And then there is the third narrative: yes, here comes a new sweep of the virus through our population, both vaccinated and unvaccinated...but that this will bring about the "herd immunity" that had been the distant dream of just about everyone. Not being an expert in the field, I have to react to all this noise by staying current on my Covid-19 vaccines (the first two Pfizer shots and the later booster) and avoid mass assemblies. My mask usage had gone down, but with this flu season and the Covid resurgence I intend to go back to earlier adherence. The reason is not to protect myself...I have the flu shot as well...but to protect those around me who for whatever rational or irrational reason have refused the Covid-19 vaccination, in spite of the fact that it's free, safe, effective, and convenient. I wonder whether we'll start seeing shutdowns and event cancellations if the Omicron outbreak is as strong early in 2022 as some suggest. I suppose the most bizarre thing I take from the media is how pandemic denial and the anti-vaccination movement has become a conservative political cause, with former president Trump even being criticized by his own fans for supporting vaccination...are you kidding me?
Saturday, December 25, 2021
Merry Christmas to All
I'd like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a joyous holiday season in this month that also features Chanukah and Kwanzaa. Besides celebrating the birth of Jesus, Christmas also marks the close to another calendar year. It seems that too much serious and somber stuff has happened to me, my colleagues, and loved ones in 2021...more than perhaps any single year I can remember, even including 2020. I think I could stand a more light-hearted, fun year for 2022, how about you? Season's greetings...
Friday, December 24, 2021
Quote of the Week...from John Lennon
Thursday, December 23, 2021
Just Finished Reading The Ten Equations That Rule the World by David Sumpter
Wednesday, December 22, 2021
Weekly Short Stories: 1980 Science Fiction, Part 1
Tuesday, December 21, 2021
Just Finished Reading Tar Baby by Toni Morrison
Monday, December 20, 2021
The 100 Days, As Seen by Rob Dial
On his podcast show The Mindset Mentor, Rob Dial presents various ways to look at self-motivation and success. Some of his angles work for me and some I have a little difficulty with. I liked one idea he presented on his December 10th show in which he proposed that I decide what it is I want to take action on and do it for 100 consecutive days...no excuses. This transforms whatever action goal I have into an established habit that I have internalized...I've heard that it takes fewer days to accomplish this, however. The point of making a big deal about "100 days" is that, sometime down the line, I'm going to be tempted to forego the designated activity because of my feelings or time constraints. But having that rule already in plan will help me keep true to whatever I had made a commitment. Dial says that success comes from consistency and failure from giving up...a lot of his presentation comes from notions that we all generally already know and accept, but he repackages and expresses them in a way that can be inspiring. So step number one is to reflect on and write down what it is I want to incorporate into my life, and then with step number two set out on those 100 days. Obviously it has to be something already within the scope of my ability to accomplish, at least at a basic level from the beginning: traveling to a new country or running a marathon each day wouldn't cut it! It's also an invitation to be a little creative about myself: a reinvention of sorts...
Sunday, December 19, 2021
Constellation of the Month: Eridanus (the River)
Saturday, December 18, 2021
Quarreling Among the Beatles in Get Back Movie
I'm about halfway through watching the first of three parts of the Peter Jackson-produced Beatles documentary Get Back, now airing on the Disney Plus channel. In early January, 1969, they're a few days into rehearsing material at their makeshift studio for a new album (eventually becoming Let It Be) and a planned concert, place and time undetermined. After Paul and George have a brief, rough-but-polite exchange, the four meet up the next morning...except John is late. In the meantime, Paul, with George and Ringo backing him up, concocts the core elements of the future blockbuster hit song Get Back. Later on John shows up, gamely trying to participate on a positive level with the band but appearing confused and out of it...something was definitely going on with him. After some jamming, they sit around facing each other...along with the assistants...and Paul starts off on a lecture of sorts about how he doesn't want to be the leader of the band but seems to be forced into that role. In both this scene and in the previous day's exchange with George, I felt that Paul was acting a bit like a drama queen and treating others with a patronizing attitude...and why not: every reality show...and this one certainly qualifies for that designation...seems to have someone who acts out on the others like this. I just expected that John would have been the prima donna here...if Paul had just guarded his tongue and simply stuck with the incredible music he was producing, I think things would have gone a lot smoother in these sessions, as well most likely in the months to follow that culminated in John quitting the Beatles in September. The documentary is already very, very long, but still had to selectively edit the Beatle's weeks-long sessions, each of which lasted all day for days on end each week: very, very grueling as I have said before. I felt that George came into the studio with a great amount of enthusiasm and songs of his own to contribute, gradually becoming disillusioned about how he was being treated by both Paul and John. Just a couple of days later he would walk out of the band with the other three trying to coax him back into rejoining during the ensuing two weeks. As for the eventual final product, that Let It Be album, which was finally released in the summer of 1970 after McCartney had announced the Beatles' breakup, contained some very good songs like Get Back, The Two of Us, For You Blue, Across the Universe, The Long and Winding Road, and I've Got a Feeling (I never did care for the title song Let It Be)...pretty impressive coming from what I've seen and heard so far on this documentary movie. So the Beatles quarreled among themselves...but this had probably been going on throughout their existence. The idea of filming and recording their conflicts in January of 1969 may be informative and entertaining for us today in looking back on it all, but the rolling cameras themselves were active participants in shaping the individual bandmates' attitudes and behavior toward one another...
Friday, December 17, 2021
Quote of the Week...from Noel Coward
Thursday, December 16, 2021
Miami Dolphins Still in Running for Playoff Spot
I tend to follow the National Football League...sometimes I wonder why with some of the controversy surrounding the sport in recent years. But it's been a solid tradition for me since 1968, when I began rooting for my then-hometown team, the Miami Dolphins, in their third season of existence. Since then I've ridden the roller-coaster of great-to-awful seasons this franchise has produced including their undefeated 1972 season and that awful year in 2007 when they went 1-15. Currently, under third-year head coach Brian Flores after a near-playoff surprise 10-6 season in 2020, this year they got off to a horrible start at 1-7, culminating in a humiliating loss to lowly Jacksonville in a game played in London, England. No, I don't know either why the NFL keeps staging games in a country where virtually nobody plays the game, much less demonstrating any degree of interest in watching it. That said, the Dolphins under this inspiring coach never said die and has now won five games in a row to bring their regular season record to 6-7...and back into the playoff discussion. This Sunday they play at home against their divisional rival New York and should beat the last-place Jets. If they accomplish this they will have already merited special mention for coming back from so far to a .500 record. Now I'm more keenly interested in how teams in the AFC with slightly better records in the Dolphins fare, creating the unusual situation where I'm pulling for hated New England to beat the Indianapolis Colts in their upcoming contest Sunday night...the Patriots are already too far ahead of Miami in the standings with just four games to go in the new 17-game regular season and the Colts sport a 7-6 record, making them one of the teams the Dolphins will need to hurdle over to get to the playoffs. Of course, should Miami fail against the Jets then, oh well, that's how it goes sometimes. But I've been impressed with this team coming together both on defense and offense, the latter highlighted by the marked improvement of their second-year quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. I'm not one of those sports fans who expect their team to win the championship every year or it's all a disaster...just get me to this point in the season and if they're still in the hunt, that's all I ask for. Go Dolphins!
Wednesday, December 15, 2021
Weekly Short Stories: 1979 Science Fiction, Part 4
Tuesday, December 14, 2021
The Hierarchical Mindset: You Can't Take It With You
Monday, December 13, 2021
About Rob Dial's 8 Things Successful People Do
Sunday, December 12, 2021
Starbucks, Running and Math
Today promises to be pretty dreary weatherwise here in Gainesville...I'm sitting here inside the Starbucks in northern Gainesville on 43rd Street for the first time since early in the year. Some Starbucks have a more intimate, welcoming quality to them, but this one is more like a mall food court with noises amplified by the acoustics of the spacious room...that's all right, the other Starbucks I usually frequent was off-line for my order and I've had it with standing in line anymore. Once again I'm sitting along one side facing the electric substation just south of Talbot Elementary School...connected by a walking path I would traverse during my marathon training phase back in 2010-11 while on one of my many long runs back then: ah, those were the days! I'd like to return to that wonderful era, and yesterday's measured run around my house totaling 14.4 miles was a good step in that direction. There is a specific type of lifestyle that I am seeking which mixes family, a small number of friends, learning, occasional travel, and running/walking into a pleasant-yet-challenging routine combining interaction, growth, and new memories. Part of it I am already living...much more is yet to come. I have been stepping out tentatively into the vast, wild ocean of mathematics by watching special programming and reading books on the subject...my goal is to be in deep waters by this spring and then see where it all takes me. The book I'm currently reading, The Ten Equations That Rule the World, by mathematician David Sumpter, illustrates the conundrum I find myself in whenever such an expert in the field introduces various concepts. It starts out quite clearly as he lays out the basics, but then suddenly it's as if he has taken off with his discussion and left me lost, standing on land while he is frolicking way out there, far offshore. This also happens with the Great Courses DVD set The Joy of Mathematics as Arthur Benjamin takes on the role there as teacher. I don't blame either Sumpter or Benjamin for me falling behind their respective narratives, but rather see this as a challenge that is similar to that which getting back to running imposed itself on me in the weeks following my July surgery: at first progress is slow and I can clearly see my own inadequacy in the area and where I want to go for improvement, anticipating a breakthrough down the line if only I just stick with my efforts. For me, whether it's running or mathematics or any other area, this is fun stuff to pursue...
Saturday, December 11, 2021
Yoko Ono: the Woman in the Room
As I continue to watch the Peter Jackson recompilation of the Beatles' Let It Be sessions from January 1969...which he renamed Get Back and is showing on the Disney+ channel...I am puzzled by the so-called controversy and division that Yoko Ono, then John Lennon's girlfriend and soon-to-be wife, was causing: she was supposedly breaking up the band if you believe the numerous accounts and analyses. Yet I just see her quietly sitting next to John, being supportive of him as well as respectful of the other Beatles. She's not making any kind of waves or acting like the kind of diva you would expect to see on any of these nauseating reality series that nowadays plague the TV dial. Often she's just reading a book or magazine. I did see her pat John's back and smile at him, and being pleasant and encouraging toward his bandmates....OH MY GOD SHE'S BREAKING UP THE BEATLES! And even though the other Beatles have had their own girlfriends in the studio before, Yoko's presence there at John's behest has been regarded as violating some kind of sacred "men only" arbitrary protocol in the recording studio that the Beatles maintained (when it was convenient for them, that is). I see nothing in any of this but extreme male chauvinism, and without going into details in order to protect another individual, I am personally keenly aware of the nasty, irrational and patronizing behavior that men can exhibit when their expected all-male group finds itself graced with the presence of just one woman...regardless of her demeanor or behavior. And, sadly, scapegoating her as being divisive instead of them taking responsibility for their own sorry-ass behavior toward each other is one of the results. Yoko, you're not the only woman who has had to go through this, and I'm afraid it's just going to continue...
Friday, December 10, 2021
Quote of the Week...from Bob Dole
Thursday, December 9, 2021
James, My Friend and Brother, Has Passed On
It is with deep sadness that I mark the passing yesterday evening of a friend and brother: James, the husband of Melissa's sister Krista. He passed away at their Kentucky home yesterday evening while recovering from a serious medical operation. James was devoted to his wife and family and was full of good humor and grace. He worked very hard all his life to provide for his loved ones, and the news of his sudden passing is devastating to all of us. My prayers and thoughts go out to Krista, Amy, Tabitha, James's relatives, friends, coworkers, Melissa, Keith, Will and Rebecca...all who, as did I, experienced this wonderful man's presence and influence at different times of their lives. I will miss him dearly...
Wednesday, December 8, 2021
Weekly Short Stories: 1979 Science Fiction, Part 3
Tuesday, December 7, 2021
Eighty Years Ago Today: Pearl Harbor
On the morning of Sunday, December 7th, 1941...eighty years ago...the United States was openly attacked by Japanese bombers at their naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack was intended to destroy the American fleet in advance of a Japanese strategy to forcibly take over much of the Pacific, but crucial American aircraft carriers and other boats were at sea when it happened and escaped to fight another day. President Franklin D. Roosevelt promptly had Congress declare war on Japan, which was followed by both Japan and Germany in turn declaring war on the United States: American open participation in World War II combat had begun, more than two years and two months after hostilities began following Hitler's invasion of Poland on September 1st, 1939. The number of people who remember the Pearl Harbor attack when it happened is dwindling rapidly as are those who served the country during the perilous years to follow, both as soldiers and civilians. I salute the brave men and women who stood up for freedom and put their lives on the line for future generations...God bless them all!
Monday, December 6, 2021
New Endeavors Can be Slow and Arduous at Start
Rob Dial is a young man who has an ongoing podcast, titled Mindset Mentor, that he puts out several times a week and on which he discusses various topics concerning motivation and self-improvement. I've been listening to him off and on for the past few weeks...sometimes he seems on-target with his message and sometimes he's a little off, in my opinion. One of his messages I did resonate with was when he said that starting something new from scratch usually doesn't yield much significant fruit for some time...sometimes a few months will elapse before there are encouraging results. To that I might add that often at the start of a new self-improvement project...losing weight, for example...there can be a false sense of great progress at the start followed by a more sobering degree of improvement if not stagnation for a while. Being a runner, after my surgery this past July 15th I wanted to return to that activity, actually running in place a minute or two on August 18th. Even though in the previous 11 years I had run 12 half-marathons and many more races of middle-to-long distance, starting again from zero has been a slow and arduous process...I wasn't able to simply run around my home neighborhood block (.7 mile) without needing to take walking breaks until October 20th, three months later. But a little more than a month after that I accomplished a 10-mile slow training run and this past Saturday I finished my first race, a 5K event. But those initial weeks were slow and often discouraging for me and I still have a long way to go. I write this not so much about running per se, but about any endeavor that I or you or anyone else might be interested in, with the ultimate aim of achieving competency or even possibly excellence in it. At the beginning the going can be rough and it might not seem like you're up to the task with any progress being slow and positive feedback in short supply. But then a day will come when the hard work you have put into it for weeks or even months will result in a breakthrough...there aren't many things in life that beat that. I have a new endeavor I'm tackling and expect the same slow, humbling initial apparent lack of progress...and also expect that breakthrough down the line in a few weeks. The trick is in faithfully sticking with it during this challenging time...
Sunday, December 5, 2021
An Upcoming Personal Project for 2022
Saturday, December 4, 2021
Ran Gainesville's Depot Parkrun 5K This Morning
When I stepped outside my front door around 6:30 this morning I already knew it would be foggy, but not to the extent that the fog was loud. The moisture was so thick that it was interacting with all the surrounding tree leaves to present the audio illusion of rain, yet I felt no drops falling on me. Normally at this time of the morning...especially on Saturdays...I am safely tucked away in my bed sound asleep, but today I had somewhere to go. In Gainesville we are blessed with a free weekly 5K racing opportunity on Saturdays at 7:30 am, the location always being Depot Park just south of downtown. I had run the Depot Parkrun four times in the past starting in January 2019, the last time being on June 20th this year, four weeks before I underwent open heart surgery to replace a defective valve and repair an aortic aneurism. Today's adventure was my first race since the operation, but going by my recent running training I was confident that I would be OK...the hardest part of it all was driving back and forth across town in the thick fog. You couldn't ask for friendlier people among those volunteering to hold this event...if I make it a more regular activity, I'll be volunteering as well. We were all cautioned just before the race that the fog (humidity 100% at 54 degrees) was causing the pathway to be a bit slick...good advice! For about two thirds of the race I ran at a reasonably slow pace and then "put the pedal to the metal" the rest of the way, finishing with a time of 33:03, 3 seconds faster than my June race. Over the years my speed has slowed (I'm 65 now), but I'm taking it all "in stride" and emphasizing covering the distance...hopefully in future years I'll continue to be fully mobile, with my running adventures eventually transforming into walking adventures (actually I'm already having a few of those). Today's experience was very encouraging...
Friday, December 3, 2021
Quote of the Week...from Albert Camus
Thursday, December 2, 2021
Following the Beatles' Get Back Documentary on Disney Plus
Wednesday, December 1, 2021
Weekly Short Stories: 1979 Science Fiction, Part 2
Tuesday, November 30, 2021
My November 2021 Running and Walking Report
Monday, November 29, 2021
Just Finished Reading An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
An Abundance of Katherines, from 2006, is yet another quirky young adult novel by John Green focused on adolescent self-discovery. This time the protagonist is Colin Singleton, a very intelligent high school student obsessed with that intelligence...as well as the conundrum of why he has been repeatedly dumped by all his girlfriends: they are 19 in total and all named Katherine. After Katherine the Nineteenth breaks up with him, Colin decides to develop a mathematical formula, based on his own experiences, for predicting how long a relationship will go...of course, this is preposterous. Known as the nerdy smart geek in his class, he has but one friend, Hassan, who serves as a reality check for him as well as for those of us who tend to see young Muslims in a negative, even fearful, light. One day Colin and Hassan...with Colin's permissive parents' blessings...set off on a road trip from their hometown of Chicago into Tennessee, where they stop at a hole-in-the-wall town called Gutshot. There they befriend Lindsey...whose boyfriend is also named Colin...and Lindsey's factory-owning mother Hollis, at whose house they stay. They are hired by Hollis to interview the locals for an oral history of the area she is compiling. Colin, assured of his prodigal intelligence, is nonetheless concerned that he will never attain the status of "genius", which in his definition involves producing something new, something that matters. This reminded me of the movie A Beautiful Mind from four years earlier in which mathematical genius John Nash tells his Princeton roommate Charles essentially the same thing. The story is funny and easy to follow, and I enjoyed the good-natured verbal sparring between the characters, especially Colin and Hassan. However, I don't know that this story accurately portrayed the state of adolescence, at least as far my own recollection of this period of my life is concerned. The kids all seem to be level-headed and reasonable, traits that I noticed were generally lacking in many of my classmates (and in retrospect myself as well)...these are all very strong, self-assured personalities. Maybe Green deliberately wrote them that way to point out a positive direction for all his young insecure, awkward readers. He has done something like this with his other books I've read: Looking for Alaska and Turtles All the Way Down...click on the titles to read my earlier reviews. I don't think you can go wrong with An Abundance of Katherines, but be prepared to read through some extreme silliness...
Sunday, November 28, 2021
Omicron Covid Variant Reported
Saturday, November 27, 2021
Our Recent Visit to Asheville, North Carolina
Friday, November 26, 2021
Quote of the Week...from Sheryl Sandberg
Thursday, November 25, 2021
Happy Thanksgiving, Everybody
I wish you all a most happy Thanksgiving. If you're working today I hope it's because you want to. For the many who traditionally spend it with family, best wishes that everyone shares positive, memorable moments together with lots of good stuff to eat, hopefully not in too much excess. And if you're one of those who can't wait to go out on shopping sprees later today and tomorrow...well, I'm not quite sure what to say except to stay safe and that I never was into that Black Friday sort of thing. As for me, my wonderful grown kids are having Thanksgiving dinner at my home with Melissa and me...that's definitely something I am most grateful for, along with the blessings of our health and positive outlook on life...
Wednesday, November 24, 2021
Weekly Short Stories: 1979 Science Fiction, Part 1
Tuesday, November 23, 2021
Just Finished Reading Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy
Profiles in Courage is a 1956 history book by John F. Kennedy while he was still a United States senator...it won him the Pulitzer Prize the following year, after which it was revealed that his speechwriter Ted Sorenson wrote the bulk of it. Regardless who actually put the pen to paper, it was Kennedy who placed his stamp of approval on it, and for the sake of simplicity I'll refer to it as his book. It is comprised of a set of short biographies of eight men who served over the span of American history as U.S. senators: John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, Thomas Hart Benton, Sam Houston, Edmund G. Ross, Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar, George Norris, and Robert A. Taft. Kennedy was careful to spotlight members of differing parties and ideologies...his main thrust of argument was that at crucial points in their Senate careers they made principled decisions that went against the passions of their constituents, ending their political careers or at least delaying their fulfillment (Adams would later become president and then a representative in the House while Lamar would make it to the U.S. Supreme Court). I don't think this book could (or should) have been written today since some of those profiled were on the pro-slavery side in the nineteenth century, even to the extent of owning slaves themselves. And there were also a number of historical figures around these eight that the author criticized perhaps a bit unfairly. Still, I think Profiles in Courage makes a couple of significant points applicable to today's political setting and the Senate in particular. One, our national legislative bodies operate on the premise that we are a representative republic whose leaders are either directly or indirectly elected by the people...this gives them accountability to the population while acknowledging that they are in a better situation than most of us to get the needed information, expertise, and wisdom for the often difficult decisions that go with their positions. And two, the fact that Kennedy felt the need for this book to highlight just eight senators for their political courage demonstrates that in the vast majority of cases senators and other politicians...when push comes to shove...will usually abandon their principles and succumb to popular prejudices and pressure from their colleagues on important, divisive issues. You don't have to look around very far today to see this going on with too many of our elected national officials, sadly...
Monday, November 22, 2021
Dan Mullen Fired from Coaching Florida Gators Football
Back in 2018, when Mississippi State head football coach Dan Mullen was sought and hired to replace erratic Jim McElwain at the University of Florida, trumpets were practically sounding that he was a Spurrier/Meyer-caliber coach that would lead the Gators back to their glory days of Southeastern Conference titles and National Championship contention. The first two seasons, in which Mullen capitalized on players recruited by his predecessor, were great successes and last year's was as well...until the season's end when UF lost three straight games (although in two of them they were playing for the SEC championship (46-52 against Alabama) and in the Cotton Bowl (20-55 against Oklahoma). This year their roster reflected Mullen's recruiting efforts for Florida, but it became clear early on that the wide-open passing attack and a fast, aggressive defense that defined the Gators in its recent history would be lacking. Their games in 2021 were marked by inconsistency from week to week, with the offense and defense alternating between good and awful. For me, I am more supportive of a head coach being given more time to develop his team, and sometimes the season just doesn't go your way. But with Dan Mullen, although I give him credit for promoting Covid-19 vaccination recently, I can't get it out of my mind that last fall he, in the middle of a deadly upsurge of the virus in the general population...and no vaccines yet available...advocated that Florida "pack the Swamp [its home stadium]" for a game after losing a close road contest at Texas A&M where the home school practiced lax safety protocols for its own stadium. Until that moment I had been a supporter of Mullen...afterwards I realized that winning was his only yardstick for success. Well, you win by your yardstick and in turn lose by your yardstick: his team has lost four out of their last five games and in their only victory over that span they gave up a record 42 points in one half (at home) against a small college. Running and special teams coach Greg Knox will fill the Florida head coaching vacancy against Florida State this week...if the Gators win then they will be bowl-eligible. I'm not one of those Florida fans who expect them to compete for the National Championship every year, and sometimes you have years like this one and have to shake it off and move on to the next. Normally I'd say that the coach should be given more time, but after Mullen's tone-death pandemic denial last season my patience with him was gone long before 2021...