--Florida is scheduling its first execution in eighteen months, after a previous execution (using lethal injection) was “botched”. This time they’ve supposedly taken steps to ensure that the victim (whoops, I mean convict) is unconscious before the fatal doses are administered. This idea that the state has to prove that the “procedure” used in killing somebody isn’t cruel and unusual punishment, while the actual killing is acceptable, makes me question the entire moral underpinning of our legal system. Here is what I think about capital punishment.
--Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe has declared himself the winner of that country’s corrupt runoff presidential election, after his chief opponent dropped out and sought sanctuary during widespread pre-election violence and threats. I remember back in 1981, when the first (then legitimate) election was held. Mugabe easily beat out his main rival Joshua Nkomo, an election split not by ideology, but rather by ethnic identification, with most of the country’s majority Shona population supporting Mugabe. Now nobody ever reports on this obviously important factor in Zimbabwe politics. I know it hasn’t gone away. It’s just being ignored. I remember how, in an earlier election in Ukraine, one candidate was chiefly supported by the Ukrainian population while the other was supported by the Russians in eastern Ukraine. This doesn’t justify holding rigged elections, but it is still something that the press needs to inform us about. After all, you don’t need to look past the calamities in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia to see how strongly ethnic identification means to many people in the world. And the passions, violence, and tragedies that can result from suspicions and disinformation about others.
--Florida is purchasing back 187,000 acres of land, on the south side of Lake Okeechobee, owned by the sugar industry and used for sugarcane growth and sugar refining. The intent is to redirect water overflowing from the lake during the wet season back down through the Everglades in the “River of Grass”. The process of renewal may take many years, especially since Lake Okeechobee is itself very polluted with runoff from refining. Also, with such a large-scale change as this, many in the area who were involved with sugar will lose their jobs. But hopefully, south Florida will once again get their share of fresh water that they need (although I think this area is severely overpopulated).
--Ever since I wrote an earlier article about the “Great Florida Desert”, we in Gainesville have been drenched almost daily in heavy rains and storms. Although it isn’t fun getting caught outside in the rain, this is truly a most welcome development in our area!
Monday, June 30, 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Who Needs South Park, Anyway?
A couple of days ago, I witnessed a true media event. It seems that Hillary and Barack made up and are now going forward together in “unity”. Why, even one of Hillary’s supporters says that she now likes Obama because Hillary says it’s O.K. to! To emphasize the rapproachment between the two, they rode a plane seated together to New Hampshire, where they addressed a small, circularly-seated crowd in the remote town (if you want to call it a town) of Unity. Unity sounds like the kind of name that Stephen King would use in one of his novels (like Misery, for example). And it wasn’t all that far away from King’s state of Maine, either. Come to think of it, from the air, that assembly reminded me a bit of Pet Sematary! Although the crowd itself was small, one report claimed that in the New Hampshire Primary, Clinton and Obama ran neck and neck in Unity: each received one vote. So, anyway, the cable news channels were giving this meeting top live coverage. With speaker after speaker coming up to address the crowd. While watching the preliminary coverage, I noticed a headline news flash going by on the bottom of the screen: Obama’s tie matches Hillary’s pantsuit! And the announcers then sat around discussing the significance of this, wondering whether it was planned or just a good omen. Well, that just about does it for me. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything covered so uncritically by the media as this contrived, staged event was. And I support Obama and would like to see Clinton on the ticket! If I were one of the folks working for the satirical show South Park (of which I recently saw an episode of them mercilessly taking apart the Walmart Corporation), I would simply animate the characters, stick a few regular cast members subtly into the plot, and otherwise show this story straight without any degree of exaggeration, especially about how it was reported. But who needs South Park, anyway? Just turn on the news!
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Friendships and Intrigues
When two people form a friendship with each other, it is obvious that there will always be some differences between them. But each friend must be mindful of the dangers in overemphasizing them (as well as repressing them). Sometimes a friendship may seem to be developing, but something comes into the relationship and sabotages it, potentially transforming the relationship into one of enmity. For this article, I will call those dangers “intrigues”. Here are a few of them:
Competition-One of the main things that draws two people together is a common interest. And, in the course of the developing friendship, the two will probably discover that one is better, or more adept in that field than the other. There is nothing wrong with friendly competition among pals, but being overly competitive can breed resentment and jealousy as well, so competition needs to be guarded carefully.
The Organization (Missionary)-Especially prevalent in churches are friendships based on false premises. One party befriends the other, who is at least initially unaware that the whole reason for this is that he/she is being recruited for a religion/church/group by the other (who will grow in stature in that group for this “outreach”). Once the “organization” foundation for this relationship is recognized, the two can often get bogged down in a wrestling of wills, with one trying to get the other to “join up”. This “friendship” will usually only last as long as the “recruiter” keeps after the potential “recruitee”. Once the cause seems lost, the relationship and friendship ends.
Romance-When a man and a woman pursue a platonic friendship, there will sometimes be an undercurrent of romance which needs to be delicately quelled (so as not to damage the feelings of the other). Sometimes one party to the friendship will find out, through other people, that his/her friend has developed a romantic interest in the other. And then it’s pretty hard to go back to that simple friendship.
Gossip-When a friend begins to gossip about the personal lives of others, I get the distinct impression, true or not, that he/she is gossiping about me behind my back. So I immediately begin to distrust my friend and will henceforth be much more reserved and formal about what I share about myself in conversation. When I walk into a room and see people sitting around a table gossiping about another, I mark those people in my mind as being unworthy of friendship with me. And I don’t think that I’m alone in this!
Age-Age is often used to give one party an advantage of the other when discussing just about anything. One side may continually draw upon his/her experiences to dominate the conversation over the other. Of course, there will almost always be age gaps between people. This difference, though, can give flavor to the friendship and sometimes creates a beneficial and enduring mentor/student relationship. But if one side resents the other’s constant invocation of his/her age advantage, then that friendship will not grow.
Prejudice-I know people from all sorts of backgrounds who will pepper their conversations with generalizations about race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, age, and national origin. And there are a few who regard me is somehow being “bad” because I my skin color is relatively light or because I am a male. It’s great to be different, but most of the differences that people like to emphasize speak nothing about traits like trustworthiness, graciousness, dignity, compassion, generosity, and loyalty. And those are the traits that really matter!
Narcissism-There are certain people who, when they walk into a room, expect everyone to stop what they’re doing and breathe a sigh of relief, because “so-and-so” is here! Such people see everything and everyone as reflections of themselves. In conversation with another, they expect their partner to submerge his/her own self and fully concentrate on them alone. “It’s all about me” is the theme of this “friendship”, and only those are either in a dependency relationship or have very low self-esteem will put up with this for very long.
Life Narrative-Everyone has their own life narrative. And within this narrative, we all, whether intentionally or not, make certain assumptions from our experiences as to how people will behave. This can often lead to an unhealthy cynicism about human nature. If you assume that your new friend will eventually betray you because of your life experiences, then you will not try to wholeheartedly develop that friendship. Sometimes we just have to blot out our past and give others a fresh slate to work with! New friends are not responsible for our past slights!
Slippery Slope to Doom-When someone shares his/her opinion with me, I expect to be able to respectfully disagree, if that’s how I feel. But when most of one’s opinions are so starkly black & white & cut & dry, with the only alternative being the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it, I don’t really want to interact with this person and become closer, as a friend. It’s not that I feel “disrespected” about not being able to share my opinions. It’s just that I don’t think that there is only one right answer or viewpoint with any divergence leading to disaster.
Assigned Role-Sometimes in a friendship, one may find that he/she is regarded more as a reminder of someone else than as an completely different, unique individual. Even to the point of being blamed for the past person’s shortcomings and transgressions! As we grow older, we naturally see similarities between the people we know now and those of our pasts. But everyone is different, and not responsible for what others may have done.
Triangulation-A friend who triangulates will tell you one thing and act as if you are both bosom buddies. But behind your back the same “friend” will criticize you. The way to discover people like this is to notice how much they criticize their other friends when they aren’t present.
Pack Rat-Two people will often form friendships in the context of being in a larger group. And if one friend loses standing or leaves that group, the other may feel pressure or simply an inclination to allow that friendship to fade (if not abruptly end).
So, there are plenty of intrigues that can sabotage a friendship. And I recognize that nobody’s perfect, and some degree of what I have listed is present in many, if not most, friendships, to some extent. But I feel that the best, enduring friendships don’t permit these intrigues to get out of hand.
Competition-One of the main things that draws two people together is a common interest. And, in the course of the developing friendship, the two will probably discover that one is better, or more adept in that field than the other. There is nothing wrong with friendly competition among pals, but being overly competitive can breed resentment and jealousy as well, so competition needs to be guarded carefully.
The Organization (Missionary)-Especially prevalent in churches are friendships based on false premises. One party befriends the other, who is at least initially unaware that the whole reason for this is that he/she is being recruited for a religion/church/group by the other (who will grow in stature in that group for this “outreach”). Once the “organization” foundation for this relationship is recognized, the two can often get bogged down in a wrestling of wills, with one trying to get the other to “join up”. This “friendship” will usually only last as long as the “recruiter” keeps after the potential “recruitee”. Once the cause seems lost, the relationship and friendship ends.
Romance-When a man and a woman pursue a platonic friendship, there will sometimes be an undercurrent of romance which needs to be delicately quelled (so as not to damage the feelings of the other). Sometimes one party to the friendship will find out, through other people, that his/her friend has developed a romantic interest in the other. And then it’s pretty hard to go back to that simple friendship.
Gossip-When a friend begins to gossip about the personal lives of others, I get the distinct impression, true or not, that he/she is gossiping about me behind my back. So I immediately begin to distrust my friend and will henceforth be much more reserved and formal about what I share about myself in conversation. When I walk into a room and see people sitting around a table gossiping about another, I mark those people in my mind as being unworthy of friendship with me. And I don’t think that I’m alone in this!
Age-Age is often used to give one party an advantage of the other when discussing just about anything. One side may continually draw upon his/her experiences to dominate the conversation over the other. Of course, there will almost always be age gaps between people. This difference, though, can give flavor to the friendship and sometimes creates a beneficial and enduring mentor/student relationship. But if one side resents the other’s constant invocation of his/her age advantage, then that friendship will not grow.
Prejudice-I know people from all sorts of backgrounds who will pepper their conversations with generalizations about race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, age, and national origin. And there are a few who regard me is somehow being “bad” because I my skin color is relatively light or because I am a male. It’s great to be different, but most of the differences that people like to emphasize speak nothing about traits like trustworthiness, graciousness, dignity, compassion, generosity, and loyalty. And those are the traits that really matter!
Narcissism-There are certain people who, when they walk into a room, expect everyone to stop what they’re doing and breathe a sigh of relief, because “so-and-so” is here! Such people see everything and everyone as reflections of themselves. In conversation with another, they expect their partner to submerge his/her own self and fully concentrate on them alone. “It’s all about me” is the theme of this “friendship”, and only those are either in a dependency relationship or have very low self-esteem will put up with this for very long.
Life Narrative-Everyone has their own life narrative. And within this narrative, we all, whether intentionally or not, make certain assumptions from our experiences as to how people will behave. This can often lead to an unhealthy cynicism about human nature. If you assume that your new friend will eventually betray you because of your life experiences, then you will not try to wholeheartedly develop that friendship. Sometimes we just have to blot out our past and give others a fresh slate to work with! New friends are not responsible for our past slights!
Slippery Slope to Doom-When someone shares his/her opinion with me, I expect to be able to respectfully disagree, if that’s how I feel. But when most of one’s opinions are so starkly black & white & cut & dry, with the only alternative being the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it, I don’t really want to interact with this person and become closer, as a friend. It’s not that I feel “disrespected” about not being able to share my opinions. It’s just that I don’t think that there is only one right answer or viewpoint with any divergence leading to disaster.
Assigned Role-Sometimes in a friendship, one may find that he/she is regarded more as a reminder of someone else than as an completely different, unique individual. Even to the point of being blamed for the past person’s shortcomings and transgressions! As we grow older, we naturally see similarities between the people we know now and those of our pasts. But everyone is different, and not responsible for what others may have done.
Triangulation-A friend who triangulates will tell you one thing and act as if you are both bosom buddies. But behind your back the same “friend” will criticize you. The way to discover people like this is to notice how much they criticize their other friends when they aren’t present.
Pack Rat-Two people will often form friendships in the context of being in a larger group. And if one friend loses standing or leaves that group, the other may feel pressure or simply an inclination to allow that friendship to fade (if not abruptly end).
So, there are plenty of intrigues that can sabotage a friendship. And I recognize that nobody’s perfect, and some degree of what I have listed is present in many, if not most, friendships, to some extent. But I feel that the best, enduring friendships don’t permit these intrigues to get out of hand.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Geographic Dreams
I don’t know how you dream, but in my dreams, I almost always think like a complete dunce (the character of Patrick Starfish in SpongeBob SquarePants comes to mind). When I do wake up from a dream, I will often want to kick myself for acting so stupidly within the dream! I think that this is largely due to my lack of critical ability within the dream state. But this is not always the case. There is a certain kind of dream I have from time to time that somehow seems to make such an impact on me that I unconsciously have incorporated it into my “reality” memory: the geographic dream.
In eastern Gainesville, just on the other side of Main Street around a place called the Thomas Center, is a compact theme park with several rides, especially of the roller coaster variety. North of this park lies a vast area of concentrated, old apartment buildings some of which are abandoned. And there are railroad tracks running around this area. I have gone on several of the rides in the park, and I would have to say that, as far as theme parks are concerned, it ranks right up there at the top (especially since the lines are so short). But the catch is this: none of this is real! The theme park, apartments, and railroad tracks only exist in my dreams, and by “dreams”, I mean that I have dreamed of this place a number of times!
There is a solid wall in the building where I work that, in an earlier dream, connected to a library with a large sitting area. I sat in that place once, reading a book in Finnish (and understanding it). Now, whenever I walk past that wall during work, I think about that curious dream. By the way, I don't know any Finnish.
In the formerly undeveloped Everglades wilderness southwest of Hollywood, there is a back-winding road out in the middle of nowhere on which stands an all-night restaurant that I’ve eaten at (but only in my dreams). There is a special waterway running north-south through Fort Lauderdale that I’ve swum down, and which has a little pastry shop on the side (the best-tasting pastry ever), but once again, this is a figment of my dreams. There are specific real spots where, when I am dreaming, I can actually lift off of the ground and fly (out along the north side of my old Hollywood home and in the middle of the road directly in front of my current home). Recently, I took off with my family in a plane that was camouflaged as the second floor of an old house near the Office Depot on US 441 in Gainesville. I sat in a comfortable recliner, strapped on my seat belt, and the second floor took off! The pilot decided to go through a few loops over Gainesville, to which I whooped and hollered in delight! I could go on and on with dream experiences of this type.
I’m sure that you, too, can probably dig up your own dream experiences as they relate to real places. Those that I mentioned of my own experiences were just among the ones that I most clearly remembered upon awakening. I wonder how much of our feelings about our waking, real world are influenced by unconscious associations from unremembered-but-latent dreams. After all, we are all a mix of the rational and irrational. And sometimes we may get a feeling about a place that we can’t explain the reasons for. Perhaps this says something about my psychological makeup, but dreams about geography and travel have always been the most memorable and meaningful for me.
In eastern Gainesville, just on the other side of Main Street around a place called the Thomas Center, is a compact theme park with several rides, especially of the roller coaster variety. North of this park lies a vast area of concentrated, old apartment buildings some of which are abandoned. And there are railroad tracks running around this area. I have gone on several of the rides in the park, and I would have to say that, as far as theme parks are concerned, it ranks right up there at the top (especially since the lines are so short). But the catch is this: none of this is real! The theme park, apartments, and railroad tracks only exist in my dreams, and by “dreams”, I mean that I have dreamed of this place a number of times!
There is a solid wall in the building where I work that, in an earlier dream, connected to a library with a large sitting area. I sat in that place once, reading a book in Finnish (and understanding it). Now, whenever I walk past that wall during work, I think about that curious dream. By the way, I don't know any Finnish.
In the formerly undeveloped Everglades wilderness southwest of Hollywood, there is a back-winding road out in the middle of nowhere on which stands an all-night restaurant that I’ve eaten at (but only in my dreams). There is a special waterway running north-south through Fort Lauderdale that I’ve swum down, and which has a little pastry shop on the side (the best-tasting pastry ever), but once again, this is a figment of my dreams. There are specific real spots where, when I am dreaming, I can actually lift off of the ground and fly (out along the north side of my old Hollywood home and in the middle of the road directly in front of my current home). Recently, I took off with my family in a plane that was camouflaged as the second floor of an old house near the Office Depot on US 441 in Gainesville. I sat in a comfortable recliner, strapped on my seat belt, and the second floor took off! The pilot decided to go through a few loops over Gainesville, to which I whooped and hollered in delight! I could go on and on with dream experiences of this type.
I’m sure that you, too, can probably dig up your own dream experiences as they relate to real places. Those that I mentioned of my own experiences were just among the ones that I most clearly remembered upon awakening. I wonder how much of our feelings about our waking, real world are influenced by unconscious associations from unremembered-but-latent dreams. After all, we are all a mix of the rational and irrational. And sometimes we may get a feeling about a place that we can’t explain the reasons for. Perhaps this says something about my psychological makeup, but dreams about geography and travel have always been the most memorable and meaningful for me.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Favorite Songs of 1968
1968 was a peculiar year for me in music. At the time, I was 11-12 years old and had much different musical tastes back then than I do now. So many of the songs from that year that are now among my favorites were then among my least favorites! But I’m reviewing the years AS I LIVED THROUGH THEM, so my list of favorite tunes may seem a bit patchy.
1968 was the year of the long song, with hits like Hey Jude (by the Beatles), MacArthur Park (by Richard Harris), Time Has Come Today (by the Chamber Brothers), and Sky Pilot (by Eric Burdon and the Animals) taking up huge swaths of time on radio play (I liked all of them). It was also a year of national tragedy, marked by the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. Dion memorialized these two within his touching Abraham, Martin, and John. The Rascals summed up the social climate of the country with their People Got to be Free. Judy Collins’s Both Sides Now, which I called “Clouds” back then, has only grown in stature with me over the years. Mechanical World (by Spirit) and Journey to the Center of the Mind (by Ted Nugent) were two of the better hard rockers. Mighty Quinn, by Manfred Mann, was my #3 song back in ‘68. It was one of those tunes whose lyrics kept gnawing at me and wouldn’t go away. My #2 favorite song of that year was an example in the recording business of “phasing gone wild”: the psychedelic Pictures of Matchstick Men by the Status Quo. And my top favorite song of 1968? A long instrumental piece, dominated by the keyboard, whose title and artist escaped me all the way into the late 1990s, when a coworker told me that he had heard it while driving through Georgia; the radio announcer identified it as America, by Keith Emerson (of later Emerson Lake and Palmer fame) and the Nice. America was an inspired rock adaptation of Leonard Bernstein’s America (from West Side Story) and Dvorak’s New World Symphony. But back in 1968, I knew nothing of this. I just thought that it was the coolest thing I had heard in a very long time! And I still like it a lot.
1968 was the year of the long song, with hits like Hey Jude (by the Beatles), MacArthur Park (by Richard Harris), Time Has Come Today (by the Chamber Brothers), and Sky Pilot (by Eric Burdon and the Animals) taking up huge swaths of time on radio play (I liked all of them). It was also a year of national tragedy, marked by the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. Dion memorialized these two within his touching Abraham, Martin, and John. The Rascals summed up the social climate of the country with their People Got to be Free. Judy Collins’s Both Sides Now, which I called “Clouds” back then, has only grown in stature with me over the years. Mechanical World (by Spirit) and Journey to the Center of the Mind (by Ted Nugent) were two of the better hard rockers. Mighty Quinn, by Manfred Mann, was my #3 song back in ‘68. It was one of those tunes whose lyrics kept gnawing at me and wouldn’t go away. My #2 favorite song of that year was an example in the recording business of “phasing gone wild”: the psychedelic Pictures of Matchstick Men by the Status Quo. And my top favorite song of 1968? A long instrumental piece, dominated by the keyboard, whose title and artist escaped me all the way into the late 1990s, when a coworker told me that he had heard it while driving through Georgia; the radio announcer identified it as America, by Keith Emerson (of later Emerson Lake and Palmer fame) and the Nice. America was an inspired rock adaptation of Leonard Bernstein’s America (from West Side Story) and Dvorak’s New World Symphony. But back in 1968, I knew nothing of this. I just thought that it was the coolest thing I had heard in a very long time! And I still like it a lot.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Frustration With Running
I am feeling a bit frustrated about my running lately. First of all, last month I had my best two-mile time (12:46) and one-mile time (6:14) since 1974. It looked as if I was making progress beyond my wildest dreams. In the following weeks, though, I seemed a get more bogged down and tired when I would go for a run. Now, for the past week, my left foot (around where the toes are attached) has been aching, preventing me from running. I had been intending to run in a local 3-mile road race on July 4, but I’ve scratched that idea, hoping that I’ll be ready to run competitively by October. I miss the routine and exhilaration of intense running. But I also miss the old long-distance, slower running I used to enjoy many, many years ago. Although treadmill training is very convenient in many ways, the long run “out-in-the-country” really defines the essence of this activity for me. But I have to figure out how to run while protecting my feet better! Until I’m ready to resume running, I guess I’ll be going back to training on the cross-trainer machine at my YMCA. And doing hot, sweaty yard work.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Star Trek
When Star Trek Enterprise, the fifth series of the Star Trek saga, was cancelled before its scheduled run ended, there was an outcry from Star Trek enthusiasts against the action. After all, hadn’t Star Trek, in all of its manifestations, become something of an institution unto itself, complete with its own “history of the future”? I haven’t seen any of the Enterprise episodes, but if anyone thinks that they are being deprived of Star Trek, then they are severely deluded!
When the original Star Trek series, starring William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, was cancelled after only three seasons in 1968, I truly felt deprived, for I was just getting into the series when it was ended. And there was a period when reruns of this great old series had not yet hit the airwaves. There was no such thing as video or DVD rentals yet, so that period was truly a time of deprivation. What is the situation nowadays regarding Star Trek? If you were to add up all of the hour-long episodes for the five series (Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek Voyager, and Star Trek Enterprise), you would come up with a figure around 600 episodes! And all series are being shown around on the various cable/satellite channels. If watching Star Trek was your forty-hour-per-week job, then it would take fifteen weeks watching episodes end-on-end without repetition to go through all of them. And that excludes the ten Star Trek movies, all of the Star Trek books, and even the Star Trek cartoon series!
A few days ago, I saw that Star Trek Voyager was on, so I decided to see what it was like. In this episode, Captain Janeway (played by Kate Mulgrew), encountering a hostile computer, decided to initiate a self-destruct sequence to destroy her ship if the computer couldn’t be “fixed” in time. A few days later, I caught the end of another Voyager episode where the Captain was doing the same thing! First, I thought that I was just seeing the same episode, but no, it was different this time. Which brings me to a conclusion: there is a limit to how many different story ideas can be generated for a specific series with its characters and circumstances. I’d be willing to bet that, if you crossed over from one Star Trek series to another, you would find examples of old stories being recycled to fit the new series and its characters.
When Star Trek originally aired, people had not yet reached the moon. Space exploration was still considered to be the “final frontier” by most, while nowadays the emphasis seems to be more on how we can cushion our lives for ourselves here on Earth. And that includes being able to pretend, through more advanced special effects, that we have conquered space already. After all, compared to Star Trek, Stargate, Star Wars, and Battleship Galactica, real space travel is such a drag to follow, isn’t it? But back in the late sixties, that wasn’t the prevailing feeling.
I plan to watch more of all the Star Trek series, although right now I’m only familiar with the first two (and I still haven’t seen most of Star Trek: The Next Generation). But I am so familiar with the original series that I can forecast what the characters say before they say it! Any possible criticisms notwithstanding, from what I’ve seen, the Star Trek media "federation" has put out an interesting, quality product over the years that is a refreshing departure from the sickening “reality” shows and cop shows that have plagued television so much lately.
Correction: My figures were a little off: there are nearly 700 hour-long Star Trek episodes!
When the original Star Trek series, starring William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, was cancelled after only three seasons in 1968, I truly felt deprived, for I was just getting into the series when it was ended. And there was a period when reruns of this great old series had not yet hit the airwaves. There was no such thing as video or DVD rentals yet, so that period was truly a time of deprivation. What is the situation nowadays regarding Star Trek? If you were to add up all of the hour-long episodes for the five series (Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek Voyager, and Star Trek Enterprise), you would come up with a figure around 600 episodes! And all series are being shown around on the various cable/satellite channels. If watching Star Trek was your forty-hour-per-week job, then it would take fifteen weeks watching episodes end-on-end without repetition to go through all of them. And that excludes the ten Star Trek movies, all of the Star Trek books, and even the Star Trek cartoon series!
A few days ago, I saw that Star Trek Voyager was on, so I decided to see what it was like. In this episode, Captain Janeway (played by Kate Mulgrew), encountering a hostile computer, decided to initiate a self-destruct sequence to destroy her ship if the computer couldn’t be “fixed” in time. A few days later, I caught the end of another Voyager episode where the Captain was doing the same thing! First, I thought that I was just seeing the same episode, but no, it was different this time. Which brings me to a conclusion: there is a limit to how many different story ideas can be generated for a specific series with its characters and circumstances. I’d be willing to bet that, if you crossed over from one Star Trek series to another, you would find examples of old stories being recycled to fit the new series and its characters.
When Star Trek originally aired, people had not yet reached the moon. Space exploration was still considered to be the “final frontier” by most, while nowadays the emphasis seems to be more on how we can cushion our lives for ourselves here on Earth. And that includes being able to pretend, through more advanced special effects, that we have conquered space already. After all, compared to Star Trek, Stargate, Star Wars, and Battleship Galactica, real space travel is such a drag to follow, isn’t it? But back in the late sixties, that wasn’t the prevailing feeling.
I plan to watch more of all the Star Trek series, although right now I’m only familiar with the first two (and I still haven’t seen most of Star Trek: The Next Generation). But I am so familiar with the original series that I can forecast what the characters say before they say it! Any possible criticisms notwithstanding, from what I’ve seen, the Star Trek media "federation" has put out an interesting, quality product over the years that is a refreshing departure from the sickening “reality” shows and cop shows that have plagued television so much lately.
Correction: My figures were a little off: there are nearly 700 hour-long Star Trek episodes!
Monday, June 23, 2008
Monday Newsbreak: 6/23
--Several Florida Republican politicians, including Governor Crist, are reversing their previously-held opposition to oil drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. The headline article about this issue in Sunday’s Gainesville Sun mentioned not a word about the reputed drilling in the same area, either planned or already underway, by China and Cuba. To me, it’s one thing to regulate our own companies. But if other countries, not subject to our safety and environmental regulations, can fill in the vacuum created by the eastern Gulf ban, then that is not only preventing us from producing our own energy, but it is also endangering our environment more than if we had permitted regulated exploration and drilling in the first place!
--Republican presidential candidate John McCain took his campaign northward to the steps of the Canadian capital, Ottawa, as he discussed there the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and criticized Democratic opponent Barack Obama for his reservations with that treaty. So far, no one has yet had the heart to tell the poor, misinformed Arizona senator that Canada is not part of the United States, although, perhaps if he is elected President, that may be how he treats our neighbor to the north, anyway.
--I have heard several people, including political commentator Arianna Huffington, express opposition to Barack Obama asking Hillary Clinton to join him on the ticket. I realize that, in the midst of a campaign for a party’s nomination, the different sides and their supporters naturally will tend to get a little hot under the collar about each other. That happened earlier between the McCain and Romney camps on the GOP side. But as people have a little time to chill out, more should see the advantage of having a united ticket like this. I support an Obama-Clinton ticket. If Clinton is not the VP pick, then I wish Obama would select California senator Dianne Feinstein.
--There has been an enormous amount of flooding along the northern Mississippi River, with Iowa losing a large percentage of its grain harvest this year. I wish those involved in this widespread disaster a speedy and full recovery. It appears that local, state, and federal authorities are doing what needs to be done to assist those stricken by flooding.
--I recently saw my first WNBA game, which was between the Connecticut Sun and the Seattle Storm. This was a very close and exciting game. I noticed that women’s professional basketball is just as aggressively played (if not more) as the men’s NBA. There seemed to be fewer open shots, due to tenacious defenses. I’ve come to believe more and more in the importance of passing in basketball offense. The men, to me, still have the advantage in that area (with Phoenix Suns guard Steve Nash being the master of this aspect of the game). Still, one game is just that: one game, and I’m bound to change my view of the WNBA the more I see.
--Republican presidential candidate John McCain took his campaign northward to the steps of the Canadian capital, Ottawa, as he discussed there the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and criticized Democratic opponent Barack Obama for his reservations with that treaty. So far, no one has yet had the heart to tell the poor, misinformed Arizona senator that Canada is not part of the United States, although, perhaps if he is elected President, that may be how he treats our neighbor to the north, anyway.
--I have heard several people, including political commentator Arianna Huffington, express opposition to Barack Obama asking Hillary Clinton to join him on the ticket. I realize that, in the midst of a campaign for a party’s nomination, the different sides and their supporters naturally will tend to get a little hot under the collar about each other. That happened earlier between the McCain and Romney camps on the GOP side. But as people have a little time to chill out, more should see the advantage of having a united ticket like this. I support an Obama-Clinton ticket. If Clinton is not the VP pick, then I wish Obama would select California senator Dianne Feinstein.
--There has been an enormous amount of flooding along the northern Mississippi River, with Iowa losing a large percentage of its grain harvest this year. I wish those involved in this widespread disaster a speedy and full recovery. It appears that local, state, and federal authorities are doing what needs to be done to assist those stricken by flooding.
--I recently saw my first WNBA game, which was between the Connecticut Sun and the Seattle Storm. This was a very close and exciting game. I noticed that women’s professional basketball is just as aggressively played (if not more) as the men’s NBA. There seemed to be fewer open shots, due to tenacious defenses. I’ve come to believe more and more in the importance of passing in basketball offense. The men, to me, still have the advantage in that area (with Phoenix Suns guard Steve Nash being the master of this aspect of the game). Still, one game is just that: one game, and I’m bound to change my view of the WNBA the more I see.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Stephen King's Dark Tower Series
I just finished reading the final (seventh) volume of Stephen King’s much-drawn-out epic series The Dark Tower. And I’m not sure how to write this article: should I just go all out and spill the entire can of beans on it, revealing what happens and ruining it for those who haven’t yet read it? Or should I instead tread on a tight wire, revealing just enough to make some points while concealing the series’ outcome? I’ll try the latter, for better or for worse.
Stephen King is easily my favorite author, and if you have been reading this blog regularly (or are in my family), you would already know that. I have read most of his works, long and short. But until last December, I had steered clear of the seven-part Dark Tower series. Well, almost clear. Because, in some of his stories, King alludes to the Dark Tower. Especially in his early 90s-novel Insomnia and the short story The Little Sisters of Eluria. Finally, my curiosity was stimulated to the point where I could stand it no longer and began reading the series with Volume One, The Gunslinger. Originally written in 1970, King had revised it recently, and it was this version I read. One thing I admire about Stephen King is that he openly reveals his sources of inspiration. And The Dark Tower is directly inspired by a poem he read by Robert Browning, while its main protagonist, a quiet, somber gunslinger named Roland Deschain, derives much of his personality from Clint Eastwood’s “man with no name” character from old spaghetti westerns like A Fistful of Dollars and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. King acknowledges that he had been an avid fan of Tolkien and Lord of the Rings, and wanted to write his own epic series. But King’s output over the years of successive installments to the series was extremely erratic, and many fans gave up on him ever completing it. Finally, a near-fatal accident in 1999, when King was hit by a minivan while taking a walk down a Maine country road near his house, prompted him to renew his efforts. And in a torrent of writing, he produced the final three volumes.
As in Lord of the Rings, a long quest and a fellowship of diverse characters are central to the Dark Tower. Instead of trying to dispose of a pesky ring in a fiery volcano, though, Roland’s ka-tet (i.e. fellowship) tries to reach the mysterious Dark Tower and save existence from the nefarious Crimson King (a character eerily reminiscent of Tolkien’s Sauron). Departing from Tolkien, though, King uses time travel and travel-between-worlds to advance the plot, and this tactic gets our contemporary popular culture involved in this very exotic story. He also ties together many of his earlier works and creates a “Stephen King Universe” of interrelated stories. And, of course, he can’t help but stick himself and his beloved state of Maine into the proceedings as well! King also weaves into his story his writing philosophy: he feels as if he is channeling his characters and story from another source, not of himself!
Does Roland save existence and reach the Dark Tower? Far be it for me to tell you. But I will repeat the message that the good author gives at the end. It is the journey of reading through the series that gives it such an appeal. The ending, which King acknowledges that he received a lot of flack for, is something that you can take or leave.
Stephen King is easily my favorite author, and if you have been reading this blog regularly (or are in my family), you would already know that. I have read most of his works, long and short. But until last December, I had steered clear of the seven-part Dark Tower series. Well, almost clear. Because, in some of his stories, King alludes to the Dark Tower. Especially in his early 90s-novel Insomnia and the short story The Little Sisters of Eluria. Finally, my curiosity was stimulated to the point where I could stand it no longer and began reading the series with Volume One, The Gunslinger. Originally written in 1970, King had revised it recently, and it was this version I read. One thing I admire about Stephen King is that he openly reveals his sources of inspiration. And The Dark Tower is directly inspired by a poem he read by Robert Browning, while its main protagonist, a quiet, somber gunslinger named Roland Deschain, derives much of his personality from Clint Eastwood’s “man with no name” character from old spaghetti westerns like A Fistful of Dollars and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. King acknowledges that he had been an avid fan of Tolkien and Lord of the Rings, and wanted to write his own epic series. But King’s output over the years of successive installments to the series was extremely erratic, and many fans gave up on him ever completing it. Finally, a near-fatal accident in 1999, when King was hit by a minivan while taking a walk down a Maine country road near his house, prompted him to renew his efforts. And in a torrent of writing, he produced the final three volumes.
As in Lord of the Rings, a long quest and a fellowship of diverse characters are central to the Dark Tower. Instead of trying to dispose of a pesky ring in a fiery volcano, though, Roland’s ka-tet (i.e. fellowship) tries to reach the mysterious Dark Tower and save existence from the nefarious Crimson King (a character eerily reminiscent of Tolkien’s Sauron). Departing from Tolkien, though, King uses time travel and travel-between-worlds to advance the plot, and this tactic gets our contemporary popular culture involved in this very exotic story. He also ties together many of his earlier works and creates a “Stephen King Universe” of interrelated stories. And, of course, he can’t help but stick himself and his beloved state of Maine into the proceedings as well! King also weaves into his story his writing philosophy: he feels as if he is channeling his characters and story from another source, not of himself!
Does Roland save existence and reach the Dark Tower? Far be it for me to tell you. But I will repeat the message that the good author gives at the end. It is the journey of reading through the series that gives it such an appeal. The ending, which King acknowledges that he received a lot of flack for, is something that you can take or leave.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
The Dignity of Any Job
One of the ads for freecreditreport.com shows a young man working at a small seafood restaurant singing a song of woe; it seems that he hadn’t been keeping up with his credit report and someone had successfully stolen his identity, thus ruining his credit and putting him in such a bad situation that he was now lowered to having to work in this demeaning job. And the whole commercial makes clear the point that greeting customers in a low-paying service industry job is indeed “demeaning”, if not outright humiliating. The attitude of all working there (apparently, they all had been neglecting their credit reports) was that of being far below their station in life. As a former low-wage earner in a restaurant, I find this commercial to be degrading and insulting.
The great, late Martin Luther King Jr. once exhorted people to treat any job they had seriously and with respect: to do the best they could do, no matter how insignificant others may regard it to be. And he was right. The dignity that one lives by depends on how much respect he/she shows others and by how much pride is derived from doing excellent work, without regard to what kind of work it is or how much pay comes from it.
Throughout my work life, I have encountered co-workers who have put me down for working hard at my job. The idea is apparently that if the powers-that-be aren’t paying you enough (in your own personal estimation, of course), then you need to cut back on your efforts to meet your conception of your work’s worth. That, to me, is a very unethical and self-defeating philosophy to live by. And (to risk a very bad pun), to their “discredit”, freecreditreport.com is guilty of promoting this elitist and (to me) antisocial mentality. Shame on them!
The great, late Martin Luther King Jr. once exhorted people to treat any job they had seriously and with respect: to do the best they could do, no matter how insignificant others may regard it to be. And he was right. The dignity that one lives by depends on how much respect he/she shows others and by how much pride is derived from doing excellent work, without regard to what kind of work it is or how much pay comes from it.
Throughout my work life, I have encountered co-workers who have put me down for working hard at my job. The idea is apparently that if the powers-that-be aren’t paying you enough (in your own personal estimation, of course), then you need to cut back on your efforts to meet your conception of your work’s worth. That, to me, is a very unethical and self-defeating philosophy to live by. And (to risk a very bad pun), to their “discredit”, freecreditreport.com is guilty of promoting this elitist and (to me) antisocial mentality. Shame on them!
Friday, June 20, 2008
Martin Sheen's AARP Comment
On the cover of the July/August issue of the AARP magazine is a photo of actor Martin Sheen, along with a quote from him that reads, “Nothing ever gets done unless it’s done by a fanatic.” I wasn’t in a position to read the article within the magazine, but the comment by itself piqued my interest and gave me pause for some reflection. And this is what I came up with: Sheen’s statement needs analysis in two steps: one, what is the meaning of “getting things done” and, two, how true is the statement?
As functioning social human beings living a day-to-day existence, we (if responsible) habitually take care of our own business and that of our obligations to society. By habit, I again stress. I don’t think this is what Sheen was referring to by “nothing gets done”, though. It is when people need to step out of the box and come up with innovations to solve problems, as well as exercising the will the implement these solutions, that getting things done takes on the renown actor’s intended meaning. But stepping away from habits and doing things differently is not natural to anyone. Only someone who is already fanatically obsessed with the area that needs change will be there to do the needed work. And yes, I believe that this is true!
The late prolific author Isaac Asimov, regardless of his wealth and fame, adhered to a brutal regimen with his writing that he termed “candy store hours”, after the very long hours that his immigrant father put in for many years with the family candy store business. Fellow prolific writing superstar Stephen King has claimed that anyone who truly expects any real success in writing needs to set aside AT LEAST four hours per day to read and four more hours to write. Assuming that one already is working an eight hour per day job to begin with, the only conclusion is that King also believes that fanaticism is a prerequisite for success (at least in his field). Perhaps the supreme example of fanaticism leading to progress is that of Thomas Edison, the famous American inventor who would work continuously in his lab around the clock, only occasionally cat-napping in his zealous pursuit of technological innovation. And anyone who has been in the armed forces can recognize the imposed fanaticism of discipline, particularly during basic training, that can seemingly instantly transform raw civilian recruits into very disciplined, purposeful, and useful soldiers. And look at the activists of today, global warming activist Al Gore being a shining example: Gore eats, drinks, and breathes his cause. It is clearly the BIG THING to him and little else comes close. This is fanaticism, all right!
As I ponder this topic, I reflect on my own life and how I am so spread out with my interests. Does this mean that I have little hope of achieving any meaningful progress in any of them, since I am by no means a fanatic? Or does it matter? I once remember seeing a Twilight Zone episode titled A Game of Pool starring Jack Klugman and Jonathan Winters. Klugman’s character was a fanatical pool player whose only reason for living was to become the greatest player ever. He gets a chance to play against the all-time best-ever, played by Winters. Only Winters’ character was dead, and the pool match was a life-or-death match for Klugman (only in the Twilight Zone). As the match was drawing down, Winters gently persuaded Klugman that there was more to life than just pool, and that, though he himself had enjoyed some success in the sport, he had also enjoyed life in general and many of its joys as well. The moral of this episode was clear: balance trumps fanaticism. But is that a moral for chumps, and should everybody have at least one BIG THING that he/she is fanatical about? H-m-m-m!
As functioning social human beings living a day-to-day existence, we (if responsible) habitually take care of our own business and that of our obligations to society. By habit, I again stress. I don’t think this is what Sheen was referring to by “nothing gets done”, though. It is when people need to step out of the box and come up with innovations to solve problems, as well as exercising the will the implement these solutions, that getting things done takes on the renown actor’s intended meaning. But stepping away from habits and doing things differently is not natural to anyone. Only someone who is already fanatically obsessed with the area that needs change will be there to do the needed work. And yes, I believe that this is true!
The late prolific author Isaac Asimov, regardless of his wealth and fame, adhered to a brutal regimen with his writing that he termed “candy store hours”, after the very long hours that his immigrant father put in for many years with the family candy store business. Fellow prolific writing superstar Stephen King has claimed that anyone who truly expects any real success in writing needs to set aside AT LEAST four hours per day to read and four more hours to write. Assuming that one already is working an eight hour per day job to begin with, the only conclusion is that King also believes that fanaticism is a prerequisite for success (at least in his field). Perhaps the supreme example of fanaticism leading to progress is that of Thomas Edison, the famous American inventor who would work continuously in his lab around the clock, only occasionally cat-napping in his zealous pursuit of technological innovation. And anyone who has been in the armed forces can recognize the imposed fanaticism of discipline, particularly during basic training, that can seemingly instantly transform raw civilian recruits into very disciplined, purposeful, and useful soldiers. And look at the activists of today, global warming activist Al Gore being a shining example: Gore eats, drinks, and breathes his cause. It is clearly the BIG THING to him and little else comes close. This is fanaticism, all right!
As I ponder this topic, I reflect on my own life and how I am so spread out with my interests. Does this mean that I have little hope of achieving any meaningful progress in any of them, since I am by no means a fanatic? Or does it matter? I once remember seeing a Twilight Zone episode titled A Game of Pool starring Jack Klugman and Jonathan Winters. Klugman’s character was a fanatical pool player whose only reason for living was to become the greatest player ever. He gets a chance to play against the all-time best-ever, played by Winters. Only Winters’ character was dead, and the pool match was a life-or-death match for Klugman (only in the Twilight Zone). As the match was drawing down, Winters gently persuaded Klugman that there was more to life than just pool, and that, though he himself had enjoyed some success in the sport, he had also enjoyed life in general and many of its joys as well. The moral of this episode was clear: balance trumps fanaticism. But is that a moral for chumps, and should everybody have at least one BIG THING that he/she is fanatical about? H-m-m-m!
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Favorite Songs of 1969
During 1969, I wasn’t very interested in popular music. What radio I did listen to was largely either to follow sports broadcasts or to engage in my then-hobby of DX-ing (trying to pick up distant radio stations). It was through the latter that I ended up listening to some of my favorite songs of the year. Still, compared to the years that followed, there weren’t that many to report on in ‘69. And many songs of that year that I later grew to like a lot weren’t among my favorites (as I lived through it).
There were several “hard” rock songs that were popular in 1969, my favorite of them being Hot Smoke and Sassafras by Bubble Puppy. Oldtimers Sammy Davis Jr. and Peggy Lee each had big hits with the inspiring I Gotta Be Me and the deflating Is That All There Is, respectively. The Youngbloods gave the year a hippie, feel-good flavor with Get Together. Gitarzan, by Ray Stevens, was hilarious no matter how often I heard it. The Cowsills had Hair, another side splitter. Mary Hopkin had Goodbye, a sweet (if I’m not mistaken) Paul McCartney composition. The fabricated band the Archies had the year’s big monster hit: the simultaneously bubble-gum and suggestive Sugar Sugar. In the midst of trouble with the law, the Doors had their biggest single: the uncharacteristic-sounding Touch Me, complete with a horn section. Thunderclap Newman’s falsetto Something in the Air portended a revolution of sorts that never materialized. My #3 song of 1969, the ballad The Boxer by Simon and Garfunkel, was only bested by their earlier tune America. The Beatles came to my attention with O-Bla-Di O-Bla-Da and my #2 song of the year: Get Back (with a style and tempo they should have stuck with). I also enjoyed the Sergio Mendes & Brazil 66 version of Blackbird. Tops of ‘69: the upbeat-but-mysterious Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In, the crowning achievement of the Fifth Dimension.
There were several “hard” rock songs that were popular in 1969, my favorite of them being Hot Smoke and Sassafras by Bubble Puppy. Oldtimers Sammy Davis Jr. and Peggy Lee each had big hits with the inspiring I Gotta Be Me and the deflating Is That All There Is, respectively. The Youngbloods gave the year a hippie, feel-good flavor with Get Together. Gitarzan, by Ray Stevens, was hilarious no matter how often I heard it. The Cowsills had Hair, another side splitter. Mary Hopkin had Goodbye, a sweet (if I’m not mistaken) Paul McCartney composition. The fabricated band the Archies had the year’s big monster hit: the simultaneously bubble-gum and suggestive Sugar Sugar. In the midst of trouble with the law, the Doors had their biggest single: the uncharacteristic-sounding Touch Me, complete with a horn section. Thunderclap Newman’s falsetto Something in the Air portended a revolution of sorts that never materialized. My #3 song of 1969, the ballad The Boxer by Simon and Garfunkel, was only bested by their earlier tune America. The Beatles came to my attention with O-Bla-Di O-Bla-Da and my #2 song of the year: Get Back (with a style and tempo they should have stuck with). I also enjoyed the Sergio Mendes & Brazil 66 version of Blackbird. Tops of ‘69: the upbeat-but-mysterious Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In, the crowning achievement of the Fifth Dimension.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Commercial TV on the Web
I am heartened by the proliferation of archived old television series being shown on the Internet. Although I’m not interested in most of them, some of them, like the original Star Trek, Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, The Pretender, and The Twilight Zone are among my favorite series. AOL also plays old Man From U.N.C.L.E. episodes (although its collection is grossly incomplete). Although I have bought DVD collections of different old TV series, this is not really economically feasible for me on a large scale (not to mention the resulting generation of clutter). What seems to be working on the Internet is what previously worked so well on commercial television through the years: show commercials with the “free” shows! I have no problem at all with advertisements, and like many people, actually prefer to have a little intermission between segments of an episode. I see no reason why ALL old episodes of ANY old series shouldn’t eventually be available on the web (with commercial breaks). I’ll go one step further: when watching movies on my TV, I don’t have to see them commercial-free either. Why can’t we see any movie we want on our computers, as long as advertisers are willing to sponsor their showing? For those who still want to avoid commercials, there will always be premium channels, pay-for-view, and video rental companies like Blockbuster and NetFlix (who rent out now over the Internet). If this sort of thing can be done on a small scale, as it is today, and make money for those showing the episodes via the web, then it should be even more lucrative on a grand scale. I’m looking forward to the future of “free” TV (with commercials) on my computer! Now if those making the movies and TV series will only come out with new shows I actually want to watch! No problem, though, for I have a backlog of earlier material (such as all five Star Trek series) that I would like to view. Even if nothing new of consequence came out, I’d be thoroughly occupied with the old stuff for a very long time!
Of course, all of this hinges on the Internet provider companies refraining from limiting the amount of usage, or by charging money based on usage (which some of them have recently threatened to do).
Of course, all of this hinges on the Internet provider companies refraining from limiting the amount of usage, or by charging money based on usage (which some of them have recently threatened to do).
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Political Shibboleths
I have noticed that those in the media or the government can often give away their political inclinations by the use of certain words or phrases. Part of this is due to the deliberate process of “framing” that both the left and right engage in. For example, the existing “estate tax” is called the “death tax” by its opponents. Can you guess which side uses the term “illegal aliens” and which uses “undocumented immigrants”? And regarding global warming, the Democratic left is almost unanimous in accepting it as scientific fact, but the Republican right is divided on the issue. Hence Republicans, in the interest of not ruffling feathers among its own, tend to use the more bland term “climate change”. And what about opponents of gay marriage who try to conceal their underlying antagonism toward homosexuals by referring to their goal as “preserving the sanctity of marriage”? Supporters of gay marriage, on the other hand, will often try to soften the sound of the words by using the term “same-sex marriage”. It’s all in the connotation one wants to impart on the subject, and whatever is used reveals the speaker’s (or writer’s) opinion even before it is expressed.
That is all very well and fine with me. It’s a shame, though, that people are so insecure in their beliefs that they feel the need to develop separate vocabularies in order to discuss them with others. The hook in this is to get whomever you are discussing a particular issue with to use your vocabulary. If successfully done, the argument is already halfway won, regardless from which side of the political spectrum you are arguing, for the other is now speaking using YOUR connotative terminology.
This posturing gets a little more serious when discussing war and peace issues. For example, an occupying army in another country will often refer to the insurgents fighting them guerilla-style as “terrorists”, evoking images in the public’s eye back home of 9/11 and the like. Meanwhile, those supporting the insurgents often call them “freedom fighters” and “patriots”. When the Soviet Union sent their army into Afghanistan in 1979 (at that government’s request) to fight forces trying to topple that nation’s secular, left-leaning regime, the U.S. vehemently praised the insurgents there and supported them (e.g. see the movie Charlie Wilson’s War). After 9/11, the U.S. (in my opinion justified) didn’t wait for an Afghan government request before attacking those believed to be responsible and complicit in the attack. But now that we occupy that land, any action committed by Afghani insurgents is termed “terrorist”. It’s all in which side of the fence you’re standing on as to how you frame the issue.
Lately, I have become quite irritated at how extreme right-wing self-proclaimed political pundits almost universally refer to the Democratic Party as the “Democrat” Party. For some reason, this is supposed to be a slur against them. Sure, it is proper to use “Democrat” as a noun, (e.g. I am a Democrat). But as an adjective, -ic should be added. This arrogant misusage does help to quickly identify the political leanings and integrity of whomever I am listening to (or reading). So I suppose that they are unwittingly doing me a service (saving me from wasting my time expecting a reasonable discussion of the issues from them).
That is all very well and fine with me. It’s a shame, though, that people are so insecure in their beliefs that they feel the need to develop separate vocabularies in order to discuss them with others. The hook in this is to get whomever you are discussing a particular issue with to use your vocabulary. If successfully done, the argument is already halfway won, regardless from which side of the political spectrum you are arguing, for the other is now speaking using YOUR connotative terminology.
This posturing gets a little more serious when discussing war and peace issues. For example, an occupying army in another country will often refer to the insurgents fighting them guerilla-style as “terrorists”, evoking images in the public’s eye back home of 9/11 and the like. Meanwhile, those supporting the insurgents often call them “freedom fighters” and “patriots”. When the Soviet Union sent their army into Afghanistan in 1979 (at that government’s request) to fight forces trying to topple that nation’s secular, left-leaning regime, the U.S. vehemently praised the insurgents there and supported them (e.g. see the movie Charlie Wilson’s War). After 9/11, the U.S. (in my opinion justified) didn’t wait for an Afghan government request before attacking those believed to be responsible and complicit in the attack. But now that we occupy that land, any action committed by Afghani insurgents is termed “terrorist”. It’s all in which side of the fence you’re standing on as to how you frame the issue.
Lately, I have become quite irritated at how extreme right-wing self-proclaimed political pundits almost universally refer to the Democratic Party as the “Democrat” Party. For some reason, this is supposed to be a slur against them. Sure, it is proper to use “Democrat” as a noun, (e.g. I am a Democrat). But as an adjective, -ic should be added. This arrogant misusage does help to quickly identify the political leanings and integrity of whomever I am listening to (or reading). So I suppose that they are unwittingly doing me a service (saving me from wasting my time expecting a reasonable discussion of the issues from them).
Monday, June 16, 2008
Monday Newsbreak: 6/15
--Now that the Internet has grown as much as it has, with all of the businesses and consumers depending so heavily on it, some of the biggest service providers (including Time Warner) are threatening to begin metering usage and charge heavy users for going over their imposed "limits". How utterly stupid of these providers. All this will do is ruin the growth of the Internet and its merging with television and telecommunications! This is not the time to play a "zero-sum" game. Investment in growth is called for instead. I feel, with this breaking story, that many businesses, such as Netflix and Blockbuster Video, are feeling as if a rug is being jerked out from under them.
--Several University of Florida professors from across the academic spectrum are packing up and leaving in pursuit of positions with institutions that believe in investing in the future instead of planned decline. It's not just about those who are leaving, either: in a university dedicated to new ideas, it is of paramount importance to continually bring in new talent. But with hiring freezes and cutbacks, how is this going to happen?
--The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that those imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay (euphemistically called "detainees") have legal recourse in American courts to legally challenge their confinement. For those who disagree with this ruling, I would like to ask how they would like for a foreign country to come over here, arrest their children, and confine them in isolation on some remote island somewhere without any criminal charges levied against them and any way for them to challenge their arrests and detention. The shoe fits differently when it's on YOUR foot.
--I am still wondering when I am ever going to be able to sit down and watch a WNBA game on television. Hopefully, with this dreadful NBA final series between the Celtics and the Lakers approaching its completion, there will be more attention paid to the WNBA. But maybe not.
--Several University of Florida professors from across the academic spectrum are packing up and leaving in pursuit of positions with institutions that believe in investing in the future instead of planned decline. It's not just about those who are leaving, either: in a university dedicated to new ideas, it is of paramount importance to continually bring in new talent. But with hiring freezes and cutbacks, how is this going to happen?
--The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that those imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay (euphemistically called "detainees") have legal recourse in American courts to legally challenge their confinement. For those who disagree with this ruling, I would like to ask how they would like for a foreign country to come over here, arrest their children, and confine them in isolation on some remote island somewhere without any criminal charges levied against them and any way for them to challenge their arrests and detention. The shoe fits differently when it's on YOUR foot.
--I am still wondering when I am ever going to be able to sit down and watch a WNBA game on television. Hopefully, with this dreadful NBA final series between the Celtics and the Lakers approaching its completion, there will be more attention paid to the WNBA. But maybe not.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Flying Cars and Chairs
Many years ago, on Art Bell’s late night radio show, I heard a story about a man living in the Los Angeles area who wanted to fly. Only he wasn’t a pilot and had no plans to be an airplane or helicopter passenger, either! No, instead he got a lawn chair and a bb gun. Then he tied several helium balloons to the chair and strapped himself into it with a belt. This individual then released his contraption with him in it. And it rose. And rose. And rose. And rose. Before too long, he was several thousand feet up in the air, drifting downwind for miles! I’m not sure how long this odyssey lasted, but this man finally began to use his bb gun to gradually bring the chair down by carefully shooting one balloon at a time. And from what I heard, he did successfully land! Have any of you heard of this incident? Or is it just an urban legend?
I don’t see why one would necessarily have to sit in a chair to perform this feat. It seems to me that one could rig up an apparatus on their back and attach the balloons to it, instead. Then, the experience would be more like parachute riding in reverse!
Sometimes I wonder why we aren’t living in that futuristic society predicted in the not-so-distant past, where, instead of being bound to the ground, people would be driving airborne cars instead. But then I look around me and see how people drive “on the ground” and am instantly shaken back into reality. The only way I see this “flying cars” system happening in the future is if the second-to-second control of the car is handled through computers, with the passengers more-or-less just sitting back and enjoying the ride. And I understand this technology is already available on the ground!
I don’t see why one would necessarily have to sit in a chair to perform this feat. It seems to me that one could rig up an apparatus on their back and attach the balloons to it, instead. Then, the experience would be more like parachute riding in reverse!
Sometimes I wonder why we aren’t living in that futuristic society predicted in the not-so-distant past, where, instead of being bound to the ground, people would be driving airborne cars instead. But then I look around me and see how people drive “on the ground” and am instantly shaken back into reality. The only way I see this “flying cars” system happening in the future is if the second-to-second control of the car is handled through computers, with the passengers more-or-less just sitting back and enjoying the ride. And I understand this technology is already available on the ground!
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Tightwad in the Mid-Eighties
The years 1984 and 1985 mark the period in my life when I was at my absolute cheapest. I actually owned two cars, both needing repairs, but didn’t want to spend the required money. I resolved this situation by getting rid of both cars and instead riding around on a cheap, used bicycle. In April 1984, I began penny-pinching as well as (literally) penny-counting. In my little studio apartment, I refused to run my air-conditioner wall unit, even in the middle of a severe heat wave (nighttime lows in the mid-80’s (Fahrenheit)). In the winter, I didn’t run the heat. I would take pains to buy shelf-food in order to be able to keep my refrigerator turned off. I never used hot water when washing (even when showering during the coldest of winter) and cut my own hair. Although I would regularly visit coffee/doughnut shops to sit and study in, coffee was relatively cheap back then. Still, I kept a record of every expenditure, again down to the penny.
Now I know that this may sound rather extreme, but keep in mind that I was single and had a relatively low-paying job at the time. Still, I managed to save thousands of dollars and incur zero debt, simply by being very careful with my money. Since then, with marriage and my family (two children), my life has become considerably more complex (and I wouldn’t have had it any other way), and with that naturally arose the need to invest money into the lives of the dearly beloved members of my family. I could have successfully pulled this off financially by still being austere with myself while demonstrating a discerning generosity for my wife and children. And I could have continued tracking our money very closely as well. But I’m afraid that I let the change in my relationships change my attitude toward my personal finances. Still, I know what I am capable of, and it is much more than most other people (and myself in recent years). So, with some reasonable modifications (such as attending to car repairs), I am resolving to return to the spirit I had in the mid 1980s when I made a priority of caring for my finances. Good luck to me!
Now I know that this may sound rather extreme, but keep in mind that I was single and had a relatively low-paying job at the time. Still, I managed to save thousands of dollars and incur zero debt, simply by being very careful with my money. Since then, with marriage and my family (two children), my life has become considerably more complex (and I wouldn’t have had it any other way), and with that naturally arose the need to invest money into the lives of the dearly beloved members of my family. I could have successfully pulled this off financially by still being austere with myself while demonstrating a discerning generosity for my wife and children. And I could have continued tracking our money very closely as well. But I’m afraid that I let the change in my relationships change my attitude toward my personal finances. Still, I know what I am capable of, and it is much more than most other people (and myself in recent years). So, with some reasonable modifications (such as attending to car repairs), I am resolving to return to the spirit I had in the mid 1980s when I made a priority of caring for my finances. Good luck to me!
Friday, June 13, 2008
Soreness, Injury, and Balance
One of the difficulties that people face when trying to change something in their lives is the resistance that both their mind and body put up to thwart that change. We all have an embedded inertia within ourselves that stands in the way of habit-changes, both for the good and the bad. When we decide to train ourselves athletically, our muscles become sore, and we are faced with the question of whether we just need to train through that soreness or look at the possibility of having suffered an injury that would require abstaining from training. Similarly, in non-athletic areas of our lives, a change is likely to cause an unsettling of emotions as well as an increased state of mental fatigue. I believe that this is part of our natural resistance to change and must be combated in order to change our habits in a more positive direction.
Lately, I have been experiencing a greater amount of sleepiness, which seems to go around the clock. I’ve examined my lifestyle, and I have concluded that I have taken on quite a few projects that require some serious habit-changing. And the fatigue is a natural reaction to this. So what should I do about this? If you have read this blog, you’ll notice that I have a feature titled “The Eights”, in which every eight weeks I report on my progress (or lack thereof) in a particular area of personal self-improvement. And there are an awful lot of areas in this regard that I am trying (with dubious success) to juggle around! So, in order to facilitate effective habit-changing and reduce the associated fatigue, I am going to (temporarily) suspend some of them and concentrate on the very few that are the most important at this stage.
It is important to listen to your body when your life is becoming more stressful. Sometimes there are legitimate health concerns that need addressing. But usually, it is a sign that you are really changing (for the better), and your stubborn self is fighting it tooth and nail! It’s important to be able to discern the difference between the two and strike a healthy balance. And that’s something that I am now currently struggling with.
Lately, I have been experiencing a greater amount of sleepiness, which seems to go around the clock. I’ve examined my lifestyle, and I have concluded that I have taken on quite a few projects that require some serious habit-changing. And the fatigue is a natural reaction to this. So what should I do about this? If you have read this blog, you’ll notice that I have a feature titled “The Eights”, in which every eight weeks I report on my progress (or lack thereof) in a particular area of personal self-improvement. And there are an awful lot of areas in this regard that I am trying (with dubious success) to juggle around! So, in order to facilitate effective habit-changing and reduce the associated fatigue, I am going to (temporarily) suspend some of them and concentrate on the very few that are the most important at this stage.
It is important to listen to your body when your life is becoming more stressful. Sometimes there are legitimate health concerns that need addressing. But usually, it is a sign that you are really changing (for the better), and your stubborn self is fighting it tooth and nail! It’s important to be able to discern the difference between the two and strike a healthy balance. And that’s something that I am now currently struggling with.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Favorite Songs of 1970
1970 was still another year containing a multitude of good, memorable songs. It was the last year that the Beatles were together, and their final album, Let It Be, was released. Although the title track became the big singles hit, my favorites were the "deep tracks" The Two of Us and For You Blue. I also loved The Long and Winding Road. Phil Spector, much to Paul McCartney's chagrin, had enhanced this song by adding orchestration and a chorus, greatly improving it in the process (in my humble opinion). Another famous act, Simon and Garfunkel, ended as well in 1970 with the release of singles from their Bridge Over Troubled Waters album (including the title track as well). But my favorite song of that album was the wildly syncopated Cecilia (my #5 song of '70 as I lived through it). Question, by the Moody Blues, was my #4 favorite song of this year. It would be more than two decades before I discovered the treasure trove of material that this talented and inspired band produced in a flurry during the late sixties/early seventies. During the summertime of 1970, I listened to local radio station 940-WINZ, which in that era would play songs that were only marginally popular nationwide. One of those songs, Oliver's I Can Remember, captured my heart and made me wonder why it wasn't a monster hit. It was also my #3 favorite song of that year. In the fall of '70, British blues/rock singer Joe Cocker, already famous for his covers of Beatles tunes She Came in Through the Bathroom Window, I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends, and the Box Tops' The Letter, outdid himself by raucously covering the old slow, sensual Julie London song Cry Me a River in a concert setting. This fast-paced version, with Cocker crying and screaming and friend Leon Russell going all-out on the piano, helped turn my musical tastes more toward both soul and hard rock (and was my #2 song of the year). But my #1 top favorite song of 1970 (back then) turned out to be an aberration of sorts. For reasons I'm still unaware of, I became thoroughly obsessed in the spring of '70 with the George Baker Selection song Little Green Bag. It was only a minor hit, and one day in late spring I discovered that my local stations were no longer playing it. This deprivation started me on a long period of Little Green Bag withdrawal (since it hadn't been popular enough to be recycled as a "golden oldie"). Later on, I bought that single and now scratch my head wondering what I saw in that song! Still, I like it. But nowhere near the fanatical degree of adulation I felt for it back in 1970! Go figure. Anyway, here are some other great tunes from back then that I liked:
Venus (Shocking Blue)
Arizona (Mark Lindsay)
Rainy Night in Georgia (Brook Benton)
Won't Find Better Than Me (New Hope)
Ma Belle Amie (Tee Set)
Didn't I (Delfonics)
Hey Mr. Sun (Bobby Sherman)
Come and Get It (Badfinger)
Love Or Let Me Be Lonely (Friends of Distinction)
Tennessee Birdwalk (Jack Blanchard & Misty Morgan)
Try a Little Kindness (Glen Campbell)
Everything is Beautiful (Ray Stevens)
Reflections of My Life (Marmalade)
Daughter of Darkness (Tom Jones)
Hitchin' a Ride (Vanity Fair)
The Love You Save (Jackson Five)
Yellow River (Christie)
O-o-o Child (Five Stairsteps)
We Gotta Get You a Woman (Todd Rundgren)
Overture From Tommy (Assembled Multitude)
Lay Down (Candles in the Rain) (Melanie)
The Pollution Song (Tom Lehrer)
Spirit in the Sky (Norman Greenbaum)
Ball of Confusion (Temptations)
Stoned Love (Supremes)
Up the Ladder to the Roof (Supremes)
Out in the Country (Three Dog Night)
One Man Band (Three Dog Night)
Instant Karma (John Lennon)
Your Song (Elton John)
No Sugar Tonight/Mother Nature's Son (Guess Who)
Hand Me Down World (Guess Who)
Our House (Crosby, Stills, Nash &Young)
Make Me Smile (Chicago)
Cracklin' Rosie (Neil Diamond)
Thank You Fallettime Be Mice Elf Agin (Sly & the Family Stone)
Jennifer Tomkins (Street People)
Everybody's Out of Town (BJ Thomas)
Mississippi (John Phillips)
A Song of Joy (Miguel de los Rios)
Long Long Time (Linda Ronstadt)
No Matter What (Badfinger)
Venus (Shocking Blue)
Arizona (Mark Lindsay)
Rainy Night in Georgia (Brook Benton)
Won't Find Better Than Me (New Hope)
Ma Belle Amie (Tee Set)
Didn't I (Delfonics)
Hey Mr. Sun (Bobby Sherman)
Come and Get It (Badfinger)
Love Or Let Me Be Lonely (Friends of Distinction)
Tennessee Birdwalk (Jack Blanchard & Misty Morgan)
Try a Little Kindness (Glen Campbell)
Everything is Beautiful (Ray Stevens)
Reflections of My Life (Marmalade)
Daughter of Darkness (Tom Jones)
Hitchin' a Ride (Vanity Fair)
The Love You Save (Jackson Five)
Yellow River (Christie)
O-o-o Child (Five Stairsteps)
We Gotta Get You a Woman (Todd Rundgren)
Overture From Tommy (Assembled Multitude)
Lay Down (Candles in the Rain) (Melanie)
The Pollution Song (Tom Lehrer)
Spirit in the Sky (Norman Greenbaum)
Ball of Confusion (Temptations)
Stoned Love (Supremes)
Up the Ladder to the Roof (Supremes)
Out in the Country (Three Dog Night)
One Man Band (Three Dog Night)
Instant Karma (John Lennon)
Your Song (Elton John)
No Sugar Tonight/Mother Nature's Son (Guess Who)
Hand Me Down World (Guess Who)
Our House (Crosby, Stills, Nash &Young)
Make Me Smile (Chicago)
Cracklin' Rosie (Neil Diamond)
Thank You Fallettime Be Mice Elf Agin (Sly & the Family Stone)
Jennifer Tomkins (Street People)
Everybody's Out of Town (BJ Thomas)
Mississippi (John Phillips)
A Song of Joy (Miguel de los Rios)
Long Long Time (Linda Ronstadt)
No Matter What (Badfinger)
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
The Great Florida Desert
In the past few years, hurricanes notwithstanding, I have seen my part of northern Florida turn from an almost swampy, wet area into a near desert. Recently, while watching my daughter play a game of flag football in her league, I noticed that anytime anyone ran or fell on the ground, a large cloud of dust would kick up around them. It reminded me of that terrible Dust Bowl period back in the thirties in the southwestern United States. And it also made me wonder how dry we are going to get here in northern Florida. When I moved into my house in 1989, the ground on which it stood was very wet, and often, during the then-common rainy periods, became very mushy and swamp-like. Starting around the late nineties, though, I have rarely seen the ground get very saturated with water. In 1998, northern Florida was inundated, not with flood waters, but rather with widespread forest fires. And since then, each year has seen dire warnings go up about fire dangers. This year is no different. I am not what you would call a lawn and garden enthusiast, and I pretty much let nature take its course with my lawn. And other than keeping it mowed, there has always been the same concentration of grass in it. Until this year. The last time I mowed my lawn, I experienced the same flying dust I saw at my daughter’s football game. We are drying up here. And the storms that we used to be so accustomed to getting on a daily basis are simply not materializing. In most other parts of the world, the latitude I live on (about 30 degrees North) is either ocean or desert. And the way things are shaping up, either ocean or desert may be the future for my beloved state of Florida!
But, as if to prove me wrong, yesterday afternoon we were hit by a severe thunderstorm, suddenly knocking the temperature down from 96 to 66! Yippee! Maybe tomorrow will be a repeat performance (I hope it's minus the lightning and tornado threats, though).
But, as if to prove me wrong, yesterday afternoon we were hit by a severe thunderstorm, suddenly knocking the temperature down from 96 to 66! Yippee! Maybe tomorrow will be a repeat performance (I hope it's minus the lightning and tornado threats, though).
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Blog Line Spacing Glitch
It’s been a good fourteen months for me and this blog, thanks in large part to Google and their Blogger feature. To be able to project my opinions and experiences to the world this way is truly something straight out of a visionary’s imagination for the future! It must be a monumental task for them to be able to manage the millions of blogs out there under their “umbrella”, but they have done so with a minimum of inconvenience and disruptions.
I do have a question, though, about something that suddenly happened to my blog recently, without me doing anything that I know of to cause it. The line spacing on my blog one day abruptly became more compressed than it originally was, and although I prefer the new spacing, the change is quite unsettling. This unsolicited change in line spacing retroactively covered my entire blog and its archives, all the way back to its beginning entries of April, 2007. I don’t need to remedy this, but I only hope that in the future Blogger can furnish me the choice of how I want to space out my blog without thrusting unrequested changes on me. Who knows, maybe it’s my own computer that is responsible for this glitch and it has nothing to do with Blogger. But I’m not an expert in this field, and I just want my blog to be safe from future unexpected deviations, some of which I may not approve. Once again, I must say that I appreciate Google/Blogger for having bestowed this opportunity for me to express myself as I have!
I do have a question, though, about something that suddenly happened to my blog recently, without me doing anything that I know of to cause it. The line spacing on my blog one day abruptly became more compressed than it originally was, and although I prefer the new spacing, the change is quite unsettling. This unsolicited change in line spacing retroactively covered my entire blog and its archives, all the way back to its beginning entries of April, 2007. I don’t need to remedy this, but I only hope that in the future Blogger can furnish me the choice of how I want to space out my blog without thrusting unrequested changes on me. Who knows, maybe it’s my own computer that is responsible for this glitch and it has nothing to do with Blogger. But I’m not an expert in this field, and I just want my blog to be safe from future unexpected deviations, some of which I may not approve. Once again, I must say that I appreciate Google/Blogger for having bestowed this opportunity for me to express myself as I have!
Monday, June 9, 2008
Monday Newsbreak: 6/9
--Rock n' roll pioneer Bo Diddley passed away this past week. He was a commonly seen figure in and around Gainesville, being very active in volunteer community work, especially in the area of keeping kids on the straight and narrow (and away from drugs and violence). I met him once at Sam's Wholesale (he was buying some tires and I was getting one of mine repaired). Bo was one of those special celebrities who was thoroughly unpretentious as well as being naturally friendly and likable. At the memorial held for him in Gainesville, Eric Burdon of Animals fame came and performed in tribute to this legendary musician.
--So Hillary Clinton has finally conceded the race for the Democratic nominations to Barack Obama and publicly endorsed him. But not before she projected an image of him being weak among white working-class voters by persisting in the race long after it had become clear that he would win the nomination. And what's with many of her supporters saying that they would vote for McCain rather than Obama?! As far as I can tell, the only "bad" thing Barack ever did to Hillary was to defeat her in the campaign. He has been an incredible example of grace and restraint in the face of vicious personal attacks coming at him from all directions. Still, I recognize that Clinton would be a good vice-presidential running mate choice and hope that this possibility is realized.
--It looks as if tin-pot dictator and all-around bad guy Robert Mugabe is going to try to intimidate and bully his way to "win" the runoff for Zimbabwe's presidency. Can't Saudi Arabia or some other despotic nation offer to give this jerk sanctuary and thus liberate this formerly prosperous southern African country from his clutches (it worked with getting Idi Amin out of Uganda)?
--The price of oil rose one day this week by eleven dollars per barrel in just one day. Economists say that the marketplace and supply and demand cannot account for this rise, and many claim that unregulated oil speculation is mainly responsible for the recent sharp price hikes.
--Thoroughbred horse Big Brown failed in his bid to be the first horse to win the fabled Triple Crown since 1978 when he couldn't keep up with the leaders in the long and hot (92 degrees) Belmont Stakes this past Saturday. His jockey, seeing victory slip away in the race, slowed him down in the interest of protecting him from injury. But Big Brown had already sustained a hoof injury and would never have been run in this race had greed not been such a major factor.
--So Hillary Clinton has finally conceded the race for the Democratic nominations to Barack Obama and publicly endorsed him. But not before she projected an image of him being weak among white working-class voters by persisting in the race long after it had become clear that he would win the nomination. And what's with many of her supporters saying that they would vote for McCain rather than Obama?! As far as I can tell, the only "bad" thing Barack ever did to Hillary was to defeat her in the campaign. He has been an incredible example of grace and restraint in the face of vicious personal attacks coming at him from all directions. Still, I recognize that Clinton would be a good vice-presidential running mate choice and hope that this possibility is realized.
--It looks as if tin-pot dictator and all-around bad guy Robert Mugabe is going to try to intimidate and bully his way to "win" the runoff for Zimbabwe's presidency. Can't Saudi Arabia or some other despotic nation offer to give this jerk sanctuary and thus liberate this formerly prosperous southern African country from his clutches (it worked with getting Idi Amin out of Uganda)?
--The price of oil rose one day this week by eleven dollars per barrel in just one day. Economists say that the marketplace and supply and demand cannot account for this rise, and many claim that unregulated oil speculation is mainly responsible for the recent sharp price hikes.
--Thoroughbred horse Big Brown failed in his bid to be the first horse to win the fabled Triple Crown since 1978 when he couldn't keep up with the leaders in the long and hot (92 degrees) Belmont Stakes this past Saturday. His jockey, seeing victory slip away in the race, slowed him down in the interest of protecting him from injury. But Big Brown had already sustained a hoof injury and would never have been run in this race had greed not been such a major factor.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
NBA Finals
It’s interesting to me how almost everyone in the sports media is so excited about this year’s National Basketball Association finals, featuring the Boston Celtics (with Kevin Garnett) and the Los Angeles Lakers (and league MVP Kobe Bryant). Interesting because they are the LAST two teams I wanted to see playing for the title! Originally, I was pulling for the Phoenix Suns with their stars Andre Stoudemaire, Shaquille O’Neal, and two-time MVP Steve Nash. But they were quickly knocked out of the playoffs in round one by their nemesis, the San Antonio Spurs, even losing their coach after elimination to the New York Knicks. In the East, I pulled for Cleveland, Atlanta, and Detroit. But although they all had impressive games against the Celtics, none of them could get it together enough to pull out victories in the series’ final games. In the West, after Los Angeles beat a scrappy Utah jazz team and the Spurs came back from two games down to lead the Chris Paul-led New Orleans Hornets, I actually rooted for my old “enemy” San Antonio against the Lakers (something that I never thought I would do). But they disappointed me, blowing huge leads in two of their games in losing that series. And Detroit should have beaten Boston, but also fell short of their potential. Which leads me to a question: Phoenix loses in the first round and their coach, Mike D'Antoni, gets “promoted” by being given a higher paying job in New York. Detroit’s coach, Flip Saunders, takes his team to the conference finals for three straight years and gets fired. So, where’s the justice here?
Anyway, I don’t know why everyone is so caught up with a Celtics-Lakers matchup. Sure, in decades past, a big rivalry had developed between these two franchises. But recently, it has been the Pistons and the Spurs who tended to dominate in the playoffs. I would have been more excited to see them head-to-head than what I have now.
Anyway, I don’t know why everyone is so caught up with a Celtics-Lakers matchup. Sure, in decades past, a big rivalry had developed between these two franchises. But recently, it has been the Pistons and the Spurs who tended to dominate in the playoffs. I would have been more excited to see them head-to-head than what I have now.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Free-Flow Journaling
In early 1973, I tried a kind of writing that worked for the first few months of that year. And for some reason, I never kept up with it. At the end of each month, I would sit down with a journal and just write out phrases of things that I identified with that month and the goings-on in my life. There was no concerted effort to write a coherent piece: no, it was just a chain of disjointed phrases and short sentences which, nevertheless, when read presented a tapestry of that month in my life. So why not try this on this blog from time to time as well? Of course, if you, who most likely don't know me, read it, you probably won't "get" much of what I write about, but it may be fun to try to figure it out anyway! But this would serve as a good "time marker" for me to be able to go back to in order to reference things that were happening in my past. So, without any regard to when I'll be doing this, I'll simply state that there will be future entries of this type that I'll just call "Free-Flow Journaling". And just let it be at that! Here's a little taste of this style:
--this past sunday afternoon/evening some heavy rain, starbucks/tioga jammed full but found a seat--getting sick of taste of starbucks coffee--need to plan bahamas trip and get passports--went to jax c~w 5/17 @dave & busters for ~w's honors get-together in banquet room--~w drove whole way, incl. interstate for 1st time--arcade setup there like expanded chuck e cheese--stopped off afterwards at jax beach to look @ ocean and take a walk--sunday night saw good show on supermassive black holes on science channel--i need to clean up kitchen and go on to bed--beetles proliferating everywhere outside--
This should be a lot of fun, at least for me, the writer!
--this past sunday afternoon/evening some heavy rain, starbucks/tioga jammed full but found a seat--getting sick of taste of starbucks coffee--need to plan bahamas trip and get passports--went to jax c~w 5/17 @dave & busters for ~w's honors get-together in banquet room--~w drove whole way, incl. interstate for 1st time--arcade setup there like expanded chuck e cheese--stopped off afterwards at jax beach to look @ ocean and take a walk--sunday night saw good show on supermassive black holes on science channel--i need to clean up kitchen and go on to bed--beetles proliferating everywhere outside--
This should be a lot of fun, at least for me, the writer!
Friday, June 6, 2008
All Will Be Forgiven, WHHZ
This is an open call to my formerly favorite Gainesville-area radio station, 100.5-WHHZ "The Buzz", to forsake its recent deviation into a shameless imitation of its crosstown rival 103.7-WRUF "Rock 104". I have nothing against listening to occasional songs by groups like Linkin Park, Metallica, Disturbed, and Slipknot. In fact, one of my top favorite songs from last year was Linkin Park's Bleed It Out. But WHHZ, although it has a weaker signal than WRUF, used to have what economists call a comparative advantage by playing a special genre of music (independent/alternative) that no other station was playing. And that, quite simply, is (to me) far and away my favorite type of popular music. I loved hearing acts played on "The Buzz" like Beck, the Shins, Louis XIV, Tegan and Sara, the Vines, the Hives, the Strokes, Silversun Pickups, Spoon, Franz Ferdinand, Kasabian, Snow Patrol, Dresden Dolls, Modest Mouse, the Yeh Yeh Yehs, Bloc Party, and the Decembrists. Now none of this music is available on the radio (in Gainesville), thanks to WHHZ's decision a few months ago to abruptly switch its music programming. It's not that I object to including some heavier pieces on WHHZ's playlist: I just would like to hear my songs as well when I tune in. And it's been months since I have tuned in to 100.5 without immediately switching to another station! I believe "The Buzz" must have changed management, with the new leadership turning its programming down a dead end road. WHHZ, you cannot compete head-on with WRUF-FM and win! The only way you can survive in this type of market is to carve out a niche for yourself by playing a distinctive genre (which you had been doing before quite well) and then publicizing it better (which you hadn't).
I happen to know that independent/alternative music is really the people's music. There is nothing in the human condition that isn't expressed through this music, and yet the artists within its domain adhere to high artistic and aesthetic standards. It's no accident that, time and time again, I would hear (and grow to like) one of these songs (that WHHZ used to play) and then hear it later on nationwide television advertisements. That's because the astute folks on Madison Avenue know what the not-so-astute folks at WHHZ apparently don't: independent/alternative music truly resonates with the people.
So, WHHZ, I'm still planning to tune in from time to time to see how you're doing. I'm grateful for those great bygone years in which you showed great musical taste (and in which you actually referred to the music you now constantly play as "dogsh#%"). But if you don't come back into the fold, I predict you will eventually either (a) go off the air completely, (b) go country & western, (c) go oldies, or (d) turn into just another reactionary right-wing talk station (like we need another one of those). But if you just return to what you did best, all will be forgiven, my poor, wayward, prodigal station!
I happen to know that independent/alternative music is really the people's music. There is nothing in the human condition that isn't expressed through this music, and yet the artists within its domain adhere to high artistic and aesthetic standards. It's no accident that, time and time again, I would hear (and grow to like) one of these songs (that WHHZ used to play) and then hear it later on nationwide television advertisements. That's because the astute folks on Madison Avenue know what the not-so-astute folks at WHHZ apparently don't: independent/alternative music truly resonates with the people.
So, WHHZ, I'm still planning to tune in from time to time to see how you're doing. I'm grateful for those great bygone years in which you showed great musical taste (and in which you actually referred to the music you now constantly play as "dogsh#%"). But if you don't come back into the fold, I predict you will eventually either (a) go off the air completely, (b) go country & western, (c) go oldies, or (d) turn into just another reactionary right-wing talk station (like we need another one of those). But if you just return to what you did best, all will be forgiven, my poor, wayward, prodigal station!
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Favorite Songs of 1971
Although the Beatles had disbanded the previous year, I was still an ardent fan. The great closing medley of 1969's Abbey Road album Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End was one song that I couldn't get enough of in 1971. Also, each Beatle had solo projects out as well. Ringo Starr had his first single It Don't Come Easy. George Harrison had three songs I liked a lot: What Is Life (my #5 song of the year), Apple Scruffs, and Bangladesh. Paul McCartney's second solo album Ram spawned a few good ones as well, including Too Many People, Ram On, Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey, Smile Away, and Eat At Home. John Lennon's Imagine was breathtaking to hear, but I had mixed feelings about some of its lyrics. Marvin Gaye released a string of great singles about social consciousness (What's Going On, Mercy Mercy Me, Inner City Blues). James Taylor had his first song that I liked in the sweet Carolina in My Mind. I got a taste of reggae (without knowing it): Double Barrel ("I am W-O-O-O") by the English duo Dave and Ansell Collins. It was also my #4 favorite song from 1971. Isaac Hayes had his exciting Theme from Shaft, complete with its long instrumental buildup. Sly and the Family Stone had two good hits: Family Affair and (my favorite of theirs), the not-so-well-known Running Away. Van Morrison's Wild Night was also "minor" back then, although you wouldn't know that now by how often it's played. My #3 song of 1971, Chicago's Questions 67 & 68, may be their second-best "glory days" song (behind Dialogue) for its grand horn section and wild guitar riffs. The Supremes, minus Diana Ross, continued their singles success with the fast-paced Nathan Jones. Bread's Let Your Love Go was also fast-paced and loud, very atypical of this group's works. L.A. Woman, the final album of the Doors, came out in 1971. And with it, I heard the songs Riders on the Storm, L.A. Woman, and (my #2 song of that year) Love Her Madly. It's was too bad that Jim Morrison died then at the way-too-young age of 27. Besides being sad about a loss of life, I also believe that his (and his band's) best works lay ahead of them. Finally, at the very close of 1971, a distinctive-sounding band dominated by keyboards and a high-pitched singer (Jon Anderson) made their presence known to the world: the group Yes, although already having put out two earlier albums, released their third (The Yes Album) and with it the infectious, two-part I've Seen All Good People. And that was my top favorite tune of 1971 (as I lived through it). Here are some other good songs I listened to back then:
Temptation Eyes (Grass Roots)
Won't Get Fooled Again (The Who)
Me and You and a Dog Named Boo (Lobo)
Hot Love (T Rex)
Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep (Mac and Katie Kissoon)
Oye Como Va (Santana)
I Don't Know How to Love Him (Helen Reddy)
Timothy (Buoys)
Draggin' the Line (Tommy James)
Don't Knock My Love (Wilson Pickett)
Mozart's 40th (Waldo de los Rios)
That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be (Carly Simon)
Ain't No Sunshine (Bill Withers)
I Just Want to Celebrate (Rare Earth)
Have You Seen Her (Chi-Lites)
Desiderata (Les Crane)
Brand New Key (Melanie)
American Pie (Don McLean)
Joy to the World (Three Dog Night)
Rain Dance (Guess Who)
I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag (Country Joe McDonald & the Fish)
Hot Pants Part 2 (James Brown)
Never Ending Song of Love (Delaney and Bonnie and Friends)
Temptation Eyes (Grass Roots)
Won't Get Fooled Again (The Who)
Me and You and a Dog Named Boo (Lobo)
Hot Love (T Rex)
Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep (Mac and Katie Kissoon)
Oye Como Va (Santana)
I Don't Know How to Love Him (Helen Reddy)
Timothy (Buoys)
Draggin' the Line (Tommy James)
Don't Knock My Love (Wilson Pickett)
Mozart's 40th (Waldo de los Rios)
That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be (Carly Simon)
Ain't No Sunshine (Bill Withers)
I Just Want to Celebrate (Rare Earth)
Have You Seen Her (Chi-Lites)
Desiderata (Les Crane)
Brand New Key (Melanie)
American Pie (Don McLean)
Joy to the World (Three Dog Night)
Rain Dance (Guess Who)
I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag (Country Joe McDonald & the Fish)
Hot Pants Part 2 (James Brown)
Never Ending Song of Love (Delaney and Bonnie and Friends)
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
King of the Beasties
One of my favorite cartoon series is Disney's Winnie the Pooh. Not the series with the marionettes (Book of Pooh) or the latest, computer-animated series. Just the good old-fashioned cartoons that we've all become accustomed to watching (why did they have to go and change it?). I love the different, distinct characters: Winnie, the phlegmatic, jolly, absent-minded bear; Piglet, the worrisome, self-conscious little pig: Eeyore, the gloomy-but-wise donkey; Rabbit, fastidious and proud; and Tigger, the happy-go-lucky, bouncing tiger. They all live in a fantasy world of little boy Christopher Robin called the Hundred Acre Wood.
In one episode, aptly titled King of the Beasties, Tigger decides that, being a big cat, he deserves the title of "King of the Beasties", and as such, merits the adoration and servitude of all those living around him. When nobody wants to go along with this "great" idea, Tigger concocts the scheme of being the "great rescuer", delivering everyone from the clutches of the evil Jagula (supposedly a jaguar). And this he repeatedly does, thus winning the title (and power) that he had been coveting. Only those who are adoring the new king are unaware that the Jagula that King Tigger has been beating up is just an assemblage of assorted items that Tigger had pilfered from others (chiefly Rabbit). When this is finally discovered, Tigger's "kingdom" goes down like a house of cards!
This episode has stuck with me more than the others since 9/11, for it seems to me that our current President has exploited this terrible attack and tragedy to augment his own power. After 9/11, the country experienced a roller-coaster ride of color-coded terror alerts and exhortations to "keep your eyes open, but go on being Americans" (whatever that was supposed to mean). The upshot was that Dubya, King of the Beasties, was protecting us little people from the dreaded terrorists (Jagula). And from time to time, the specter of these dastardly folks (Bin-Laden and his ilk) would be brought out to bring the wayward out there back into the "king's court".
In this election year, we are continually being reminded that George Bush has protected us from any more home-soil terrorist attacks from Bin-Laden since 9/11. With the implied message that a Democrat wouldn't (or couldn't) accomplish this feat. But note that Bin-Laden is still out there somewhere, the elusive but convenient enemy, always ready to be thrust out in the public eye, just as Tigger did with his Jagula, in order to keep a certain someone (and his party) in power. Only I think those performing this cynical manipulation in the real world are playing with fire: Bin-Laden and his terror organization are real, not the product of some little boy's imagination!
In one episode, aptly titled King of the Beasties, Tigger decides that, being a big cat, he deserves the title of "King of the Beasties", and as such, merits the adoration and servitude of all those living around him. When nobody wants to go along with this "great" idea, Tigger concocts the scheme of being the "great rescuer", delivering everyone from the clutches of the evil Jagula (supposedly a jaguar). And this he repeatedly does, thus winning the title (and power) that he had been coveting. Only those who are adoring the new king are unaware that the Jagula that King Tigger has been beating up is just an assemblage of assorted items that Tigger had pilfered from others (chiefly Rabbit). When this is finally discovered, Tigger's "kingdom" goes down like a house of cards!
This episode has stuck with me more than the others since 9/11, for it seems to me that our current President has exploited this terrible attack and tragedy to augment his own power. After 9/11, the country experienced a roller-coaster ride of color-coded terror alerts and exhortations to "keep your eyes open, but go on being Americans" (whatever that was supposed to mean). The upshot was that Dubya, King of the Beasties, was protecting us little people from the dreaded terrorists (Jagula). And from time to time, the specter of these dastardly folks (Bin-Laden and his ilk) would be brought out to bring the wayward out there back into the "king's court".
In this election year, we are continually being reminded that George Bush has protected us from any more home-soil terrorist attacks from Bin-Laden since 9/11. With the implied message that a Democrat wouldn't (or couldn't) accomplish this feat. But note that Bin-Laden is still out there somewhere, the elusive but convenient enemy, always ready to be thrust out in the public eye, just as Tigger did with his Jagula, in order to keep a certain someone (and his party) in power. Only I think those performing this cynical manipulation in the real world are playing with fire: Bin-Laden and his terror organization are real, not the product of some little boy's imagination!
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Individuals, Businesses, and the Police
I would like for someone out there in the cyberworld to tell me why it is that, if I were to walk out of a store with a fifty cent candy bar without paying, then I could be criminally prosecuted, with policemen leading me off to jail in handcuffs. But if the same store were to shortchange me, even by a much greater amount, then the only legal recourse I would have would be to challenge them in a civil court! Although, in an economic sense, the consumer and business are theoretically equal in that money from one side is freely exchanged for the value-equivalence in terms of goods or services, in a legal sense the consumer is at an overwhelming disadvantage. In my opinion, this doesn't seem very fair! When was the last time that you heard, in a dispute between a customer and a business, the police coming and arresting the responsible party of the business? No, (and the businesses know it), the police ALWAYS answer calls regarding such disputes with the eye of protecting the businesses, right or wrong, and prosecuting the customer. If you disagree with this assertion, then I invite you to show me a contradictory example.
When I go to a place like Starbucks to drink coffee, possibly eat a dessert, and sit "a spell", I am paying this company for all of these items, and expect this to be an "even trade". But when I have to share my experience with on-duty policemen who only go there because they get free coffee, then this diminishes my experience. Especially when I look up and one of them is eyeballing me! Especially when I've seen them checking out the cars (of paying customers) in the parking lot before entering. The tendency of the police to regard people in the general public suspiciously, or as outsiders, creates (to me) an atmosphere of discomfort and fear wherever they go. Perhaps they feel the need to engender respect for their important role as upholders of the law. They certainly have earned my respect over the years, with all of the stories I've heard and read of valor and sacrificed lives on the part of many of them for the sake of protecting us from real criminals. But I resent the swagger and latent aggression that they project as well. I can guarantee you that, should I ever find myself in the unlikely situtation of having a serious dispute with a Starbucks that I go to, any policemen present would only take the side of the store and regard me as a disturbance at best. And I think this applies to retail stores, towing companies, or any other business that people often have conflicts with. And I think most people would agree with me that, in any dispute between an individual and a business, it would be almost solely the business who would feel inclined to call the police, while an individual would have to resort to the civil courts for legal satisfaction. In any dispute between someone-at-large and a business, our taxpayer-funded police force is always at the beck and call of the business! Prove me wrong!
When I go to a place like Starbucks to drink coffee, possibly eat a dessert, and sit "a spell", I am paying this company for all of these items, and expect this to be an "even trade". But when I have to share my experience with on-duty policemen who only go there because they get free coffee, then this diminishes my experience. Especially when I look up and one of them is eyeballing me! Especially when I've seen them checking out the cars (of paying customers) in the parking lot before entering. The tendency of the police to regard people in the general public suspiciously, or as outsiders, creates (to me) an atmosphere of discomfort and fear wherever they go. Perhaps they feel the need to engender respect for their important role as upholders of the law. They certainly have earned my respect over the years, with all of the stories I've heard and read of valor and sacrificed lives on the part of many of them for the sake of protecting us from real criminals. But I resent the swagger and latent aggression that they project as well. I can guarantee you that, should I ever find myself in the unlikely situtation of having a serious dispute with a Starbucks that I go to, any policemen present would only take the side of the store and regard me as a disturbance at best. And I think this applies to retail stores, towing companies, or any other business that people often have conflicts with. And I think most people would agree with me that, in any dispute between an individual and a business, it would be almost solely the business who would feel inclined to call the police, while an individual would have to resort to the civil courts for legal satisfaction. In any dispute between someone-at-large and a business, our taxpayer-funded police force is always at the beck and call of the business! Prove me wrong!
Monday, June 2, 2008
Monday Newsbreak: 6/2
--The Discovery space shuttle "successfully" took off Saturday to deliver an important Japanese section to the International Space Station, as well as parts to facilitate repairs to its faulty toilet. However, once again, some debris from the shuttle was lost not long after launch, although authorities claimed that this shouldn't be cause for concern. But how would you like to be on a jet plane that just took off, only to find that a little part of it came off on takeoff? Transfer that concern to the shuttle, with the enormous heat involved in its reentry through Earth's atmosphere, and you may understand why the application of the word "successful" to describe its launch can only be accurately applied once it has safely returned!
--The Florida and Michigan primary disputes were settled, with the Democratic National Committee halving each delegation's votes as a punishment for their violation of party rules. Which is what they should have done earlier, as the Republicans did with little fallout. Leaders of Hillary Clinton's campaign, which had counted on a windfall of Michigan delegates by seeking to retroactively change the decision to not count the votes in that state (on whose ballot Barack Obama's name was not even entered), were furious when her opponent was awarded 29 1/2 votes, based on different estimates of his support then in Michigan. But I credit Obama's willingness to leave Clinton with advantages in both states as a generous concession that he did not have to make. If the rules had been overturned as Clinton had wanted, no one would ever have been able to trust the Democratic National Committee in the future. Why do I get the feeling that, if Clinton and Obama's roles were reversed, that Obama would not be behaving in such an unseemly, vindictive way? Hillary most definitely feels entitled to the nomination by dint of her having been married to President Bill, even though she has held but one elected post in her lifetime. Why can't her supporters see that? Why couldn't we have had instead a more experienced and dignified woman candidate such as California Senator Dianne Feinstein?
--Steve Newman's Earthweek feature picked up an article in Nature magazine featuring UC Riverside's Martin Kennedy's piece warning of impending, greatly accelerated global warning should the vast amounts of methane currently trapped in polar ice be released into the atmosphere (through the ice's melting). The resulting warming could dwarf even the most dire scenarios depicted by activist Al Gore in his movie An Inconvenient Truth.
--Hurricane season has begun in the Atlantic and already the first tropical storm, Alberto, has formed and gone inland around Belize. After erroneous projections for the last fews years, all bets are off as to how severe this year's batch of storms will be (or where they will strike, for that matter).
--I'm disappointed to report my inability to be able to watch any WNBA games so far this year. Most of them that have been televised were shown on a channel that comes in poorly on my TV. Hopeful, after the NBA playoffs end, ESPN and ESPN2 will show more of them on their channels. As for the NBA, I am thoroughly dejected at the failures of the San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons to play up to their potentials as they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics, respectively. Well, for all the good it's going to do, I'm picking the Lakers to knock off the Celtics in the final series!
--The Florida and Michigan primary disputes were settled, with the Democratic National Committee halving each delegation's votes as a punishment for their violation of party rules. Which is what they should have done earlier, as the Republicans did with little fallout. Leaders of Hillary Clinton's campaign, which had counted on a windfall of Michigan delegates by seeking to retroactively change the decision to not count the votes in that state (on whose ballot Barack Obama's name was not even entered), were furious when her opponent was awarded 29 1/2 votes, based on different estimates of his support then in Michigan. But I credit Obama's willingness to leave Clinton with advantages in both states as a generous concession that he did not have to make. If the rules had been overturned as Clinton had wanted, no one would ever have been able to trust the Democratic National Committee in the future. Why do I get the feeling that, if Clinton and Obama's roles were reversed, that Obama would not be behaving in such an unseemly, vindictive way? Hillary most definitely feels entitled to the nomination by dint of her having been married to President Bill, even though she has held but one elected post in her lifetime. Why can't her supporters see that? Why couldn't we have had instead a more experienced and dignified woman candidate such as California Senator Dianne Feinstein?
--Steve Newman's Earthweek feature picked up an article in Nature magazine featuring UC Riverside's Martin Kennedy's piece warning of impending, greatly accelerated global warning should the vast amounts of methane currently trapped in polar ice be released into the atmosphere (through the ice's melting). The resulting warming could dwarf even the most dire scenarios depicted by activist Al Gore in his movie An Inconvenient Truth.
--Hurricane season has begun in the Atlantic and already the first tropical storm, Alberto, has formed and gone inland around Belize. After erroneous projections for the last fews years, all bets are off as to how severe this year's batch of storms will be (or where they will strike, for that matter).
--I'm disappointed to report my inability to be able to watch any WNBA games so far this year. Most of them that have been televised were shown on a channel that comes in poorly on my TV. Hopeful, after the NBA playoffs end, ESPN and ESPN2 will show more of them on their channels. As for the NBA, I am thoroughly dejected at the failures of the San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons to play up to their potentials as they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics, respectively. Well, for all the good it's going to do, I'm picking the Lakers to knock off the Celtics in the final series!
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Prescience and Coincidence
I had three peculiar events happen to me in the span of twelve hours. A couple of nights ago at work, around eleven, I was pondering on the concept of prescience, or being able to divine the future. I imagined myself conversing with a coworker on this topic, and I contributed the idea that a certain worker on the next shift would walk in wearing a black shirt, blue jeans, and black boots. I had no sooner thought this when the very same fellow walked by, for the first time that night, dressed exactly as I had pictured! Coincidence, right? Later, that night, I lined up some music videos off You Tube to watch. As the first video was ending and the second one was about to start, my son come up from the back and asked me whether I had heard (and these are his words) a big bang outside. To which I replied no, but I was listening to my music and might not have heard. He stuck his head outside, looked around, and seeing nothing, went on back to his room. As he closed his door, my next video came on: Stone Temple Pilot's Big Bang Baby! And now we come to the next morning, around 11 AM. I am driving to my nearby Publix grocery store and am fiddling around with the car radio, trying to find a decent song to hear. And I hit upon the song Psycho by Puddle of Mudd, and muse upon the fact that, although this band seems to closely imitate the sound of Nirvana, they have endured and thus have earned my respect. Then I thought of other grunge-era singers like Eddie Vedder and Chris Cornell and thought, yes, these guys had it together, they didn't self-destruct: they're all right. And then Psycho ended and the radio station immediately began playing Hunger Strike by Temple of the Dog, a temporary tribute band headed by--you guessed it--Eddie Vedder and Chris Cornell. I tend to believe in coincidences and shy away from paranormal interpretations, but to be perfectly honest, these three occurrences kind of creep me out! The fact that I am immersed in Stephen King's Dark Tower series, which is supersaturated with this type of phenomena, doesn't help either! I can, however, see, by this string of events, how some people can get themselves caught up into believing in the paranormal (although I'm not sold on it yet).
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