McCain Chooses Palin As VP

So John McCain picked a very inexperienced politician to be one heartbeat from the presidency. Sarah Palin, who became governor of Alaska after McCain and Barack Obama started running for president, is on the ticket for one reason: she is a woman and that, according to McCain’s thinking, means that women who supported Hillary Clinton during the campaign will turn out in large numbers and vote for someone who is Hillary’s ideological opposite, just because she is a woman. I don’t think this strategy is going to fly, though. And if it doesn’t, there is a big danger on this selection ultimately ranking right up there with McGovern’s Tom Eagleton VP pick in ‘72 and George W. Bush’s Harriet Miers Supreme Court pick in ‘05 for bad decisions.

Of course, conservative talking heads are generally playing up McCain’s choice as being a stroke of genius, but crotchety right-wing radio host Michael Savage has a different take. Savage said he’s come to the conclusion that McCain has decided that he wants to lose in November. I have another conclusion.

Both John McCain and Barack Obama have, as I see it, two problems. One, they have such massive, bloated egos that neither could stand to have as running mates people who have demonstrated their ability to attract support and loyalty from voters. People like Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton. No, McCain and Obama have to always be the big shots. Which isn’t a good sign for the future, regardless who wins in the end. Second, I wonder how much these two are allowing others to call their shots for them behind the scenes. That may seem to contradict the view that they are egomaniacs, but our current president seems to fit both descriptions aptly.

Sarah Palin is a very staunch conservative who opposes a woman’s right to choose. Just how many of those Hillary supporters are going to jump parties, once that one solid fact seeps through past their resentment against Obama? Very few, I think. Governor Palin does have one thing going in her favor, though: she hasn’t thought of any more countries for us to invade. Yet. But she’s inexperienced, after all. Who knows what she’ll come up with, given a little time? After all, she’s going to have to go up against Mr. “Crush-the-Enemy” Joe Biden in the vice-presidential debate later on.

Saturday Afternoon Ramblings

Here I am on a Saturday afternoon, sitting in my favorite Gainesville Starbucks at Magnolia Parke on NW 39th Avenue. I had just finished running at my local YMCA and then cleaned up and came out here for a little bit. It’s not as crowded here at Starbucks as I had thought, it being a big “game-day” here in Gainesville with a lot of visitors.

The University of Florida Gators just won their first football game of the 2008 season by a 56-10 score over Hawaii at home. I thought they played together more as a team this game than at any time last year. And their defense seems to be vastly improved. If UF had played a smaller college, then there would be no way of knowing this. But Hawaii is itself a good team. I’m looking forward to seeing how the Gators do in the coming weeks against Miami and Tennessee.

My son Will just came home from college for the Labor Day break and my daughter Rebecca is celebrating her birthday this weekend as well. Right now, they’re checking out our Oaks Mall with Melissa (my wife/their mother) and a friend of Rebecca’s.

I’ve gotten to where I like the café Americano as my favorite drink here. It’s not much more expensive than the drip coffees, but it tastes better. I also had an almond-toffee bar, my favorite of their desserts (now that they no longer serve their scrumptious coconut-cheese danishes for some unfathomable reason).

It’s interesting, noting the tropical weather we’re experiencing today in Gainesville, how a tropical storm as far away as Gustav is (south of Cuba) can extend its influence for hundreds of miles. It reminded me of the time in 1985 when hurricane Juan hit Louisiana and then just sat there for days, flooding that state and spinning off wave after wave of severe storms over Gainesville. I feel for the people living there now as the present hurricane threatens to cause suffering and damage when it most probably strikes them in a few days. Hopefully, the authorities there will get it “right” this time after the Katrina debacle.

Well, I’ve finished my dessert and coffee. I’ll be heading on back to the house now. Until later!

My Running Update: 8/30

My planned 5K road race on 8/23 was postponed until 10/4 due to tropical storm Fay. So the next opportunity to run competitively will be a 5K race on 9/13 (I’ve already jogged through that course). There’s a 4-mile race on 9/20 as well. Assuming of course, they don’t get bumped off by a hurricane further down the alphabet.

I ran more outside, and tried different improvised courses. I’m beginning to feel more comfortable running on solid ground instead of solely on the treadmill. This may be largely due to me rediscovering my ability to pace myself over longer distances and settle into a sustainable “groove”. Ah yes---after thirty-plus years, it’s all starting to come back to me!

I had planned to run certain days of the week cross-country, certain days on the treadmill, and one day per week on a running track. But the demands of my daily living, along with weather disturbances, caused me to veer from this. And lately, I’ve missed out on running on some days. But this is just a brief hiatus. I’ve got some fun races in store, and the temperatures are bound to get generally cooler.

Ultimately, I want to get to the point where I am going on 5-plus mile runs each day while resorting to the treadmill as little as possible. And maybe in 2010, if all goes well, I may run my first marathon race.

Here’s my running record since the last update (I denoted my own improvised outdoor courses with “x-country”):

DATE....MILES...TIME....MEANS
7-19..........2.0......10:12.....x-country
7-21..........1.0........6:64.....treadmill
7-22.........0.6........5:28.....x-country
7-23.........3.0.......21:28....treadmill
7-24.........2.0.......15:16.....track
7-25.........2.5........17:40....treadmill
7-26.........3.0.......21:09....treadmill
7-28.........2.0.......19:00....x-country
7-29.........2.0.......13:41.....treadmill
7-30.........1.0.........6:36.....treadmill
7-31..........2.5.......18:40....treadmill
8-02.........2.35.....21:52....Ormond Beach course
8-04.........2.0......19:05.....x-country
8-05.........2.5.......17:23.....treadmill
8-06.........1.27.....10:30.....x-country
8-07.........3.11......23:02....treadmill
8-09.........3.5.......25:58....treadmill
8-11..........1.0.........7:14.....treadmill
8-12.........4.0.......29:33....treadmill
8-13.........3.11......24:33.....track
8-14.........4.0.......29:24....treadmill
8-15.........3.11......27:26.....x-country
8-16.........4.0.......35:27.....x-country
8-18.........5.0.......37:18.....treadmill
8-20........1.5........11:14......treadmill
8-20...1 ymca-lap @ 1:29
8-21..........1.0.........6:58......treadmill
8-21...2 ymca-laps @ 3:20
8-22........1.2.........9:02.....treadmill
8-23........2.0.......15:03.....treadmill
8-23........1.6........14:41.....x-country
8-25........2.0.......14:50.....treadmill
8-27........1.0..........7:35.....treadmill
8-27...2 ymca-laps @ 3:04
8-30........2.3.......17:31......treadmill

Here We Go Again

I was on my final break at work Wednesday evening when I heard part of Joseph Biden’s VP nomination acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention. Parts of his very tough, forceful, address seemed to make some in the audience a little nervous and the response at times was a little tentative. It reminded me of the beginning of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, when Bilbo Baggins opened his birthday party speech to his fellow hobbits with the line, “I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.” That made the hobbits a bit nervous, too, with only Gandalf (and Bilbo) “in” on the joke. Well, regarding Biden’s speech, I’m no Gandalf, but I think I’m “in” on it. And bro’, it ain’t no joke.

Biden had a lot of good things to say that I agreed with, but when he got to our policies regarding Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan, my ears began to perk up a lot. Here is the text of that part of the speech. The italics are mine (for emphasis):

*****

I've been on the ground in Georgia, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and I can tell you in no uncertain terms: this Administration's policy has been an abject failure. America cannot afford four more years of this.

Now, despite being complicit in this catastrophic foreign policy, John McCain says Barack Obama isn't ready to protect our national security. Now, let me ask you: whose judgment should we trust? Should we trust John McCain's judgment when he said only three years ago, "Afghanistan--we don't read about it anymore because it's succeeded"? Or should we trust Barack Obama, who more than a year ago called for sending two additional combat brigades to Afghanistan?

The fact is, al-Qaida and the Taliban--the people who actually attacked us on 9/11--have regrouped in those mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan and are plotting new attacks. And the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff echoed Barack's call for more troops.

John McCain was wrong. Barack Obama was right.

Should we trust John McCain's judgment when he rejected talking with Iran and then asked: What is there to talk about? Or Barack Obama, who said we must talk and make it clear to Iran that its conduct must change.

Now, after seven years of denial, even the Bush administration recognizes that we should talk to Iran, because that's the best way to advance our security.

Again, John McCain was wrong. Barack Obama was right.

*****

It sounds like Biden is implying that McCain was wrong at every turn about U.S. policy over there and that Obama actually was right on target all along about what should be done. But consider the following points:

--Biden included the Taliban, the indigenous insurgent (and former nationally-controlling) political-military group in Afghanistan, as being part of those who “actually attacked us on 9/11” when there is no evidence to link them with Al-Qaeda other than that they had supplied sanctuary to that group and had an alliance with them for the expressed purpose of defeating their civil war opponents in Afghanistan. Naturally, when the U.S. invaded Afghanistan after 9/11 and began fighting the Taliban, the Taliban began fighting the U.S. back (there, not here). The Taliban is NOT Al-Qaeda any more than those Sunni chiefs and their insurgent soldiers in Iraq were. Once the U.S. began to negotiate with those chiefs, they cooperated with us to kick out what element of Al-Qaeda that was there.

--Are we talking at all with the Taliban or just using them as a political scapegoat to give the folks back home the feeling that we’re fighting terrorism? They aren’t going anywhere; to borrow McCain’s phraseology, we could be there “100 years” and the Taliban would still be there in some form or another. They represent a legitimately popular political sentiment in that part of the world. That it clashes with our ideas of human rights (particularly in its treatment of women and other religions) only makes the Taliban a safer scapegoat to set up and attack for domestic political consumption.

--Biden then said that we should talk to Iran because “that’s the best way to advance our security.” I agree with that. After all, talking to the Sunni chiefs helped the surge to succeed to the point where violence has greatly subsided in those areas of Iraq. But why not talk in the same way with the Taliban? And try to get them to break with Al-Qaeda?

During last night’s presidential nomination acceptance speech, Barack Obama also lumped the Taliban together with Al-Qaeda. Obama wants to step up the warfare against the Taliban (why?) as though this will lead him to the Al-Qaeda leadership. To me, all this will do will be to make the Taliban grow even closer to and more dependent on Al-Qaeda than it already is, strengthening the influence of that terrorist organization in the area.

It seems to me that U.S. aims in Afghanistan are getting just as muddled as they were in Iraq. I thought we were over there to catch and destroy the terrorists responsible for the 9/11 attacks against us. So what are we doing getting bogged down again fighting a group of people whose overriding gripe against us is that we’re over there fighting them? Sound familiar?

Here we go again!

This Blog: F.Y.I.

I had always thought that blogs were a good idea because they accorded individuals the opportunity to express their own views about issues without having to tow some “party line”.

If you go to a church or some other religious institution, you’re expected to speak in a certain matter and never broach sensitive topics that question doctrine. The idea is (1) you chose to attend this church, (2) here is the church’s belief statement, plain for anyone to see, and (3) if you don’t like it, you can go somewhere else.

The same can be said for the work environment. There are standards usually presented there by management that restrict to some degree the speech of the employees.

If I submit a writing for publication in a magazine or newspaper, or as a book, it must pass the scrutiny of that publication’s editor before it will be printed.

At school in the classroom, whether you are a teacher or a student, there are also standards which restrict and focus the expressions of those involved.

And so on.

I’ve written articles on this blog for which I’ve received comments both of agreement and disagreement. I welcome both of these types of responses with the realization that this is the whole point of blogging as I see it: it is a forum in which people can express their individual views and discuss them without being tied down by some externally-imposed doctrinal standards.

I’m not in this endeavor to garner anyone else’s approval. If you come across this blog and can get something out of it, then great! If not, then, F.Y.I., you don’t have to read it! But I will never censor my own legitimate opinions just because someone else feels put out by them. That’s not what this is about.

And that’s the beauty of personal blogging. I appreciate blogs whose writers are honest about their views and experiences, and aren’t just trying to tow someone else’s line for approval. Of course, getting included in a blog carnival or “circle” doesn’t imply the opposite; sometimes people with common ideologies or interests just coalesce.

I can tell you right now that….

--Skeptics may object to my occasional excursions into the mysterious and spiritual.

--Doctrinaire religious people may object to my disagreements with their doctrines.

--Conservatives and liberals alike may object whenever I don’t tow their ideological line on a given issue or personality.

--Academics may object to me, a lay individual, discussing a topic that lies within their professional spheres of expertise.

--Since my blog jumps around from topic to topic, anyone who just wants to read a blog that precisely fits a narrowly-defined category may object to it.

-And some people, incredible as it may seem, may object to me discussing my own life experiences since these didn’t correspond to their own (how could they?).

I’m basing some of what I’ve written here on my experiences in visiting other blogs and observing how their authors relate to each other. I'm also aware that more people who personally know me around town may be coming in contact with this blog. If you’ve taken the time and effort to read it with an open mind and/or even submitted comments whenever it suited you, then you can pretty much exclude yourself from what I’ve written above; you already “get it”!

Breath of Fresh Maher

I recently saw comedian Bill Maher interviewed on CNN's Larry King Show. After watching this segment, I realized that I agreed with everything that he said. From his assertion that Hillary Clinton would have been a better choice for VP to his compassion and advocacy for animals to his exhortation to true believers of various diverse viewpoints regarding God to just "man up and admit that you don't know", Mr. Maher may very well be someone intellectually honest enough to lay it out on the line. I don't get HBO, which carries Maher's own show, and his subdued, charming persona displayed with Larry King may not carry over into his other performances. But I'm going to have to keep my eyes and ears open for this "breath of fresh air" in the midst of the pervadingly stagnant, stinking, and polluted media cesspool.

Loud and Aggressive People

Max Erhmann, in his famous poetic exhortation Desiderata, urges the reader to “avoid loud and aggressive people; they are vexations to the spirit”. I certainly agree wholeheartedly with this as a general principle; who wants be around bullies and blabbermouths? Sometimes, though, one just must learn how to negotiate through unavoidable relationships with these types. But I’d just prefer to avoid them altogether. I also have a bit broader interpretation than most probably do of what constitutes a “loud and aggressive” person.

There are those whose overt demeanor would seem to disqualify them for a “loud and aggressive” designation; they may have soft voices and project a relatively pacifist, friendly image in their social interactions. But if they spread slander and gossip about others (behind their backs, of course) with their soft voices, and use other, more physically aggressive people to do their dirty work for them, then I’d also have to include these types as part of the thoroughly avoidable “loud and aggressive” crowd. And this more subtle group is more insidious and harder to ferret out. Even so, there is something about an up-front, obnoxiously pushy person that pushes my buttons! But at least with them, I can overtly stand my ground and give an assertive response. With the “stealth” aggressors, any confrontation on my part with them will be attributed to “my” aggressive nature, so simple avoidance is probably the best strategy.

Monday Newsbreak: 8/25

--My week was dominated by Tropical Storm Fay as it wound its slow, meandering way through the state of Florida. The “eye” passed directly over Gainesville, which was a blessing in disguise, sparing us from constant exposure to more outer bands and the concomitant flooding. It put a “damper” on my son’s preparation for college in Jacksonville, while my daughter’s school was cancelled on Friday. The road race that I was going to run in this past Saturday was postponed until October 4. Ironically, a thunderstorm unrelated to Fay hit us Sunday and caused more flooding than the tropical storm.

--So Barack Obama picked Delaware Senator Joseph Biden to be his running mate. I’ve always liked Biden, but he does have a tendency to put his foot in his mouth from time to time. I wish his own campaign for president had taken off instead of stalling. I still think that Hillary Clinton would have been a better choice for VP. But we’ll see how it all ends in November (or December if we have another “2000”).

--The Olympics have wound down, and I am glad of that. I liked watching certain events (running, swimming, beach volleyball), while I avoided others (boxing, synchronized swimming) like the plague. I also ended up tuning out the gymnastics after the extreme nationalism and rule-breaking (underage participants) on the part of the Chinese teams seemed to take the spotlight.

--My hometown of Gainesville is currently undergoing its annual population swell as thousands of University of Florida students inundate the area. And it gives me pause to think about my status as a UF alumnus. Being a member of their alumni association carries some benefits, and I may just be ready to take advantage of some of them.

--This Tuesday is a local election day for me here in Alachua County, with races for county commissioner, school board, sheriff, judge, and property assessor. Taking a few minutes to vote (after reading about the candidates and the issues) is one of the coolest and easiest things you can do for your community and country.

Let the Speaker Speak

One of the blogs that I have discovered lately is by Marcus A. Smith. Smith presents some very helpful insights about public speaking, one among them being that you don’t have to be standing up behind a podium addressing a crowd in a formal setting to be engaged in public speaking. Instead, it may be more beneficial to picture any opportunity for verbally expressing yourself to others as public speaking. To a great extent, I see some value in looking at public speaking this way. But there is an important caveat.

If I am “given the podium”, that means that I have the authority to make a reasonably uninterrupted presentation to others. When in other more informal settings, I rarely have this opportunity. Everyone seems to want to get their two cents worth in, and I can almost never get anyone outside my family to show the common civilized courtesy to hear my thoughts out until I’m finished expressing them (although these people do exist in small numbers).

Part of this rudeness on the part of “listeners” may be due to the shrinking attention span and increasing impatience on the part of people in general (as I perceive it). Another reason may be that people tune in to television and radio and pattern their listening behavior on talk show hosts who shamelessly interrupt their guests in mid-sentence to make their own (usually topic-changing) points. The worst offenders, as I see them, are CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and Fox’s Sean Hannity. But they’re just the worst of the bad. The commonly-seen rapid-fire format where a host shoots off questions to one of two or three guests (set off to the side of the screen in little boxes) may pander to people who are incapable of concentrating on anything for a sustained period of time, but they almost never produce anything resembling a resolution to the topic being discussed.

For a refreshing departure from this frustrating type of media experience, I highly recommend C-Span’s Book TV feature, which “spans” each weekend. I have learned more about just any topic imaginable than I’ve picked up on any other station, just from listening to speakers who were accorded a decent amount of time to speak on their topics of expertise and/or interest. There is almost always an orderly period for questions from the audience at the end.

Why can’t the networks run their shows like this? Well, I already know one of the answers. People at-large want somebody spoon-feeding them their opinions, and in small, tasty bites. Focusing on any one topic long enough for them to develop their own personal opinions would be too much of a drag!

My Foreign Language Study Update: 8/23

Although I haven’t studied as much as I had wanted, I still passed a milestone of sorts with my foreign languages. On July 22, I made small posts on this blog in Russian and Chinese. I was able to find some websites that I could use to write with Cyrillic and Chinese scripts. The Chinese was considerably slower to write because the characters were arranged according to which radicals they belonged to. I’ve grown used to using the Chinese Romanized pinyin spelling to reference different characters, so this is something that’s going to take a little practice on my part. I also found a site that would enable me to write in other exotic scripts, as well as in Romanized scripts tailored for specific languages (such as French, Spanish, German, Polish, and Vietnamese with each language's special diacritic marks).

I have all of the resources I need to make great progress in the foreign languages I want to become proficient in, but I need to just put in the time and effort. Hopefully, with future blog postings in different languages, I’ll get some responses and be able to interact with others on the Web.

I think the only way I’m going to take the needed time and effort to successfully learn these languages is to commit to regularly posting articles in them (or in something resembling them). So don’t be surprised if you’re looking at this blog and suddenly encounter some weird gibberish. It’s probably just one of my exercises in another language (or possibly just weird gibberish).

On a side note, I think it’s great that Google has an instant language translator. It’s useful for me in that I can translate words and simple, short phrases from a language into English and vice versa. But the process can break down badly when translating full texts and even single sentences. This service is useful, though, within its limitations. And Google does seem to be dedicated to making this service progressively better. Naturally, though, other than its use as a dictionary of sorts, I avoid the Google translation tool, the whole point of my writing in a foreign language being to practice thinking and writing in it.

Pseudoscience Vs. Popularizing Science

I’ve encountered on a number of occasions the complaint lodged by scientists and self-proclaimed skeptics that the popular media is oversaturated with pseudoscience and the paranormal. I tend to agree with this viewpoint, especially when I watch a channel such as The History Channel or The Biography Channel and get shows about ghosts, dubious legendary monsters, and “eyewitness” accounts of space alien encounters. I scanned my very large selection of cable-provided stations and couldn’t find one that was honest about devoting their programming to this sort of popular fantasy material. Instead, supposedly reputable channels lower their standards (and probably raise their ratings and advertising income) by showing this drivel. And driving out the treasure of programs that they could have been showing and which would have been truly educational. So in this regard, I’m standing right up there in agreement alongside the scientists and skeptics.

But some of these folks who want to defend the integrity of science and honest reality sometimes go a bit over the line with their criticisms of others. I’ve read criticisms of physicists Michio Kaku and Stephen Hawking for their assiduous attempts at making science interesting and available to the general public. Since mathematics, much of it very intricate, underlies hard science, Kaku and Hawking had to develop language that more or less summarized in more general terms what was going on in their fields. And also discussed topics that they knew would capture the public’s imagination (e.g. wormholes). To some, this was a “bad” thing to do.

I’ve seen a similar process happen in art and music. There will be a circle of artists who consider themselves pure to the art. When one of them decides to produce art that resonates with the public at-large, the rest of the circle often accuses him/her of selling out. Much of the criticism aimed at Kaku and Hawking within the scientific community may be partially motivated by the feeling that these two are reaping fame and reward out of proportion to their true contributions to their fields and have thus “sold out”. But their popular works are stimulating true interest in real science and moving (some, but not enough) people to abandon pseudoscience.

Scientists need to remember that they need to promote their fields to others on the outside in order to obtain the needed funds to sustain their own research and careers. Those who work directly for businesses may or may not have to engage in the tedious activity of trying to get grants from government and businesses to be able to do a research project. But for those who do, these scientists need to be able to explain their scientific aims in a plain language that strikes an appropriate balance between its simplicity and the technical nature of the subject matter. And in a more general sense, scientists need to become, like Kaku and Hawking, more engaged with the public in order to ensure that government funding of scientific research will continue to be politically popular.

My Top Twelve Favorite REM Songs

REM is one of the greatest all-time rock bands ever, in my estimation right up there with the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and The Who. Drummer Bill Berry, bassist Mike Mills, lead guitarist Peter Buck, and singer/lyricist Michael Stipe have shown over the years that unselfish collaboration and friendship can endure within a band regardless of its level of success. Although Berry had to leave his colleagues in the mid-nineties because of serious health concerns, REM has continued to this day producing quality, significant music. In my opinion, their “golden years” happened in the period from 1989 through 1994 when they (all four) produced four incredible albums: Green, Out of Time, Automatic For the People, and Monster. But they’ve done songs I like all the back from their debut EP Chronic Town up to today. Not only do I like REM’s music, but I like each of its members as well (I can’t think of any other band besides the Beatles that I can truly say that about).

Regarding my selections, I could have listed my “top 50” REM songs, but since this is primarily a writing blog and I wanted to write about each song, I had to undergo the painful soul-searching process of reducing the number to something manageable, like “twelve” (I couldn’t bear to cut it to “ten”). So, here we go:

#12: What’s the Frequency Kenneth
During the summer of 1994, I was poised to hear another refined and melodic album by REM in the mold of Out of Time and Automatic for the People. The first track released from the new album Monster was a radical departure from the previous two works. What’s the Frequency Kenneth featured a solid background of guitar that gave it a much harder edge. The strange title was based on the words a deranged man uttered as he assaulted CBS News anchor Dan Rather (a big REM fan himself). And the rougher sound typified by this first track permeated most of Monster.

#11: Pilgrimage
During the mid-nineties, I “caught up” with REM’s earlier works. Pilgrimage was a slow-developing, but ultimately loud song from Murmur, their first full-length album. For some reason, Michael Stipe kept singing the words “two-headed cow” at various moments in the song.

Yes, it was its musical, not lyrical, side that gave this song its special appeal to me.

#10: Walk Unafraid
REM’s late-nineties album Up was, for them, a commercial disappointment following a string a very successful albums. Bill Berry and his important contributions to the band in the studio were no longer there. The tracks that were picked for singles releases were usually poor choices (in my opinion). Up contained several good tunes that would have done better on the charts, Walk Unafraid being one of them. Walk Unafraid’s lyrics resonated with me and continued to reveal Michael Stipe's uncanny, deep empathy for issues I cared about (such as walking clumsily).

#9: E-Bow the Letter
From the generally-disappointing New Adventures in Hi-Fi album, E-Bow the Letter was one of REM’s many songs whose mood and production was so different that they stood apart, not only from other artists’ works, but also distinctly from REM’s. E-Bow the Letter was a duet between Michael Stipe and Patti Smith. It also may have been Stipe’s greatest single performance as a vocalist, although he basically talked throughout the song.

#8: Suspicion
Suspicion is the track from Up that I was convinced would have been a chart-topper had it been released and promoted as a single. Later I discovered that it had been released as a single, but still went nowhere. Go figure. Suspicion was a mysterious, slow, dreamy piece that would have had great cross-over appeal on different radio stations had it been properly promoted. Oh well, at least I got it!

#7: Man on the Moon
In early 1993, I fell in love with this song, which was also the song that set off my frenzied collection of REM’s albums. It was a memorial to the late comedian Andy Kaufman as well as a patchwork quilt of Michael Stipe’s takes on skepticism, religion, and urban legends (at least that’s my “take” on it).

#6: South Central Rain (I’m Sorry)
South Central Rain was a special REM song in that it was several years after I heard it before I heard any of their other songs. The only reason I even heard it back in 1984 was that MTV showed its video then as part of their regular rotation. A great, stirring old song, although I’m not exactly sure what Michael Stipe was trying to communicate with it (other than that he was “S-O-R-R-Y”)!

#5: Find the River
This song concluded the beautiful 1992 album Automatic For the People. Softly played and sadly sung, Find the River had a mysterious, prophetic mood to it that portended a future containing a finality, possibly that of life itself. To end an entire album this way left me saying “wow!” to myself. A very emotional piece (they keep getting more so the higher up I get with this ranking).

#4: Half a World Away
Buried deep within the 1990 album Out of Time is Half a World Away, another sad tune expressing the sentiments of separation laid out in its title. The acoustic, strummed guitar stands out in this track.

#3: The Wrong Child
From the moment I first heard it in 1994, this song from their 1989 album Green sent chills up my spine for the way it elicited strong waves of memories and emotions about my own childhood. Multitracked with Michael Stipe’s high-pitched singing and featuring acoustic guitar accompaniment, The Wrong Child was what I would call a massive “tearjerker”. I can’t think of any other REM song that even remotely sounds like it, either. It made me wonder what sources of such insight this band possessed to come up with something this sensitive and beautiful.

#2: Let Me In
My favorite track off of Monster, Let Me In was (to me) REM’s most instrumentally-intense piece. Mike Mills was chiefly responsible for flooding this song with an overpowering, constant guitar presence. The lyrics were a belated plea by Michael Stipe to his late friend Kurt Cobain for the troubled Nirvana singer to share his problems with him. Like The Wrong Child, I never heard Let Me In played on the radio. REM is one band whose albums contain the great bulk of their important material. If I had just stuck with listening to their singles releases, I would have completely missed out on some incredible songs (like Let Me In).

#1: Imitation of Life
Imitation of Life was one example of the best song from one of REM’s albums being released as a single. Coming off their inspired Reveal CD, this tune contained two compelling melodies playing off against each other until one of them, childlike and wistful, won out and was repeated to the end. More a collage of images than a coherent narrative, Imitation of Life was one of those malleable songs that could be whatever the listener wanted to make it be. Taking it as a mood piece worked for me. It’s one of those songs that makes me feel good whenever I hear it.

So that’s my personal version of the very best of one of the very best bands ever, REM.

Occlumency, Snape, and the Real World

To me, the most interesting character in J.K. Rawling’s Harry Potter series is Severus Snape, the sinister teacher at Hogwarts Academy who is always picking on Harry and his friends. Snape seems either unwilling or unable to conceal his disdain for others, especially for those with a connection, even if only indirectly, with his troubled and sad youth. Is Snape on the side of the good or the bad? You can never be sure, and this ambivalence in his personality is what makes him the most believable (and human) of all the Harry Potter characters, all of the adorning magic in the series notwithstanding. He is quite the hypersensitive type, never letting a personal slight escape him unnoticed. Yet in the fifth book, The Order of the Phoenix, Headmaster Dumbledore has Snape teach Harry the obscure and difficult art of “occlumency”. Occlumency is the magical art of being able to block others from telepathically transmitting information to oneself (Harry is experiencing a problem in this area). And Snape is supposedly a master in occlumency. But in ordinary social interactions, he wears his heart out on his sleeve and takes in everything!

In real life, if you choose to believe in mental telepathy, than I suppose you can go a step further and believe in something like occlumency as well. I don’t. But there does seem to be a lesson in all of this anyway.

As children, we haven’t yet developed the ability to discriminate between the relevant and irrelevant regarding our interactions with others. We take it all in, both the good and bad, and have to store all of our experiences somewhere in our minds. So taunts and threats from elders and peers can scar one’s attitude toward others and life in general. Later, as with Snape’s occlumency, we (if we are maturing, that is) learn skills to filter out the harmful and irrelevant transmissions from others while taking in what is constructive and positive.

I am fifty-one years old and am still in the process of learning this filtering skill. I know of kids from my childhood who, in spite of being the victims of harassment from their peers, were able to filter out the bad and function effectively. I wasn’t. But I also know of people older than me who never learned how to block out unreasonably-negative social input and are so lacking in self-confidence that they have difficulty deciding on simple courses of action in their daily living.

As for me, Rawling’s occlumency has provided a model for me to call up in situations where I am still learning to fend off attacks on my confidence and purpose, even at this stage in my life. Of course, occlumency is in itself make-believe, but so are all of the other psychological devices we invent to help ourselves cope! How using this self-help device works, as I see it, is to habitually insert the interjection “occlumency” into my thoughts at the appropriate cue, (feelings of pressure or harassment from others), to interrupt and change the direction of my feelings from those of becoming demoralized and dejected to those of become proactive and positive.

Oh well, it’s just a tool. Or, as I wrote a few days ago, a “good lie”!

This topic reminds me of a "Christian" minister I heard preaching on Jesus's teachings a few years ago. This man, "slightly" adapting Jesus's words to suit his own worldview (as so many do), said that if someone strikes you on one cheek (i.e. commits an offense against you), then turn the other to him. If he strikes that one, then slug him! I think my "occlumency" strategy beats slugging someone and getting thrown in jail (or suffering a much worse fate).

Personal Snippets: 8/19

--My son Will is going off to college today. We’re coming along to help him get set up in his dormitory. He only has three classes this school term, but they are going to be a tough three classes. It may take a little while for Will to feel comfortable and habituated to his new residence and lifestyle, but I know that he loves challenges and opportunities to better himself!

--At Borders the other day, I found a new game titled Hidato. So I bought the Hidato book, later discovering that it is the only Hidato book that’s been published so far. Hidato is another logic puzzle along the lines of Sudoku and Kakuro. With Hidato, the object of the game is to connect the squares by placing successive integers in adjacent or diagonal squares. I’ve already pretty much gotten the hang of this interesting puzzle type, although so far I’m only at the “Intermediate” level.

--It is interesting how the grass in my yard seems to be responding to seasonal changes. I’ve noticed a slight slowdown in grass growth for the last week. Since it has most recently been raining a lot around here, I know it has nothing to do with water shortage. Shorter grass to mow? Oh, the joy of it all!

--I am on the verge of running my first road race since the one I ran (without much interest) in 1976 in Hollywood, Florida. This one is to promote and help fund Gainesville’s local Red Cross. The course is a five kilometer block in the southwestern corner of the University of Florida campus comprising dorms, the agriculture college research area, the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, and alligator-populated Lake Alice. I am long-familiar with this area and look forward to trying my hand (and feet) at it this coming Saturday morning. Not expecting record-shattering times or a top finish, I’m just in it this time to establish a new activity (competitive running), finish the race, and start collecting running-race tee-shirts.

--What have been your favorite Olympic events to watch (assuming you’ve been watching any)? I’ve enjoyed the table tennis, basketball, weightlifting, swimming, and beach volleyball. I saw part of a field hockey game, but it just looked like a composite of soccer and ice hockey. The big events to me are coming up: bicycle racing on that super-high-banked track and the running events. The women’s marathon was spectacular.

--My almost thirteen-year-old daughter has drawn a picture for one of her school classes showing something that she would like to do on a vacation: sky-diving. Wow! I’ve got two incredibly brave kids! But, you know, I’ve been itching to try a sky dive or two as well. Now that I’ve finally flown (as a passenger) in a plane (in 2006 at age 49 for the first time).

Monday Newsbreak: 8/18

--The Russian occupation of parts of Georgia has continued, with a delay between the cease-fire agreement signed by the two nations and the cessation of open conflict and withdrawal by Russian forces according to that agreement. Now Germany, which had blocked Georgia’s last application to NATO membership, is expressing interest in this beleaguered little country gaining admission to NATO as German Prime Minister Angela Merkel paid a visit to Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital. For whatever legitimate reasons the Russians may have had with its initial forceful response in this conflict to Georgian armed aggression against South Ossetia, its subsequent conduct and arrogant rejection of international criticism is going to severely backfire in terms of other countries willing to engage in mutually constructive relations with them. And it already has emboldened those critics who are resurrecting the old Reagan accusation of the former USSR (of which Russia was the dominant republic) as an “Evil Empire" in order to deepen suspicion of Russia's current intentions.

--Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama met for a discussion with evangelical Christian pastor Rick Warren at his California church. The questions were whatever Mr. Warren chose to ask and primarily concerned the issues of the candidates’ religious faiths, their character, and their opinions on certain hot-button issues like abortion, gay marriage (under the guise of how marriage should be defined), and the U.S. Supreme Court. Since both McCain and Obama expressed a Christian evangelical faith, they seemed comfortable accepting this forum (although McCain continually would change the discussion topic to get his “talking points” in). But what if a Catholic or Jew were one of the candidates? Rick Warren may seem like a pretty nice guy, but his religious beliefs are exclusive in nature, excluding adherents of other belief systems from acceptance by his (and his followers’) conception of God. Most Americans were shut out of this discussion with our next president, including Catholics, Jews, liberal denominations, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, Hindus, other faiths, the nonreligious, agnostics, and atheists. Implicit in Warren’s presentation was the sense on his part that he and his religious circle have a corner on ethics and character. Now what I would like to see is a forum between the candidates run by leading scientists and educators. And how about one run by legal scholars as well? Or even postal workers?! Judging by the track record of religious leaders as I have seen it, just about any profession picked at random could speak with as much personal authority on the topics of ethics and character.

--At this writing, Fay is still just a tropical storm, but is expected to cut across western Cuba and enter the Gulf of Mexico, where it is expected to strengthen to possible hurricane status. Who knows where it will end up?

--The Beijing Summer Olympics have been pretty interesting so far. I could write about the winners, but one thing I noticed was the enormous range of reactions that athletes had when they lost. Some threw down their equipment in anger, some cried, some perfunctorily congratulated the winner with frowning handshakes, and then there was Dara Torres. Torres is an Olympic veteran swimmer who, at 41, is probably through with her Olympics “career” after this one is over. She participated in three events, including individual and team relay races, all three finishing in second place to the Gold Medal winner. She always displayed the most gracious sportsmanship toward others although she obviously must have been very distraught at not winning.

As a side note, I sometimes have a little difficulty rooting for the Chinese when I see how much pressure their country is putting on them to win the Gold “for China”. This hyper-nationalism really aggrieves me. Ironically, even in the midst of the concurrent, very regrettable Russo-Georgian conflict, it is encouraging to watch the Russian athletes competing. Although their performances are naturally a big deal in Russia (as ours are in the U.S.), I don’t sense that they are “under the gun” as propaganda puppets for the Motherland (as was the case during the Soviet years).

Hurricane Fay Danger

Although, at this writing it’s just “tropical storm” Fay, all of the forecasters are predicting it to strengthen over the next three days, first as it moves in a WNW direction skirting southern Cuba, and then once it turns more northerly after leaving Cuba for Florida. The projected path has Fay striking Florida, either in the southern part of the peninsula on Tuesday or further up the coast later in the day.

Living in Gainesville, I’m concerned that the center of the “cone of probability” has Fay hitting Gainesville early on Wednesday as a minimal hurricane (or a very strong tropical storm). Of course, four years ago, the same types of projections had Hurricane Charley hitting us directly, too (which it didn’t). But all of the state of Florida is concerned about what direction Fay will ultimately take and how strong it will get. If it hits Florida early, Fay is more likely to be a weaker hurricane, but that is not guaranteed. The further west it travels before turning more in a northeastward direction will give it more of an opportunity to strengthen, making wherever it does strike more vulnerable. Back in 2004, Charley was pretty much in the same spot off the southwestern coast of Florida where Fay is predicted to be late Monday/early Tuesday, but it suddenly strengthened into a very strong hurricane and unexpectedly changed its course to the east, resulting in a devastating hit in the Punta Gorda/Fort Myers area. The situation with Fay is just as uncertain.

As for me, hurricane season may have officially begun on June 1, but the “real” season is finally in full swing with Fay. This storm is particularly frustrating for us since we’re driving to Jacksonville Tuesday to help our son to get himself moved in as a freshman in college there. But regularly living through hurricane threats is part of what it means to be a Floridian, and I’m planning to go on with my business regardless, just as most everyone else is going to as well! If Fay is coming directly at me at a dangerous level of intensity, of course I’m going to make the necessary preparations. But I’m not putting my life on hold or holding my breath for it, either!

My Reading Update: 8/16

Lately, my reading hasn’t been with the same fervor as it had previously. I finished the Stephen King Dark Tower series, and like its author, I’m glad to have it behind me! This seven-volume science fiction/fantasy series was good, but not among my favorites of his. I then began reading another ultimately disappointing King work titled Rose Madder. What bothered me the most concerning this novel about a battered wife who decides one morning to leave her abusive husband and strike out on her own is the way I could predict what would happen. And that is not the Stephen King I’ve come to know! After finishing Rose Madder, I began reading his more recent thriller (at least I hope it’s a thriller) Cell. So far, it’s starting out like a story reminiscent of his epic The Stand. At least it’s more interesting and unpredictable than Rose Madder (to me).

I read one of H.P. Lovecraft’s short stories titled The Picture in the House. Lovecraft’s descriptive language is very intricate though macabre. I just recently read Jo’s (another blogger) short fictional account of a similar wandering to an old house titled Summer Episodes. But with this tale, the very descriptive language conjured up feelings of wonder and joy, not fear and revulsion. I like reading both types, but they are vastly different from each other in their affect. Both differ from more standard prose fiction in that they implicitly invite the reader to slow down, take each phrase one at a time, and exercise his or her imagination to create mental visions.

I need to step up my reading, but seeing that my day has a built in time limit to it, and I must spend a good portion of it either working or unconscious, the remaining time needs to be allocated wisely. And that means that my family gets a large section of my time, as well as various home projects and some self-improvement activities (like running, writing, foreign languages, and piano). I’m thinking of just wearing one of those fanny packs that I can carry a paperback in, so that I will be able to create reading opportunities during times (like standing in lines) when I normally wouldn’t be reading. And I will be increasing my short story reading as well.

I’ve always done a lot of what I call casual reading (such as newspapers or magazine articles), and have dramatically increased this type of reading with my excursions into the blogosphere. There are some pretty good writers out there, and their interests span a wide range of topics. I’m especially impressed at the number of scientists, engineers, and mathematicians who use blogs to help educate the general public and spur interest in their sometimes very technical fields.

Tiptoeing Through the Internet

When I first got connected with the Internet a few years ago, I was simultaneously in awe about the scope of this transformative innovation as well as painfully aware of its limitations. I used to perform searches on Alta Vista and would come up with results that usually numbered well into the thousands (sometimes millions). Of course, as I scrolled through them, I’d find that there just wasn’t a whole lot of stuff pertaining to what I was looking for. And too often, I would get links to obscene websites and what I term “scamsites” from perfectly innocent searches.

Nowadays, I’m more savvy about how I phrase my searches. And the available material to choose from search results is often staggering! The future regarding the amount and quality of available Internet material out there just keeps looking better and better.

But speaking of the future, there is another side to the Internet. Along with the enhanced ability to view and copy material from the Web is the enhanced ability of others to detect viewing and copying, and then using the information to persecute and prosecute users. And, with other areas of our legal system, although it may take being a lawyer to figure out what the law is (and even they can’t seem to agree with one another on it), the justice system still places the burden of compliance with the law on the ordinary, legally-untrained lay user.

If I were to truly take advantage of what is available on the Internet, I could have access to music, television, movies, pictures, and literature that I could copy. Then, I could either transform what I copied to a more portable form for personal use away from my computer and the Net or I could load up my blog with all sorts of flashy features making it attractive and attention-holding. Regarding the latter, I’ve browsed through many blogs, and I can’t help but wonder whether some of them haven’t overstepped copyright statutes and similar legal provisions restricting use of others’ creative products. Naturally, I don’t want to commit a violation against someone else’s intellectual or artistic property. But realistically speaking, the pervasive nature of this technology is such that putting such material on the Internet automatically makes it susceptible for copying. There’s probably a line drawn in the “ethereal” sand that separates reasonable use of material from “going too far”. But I don’t know what’s reasonable and what’s an infringement.

Let’s take the embedding of videos as an example. I haven’t embedded videos on this blog largely because this is primarily a writing blog. But sometimes I’ll run across something in the news or arts that I want to write about. And then wonder about the legal ramifications of letting the blog viewer access the material directly from my blog. Better safe than sorry, I say, and thus I’ve been reticent about video embedding so far, even with the news services like MSNBC, Fox, and CBS, who put out gobs of material for embedding. With YouTube, I’m especially concerned about this. But if an artist or their recording company deliberately puts out a video on You Tube with their blessings, I don’t see any problem with at least putting out a link to it. But even with that, I’m not sure if there might not be some trouble down the road.

As Nirvana’s late Kurt Cobain once sang in a song of his, “Just because you’re paranoid don’t mean they’re not after you.” Oops, did I violate someone’s precious rights by printing that, too? And will Tiny Tim’s estate give me a hard time for this article’s title?

Favorite Songs of 2007 & 2008 (So Far)

When I began my weekly year-by-year recaps of my favorite songs (as I lived through each year), it was 2007. Throughout that year, my primary source of popular music was 100.5/WHHZ “The Buzz”. Unfortunately, as 2008 began, this station altered its format to mimic its higher-powered competitor 103.7/WRUF. The result has been that the great independent/alternative bands that I had come to follow were completely cut off from broadcast radio in Gainesville. Fortunately, I was able to replace WHHZ with my Cox Communications digital radio, which they broadcast on my television (and which has three independent/alternative stations). Also, I discovered a great albeit faint Orlando station, 104.1/WTKS “Real Radio”, that I can play over the computer (when I actually have access to it). Still, it’s harder to hear my favorites from recent years.

Looking back on 2007, Muse’s beautiful, mysterious love song Star Light continued to be my favorite song of that year. They also came out with a more funky-sounding tune, Supermassive Black Hole. Green Day’s cover of John Lennon’s brutally true Working Class Hero was faithful and compelling. Depeche Mode, one of those enduring bands that keeps making comebacks, continued their latest with the catchy (and typically dreary) Suffer Well. Speaking of catchy, Beck, the master of pop hooks, had a winner in his Think I’m In Love. The Shins cryptically sang about a Phantom Limb, while Lili Allen just wanted to Smile. The Silversun Pickups had their breakthrough hit with Lazy Eye. The Plain White T’s crossed over into the mainstream charts with their sweet exhortation of love: Hey There Delilah. Toward year’s end, Linkin Park came out with another of their screaming and pounding forays into fit-pitching and self-examination (but I somehow love it): Bleed It Out, my favorite of theirs since 2003’s Faint and my #2 favorite of 2007. And my #3 top song of that year was the sinister-sounding Black Mirror by Arcade Fire.

2008 saw me undergoing something that happens to me from time to time: I “discovered” an act that I had previously considered unworthy of listening to. This time it was the White Stripes, creatively driven by Jack White (also the creative force in the band the Raconteurs). And the song that sparked this personal about-face was the outrageously played and sung Icky Thump, a tune that’s bound to become a long-time classic. Now I’m picking up stuff in White’s other works that I like as well. I could still pick up some good songs off of top-40 radio and the harder rock stations like Psycho by Puddle of Mudd, Love Song by Sara Bareilles, Ladies and Gentlemen by Saliva, Let It Die by the Foo Fighters, and Viva La Vida by Coldplay. And I managed to hear a few good indy/alternative artists as well. Beck continued cranking out likable, original songs with the relentless Timebomb. The band Rogue Wave’s Lake Michigan was one of the last good alternative songs I heard played on WHHZ before they abandoned good taste. Death Cab For Cutie’s I Will Possess Your Heart is very long and repetitive (both musically and lyrically), but its effect is not to bore but rather to entrance. And the emerging group MGMT had the significant and very disturbing song Time to Pretend. Here’s a list of my personal rankings so far in 2008:

1. Time to Pretend (MGMT)
2. Icky Thump (White Stripes)
3. Timebomb (Beck)
4. I Will Possess Your Heart (Death Cab for Cutie)
5. Psycho (Puddle of Mudd)

The Good Lie

Self-improvement guru Anthony Robbins, in one of his old books (the title eludes me), once extolled the value of “lying”. And by that, he meant that there are some ideas that may or may not be true, but acting as if they were true could be beneficial. For example, the notion that “I control my own reality” may be a scientific overreach (putting it mildly). But for the purpose of fighting a sense of helplessness about life and transforming it into a feeling of control and personal responsibility, this “lie” can work. Another “lie” is that it doesn’t matter what happens to me; it’s what I do regarding what happens to me that matters. Of course, all sorts of very crucial things can happen to me (including a meteorite landing on my head), but the gist of this “lie” once again is to put me in the driver’s seat of my own life.

As a matter of fact, any change that I am going to want to make is by necessity predicated on “lies” like these. I may not yet be the person that I want to change into, but I still need to adopt the mindset and habit patterns of one who has changed.

As I wrote a few days ago in an article on my “discomfort” zones, sometimes it is necessary to allow myself to get into situations about which I am unfamiliar and lacking in confidence. Then, the philosophy of “winging it”, based on another “lie” (do it, and if you don’t know how to do it, act as if you do) kicks in. With the caveat, of course, that I will reach out and accept with humility and gratitude corrective advice from those around me when I “screw up”!

In religious circles, there may be something to this idea of “lies” as well. One type of prayer that helps the one doing the praying to take responsibility for his or her life is the prayer of affirmation. This type of prayer is based on the “lie” that what is being prayed for has already been granted. By doing this, the one who is praying is automatically put into the position of having to analyze the reasonableness of the prayer, as well as possible unintended negative consequences if it really were to come to reality. If what is being sought is truly reasonable, then the act of praying fervently like this can empower the person to work to create the sought-after solution.

A counterargument can be made to the effect that it would be harmful if someone with, say, cancer were simply to invent the lie that it no longer existed. Especially if this caused them to forgo needed medical treatment. I believe that there are some fringe religious groups that actually believe in this type of “healing”. But as long as the one doing the “lying” understands the nature of the “lie” as only a tool for personal empowerment, then instead of passively waiting for things to work out like magic, that person will develop successful strategies and carry them out.

The Incredible Shrinking Attention Span

There was once a kid I went to elementary school with. He was in the fifth grade while I was in the sixth, but the way our school was arranged, we often had classes together. One day I found myself conversing with this friendly-enough student. I don’t even remember what it was that I was saying, but I was talking directly at him and looking at him. And he was listening to me, looking back at me. I was right in the middle of what I was saying, though, when his face suddenly drew a blank and he simply turned away, no longer paying attention to me. He didn’t intend to slight me, I’m sure, but I was so miffed by this apparent rebuff to one of my rare friendly communication attempts that I never did try to talk with him about anything again. And later, after going over “across the field” to another school and the seventh grade, I never saw him again.

It is easy to take it personally when encountering someone suffering from a deficient attention span. As I went through life and kept encountering examples similar to what I experienced in school that day forty years ago, it dawned on me that one of two things must be true. Either a lot of people had incredibly short attention spans, or I was gifted with an incredibly long one. After reading the late, renowned science fiction writer Robert Heinlein’s critical opinion about the state of education, I am tempted to side with the former possibility over the latter.

In one of his notes, published posthumously, Heinlein claimed that it used to be commonplace for math students to be able to express products of two two-digit numbers by simple mental calculation, without the aid of pencil and paper. Although I could do this as well, I also knew that very few around me could. Whenever I would perform this “trick” for others, people would react as if I were either a genius or a magician. But the technique for doing this is painfully simple. All you have to be able to do mentally is be able to store a four digit number temporarily in memory and then add it to the sum of two four-digit numbers.

For example, take a “difficult” problem:

What is 93 x 67?

By simply breaking down the “paper” multiplication procedures most everyone already knows (using distribution), a quick mental shortcut can be devised:
--------------------------------------------------------------------
A) Multiply the tens together and the units together, then adding them to each other by “merging” them in a 4-digit number:

9x6=54
3x7=21
5421

B) Store “5421” in temporary memory (in your brain, not a calculator). Now reverse the units in the two numbers being multiplied, multiply the digits in each number, add them and then add a zero:

93x67
97, 63
9x7=63, 6x3=18
63+18=81
810

C) Now recall from your memory “5421” and add

5421+810=6231
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The instructions seem much more complicated then the actual procedure which, if drilled anywhere near to the extent that written multiplication is drilled in school, would quickly become much more automatic.

I recently mentioned in a comment to a mathematics educator on his blog what Heinlein wrote and that folks commonly used to have this type of skill, which has been allowed to slide over the years until it now seems like a big mystery. His reply was of skepticism and that a feat like this required a rare ability. But multiplying two two-digits mentally only requires knowing the procedure, a little practice, and something resembling an attention span!

It takes an attention span to be able to listen to another, be it in a speech or in a simple conversation. It takes an attention span to be able to read a novel (or even a short story) and store the story’s pertinent information long enough to be able to recall later in reading without having to flip pages back. And it takes an attention span to be a responsible citizen participating in a representative democracy, in order to not allow last-minute flashy or inflammatory, demagogic media spots to play a decisive factor in one’s voting.

Our educational system needs to recognize the need for exercising and developing students’ abilities to focus on different topics, hold them in concentration for a sufficient time, and then be able to recall salient facts from what they have been thinking about. Without using paper, calculators or computers as crutches. And with our ever-increasing emphasis on obtaining close-to-instant results with our nifty 21st century “thought-saving” gadgets, the trend seems to be going in the wrong direction.

Monday Newsbreak: 8/11

--The country of Georgia, under its president Mikhail Saakashvili, decided to invade its secessionist province of South Ossetia, prompting a Russian counterattack and offensive against Georgia. The volatile Saakashvili apparently instigated this outbreak of hostilities with South Ossetia, but now the danger is in his small nation being overrun. Georgia has been one of the United States’ biggest allies in the region, even having sent soldiers to Iraq. But their president is unstable and provocative. The population of South Ossetia is more pro-Russian and favorable to the idea of union with its neighboring giant. This war is very dangerous and could ignite into a broader conflict. Will cooler heads prevail? Georgia has announced that it has withdrawn its forces from South Ossetia and is proposing a cease-fire. Now it remains to be seen how restrained the Russians will be in their response. So far, they seem intent on crushing their small neighbor.

--Tragedy has marred the Beijing Summer Olympics, with a Chinese man stabbing the parents of the U.S. volleyball coach at a historic tower before jumping to his death. The father died while the mother is in critical condition. The attack seemed to be completely random and unprovoked.

--It’s not fashionable to say this, but I believe that the Chinese and the Russians have a great deal more to fear from terrorism than does the United States. Although seen as dangerous rivals by some, even enemies, American leaders need to express their willingness to support these two nations as they try to legitimately protect their own people. I read something recently about how stringent China’s Olympic security measures were. But they weren’t any more severe than those taken by Greece for their Olympics four years earlier. But then again, China is way too touchy with its sensitivity to criticism by others (noting their refusal to admit an American former Olympic athlete for supporting Darfur human rights).

--Ellen Nakashima reports for the Washington Post that a vast database of Americans’ prescriptions records has led to the formation of “health credit reports” that determine how much health and life insurance companies charge prospective customers. The two biggest health “big brother” data collecting companies are Ingenix and Milliman. This is completely outrageous! How much more abuse by the health care and insurance industries are we going to put up with before we dump this horrendous system in favor of publicly-funded universal health care?

--The Miami Dolphins began their preseason schedule by losing to Tampa Bay 17-6. Touted as a new-look team, rebuilding from last year’s pathetic 1-15 version, the Dolphins’ one bright spot was the performance of veteran running back, marijuana enthusiast, and former retiree Ricky Williams. When I read that Williams played, I was astonished. I thought the Dolphins had gotten rid of him a long time ago!

Believe Not Vs. Not Believe

There are some words that are not even remotely offensive or profane; but just the same, people tend to avoid using them because they feel that it makes them seem stupid or ignorant. One of these is the simple statement “I don’t know.” It seems to be more more acceptable for people to arbitrarily “vote” their beliefs or denials rather than just come clean and say that they’re clueless, or at least uncertain! And it’s this concept of “belief” that I’d like to examine a little.

To me, believing something is basically arriving at a conclusion, from observation and reflection, that whatever I have observed and reflected upon is valid and has truth value. Thus I generally believe people who have established a track record with me for honesty. I believe in science and math, the concepts from which are borne out in their technological applications and in their descriptions and predictions of things and events, respectively, in the known universe. I believe in the arts, which are true in that they successfully evoke reactions of pleasure and other emotions from me; and my own existence, from the continuity of my memory and my ongoing experiences. I believe in exercise and a healthful diet because they cause me to feel better. In none of these examples that I mentioned is belief or disbelief a matter of virtue or vice.

And yet when it comes to religion, that is exactly how belief is often framed (especially with Christianity and Islam). In those religions, if you believe in the precepts that they express about the deity, than you are “good” or “saved” and have the hope of eternal life in heaven. But if you make the cognitive decision that a particular faith is not believable, than according to them, you are an “non-believer” and an “infidel”, basically evil and doomed to eternal damnation at death. And I’ve always had a serious problem with the “belief is virtue” dogma that underlies these faiths.

On the opposite end are those who claim non-belief in a god, or atheism. But is that really not believing or is it really just another form of belief, which is that there is not a god? If you say that you believe there is no god since science does not indicate the existence of one, I would just reply that science does not indicate the existence of you either, as a subjective entity who refers to yourself as “I” and is rooted in the here and now. And yet belief in our own existence, as apart from everything else, is firmly planted within each of us!

To me, those who claim that science does not indicate the existence of a god and hence believe there is no god may also be reacting in a human way to the disturbing “belief as virtue” doctrine I pointed out before. To say one believes that there is no god, though, is a positive belief statement that has made (in my opinion) a radical leap of faith based upon something that isn’t even remotely complete (our body of scientific knowledge). Better to say one does not believe in a god, which indicates an absence of belief and does not indicate a leap of faith (to the negative conclusion). But to some, that might come too close to the scary words “I don’t know”!

There’s nothing wrong with making an occasional leap of faith. We do it all the time in our daily lives. For example, I have faith that when I’m on the road, a driver in the oncoming lane won’t drift over and smash into me head on. Or that when I put on my brakes, the driver behind won’t plow into me. Or that the food I buy at my grocery is reasonably safe to eat (apart from the sugar and fat, that is). If you’re a confirmed atheist who absolutely believes that no god exists, then that’s all right with me, too. But don’t fool yourself regarding leaps of faith: like true believers in religions and gods, you’re jumping, too! But, y’know, you really don’t need to! It’s also all right stand on this side of the chasm of uncertainty and say “I don’t know”, and let it go at that.

My Writing Fiction Update: 8/9

I finally made the plunge and began writing fiction as a regular activity (though not yet to the degree that I want to). I started slow and made a goal of writing at least one short story or one chapter-length part of a larger story each weekend. Starting two weeks ago, I’ve kept up with this goal, successfully writing two short stories (titled Capper and Two Homes). I’ve revised the former to a great degree while keeping the original version on file. The latter has some flaws that I need to resolve as well. But I did it! Are these two stories worthy of being published and paid for? Probably not in their current state, but with a little tender loving refinement I may, at some time in the future, send them off to a publisher to see what happens. In the meantime, I have some more fiction to concoct this weekend.

Writing a story is a completely different process from putting down my opinions on a blog. When blogging, all I need to do is dip into my memory and beliefs (or some external source like a newspaper or TV), drawing up enough material to “splash” on a page. With fiction, I’m still drawing on resources, both internal and external, but I also have to create a different world, populated by make-believe people, that the reader can imagine as being real. The story needs to reveal a progression of events with a consistency and continuity that makes it seem believable. I also must decide to what degree I will use descriptive language for the story’s settings and characters.

Writing fiction requires me (at this stage, at least) to get myself more into a setting where I can focus more completely on the task at hand and not suffer distractions. Also, a part of me seems to be telling myself that it’s somehow “not good” to be engaging in fantasies and thinking up make-believe stories. While this “Walter Mitty” tendency of mine to daydream has done me disservice through much of my life, though, writing stories is one place that I should welcome it!

Losing Time

Many years ago, when I used to work the graveyard shift, I would often listen to Art Bell’s nationwide Coast-to-Coast late night talk radio show. Usually straying from the political blather that plagues the talk radio scene, Bell instead concentrated on creating the picture of a world full of paranormal phenomena and unexplained mysteries. One of the recurring subjects was that of alien abductions. And one of the recurring features of that subject was the loss of time on the part of the "abducted".

Somebody would typically be hiking out in some God-forsaken part of some remote woods (in the night, of course) when they would awaken to find themselves either there or someplace else, a few hours to a few days later. With no recollection about their “lost time”. Others would commonly just go to bed at night and wake up much later, experiencing sporadic "flashbacks" of a traumatic experience involving aliens.

The idea that we can have blackouts in our memories that may hold sinister secrets has a certain appeal for those inclined to the mysterious. But in the real world (I don’t subscribe to the idea of alien abductions) people “lose time” often, without actually losing consciousness or memory. Only it isn’t some outside party like “grey” aliens with big eyes kidnapping them to a spaceship for biological experimentation. No, it’s people themselves who allow time to slip away from them. And I’m one of the biggest offenders! So, what am I going to do about this?

I’ve looked over my daily life a little and noticed a few things:

--I tend to stay up too late at night, when I am both physically and mental tired to really accomplish anything worthwhile. And then get up too late the next morning to accomplish the things I want to do before having to go to work in the afternoon.

--I have found myself sitting in front of my TV surfing channels when I already know that there isn’t anything good to watch.

--While cleaning up an area such as my garage, I often run across items that distract me from my task.

--Although going back and forth to the kitchen to get snacks to eat is often placed in the “dieting” category, it is also an example of losing time as well.

--Sometimes I will let myself get too distracted with puzzle-solving (like kakuro) instead of tackling less-pleasant-but-necessary tasks.

So there are a few examples (off the top of my head) of me letting time slip away. Why, this very morning I got up way too late, which is what brought this subject up for me to write about. I have too many things going on in my life and in that of my family for me to be careless about how I use my time. I’ve written about this problem of mine a while back on this blog, but it seems to be pretty deeply entrenched in the area of “bad habits”.

I believe that the key to minimizing my own time loss is not to make some fuzzy, general resolution to “try harder”, but rather to look at each specific example and create alternative choices for my behaviors. So that’s a personal project for me whose “time” has come!

Apocalypto

Recently I had the opportunity to watch Mel Gibson’s 2006 movie (as director) Apocalypto, uncut and uninterrupted. I had seen earlier promotion trailers for this film when it first came out in the theaters. Those short clips did little, though, to prepare me for the intense spectacle that awaited me with the full-length movie.

Apparently set in late 15th/early 16th century southern Mexico/northern Central America (Apocalypto’s ending fixes this time and place), a Mayan people still live on from generation to generation, long after their advanced civilization came to an abrupt and mysterious end centuries before. The movie’s protagonist, a young man named Jaguar Paw, lives with his wife and son in a close-knit jungle village. One day Jaguar Paw, his father, and some other men are out in the jungle when they run across a group of ragged refugees, fleeing some type of calamity that is pursuing them. Shaken by this experience, Jaguar Paw’s father admonishes him to not live his life by fear. But that night, the marauders responsible for those refugees’ plight invade the village, killing many and taking Jaguar Paw, his closest friends, and others into captivity and forcing them on an agonizing march to the ancient capital city. It is here that I stop with the movie’s narrative, just in case someone chooses to watch it for the first time. Needless to say, though, this dismal situation is just the beginning of Jaguar Paw’s ordeals and adventures.

Apocalypto is very graphic in its depiction of violence and brutality. I think that Gibson did this deliberately to make a legitimate point. Often nowadays there is a widely accepted historical narrative that the indigenous Americans were a peace-loving, civilized people who were more advanced in many ways than their contemporary European counterparts across the Atlantic. The narrative goes on to claim that, when European explorers and settlers encountered these native populations, they went about deliberately exterminating their cultures and subjugating them. And, of course, the diseases that the Europeans carried, especially smallpox, wiped out the great majority of the indigenous population in the “New” World.

Apocalypto makes no claims denying the European culpability within this narrative (and neither do I). Rather, it puts forth, through its engrossing story, the conjecture that, rather than framing things as “good natives vs. bad Europeans”, the circumstances are most accurately described as “humans with technology and civilized “trappings” vs. humans without technology and civilized “trappings”. For those who conquered and subjugated Jaguar Paw’s people were not Europeans but rather fellow Mayans who regarded themselves as more civilized. It is the universality of human behavior, in terms of both individual and group behavior, that Apocalypto proclaims. And it gives the viewer pause to reflect on whether our contemporary society, with its "shock and awe" and Daisy Cutters, is really more civilized and compassionate than the brutal aggressors in Gibson’s film.

Besides the allegorical messages from this movie, I was thoroughly taken by the detail given to language and setting. The acting was phenomenal as well, with me becoming emotionally connected to Jaguar Paw and his plight (as well as that of his family). Apocalypto was a great (albeit gruesome) balance of adventure story, compelling characters, and social message. I recommend that you watch it (unless you are a minor or prone to nightmares).

Go Figure

Late in 1964, the Beatles released their single I Feel Fine after the band, according to John Lennon, spent much creative energy and hard work crafting this soon-to-be big hit of theirs. For the B-side of the single, Paul McCartney threw together a very simple, spur-of-the-moment song titled She’s a Woman, and the Beatles recorded it in a rush with very little fanfare (because it was on the B-side, after all). But when the record came out, radio stations across the country discovered that many fans liked She’s a Woman more than the polished I Feel Fine (including me). So She’s a Woman ended up getting co-billing with I Feel Fine in the charts, even though relatively little effort had been put into it.

Although I’m nowhere near the artistic level of the Beatles, I think I’m beginning to understand how John Lennon felt when, in a later interview, he expressed a little consternation at how the two songs were publicly received. I just recently published two blog articles on successive days. The first, titled Time to Pretend, was on a topic that I felt deeply about. I put a great deal of thought (and emotion) into this personally-relevant piece. The next day, I happened to be headed over to my local Publix grocery to pick up some items when I thought, hey, I’ve got my sturdy little portable AlphaSmart word processor with me, why don’t I just stop over first at the Starbucks a few stores down and “set a spell”? So I bought a coffee and sat down, with no preconceived notion as to what I would write. I was thinking about what an interesting, inclusive program Chris Matthew’s show Hardball was on MSNBC, and how “exclusive” Keith Olbermann’s show Countdown was (regarding the selection of guests), to its detriment. So I whipped up a few words, threw them together, and put it all out on my blog for the next day. I got no discernible reaction for the important (to me) Time to Pretend article, but for the Olbermann article there was an comparatively enormous reaction. The reason? An anti-Olbermann website had picked up my article over the Net and placed a link on their site to it. That was O.K. by me, but still it gripes me a little that what I cared the least about was what the “public” seemed to care about the most. I suppose, though, that if I am really serious about publishing my writings, be they fiction or non-fiction, I should come to expect this sort of frustrating type of reaction from readers. I’ll bet it happens to Stephen King all the time. Go figure.

Ormond Beach Weekend

My family and I spent the past Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at Ormond Beach. We stayed at a old, reliable (and inexpensive) hotel there, with a fourth-floor room and balcony facing the ocean. Everyone got to do pretty much what they had wanted to do at the beach. And there were different things to do: go out into the ocean water (which was very calm throughout our stay), use the hotel’s pool (much more suitable than the too-shallow Hard Rock Hotel pool at Universal in Orlando), get in the hot tub, go running along the beach (I ran 2.35 miles on Saturday), or just sit on the balcony enjoying the scenery, pleasant conversation, or just one’s own thoughts.

We experienced only one storm during the stay, and even that turned out in our favor (although a palm branch was blown off a tree, crashing onto a lounge chair that a woman had been lying on only a few minutes before). The storm’s aftermath left a relatively cool beach for me to do my run down as well as making the sand a better running surface. Being able to see the Daytona Beach pier from my hotel, I originally had entertained thoughts of running there and back, but discovered that it was a little further away than I had thought (four miles). I haven’t yet attained my 1975 running level of eight-mile runs (although I have such a course in Gainesville already mapped out).

Nighttime beach walking has become more pleasant on the Ormond/Daytona Beach area in recent years. One reason for this is that, in order to protect hatching sea turtles on the beach at night, hotels that used to drown the coastline in their lights now have to turn them off or turn them away from the beach. I loved to just stand there facing the ocean, taking in the sounds, wind, stars, and night ambiance.

We also ate out a couple of times, did some shopping, and even bowled three games (none of us are avid bowlers, and it showed Saturday night). I did note, by watching other bowlers, that how fast or slow one rolled the ball seemed to make very little difference regarding the number of pins being knocked down. My daughter once got a strike by simply aiming well while rolling the ball at a very slow speed!

All said, our trip to Ormond Beach was a very pleasant experience. I would like to express my gratitude for the cooperation of the weather while we were there. And the hotel staff and management were helpful and courteous.

Monday Newsbreak: 8/4

--The presidential campaign is now going on full bore, with both major party candidates beginning to irritate me. John McCain seems to be going out of his way to publicly pander to all of the conservative hot-button special interest issue groups, while Barack Obama’s annoying tendency to use stuttering as a rhetorical device (à la Andy Griffith) is beginning to interfere with his message. I know that the candidates need to select their running mates. But beyond that, what is there really left to do? After all this time and all this campaign’s media supersaturation, are there still people left in this country who are planning to vote and still don’t know these candidates? Why should anyone be better prepared to make a choice in early November than now in early August? Although part of me wants to keep up with the campaign, another part wants me to completely turn my back on it, knowing from past experience the terrible mudslinging that is about to envelop this contest. And don’t get me started on the upcoming conventions. Ugh!

--The 2008 Summer Olympics are officially beginning this coming week in China, although qualifying events for different sports are already taking place in different locations in that country. I know there is a lot of controversy in some circles about how people concerned about China’s questionable human rights record should regard the Olympics this go around. I’ve been an advocate of more openness in societies like this one, and believe that more interaction with the rest of the world is a good thing for China. In the long run, I think it will help the people in that country to have experienced the Olympics on their soil. I remember the time when human rights were reportedly the worst there, when China shunned the Olympics while maintaining its isolation from the world. My focus during the Olympics won’t be China itself, but the actual events that I am interested in. And I don’t plan to automatically root like a programmed robot for the U.S.A. all the time, either. I’ll leave that for others to do, as I am sure some will.

--Exxon/Mobil announced record profits for this past year, exceeding any annual profits for any firm in known history. Yet they are complaining that their profits weren’t high enough! Well, better luck next year, Exxon/Mobil, sorry you didn’t meet your expectations! Does this sound a bit sarcastic on my part? Well, it is, a little. On the other hand, though, just because a company makes a big profit, that doesn’t mean that this money is buried somewhere in a deep hole, lost forever. No, that money circulates right back into the economy. The relatively static statistic of a corporation’s annual profits does little to shed light on what is really going on with the oil industry. I’m more concerned about where these businesses choose to direct their profits than I am about how much they make.

What Goes Around Comes Around

In 2005, the U.S. Senate went through a crisis of sorts: the Republicans, under Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, expressed frustration that some of President Bush’s nominees to Federal Court judgeship positions were being filibustered by the Democrats. Although this handful of nominees only represented a tiny fraction of the “Bush” judges that the Democrats actually helped to confirm (and previously, the Republicans had blocked a much larger number of President Clinton’s nominees), the GOP wanted ALL of them confirmed. To get their way, Majority Leader Frist threatened to manipulate Senate rules and adopt what came to be known as the “Nuclear Option” for confirming presidential nominees. With it in place, it would take a simple majority vote on the Senate floor, instead of the sixty-vote supermajority, to end debate and send the confirmation vote for any nominee to the Senate floor for a final up-down vote. Just before it looked as if Frist was going to take this “Nuclear Option”, fourteen Senate colleagues (split evenly between the two parties), dubbed the “Gang of Fourteen”, agreed among themselves to (1) reject the Nuclear Option and (2) agree on their own to send all nominees to final confirmation vote unless there was something extraordinarily astray with the candidate. So by this, the Nuclear Option was averted and, as such, it was regarded as a big defeat for Frist (even though all of the nominees in question ended up being confirmed). But I thought back then and still do even more so, that Frist was foolish to suggest the Nuclear Option in the first place.

If the Nuclear Option had been enacted, then the Republicans stood to gain, as I had stated before, a small handful of confirmations. It may be argued that it was for the upcoming vacancies in the U.S. Supreme Court that this whole controversy swirled around. But in that case, the political pressure would have been very heavily in favor of forcing the Democrats to allow a floor confirmation vote (and then rejecting the candidate) if the individual selected to fill the vacancy seemed too objectionable. On the other hand, had the Nuclear Option been enacted, it would have given the Democrats the benefit of having it should they gain the Presidency and maintain control of the Senate (both very viable possibilities at the present). There are several sitting Supreme Court justices who may just be waiting for the outcome of the 2008 election before deciding to retire. Should Obama win, justices like John Paul Stevens, David Souter, and Ruth Bader Ginsberg may all opt for retirement (Stevens will probably retire anyway). Then the new Democratic President’s choices for their replacements would come under Senate scrutiny. And because of the flack raised by Frist and his colleagues demanding floor votes for every nominee, it will be that much more difficult to block any Obama pick. Of course, if the Nuclear Option had been enacted, it would have been next to impossible! It’s funny how political parties in power tend to act with such expediency, never seeming to understand that sooner or later their run as the “big shots” will end and the opposing party will be calling the shots. And enjoying the advantage of whatever new rules the previous “rulers” had passed for their own advantage. What goes around comes around! And, supposing a Democratic Senate Majority Leader under a future Democratic president gets frustrated with Republican filibusters of his/her nominees, the Democrats could turn the table and pull the very same Nuclear Option that Frist paved the way for.