Typical UF Bulletin Board

Just one of those wild and crazy university bulletin boards with wild and crazy ads placed in a wild and crazy manner. It used to tick me off to see someone covering over an entire bulletin board with a stack of the same ads and a stapler. Now I just laugh. This board, though, has a healthy degree of variety to it. Maybe the folks stapling bulletin board ads have become more socially conscious nowadays....Naaah!!!

Philip K. Dick's Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said

I just finished reading the late Philip K. Dick's novel Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said. Evidently written in the midst of the turmoil in America of the early 1970s with law-and-order and abuse-of-power president Richard Nixon and the political radicalization of college students across the nation, this novel takes that setting and extends it into the future. Into a world dominated by a repressive police state where a deceased Nixon is worshipped as a manifestation of Christ and students are imprisoned in ghettos across the land following a second Civil War.

Flow My Tears has as its protagonist a charismatic television idol, Jason Taverner, who is secretly a "six"; this is a person who was the product of genetic engineering in the past (of the "sixth" experimental group, that is). One day, Taverner wakes up to find that his existence has been wiped clean from the memories of all those he knew. As a matter of fact, there is no record of his life anywhere (remind you of a couple of Twilight Zone episodes?). And his lack of an identity places him in imminent danger of being arrested and sent off to a forced labor camp.

Not being someone who likes to spoil the endings of novels, I'll just say that the explanation for Jason Taverner's predicament was quite impressive, to say the least. As Philip K. Dick has done in other works of his that I have read, his characters are complex and interesting. The way they think and present themselves to each other reminds me a little of Ernest Hemingway's style. Dick's writing style also resembles Hemingway in its simplicity. All to his credit, in my opinion.

So get a copy of Philip K. Dick's short novel Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said (I checked it out from my public library). It is a science fiction story of the best kind: one that shares some profound insights into how society and technology may merge in the future to create crushing oppression, as well as providing interesting angles on what is real and the nature of subjectivity.

Assuming Total Personal Responsibility

I've noticed a trend over the years as I've watched various sports events and the subsequent spin that participants and their coaches have put on their performances. The tendency, as I have observed, is to take a rather myopic view of what happened, with all of the lessons learned from the event being based on one's own performance, without regard to whether the other side was having an especially good or bad game.

When I was much younger and had athletic aspirations, I would sometimes play beyond my abilities and have spectacular games. I would run a football kickoff back for a touchdown, score three quick goals in soccer, or play devastating defense in basketball, repeatedly stealing the ball from my opponent. But although these performances represented personal peaks in my achievement, when they happened my opponents tended instead to berate themselves and each other for "letting me win".

I see this all the time on TV. Florida's Tim Tebow throws a couple of interceptions against Mississippi State and it's all about "what's wrong with Tebow", not "wow, Mississippi State's pass defense is playing extraordinarily well". Of course, coaches and players alike will make the perfunctory "good sportsmanship" remarks praising the other team's performance. But their overwhelming emphasis is on their own performances, almost as if the other side were a constant, unchanging element that had little or no impact on the game's outcome.

As dishonest as just looking at one's own performance and ignoring or diminishing the opposition's may be, it is actually a healthy attitude, in a manner of speaking. As an athlete or coach, I can't control how my opposition will play on any given day. The only thing I can do is to optimize my own (or my players') performance by insisting on taking personal responsibility for every outcome. Only then can problems be identified and strategies enacted for overcoming them in the future. The idea of assuming total personal responsibility in an interactive contest may be a lie, but it is a useful lie, nevertheless. And this principle can carry over beyond sports, into general living.

The principle of "it's not what happens to you, but rather what you do about what happens to you that matters" is a corollary to the above "lie", and has its own limitations as well. We should each of us focus on our own behavior while still being cognizant of what others do. There are some things in life we have little or no control over. Still, we need to act AS IF we had control, nevertheless. Because, sometimes, we really do!

Heffalumps and Woozles in Hogtown

I loved the Disney cartoon series Winnie the Pooh, along with the spin-off movies. One of my favorite characters was timid, easily-frightened Piglet, whose chief fear was of the Heffalumps [elephants] and Woozles [weasels] he mostly imagined were lurking about the Hundred Acre Wood. Here in Gainesville, we're building up a local "fright" about some wild animals as well: hogs and coyotes.

I've already reported a few days ago on the exploding wild hog population northwest of Gainesville that is spilling into residents' yards. But coyotes abound here as well, and they are not as confined as their porcine "pals". A typical coyote family, as Monday's Gainesville Sun article pointed out, has a range of about ten square miles. And they can be anywhere, even in the heart of the city. Coyotes have attacked both cats and small dogs, although they generally quickly shy away from humans. Lately though, coyotes have been seen about openly in broad daylight, a new development for Gainesville.

I have personally seen neither wild hogs nor coyotes in Gainesville, but I recognize that they are around. I think the main predators to be feared are neither of these animals, which for the most part are just trying to survive and mind their own business. Rather it is the age-old nemesis that people have always had to be on the watch against: other people!

And I don't just mean violent people who commit or threaten to commit crimes of aggression like the mugging incidents that have recently dramatically increased in frequency here. Put some people behind the wheel in a motor vehicle and just walking down the street can be a frightening experience, with all of the distracted, aggressive, and/or alcohol-impaired drivers out there. "Our" Heffalumps and Woozles? Not boars and coyotes, but muggers and poor drivers!

Short, Random Notes

Not a "tweeter" by nature, I generally prefer to write a paragraph or two (or more) about topics that pique my interest. But there are a few things floating around that I'd like to get off my chest in a hurry, so here goes:

--Senate Majority Leader, Democrat Harry Reid decided to push for a health care form bill that has a much stronger public option in it than most observers had foreseen, especially after the lame Baucus version had passed the Finance Committee. Good, I think that I am back on track with supporting health care reform as it currently being legislated.

--A couple of weeks ago, I thought that we in north-central Florida were experiencing the last vestiges of hot summer weather. But I was wrong, as the hot, muggy weather has returned with a vengeance. Ugh!

--The New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies will play in this year's World Series, with the first game starting tonight. Go Yanks!

--My local rag The Gainesville Sun has a new topic that it has been playing with recently on its editorial page: air-boats on Orange Lake and how appropriate or inappropriate they are. My take is that since the chief objection that residents on the lake have against air-boats there is that they keep them awake at night with their noise, simple common courtesy would dictate that people refrain from operating them late at night and just stick to the daytime and early evening hours. After all, I don't go out and mow my lawn at three in the morning! It's amazing how many conflicts could be alleviated were people to show some simple consideration and respect for each other.

--I was watching a football game last night between the Washington Redskins and the Philadelphia Eagles. Not caring much for either team, I arbitrarily decided to root for Washington in this game. And became infuriated by their total incompetence on offense. I can accept my team losing a game because the other team outplayed them. But when my side continuously fumbles away the football and incurs ridiculous penalties, that's when my patience wears thin. I think it's going to be a while before I root for the Redskins again in a game.

--With the H1N1 flu vaccine currently being in such short supply, the parents of young children are being placed in a bind. On one hand, they are continually being warned to get their kids vaccinated because this flu primarily affects children and has already caused many deaths. Shame on parents who don't get their children vaccinated, right? On the other hand, if the vaccine isn't available anyway, then WTF?

U.S. Supreme Court on Web

Back in 2002, I took a history class at the University of Florida probing the history of the U.S. Supreme Court since the American Civil War. The professor was Elizabeth Dale, whom I regard as my all-time favorite professor at UF. The course focused on the development of the Court's philosophy by examining various crucial decisions through the years and their written opinions, both majority and dissenting. So I already have a bit of experience in reading and interpreting Supreme Court rulings.

The recent confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor as the new Supreme Court Justice replacing retiring Justice David Souter spurred a new interest within me regarding this very important institution. And I began to explore websites about the US Supreme Court. Naturally, my first choice was the Court's own site, and for all practical purposes it keeps me abreast as to its schedule of cases, oral arguments, and decisions, complete with majority and dissenting opinions.

For example, a case challenging the constitutionality of an aspect of federal campaign finance law was reheard back in September, giving new associate justice Sotomayer a chance to make her debut. The fall session officially began about three weeks ago, the first heavily-publicized case of which concerns the constitutionality of a war memorial in the form of a cross, erected back in the 1930s at a relatively remote spot in California on then-public land. But these aren't the only cases being heard, and this site lists them, along with word-for-word transcripts of the oral arguments (poor grammar and all).

I find following these arguments to be quite an intellectual challenge, and have come to respect the justices (and arguing attorneys) for their skill and precision with the law and its oral presentation.

In these arguments the ideological division in the Court between conservative and liberal justices is often difficult to perceive. Each justice is truly an independent thinker and often contributes unexpectedly novel outlooks on the cases being examined.

I recommend following the US Supreme Court website to get a true feel about how cases are argued, and to get the complete decisions along with their written opinions. The level of discourse during oral arguments is much higher than anything you would hear on news/talk television or radio, and that includes C-Span broadcasts of the proceedings of the US House of Representatives and the Senate. I look forward to a future day when I will be able to view Supreme Court oral arguments live on my TV screen. But until then, I still have them to read (and in very large print, too) on my computer.

From Stephen King to Philip K. Dick

I have nearly reached the end of my exploration of Stephen King's literary works, with only a couple of novellas from his Four Past Midnight collection left to read before I begin on his soon-to-be-published novel Under the Dome. I exclude from my reading history his novels The Green Mile, Misery, and Firestarter, as I saw the movies first and already know their outcomes. Obviously, I am a fan of King's, one of his "constant readers" as he likes to put it. And I am now looking for another writer of comparable worth to focus on.

There are plenty of candidates out there, but I think I may have settled on the "winner": science fiction icon Philip K. Dick (1928-82) who wrote numerous short stories (a few of which I have already read) and 36 novels. Some of these novels fit more into the genre of general fiction than science fiction. During his lifetime, Dick experienced difficulty getting many of these published. But during recent years, his collected works have been resurrected and have received much critical praise. I just finished reading one of these novels: Humpty Dumpty in Oakland. It is a stark, brutal depiction of class divisions, real and perceived, existing within America and the creeping paranoia that can arise from them that can sometimes lead to disastrous consequences. And the novel's main characters, Jim Fergesson and Al Miller, are unforgettable and masterfully revealed.

I may have lucked out with Humpty Dumpty in Oakland, but I am already experienced with Philip K. Dick's shorter works and know of their quality. My favorite short stories of his are Impostor (later adapted into a movie of the same title), Fair Game, and The Days of Perky Pat. So I'm pretty confident that I will be enjoying plenty of good reading in the weeks to come. I am currently reading a science fiction novel of his: Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said.

One other thing: Dick's novels tend to be on the short side, by today's standards that is. I hear Stephen King's new novel will be around a thousand pages long; Philip Dick's novels tend to be about 200-300 pages in length. I kind of like that.

Where I Stand

I thought it might be interesting to just lay out in a blog article a list of statements spelling out where I stand on various issues.

War in Afghanistan:
The U.S. should not be engaged in nation-building in Afghanistan. It should concentrate its efforts on fighting Al-Qaeda, which is an international terrorist network, and not the Taliban, which is an indigenous political/military movement in that area. Our efforts should be to put a wedge between the more moderate elements of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. We should reduce our visible presence there, else we will be seen as just another in a string of foreign occupiers, attracting greater and greater resistance and popular opposition.

Health Care Reform:
I would prefer a simpler system like Britain’s, where citizens could get their medical needs met without going broke, going through masses of red tape, or restricting any career or lifestyle changes for fear of being denied future insurance coverage. I’m a realist, though; this is the U.S. and the political environment won’t tolerate that (preferable) change. But I would at least like a low-cost public option, especially if everyone is going to be mandated to purchase health insurance. So I’m quite skeptical about the current legislation being process through the Senate (the Baucus bill) which I see as an abominable betrayal of the whole point of health care reform in the first place.

Energy:
I would like to see Americans using safe, nonpolluting, domestic, and renewable energy sources to power their vehicles and electricity. But I’m realistic here: let’s just concentrate for now on keeping carbon emissions low and encouraging domestic sources. And that means (environmentalists can now gasp in horror) building nuclear reactors and using the cleaner coal technology that has been developed in recent years that keeps carbon emissions low. Why? Simply that (1) I would like the planet to survive and (2) it sure would be nice for my country’s leaders to feel that there wasn’t an extreme crisis every time an oil-rich nation underwent a political crisis. And as an important corollary to (2), it should help to keep us out of military adventures abroad. Of course, those intent on military intervention and war will most assuredly come up with other excuses for concentrating their efforts on certain nations while ignoring others.
The answer to our energy problems also must encompass better conservation, which is already under way as greater technology allows it and more people become educated to its importance.

The Howl With Running

This past week I stepped up the mileage in my daily runs around my neighborhood. My increase in running may be due in large part to the fact that I have begun to listen to my mp3 player during my runs, which makes the experience more pleasurable and helps take my attention off the exertion involved in covering the increasing distance. Today I upped the distance to 5.09 miles. In the process I ran down roads that I hadn't run down before. Roads that went by houses with fences that had big, ferociously barking dogs behind them.

As I was completing my sojourn through these new stretches of my home subdivision, I began to hear barking--a small dog's barking, seeming to originate from near the house I was running toward. But I couldn't see the dog as I passed this house, although I could still hear the barking. As I turned the corner onto another street, I began to hear mournful howling originating, it seemed, from different directions. But no dogs to be seen! Truly an eerie experience, worthy of late October and Halloween with its spookiness!

And then it hit me. I lifted up my mp3 player and looked at what was playing: Seamus, by Pink Floyd, from their Meddle album. And featuring a lot of loud, funny dog barks and howls. And I began to howl, too. With laughter. Hope I didn't scare anyone.

Media News and Commentary

There are still some TV channels, notably the traditional “alphabet” networks ABC, CBS, and NBC, which still attempt to show even-handedness in their presentation of news and commentary. And for the most part (with the one glaring exception of Lou Dobbs), I would say this about CNN. But there is another practice that I find disturbing, both by its presumed, deliberate bias and by its burgeoning popularity. And that is having shows hosted by confirmed and unapologetic ideologues who construct their programs to promote their own opinions and to put down opposing views. Lou Dobson, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly, Ed Schultz, Keith Olbermann, and Rachel Maddow all fit this mold. Since I tend to be more liberal than conservative, I also tend to watch MSNBC’s Schultz, Olbermann, and Maddow more. But were I conservative, I doubtless would think that those right-wingers on Fox were the tops. There are some hosts, like MSNBC’s conservative Joe Scarborough and liberal Chris Matthews, who express their views openly but also try to conduct an open airing of the issues with a diversity of opinions expressed.

There are also three increasingly ugly aspects to many of the ideologically driven shows on cable news channels. First, ad hominem personal attacks on political adversaries are commonplace, as if the merit of an individual’s views on an issue should be determined by some breaking news, true or false, about their personal lives. Second, reasonable debates about important issues have been distorted on these shows into morality plays between the heroic good guys and the evildoers bent on destroying everything good about America. And third, those who supposedly are simply providing a media forum for opinions and debate have become so powerful nowadays that elected representatives are now basing their votes and statements on how they think this tiny number of powerful people will react to them. Choose your favorite, Fox or MSNBC: both sides are guilty of this!

Don't Sell Tebow Short

College football sensation Tim Tebow, the senior starting quarterback for the Florida Gators, is indisputably the most popular athlete in the history of this university. He is idolized everywhere and has even been dubbed with the appellation "Superman". Yes, Tim is indeed living within a bubble of intense adulation. But once he graduates, what will happen to that bubble?

Although Tebow has won the Heisman Trophy (and may win a second this year) and has participated in two national championship teams (and may participate in a third this year), the professional talking heads on television and radio seem to feel that his prospects for success in professional football aren't all that bright. Tim, apparently, isn't playing for a college that uses a "pro" style offense that displays and develops quarterbacks as passing "machines". Instead, at UF he coordinates a rather complex spread-style offense that isn't used much in the National Football League (although the Miami Dolphins are doing something similar with its"wildcat" formation). But just because Tebow doesn't play in a standard pro offense does not mean that he isn't fully capable of excelling in one.

I have seen Tim Tebow as he walks up to the line before plays, and he is quite adept at reading the opponent's defense and making last-second adjustments. As a matter of fact, his behavior just before a play reminds me a bit of NFL's famed quarterback Peyton Manning. Tim is also a very intelligent runner who knows how to follow his blockers as well as how to stretch out a run for a few extra (and often crucial) yards. Add this to the fact that Tebow has a very strong and accurate arm and I would say that the NFL team that ends up drafting him next year may well be setting itself up for quite a rosy future.

So don't sell Tim Tebow short just because of the type of offense that he has to operate in. Instead, realize that, with whatever role that has been assigned to him, Tebow has fulfilled it well beyond expectations. I think he will continue this pattern into his professional football career. And beyond.

Colorado Family Balloon Hoax

The whole setup seemed a wee bit suspicious when a boy, suspected of stowing and floating away in his inventor father's makeshift huge helium balloon (which just happened to have a compartment that would accommodate the child), turned up, apparently at home the whole time that the hours-long frantic search was going on. Before calling 911 to report their child's disappearance, the family reportedly contacted a local television station, further fueling doubts. Now it looks as if felony charges will be filed for this charade. The parents, Richard and Mayumi Heene, were hoping for their own television reality show and, according to the Associated Press, have already appeared in the ABC reality show "Wife Swap". All of which makes me wonder about the mental state of the average Amercian television viewer.

If the reality show garbage permeating the television channels nowadays were shown back in the 1960s, they would have been disasters. Viewers back then expected better programming and got it. But today, these scripted shows depict people going about their lives generally behaving like nincompoops, reflecting upon their nincompoopish behavior in short "interview" segments, and then returning to further nincompoopery (and even further reflection). While channel surfing, I keep haplessly landing on these sorry excuses for actual programs, and I have begun to fear for our future. Do regular viewers really care about what is going on with the people portrayed on these reality shows? The prospect makes me shudder.

When I first heard of this Colorado balloon incident and its outcome from a co-worker while at my job, I thought that the writers for the satirical cartoon series South Park couldn't have dreamed upon a better idea for one of their episodes. I could just see it: father thinks Butters has floated away in the balloon. After finding him in the box, he angrily shakes his fist and says "Butters, you're grounded, go to your room!" To which little Butters says "Dang it!" and trudges upstairs. But now that we know of the phony nature of the incident, I would have to change the story's emphasis to the foolish adults in South Park (Stan's sometimes-conniving father comes to the forefront as a possible lead role).

All that the South Park writers really have to do with this story is to report it straight as it happened!

Baseball Hides Its Playoffs on TV

What happened to Major League Baseball? We are in October and the playoffs are already in the second round, with the winners of the current series to play each other in the World Series. But none of the major networks or sports channels are broadcasting the games [Correction: see below]. Only Atlanta's WTBS seems interested in letting viewers in on the action.

I have to suspect that MLB itself may be responsible for the playoffs dropping out of sight on television. They have made their regular season games harder for the average viewer to follow by making them part of their own premium channels. They seem to be interesting in soaking the American public for as much moolah as they can muster by making their product more difficult to access over the regular channels.

Which brings me to the two industries not covered by the Federal Antitrust Act: the health insurance industry and ...Major League Baseball. The fact that baseball has special legislated protection should, I would think, make it more of a publicly accessible sport. The regular broadcasting networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox) should be carrying all of the playoff games, but they're not. It seems that health insurance and baseball, both beneficiaries of legalized monopoly status, can't do enough to antagonize the public with their voracious greed, well beyond reasonable notions of making a respectable profit.

But now that I'm writing about baseball, I might as well comment on the playoffs. I would like to see a World Series match-up between the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers. It would pit ex-Yankee and now-Dodger manager Joe Torre against his old team. I would get to see my favorite player, Derek Jeter. And it would revive the ancient rivalry between the two franchises which goes back to the years when the Dodgers were in Brooklyn. But should the Los Angeles Angels and/or Philadelphia Phillies come back in their series and win (actually, the Phillies are leading their series with the Dodgers), that would be all right with me, too. Just let me watch the World Series on "ordinary television", O.K.?

Correction: Well, I just checked my TV listings for today and Fox IS carrying one of the games (Yankees vs. Angels). Just one of them. The other game today, between the Phillies and the Dodgers, is on TBS. But Fox should be showing both of them. Apparently, during the weekend football reigns supreme over everything else (except for those horrid reality shows). In spite of some coverage, I think that baseball is shooting itself in the foot by not insisting on contracts with general broadcasting networks for the widest viewership possible.

Suggestion for C-Span2

If I had my way, C-Span2, which carries live United States Senate floor proceedings, would operate in a different manner. I would keep their live Senate coverage, but afterwards I would rebroadcast the day's proceedings. The second go around, though, I would cut out all of that dead "quorum call" time and concentrate on the actual floor speakers and votes. Although the votes take up a lot of time, they do reveal a lot to me. Not only can I see how different senators vote (and sometimes switch their votes around), but I can observe how they personally relate to each other.

For example, although Illinois senator Roland Burris has tried to fit in and chat with other senators, I have yet to see others warm up to him. At the beginning of Al Franken's tenure, I noticed something similar, with his Democratic colleagues often seeming cool to him (major exceptions: fellow Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar and Vermont Independent senator Bernie Sanders). But the junior senator from Minnesota has been doing something unexpected and interesting. Instead of just hanging around his fellow Democrats to try to converse and chum up, Franken often crosses over to the GOP side during floor votes and hangs out with his Republican counterparts. And he seems to get along quite well with them.

But back to compressed same-day rerun coverage: I have more than enough analysis, summaries, and commentary from other news/talk stations. C-Span2 HAS the Senate proceedings, and as such should rebroadcast them each day that it is in session, starting at about 6 pm (unless that body is holding an extended session, that is). I would much rather see my elected representatives up there explaining legislation, pro or con, conservative or liberal, than some corporate hack talking head who is only accountable to his/her boss, instead of to the American people!

Turlington Plaza, UF

Hiking Can Be Such a Boar

A few weeks ago I visited Devil's Millhopper, a sinkhole designated as a State Geological Site that is located only a couple of miles from my home. Around that time, I discovered that, about three miles further west on the same road was located San Felasco Hammock State Park, a much larger park than Devil's Millhopper. The hiking trails at this place are numerous and much longer than "DM"'s, whose only trail was .6 mile in length. So I envisioned myself eventually getting off my butt and heading down there (with my camera, of course).

But alas, a story has been circulating in the Gainesville news media of late regarding the large population of wild boars running rampant within San Felasco Hammock. As a matter of fact, residents in homes near the park have experienced boars in their yards, an obvious threat to their well-being (and much more so to their pets). Well, if that's the case, I'm not all that keen on walking or jogging down miles of remote stretches of hiking trails with wild boars waiting in ambush for me (that scene near the end of the movie Hannibal still weighs heavily on me). Maybe this is an overblown concern. After all, hiking out in the country will naturally increase the possibility of encountering some dangerous animal, like a bear. That just goes with the territory, right? But the way it is being reported, these boars are aggressive and exploding in numbers.

So who needs to go down to Hallow-Scream at Busch Gardens to get a scare this October? Just pay a visit to your friendly, local state park...and let your blood curdle into anguished screams of mortal terror!

Moore and Dean Slam Baucus Bill

This morning on MSNBC's Morning Joe show starring independently-thinking conservative (how refreshing) Joe Scarborough, guests Howard Dean and Michael Moore expressed their firm opposition to the Baucus health care reform bill recently passed out of the Senate Finance Committee. Both, like me, see it as a forced mass giveaway to the powerful insurance companies at the expense of the very American people who are suffering the most from health insurance's increasing unaffordability. And Moore, like me, stated that this piece of legislation is worse than the status quo. Meaning, for this time around at least, that Howard Dean, Michael Moore, and Bill Irwin are rooting for the stalwart hard-line anti-Obama Republican crowd in the Senate to somehow be able to defeat this horrendous (Moore called it "deplorable"), fraudulently-named "reform" bill. Moore also pointed out that the highly touted provision within the Baucus bill outlawing denial of coverage for preexisting conditions carried only a $5,000 fine, which to an insurance company would be minuscule compared to the medical bills they would be paying for were they to provide coverage in those cases.

I know that the Democrats are calculating that any health reform bill is politically better than no bill. But when the American people see what has been perpetrated upon them with the Baucus legislation and its catering to the health insurance cartel, I predict a much worse political toll eventually being taken on the Democratic Party.

Is there any chance at all for getting a public option included in the health care bill? I keeping hearing of a "trigger" proposal floating about. Senator Schumer wants to amend the legislation to let individual states decide whether or not to allow a public option for consumers. To me, the idea of my federal government legally mandating that, simply because I "exist", I must then purchase health insurance at manipulated high prices from private corporations exempted from the Anti-Trust Act, sounds like something concocted by an extreme fringe group of the political right. But so-called center/left politicians are standing in line to endorse it! This to me is nothing less than a betrayal.

French Fried Alachua

Back in the late nineties, artist John Henry was commissioned for a sculpture for the University of Florida campus next to the Marston Science Library. When it was installed in 1998, the painted aluminum sculpture, titled Alachua, was widely criticized and reviled as "French Fries From Hell". But it has withstood the test of time, and now I kind of dig it, actually. The other day I rode my bicycle down to the UF campus and made myself look like a tourist, pulling out my camera and taking some photos of the "sights". And I couldn't let my trip pass without capturing the Great Masterpiece. Here is that masterpiece (or monstrosity, depending on your point of view):

Obama's Nobel Peace Prize

I have mixed feelings about President Barack Obama receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. He certainly didn't seek out the prize, and was just as surprised as others were to hear the announcement that he had won.

I think there are basically two kinds of Nobel Peace Prize winners. One is someone who has, while outside of official politics, demonstrated a commitment to human rights, nonviolence, and peace. Examples of this are Martin Luther King and Lech Walesa. And former U.S. president Jimmy Carter and former "next president" Al Gore, whose awarded accomplishments occurred after their political careers were over. The other kind of winner is someone inside politics who seized the opportunity at a crucial historical moment to create conditions for cessation of war and the establishment of peace. So Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho won it for negotiating the end of U.S. military involvement in Vietnam and Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin likewise won it for their efforts in the Middle East. But where does Obama stand in all this?

All I see Barack Obama doing is going back to the responsible kind of foreign policy that used to be the norm before the bellicose George W. Bush administration. He is certainly not a pacifist, but rather the nation's commander-in-chief whose war decisions should be based on facts and reality, not pie-in-the-sky hopes for success. He believes in using diplomacy as a means to further American national interests. This is nothing special, as pre-2001 presidencies have traditionally and wisely done this.

No, it is clear to me that the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Obama as a signal of hope and expectation. But the President was elected in the United States by its people, not selected by a small committee in Norway. He has no obligation to cater to the hopes of the Nobel folks, as honorable as they may be. Rather he should continue on his present course of taking care of America and Americans. If he does, that in itself should promote peace and human rights.

Graffiti Wall and Memorial

The graffiti wall on SW 34 Street here in Gainesville wasn't always such; originally, it was a stark white wall that would periodically suffer graffiti and then get a whitewash. Finally, with the other "graffiti wall" on SW 13 Street at the Archer Road intersection getting a mural painting commissioned for it, authorities finally gave in to the idea of there being at least one place in town for folks to vent out their feelings in paint. The only rules were: no profanity (at least in English) and no hate language. And no offense taken if someone else paints over your message the very next day!

In August 1990, Gainesville was rocked severely when a bitter, violent convict from Louisiana drifted into the area and decided to kill people at random as "payback" for his years of confinement. The result was the Gainesville student murders, which claimed five lives in the span of less than a week. That murderer, whose name does not bear mentioning, has since been tried, convicted, and executed for the crimes. A few weeks after the murders in 1990, a couple of people took it upon themselves to paint a memorial for the slain students on the graffiti wall. And ever since then, for over nineteen years, this one section has been preserved and maintained. Also, in the street median facing the wall, is an official memorial, with five trees each representing a slain student.

Here are some photos of the wall in general, the painted memorial, and the official "trees" memorial.

Summer’s Last Hurrah

Friday morning I got out of bed just before six to go on my daily two-mile walk around the neighborhood with my wife. I turned the TV on to the 24-hour local weather conditions and forecast. And was horrified to learn that, on that day deep into the autumn season, almost in mid-October, temperatures would climb in the afternoon to 95 degrees with 99% humidity. That would put the heat index well over 100! And the temperature at 6 AM? 77 with 99% humidity! Outside, it was if a thick invisible blanket were hanging over us. The walk was a sweaty experience, but I would have perspired profusely even had I simply sat outside on my porch for the same period of time.

Temperatures have continued to stay high, both during the day and night. It won’t be until later next week when we get any relief.

Yes, I’m quite ready for chilly weather. But the unlike with places further north, I’ll just take chilly, DRY weather, thank you. You can keep the snow and ice, wherever you might be.

And now that the moon apparently won’t be blown to smithereens after all, I can look forward to improving weather conditions later this month. And maybe some genuine, lasting FALL temperatures.

UF's Lake Alice

Collective Soul, Stale and Fresh Music

Collective Soul is a long-established rock band whose biggest hits were from the early-to-mid 1990s. Their breakout hit, Shine, was from their first album Hints, Allegations, & Things Left Unsaid. They followed this up in grand style from their self-titled second album, producing several tracks that received a lot of mainstream rock radio airplay: December, Smashing Young Man, The World I Know, Gel, and Where the River Flows. Then, in early 1997 the group's third album Disciplined Breakdown came out, with the first track Precious Declaration being released with much fanfare and radio play. After that, though, only a trickle of their songs were played on the radio (Heavy, She Said, Vent, Why Part 2, and Counting the Days). And of those latter "hits", they are now very rarely played on mainstream rock stations in their "past hits" rotation.

Although Collective Soul has continued as a band and keeps releasing new material, they are not receiving the same radio play as they used to, at least for that new stuff. But from what I can tell after listening to their more recent music, they have maintained their high standards and have continued to produce very good songs that are just as good as (if not better) than that string of hits they had from their first two albums in the mid-nineties. And yet, those ancient hits continue to get played a lot, while their fresher material is ignored.

And here is another example of my problems with commercial radio as it exists today. With all of the choices that exist on the albums that today's popular rock artists offer, the stations' programmers only play certain tracks over and over and over again. Not so on Internet radio, though. If you tune in, for example, to AOL Radio, you will hear deep tracks from many different prominent artists, as well as from a few who are breaking in on the musical scene.

I think that if I hear December played on Rock 104/WRUF one more time, I'll scream, and that would be very embarrassing for me if I were out in public when it happened. So I'll just play it safe and avoid listening to them altogether!

Pro Baseball Regular Season Over

The Major League Baseball regular season has finally ended for 2009. Of the teams I had been following, only one, the Minnesota Twins, actually made it to the playoffs. They stand to be eliminated quickly, their first-round opponents the New York Yankees (with baseball's best record this year) having beaten them in all seven games played between them this season. And the Yankees won their first playoff game yesterday against the Twins 7-2.

This year I had concentrated my attention on the American League Central Division as well as on the two Florida teams and the Chicago Cubs. Although the Cubs, Rays, and Marlins all had winning seasons, none of them were good enough to make the playoffs. And the AL Central was baseball's worst division, with only Detroit having a winning record besides the Twins. Speaking of Detroit, they led the division for almost the entire season but lost it in the final three games, including a special one-game playoff that Minnesota won in 12 innings. I expected Kansas City to do poorly, but I was astounded at the Chicago White Sox and the Cleveland Indians, not only for how poorly they did, but also for how quickly their management gave up on them and traded star players away (notably Jim Thome from Chicago and Cliff Lee from Cleveland).

For the playoffs, I plan to root for Minnesota until they are eliminated (which will probably be sooner than later). Otherwise, I'll pull for New York to make it to the World Series. In the National League, I'd like to see the Colorado Rockies make it or, as a second choice, good ol' Joe Torre's Los Angeles Dodgers.

Yes, I would like to see a nice, frigid (if not snowy) World Series in late October, alternating between Denver and Minneapolis. Oh, did I hear you just say that Minnesota now plays their home games in an enclosed park? Party poopers!

Festivals and Falsehoods, On Two Counts

Count #1:
The little shopping center Magnolia Parke, in which I am currently sitting swilling java at my favorite Gainesville Starbucks, held their annual Greater Gator Beer Festival on Saturday (outside, not inside Starbucks). I'm reading the article about it in Monday's Independent Florida Alligator. The header reads "Festival offers free beers". It looked like a great deal, especially since samples were offered of beers from around the world, even from countries like Ukraine, Israel, and Guatemala. One of the attendees is quoted in Maria Piquet's article as saying, "My favorite kind of beer is free beer. And there's a lot of it here." Only one problem: as the penultimate paragraph in the article points out, admission to the "free" festival cost $25 in advance and $30 at the gate. Huh? I vaguely remember this discrepancy from reality with last year's festival!

Count #2:
On a sadder note, Dove World Outreach Center, the church that instigated the "Islam is of the Devil" controversy in Gainesville, decided to picket the Pride Parade and festival at about the same time that the "beer festival" was going on. In the same Alligator issue that wrote up about all of the "free beer", Dove World's leader Terry Jones was quoted as saying (of their protest), "It may get nasty; homosexuals can be very aggressive." What really disturbed me the most was the church's use of children in their demonstration against gays. They were carrying around signs denouncing homosexuality and sporting "Islam is of the Devil" shirts. I feel some severe manipulation was going on here, both by their parents and by Terry Jones. On the positive side, the general public pretty much rejected Dove World's message and cheered the festivities. This year's events marked the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York City, widely hailed as the beginning of the gay rights movement as it has become today.

"Free beer" or "Homo leads to hell" (as one of the Dove World signs read): choose your falsehood. Or better, use your ability to reason critically and reject both.

At the time, I was oblivious to both "festivals"; I had driven in late from Jacksonville Friday night, done the Heart Walk Saturday morning, and went to work that afternoon. I believe I know why both the beer festival and Pride Parade were held this weekend: no Gator football! And realizing this, it might be a good idea to see what my hometown will be up to the next time UF football has a bye week.

Gainesville Heart Walk

This past Saturday morning, Melissa and I participated in the American Heart Association's annual Heart Walk, a three-mile walk through the Health Park (4300 NW 89 Blvd) to raise money for fighting heart disease and promoting preventative education. We walked as part of Melissa's Av-Med team and had plenty of teammates with us.

Upon arrival, everyone assembled in a large soccer field. Some groups (ours included) had their pictures taken. And then the walk commenced. It was a very twisted, winding path with many turns and bends. My main concern on the walk was avoiding being run over by "ninja" strollers pushed by aggressive mothers!

I did notice an interesting phenomenon on the walk: Melissa and I, walking at a brisk pace, would keep catching up with and passing the same slow walkers (one was an elderly gentleman walking with a cane). Apparently, there were some "wormhole" shortcuts for which suitable "candidates" were selected by the walk's volunteers to help them get through the walk. H-m-m, does the Science Channel know about this?!

It was a fun, pleasant experience for us, but I still prefer a good jog when I'm looking for some exercise. Here are some photos:

Choral Concert in Jacksonville

Last Friday I drove to Jacksonville to attend a concert in which my son was singing. It was the 14th Annual Intercollegiate Choral Festival, presented by Jacksonville University and held on its campus at Terry Hall. Featured were choirs from three Jacksonville colleges: Florida State College at Jacksonville, the University of North Florida, and of course Jacksonville University.

Each college had a section of the show in which it presented its own choir and selected pieces. I was impressed with all three, especially considering the relatively short span of a few weeks that they had to prepare for this concert. The conductors for Florida State College, UNF, and Jacksonville University were R. Wayne Bailey, Dr. Cara Tasher, and Dr. Jon O. Carlson, respectively.

Since the presentation was considered to be part of the students' classes, those not onstage sat in the audience to learn from the other performances. But for the parents and friends of the singers, this presented a problem because of the few empty seats left over in the hall. Although I was near the concert hall door when general seating opened, I was barely able to find a seat. And many people were left standing on the side.

Before the concert, I walked around the Jacksonville University campus, which lies on the eastern shores of the St. Johns River. First I tried out their library, which closed at 6 pm on Fridays. That should have given me a clue about the size of JU. I then walked around their campus, and its smallness was instilled within me. Oh well, I just sat around and waited for the 7:30 concert.

And it was worth waiting for.

P.S., during the concert I was treated to a delightful happily and loudly babbling baby three seats down from me, accompanied by scornful reactions from some of those seated nearby. Yippee!

Dolphins Ready for Henne, Let's Go!

When injury-prone former New York Jets quarterback Chad Pennington signed up with Tony Sparano's resurrected Miami Dolphins, it was with one aim in mind: give the team some breathing room at this position while it grooms a young franchise quarterback for the coming years. And Pennington was an outstanding success last year, leading the Dolphins to an improbable divisional title after a 1-15 record the previous season. But now Pennington is out for the season with an injured shoulder from last Sunday's third game. And his contract runs out after this year.

Now it's time to bring in the future. Chad Henne, drafted by Miami in 2008, starred at Michigan, leading them in 2006 when they made a serious run at the national championship. The following season he led his team to a bowl victory against the Florida Gators and their Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow. He is poised, strong, and trained in pro-style offenses. He could very well turn out to be another Dan Marino, for all I know. And now, with the Dolphins starting off with an 0-3 record, Henne will be able to step in without the withering pressure that might have befallen him at the beginning of the season to repeat or improve upon last year's sparkling season.

Henne will not have to shoulder the entire burden for the Dolphins' offense; Sparano has perfected the "wildcat" offense that often inserts other players, notably running back Ronnie Brown, into the quarterback position to run special plays. And now-backup quarterback Pat White, another possibility in Miami's future, will be able to contribute in that formation as well.

Miami still could recover from its bad start and have a good season, even making the playoffs. But I wouldn't count on it. Better to regard this as a rebuilding year and enjoy watching a potentially great quarterback develop on the field.

I just hope that the Miami Dolphins' management, led by Bill Parcells, will recognize the situation that they are in this year and will not make rash changes in the team's roster or coaching staff. I believe that they have almost everything in place to be a yearly playoff contender in the upcoming decade.

Chad Pennington deserves a great deal of credit for this because he helped greatly to restore their confidence in their ability to win. Although, after this season he may be no longer with the team, I will always appreciate his efforts and wish him well wherever he goes (except when he's playing against Miami, that is). But then again, with all of his injuries, he may want to pursue his options off the field.

Staring Match With Grackle

Crying Babies Rule (and Drool)

I was leaving Barnes and Nobles the other day when a young couple walked in, the father holding an infant. Suddenly, the baby began to loudly wail, in a way that babies do which usually indicates that it's either feeding or diaper-changing time. Immediately, as if on cue, Daddy handed off little Junior to Mommy. Inside me, a longtime inner struggle began anew to suppress myself from breaking out into open laughter.

I don't like to see babies in distress, mind you. But I can tell when a cry is based on fear or pain, and when it is based on hunger, wetness, sleepiness, or just plain orneriness. And it is when the latter reasons provoke loud crying from little babies in public that I get so tickled. I like to see how the mother or father deals with the situation, but it's also amusing to note the irritation and discomfort that others around the baby express, especially when they're trying gamely to suppress it. The main locales for my perverse mirth at others' expense are assemblies, churches, theatres, restaurants, and stores. I find it particularly amusing when someone is speaking at an assembly and a baby suddenly begins to howl. First I observe how the person holding the baby reacts to the situation. They usually go down a list of options that could placate the kid. Sometimes, if all goes well, this can take several minutes. Meanwhile, others in the audience are beginning to nervously fidget and exchange furtive glances with each other. Then emerge the coughers and throat-clearers among the audience who think that, by doing this, they can discretely send a message to the parent to "get that brat out of here". And finally, it's fun to observe how the speaker carries on while essentially being heckled by a loud baby.

I also enjoy it when a baby is just learning to speak and is in the babbling stage. Often, in the same settings I've mentioned, one of these babblers will be suddenly inspired to go off on a loud rant, and nothing the adult-with-custody can do will shut the little tyke up. Hilarious!

I think little babies are cute, but I also think that we're all wired that way in order to make sure that they are collectively cared for. Nevertheless, we often find ourselves in conflicting social environments where babies simply don't fit in. And it's here that the pretensions to cultivated, civil demeanor that so many of us labor so hard to present to society crash down, simply because a baby is doing nothing more than acting like a baby. Of course, no one openly blames the baby: it's those inconsiderate parents who won't remove it from our presence!

When the Beatles performed in Germany before they hit the big time, the crowds would shout out "Mach Schau!", meaning "Put on a show!". And then the future "Fab Four" would liven things up a bit onstage (e.g. John Lennon once performed with a toilet seat around his neck). When I see a baby in a public place acting subdued and quiet, I often feel a "Mach Schau" moment coming over me. Or, in Mr. Toilet Seat's own inspired words: "Cry, baby, cry"!

Football Reflections

As I have mentioned before in previous articles, I decided for this season to deliberately focus my attention on college football's Pacific-Ten Conference. And I haven't been disappointed. So far, I have seen games involving half of its teams: Southern Cal, California, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington. There is one trend I am noticing for this season in the Pac-10: its teams seem to be taking turns knocking each other off. USC lost an big upset to Washington and California (which I had thought was good enough this year to go undefeated) was mauled by Oregon 45-3. After the USC loss to Washington, TV and radio analysts were bemoaning it as a big loss for the conference. But the Pac-10 has done well playing teams outside the conference. UCLA handled Tennessee and Kansas State, while Oregon defeated Utah, which heretofore had held the nation's longest winning streak. I'd like to see some of the other schools in the conference play, but that may be a problem due to my work schedule and is dependent on what is chosen to be shown on TV.

Much closer to home, the University of Florida Gators received a scare last Saturday when Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow suffered a head concussion during the third quarter of their game against Kentucky. Florida has a bye week coming, so this will give its sick and injured players some time to recuperate before playing undefeated LSU on the road two weeks from now. But a concussion is nothing to be taken lightly, and Florida has a very capable, talented backup quarterback anyway in John Brantley. I say give Tim some time to heal. Putting him back in too soon could be disastrous.

In professional football, the three Florida teams are having awful seasons. Miami and Tampa Bay are each 0-3 and Jacksonville is 1-2. I don't see any of them recovering enough to make the playoffs, but the Dolphins and Jaguars do show some promise and may put together decent regular season records by season's end. The ownership of Tampa Bay, however, ruined the team last year by firing its Super Bowl-winning coach John Gruden and revamping the team. The Buccaneers are much weaker this year, and although I had entertained higher hopes for them at the season's start, I don't see them finishing higher than dead last in their division.