I go by the name Billy Irwin, not Billy Pilgrim. Still, at least musically speaking, since 2009 I have become quite "unstuck in time" regarding my favorite songs for each year. The reason is quite simple, really: for the past three years or so, when I become interested in a particular act, I amass its collection of songs from years gone by and then discover some gems often residing deep within albums, some of them recorded and released long ago. In January of 2011, I started with my continuing exploration of Radiohead's music. Then, as the year progressed, I followed, in succession, Spoon, Arcade Fire, and Gorillaz. Finally, toward the end of 2011, I rediscovered The Police and their incredible five studio albums from 1978 to 1983 (with consistently, eerily appropriate lyrics for the times we now live in). Scattered throughout the year, I listened to my old favorites Sufjan Stevens, Regina Spektor, Beck, and Metric. Plus, I acquired the latest Linkin Park album, the cerebral A Thousand Suns, which I highly recommend. There was only one song on my year's favorites list that I actually heard by listening to broadcast radio: DeVotchKa's 100 Other Lovers. So, at least temporally speaking, my 2011 favorites are spread out a bit over the years (even going back to 1982). Well, here goes my list:
1 To Binge by Gorillaz
2 Soft Rock Star by Metric
3 Neon Bible by Arcade Fire
4 100 Other Lovers by DeVotchKa
5 Last Living Souls by Gorillaz
6 These Are My Twisted Words by Radiohead
7 Rebellion (Lies) by Arcade Fire
8 Stylo by Gorillaz
9 Darkness by The Police
10 My Mathematical Mind by Spoon
11 Man Research (Clapper) by Gorillaz
12 Goodnight Laura by Spoon
13 Earthquake Weather by Beck
14 Windowsill by Arcade Fire
15 The Ghost of You Lingers by Spoon
16 Rehash by Gorillaz
17 Blackout by Linkin Park
18 Revolving Doors by Gorillaz
19 Little by Little by Radiohead
20 Don't Let It Get You Down by Spoon
My personal choice for musical artist(s) of the year? That shouldn't be too difficult to discern, just looking at the above list. It's Gorillaz!
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Friday, December 30, 2011
Change of Half-Marathon Plans
I have decided to do an about-face with my immediate half-marathon plans. Instead of running around my neighborhood and its surroundings on my own for 13.1 miles on Saturday (12/31), I am entering the DeLeon Springs Half-Marathon for Sunday morning, New Years Day. Although this will entail a bit of a drive (DeLeon Springs is a few miles from Daytona Beach in western Volusia County), I will enjoy the benefit of having the preceding night off from work. So, I will be able to rest up some before heading off to run this event.
Although doing this ends the idea of running a half-marathon each calendar month, I am instead running in a public race. Sounds like it will be a lot of fun, assuming, of course, that it doesn't rain. Then again, that might turn out to be fun, too...
Although doing this ends the idea of running a half-marathon each calendar month, I am instead running in a public race. Sounds like it will be a lot of fun, assuming, of course, that it doesn't rain. Then again, that might turn out to be fun, too...
Thursday, December 29, 2011
One Last Shot at a December Half-Marathon
Now it's getting to the end of December and I am wondering whether I couldn't fit in one half-marathon run anyway, in spite of the fact that I missed that Jacksonville race on December 18. No, it wouldn't be an official, public race. And no, I wouldn't "get" to spend forty-plus dollars for the privilege of running in it: it would be free. I would simply step out of my front door and run my own personally designed half-marathon course around my neighborhood (and some adjacent locations) as I have done many times in the past. So that is what I am thinking of doing...
Saturday, December 31, as far as my employer is concerned, is my official "New Years Day" holiday. And so I am off from work and free to stretch out a nice, long run into the afternoon. If I am to accomplish this run and continue my string of "one half-marathon per month", it will be that day...or no day. Actually, it's pretty nice that my work situation gives me this one last opportunity: a heavy December work load was the primary reason I wasn't able to run that Jacksonville half-marathon earlier this month.
I suppose that it was inevitable, anyway, that I would live through months without the opportunity to run public half-marathon races. From April through October, this event is pretty much closed off to me, due to the fact that I live in generally-hot Florida and they just don't schedule long-distance running events for most of the year. And I have a job and don't have the luxury of just hopping on a plane whenever I get the whim to run in a race more remote (although I think that would be a cool thing to try at least once). So, after the more local events are through in March, I'll either have to run my own private half-marathons or tone down my running to a shorter distance.
Saturday, December 31, as far as my employer is concerned, is my official "New Years Day" holiday. And so I am off from work and free to stretch out a nice, long run into the afternoon. If I am to accomplish this run and continue my string of "one half-marathon per month", it will be that day...or no day. Actually, it's pretty nice that my work situation gives me this one last opportunity: a heavy December work load was the primary reason I wasn't able to run that Jacksonville half-marathon earlier this month.
I suppose that it was inevitable, anyway, that I would live through months without the opportunity to run public half-marathon races. From April through October, this event is pretty much closed off to me, due to the fact that I live in generally-hot Florida and they just don't schedule long-distance running events for most of the year. And I have a job and don't have the luxury of just hopping on a plane whenever I get the whim to run in a race more remote (although I think that would be a cool thing to try at least once). So, after the more local events are through in March, I'll either have to run my own private half-marathons or tone down my running to a shorter distance.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Soldiers For Jesus
There is a curious, tight bond between evangelical Christians and the militarism of the United States in the past few years, especially that aspect which involves mortal combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. On one level, it makes some sense: Christianity promotes, at least in theory, the idea of selfless sacrifice. And soldiers either patrolling a hostile, foreign environment or engaging in open fighting are definitely putting themselves in harm's way, an act that could be realistically regarded as selfless. But they are also killing people whom Christianity regards as being lost, i.e. those who don't accept Jesus as their savior. If a believer, a TRUE believer in Christianity and its doctrine of eternal life after death being possible ONLY by accepting Jesus as savior, enlists in one of the armed services and goes overseas to fight and kill the "lost", then isn't that a sort of blasphemy? Isn't that soldier condemning, according to his or her own confessed belief system, the fallen enemy to eternal damnation? So I ask, isn't there something wrong with that?
There was one instance during the life of Jesus on Earth when an armed conflict was taking place around him and he had a chance to weigh in on it: the very time he was being arrested by the Roman soldiers. His disciple Peter reportedly instantly went into a state of intense combat, in the process lopping off the ear of one of his adversaries. The reaction of Jesus to this was not to encourage and praise Peter in the spirit we nowadays go about "supporting our troops": on the contrary, the Lord of the Christian faith rebuked Peter and ordered him to stop fighting. And then he healed the soldier's ear. H-m-m...
There is still a minority of Christian thought that still holds true to the pacifist teachings of Jesus, but they are just that: a minority. Most Christians, especially within the evangelical churches, hold on to this strange two-pronged, mutually-incompatible worldview: on one hand, they invest so much time and resources to take the Gospel in missions projects throughout the world in order to save as many souls as possible. On the other hand, they have no qualms about non-Christians dying in war at the hands of their believing sons and daughters.
I just don't get it...
There was one instance during the life of Jesus on Earth when an armed conflict was taking place around him and he had a chance to weigh in on it: the very time he was being arrested by the Roman soldiers. His disciple Peter reportedly instantly went into a state of intense combat, in the process lopping off the ear of one of his adversaries. The reaction of Jesus to this was not to encourage and praise Peter in the spirit we nowadays go about "supporting our troops": on the contrary, the Lord of the Christian faith rebuked Peter and ordered him to stop fighting. And then he healed the soldier's ear. H-m-m...
There is still a minority of Christian thought that still holds true to the pacifist teachings of Jesus, but they are just that: a minority. Most Christians, especially within the evangelical churches, hold on to this strange two-pronged, mutually-incompatible worldview: on one hand, they invest so much time and resources to take the Gospel in missions projects throughout the world in order to save as many souls as possible. On the other hand, they have no qualms about non-Christians dying in war at the hands of their believing sons and daughters.
I just don't get it...
Monday, December 26, 2011
Back to Double-Digit Running
Today marked an unexpected triumph in my attempt to return to last year's endurance level in running. Well...maybe not completely to last year's level: I was then training to last a 26.2 mile marathon run. This year, I just want to be able to run in various half-marathon events that interest me. I did well in one in November, even setting a personal time record, finishing under two hours. However, I missed the Jacksonville race I had planned to run on December 18. Next month's Ocala Half-Marathon is something that I have been looking forward to running in for a long time: last year I completed the Ocala Marathon but due to a leg injury had to walk for the race's final seven miles. I want a more pleasant running experience down there among the rolling hills and horse farms. Then, in February I want to run the Gainesville FivePoints Half-Marathon again.
With the intention of getting used to running up and down hills for that upcoming Ocala race, on Christmas Eve I embarked on a different training course that involved some easy hills, instead of just my flat neighborhood streets. I ran 3 miles then and felt pretty good. Christmas, my "off-day" regarding running, saw me run a couple of laps around my block. Then, this afternoon, after gorging myself on food (and many carbohydrates) the day before, I set out on a more ambitious run that combined my neighborhood course with the hilly NW 53rd Avenue path. The end result was that I ran 10.21 miles in a typical time (for me) of 1:35:27. At the end of the run I felt like I could have gone further, but stuck to my recent "rule" of letting the half-marathon races themselves be the tests of my distance endurance. The temperature throughout the run hovered around 70 degrees with the humidity around 50% (very close, in fact, to the conditions during my memorable 20 mile Christmas run in 2010).
My initial goal for today's run was to succeed in running 7 miles. But carb loading is a pretty awesome thing: I felt crummy and short on confidence at the beginning of the run. But as it wore on, incredibly I seemed to have more energy, and the confidence surged. So I tacked on those extra miles at the end. I feel ready to run that Ocala race, although I'll have to wait until January 22.
With the intention of getting used to running up and down hills for that upcoming Ocala race, on Christmas Eve I embarked on a different training course that involved some easy hills, instead of just my flat neighborhood streets. I ran 3 miles then and felt pretty good. Christmas, my "off-day" regarding running, saw me run a couple of laps around my block. Then, this afternoon, after gorging myself on food (and many carbohydrates) the day before, I set out on a more ambitious run that combined my neighborhood course with the hilly NW 53rd Avenue path. The end result was that I ran 10.21 miles in a typical time (for me) of 1:35:27. At the end of the run I felt like I could have gone further, but stuck to my recent "rule" of letting the half-marathon races themselves be the tests of my distance endurance. The temperature throughout the run hovered around 70 degrees with the humidity around 50% (very close, in fact, to the conditions during my memorable 20 mile Christmas run in 2010).
My initial goal for today's run was to succeed in running 7 miles. But carb loading is a pretty awesome thing: I felt crummy and short on confidence at the beginning of the run. But as it wore on, incredibly I seemed to have more energy, and the confidence surged. So I tacked on those extra miles at the end. I feel ready to run that Ocala race, although I'll have to wait until January 22.
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Merry Christmas
I hope all of you are enjoying your Christmas Day this year. I am currently in the middle of a three-day stretch of being off from work. I think I've pretty much generally taken the time off from a lot of other stuff as well, including writing blog articles! But things are good, and I'll pick back up in a day or two...
Friday, December 23, 2011
Unseasonably Hot December Weather
Last year, on Christmas Day 2010, I was a bit bummed out at the unseasonably warm weather: 70 degrees in mid-afternoon with high humidity. Today, a couple of days from Christmas, it's mid-afternoon (at this writing) and 80! The really sad thing is that this has been the typical weather pattern here in northern Florida during December so far: cooler temperatures have been the glaring exception. Maybe in some mythical place like South Park, Colorado, where even Al Gore is distracted from his pet issue of global warning in favor of another pursuit, the weather is bearable. But not around here, no-sir-ee...
The deciduous trees around my neighborhood have shed their leaves and gone into their own "flora" state of hibernation for the winter. If they only knew...meanwhile, weeds are sprouting up everywhere and growing with reckless abandon. My seasonal allergies are beginning to resurface as well. The grass in my yard has been growing, making an unplanned (and undesired) lawn mowing session necessary in the near future. And there seems to be no relief in immediate sight to the heat...
Melissa mentioned to me that she heard the weather in January and February will be much colder. I would just like chilly, moderately cold temperatures. But instead I'm either suffocating in the warmth or freezing, similar to that old classic Twilight Zone episode The Midnight Sun.
Still, I guess I shouldn't complain. After all, hot as it is, I am still getting a kind of reprieve from the stifling summer weather. Or should I more accurately say, from the stifling spring, summer and fall weather...
Where's Al Gore in the midst of all this? Dude, don't leave us in our hour of need! Stop chasing after that dangblasted ManBearPig, get off that cartoon show, and get back to cooling our planet back down!!!
The deciduous trees around my neighborhood have shed their leaves and gone into their own "flora" state of hibernation for the winter. If they only knew...meanwhile, weeds are sprouting up everywhere and growing with reckless abandon. My seasonal allergies are beginning to resurface as well. The grass in my yard has been growing, making an unplanned (and undesired) lawn mowing session necessary in the near future. And there seems to be no relief in immediate sight to the heat...
Melissa mentioned to me that she heard the weather in January and February will be much colder. I would just like chilly, moderately cold temperatures. But instead I'm either suffocating in the warmth or freezing, similar to that old classic Twilight Zone episode The Midnight Sun.
Still, I guess I shouldn't complain. After all, hot as it is, I am still getting a kind of reprieve from the stifling summer weather. Or should I more accurately say, from the stifling spring, summer and fall weather...
Where's Al Gore in the midst of all this? Dude, don't leave us in our hour of need! Stop chasing after that dangblasted ManBearPig, get off that cartoon show, and get back to cooling our planet back down!!!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Wish Thinking Was Like Changing Channels
Sometimes I wish my mind operated more like a television...well, in at least one important way, that is. It's all in the way that one channel switches to another, something that I have always taken for granted since my literally infantile days of TV watching in the late 1950's.
When I am engaging in a bout of channel surfing and, say, I change from South Park on one channel to an old James Bond movie on another, I'm not still seeing Stan standing there next to Sean Connery. Goldfinger isn't getting his heavy, Oddjob, to throw his razor-edged hat at poor, unlucky Kenny. And conniving Cartman isn't on the golf course switching golfballs to play a trick on Goldfinger. The change from channel to channel is abrupt and complete, with the old show completely obliterated on my screen in favor of its replacement. And that's how I wish my mind worked as well...
...with the one caveat that I am still consciously aware of the real world around me and able to react to urgent situations, I wish that I had more control over my train of thought. And maybe other people already do: NO, I'm sure they do, because...
A few months ago, my wife got hold of a questionnaire that supposedly enabled the respondent to determine whether or not he or she had adult attention deficit disorder. The scoring was such that the highest (most extremely attention deficit) number was "20". If you received "15" or higher, the advice was to get to your doctor as quickly as possible (why, to get drugged?). I answered the questions with unswerving honesty and got a "17". Wow, that was a bummer...
I have a great memory, but that isn't exactly the same thing as being able to keep my thoughts on track without wondering off in other directions. I am too easily distracted, and even when I purpose to think about a particular subject, it is often difficult to put other thoughts out of my mind. And I am completely averse to drug treatment, even if it is prescribed as the result of an official diagnosis by a respected and licensed physician. Who knows, maybe that's a mistake on my part. So, I suppose at least for a while, my thoughts are going to continue to be a bit like South Park superimposed on Goldfinger!
When I am engaging in a bout of channel surfing and, say, I change from South Park on one channel to an old James Bond movie on another, I'm not still seeing Stan standing there next to Sean Connery. Goldfinger isn't getting his heavy, Oddjob, to throw his razor-edged hat at poor, unlucky Kenny. And conniving Cartman isn't on the golf course switching golfballs to play a trick on Goldfinger. The change from channel to channel is abrupt and complete, with the old show completely obliterated on my screen in favor of its replacement. And that's how I wish my mind worked as well...
...with the one caveat that I am still consciously aware of the real world around me and able to react to urgent situations, I wish that I had more control over my train of thought. And maybe other people already do: NO, I'm sure they do, because...
A few months ago, my wife got hold of a questionnaire that supposedly enabled the respondent to determine whether or not he or she had adult attention deficit disorder. The scoring was such that the highest (most extremely attention deficit) number was "20". If you received "15" or higher, the advice was to get to your doctor as quickly as possible (why, to get drugged?). I answered the questions with unswerving honesty and got a "17". Wow, that was a bummer...
I have a great memory, but that isn't exactly the same thing as being able to keep my thoughts on track without wondering off in other directions. I am too easily distracted, and even when I purpose to think about a particular subject, it is often difficult to put other thoughts out of my mind. And I am completely averse to drug treatment, even if it is prescribed as the result of an official diagnosis by a respected and licensed physician. Who knows, maybe that's a mistake on my part. So, I suppose at least for a while, my thoughts are going to continue to be a bit like South Park superimposed on Goldfinger!
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
List Madness: The Police Songs Rated From Top to Bottom
The Police was a trio comprised of the British musicians Stewart Copeland (drums), Andy Summers (lead guitar), and Sting (bass guitar, keyboard, lead vocals, main songwriter). Their specialty was a seminal form of alternative rock based largely on an ingenious blend of reggae, punk, new wave, and jazz. They recorded and released five studio albums from 1978 to 1983 and then called it quits, with Sting enjoying a very successful solo career to this day.
From my perspective as someone who then listened primarily to single hits on the radio, the Police was a good band with some interesting songs. But after the release of their fourth album Ghost in the Machine in 1982, I finally took notice of them. But the album I first purchased was their third, Zenyatta Mondatta (on vinyl, with all of the cool pictures and cover art, so sadly lacking nowadays). I then realized the depth of this act's quality music and eventually acquired all five albums. To this day I regard them highly, and one of their songs, the apocalyptic Invisible Sun (which I discussed in this 2007 article), remains as one of my top all-time favorites.
Lately I have been listening to my Police collection on my mp3 player in shuffle mode while running and at work. It didn't take long to refamiliarize myself with the 54 tracks. Eventually as has been my custom with other artists I like, I decided to rate them from top to bottom according to my personal preferences. The list is below: no doubt you probably disagree with some of the rankings, but that's part of the fun of doing lists like this.
I didn't include the extra songs that the Police recorded. They had a few B-sides to their singles not appearing on their albums, and I have never heard them. I also omitted alternative versions of their original hits, such as the entirely different Roxanne recording. After each song, its album is indicated through the following code: Outlandos d'Amour [OA], Reggatta de Blanc [RB], Zenyatta Mondatta [ZM], Ghost in the Machine [GM], and Synchronicity [S].
Well, here goes...
1 Invisible Sun [GM]
2 Darkness [GM]
3 Synchronicity I [S]
4 Can't Stand Losing You [OA]
5 The Bed’s Too Big Without You [RB]
6 Canary in a Coalmine [ZM]
7 Synchronicity II [S]
8 It's Alright for You [RB]
9 Don't Stand So Close to Me [ZM]
10 Miss Gradenko [S]
11 When the World is Running Down You Make the Best of What’s Still Around [ZM]
12 Masoko Tanga [OA]
13 Spirits in the Material World [GM]
14 Too Much Information [GM]
15 De Do Do Do De Da Da Da [ZM]
16 Hungry for You (J’aurais toujours faim de toi) [GM]
17 Omegaman [GM]
18 Secret Journey [GM]
19 King of Pain [S]
20 No Time This Time [RB]
21 O My God [S]
22 Driven to Tears [ZM]
23 Roxanne [OA]
24 Peanuts [OA]
25 The Other Way of Stopping [ZM]
26 Regatta de Blanc [RB]
27 Next to You [OA]
28 Walking on the Moon [RB]
29 Bring on the Night [RB]
30 Man in a Suitcase [ZM]
31 Every Little Thing She Does is Magic [GM]
32 Truth Hits Everybody [OA]
33 Voices in My Head [ZM]
34 On Any Other Day [RB]
35 Hole in My Life [OA]
36 Death Wish [RB]
37 Message in a Bottle [RB]
38 So Lonely [OA]
39 Demolition Man [GM]
40 Bombs Away [ZM]
41 Be My Girl/Sally [OA]
42 Wrapped Around Your Finger [S]
43 Does Everyone Stare [RB]
44 Rehumanize Yourself [GM]
45 Walking in Your Footsteps [S]
46 Murder by Numbers [S]
47 One World (Not Three) [GM]
48 Every Breath You Take [S]
49 Contact [RB]
50 Shadows in the Rain [ZM]
51 Born in the 50s [OA]
52 Tea in the Sahara [S]
53 Behind My Camel [ZM]
54 Mother [S]
From my perspective as someone who then listened primarily to single hits on the radio, the Police was a good band with some interesting songs. But after the release of their fourth album Ghost in the Machine in 1982, I finally took notice of them. But the album I first purchased was their third, Zenyatta Mondatta (on vinyl, with all of the cool pictures and cover art, so sadly lacking nowadays). I then realized the depth of this act's quality music and eventually acquired all five albums. To this day I regard them highly, and one of their songs, the apocalyptic Invisible Sun (which I discussed in this 2007 article), remains as one of my top all-time favorites.
Lately I have been listening to my Police collection on my mp3 player in shuffle mode while running and at work. It didn't take long to refamiliarize myself with the 54 tracks. Eventually as has been my custom with other artists I like, I decided to rate them from top to bottom according to my personal preferences. The list is below: no doubt you probably disagree with some of the rankings, but that's part of the fun of doing lists like this.
I didn't include the extra songs that the Police recorded. They had a few B-sides to their singles not appearing on their albums, and I have never heard them. I also omitted alternative versions of their original hits, such as the entirely different Roxanne recording. After each song, its album is indicated through the following code: Outlandos d'Amour [OA], Reggatta de Blanc [RB], Zenyatta Mondatta [ZM], Ghost in the Machine [GM], and Synchronicity [S].
Well, here goes...
1 Invisible Sun [GM]
2 Darkness [GM]
3 Synchronicity I [S]
4 Can't Stand Losing You [OA]
5 The Bed’s Too Big Without You [RB]
6 Canary in a Coalmine [ZM]
7 Synchronicity II [S]
8 It's Alright for You [RB]
9 Don't Stand So Close to Me [ZM]
10 Miss Gradenko [S]
11 When the World is Running Down You Make the Best of What’s Still Around [ZM]
12 Masoko Tanga [OA]
13 Spirits in the Material World [GM]
14 Too Much Information [GM]
15 De Do Do Do De Da Da Da [ZM]
16 Hungry for You (J’aurais toujours faim de toi) [GM]
17 Omegaman [GM]
18 Secret Journey [GM]
19 King of Pain [S]
20 No Time This Time [RB]
21 O My God [S]
22 Driven to Tears [ZM]
23 Roxanne [OA]
24 Peanuts [OA]
25 The Other Way of Stopping [ZM]
26 Regatta de Blanc [RB]
27 Next to You [OA]
28 Walking on the Moon [RB]
29 Bring on the Night [RB]
30 Man in a Suitcase [ZM]
31 Every Little Thing She Does is Magic [GM]
32 Truth Hits Everybody [OA]
33 Voices in My Head [ZM]
34 On Any Other Day [RB]
35 Hole in My Life [OA]
36 Death Wish [RB]
37 Message in a Bottle [RB]
38 So Lonely [OA]
39 Demolition Man [GM]
40 Bombs Away [ZM]
41 Be My Girl/Sally [OA]
42 Wrapped Around Your Finger [S]
43 Does Everyone Stare [RB]
44 Rehumanize Yourself [GM]
45 Walking in Your Footsteps [S]
46 Murder by Numbers [S]
47 One World (Not Three) [GM]
48 Every Breath You Take [S]
49 Contact [RB]
50 Shadows in the Rain [ZM]
51 Born in the 50s [OA]
52 Tea in the Sahara [S]
53 Behind My Camel [ZM]
54 Mother [S]
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Quarter Infomercial Follow-Up
As a follow-up to my "Commercial Dream Seepage" article a few days ago, I happened to tune in to that same infomercial, in which an obnoxious man was hawking a couple of albums full of American commemorative quarters. In my original article, I dreamed (yes, dreamed) that the asking price was $99: in full consciousness, I observed that the price was TWO payments of $99. However, there were a lot of quarters in this TV offer, and according to the annoying gentleman, they constituted a complete set of all the variants produced not only in the "American States" series, but also the "America the Beautiful" series in the second album. So it finally made sense boasting that the image of Smokey Bear would be on the album cover: it was for that latter album featuring beautiful American scenic places engraved on the quarters.
Watching this, although convincing me that it wasn't really a monumental rip-off after all, gave me pause for reflection. This offer was ostensibly targeted for coin collecting enthusiasts, but was it really so in the final analysis? After all, the fun in any collecting hobby is in the gradual amassing of the "stuff" that the hobby constitutes. That includes starting small, noting the items that are wanted, and investigating various ways to add them to the collection. And a great part of the enjoyment in going over one's collection is recalling how the various items were acquired. This goes for collecting cards, stamps, coins, or anything else. I was an avid card collector as a kid. I envied others who had a larger collection than me and wanted to build up my collection to their level. But if someone just handed me a series' complete collection, then I would get no real satisfaction from possessing it. So that leads me to the probable "real" target of this infomercial.
Investment, pure and simple. People are looking for ways to invest their money into hard, tangible commodities that will appreciate in value over the years. It matters not whether the buyer of these quarter sets is a numismatic enthusiast: collecting coins is (very) secondary to the goal of investment for future financial gain, at least the way I see it...
Watching this, although convincing me that it wasn't really a monumental rip-off after all, gave me pause for reflection. This offer was ostensibly targeted for coin collecting enthusiasts, but was it really so in the final analysis? After all, the fun in any collecting hobby is in the gradual amassing of the "stuff" that the hobby constitutes. That includes starting small, noting the items that are wanted, and investigating various ways to add them to the collection. And a great part of the enjoyment in going over one's collection is recalling how the various items were acquired. This goes for collecting cards, stamps, coins, or anything else. I was an avid card collector as a kid. I envied others who had a larger collection than me and wanted to build up my collection to their level. But if someone just handed me a series' complete collection, then I would get no real satisfaction from possessing it. So that leads me to the probable "real" target of this infomercial.
Investment, pure and simple. People are looking for ways to invest their money into hard, tangible commodities that will appreciate in value over the years. It matters not whether the buyer of these quarter sets is a numismatic enthusiast: collecting coins is (very) secondary to the goal of investment for future financial gain, at least the way I see it...
Monday, December 19, 2011
Blog Entries a Little Sparce Lately
It has been a little difficult getting out blog entries lately. Hopefully, as the week progresses, I will have more time, energy, and mental focus to devote myself to more writing. As of this moment, though, I am tired and just want to rest...
Sunday, December 18, 2011
NFL Ramblings
Regarding National Football League quarterbacks, I am not a big Tim Tebow fan. Actually, I tend to like his predecessor at Denver, Kyle Orton, more. It was pleasing to see him have such a good game with his new team, the Kansas City Chiefs, as they further endeared me to them by beating the Green Bay Packers 19-14. You see, I am a longtime Miami Dolphins fan and see any team that goes late into the season unbeaten as a threat to the unique legacy left by the 1972 Dolphins team, which won the Super Bowl that year and lost not a single game. The Pack fell on its back, so to speak, and I largely credit Mr. Orton's deft performance for it. Way to go, Kyle...
As for Tebow, I'm still a little miffed at his late heroics in a game earlier this year, leading the Denver Broncos to an improbable comeback win against my Dolphins, just as they were finally on the verge of winning their first game. I don't care one way or another about his open expression of his Christian faith: what bothers me is that a huge swath of the population is behind him for that reason alone (and then again, there are those who oppose him for that same reason). But one thing about his success which pleases me is how he is making fools out of the sports talk show "experts" who said that he was completely lacking in the skills needed to be a competent pro quarterback. I already knew of Tebow's versatility from his years here in Gainesville as the Florida QB. And he does a great job encouraging his teammates to play as a unit and to their best individual abilities, and to feel that victory is always possible (well, almost always).
Speaking of the Dolphins, they actually climbed out of last place in the AFC East Division by beating Buffalo 30-23 today. The two teams both sport 5-9 records, but Miami has the edge by having beaten the Bills twice. They have good prospects for next year. I hope the new "permanent" coach they get is a wise choice.
I'm trying to figure out which teams I'm going to support in the playoffs this year. It hasn't been fun for the state of Florida, with all three NFL franchises having pretty lousy, losing seasons. I like Green Bay (now that they've lost a game) and New Orleans in the NFC. I wish the New York Giants were doing better: their play is so inconsistent that they don't look to make the playoffs (unless everything goes their way in the last two weeks of the regular season). NFC teams that I absolutely dislike? The San Francisco 49ers for their arrogant head coach and the Detroit Lions for their dirty play. In the AFC, the "enemies" are more traditional: New England and Pittsburgh. I clearly like Baltimore more than any of the others, but after them I don't see a whole lot to like, sorry to say. Denver is an interesting (albeit way overhyped) team, but I think that should the New York Jets make the playoffs, I would prefer them. I would like to see San Diego make it, but like the Giants in the NFC, they are practically out of the playoff picture with their mediocre record. Of all the teams technically remaining in the running, I like the New York Giants the most, but like I said, their prospects don't look too good right now. So, assuming they don't get into the playoffs, I am now picking my two favorites to make it to the Super Bowl: the Baltimore Ravens and the Green Bay Packers. With the Ravens prevailing in the end.
Actually, that "wish list" stands a pretty reasonable chance of coming true, from where things stand right now...
As for Tebow, I'm still a little miffed at his late heroics in a game earlier this year, leading the Denver Broncos to an improbable comeback win against my Dolphins, just as they were finally on the verge of winning their first game. I don't care one way or another about his open expression of his Christian faith: what bothers me is that a huge swath of the population is behind him for that reason alone (and then again, there are those who oppose him for that same reason). But one thing about his success which pleases me is how he is making fools out of the sports talk show "experts" who said that he was completely lacking in the skills needed to be a competent pro quarterback. I already knew of Tebow's versatility from his years here in Gainesville as the Florida QB. And he does a great job encouraging his teammates to play as a unit and to their best individual abilities, and to feel that victory is always possible (well, almost always).
Speaking of the Dolphins, they actually climbed out of last place in the AFC East Division by beating Buffalo 30-23 today. The two teams both sport 5-9 records, but Miami has the edge by having beaten the Bills twice. They have good prospects for next year. I hope the new "permanent" coach they get is a wise choice.
I'm trying to figure out which teams I'm going to support in the playoffs this year. It hasn't been fun for the state of Florida, with all three NFL franchises having pretty lousy, losing seasons. I like Green Bay (now that they've lost a game) and New Orleans in the NFC. I wish the New York Giants were doing better: their play is so inconsistent that they don't look to make the playoffs (unless everything goes their way in the last two weeks of the regular season). NFC teams that I absolutely dislike? The San Francisco 49ers for their arrogant head coach and the Detroit Lions for their dirty play. In the AFC, the "enemies" are more traditional: New England and Pittsburgh. I clearly like Baltimore more than any of the others, but after them I don't see a whole lot to like, sorry to say. Denver is an interesting (albeit way overhyped) team, but I think that should the New York Jets make the playoffs, I would prefer them. I would like to see San Diego make it, but like the Giants in the NFC, they are practically out of the playoff picture with their mediocre record. Of all the teams technically remaining in the running, I like the New York Giants the most, but like I said, their prospects don't look too good right now. So, assuming they don't get into the playoffs, I am now picking my two favorites to make it to the Super Bowl: the Baltimore Ravens and the Green Bay Packers. With the Ravens prevailing in the end.
Actually, that "wish list" stands a pretty reasonable chance of coming true, from where things stand right now...
Thursday, December 15, 2011
I Will Miss Jax Half-Marathon
I probably should have known how this would go down, but I thought it was a good idea to at least set forth the goal: to run a half-marathon race each month through February. The weak link in this plan is the month of December because (1) working at the post office, I am heavily engaged in the holiday parcel processing season and (2) this is the month I would have to travel a good distance out of town to find a half-marathon race. The closest one will happen this coming Sunday morning in Jacksonville, but I will have worked late into the night before. I just don't think it will work out for me this time around.
Right now, it is enough for me to concentrate on keeping myself rested each day for work as the load and intensity increases. Some time next week, it will lighten up. But at least, while passing up on a half-marathon this month, I can continue to run a reasonable amount of miles with the idea of resuming the racing next month.
Right now, it is enough for me to concentrate on keeping myself rested each day for work as the load and intensity increases. Some time next week, it will lighten up. But at least, while passing up on a half-marathon this month, I can continue to run a reasonable amount of miles with the idea of resuming the racing next month.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Commercial Dream Seepage
Last night, after an especially grueling shift of work processing Christmas season parcels and working overtime, I fell asleep in front of my television. For some reason, it was on H2 (formerly History Channel International) when I dozed off. I can't remember: did they really have a show on about history, for a change? But anyway, it couldn't have been all that exciting: apparently, before I knew it, I had fallen sound asleep.
I found myself having one of those interesting geographical dreams. I approached a place that had some kind of roller coaster ride going on. In my dream, I thought that it was familiar, but later couldn't place it: it was most likely just a composite of other rides I had experienced over the years. Anyway, I went into the little building where the ride's entrance was. A friendly, elderly gentleman (who seemed to be the ride's operator) greeted me as did a younger man. The younger man then suddenly began to go on babbling incessantly about some great deal he was offering, selling those old U.S. quarters from the 50 states. I calculated within my dream that $.25 X 50 = $12.50 (I wonder how many people can do that while asleep), so the deal had better be comparable. I was surprised when he instead asked for 99 bucks! But the dude was making clear that, not only was he selling every single version of these quarters, but was also putting them in a album with the official "Smokey Bear" logo on it. This began to seep into my mind as a confirmation that I was having a wacky dream. Moreover, this son-of-a-gun was not only bothering me with his heavy-handed, aggressive speaking reminiscent of some of those obnoxious fire-and-brimstone preachers (like John Hagee, ugh), but he was also keeping me from my ride! So I managed to arise out of my slumber. Only to find myself facing a TV infomercial (on H2, of course) featuring a different son-of-a-gun spewing out the same sales pitch, with the same overbearing manner, about the same coin album offer. With Smokey Bear on the cover. Surreal.
Still wondering whether I was still dreaming, I managed to get up and flick off that TV. In the process, I flicked off that salesman as well...
I found myself having one of those interesting geographical dreams. I approached a place that had some kind of roller coaster ride going on. In my dream, I thought that it was familiar, but later couldn't place it: it was most likely just a composite of other rides I had experienced over the years. Anyway, I went into the little building where the ride's entrance was. A friendly, elderly gentleman (who seemed to be the ride's operator) greeted me as did a younger man. The younger man then suddenly began to go on babbling incessantly about some great deal he was offering, selling those old U.S. quarters from the 50 states. I calculated within my dream that $.25 X 50 = $12.50 (I wonder how many people can do that while asleep), so the deal had better be comparable. I was surprised when he instead asked for 99 bucks! But the dude was making clear that, not only was he selling every single version of these quarters, but was also putting them in a album with the official "Smokey Bear" logo on it. This began to seep into my mind as a confirmation that I was having a wacky dream. Moreover, this son-of-a-gun was not only bothering me with his heavy-handed, aggressive speaking reminiscent of some of those obnoxious fire-and-brimstone preachers (like John Hagee, ugh), but he was also keeping me from my ride! So I managed to arise out of my slumber. Only to find myself facing a TV infomercial (on H2, of course) featuring a different son-of-a-gun spewing out the same sales pitch, with the same overbearing manner, about the same coin album offer. With Smokey Bear on the cover. Surreal.
Still wondering whether I was still dreaming, I managed to get up and flick off that TV. In the process, I flicked off that salesman as well...
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Dolphins Owner Fires Coach Sparano
The Miami Dolphins, headed for their third consecutive losing season under head coach Tony Sparano, after enjoying an improbable turnaround from a dismal 1-15 record in 2007 to a division-winning 11-5 in his first season after being hiring by Bill Parcells, have just fired Sparano. Apparently, this coach, who showed plenty of sideline enthusiasm, just couldn't keep his team together as a tight unit throughout games and over the course of a season. I thought the move was correct: there was no sign that the Dolphins' fortunes stood to change with Sparano in there. But the owner Stephen Ross, with the firing, stated that he wanted a young "Don Shula-type" to coach the team. Well, duh, doesn't everybody? After all, Shula is one of a kind: the all-time winningest coach in NFL history, with only 2 losing seasons in 26 while coaching Miami from 1970 through 1995. From 1996 through 2003, Shula's successors Jimmy Johnson and Dave Wannstedt (at least until 2004), managed to produce moderately successful seasons, none of them with a losing record. But in the last 8 years, Miami has suffered through 6 losing seasons. Enough is enough.
There are plenty of good coaching prospects out there, and Miami is an attractive place in which to work. Hopefully, the new coach, who will start his job after the end of the season, will fulfill owner Ross's vision at least to the point of establishing a more long-term, consistently winning team. But another Don Shula? Forget it!
There are plenty of good coaching prospects out there, and Miami is an attractive place in which to work. Hopefully, the new coach, who will start his job after the end of the season, will fulfill owner Ross's vision at least to the point of establishing a more long-term, consistently winning team. But another Don Shula? Forget it!
Monday, December 12, 2011
About Three Dates
First, let's look at May 29 and October 9.
If I told you the "death days" for the famous people whose birthdays the above two dates represent, you might say, oh yeah... really? But instead, we remember November 22 instead of May 29 and December 8 instead of October 9 to remember the lives of John F. Kennedy and John Lennon. How come?
After all, these individuals were respected and even loved, not reviled, so their dying days were sad and tragic occasions. Why not remember their birthdays instead? After all, we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday as a national holiday on January 15...or the nearest Monday to it. Why not mark May 29 and October 9 as well for some positive celebration?
I think the reason is pretty self-evident, actually. We weren't around JFK or the former Beatle great when either were born, but their deaths were a kind of shared event among us: most people remember where they were and what they were doing when the tragic news was heard (presuming that they were old enough at the time, of course). So although their births weren't all that personal for us, their deaths certainly were...and unforgettable. But I think that there is still room enough on the calendar to give a little more attention to the birthdays too, don't you?
On an almost completely unrelated note, connected only because it's about dates, I remember the first time I ever followed the New Years Day college football bowl games. I was out with my father in some shop somewhere on US 441 in Hollywood, Florida in the afternoon on January 1, 1968. They had a television there tuned in to the Cotton Bowl game in Dallas, that year pitting Texas A&M against Alabama (the Cotton Bowl actually meant something back then). Just because I thought that "A&M" was an intriguing part of a college's name, I began to root for them. And they won, beginning the process luring me in as a habitual televised football spectator. In subsequent years, I looked forward to New Years Day with its major bowl games. As time passed by, the number of bowls proliferated. Finally, one, and then more of them began to be moved to the days immediately following in January. Still, I always knew that there would be some good college football to watch on New Years Day. Right?
Wrong! This coming New Years Day features ZERO bowl games! But don't despair, football junkies: it's on a Sunday that just happens to be the final regular season day for the NFL. I guess the television networks pretty much control the scheduling for football nowadays. Still, I miss that New Year's college bowl tradition...
If I told you the "death days" for the famous people whose birthdays the above two dates represent, you might say, oh yeah... really? But instead, we remember November 22 instead of May 29 and December 8 instead of October 9 to remember the lives of John F. Kennedy and John Lennon. How come?
After all, these individuals were respected and even loved, not reviled, so their dying days were sad and tragic occasions. Why not remember their birthdays instead? After all, we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday as a national holiday on January 15...or the nearest Monday to it. Why not mark May 29 and October 9 as well for some positive celebration?
I think the reason is pretty self-evident, actually. We weren't around JFK or the former Beatle great when either were born, but their deaths were a kind of shared event among us: most people remember where they were and what they were doing when the tragic news was heard (presuming that they were old enough at the time, of course). So although their births weren't all that personal for us, their deaths certainly were...and unforgettable. But I think that there is still room enough on the calendar to give a little more attention to the birthdays too, don't you?
On an almost completely unrelated note, connected only because it's about dates, I remember the first time I ever followed the New Years Day college football bowl games. I was out with my father in some shop somewhere on US 441 in Hollywood, Florida in the afternoon on January 1, 1968. They had a television there tuned in to the Cotton Bowl game in Dallas, that year pitting Texas A&M against Alabama (the Cotton Bowl actually meant something back then). Just because I thought that "A&M" was an intriguing part of a college's name, I began to root for them. And they won, beginning the process luring me in as a habitual televised football spectator. In subsequent years, I looked forward to New Years Day with its major bowl games. As time passed by, the number of bowls proliferated. Finally, one, and then more of them began to be moved to the days immediately following in January. Still, I always knew that there would be some good college football to watch on New Years Day. Right?
Wrong! This coming New Years Day features ZERO bowl games! But don't despair, football junkies: it's on a Sunday that just happens to be the final regular season day for the NFL. I guess the television networks pretty much control the scheduling for football nowadays. Still, I miss that New Year's college bowl tradition...
Sunday, December 11, 2011
An Exquisitely Gloomy Weather Day
Today has been one of those special weather days here in Gainesville, with the sky completely overcast, the temperatures hovering around 60, a strong wind circulating around, and the impression that it is always on the verge of raining without ever doing so. In other words, my kind of day!
No, I am not a "bright sunshine" kind of guy. I like the kind of brooding, dark weather that often befits my personality. So today rocked! It also reminded me of last Christmas, which experienced the same outside gloom the entire day with the cloud cover so thick that the night began to befall the area in mid-afternoon. I would know, since I was out running 20 miles in it! The main difference between then and now is that on Christmas it did finally let loose and rain (right at the end of my run).
Alas today, with its exquisite weather, would not see me performing a long run: I did that yesterday and now space them at least two days apart. I did run 1.34 miles, though (two laps around my block). Afterward, I just had to stand out in the backyard for a spell and let the weather overcome me, it was so wonderful...
Maybe tomorrow will see more of the same. But my experience tells me that this sort of weather pattern is fleeting. We'll probably either get rain or the clouds will abate. Right now, though, it's a little after nine at night and the weather is still the same as it has been all day...
No, I am not a "bright sunshine" kind of guy. I like the kind of brooding, dark weather that often befits my personality. So today rocked! It also reminded me of last Christmas, which experienced the same outside gloom the entire day with the cloud cover so thick that the night began to befall the area in mid-afternoon. I would know, since I was out running 20 miles in it! The main difference between then and now is that on Christmas it did finally let loose and rain (right at the end of my run).
Alas today, with its exquisite weather, would not see me performing a long run: I did that yesterday and now space them at least two days apart. I did run 1.34 miles, though (two laps around my block). Afterward, I just had to stand out in the backyard for a spell and let the weather overcome me, it was so wonderful...
Maybe tomorrow will see more of the same. But my experience tells me that this sort of weather pattern is fleeting. We'll probably either get rain or the clouds will abate. Right now, though, it's a little after nine at night and the weather is still the same as it has been all day...
Saturday, December 10, 2011
British Online Spy Contest
A couple of days ago, I was watching CNN and saw a news story that I had some trouble believing. But no, it had to be true: British intelligence was holding an online contest to see who could decipher a difficult code on their website. Those with winning solutions received a prize: a job interview to become a career spy for the Crown!
So let's suppose that I am from any nation on Earth besides Great Britain. That most likely means that my country has its own intelligence/spy network at work and would love to infiltrate Britain's network, even if we were allies. So my country, most probably with more advanced technology and methods of cracking codes than do ordinary, individual citizens, solves the puzzle and has one of its agents stationed within Britain submit the winning solution. Presto, a mole served to order!
But wait, maybe that's what the smart guys in British intelligence are thinking and they are using this "contest" to filter out potential double agents. But...
Maybe those countries who would use this contest to plant moles see through this and will deliberately use people who can give misinformation to the British. But then again...
Maybe the British know that those countries will do this and they want to throw them off the trail of their real intelligence schemes...
Well, I suppose this could go on indefinitely. But I think I've already cracked their online code. You see, I have my own source of code deciphering material, delivered by a mysterious short, bespectacled operator going by the tag "Ralphie".
The solution is: "Be sure to drink your Ovaltine!"
O.K. Brits, I'm ready: sign me up!
So let's suppose that I am from any nation on Earth besides Great Britain. That most likely means that my country has its own intelligence/spy network at work and would love to infiltrate Britain's network, even if we were allies. So my country, most probably with more advanced technology and methods of cracking codes than do ordinary, individual citizens, solves the puzzle and has one of its agents stationed within Britain submit the winning solution. Presto, a mole served to order!
But wait, maybe that's what the smart guys in British intelligence are thinking and they are using this "contest" to filter out potential double agents. But...
Maybe those countries who would use this contest to plant moles see through this and will deliberately use people who can give misinformation to the British. But then again...
Maybe the British know that those countries will do this and they want to throw them off the trail of their real intelligence schemes...
Well, I suppose this could go on indefinitely. But I think I've already cracked their online code. You see, I have my own source of code deciphering material, delivered by a mysterious short, bespectacled operator going by the tag "Ralphie".
The solution is: "Be sure to drink your Ovaltine!"
O.K. Brits, I'm ready: sign me up!
Friday, December 9, 2011
Weis Leaves UF, No Big Loss
Florida offensive coordinator Charlie Weis, whose much-heralded presence in his first year on the job produced one of the worst offensive seasons that Gator fans have seen in recent decades, has decided to leave UF to become head coach at Kansas after stating just a few days earlier that he would stay at Florida for several years. Apparently, that school's athletic director decided that he wanted what Mr. Weis brought to Florida: a completely uninspired, lackluster offense and a leader whose words they can't believe. Good luck, if that's what they want out there; it's just one more item I can add to my long list of reasons I never want to move to an already lackluster state. On the other hand, my current governor, teabagger and suspected space alien Rick Scott (who has yet to produce any official, stamped, signed, and dated document specifically stating that he was born within our Solar System), is doing all that he can to make Florida as equally unattractive to live in...
Florida is now looking for a replacement for offensive coordinator. They need someone who will be able to salvage the ongoing recruiting season, which doesn't seem to be going very well at the moment with highly-sought-after prospects signing on with other schools. But then again, the current Gator team is largely made up of what sports analysts had regarded in the past as some of the nation's top recruiting classes. Still, they'd better hurry up, hire someone, and get the new o.c. on the road to add some more Gators! Oh, and how about adding a little razzle-dazzle to Florida's offense for a change?
And by the way, let's do something about getting ourselves some size and talent on the offensive line! It was downright embarrassing to see the Gators being pushed around on the line of scrimmage this year, game after game after game, sometimes against just average opponents...
Florida is now looking for a replacement for offensive coordinator. They need someone who will be able to salvage the ongoing recruiting season, which doesn't seem to be going very well at the moment with highly-sought-after prospects signing on with other schools. But then again, the current Gator team is largely made up of what sports analysts had regarded in the past as some of the nation's top recruiting classes. Still, they'd better hurry up, hire someone, and get the new o.c. on the road to add some more Gators! Oh, and how about adding a little razzle-dazzle to Florida's offense for a change?
And by the way, let's do something about getting ourselves some size and talent on the offensive line! It was downright embarrassing to see the Gators being pushed around on the line of scrimmage this year, game after game after game, sometimes against just average opponents...
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Twelve Eight...Then and Now
Today marks the anniversary of the shooting death of John Lennon in 1980 at the hands of a lunatic at the entrance to the former Beatles' home, the Dakota Apartments in Manhattan just across from Central Park. He was only forty and had just begun to renew his musical career with a double album release, a team effort with his wife Yoko Ono. The assassin, whose name does not merit mention, supposedly believed that he was compelled to shoot Lennon for being an impostor of sorts, in conflict with his own inner mental model that he somehow took for real. And that's all I have to say about that.
I had just come back from having a pleasant meal at IHOP in south Gainesville and quickly tuned my tiny black and white TV on to ABC to watch the tail end of the Monday Night Football game featuring "my" Miami Dolphins, struggling through a rebuilding year and trying to ruin the playoff hopes of their divisional rival New England. Which they accomplished, booting the game-winning field goal at the tail end of the game, to loud cheers from the home Miami crowd. But I quickly learned with that good news that something very bad had happened: John Lennon had just been shot. It wasn't long before his death was reported, and soon after the game (then) ABC correspondent Geraldo Rivera was given free rein to discuss the matter, especially in the context of the friendship he had developed with the Lennons.
When someone dies, like Lennon in 1980, there is no next year, no 1981. For him, the universe has been extinguished while, from the viewpoint of the rest of the universe, the converse is true. The question I have may sound a bit silly, but I think it is pertinent nevertheless: is there such a thing as 1980? That year (well, most of it) contained within it the life essence of John Lennon, walking and breathing on Earth. Yes, that sweeping line of the "now" that separates past from future is currently 31 years down the road. But does that "now" determine reality in and of itself?
What do you think?
I had just come back from having a pleasant meal at IHOP in south Gainesville and quickly tuned my tiny black and white TV on to ABC to watch the tail end of the Monday Night Football game featuring "my" Miami Dolphins, struggling through a rebuilding year and trying to ruin the playoff hopes of their divisional rival New England. Which they accomplished, booting the game-winning field goal at the tail end of the game, to loud cheers from the home Miami crowd. But I quickly learned with that good news that something very bad had happened: John Lennon had just been shot. It wasn't long before his death was reported, and soon after the game (then) ABC correspondent Geraldo Rivera was given free rein to discuss the matter, especially in the context of the friendship he had developed with the Lennons.
When someone dies, like Lennon in 1980, there is no next year, no 1981. For him, the universe has been extinguished while, from the viewpoint of the rest of the universe, the converse is true. The question I have may sound a bit silly, but I think it is pertinent nevertheless: is there such a thing as 1980? That year (well, most of it) contained within it the life essence of John Lennon, walking and breathing on Earth. Yes, that sweeping line of the "now" that separates past from future is currently 31 years down the road. But does that "now" determine reality in and of itself?
What do you think?
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Twelve Seven
Seventy years ago, on the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy launched a surprise aerial attack on the American fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, precipitating the U.S. entrance into World War II. This conflict had been going on for two years in the West, with Nazi Germany and fascist Italy pitted against the Allies (the national composition of which kept changing due to invasion and occupation). But truth be told, for all practical purposes, this horrible conflict that took so many lives began in 1931 with Japan's invasion of China.
For ten years before the Pearl Harbor attack, Japan, then ruled by a totalitarian military dictatorship that imposed the harsh Bushido nationalist doctrine on its population, brutalized the Chinese people as it enacted its own "Lebensraum" policy long before Hitler invaded Eastern Europe. In fact, the brutality of the Nanking occupation was so severe that the Nazi German officials stationed there were reportedly horrified enough to allow fleeing Chinese sanctuary in their embassy. But I'm not trying to rip on the Japanese here...
The fact is that countries like Japan and Germany epitomize high civilization for me. As does my good ol' U.S.A....and that has me worrying a bit.
A totalitarian society practices strict control of its population through a secret police network, informants, and harsh punishment of any perceived "deviants" from the state's line. But history has shown us in a frightening way how the perception of economic prosperity as well as the notion that outside enemies are threatening the country can lead its people not only to rationalize the plight they are experiencing under their ever-diminishing liberties, but also to fully embrace their oppressive government's policies, even if they lead to war and genocide.
So here we are in America, worrying about our precious economy. We see all these enemies out there trying to undermine us and we think that we need a strong leader who will lay the law down to those other countries. And what about the moral decay that is weakening us within? We need the government to pass laws which restrict immoral behavior among the population so that we can be internally stronger. And let's also fully support the state and whatever police tactics it employs to squelch constitutionally-protected peaceful dissent, because we all know how those good-for-nothing protesters are just trying to undermine us. Well, at least SOME of us want that, judging by the crowd reactions at some of these debates that have been going on lately.
I think that the lesson most commonly taught about Pearl Harbor is to not let your guard down about your enemies. But while taking care not to let that happen, let's make sure that we don't become the enemy ourselves. Prosperity is the great justifier: be careful not to relinquish your precious rights to the state for its sake, and don't rationalize the state's behavior based on your own economic well-being: your great civilized country could turn into something very ugly...
For ten years before the Pearl Harbor attack, Japan, then ruled by a totalitarian military dictatorship that imposed the harsh Bushido nationalist doctrine on its population, brutalized the Chinese people as it enacted its own "Lebensraum" policy long before Hitler invaded Eastern Europe. In fact, the brutality of the Nanking occupation was so severe that the Nazi German officials stationed there were reportedly horrified enough to allow fleeing Chinese sanctuary in their embassy. But I'm not trying to rip on the Japanese here...
The fact is that countries like Japan and Germany epitomize high civilization for me. As does my good ol' U.S.A....and that has me worrying a bit.
A totalitarian society practices strict control of its population through a secret police network, informants, and harsh punishment of any perceived "deviants" from the state's line. But history has shown us in a frightening way how the perception of economic prosperity as well as the notion that outside enemies are threatening the country can lead its people not only to rationalize the plight they are experiencing under their ever-diminishing liberties, but also to fully embrace their oppressive government's policies, even if they lead to war and genocide.
So here we are in America, worrying about our precious economy. We see all these enemies out there trying to undermine us and we think that we need a strong leader who will lay the law down to those other countries. And what about the moral decay that is weakening us within? We need the government to pass laws which restrict immoral behavior among the population so that we can be internally stronger. And let's also fully support the state and whatever police tactics it employs to squelch constitutionally-protected peaceful dissent, because we all know how those good-for-nothing protesters are just trying to undermine us. Well, at least SOME of us want that, judging by the crowd reactions at some of these debates that have been going on lately.
I think that the lesson most commonly taught about Pearl Harbor is to not let your guard down about your enemies. But while taking care not to let that happen, let's make sure that we don't become the enemy ourselves. Prosperity is the great justifier: be careful not to relinquish your precious rights to the state for its sake, and don't rationalize the state's behavior based on your own economic well-being: your great civilized country could turn into something very ugly...
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Lord of the Rings: Added Scenes
The other day I was watching Lord of the Rings: Return of the King on one of the Encore channels. I expected a repeat viewing of a movie I have seen so many times that I can predict what the characters are about to say. But this time around, things were different: they had added many new scenes to the movie.
The part where, at Isengard, the hobbits Merry and Pippin are reunited with the rest of the "fellowship" (sans Frodo, Sam, and Boromir) is rather puzzling in the original movie. After dominating Gandalf and terrorizing the surrounding people in the first two movies with his massive army of orcs, the wizard Saruman is reduced to residing hidden in his tower, without any real power left. That is, according to a terse statement that Gandalf makes. Then, mysteriously and without explanation, after safely in Saruman's possession within the tower for the first two movies, the black palantir (a magical psychic transmission ball) appears to Pippin at the bottom of the water just outside. I found this sequence frustrating and unsatisfactory in the original movie. But the revised version I saw the other night tied up all the loose ends and nicely cleaned up the story. I wondered to myself why they didn't include this in the original.
Other scenes were added as well: some were clearly superfluous to the story, such as the drinking contest between Legolas and Gimli. Others were important, such as what happened right after Aragorn made his enlistment pitch to the army of the dead. Or the time that Frodo and Sam were in Mordor and were forced to march for a time with Sauron's orc army. These scenes were exciting, making me wonder why they were left out of the movie.
I bought the DVD set for Lord of the Rings a few years ago and now feel a bit ripped off, knowing that I am missing all of those extra scenes. But this reinsertion of scenes into established movies has been going on for quite some time. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, The Godfather, and the Harry Potter flicks have all undergone this process, making their presentation on TV always a question of whether it's the old movie or the "new, improved" version.
What is interesting to me is that the extra scene in Return of the King with Saruman, while making the story more sensible, actually makes a complete break with J.R.R. Tolkien's writing. In the book, Saruman and Grima escape to foment trouble in the Shire, which the four returning hobbits have to deal with near the ending. In the movie, the Shire residents are blissfully ignorant of all the tumultuous events that had just transpired around them, regarding the returning hobbit heroes with apathy, even a little disdain.
I welcome the new scenes: actually, I'd like to see a whole lot more...
The part where, at Isengard, the hobbits Merry and Pippin are reunited with the rest of the "fellowship" (sans Frodo, Sam, and Boromir) is rather puzzling in the original movie. After dominating Gandalf and terrorizing the surrounding people in the first two movies with his massive army of orcs, the wizard Saruman is reduced to residing hidden in his tower, without any real power left. That is, according to a terse statement that Gandalf makes. Then, mysteriously and without explanation, after safely in Saruman's possession within the tower for the first two movies, the black palantir (a magical psychic transmission ball) appears to Pippin at the bottom of the water just outside. I found this sequence frustrating and unsatisfactory in the original movie. But the revised version I saw the other night tied up all the loose ends and nicely cleaned up the story. I wondered to myself why they didn't include this in the original.
Other scenes were added as well: some were clearly superfluous to the story, such as the drinking contest between Legolas and Gimli. Others were important, such as what happened right after Aragorn made his enlistment pitch to the army of the dead. Or the time that Frodo and Sam were in Mordor and were forced to march for a time with Sauron's orc army. These scenes were exciting, making me wonder why they were left out of the movie.
I bought the DVD set for Lord of the Rings a few years ago and now feel a bit ripped off, knowing that I am missing all of those extra scenes. But this reinsertion of scenes into established movies has been going on for quite some time. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, The Godfather, and the Harry Potter flicks have all undergone this process, making their presentation on TV always a question of whether it's the old movie or the "new, improved" version.
What is interesting to me is that the extra scene in Return of the King with Saruman, while making the story more sensible, actually makes a complete break with J.R.R. Tolkien's writing. In the book, Saruman and Grima escape to foment trouble in the Shire, which the four returning hobbits have to deal with near the ending. In the movie, the Shire residents are blissfully ignorant of all the tumultuous events that had just transpired around them, regarding the returning hobbit heroes with apathy, even a little disdain.
I welcome the new scenes: actually, I'd like to see a whole lot more...
Monday, December 5, 2011
Recovery Day
Today was one of those days that my tired body just took over and told me to step back and take it easy. Fortunately, I was off from work and could afford to do this. After dropping off my daughter at school in the morning and then sitting at the nearby Starbucks in a near-stupor for about an hour, I went home to prepare for a good, long run. Only that never happened: I went back to bed and slept a few more hours. When I awoke, I realized that this was just going to be a "recovery" day for me.
With an expected intense day of work tomorrow due to the holiday season rush, I am glad I am taking this time to rest. Who knows, I may even take it easier on my running for another day...
With an expected intense day of work tomorrow due to the holiday season rush, I am glad I am taking this time to rest. Who knows, I may even take it easier on my running for another day...
Sunday, December 4, 2011
December Mail Rush Upon Me Again
Well, the year has once again come around full circle and here I am in early December, a postal processing employee during the intensely busy Christmas season. I expect a very busy three weeks ahead of me as we are inundated with a seemingly endless amount of parcels to sort and send to their appropriate destinations. For I operate one of the parcel sorting machines at my local plant, along with my crew of eight other workers and a supporting cast of help from other parts of the facility.
Unfortunately, with the (what I consider very ill-advised) decision by upper-level postal management to move outgoing mail processing from Gainesville to Jacksonville after December, this is probably the last great Christmas mail rush I will be working. Unless, of course, I become one of those who end up excessed to Jacksonville or Tampa a few months from now as ALL of Gainesville's mail processing operations are transferred to those two cities.
There is a lot of uncertainty regarding where I will be working in the future, and what I will be doing. But whatever happens, I will still be a proud employee of a quality organization: the United States Postal Service, as well as an even prouder member, in my 25th year, of the best labor union in the nation: the American Postal Workers Union.
Since I may be working a lot of overtime (and sleeping overtime the following day), this blog may suffer a bit in the form of gaps. But rest assured, "constant reader" (with a tip of my hat to the great Stephen King), I'm keepin' the faith here: just you keep reading my drivel, O.K.?
Even if you just hit my blog and casually read it, go ahead and anonymously leave a comment (as long as it's not spam), especially if you have a criticism...
Unfortunately, with the (what I consider very ill-advised) decision by upper-level postal management to move outgoing mail processing from Gainesville to Jacksonville after December, this is probably the last great Christmas mail rush I will be working. Unless, of course, I become one of those who end up excessed to Jacksonville or Tampa a few months from now as ALL of Gainesville's mail processing operations are transferred to those two cities.
There is a lot of uncertainty regarding where I will be working in the future, and what I will be doing. But whatever happens, I will still be a proud employee of a quality organization: the United States Postal Service, as well as an even prouder member, in my 25th year, of the best labor union in the nation: the American Postal Workers Union.
Since I may be working a lot of overtime (and sleeping overtime the following day), this blog may suffer a bit in the form of gaps. But rest assured, "constant reader" (with a tip of my hat to the great Stephen King), I'm keepin' the faith here: just you keep reading my drivel, O.K.?
Even if you just hit my blog and casually read it, go ahead and anonymously leave a comment (as long as it's not spam), especially if you have a criticism...
Saturday, December 3, 2011
LSU-Alabama Title Pairing Not Right
Now that LSU has beaten Georgia for the Southeastern Conference championship this year in college football, that leaves, in all probability, two SEC schools to play for the national championship: LSU and Alabama. These two teams already played each other just a month ago, with LSU prevailing 9-6 in overtime. But one might say that, just because they were from the same conference (even the same division within that conference) and already played each other, that doesn't matter since they are the two best teams in the country (according to the determining BCS ranking system). So these two, from a six-team division within a conference, have been determined to be the best two teams in the country. Why?
The Southeastern Conference has distinguished itself in the previous six years by winning every one of those national championships. But the deciding championship game that each of the SEC teams won in those years was against a school from another part of the country. The fact that the other SEC schools, apart from chiefly small colleges, dominated the schedules of LSU and Alabama, means that there is not, in my opinion, a sufficiently strong enough point of reference to automatically lift the SEC high above all of the other conferences in stature and give Alabama, the team that lost to LSU, a shot at the title.
I would much rather see a team like Oklahoma State play LSU than Alabama. The BCS system in college football is an abysmal failure. It needs not just reform: it needs to be completely overturned in favor of a nationwide playoff system.
The Southeastern Conference has distinguished itself in the previous six years by winning every one of those national championships. But the deciding championship game that each of the SEC teams won in those years was against a school from another part of the country. The fact that the other SEC schools, apart from chiefly small colleges, dominated the schedules of LSU and Alabama, means that there is not, in my opinion, a sufficiently strong enough point of reference to automatically lift the SEC high above all of the other conferences in stature and give Alabama, the team that lost to LSU, a shot at the title.
I would much rather see a team like Oklahoma State play LSU than Alabama. The BCS system in college football is an abysmal failure. It needs not just reform: it needs to be completely overturned in favor of a nationwide playoff system.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Stealth Spam Comments
Since you are obviously currently reading this blog, you are probably doing everything you can right now to keep yourself from becoming completely overcome by its dazzling, profound wit and wisdom. Seriously though, to be perfectly truthful about it, I don't promote this blog on the Internet and not that many people read it. Maybe they like it, maybe they don't: I don't know since few of them leave comments. Of the ones that do, though, I appreciate those comments whether they agree or disagree with me. Well....except for one type of "comment", that is...
Blogger, the Google blog publisher under which I write this blog, has a spam comment feature that keeps a lot of that unwelcome stuff from ever bothering me. Unfortunately, some of those out there promoting their own little businesses on the Internet have recognized that their free-advertising-via-comments is being cut down by spam-filters, so they adapted to this by actually leaving terse, bland, and unspecific pseudo-comments. With their business websites accessible through their "names" they used as submitters. Such was the case, among way too many I have been getting, with the phony comment for my "Two Bumper Stickers" article the other day. The writer wrote a broken tweet-length sentence saying that my bumper sticker article was nice and thanks for sharing it. Just enough to pass through a spam filter. No way am I going to publish it as a comment. And his name referred back to a business, naturally.
Once again, I strongly welcome comments. As a rule of thumb, though, just make sure that (1) you address specific things I wrote within the article and (2) don't advertise your business through your comment.
I don't think that's asking too much.
Blogger, the Google blog publisher under which I write this blog, has a spam comment feature that keeps a lot of that unwelcome stuff from ever bothering me. Unfortunately, some of those out there promoting their own little businesses on the Internet have recognized that their free-advertising-via-comments is being cut down by spam-filters, so they adapted to this by actually leaving terse, bland, and unspecific pseudo-comments. With their business websites accessible through their "names" they used as submitters. Such was the case, among way too many I have been getting, with the phony comment for my "Two Bumper Stickers" article the other day. The writer wrote a broken tweet-length sentence saying that my bumper sticker article was nice and thanks for sharing it. Just enough to pass through a spam filter. No way am I going to publish it as a comment. And his name referred back to a business, naturally.
Once again, I strongly welcome comments. As a rule of thumb, though, just make sure that (1) you address specific things I wrote within the article and (2) don't advertise your business through your comment.
I don't think that's asking too much.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Unit 3 Arabic Vocabulary
Once again, this is from Teach Yourself Arabic by Jack Smart and Frances Altorfer. The pages where the new words are mark after each initial word for a new page.
أين...ayna.....where, 55
عن إذنك...:an idhn-ik.....excuse me (to a woman), 56
إنجلترا...ingiltarra.....England
عمان...:ammaan.....Amman
أردني...urduni.....Jordanian
إنجليزي...ingliizi.....English
مع الأسف...ma:a l-asaf.....I'm sorry
لا...laa.....not
فقط...faqaT.....only
العلربية...al-:arabiyyah.....Arabic, the Arabic language, 57
بطلاقة...bi-Talaaqah.....fluently
قليلة...qaliilah.....a little, few (fem.)
ما عملك؟...maa :amal-ik.....what do you do? (to a woman)
جامعة لندن...jaami:at landan.....University of London
طبيب...Tabiib.....doctor
طالب...Taalib.....student, 58
مدرس...mudarris.....teacher
مهندس...muhandis.....engineer
مدير...mudiir.....manager
رئيس...ra'iis.....boss
متحف, متاحف...matHaf, mataaHif.....museum, 59
كثيرة...kathiirah.....many, much (fem.)
جسر, جسور...jisr, jusuur.....bridge
محل, محلات...maHall, maHallaat.....shop, store
جامعة...jaami:ah.....university
وسط...wasT.....middle
غرفة...ghurfah.....room, 63
أتكلم...atakallam.....I speak
تتكلم...tatakallam.....you speak (masc.)
تتكلمين...tatakallamiin.....you speak (fem.)
يتكلم...yatakallam.....he speaks
تتكلم...tatakallam.....she speaks
مكتوم...maktuum.....concealed, 64
مكتوب...maktuub.....written
مسموح...masmuuH.....permitted
ممنوع...mamnuu:.....forbidden
مبصوط...mabSuuT.....contented, happy
مفروض...mafruuDH.....necessary, obligatory
أية...ayya.....which (fem.), 66
قليلا...qaliilan.....slightly, a bit
مشهور...mashhuur.....famous, 67
صيدلية, ات...Saydaliyyah, -aat.....pharmacy
سعيد...sa:iid.....happy, joyful
أين...ayna.....where, 55
عن إذنك...:an idhn-ik.....excuse me (to a woman), 56
إنجلترا...ingiltarra.....England
عمان...:ammaan.....Amman
أردني...urduni.....Jordanian
إنجليزي...ingliizi.....English
مع الأسف...ma:a l-asaf.....I'm sorry
لا...laa.....not
فقط...faqaT.....only
العلربية...al-:arabiyyah.....Arabic, the Arabic language, 57
بطلاقة...bi-Talaaqah.....fluently
قليلة...qaliilah.....a little, few (fem.)
ما عملك؟...maa :amal-ik.....what do you do? (to a woman)
جامعة لندن...jaami:at landan.....University of London
طبيب...Tabiib.....doctor
طالب...Taalib.....student, 58
مدرس...mudarris.....teacher
مهندس...muhandis.....engineer
مدير...mudiir.....manager
رئيس...ra'iis.....boss
متحف, متاحف...matHaf, mataaHif.....museum, 59
كثيرة...kathiirah.....many, much (fem.)
جسر, جسور...jisr, jusuur.....bridge
محل, محلات...maHall, maHallaat.....shop, store
جامعة...jaami:ah.....university
وسط...wasT.....middle
غرفة...ghurfah.....room, 63
أتكلم...atakallam.....I speak
تتكلم...tatakallam.....you speak (masc.)
تتكلمين...tatakallamiin.....you speak (fem.)
يتكلم...yatakallam.....he speaks
تتكلم...tatakallam.....she speaks
مكتوم...maktuum.....concealed, 64
مكتوب...maktuub.....written
مسموح...masmuuH.....permitted
ممنوع...mamnuu:.....forbidden
مبصوط...mabSuuT.....contented, happy
مفروض...mafruuDH.....necessary, obligatory
أية...ayya.....which (fem.), 66
قليلا...qaliilan.....slightly, a bit
مشهور...mashhuur.....famous, 67
صيدلية, ات...Saydaliyyah, -aat.....pharmacy
سعيد...sa:iid.....happy, joyful
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