My August 2012 Running Recap

This past month of August saw me continuing with my goals of consistent running over modest distance.  I met my monthly 100-mile target with a total of 109.48 miles.  I ran every day, extending my personal record streak to 123 days.  My longest run was 6 miles.  The running was split between outdoor runs in my neighborhood and the treadmill, depending largely on the weather and time constraints.

I intend to continue with my running goals in September, but, due to personal issues, may have a more difficult time meeting them.  Oh well, I'll do what I can...

Isaac, GOP Convention Stories

In the midst of two major ongoing news stories, namely "Hurricane" Isaac and the Republican National Convention, I find myself at a loss for words about them.  So writing ANYTHING here is a stretch. After all, in this day of almost instant information access, the idea of me using this forum to spew out redundant news makes no sense.  What's left are my opinions, pure and simple. So here goes...

There is no doubt that a storm like Isaac needs to be taken seriously.  But the news outlets, especially the Weather Channel, have gone overboard with their coverage and melodrama.  Isaac may have barely gotten into hurricane status just before striking land, and naturally there is always the damage caused by high winds, storm surge, and rain-induced flooding to take into account.  Not to mention the specter left over from 2005 with the catastrophic flooding caused by broken levees when Katrina passed by New Orleans. Still, the impression I got from the coverage of Isaac is that the media employees were overly anxious to cover a hurricane, and frankly, this year they weren't getting all that much...

As for the Republicans, I have been so dismayed and disgusted by the behavior on the political right against Obama for his entire presidency that it galls me that any of them would expect me to display any kind of respect toward their cardboard candidates should they (very possibly) get elected this November.  I have no desire whatsoever to watch Mitt "Etch-a-Sketch" Romney reframe himself as anything but a wealthy-coddling extremist on social issues after he went out of his way during his run for the GOP nomination to "out-right" his extremely ideological primary opponents.  So now I'm supposed to forget all that and think about the "human" Mitt, right?  I think someone from one of the major TV networks had it right, if unintentionally so, when she said that Anne Romney would have a big task ahead of her on opening night when she addressed the convention and tried to make her husband seem more "human".  Did she succeed?  Not with me, since this party has thoroughly blown any hint of credibility with me and I am boycotting their "rilly big shew". So screw their high and holy convention...
   
Gee, I guess I wasn't at a loss for words, after all.

Isaac Not a Major Disaster

Hurricane Isaac, which had already caused a lot of trouble in Florida earlier, has been sitting on southeastern Louisiana, dumping copious amounts of rain on New Orleans and surrounding areas.  But the levee that broke in 2005 under Katrina have been fortified and are holding strong.  That's not to say there isn't flooding: some areas still went under water.  But the situation is nothing like the scene there seven years ago...

Isaac Bearing Down on New Orleans

As I write this, Tropical Storm Isaac, expected to soon be upgraded to hurricane status, is bearing down on the New Orleans area of Louisiana, threatening to repeat the disaster of seven years ago with Katrina.  To be sure, Isaac will be just a minimal hurricane compared to its much stronger predecessor and the city seems to be undergoing a more orderly evacuation with the goal to avoid having so many trapped in massive flooding in an area that is mostly under sea level.  But forecasts have the storm slowing and even lingering there for a couple of days, dumping an enormous amount of water in the process.  Will the levees hold this time, or will they break once again and cause the city to go underwater? 

In the meantime, the Florida peninsula has been undergoing its own storms, as a huge section of Isaac seemed to separate and hang over the state just as its center turned westward toward Louisiana.  For the last couple of days, we have had copious amounts of rain, with more expected.  Still, the bulk of this stormy area has moved offshore into the Atlantic, sparing us extreme flooding.  South Florida seems to have gotten the worst so far; this is soon to change when the Louisiana coast and adjacent areas suffer Isaac's full onslaught...

70.3

Having completed both the half-marathon and marathon events in running, I feel a sense of connection while out driving when I see, on the back of a vehicle in front of me, a decal with the simple number of "13.1" or "26.2" on it.  For that means that the owner of that vehicle has run one of the two aforementioned distances, expressing their accomplishment, of course, in miles.  So the other day it intrigued me when I was on the road and saw a car with a decal that simply said "70.3".  Well, it took me a very, very short time to figure that this individual was referring to having completed a triathlon event (swimming, bicycling, and running), the total racing distance amounting to 70.3 miles.  H-m-m, maybe that's the Ironman triathlon I've heard so much about.

But after reading up on it in Wikipedia, I found out that I was only partially correct in my conclusion.  "70.3" is an Ironman triathlon, but not the full version.  No, this is an Ironman half-triathlon, with the distances covered breaking down to 1.2 miles of swimming, 56 miles of bicycling, and 13.1 miles of running.  Sounds like something I could build myself up to, after the current medical issue I am facing eventually is satisfactorily resolved.  After all, I have run many, many half-marathons and I could train up to the other two distances.  But a full Ironman triathlon? No way, dude...

By the way, since it is a "half-triathlon", why not get cute and perform some arithmetic on it? Then it would be the three-halves-athlon, or the one-and-one-half-athlon. Oh well...maybe we should just name it like the decal does: "70.3".

Cryptowisdom

Consider this statement:

"The amount of satisfaction you get from life depends largely on your own ingenuity, self-sufficiency, and resourcefulness."

Such was the result of one of the relatively easy cryptograms I recently solved out of a puzzle magazine.  Usually the sentence I get is something silly or irrelevant, but this one give me some food for thought.  And the more I thought about it, the more I had to agree with Mr. Crypto...

It all arises from the need within all healthy human beings to feel that they have control over their own lives.  Having a sense of independence forces people to devise personal strategies for maximizing their opportunities to decide how their own lives are structured.  This doesn't preclude limitations and challenges; in fact, these tend to enhance the enjoyment of finally "solving the puzzle", much in the same way pleasure can come from decoding an especially difficult cryptogram.

Of course, if you are the type who spends much time blaming others, past and present, for your woes, then you probably aren't going to appreciate the above words of cryptowisdom.  I know people who can never let go of the bitterness contained within their memories enough to enjoy the present moment and its challenges and opportunities.  Such people seem to stumble through their lives, continually being "assaulted" by events that just "happen" to them.  I don't want to be like them.

No, instead it's much better to be rooted in the present and focus on thriving in it, like the puzzle says, through ingenuity, self-sufficiency, and resourcefulness.  Sure, sometimes you may need to ask someone for a helping hand, but that should only be seen as using the available resources, not as a personal surrender to passive dependence. 

Upcoming Gainesville 5K Runs

I was thinking about running in an upcoming 5K race, but missed out on the Haiti 5K that was scheduled for tomorrow (in Gainesville, not Haiti).  So, at least locally speaking, I'll have to wait until next month.  On September 16 is something called "Ducky Dash", while on the 29th Dog Days 5K, which I once ran back in 2008, will take place.  Maybe one or both of those two might work...

Loud Ignoramus

I heard Obama's going to start attacking Mitt Romney's religion soon.  At least according to an elderly fellow sitting with another couple at McDonalds this morning.  They had been talking among themselves in a relatively subdued, pleasantly conversational mode until the one man suddenly went off into heated political banter and raised his volume several decibels.  The woman sitting across from him responded that she didn't like anyone attacking another's religion and the loud-mouthed old dude replied that this strategy would backfire on Obama.  The party at this table then batted the conversation around with the presumption that Obama and the Democrats had ALREADY been attacking Romney's religion.  Then the instigator of all this drawled on (very loudly, so that everyone in the restaurant could hear his exalted words) that he didn't know why the fuss about Mitt Romney refusing to produce his tax returns when Obama wouldn't produced his own birth certificate.

There is a huge segment of our population, folks, that lives in an insulated bubble.  If they don't like someone or something, they will take any negative insinuation or speculation, no matter how unsubstantiated or even in DIRECT CONTRADICTION to the truth, and adopt it as "their" own truth. It has been the conservative Christian evangelical wing of the Republican Party that has been attacking Mitt Romney for his Mormon faith, not Barack Obama.  This while our president has been mercilessly (and hatefully) mischaracterized as being a Muslim, not that being one is anything one should have to defend anyway.  And the loud ignoramus at McDonalds will never be convinced about Obama's birth certificate, which WAS produced and shown to the world.

I don't know what to do about people like this gentlemen and his deluded, convenient notions, other than to pity him and those who have to endure his claptrap. Because, for his own reasons, he is emotionally committed to hating our current president, pure and simple...

Here Comes University of Florida Football, 2012 Edition

The opening of the 2012 college football season is coming fast, and who knows what is in store of the University of Florida team, with its second-year coach Wil Muschamp.  They didn't do very well last year, but at least finished with a winning record and a bowl victory at the end.

It is hard to blame Coach Muschamp too much for the disappointing season in 2011, as he was dealing with players recruited during the Urban Meyer era.  That in itself might make you think that, having won two national championship under his predecessor's short tenure at UF, the current coach would have had an enormous well of talent to draw from.  But apparently, during Meyer's last two years, he had suffered through some health issues that may have impaired recruiting to an extent.  Also, the former coach abruptly retired and then decided to try coaching the team for another year, giving a sense of instability about the football program at Florida to potential recruits.  Giving just a little edge to other schools in this area can be enough to turn a good season into a mediocre one.  Also, the starting senior quarterback, John Brantley, suffered a season-ending injury in the Alabama game (the Gators had been undefeated up to that point) and his replacements simply did not have the poise that experience brings.  Besides, the offensive line had some major issues in 2011...

...As did the defensive secondary.  Muschamp feels, though, that the secondary is one of the team's strongest areas this season.  But I also know that, with a great offensive line you don't need a great quarterback to go far.  So do the Gators have what it takes?

The first game will be a pushover against a minor college.  Then Florida will be tested against Texas A&M, who will be playing their first season in the hyper-competitive Southeastern Conference.

I am not one of those fans who are only happy if the Gators win the conference title and compete for the national championship.  But I do want to see a team that is at least a couple of notches better than what has been out there for the past two years. I don't want schools like LSU and Alabama to begin looking at us the way we've grown accustomed to looking at Kentucky, whom we've beaten every year since the late 1980's, often by massively lopsided scores. And I certainly don't want to see Kentucky starting to beat US...

Tropical Storm Isaac Looking Ominous

Well, it looks as if the meteorologists weren't just crying wolf when they began to raise alarms about a tropical low in the eastern Atlantic, as I reported here a couple of days ago. We now have a named tropical storm, Isaac, that is expected to rapidly intensify to hurricane strength after it soon enters the Caribbean Sea.  And worse, the projected pathway so far has it veering in a northwestward direction when it nears Cuba, crossing that island nation and then...heading toward Florida.  Uh-oh, maybe this could be something really, really bad.

The worst hurricane scenario that Gainesville could face is for a strong hurricane to develop in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and then enter Florida at Cedar Key, heading straight for Gainesville.  This nightmare possibility almost happened in 1985, when hurricane Elena appeared to be headed straight toward Cedar Key but then suddenly stopped just going ashore there and changed direction to the WNW, away from us.  Tropical Storm Isaac, while still very far away, has the potential, at least at this early stage, to do what Elena didn't.  So I'm on high "TV weather" alert right now...

Phony "Bad" Dog Videos

While waiting for the air conditioning installers to finish putting in our new system, I was channel surfing during a time of day when I usually wouldn't be watching television. I came across the Animal Planet channel.  On it was a show titled "Bad Dog".  It was one of those cutesy home video shows that pet lovers are supposed to watch and get bowled over by the adorable antics of other people's little animal possessions.  The particular episode I was watching showed dogs supposedly behaving very lazily.  But after seeing just a couple of the videos, I disgustedly switched channels...

One video showed a bulldog that was into watching TV.  Sitting on the sofa.  Like a person sits.  Wearing clothes.  With the remote by its side. Bad, lazy, silly dog.  Another video showed a different "lazy" dog lying on the floor, with dry dog food morsels spread around its head.  In this clip, the dog just moved its head around to snap up the nearest morsels while continuing to lie on its side.  Wow, what a bad, lazy, silly dog (too).

In the first video, the unbelievably compliant dog suffered through the indignity of being dressed and unnaturally set up for a contrived video.  The second was equally contrived.  The whole show, it seems, is an exercise in pet owners drumming up different angles of portraying their "property" in silly situations.  Ha-ha, what a blast...NOT.

Of course, I'm sure that the dog owners here really, truly love their animals and care well for them.  But seeing dogs presented this way still makes me sympathetic to a degree with PETA's often extreme objections to animals being used in shows for human entertainment.  Sure, there's no abuse here...but it sure as all ain't funny, at least where I'm coming from...

Disproportionate Alarm over Atlantic Tropical Low

There is a peculiar "storm" brewing out in the Atlantic Ocean, heading westward toward the West Indies and Caribbean region.  At this writing, it is only a low pressure zone, not even a tropical depression.  But the meteorologists seem all abuzz over it, as if it will develop and eventually threaten to hit North America somewhere, around a week or so from now.  I wonder why the emphasis on this particular storm.

I've seen stronger storms, even named hurricanes, in this region without the kind of fuss being made over them that this one is eliciting.  But perhaps the weather experts are looking beyond the storm system itself and instead see, ahead of it, a clear pathway for extensive (and dangerous) development.  Then again, maybe, since we've just entered the second half of August and are now in the peak hurricane-spawning window of the season, they are automatically perked up at any system they see as a potential threat.  And then possibly exaggerate its danger to the public.  Who knows, possibly the truth is a mixture of the two.

This hurricane season has been very peculiar.  Very early on we had several named storms, with one of them passing over northern central Florida.  Then...nothing, except for the few hitting Mexico or staying way out in the Atlantic.  Not that I'm complaining, though: when I remember the power outages, flooding, and wind damage caused in our area by Frances and Jeanne in 2004, my hopes are that the meteorology folks are just being a little melodramatic and that this new disturbance, which hasn't even developed into anything yet, won't and will quietly go away...

More About My Running of Late

I don't know whether this is a good thing or not, but lately, when I go out for a run in my neighborhood, I disregard the humidity level.  To be sure, I haven't been running the same distances that I had in the past.  But I regularly now run in conditions of 80+...even 90+ humidity, something that I had carefully avoided previously. 

High humidity, coupled with heat, prevents the body from perspiring, which can cause heat stroke.  Not good.  Still, the temperatures are usually around 73-80 when I run, so it's not exactly sweltering. 

The fact that I have been splitting my days up into two runs has released me a lot from my dependence on the weather.  If conditions outside are poor (or I am just pressured for time), I can make up my distance later at the 24-hour gym down the road.  So I'm less likely to push myself too hard under adverse weather.

Ultimately, I would like to get my total running distance increased to a 150 mile/month level.  I can do this with twice-a-day runs, each one at a modest mileage...

My Morning/Evening Running Split, Then and Now

My running routine seems to be changing to something I hadn't done since the 11th grade in high school, when I was a dubious member of its track team as a mile and two-mile runner.  Starting in March of that year, our coach decided to have the runners come in before school in the morning and run about three miles.  Then we would have our regular practice in the afternoon: more running, of course.  And within the past few days, I have begun to repeat this process: a morning run around my neighborhood and an evening treadmill session at my gym.  So far it seems to be working well; maybe it will become a permanent routine.

Thinking about those old times before school in early 1973 brought back some fond memories to me.  I would finish my pleasant, low-stress run with my teammates, shower, dress, and then go get a couple of doughnuts.  Then I'd trudge over to my first period chemistry class, which was open before the official start of school.  My chemistry teacher, whose name escapes me but which is probably in one of my yearbooks, was a little man with a lot of big opinions about things.  One of his main areas of interest was politics, and if you were around in that period the main political event was the Watergate scandal of the Nixon administration with the star attraction being the Senate Watergate hearings, presided over by North Carolina senator Sam Ervin.  My chem teacher would have the chemistry lab's television constantly tuned in to the hearings, and he would hang around our counter watching the proceedings while making off-hand derogatory comments about Nixon; chemistry was a distraction to him.  Aah, those were the days, as another character from that era, Archie Bunker, would sing...

Stephen King, Isaac Asimov, and Their Universes

As I wrote a couple of days ago, I just finished reading Stephen King's latest novel release The Wind Through the Keyhole.  As I pondered his long seven-volume Dark Tower series, it struck me just how far he went in establishing his own fictional universe.  It not only encompasses the actual books in the series: besides  this "extra" novel I just read and a short story or two, King also injected strong references to the Dark Tower in some of his longer works (Hearts in Atlantis, Insomnia) while making references within the series to other novels (Salem's Lot, It, Pet Sematary).  I wonder how many other writers of fiction have done something on this order.

In the realm of science fiction, I recall reading several intertwined short stories by Cordwainer Smith that involved deep space exploration and the overcoming of the barriers involved (including the use of ordinary household-variety cats on spaceships to kill off monstrous psychic predators haunting the vast darkness).  But I can't think of anyone who tied together so many novels and short stories into a cohesive chronological and narrative fabric as the late Isaac Asimov.

Asimov is probably best known for his Foundation series of novels, as well as his stories involving robots (such as Bicentennial Man).  But this prolific author has all of them interwoven.  And I have read most of them.  One thing that I haven't done, though, is read his stories in the chronological order that they occur in his fictional historical narrative.  It starts with the robot tales, mostly in the form of short stories.  Then the Empire novels (three of them), and finally the many Foundation books (some of which were written after Asimov's death in 1992 by other authors).  Speaking of this series, I don't have any inclination to read the stories written by anyone other than Isaac Asimov.  Maybe that's unfair of me, but I like to think, while reading his works, that the two of us are having an interesting (albeit long-distance in space and time) dialogue.  There are two Foundation novels that I have yet to read but which were written by Asimov toward the end of his all-too-brief life: Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation.  Like Stephen King's Wind Through the Keyhole, they were written after the culminating book in the series (in this case, the fifth book Foundation and Earth) but are chronologically set earlier, more as side stories rather than essential drivers of the narrative.  But before I read them, I'd like to pinpoint for myself their locations on Asimov's Foundation timeline and then read EVERYTHING, robots/empire/foundation (and some other assorted stories), in the chronological order that they are supposed to take place.  Quite an undertaking, but one that I already know is also quite pleasurable reading.

Parallel to this, I think I'll undertake a rereading of King's Dark Tower series as well.

Well, THAT should keep me busy for a while...   

Some Thoughts on Romney's Pick for VP

Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney's pick for running mate this presidential election, has Republican and Democratic media operatives struggling to frame his image and the campaign according to their liking.  In 2008, at least at first glance, John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin looked as if it would catapult him to victory, with Palin potentially drawing away disaffected Hillary supporters from the Democrats.  But then the half-term Alaskan governor began to speak, and from then on the framing went the Democrats' way as she was portrayed be ignorant and and was lampooned on Saturday Night Live.  I don't see the same thing happening with Ryan in 2012, though.  I mean, can there be anyone more colorless than him? 

The latest poll about the American public's opinion about Congress just came out, with that institution garnering a whopping 10 % approval rating.  Wow.  And Romney picks one of its leaders, actually one of the representatives most responsible for the ideological logjam preventing hardly anything of substance from being passed.  Paul Ryan, however Mitt Romney may verbally dance around it, is on the same page as him regarding the most important issue for the presumptive Republican nominee: they both believe that rich people are better than others and deserve and need to pay less taxes, since they will serve the economy better with the extra money they have.  And that people who are in the poorer segments of the society, more than anything, need a swift kick to get themselves off their butts and work harder. 

I also think that Mitt Romney, after his primary battles with Catholic theocratic conservative Rick Santorum, realized that having someone who was a Catholic with essentially the identical views as Santorum on "moral" issues like women's reproductive rights and gay rights would energize voters in some of those midwestern states like Ohio and Pennsylvania to go to the polls in large numbers in November to vote for one of their "kind".  Gee, I hope that wasn't what Romney was thinking when he picked Ryan, but it does make the same kind of political sense, at least initially, as McCain's choice of Palin in '08, doesn't it...

I can't tell what the effect of Ryan's selection will be in the long run, but I really, really don't ever want him to find himself sitting in the Oval Office as President of my country.  Because, you see, I am neither a super-rich snob about my wealth nor a holier-than-thou religious bigot who feels empowered to hide behind my faith to justify my prejudices against others...

Finished Stephen King's The Wind Through the Keyhole

I just finished reading Stephen King's latest novel, titled The Wind Through the Keyhole.  It is actually a part of the Dark Tower family of King stories, although not "officially" one of the seven books in the series.  The story here takes place between the fourth book Wizard and Glass and the fifth, Wolves of the Calla.  Once again, the "ka-tet" family of characters en route to the Dark Tower, including Roland, Eddie, Susannah, Jake, and Oy have returned...and I felt happy, as if I were meeting up with old friends again.  But the meat of this novel is actually in two tales that the main protagonist Roland Deschain spins for his companions while huddled together inside a shelter, shielded from a vicious cold windstorm called a "starkblast".  The tales are not told in succession: the second is embedded within the first, as the story Roland initially relates has his much younger self, within that story, tell the second story!  A pretty "novel" twist, I might say...

Speaking of oral stories, most societies, before writing came into existence to make things "official" and "orthodox", depended on them to spread their cultural traditions and history from one generation to the next.  The stories themselves usually had elements rooted in real events, with embellishments added to make them more interesting and/or present a moral.  The second tale in the book, the actual "title" story The Wind Through the Keyhole, is related by Roland as simply a tale his mother told him when he was a child.  However, upon reading it, it became clear to me that, at least in the context of Roland's fictional world as created by Stephen King, there had to have been a historical basis to it. It made me wonder anew to myself why people can't see that the same sort of thing went on in what we call the "Biblical" world as well, and that many of the writings contained within what later became known as the Bible or Holy Scriptures are simply adaptations of oral traditions transmitted throughout many generations and even from other lands.  In these stories, it isn't the absolute truth of their content that matters: it is the message they convey that gives them value.  But things seem to get turned upside town once the words are made permanent on parchment or paper. Then the words by themselves, frozen in their visual presentation, are exalted as "the truth" and the originally intended message gets muddled. Strange, and sad...

I don't know how someone without the background in the Dark Tower series would handle reading The Wind Through the Keyhole.  But since I already read the series, it was an immense pleasure to delve back into this alternative universe with its peculiar and compelling characters.  Try it, it is Stephen King at his best...

Now when is that dude going to come out with the sequel to The Shining he promised on TV (C-Span) a few months ago?  I'm waiting.....



.....I'm still waiting.....

New Gym Becoming a Hit

As a follow up to yesterday's post, I'd like to report that I think I'm getting the hang of my new workout gym.  I just ran 3.3 miles a one of its treadmills at 10 PM, while watching Family Guy on the machine's built-in television.  What luxury!  Who knows, with this nasty hot and humid weather plaguing this area I may just switch to evening treadmill runs here.  After all, even after my work shift ends at 11 PM (tonight I was off) I can come here and run, it being an around-the-clock operation....

Not Using New Workout Gym Much Yet

After switching my family over to Gainesville Health and Fitness Center, I had curiously discovered a role reversal of sorts.  It seems that my daughter, who used the previous location little, now trains with great devotion and regularity there.  And my wife, who rarely "worked out", also attends GHFC often.  But the funny thing is that I have yet to go there on my own, as was the case many times with that "other place". Then again, the only kind of training I'm doing lately is running, and for the most part the streets of my neighborhood suffice for this purpose (even though the hot, sticky weather hasn't exactly been cooperating).  So today...

My daughter gets a ride and works out at GHFC with a friend for several hours.  Then, after shopping, my wife and I show up there.  She walks on the treadmill and I...just sit in a deep, cushioned chair and read...and drink coffee.  The irony of it all impressed me, especially when, after we got home, I changed clothes and went running around my neighborhood (in the hot and sticky weather, of course).  So what I am planning to do in a few minutes should be a breakthrough of sorts: I am about to return to my newly adopted workout center, this time by myself, and run some more, this time on a treadmill in the air conditioning.  And watch some TV in the process...

I do miss my old treadmill provider, which was only a mile down the road from my house.  But then again, I can use this new place any time I want, as it is a 24-hour/day operation.  So Sunday night at the gym looks to be pretty cool...

(Later in the evening)...I had a good run on the treadmill, covering 3.1 miles on it.  On the way to the gym, I had stopped off at a Starbucks, read a little, and wrote the top part of this article.  I suppose that it will be more likely for me to use GHFC if I combine the trip with other chores or use it as a convenient stop-off point when I am driving across town.

My Take on the Chick-fil-A Controversy

Now that this Chick-fil-A controversy seems to be settling down a bit, I would like to weigh in with my opinion on the matter.  The company's COO, Dan Cathy, had expressed his view in an interview that he believed that marriage should be between a man and a woman.  This prompted an uproar against him and his company by various parties on behalf of the LGBT community and those promoting legalized same-sex marriage.  A boycott of Chick-fil-A was called for and some mayors of major cities, including Rahm Emmanuel of Chicago, banned this chicken sandwich eatery from "his" city, apparently revealing that he (and his cohorts in other locales) see themselves as Ghaddafy-like dictators, ruling by decree as they see fit.  The reaction to this was predictable, but who would instigate it? None other than FoxRepublicanNews evangelical ideologue Mike Huckabee, who called for Cathy supporters to rally to Chick-fil-A on August 1 to show their appreciation for him.  Huckabee framed it all around respecting free speech; in essence, though, the event, marked by massive lines across the country, quickly became framed as a pro-gay/anti-gay referendum, with the "winners" (chicken sandwich buyers) drowning out the "losers" (those sinning gays and their ilk). A mass "Take that, bad guys...hurray for the good guys, we really showed them", if you will...

Here are some points from this I'd like to make:

--Dan Cathy is a rich, rich, super-rich dude who owes his good fortune to the fact that he is the SON of the company's founder and equally homophobic CEO, and now sits on top of his own little mountain making proclamations about what is morally acceptable to him about others' behavior.  That millions are so concerned about HIS "right" to run his mouth off as he likes without any negative consequence while gays in many locations in this "free" country still have to hide their sexual orientation in order to escape discrimination, intimidation, and even physical assault, speaks to me about what is wrong with this country.  The initial uproar against Cathy wasn't just for his comments about marriage, but also about the fact that he and his father, by dint of the money they make from their company, contribute massive amounts to organizations whose agendas are clearly homophobic.

--Having said that, it bears noting that the comments that Dan Cathy made did not explicitly put down gays or mock them in any way.  As a matter of fact, until just recently, liberals including John Kerry and Barack Obama had expressed their own personal opposition to gay marriage.  Now within those circles it has become politically correct to support it: good, I support gay marriage, too.  But it is wrong, in my opinion, to retroactively condemn an expressed opinion that was mainstream just a couple of years earlier and suddenly call it "hate", with boycotts and banning decreed by politicians.  Boycotting can serve as a valid protest strategy that people can choose to either participate in or not.  But for mayors to ban companies from their cities treads on free speech rights and is what triggered Huckabee's call to support this company the Wednesday before last.

--I don't believe, though, for one minute, that the mass of people who went out on that Wednesday to "support" Chick-fil-A had such highly principled notions that they were standing up for.  No, in the vast majority of these people's hearts is an intensely irrational hatred of gay people. I have seen it too many times in my life when others would display deep anger when the subject of homosexuality came up in conversations.  Ever since when, as a kid I had first heard of such a thing as homosexuality, I thought it was a little strange, something I had no personal interest in pro or con.  But I couldn't fathom why others held such a consuming, passionate hatred against homosexuals.  And I still don't.  So maybe there were some high-sounding words being thrown around on August 1, but my reaction to the throngs of "principled" Chick-fil-A customers was just plain disgust, especially at some people I personally knew who revealed their true colors to me by their action...

Look East in Sky Just Before Sunrise

A few months ago I wrote about how beautiful the evening sky was in the west, immediately after sunset, with the (projected) proximity of the moon, Jupiter, and Venus.  It was a sight to behold.  Well, the mirror effect is now going on in the east just before sunrise, and with the same celestial players.  This morning Venus was close to the horizon with Jupiter up from it and the waning crescent phase of the moon a little higher.  In the next couple of days we'll see the moon "shrinking" and approaching Venus' position.  Should be fun to watch, as I have recently gotten into the habit of going outdoors at this time to pick up my newspaper.  After all, I want to get a head start on the puzzles contained within...

Oohmahgahhh: Howard to Lakers, Bynum Gone

It's over, as far as I am concerned.  I have reported my feelings on this blog about how I felt about the Los Angeles Lakers and their bullying/thug "star" Andrew Bynum, who turned me against this storied franchise with his (what appeared to me as) criminal behavior in the 2011 playoffs against Dallas.  As I write this, Bynum is gone, to Philadelphia, a team that I automatically will NOT ever be supporting (as long as he is on its roster).  Instead, the Lakers are getting one of the premier players in the world in Dwight Howard who, adverse media notwithstanding, was an instrumental factor in the Orlando Magic's success over the past few years.  Nothing against them: I wish Orlando success in the future. But for the next year I am completely a Lakers fan: Steve Nash is my favorite player in the NBA and recently joined them, and with the likes of Kobe Bryant, Dwight  Howard, and Pau Gasol? Wow.  The only drawback to this dream scenario is the continuing presence of Metta World Peace, which is the name that Ron Artest, whose thuggish behavior rivals that of Bynum, likes to call himself.  The question is, can I deal with this and still support the Lakers? Probably, and for ONLY one reason: my respect and appreciation of Steve Nash outweighs everything else, including that "peaceful" Artest...

Musical Ripoff Hypocrisies, Part 2

The spring of 1970 was almost magical to me, at least in a musical sense.  There were many great songs that came out at this time, one among them being the first hit that the Supremes recorded without Diana Ross, who had left the group to pursue what would be a very successful solo career.  Still, somehow Up the Ladder to the Roof sounded like Diana was there anyway, and it was a very beautiful song.  I even bought it as a single (and still have it).  Yes, it was one of my favorites for that year, when I was still in my early teens.

Fast forward to 1983.  MTV had been going on for nearly two years and cable TV mogul Ted Turner decided to present a similar format on weekend late nights on his TBS channel.  Having no MTV at the time, I greatly enjoyed watching the succession of videos (which were actually interesting back in those days).  One video was of a new, upcoming musician named Prince: Little Red Corvette.  This song instantly came across to me as a ripoff of Up the Ladder to the Roof, with the title lines sung in each song to almost the exact same melody.  I would even go as far as saying that I thought the copying was blatant.  Apparently, though, no one else did, and Prince went on to become the superstar that he is known for.  So far, so good...

Now we come to the latest LP released by Sufjan Stevens, titled The Age of Adz.  One track on it (in fact, one of my favorites) was a plaintive song called I Walked.  It sounded like an "original" to me, but later a reviewer of this album in Spin magazine wrote that he felt that Stevens had lifted part of Prince's Little Red Corvette.  I suppose I could discern some similarities in the instrumental background introducing both songs, but nothing more.  Still, that reviewer is entitled to his own opinion, and I never heard of Prince complaining.  And why should he, in our current age of sampling and wholesale copying?  What's been going on recently makes George Harrison's supposed infringement against the writers of He's So Fine with his wonderful My Sweet Lord look like an extreme example of nitpicking...

Musical Ripoff Hypocrisies, Part 1

I am sitting here, at 11:51 PM (just in time to make the cutoff for today) watching ABC Nightline.  One of the featured topics is Madonna, more specifically her criticism of Lady Gaga for the latter's supposed ripoff of her old hit Express Yourself in a recently released song (or maybe it's older, I dunno).  I am not a follower of Lady Gaga; I have only heard her first two hits, although I dug her debut Just Dance. O.K., maybe The Lady copied her, who knows.  But the idea that Madonna has any kind of beef with it floors me, because I remember...

In 1972, there was a new sensation in soul and "top forty" music: the Staple Singers. Known for their big hits Heavy Makes You Happy and I'll Take You There, they had another great blockbuster (that I used to sing to myself while sitting in my often demoralizing high school): Respect Yourself.  There is no doubt in my mind that Madonna, either consciously or unconsciously, lifted a large portion of this wonderful song when she created Express Yourself.  Don't get me wrong: I thoroughly dig Express Yourself and Madonna (especially during the later 1998-2001 period) has endeared herself to me with her music, if not her excessive showmanship (which her "rival" Lady Gaga has also emulated).  But c'mon, popular music is simple in nature and all songs feed off their predecessors to some degree.

Another example of a musical "ripoff hypocrisy" soon...

Hiroshima Anniversary: Grace Now, But for How Long?

Today marks the 67th anniversary of the first use of an atomic bomb over a human population: Hiroshima, in western Japan.  The American president then, Harry Truman, having been recently informed of this super-weapon's development and successful testing, saw it as a means to shorten the war against Japan and render a possibly disastrous invasion of the island nation unnecessary.  In his thinking, it would sacrifice lives with its dropping but would ultimately save manifold more by quickly ending this horrendous war.  Apparently, though, the response to Hiroshima by Japan wasn't fast enough as a second bomb was dropped over Nagasaki three days later.

I think everyone concerned was taken aback, not at the actual physical destruction these bombs wrought (bad enough), but rather at the horrible radiation sickness that spread through the exposed population.  By all accounts, war or no war, these bombings were an abomination, an ultimate violation of human rights.  But looking back on it from the convenient vantage point of an outsider's hindsight safely after World War II, instead of within that conflict as someone who, like Truman, was charged with deciding which course of action would save the most lives, isn't exactly fair, either.

Thankfully, no more nuclear bombs have been dropped on people since 1945 (at least not deliberately, I suppose), something few futurists or science fiction writers could have imagined in their wildest dreams. But how long will this grace period last with all of the bombs and the means to manufacture and deliver them proliferating across the world and potentially falling into the hands of despotic regimes ruled by paranoids with scores to settle against their enemies or terrorists hell-bent on sacrificing anyone and everyone for their high and holy causes?

Graphic Novel Version: Why?

For a change of scenery, I stopped in the other day at one of my two local Books-a-Million stores to use their cafe as a study site.  I've used this place a lot in the past and probably would have continued to do so had they run it in a more costumer-friendly manner.  Not that the employees aren't friendly...they are as nice as nice can be.  But there's usually only one of them attending the coffee bar, meaning that I have to wait until everyone in line in front of me is completely finished having their often involved orders prepared and served before I can get my simple cup of already-brewed coffee.  And, oh, sometimes there is nobody at all there. The store hours also have been cut back and the flavored coffee they always used to have is either unavailable or unbrewed.  But critiquing this company isn't what I set out to do here.  It was a book I saw on display as I entered...

Eoin Colfer is the author of the children's series Artemis Fowl.  I have taken to it myself because he is a very good storyteller, creating memorable, compelling characters as well as an alternative universe full of vivid imagery.  I am on the fourth book in this series.  On display was to be the final book in the series, with a substitute graphic novel edition available as well.  Graphic novel?

I enjoy creating my own images of what Artemis Fowl, Butler, Holly, Mulch Diggums, Opal Koboi, and the others look like, as well as the exotic settings of the series.  The last thing I want is to see is someone else's representations, even if they were with the author's blessings. Yet, apparently there are people who either have no imagination or don't want to use it and will jump at the graphic novel option.  Many of these no doubt skipped reading literary delights like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings (and soon-to-be The Hobbit) until the movie versions came out.  

I think Artemis Fowl would make a great movie series, not just some graphic novel versions.  But it's the reading that you want to immerse yourself in.  I read the Potter books as well as Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia before seeing their cinematic counterparts.  And I must say that you're missing an awful lot of these stories if you bypass the books.  This probably also applies to graphic novel versions. Sure, with them you're still reading, but they are co-opting much of your thinking...

Snide Leaders

It is easy, whether one is talking about politics, religion, the workplace, or anywhere else that involves evaluating the performance of people in authority positions, to overlook their shortcomings if those policies and beliefs dovetail with one's own.  On the other hand, those leaders with a more negative, "opposition" image tend to suffer much scrutiny about their style and appearance.  As I look at the two current leading candidates for president, I see this as well.  I have to admit it: having supported Barack Obama since early in the 2008 primary campaign season, I have generally ignored mannerisms of his that I have to describe as snide and flippant.  His curt dismissal of his predecessor's plan to establish a base on the moon because "we've already been there" was a brutal slap in the face to those who worked on this project and were about to face unemployment because of the new policy.  Obama also often jokes around in a half-assed, careless manner that can offend others.  Barack, take note: it isn't leadership you're displaying when you spew out this nonsense: it just ticks people off.

Mitt Romney is also snide and flippant.  As a matter of fact, other than protecting rich people's money (especially his own) from the "evil" government and whose interests they expect it to protect (by taxing the less rich more), Mr. Romney projects a air of snide apathy about any other issue presented to him.  Who knows what he REALLY thinks about health insurance reform, women's reproductive rights, gun control, or anything else on the table right now (except, of course, protecting rich people from paying their fair share of taxes): he has been on DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSITE sides of the mentioned issues at different times.  This amounts, in my opinion, to snide arrogance.  But it's easy for me to see this, because I never politically supported him.  In many ways, though, Obama can be pretty bad, too. By the way, do you think I'm being unduly harsh on one of these two?  Then chances are that he's your dude...

I have seen others in positions of leadership in other areas of society whose defining personality characteristic I can only describe as being snide.  I believe that it is good...even crucial, for a leader to project an image of confidence.  But snideness comes into play when that leader is openly and even sarcastically dismissive of possibly opposing opinions, choosing to tune out those expressing them with curtness and even derision instead of listening to them with patience and respect. Maybe their image advisers tell them to crack jokes as a way to show that they have personality.  And maybe that works for their followers.  But to those with questions about them, it often comes across as arrogant and insensitive.

I see snide behavior more locally, in leaders I personally know who should be displaying leadership qualities but instead fall far short of this.  I can forgive them for this, if this were the only factor involved.  After all, we're all human, prone to failings of all sorts.  But when one of them has the gall to continually hawk an upcoming  "leadership conference", well...

Switch to New Fitness Center

My family and I switched our "fitness" account today over to another facility across town: Gainesville Health and Fitness.  By doing this, we traded less expense and proximity for flexible hours and more options with training.  For me, all I am interested in is using their treadmill and swimming pool.  I now have the option of using them late at night after my work shift completes, something impossible with the former location, which would be closed at that time of day.

Hopefully, this new arrangement will suit all concerned...

Meany Passes On

I don't quite know what to say, when someone I love tells me that a beloved pet of theirs has died...with my 86-year old father, it can be quite devastating, considering that it was the last surviving cat of his, which he lovingly cared for so many years...after the very untimely and traumatic passing of my mother in 2002.  But such was the case as I found out earlier today. "Meany", which was the name my father gave to this scrapping, "survivor" feline, was in heart a "sweety", who finally warmed up to me during my most recent visit.  She had been suffering from some unknown malady, but had been making a recovery when she suffered a fatal accident some time after I had left last Saturday.  I have a picture of Meany I took just before I left that day.  She was an old cat and had lived a full, eventful live.  My heart goes out to my father, and I hope that he will find some source of solace and peace after this wonderful animal's passing...

Pleasant Trip to Orlando and Daytona

Today I went down to Orlando with Melissa as she prepared for an upcoming assignment at UCF in the pursuit of her Master's Degree.  That order of business went well and quickly, and we found ourselves with some free time.  So we drove over to Daytona Beach to spend the rest of the day and night.  We stopped off for lunch at a place next to the Intracoastal Waterway in Port Orange called Aunt Catfish.  Naturally, we had to try the catfish...all of their food and service was excellent, as well as their prices.  Definitely worth a return visit on a later trip.  Then we went on to find a hotel room, which we did without too much difficulty.  The beach was half-empty, so were the hotels; still, prices were often exorbitantly high.  Haven't they ever heard about the economic law of supply and demand?  We did find a place with a good overnight price and settled in.  The rest of today went well, and we had a good time.  But I realized as the night wore on that I hadn't gotten in my running for the day.  So at about 10:30, I went out on the beach and ran for 11 minutes, wearing a cap with a small flashlight embedded in the visor to light up the darkness directly ahead of me.  Not long, but it's a run nonetheless. My main concern was avoiding all the "shadow people" creeping around me along the way...

We'll be heading back home tomorrow.  I am a creature of routine, but this little trip was quite a welcome break anyway.