My December 2016 Running Report

Well, another year has come and gone and I'm still out there hittin' the roads and piling up the mileage...I ran for a total of 113 miles in December.  My longest single run was for 6.7 miles and I ran on 29 of the 31 days.  I didn't take part in any races this month...none were in Gainesville, anyway, and the closest ones would have had me driving a bit just to get to them.  I'm seeing, though, that I may be doing just this on January 15 when Ocala holds its annual marathon/half-marathon...I've run in both events there over the years (marathon in 2011 and half-marathon in 2013).  If I do enter it, of course I'll be going for the shorter distance.  And on January 28, Gainesville has its 15K (9.3 miles) Newnan's Lake race that I've run a couple of times, including earlier this year.

With my current lifestyle and schedule, I wonder whether I shouldn't just concentrate on running in 10K and 15K races instead of half-marathons, of which I managed to go through all of 2016 without running any.  Even if I do downsize my distances, though, I'd still like to get in one more half-marathon in the coming two months...

Quote of the Week...from Vincent van Gogh

Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.
                                                                          ----Vincent van Gogh.

Not that anyone was paying any attention to the now-celebrated Post-Impressionist painter from the Netherlands in the late nineteenth century when he made this statement...van Gogh received no recognition during his lifetime for his artistic accomplishments and committed suicide certain of his own personal failure...not necessarily someone you'd want to take a quote from and live by.  But the above declaration is so obviously true and significant that I couldn't help but include it on my weekly tour through Quotationland...

In 1978, public television showed a series titled Connections in which James Burke explored how technology and innovation worked over history.  Besides delving into people's sometimes quirky motivations for invention, he stressed the concept that new machines and processes depended intimately on earlier-developed, component machines and processes...the automobile, a complex composite machine, is a prime example.  So the small things, brought together, in turn bring about a great thing...

Our educational system, when done right (and I have little personal memory of that having happened for me), will teach in small portions the rudiments of a field to the student, who as he or she develops competency in the area can employ those elementary steps and apply them in more complex and effective ways.  When someone starts out at a new job...even with an advanced degree in the area of concern...the new employer will almost always gradually introduce them to their new situation, emphasizing immediate effectiveness with small things while training them to combine what they have learned into what is hoped will eventually be an advancement of the organization's mission and profits...

Do you want to become a great writer, runner, chess player, widget maker...or even painter?  First you start by doing...you write, run, play chess, make a widget (or part of one), paint, etc.  Then you introduce new improvements to your regimen that advance your skills and progress...imitating others who have enjoyed success is a good idea. If you're not being taught by someone else, than you may need to do your own research into the area you want to become great in.  Adding a decent dose of humility to your personality is a good idea as well, for if you believe you already know everything, you're not likely to be open to learning to bring together those small things to achieve greatness...

My Top Ten Favorite Songs of 2016

For me, music in 2016 was marked by the sad passing of David Bowie in January immediately following the release of his final album Blackstar, and my subsequent exploration into his catalog of works spanning nearly half a century.  Later on in the year Radiohead and Regina Spektor, two of my traditionally favorite acts, released their own new albums as well: A Moon Shaped Pool and Remember Us to Life, respectively...both very worthwhile experiences, containing a treasure of good listening.  Just a few weeks ago I discovered another artist, PJ Harvey, who also released an album this year, The Hope Six Demolition Project, to add to her previous eight...I'm starting to look into those other albums as well. If you ask me what my favorite song of the bunch is this very minute on December 29th, it's that #2 song of hers listed below, a real rocker.  Regina contributes two beautiful ballads to the list, Bowie's Looking for Satellites is the only techno/hard-rock/spaced-out waltz in existence to my knowledge, and his Blackstar is...well, it is what it is, I can say no more.  So this list is dominated by these four excellent acts, with only one entry (#9) being a song I picked up off the radio.  Knowing myself as I do, I'll likely hear some more 2016 songs on the radio in 2017 and assign them to that year...I've done this in the past.  Well, without further ado, here's my top ten list of personal favorite songs of 2016:

1 BLACKSTAR            David Bowie [Blackstar]
2 THE WHEEL             PJ Harvey [The Hope Six Demolition Project]
3 THE LIGHT               Regina Spektor [Remember Us to Life]
4 LOOKING FOR SATELLITES   David Bowie [Earthling, from 1997]
5 THE VISIT                 Regina Spektor [Remember Us to Life]
6 BURN THE WITCH  Radiohead [A Moon Shaped Pool]
7 TIS' A PITY...            David Bowie [Blackstar]
8 THE ORANGE MONKEY   PJ Harvey [The Hope Six Demolition Project]
9 TAKE IT ALL BACK    Judah and the Lion [singles release, album unknown]
10 DAYS                      David Bowie [Reality, from 2003]

Honorable Mention:
From David Bowie: Aladdin Sane, Queen Bitch, Oh You Pretty Things, The Last Thing You Should Do, 5:15 Angels Have Gone
From PJ Harvey: Good Fortune, At the Memorials to Vietnam and Lincoln
From Radiohead: Decks Dark, Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor Rich Man Poor Man Beggar Man Thief
From Regina Spektor: Small Bill$, Tornadoland, Obsolete

2016 was a good year for music...maybe I'll listen more to the radio in 2017...

Just Finished Reading The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Wilkie Collins was a middle-to-late nineteenth century English novelist and a contemporary of Charles Dickens, often collaborating with him.  I discovered him through the historical novel Drood by Dan Simmons, which speculated about the friendly rivalry between the two, among other darker matters.  Intrigued by this story, I decided to read something of Collins for myself and chose The Woman in White, described as one of the first in the mystery genre of novels...

The Woman in White has multiple prefaces to it, and in them the author introduces two important features of the story: one, there is a great attention to the law and how it applies to transfer of property and money between individuals according to marriage and inheritance.  Two, this story is told by multiple narrators who are a part of the story and relate the pertinent events as they experienced them.  This device was new in literature when Collins employed it back in 1859, but I've since read a few novels featuring several first-person narrators.  The setting is primarily England where Walter, a young drawing instructor, is offered a job to teach his craft to an orphaned young woman in Cumberland living at her uncle's estate.  But one night before he leaves for his new position there, he encounters on the street a mysterious woman, all dressed in white, who is desperately fleeing her pursuers.  As a good Samaritan, he helps her to escape and files it all away in his mind as a curious incident, but one without any further relevance to his life.  But we readers already know the story's title, and Walter's encounter with this ghostly, enigmatic figure will come back to haunt him time and time again...

Beyond what I've just described, I had better refrain from going further with the plot in order to avoid spoiling it all in case you might want to read it for yourself.  I will say this: The Woman in White is rooted in its own time...there is deception involved here that we in our own 21st century could have easily cleared up with scientifically more advanced tools.  The heroes are virtuous and the villains either diabolically sly or crude and blustering.  I enjoyed the characters in this story...especially those of the comically obnoxious "uncle" Frederick Farlie, the courageous and compassionate Marian Halcombe, and the voluminous Italian Count Fosco, whose manner and described appearance reminded me of Sydney Greenstreet's sinister Mr. Gutman "Fat Man" character in the 1941 Humphrey Bogart movie The Maltese Falcon.  I enjoyed this book and plan to look into other works of Wilkie Collins...

Our One-Day Visit to Epcot Center Yesterday

Yesterday my wife Melissa, my son Will, and I drove down to Epcot Center at Walt Disney World to spend the day...and close out the park for the night.  When we arrived around noon, the already overcast sky darkened even more and it began to rain.  The park was packed with visitors, and the lines for the attractions we planned on riding were very long...they do have a system to "avoid" lines by making advance appointments for rides, but most rides were already booked that way before we arrived.  We did manage to go on the three we wanted the most: Spaceship Earth, Test Track, and Soarin'...and had lunch at The Electric Umbrella near the "giant golf ball" and dinner in the "countries" section, at the Tutto Italia Ristorante.  There I ordered Involtini Di Melanzane Alla Parmigiana, composed of eggplant, ricotta, mushroom, parmesan, and tomato sauce...ever since I cooked at a Gainesville Chinese restaurant in the 1980s, I've had a thing for eggplant.  This dish was really g-o-o-d!  

As is the case with a lot of visitors, our stay at Epcot was divided into two parts: Future World in the front, northern part by the parking lots, dominated by Spaceship Earth (the "golf ball") and World Showcase, a semicircular trail of national pavilions, restaurants, and gift shops.  It was a bit stressful going through the human congestion in Future World with the long lines for our rides and the difficulty just going down the sidewalk trying to avoid head-on collisions, but once we crossed over into World Showcase, I felt more at ease in spite of the still-maddening crowds.  After dinner, we visited the various nations and enjoyed a spectacular fireworks show at the very end, all-in-all a good visit, and with Melissa and Will the company couldn't have been better...

Melissa noticed that the Spaceship Earth ride, which provides a visual history of humankind's advancement in technology, seemed to taper off after the 1960s and 70s and then jumped ahead into speculation about the future, appearing to essentially ignore the digital revolution that has drastically transformed our lives during the last few decades.  I agree with her assessment and wonder whether the good folks at Disney aren't slipping a little.  But we all agreed that Test Track and Soarin', once we finally got through the excruciating lines and fastened our seat belts, were great experiences.  Overall, though, my preference for the park was in the World Showcase section, where we could browse around and buy food and drink without the suffocating lines.  By the way, the international composition of the visitors was staggering in its degree, with Chinese appearing to be the dominant nationality...

Miami Dolphins Clinch Elusive Playoff Spot

I have mixed feelings about Kansas City's 33-10 win over Denver, completed just a few minutes ago Sunday night as I write this.  After all, the defending National Football League Super Bowl Champion Broncos ended the undefeated run last year of my Miami Dolphins' nemesis New England, as well as knocking them out of the playoffs...meriting my gratitude and support.  I've never forgotten what the New York Giants did to the Patriots in the Super Bowls after the 2007 and 2011 seasons, and am very glad they made the playoffs this year.  But Denver's loss to the Chiefs has guaranteed the Dolphins a playoff spot this year, for the first time since 2008, and I have to defer to my old hometown team.  Yippee!!! Better luck next time, Denver...I wonder if you're gonna pick up Tony Romo for next year...

Miami will close out the regular season at home next Sunday against New England, which has already clinched the East Division in the American Conference.  Oakland, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, and Houston have also qualified, although the seeding for the playoffs has yet to be finalized...the Raiders could potentially be the number one seed with a bye in the playoffs or just be a wild card team like Miami and have to play an extra week with only road games to look forward to.  But who cares...the Dolphins are IN!!!

12/24 Sermon: Christmas at Family, Part 4

Because Christmas Day is falling this year on a Sunday, The Family Church here in Gainesville decided to move its usual services to Saturday afternoon. Yesterday's message, given by our pastor Philip Griffin, is the fourth installment of a series about the nature of Jesus as we approach the celebration of his birth.  The Biblical passage of focus was Matthew 2:1-12, 16 and appears below in the New International Version, made available online via Bible Gateway:

2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem ² and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

³ When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴ When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵ “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

⁶ “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
    are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
    who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

⁷ Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. ⁸ He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

⁹ After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. ¹¹ On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. ¹² And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

¹⁶ When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.

As Pastor Philip pointed out, although this passage refers to whom we traditionally call the "three kings of the Orient", and admittedly they were from the East...most likely Persia...they were neither necessarily three in number nor were they identified as kings, but rather as sages concerned with the interpretation of the stars and planets (astrology).  So they would definitely be intimately concerned with a strange star in the sky and endeavor to follow it.  And in setting out on their voyage, they sought out the newly born king to worship him and to bestow upon him their treasures.  In this they served as a model for believers: to seek out Jesus in our lives, worship him, and honor him with the treasures of our lives.  And as I see it, those treasures are the expression of the spiritual gifts he has endowed us with...

Yesterday's service had a sweet spirit to it throughout, and I enjoyed the beautiful Christmas carols.  If you want to see Pastor Philip's message, it is available through the following link to YouTube: [link].  Usually I tend to wait until Thursday to write about the weekly sermon at my church, but I made an exception this time because of Christmas.  I'm looking forward to the new message series beginning in January 2017...

Rachel Maddow and Mark Levin Good Opinion Sources from Left and Right

As the Obama administration winds down and Donald Trump prepares to take over as our president, I find myself wondering how best to filter what's happening in Washington...and what will happen...through our complex media.  We have our cable news channels like the supposedly neutral CNN and the obviously partisan Fox News and MSNBC.  But I've noticed that CNN often will present less of substance than its two more biased competitors...mainly because of its habit of putting on various spin doctors on different issues and setting them off against each other, with the result often being constant interruptions and inane statements from the participants.  I think I would rather hear a biased presentation that gives out more analysis and detail on issues than this "evenhanded", shallow programming.  And let's not even start to go down the road of social media, with just about any conceivable lie or false innuendo considered as fair game for expression, unchecked, on Facebook or Twitter.  Instead I will focus my regular attention, besides watching the U.S. House and Senate proceedings on C-Span and C-Span2, respectively, on two admittedly slanted programs: the very conservative Mark Levin radio show and the very liberal Rachel Maddow hour on MSNBC.  I picked these two because I believe Levin and Maddow each have a strong personal belief system on which they base their political views...and are honest and straightforward about expressing them.  I feel that with these two, neither of whom probably has a very high opinion of the other, I am much more likely to see deeply into the issues of the day without the demagoguery I have come to expect from other shows.  So don't be surprised to read me paraphrasing these two ideologically very different...but very intelligent, talented, and effective at communicating...individuals in the future on this blog.  I usually watch Rachel Maddow's program weeknights during its repeat showing from midnight to one.  Mark Levin does his radio show weeknights from six to nine and can be heard in Gainesville on 97.3/WSKY...

Quote of the Week...from Benjamin Franklin

Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.  ----Benjamin Franklin

When I read the above quote from one of our country's great founding figures, who also happened to be an important scientist, inventor, and diplomat, I get stuck on the second sentence, "Teach me and I remember".  For to me, teaching and learning pair up precisely together...I think I might have chosen a different set of words to describe what I believe ol' Ben was trying to express here...

Just telling someone something, as is much the case inside a traditional classroom with a teacher up front delivering the lesson to the assembled students, does not ensure that those students will even remember anything, much less learn the lesson.  So that takes care of sentence #1 in the quote.  In order to get the students to remember, the teacher imposes feedback on them, either in the form of homework or by asking questions in class.  So instead of how Mr. Franklin worded it, I would say, "Demand feedback and I remember."  And that goes well beyond formal education...if you want to assure yourself that someone has understood what you have just told them, get them to repeat it back to you.  And now we come to the last part of the quote.  Steven Covey, in the early pages of his blockbuster book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, stated that a surefire way to learn and retain something is to quickly turn around and teach it to someone else.  This comes under the meaning of the term "involve me", which might also be better expressed by saying "get me to apply it".  I would also stress that the more intricately and deeply one can weave the lessons learned into the tapestry of his or her ongoing life, the stronger they will endure.  And finally, to all of this I'd like to add that the goal of learning and education is not, as self-help guru Anthony Robbins once put it, simply cognitive understanding, but rather unconscious competence.  Get to know something so well to the point where it comes so naturally that it seems to have always been a part of you...

12/18 Sermon: Christmas at Family, Part 3

Last Sunday at The Family Church here in Gainesville, our pastor, Philip Griffin, continued the December series about the nature of Jesus.  The message he gave was "The Mindset of Christ" and is based on Philippians 2:1-13, shown here in the New International Version, thanks to the Bible Gateway website:

2 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ² then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. ³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

⁶ Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
⁷ rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
⁸ And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹ and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

¹² Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³ for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

Sometimes within a message many different items are expressed, and it's always a smart idea to bring them all together under a basic statement: Pastor Philip accomplished this by discussing the concept of "stepping down".  He brought up the television series Undercover Boss as an example of an authority figure, in this case a company's CEO or owner, who disguises him or herself as a newly hired worker and discovers how the business in question is run on the ground level...including who's doing a good job and who isn't.  This brought to my mind the 1980 Robert Redford movie Brubaker in which the new warden of a southern prison infiltrates it as an ordinary prisoner in order to see how it's run before he officially steps into his position of authority.  These examples provide analogies to Jesus Christ and his descent, his "stepping down", into a life of submission, service, and sacrifice...as the pastor pointed out.  The opposite of stepping down as Jesus did is what many of us have problems with: pride, selfish ambition, narcissism, and the wish to be exalted by others.  Pastor Philip also gave what he believes are the two reasons for Jesus stepping down to his lowly position in his walk through the world: one, this was the only way to reach us...and two, there is nothing or no one too far gone for him and his love.  Finally, our pastor closed the message out by admonishing us not to see this as a check-list of things to do, but rather recognize that we have to "be" before we can "do"...and that involves the acceptance of Christ as savior...

You can watch Pastor Philip's sermon for yourself by clicking on the following YouTube link: [link].

Just Finished Reading Hyperion by Dan Simmons

My son Will is an avid reader and introduced me to the four-book Hyperion Cantos science fiction series, published from 1989 to 1997 and written by Dan Simmons, whose book Drood I recently read and wrote about.  The first volume is simply titled Hyperion.  Hyperion, also the title of a John Keats poem, is a remote planet and the setting is about a thousand years in the future when many star systems have been settled by humanity after the "Big Mistake" that destroyed Earth in the early twenty-first century (believe me, I'm not giving away the story).  In the midst of an epic conflict between the two dominant human groups, the Hegemony and the Ousters, the leader of the former has sent a delegation of seven "pilgrims" with highly diverse backgrounds to an extraordinary place on Hyperion called The Tombs, where the direction of entropy seems to fluctuate and time reverses itself.  There is a sinister being here called The Shrike that plays significantly into the story as well.   Each of the pilgrims...and it is known early on that one of them (but who?) is an agent supporting the Ousters...has an important reason for being part of the group.  The body of the book concerns itself with each of these relating their own personal tales that led them to this point...

The characterizations and descriptions of the exotic planets in Hyperion are compelling, and Simmons has also introduced some important issues that weigh heavily on us on our still-existing Earth in these times of ours.  It is always a temptation to say too much in these reviews, and I'm afraid I might have already stepped over the line: just read the book...it is wonderful, thought provoking science fiction...

There are two types of book series that I have involved myself with: series that have been finished, and series that are ongoing.  With the former, I already have a feeling of closure even though I may just be starting it.  With the latter, it can be problematic once I've caught up with the author's writing...when will the next book come out...if ever?  For example this A Song of Ice and Fire (aka Game of Thrones) series has at least two more books in it and author George R.R. Martin seems to be in no hurry to even work on the next volume, much less complete it.  But even when installments of an ongoing series are published in a reasonable time span, I find myself having to undergo a significant review of what I've already read before proceeding to the new book when it comes out.  With series already completed, I can just go immediately from one book to the next, all the way to the end.  Since the last book in Hyperion Cantos came out in 1997, I feel I have good reason to be confident that this will be one of the preferred "already finished" series...

Not Too Keen on Christmas Rush

With five days until Christmas, I can really see the traffic around me pick up to a frantic level, with folks rushing about to get in their shopping and mailing before the "deadline".  Ever since late childhood I have never been a big fan of this boisterous, intense, loud, and materialistic holiday season.  I can see how it all can put a lot of pressure on people...it seems to be the antithesis of how the end of a calendar year should be spent.  After all, wouldn't it be better for each of us to instead reflect on what has happened this past year and what we have accomplished, and to consider how to better handle the upcoming one?  Sometimes in order to sort things out in my mind, I like to go to a solitary place that is quiet and not congested with civilization...just the opposite of the emphasis during this time of year on families and friends all coming together, making elaborate plans, and focusing their attention on "stuff".  Well, socializing, planning, and consuming are all good in moderation, but I think that this season over the years has gotten way out of hand.  Instead, for many it is typified by anxiety, worry, and depression.  The idea that we're all supposed to be in the holiday "spirit" and go around hopping and swaying to all the happy Christmas music just ain't my bag...and it never was.  I do think I'm getting a little more adjusted, though...I have yet to blurt out "bah humbug" this time around... 

My Favorite Songs for Each Year Since 1964 As I Lived Through Them

It was in 1964, when I was seven years old going on eight, that I began to consciously follow popular music on the radio...no doubt this is due in great part to the British Invasion spearheaded by the Beatles.  Ever since then, I kept track of my favorite songs from each year, with one of them "winning" the title of my "song of the year".   Now since then my musical tastes have changed, and there are usually several songs from different years that I prefer now to the "number ones".  But keep in mind that these are my favorites from each year as I lived through them.  I wonder if you know them all or if some are favorites of yours as well...

1964 Twist and Shout…..The Beatles
1965 I Can’t Explain…..The Who
1966 Time Won’t Let me…..The Outsiders
1967 All You Need Is Love…..The Beatles
1968 America…..Keith Emerson & The Nice
1969 Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In…..The Fifth Dimension
1970 Little Green Bag…..George Baker Selection
1971 I’ve Seen All Good People…..Yes
1972 Layla…..Derek and the Dominoes
1973 Hummingbird…..Seals and Crofts
1974 Number Nine Dream…..John Lennon
1975 Funeral For a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding…..Elton John
1976 Livin’ Thing…..Electric Light Orchestra
1977 Song for America…..Kansas
1978 Love is Like Oxygen…..The Sweet
1979 What a Fool Believes…..The Doobie Brothers
1980 Another One Bites the Dust…..Queen
1981 Bette Davis Eyes…..Kim Carnes
1982 Abacab….Genesis
1983 In a Big Country…..Big Country
1984 Leave It…..Yes
1985 Everybody Wants to Rule the World…..Tears For Fears
1986 Live to Tell…..Madonna
1987 Luka…..Suzanne Vega
1988 What Have I Done to Deserve This…..Pet Shop Boys/Dusty Springfield
1989 Handle With Care…..Traveling Wilburys
1990 Blue Sky Mine…..Midnight Oil
1991 When the Levee Breaks (from 1971).….Led Zeppelin
1992 Dazed and Confused (from 1968).….Led Zeppelin
1993 Close to the Edge (from 1973).….Yes
1994 Let Me In…..REM
1995 My Wave…..Soundgarden
1996 Again…..Alice In Chains
1997 Naked Eye…..Luscious Jackson
1998 Fly Away…..Lenny Kravitz
1999 Scar Tissue…..Red Hot Chili Peppers
2000 Lord of the Boards…..Guano Apes
2001 Only Time…..Enya
2002 Here to Stay…..Korn
2003 There There…..Radiohead
2004 Look What You’ve Done…..Jet
2005 Soul Meets Body…..Death Cab For Cutie
2006 Vicarious…..Tool
2007 Starlight…..Muse
2008 Time to Pretend…..MGMT
2009 Casimir Pulaski Day.....Sufjan Stevens
2010 Us....Regina Spektor
2011 To Binge.....Gorillaz
2012 Firewood.....Regina Spektor
2013 Switchblade Smiles.....Kasabian
2014 Something From Nothing.....Foo Fighters
2015 Treat.....Kasabian
2016 Blackstar.....David Bowie

Miami Dolphins Guaranteed First Winning Season in Eight Years

The National Football League's Miami Dolphins have finally broken through and guaranteed their first winning season in eight years as they played at New York last night and dominated the Jets, 34-13.  My old hometown team is now at 9-5 and is in the driver's seat to make the playoffs for the first time since 2008 as well.  But first they will need to win at least one of their last two games, which are at Buffalo next Saturday and at home against New England eight days later.  Miami is aiming for one of the American Conference's two wild card slots and is trying to fight off Denver, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Tennessee, and Houston to get there.  It gets a little complicated if Miami and two or more other teams are tied at the end of the regular season, but if it's just "one-on-one", the Dolphins would win tiebreakers against the Broncos and Steelers while they would lose out to the Ravens and Titans...I'm not sure where they stand regarding the Texans.  And it might get a little strange at the end, because Miami fans might find themselves rooting for Baltimore, right now a game behind Pittsburgh, to win its close division race just to keep it out of competition with the Dolphins for that final playoff position...

When starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill suffered his season-ending knee injury last week, a lot of folks began to write off Miami's prospects...but some like Boomer Esiason derisively predicted they would go nowhere even before Tannehill's unfortunate departure.  Well, the last time Miami made the playoffs, in 2008, no one was giving them any chance either and they won their division that year after going 1-15 the previous one.  2016, playoffs or not, has already been a successful year for the Miami Dolphins as far as I'm concerned, and their first-year head coach Adam Gase should be given much of the credit for getting his players to give their all and not give up...

At Starbucks Writing About Presidential Elector System

While most of the rest of the country is wracked by heavy winter storms and frigid conditions, I am placidly sitting here outside my favorite Gainesville Starbucks on an unseasonably warm (80 degrees) and clear Saturday afternoon.  I never quite know how crowded this coffee shop will be when I arrive...today there is plenty of available seating, as you can see from the picture.  I would have preferred a cooler day, but the air is relatively dry and there is a pleasant light breeze as well. A good environment for me to sit here and ruminate on something about the recent presidential election...

I've lately been hearing some stories about a campaign to get Donald Trump's committed electors to switch their votes from him to a different person before they convene in their respective states to cast their ballots in a couple of days.  Old has-been celebrities like Martin Sheen and Loretta Swit have made calls for electors to vote for anyone but Trump, with the aim in mind to somehow prevent him from garnering the necessary 270 votes to win the presidency.  But as my conservative radio pal Mark Levin...whom I have come to respect over the past couple of years in spite of his often inflammatory rhetoric...has repeatedly pointed out, all this would only send the vote to the House of Representatives.  Then each state's delegation would cast a single vote for president and whoever received a majority of the states would win the election.  But if this does happen, the representatives, as the 12th Amendment to the United States Constitution most explicitly makes clear, have as choices only the top three finishers (in terms of electoral college votes) in the general election.  And we only have two in the 2016 election who received any electoral votes: Trump and Hillary Clinton.  Maybe a handful of votes by rogue electors for another Republican like Romney or Ryan would provide that third "finisher", but don't count on the representatives to turn their backs on the general election results.  So Trump would still be elected, since his party controls most of the U.S. House's state delegations.  Therefore, this campaign to overturn the election results is pointless and reveals an embarrassing ignorance of the Constitution.  Look it up yourself if you don't believe me...

Don't get me wrong, I would have liked to see Hillary Clinton win the election...but she lost.  And winning the overall popular vote has NEVER constituted "winning" the election...the electoral college system is also solidly in our Constitution as established law, and anyone who isn't completely ignorant already knew that going into the campaign.  As Trump said in one of his unusually rational moments, had the election been a matter of winning the total popular vote, he would have campaigned differently to fit the criteria of that scenario.   Donald Trump will be our next president, and as I have written before, I will support him in the collective interests of my country as much of our success will dovetail with his own success in office...but on specific issues with which I differ from our next president, I reserve the right to respectfully stand in opposition to his decisions and express those opinions.  In this regard, although I disagree with him on a number of issues, I am in agreement on this one with Mark Levin, who has never remotely been a "cheerleader" for our incoming president and is often very blunt with his criticism...

Quote of the Week...from Napoleon Hill

It is always your next move.    ----Napoleon Hill.

Napoleon Hill was a famous American self-help guru whose books were bestsellers, especially from the early-to-mid twentieth century.  His most well-known book was Think and Grow Rich from 1937.  His philosophy was one of achieving material wealth by following the principles he annunciated in his writings. Although many of his quotes, the above example among them, can be interpreted in terms of striving to become rich, the applications pertain to just about any aspect of life.  Today's quote implies that one's life is like a game...or a struggle, and it is ongoing, never relenting.  No matter where we find ourselves, we will be, in the present moment in a position to make choices that will direct our lives into the future.  Even choosing to rest is a "move" in that regard.  And whether or not we recognize it, the fact is that when in a conscious state we always have choices to make, and we will make them whether or not we have established personal goals and made them priorities in our lives.  We can choose to do comfortable things that do little to further ourselves in our personal development, or we can choose the "road less travelled" and break limiting patterns in our lives.  Not that all habitual routines are bad...some are positive and constructive...but habitual or not, it is always our "move" in the present moment to decide what to do...

I agree with Napoleon Hill's quote, although I  don't know the precise context in which he delivered it.  Our lives are a continual string of countless conscious decisions: having a strong foundation of principles and objectives sorts those decisions out and helps us to achieve prosperity, health, and loving relationships...

12/11 Sermon: Christmas at Family, Part 2

This past Sunday Aaron Read, an associate pastor at The Family Church in Gainesville, gave the morning message that is currently part of a series focusing on the nature of Jesus, as we approach Christmas.  Titled "Why He Came", the core Biblical passage was Luke 19:1-10, shown below in the New International Version courtesy of Bible Gateway:

19 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. ² A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. ³ He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. ⁴ So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

⁵ When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” ⁶ So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
⁷ All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
⁸ But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
⁹ Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

As you can see, it is Zacchaeus the tax collector and his encounter with Jesus that Pastor Aaron used as the model for how Jesus approached his ministry: it is all about seeing, speaking to, and spending time with the lost, i.e. those who do not know him as their savior and lord.  And many who are lost do not know they are, as Aaron illustrated with a story of his young daughter once slipping away at a theme park to watch an intriguing ride...unaware that her mother was in a near-panic looking for her.  Now since becoming Christ-like is a worthy goal for the believer, this sermon takes the attitude of Jesus toward Zacchaeus as a model for how we should approach the lost.  First, Jesus saw Zacchaeus out of the crowd and knew he was lost.  Second, he spoke directly to him by name, imparting a sense of value to him.  And finally, he spent time with Zacchaeus...making a deliberate point of engaging and associating with him.  As Pastor Aaron also pointed out, an alternative way of spelling "love" is t-i-m-e...

It's true: I know from personal experience that those who pick me out of a group to interact with, who value my name, and who express enjoyment at spending time with me are definitely those whom I have come to value in return.  So although this message is naturally church-based and about Jesus, the principles involved here have a much more universal application in our respective lives...

You can watch this message for yourself by clicking on the following link to The Family Church video website: [link].

My Take on Election Hacking Questions

Did Russia, through a clandestine network of hackers, infiltrate the Democratic National Committee and procure embarrassing emails, giving them to WikiLeaks for public release during the sensitive final weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign?  Our own Central Intelligence Agency seems to think so, but Donald Trump adamantly disagrees, stating that there is no way to truly ascertain from where the hacks originated.  I understand the president-elect...he is justifiably sensitive to anything at this time that might cast a cloud over his recent election.  However, not being in his position, my concern about any suspecting hacking doesn't rest in those WikiLeaks releases, but rather in whether the voting tabulation process was compromised.  Let me explain...

Whether or not Vladimir Putin was behind the WikiLeaks emails is something that should rightly be investigated, but it in no way negates the legitimacy of Trump's election.  Remember also that FBI head James Comey pulled his own political stunt (in my opinion) by publicly opening a last-minute investigation into another set of emails relating to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.  Look people, let's face it: the presidential election campaign has always been full of ugliness, false charges, and innuendo aimed at one's chief rival for the job, all of it designed to influence the vacillating wishy-washy undecided voter just before the election...2016 was intense in this regard, but not essentially different than other previous elections.  It's not the email hackers or Comey who were responsible for Trump's victory...it was the voters who put him into office, either by directly voting for him or by refusing to vote for Clinton, be it sitting out the election or voting for an alternate candidate.  I supported Hillary, but I believe that those who made a reasoned, deliberate decision to vote for Donald Trump had their own good points as well, and I highly respect them.  It's the people at the very end, though, those "wishy-washies", who put him over the top...and, yes, many of them, I'm sure, let themselves be unduly swayed by the shenanigans taking place at the very end.  But remember four years ago when challenger Mitt Romney was poised to defeat Barack Obama and that surreptitiously filmed video of him talking about the "47%" was released, sending much of the undecided over to the incumbent at the end?  And this is the quandary that we as a nation are in: the country is politically so evenly divided that, in order to prevail in a national election, it's important to sway the last remaining few undecided...often very ignorant and suggestible...nincompoops over to their side...

Lots of things can influence elections, but it is the voter who ultimately weighs everything and decides.  This is why the integrity of the actual vote count is so important.  I don't know anything about how the voting software for the machines tabulating the vote works, but if there is a reasonable doubt about the integrity of the process among the general public then it is a good idea to have recounts.  So far with the recounts being done it looks as if there is no evidence of any tampering with the votes...that's the best news of all.  There will always be underhanded tactics during campaigns, but people need to believe that the election results are accurate...otherwise our system of freely selecting our own leaders will be threatened...

New Project Examines Foreign Languages Using Bible

A good friend of mine from back in our years at Nova Elementary and High School in the late 1960s to early 1970s, in years past, had his own blog, in which he would rather articulately express his own takes on various subjects...much the way I do on this one...but with his own personal viewpoint.  From time to time, though, he would write an article on some technical, arcane aspect of his career field, which was developing computer software for a major firm.  When I encountered one of these articles, I would recognize it for what it was and leave his blog until another day.  Well, as is probably the case with most of you readers, I have my own relatively esoteric areas of interest that more likely than not won't attract the interest of people at large.  But since these areas are a part of my life, and this blog is all about relating things that are of interest to me in this life, I've decided to devote some blog space to a topic that is of interest to me but possibly not to you: studying foreign languages and learning vocabulary by reading and comparing the same text in different languages.  The text I've chosen is large and easy to obtain: the Bible.  And the languages I've undertaken are Chinese, German, Spanish, and Russian...

The plan is simple: take the sermon I wrote about the previous Thursday and focus on the core Bible passage it was based on...and then write about how it is expressed in one or more of the aforementioned languages.  Let's see...last Thursday's article examined John 1:1-5,10-14.  Let's take the first section of the first verse and how it appears first in English (NIV version), then Chinese (Union version, traditional script), and finally the Chinese pinyin transliteration of that script (all thanks to the WordProject website):

In the beginning was the Word...
太初有道...
Taì chū yǒu dào...

Those diacritics you see on the Chinese pinyin sentence are tonal markers, something I've never been able to adequately master over the years. Also, each character corresponds one-to-one with each pinyin syllable.  And now I'll rearrange the two languages, using pinyin instead of the characters, to give a sense as to what the individual words and phrases mean:

in the beginning... taì chū ("extreme beginning")
was...yǒu ("there was")
the Word...dào ("the path, way")

If you read off the parenthesized English, then you get something like, but not the same, as the original English.  That's always the way it seems to be with these translations...and makes it the more interesting...

Well, that was my introduction to this new project, which I can see will consume quite a bit of my time in the future.  So don't be surprised if some day in the not-to-distant future you see one of these articles focusing on comparing different language translations of Bible passages.  My ultimate goal is to do this on a weekly basis...

 

Feeling Out of Sorts, Partially Blaming the Weather

I know for a fact that the weather around me has an effect on my disposition and attitude.  It isn't just a matter of wanting certain conditions, but also an expectation that the weather I'm experiencing corresponds to the season we're in.  Right now, it is the middle of December, a time that I am accustomed to relatively cool temperatures and dry air.  The pattern in years past has been for generally cool conditions for a few days until just before a cold front hits us, when it briefly heats up after which much colder air pours in.  Instead, this year the norm is to have a string of hot, humid days with a brief downward spike in temperature when a cold front sweeps through...and then back to the heat.  It shouldn't as a rule be hitting the 80s day after day as it has been doing here in northern Florida.  Well, the last few years have also been warmer than usual, come to think of it.  Can't be global warming, though...no, no, no, no, can't say that...

So I've been a bit out of sorts all day, and I believe the weather may have something to do with it.  It isn't that I physically feel sick...if anything the opposite is true.  Maybe I'm just a little too sensitive to my environment, whether it's the news...little good going on there (unless you're a fan of the Russophile misogynist corporate-elitist militarist cyberbully-elect), weather...or even just a more grating, irritating effect of the sounds and sights around me...

Will Dolphins Have Breakthrough Season Even With Tannehill Injury?

Just when it looked as if the National Football League's Miami Dolphins would finally step up this year and challenge for the playoffs, Ryan Tannehill, their starting quarterback for the last few seasons, injured his knee in the third quarter of their game against Arizona and will probably miss the rest of the season.  Backup quarterback Matt Moore came into the game and the Dolphins, after giving up a 12-point second-half lead to the Cardinals, lost it all but managed to kick a late-game field goal to prevail in the end, 26-23.  They are now 8-5 with three games to go in the regular season.  Their next opponents are the New York Jets, a road game, this coming Saturday and will travel again to play Buffalo a week later (Christmas Eve).  Then on New Year's Day they'll close it out at home against New England.  With Tannehill in there, all of these games were winnable, even the one against the Patriots...now there's a big question as to whether Moore can step in there and salvage the season.  Miami hasn't had a winning season since 2008...that was also the last year they made the playoffs.  At this current writing, they are in the final wild card playoff spot for their conference, but in all likelihood won't make the postseason unless they win at least two of their last three games.  In 2013 and 2014 under then-head coach Joe Philbin, the Dolphins were in playoff contention late each season but choked and played poorly their last games, finishing 8-8 in each.  Last year Philbin was fired after a poor start and they finished last in the division at 6-10.  I don't know how well they will be able to compensate for Tannehill's injury, but this year under new coach Adam Gase I've noticed a higher level of enthusiasm and competition from this team, reflected in their consistently clutch performances in close games.  One player does not an entire team make, and Tannehill hasn't exactly been a Tom Brady, anyway.  Matt Moore has shown a good level of competence at times in the past and has the potential to be an effective enough play manager to help this team finish with a breakthrough season.  Should be interesting to see how they do in the next three weeks...

Adding PJ Harvey's New Album to My Favorites of '16

Having written only a few days ago about my three favorite albums of 2016, I now feel like expanding that list to four, having obtained a copy of PJ Harvey's The Hope Six Demolition Project after listening a track from it played on my Music Choice TV Indie channel.  Until then I had never heard of her and had to do a little research to find out about this talented musician.  It turns out that PJ Harvey (the initials stand for Polly Jean) is an English alternative rock artist who has been recording since 1988, and as a solo act since 1993.  She has won several awards as well as having her albums ranked among the all-time best.  On this latest release of hers are three tracks I especially like: The Wheel, The Orange Monkey, and Near the Memorials to Vietnam and Lincoln.  The lyrics range from love songs to social and political commentary, and the instrumentation and style from one song to the next is diverse and multilayered...this is one good, creative musician and singer.  I've also picked up her acclaimed 2000 album Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea and have been enjoying it as well, my favorite track being Good Fortune, which has a grungy, Nirvana-like sound to it...

PJ Harvey has released nine studio albums so far, and I'd like to hear them all.  It's funny how some great musical acts can escape my attention for all these years...well, maybe its not that funny: radio nowadays is a bastion of mediocrity with regard to current popular music and continually ignores quality artists...

Quote of the Week...from Mohandas Gandhi

There is more to life than increasing its speed.    ---Mohandas Gandhi

Although the life of Mohandas Gandhi tragically ended in 1948 at the hands of an assassin, this quote of his is ever-so pertinent to today's world in the early 21st century.  Of course, in his day technology had already made incredible advances over the previous century with the advent of radio and the telephone in the field of communications and of the railway system, automobiles, and airplanes in the field of transportation.  But now, with television...be it cable, satellite, or streaming, cell phones with their applications, and the Internet with its social media, the speed and portability with which we can use these products has entered new frontiers.  In spite of this increase of the access and quickness of things, though, people at large don't seem to be any happier than they were when I was little and we only had one phone in our house and a TV that got four channels in a heavily metropolitan area...and of course a typewriter instead of a computer.  The fact is, as humans, we are very adept at adapting to new circumstances, quickly turning amazing new innovations into the norm.  Look at how quickly folks back in 1969 got used to people standing on the moon...by early the next year most had already lost interest...

Along with this trend toward accelerating our lives, I see an ever-decreasing attention span in people in general.  If you want to get a point across to someone nowadays, better do it quickly and with a lot of punch...right, Mr. President-Elect, the Twitter King?  I know that there is a lot of concern about the loss of personal privacy in this age of high-level digital data storage and transfer, but there is a concern, going in the diametrically opposite direction, that as individuals we are being diminished, devalued, and worst of all, ignored...

Although I grew up already knowing and expecting television, radio, automotive transportation, and the phone to be an integral part of my life, I do have the perspective of realizing that there is more to it all than having the fastest gadget in my possession.  There are still 24 hours in a day, so yes, it's nice to be able to speed up some things...but only if that means I have more free time left over to slow down the rest of my life and enjoy it...       

12/4 Sermon: Christmas at Family, Part 1

It now being December...and with Jesus being the 'Christ' in Christmas, The Family Church, which I attend here in Gainesville, is embarking on a new series centering on the nature and character of Jesus.  The first sermon, delivered last Sunday by Pastor Philip Griffin, focuses on passages from the Gospel of John, Chapter One and is titled "Truths About Jesus".  Here are those Bible verses, in the New International Version by means of the Bible Gateway website:

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

¹⁰ He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Pastor Philip uses these verses to present a picture of Jesus: he has always existed, is with God and is God, is the source of life, is the answer to the world's darkness, suffered and died so that we might live, and knows all my struggles...in the pastor's words.  These are all statements requiring faith, something doctrinal in nature and not to be wrestled with through a lot of precise reasoning.  This is especially true with the "is with God and is God" part, which is part of the doctrine of the Trinity that was a matter of major dispute in the first centuries of the church and is still challenged by some groups, which as a result are often regarded as not being truly Christian by the trinitarian churches.  I have to admit to being a little uncomfortable discussing these types of messages, because it has been my experience that, whether I am speaking to someone of another faith or just a non-believer...or even to a fellow Christian with their own arrangement of opinions on the issue, that doctrinal matters expressed in any degree of detail tend to either go nowhere or end in an argument.  That's just my own experience speaking, and yours may be different.  But our pastor picked just the right passage to begin this series about Jesus and I'm looking forward to the next sermon...

If you're interested in seeing this message for yourself, here is a link to my church's YouTube video website: [link]

Just Finished Reading The 9th Judgment by James Patterson

Or should I say "Just Finished Reading The 9th Judgment by James Patterson AND Maxine Paetro"?  for this Lindsay Boxer crime mystery series has long been a collaborative project between the two...and I wonder just how much of a role that Patterson, whose name on the credits will naturally generate more sales and popularity, plays in actually writing these short novels, churned out every couple of years or so.  Lindsay is a San Francisco police homicide investigator, whose job title and rank tends to go up and down like a yo-yo as the series progresses.  With one change in composition over the nine books I've read so far, she has collected three of her friends, together informally called the "Women's Murder Club", to meet often, support each other, and work within their respective professions toward the solving of whatever murder or disappearance is ongoing.  So Claire Washburn, a medical examiner, Yuki Castellano, an assistant prosecutor, and Cindy Thomas, a newspaper reporter, each have their own personal lives and narratives which get attention...but the series is predominantly Lindsay's show...

In The 9th Judgment, we have an outbreak of murders of young women out in public with their babies...another demented serial killer to add to the burgeoning total that this series has produced.  And as a second narrative, there is a young woman teacher who has a second life: as a cat burglar who steals valuable jewelry from wealthy people's estates...even while they are at home!  This subplot was much more intriguing to me as the dangers with each succeeding burglary mount and she finds herself unwittingly drawn into a murder mystery for which she may be the prime suspect...

If as a reader you're going for memorable stories that you want to go back to over and over again, this Women's Murder Club series of Patterson and Paetro probably won't work.  On the other hand, it is easy-flowing reading and the books have been comfortably short, not requiring much of an investment of time and effort. Besides, a lot of folks, myself included, like to check up on the series characters Lindsay, Claire, Cindy, and Yuki to see how they're doing...

About the Books I'm Reading (and Not Reading)

The other day I mentioned on this blog that I hadn't gotten around to reading some of the books of Charles Dickens because I'd seen the stories adapted to movies, such as A Tale of Two Cities, A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, and David Copperfield.  I've also experienced the same with a contemporary author, Stephen King: although I've read nearly all of his published works, I didn't see the point of reading Misery, Firestarter, or The Langoliers, though, after having seen their film versions.  Still, I do reread novels I like a lot, so why not read them after first seeing the movie? Besides, I've discovered time and time again that the written story is usually much deeper in scope than the movie, while there is often a substantial divergence between the two forms in terms of the plot, ending, and characters...

I'm currently reading Hyperion by Dan Simmons and The 9th Judgment by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro.  Hyperion is a the first book of a post-apocalyptic science fiction series...I'm halfway through it and feel clueless as to where it's going with its characters and plot.  That's doesn't mean it isn't interesting, though.  The 9th Judgment is another Lindsay Boxer crime mystery, as I keep "counting" up to the current end of this series.  And I've lined up The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins, for my next reading.  Collins was Dan Simmons' narrator in his historical fiction novel Drood, which went into the final years of the life of Dickens, with whom Collins often collaborated.  From Drood, I came away with the notion that Collins wrote in a more sensationalist manner than Dickens...it will be interesting to see if this is reflected in The Woman in White...

Major Storm System Sweeps into North Florida Tomorrow

In advance of the cold front that will usher in relatively cold conditions this Friday, a large, intense storm system is sweeping eastward along the Gulf Coast...and northern Florida, including my hometown of Gainesville, is in its sights.  The storm, which contains a high probability of tornadoes and hail along with generally high winds and some much-needed rainfall, will pass through the Florida panhandle tonight and directly hit us sometime tomorrow morning.  As with other systems of this type, it will be very rough in some places and light in others...I'm hoping that Gainesville misses out on the tornadoes, hail, and strong wind gusts, but not the rain.  Although Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina have lately been devastated by runaway forest fires caused by chronic draught, we here in northern Florida have been suffering lately from a scarcity of rainfall, too. If we don't start to get more precipitation, we'll also eventually be in the news with our own wildfires...

About the Four Professional Soccer Leagues I Follow

I don't know whether you are interested in watching soccer...most likely you associate it with national teams and the World Cup.  I, on the other hand, prefer to follow the various professional leagues, of which just about every country on the planet has one...usually more, arranged in hierarchies from the premier league at the top on downward to the lower leagues.  England has some 24 levels in their entrenched professional soccer system, and teams are annually moving up (promotion) to the next higher league while others are moving down (relegation) to the next lower one.  I follow England's Premier League, as well as the top-tier leagues in Germany (Bundesliga) and Mexico (Liga MX).  All practice promotion and relegation, which to me prevents the last-place clubs from giving up on the season the way we here in America see teams doing, especially in the National Basketball Association (especially the Philadelphia 76ers) and Major League Baseball (lower teams trading off their star players for future prospects midway through the season).  Unfortunately, our Major League Soccer premier league here in the United States and Canada does not practice relegation, even though there already exists two lower-level leagues that could unite with them to form a viable promotion/relegation system...

In MLS this year, the season has finally wound down to the final championship playoff match, to take place next Saturday between Toronto and Seattle. I'll be pulling for Seattle in this one, although I was disappointed that neither of my favorites...Orlando City and Portland (last year's champion)...made the playoffs.  Mexico's Liga MX is also holding its playoffs, and the last of the two-match semifinal series between Club America (based in Mexico City) and upstart Necaxa takes place tonight...you can watch it on Univision (Gainesville's Cox Cable channel 40). Whoever wins tonight will play against "my" UANL Tigres in the finale. Necaxa, by the way, is in its very first year back in the top league after winning promotion from the second-tier Ascenso league last year, performing way beyond expectations by making the playoffs and then advancing this far in them.  In England, Chelsea has returned to lead the league...it won the title two years ago.  Last year's champion, Leicester City, has so far fallen on hard times and is only two points away from being one of the relegation teams...they'd better get their act together, and soon!  And in the Bundesliga, another team just promoted this year, Leipzig, is stunning everyone by sitting at the top of the standings, still undefeated, while perennial champ Bayern Munich is right behind them in second place.  In England and Germany...as well as most of the pro leagues, the regular season is the entire season...no playoffs...and the regular season leader is automatically the champion.  I like it that way, but try telling that to anyone on this side of the Atlantic who can't imagine going through any sports season without playoffs to get excited about...

In case you're wondering why I follow MLS, Liga MX, the English Premier League, and Bundesliga while not following other soccer leagues, the answer is simple: these are the leagues whose matches I can pick up on TV.  And I'm not about to shell out a lot of extra dough just to see the leagues from Spain, France, Italy, Brazil, or any other country.  Besides, four leagues are quite enough for me...

Just Finished Reading Drood by Dan Simmons

The 2009 book Drood, by Dan Simmons, is a historical fiction novel focusing on the last years in the life of mid-nineteenth century English writer Charles Dickens, who authored classics like Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield...and of course A Christmas Carol...as told by narrator Wilkie Collins, a collaborator and friend of the literary giant .  His best writing now behind him, it is 1865 and Dickens is riding a train with his mistress and her mother when it goes off a damaged bridge at Staplehurst, killing many but miraculously sparing his own car alone.  The incident traumatizes Dickens and he never completely gets over it.  According to what he relates to Wilkie, Dickens walks around the horrible scene after the wreck, administering help and comfort to the injured...and comes across an utterly sinister man who calls himself Drood and who is also walking among the casualites, many of whom suddenly die after encountering him.  It is the mystery-veiled relationship that ensues between Dickens, Wilkie Collins, and this Drood character that drives the plot through to the end of the book...

Sometimes when I review a book I've read, I can tell some of what happens in it, careful to leave out spoilers that reveal its conclusion.  But Drood is narrated by Collins, an opium addict who tends to perceive things differently when he is under that drug's spell...and the potential for mesmerism (hypnosis), something for which Dickens has much enthusiasm, is another factor that makes the developing story seem at times unreal.  It reminded me of the times I saw the movies The Matrix and A Beautiful Mind.  In each of these, the audience is eventually confronted with the task of determining what is real and what is...well, something entirely different...

Historical fiction comes in different forms.  In alternative histories, the setting is a world that has diverged in some significant way from how history had actually played itself out...e.g. Hitler won World War II or John F. Kennedy's assassination was prevented.  In other historical fiction, like Ernest Hemingway's Spanish Civil War novel For Whom the Bell Tolls, the setting is a real event but the characters are all fictional...even though famous real names may indirectly impact the plot.  But Drood is different from both of these types, and here is where I really appreciated Simmons' deft writing: from what we know about those years in the lives of  Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins, nothing in this tale contradicts anything...yet it creates this incredible imaginary universe full of mysteries and horrors.  Amazing...

There were a few interesting items I picked up reading Drood.  One was that Charles Dickens wasn't just a prolific writer: he was also a prolific walker, often covering 20 miles on a single walk, going at a near-impossible-to-sustain pace of 4 mph...even at times when his health was reportedly suffering.  And keep in mind that he was in his late fifties at the time.  Also, 'The Inimitable", as the narrator often refers to him according to his popular designation in that time, would go on extensive book reading tours, drawing packed houses as he would read whole sections of his earlier works...which he had completely committed to memory.  And finally, you could not have read Drood without noticing the extreme degree of professional jealousy that Collins, himself an established and popular writer, feels about his much more recognized and honored friend.  Throughout the book, in their countless conversations with each other, he tries over and over again to get Dickens to acknowledge their equality in their writing abilities...but to no avail, with one humiliating outcome after another...

Drood is a fantastic book on many levels, and I highly recommend it.  Dan Simmons has also written Hyperion, the first in a science fiction series...I'm in the process of reading that one, too.  I've also become interesting in reading more from Charles Dickens...as well as from his frustrated rival/friend Wilkie Collins...

Quote of the Week...from Juan Ramón Jiménez

I do not cut my life up into days but my days into lives, each day, each hour, an entire life.
                                                                                            ---Juan Ramón Jiménez

Juan Ramón Jiménez was a Nobel Prize-winning Spanish poet who lived from 1881 to 1958, moving to the United States when his native country began its civil war in 1936.  I have read nothing of his works...like last week's Epictetus, my exposure to his output so far has been limited to one provocative quote...

When I was a young child, each day did seem to be an entire life.  Yes, I would think about the future and remember the past...especially with regard to my favorite TV shows...but my reality was firmly rooted in the "here and now".  I think that, as I grew older...like many of you, most likely...my thoughts and focus became trained on the past...with accompanying regrets and resentments...and on the future, with its accompanying worries.  Of course, as mature adults we should all take care of our own lives and of those in our charge, and that involves reflection about the lessons from our past experiences as well as planning and preparation for the future...but that does not mean having a mindset devoid of appreciating and esteeming the present moment.  We're not talking of descending into hedonistic, selfish squalor, but rather the opposite: fighting the impulse to sink into an inertia of automatic routine and the avoidance of discomfort and instead taking risks, putting oneself "on the spot", and allowing more of the world, even with its sometimes unpredictable, ugly, and even dangerous aspects, into our lives.  Yes, let's be responsible but also realize that our entire life does take place in a day...and that day is called "today"...

11/27 Sermon on James, Part 10

Last Sunday was the tenth and final installment in the sermon series on the Bible's New Testament book of James, delivered at The Family Church here in Gainesville by Pastor Philip Griffin.  The focus was James 5:7-20, reproduced here in the New International Version by means of the Bible Gateway website:

⁷ Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. ⁸ You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. ⁹ Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!
¹⁰ Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. ¹¹ As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
¹² Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned. ¹³ Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. ¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. ¹⁶ Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
¹⁷ Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. ¹⁸ Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
¹⁹ My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, ²⁰ remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

Pastor Philip divided the sermon into four parts: practice patience, guard your heart, rely on prayer, and don't give up on each other.  He painted a word picture he credits to a Pakistani who compared hard times to being in boiling water: do you respond in such circumstances like an egg with a hardened shell...or like a potato, softening and more easily molded?  Don't be an egg, be a potato!  The pastor also pointed out that the passage gives three examples about how the wisdom of patience is demonstrated by the farmer, the prophets, and Job.  As for guarding one's heart, Verse 12 is about saying yes or no without having the need to buttress one's own statements with oaths...I personally felt that this was a bit confusing: the text seems to condemn taking oaths, notwithstanding what the pastor said...maybe I'd understand this section better were I to know the cultural background through which the author wrote it.  Regarding the importance of relying on prayer, our church, at the end of the service, followed James' advice and had the elders anoint with oil those with needs and pray for them.  And the last couple of verses remind me of that great old Hollies hit He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother...we don't give up on our brothers and sisters...and hopefully they don't give up on us...

So there you have it: the book of James covered in ten sermons...with my own layman's reactions.  Should you want to hear Pastor Philip Griffin's sermons for yourself, click on this YouTube link for the series: [link].  Also, I have placed links below for each of the articles that I've written about the sermons (click on the number of each sermon):

Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9