Quote of the Week...from Ray Bradbury

Writing is not a serious business.  It's a joy and a celebration. You should be having fun with it.
                                                                    ---Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury (1920-2012) was one of the great science fiction writers of the twentieth century, penning books like Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and Dandelion Wine among others.  But my favorite work of his was the short story The Pedestrian, an eerily prophetic piece that hit me close to home...read it through this link to Internet Archive.  It's obvious that Bradbury loved to write, but that does not mean that he didn't really take it serious. I think his above quote was meant to say that it's okay to enjoy writing stuff for its own sake...and that he's very serious about this viewpoint!  I'm kind of like that with this blog of mine: it's a joy and celebration...and fun.  But it does require a bit of mental concentration and effort, and to that extent, it is serious...at least while I'm actively engaged in the process of writing.  But although Ray Bradbury made quite a career for himself with his literary output, he correctly implies...as I see it...that writing with the primary motivation to earn money from it isn't a very good idea, nor is it necessarily fruitful to expect other people to all want to read I've written and eagerly anticipate what I'll do next.  No, writing should be done primarily as a self-motivated activity that justifies itself...no harm, though, in allowing for that possible fame and fortune as a bonus by-product...

11/25 Sermon on Wisdom, Part 5

Last Sunday here at The Family Church in Gainesville Pastor Sean Taylor, who is our praise and worship music leader, delivered the final message in the ongoing series on Wisdom, based on the Old Testament book of Proverbs.  The sermon's title was Path to Wisdom and the scripture of focus was Proverbs 9:10: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding...

Pastor Sean structured his sermon around the following points: the path to wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord, which is about reverence and awe as well as fear...and that fear should result in trembling at his word and hating evil. We will understand this spiritually healthy fear when we welcome the words of Godly wisdom, store up his commands within us, train our ears to hear wisdom and gain understanding, and cry out for insight and understanding. Sean concluded by pointing out that fearing the Lord will lead us to knowledge of the Holy One, who is Jesus, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and understanding, and who extends his invitation to us.

You can view this thought-provoking sermon, which contains so much good material beyond my perfunctory summary, by clicking on the church's YouTube video website: [TFC Videos]. The Family Church, located at 2022 SW 122nd Street, holds its Sunday morning services at 9 and 10:30, featuring praise and worship music lead by Pastor Sean, the weekly message, and opportunities for prayer, fellowship and joining small groups and discipleship classes help at other times on Sunday and during the week.  There is also a hospitality room adjoining the entranceway where you can get some free coffee and meet and chat with some very friendly people.  Senior Pastor Philip Griffin will be returning next Sunday for a new series...

Weekly Short Stories: '40 Sci-Fi, Pt. 3

I continued my reading of the science fiction anthology Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 2 (1940) with five more tales from that year, all of which I had previously read...

VAULT OF THE BEAST by A.E. van Vogt
Van Vogt is an author noted for his complicated, convoluted stories, often making a mockery of the time travel theme commonly found in science fiction.  Although that isn't present here in this story, the notion of beings living in vastly different "speeds" of time is examined, and the mathematics at the end is bizarre, to put it lightly.  The essence of Vault of the Beast consists of a shape-shifting, sentient robot sent to Earth to find a great mathematician capable of breaking the code to a vault on Mars imprisoning a monstrous beast from another system.  Is the prisoner really a monster or rather a misunderstood alien scientist living in a different time frame?  After all the confusing twists, I began not to care...

THE IMPOSSIBLE HIGHWAY by Oscar J. Friend
A biologist, at the prodding of his assistant, goes on a hiking trip with him in the Ozarks...they promptly get lost.  As they walk on, they suddenly encounter an extraordinary, smooth highway leading to nowhere.  They begin to walk down it and encounter exhibited specimens of Earth life in their chronological order of evolution, presented much the way a museum would.  Eventually, after many exhibits of specimens from eons past, they get to the present time...and an open, empty exhibit for "Twentieth Century Man".  The subsequent behavior of the biologist...and why he does what he does...is, I believe, the driving force behind this absurdly strange tale...

QUIETUS by Ross Rocklynne
Two highly-evolved, intelligent alien bird creatures from another world are at work traveling through the cosmos, studying planets and searching for other intelligent life forms and to help them if they can.  They reach an Earth of our future that has undergone cataclysmic upheaval...only a thin strip of greenness is left visible from space, indicating that maybe here there may still be life.  Meanwhile, a young man dwelling there, with a talking crow to accompany him, is convinced he is the only human remaining.  One day, though, he sees another person skulking about...and it is a young woman.  Naturally, just as everything is about to come together, so to speak, the do-gooder aliens arrive on the scene and gum up the works...

STRANGE PLAYFELLOW by Isaac Asimov
Strange Playfellow, originally titled Robbie but changed by a magazine editor to which it was submitted, was Isaac Asimov's first of his many positronic robot stories.  The setting is way off into the future, in 1982 if you can imagine such a distant time. Robots are a burgeoning industry and a father buys Robbie to serve as a playtime companion for his little daughter...but mother does not approve, claiming that the robot could go berserk if its circuits broke down.  A battle of wills ensues over Robbie between the two parents, but little Gloria is strong in her adoration for her mechanical friend.  When mom wins out, that's when the drama intensifies until the ending, which is heart-turning...

THE WARRIOR RACE by R. Sprague de Camp
A group of human space explorers travel to Proxima Centauri, become very militaristic and disciplined there, and then return to Earth and take over.  The rule of the Bozos, as they are called, over the Earthlings, is generally benevolent but rigid and uncompromising.  Resentment builds and armed uprisings occur, which are brutally suppressed.  But a couple of Americans (naturally) who attended the same history class on Ancient Greece, Baldwin Dowling and Arthur Hsi, learn from their professor how the warlike Spartans were finally brought down...and the two set out to corrupt their unwelcome overlords.  I think I saw an original Star Trek series episode in which pretty much the same strategy was used against some aliens from the Andromeda Galaxy that had taken over the Enterprise.  But that show was from 1967, I think, and de Camp's story precedes it by 27 years...

Next week I'll cover the final four stories from Asimov's 1940 science fiction anthology...

Tuesday's List: My Favorite Sufjan Stevens Songs

Sufjan Stevens is an American musician, recording albums since 1999, whose music usually falls in the independent/alternative genre...but my local alternative rock station, 100.5 WHHZ, never played any of his songs.  It wasn't until 2009, after that station had lamentably switched its format to hard rock, that I sought out alternative stations on the Internet...and heard my first Stevens tune, his biggest hit Chicago.  Then I checked out YouTube and realized that this was a very talented, inspired artist and began to collect his albums.  The greatest works of Sufjan Stevens were his Michigan and Illinois albums: he lived for a time in each state and they provided the historical, biographical, and spiritual themes for the tracks.  By the time I was aware of his music, Stevens had been going through a drought of output, partly due to what he has said was an undiagnosed chronic nervous ailment.  I don't care as much for his recent works, although his 2015 Carrie and Lowell album was very good.  I'm very skeptical about the bigshot music celebrities nowadays who get all the publicity and acclaim...here's someone whose music is much better than anything I've heard on the Grammys or MTV Video Awards...

And so, here's a list of my top thirty favorite Sufjan Stevens songs, each entry followed by its album...

1 DETROIT, LIFT UP YOUR WEARY HEAD...Michigan, 2003
2 JACKSONVILLE...Illinois, 2005
3 CASIMIR PULASKI DAY...Illinois
4 NIAGARA FALLS...Michigan, 2003 (bonus track, and no, it is not in "Michigan"))
5 FOURTH OF JULY...Carrie and Lowell, 2015
6 COME ON FEEL THE ILLINOISE...Illinois
7 ADLAI STEVENSON...The Avalanche, 2006
8 FLINT...Michigan
9 DECATUR...Illinois
10 PITTSFIELD...The Avalanche
11 CHICAGO...Illinois
12 SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER...Carrie and Lowell
13 ALL GOOD NAYSAYERS, SPEAK UP!...Michigan
14 THE HENNEY BUGGY BAND...The Avalanche
15 CONCERNING THE UFO SIGHTINGS...Illinois
16 IMPOSSIBLE SOUL...The Age of Adz, 2010
17 JASON...A Sun Came, 1999
18 FOR THE WIDOWS IN PARADISE...Michigan
19 DEATH WITH DIGNITY...Carrie and Lowell
20 I WALKED...The Age of Adz
21 YEAR OF THE DOG...Enjoy Your Rabbit, 2001
22 IN THE DEVIL'S TERRITORY...Seven Swans, 2004
23 DEAR MR SUPERCOMPUTER...The Avalanche
24 BLUE BUCKET OF GOLD...Carrie and Lowell
25 THE AVALANCHE...The Avalanche
26 I WANT TO BE WELL...The Age of Adz
27 ARNIKA...All Delighted People
28 OH GOD, WHERE ARE YOU NOW?...Michigan
29 THE UPPER PENINSULA...Michigan
30 THE BLACK HAWK WAR...Illinois

Some Comments About My Running

At the start of November I had big plans for my running, with three local long-distance races available to enter: the Tom Walker Memorial Half-Marathon on the 11th, the Cupcake Half-Marathon (or 10K if I chose that distance) on the 18th, and the Turkey Trot 10K on Thanksgiving morning, the 22nd.  I didn't run any of them, for various reasons.  I did accomplish a 14 mile practice run earlier in the month (taking very small, slow "old man" steps) and since Thanksgiving have begun a regular morning regimen of running the course I designed, up and down streets in my subdivision and the neighboring one, time constraints and weather permitting.  My basic course is 3.3 miles long...I made an agreement with myself that the bar for success is to simply cover the course, be it through running, walking, or a combination of the two.  So far I've mixed my running with a little walking at the start while during the second half I've run the rest of the way.  My goal is to progressively lengthen the course until I reach seven miles, which I want to make my daily, regular training distance.  This will put me within easy shot of any of the distances I like for future races (10K, 15K, and half-marathon).  There is a 15K event scheduled on Saturday, December 8th in SE Gainesville, but I'm not exactly enthusiastic right now about entering it...we'll see.  My main current goal is to establish a better outdoor running routine...the cooler weather couldn't have arrived at a better time...

Congrats to 2018 Gator Football Team

The 2018 University of Florida football team finished its regular season yesterday afternoon with a convincing 41-14 road win against rival Florida State.  First year head coach Dan Mullen has transformed this team into a cohesive, disciplined unit that not only is capable of coming from behind against its opponents but also one that is capable of bouncing back from defeat, avoiding the terrible late season slides of other Gator teams in the past few years.  Sophomore quarterback Feleipe Franks is obviously benefiting from Mullen's instruction as his play has markedly improved from last year...I expect more improvement in 2019.  And the defense, although having lost several starters to graduation, has still carried this team to several victories.  They finished 9-3, with a Southeastern Conference 5-3 record that included an upset of LSU.  Now we are waiting until this evening when the New Year's Day bowl invitations are issued...Florida stands a good chance of being included in the picture.  Before this season I remarked that all I wanted from this 2018 edition of UF football was that the offense substantially improve, that they play competitively in all their games, and that they are good enough to go to a post-season bowl game.  I'm happy to say that, with the exception of that awful Missouri game, all the above has been fulfilled.  Go Gators...

CORRECTION:  Oops, of course the bowls won't be decided until next weekend's conference championship games!

The Trump vs. Roberts Controversy

It's tough for me with Donald Trump as my president.  On one hand, I happen to agree in principle with some of the things he is trying to accomplish, particularly in building up our national defense and protecting our borders...this I believe is a Constitutionally-mandated role for him as our country's civilian commander-in-chief.  On the other hand, his arrogance, narcissism, and nastiness towards those who disagree with him makes him as a kind of villain in my mind, someone whose presence in the Oval Office is a detriment to our national interests.  Case in point: he has a legitimate responsibility, in my opinion, to protect our borders from the "caravan" of people traveling from Central America and through Mexico to our national border.  The Ninth Circuit of the Federal Judiciary, however, blocked him from keeping asylum seekers from entering the United States...prompting him to go into a Twitter rage, putting down those judges as Obama appointees, as if that in itself makes them illegitimate.  United States Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts responded by calling him to task for his inappropriate comments, stating "We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges.  What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them." And this is what bugs me so much: President Trump is probably right in his accusations about the Ninth Circuit judges, but he also has deliberately sought to politicize the courts with his own appointments, which are rubberstamped by conservative think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society.  Roberts himself was no doubt appointed because of his conservative political orientation and has usually "delivered the goods" for his conservative backers in Supreme Court decisions.  You can claim that the judges are "independent", but this does not necessarily mean that they cannot be biased...and in my opinion they usually are when decisions of a politically partisan nature are involved: all of the federal judges are political appointees.  So while Chief Justice Roberts put out a dignified, restrained and appropriately worded statement expressing what I believe to be an erroneous viewpoint, President Trump for his part has done little of a positive nature to promote a position which I believe has some good points. It's very frustrating rooting for policies that are being promoted by a president who seems clueless about persuading others...

Quote of the Week...from Willie Nelson

When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.     ---Willie Nelson

If you've grown up with someone intent on always seeing the down side of their experiences and of the people around them, it's tempting to adopt that model for yourself and become overly negative.  But as the great musician Willie Nelson stated above, it's important to counteract that insidious, pervasive cynicism with gratitude, i.e. a recognition not only of the things that have been blessings, but also for the different people who have been there and made life better.  Willie is now 85 and going on strong...at 62 I'm looking more and more at people who are a generation older than me and who seem to have made a sort of peace about their own lives and their place in society.  And one common trait for many of these survivors seems to be that they have adopted an attitude of gratitude.  I'm sure that Willie Nelson continues to encounter offenses and setbacks, and problems are all sorts assuredly continue to befall him as do they us.  But you've got to see the big picture and realize that life is a great gift to be relished and appreciated...instead of habitually reciting a list of personal grievances and grudges, how about instead come up with one of blessings, following Mr. Nelson's wise example...and keep it a daily habit, not just on Thanksgiving...

11/18 Sermon on Wisdom, Part 4

Last Sunday at The Family Church here in Gainesville, senior pastor Philip Griffin continued his ongoing series about wisdom, focusing on the book of Proverbs.  This message, titled Handling Money God's Way, examined how people can get sidetracked with their attitudes toward money and how God intends for us to manage it.  The scripture references, which you can read through Bible Gateway are Proverbs 3:9-10, 11:25, 11:28,  21:5, 21:20, 22:7, and 23:4-5...yes, there are an awful lot of passages about money in this book of wisdom...

So how does one handle money God's way?  Pastor Philip structured his answer around six points: live by a spending plan, save for the future, avoid the debt, put God first in my finances, trust in God, not money, and don't expect money to make me happy.  Philip started out by noting that even those of us in the United States who have a relatively low income would be considered very wealthy measured on a worldwide scale...I'd only qualify that claim by noting that in other places the costs of living are often also much lower.  Regarding spending plans, many are encouraged in our consumer society to buy on impulse...but as our pastor noted, this will lead to poverty.  Better to be more careful and systematic about where we put our money.  Statistically Americans, as Pastor Philip continued, compared with other countries, save very little or nothing...most are only two paychecks away from being homeless.  But God wants us to gather money and set it aside little by little.  With debt, the borrow is a slave to the lender...it also stands as an obstacle to giving as well as being a major stressor in relationships.  And with giving, Philip noted, God does not need our money, but rather it is us who, by our giving, rightfully put him above everything else.  Trusting in anything more than God is making that thing our god...and with many, money is their god.  And happiness is not a goal, but rather a natural by-product of trusting in God's provision and living to glorify him...seeking happiness in itself is a fruitless venture...

You can watch Pastor Philip's message through the church's YouTube video website...just click on the following link: [TFC Videos].  The Family Church meets each Sunday morning at 9 and 10:30 and is located at 2022 SW 122nd Street.  Each service features the sermon, praise and worship music, and prayer and fellowship.  I'm looking forward to this Sunday...

Weekly Short Stories: '40 Sci-Fi, Part 2

As I continued reading through the science fiction anthology Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 2 (1940), I encountered three intriguing tales...one with a metaphysical tilt, one with a surprise paradigm-shifting ending, and one of the best all-time horror stories.  So without further ado, let's take a look at them...

INTO THE DARKNESS by Ross Rocklynne
This is a story about self-discovery, set on the grandest scale possible, as a sentient life form bigger than stars roams through the universe along with others of its kind.  It is merely a child among several, although their games often consist of smashing stars to bits and wreaking other kinds of havoc through the cosmos.  But there is a darkness beyond the stars and galaxies, and Darkness, the name given this entity by its mother, yearns to venture there even though several others have tried but never returned...Darkness feels that the mysteries of life will be revealed there.  Eventually, as the story's title suggests, our protagonist makes the bold decision to go into that vast darkness, all warnings from others put aside.  Darkness does get an answer to his questions...it is an answer that we can see around us in our own lives but usually choose to ignore.  And then he does something right at the end for which I applaud the author...

DARK MISSION by Lester del Rey
A genius scientist/engineer is about to launch a rocket carrying him to Mars: the first manned mission there!  But not so far from the secret launch site an entirely different spaceship crash-lands...the surviving passenger finds himself personally driven toward the Mars rocket and seems to be a preprogrammed agent sent to sabotage it...he also has a peculiar revulsion to physically touching anyone.  Could Mars be our enemy and trying to ruin our space ambitions?  The questions roll through the reader's mind until the final surprise ending: of course, it all makes sense now...

IT by Theodore Sturgeon
Out in an American forest somewhere, location unnamed, a monster forms out of the mold and gains self-awareness.  A farming family lives nearby and they often go hunting into the forest.  As the creature encounters life it is unwittingly savage, crushing and tearing animals and plants apart to try to better understand them.  Poor hunting dog...and the poor people who are about to encounter It!  It is also the name of a famous Stephen King novel...in both stories an explanation for the source of the horror is eventually revealed.  But whereas King's clown/monster Pennywise is fully intelligent and knowledgeable, Sturgeon's "It" has no axe to grind with anyone...its violence is more like that of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein monster, although much more terrible.  This is one of the best horror short stories I've read...

More short science fiction from 1940 next week...

Tuesday's List: Possible Presidential Candidates for 2020

I was browsing the Internet looking for a site that provided a reasonably comprehensive list of possible presidential candidates for 2020 when I realized that the search engine I was using, Bing, had one at the top of their page...so I wrote it down below, adding to each name the person's background.  Naturally, the opposition party has more potential candidates than the incumbent's party...I'm unfamiliar with many of them, especially those serving in the House of Representatives or in state political offices.  Right now, I'd like to see either senator Amy Klobuchar or former VP Joe Biden run and win...but it's still very, very early and somebody not on this list could rise up out of nowhere and steal the show...

DEMOCRATS
JOE BIDEN...former vice-president, former senator from Delaware
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG...businessman, former New York City mayor
RICHARD BLUMENTHAL...senator from Connecticut
CORY BOOKER...senator from New Jersey
SHERROD BROWN...senator from Ohio
STEVE BULLOCK...governor of Montana
PETER BUTTIGIEG...mayor of South Bend, Indiana
JULIAN CASTRO...former HUD secretary, San Antonio mayor
MARK CUBAN...entrepreneur
ANDREW CUOMO...governor of New York
JOHN DELANEY...representative from Maryland
TULSI GABBARD...representative from Hawaii
ERIC GARCETTI...mayor of Los Angeles
KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND...senator from New York
KAMALA HARRIS...senator from California
JOHN HICKENLOOPER...governor of Colorado
ERIC HOLDER...former attorney general
JAY INSLEE...governor of Washington
DWAYNE JOHNSON...actor, former pro wrestler
TIM KAINE...senator from Virginia
JOSEPH P. KENNEDY III...representative from Massachusetts
AMY KLOBUCHAR...senator from Minnesota
MITCH LANDRIEU...former mayor of New Orleans
TERRY MCAULIFFE..governor of Virginia
JEFF MERKLEY...senator from Oregon
SETH MOULTON...representative from Massachusetts
RICHARD OJEDA...state senator in West Virginia
MARTIN O'MALLEY...former governor of Maryland
BETO O'ROURKE...representative from Texas
DEVAL PATRICK...former governor of Massachusetts
TIM RYAN...representative from Ohio
SHERYL SANDBERG...Facebook chief operating officer
BERNIE SANDERS...senator from Vermont
HOWARD SCHULTZ...former Starbucks CEO
TOM STEYER...hedge fund manager and philanthropist
ERIC SWALWELL...representative from California
MARK WARNER...senator from Virginia
ELIZABETH WARREN...senator from Massachusetts
MARK ZUCKERBERG...co-founder and CEO of Facebook

REPUBLICANS
JEFF FLAKE...senator from Arizona
JOHN KASICH...governor of Ohio
DONALD TRUMP...current White House occupant

Just Finished Reading The Rooster Bar by John Grisham

The Rooster Bar, a 2017 legal fiction novel by John Grisham, examines the world of for-profit schools, in particular law schools. Mark, Todd, Zola, and Gordon are all classmates at seedy Foggy Bottom Law School in Washington, D.C., racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loan debt while soon to receive essentially worthless degrees. In the meantime, their school has done little to prepare them for the bar exam needed for them to legally practice law, so they are looking ahead at a mountain of debt with little-to-no means of paying it back.  Gordon, Zola's boyfriend, is the first to crack up, and with his bipolar personality has constructed an elaborate conspiracy theory around a reclusive investor who has gained control over eight for-profit law schools, including Foggy Bottom.  His friends try to save him in his crisis, intervening to look for his doctor, but to no avail with a tragic end.  Now it is just Mark, Todd, and Zola...she is distracted by the fact that her entire Senegalese family has been arrested and are to be deported back to Africa.  After seeing how some lawyers hang around courtrooms and offer their services to different accused parties without their legal credentials ever being called into question, Mark hits upon the idea of winging it as a lawyer and Mark and Zola join him, leaving Foggy Bottom and taking on new identities.  The story develops from there as they naively stumble through one foolish mistake after another.  With all that is going against them, their situation seems more and more hopeless.  Yet...

The last ongoing prime time television series that I followed while it was going on was The Pretender, where Jared, an escapee from a school for specially gifted children, successfully takes on different roles, even once as a surgeon.  The Rooster Bar is something like that, although Mark, Todd, and Zola in the end come out looking comically clueless in their endeavors to hoodwink those around them.  But they are very sympathetic characters and I (hope to) to see them in another Grisham novel: a sequel is in order here.  As for the staggering student loan situation in this country, it is bad enough with the legitimate schools. But these for-profit institutions strike me as legalized con rackets and should be much more tightly regulated and scrutinized... 

2018 Midterm Results, Comments

Now that it seems we can finally report on the Florida election results after recounts, ballot design controversy, impromptu election fraud accusations, and tabulating machine breakdowns have headlined news stories of late concerning the two very close races for governor and United States Senator.  Regarding what happened in south Florida, I'm all for the votes all getting counted...but for the entire state, not just those counties that were going for one party over the other.  And it is wrong to take ballots and "assume" the voters' intentions when they are not explicitly stated...we went through all this nonsense before in the presidential election of 2000 as well as the very close Democratic primary for governor in 2002.  And what fool in Broward County designed the ballot to put the all-important Senate race at the bottom of the first column following the long, boring instructions section...apparently many thousands of voters (I'd call them fools as well) just skipped on to the next column and didn't vote on the Nelson-Scott contest, to Nelson's detriment since this county was polling 2-1 for the Democrats.  Well, now that all this nonsense is over, I feel I can finally get on to reporting on the different results for this 2018 midterm election...

For Florida governor, Republican Ron DeSantis won a tight race over Andrew Gillum, and incumbent US senator Bill Nelson lost his contest to Rick Scott...a flip for the Republicans in that body.  Republican incumbent Ted Yoho breezed to reelection against Democrat Yvonne Hayes Hinson in my Congressional District 3. Keith Perry won another close race in my own state senate District 8 over strong Democratic challenger Kayser Enneking.  My own state house district wasn't on the ballot...incumbent Clovis Watson ran without opposition.  Democrat Marihelen Wheeler won the Alachua County Commission District 2 seat and the judge retention questions all went "yes".  For the state cabinet positions, all went to the Republican candidates except for Agriculture, which went for Democrat Niki Fried. Gloria Walker won for circuit judge as did Meshon Rawls for county judge.  For the twelve state constitution amendments, only Amendment 1 was rejected (and narrowly at that).  Locally, the only defeated measure was the one proposing outside control of the GRU utility...

Regarding judge retention and constitutional questions, I believe a lot of voters weren't interested or informed about these items and tended to just bubble in "yes" or "no" on them according to their own general dispositions.  I heard from somewhere that this midterm election saw nationwide a 49% voter turnout...much higher than usual but still, in my opinion, abysmally low.  Well, we have our results: the US Senate, with next month's Mississippi runoff election almost certainly going to the Republican incumbent, will be a 53-47 Republican majority while right now it looks as if the Democrats have flipped the US House of Representatives with about 233 seats to the Republicans' 199...3 others yet to be resolved.  So I suppose now that this election is over with, all the buzz in the media will shift to the 2020 election for president: it just never ends, does it...

Trump's Interesting Strategy About House Speakership

Well, the Democrats regained voting control of the U.S. House of Representatives, effective at the beginning of next year.  A few of them have openly declared their opposition to reelecting Nancy Pelosi as the new Speaker of the House...I am solidly in her camp, but alas I'm not in Congress so I don't get a vote.  However, unlike the U.S. Senate, where the Majority Leader sets the agenda and is elected only by his or her own party, with the House of Representatives the Speakership is a Constitutionally-based position and is chosen by the body as a whole, with both the majority and minority parties participating.  Usually, the two parties will first choose their own "champions" and then the final floor vote will fall into party lines, the majority ultimately getting their Speaker.  But President Trump has just shrewdly thrown a monkey wrench into this process...

In an informal announcement outside the White House, Trump restated his respect and admiration for Nancy Pelosi and claimed that she...like himself...was suffering harassment.  He then went on to offer his own support in leaning on Republican representatives to support Pelosi in a final floor vote if she doesn't have enough votes from her own Democratic Party to put her over.  That's pretty clever, I think...either Pelosi refuses that support from the President and possibly loses to an outside candidate, making the position probably a weaker one, or she will be compromised in her leadership as she and everyone else will know that she needs opposition (and presidential) support to remain there.  And since Trump wants to reduce the check on his administration that the new opposition-run House will provide, it's an intriguing strategy.  Will it work?  

I happen to agree with Donald Trump in that Nancy Pelosi is the best option of Speaker of the House...I, too, have long admired her and believe that she has a special knack for reducing whatever issue she is discussing to its most significant points.  My own best-case scenario would have her supported by enough Democrats to prevent Trump's suggestion from ever seeing the light of day. But should she not get the needed support from her own party, I sadly will accept their chosen alternative should she step down from her candidacy.  But should her own party reject her, Nancy Pelosi would be compromising the integrity of her party's important role in standing up to the current administration should she remain in the Speaker race and depend on Republican votes for election.  In any event, Trump's strategy strikes me as brilliant...

Quote of the Week...from Mick Jagger

The past is a great place and I don't want to erase it or to regret it, but I don't want to be its prisoner either.                                                                       ---Mick Jagger

Mick Jagger, of course, is the world-famous lead singer and lyricist for the British rock band Rolling Stones.  Anyone who has been through all that he has over the years and still remains in pretty good shape at age 75 has learned some important life lessons...the trick is to discern which ones have a more universal application and which ones worked only for the one individual.  The above quote is obviously of the former type, although the way Jagger worded it his past of glory, fame, and excess may not exactly be the kind of past many people seemed obsessed with...

I think it was around 1975 and my father mentioned to me that he thought this whole "bad guy" image that the Rolling Stones were putting out was nonsense...after all, Mick Jagger was a health freak, working out and watching his diet.  So the dude was taking care of himself even back then and not letting the turbulent and exciting early years of his band define his own reality for him.  Being rooted in the present doesn't mean, though, that we shouldn't draw upon our past experiences in helping us in our lives...we just don't "live" back there.  Have you ever written a list of grievances about your own life, and upon looking at it realize that many if not most of the items were regrets or bad experiences from the past that don't really affect how you live in the present? If so, then you just might be living a little too much in your own past.  I realize that in today's world of pop psychology and self-help a lot of advice is given about examining one's own past to determine the causes of whatever problems they are experiencing in the present.  For example, we tend to unconsciously model much of our behavior after what we observe in others...especially our parents.  I admit that recognizing this might be helpful, but why not instead just cut to the chase and determine what works now and what doesn't and just work to change it without getting muddled in memories?  I think a lot of us have become so brainwashed into thinking that every time we suffer a problem we have to then go back in time to determine their root causes and dwell on it all...wouldn't it be better to work on solving the problem as it exists in real time right now?  I think Jagger might agree with me on that one, although as his longsuffering collaborator Keith Richards no doubt would agree, he would also probably find something about this article to get snitty about...

11/11 Sermon on Wisdom, Part 3

Last Sunday at The Family Church here in Gainesville, senior pastor Philip Griffin delivered the third installment of his Wisdom message series, focusing on the Old Testament book of Proverbs.  The topic was about raising children...unfortunately I was unable to attend, and the usual link to a video recording of the message wasn't available on YouTube.  Instead, I viewed a recording of the live broadcast, which did not feature the sermon notes.  Consequently, this summary will be a little less formal...

Proverbs 15:6 reads as follows: The house of the righteous contains great treasure, but the income of the wicked brings ruin. Pastor Philip chose the first part of this verse to focus on, and he applied it to how children need to be brought up. Many parents want their children to be happy...don't we all...but the main aim in their development should be to raise them to be Godly, not necessarily happy.  And that means not trying to avoid the inevitable unpleasant conflict scenarios that can happen whenever discipline and correction are necessary. So how do parents accomplish this? By demonstrating through their own example their faith in the Lord and displaying the Godly behavior and speech that they want to impart to their own...after all, as our pastor continued, the children are always watching their parents and will find themselves adopting their behaviors later on in their adult lives, even without intending to do so.  In other words, example is stronger than admonition, and admonition if not accompanied by a constructive, discerning discipline will not work since children in general are masters of noting what is not enforced.  And since they often play one parent off against the other, a united front is also needed regarding the rules and consequences for violating them.  Throughout his sermon Pastor Philip kept going back to that Proverbs verse and the treasure of the house of the righteous: our children need that treasure that only a Godly home will provide them.  And, he added, we cannot outsource the spiritual upbringing of our children as we would with karate or piano lessons: church is not an adequate substitute for the home as mothers and fathers carry much more influence over them than even pastors...

The Family Church is located at 2022 SW 122nd Street, holding its Sunday morning services at 9 and 10:30.  There is the weekly message, wonderful praise and worship music, prayer, lots of friendly folks, and a hospitality room featuring free coffee before and between services. You can join small groups and discipleship classes that take place other times on Sunday and during the week.  And in connection with this particular message about children and parents, I'd like to add that our church has some foster families who shared their outlooks and experiences, encouraging others to follow suit...our pastor considers this to be a kind of home-community missions work that doesn't necessarily require travel abroad...

Weekly Short Stories: '40 Sci-Fi, Part 1

Today I begin to discuss classic science fiction short stories as I move to those from the year 1940, as selected in the anthology Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 2 (1940). Editors Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg had been touting how important writer Robert Heinlein had been this year and had planned to include three of his stories...apparently he didn't agree to the arrangements and they didn't appear.  Maybe at some future time I'll discuss these stories and others of his.  Instead, the book's first four stories are as follows...

THE DWINDLING SPHERE by Willard Hawkins
Presented as a diary of sorts spanning many years, this story describes the success of a new "clean" energy process that converts ordinary matter to energy through fission.  Two consequences: the process is so perfect that it stymies further scientific endeavor and leads to a stagnant theocratic society run by dogma.  But even more significant is that it eventually changes the very nature of the planet.  Written five years before the atom bomb was exploded, The Dwindling Sphere is a treatise on how humanity needs to consider the broader consequences of their innovations, which may at first provide many benefits but in the long run can be harmful...

THE AUTOMATIC PISTOL by Fritz Leiber
This could more properly be labeled as a spooky crime story, with some hoods smuggling booze during the Prohibition era and engaging in their typically "hoodsy" banter.  One of them has a special gun that he has put a hair trigger on...and he seems strangely obsessed with it, talking to it constantly in what seems to be a different language.  One of his partners gets interested in the pistol, and the two criminals almost come to blows.  Then, the gun owner gets rubbed out and the other ends up with the gun.  But the gun seems to have ideas of its own...not exactly one of my favorite stories...

HINDSIGHT by Jack Williamson
It is well into the future and our solar system has been explored and settled to the outer planets.  Holding it all together is trade, and a dictatorial pirate organization called the Astrarchy controls everything...and wants to control the different worlds, including Earth.  Bill Wells leaves his friends on Mars to join this group as their leading scientist...he develops a special process that he believes will give them the needed edge to destroy the spaceships defending Earth.  What happens in the subsequent battle leads him to implement a process he had developed to go back in time and change one pivotal event.  Instead, he discovers that the future is as set as is the past...

POSTPAID TO PARADISE by Robert Arthur
A man discovers in his possession a set of large, exotically pictured postage stamps with El Dorado as the country on them.  He soon discovers that simply by addressing something and sticking one of the stamps on it, it will be quickly transported away to that mystic land.  After his old and sickly cat gets sent there...and back due to insufficient address, but now appearing much younger and healthier, the man's friend, seeing a beautiful young woman on one of the stamps, decides to mail himself there.  What will happen?...guess you'll have to read it to find out.  I thought this would be a good Twilight Zone episode, but it's more fantasy than science fiction.  In my daydreaming, I have a special door that I can walk through to other places...the author's use of the postal system was original and innovative...

More stories from 1940 next week.  Oh by the way, I didn't check but if you cut and paste the titles of these stories onto a search engine, you just might get them on the Internet to read...I imagine that the copyrights on many of them have expired and they are now public domain...

Tuesday's List: Current Standings of Mexican and English Premier Soccer Leagues

There are three leagues of professional soccer that I have been consistently following since 2014.  Not surprisingly, these leagues are the very ones whose games I get on TV: the English Premier League, Mexico's Liga MX, and Major League Soccer, which features teams scattered across the United States and Canada.  MLS is currently holding its playoffs for 2018, Liga MX is almost finished with its Apertura split season, and England is in the middle of its season for 2018-19...its regular season champion is THE champion since it doesn't have playoffs.  Mexico has the Liguilla, which takes the top eight finishing clubs and stages two-match elimination rounds until there are only two teams left for the championship round.  The team Tigres from Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, or UANL, has won the Liguilla in the Apertura season for the last three years and appear to have made it again to the tourney again this year, largely due to their high positive total goal differential...it's also the team I've followed the most.  In England, last year's champion Manchester City seems to be in a good place again this year...I root for Leicester City, an average team, and Arsenal, which usually contends each year while falling short of the championship.  Here are the current standings in each league: Liga MX has only one more week in its 17-game regular split-season while the English Premier League will play a total of 38 matches for each team.  Following each team's name I have first listed their points and then their win-loss-draw records...

MEXICO LIGA MX 2018 APERTURA

1 CRUZ AZUL                33 [10-3-3]

2 AMERICA                    30 [8-2-6]

3 UNAM PUMAS           29 [8-3-5]

4 SANTOS LAGUNA     29 [8-3-5]

5 MONTERREY              27 [8-5-3]

6 UANL TIGRES             26 [7-4-5]

7 TOLUCA                       26 [8-6-2]

8 MORELIA                     25 [7-5-4]

9 PACHUCA                    23 [6-5-5]

10 QUERETARO             23 [6-5-5]

11 GUADALAJARA       20 [5-6-5]

12 PUEBLA                      19 [5-7-4]

13 LEON                           17 [5-9-2]

14 BUAP                           16 [4-8-4]

15 TIJUANA                     16 [4-8-4]

16 NECAXA                     14 [3-8-5]

17 ATLAS                         11 [2-9-5]

18 VERA CRUZ               10 [2-10-4]

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE 2018-19 

1 MANCHESTER CITY     32 [10-0-2]

2 LIVERPOOL                    30 [9-0-3]

3 CHELSEA                        28 [8-0-4]

4 TOTTENHAM                 27 [9-3-0]

5 ARSENAL                        24 [7-2-3]

6 BOURNEMOUTH           20 [6-4-2]

7 WATFORD                      20 [6-4-2]

8 MANCHESTER UNITED  20 [6-4-2]

9 EVERTON                       19 [5-3-4]

10 LEICESTER CITY        17 [5-5-2]

11 WOLVERHAMPTON   16 [4-4-4]

12 BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION 14 [4-6-2]

13 WEST HAM                  12 [3-6-3]

14 NEWCASTLE                 9 [2-7-3]

15 BURNLEY                      9 [2-7-3]

16 CRYSTAL PALACE      8 [2-8-2]

17 SOUTHAMPTON           8 [1-6-5]

18 CARDIFF CITY              8 [2-8-2]

19 HUDDERSFIELD           7 [1-7-4]

20 FULHAM                        5 [1-9-2]

Some Comments About Running Recently

I've been enjoying the shift in weather here in northern Florida for the last couple of days, with temperatures getting cool at night and remaining pleasant through the day.  It's good running weather, too, but circumstances seem to have been stymying me from going out on long runs.  I was planning to run the Tom Walker Memorial Half-Marathon in southeastern Gainesville yesterday morning, but car difficulties changed my priorities and I spent the time at the auto shop instead.  Last minute developments like this are why I don't like to sign up and pay for races in advance, instead preferring to pay a little extra and register on race morning.  Unfortunately, the Cupcake race coming up this Sunday at Depot Park and the Hawthorne Trail, which features a number of distances including a half-marathon, does require advance registration...I'm passing it up for that very reason.  Instead, I'm thinking of running once again the 10K (6.2 mile) Turkey Trot at Tacachale Center on Thanksgiving morning...

I let slip by my monthly running report for October...not much to write about as it was.  I only ran 44 total miles for the month and missed 8 days.  My longest run was for 6.6 miles.  My mileage has picked up some this month, but I currently don't feel comfortable entering a half-marathon...maybe a 10K for now and the longer event in January or February...

Evening Trolley Tour in D.C.

During our visit to Washington, D.C. last month, Melissa and I spent one evening on their Monuments by Moonlight trolley tour. It was a worthwhile experience and I recommend it to anyone stopping by there, especially first-timers...

First of all, we walked from our hotel just south of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, cut across the mall, and walked down Louisiana Avenue to Union Station, one of the must-visit places in town.  This grand work of architecture not only feeds into the city's Metro train line, but is also a major Amtrak depot, where travelers can easily board trains to northeastern cities.  Our trolley's location was easy to find once we entered the cavernous building, and we had a short dinner at one of their many food court eateries before getting in line for our bus tour.  Monuments by Moonlight uses several trolleys...I think we hit the jackpot with ours because of our excellent driver/tour guide, an elderly gentleman who calls himself "H.W.".  Our bus had windows with clear plastic hanging flaps for windows...helpful for protection against very cold conditions but an impediment to good photography, so we collectively decided to roll them all up and make it an open-air experience.  Starting in the eastern Capitol/Supreme Court Building/Library of Congress end of the Mall, we eventually wound our way around the various museums, monuments, and other sights (including loads of massive administrative buildings) with H.W. making incisive, interesting comments along the way.  When we came to the Lincoln Memorial, the trolley stopped and we all got off for a few minutes as we climbed the many steps to reach ol' Abe and shoot some pics.  Looking out we saw the Washington Monument past the Reflecting Pool and the distant Capitol Building beyond it.  Time constraints kept us from visiting the nearby Korean Memorial...instead we went for the famous Vietnam Memorial, not only catching the statues of the three soldiers but also the wall with the names of the fallen and a nearby stature dedicated to nurses in war.  After we reboarded, H.W. took us across the Potomac River into Arlington, a city with a towering downtown (unlike Washington, no height restraints for buildings there) and into the Arlington National Cemetery, where we somberly looked out the window at the seemingly endless rows of graves.  Then we made a brief stop at the Iwo Jima Memorial, a large beautiful statue recreating the famous flag-planting scene from that World War II Pacific battle.  Upon reentering the nation's capital, the trolley made one final stop, at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial...what a special experience that was, with many of Dr. King's great sayings inscribed into a wall and the juxtaposition of the Mountain of Despair with the Stone of Hope...and the Reverend's statue rising out of it.  And facing the King Memorial across an inlet was the Jefferson Memorial.  After getting back on the bus, we rode by the World War II Memorial and made our way to the area of town north of the Mall and east of the White House.  The White House was a major disappointment on this tour because it is now ringed by so many layers of security that we could only see it briefly, from a distance.  As we made our way back toward Union Station, H.W. pointed out the Trump International Hotel, Franklin D. Roosevelt's original very small memorial at a street corner, and the Newseum, among many other sights.  And then H.W. let us and a woman and her daughter out early before returning to the station, making our return walk back to the hotel much shorter and direct...what a class act!

After experiencing this tour, Melissa and I decided to spend the next day at the nearby (to our hotel) Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian, largely from H.W.'s intriguing commentary on the place as we rode by on our trolley tour.  But more about that in a different article.  If you're going to visit Washington D.C. for a few days, I recommend you first get on a tour trolley in order to give you a better sense of what's out there and to help you with your itinerary.  This particular tour, Monuments by Moonlight, was a great, memorable experience...

Just Finished Reading The Whistler by John Grisham and Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson

This week I finished reading two books that have recently been published, but which are very different from each other: The Whistler by John Grisham and Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson...

John Grisham's 2016 legal novel The Whistler is set in the Florida panhandle as an obscure, small Indian tribe gains federal recognition and builds its own very lucrative casino.  A state board of lawyers is investigating a local judge on tips from a whistle-blower: this judge may be collaborating with an organized crime network in the area that is also suspected of being the power behind the casino.  Lacy Stoltz and Hugo Hatch, the very likable protagonists here who work for the board, don't realize the extent of trouble and danger they're in for as they stumble onto something much bigger than they could have imagined.  Like most Grisham stories, this one gets a strong "thumbs up" from me...and I also appreciate that it wasn't too lengthy, something I can't say about the next book...

Fantasy author Brandon Sanderson is currently in the middle of writing a long series, The Stormlight Archive, with very, very long books.  His 2017 Oathbringer, which I just finished reading, is a whopping 1248 pages in the hardback version...and Sanderson reportedly had to whittle down much of what he had written to get it that short.  This series is very intriguing with humans and a humanoid race called the Parshendi in a state of conflict with each other on the planet of Roshar.  Although the technology is typically at the relatively primitive level found in most fantasy series, there is something called "stormlight" which, caused by strange, massive storms that periodically sweep the land, infuse special light into gems that certain gifted people can draw from to achieve special powers.  There are nonmaterial entities called "spren" that bond with people in a similar way to the "demons" in Philip Pullman's His Dark Material series. The heroes and their adversaries have varying degrees of ability in using stormlight...which is tied in to the spren...and tend to specialize, much like the Marvel Comics superheroes.  I don't mind the length of the books, but it is pretty difficult to keep up with all the characters and special "rules" that govern stormlight, gems, and spren, not to mention the very detailed history that the author keeps bringing up.  My main goal is to try and remember the gist of what happened in Oathbringer so that when the next installment comes out, probably in 2020, I won't be completely lost...

I've also begun reading my first Tom Clancy novel, which is also his first: The Hunt for Red October.  Never saw the movie, nor any other Clancy film adaptation for that matter.  But I like his writing so far.  I'm also plodding through Joe Abercrombie's Last Argument of Kings, which should close out his First Law trilogy...unless he was lying about it being a trilogy.  And I'll probably be starting another John Grisham book soon...

Quote of the Week...from a Wyoming Woman at a Trump Rally

I can't really say that anything he says is true, but I trust him.    ---Wyoming woman attending a recent rally by President Trump.

Well, the 2018 midterm elections are over and there are mixed results to muse upon.  For me as an American who is very distrustful of this current presidential administration, I am gratified that the House of Representatives has gone over to Democratic Party control...at least one part of our three branches of government will be able to act as a check on the executive branch, the way the framers of our Constitution had intended...don't look for any help from the Republicans in that regard.  It looks, however, as if the U.S. Senate will add as many as three seats to the Republican majority there, due in large part to the effect that Donald Trump had on the numerous states that were in play and which he chose to hold repeated rallies in.  His message was one of rage and fear: rage that Brett Kavanaugh had been treated unfairly in his confirmation process and fear that the caravan of asylum-seeking refugees currently traipsing through southern Mexico poses a grave threat to our national security.  Combining this with the bald-faced lie that Republicans were also for enforcing health insurance for those with pre-existing conditions...something that they have never done in Congress but which they actually repeatedly fought against...it all worked to convince enough dupes to give his candidates in Florida and Arizona razor-thin Senate victories while possibly tipping the balance in Texas.  On the other hand, in spite of Trump's extensive campaigning in Nevada and Montana, the Senate races in both states went Democratic.  And then again, millions upon millions of Americans...like the woman espousing the above quote...don't care whether or not Trump is lying to them since they idolize him.  There is definitely a very, very creepy cult of personality surrounding this president, and although I am disappointed at the Senate losses I am at least grateful that he won't be able to run roughshod all over this country to the extent that he has for his first two years.  Even with as many as three additional seats to their side, the Senate Republicans won't be able to do any more than they've already been doing...after all, they just confirmed a very controversial Trump Supreme Court nominee by a 50-48 vote. And for at least a couple of years we won't be seeing awful legislation rammed through the House and Senate...anything that makes it to the President's desk for his signature (or veto) will need to have a bipartisan consensus of support.  One potentially big problem: the "old" Republican-controlled House of Representatives still has nearly two months to do mischief before the new one is sworn in at the beginning of next year...don't be surprised if Trump and his cohorts try to slip some really bad stuff through during this lame duck period. And only a day after the elections the President fired his attorney general Jeff Sessions, against whom he has carried an irrational grudge for properly recusing himself from investigating Russia's role in the 2016 campaign, and replaced him with a political loyalist who has openly been highly critical of the Mueller investigation...

Now I'm seeing that there's a big brouhaha here in Florida about the Senate race between Rick Scott and Bill Nelson, in which the Republican governor is currently holding a 15,000 vote lead.  The Republicans are alleging election fraud and Scott has filed suit...looks like there will be a recount.  As for me, I wanted Nelson to win and retain his Senate seat, but I think he truly lost the election and Scott should replace him in January...

BUT WAIT, I spoke too soon! Apparently, in Arizona the slow vote-counting has switched the lead from Republican to Democrat in that state's US Senate race.  Maybe I should reconsider what's going on in Florida, too...is the counting still going on there as well?

11/4 Sermon on Wisdom, Part 2

At The Family Church here in Gainesville, our senior pastor, Philip Griffin, continued his sermon series about wisdom as the Bible presents it...primarily through the Old Testament book of Proverbs. The topic for last Sunday was anger, a subject that has many scriptural references.  The opening, core verse that began this message was Proverbs 29:8: Mockers stir up a city, but the wise turn away anger. Pastor Philip examined anger's destructiveness, the difficulty it causes, and how to defuse it, noting that while the current climate in our country seems to one of anger, it is also present in our homes and lives...

In discussing the destructive nature of anger, Philip brought up three aspects: it destroys one's  relationships, damages the body, and dominates life.  When we hold on the anger, it starts to holds onto us. Anger always has a target...often it is someone close by and not the original reason. Stored anger can lead to eruptions of disproportionate rage.  There are many ailments aggravated by buried anger.  It can distort our own judgment as we try to justify it. Anger's difficulty consists of the fact that it can neither be vented, buried, nor held on to...venting doesn't reduce anger but rather only feeds the flame. Burying anger is like holding on to a live bomb when we really need to get rid of it as quickly as possible. But there is good news at the end: this insidious emotion, which can become a bad habit to the point where it is an obsession, can be defused. How? Well, as our pastor concluded, by depending on God's grace and power we can choose to overlook offenses, submit to the Holy Spirit's control, and extend to others what Christ has given us. The memories and experiences of different offenses we'll still continue to note, but we can decide not to dwell on them.  Anger grieves the Holy Spirit and prevents him from working in our lives.  And we readily and liberally forgive others their offences as Christ, who first loved us and forgave us ours.  All of these points Pastor Philip brought up in a very powerful, thought-provoking message...

You can watch this sermon through the church's YouTube video link...just click on it: [TFC Videos].  The Family Church, at 2022 SW 122nd Street, holds its Sunday morning services at 9 and 10:30.  They open with praise and worship music, then proceed to the weekly message and opportunities for prayer.  Discipleship courses are available through the week as well as small groups where the previous message is discussed.  Free coffee is there as well, before and between services in the hospitality room the right of the entrance.  And there's lots of very friendly people...

Weekly Short Stories: '39 Sci-Fi, Part 6

I concluded my reading of the retrospective science fiction anthology Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 1 (1939) with four tales.  One deals with a future apocalypse, one with the nature of personal identity, one with the limitations of power, and the last an optimistic look ahead at space exploration and settlement...a pretty decent range of themes.  By the way, this will be the first and last of the Asimov Presents books that feature Robert Heinlein stories: the next one, for 1940, was to include three more but were blocked from publication.  Maybe someday I'll review them, too.  Anyway, here are the final four short stories in the 1939 book...

RUST by Joseph E. Kelleam
X-120 is a robot, built for combat, one of only a few still functioning on an Earth of the future, now completely devoid of human life.  His companions G-3a and L-1716 are in worse shape than X-120, the former slowly hobbling on one remaining leg and the latter with broken arms.  Only humans, who had created them, could also maintain and repair them.  Why did the humans die out? Well, I'll give you a clue: watch the Matrix or Terminator movie series for similar themes.  This brief story is special in that it presents the world through the viewpoint of a machine...much like Eando Binder's I, Robot that opened this book.  But whereas the robot in that story was benevolent toward humanity, well...

THE FOUR-SIDED TRIANGLE by William F. Temple
This is a story about a romance triangle between three inventor/scientists: erratic and ingenious Bill, the steady and dependable Will, and Joan, with whom Bill and Will are in love.  Their current project is to exactly duplicate objects, but Bill wants to go a step further and duplicate life...his efforts are fruitless as all the "exact" duplicates of the rabbits he is working on turn out to be nonliving.  In the meantime, Joan has married Will and Bill is beside himself with grief over losing her.  But if he could make an exact copy of Joan after he solves his problem of keeping the duplicates alive...an interesting story premise.  But I was disappointed in the ending...I think the author missed out on a great opportunity here...

STAR BRIGHT by Jack Williamson
A harassed husband and father meekly tries to give his unappreciative spouse and (well, his daughter seems to understand him) whatever they want, but can never get their respect.  One night he wishes on a shooting star for miracles...and the tiny meteor hits him in the forehead and lodges in his brain.  Then he discovers that he can create things by willing them into existence...his only impediment is his own imperfect knowledge of their composition.  He foolishly lets his family in on his new powers and his problems cascade. The story's ending revealed a fair amount of insight on the part of the author about how codependent behavior can harm all of the concerned parties...take away the enabler and see what happens...

MISFIT by Robert Heinlein
Heinlein liked to write optimistic, upbuilding stories about space exploration...this is one of his earliest.  A crew of young volunteers, misfits in their life on Earth, are recruited to land on a small asteroid, build a base on it, and move it to a strategic orbit between Earth and Mars.  One of the young men is revealed to be a mathematical prodigy: his mental calculations eventually save the expedition from destruction.  Misfit was written without taking into account the revolution in computers and digital technology that has become commonplace in today's world, making such an ability redundant if not obsolete.  This genius who saved the day in Heinlein's fictional tale, without extensive training in programming and systems, would probably still be regarded as a devalued "misfit" in our real time...

Next week I'll start on the best short science fiction from 1940...

Tuesday's List: The U.S. Capitol Building's Statues by State

On our visit to Washington, D.C. last Wednesday we took a tour of the Capitol building.  Our tour guide was very informative and gave us a lot of background information about the sights...including the many statues there, some ringing the National Statuary Hall (next to the Rotunda, which is the room directly under the dome and which itself is ringed by famous historical paintings) and others in different locations, including the very large visitors entrance section.  Each of the fifty states is allotted two statues to send and display in the Capitol building and the District of Columbia gets one.  From time to time a state may opt to change one of their statues, sometimes because a historical figure becomes unpopular and sometimes because a better figure is chosen to replace the former.  A special at-large statue has also been added to the National Statuary Hall: that of civil rights activist Rosa Parks (see above photo). I accessed a great list on Wikipedia...here's a link to that site: [Capitol Statues].  It was interesting how diverse the selections were...they weren't all politicians, but also included people from all walks of life who had distinguished themselves, including several Native Americans.  Here's a shortened form of that list, by state...

Alabama
HELEN KELLER
JOSEPH WHEELER

Alaska
EDWARD LEWIS "BART" BARTLETT
ERNEST GRUENING

Arizona
BARRY GOLDWATER
EUSEBIO KINO

Arkansas
URIAH MILTON ROSE
JAMES PAUL CLARK

California
RONALD REAGAN
JUNIPERO SERRA

Colorado
FLORENCE SABIN
JACK SWIGERT

Connecticut
ROGER SHERMAN
JONATHAN TRUMBULL

District of Columbia
FREDERICK DOUGLAS

Delaware
JOHN MIDDLETON CLAYTON
CAESAR RODNEY

Florida
JOHN GORRIE
EDMUND KIRBY...to be replaced by
MARY MCLEOD BETHUNE

Georgia
CRAWFORD LONG
ALEXANDER HAMILTON STEPHENS

Hawaii
FATHER DAMIEN
KAMEHAMEHA I

Idaho
GEORGE LAIRD SHOUP
WILLIAM BORAH

Illinois
JAMES SHIELDS
FRANCES E. WILLARD

Indiana
OLIVER P. MORTON
LEW WALLACE

Iowa
SAMUE JORDAN KIRKWOOD
NORMAN BORLAUG

Kansas
JOHN JAMES INGALLS
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

Kentucky
HENRY CLAY
EPHRAIM MCDOWELL

Louisiana
HUEY PIERCE LONG
EDWAR DOUGLAS WHITE

Maine
WILLIAM KING
HANNIBAL HAMLIN

Maryland
CHARLES CARROLL
JOHN HANSON

Massachusetts
SAMUEL ADAMS
JOHN WINTHROP

Michigan
LEWIS CASS
GERALD FORD

Minnesota
HENRY MOWER RICE
MARIA SANFORD

Mississippi
JAMES ZACHARIAH GEORGE
JEFFERSON DAVIS

Missouri
THOMAS HART BENTON
FRANCIS PRESTON BLAIR, JR.

Montana
CHARLES MARION RUSSELL
JEANNETTE RANKIN

Nebraska
WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN
J. STERLING MORTON

Nevada
PATRICK ANTHONY MCCARRAN
SARAH WINNEMUCCA

New Hampshire
JOHN STARK
DANIEL WEBSTER

New Jersey
PHILIP KEARNY
RICHARD STOCKTON

New Mexico
PO'PAY
DENNIS CHAVEZ

New York
GEORGE CLINTON
ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON

North Carolina
ZEBULON BAIRD VANCE
CHARLES BRANTLEY AYCOCK

North Dakota
JOHN BURKE
SAKAKAWEA

Ohio
JAMES A. GARFIELD
THOMAS EDISON

Oklahoma
SEQUOYAH
WILL ROGERS

Oregon
JASON LEE
JOHN MCLOUGHLIN

Pennsylvania
ROBERT FULTON
JOHN PETER GABRIEL MUHLENBERG

Rhode Island
NATHANAEL GREENE
ROGER WILLIAMS

South Carolina
JOHN C. CALHOUN
WAKE HAMPTON

South Dakota
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON BEADLE
JOSEPH WARD

Tennessee
ANDREW JACKSON
JOHN SEVIER

Texas
STEPHEN F. AUSTIN
SAM HOUSTON

Utah
BRIGHAM YOUNG
PHILO T. FARNSWORTH

Vermont
ETHAN ALLEN
JACOB COLLAMER

Virginia
ROBERT EDWARD LEE
GEORGE WASHINGTON

Washington
MARCUS WHITMAN
MOTHER JOSEPH

West Virginia
JOHN EDWARD KENNA
FRANCIS HARRISON PIERPONT

Wisconsin
JACQUES MARQUETTE
ROBERT M. LAFOLLETTE, SR.

Wyoming
ESTHER HOBART MORRIS
WASHAKIE

At Large
ROSA PARKS

A Few Final Notes Before Tuesday's Midterm Elections

Well, election day for the 2018 midterms is finally upon us...I plan to vote, how about you if you're registered and haven't already through absentee ballot or early voting?  I have repeatedly hammered through the idea that if people as an electorate would regularly and dutifully get out and vote, regardless of the intensity of their own feelings about the election and its candidates and issues, then we would have a much smoother-running and more representative government with greater continuity.  Instead, the off-year elections (midterms) see voter turnout precipitously drop off, especially among the younger, 18-29 age group.  It's ludicrous that Democrat Barack Obama could win Florida in 2008, Tea Party Republican Rick Scott eek out a razor-thin victory for governor in 2010, Obama win Florida again in 2012...and Scott get reelected two years later!  Had folks not stayed at home for those mid-term elections in 2010 and 2014, I doubt that Scott would have ever had a chance for election.  And regarding the increasingly hostile, toxic atmosphere now permeating close races...

Let's take two races going on in my local area: the US House of Representatives District 3 seat, which includes Gainesville, is currently held by Republican Ted Yoho, who is running for reelection.  His Democratic opponent is Yvonne Hayes-Hinson.  But since Yoho seems comfortably ahead in this race, you see nary an ad...much less an attack ad...from either side.  But in our State Senate District 8, the incumbent, Republican Keith Perry, is in a closer race against Democratic challenger Kayser Enneking.  Both strike me as very nice, decent people who want to implement their respective ideas for the greater good...but you wouldn't know this through their ads vilifying each other.  So why be mean like this?  Some will blame the political campaign consultants and the politicians...I blame the people out there who won't bother to vote unless they can get an emotional rush out of the experience.  And in a close race, the easiest way to ratchet up your side's turnout is to raise their irrational anger, fear, and contempt levels against the other side.   And, sad to say, it often works...sure did in 2016!

As to how well President Trump will do in urging voters to support his Republican Party candidates, keep in mind that he himself has publicly stated that this election is all about him.  But in 2016, both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton had very large disapproval ratings...ultimately what won it for Trump was that more voters disliked Hillary than him in a very small number of key states.  But voters aren't choosing between Clinton and Trump for president this time around: it's Trump and whether you like him or not...he's not as likely to be as appealing standing on his own.  On the other hand, I'm not convinced that pro-Democratic voters will actually rise up in the numbers they need to swing the election enough to give that party control of the House of Representatives. And they might as well forget about retaking the Senate: the Republicans are due to gain some seats there.  No, like Michael Moore, I'm pretty skeptical about what will happen this Tuesday...

Since Tuesday is Election Day, I think I'll conclude by making a prediction...partially formulated by what happened in 2016.  It's this: regardless how the elections turn out, President Trump will claim personal victory and total credit for himself...and then go on to state that it all was rigged and that there was massive voter fraud.  Then he'll order another phony investigation, just like he did in 2017.  You know it's coming...

Just Finished Reading The Runaway Jury by John Grisham

Having served on a jury earlier this year (and not liking it one bit), when I ran across John Grisham's 1996 legal novel The Runaway Jury I couldn't resist and decided to read it.  After all, when stuck in the courthouse I myself felt like running away...but from the jury, not with it.  Grisham's meaning, though, was to describe a jury whose deliberations and decisions went way beyond the parameters expected by both the judge and the opposing attorneys.  Another difference is that my jury experience was of a criminal trial and this book concerned a civil one, with big business, money and publicity playing major roles...

The trial in The Runaway Jury has the plaintiff, the widow of a longtime chain smoker, suing the tobacco company making and selling his favorite brand of cigarette.  It's all seen as a test case for the tobacco industry and anti-smoking litigation, and as such both sides employ extraordinary means to create a jury that will deliver them a favorable verdict.  It seemed pretty creepy to me that there are consulting firms for investigating people in jury pools, even following them around and interviewing neighbors and coworkers concerning their lifestyles, habits, and opinions...what an invasion of privacy!  Grisham exposes not only this form of manipulation but also delves into jury tampering during the trial as well.  But what makes his story special is that he has inserted a mysterious wild card jurist, Nicolas Easter, into the picture.  Just who exactly is Easter, a young man with no discernible past who seems determined to throw the proceedings into complete chaos?  And what about Marlee, a young woman who seems to know everything going on with the jurors...even after they are sequestered? 

I'm getting to be quite a fan of John Grisham...he might now be my second favorite author behind Stephen King.  I heard they made a movie based on this book in 2003, starring among others John Cusack, Gene Hackman, and Dustin Hoffman.  But the trial in the film isn't based on smoking litigation but rather a shooting, making me not even want to watch it.  But do read the book: it's one of Grisham's better ones...

Some Reactions to Visiting Washington, D.C.

Our trip to Washington, D.C. last week made an strong impression on me...mostly favorable.  We as Americans truly have a very classy capital city, and we should all be proud of it...even if we're not too enamored with some of the elected politicians working there.  Here are a few of my reactions to the visit...

One of the things that immediately struck me as I began to walk the streets of Washington was the immensity of its buildings...everything there seems to be built on a grand scale.  Whereas in most major cities the downtown administration area is clustered with skyscrapers, our nation's capital city has an established ordinance that prohibits new buildings from exceeding in height that of the Statue of Freedom standing atop the Capitol building.  The result has many, many very long and wide government buildings and businesses sometimes occupying entire city blocks...and even going underground as well...

I live in Gainesville, Florida, and although the major intersections have pedestrian crosswalks with walk/don't-walk signals and numerical countdowns on the "walk" phase, it just seems dangerous crossing streets because...well, frankly a lot of drivers here either just don't look out for pedestrians and bicyclists or they act like they shouldn't be there.  In Washington, though, pedestrians rule: the intersections don't even have a button that crossers need to push, and they usually give a very generous amount of crossing time...

When Melissa and I got off the plane at Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia, we used an inexpensive bus line to take us to an outlying Washington Metro train station...we got on the Silver Line and it let us out just a short distance from our hotel a block from the Mall.  I have to say that I love the whole concept of the Metro...mostly underground...it's too bad that more cities refuse to invest in this sort of transportation that serves the people so well.  The only problem I had with it was that sometimes the entry points above ground are hard to find: Saturday morning, on the way back to the airport, we finally found our station while walking around in the rain after overshooting it and having to backtrack.  But yes, I really dig the Metro.  I also thought that Union Station, a few blocks north of the Capitol, was extraordinary...you can board Amtrak trains to other cities there as well as connect with the Metro and the architecture is stunning...

Well, that's some of my reactions to visiting Washington. More to come...

Quote of the Week...from Mark Twain

Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference. 
                                                                      ---Mark Twain.

This quote indirectly came to me from a friend's post on Facebook as he related his workplace experience arguing some points with someone...somebody else showed him a paraphrase of Twain's above quote. Actually, the great American author may have derived his own saying from a Proverbs verse...more on that and its interesting accompanying verse later.  First of all, I don't think anyone is completely a fool...each of us has areas in our lives in which we behave foolishly or entertain foolish thoughts. But the quote pertains when someone we encounter is in the midst of their particular foolishness...the temptation to react and correct them can be overwhelming.  But if their beliefs are irrationally and/or emotionally based and, after a bit of back-and-forth exchange with them, it is obvious that nothing positive is coming out of the discussion, it is better to politely step back out of it without trying to hammer your own points onto the other.  Else, as Twain said, onlookers may not be able to discern who is the greater fool...

As to the verses found in the Old Testament book of Proverbs, we look in Chapter 26, first at Verse 4: Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be just like him.  Good, that seems to reflect the sentiment of this article, doesn't it?  But wait...read on what it says in Verse 5: Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes.  So the Bible seems to be giving us a choice: which is more important, not looking like a fool to others or convincing another of his own error?  I say it's okay to express my disagreement with someone by expressing my case as being my own sentiments, not making it all sound like some kind of immutable universal law that must be obeyed and believed, and then change the subject or walk away. That way, I've at least planted a seed in his or her mind as well as those of any onlookers.  By the way, graciously letting the "fool" have the last word is a good idea as well, although for a lot of us that may be pretty difficult...