The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court justice.
---Mitch McConnell
The United States Senate's majority party has been Republican for the last two years of the Obama presidency and for all of Trump's so far. Kentucky's Mitch McConnell has been majority leader the entire period and has ruled his caucus with a tight rein, demanding strict party loyalty on the vast majority of votes. And "his" senators have by-and-large meekly complied like sheep with his whims, basically turning the Senate into a one-man legislative body. In February of 2016, United States Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, a strong conservative, unexpectedly passed away, leaving a vacancy. Within three hours of the announcement, before President Obama could even talk with him about it, McConnell issued a press release stating that he would not consider any Obama appointment to fill the seat and that it would be filled by the winner of the coming November election after he or she took office. The above quote was made during this period...Barack Obama, who actually WAS the American people's duly-elected president at the time, still submitted federal judge Merrick Garland as his nominee. But McConnell snubbed Garland's attempts to meet with him and Charles Grassley, the Senate Judiciary chairman, refused to hold confirmation hearings. The rest is history: Republican Donald Trump won the election, the Republicans retained control over the Senate, and Neil Gorsuch filled Scalia's seat instead of Garland. Now fast forward to today in 2019 with the 2020 campaign and election looming ahead. I've previously suggested on this blog that should another vacancy occur on the Supreme Court during 2020, Mitch McConnell would weasel out of his so-called "principled" rationale for blocking Obama's 2016 nominee and instead push through a Trump replacement nominee. So when he was questioned about this last week in Paducah, Kentucky, he confirmed my suspicions by stating precisely that...
I know that many, many people keep political score on the United States Supreme Court composition and how the tally of conservatives vs. liberals will tilt the balance regarding strongly divisive issues, some of which carry enormous weight with different people and their associated interest groups My problem is that on some things I'm on the conservative side and on others I'm more to the left. I don't have any phobia about an "unbalanced" Court wrecking our country and our rights, but I do believe that when the political leaders responsible for processing its nominees are only interested in playing that numbers game for their own "side" and switch from principle to expediency whenever it suits them, then the system becomes corrupted and everybody eventually loses out when they lose respect for the process...and consequently the Court rulings when they are issued. I never did like McConnell because of his naked hypocrisy on this and other issues...can't the Republicans come up with anyone better to lead them? I can think of several in the Senate who would do a better job. As far as I can tell, conservatives and liberals alike despise him...Rush Limbaugh even derisively refers to him as "the Turtle"....
Friday, May 31, 2019
Thursday, May 30, 2019
Weekly Short Stories: 1947 Science Fiction, Part 2
I continued my examination of some of the best in short science fiction from 1947, using the anthology Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 9 (1947). The four stories I've reviewed below deal respectively with extraterrestrial contact, a secret invention, sense of identity, and the atom bomb...themes that are common in science fiction short stories. Here are those stories...
TINY AND THE MONSTER by Theodore Sturgeon
Most alien visitation stories don't begin in the sunny Caribbean, but this one does. In the Virgin Islands a dog...Great Dane by breed...disappears from its owner Alec for a few hours and then returns subtly changed, if you can call being able to read subtle. Events seem to mysteriously conspire leading Tiny to be sent to Miss Alistair Forsythe, a metallurgical scientist by profession who lives a little upstate from New York City off the Hudson. Tiny seems to be the manipulator of events, and what does he have in mind for Alistair...no, I am not going to spoil the story. Tiny and the Monster, like just about all Theodore Sturgeon stories, are character-intensive and care as much about their relationships as they do the often quirky sci-fi themes that would arise in his fertile imagination...
E FOR EFFORT by T. L. Sherred
Ed, a frustrated small-time, shady entrepreneur stumbles across a small theater run by Miguel, or Mike as it is anglicized. The movie he sees there is historical, about the encounter between Cortez and Montezuma, with remarkable detail in spite of the low-budget film it is using. It comes out early on in the story that Mike has invented a machine through which one can view anything that has ever happened anywhere. So what do Ed and Mike stupidly do with it? They make and distribute blockbuster historical movies, which work out fine for them...especially with the gobs of money they earn...until they make films about the U.S. Civil War and the two World Wars (and their causes). This is an example of something I've harped upon before: if you have an ability or special access to something that gives you a unique advantage over the rest of the world, then the last thing you should want to do is go about publicizing it...especially when by doing so you are telling people that they can hold no secrets from you. I gave up on Ed and Mike's foolishness early in the story, but it's a worthwhile examination about the limitations of our so-called "free" society...
LETTER TO ELLEN by Chan Davis
A young biological engineer/scientist is working on a special project with his friend and colleague to create special forms of life while their supervisor keeps the specifics of their ultimate goal secret from them. One day the colleague sneaks around and discovers the answer, turning their project upside-down and causing a lot of introspection about their own identities. This relatively brief story is presented in the form of a letter the young man is writing to Ellen, his love interest...
THE FIGURE by Edward Grendon
Only five pages long, The Figure fits with that type of short story that builds up to the climactic and paradigm-shifting final knockout sentence. Three scientists are teamed up to invent a special form of time machine that can extract something from the future and bring it back. Suddenly it's revealed by the narrator, one of the three, that the other two decided to "go fishing" and probably won't come back. Why did they leave? One clue: the narrator touches upon the sudden population explosion of roaches and other bugs following nuclear detonations, especially with the ones in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I don't know whether this really happened or not, but the author certainly made it seem real...
More about short science fiction from 1947 next week...
TINY AND THE MONSTER by Theodore Sturgeon
Most alien visitation stories don't begin in the sunny Caribbean, but this one does. In the Virgin Islands a dog...Great Dane by breed...disappears from its owner Alec for a few hours and then returns subtly changed, if you can call being able to read subtle. Events seem to mysteriously conspire leading Tiny to be sent to Miss Alistair Forsythe, a metallurgical scientist by profession who lives a little upstate from New York City off the Hudson. Tiny seems to be the manipulator of events, and what does he have in mind for Alistair...no, I am not going to spoil the story. Tiny and the Monster, like just about all Theodore Sturgeon stories, are character-intensive and care as much about their relationships as they do the often quirky sci-fi themes that would arise in his fertile imagination...
E FOR EFFORT by T. L. Sherred
Ed, a frustrated small-time, shady entrepreneur stumbles across a small theater run by Miguel, or Mike as it is anglicized. The movie he sees there is historical, about the encounter between Cortez and Montezuma, with remarkable detail in spite of the low-budget film it is using. It comes out early on in the story that Mike has invented a machine through which one can view anything that has ever happened anywhere. So what do Ed and Mike stupidly do with it? They make and distribute blockbuster historical movies, which work out fine for them...especially with the gobs of money they earn...until they make films about the U.S. Civil War and the two World Wars (and their causes). This is an example of something I've harped upon before: if you have an ability or special access to something that gives you a unique advantage over the rest of the world, then the last thing you should want to do is go about publicizing it...especially when by doing so you are telling people that they can hold no secrets from you. I gave up on Ed and Mike's foolishness early in the story, but it's a worthwhile examination about the limitations of our so-called "free" society...
LETTER TO ELLEN by Chan Davis
A young biological engineer/scientist is working on a special project with his friend and colleague to create special forms of life while their supervisor keeps the specifics of their ultimate goal secret from them. One day the colleague sneaks around and discovers the answer, turning their project upside-down and causing a lot of introspection about their own identities. This relatively brief story is presented in the form of a letter the young man is writing to Ellen, his love interest...
THE FIGURE by Edward Grendon
Only five pages long, The Figure fits with that type of short story that builds up to the climactic and paradigm-shifting final knockout sentence. Three scientists are teamed up to invent a special form of time machine that can extract something from the future and bring it back. Suddenly it's revealed by the narrator, one of the three, that the other two decided to "go fishing" and probably won't come back. Why did they leave? One clue: the narrator touches upon the sudden population explosion of roaches and other bugs following nuclear detonations, especially with the ones in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I don't know whether this really happened or not, but the author certainly made it seem real...
More about short science fiction from 1947 next week...
Wednesday, May 29, 2019
Freckles, 2005-2019
Our precious mixed-breed rescue dog, Freckles, passed away today from organ failure at the age of 14...we're all in a state of grief over her departure, but also remember with great fondness the span of her long life and time with us. This has to have been one of the sweetest dogs in history, and how fortunate for us that she entered our lives in the summer of 2005. Here is a reprint from an article I wrote on this blog about her eleven years ago...
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Freckles, Cuddles, and Taffy
Two summers ago, we adopted Freckles (above), a mixed-breed puppy, for my daughter as a advance-birthday present that year. Gainesville has a non-profit organization called Puppy Hill Farms that takes in abandoned animals, cares for them, and puts them up for adoption. Freckles was already spayed when we got her from them. We weren't too sure how big she would grow, but she finally slowed her growth down to where she is about 55 pounds. Freckles is a very high-spirited, lively dog who loves to play with tennis balls or sticks, as well as having her belly rubbed. At the beginning, we took her to obedience classes, where she learned a few commands. Freckles apparently had some traumas before Puppy Hills Farms took her in, because she becomes petrified at the sight of any truck or the sound of any running machinery. Freckles has an older "sister" in Cuddles, another mixed-breed dog that we've had since 1997 (as my son's dog). While Freckles seems to have some greyhound and Aussie shepherd in her, Cuddles is more like a dachshund/basset hound combo and is stocky and close to the ground (but very fast when she wants to be). We adore our dogs. A year ago, Taffy, our miniature poodle, passed on after nineteen happy years with us. I love dogs, and I am not particular about breeds, either. If you live in a place that allows pets, I recommend adopting a mixed breed dog from one of the adoption agencies. Our lives have been enormously enriched by ours! Last month, our veterinarian picked Freckles as the pet of the month (entitling her to a free bath and nail-clipping)! Here are pictures of Cuddles (left) and a very young Taffy (with me, right):
Tuesday, May 28, 2019
Congress Taking Yet Another Whole Week Off from Work
For many of us we enjoyed the Memorial Day weekend off from work while honoring those who fell in war to protect our freedoms. Many worked as well...but we're all anticipating returning to our normal work schedules today, the day after Memorial Day...right? Wrong! Our elected national Congress has scheduled the entire week of Memorial Day off...after all, I guess they think they work so hard on our behalf that they need the extra time...not! I find it more than a little disconcerting that the Senate Majority Leader keeps complaining about the Democrats holding up Trump's nominations and bills, yet the Senate takes off 17-18 full weeks per calendar year...and that doesn't include the weekends. The House of Representatives takes even more days off, missing many Mondays and Fridays. I suppose the rationale for this is that members need to return to their respective states and districts to keep in touch with the people they represent...if this were only so. Instead, I see party leaders tightly holding their caucuses together in lock-step votes on most issues presented on the floor instead of the members themselves voting according to their own individual consciences and convictions. I'm sure that when the Senate finally gets around to reconvening on Monday afternoon of June 3rd, Senator McConnell will return to bemoaning how far behind the Senate is with its work...well, dude, if you're so concerned about getting things done then why don't you show up for work like the masses of people you claim to represent? I'm going to work this afternoon, but politicians apparently believe they need a whole week to recover from a holiday...I guess they're just better people than us ordinary folk...
Monday, May 27, 2019
Recently Read Article About Repelling Mosquitos
Since I cancelled my subscription some time back to my local newspaper and have little patience with my local or national TV news, I've come to rely more...for better or for worse...on my MSN newsfeed that pops up on my computer screen upon activation. Sometimes they have helpful articles about different topics they picked up off other sites: the one I just read about ways to repel mosquitos is good example. It was a Prevention magazine piece written by Korin Miller and Markham Heid and listed a few ideas that might be of use. In Gainesville we're bordered on the south by a vast wetlands area called Payne's Prairie...it's the size of our fair city and is a prime breeding zone for those horrible, obnoxious insects that really begin to plague us around this time of the year. Right now, it would be more appropriate to rename this area Lake Alachua, which it used to be called a century ago before the waters receded considerably. When the wind is blowing in from the south...a common occurrence this time of year, it blows all those nasty little buggers breeding there over to the city, regardless how careful folks here are to avoid any sources of standing water around themselves (this was one of the article's suggestions). So like it or not, mosquitos are a fact of life that we folks in Gainesville have to deal with. Miller and Heid emphasized that with the advent of the dangerous mosquito-borne West Nile and Zika viruses, repelling them is advised for everyone. Some ideas from the article:
Try to stay out in breezes (or use electric fans to stir up the air).
Avoid the outdoors during dusk and dawn when mosquitos are the most active.
Use DEET (rub on the skin, not spray). This is the active agent common to many effective mosquito repellents sold in stores, with the concentration affecting the time span of its effectiveness.
Stay cool and avoid sweating...mosquitos are attracted to the hormones within perspiration.
Wear tight or lightly-colored clothes.
Avoid things like exercise, alcohol, or spicy foods that tend to increase metabolic rate and consequently carbon dioxide production...mosquitos go for CO2 in a big way.
Get plants like citronella, lavender, lemongrass, marigolds, and basil that repel mosquitos.
Get your yard sprayed for mosquitos.
Avoid scented products.
I appreciate all the above suggestions by Korin Miller and Markham Heid, although to me exercise is often a major component of going outside, and twilight running is preferable to running in the heat of the day...especially one like today when the temperature is topping 100. Of course, the act of running itself automatically sets up a breeze around me, so that's good...as long as I remain in motion, that is. But if I'm going to just sit out there in the shade...or maybe do a little evening stargazing...I definitely plan to start slapping on some of that repellent...
Try to stay out in breezes (or use electric fans to stir up the air).
Avoid the outdoors during dusk and dawn when mosquitos are the most active.
Use DEET (rub on the skin, not spray). This is the active agent common to many effective mosquito repellents sold in stores, with the concentration affecting the time span of its effectiveness.
Stay cool and avoid sweating...mosquitos are attracted to the hormones within perspiration.
Wear tight or lightly-colored clothes.
Avoid things like exercise, alcohol, or spicy foods that tend to increase metabolic rate and consequently carbon dioxide production...mosquitos go for CO2 in a big way.
Get plants like citronella, lavender, lemongrass, marigolds, and basil that repel mosquitos.
Get your yard sprayed for mosquitos.
Avoid scented products.
I appreciate all the above suggestions by Korin Miller and Markham Heid, although to me exercise is often a major component of going outside, and twilight running is preferable to running in the heat of the day...especially one like today when the temperature is topping 100. Of course, the act of running itself automatically sets up a breeze around me, so that's good...as long as I remain in motion, that is. But if I'm going to just sit out there in the shade...or maybe do a little evening stargazing...I definitely plan to start slapping on some of that repellent...
Sunday, May 26, 2019
NBA, NHL, Soccer Seasons Winding Down for 2019
I just witnessed the Toronto Raptors come from a two-to-nothing deficit to win four straight games over the favored Milwaukee Bucks, claiming their first ever National Basketball Association Eastern Conference title...they'll be starting their league championship series against the Golden State Warriors this Thursday evening, the 30th of May. I've come to enjoy watching this team play, not only because of their superstar Kawhi Leonard but also for their unselfish team play...my favorite player is Kyle Lowry, who's gone through a lot with this team over the years and is finally getting his due recognition. For the Raptors/Warriors series, I don't especially care who wins, just that the games are close and the series lasts a while...
In hockey, the NHL playoffs have also reached the stage of the final series to determine their Stanley Cup champion. The survivors to this point are Boston...my favorite in the playoffs after Tampa Bay dismally failed in their opening series...and St. Louis, who surprised a few by coming back and knocking out San Jose in their last series. The Blues have never won the Stanley Cup and the Bruins would like to add another...should be fun to watch when I have the opportunity...
The various pro team soccer leagues from different countries have mostly finished their seasons. In England Manchester City won their second straight Premier League title by a single point over Liverpool, while in Germany's Bundesliga Bayern Munich survived a scare from Borussia Dortmund to claim yet another championship...in England and Germany (as well as most other leagues) there are no postseason playoffs: the regular season champ IS the champ. Mexico's top league, however, not only has a playoff system they call the Liguilla, but they do it twice a year...as I write this the very final match is on to determine the 2019 Clausura Liguilla champion. UANL Tigres, which I've consistently followed and supported over the last five years, is looking to gain its fourth Liguilla title against Leon, which finished this regular season with the league's best record. Meanwhile, Major League Soccer, a spring-to-fall league composed of American and Canadian teams, is in the middle of its season: there's plenty more soccer throughout the summer!
And once basketball and hockey are finished with their playoffs, I'll basically be left with Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer to follow through the summer months. I haven't been paying much attention to baseball...may that will change once the other sports are through with their seasons...
One other thing: in team professional soccer, the vaunted Champion's League for Europe will stage its championship match next Saturday, June 1 to determine the continent's best team for the year. It will be an all-England finale pitting London's Tottenham against Liverpool: the site will be Madrid, Spain...should be exciting to watch...
In hockey, the NHL playoffs have also reached the stage of the final series to determine their Stanley Cup champion. The survivors to this point are Boston...my favorite in the playoffs after Tampa Bay dismally failed in their opening series...and St. Louis, who surprised a few by coming back and knocking out San Jose in their last series. The Blues have never won the Stanley Cup and the Bruins would like to add another...should be fun to watch when I have the opportunity...
The various pro team soccer leagues from different countries have mostly finished their seasons. In England Manchester City won their second straight Premier League title by a single point over Liverpool, while in Germany's Bundesliga Bayern Munich survived a scare from Borussia Dortmund to claim yet another championship...in England and Germany (as well as most other leagues) there are no postseason playoffs: the regular season champ IS the champ. Mexico's top league, however, not only has a playoff system they call the Liguilla, but they do it twice a year...as I write this the very final match is on to determine the 2019 Clausura Liguilla champion. UANL Tigres, which I've consistently followed and supported over the last five years, is looking to gain its fourth Liguilla title against Leon, which finished this regular season with the league's best record. Meanwhile, Major League Soccer, a spring-to-fall league composed of American and Canadian teams, is in the middle of its season: there's plenty more soccer throughout the summer!
And once basketball and hockey are finished with their playoffs, I'll basically be left with Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer to follow through the summer months. I haven't been paying much attention to baseball...may that will change once the other sports are through with their seasons...
One other thing: in team professional soccer, the vaunted Champion's League for Europe will stage its championship match next Saturday, June 1 to determine the continent's best team for the year. It will be an all-England finale pitting London's Tottenham against Liverpool: the site will be Madrid, Spain...should be exciting to watch...
Saturday, May 25, 2019
Space Program is Each President's Political Toy
I find it pretty frustrating that with each new administration in Washington our space program gets turned topsy-turvy as the incoming president almost always has a different emphasis and ideas as to where he wants to go with it. With the last four presidents, Bill Clinton cared little about getting humans out of near-Earth orbit while George W. Bush set into motion plans for a more powerful rocket to take us back to the moon...this time for a permanent base...while retiring the Space Shuttle. Barack Obama then abruptly ended that, breaking a campaign promise he had made to Floridians just before the 2008 election, and changed the emphasis to outsourcing rocket-building and the manned space programs to private firms like Space X and focusing instead on going to Mars and the Asteroids much further into the future. And now Donald Trump has steered the program back to the moon, with the idea of establishing businesses there as well as a platform to eventually make trips to the Red Planet. Although I am totally on board with our current president's program...and each president does have undue influence over our space efforts since NASA is an agency within the Executive Branch...I also am skeptical that it will stay in place beyond his tenure in office. Whoever succeeds him, I'm sure, will want to put their own personal stamp on the space program...something I find extremely counterproductive as it causes massive changes of our goals every few years. No wonder we've been stuck having to depend on the Russians to launch our own astronauts into space for so long! We desperately need to be able to make our space program not such a political toy for each president to play with...and wreck in the process. In this I am referring primarily to manned exploration and settlement of other worlds, efforts that need a continuity of bipartisan political support spanning many years for them to bear any fruit. Naturally, I'm hearing next-to-nothing about this problem in the already-overheated, much-too-early presidential race from the other candidates. Here's an issue on which that I can stand with Trump...unfortunately, his program may be doomed if he loses the 2020 election just because he himself pushed it...if he loses, his successor will doubtless turn around and change everything once again. Sigh...
Friday, May 24, 2019
Quote of the Week...from Yogi Berra
Make a game plan and stick to it. Unless it's not working. ---Yogi Berra
Yogi Berra was a Hall of Fame catcher and fantastic hitter for the New York Yankees during my early childhood when they were tearing up the baseball world as a fixture in the World Series from year to year, winning several of them along the way. Later on he tried his hand at managing with mixed results. What many remember him the most for, however...besides his many Yoo-Hoo TV commercials...was his sense of humor and ability to twist the English language like a pretzel, creating ludicrous contradictions in many of his sayings, like "Ninety percent of the lies they're telling about me aren't true" or "I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous". Sometimes, though, he would come up with something that for most sounded ridiculous, but upon thinking about it a little would actually contain some profound wisdom...like the above quote, for example...
Yogi was a baseball man and it's natural that he would term advance strategizing as "a game plan", and in sports as will as other endeavors it only makes common sense to know up front what you're going to do before commencing with it. There will almost always be a few bumps at the start...but if your strategy is well thought out it's probably in your best interests to stick with it. But in competitive environments the opponent not only has his own game plan, but is also adjusting to yours in order to render it ineffective. Still, even without an adversary to throw a monkey wrench into all your well-laid plans, the pervasive nature of chaos as it can overtake any undertaking (ooh, that's sounds like something Yogi might say) demands that tactics and priorities must change along with the often-confusing changes going on around. Besides, in a game or a project, you only have so much information to start with...the flood of input soon into it can be daunting and it's probably a good idea to stick to your guns until you can adequately process it all. But if it's become clear that your strategy is a complete exercise in futility, why not then ditch it and try something new? Yogi, you never let me down with your wisdom...
Yogi Berra was a Hall of Fame catcher and fantastic hitter for the New York Yankees during my early childhood when they were tearing up the baseball world as a fixture in the World Series from year to year, winning several of them along the way. Later on he tried his hand at managing with mixed results. What many remember him the most for, however...besides his many Yoo-Hoo TV commercials...was his sense of humor and ability to twist the English language like a pretzel, creating ludicrous contradictions in many of his sayings, like "Ninety percent of the lies they're telling about me aren't true" or "I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous". Sometimes, though, he would come up with something that for most sounded ridiculous, but upon thinking about it a little would actually contain some profound wisdom...like the above quote, for example...
Yogi was a baseball man and it's natural that he would term advance strategizing as "a game plan", and in sports as will as other endeavors it only makes common sense to know up front what you're going to do before commencing with it. There will almost always be a few bumps at the start...but if your strategy is well thought out it's probably in your best interests to stick with it. But in competitive environments the opponent not only has his own game plan, but is also adjusting to yours in order to render it ineffective. Still, even without an adversary to throw a monkey wrench into all your well-laid plans, the pervasive nature of chaos as it can overtake any undertaking (ooh, that's sounds like something Yogi might say) demands that tactics and priorities must change along with the often-confusing changes going on around. Besides, in a game or a project, you only have so much information to start with...the flood of input soon into it can be daunting and it's probably a good idea to stick to your guns until you can adequately process it all. But if it's become clear that your strategy is a complete exercise in futility, why not then ditch it and try something new? Yogi, you never let me down with your wisdom...
Thursday, May 23, 2019
Just Finished Reading A Separate Peace by John Knowles
When I recently bought John Knowles' novel A Separate Peace (for 25 cents) at a local used book sale, I didn't recall that I had actually read it before. But as I went through it, the text seemed more and more familiar...making me conclude that it was probably one of those high school English class reading assignments that I had stashed away in the deep, dark recesses of my memory. It's a story about two boys attending a private prep school in New Hampshire in 1942 as World War II raged in the news and shortages and restrictions made themselves more and more felt around them, and with military service looming ahead of them upon graduation. Gene, the first-person narrator, is the more introverted and cautious while "Finny" (from Phineas) is extroverted and impulsive. The story quickly evolves as an examination of their friendship and its nature: Gene finds himself a follower of Finny's exploits, eventually feeling resentment at the latter's apparent view of him as being little more than just an extension of his own dominating personality. The rift between the two is kept hidden and unexpressed until...well, here's where I let you, the potential reader of this novel, find out for yourself what happens...
It is that determination that some have to dominate and submerge others in their relationships...and the other party's unhappy and irrational acquiescence to such an inequitable and demeaning arrangement, that impressed me the most with A Separate Peace. All throughout my life I have experienced people who, like Finny, seem to think that there's only one narrative to display interest in: their own, and that it is supposedly up to me to simply lay down my own sense of identity, interests, and values and follow them in everything they say and do. To which I say: screw that! If you haven't read this 1959 book by John Knowles, I recommend it to you. But why not save the quarter I spent on it and just check it out for free from the library? One warning, though: although it is a short novel, it is also pretty disturbing...
It is that determination that some have to dominate and submerge others in their relationships...and the other party's unhappy and irrational acquiescence to such an inequitable and demeaning arrangement, that impressed me the most with A Separate Peace. All throughout my life I have experienced people who, like Finny, seem to think that there's only one narrative to display interest in: their own, and that it is supposedly up to me to simply lay down my own sense of identity, interests, and values and follow them in everything they say and do. To which I say: screw that! If you haven't read this 1959 book by John Knowles, I recommend it to you. But why not save the quarter I spent on it and just check it out for free from the library? One warning, though: although it is a short novel, it is also pretty disturbing...
Wednesday, May 22, 2019
Weekly Short Stories: 1947 Science Fiction, Part 1
This week I moved forward one year in my reviews of past science fiction short stories to 1947...far bygone, to be sure, but still close enough that many alive then are still around now (including Stephen King, born in that year). The book I drew upon is Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 9 (1947)...this series spans the years 1939-63 in short sci-fi. Here are my reactions to the first four stories in this "year's best" anthology...
LITTLE LOST ROBOT by Isaac Asimov
To fully grasp this story you need to understand a little about Isaac Asimov's created fictional universe, especially with regard to robots. In the not-so-distant future, robots, positronically-powered, are all android in nature and have achieved a great level of sophistication. There has been popular backlash against them, and partially as a response all robots are programmed to adhere to the Three Laws of Robotics...the first and foremost being that a robot can never cause harm to a human, either by direct action or through neglect. In a remote hyperatomic-driven space base, robotics psychologist Susan Calvin is brought in the solve a mystery, that of a missing robot that had part of its First Law amended to allow it to work in high-radiation zones with humans. The missing robot has concealed itself among 52 other normal, unaltered robots. Dr. Calvin's task is to figure a way to discover which one of the 53 is the hidden robot...all will need to be destroyed should she fail in her mission. This is as much a detective mystery story as it is science fiction, and Asimov proudly admitted as much...
TOMORROW'S CHILDREN by Poul Anderson
A bleak tale of the worldwide apocalypse on many levels following a planetary nuclear war two years earlier. Hugh Drummond, the protagonist, is an American military officer sent on a mission to discover the extent of the postwar damage, and he returns to the de facto President in Taylor, Oregon...the new national capital "city"...to deliver the somber news. It isn't just the immediate death and destruction caused by the explosions or the massive social upheavals...the radiation has permeated everything on Earth, forever changing the future of humanity in the most fundamental ways. This story came out while the United States had monopoly control over the nuclear bomb, two years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But just two years later the Soviet Union would explode their first atomic weapon and Anderson's foreboding tale would take on a greater sense of meaning and urgency...
CHILD'S PLAY by William Tenn
One of the grosser short science fiction stories I've read and reminiscent of some earlier works by Lewis Padgett, Child's Play has no connection with the horror movie series starring the evil little doll Chucky. Instead, an ordinary, insecure lawyer in a firm gets a mystery gift delivered to his door in the form of a large box. Inside are instructions and ingredients for a child's educational toy: Build-a-Body. He learns, through reading the instructional booklet, all there is about constructing other life forms, including humans. Discovering that he can make twins of people, he decides to "copy" the gorgeous secretary who just threw him over for a colleague. But there's a tall, menacing-looking man trying to find him...our lawyer hero knows his "present" came from the future and this dude is out to retrieve it: he'd better hurry with his plans. I figured out the ending for this story too early...but the premise was interesting although quite a bit disturbing...
TIME AND TIME AGAIN by H. Beam Piper
A dying military officer on the battlefield in World War III...year 1975...gets a special injection that sends him back to his 13-year-old body and New Hampshire home in 1945, but complete with all his memories from the intervening years. Knowing what's to come, he has to come clean with his father about his situation...his intent is to alter history over the next few years so that the war never materializes. Time and Time Again is clearly about time travel, but toward the end goes more into a speculative conversation about the nature of consciousness and its relationship to the "now" as it passes through the chronology of years. Interesting ideas, although the story didn't adequately explain itself, in my opinion...
More from 1947 in the world of excellent science fiction short stories next week...
LITTLE LOST ROBOT by Isaac Asimov
To fully grasp this story you need to understand a little about Isaac Asimov's created fictional universe, especially with regard to robots. In the not-so-distant future, robots, positronically-powered, are all android in nature and have achieved a great level of sophistication. There has been popular backlash against them, and partially as a response all robots are programmed to adhere to the Three Laws of Robotics...the first and foremost being that a robot can never cause harm to a human, either by direct action or through neglect. In a remote hyperatomic-driven space base, robotics psychologist Susan Calvin is brought in the solve a mystery, that of a missing robot that had part of its First Law amended to allow it to work in high-radiation zones with humans. The missing robot has concealed itself among 52 other normal, unaltered robots. Dr. Calvin's task is to figure a way to discover which one of the 53 is the hidden robot...all will need to be destroyed should she fail in her mission. This is as much a detective mystery story as it is science fiction, and Asimov proudly admitted as much...
TOMORROW'S CHILDREN by Poul Anderson
A bleak tale of the worldwide apocalypse on many levels following a planetary nuclear war two years earlier. Hugh Drummond, the protagonist, is an American military officer sent on a mission to discover the extent of the postwar damage, and he returns to the de facto President in Taylor, Oregon...the new national capital "city"...to deliver the somber news. It isn't just the immediate death and destruction caused by the explosions or the massive social upheavals...the radiation has permeated everything on Earth, forever changing the future of humanity in the most fundamental ways. This story came out while the United States had monopoly control over the nuclear bomb, two years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But just two years later the Soviet Union would explode their first atomic weapon and Anderson's foreboding tale would take on a greater sense of meaning and urgency...
CHILD'S PLAY by William Tenn
One of the grosser short science fiction stories I've read and reminiscent of some earlier works by Lewis Padgett, Child's Play has no connection with the horror movie series starring the evil little doll Chucky. Instead, an ordinary, insecure lawyer in a firm gets a mystery gift delivered to his door in the form of a large box. Inside are instructions and ingredients for a child's educational toy: Build-a-Body. He learns, through reading the instructional booklet, all there is about constructing other life forms, including humans. Discovering that he can make twins of people, he decides to "copy" the gorgeous secretary who just threw him over for a colleague. But there's a tall, menacing-looking man trying to find him...our lawyer hero knows his "present" came from the future and this dude is out to retrieve it: he'd better hurry with his plans. I figured out the ending for this story too early...but the premise was interesting although quite a bit disturbing...
TIME AND TIME AGAIN by H. Beam Piper
A dying military officer on the battlefield in World War III...year 1975...gets a special injection that sends him back to his 13-year-old body and New Hampshire home in 1945, but complete with all his memories from the intervening years. Knowing what's to come, he has to come clean with his father about his situation...his intent is to alter history over the next few years so that the war never materializes. Time and Time Again is clearly about time travel, but toward the end goes more into a speculative conversation about the nature of consciousness and its relationship to the "now" as it passes through the chronology of years. Interesting ideas, although the story didn't adequately explain itself, in my opinion...
More from 1947 in the world of excellent science fiction short stories next week...
Tuesday, May 21, 2019
Game of Thrones and Avengers: Endgame: To Spoil or Not to Spoil
There are two series, one on television and the other on the big screen, that have closed out just recently with their final episodes: Games of Thrones and Avengers. I haven't followed either...I only saw Iron Man, featuring Robert Downey, Jr. as the eventual Avengers superhero, and managed to see part of one of the Thrones episodes when I happened to get a free sneak preview of HBO, the series that carries it, on my cable service. But I have read author George R.R. Martin's The Song of Ice and Fire, on which Game of Thrones is based, all the way through the latest and fifth book and have for several years awaited the next installment. Incredibly, Martin assented to allow the HBO series to continue all the way to the conclusion, with different characters dying out and others rising to the ascendancy...none of which he has yet revealed in his book series. Now I'm determined to boycott any more books by this author, series-related or not: that's NOT how to treat your loyal reading base, dude!
Since I'm washing my hands of Martin's fantasy series, I don't suppose then that it should matter how the television Games of Thrones ends, but I still find it pretty disconcerting to be exposed to all the plot spoilers that have spontaneously appeared on social media and even from sources that should know better than to reveal things which others are waiting to discover for themselves. Contrast this with the Avengers final movie Endgame, for which there seemed to be a near-universal agreement among fans not to divulge how it ended. Yet with Game of Thrones I hear...without asking for it...how many parents had named their daughters Daenerys and now are going to have to live with that decision. Or how Taylor Swift, judged by an popular magazine to be one of the "100 most influential people in the world", has been greatly influenced by Arya Stark. Here is where fiction gets a little muddy...which is more surreal: Taylor Swift being influential on any level or fictional character Arya Stark's reality to her? In any event, fans of this series are getting themselves all knotted up over the different characters and that final episode...to them I say: get a life, or at least some semblance thereof, until you can get yourselves hooked on the next fad HBO series. And by the way, believe it or not, not everyone on Earth is necessarily following the same crap you're so engrossed in...
Since I'm washing my hands of Martin's fantasy series, I don't suppose then that it should matter how the television Games of Thrones ends, but I still find it pretty disconcerting to be exposed to all the plot spoilers that have spontaneously appeared on social media and even from sources that should know better than to reveal things which others are waiting to discover for themselves. Contrast this with the Avengers final movie Endgame, for which there seemed to be a near-universal agreement among fans not to divulge how it ended. Yet with Game of Thrones I hear...without asking for it...how many parents had named their daughters Daenerys and now are going to have to live with that decision. Or how Taylor Swift, judged by an popular magazine to be one of the "100 most influential people in the world", has been greatly influenced by Arya Stark. Here is where fiction gets a little muddy...which is more surreal: Taylor Swift being influential on any level or fictional character Arya Stark's reality to her? In any event, fans of this series are getting themselves all knotted up over the different characters and that final episode...to them I say: get a life, or at least some semblance thereof, until you can get yourselves hooked on the next fad HBO series. And by the way, believe it or not, not everyone on Earth is necessarily following the same crap you're so engrossed in...
Monday, May 20, 2019
Disappointed With Current Alternative Music "Hits"
I've expressed before on this blog that my popular music tastes tend to focus on alternative/indie rock, which in the past has produced many memorable songs and brought my attention to several talented, inspired acts. Of late, however, I have noticed that the most popular alternative hits are insipid songs that musically display little creativity. Instead, the performers seem like they are competing on those TV reality talent shows I avoid like the plague and which are so popular in this era. It hasn't always been like this...as a matter of fact, I didn't notice the change within the genre until around three years ago. The other day I was listening to Google Play's Alternative Hotlist, which plays the current rotation of chart-toppers in alternative music...and after an hour of wincing and grimacing finally gave up and switched to one of their artist-oriented channels. You see, if you want to hear music of the general type of a particular act you like, you just enter the act's name and their algorithm will create a station around it. I chose Radiohead, and found myself sighing with relief as one song after another was played that resonated with me. Unfortunately, almost all of them were songs from the past...is anybody coming out with anything interesting these days? I have to search high and low for a current song that doesn't bore me to tears...
Sunday, May 19, 2019
About Yesterday's Preakness and the Riderless Horse
After yesterday's Preakness Stakes race at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, my main reaction was totally unexpected...and it regarded the last-place horse, Bodexpress. At the race's beginning, Bodexpress threw off its rider John Velazquez...and most everyone around expected the horse to simply trot off to the side, slow down, and be diverted off the track. Instead, Bodexpress decided to hang with the rest of the horses racing and stayed in the middle-back of the pack, only fading at the very end to last place. Of course, not having a jockey's weight on top of you can help you immensely with how fast you want to go, but I think that Bodexpress was simply reverting to his horse instincts of running along with the herd. It also became apparent to me that had this horse actually wanted to win the race, he could easily have done so...making me conclude that it's the rider's professional duty to instill that unnatural winning urge within the horse being ridden, even if it takes some cruel-looking whipping to accomplish this. Of course, had Bodexpress managed to finish first it wouldn't have counted since there are strict weight amounts each horse must carry...
War of Will, who was interfered with at the crucial point in the Kentucky Derby by Maximum Security, causing the latter's disqualification but no redress for the former's misfortune, hugged the inner rail throughout the Preakness and pushed on through at the end to win it. The favorite, Improbable, finished in the middle of the pack and was never a factor in the outcome...just before the race I found out that jockey Mike Smith had never ridden Improbable and was thus at a big disadvantage...especially since this horse had a reputation for getting very skittish at the starting gate (which it was once again). Now for the Belmont Stakes, the Third Jewel in this year's already divided-up Triple Crown. I hope War of Will runs in it, and I have a further suggestion: load up Bodexpress with the same weight the other horses have and run him without a jockey! Probably not going to happen, though...the jockeys' union would most definitely file a grievance...
War of Will, who was interfered with at the crucial point in the Kentucky Derby by Maximum Security, causing the latter's disqualification but no redress for the former's misfortune, hugged the inner rail throughout the Preakness and pushed on through at the end to win it. The favorite, Improbable, finished in the middle of the pack and was never a factor in the outcome...just before the race I found out that jockey Mike Smith had never ridden Improbable and was thus at a big disadvantage...especially since this horse had a reputation for getting very skittish at the starting gate (which it was once again). Now for the Belmont Stakes, the Third Jewel in this year's already divided-up Triple Crown. I hope War of Will runs in it, and I have a further suggestion: load up Bodexpress with the same weight the other horses have and run him without a jockey! Probably not going to happen, though...the jockeys' union would most definitely file a grievance...
Saturday, May 18, 2019
Preakness Today, With Only Four from Kentucky Derby
Sports writer Neil Greenberg, in his May 15 article for the Washington Post, mentioned that with today's Preakness Stakes at Pimlico race track in Baltimore, Maryland, it will be the first time in 23 years that the Kentucky Derby winner did not participate in the second jewel of horse racing's Triple Crown...and the first time in 68 years that none of the top three finishers in that first race competed in the Preakness. Add to that the fact that the first horse to cross the finish line in the Derby, Maximum Security...disqualified from a foul due to the Kentucky Racing Commission's postrace inquiry...will not be running today, either. The result is a large-but-depleted field of thirteen in the Preakness, with only four horses who ran in the Kentucky Derby scheduled to run...
Improbable, one of successful trainer Bob Baffert's horses and who officially finished fourth in the Kentucky Derby, is the early favorite to win the Preakness. Mike Smith, who rode Justify (another Baffert thoroughbred) to Triple Crown glory last year, will be Improbable's jockey. War of Will, with the number one post position in this shortest of the Triple Crown races, was the horse involved in the foul that disqualified Maximum Security and is given favorable odds as well. I'm not seeing anything standing out to me from the other eleven horses, so I'm just going to look at these two...besides, how can you miss with Bob Baffert and Mike Smith on the same team?
The projected post time for the Preakness today is 6:48 pm and the preliminary weather forecasts show a slight chance of rain, but nothing like the precipitation that thoroughly muddied the Kentucky Derby track two weeks ago. NBC-Sports (Gainesville Cox Channel 33) will show pre-race analysis and hype from 2 to 5 pm, and from 5 on the regular NBC channel will pick up the programming. I'm planning to watch the race, but not the hype...
Improbable, one of successful trainer Bob Baffert's horses and who officially finished fourth in the Kentucky Derby, is the early favorite to win the Preakness. Mike Smith, who rode Justify (another Baffert thoroughbred) to Triple Crown glory last year, will be Improbable's jockey. War of Will, with the number one post position in this shortest of the Triple Crown races, was the horse involved in the foul that disqualified Maximum Security and is given favorable odds as well. I'm not seeing anything standing out to me from the other eleven horses, so I'm just going to look at these two...besides, how can you miss with Bob Baffert and Mike Smith on the same team?
The projected post time for the Preakness today is 6:48 pm and the preliminary weather forecasts show a slight chance of rain, but nothing like the precipitation that thoroughly muddied the Kentucky Derby track two weeks ago. NBC-Sports (Gainesville Cox Channel 33) will show pre-race analysis and hype from 2 to 5 pm, and from 5 on the regular NBC channel will pick up the programming. I'm planning to watch the race, but not the hype...
Friday, May 17, 2019
Quote of the Week...from Albert Einstein
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. ---Albert Einstein.
Can we all agree that Albert Einstein, the author of the incredibly complex and paradigm-shifting General Theory of Relativity, was a genius? And that a lot of the folks we see around us (not our own selves, naturally) seem pretty stupid? Well, that usage of "genius" and "stupidity" isn't what the groundbreaking physicist had in mind, in my opinion. Rather I think he was making a profound point: each of us has our "genius" moments and our "stupid" stretches, whether we're deemed to be smart or not. That's certainly true for me as I look back on my life. My "Eureka!" experiences pale in significance and scale compared to all of the dunderhead blunders I've committed...yet there's something almost divine or supernatural during those rare instances when everything seems to come together into focus and a new, foundational idea or principle occurs to me. I've noticed this probably the most in the past during my usually frustrating experiences in school, especially during different math classes in which the teacher would stand at the front of the students presenting the material and suddenly, out of the blue, I would "get it". Like Einstein, I was generally a mediocre-to-average math student (although I consistently scored high in it on the various standardized tests we students were subjected to) ...and I'm not too happy with the quality level of teaching I was dealt in school regarding this field. But I digress...
Sometimes a genius moment doesn't involve understanding or creating a complex idea...it can be the opposite when I figure out how to simplify things to a level that makes my life more manageable. Being a person of routine, I am looking for ways to integrate the various things I want to accomplish within the framework of a day or week...not abstract physics, but still something that involves the management of chaos, to a degree. And that's where I think most of the genius of humanity is expressed: not in great works of art, music, literature, engineering, or science, but rather in the multitude of adjustments, discoveries, and innovations people make in their daily lives, ingenious little things that generally go unnoticed by the rest of the world. Yet I sadly acknowledge that, in the midst of all this good stuff, the stupidity I see in that world seems limitless...
Can we all agree that Albert Einstein, the author of the incredibly complex and paradigm-shifting General Theory of Relativity, was a genius? And that a lot of the folks we see around us (not our own selves, naturally) seem pretty stupid? Well, that usage of "genius" and "stupidity" isn't what the groundbreaking physicist had in mind, in my opinion. Rather I think he was making a profound point: each of us has our "genius" moments and our "stupid" stretches, whether we're deemed to be smart or not. That's certainly true for me as I look back on my life. My "Eureka!" experiences pale in significance and scale compared to all of the dunderhead blunders I've committed...yet there's something almost divine or supernatural during those rare instances when everything seems to come together into focus and a new, foundational idea or principle occurs to me. I've noticed this probably the most in the past during my usually frustrating experiences in school, especially during different math classes in which the teacher would stand at the front of the students presenting the material and suddenly, out of the blue, I would "get it". Like Einstein, I was generally a mediocre-to-average math student (although I consistently scored high in it on the various standardized tests we students were subjected to) ...and I'm not too happy with the quality level of teaching I was dealt in school regarding this field. But I digress...
Sometimes a genius moment doesn't involve understanding or creating a complex idea...it can be the opposite when I figure out how to simplify things to a level that makes my life more manageable. Being a person of routine, I am looking for ways to integrate the various things I want to accomplish within the framework of a day or week...not abstract physics, but still something that involves the management of chaos, to a degree. And that's where I think most of the genius of humanity is expressed: not in great works of art, music, literature, engineering, or science, but rather in the multitude of adjustments, discoveries, and innovations people make in their daily lives, ingenious little things that generally go unnoticed by the rest of the world. Yet I sadly acknowledge that, in the midst of all this good stuff, the stupidity I see in that world seems limitless...
Thursday, May 16, 2019
Just Finished Reading Fear by Bob Woodward
Renowned investigative journalist Bob Woodward, who in 1973 collaborated with his Washington Post colleague Carl Bernstein to uncover the Nixon administration's Watergate scandal, came out last year with a new book: Fear. It portrays Donald Trump, both on the campaign trail and in a little more than the first year of his presidency, from the experiences of people working for and with him over that period. Woodward claims to have interviewed hundreds and employed strict journalism standards with this project. When it first came out last September, the main things that were publicized were critical of Trump, with examples of his aides and cabinet members regularly insulting him behind his back while surreptitiously undercutting his authority in light of what they regarded as his impulsive and harmful decisions. The President's backers...as well as Donald Trump himself...predictably panned Fear while his detractors jumped on the most scurrilous passages to point out Trump's unfitness for this high office. My reactions?
Fear is generally presented in a chronological fashion, touching upon the different events in the Trump campaign, the transition period, and his early presidency as different people floated in and out of close association with him. The way Woodward paints it, Steve Bannon of Breitbart was crucial in keeping Trump's campaign on track during crisis moments when others were throwing in the towel, as well as encouraging him to stick with the promises he made to his political base after taking office. Eventually Bannon would go his own way and leave the administration, which turned into a massive revolving door for staff and cabinet. Trump, not a reader and possessing a very short attention span, would not even stay attentive beyond a few minutes to those briefing him on various important issues, and would often agree with his advisors on a particular issue only to Tweet a completely different policy soon thereafter...Senator Chuck Schumer characterized this trait of his as like "negotiating with Jell-O". Trump also demanded complete loyalty from everyone around him while showing little in return. And the capper was that he was a compulsive liar, saying whatever he thought fit the moment regardless whether it was true or not...this trait of his convinced his then-personal attorney John M. Dowd to strongly urge him not to allow independent counsel Robert Mueller to interview him. Dowd was convinced...and I believe confirmed in his belief...that Mueller did not have evidence in his Russian investigation to charge Trump with either conspiracy or obstruction, and that his main motive was to trap the President on perjury. And since he saw Donald Trump as a natural born liar, his attorney knew that Mueller would get him on that...
I recommend Fear, unless of course you've already made up your mind about Donald Trump and won't allow anything to change your narrative. It tends, in my opinion, to exonerate him from the Russian controversy and explain his suspicious behavior in that area in terms of just being his own self: an extremely narcissistic, selfish and immature boy-man who never admits to being wrong and who never learned that lying is not a good thing. His propensity for throwing people under the bus makes me marvel as to why anyone would want to work for him...unless they're masochists, that is. By the way, the book's title is based on one of Trump's espoused tenets: for leadership to work effectively, an atmosphere of fear must be cultivated...
Fear is generally presented in a chronological fashion, touching upon the different events in the Trump campaign, the transition period, and his early presidency as different people floated in and out of close association with him. The way Woodward paints it, Steve Bannon of Breitbart was crucial in keeping Trump's campaign on track during crisis moments when others were throwing in the towel, as well as encouraging him to stick with the promises he made to his political base after taking office. Eventually Bannon would go his own way and leave the administration, which turned into a massive revolving door for staff and cabinet. Trump, not a reader and possessing a very short attention span, would not even stay attentive beyond a few minutes to those briefing him on various important issues, and would often agree with his advisors on a particular issue only to Tweet a completely different policy soon thereafter...Senator Chuck Schumer characterized this trait of his as like "negotiating with Jell-O". Trump also demanded complete loyalty from everyone around him while showing little in return. And the capper was that he was a compulsive liar, saying whatever he thought fit the moment regardless whether it was true or not...this trait of his convinced his then-personal attorney John M. Dowd to strongly urge him not to allow independent counsel Robert Mueller to interview him. Dowd was convinced...and I believe confirmed in his belief...that Mueller did not have evidence in his Russian investigation to charge Trump with either conspiracy or obstruction, and that his main motive was to trap the President on perjury. And since he saw Donald Trump as a natural born liar, his attorney knew that Mueller would get him on that...
I recommend Fear, unless of course you've already made up your mind about Donald Trump and won't allow anything to change your narrative. It tends, in my opinion, to exonerate him from the Russian controversy and explain his suspicious behavior in that area in terms of just being his own self: an extremely narcissistic, selfish and immature boy-man who never admits to being wrong and who never learned that lying is not a good thing. His propensity for throwing people under the bus makes me marvel as to why anyone would want to work for him...unless they're masochists, that is. By the way, the book's title is based on one of Trump's espoused tenets: for leadership to work effectively, an atmosphere of fear must be cultivated...
Wednesday, May 15, 2019
Weekly Short Stories: 1946 Science Fiction, Part 4
I conclude my look back at 1946, the year following the end of World War II and the explosions of nuclear bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as it was reflected in the world of science fiction short story literature. The retrospective anthology I'm using is Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 6 (1946). And without further ado, here are my reactions to the final four tales from this book...
EVIDENCE by Isaac Asimov
This story is an example of an author creating his or her own literary universe, with its own history and characters...and then capitalizing on that creation with stories set within it. Asimov wrote extensively about robots...and roboticist Dr. Susan Calvin. In Evidence popular opinion has turned strongly against the presence of robots on Earth in spite of the Three Laws of Robotics that ensure goodwill toward humans on the part of all positronic robots. Stephen Byerley is running for elective office and his opponent, Francis Quinn, strongly suspects him of being a robot...intending to capitalize on the population's strong opposition to them to defeat him. But how can he prove his accusation? Dr. Calvin steps in to figure it all out in her own ingenious, sly way...
ABSALOM by Henry Kuttner
A series of generational mutations is progressively creating a superhuman race among a minority of the population. A father, himself a second-generation mutant, fears that his ten-year-old son Absalom will soon be as mentally superior to him as he was to his own father...and the generational struggle between the two dominates the story. This is one of those tales where the final line is the most memorable part...
MEWHU'S JET by Theodore Sturgeon
A couple with their toddler daughter are vacationing out in the woods in their cottage when their roof gets ripped off suddenly by a falling object...it turns out to be an alien named Mewhu on his special portable jet device. This catlike humanoid creature, very intelligent in his own right, quickly befriends them and helps them use the jet to repair the house. And little Molly seems to have a special rapport with Mewhu...there seems to be something telepathic between them. Just what kind of civilization does Mewhu represent and how role does he play in it? The answers are implied toward the story's end...a very sweet little tale about first contact...reminded me a bit of E.T.....
TECHNICAL ERROR by Arthur C. Clarke
A very powerful generator operating on principles of superconductivity is being put into use for the first time. Engineer Richard Nelson finds himself standing in the wrong place at the wrong time when something goes very wrong during its startup...he comes out unscathed, at least until it becomes revealed that he has become his mirror image...all the way down to his molecular structure. And that causes a great number of problems as Clarke gives the reader a short lesson not only about the nature of organic chemistry but that the unseen very small determines the ultimate reality of our world and our lives...
Next week I start with the year 1947 in science fiction short stories...
EVIDENCE by Isaac Asimov
This story is an example of an author creating his or her own literary universe, with its own history and characters...and then capitalizing on that creation with stories set within it. Asimov wrote extensively about robots...and roboticist Dr. Susan Calvin. In Evidence popular opinion has turned strongly against the presence of robots on Earth in spite of the Three Laws of Robotics that ensure goodwill toward humans on the part of all positronic robots. Stephen Byerley is running for elective office and his opponent, Francis Quinn, strongly suspects him of being a robot...intending to capitalize on the population's strong opposition to them to defeat him. But how can he prove his accusation? Dr. Calvin steps in to figure it all out in her own ingenious, sly way...
ABSALOM by Henry Kuttner
A series of generational mutations is progressively creating a superhuman race among a minority of the population. A father, himself a second-generation mutant, fears that his ten-year-old son Absalom will soon be as mentally superior to him as he was to his own father...and the generational struggle between the two dominates the story. This is one of those tales where the final line is the most memorable part...
MEWHU'S JET by Theodore Sturgeon
A couple with their toddler daughter are vacationing out in the woods in their cottage when their roof gets ripped off suddenly by a falling object...it turns out to be an alien named Mewhu on his special portable jet device. This catlike humanoid creature, very intelligent in his own right, quickly befriends them and helps them use the jet to repair the house. And little Molly seems to have a special rapport with Mewhu...there seems to be something telepathic between them. Just what kind of civilization does Mewhu represent and how role does he play in it? The answers are implied toward the story's end...a very sweet little tale about first contact...reminded me a bit of E.T.....
TECHNICAL ERROR by Arthur C. Clarke
A very powerful generator operating on principles of superconductivity is being put into use for the first time. Engineer Richard Nelson finds himself standing in the wrong place at the wrong time when something goes very wrong during its startup...he comes out unscathed, at least until it becomes revealed that he has become his mirror image...all the way down to his molecular structure. And that causes a great number of problems as Clarke gives the reader a short lesson not only about the nature of organic chemistry but that the unseen very small determines the ultimate reality of our world and our lives...
Next week I start with the year 1947 in science fiction short stories...
Tuesday, May 14, 2019
A Little More Political Analysis
The political pundits in the media often point to Donald Trump's consistently low approval ratings as president to make the point that he will have an uphill fight for reelection in 2020...I beg to differ. True, I'm not the only person who thinks the current occupant of the White House is a reprehensible dictator-wannabe, to say nothing of the fact that there is precious little about this elected leader of our wonderful nation to recommend as a role model for others. There are plenty of conservatives who thoroughly detest Trump and in a presidential approval poll wouldn't support him...but in an election against a Democratic candidate far to the political left of Trump, they still would go to the polls and vote for him while holding their noses. And then there are those crossover voters that went for Obama during his 2008 and 2012 elections but opted for Trump because (1) of the candidate's populist and personal message and (2) their overwhelming dislike of Hillary Clinton. Well, these voters in such crucial swing states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Florida are still out there and there's no guarantee that the Democrats won't again produce a nominee that turns their stomachs. So Trump, in my opinion, is in a pretty good spot so far for his reelection. Now for another political matter...
I know of several friends on Facebook who positively adore Trump (and a few who positively abhor him)...some of these are attracted by his very same personality traits that I find so repulsive and aren't particularly ideological in their politics. But I know a few who have consistently been conservative in their outlook and I think a lot of these understand that much of what Trump gets as criticism aimed at him and his administration would also be directed at another president, say Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio, had they been elected instead in 2016...and that includes being personally attacked on a daily basis by late night TV hosts like Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers. I happen to share some views on various issues with these conservatives but find Trump so toxic that I feel the need to back off...I'm convinced that I would not have this problem were a different Republican working in the Oval Office. So at least for myself, whenever I hear opinion makers on the left personalizing some of their political differences I have to take pause and filter out everything I hear. On the other side, I am confident that for whomever the Democrats choose to nominate as their candidate, the political right will find all sorts of nasty things to say about them as well. If you thought the 2016 presidential campaign was bad, then you ain't seen nothing yet: borrowing a little from Guns N' Roses, welcome to the sewer...it gets worse here every day...
I know of several friends on Facebook who positively adore Trump (and a few who positively abhor him)...some of these are attracted by his very same personality traits that I find so repulsive and aren't particularly ideological in their politics. But I know a few who have consistently been conservative in their outlook and I think a lot of these understand that much of what Trump gets as criticism aimed at him and his administration would also be directed at another president, say Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio, had they been elected instead in 2016...and that includes being personally attacked on a daily basis by late night TV hosts like Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers. I happen to share some views on various issues with these conservatives but find Trump so toxic that I feel the need to back off...I'm convinced that I would not have this problem were a different Republican working in the Oval Office. So at least for myself, whenever I hear opinion makers on the left personalizing some of their political differences I have to take pause and filter out everything I hear. On the other side, I am confident that for whomever the Democrats choose to nominate as their candidate, the political right will find all sorts of nasty things to say about them as well. If you thought the 2016 presidential campaign was bad, then you ain't seen nothing yet: borrowing a little from Guns N' Roses, welcome to the sewer...it gets worse here every day...
Monday, May 13, 2019
Some Sports Comments
Back from the beach, yesterday I caught up with what was going on in sports. In the National Basketball Association conference semifinals, Portland edged out Denver on the road to win their seven-game series 4-3 and Toronto, with the advantage of playing at home, likewise won their drawn-out series over Philadelphia. The Raptors broke a 90-90 tie with a long, unbalanced shot by their star Kawhi Leonard as the clock ran out...it was too short and bounced high off the front rim, then bounced back three more times before settling through the basket and bringing down the house. I was rooting for both the Trail Blazers and Toronto, so it was pretty cool how their games turned out. I also wanted the ultimately-prevailing Golden State Warriors to win their series against Houston...leaving the Boston Celtics' early exit against Milwaukee as my only disappointment in this round. In the National Hockey League, their four conference semifinal series ended a few days ago with all "my" teams...Boston, Carolina, San Jose, and St. Louis...winning their respective series. And now the Bruins and Sharks...both of whom I'd like seeing facing off in the Stanley Cup finals, are leading their ongoing series...
In soccer, Manchester City eked out the English Premier League title over Liverpool, which nevertheless lost only one match out of 38 played...highest second-place finish in history. Wolverton and Leicester, two teams I was following this year, respectively finished seventh and ninth out of the twenty teams in the league...not bad, especially considering that Wolverton was just promoted from the next lower league just this year. In Mexico "my" Tigres have passed the first round of their Liguilla playoffs...looks like Leon is the team to beat this time around, though. And I've lost interest in the other soccer leagues...even Major League Soccer which features a (perennially bad) Orlando club...
In baseball Tampa Bay started out the season fast but seems to be settling down and Miami looks to possibly be even worse than last year, in spite of new CEO Derek Jeter's plans for the franchise. Defending World Series champions Boston began the season poorly but have surged of late...I expect them to be contenders once again at season's end. I don't know whether it's because the season is so early or that my tastes in sports have changed, but the baseball games seem pretty boring so far this year...
And that's about how I see it in sports...
In soccer, Manchester City eked out the English Premier League title over Liverpool, which nevertheless lost only one match out of 38 played...highest second-place finish in history. Wolverton and Leicester, two teams I was following this year, respectively finished seventh and ninth out of the twenty teams in the league...not bad, especially considering that Wolverton was just promoted from the next lower league just this year. In Mexico "my" Tigres have passed the first round of their Liguilla playoffs...looks like Leon is the team to beat this time around, though. And I've lost interest in the other soccer leagues...even Major League Soccer which features a (perennially bad) Orlando club...
In baseball Tampa Bay started out the season fast but seems to be settling down and Miami looks to possibly be even worse than last year, in spite of new CEO Derek Jeter's plans for the franchise. Defending World Series champions Boston began the season poorly but have surged of late...I expect them to be contenders once again at season's end. I don't know whether it's because the season is so early or that my tastes in sports have changed, but the baseball games seem pretty boring so far this year...
And that's about how I see it in sports...
Saturday, May 11, 2019
Enjoying a Full Day at the Beach
Enjoying a full day at the beach...that's what Melissa and I are doing here today at Daytona Beach. The hotel we've usually stayed at lately had done some renovation since the last time...instead of a seldom-used section adjacent to the outside swimming pool comprised of little fountains for kids to frolic around, they built a thatched, semi-enclosed tiki bar where guests can munch on light food...or drink to their hearts' content. No doubt about it, once evening starts to roll around you can notice a little difference in the social climate here, with folks walking around with their beer or mixed drinks and a few clearly in the advanced stages of imbibement, to put it diplomatically. I was in the swimming pool yesterday and noticed that the bar was loudly playing one country song after another...not exactly what I wanted to hear. But to allay my concerns, they switched over when I heard Lenny Kravitz's cover of The Guess Who's American Woman. The weather's been sunny and hot here, although later on they're forecasting some rain here and there...especially tomorrow when we'll be returning home. We're enjoying the break, and the break continues...
Friday, May 10, 2019
Quote of the Week...from Emelia Wickstead
To escape and sit quietly on the beach---that's my idea of paradise. ---Emilia Wickstead
You don't have to be someone utterly famous like Emilia Wickstead...you do know you Emilia Wickstead is, right?...to agree with her attraction to the beach. I'm one of those as well...and by the way, I didn't know who she was until I read her quote. Melissa and I are going over to Daytona Beach for a couple of days, a destination we've come to almost consider as a second home because of its familiarity. Unlike Wickstead, who happens to be a successful highbrow fashion designer in London, England, I don't care as much for sitting for the beach as I do standing there facing the ocean, walking along the beach with Melissa, or engaging in one of my beach runs. I generally don't get out in the water because of undertow/jellyfish/shark concerns, but when I do I enjoy swimming out in the more buoyant saltwater. We tend to hang more around our hotel pool during our outings...but the ocean just out there creates a great presence that interrupts our lives of routine back home. I especially like it during and after sunset as the skies darken and the ocean changes its complexion (and the crowds of beachgoers thins), as well as noting the high and low tides on the beach sand. We'll be heading out there soon, can't wait...
You don't have to be someone utterly famous like Emilia Wickstead...you do know you Emilia Wickstead is, right?...to agree with her attraction to the beach. I'm one of those as well...and by the way, I didn't know who she was until I read her quote. Melissa and I are going over to Daytona Beach for a couple of days, a destination we've come to almost consider as a second home because of its familiarity. Unlike Wickstead, who happens to be a successful highbrow fashion designer in London, England, I don't care as much for sitting for the beach as I do standing there facing the ocean, walking along the beach with Melissa, or engaging in one of my beach runs. I generally don't get out in the water because of undertow/jellyfish/shark concerns, but when I do I enjoy swimming out in the more buoyant saltwater. We tend to hang more around our hotel pool during our outings...but the ocean just out there creates a great presence that interrupts our lives of routine back home. I especially like it during and after sunset as the skies darken and the ocean changes its complexion (and the crowds of beachgoers thins), as well as noting the high and low tides on the beach sand. We'll be heading out there soon, can't wait...
Thursday, May 9, 2019
Breezing Through Redacted Mueller Report
I started reading Robert Mueller's redacted report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign and found myself slogging a bit through this 400+ page monstrosity. And then it happened, gradually at first, as the report made its way toward discussing Russia's role...especially in regard to their Internet Research Agency, the front organization behind several bogus Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter groups that disparaged Hillary Clinton throughout the campaign and promoted Donald Trump. Suddenly I was breezing through the report, having found myself covering several pages in only a couple of minutes.
And besides that, . . I recommend to anyone daunted by the length of this report to just take a gander at it through the many news outlets online that provide the full report (with just those "few" redactions) in pdf form that you can scroll down without needing to download. Here are the five most important things about Russian 2016 interference I've gotten from it so far:
1.
2.
3.
4. Trump is a j er k.
5.The American people are really a bunch of s to have fallen for all this !
In closing, I think that it's extremely urgent that . And that's all I have to say about that...
Wednesday, May 8, 2019
Weekly Short Stories: 1946 Science Fiction, Part 3
I continued my look back at the year 1946 in the world of short science fiction with reactions to four more works from the anthology Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 8 (1946). Two of them were lengthy, more appropriately deemed as novellas, and one very short. Here they are...
LORELEI OF THE RED MIST by Ray Bradbury and Leigh Brackett
Here once again is a story based on the notion popularly held years ago that Venus was a swampy, oceanic planet with all sorts of exotic life there. In this story different native humanoid races are at war with each other...good for fugitive hard-luck criminal Hugh Starke as his escape ship crash-lands there, his consciousness transferred from his dying body to a strong, robust human one, formerly belonging to a warrior named Conan before he lost his mind. Bad, because the Venusian woman telepathically performing this miracle wants to use the resurrected Conan/Starke to assassinate her opponents. This is a tale full of intrigue and changing values...the protagonist, once a low-level, career lawbreaker, comes to change his perspective on life as he gets further involved in the Venusian conflict...
THE LAST OBJECTIVE by Paul A. Carter
This story presents a nightmare future scenario for Earth as nuclear wars have rendered the surface uninhabitable, while warfare still continues down beneath as giant drilling warships battle each other...although what they have remaining to fight for, I don't know. But the urge for destruction continues and religion has been thoroughly banned, replaced by a staff psychologist who pesters and harasses the crew. A decisive confrontation with an enemy ship looms ahead through the miles of rock...but exactly how decisive the combatants don't know until it's too late...
MEIHEM IN CE KLASRUM by Dolton Edwards
Back in the fifth/sixth grade in my elementary school (~1967) someone came up with the goofball idea of helping kids learn to read better by teaching them to read writing that had been changed to a more phonetic form...which of course only works while they are reading that phonetic writing. This very short story describes an English language reform effort, made gradually over years with orthographic changes every few years...each change shown in the story's text itself. Can you guess the title's true name?
VINTAGE SEASON by Lawrence O'Donnell
Lawrence O'Donnell was one of the several pen names used by the married writing team of Henry Kuttner and C.L. (Catherine) Moore. In Vintage Season Oliver Wilson's home town seems to suddenly be visited by strange people who speak English without contractions, along with other noticeable variations. They comport themselves differently and seem a little out of place there, exuding an air of confidence if not arrogance. Oliver has leased his house to three of them, a man and two women. Originally intending to leave the house for them, he decides to remain out of curiosity. The visitors behave as tourists sometimes behave when they visit places that they feel culturally superior to, and I'm guessing this may be an underlying reason for this story's existence in the first place. I wonder how many times Americans or Europeans travel to Third World countries and pity the less economically advantaged people there...well, I doubt that they appreciate that pity and regard it as condescending. As for Vintage Season, I don't think I'm giving away the story when I say it's about time travel...and quite frankly, I think it's one of the best stories of that type out there...
That's it for this week...next week I'll conclude my examination of some of 1946's best science fiction short stories...
Tuesday, May 7, 2019
Watched a Bernie Sanders Speech on C-Span This Morning
I was sitting there this morning watching a Bernie Sanders campaign speech in Iowa and came away from it with the conviction that, his faults and past allegiances aside, he is the strongest candidate I'm seeing right now to not only win the Democratic Party nomination for president but also the 2020 general election against Donald Trump. I say this because Sanders is very transparent about his views on the issues facing us today and makes them the repeating themes in his addresses. And these speeches, unlike the ones Trump likes to give, are not full of ridicule and personal insults against other individuals. I have been disappointed with Joe Biden's campaign so far, which he seems determined to have as dominant themes (1) how bad Trump is, (2) what a good guy ol' Joe is who's trying to bring our country together, and (3) how chummy he is with Barack Obama...he's got to come up with more than that as I don't believe he'll be able to coast to the nomination based on eight years as somebody else's vice-president. Yet Biden has a certain advantage over Sanders, much in the same way that John McCain was able to outflank his Republican rivals in that party's 2008 presidential primary system. McCain stood out easily then as the most centrist candidate while his opponents split up the more conservative vote among themselves, giving the Arizona senator some spectacular early primary wins that snowballed his impetus to the nomination that year. For 2020, the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is even more heavily split among many candidates besides Bernie Sanders: Beto O'Rourke, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar, and others will most likely seriously cut into Sanders' support in the early primaries and caucuses to the benefit of Biden. So while I expect Sanders to continue gathering support, I wonder whether it will be enough...just the other day House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged the party to nominate someone who will appeal more to the voters in middle America who slipped over to the Trump camp in 2016. That sounds on the surface like she's trying to promote a more centrist nominee...but if so I think she might be misreading the sentiments of those millions of voters, many of whom may be very sympathetic to the often populist appeal of Bernie Sanders' take on the issues as well as being more appreciative of his candor in directly addressing his views about them...
Monday, May 6, 2019
Just Finished Reading City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
City of Glass, published in 2009, is the third installment of Cassandra Clare's six-part young adult fantasy series The Mortal Instruments, involving an alternative universe with angelic demon hunters along with demons, vampires, werewolves, and faeries. In it the chief protagonists Clary, Jace, and Simon shift the narrative's setting from New York City to the Shadowhunters' homeland of Idris where a final confrontation with the rebellious and evil Valentine looms before them. Beyond this, discussing anything of detail is certain to spoil the plot, not just for potential readers of this book but also for those anticipating reading the first two books. So instead I'll opt for discussing how authors treat series when they become popular...
Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments series was originally intended as a trilogy, and by the conclusive nature of City of Glass's ending this is self-evident. However, as the first book was made into a successful motion picture and Clare achieved widespread popularity for this series, she not only decided to expand it into six books, but also has produced two spinoff trilogies as well as a number of standalone books related to this "universe" of hers. That may be daunting for those who contemplate reading all of it, but I simply applaud her hard work and obvious love for the craft of fiction writing. And after Terry Goodkind finished his ultra-long twelve-volume The Sword of Truth fantasy series, he decided to continue it with more books. Contrast these two with The Song of Ice and Fire (or "Game of Thrones") series author George R.R. Martin, who has been sitting on his hands for several years with the unfinished sixth installment, The Winds of Winter, while the HBO adapted-series has long left his series storyline far behind...shameful. Stephen King's Dark Tower series was written very erratically over decades until, following his recovery from a near-fatal accident when he was run over by a van, he produced the final three massive volumes in a span of a couple of years. And with Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, he wrote the first three books in the 1950s but didn't get around to concluding it with the final two (and a couple of prequels) until the 1980s. So there is no discernible pattern to how series installments come out...but I tend to appreciate the professionalism of writers like Clare in getting the product out in timely fashion for her devoted fans. Bravo, Cassandra...
Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments series was originally intended as a trilogy, and by the conclusive nature of City of Glass's ending this is self-evident. However, as the first book was made into a successful motion picture and Clare achieved widespread popularity for this series, she not only decided to expand it into six books, but also has produced two spinoff trilogies as well as a number of standalone books related to this "universe" of hers. That may be daunting for those who contemplate reading all of it, but I simply applaud her hard work and obvious love for the craft of fiction writing. And after Terry Goodkind finished his ultra-long twelve-volume The Sword of Truth fantasy series, he decided to continue it with more books. Contrast these two with The Song of Ice and Fire (or "Game of Thrones") series author George R.R. Martin, who has been sitting on his hands for several years with the unfinished sixth installment, The Winds of Winter, while the HBO adapted-series has long left his series storyline far behind...shameful. Stephen King's Dark Tower series was written very erratically over decades until, following his recovery from a near-fatal accident when he was run over by a van, he produced the final three massive volumes in a span of a couple of years. And with Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, he wrote the first three books in the 1950s but didn't get around to concluding it with the final two (and a couple of prequels) until the 1980s. So there is no discernible pattern to how series installments come out...but I tend to appreciate the professionalism of writers like Clare in getting the product out in timely fashion for her devoted fans. Bravo, Cassandra...
Sunday, May 5, 2019
Ran the May Day Glow Run 5K Yesterday Evening
The last time I had run the May Day Glow Run 5K in 2017 it was based at the Tioga Town Center off Newberry Road, with the course winding up and down the adjacent residential neighborhood's streets. I was thrown off when it finally dawned on me yesterday just a few hours before the race that its site had changed to a smaller subdivision called Arbor Greens, about a half-mile further west on Newberry Road and on the north side...more properly in Jonesville than Tioga. They had also listed online that the registration would close at 6:30 pm, so I had to get there earlier than planned...and then went over to the nearby Tioga Starbucks, where I watched the Kentucky Derby on my smartphone. Then I made my way back to Arbor Greens, not knowing at all what to expect from this different version of the May Day Glow Run...only that it would be dark...
I ran the race, which began at 8:15, with no problems other than that the humidity felt a lot higher than the official 40%...the temperature was around 85, not a problem to an old South Florida boy like me. I enjoyed the positive spirit of the runners and walkers...the race was demographically weighted heavily toward children and teens. This was most likely due to the fact that it was organized by Newberry Community Christian School. And they did a great job running it...with a small problem at the end. Like most other races, there was an awards ceremony for the best overall finishers and for those in different age categories. But the young man entrusted to announcing the awards demonstrated clearly that he did not want to be there and increasingly announced the winners with marked impatience, soon not even reading the names but just the bib numbers in a rush...he couldn't wait to get out of there. That was sad to witness, since the background race organization was done so well and this was their chance to publicly interface directly with the assembled runners...which due to this individual went badly. Still, I plan to run it next year if it's still "on"...after all, nothing's compelling me to stick around for the awards. I did finish with my easy-paced time of 30:38 and it was the second race in a row that I received an award for top finisher in my age category because I was the ONLY finisher in my age category...talk about total domination...
Saturday, May 4, 2019
2019 Kentucky Derby Today
I'm one of those seasonal sports followers whose interest sharply peaks during iconic annual championships, and horse racing is a case in point. Today's Kentucky Derby for the best three-year-old thoroughbreds, held at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, stands as the premier event in this sport. The original favorite for this 20-horse field was Omaha Beach, which was scratched just recently due to an entrapped epiglottis that interfered with the horse's breathing...minor surgery should correct the problem. Now we're left with a long list of longshots and a small number of contenders, the three favorites so far, Game Winner, Roadster, and Improbable, having the same trainer...Bob Baffert, who interestingly was the trainer for both recent Triple Crown winners American Pharoah in 2015 and Justify in 2018. It should be a fun race to watch, but with post time set for 6:46 pm I'm going to be pressed to see it since I'll be preparing for my own race, the May Day Glow Run 5K, taking place in Tioga a little ways west of Gainesville...that one begins at 8. Just for fun and without any special knowledge of the horse, I picked Tacitus out of the lineup to root for in the Derby...it has respectable odds (10-1) at this writing and stands out visually, being grey. We'll see what happens...by the way, the race and all of the hype preceding it for hours will be broadcast on NBC starting at 2:30. Whoever wins this race will not be facing a recovered Omaha Beach in the remaining Triple Crown races, his trainer hoping he'll be ready for the year-end Breeder's Cup...of course by then I'll be completely ignoring horse racing like I usually do...
Later...Maximum Security, which leapfrogged over the other contenders to be the betting favorite on race day, pretty much headed the pack from start to finish and impressively won the 2019 Kentucky Derby. Now let's see what the next race, the Preakness, brings...
A few minutes later...wow, Maximum Security was just disqualified due to interference and longshot Country House proclaimed the winner...I don't think there will be a Triple Crown winner this year...
Later...Maximum Security, which leapfrogged over the other contenders to be the betting favorite on race day, pretty much headed the pack from start to finish and impressively won the 2019 Kentucky Derby. Now let's see what the next race, the Preakness, brings...
A few minutes later...wow, Maximum Security was just disqualified due to interference and longshot Country House proclaimed the winner...I don't think there will be a Triple Crown winner this year...
Friday, May 3, 2019
Quote of the Week...from Stephen Curry
Whatever that means, however you got on that mountain, why not try to climb it? And do it in your own way. ---Stephen Curry
I picked Stephen Curry, the incredibly talented and poised guard for the twice-champion Golden State Warriors, for this week's quote because, after all, we're in the middle of the NBA playoffs and all eyes are on his team to see whether they can "three-peat". Curry definitely has his own style of play and is a full-court player, i.e. he is tenacious on both offense and defense. Only a few of us are on Stephen's "mountain" of being a star basketball player, but we all have something that interests us or provides positive feedback as to our talents. Everybody's different, and sometimes the mountain is a disability or adversity to climb over and overcome. The main thing is to climb...and as suggested, to it in our own way. That doesn't mean rejecting advice and instruction along the way...part of doing things our own way is practicing a discerning volition with what resources to accept from others and what won't work for us. In the long run, after all is said, I believe it's the process and struggles to better ourselves that dwarf the actual ultimate achievement in the end...it's about filling our days with meaningful, directed goals and making responsible choices about how to proceed. Very uplifting, Mr. Curry!
I picked Stephen Curry, the incredibly talented and poised guard for the twice-champion Golden State Warriors, for this week's quote because, after all, we're in the middle of the NBA playoffs and all eyes are on his team to see whether they can "three-peat". Curry definitely has his own style of play and is a full-court player, i.e. he is tenacious on both offense and defense. Only a few of us are on Stephen's "mountain" of being a star basketball player, but we all have something that interests us or provides positive feedback as to our talents. Everybody's different, and sometimes the mountain is a disability or adversity to climb over and overcome. The main thing is to climb...and as suggested, to it in our own way. That doesn't mean rejecting advice and instruction along the way...part of doing things our own way is practicing a discerning volition with what resources to accept from others and what won't work for us. In the long run, after all is said, I believe it's the process and struggles to better ourselves that dwarf the actual ultimate achievement in the end...it's about filling our days with meaningful, directed goals and making responsible choices about how to proceed. Very uplifting, Mr. Curry!
Thursday, May 2, 2019
More on Barr After His Senate Testimony Yesterday
If you've been reading this blog these past few weeks you already know that I've generally been a defender of Attorney General William Barr, especially following the issuance of the Mueller Report on Russian interference in our 2016 elections to his office in March. He and his Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein went over it and produced a four-page summary which stated that there wasn't enough uncovered evidence to pursue a conspiracy charge against Donald Trump or his campaign...and that after Mueller left any prosecutorial questions about his obstruction of the investigations to Barr's office he had decided not to pursue any charges of obstruction. But since sitting presidents are not subject to criminal prosecution while in office and that the avenue for dealing with lawbreaking on the presidential level is through the Congressional impeachment process as mandated by the U.S. Constitution, I felt that the integrity in Barr's decision-making came down to whether or not he would actually release the Mueller Report...after careful redaction to protect classified data, grand juries, and innocent third parties...to Congress and the American public. This he did...so why do I now have a few beefs with him?
Soon after Barr released his summary, Robert Mueller had sent him a letter complaining that the Attorney General, while not straying from the facts, had distorted the nature of the report. Of course, I realize, like previous attorneys general from earlier presidents, this one is also naturally biased toward protecting the administration he serves. But in his testimony yesterday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Barr made the claim that if a president believes that an investigation of his own activities is unfair and that he is innocent, then he has the right to stop it. So I ask...as did Senator Schumer during his opening remarks on the Senate floor this morning...when is a president ever going to state that he is NOT innocent during an ongoing investigation? This sounds like a roadmap to a dictatorship. Mueller had also revealed his disappointment that Barr, when provided by the Mueller team with their own summaries...already devoid of any redactable material...refused to release them. I'm looking forward to hearing Robert Mueller testify before the House Judiciary Committee to hear his take on things, but I think there is something I can personally do about all this...
Like the overwhelming majority of American people I haven't read the Mueller report, his team's summaries...or even Attorney General Barr's initial four-page synopsis. But that's about to end as I am set to go though it all...the results should be interesting and at least I won't be babbling here about second-hand information and innuendos...
A few minutes later: okay, I just read the initial March 24th summary by Barr...it seemed fine to me. Excuse me now while I read Mueller's "protest" letter...
The March 27th letter from Mueller to Barr was brief and pointed, charging that the Attorney General's summary "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this Office's work and conclusions." He then disclosed that he had two days earlier sent Barr an already redacted report along with "executive summaries" for each section. Mueller urged Barr to immediately release this report to Congress and the public. Instead, Barr ignored Mueller's urging and worked on his own redaction, delaying its release until April 18th. And herein lies the problem as I see it: nearly four weeks of Trump running around boasting of being "completely exonerated" and the semi-comatose American public compliantly lapping it all up. Well, I guess the next step is for me to actually read the full report itself...only then will I be able to comment in an informed manner on the alleged discrepancies between Barr's summary and Mueller's intent. But this will take a wee bit longer to accomplish: it's nearly 400 pages long, I hear...
Soon after Barr released his summary, Robert Mueller had sent him a letter complaining that the Attorney General, while not straying from the facts, had distorted the nature of the report. Of course, I realize, like previous attorneys general from earlier presidents, this one is also naturally biased toward protecting the administration he serves. But in his testimony yesterday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Barr made the claim that if a president believes that an investigation of his own activities is unfair and that he is innocent, then he has the right to stop it. So I ask...as did Senator Schumer during his opening remarks on the Senate floor this morning...when is a president ever going to state that he is NOT innocent during an ongoing investigation? This sounds like a roadmap to a dictatorship. Mueller had also revealed his disappointment that Barr, when provided by the Mueller team with their own summaries...already devoid of any redactable material...refused to release them. I'm looking forward to hearing Robert Mueller testify before the House Judiciary Committee to hear his take on things, but I think there is something I can personally do about all this...
Like the overwhelming majority of American people I haven't read the Mueller report, his team's summaries...or even Attorney General Barr's initial four-page synopsis. But that's about to end as I am set to go though it all...the results should be interesting and at least I won't be babbling here about second-hand information and innuendos...
A few minutes later: okay, I just read the initial March 24th summary by Barr...it seemed fine to me. Excuse me now while I read Mueller's "protest" letter...
The March 27th letter from Mueller to Barr was brief and pointed, charging that the Attorney General's summary "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this Office's work and conclusions." He then disclosed that he had two days earlier sent Barr an already redacted report along with "executive summaries" for each section. Mueller urged Barr to immediately release this report to Congress and the public. Instead, Barr ignored Mueller's urging and worked on his own redaction, delaying its release until April 18th. And herein lies the problem as I see it: nearly four weeks of Trump running around boasting of being "completely exonerated" and the semi-comatose American public compliantly lapping it all up. Well, I guess the next step is for me to actually read the full report itself...only then will I be able to comment in an informed manner on the alleged discrepancies between Barr's summary and Mueller's intent. But this will take a wee bit longer to accomplish: it's nearly 400 pages long, I hear...
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
Weekly Short Stories: 1946 Science Fiction, Part 2
I continued my look back at the best science fiction short stories from 1946 with my second installment of reviews from the anthology Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 8 (1946). Ray Bradbury, the famed author of works like Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, and Something Wicked This Way Comes, makes his appearance here as well as does Arthur C. Clarke of 2001: A Space Odyssey renown. Here are the next stories appearing in the book...
RESCUE PARTY by Arthur. C. Clarke
There is a star in our galaxy on the verge of becoming a nova, and the planets in its system will consequently be destroyed, any life on them obliterated. An interstellar rescue expedition is rushing ahead of the explosion to the third planet, where there are reports of intelligent life...I think you know where this is all going. Only one problem: once they get there, they find the planet deserted: where did everybody go? Guess you'll have to read it to find out...
PLACET IS A CRAZY PLACE by Fredric Brown
Humanity has branched out with its explorations to other stars, and Placet is a planet in one of these, which happens to be a double-star system causing its orbit to meander wildly as well as create a quite impossible phenomenom cause by the interaction between one star...composed of matter...and the other, composed of "contraterrene" or anti-matter. A man stationed there describes the many bizarre manifestations he experiences...this is a very funny little story, not something that necessarily makes any significant statement...
CONQUEROR'S ISLE by Nelson S. Bond
This is a special story in that the time setting is around 1945 instead of some far-off future point...a departure from the sci-fi norm. A bedraggled flight bomber is being interviewed by a naval medical officer following his rescue at sea. Lt. Brady claims that he and his crew were swept by a severe storm into a crash landing off the shore of a small unknown Pacific island...where they were met by people who seem to be operating on as much of a higher level than ordinary humans as we are above the ape man. There is a conspiracy on their part, claims Brady as he relates his tale of capture and eventual escape, to take over the world. But where is this island and what will the good doctor do after hearing this account? The ending is a little jolting...
THE MILLION YEAR PICNIC by Ray Bradbury
A family sometime off in the future ostensibly takes a pleasure rocket trip to Mars...they're going to walk around, explore, and have a nice picnic on the Red Planet, you see. But the parents of the three boys, as the story progresses, gradually unravel the real reasons for their excursion, reasons that become more somber until the tale's final remarks as the family finally encounters the Martians...
More from 1946 next week...
RESCUE PARTY by Arthur. C. Clarke
There is a star in our galaxy on the verge of becoming a nova, and the planets in its system will consequently be destroyed, any life on them obliterated. An interstellar rescue expedition is rushing ahead of the explosion to the third planet, where there are reports of intelligent life...I think you know where this is all going. Only one problem: once they get there, they find the planet deserted: where did everybody go? Guess you'll have to read it to find out...
PLACET IS A CRAZY PLACE by Fredric Brown
Humanity has branched out with its explorations to other stars, and Placet is a planet in one of these, which happens to be a double-star system causing its orbit to meander wildly as well as create a quite impossible phenomenom cause by the interaction between one star...composed of matter...and the other, composed of "contraterrene" or anti-matter. A man stationed there describes the many bizarre manifestations he experiences...this is a very funny little story, not something that necessarily makes any significant statement...
CONQUEROR'S ISLE by Nelson S. Bond
This is a special story in that the time setting is around 1945 instead of some far-off future point...a departure from the sci-fi norm. A bedraggled flight bomber is being interviewed by a naval medical officer following his rescue at sea. Lt. Brady claims that he and his crew were swept by a severe storm into a crash landing off the shore of a small unknown Pacific island...where they were met by people who seem to be operating on as much of a higher level than ordinary humans as we are above the ape man. There is a conspiracy on their part, claims Brady as he relates his tale of capture and eventual escape, to take over the world. But where is this island and what will the good doctor do after hearing this account? The ending is a little jolting...
THE MILLION YEAR PICNIC by Ray Bradbury
A family sometime off in the future ostensibly takes a pleasure rocket trip to Mars...they're going to walk around, explore, and have a nice picnic on the Red Planet, you see. But the parents of the three boys, as the story progresses, gradually unravel the real reasons for their excursion, reasons that become more somber until the tale's final remarks as the family finally encounters the Martians...
More from 1946 next week...
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