My January 2023 Running and Walking Report

In January '23 I continued running and walking on every day of the month, often jogging more than ten miles per day...although I did slightly strain my back toward the end of the month and had to reduce my efforts a bit.  I ran two races, the Depot Parkrun on New Year's Day and Florida Track Club Mary Andrews Half Marathon (in Hawthorne) on the 15th...that latter one started under sub-30 temperatures: click on the titles to read my recaps.  I had thought of trying the Newnan's Lake 15K at month's end, but as I said I had that back soreness and decided to forego it.  Besides, on February 11th, the Florida Track Club is holding a ten-mile event in Micanopy...I ran it last year and think it's a possible traditional annual run for me, especially since LifeSouth no longer holds the February Five Points Half Marathon here in Gainesville.  On February 4th, as I have written previously, a local beer company is staging a 4.2 mile race centered around its facility, Depot Park and the western end of the Hawthorne Trail...I'll need to get up early Saturday morning after getting off from work late Friday night for that one (as well as for the Micanopy race, for that matter).  I'm still trying to figure out which kind of shoes I should best wear for road running, which tends to jar my feet more and cause more aching.  Maybe with this coming "beer run" I'll check out my more padded Nike Air Monarchs, which I used to regularly employ for races around 2013-18.  As for walking, it's still the same pattern as for the past few months: lots of mileage that comes naturally in my workplace, which involves walking back and forth to numerous locations within the huge facility there.  My strategy in races is to start out with "old man steps", not trying to set any speed records but covering the distance as a primary goal...then, later on, I can ramp it up if it looks like I've "got the power" on that particular day.  That strategy, which I had abandoned in October's Tom Walker Memorial Half Marathon, served me well with this past one as I finished in 2 hours 34 minutes and won my age group somehow.  I'm 66 and not getting any younger, and although I want to run fast in the future I also am realistic and accept that, as long as I run, my finishes will tend to taper slower as I progress.  My fastest half marathon ever was 1 hour 50 minutes in March 2013...never going back there again...

Upcoming Blog Feature on Album Reviews

The other day on my Disney+ channel, I watched Mary McCartney's special If These Walls Could Sing, about Abbey Road Studios in London and its great history, including that, of course, of her father Paul's group the Beatles.  It made me consider how much I have missed by skipping over recorded albums from other groups and solo artists over the years.  So, I'm setting out early in 2023 to catch up on my album listening with various recording artists of the past 50-plus years.  I'm thinking of setting up another of my famous weekly blog features, this one going over various albums I hear and my favorite (and least favorite) tracks on them.  I don't know that I'll necessarily devote a whole article to reviewing each album, instead using a format like I do on Wednesdays when I discuss different short stories I've read.  Since I now have listening access to so much, this is a feasible project...who knows, maybe I'll come up with some new all-time favorite songs from this.  I also have some catching up to do with some of my favorite acts that are currently out there, like Kasabian, Metric, Gorillaz, Arcade Fire, Spoon and the Strokes, for example.  Let's see, how about doing this on Sundays?  Looking forward to it, now let's get listening...

Watching NFL Conference Championship Games Today

Today the National Football League decides who will face each other in the latest edition of the Super Bowl, to be played in a couple of weeks in Glendale, Arizona.  The Philadelphia Eagles, my favorite in the National Conference once Tampa Bay and Seattle were eliminated early on, advanced with a convincing 31-7 home win over the San Francisco 49ers.  Now it's Kansas City at home against last year's American Conference Champion (and Super Bowl loser) Cincinnati.  After Jacksonville lost to them last week, I'm rooting for the Chiefs to win it all, so naturally I'm favoring them over the Bengals tonight. Today's first game showed how injuries can completely change the complexion of a contest as the 49ers rookie star quarterback Brock Purdy suffered an elbow injury that removed him from much of the game and thoroughly hampered his ability to throw the football effectively when he did return.  But I don't think it would have altered the final result had he stayed healthy...Philadelphia was clearly the better team.  Jalen Hurts is an outstanding quarterback for the Eagles, but he's backed up by an equally excellent offense...and the defense was suffocating today.  Regardless of who wins between KC and Cincy this evening, I'd have to consider the Eagles as the Super Bowl favorites.  I'll root for them if the Bengals win and against them if the Chiefs prevail.  I happen to like both starting quarterbacks in the ongoing game, but once again injuries may be a big factor: in his last game, Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes strained his ankle and his movements may be more limited than usual against Cincinnati, whose quarterback Joe Burrow is perhaps the league's best right now.  Regardless of what happens between these two teams, I'm looking forward to the upcoming Super Bowl...the game, that is, not the pre-game hype or the often-ridiculous halftime show...

Looking Ahead to Upcoming Running Races in 2023

Ha-ha-ha, I had just told Melissa that I had decided to pass up on running tomorrow morning's Newnan's Lake 15K when I discovered that the dang thing was already held this morning!  No matter, more races are forthcoming, and I was recovering from a slight back strain anyway.  It all did inspire me to look on my dependable Running-in-the USA website to see what exactly was available in the upcoming months, and I thought of a nifty little goal for myself with race running. Every Saturday morning there is the free Depot Parkrun 5K...that covers almost any time I might feel like running that distance in an event...I can pick and choose whichever weeks I feel like running them (or NOT running them).  For longer races, I have decided to try and run at least one of those per month.  How can I accomplish this in 2023? First of all, the traditional Gainesville long-distance event of the Five Points marathon/half-marathon has been discontinued, so I'm happy that I was able to run the Florida Track Club's substitute race two weeks ago on 1/15...that takes care of January!  In February we have a 4.2-mile run sponsored by a local beer company on the 4th and the FTC Micanopy 10-miler on the 11th...check off this month for "mission accomplished" as well if I run one or both of them.  In mid-March, Melissa and I are on vacation and may spend some of the time out-of-state: maybe there's a possibility there. If not, on the 25th is the traditional Trail of Payne 10K that I have never run...maybe in 2023 I will.  On Saturday April 9 is the Run Your Buns Off marathon/half-marathon/10K on the same Hawthorne course, it seems, as the FTC race that I just ran.  And now we've come to May: in the Jennings State Forest to the NW of Middleburg they have a cool-sounding half-marathon trail race...intriguing.  And I discovered that off SR35 in southeastern Ocala is a monthly 10K run on Saturday mornings...bit of a drive, but it does fill in that gap nicely during the warmer late-spring-to-early-fall months should I find it a feasible venture.  I'm considering bidding at work to a different position should such an opportunity arise, preferably reporting at noon instead of 1:30 as I currently do if I can get weekends off...I think getting up early in the morning is a good habit to incorporate, plus races tend to start at that time of day on Saturday and this way I would have extra time after getting off work Fridays to sleep for the next day's race.  I'm also becoming fed up with my current specific assignment at my workplace that demands from me a careful attitude that I find lacking in other facilities that I depend on to do my job effectively...this is causing an undue amount of frustration and anxiety that I feel unjustly inflicted upon me: perhaps it's time for a change as I spend the remainder of my working days and approach retirement...

Quote of the Week...from Paul Simon

There are two sorts of people in the world: Those who listen and those who are thinking about what they are going to say next.                                                     ---Paul Simon

Over the years I've generally liked Paul Simon's music...especially when he was collaborating with Art Garfunkel earlier on.  Let's see, my favorite songs from them are Scarborough Fair, Fakin' It, I am a Rock, America, The Boxer and Cecilia.  With Paul Simon as solo artist, I liked his Duncan and Boy in the Bubble above the rest.  The above quote of his doesn't really have anything to do with music per se...it's more about folks in conversation or in small group settings.  From my experiences and perspective, it all comes down to the felt expectations within the situation.  Within the context of the conversations or group discussions, am I expected to be an active, talking participant? This is especially relevant in small groups where they go around a circle to focus on each person...groan, you can bet that I'm thinking of what I'm going to say before my "turn" in these scenarios instead of listening to others!  With any situation, listening is a skill that must be learned. And sometimes taking a little time before one speaks his or her mind to the other can go a long way to understanding more deeply the thoughts behind what is being said. Listening empathetically doesn't mean that I agree with what you're saying, but rather that I esteem you enough to want to understand the full message and intent behind it...and also implicitly invite you to show me the same level of respect when I am talking.  And sometimes, when the opportunity within a discussion does arise for me to speak, it might behoove me more to repeat and clarify what I had just heard...just to make sure I got it right...before I sound off about my own reactions...

Just Finished Reading Isaac Newton by James Gleick

Isaac Newton, more than any other individual, ushered in the revolution in science and technology that we so often take for granted today.  James Gleick, a noted science historian and author, decided to write a biography of Sir Isaac, who lived in England from 1642 to 1727, a prodigious life span for someone in his day.  Gleick traces elements of Newton's childhood including his family and their "in-between" social class status as modest landowners, going through his academic years and settling on the Great Plague of 1665-66, when his Cambridge classes were cancelled, and he studied in reclusion at his family's countryside home.  It was then that Newton developed many of his ideas that would later bring him fame and reward, such as classical mechanics, the nature of gravity as a universal principal both on Earth and with celestial bodies, and the invention of calculus...he tended to avoid publishing his results, however, which would later lead him into conflict with others claiming that they were the discoverers.  Gleick's biography is balanced between discussing Isaac Newton the person and the subject matter he tackled...you don't need to be a scientist or mathematician to appreciate this well-thought-out book.  I happened to check it out from my library using the Libby app...so can you if you're registered with a participating public library.  I haven't read too many biographies of late, although when I was a kid in elementary school, I must have read every single book in the children's biography series my school's library carried...and that was a lot!  I think that may have been one of the main catalysts in my lifelong interest in history.  One thing I appreciate about Isaac Newton is that he, like myself, tended to do better in seclusion than when stuck surrounded by a lot of people with their agendas, egos and tribalism.  Newton was an individualist who wasn't averse to arguing vehemently over his beliefs, and could be pretty hard on others, as when after assuming the role of standardizing Britain's currency he supported capital punishment for convicted counterfeiters.  Gleick also examined Newton's religious beliefs, including his privately held rejection of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.  You can't read this book without coming away with a greater appreciate of this giant of science as well as learning a few things about that science...and the different schools of thought about it in Newton's era...

Weekly Short Stories: 1989 Science Fiction, Part 2

Today marks the second week of my examination of 1989 short science fiction as it appeared in the Donald A. Wollheim anthology The 1990 Annual World's Best SF, featuring stories the editor picked from the previous year. Marking the climax of the collapse of communist regimes in central and eastern Europe, on November 9, 1989, celebrating Germans tore down the Berlin War separating East from West Berlin....the most visual symbol of the decades-long Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States and allies.  It's sad to see how, over the past few years, the hopes for a truly peaceful and cooperative international community of nations have been squandered...but enough of that for now, here are my takes on the next four stories in Wollheim's book...

ABE LINCOLN IN McDONALD'S by James Morrow

Abraham Lincoln has in his hand a treaty, already signed by Jefferson Davis, that would prematurely end the Civil War and keep slavery alive in the South.  He steps through time into our own and discovers the ramifications of his inclination to sign that treaty: slavery and the accompanying racial prejudice not only survived, but it has spread to the entire country...while industrialization and modernization continued.  A specific event occurs that old Abe witnesses which makes his final decision for him...

DEATH SHIP by Barringtion J. Bayley

In a future Orwellian dystopian totalitarian state always at war, an official maneuvers himself to be on a time machine craft into the future in order to alter the life of his son, whose attitudes he disapproves of.  This story conjectures on there actually being a "future" independent of our present...it was a little difficult for me to understand, although I had no trouble grasping the final conclusion....while the "state" went on as if what was shown true really wasn't.  Reminds me of some of our politicians in the "present"....

IN TRANSLATION by Lisa Tuttle

An alien presence has established itself on Earth, and while humans are aware of them, they themselves are very unobtrusive, almost invisible. The visitors inspire a cult following, and man is willing to abandon his own wife while seeking their presence.  I can't help but think this story is an analogy to how some "good" people get totally carried away with religion and religious fantasies of interacting with incorporeal "good" spiritual entities to the detriment of their own lives and relationships...

A SLEEP AND A FORGETTING by Robert Silverberg

I wonder if the creators of the movie The Sixth Sense got their premise from this story about the discovery that centuries-old voices from the dead past can be heard from a probe around the planet Mercury...it seems the sun's gravitational pull warps time around it...hey, didn't the movie Star Trek IV about the whales follow this idea as well? But the protagonists are in for a rude awakening: the dead can hear them as well, and a disturbing character from the past is revealed.  Great old sci-fi tale from a great old sci-fi master...

Next week I conclude my look at Donald A. Wollheim's anthology...

Dreary Excursion to News on TV

I'm sitting here on a Tuesday morning in my nearby Dunkin' Donuts...sometimes I feel the need to get out a little bit in public in order to focus my mind on writing, which in the case of this blog is a personal discipline of habit more than anything else.  Sometimes it's hard for me to arrive at a topic...I just have to turn on the news on TV, though, to come up with stuff.  Okay, let's see, mass shootings sprinkled across the country, allegation of police brutality against a young black man, nutty, fascist election-denying politicians gaining seats of power in Congress, fascist warmonger Putin continuing to bomb apartments in Ukraine (by the way, most of those fascist American politicians seem to support him),..where do I stop?  I've already held from early on that the Russian president's decision to invade Ukraine (and continue this conflict) was more a matter of internal political conflict than from any beef with the neighboring nation, which voluntarily gave up its nuclear arsenal following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in exchange for assurances against a later Russian invasion.  H-m-m... Raising the dubious banner of nationalist patriotism against enemies abroad...real or imagined...is a time-tested way of generating political support among the population, especially the unquestioning rabble.  Let's see how supportive they remain in Putinland when he demands young men be forcibly conscripted into the war...oh, wait, that's already happening.  I wonder how I can do anything about all this...it seems that when I watch the news...on any channel...I get the feeling that I am being manipulated to generate an emotional response...usually fear and/or anger...to whatever the topic is and how it is being presented.  I think I'll go back to printed news or, better yet, store up some extra blog articles to publish on days like this when I'm at a loss for something to write about...

Podcast about Other People's Opinions

Today's Mindset Mentor podcast, with Rob Dial as its host, has as the topic Other People's Opinions.  I pretty much assumed at the start that he would be discussing other people's opinions about oneself, not necessarily what they thought about the Dallas Cowboys blowing another playoff game or their loony notions about the world of politics.  And of course, that was the theme as Dial makes two substantive points about opinions and advice...which he unfortunately tends to blur together: they're not one and the same.  He emphasizes that we should sit down and write the names of those in our lives whose opinions of us really matter, stressing that the list should be short (he said "three" for himself).  For me, there are four: those in my childhood and adult nuclear families who are still here among us.  Yet to varying degrees, others' views of me matter as well...but only up to a point.  As for advice, Dial confirms what I already knew: just because someone may be on that short list, if he or she does not have the background or knowledge appropriate to their advice, then don't necessarily accept it...while being polite just the same.  This is a timely episode in our age of social media and the desire to be "liked" and popular.  Dial explains that the desire to fit in with a group goes back to our human origins when being accepted by the tribe was necessary for survival...rejection back then could be tantamount to a death sentence in the unforgiving wilds.  But today it's different and both the host and I are in agreement that while being a discerning individual can be challenging, especially when one feels he or she is isolated or an outsider, the reward of confidence in one's own ability to reason and act correspondingly far outweighs the negatives...

Achy Body Orders Me to Take It Easy This Weekend and Watch Sports on TV

From time to time in my aging life, my poor old body just gets a little too strained...this weekend my achy back had a conversation with me, telling me to take it easy and rest for the two days.  Sounded good to me...I've been watching TV, particularly the National Football League divisional playoffs, the Australian Open tennis tournament, and assorted soccer leagues matches in the Mexican and English Premier Leagues.  While resting my body I thought I'd give my brain a break as well...hence, another sports article!  Out of the four NFL contests, "my" teams won three...sadly, Jacksonville bowed out to the Kansas City Chiefs although they played them proud and tough.  Philadelphia thoroughly dominated the NY Giants in the other Saturday game and earlier today Cincinnati ended another Buffalo season with an impressive performance.  That game was played in the middle of a driving snowstorm at Buffalo...the Bengals (and myself) felt that the NFL offices were unfair in not holding the game at a neutral site since the two teams' earlier regular season game was cancelled because a Bills player suffered cardiac arrest on the field.  Had Buffalo won the cancelled game they would have had the home field advantage over Kansas City, so the league officials decreed that should those two meet in the conference championship, then the game would be held at a neutral site.  But likewise, had Cincinnati beat Buffalo in that cancelled game, they would have had a better seeding than the Bills...but the officials made them play on the road, anyway...NOT FAIR.  And just now, the San Francisco 49ers held off Dallas...ha, ha, ha...I can't wait to hear what Cowboys-basher Stephen A. Smith has to say about the losers tomorrow morning on his ESPN show!  As for the tennis, I found it all kind of boring, sad to say...ditto with the soccer.  Oh well, there have been plenty of sleeping opportunities for me this weekend...

Rainy Day Hunkering Down with NFL Playoffs on TV

Today I'm hunkering down at home on this miserably rainy, cool day in Gainesville, sleeping in late and watching sports on TV.  Later this afternoon and evening will be two NFL playoffs games: Jacksonville at Kansas City and the New York Giants at Philadelphia.  It bugged me a little that the Jags and Chiefs will be playing each other at this stage since they happen to be my favorites out of the remaining teams...oh well, that means that at least one of them (probably KC) will survive until next week's conference championship game.  Tomorrow the Buffalo Bills will host last year's AFC champion Cincinnati Bengals while my current pick to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl, the San Francisco 49ers, will be at home against the Dallas Cowboys.  Who do I want to win these four games? Jax, Philly, Cincy and San Fran.  A few years ago, when Lamar Jackson began his stellar career as the running quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens, I wondered how long that career would last before injuries caused by that aspect of his game caught up with him like it has done with others such as Robert Griffin III and, this season, "my" Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa.  Well, it seems that Lamar has become something of a fragile athlete like these, dooming his team to an early playoff exit and raising doubts about his future effectiveness in the league.  It's no accident that Tom Brady has made it to the ancient age of 45 in premier-level sports by adhering to a more traditional drop-back-or-hand-off quarterbacking style, with his running almost exclusively focused on scrambling from tacklers in passing situations or short yardage sneaks behind his offensive line.  It seems, though, that the trend is more for the young quarterbacks of this era to have a few short, explosive seasons before they soon become too hobbled to be effective...so sad.  Are you getting this, Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes?  I didn't think so...but at least these two aren't quite as run-crazy as Lamar has been... 

Quote of the Week...from Fareed Zakaria

I enjoy writing but I much prefer the experience of having written.          ---Fareed Zakaria

Fareed Zakaria is a CNN weekend host whose programs delve more deeply into international events and trends, placing his own stamp of perspective and opinions about his chosen topics...he is perhaps the best of his profession in this regard, in my opinion.  He also has had columns writing for the Washington Post and Newsweek. Since today happens to be his birthday, I thought I'd do a little delving of my own, checking out some of his past quotes...and found the above admission.  For some of us, writing is a blissful, wonderful experience...if there were more hours in the day then they'd just see it as more writing opportunity.  For others, there is no writing, just as there is no reading, either...that's true even so for a high percentage of the college-educated population.  And then there is the middle of the two extremes: people like me who like to write once I'm actually into writing something, but sometimes find it difficult getting started with a task or project.  Oh, and I suppose there's a fourth group as well: people, usually celebrities, who take credit for writing books that others have written for them...we'll just leave these phonies out of the discussion.  One thing I like about this concept of blogging, besides it being freely provided (thank you, Google), is that I can write about anything (although I try to be discreet and respectful in some areas) and not only express my opinions, but also explain them and elaborate.  I've written this blog almost daily since April 2007, with some 5,300 total articles...and they're all still there, for you or anyone else in the world who has free access to the Internet.  I know that blog writing is something that I like a lot, yet there still is that resistance to sitting down and starting...some days I don't know what I will write about until I open up a new, blank page.  Fareed Zakaria, on the other hand, as a renowned journalist probably feels that he must adhere to much higher standards with his writing and use impeccable research, knowing that pretty much anything he says will be scrutinized to small detail by not only his colleagues (especially those in disagreement with his views) and those whom he features, but by millions of his general readers...that's bound to throw a damper on anyone's enjoyment of writing.  But the finished product? Pretty good, Fareed...

Podcaster's Suggestion of Misogi Method Interesting But Incomplete

According to podcaster Rob Dial on a recent Mindset Mentor episode of his, the Misogi Method derives from a traditional Japanese spiritual ritual involving purification by immersing oneself...for as long as possible...in very cold water.  Dial says he does this regularly, and then expanded upon the ritual to encompass anything that one doesn't think possible...like climbing a long, steep elevation or running a long distance, for example.  It's not something to be done regularly...no, maybe once a year or, as the host suggests, once a month. The point here is that doing something beyond one's perceived abilities serves as a breakthrough of possibilities and self-awareness...as well as bringing out a lot of self-imposed negative beliefs and attitudes.  I dig this idea, but Dial seems to have forgotten his repeatedly expressed philosophy of gradual, incremental change over stretches of time, even belittling it in this podcast.  Truth be told, here is where the concept of duality...combining two seemingly contradictory ideas...comes into play.  Gradually changing habits, combined with the abrupt "big feats" of Misogi, do not conflict...if anything, they should build upon one another.  Each person has a different body as well as mind with their respective life histories building unique tapestries of both skills and flaws, with widely differing physical and mental limitations.  I've had a few "Misogi's" in my life without recognizing them as such...I suppose tackling half-marathon races in sub-freezing temperature during a time of the day when I'm usually in the last stages of morning sleep is one.  But I wouldn't have done it had I not, over a span of months and years, established a daily workout routine and healthier lifestyle habits.   And you have to be careful what you select if you try this method of facing acute, demanding challenges...the point is to be able to WALK away from them with a greatly improved perspective on things...

Weekly Shortly Stories: 1989 Science Fiction, Part 1

Today I begin reviewing science fiction short stories from the year 1989 as they appeared in the annual anthology The 1990 Annual World's Best SF, edited by Donald A. Wollheim and representing his picks from the previous year.  It would be Wollheim's final anthology as he sadly passed away at the end of 1990.  For the years 1983-88 I have been reviewing stories from both Wollheim's "year's best" anthologies and those of Gardner Dozois...after I finish with this book that I'm currently on, it'll just be Gardner for the ensuing years, at least through 2018 if I get that far.  But for now, how about those first four tales in Wollheim's book...

ALPHAS by Gregory Benford

Set in the not-so-distant future, first contact is made with aliens whose flippant attitudes about terrestrial humans reminded me of the Vogons in Douglas Adams' hilarious Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy...at least these dudes aren't building an intergalactic highway through our solar system!  No, instead they've set their sights on our neighboring world Venus and seem to be drastically changing it to be able to host their own kind of life.  Being territorial as we tend to be, a miffed humanity sends a ship to check them out...one of the crew becomes an unwitting hero in what must be the ultimate ride for anyone to experience...

THE MAGIC BULLET by Brian Stableford

This is a short sci-fi mystery tale, where a scientist experimenting with mice and viruses is attacked and his lab burned down.  A former friend is the sleuth here...she learns of a special "magic bullet" virus that eventually inserts itself into the host's genome, with drastic consequences for humanity. Great story...

NORTH OF THE ABYSS by Brian W. Aldiss

I look at the lives of the protagonist, a successful businessman, and his wife, and wonder why they're both so miserable...I guess happiness does come from within.  Oscar North, totally discontent with his life, finds a source of enlightenment when they visit Egypt and he learns of that land's ancient religion centered around Isis, Osiris, and other gods.  A story that leaves you wondering what is real, what isn't, and how much of our "reality" is captive to our own beliefs...

CHIPRUNNER by Robert Silverberg

A brilliant young man is wasting away in anorexia while his therapist struggles to understand his motives, which seem to revolve around making himself small enough to be among the very atoms themselves. Complicating it all is that the therapist himself is starting to dream of the same things. I understood the story without getting the premise...

Next week: more of Donald A. Wollheim's sci-fi short story picks from 1989...

Constellation of the Month: Taurus (the Bull)

 

If you're looking at the above star map of the evening wintertime Zodiac constellation Taurus, representing a bull, the planet Mars stands out sharply.  But it's only in that position in the night sky if you happen to go outside and view it tonight or in the next few days...don't expect to see it there if you're reading this in, say, 2024...or even just a few weeks from now, for that matter.  Aldebaran is the standout first magnitude star in Taurus, in proximity to the open star cluster Hyades, represented by some of the constellation's fainter stars.  The famous cluster Pleiades is situated on the constellation's western end, at first glance a smudge in the night sky. But with more intense inspection the brightest stars within it can be visually detected...if you have 20/20 eyesight, that is.  Near the tip of the "lower horn" lies M1, aka the Crab Nebula, remnant of a renowned supernova explosion in 1054...you need a good pair of binoculars or a telescope to view it.  Taurus is one of the more prominent constellations in the winter evening sky as well as being one of the northernmost in the Zodiac, passing the meridian around 9 pm local standard time.  But to its immediate south is easily the most brilliant constellation of all, Orion, and sometimes Taurus gets unfairly passed over.  If the sky is clear, why not step outside and see if you can see the Bull?  My suggestion is twofold: either look for the "smudge" (the Pleiades) and go eastward from that or identify Orion and go northward.  Oh, and right now Mars is pretty prominent and red: that's a good "skymark" as well...

Happy Martin Luther King Day

Today is officially Martin Luther King Day, although the late American civil rights leader had his 94th birthday yesterday.  When I was a kid growing up in the 1960s, the popular perception of him was that he was a controversial figure, always challenging the established order and stirring things up.  By the time I was earnestly paying attention to the news...when Lyndon Johnson was president...Dr. King was active on a host of social issues besides civil rights for blacks, and he adamantly opposed U.S. military involvement in Vietnam.  I've learned since then that the FBI had an extensive file on him, and he was suspected by some on the conservative right of being aligned with the Soviets.  I tend to dismiss this kind of allegation, especially considering the kind of scurrilous defamatory garbage currently floating around social and mass media about different people that others have chosen to hate.  Martin Luther King has been extensively quoted in this blog because his message has been one of equal opportunity, inclusion, the dignity of all work, tolerance, and, above all, love.  Everyone has a better nature to them, and may I suggest that we take a few minutes today to reflect on our own and how we can make it a more encompassing part of our lives...

Ran the Florida Track Club Mary Andrews Half-Marathon This Morning

 

Mary Andrews grew up in Gainesville and was a long-time running enthusiast, ably tackling the difficult marathon distance races.  She ran the Florida Track Club's first marathon held from Hawthorne in early 2021, but she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and died the same year at the tragically young age of 44...FTC now names this event in her honor.  Along with the marathon, originating and ending at the Hawthorne Trailhead right next to Hawthorne Middle/High School, they offered a half-marathon (13.1 miles)...more to my abilities.  This morning I ran that half-marathon, hoping to have a better race than last November's Tom Walker Memorial half-marathon, which I ended up walking the final three miles under unseasonably warm and humid conditions.  This morning the weather wouldn't be a hindrance, with the temperature dipping below 30 at race time and the humidity much lower.  I wore a warm zip-up jacket that I could open up as the race progressed and slide it down over my arms...worked for the first half, after which I shed it to retrieve later after the race. Before the race, starting punctually at 8 am, famous marathoners Frank Shorter and Jeff Galloway gave short speeches...I managed to get a photo of the popular creator of the Galloway Method of taking short regular walking breaks during long runs (see 2nd photo). The half-marathon consisted of two there-and-back laps along the eastern Hawthorne Trail...the marathon was, naturally, four laps.  The last pic shows the trail, clear of runners...reminded me a little of Frodo's hazardous trail to Rivendell (but I saw no mushrooms or sinister riders).   Everyone in both distances started at the same time and shared the course. My personal goal was simply to keep running and set for myself a 12 minute/mile pace, which I was gratified to be able to adhere to.  I ended up with a negative split for the race, finishing with a time of 2 hours 34 minutes 42 seconds and somehow managing to win my age group...click HERE to see the complete results.  I had no problems like I experienced with the previous half-marathon and had a lot of energy left over.  Still, my feet and legs ached too much as the race wore on, and I think that was because I was wearing shoes that did not provide enough cushion.  The next race...whenever that is...I'll definitely be using a pair that is better padded.  There was a very friendly, sweet spirit coming from the organizers and participants, and I appreciated the coffee, bagels, and doughnuts after the race.  I probably would have won a trinket award for my finish but wanted to get on home instead...that's okay, I run for the sake of the run, a true amateur...the medal in the top picture is given to all finishers.  Now my body is in the recovery stage, and I'm taking it easy for the rest of the day...

Cold Weather and Football

After generally warmer than usual temperatures this winter so far, the weather has turned frigid here in northern Florida. Tonight...and early tomorrow morning...Gainesville temperatures are slated to dip below freezing for several hours, and even reach the mid-20s.  Tomorrow it's only going to get up into the 50s...if you live up north where it gets much worse, you're probably laughing at this article.  But my plans are to be outside in the middle of all this and that's not exactly something I'm looking forward to.  Shifting the subject a bit, I see that the Los Angeles Chargers have scored early in their first round NFL playoff game against Jaguars, being played in much colder weather than usual in Jacksonville.  Although four teams I follow somehow managed to make the postseason playoffs in spite of their mediocre records, I wonder whether any of them will survive this first round.  A few hours ago, I was heartened by Seattle, one of those teams, coming out of their first half against heavily favored San Francisco with a 17-16 lead, but the 49ers stomped the Seahawks in the second half and ran away with a 41-23 win.  Tomorrow Miami travels to Buffalo and Monday Tampa Bay hosts Dallas...I'll count myself lucky if at least one of the Florida teams advance.  Hope you're keeping warm and if you like to watch football, that some of the games go your way...

Quote of the Week...from Gardner Dozois

When I was a boy in Salem, Mass., in the 1950s, if you wanted to buy a book, you had to take a train to Boston.  And when you got there, to a bookstore, there was no such thing as a science-fiction section.

                                                                  ---Gardner Dozois

Gardner Dozois (1947-2018) is probably best-known for his anthology series The Year's Best Science Fiction...which I'm currently reading and reviewing (I'm up to the year 1989), as well as being the editor of the acclaimed Asimov's Science Fiction magazine.  He's also written science fiction in both novel and short story form, but his fame has been as the role of a collector and editor of quality stories written by others.  His above quote places him a decade ahead me, but I couldn't tell you very much about bookstores even during the sixties, other than the book and supply store at my public school.  Then again, I tended to go more for libraries in my early youth, and liked those old children's series they sold at my nearby G.C. Murphy like Power Boys and Bobbsey Twins (I read all my sister's Trixie Beldon and Donna Parker books, too).  But sure, once bookstores, both new and used, began sprouting in full force during the seventies, I caught the bug and began buying paperbacks, mostly nonfiction. I picked the above quote because nowadays bookstores sadly seem to be in a state of retreat, both new and used. And for those that are still around, it's funny that now the science fiction section is often the biggest one.  I'm not bemoaning the advancement of digitalized books like Kindle or audiobooks, mind you...I make liberal use of both forms. But I also know that for some reason book publishing...unlike with music or movies/TV...lags far behind in the availability of bygone and out-of-print works for digital reading, while much is unavailable in libraries as well.  Which means you go to a used bookstore to find them...assuming there are any used bookstores.  Gainesville's number has steeply declined in recent years, but we still have a couple of them, along with a crazy used book sale that happens every (pandemic-free) year in April and October.  I'd say take a train to Jacksonville, but you can't do that from Gainesville anymore, either...

Asimov, Wollheim and Dozois...and Their SF Year-by-Year Anthology Series

Isaac Asimov and Donald A. Wollheim, both significant science fiction writers of their era in the mid-to-late twentieth century, passed away in their seventies just two years apart: Asimov in 1992 and Wollheim in 1990.  In their later years they were both important anthologists with Wollheim's Annual World's Best SF Series covering the period from 1964 through 1989.  Asimov, during the 1980s, decided to go back and anthologized his own (and co-editor Martin Greenberg's) favorites in a year-to-year retrospective series titled The Great SF Stories...this covered the years 1939-63.  Asimov, a longtime friend of Wollheim, had his series published by the latter's company, DAW Books.  Over the years and especially recently, I have appreciated and enjoyed the efforts of these two writers who obviously loved their chosen genre of fiction to undertake this sort of effort involving sorting through the many quality stories that their colleagues (and, sometimes, they themselves) produced.  It's a shame that, in this digital age, I can't get either anthology series on Kindle or audiobook...if they were recording artists there wouldn't be a problem with their old works.  Starting next Wednesday, I will be reviewing Wollheim's final anthology, published in 1990 while he was already very ill and covering that last year of 1989.  After that I plan to continue reviewing science fiction short stories from another excellent anthology, that of the late Gardner Dozois and titled The Year's Best Science Fiction (which is available on Kindle and audiobook)..his will continue through the year 2018 so I'm not very likely to run out of material anytime soon, especially since his collections are much lengthier than those of Asimov or Wollheim...I'm very grateful for all three of these important figures of science fiction...

Weekly Short Stories: 1988 Science Fiction, Part 8

Whew, finally I conclude this long, long look at the year 1988 in science fiction short stories, finishing up on the Gardner Dozois anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction, Sixth Annual Collection.  Of course, had I been doing this the "right" way (as the publishers probably wanted), I would have been writing these blog articles when these anthologies first came out, with the whole year over which to spread out my reading. Only there were no such things as blogs back then, were they...dang it, here I go feeling old again! What floors me about some of the stories I read is when they point to a time in their near future, but which for me is already in the past...and they often get the trends right but overdramatize them.  Well, here are my reactions to the final five tales in the Dozois book...next week I begin reviews of 1989 sci-fi from the much shorter...and, sadly, final book in the Donald A. Wollheim anthology series...

IT WAS THE HEAT by Pat Cadigan

A married female executive makes a business trip visit to rowdy and raunchy New Orleans, where she encounters a man full of the "heat", which infects her and brings out her passions and sexuality.  Yes, this is a very sensual tale...but I'm not sure it quite belongs in the science fiction genre...

DYING IN HULL by D. Alexander Smith

In the little coastal Massachusetts town of Hull on the outskirts of Boston dwells a single elderly woman who is staying put in spite of the encroaching sea level that is destroying her hometown building by building.  There civil society has broken down into lawless gangs and ruthless smugglers.  Ethel must find a way to deal with them as well as the rising water in her home to survive, yet she cannot bring herself to admit defeat and leave for Boston.  I found this story peculiarly similar in premise to Kim Stanley Robinson's Glacier earlier in the same anthology...

DISTANCES by Kathe Koja

Interstellar travel is developed...but the human travelers are altered volunteers called "glassheads" with their brains and neural systems altered to be able to adapt to the sensory input that the probes provide.  Michael is second-generation and ready for his mission; his "handler" Halloran, is first-generation glasshead and cannot go. Furthermore, she is dying because of this alteration and although she is there to comfort Michael, the two find their roles reversed.  I couldn't quite get into why they had to drastically their nervous systems to travel virtually through space and it kept bugging me as I read...

FAMOUS MONSTERS by Kim Newman

A brief, very tongue-in-cheek look at the tawdry, cheesy side of the fifties' science fiction film industry as a Martian actor, tentacles and all, looks for supporting work in some of the B-flicks.  It's also an alternative history as, for example, James Dean has grown fat and over the hill instead of his tragic death in 1956 after only three acclaimed movie appearances ..

THE SCALEHUNTER'S BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER by Lucius Shepherd

More a novella than a short story, a pretty and frivolous young woman makes light of romance in her home village, situated on a bewitched vast, still dragon.  Pursued by her enemies, she escapes to the dragon's inner parts where she finds herself both captive and destined for a special, unspecified purpose.  I thought this story might do well adapted to the screen, but I admit to not getting the point of it all.  A whole lotta suffering going on here...

Next week I start with Donald A. Wollheim's anthology covering 1989 science fiction short stories...

Podcaster Discusses Why People Won't Change Their Viewpoints

On a recent Mindset Mentor podcast of his, personal development coach Rob Dial gives three reasons why it's so hard for people to change their own minds about things as well as change others'.  They are (1) cognitive dissonance, (2) partisanism/tribalism, and (3) confirmation bias.  With cognitive dissonance, someone hears something that conflicts with what they are comfortable with, so they either rationalize or trivialize it...or as is often the case, just get mad at the other person who they perceive as messing up their life by expressing it.  The second one has to do with our tribal social nature, be it following a particular political party or politician, religion, culture, family, work pals, section of the neighborhood...or maybe just what our favorite sports team is.  Folks tend to magnify the faults of those outside their felt circle, especially when they are in direct competition with them, as is the case in politics and sports.  Dial himself says he doesn't come down on either side of the political spectrum, he's in the "center", and doesn't care about all the political things others do.  With that I have a problem: you can be in the center and care more than many on the left or right fringe.  But I'm totally in agreement with him in that people in a group who want to be accepted within it will often, if not usually, bend their beliefs to fit in...even if they are obviously false.  As for confirmation bias, people tend to seek their sources of information that confirm their already cherished beliefs and reject those that challenge them...this isn't helped by Internet algorithms that various social media and search engines use to "perceive" the user's inclinations and then fulfill them with affirming material.  Also, Dial mentions that there is a tendency for people, if they hear something repeated enough times, to accept it as truth...combine that with confirmation bias and the desire to "fit in", and you have whole entrenched sections of the population at odds with one another while "circling the wagons" to  protect own "tribes".  I don't think that this problem with human nature has changed over the centuries, but with our very recent development in mass personal digital communications the effects have mushroomed.  Rob Dial's solution seems to be to avoid confronting people with the truth because you're wasting your time for the aforementioned reasons...up to a point I agree with him, but at some point you have to stand up for what you know is right...

New Year a Good Arbitrary Time to Seek Habit Changes

I like to think of the new year as an opportunity to break away from old destructive personal habits and set out on new goals.  From what I've picked up from others and my own experiences, changing one's life is largely a matter of changing those habits one at a time, and in measures that are attainable.  So, 2023 is a year like the others in that I'd like to improve my skills in certain areas and eliminate any toxic habitual behavior.  The temptation is to try to do a lot of things differently from the beginning, but right now I'm considering how to divide up and prioritize my projects.  Should be fun...of course, it's all a continuum whether it's January or July.  I've heard that it's best to focus on one habit in an area at a time and diligently see the change through for one hundred straight days until it becomes ingrained within me.  But first I need to sit, think, and write down what I want to change...the new calendar year is an arbitrary but convenient time to assess where I've been and where I want to go...

Fins, Jags, Bucs in NFL Playoffs...Whoopee!

It happened back in 1999 when all three Florida National Football League teams managed to make the postseason playoffs in the same season, but finally here we are more than two decades from then and in the same situation after each team...none of them admittedly all that good...scrapped and lucked their way into next week's game lineup.  Tampa Bay had already wrapped up their sorry NFC South title last week and took out star quarterback Tom Brady during today's essentially meaningless contest against Atlanta as the Falcon's win put the Bucs into a losing regular season at 8-9.  They'll most likely be playing Dallas at home next week...although Tampa finished with a worse win-loss record, they did manhandle the Cowboys 19-3 earlier this season.  In the American Conference the South Division title went to Jacksonville at 9-8 when they ran back a recovered Tennessee fumble late in their game to come from behind and win.  And Miami broke their five-game losing streak by staving off the New York Jets 11-6, breaking their tie with a 50-yard field goal with only seconds remaining...the safety was icing on the cake.  But the Dolphins also depended on Buffalo winning against New England, which they did in large part from two touchdown kickoff returns.  It was a little strange for me to be rooting so hard for the Bills, considering that I'll be rooting just as hard against them next week when they play the Dolphins at home.  I don't know whether Miami's injury-prone quarterback Tua Tagovailoa will be back for the Buffalo game, but it seems that playing against this team has not been good for his health, with multiple concussions coming from those games.  Maybe I'll trade an early exit from the playoffs for the Dolphins in exchange for this player to stay healthy.  As for Jacksonville, they will be playing next week at home against San Diego.  Later tonight Green Bay will play at home against Detroit for the final disputed playoff spot...I'll be watching, naturally.  If Seattle loses their ongoing game against the LA Rams, then the winner between the Packers and Lions gets in... otherwise it's Seattle if the Lions prevail.  Besides the three Florida teams, I tend to root for the Seahawks as well as the Kansas City Chiefs...maybe the latter will take it all the way this year to another Super Bowl championship...

NFL Regular Season Ends This Weekend, College National Championship Monday

The next three days will finish off both the NCAA Division I college football championship as well as the National Football League regular season for "2022".  On Monday Georgia will play Texas Christian University for the national title...in the opening round of the playoffs I departed from my usual pattern and actually rooted for Big Ten Conference powerhouses Ohio State and Michigan, both of which lost close contests.  As for the Wolverines, looks like they're in for some punishment for unspecified NCAA rules violations as their prima donna coach Jim Harbaugh may once again be headed for the NFL.  I'm pulling for neither the Bulldogs or the Horned Frogs....as they like to call themselves for some reason...and, besides, I'll be at work during the game.  Regarding the NFL games this weekend, I'm focused on the Florida teams.  As I wrote a few days ago, all three are 8-8 and could make the playoffs, with Tampa Bay already in due to their lackluster division.  Jacksonville has an evening game today against Tennessee to decide their also-mediocre division's title...even if the Jaguars lose there's an unlikely scenario where they could sneak into the playoffs as an 8-9 team.  Miami has the poorest chance of making it.  First, even if they win their contest against the New York Jets tomorrow, New England must lose (or tie) against Buffalo since the Patriots have the tiebreaker advantage over the Dolphins.  And Miami has lost five straight games and is depending on their third-string quarterback to carry them in the regular season finale.  The Bucs, by the way, will be playing an essentially meaningless game at Atlanta since they're already set to play either the Dallas Cowboys or Philadelphia Eagles at home in the playoff's first round, depending on how those teams do in Sunday's games.  Working in favor of the Jags and Fins is that they will both be playing at home while the Pats will be at Buffalo.  Still, the Bills must depend on Kansas City losing their game this afternoon at the Raiders, an unlikely proposition.  And if the Chiefs win, then Buffalo just might hold back some with their starters against New England, thereby hurting Miami's chances.  But the Dolphins put themselves in this situation of depending on others with their long losing streak...although all of those losses have been close.  I guess by all this you know that I'll be following football this weekend...

Quote of the Week...from Alan Watts

A myth is an image in terms of which we try to make sense of the world.          Alan Watts

Today is the birthday of Alan Watts (1915-73), an English popularizer of Eastern philosophies for Western audiences.  Sometimes people's quotes from the past can quickly seemed dated and obsolete...even wildly wrong.  But Watts had a plethora of material that resounds strongly in today's world...the above quote captures a great truth of how people interpret reality and try to construct an order, however artificial, that fits the narratives they are most comfortable with.  The problems arise when the narratives are blatantly false, or at least severely distorted...but people, having a tribal nature and desperately wanting to fit in with their valued group, stubbornly adhere to them out of fear of belittlement or being ostracized if they think independently as individuals. The emperor may have no clothes, wearing masks and getting vaccinated are effective and safe ways to prevent the spread of Covid and complications from infection, and Biden really did legitimately win the 2020 election. But go up against someone's strongly cherished myth, one from which they derive a sense of acceptance from others in their identified "tribe": I dare you...no, I triple dog dare you!

McCarthy Having Difficulty Becoming House Speaker...Not My Problem

The paper-thin majority in the United States House of Representatives that Republican caucus leader Kevin McCarthy is "leading" has left him short of receiving the votes needed to become Speaker, which Democrat Nancy Pelosi had occupied for the previous four years.  It's all about the extreme wing of a party leveraging their power out of proportion to their numerical strength...well, that's politics!  No fan of McCarthy, I felt he let the country down in the hours immediately following the insurrection on the Capitol building on 1/6/21 when he and two thirds of his caucus took the dangerous, undemocratic...and, frankly, fascist step of refusing to officially acknowledge the counted Pennsylvania 2020 presidential election votes that gave the state to Joe Biden over election-denying sore loser Donald Trump.  This guy has to be the slimiest politician on Earth...and that's saying a lot.  No doubt when whoever does finally take the gavel, the Republicans will resume their endless pointless investigations that nobody believes worth the effort and expense...other than their hardcore, unquestioning FoxNews followers, that is.  Hillary's e-mails will soon morph into Hunter's laptop as a continuous Fox/Republican headline...and there will probably be payback attempts to impeach President Biden as well.  If you want to follow all that crap, you're welcome to it.  But as Soundgarden's late front man Chris Cornell once sang, "Keep it off my wave"...

Weekly Short Stories: 1988 Science Fiction, Part 7

Once again, it's time to examine some bygone sci-fi, appearing in the Gardner Dozois anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction, Sixth Annual Collection, spotlighting tales of that genre from 1988.  It takes me awhile to get through the year-by-year Dozois books, in contrast to the much briefer ones from Donald A. Wollheim. But Wollheim's final anthology was for 1989...he died the following year, it won't be too long before I'm only reviewing stories from Gardner's series. But for now, let's go back to look at some more stories from '88...

SANCTUARY by James Lawson

Initially about an Arizona police detective in the near future (from 1988, that is), blinded in duty and provided a loyal dog that tends to him long after advanced surgery restores his eyesight.  He is assigned to investigate two employees from the area's competing technological think tanks...they are found calmly lying in a room in one of their offices, apparently physically unharmed but their minds completely sucked out of them.  Quite a quandary, but our hero, with his faithful companion and a sidekick female employee of one of the think tanks, solves it all and then goes one enormous step further. Reminded me of Tad Williams' wonderful Otherland book series and its resolution for a terminally ill character...

THE DRAGON LINE by Michael Swanwick

A speculative resurrection of the Arthurian mythos, with principal characters Merlin and Mordred...the latter the story's narrator...set in modern times. I learned quite a bit about the original story of King Arthur and those around them.  Just about everybody had some serious character flaws...talk about anti-heroes.  It reminded me a little of Neil Gaiman's later novel American Gods...

MRS. SHUMMEL EXITS A WINNER by John Kessel

An elderly woman regularly plays bingo at her hometown's VFW lodge. Already overcritical of others, she objects to a strange young mute man already sitting in her favorite seat.  But then he keeps winning and winning, and the buzz starts to go around the place that he might be cheating somehow.  He tells her she can win, too...at a price.  And the price she is willing to pay makes this story brilliant, like one of Shirley Jackson's best psychological short stories...

EMISSARY by Stephen Kraus

Roger, a friend and former colleague of the narrator and who has recently been missing following his termination from a research professorship, stumbles exhausted into his home and tells his remarkable story, one about his ancestors in a rural England mining town and an incredible discovery there from centuries past.  It's a first contact tale like no other, and has a curiously cyclic nature to it like the great old Time Machine movie from 1960...

Next week I conclude my look at science fiction short stories from the year 1988...

Podcaster Speaks on Designing One's Future

For his last few podcasts, personal development coach Rob Dial seems to have cut back on their length, which usually has been approaching 20 minutes.  This last one from yesterday, titled "Architect Your Life", went on only for about 15.  Still, I think that each of his programs could be distilled to about a minute or two long, truth be told.  In this episode he observes that most people just stumble through each day of their existence, reacting to and coping with whatever comes their way without much foresight as to what direction they want their lives to go in the future besides some generalized, vague hopes and wishes.  Dial goes full opposite in that not only does he stress planning in as minute detail as possible, but that he speaks to himself as if the desired changes have already happened.  This is because he believes that it's crucial to normalize future aspirations in one's own mind, instead of them seeming strange and distant.  I get all that and agree with him about the importance of positive self-talk.  But I also get the flip side of that argument, which is that becoming centered in the present moment and appreciating and being grateful for what I have NOW matters as well.  So, it looks like two different ways of seeing things is being pushed here...apparently another instance of duality.  Duality is when two different agendas or perspectives combine, in spite of their surface contradictions, to present something that is better than the two original parts...seems that's what is going on with this combo of future planning and present appreciation...

Florida NFL Teams: All 8-8 and in Playoff Running at Season's End

I suppose this is what the bigshots of the National Football League had in mind when they added a team from each conference to be in the postseason playoffs: teams with mediocre records are sneaking in.  For my home state of Florida, this is a windfall as two of the three teams here...Jacksonville and Miami...haven't exactly been setting the league on fire during the past few seasons.  I remember the first year I seriously began to follow pro football, 1967, when the Baltimore Colts, undefeated at 11-0-2 going into the final regular season game against their divisional rivals the Los Angeles Rams, lost that contest and thus failed to make the playoffs.  That's the year, if you're old enough to remember, that Green Bay won the NFL championship (before going on the Super Bowl) in the infamous Ice Bowl game against Dallas...the Packers lost four games during the regular season in a weak division.  This year's version of the Tampa Bay Bucs, still with Tom Brady taking the snaps, was similarly blessed with a weak division as they've already clinched a playoff spot in spite of their often-lackluster play so far.  The other two Sunshine State teams, although with the same records, are going in diametrically opposite directions.  Jacksonville, having started 2-6, have since become a winner under Super Bowl-winning first-year coach Doug Pederson with Trevor Lawrence coming into his own as a quality premier quarterback. The Jaguars have a chance to win their division title with a regular-season-closing game next week against slumping Tennessee.  Speaking of slumping, the Miami Dolphins, earlier with an 8-3 record and on top of their division, have now lost five games in a row and are "outside looking in" on a playoff slot.  Their fate this year seems bound to that of third year quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who is now out of action due to his third diagnosed concussion.  They will face rival New York Jets in the season closer...if they win and New England loses to Buffalo, Miami's in.  Too bad they fell like this: in each of their last five games they played tough but lost by small margins.  As far as I'm concerned, it's been a good year for Florida in the NFL this year regardless of what happens next week, since I've always held reasonable expectations for "my" teams, only wanting them to stay in contention toward the season's close. And all three have, although I have my doubts about the Dolphins making the playoffs or the Bucs advancing very far in them.  But who knows what Jacksonville will do...

Ran New Year's Day Depot Parkrun This Morning

I thought I'd get the 2023 New Year off on the right note as I got up early and drove down to Gainesville's Depot Park to run in their special event on this holiday Sunday morning, departing from their Saturday pattern.  The weather, while not raining, wasn't exactly cooperating, though.  The temperature at the 7:30 race time was an unseasonably warm 65 degrees with an extremely muggy 97% humidity (with fog everywhere), bringing to memory the horrible conditions for last November's Tom Walker Memorial half-marathon I struggled through.  This time around I was wiser, taking the first couple of laps in the 3.1 mile course easy...I had to anyway as the asphalt/concrete trail was moist and slippery.  No, my goal was just to reasonably get through this run, and I accomplished that, with a modest finishing time of 32:59...click HERE to see the complete race results.  There were only 42 finishers this morning...no problem finding a parking space this time!  I'm still thinking of entering the Florida Track Club's half marathon race two weeks from now, but I'd first like to get an idea what the long-range weather forecast will be for that morning and will need to wait another week to find out.  It's being held on the Hawthorne Trail, originating and ending at its endpoint in the town of Hawthorne near the high school...