Vampires and Zombies as Allegory

No longer do I have to concentrate on TV channels devoted to horror and science fiction in order to find shows about vampires and zombies (not that I have any particular interest in doing so). They seem to be all over the place now, and they tend to target the adolescent viewing audience. There seems to be several shows involving this supernatural element of "humanity" on the minor networks, while MTV has its own popular comedy Death Valley police show parody of the phenomenon. And we have the enormous popularity of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series and its adaptation to film. So are there really vampires and zombies?

No, at least not in the literal sense, or at least not as they are portrayed on TV or the big screen. But the idea of being bitten by a vampire and becoming transformed into a completely different type of being is a clear allegory for "coming of age" with sexuality in adolescence. This accounts for much of the great interest for vampire shows among the young. But apart from this, I see some other connections between vampires, zombies, and "real" people like you and me.

Zombies are the "walking dead" that can infect people and "convert" them over by a single bite, much in the same way that vampires can recruit others into their ranks. The allegorical idea here is that carnal feelings trump rationality in determining people's personal philosophies and ideology. When someone gets "bitten" and becomes an ideologue continually spewing out another's talking points without showing any independent thinking, that person really does seem, in a sense, like a zombie, one of the walking "mentally dead". It matters not which ends of different political and religious spectrums we're talking about either. For such a character, it is no use to try to reason with them anymore: they have passed over to the "other side" and already regard me as an enemy of sorts (unless they can succeed in "biting" me over, that is). Vampires can also be used with this analogy.

Another type of analogy is that, as time seems to wear on these days in the 21st century, there also seems to be something wrong with people. There is a disconnect here as more and more become removed from their immediate environment, instead being tuned in to their cell phones and Internet connections. I have experienced several occasions over the past couple of years when I heard someone speaking as if they were addressing me. I would turn around, greeting them in return, only to find that they were hooked into their cell phone. And one of my more recent "creepy" experiences happened the last time I went to one of the University of Florida libraries. Instead of seeing students reading books, writing papers, and engaged in discussions, I saw table after table after table, full of students with their laptop computers, cut off from their surroundings and staring at the screens like... well, zombies!

The final analogy I'll make is that it seems gross and horrible for these creatures to be feasting on people. But, really, it is people who are feasting on other sentient beings when they eat meat. If you want to react with ecstatic horror to vampires and zombies while stuffing a bloody medium-rare steak into your mouth, then maybe you're just identifying with the subject matter you're watching...

A Couple of Upcoming Football Games

On the college side of football, it is now at about the halfway point in the season. For the University of Florida team, it is also a crucial time, with their road game later today against Auburn serving as a test determining how good (or bad) this year's Gators really are. Their first four games hinted of potential greatness, but in the last two against top-ranked schools, they wilted in just about every aspect of the game. Now Auburn is definitely better than UF's first four opponents and inferior to LSU and Alabama, the teams that flattened the Gators. So it should prove quite illuminating to see how this game turns out. Should Florida prevail, there is still some hope of them winning their East Division in the Southeastern Conference. Otherwise, they will probably label this season as a "rebuilding" year earlier than planned and shoot for a minor bowl.

On the pro side, in the National Football League, Tim Tebow will finally get his chance to start a game for the Denver Broncos when they play Miami on October 23 after a bye week. The way I see it is that something has to give: the Dolphins are still winless and will probably continue that trend against the New York Jets (at New York, or should I say New Jersey). Either they finally win a game, with Tebow and his Broncos as their hapless victims, or Tebow heroically leads his team to a victory over Miami. I suppose there is also a third option: Tebow screws up early and another Bronco quarterback comes into the game to lead Denver to victory. In any event, I wonder whether it is too late for Miami to pick up Denver's (former) first-string quarterback Kyle Orton. I'm still an Orton supporter, even if nobody in Denver is. It would be the perfect irony: the Dolphins already have former Bronco wide receiver Brandon Marshall, so upon arriving in Miami Orton would instantly have someone to whom he is well-attuned to throw the long pass. Not that either team, with one victory to share between them after five weeks of the season so far, has enough sense to do anything sensible like this with their personnel. Instead, expect continuing dissension and controversy in Denver about who gets to play quarterback while Miami continues without an effective quarterback. Well, with the upcoming game against each other, Miami and Denver will share at least one more victory this year (unless they tie)...

Not Keeping Up Well With Innovations

For a birthday present this year, I received a new Dell laptop computer. This is actually the first laptop I have ever owned, although my wife Melissa has had one for several years and won a notebook in a raffle drawing a couple of years ago. For many years, I have been writing blog articles out on my relatively much-more-primitive AlphaSmart portable work processor (which runs for months on end on three AA batteries, so maybe being primitive has its advantages). But I can only see four short lines of writing at a time on it, and I wanted to write with a full page in front of me. Plus, I wanted more ready access to the Internet. Hence, the new laptop. Still, in a world of notebooks, tablet computers, Kindles/Nooks/Etc., iPhones and Androids, I am far, far behind in "keeping up". Shoot, I still use a Blackberry phone, for crying out loud, although my patience with it has worn quite thin.

No, the simple fact of the matter is that, when it comes to technological innovations of the kind currently sweeping our society, I am far behind others. Still, I manage to keep some contact with the trends. It's important to always keep in mind, though, that many people have NO personal computers or Internet access at their disposal and are completely cut off from this now-pervasive aspect of our society. Among them is my 85-year old father, who has bitterly complained to me on a number of occasions how he will be watching a news story on an interesting topic, only to be cut off when the announcer says to go their website for further information. Or how about all those commercials that presume the viewers have computers readily at their disposal..

Herbert Cain and 9-9-9

Herbert Cain, who seems to be the latest candidate that the GOP far right is putting up against their party's begrudged front-runner Mitt Romney, has proposed a complete revamping of our national tax code. He would replace it with something he calls "9-9-9": a business flat tax of 9%, an individual flat income tax of 9%, and a national sales tax of 9%. I feel that this is an abysmally pro-wealthy, anti-poor and anti-middle class plan, epitomizing true class warfare, albeit against the needy on behalf of the rich. Businesses and the wealthy would pay even less than they already do, while the working poor would be doubly taxed: first, their already very low income and secondly, an oppressive sales tax. So I don't like Mr. Cain's proposal. But still...

In the last debate pitting the Republican candidates against each other, Cain received a large part of criticism from the others for his 9-9-9 tax plan. A couple, namely Jon Huntsman and Michele Bachmann, even had preplanned snide jokes to make about it (Huntsman compared "9-9-9" to a pizza promotion one might expect from Cain's company Godfather's Pizza, while Bachmann, in typical Michele Bachmann fashion, turned the numbers over and got the "evil" 666). Nobody but Cain liked his plan, naturally. But from where I am standing, at least this guy came up with SOMETHING oriented to generating revenue to help the federal government balance its budget. Everyone else gives me the impression of being too chicken to address taxation on an honest level.

I don't think our current tax code needs more regression. No, let's make it more progressive, not less, and make the very rich pay a reasonable (but not oppressively large) share of the burden. But Cain and his circle of fellow aspirants to the presidency have decided to tune out the hurting masses in favor of those who are already greatly prospering in the middle of these relatively lean economic times. The difference between Herbert Cain and the others in the pack, as I see it, is that the others are content with just attacking President Obama as he tries to help people and the economy while Cain actually came up with a specific counterproposal. Good for him, although I sincerely hope he never gets elected!

Occupy This

In 2009, establishment conservative Texas Republican Dick Armey, whom I had previously admired for his record of standing up to extremist elements within his own party, nevertheless invented the tea party movement in order to contrive a popular opposition movement to Barack Obama's fledgling presidency before it even got off the ground. It involved a lot of unruly behavior, with angry, shouting crowds sabotaging Democratic politicians as they tried to explain and discuss the new administration's plans for the country. But instead of punishing these disruptors, the puzzling American electorate turned around and gave them more power in the 2010 elections, handing control of the U.S. House to the Republicans, narrowing Democratic control of the Senate, and sweeping Republicans into governorships of most states (including my Florida). So naturally...

Naturally, we now have a counter-movement to the tea party movement: the "occupy whatever" movement. And to me, on the surface it seems just as ridiculous as the tea party movement. But maybe it'll work in 2012 and energize people to go vote. At least I think that's what a lot of people are hoping for...

Maybe I'm wrong, but unlike with the teabaggers, I don't think some special party think-tank headed by an ideological retired politician created the idea of people rising up by the thousands (and then possibly millions) and staging protests, first on Wall Street and then eventually nationwide, publicizing their perception that this country is quickly turning into a deeply entrenched plutocracy: rule by the (very) rich.

I happen to generally agree with this assessment of our country's current situation, and to the extent that the protests conform with the principles of non-violent public dissent that Gandhi and King espoused and lived, I support them. But eventually, these amorphous clouds of dissenters need to coalesce and organize into a force that can effectively bring change via next year's elections, both on a national and a local level.

Still, I think it's a sad commentary on the American electorate that people need to have special visual stimulants like the tea party or the "occupy" movements in order to motivate them to go and perform the crucial patriotic duty of voting. In 2008, a lot of disheartened conservatives stayed home and helped liberals get elected. Two years later, many liberals apathetically stayed home and conservatives got elected. What, we need to have others put on a show for us and entertain us before we'll get up off our collective butts and live up to our responsibilities as American citizens at the voting booth??!! What kind of a people have we become...

Spare Me the Bonos, Please

I get the hype about Chaz Bono. I really do. As far as I'm concerned, transgenders are cool, and I accept those who have that self-identification, along with the choices that they make in accordance with it. They could use a lot more support in our society than they get. But that doesn't make Mr. Bono a good dancer.

In recent weeks on Dancing With the Stars, viewers have been treated...or should I say "subjected"...to performances by Chaz Bono in which he basically stands in one spot like a rooted tree and waves his arms and gyrates his torso while managing to hold on to his much more mobile and adept partner. And every week he survives to the next while much more talented entrants are asked to exit. His "mommy dearest" Cher, ever so protective, has made it clear that any negative reaction to her little baby's dancing skills is due to intolerance and bigotry about his sexuality. She is on a one-woman campaign to ensure victory for her kid: she even promised (and delivered) to her fans an appearance on the show in support of Chaz. The only problem I see with this is, if you're not already a Cher fan, then so what?

So what does this have to do with dancing? I remember the old Sonny and Cher show, which wasn't all that good to begin with, evoking very few memories. But one thing I do remember about it was how the show's stars would drag their little girl Chastity out on the stage with them at the closing of each show, essentially using their daughter as a prop to show the world what a wonderful, family-oriented couple they were. Even as a teenager, I felt then that the poor kid was being used to further her parents' careers. And now, I suppose, the dues for this manipulation are being paid, and with more manipulation. Now Chaz's mother is lending herself as a stage prop to further his career, once again at the public's viewing expense.

Maybe this is just another example of something that I should step back from and let go. After all, the mass media is full of people, be they activists with their high and holy causes or just fading, washed-up celebrities, tweaking the system however they can to bring that much-craved attention to themselves...and then demanding the very privacy and dignity that they so eagerly relinquished in exchange for it.

Alabama Farms Go Unharvested

I have lately been following in the news how Alabama farmers are losing a lot of money because their ripe fields have too few willing to harvest them. Why is this happening? Apparently, a new Alabama state law is coming down very hard on undocumented immigrants and they are moving out of the state en masse. Many of these had been providing the migrant farm labor these farm owners had been using for many years to work their crops. And they can't find enough "real" Americans willing to perform the low-wage, difficult work that the mostly-Mexican migrant workers consistently did.

After hearing this news, I had two different reactions...

The first is the "obvious" one that the news presenters may have wanted me to have. Which is that Americans are too soft and whiny about their "poor" economic situation. After all, when there are jobs out there, they don't want to do them. Of course, with regard to the Alabama farm worker situation, that's nonsense: we're talking about illegal, under-the-table sub-minimum wage labor, aren't we?

My second reaction is to wonder how many of these "unfortunate" Alabama farmers, with the prospects of failed crops spoiling in their fields, passionately went to the polls and voted for the very same people that passed these restrictive and punitive laws that drove away their labor pool. I think that, once again, we see an example of a segment of the electorate being swayed on emotional hot-button issues to vote for one party against their own better interests. When, if ever, are the people going to awake and realize how they are letting themselves be manipulated??!!

Florida Gators "Settling" Into Season

Now that the University of Florida football team, as expected, have lost their last two football games to conference powerhouses Alabama and LSU, they can reassess their prospects for this season. And incredibly, the fact remains that, even with two consecutive Southeastern Conference losses, the Gators have, as the old cliche goes, "control over their own destiny" regarding their annual goal: winning the SEC championship. Of course, that notion would completely go up in smoke with their next loss, as early as their next game against defending (but much weaker this year) national champion Auburn. Still, most Gator followers will probably be content if they can just win their own division.

This annual process of continual evaluation of the Florida season is interesting to me. After all, optimism abounds at the beginning of the season, even in those years (like this one) in which the team isn't expected to do all that well. The first couple of games are traditionally scheduled against "softy" smaller colleges, so by the time in week #3 when Florida actually plays Tennessee, their first major college opponent, Gator statistics are usually pretty impressive, both offensively and defensively. And lately, Tennessee hasn't had that good of a team either. And the next opponent, which often is Kentucky, usually represents relative mediocrity within this very competitive conference (although on a national level, they're often quite good). So even with only an average squad, the Gators can often start out impressively with a 4-0 record, usually accompanied by high national rankings. This year they did just that, climbing to #12 before being jarred back into reality by their next two opponents.

So what kinds of seasons do Gator fans generally get from their team? Here are some categories:

--Highest expectations: national championship or bust. This happened in 1996, 2008, and 2009, with the last being the "bust" season.

--High expectations, with a national championship or "very close" being the result. 1995 and 2006 were examples of these seasons.

--High expectations, generally met but with disappointing rivalry losses and season endings. This has been the general trend with Florida's seasons, especially since 1990 when Steve Spurrier began as coach. I regard 2001, Spurrier's last season as Florida coach, with Rex Grossman as quarterback, as the consummate season of this type.

--High expectations, average seasons. This is probably what will happen this year, but I think it is the high expectations that are open to criticism, if anything. I think every Gator coach has experienced these types of seasons. During Ron Zook's three-year tenure from 2002-2004, that's all we got.

--High expectations, poor seasons: Many of Doug Dickey's teams, especially that horrendous 1978 season that finally put an end to his coaching stint at UF.

--Low expectations, awful season: Charley Pell's inaugural 1979 season, when UF went 0-10-1.

So let's just enjoy each game this year as they come and appreciate that we have such a strong football winning tradition here without setting too high a standard for a brand new coach and his staff to be able to meet in his first season.

السلام عليكم

The introduction of new foreign language vocabulary may or may not become a regular part of this blog, depending on how useful this exercise is to me. Sometimes, with a language such as Arabic and its exotic script, I'm doing a little more than just listing words and their meanings: I'm also familiarizing myself with how to type out a new script using a new template. The text I'm using to study Arabic is Teach Yourself Arabic by Jack Smart and Frances Altorfer (Hodder & Stoughton Ltd., 2003). In the list below, each line consists of the Arabic writing, the transliteration, and then the meaning. A new page where vocabulary appears is indicated by a number at the end of the line.

Unit 1 Vocabulary in Teach Yourself Arabic

السلام عليكم...as-salaamu :alay-kum.....hello, 24
و عليكم السلام...wa- :alay-kum as-salaam.....hello (in reply)
صباح الخير...SabaaH al-khayr.....good morning, 25
صباح النور...SabaaH an-nur.....good morning (in reply)
مساء الخير...masaa' al-khayr.....good afternoon/evening, 26
مساء النور...masaa' an-nuur.....good afternoon/evening (in reply)
كيف حالك؟...kayfa Haal-ak.....how are you? (to a man), 27
كيف حالك؟...kayfa Haal-ik.....how are you? (to a woman)
الحمد لله...al-Hamdu lil-laah.....(response to above)
أهلا وسهلا...ahlan wa-sahlan.....welcome
أهلا بك...ahlan bi-k.....(reply to a man)
أهلا بك...ahlan bi-ki.....(reply to a woman)
وأنت...wa anta/anti.....and you? (sing. masc/fem)
بخير...bi-khayr.....well
من فضلك...min faDl-ak.....please, 30
تفضل...tafaDDal..... here you are, welcome
شكرا...shukran.....thank you
نعم...na:am.....yes, 31
أو...aw.....or
ﻻ...laa.....no
ب...bi-.....with
بدوب...bi-duun.....without
بكم هذا؟...bi-kam haadha?.....how much is this
الأهرام...al-ahraam.....the pyramids
شمس...shams.....sun, 32
نور...nuur.....light
قمر...qamar.....moon, 33
بيت, بيوت...bayt, buyuut.....house, 34
صغير...Saghiir.....young (person), small (thing)
ولد, أوﻻد...walad, awlaad.....boy
طويل...Tawiil.....tall (person), long (thing)
كتاب, كتب...kitaab, kutub.....book
كبير...kabiir.....big
جميل...jamiil (fem. jamiilah).....beautiful
هرم...haram.....pyramid, 35
قهوة...qahwah.....coffee, 36
بعيد...ba:iid.....far, distant, 39
قريب...qariib.....near
جديد...jadiid.....new
قديم...qadiim.....old (things)
لطيف...laTiif.....pleasant, nice
كريم...kariim.....noble, generous
صحيح...SaHiiH.....correct, right

Starting On Goodkind's Sword of Truth Series

Sometimes I find myself pulling into the parking lot of my preferred Books-a-Million on Newberry Road (as opposed to the NW 13th Street location) to check out the books there. I tend to browse throughout the store, but often focus on the science fiction/fantasy section. One author who has intrigued me by his enormous amount of material displayed there is the fantasy writer Terry Goodkind. Among his works is the twelve (lengthy) volume series The Sword of Truth, which he published over a span from 1994 to 2007. Goodkind, according to the Wikipedia article I read about him, is a fan of Ayn Rand and her objectivist philosophy. He has apparently incorporated this into the Sword of Truth series. I find the idea of placing objectivism into a fantasy setting, full of magic and the supernatural, pretty intriguing and want to discover how he pulls this off (or whether he actually does pull it off).

I have begun reading Terry Goodkind's Sword series with the first book Wizard's First Rule. Just to be on the safe side, though, I saved my money (for now) and just checked it out from my library. After the first chapter, though, it is clear to me that Goodkind is a good writer who at least knows how to begin a long work by spurring the reader's interest from the very beginning. Let's just hope that he can sustain that interest for me! Ultimately, though, I need to feel some sort of bonding with the characters he presents. They don't necessarily have to be likable (as is the case with Lev Grossman's Magician series protagonist Quentin Clearwater, quite an unlikable dude). But they do have to be believable and show some complexity.

I understand that this series of Goodkind had been adapted to a short television series titled Legend of the Seeker. "Short" because it was unceremoniously cancelled after a couple of seasons, apparently from general disinterest. Hopefully, I won't later feel the need to "cancel" my reading of the books from disinterest, too...

Apple's Steve Jobs Will Be Missed

Computer innovator and entrepreneur Steve Jobs has died at age 56, presumably from complications arising from his pancreatic cancer of several years. Being an original founder of Apple Computer and seeing the introduction of the graphics-friendly, user-friendly Macintosh personal computer in the early 1980's, he then left the company in 1985 after a conflict with others in high management. Later he returned in the late 1990's and revitalized the then-floundering company, introducing the "i" line of products with which we are so familiar today.

Many today are paying tribute to how Jobs changed the information and communications industry. Others see him as a shining example of a creative entrepreneur, someone on whom Americans and others worldwide can model themselves to create their own new companies and products that that can, in turn, revitalize the flagging economies we see all around us today.

Steve Jobs will be sorely missed, but his example will endure for a long, long time...

Controversial Drone Attack on American

With the drone attack on American-born Al Qaeda terrorist leader Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen has arisen a stirring debate about the propriety of the U.S. action. After all, al-Awlaki was an American citizen and hadn't been legally charged with any crime (at least by the U.S.). Didn't that mean he had a more privileged status than non-nationals who are deemed to be a national threat?

Sometimes it is very hard for me to trust my own government when it claims to have special intelligence that implicates a specific party as being a threat to our nation, especially in light of the misguided justification for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Al-Awlaki had been implicated as being a spiritual adviser for two of the 9/11 hijackers, encouraged and praised the Ft. Hood shooter, and abetted if not planned recent terrorist plots in the U.S., including the failed May 2010 attempt to set off a van bomb just outside Times Square, New York City. Yemen had itself issued a "wanted dead or alive" announcement against al-Awlaki for alleged terrorist activities against that country and its people. But shouldn't our government have pursued a judicial course before acting as it did?

The way I see it is this: If the police see someone walking down the street shooting off an automatic weapon randomly at people, they are not going to wait to obtain a arrest warrant before subduing the individual, very likely with deadly force of arms. That's because the police, an arm of our executive branch of government, are mandated to protect the public from harm. In like manner, on a national level it is the executive, not judicial, branch that is empowered to protect the nation from its enemies. And as for the task of identifying which parties constitute our enemies, judges play no role.

Now in that context, if those entrusted with our national defense concluded that al-Awlaki constituted an imminent threat to national security and was a danger to Americans while making himself personally unapproachable for capture, then they would be in a very similar situation to that police/gunner scenario earlier alluded to.

The real question we have here is how far we are willing to trust those with executive power to accurately identify enemies and their threats to us, and to then act appropriately to deal with them in an effective, timely manner for the national good. Ron Paul, who sees conspiracies of power everywhere he looks, naturally was bitterly opposed to the drone attack. But like it or not, I want my government to protect me from those who mean to harm me and my family. After all, the Times Square attempt occurred at the exact spot where we were staying less than a month earlier. Our visit there came too close to being part of this ordeal.

Hopefully, at some time in the near future, we will get some information that further clarifies the drone attack and which explains it more compellingly in terms of protecting us from terrorism. In the meantime, we need to recognize that depending on our judicial system alone in matters concerning national defense and international (and domestic) terrorism would be disastrous. Yes, the judiciary does need to come into play and have an appropriate role. But it cannot tie up those whom we are entrusting with our defense, either.

Hank Williams, Jr. and His Remark

Hank William, Jr. has a carefully-crafted reputation as being the "bad boy " of country music. As such, perhaps he felt that the public would pretty much hand him free rein over everything he said. And, to be perfectly honest, he IS an American and entitled to the protection of the First Amendment regarding his speech and opinions. But he was also making money representing a private media company (ESPN) with his weekly opening appearance on the Monday Night Football program. So his recent equation of President Obama with genocidal mass-murdering tyrant Adolf Hitler, while constitutionally-protected as free speech, still went way over the edge in regard to its propriety. Thank you, ESPN, for immediately dumping him. Had you not, though, I was preparing to launch my own personal boycott campaign against your company and sponsors...

One aspect to Junior's unfortunate diatribe that I haven't yet heard discussed was the fact that he made it while a guest on Fox News' Fox and Friends show. Evidently, ol' Hank felt real brave and cocky sitting around a bunch of like-minded right-wingers when he let loose his slime bomb. But didn't the dude realize that EVERYONE was going to hear him, not just his little insulated bubble of political "friends" who just sat there emptily grinning at him?

I've seen the same going on in political campaigning as well. In 2008, a surging Mike Huckabee, while trying to ingratiate himself with Christian fundamentalists in South Carolina who wanted nothing less than a Christian theocracy (with THEIR doctrine, of course), espoused to a sympathetic crowd that he wanted to change the United States Constitution to conform more closely with the Bible. Yes, he won points with that crowd, but his words went nationwide, scaring the hell out of millions and effectively torpedoing his presidential aspirations. Other examples of candidates saying objectionable and/or controversial things in ostensibly sympathetic settings... without regard to the fact that in today's instant-mass-communication age, EVERYONE is the real setting...abound without anyone seeming to understand what they are doing at the time they make their ill-chosen remarks.

Politicians and celebrities can no longer play to their extremist bases with inflammatory rhetoric and then turn around and claim to be more reasonable in other settings. Because, well, it's all out there now for everyone to see and hear!

Today's Eight-Mile Gorillaz Run

Today I had a breakthrough with my running, easily covering 8.05 miles in 1:13:28. Two factors contributed to my success: (1) I had eaten a lot the previous day, including a big pasta entree at Olive Garden, and (2) the humidity (as well as the temperature) was low. At the start of the run, it was 70 degrees with 41% humidity. By the end, the temperature had climbed to 79 but the humidity had plummeted to a heavenly 26%.

At the start of my run (which I accomplished as usual going up and down my neighborhood streets), I felt stiff and tired. If I had gone on my feelings alone then, I wouldn't have tried to reach 8 miles. But I knew I had energy reserves and, for once, the weather was actually on my side. So I kept plugging away. I never tired, and my running became smoother as I stretched my distance. By the end, I knew I could go further, but decided to give myself another chance at a (hopefully soon) future date to accomplish that on another run. During my post-workout recovery, due to the relative dryness of the air, I wasn't even sweating at all. Quite a contrast from that earlier near-disastrous 4-mile run I stumbled through a couple of months ago in Hollywood, Florida, when the temperature was comparable but the humidity was an unbearable 80-plus percent...

Throughout today's run, I listened exclusively to the alternative group Gorillaz in shuffle mode on my MP3. This act's sound worked perfectly with my running to make it a truly pleasurable experience.

Frodo, Quests, and Me

I an currently in the middle of a number of long-term self-improvement endeavors, some of which may pay financial dividends in the future. This is good, seeing that regardless what happens at my current place of employment (the post office), I am also approaching retirement anyway. And there's no way I want to spend it idly sitting around or doing some menial work for pocket change. So in my various quests, looking for an edge into a paying marketplace is definitely in my mind. But having said that, it is important to note and emphasize the value of the journey itself.

The quest of Frodo Baggins to dispose of the Ring of Power in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings resonates with me as I go about my own quests. As with the deep uncertainty about Frodo being able to ultimately accomplish his crucial deed, my goals also leave a lot of room for self-doubt. It would be easy to become very discouraged and give up, especially if I look too far ahead and become obsessed with how far I still need to go. But as was the case with Frodo, I am focusing more on taking on my quests one step at a time, with me firmly established in the present, putting one foot in front of the other in the directions I need to go. There will be times of great progress; there will also be times of stagnation, even crisis. But that's just part of the journey...

I look around me at other people in my life and discover that many are just drifting along from one day to the next, completely mired in the small details of their daily existence and without any consistent theme to where they want to take their lives. For better or for worse, I am not like them and hope that I never will be. And like Frodo the Ringbearer, this sometimes sadly means that I will often find myself alone in my journey...

Weather More Pleasant

Today's weather has been so remarkably autumn-like that I have to write about it. The humidity is very low and the temperatures might not even reach 80. For Florida this is an unusual treat, even for October. Especially on the first day of October!

To mark the occasion I dragged out my my jacket and sweater to take with me for the nighttime, when it's supposed to plummet to around 50.

I went running for a couple of miles around noon today. I could have gone on much longer, but today was a "low mileage" day (I have been alternating how long I run for about three weeks). Good news, though: tomorrow's forecast is for more of the same wonderful weather. Let's see how far I can run then!

Potential 2011 World Series Pairings

Now that the eight teams are set for this year's Major League Baseball playoffs, I look at them and envision what the best World Series match-ups might be.

The most-anticipated finals are either rematches of previous Series or have a special geographical twist to them. Not that either of these implies a great series. And often a great World Series will happen between two teams with little to connect them to each other. As an example of the former, the 2000 "Subway Series" between the New York Yankees and the New York Mets promised much but delivered little, with the Yankees sweeping the Mets in only four games. But 1982's contest between the American League's Milwaukee Brewers and the National League's St. Louis Cardinals produced an exciting, see-saw series that went down to the final game.

This year Milwaukee is once again in the playoffs as is St. Louis. But the two teams won't be facing each other in the World Series since the Brewers have jumped over to the National League, actually in the same division as the Cardinals. For Milwaukee I see no match-up with the American League entrants (NY Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, Detroit Tigers, or Texas Rangers) that would pique my interest. The same goes for Texas up against any of the National League teams (including the Philadelphia Phillies, St.Louis Cardinals, and the Arizona Diamondbacks). I suppose, though, that a Texas-Arizona series might be deemed as the "Southwestern States Series"...

I see only four interesting scenarios for World Series match-ups this year:

1) New York Yankees vs. Philadelphia Phillies: A rematch of 2009 that the Yanks took sees a much stronger Phillies team with an almost invincible pitching rotation. This is the best pairing to me since these are clearly the two best teams in baseball over the span of the regular season this year.

2) Tampa Bay Rays vs. Philadelphia Phillies:
Another rematch, this time of 2008, when then-upstart Tampa Bay couldn't pull off the miracle finish they had envisioned against the Phillies. This year would be even more of a miracle if they won this Series.

3) New York Yankees vs. Arizona Diamondbacks:
Right after the 9/11 attacks on Manhattan in 2001, the Yankees played out (and ultimately lost) one of the greatest World Series ever against Arizona, a seven-game classic full of close, cliffhanging games. Now ten years later, this is another interesting possibility.

4) Detroit Tigers vs. St. Louis Cardinals:
In 1968, a year that saw pitching so dominate baseball that they lowered the pitcher's mound the next year to give hitters a better chance, Detroit game back from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Cardinals four games to three. This was also the last season without divisions and playoffs.

Of course, we might end up with an unanticipated Series like Texas vs. Milwaukee, too. And that one could turn into something memorable for the future. Although New York and Philly are the tops in baseball, anybody can win a short playoff series. So who knows who will make it to the end...

P.S. I suppose you could also go back to the early 1960's series between the Yankees and the Cardinals...but seeing that I didn't follow the World Series until the 1965 series between the LA Dodgers and the Minnesota Twins (I had just turned nine), I'm not counting them.

Appointment for a Lousy Day

Today has not been one of my favorite days, to put it lightly. As a matter of fact, I had been dreading its approach over the past week. You see, I had an appointment to have a lousy day today: I was going to see my doctor as well undergo a scan by a specialist. In all, I was jabbed with needles three different times and the various appointments ended up taking most of my morning. But if just getting stuck was all there was to it, I wouldn't have had any problem. Ditto for investing some of my time in something worthwhile. And I have no complaints against my doctor or the specialist. But...

I really detest having anything to do with doctors' offices, hospitals, medical examination rooms,... even pharmacies leave me cold! I suppose it has something to do with the atmosphere of these places: they are oriented toward sickness, and the concept of sickness permeates them. Not only do I see sick patients all around me, but the workers themselves seem to be focused on sickness. Well, you might say that this is what they're supposed to be doing. And you'd be right. Of course, the doctors and their assistants are actually helping me to maintain my health. But going to them seems irrationally dangerous and repulsive to me...

Coach Muschamp a Wild Man on Sidelines

Every football coach has their own personal demeanor while on the sidelines during games. Some, like the New England Patriots' Bill Belichick or the Florida Gators' former coach Urban Meyer, seem stone-faced and rigid, no matter what is happening on the field. Others like Steve Spurrier pursue a middle ground: Spurrier uses disgusted facial expressions and throws down his visor to express his reactions. Then there are those "wild men" who completely throw themselves into the game, yelling at officials, grabbing players, and even jumping up and down and running back and forth. In this category I put Rex Ryan of the NY Jets and the Miami Dolphins beleaguered coach Tony Sparano. As well as current Florida first-year coach Will Muschamp.

Before this season began, I saw film clips of Muschamp working the sidelines while an assistant coach or coordinator at other schools. And he was very, very emotional, animated and physically involved in the games. I told a couple of my friends to expect to see Muschamp repeat this role of a "wild man" on the sidelines during the Gator games. For a while, though, it looked as if he had settled down a bit. Then again, the first two UF games were against smaller schools. But once Florida began their Southeastern Conference schedule, first against Tennessee and then Kentucky, Coach Muschamp resumed his own theatrical antics. Quite an entertainer, I might say. But, once the game is over and it's time for an interview or press conference, his cool, professional demeanor returns and he becomes a gentlemen once again.

Yesterday I read an article critical of Muschamp's sideline activity written by some young dude working for the Independent Florida Alligator newspaper. He pretty much laid out his objection: Muschamp's antics could be his undoing. But I think that writer missed the point entirely. Will Muschamp is no Bobby Knight, the hot-tempered former Indiana and Texas Tech basketball coach who displayed poor sportsmanship both at courtside and in front of the press microphone. Not that we won't see a little testiness from time to time from the new Gator coach: he does have a right to be human, after all...

Will Muschamp is completely appropriate in his behavior and tailors it to fit the occasion. Sure, he lets himself go during games: that fires up his players to perform better and excites and entertains the fans watching the game. Then, away from the action he assumes the role of leader and spokesman for his team and the University of Florida. I have found no flaws in his behavior: this guy seems to "get it" with how a coach needs to present himself.

Arabic Language Learning Difficulties

The Arabic language is quite a challenge to learn. Just consider some of the following:

--It is written from right to left.

--The script is completely different from Latin script.

--A letter is written differently, depending on whether it is initial in a word, in the middle, or final.

--Short vowels are omitted in standard text, ensuring that readers have to know in advance how a word is pronounced before they can read it.

--Standard Arabic contains some guttural sounds not found in English or other languages. And some are pretty difficult to pronounce.

--Plurals of nouns are irregular and unpredictable, needing to be memorized in advance.

--There are a myriad of different verb forms, each with its own special rules of conjugation.

--Verbs are conjugated by a combination of prefixes, suffixes, and changing vowels and doubling consonants within the roots.

--Unlike English, which shares a great deal of vocabulary affinity with related tongues like French, Spanish, Latin, Italian, Dutch, and German, Arabic belongs to a completely different language family. As such, a learner cannot "cheat" by building up vocabulary from cognates or discern meanings from familiar root forms that cross from other languages to English.

--Arabic as it is routinely spoken varies greatly from country to country, and diverges as well from the standard literary form used in radio and TV. Hence, for example, the multiple transliterations of Libyan's Gadhafi (or Qaddafy, etc.) largely reflect differences in local pronunciation.

--The quality of instructional material for studying Arabic often leaves a lot to be desired. For example, I recently bought a pack of 1000 Vis-Ed Arabic vocabulary cards. You might think that they would have had enough sense to either transliterate the Arabic text into Latin script or insert the traditional Arabic diacritics to indicate short vowels and doubled consonants in their words, but then you would be mistaken. And there are too many Arabic textbooks that also fall short in omitting the needed short vowels from the words they introduce in their lessons.

--Words in traditional Arabic-English dictionaries are ordered by root and not pronunciation, making finding whatever word you're looking for often very difficult.

--Doing anything on the computer in Arabic necessitates a completely different script and keyboard template.

So in studying Arabic, I am facing quite a few hurdles. But that's O.K., I suppose. I did find a different vocabulary card set that gives the Latin transliteration for each word, along with diacritic marks. And the textbook I study, Teach Yourself Arabic, has both the Latin transliterations for their vocabulary and a word glossary at the end arranged in a reasonable manner. I can pick up BBC in Arabic on the computer, not that I can understand what's being said yet. So I do have some things going for me in my endeavor to learn Arabic. One obstacle, though, stands firmly in my way: time!

Sports Comments

--It looks like a great football game ahead between Florida and Alabama this coming Saturday, to be held here in Gainesville. Funny though, the sports media pundits don't seem to give the Gators much of a chance against the Crimson Tide and instead are looking far ahead to Alabama's showdown contest against #1 LSU in November. This in spite of the fact that Florida is playing at home and is ranked at #12. Who knows, maybe Alabama will breeze through this game, but I wouldn't bet on it...

--My Miami Dolphins are showing their usual mediocre regular season form, sporting a "perfect" 0-3 record after a promising 4-1 preseason record. I heard on ESPN radio today someone say that, with parity in the NFL creating so many close scores, teams that collectively have a winning culture will find ways to win those close games, while those with an expectation and history of losing will find ways to lose them. Teams like Buffalo and Detroit, "losers" in the past few years, have recently found that winner's culture and turned out victories while the Dolphins are apparently convinced that they WILL lose the close ones...

--In baseball, there are two teams in each league vying for final wild-card playoff spots: Boston or Tampa Bay in the American League and Atlanta or St. Louis in the National League. At this writing Boston and Atlanta are each one game ahead in their respective races with only three games to go in the regular season. There's no way to tell how things will end up, but for the teams involved there is one thing for certain: the de facto playoff system has already begun for them! I'd like to see Atlanta and Tampa Bay make it into the playoffs, but then again, nothing would beat a New York Yankees-Philadelphia Phillies World Series for excitement...

--Sexagenarian long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad has once again failed in another of her many attempts to swim the Florida Straits between Cuba and Florida. This time she was caught in a flotilla of Portuguese man o' war jellyfish, which inflicted so many painful stings on her that her life was deemed to be in danger. It's interesting to me how an obsession like Nyad's of crossing that one particular body of water can take hold and utterly dominate one's existence. I think that she might just consider stepping back and letting someone else have a go at it. She's surely convinced me (and much of the world) of her athleticism, courage, and tenacity. But I think she may believe that adopting such a reasonable attitude would be the sign of a "quitter"; but people need to be realistic as to their own limitations, too...

Perry Favorably Surprises Me

With the recently held Florida debate between the Republican presidential wannabes, I was hoping that front-running teabag sympathizer Rick Perry would finally get his comeuppance as the others desperately ganged up on him. Well, if that was my original wish, I think it was fulfilled. Kind of...

It seems that, as governor of Texas, Perry allowed children of illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition at Texas public colleges. This infuriated others at the debate, with the charge that this was unfair because "real" Americans from other states had to still pay the much higher out-of-state rates. And the crowd, a general reverse barometer to the validity of anything spoken at these GOP events, loudly agreed with these criticisms. I didn't, and actually came, albeit slightly, to a grudging appreciation of the Texas governor.

People living in Texas, be they "legal" or not, are also immersed in that state's tax structure, which thoroughly permeates its economy. If you live there then you WILL be paying state taxes, like it or not. And the undocumented who live there are no exception. That their children should be thus treated as in-state residents is therefore reasonable to me: besides, they really ARE in-state residents! If out-of-state red, white & true-blue, card-carrying Americans want Texas rates, I have a suggestion for them: MOVE TO TEXAS!

Rick Perry responded to the criticisms that other candidates leveled at him on this issue without retreating one step. He said that he did what he did because he felt it was the right thing to do... and he still does.

Maybe I should take back that remark I had made a few weeks ago about Perry being a "malevolent clown". It seems the man has a heart after all. I just wish he would show it more often...

My Running Picking Up Again

It hasn't been an easy go of it this summer with my running. After all, I remember the great progress I made last year, far surpassing the endurance running I even did back in my late teens in the mid-1970's. And much of this was done in excruciatingly hot conditions. This summer, I have had more severe issues with upper respiratory problems. To make things worse, it has also been consistently more humid this year than last. And a very high humidity is a hindrance to my running, much more so than high temperatures. But here I am now at the end of September and the beginning of autumn. And, without planning it at all, things seem to be picking up with my running in spite of a continued lack of cooperation from the weather.

The idea that, in the middle of a shift away from heavy running, I would end up with a 15-day streak of daily running, is something that I couldn't have foreseen. But two weeks later, I have gotten back to integrating this activity into my life on a habitual level. Some of my runs have just been around my block (2/3 of a mile), but most are longer. I have taken refuge during really adverse weather conditions in the air-conditioned sanctuary of my local YMCA, running on the treadmill there on a couple of occasions during this streak. I haven't yet returned to the longer distances that I ran last year, but I am confident that I'll gradually build up to around 7-10 miles for two to three times a week. And yes, I once again see competing in half-marathon races as a viable prospect for the near-future.

R.E.M. Calls It Quits

R.E.M., one of my all-time favorite rock bands, has finally announced its retirement after three decades in the business. Frontman and lyricist Michael Stipe, lead guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and drummer Bill Berry (through 1997) comprised this alternative group originating from Athens, Georgia. Although they had their first release, an EP titled Chronic Town, in 1982, it took me a few years to catch on to how high-quality this act was. Of course this is partially due to their improvement over the years, but also because they received very little radio air play until the late 1980's. But by the 1990's R.E.M. had become my favorite musical act of that decade. The first R.E.M. tune I ever heard was their 1984 classic South Central Rain (I'm Sorry), courtesy of MTV and featuring lead singer Stipe actually sporting some hair on his head...

After the turn of the century, R.E.M.'s music became generally slower and even moodier than it already had a tendency to be. They tried to move back to their older sound with their last two albums, and I appreciate their efforts. But by that time I had moved on as well with my own musical tastes.

I wish the members of this talented band well with their "retirement", which I put in quotations because I can't imagine them ever stopping with their highly-talented passion for music. I see them individually going off with their own projects and collaborating with others as well. Plus, especially with Michael Stipe, they tend to be active with social issues.

For a change, instead of listing my favorite songs of R.E.M., I'm listing their studio album releases, from top to bottom as I liked them, with a little commentary on the side. Here goes...

1 Monster [1994] ...by far my favorite, their brief flirtation with hard rock
2 Automatic for the People [1992]...their "Sgt. Pepper", produced by John Paul Jones
3 Out of Time [1991]...the album that made R.E.M. a mainstream super-group (for a while)
4 Reveal [2001]...their final great album (to me)
5 Green [1989]...the album that made me notice them
6 Murmur [1983]...full of wonderful songs, should have been a bigger hit
7 Up [1998]...great album with the wrong singles releases
8 New Adventures in Hi-Fi [1996]...disappointing as follow-up to Monster, but E-Bow the Letter a great track
9 Chronic Town (EP) [1982]...every track powerful and memorable
10 Document [1988]...beginning of shift away from their early folk-rock
11 Collapse Into Now [2011]...I'm still in judgment over this one, mostly good songs
12 Accelerate [2008]...gutsy effort to regain their mojo after previous album
13 Life's Rich Pageant [1986]...#13-15 were their mid-80's folk-rock albums, gradually building up their following
14 Fables of the Reconstruction [1985]
15 Reckoning [1984]
16 Around the Sun [2004] ...by far my least favorite, a tribute to dreariness

Oh, here is a link to another article I wrote about R.E.M. three years ago, listing my favorite songs of theirs. Interestingly, that list still holds up pretty well for me...

Don't Ask Don't Tell Ended

It's funny how a policy can be enacted with the higher motive of allowing a group to escape persecution and yet, because of the prejudice of other people, be used ironically to further persecute members of that group. Such was the case with the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy that President Clinton signed off on in the 1990's. Initially designed to allow gays to engage in military service without the military authorities automatically singling them out for disciplinary action, instead the military used the new rule to intrude even more heavily into its members' sexual lives, with many drummed out of the service or forced to keep their sexual orientation underground. Now that rule has been rescinded. Good riddance. I wonder what devices the homophobes in our military will use now to bully gay people serving in its ranks. After all, a rule change may be good but it doesn't signify a general attitude change.

I have discovered, through my often tortuous walk through life, that if you are out of the mainstream in any way, sooner or later some aggressive, intrusive element in society will call you out and try to persecute you for it. Even if your "deviation from the norm" is simply an intrinsic part of your own basic makeup, with little or no effect on others, no matter how trivial it may seem. And even more so if you appear to be all alone, which is really the prime driving force in all cowardly bullying and highhanded criticisms, not the actual "deviation" itself. Gays since 1969 have discovered that there is strength in unity, organization, and numbers, so for them I am glad that this abused rule for military service has ended. Still, I think persecution will continue: as mentioned earlier, you can't change people's hearts with just the stroke of a pen...

Electorate Responsible for Government Impasse

It seems that our president nowadays can do nothing without reaping scathing criticism from one side or the other. The more he tries to work with Republicans, the more they attack him, without showing any of the give and take that our political process needs to function in this country. If he lays out plans in accordance with his own political perspective on things (his recent jobs bill and his current $3 trillion debt reduction plan), the pundits rip him for pushing unrealistic proposals just to better position himself politically for next year. His own party chastises him for trying to at least get SOMETHING done by reaching consensus with a very intransigent and irresponsible political opposition and is beginning to move in the direction of abandoning him in favor of an potential alternate candidate (namely Hillary Clinton, who has repeatedly and vehemently stated that she isn't at all interested).

But from where I'm standing, President Obama is the reasonable, sane element in our political system working to promote the best interests of the country and its people; the other parts are what needs to be fixed. However, seeing that the American people collectively don't seem to "get it", they'll continue, I suppose, to lambaste Republicans in Congress in the public opinion polls while at the same time keep voting for them over and over again at the election polls. And since the GOP's refusal to work to any reasonable degree with the duly elected president keeps being rewarded by voters, why then would they ever consider changing? If you are rewarded for your behavior, good or bad it may be, you're going to repeat it.

A lazy, easily manipulated electorate will get what it deserves: a mediocre, dysfunctional government. And we currently are suffering from both. As far as I'm concerned regarding today's political impasse and dysfunction, the politicians themselves aren't the main problem, regardless of what the "experts" are saying: it's the ELECTORATE!

Two Recommended Programs About 9/11

Seeing that it is now just past one week after the heavily covered 9/11 commemoration, I notice that practically nothing remains in the broadcast or printed media which discusses this terribly important subject. So let me refresh the attention-span-challenged public's historical memory by discussing it here.

On September 11, 2001, 19 guests from other nations, in direct contradiction to the principles of the great Islamic faith and its traditions, betrayed the hospitality and good will that another land had bestowed upon them and committed horrendous acts of mass murder of its innocent people and wanton destruction. All in the name of the same religion whose values they so blatantly violated. Of course, the land I'm referring to is the United States and the terrorists from the Middle East, mainly Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and under the direction of the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda, hijacked four passenger planes and flew two of them into the World Trade Center twin towers, with the third plane hitting the Pentagon and the fourth forced into a crash in a western Pennsylvania field when the passengers, aware of the other hijackings, rose up against the hijackers.

I noticed that most of the coverage that occurred on 9/11 this year concentrated on the victims and was light on the actual perpetrators. This gave a false impression that what happened that day was more an act of fate than an act of deliberate mass murder. Having said that, I will say as well that I was impressed with what two television channels did to remind us of this infamous day in history.

MSNBC simply replayed its coverage of the September 11, 2001 events as they had unfolded, complete with the often inaccurate information and speculation from announcers and correspondents that typified this day. The cameras were generally trained on the burning WTC towers, apparently from the Jersey side of the Hudson River. Well, they were, that is, until the South and then the North Towers came tumbling down in a catastrophic toxic cloud of rubble, metal, and ash, with the thick smoke and haze obscuring the skyline. I found sitting through this coverage mesmerizing.

The History Channel showed a collection of videos, in chronological order, made from various people who happened to be in the general vicinity of the World Trade Center as the events unfolded. Titled 102 Minutes, this is an incredible account of the mass tragedy from up close, showing the horrified, confused, panicky, angry, and even disbelieving reactions of residents, workers, and visitors as they witnessed the events in person.

No, I don't think we should wait for another entire year to remember the 9/11 attacks. I can understand it if MSNBC doesn't show its program except on September 11, but the History Channel program is something that should be aired much more often...

To Coffee Shops: Close Up AFTER You Close, Not Before

Here is a little peeve of mine that I would like to get off my chest...

I get off from work a little early, around 10 at night. I go over to a nearby coffee shop that stays open until 11. So I get there and sit down to study and write. And enjoy my coffee. But during most of the time I'm there, the employees are sweeping and mopping the floor, taking out boxes to restock their shelves for the next morning, and carrying in tables and chairs from the outside. Often, if I had wanted to sit outside, there are no longer any available seats or tables. And inside, sections of the seating area are often closed off, the floor wet from mopping. Meanwhile, other tables are off-limits because of inventory stacked up on them. Maybe this shouldn't bother me, but it does.

I get the vibes from places such as I just described (and there are way too many of them) that, sure, they are "technically" open until their stated closing time, but hey...

The workers eager to close up in advance of the actual "closing" convey the impression that, by coming in to do business with them in their final hour, I am being an impediment to their agenda: they want to get off the clock and the hell out of there as soon as possible after closing. To this end, they want to get ahead of the game by doing things in front of the (paying) customers that are distractions and nuisances. I just think it's damned tacky, and is a violation of the unspoken contract I (possibly delusionally) agreed to when I walked through their doors, spent my money there, and expected a certain type of ambiance in the surroundings as I sat in their establishment, final hour of the day or not.

To put it in a more general context, if I had guests visiting me in my home, I sure as all wouldn't then get out and use my vacuum cleaner or fold up my laundry in front of them! Then again, maybe the old virtues of etiquette and hospitality have become buried in the past, increasingly distant memories never to be revived...

Emotional Hot-Button Issues Define GOP Support

I often wonder to myself why so many Americans who are either retired and actively receiving Social Security and Medicare benefits or are approaching that time in their lives are vehemently pro-tea party and staunchly support Republicans in their political leanings. After all, those politicians are the ones that most radically want to change these important institutions in a negative way for their recipients. I mean, from where I'm at at age 54, I feel that just when I'm about to retire, they will turn Social Security and Medicare into a sorry, sad joke, with greatly reduced benefits and much higher costs. I'm not about to vote for any politician who espouses the kind of anti-retiree views of Rick Perry or Eric Cantor. But that brings me back to those citizens who do support them. Why?

Last week's special election in southern Brooklyn, where a vacant Democratic congressional seat they had held since 1920 went over to a Republican, provides a major clue. The GOP winner targeted the largely Jewish community living there by engaging in Muslim-baiting, actually showing an Islamic mosque superimposed on Ground Zero in one of his campaign ads. And it worked, apparently convincing enough people that by being anti-Muslim, he was somehow looking out for them. This in spite of whatever issues on which he stands in diametric opposition to the majority of the voters who put him into office (including wrecking Social Security and Medicare beyond recognition). He found an emotional hot-button issue and exploited it to victory.

And that just might be the answer to my earlier question: many, if not most voters have hot-button issues that a candidate must be on their side with if he or she wants their votes. So a voter's fear about having their guns taken away from them may prompt them to vote for the Republicans more than the Democrats, as would someone with overriding concerns about legalized abortion. Or, as was the case in New York, a fear that the Muslims are coming to take over. Or that our nation is to suffer divine judgement and punishment if we give gays the basic human rights that others have. Sometimes stances on hot-button issues may seem so over-the-top that they are dismissed as being foolish or bigoted. But they still translate into votes for the candidate who is successful at exploiting them. It seems illogical that people would allow themselves to vote against their own best interests because of emotionally-charged, irrelevant issues, but then again we're humans and not Vulcans...

On the other hand, someone standing back looking at the situation could also point a finger a me and say that I'm making Social Security and Medicare into hot-button issues. Maybe that's so, but don't you think they just might carry some true relevance to our lives, if not right now then in the foreseeable future?

I have a novel idea: let's get ourselves all worked up over the issues that REALLY MATTER, all right??!!

Sweating It Out

Lately I have been suffering, I'm afraid, from a little hypochondria. At various times over the past few weeks I have been imagining myself as being afflicted with all sorts of horrible disorders, none of which have been even remotely confirmed. Then one day I noticed that the perspiration on my clothes after exercising had a strange odor. Rushing to my computer, I found that a sweetish smell to perspiration is an indicator of a condition called ketoacidosis and may possibly be due to type I diabetes. Damn, is there anything else bad that I can think I'm afflicted with?

Then, I thought, why not just throw in liver disease as a possible cause. That could be just as fatal... and then something resembling the "control" of a completely unplanned experimental trial changed the "diagnosis".

In spite of all my (hopefully) imaginary health woes, I still kept up with my running, albeit on a lighter level. One day I was looking for the old technical running shirt I had picked up at the Tom Walker Memorial half-marathon a year ago. But I knew it was buried somewhere deep in a pile of clothes in my bedroom. I persisted in my search, though, and found it, wearing it in my workout run that day.

As usual, I worked up a good sweat with my run and, when it was over and time for my shower, I noticed that smell on my sweaty clothes again. Except for that old tee-shirt, that is. It had no smell at all! And then it suddenly hit me...

I recently had changed my laundry detergent to a different, cheaper brand. The Tom Walker shirt, hidden away in that pile for weeks, hadn't been washed with it. Obviously, this new detergent was leaving an embedded scent on my clothing that came out strongly with perspiration. Subsequent "experiments" bore this out. So scratch out diabetes type I and liver failure!

I think I had better lighten up on my health self-diagnosis or I'm going to have a nervous breakdown. Or be a suitable subject for a lead role in a Woody Allen movie (see Hannah and Her Sisters)...

Univision and Its Youthbots

I am more than a little concerned at how the large Spanish-language television network, Univision, apparently has declared war on personalities who are middle-age or elderly. With a handful of notable exceptions (e.g. Don Francisco and Raul de Molina), the network has recently been replacing longtime and well-known (and popular) figures with people who look like they came out on a Twilight Zone-style "beautiful young people only" assembly line (I term these replacements "youth-bots"). I am especially offended by what they did to their weekday morning news/talk show Despierta America. Funny and endearing host Fernando Arau was suddenly and unceremoniously let go a couple of years ago by new management at Univision. Then, much to my consternation, they terminated the most charming, lovely Ana Maria Canseco from their lineup, although they did at least allow her to say good-bye on the air. And now their longtime award-winning newscaster/journalist, Neida Sandoval, is no longer anywhere to be seen.

I once saw a science fiction movie many years ago called Logan's Run. In it, an Earth in the not-so-distant future is dominated by a society that has dealt with the overpopulation problem by simply killing off anyone and everyone who reaches the age of 30. While not accusing Univision of stooping to this level with the aged, I still wonder to myself whether they are doing this "house-cleaning of the aged" on their own initiative or are responding to something that they are picking up in society: that old people are presumed to be a drag and burden on others, and are better left unseen and unheard (and maybe they'll all just go away).

It would have been a different matter altogether if Fernando Arau, Ana Maria Canseco, and Neida Sandoval had been replaced by others in their general age group. And for a little while, Arau's immediate replacement was a friendly, likable middle-aged man. But he didn't last long either and was replaced by a colorless assembly-line youthbot devoid of any personality to speak of...

Maybe a Hurricane Would Help

It is highly unusual for anyone to go around rooting for hurricanes to hit them, but I'm beginning to wonder whether that might be the only way to avoid possibly the most disastrous forest fire season we've ever had. Tuesday morning I stepped out of my front door to run around the block (.67 mile). To my disgust, the air was thick again with smoky haze, something that I had thought we were rid of by late spring this year.

There are reportedly three forest fires ringing Gainesville, and any slight shift in the wind is liable to send that noxious haze descending over our area. We are already in the midst of a drought, which has caused a poor harvest of hay, an important agricultural product of Alachua county (where I live). Other than an occasional cold front, often weak and sometimes even rainless, the shifting seasonal weather patterns are diminishing the likelihood of showers and storms coming into the area from the Gulf of Mexico. We need a lot of rain, and in a hurry.

So I understand those in Texas who are deploring the fact that, for once, they actually WANT a tropical storm system to hit their state and go inland to provide desperately needed rain; but the tropical storms are all veering away from the Texas coastline like a repelling magnet. Of course, it's the rain we need and not the wind: a simple tropical depression will do fine, thank you. Not that there wouldn't be some flooding associated with such a storm. But...

Unlike the case in the northeastern U.S., where basement after basement was flooded by Hurricane Irene and the remnants of Lee, buildings around here in Florida tend not to have basements. Hence, a smaller flooding problem. Add to that the fact that, as in Texas (and unlike in places like Vermont and parts of many other states), Florida isn't susceptible to floods caused by downhill flow from nearby mountains (although both states have issues with rivers overflowing into adjacent plains).

No, I don't particularly want a strong hurricane to hit us this year (or any year, for that matter). But we do desperately need to recoup our natural fresh water and moisten the ground, both to save our agriculture and to prevent the fire-friendly dry conditions that have plagued Florida over the past few years, and this year especially.

How to Leave a Blog Comment

You can leave a comment on this blog, whether or not you are a member of Google. All you have to do is go to the line immediately following the text of the article on which you want to comment. Click on the word "COMMENTS" and you will be redirected to the comments posting page. On the right hand top section is an open box in which you can type in your comment. Below that is "word verification": just type in the letters you see scribbled there. Then, below that, click on the appropriate bubble for you. If you're a Google member, you can click that and sign in. If not, you can either leave a name or tag, or just comment anonymously. If you hit "name/url" bubble, a small box will appear for you to type in whatever name you want to use, with a url address optional. Finally, at the bottom just click on "publish your comment" and it will appear following the article (if you click on "COMMENTS" again. Before doing this, though, you can preview your comment as it would appear before sending it. I recommend previewing your comment because sometimes readers inadvertently comment on the wrong article.

I am currently screening comments for spam messages, a chronic problem on the Internet. Also if, after sending a comment, you decide you want it removed for any reason, just send me another comment requesting its removal and I'll be happy to oblige.

You are welcome to comment on ANY of the 1,500 articles I have written since April, 2007. You can access any article via the "BLOG ARCHIVE" section left of the articles. Even though a comment on an earlier article may appear on the blog buried in the archives, I will still be notified of it and read it...

Running Course Draws In Closer to Home

I have fond memories of the old, lengthy running course I had devised last year. It ran through several subdivisions and down several thoroughfares in the far northern area of Gainesville. Regardless of how long and intricate of a course I ran, the starting and finishing points were always the same: my house. By winding up and down streets in each neighborhood I entered, I was able to amass a lot of mileage and cover the distance I needed to train up to my goal of a marathon (which I succeeded in running this past January 15).

Now, though, I have abandoned much of the course and have confined my runs to my own subdivision and the one immediately adjacent. But since I can build up a ten-mile course just by running up and down the individual streets near my house, there really is no need to go elsewhere. Unless, of course, weather conditions dictate that a treadmill session at the YMCA would work better.

I am currently working on building my running distance back up to about six or seven miles, three days a week, with either rest or lighter cross-training on the other days. Maybe I'll try half-marathon races that come up; I'll just have to see where I'm at when those opportunities arise. But more than anything, I am seeking to balance my running with the rest of my life and make this enjoyable activity something sustainable for many more years (I am currently 54).

I admire folks who take an activity like long-distance running and turn it into a passion that they fanatically pursue for many years. But at least with running, I don't feel the same intensity. There are other areas in my life that I want to devote my attention to as well, and there's no reason I can't pursue excellence in them while sticking with my running in a reasonable way. In other words, I see myself as being an "anti-fanatic", engaging in several different areas of self-improvement while integrating them into my routine existence. That's not the kind of lifestyle that will garner me the kind of publicity that running fanatics like Dean "Karno" Karnazes and John "Maddog" Wallace have enjoyed, but everyone's different and I am just as entitled to be myself as they are themselves. After all, each of us has to write our own story...

Some Football Observations

--The University of Florida team has impressed me so far as one with much promise this season. Their offense may well be like that unstoppable Alabama attack a couple of years ago: there are too many explosive, talented runners and receivers for the defense to key on. Admittedly, Florida's first two opponents this year have been smaller schools. But I saw a versatility to the offense that simply wasn't there last year. Whether the offensive line will fair well against more serious opposition will be the key to their success this season. But right now at least, the Gator running attack is back! They play their Southeastern Conference season opener at home against Tennessee next Saturday. I may well be the only Florida fan in the world who roots for Tennessee when they're not playing us...

--I thought it was highly inappropriate for a major television broadcast network, NBC, to make an exclusive deal with one college, namely Notre Dame, to broadcast their games this year. So I automatically began to root against them, naturally. In the first game last week against South Florida, the Fighting Irish fumbled the ball repeatedly, choking in a 23-20 loss. Then, a couple of days ago they repeated their choke act, giving up a 24-7 lead against Michigan in the fourth quarter to lose 35-31. And once again they fumbled the ball away several times, coughing it up 9 times in their first two games, often as they were about to score points on their opponents...

--I am having more than the usual difficulty generating any enthusiasm for the NFL pro football season this time around. I think it may be in large part due to that long-term shutdown and threatened cancellation of this season due to management/labor contractual squabbles. I'm sure I'll get on board with the season eventually. Maybe I should just stick with following the Dolphins and ignore the rest of the league...

--Speaking of Miami, I was impressed by the way quarterback Chad Henne played in the game they just finished earlier this evening against New England. Unfortunately, now that the Dolphin offense seems to be clicking well (they had serious issues last year), their defense apparently decided to take the night off. For although Henne racked up more than 400 yards in passing, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady picked apart Miami's defense for more than 500 yards as they beat "my" team 38-24...

The Unwelcome National Holiday

Because we live in a society that is obsessed with the decimal system, today carries with it great numerological significance in that not only is it the anniversary of the 9/11/2001 terror attacks, but it is also the TENTH anniversary. So just about anyone and everyone in media and government seems to have planned out something special to devote to the events, much more than in previous 9/11 anniversaries, and have made it something akin to a national holiday, albeit a very unwelcome one. Perhaps, though, attempting to refresh the general population's memories every ten years or so is a wise course, seeing how completely memory-challenged people in general are nowadays, at least regarding recent history. Of course, if I were in the professional news media I wouldn't even wait more than a year to review the facts surrounding 9/11: just two years after the attacks, a large percentage of the American population was convinced that we invaded Iraq because it was part of the 9/11 conspiracy...

But then again, hopefully with that epidemic challenged memory among the masses may come a blessing for those who are currently drowning in the 9/11 coverage. For it probably won't be more than a week from now before everyone conveniently forgets about it and goes back to their precious, transitory little lives all focused on the present moment. I say "hopefully" because of the alert going around to possible plans for 9/11-day attacks in New York or Washington. Supposing that they don't find the suspects in any such plans and 9/11 passes without incident, are we all then just supposed to breathe a collective sigh of relief and resume our happy little lives without concern? After all, not everyone is a slave to anniversaries, the decimal system, and revisiting crime scenes! Especially those nasty people out there who commit their foul deeds based on available opportunities...

Gorillaz Worth a Listen

Late in 2002, the local (then) alternative rock station I used to listen to, 100.5/WHHZ, had on their playlist rotation a peculiar song that was a mixture of hip-hop and languid singing. It was an infectious piece that intrigued me, but it took a long time before I discovered the title and artist. No wonder I had trouble discerning the title: it was Clint Eastwood and the artist was a group called "Gorillaz". Later I found out that Gorillaz is a collaborative multimedia project between English artists Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. Albarn is the primary musical side of Gorillaz while Hewlett has created a memorable animated band with individual personalities and stories that live though cartoon adventures on Gorillaz's videos and pretend to be the singers and performers. For the music, Albarn uses extensive collaboration with others on his albums and then assembles some good live performers to go on the "band"'s concert tours. But in essence, when you hear a Gorillaz album, you're really hearing the brain child of Damon Albarn, complete with his chosen cast of collaborators.

Gorillaz songs cannot be pigeonholed into any one specific category. Sometimes they are orchestral. Sometimes they are ambient. Sometimes they are alternative rock. Sometimes they are hip-hop. Sometimes they are techno. Sometimes they are punk. Sometimes they are artistic exercises in quirkiness. And much of the time, they are interesting mixtures of the above styles!

Damon Albarn reminds me a bit of Sufjan Stevens, albeit with a British accent and whose voice, at least to me, bears a slight resemblance to Randy Newman. Much of the instrumental background to the Gorillaz tracks is similar to how Stevens arranges the music for his albums, although Albarn seems to be more attentive to genres like punk and hip-hop.

Currently, Gorillaz is the primary act that I listen to on my mp3 player. They have come out with four lp albums so far: Gorillaz (2001), Demon Days (2005), Plastic Beach (2010), and The Fall (2011). As I listen to them, I am continually discovering and reveling over interesting tracks on them. One song on Plastic Beach, Stylo, has captured my interest so much that I tend to listen to it repeatedly, often for hours at a time. Yet I never seem to get tired of hearing it one more time.

Here is my personal "Top Twenty" list of Gorillaz songs, certain to change as I become more accustomed to their material. Each song's album is listed in abbreviated form: Gorillaz: g, Demon Days: dd, Plastic Beach: pb, and The Fall: f.

1 Stylo [pb]
2 Last Living Souls [dd]
3 The Binge [pb]
4 Revolving Doors [f]
5 Clint Eastwood [g]
6 Dare [dd]
7 M1A1 [g]
8 Faust [G Sides "extras" album]
9 Rehash [g]
10 Hillbilly Man [f]
11 Orchestral Intro [pb]
12 Glitter Freeze [pb]
13 Left Hand Suzuki Method [g]
14 Feel Good, Inc. [dd]
15 Empire Ants [pb]
16 Amarillo [f]
17 The Joplin Spider [f]
18 Aspen Forest [f]
19 Double Bass [g]
20 Detroit [f]

My Running "Slow" Lately

My running and overall fitness activities have slowed down considerably over the past month as I have had to deal with personal medical/health issues. The running has been sporadic, with low distances (shown in miles):

8-17: 5.00
8-25: 0.67
8-26: 0.67
8-28: 1.34
8-30: 1.08
9-01: 2.87
9-07: 4.10
9-08: 2.87

Over the next few weeks, I'll be working at increasing both the frequency and distance of my runs. I still have hopes of running in this November's Tom Walker Memorial Half-Marathon and other ensuing half-marathon events. But I'll first need to build up my endurance again, something that depends in large part on the weather and a larger part on my overall health. Speaking of the weather, this summer may have been one of the most severely hot and humid that I have ever experienced. But as far as the heat is concerned, even though I'm complaining about the conditions here in northern Florida, I know how much worse it was in other parts of the country, especially in areas unaccustomed to extreme heat. Fortunately, the last couple of days here have seen more moderate temperatures, something that I have been taking advantage of with my outdoor workouts.

The swimming part of my fitness workouts has virtually disappeared, and it is difficult for me to get back into the pool. I got frustrated over the summer at how crowded the YMCA pool was, with school out and swimming classes going on there. The number of available lanes was often reduced to only three, and frankly I never felt confident of being able to find a place in the pool to swim once I got there. At least now, school's back in session and in the morning on weekdays I should be able to find a place there to swim...at least when the water aerobics "bouncers" aren't clogging up the pool!

USPS Changing Due to Financial Crisis

The United States Postal Service is in the midst of tumult nationwide and here in Gainesville. Slated to run out of money sometime this month, drastic measures are currently being taken to dramatically consolidate processing, reduce the amount of employees by more than 200,000, and save money by closing hundreds of offices nationwide and severely reducing delivery standards. Those proposed standards reductions include ending the overnight delivery standard for first class mail within a specified area and changing from a six-day-a-week delivery system to only five days...or maybe even four...for mail delivery. The entire outgoing mail processing in the Gainesville plant will be transferred to Jacksonville at the end of this year, and the remainder of the processing here may close in about a year and a half (or sooner) due to consolidation plans. So someone mailing a letter in Gainesville to another location in Gainesville may soon see their letter taking several days to reach its destination! Might as well just drive across town and hand it in person...

We'll see what kind of staffing reductions will take place in Gainesville. With the loss of outgoing mail operations several employees will be excessed to other facilities at the close of the year (or sooner). Others will see their schedules and assignments changed. It looks like a very bumpy road ahead during the next couple of years for postal employees here in Gainesville and nationwide. And, I might say, for postal customers as well!

One of the causes for the financial trouble is self-evident: with the Internet's convenient online billing and payment, e-mail, and social networking sites, the volume of first class letters has plummeted. And with that drop in volume has come a drop in revenue. Also, Congress passed into law a few years ago a special provision, applying only to the Postal Service, that compels it to pre-fund its retirees' health care accounts each year, giving it automatic massive multi-billion-dollar deficits to overcome. To top this off, about $50 billion in past overpayments by the USPS to the federal government for its pension funds have yet to be compensated for. Leaving the USPS currently in a crisis of liquidity...

Happy Anniversary, Sweetheart

Happy anniversary to my beautiful sweetheart Melissa. We're celebrating our first quarter century together, with hopes of more "quarters" to come.

Baby, you're the greatest!

Reading Short Fiction Again

I have recently resumed my old habit of reading short stories, as opposed to novels (I'm still plugging away at Robert Ludlum's Bourne Trilogy, though). In doing so, I have been abruptly reminded of the entirely different nature of short fiction.

Short fiction, it needs to be noted, has very few rules that need to be obeyed, unlike novellas and novels. A longer work needs to create a viable setting with characters and a reasonably logical progression of the plot that leads to a climax and resolution. While a short story may indeed feature all of these, often one or more of the above elements of longer literature is deemphasized or even largely ignored.

One can be lazy while reading a novel, but with a short story the words have a much greater intensity and purpose. If your mind drifts for a couple of paragraphs, you're liable to get lost and have to backtrack! I have had this experience on more than one occasion with my recent reading.

Often a short story is presented as a puzzle: an enigmatic setting or mysterious characters dominate the tale and the reader tries to solve the mystery. Sometimes the answer is revealed at the end; sometimes it isn't, but subtle clues left throughout the story lead to the solution (which is one big reason why you have to read carefully). Then, sometimes you're left at the end of a story wondering why you just wasted your good time reading it, with the only consolation being that it was short!

The current anthology I'm reading is Flights: Extreme Visions of Fantasy, Volume II, edited by Al Sarrantonio. As the title implies, fantasy is the general theme. I have Volume I as well, but this was the book that I happened to pull out of my "book box". I have noticed in all of the disparate, vastly different stories I have read from it so far one trend that unites them: their endings all left me feeling unsettled and hanging out there in the breeze. I wonder if this phenomenon has more to do with the editor's personal tastes in literature than the nature of the genre itself. Or is the modern short story a slave to this pattern...

Berea, Kentucky Visitors and Artisan Center

Usually, when I cross over a state line on the Interstate and encounter the new state's welcome center, I just keep driving on unless someone in my party needs to use the restroom. For that's usually about all they're good for. Recently, though, I had a different experience with Kentucky's visitors center.

For one, the Kentucky visitors center was 77 miles into the state from Tennessee, off I-75 just outside the community of Berea. Smack dab in the middle of the state! For another, there was much more to it than the obligatory counter with brochures, maps, and restrooms (although they were there, too). This place featured a huge artisan center and cafeteria, both of which featured items "Made in Kentucky".

While browsing through the artisan store, I joked to my son that I was going to find something made in China. I never did: everything was truly "homemade". Likewise, the food was more Southern-oriented as well (like the tasty catfish and derby pie we ate). And...wonder of all wonders, they brewed hazelnut-flavored coffee (and sold bourbon-flavored coffee by the bag).

I enjoyed our little stop at Berea on the way to Lexington so much that I had us stop there again on our way back. The Spring Valley Farms (from Holland, KY) old-fashioned pecan pumpkin butter we bought on our first stop tasted so good that we bought some more on our return. It's a pretty cool place to get off the road, stretch your legs, get a good meal, and look at some area-based arts and crafts. I decided to stay away from their bourbon-flavored coffee, though!

This place seems to be such a big hit with travellers that I wonder why this hasn't been repeated wherever there is a busy highway passing though just about any region in the country. For each area, not just Kentucky, has its own character, crafts, music, cuisine, and history. Let's promote local-based culture as a counterbalance to the homogenizing effect that mass media and megacorporations exert on us to make us the "same" everywhere...

The Missing Sith Mystery

Spike TV has been showing a Star Wars movie marathon this Labor Day weekend. Featured have been the three movies detailing the story of Anakin Skywalker, who embraced the Dark Side to become Darth Vader. But this article eventually wants to discuss another character: the Sith lord Darth Sidious, who is actually an extremely important character in the six-part series. And how he was completely ignored in the very first movie, 1977's Star Wars (now called Star Wars IV: A New Hope).

But first, I can't write an article about Star Wars without lambasting its confusing system of titles. This happened because the last three movies made in the series are actually prequels to the earlier three films. So when I refer to the first Star Wars movie, that means Star Wars IV, but when I talk about Stars Wars I, well, that's movie #4! Jeez, couldn't they have done a better job of dealing with this nomenclature mess??!!

As I mentioned before, when the first Star Wars movie came out in 1977, the Emperor was rarely even mentioned, and without any indication of him being a Sith lord, or for that matter there being such a thing as the Sith to begin with. The Sith character was introduced in the second movie (although not identified as such), and with each subsequent release, became a stronger and more integral and indispensable character in the developing story. Finally, he became so crucial that the final movie made in the series was named after him: Revenge of the Sith. But if you watch the series in the story-order (not in the order that the movies were made), one movie (III) has Darth Sidious being one of the central, crucial characters and the next (IV) has him completely absent! Worse than that, the character of Darth Vader, only second-in-command to the Sith lord at the end of Episode III, is shown taking orders from some stooge officer in Episode IV.

There was a lot of flack from a tiny revision to the third movie (Star Wars VI: The Return of the Jedi) about the "latter" Anakin being (very) briefly substituted for the "earlier" actor portraying him in one of that movie's closing scenes. But I bet those who made these movies would have also wanted to insert at least a couple of scenes with the Sith Lord in that "original" Part IV film. Or at least a passing reference to his existence...

Hey, it would have been cool with me: I kind of liked that no-account son-of-a-gun!

Goofball Candidates Become Mainstream With Exposure

Poor Michele Bachmann: she was just making an impromptu, offhand joke to her supporters at a political rally about how, maybe, the great power upstairs is sending a message to Washington by providing an earthquake and hurricane in rapid succession. Next thing I know, political pundits are ridiculing her comment by taking it literally...c'mon! There is enough about Michelle Bachmann for her political opponents to criticize without distorting the context of her words.

The way that presidential campaigns are currently set up, with the need for almost constant media exposure and a continuing source of funding, candidates tend to be forced into a position where they not only have to be continually on the stump making speeches, but also those speeches have to contain new material from time to time. And it's a certainty that, from time to time, a candidate will commit a gaffe and say something that their critics will jump on and lampoon. Like Bachmann's statement the other day commemorating Elvis Presley's birthday when it was actually the day he died. O.K., so she goofed; can't even her opponents get the fact that she was trying to honor the late great rock and roll star with her words?

Ironically, while goofy, inconsequential statements often get a lot of press, the process of constant coverage of some of the candidates who have really bad, controversial ideas for the country tends to make them more familiar and somehow less dangerous. So people like Bachmann and goofball Texas governor Rick Perry, who would like nothing better than to dismantle your Social Security and Medicare and leave you twisting in the wind in your old age while giving rich people bigger tax breaks, are becoming mainstream just by dint of their exposure on television. And that bothers me.

By the time that November 2012 rolls around, will the country be so jaded by the extremist agenda of those on the teabagger political right that it will simply give their candidate, presumably Perry, a free pass on their destructive policies and elect him anyway? Once the attention-span-challenged American public becomes accustomed to the goofiness of these candidates, they will begin to look for other things in them. And truth be told, take away their crappy ideology and I myself like Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry! Well, maybe Michele...

But I'll never vote for either of them...

Ahead of My Time With Seniors Look

I had a disconcerting experience recently at my local Hungry Howie's pizza restaurant. In case you didn't know it, Hungry Howie's features an all-you-can-eat pizza, pasta, and salad buffet. They used to have a Monday lunch special, with the buffet costing only $3.99. I availed myself of this many times in the past, but a few months ago they ended this special and went back to charging five bucks per buffet. I responded, expressing my displeasure by simply not going there for a while. But during the past couple of weeks, I went back. I figured that five dollars still was a pretty good deal for what I got there. But...

When I walked up to the counter to give my order, the cashier rang me up at $4.23 (the old price plus tax). I thought that maybe they had reinstituted the old special without advertising it, so that pleased me. Then, more recently, I paid another visit there. Once again, it cost me $4.23, with the order rung up by a different worker. Then I looked at the small print on a sign by the cash register: seniors and children pay only $3.99. In other words, two completely different people took a look at me and immediately sized me up a a "senior" without even bothering to ask...

So apparently I have been fooling myself thinking that I would have to wait until my 55th birthday this fall to take advantage myself of senior's discounts at different restaurants. Then again, who knows what the age cutoff for being a "senior" is for Hungry Howie's: for all I know it is 65 and I look even more ancient than I thought...

Speaking of cutoff ages for being considered as a "senior", don't you think it's weird that, as consumers, the age keeps getting lowered, while as workers approaching retirement, the age keeps getting raised??!!