We've arrived once again at the time of the summer when sports enthusiasts are all abuzz about...Wimbledon tennis, right? Uh, sure, if you say so.
No, I was referring instead to the "real" sports annual milestone: the Major League Baseball All-Star break. This is the time when a few watch an essentially meaningless Tuesday night game showcasing star players, but my interest is with the standings and how the various teams are doing. In the American League East, my New York Yankees are comfortably in first place, although this year all five teams are competitive. Baltimore is the biggest surprise, managing to stay in second place this late in the season. In the AL Central are two other surprises: the first place Chicago White Sox and the embarrassing Cleveland Indians in second. I say embarrassing because whenever I am watching a game that they're playing in all I can do is stare at that offensive, toothy, grinning caricature of a Native American on their uniforms (and just about anywhere else, it seems). Oh well, I guess I'll have to stay embarrassed because they're never going to change it. Now what was I talking about? Oh yeah...
Although the Chisox and Grotesque Grinjuns are currently ahead of them in the AL Central standings, the Detroit Tigers, last year's divisional winner, is poised right behind them in third. I expect them to surge ahead of the two upstarts in the season's second half and win it again (although I like the Pale Hose).
Over in the AL West, Texas is once again solidly in front while the Los Angeles/California/Anaheim/Los Angeles (at Anaheim) Angels are in solid second (even if their name isn't solid), having recovered from a horrendous start to the season. I'm rooting for the "Wherever" Angels to overtake the Rangers for the divisional title. Whoever finishes second should make it to the playoffs as a wildcard team, though.
The National League features a few surprises of its own. The East has been turned on its head with perennial cellar-dweller Washington solidly in first place and perennial champion Philadelphia solidly in last. Many are expecting the capital city's Nationals to fade some in the second half, and the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves are in good positions to surge to a title. The NL Central also has a surprise leader: the Pittsburgh Pirates. But lately this division has seen a big turnover in champions each year. The Seattle Pilots, last year's divisional champions, are currently mired in the lower division (and I'm aware of what I just said) while Cincinnati and defending World Series champion St. Louis are in second and third places respectively. Look for the champ Cards to brush away the opposition in the second half of the season, despite having lost star slugger Pujols to the Angels. The NL West is shaping up as a three-way race between last year's winner Arizona, 2010's World Series champion San Francisco, and the overhyped Los Angeles Dodgers. Who knows who will manage to win that division this year: your guess is as good as mine.
I'm trying to think of what would be the "best" World Series this year, based on what has been going on so far. The Washington Nationals, although with clearly the best record in the National League so far, don't appeal to me. No, I think rather that the New York Mets or San Francisco Giants would be a more attractive matchup against, of course, my pick in the American League: the Yanks!
Sunday, July 8, 2012
2012: Not the Last Chance
I was skipping across my FM radio dial the other day and happened to come across the Neil Boortz show just as the host was finishing for the day. And what words of right-wing conservative wisdom did soon-to-retire Mr. Boortz leave with us? Just a reminder of a point he has apparently been repeating: the 2012 presidential election is our "last chance". On hearing "last chance", I instantly picked up on his meaning, although our political outlooks are quite divergent. Because I've heard observers from both sides, left and right, who see the upcoming election as leading inexorably, even permanently in one direction, all good or all bad, depending on which "side" one is on.
If Obama is reelected to his constitutionally-limited final four-year term, according to too many on the right, he will pursue an aggressive, socialist agenda while trying to figure out how to surreptitiously remain in office after his final term ends. And just like I heard about Bill Clinton as he was nearing the end of his second term, with speculation running rampant among some opposition circles that he would impose martial law over some trumped-up national emergency just to stay in power, this tired old tune is being sung again, with just the names changed. It saddens me to think that there are people around us who are this prone to unreasoning suspicion and paranoia and who flatly cut off anyone whose political leanings differ from theirs.
The left has its own fears. If Romney gets elected, the rich will supposedly completely take over and have de facto dictatorial powers over everyone else. The organized labor movement will be completely legislated out of existence. Women and minorities will see their hard-fought civil rights gains over the past decades severely reversed. And the U.S. Supreme Court will become irreversibly stacked with hard-line right-wing justices who, if Congress doesn't abide by their political and social agenda, will simply usurp the Legislative Branch's authority and write their own laws (which I believe they've already done with the recent Citizens United decision). The Supreme Court, I admit, presents some problems here.
Forgive me for perhaps sounding naive, but I don't believe in either scenario (although the Supreme Court going overboard in one direction does sound ominous). For me, Obama already has a substantial track record as president and he strikes me as someone who relishes collaborating with others, especially Congress, not ruling with an iron fist. His reelection would produce more of the same leadership philosophy. On the other hand, Mitt Romney has reached the position he is now in (the presumed nominee of a major party) by either avoiding specifics in his stances on the issues or flip-flopping on them. But should he become president, he would be forced to actually make some decisions, some of them necessarily controversial by their nature. And then an opposition movement would naturally form and grow against him.
It's the political pendulum and it has been going on in American presidential politics, as far as I can discern, since the 1824 election between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson when third place finisher Henry Clay threw his support to Adams against plurality winner Jackson, giving Adams the election and creating as a by-product two factions with one in power and one in (often bitter) opposition.
Back and forth. Momentum shifts. This is the way it goes, folks, so chill out! Remember, George W. Bush won reelection in 2004 and strengthened his party's majority in both houses of Congress that year. Just two years later the Democrats took back both houses and, with Obama in 2008, the White House as well. There is no "last chance", just the next election. The day after the 2012 election they'll be talking about 2016. And on and on it goes...
If Obama is reelected to his constitutionally-limited final four-year term, according to too many on the right, he will pursue an aggressive, socialist agenda while trying to figure out how to surreptitiously remain in office after his final term ends. And just like I heard about Bill Clinton as he was nearing the end of his second term, with speculation running rampant among some opposition circles that he would impose martial law over some trumped-up national emergency just to stay in power, this tired old tune is being sung again, with just the names changed. It saddens me to think that there are people around us who are this prone to unreasoning suspicion and paranoia and who flatly cut off anyone whose political leanings differ from theirs.
The left has its own fears. If Romney gets elected, the rich will supposedly completely take over and have de facto dictatorial powers over everyone else. The organized labor movement will be completely legislated out of existence. Women and minorities will see their hard-fought civil rights gains over the past decades severely reversed. And the U.S. Supreme Court will become irreversibly stacked with hard-line right-wing justices who, if Congress doesn't abide by their political and social agenda, will simply usurp the Legislative Branch's authority and write their own laws (which I believe they've already done with the recent Citizens United decision). The Supreme Court, I admit, presents some problems here.
Forgive me for perhaps sounding naive, but I don't believe in either scenario (although the Supreme Court going overboard in one direction does sound ominous). For me, Obama already has a substantial track record as president and he strikes me as someone who relishes collaborating with others, especially Congress, not ruling with an iron fist. His reelection would produce more of the same leadership philosophy. On the other hand, Mitt Romney has reached the position he is now in (the presumed nominee of a major party) by either avoiding specifics in his stances on the issues or flip-flopping on them. But should he become president, he would be forced to actually make some decisions, some of them necessarily controversial by their nature. And then an opposition movement would naturally form and grow against him.
It's the political pendulum and it has been going on in American presidential politics, as far as I can discern, since the 1824 election between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson when third place finisher Henry Clay threw his support to Adams against plurality winner Jackson, giving Adams the election and creating as a by-product two factions with one in power and one in (often bitter) opposition.
Back and forth. Momentum shifts. This is the way it goes, folks, so chill out! Remember, George W. Bush won reelection in 2004 and strengthened his party's majority in both houses of Congress that year. Just two years later the Democrats took back both houses and, with Obama in 2008, the White House as well. There is no "last chance", just the next election. The day after the 2012 election they'll be talking about 2016. And on and on it goes...
Friday, July 6, 2012
Sprinting to the End
As I continue to focus on the recent running race I participated in,
I'd like to expand on something I wrote about in yesterday's article.
At the end of the public three-mile run, I found myself in the company
of a diverse group of runners. Some of them were clearly pooped out and
were just trying to finish the run. But others, myself included,
suddenly reached deep inside ourselves and found a reserve of energy,
which we then used to engage in an almost insane sprint against each
other to the finish line. It mattered not who was running against me: I
had to beat them! As it turned out, as far as sex/age groupings of the
runners were done in the final standings, none of my end-of-race worthy
opponents were in my category. And also, our final placings and times
depended on when each of us individually crossed the starting line at
the beginning of the race. As for me, although I crossed the finish
line in 26:15, I was given the final time of 25:45 because the timing
chip I was wearing showed me taking 30 seconds just to reach the
starting line at the beginning of that very crowded race. So someone
edging me out at the race's closing moments was really irrelevant as far
as the final placings were concerned; that runner could have started
the race way ahead of me. Still, there was that rush at the end and the
excitement it brought.
After I finished my run, I hung around at the finishing line for a few minutes to watch the slower runners finish. And it was funny: no matter how slow they had been going for almost the entire race, a large segment of the finishers engaged in this sprinting game at the end, against whomever happened to be around them.
But that's cool, since after all, we should all have been out there having fun. And the little sprint at the end was a nice, spicy topping to the whole experience. Of course, we brave, "strong" finishers were all aided by one factor. The last few hundred yards were decidedly downhill!
After I finished my run, I hung around at the finishing line for a few minutes to watch the slower runners finish. And it was funny: no matter how slow they had been going for almost the entire race, a large segment of the finishers engaged in this sprinting game at the end, against whomever happened to be around them.
But that's cool, since after all, we should all have been out there having fun. And the little sprint at the end was a nice, spicy topping to the whole experience. Of course, we brave, "strong" finishers were all aided by one factor. The last few hundred yards were decidedly downhill!
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Running Climate
Florida is not exactly known as a place whose summer climate is conducive to running, the temperatures usually soaring during the afternoon into the 90's. That's been the case lately here in Gainesville; actually for July it's been relatively moderate. And now, in a freak reversal of fortunes, our weather is relatively runner-friendly compared to other places north of us in the eastern United States. Why, Minneapolis of all places, known for its mild summer weather, just reached 101! I think I'll just go with the low 90's here, thank you.
Speaking more figuratively of "running climate", our current era has provided a much friendlier social context for running, and this cuts across age and gender. That is quite different from the situation when I was growing up in the late 1960's and early 1970's. In that era (and in my working class neighborhood) a solitary runner jogging down the street would be viewed as a target for harassment and bullying, while the numerous stray dogs all around back then would delight in chasing the misguided soul, sometimes getting in a bite or two in the process. No, it wasn't so pretty back then, and yet I know that there are places even today that are hostile to runners.
It was encouraging yesterday at the Melon Run race to see so many competing, and with such a diversity. At the end of the run, I found myself first passing an elderly gentleman and then a younger man. Then, I caught up with a young woman pushing one of those aerodynamic super-strollers, passing her with the same relief that I felt passing an elderly runner with his dog late during the Tom Walker Half-Marathon last year. But as the finish line grew closer, here came that stroller back to challenge me. It passed me and rolled on to glory at the finish line. Beaten by a baby. Wonderful. And just before I finally crossed, a young teenage girl came out of nowhere and passed me. Wow: the old man, the middle-age man (me), the young woman, the young man, the teenage girl...oh yeah, and the baby! Yes, quite a bit of diversity in the span of a few seconds dashing to the end of a three mile run...
Speaking more figuratively of "running climate", our current era has provided a much friendlier social context for running, and this cuts across age and gender. That is quite different from the situation when I was growing up in the late 1960's and early 1970's. In that era (and in my working class neighborhood) a solitary runner jogging down the street would be viewed as a target for harassment and bullying, while the numerous stray dogs all around back then would delight in chasing the misguided soul, sometimes getting in a bite or two in the process. No, it wasn't so pretty back then, and yet I know that there are places even today that are hostile to runners.
It was encouraging yesterday at the Melon Run race to see so many competing, and with such a diversity. At the end of the run, I found myself first passing an elderly gentleman and then a younger man. Then, I caught up with a young woman pushing one of those aerodynamic super-strollers, passing her with the same relief that I felt passing an elderly runner with his dog late during the Tom Walker Half-Marathon last year. But as the finish line grew closer, here came that stroller back to challenge me. It passed me and rolled on to glory at the finish line. Beaten by a baby. Wonderful. And just before I finally crossed, a young teenage girl came out of nowhere and passed me. Wow: the old man, the middle-age man (me), the young woman, the young man, the teenage girl...oh yeah, and the baby! Yes, quite a bit of diversity in the span of a few seconds dashing to the end of a three mile run...
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
My Melon Run 2012 Report
About five hours ago I ran my first public running race in six months, going "light" with a short three-miler, the Florida Track Club's annual July 4 Melon Run, held here in Gainesville among the sloping roads/sidewalks in and around Westside Park. I set out not to set any personal speed records, and that was fortuitous. For there were a record 500 entrants in this race (a sell-out) and it was much, much more congested than the Melon Run I participated in two years earlier. The course was essentially the same except for the eastern leg, which was a road a little further down from the Loblolly Woods pathway used in 2010 (who knows what they did in 2011). Still, I kept a good pace in spite of the crowding (with a higher concentration of slower runners this year) and hills (my normal neighborhood training course is as flat as a board). My official finishing time was 25:45. When I finished I didn't hang around for the awards ceremony, instead speeding back home.
I thought the race went better this year than in 2010. For one, the organizers and volunteers seemed much more enthusiastic and friendly. Also the timing was changed to a chip system, eliminating the screw-ups of the past. But the packet pickup lines before the race for those who had already registered went slowly and were confusing. And the actual print-out list of the pre-registered wasn't in alphabetical order, slowing down the process considerably. Still, the race finally began and we had a good time...
I was very impressed by the post-race refreshments, with bananas, watermelon (of course), bagels, cookies, Gatorade, water, and, I'm sure, other stuff being offered. It's these little perks (or their lack) that can make (or break) an event for me. Well done, Florida Track Club!
Oh, the weather cooperated today, as much as I suppose it would this hot time of year: after all, it didn't rain. The temperature was in the upper seventies and so was the humidity, more or less. Not exactly pleasant, but I managed to get through it...
I thought the race went better this year than in 2010. For one, the organizers and volunteers seemed much more enthusiastic and friendly. Also the timing was changed to a chip system, eliminating the screw-ups of the past. But the packet pickup lines before the race for those who had already registered went slowly and were confusing. And the actual print-out list of the pre-registered wasn't in alphabetical order, slowing down the process considerably. Still, the race finally began and we had a good time...
I was very impressed by the post-race refreshments, with bananas, watermelon (of course), bagels, cookies, Gatorade, water, and, I'm sure, other stuff being offered. It's these little perks (or their lack) that can make (or break) an event for me. Well done, Florida Track Club!
Oh, the weather cooperated today, as much as I suppose it would this hot time of year: after all, it didn't rain. The temperature was in the upper seventies and so was the humidity, more or less. Not exactly pleasant, but I managed to get through it...
Happy New Half-Year, Anyway
Sometimes I get too far ahead of myself and write stuff which, although it sounds pretty good, is actually based on faulty information and/or poor mental processing (MY mental processing). Such was the case yesterday when I wrote a blog piece (which I subsequently deleted) revealing that July 3 was the median day of the year and that, consequently, one could look on July 4 as "New Half-Year's Day". Sounded great, except for a couple of things: this year, 2012, is a leap year, so it has no median day: July 1 is in the first half and July 2 is in the second. In a 365-day year, July 2 is the median day, with 182 days before and 182 following. So this year July 2 would have been the big "half-holiday", not nearly as impressive as my initial revelation.
Oh well, I can still write down some half-year resolutions anyway...
Oh well, I can still write down some half-year resolutions anyway...
Monday, July 2, 2012
Gainesville Radio Stations Speak With Same Voice
Maybe this is just a transition period, yeah, that's got to be it...otherwise, broadcast radio here in Gainesville has just made a turn from mediocre programming (at best) to insane programming. What happened?
Although Gainesviile has other radio stations on the AM dial, there have historically been two main stations in competition with each other: the privately-owned WGGG on 1230 kHz and WRUF on 850, owned by the University of Florida. Recently both have featured all-sports programming, mostly just talk but also play-by-play of certain events. That lack of diversity was bad enough, as far as I was concerned. But still, if I were in the mood for sports programming and I wasn't satisfied with what was being discussed on one of the stations, I could try listening to the other. No more, I'm afraid...
Starting about a week ago, WRUF assumed WGGG's programming, including its important ESPN Radio contract. This left the lower-power station on 1230 with a question about what type of programming it would broadcast. When I first found out about this change, I tuned in to WGGG to see what it was up to. And it turned out, nothing different!
Both WRUF on 850 and WGGG on 1230 are broadcasting identical programs throughout the day! I can't recall this sort of thing happening. Nor can I understand why. In another sports context, if a player from one team goes to join another, you're not going to see him/her simultaneously playing for both!
I'd like to see WGGG switch to another kind of programming soon, but if it does I hope it isn't another sorry conservative talk radio format as I have seen on too many stations here. How about just oldies, classical music, or even easy listening? But the current situation of identical programming with its cross-band competitor is ludicrous and pointless...
Although Gainesviile has other radio stations on the AM dial, there have historically been two main stations in competition with each other: the privately-owned WGGG on 1230 kHz and WRUF on 850, owned by the University of Florida. Recently both have featured all-sports programming, mostly just talk but also play-by-play of certain events. That lack of diversity was bad enough, as far as I was concerned. But still, if I were in the mood for sports programming and I wasn't satisfied with what was being discussed on one of the stations, I could try listening to the other. No more, I'm afraid...
Starting about a week ago, WRUF assumed WGGG's programming, including its important ESPN Radio contract. This left the lower-power station on 1230 with a question about what type of programming it would broadcast. When I first found out about this change, I tuned in to WGGG to see what it was up to. And it turned out, nothing different!
Both WRUF on 850 and WGGG on 1230 are broadcasting identical programs throughout the day! I can't recall this sort of thing happening. Nor can I understand why. In another sports context, if a player from one team goes to join another, you're not going to see him/her simultaneously playing for both!
I'd like to see WGGG switch to another kind of programming soon, but if it does I hope it isn't another sorry conservative talk radio format as I have seen on too many stations here. How about just oldies, classical music, or even easy listening? But the current situation of identical programming with its cross-band competitor is ludicrous and pointless...
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Olympic Swimming Qualifying Coverage Slanted
The other day I was watching the Olympic qualifying swimming trials for the American team on the Versus Channel, which I believe is affiliated with the NBC network. They were running heat after heat, with most of the participants naturally doomed to miss out on the few available spots on the Olympic squad. In one women's heat, the announcers (and cameras) focused in on one aspirant, a favorite to get to the Olympics. But she performed poorly on the qualifying heat and missed out making the team (at least in that particular event). Instead of reporting on the unexpectedly successful swimmers, though, all the announcers could do was spotlight this one more well-known contender (even though she failed).
I wonder how someone would feel who, after all of the training and sacrifice that culminates with trying out for a spot on the U.S. Olympic swimming team, actually succeeds in a nationally-televised qualifying race...and is then virtually ignored by the announcers and cameras. I suspect, perhaps, the on-air "experts" really only know about a few of those trying out, and if someone outside the "loop" slips through, they really can't talk about them because of their sheer ignorance. So they conveniently ignore them, the way I see it. Until, I suppose, they eventually get filled in on the particulars about the new "sensation"...
I wonder how someone would feel who, after all of the training and sacrifice that culminates with trying out for a spot on the U.S. Olympic swimming team, actually succeeds in a nationally-televised qualifying race...and is then virtually ignored by the announcers and cameras. I suspect, perhaps, the on-air "experts" really only know about a few of those trying out, and if someone outside the "loop" slips through, they really can't talk about them because of their sheer ignorance. So they conveniently ignore them, the way I see it. Until, I suppose, they eventually get filled in on the particulars about the new "sensation"...
Saturday, June 30, 2012
End-of-June Monthly Running Report
Another month has come and gone, and once again I am happy to report success in my running training. I attained my 100-mile-per-month goal with a total of 109.1 miles. Also, I ran on every day in June, extending my personal record consecutive running day streak to 61. My longest run was 6.2 miles. But the hallmark for this month was my consistency, with distances within the range of 3.3 to 4.3 miles accounting for 24 of the 30 days. And I seem to doing fine with that regimen.
As expected for this time of the year, the weather is definitely turning hotter. Still, I am managing to get my runs in while the temperature is below 90. But in July, that might be problematic, unless I stick with indoor treadmill running or run earlier in the morning when the temperature is lower but the humidity is much, much higher. On the other hand, since I don't plan to attempt outdoor runs longer than five miles, the hot weather shouldn't present much of a problem as long as the air is relatively dry.
I did sign up to run (not race) in the local Melon Run in July 4, so I'll just go out there and treat my participation as a three-mile training run for that day. Who knows, maybe later that afternoon, being off from work, I might run a couple of laps around the block in my home neighborhood as well...
As expected for this time of the year, the weather is definitely turning hotter. Still, I am managing to get my runs in while the temperature is below 90. But in July, that might be problematic, unless I stick with indoor treadmill running or run earlier in the morning when the temperature is lower but the humidity is much, much higher. On the other hand, since I don't plan to attempt outdoor runs longer than five miles, the hot weather shouldn't present much of a problem as long as the air is relatively dry.
I did sign up to run (not race) in the local Melon Run in July 4, so I'll just go out there and treat my participation as a three-mile training run for that day. Who knows, maybe later that afternoon, being off from work, I might run a couple of laps around the block in my home neighborhood as well...
Friday, June 29, 2012
ACA Unexpectedly Ruled Constitutional by SCOTUS
As was the case with many other observers, yesterday's United States Supreme Court ruling upholding the 2010 Affordable Care Act, in particular its mandate provision, completely threw me off guard. I expected this Roberts Court, which never sides with the regular guy against the rich and powerful when the latter's financial interests are in play, nevertheless did just that by a 5-4 vote. The four justices on the more liberal side (Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagen) went for upholding the law while three of the predictably hard-rock right-wing pro-business justices (Scalia, Thomas, and Alito) were for striking it down. This left Chief Justice John Roberts, expected all along to side with his arch-conservative colleagues, and the "wild-card" perennially deciding vote, Justice Anthony Kennedy. I saw no reason for Kennedy to change his pro-big-business ways on this case, and I had given up on Roberts long ago as just a "robe" rubberstamping everything Scalia said. So no, I didn't think the ACA had a snowball's chance in hell of not being ruled unconstitutional by the court because of its mandated coverage provision. And it turns out I was completely right about Kennedy. But Roberts' vote? That's what astonished me (and many others).
John Roberts, like the court's conservative wing, dismissed the claim that Congress had the constitutional right to pass the mandate due to the Commerce Clause. Frankly, I agreed with him about his skepticism of the argument that an individual not buying something was an act of interstate commerce and thus gave an opening for the federal government to impose the mandate to purchase health insurance. Instead, Roberts broke with his right-wing colleagues by holding that the mandate was constitutionally valid rather as a tax, implicitly upholding it (and thus the core of the law).
Suddenly, Chief Justice Roberts has become the unexpected star of this "show". I had been very disappointed in him for his first few years on the high bench as he appeared to be towing a very biased ideological line. But with this decision, he seems to be returning to what he stated during his confirmation hearing when he used a baseball analogy to describe the appropriate role of the Court: the Supreme Court isn't supposed to be a player. Instead its proper role is akin to that of an umpire, calling balls and strikes. He did a pretty good job of umpiring with this case, although I still think he has some work to do with his political impartiality...
My objection to the mandated insurance clause of the bill was that by simply being alive, one became obligated by law to purchase private health insurance. That didn't sound constitutional or democratic to me, but rather fascist. I still have problems with it, but I also understand that simply raising taxes to pay for the program instead of this mandate (the fine for a violation thereof is a de facto tax anyway, according to the Chief Justice) would never have passed Congress. So we're left with this law, which is at least a less-than-ideal improvement over the previous situation...
John Roberts, like the court's conservative wing, dismissed the claim that Congress had the constitutional right to pass the mandate due to the Commerce Clause. Frankly, I agreed with him about his skepticism of the argument that an individual not buying something was an act of interstate commerce and thus gave an opening for the federal government to impose the mandate to purchase health insurance. Instead, Roberts broke with his right-wing colleagues by holding that the mandate was constitutionally valid rather as a tax, implicitly upholding it (and thus the core of the law).
Suddenly, Chief Justice Roberts has become the unexpected star of this "show". I had been very disappointed in him for his first few years on the high bench as he appeared to be towing a very biased ideological line. But with this decision, he seems to be returning to what he stated during his confirmation hearing when he used a baseball analogy to describe the appropriate role of the Court: the Supreme Court isn't supposed to be a player. Instead its proper role is akin to that of an umpire, calling balls and strikes. He did a pretty good job of umpiring with this case, although I still think he has some work to do with his political impartiality...
My objection to the mandated insurance clause of the bill was that by simply being alive, one became obligated by law to purchase private health insurance. That didn't sound constitutional or democratic to me, but rather fascist. I still have problems with it, but I also understand that simply raising taxes to pay for the program instead of this mandate (the fine for a violation thereof is a de facto tax anyway, according to the Chief Justice) would never have passed Congress. So we're left with this law, which is at least a less-than-ideal improvement over the previous situation...
Thursday, June 28, 2012
कल: A Suspicious Word
In studying some Hindi recently, I came across an intriguing word: कल (kal),
which translates into either "yesterday" or "tomorrow" depending on
its context. Initially, I thought that this was pretty strange that a
word could essentially mean its own opposite according its usage. Then,
this morning I looked at the header for an article in the local section
of my newspaper The Gainesville Sun: "Suspicious pawn shop owner foiled
theft, officials say." Well, it wasn't quite 6 AM when I glanced at
this, so naturally I read it wrong in my bleary-eyed sleepiness. After
all, I tend to, justified or not, associate the idea of "pawn shop
owners" with "suspicious people", i.e. people meriting suspicion from
others. But no, the news here was that the owner was suspicious of
someone else and foiled a theft.
"Suspicious", like कल, is one of those words whose context can drastically change its meaning. In Hindi, one needs to either read the appropriate verb tense form to determine whether "yesterday" or "tomorrow" is indicated or get a sense of the intended meaning from the surrounding text. Likewise, I'm "suspicious" that something very similar holds true for my English example. But I am a native speaker of English and still have a problem with "suspicious" and its ambiguity. I wonder if native Hindi speakers feel the same about कल...
"Suspicious", like कल, is one of those words whose context can drastically change its meaning. In Hindi, one needs to either read the appropriate verb tense form to determine whether "yesterday" or "tomorrow" is indicated or get a sense of the intended meaning from the surrounding text. Likewise, I'm "suspicious" that something very similar holds true for my English example. But I am a native speaker of English and still have a problem with "suspicious" and its ambiguity. I wonder if native Hindi speakers feel the same about कल...
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Debby Lingers, Drops Load of Rain Over Area
I did not anticipate this current tropical storm, Debby, hanging around and dumping so much rain. In fact, the expert meteorologists didn't either, blowing one forecast for its trajectory and movement after another. First it was predicted to veer westward and eventually hit Texas around Houston. Then that model was scrubbed in favor of the idea that it would move north into Georgia and merge with a frontal system, speeding up in the process. Instead, though, the damned thing just stayed stationary for about three days, dumping flood-level rains over the panhandle...and my Gainesville. But...
Apparently, we have been spared catastrophic flooding around Gainesville by dint of another previously developing problem: chronic drought, which had pretty much parched our ground dry. Yes, there is a lot of standing water around right now as it keeps on and on with the rain. But I look at a nearby drainage ditch and see its water level far below what I've seen on many other occasions when the rainfall was more consistent, if not as intense, over the span of weeks. So the soil has a long, long, way to go before it's saturated. In fact, I have a prediction...
I predict that, before August rolls around, they'll be lamenting the drought we're back in, probably accompanied by scattered brush fires sending noxious smoky haze over us. Why can't we instead have a "normal" summer? Seems like, if memory serves me correctly, we did have one back in 2003...
Apparently, we have been spared catastrophic flooding around Gainesville by dint of another previously developing problem: chronic drought, which had pretty much parched our ground dry. Yes, there is a lot of standing water around right now as it keeps on and on with the rain. But I look at a nearby drainage ditch and see its water level far below what I've seen on many other occasions when the rainfall was more consistent, if not as intense, over the span of weeks. So the soil has a long, long, way to go before it's saturated. In fact, I have a prediction...
I predict that, before August rolls around, they'll be lamenting the drought we're back in, probably accompanied by scattered brush fires sending noxious smoky haze over us. Why can't we instead have a "normal" summer? Seems like, if memory serves me correctly, we did have one back in 2003...
Monday, June 25, 2012
Baseball Sheds Other Sports' Distractions
Well, suddenly I find myself without basketball, and so baseball has finely shed the distractions of other sports and I can now concentrate on it. But not as far as ESPN is concerned, for I know better about how they run their shows...
The obsessive, often hysterical commentators on that channel can't get enough of talking about LeBron James right now. One was visibly ANGRY that Miami had won the championship and that the evil James had his moment of glory. After the interest in this topic begins to fade, I have no doubt that the talking head-cases on ESPN will get back to the sport at hand, as far as they are concerned: razzing Tim Tebow and in the course of doing so, complaining that everyone is talking about such an untalented backup quarterback. But I think I have one way to filter out at least some of this crap...
If an ESPN "talk" show features people sitting around a behind a counter, then although the discussion may be at times unbearable, there at least stands the chance of someone coming out with something interesting that reflects professional journalism. On the other hand, if there is no special guest present and they are just sitting back in their comfy cushiony chairs, I say quick, change channels! All you will get from this type of forum is a lot of garbage.
But I just want to follow baseball right now. It is strange to see the Phillies struggling in the National League East while the erstwhile cellar-dwelling Nationals are setting that division on fire with their incredible pitching rotation. I like how my Yankees are doing, especially how they are able to compensate as well as they have for the absence of their legendary-but-injured relief closer Mairano Rivera. But although New York is out in front of the American League East, that division is very tight from top to bottom.
I guess we're getting closer and closer to the All-Star game, something about which I care next to nothing. As a matter of fact, to be perfectly honest about it, I don't really care all that much about the standings and how "my" teams are going, even the Yankees. For my interest in this game is more on the situational level, with me in from of my TV watching the pitcher face the batter in the context of that particular inning. Not even the overall score of the game at hand compares to that, as far as I am concerned...
The obsessive, often hysterical commentators on that channel can't get enough of talking about LeBron James right now. One was visibly ANGRY that Miami had won the championship and that the evil James had his moment of glory. After the interest in this topic begins to fade, I have no doubt that the talking head-cases on ESPN will get back to the sport at hand, as far as they are concerned: razzing Tim Tebow and in the course of doing so, complaining that everyone is talking about such an untalented backup quarterback. But I think I have one way to filter out at least some of this crap...
If an ESPN "talk" show features people sitting around a behind a counter, then although the discussion may be at times unbearable, there at least stands the chance of someone coming out with something interesting that reflects professional journalism. On the other hand, if there is no special guest present and they are just sitting back in their comfy cushiony chairs, I say quick, change channels! All you will get from this type of forum is a lot of garbage.
But I just want to follow baseball right now. It is strange to see the Phillies struggling in the National League East while the erstwhile cellar-dwelling Nationals are setting that division on fire with their incredible pitching rotation. I like how my Yankees are doing, especially how they are able to compensate as well as they have for the absence of their legendary-but-injured relief closer Mairano Rivera. But although New York is out in front of the American League East, that division is very tight from top to bottom.
I guess we're getting closer and closer to the All-Star game, something about which I care next to nothing. As a matter of fact, to be perfectly honest about it, I don't really care all that much about the standings and how "my" teams are going, even the Yankees. For my interest in this game is more on the situational level, with me in from of my TV watching the pitcher face the batter in the context of that particular inning. Not even the overall score of the game at hand compares to that, as far as I am concerned...
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Tropical Storm Debby Soaking My Area
Right now I am sitting huddled in my living room, avoiding the continuous heavy rains outside. Tropical Storm Debby, currently centered in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico just west of north central Florida, is one of those asymmetrical systems whose most intense bands of rain are on one side. Florida's side, with almost the entire state under water right now. The Tampa-St. Petersburg area is now getting the worst band, but I'm afraid this one is headed our way.
Originally, the computer models most favored by the meteorologists indicated that Debby would slowly move westward and eventually hit Texas around Houston. But now another set of models shows it instead moving into Florida. Slowly. With lots and lots and lots of heavy rain. So today and tomorrow that's what we will get. And that's O.K., but I would have preferred this not to be happening on my days off from work!
Originally, the computer models most favored by the meteorologists indicated that Debby would slowly move westward and eventually hit Texas around Houston. But now another set of models shows it instead moving into Florida. Slowly. With lots and lots and lots of heavy rain. So today and tomorrow that's what we will get. And that's O.K., but I would have preferred this not to be happening on my days off from work!
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Congrats to Heat, Help Sonics Find Way Back Home
The Miami Heat won their NBA championship playoff series against the Seattle Supersonics by handily defeating their opponents in the fifth game 121-106. It was a great team effort, with the bench being a big factor in the victory. Much is being made of the fact that LeBron James finally won a championship. That must be an awful burden to place on someone: you'd better win it all or you're a loser (and if you do win we'll hate you anyway). But that was the same kind of label that Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki was saddled with until his team won the championship last year. I couldn't care less that James left Cleveland for Miami, or that the Heat were an assembled, artificial team. Well, if they were, than so were the Boston Celtics a few years earlier. But I didn't hear the negative outcry against them for this that has been so vehemently directed against Miami. Last year I rooted against Miami because I was tired of LeBron James giving up in the middle of games and showing poor sportsmanship toward opposing teams. He has certainly come a long way and matured a great deal. I wish him only the best.
As for the Supersonics, it is a shame that they lost their way and got stuck playing in a place like Oklahoma. I'll be happy to help them find their way back home, though, with my Google Maps feature. But even if they just go west until they run into the Pacific Ocean, and then turn right and keep going in a generally northward direction hugging the coast, they're bound to run into western Washington state. And I bet the good folks up there would then be only too glad to guide their returning hoops heroes back home to Coffeetown...
As for the Supersonics, it is a shame that they lost their way and got stuck playing in a place like Oklahoma. I'll be happy to help them find their way back home, though, with my Google Maps feature. But even if they just go west until they run into the Pacific Ocean, and then turn right and keep going in a generally northward direction hugging the coast, they're bound to run into western Washington state. And I bet the good folks up there would then be only too glad to guide their returning hoops heroes back home to Coffeetown...
Friday, June 22, 2012
My Travels Few and Far Between
I have written before on this blog that I have a tendency to be a homebody, seldom traveling. That doesn't mean that I dislike travel, though. But I tend to regard my "voyages" as adventures akin to the mythical Sinbad's, when he would tire of his mundane, humdrum life in Baghdad and then do set out on an adventure. Naturally, my adventures probably haven't been as dangerous as those of this fictional character, but then again I don't think Sinbad ever rode the Interstate down a curving, steep mountain gorge in the middle of a driving storm at night or ran down the beach in the middle of a severe lightning storm with bolts crashing down all around. Well, we all have our own little personal "danger" memories, don't we? Well, at least those of us do who survived them, I suppose...
It's nice to go someplace interesting every now and then, and of course visiting relatives (who from my experience almost never live anywhere interesting) is always on the agenda of things to try to get around doing (occasionally). But all things said, I usually would just as soon stay at home.
The late legendary science fiction writer Clifford Simak wrote a short story, one of my all-time favorites, about this tendency on the part of people like me to avoid travel. Titled The Huddling Place, the story's setting is a future where people can surround themselves with all of the creature comforts and necessities they could use without ever leaving their home estates, making extensive use of automation, environmental controls, and robots. The Huddling Place had one of the most significant and sobering endings that I have ever read, and its lesson has never left me. Instead, it has prodded me to try to resist this instinctive tendency of mine to stay put, at home, and in the "security" of my routine day-to-day existence (not that I have to concern myself with fending off any presumptuous robots, at least not yet). Try to read Simak's tale if you can find it somehow.
I have been a Florida resident since 1957. I have never been abroad. The furthest west I have been was Dallas, Texas in 1994 (retracing JFK's assassination route) and the furthest north was in Manhattan's Central Park just north of the Metropolitan Museum of Art a couple of years ago. I have flown on planes on two different trips. In my lifetime (well, maybe once I was on a plane in infancy, but forgive me for not remembering). As far as the states in which I have ever been (on the ground), here they are: Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia. Thirteen states in 55 years: that's it, and with the last one on the list I was there only for a few months during infancy and remember nothing. Not that I'm complaining ...
It's nice to go someplace interesting every now and then, and of course visiting relatives (who from my experience almost never live anywhere interesting) is always on the agenda of things to try to get around doing (occasionally). But all things said, I usually would just as soon stay at home.
The late legendary science fiction writer Clifford Simak wrote a short story, one of my all-time favorites, about this tendency on the part of people like me to avoid travel. Titled The Huddling Place, the story's setting is a future where people can surround themselves with all of the creature comforts and necessities they could use without ever leaving their home estates, making extensive use of automation, environmental controls, and robots. The Huddling Place had one of the most significant and sobering endings that I have ever read, and its lesson has never left me. Instead, it has prodded me to try to resist this instinctive tendency of mine to stay put, at home, and in the "security" of my routine day-to-day existence (not that I have to concern myself with fending off any presumptuous robots, at least not yet). Try to read Simak's tale if you can find it somehow.
I have been a Florida resident since 1957. I have never been abroad. The furthest west I have been was Dallas, Texas in 1994 (retracing JFK's assassination route) and the furthest north was in Manhattan's Central Park just north of the Metropolitan Museum of Art a couple of years ago. I have flown on planes on two different trips. In my lifetime (well, maybe once I was on a plane in infancy, but forgive me for not remembering). As far as the states in which I have ever been (on the ground), here they are: Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia. Thirteen states in 55 years: that's it, and with the last one on the list I was there only for a few months during infancy and remember nothing. Not that I'm complaining ...
Thursday, June 21, 2012
A Very Generalized Lesson
A long time ago, I wrote an article about bully coaches, in particular adults who seem to get off on browbeating and humiliating little children in the setting of organized sports. I can now expand that category to driver's education, as I have discovered some apparently sick individuals are "instructors". One student inevitably hits one of the countless orange cones lined around the very demanding driving course as obstacles and one of these types, riding on a bicycle, chases after the young teenage driver, yelling at her, "You're dragging around a child!" How utterly tasteless and mean to say that, when the young students are trying their hardest to develop the motor and coordination skills needed to become safe and courteous drivers. Another bully instructor, when a student notifies him that she hasn't had the opportunity that others have been given to practice some of the more difficult elements of the course that she would soon be tested and graded on, decides to ridicule her for being upset in front of the whole class, eliciting derisive laughter from other students. Or how about sticking a couple of instructors-in-training together in the back seat of a training car and let them take turns almost constantly yelling at a poor student driver to do this and not do that...
I am very, very disappointed at what I am hearing about the unprofessional, overly aggressive and even cruel behavior on the part of paid workers who are supposed to be teaching our children how to drive, at least in this backwoods town of mine with its pathetic pretensions of academic and cultural sophistication. I wonder how in the world anyone in these classes will learn the crucial values of courtesy and respect toward others while behind the wheel. And then I look around me on the road at the epidemic rudeness coming from other drivers and realize that perhaps I am picking on these instructors too much. Maybe instead, they just represent a random sample from the general population regarding their (lack of) character and I should finally just cut to the chase and admit it to myself: these people, these bullies, are thickly spread throughout the population. But there ARE some awfully nice people, thankfully...
I am very, very disappointed at what I am hearing about the unprofessional, overly aggressive and even cruel behavior on the part of paid workers who are supposed to be teaching our children how to drive, at least in this backwoods town of mine with its pathetic pretensions of academic and cultural sophistication. I wonder how in the world anyone in these classes will learn the crucial values of courtesy and respect toward others while behind the wheel. And then I look around me on the road at the epidemic rudeness coming from other drivers and realize that perhaps I am picking on these instructors too much. Maybe instead, they just represent a random sample from the general population regarding their (lack of) character and I should finally just cut to the chase and admit it to myself: these people, these bullies, are thickly spread throughout the population. But there ARE some awfully nice people, thankfully...
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Happy, Scary Moments in Heat/Sonics Game
Last night I was watching the close of the fourth game in the NBA championship series between the Miami Heat and the Seattle Supersonics. After Game #1, curiously played in wild, wacky, and okie-hokey Oklahoma City, of all the places you'd expect to see a national-level game (the goofball fans there all dress alike, even more than in slightly less goofy Miami), it looked as if the Sonics would decimate the Heat. But in the last three games, Miami has turned the tables around with three close victories to take a three to one series lead, with only one more win needed to secure the title. But last night's Heat win didn't come without a heart-stopping moment for its fans.
Miami and Seattle were tied at 94 with only a couple of minutes left in regulation. It looked as if the game could go either way. Then Miami's superstar franchise forward LeBron James began to seriously limp around the court, and he was clearly in pain. Oh-no, would this be another Derrick Rose moment when one team's indispensable player would go out with a season-ending injury, dooming their chances? James initially played it brave and tried to play on, even hitting a monster clutch three-point shot to put them ahead for good 97-94. But finally he had to leave the game, putting the Heat's fate into the hands of his teammates. Led by Dwyane Wade, the rest of the Heat took the challenge to the Supersonics as they took control at the end of the game and won 104-98.
The series isn't over, and the injury suffered by LeBron James apparently wasn't an injury after all, but rather leg cramps. James vowed to keep himself rehydrated from here on as a precaution against this known recurring problem of his returning. Well, dude, why haven't you been doing this all along? Even a pseudo/pretend athlete like me carries along a bottle of Gatorade while I run...
And yes, I think I'll just continue with my happy delusion about Seattle still having their NBA team. Somehow I could picture myself visiting there one day, getting a cup of java at some streetside cafe, and then slipping in to see a good Sonics game. On the other hand I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to ever set foot in the usurping, politically hyper-reactionary state of Oklahoma, much less its capital city. They say that the Miami Heat is such an unpopular franchise these days that only those living around South Florida are rooting for them to win this championship series. Oh, and those in the Seattle area, too: apparently, they aren't quite as able as I am to revel in self-delusion...
...and how about those spunky Seattle Pilots winning baseball's National League Central Division last year?!
Miami and Seattle were tied at 94 with only a couple of minutes left in regulation. It looked as if the game could go either way. Then Miami's superstar franchise forward LeBron James began to seriously limp around the court, and he was clearly in pain. Oh-no, would this be another Derrick Rose moment when one team's indispensable player would go out with a season-ending injury, dooming their chances? James initially played it brave and tried to play on, even hitting a monster clutch three-point shot to put them ahead for good 97-94. But finally he had to leave the game, putting the Heat's fate into the hands of his teammates. Led by Dwyane Wade, the rest of the Heat took the challenge to the Supersonics as they took control at the end of the game and won 104-98.
The series isn't over, and the injury suffered by LeBron James apparently wasn't an injury after all, but rather leg cramps. James vowed to keep himself rehydrated from here on as a precaution against this known recurring problem of his returning. Well, dude, why haven't you been doing this all along? Even a pseudo/pretend athlete like me carries along a bottle of Gatorade while I run...
And yes, I think I'll just continue with my happy delusion about Seattle still having their NBA team. Somehow I could picture myself visiting there one day, getting a cup of java at some streetside cafe, and then slipping in to see a good Sonics game. On the other hand I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to ever set foot in the usurping, politically hyper-reactionary state of Oklahoma, much less its capital city. They say that the Miami Heat is such an unpopular franchise these days that only those living around South Florida are rooting for them to win this championship series. Oh, and those in the Seattle area, too: apparently, they aren't quite as able as I am to revel in self-delusion...
...and how about those spunky Seattle Pilots winning baseball's National League Central Division last year?!
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Upcoming Running Race in Gainesville
Well, it's been a while since I ran in a public running race. Actually, it's pretty easy to tell how long it's been: my last race, the DeLeon Springs Half-Marathon, took place this past New Year's Day! So we're talking six months, although I have still been filling that time up with 100 mile/month training runs, including my current personal record streak of 50 straight days of running. Still, a little social context might do me well. So...
The Melon Run, taking place on Wednesday, July 4 and presented by the Florida Track Club, may be just the hot summer running event for me. It is a 5 kilometer race, but should I enter it, I won't be doing any racing. No, I just want to hang out for a little while with some others who share this interest while performing a training run at my usual training pace.
I ran in this race two years ago and was a little disappointed. But this time around, my priorities have changed and it should be a fun experience. I know one thing: I won't be lingering around the place for the "awards" ceremony, which largely consists of volunteers unloading watermelons from the back of a truck and handing them over to top finishers in the various age/sex categories. And if they screw up the finishing times like they did last time, then so be it: like I said, my priorities have changed...
The race course is very familiar to me: the starting and finishing point is Westside Park, with much of the run taking place east of it, going down sidewalks on 8th and 16th Avenues and connecting them on a trail through Loblolly Woods Park (North).
Registration for this race doesn't close until June 30, so I have a little time to mull over my participation. If I sign up, though, I think I'll forgo the cotton tee shirt, which I will probably never wear and represents $10 tacked on to the basic registration fee.
The Melon Run, taking place on Wednesday, July 4 and presented by the Florida Track Club, may be just the hot summer running event for me. It is a 5 kilometer race, but should I enter it, I won't be doing any racing. No, I just want to hang out for a little while with some others who share this interest while performing a training run at my usual training pace.
I ran in this race two years ago and was a little disappointed. But this time around, my priorities have changed and it should be a fun experience. I know one thing: I won't be lingering around the place for the "awards" ceremony, which largely consists of volunteers unloading watermelons from the back of a truck and handing them over to top finishers in the various age/sex categories. And if they screw up the finishing times like they did last time, then so be it: like I said, my priorities have changed...
The race course is very familiar to me: the starting and finishing point is Westside Park, with much of the run taking place east of it, going down sidewalks on 8th and 16th Avenues and connecting them on a trail through Loblolly Woods Park (North).
Registration for this race doesn't close until June 30, so I have a little time to mull over my participation. If I sign up, though, I think I'll forgo the cotton tee shirt, which I will probably never wear and represents $10 tacked on to the basic registration fee.
Monday, June 18, 2012
My President
Since I have been eligible to vote, I have voted in eight of the past nine presidential elections. In four of the eight, my choice won; in four he lost. The election I missed saw the candidate I was leaning toward winning. But get this: win or lose, I always carried the attitude that the individual holding that high office was MY president. Now this doesn't mean that I agreed with his decisions; often, much too often I found myself shaking my head in disbelief, readying myself to support someone else with a more agreeable political philosophy in the next election. On three different occasions, I supported a candidate's initial election to the presidency and voted against him for reelection (all three times unsuccessfully). So I have not been ideologically monolithic, instead going back and forth from one party to the other. I suppose this might imply that I am a centrist, or a political moderate. This tends to bear out in conversations I have with liberals who say I am conservative, or with conservatives who say I am liberal. But that doesn't mean that I am devoid of strong opinions on the issues. I just believe that some of the ideologically-based positions on them tend to be short-sighted and lacking a sense of the greater needs of the nation and its people.
Each and every president in my memory has been MY president. Unfortunately, the trend increasingly seems to take presidents one opposes and regard them as not legitimately belonging in office. According to this type of narrative, depending on your perspective, Bush stole the 2000 and 2004 elections and Obama wasn't really born in the good old United States of America, so he wasn't really elected in 2008 (in some people's universes). So instead of having a leader one recognizes as the leader, whether for better or for worse, we're left with a much lower discussion of whether the individual is really legally president.
We desperately need to get away from this destructive way of thinking if we are going to survive as a viable, civil democracy in the future. Barack Obama is my president, and he's yours, too, if you are an American. It matters not how conservative or liberal you are, or whether or not Mr. Obama has said or done (or been alleged to have said or done) something that offended you. He is your president. Mitt Romney isn't exactly my first choice for the presidency. But should he win the election this November, guess what? He's gonna be MY president!
Each and every president in my memory has been MY president. Unfortunately, the trend increasingly seems to take presidents one opposes and regard them as not legitimately belonging in office. According to this type of narrative, depending on your perspective, Bush stole the 2000 and 2004 elections and Obama wasn't really born in the good old United States of America, so he wasn't really elected in 2008 (in some people's universes). So instead of having a leader one recognizes as the leader, whether for better or for worse, we're left with a much lower discussion of whether the individual is really legally president.
We desperately need to get away from this destructive way of thinking if we are going to survive as a viable, civil democracy in the future. Barack Obama is my president, and he's yours, too, if you are an American. It matters not how conservative or liberal you are, or whether or not Mr. Obama has said or done (or been alleged to have said or done) something that offended you. He is your president. Mitt Romney isn't exactly my first choice for the presidency. But should he win the election this November, guess what? He's gonna be MY president!
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Basketball and Bond Tonight
I was enjoying the Miami Heat-Oklahoma City Thunder NBA Championship Series game tonight when, during one of the endless commercials, I checked out what was going on elsewhere on my TV set. And lo and behold, the BBC America channel was airing a James Bond marathon, specifically a Pierce Brosnan James Bond marathon. When the game was over, I switched channels and enjoyed Goldeneye (and am still doing so). The next movie will be Die Another Day. Ah, the joy of these holiday marathons. Well, it IS a holiday in a manner of speaking...
Saturday, June 16, 2012
What Are They Looking At?
I don't often have the occasion to pass through the University of Florida campus around twilight. That's just how my life is structured: it seems to be somehow designed for me to avoid UF, although I am always passing by it on one side or the other, on the way to somewhere else. The only recent exceptions to this have been the unavoidable doctor and medical examination appointments I've had at Shands Hospital, an incredibly huge, sprawling, and fast-growing complex dominating the south side of the campus. But then again, Shands is so separated from the rest of the University that I tend to think of it as a completely separate entity.
Tonight I happened to get off a little early from work and decided NOT to pass right by UF, but instead turn into campus and get a sense of what's going on there. I drove from the west past Lake Alice on Museum Road and veered around a curve to the right, toward the main heart of the campus. Suddenly, to my left I noticed a crowd of people congregating at a fence, looking inward at what appeared to be an empty field. So what was the show? I didn't see any sign of a sports game going on. Anyway, the student recreational complex was further back, south of me. This crowd was intently watching something completely different. I was flummoxed about the source of their interest. Then, just as I had almost completely passed the field, I saw it. Something that I remember from pictures. Bat towers were situated back in the field. The spectators were obviously waiting for the bats to come out and join the night!
I can't recall seeing any bats in the wild around Gainesville myself, but my daughter has seen them flying around my own neighborhood, which is in far northern Gainesville, quite distant from the University of Florida and these towers. I am very happy to know that we have a thriving bat population around us, if for just one reason: they help curb the horrendous onslaught of mosquitoes this time of year by feasting on them!
Maybe I should set aside some time to watch the bats myself at UF. It's funny to me, though, how the towers are just right out there by the street, for anyone to see. I would have thought that they would have been placed in a more secluded spot, if only for the sake of the bats themselves. Shows how little I know about bats, I suppose...
Tonight I happened to get off a little early from work and decided NOT to pass right by UF, but instead turn into campus and get a sense of what's going on there. I drove from the west past Lake Alice on Museum Road and veered around a curve to the right, toward the main heart of the campus. Suddenly, to my left I noticed a crowd of people congregating at a fence, looking inward at what appeared to be an empty field. So what was the show? I didn't see any sign of a sports game going on. Anyway, the student recreational complex was further back, south of me. This crowd was intently watching something completely different. I was flummoxed about the source of their interest. Then, just as I had almost completely passed the field, I saw it. Something that I remember from pictures. Bat towers were situated back in the field. The spectators were obviously waiting for the bats to come out and join the night!
I can't recall seeing any bats in the wild around Gainesville myself, but my daughter has seen them flying around my own neighborhood, which is in far northern Gainesville, quite distant from the University of Florida and these towers. I am very happy to know that we have a thriving bat population around us, if for just one reason: they help curb the horrendous onslaught of mosquitoes this time of year by feasting on them!
Maybe I should set aside some time to watch the bats myself at UF. It's funny to me, though, how the towers are just right out there by the street, for anyone to see. I would have thought that they would have been placed in a more secluded spot, if only for the sake of the bats themselves. Shows how little I know about bats, I suppose...
Friday, June 15, 2012
My Running Pace Increasingly Consistent
I have had some interesting experiences lately with my running and pacing. A few days ago I ran my currently "regular" 3.34 mile course around my neighborhood at a good, steady pace and finished with a time of 29:05. Then this past Monday I ran it again, with a time of... 29:05. The next day I repeated the performance, down to the second. On none of these days was I trying to make the finishing times the same. The weather was different during each of them, not to mention how I was physically feeling. It's just that I have apparently developed a very keen, consistent pacing instinct. However...
Wednesday I ran it again, finishing off two seconds at 29:03. And then yesterday I was even faster at 28:58. So it's not always the same. Today was different in that I ran a modified 3.83 mile course.
Consistency is more important of a factor in my running to me than fast times, so I take my training results as a very positive indicator of my progress. I am at the halfway point of the month of June and am on pace to once again surpass the 100-mile mark, having amassed 54.55 miles so far, while running every day (my streak now stands at 46 straight days of running). I have been able to keep my total mileage up mainly by running reasonable distances consistently, not by setting any personal distance records. I think I'm on the right track with this strategy...
Wednesday I ran it again, finishing off two seconds at 29:03. And then yesterday I was even faster at 28:58. So it's not always the same. Today was different in that I ran a modified 3.83 mile course.
Consistency is more important of a factor in my running to me than fast times, so I take my training results as a very positive indicator of my progress. I am at the halfway point of the month of June and am on pace to once again surpass the 100-mile mark, having amassed 54.55 miles so far, while running every day (my streak now stands at 46 straight days of running). I have been able to keep my total mileage up mainly by running reasonable distances consistently, not by setting any personal distance records. I think I'm on the right track with this strategy...
Thursday, June 14, 2012
My Math Prowess Slipping
When I was younger (I am 55 now), I was considered to have a high aptitude in mathematics. Apparently, although I underachieved in math classes throughout high school, my "prowess" in this area only increased, since the mathematics component of my SAT scores (I took the test twice in order to increase my verbal score) were 780 and a perfect 800. And in college I went a pretty substantial way into a deeper level of mathematical instruction as well. So imagine my surprise a few weeks ago when I got on the SAT math practice questions website and got stumped, question after question. On the other hand, I was trying to answer them by working out the problems in my head!
Besides elementary-school-level arithmetic, the overwhelming majority of the population has very little use for even middle-school-level mathematics, much less the kind that prospective college students are grilled about on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Were I to take up mathematics as a self-improvement activity, I have no doubt that the people around me would be expecting me to go jumping off into a highly technical specialty field.
But although many, myself included, have allowed themselves to be intimidated in math classes and have developed failure complexes about this field, mathematics itself can be reframed as a fun, amusement activity akin to puzzle solving.
A few years ago I received as a gift a book of mathematical puzzles, one of those "calendar" books with a new problem to solve on each date of the year. The mathematics was like the more difficult SAT questions or the kind I would encounter on my statewide (Florida) mathematics contest exam. But there was no pressure. Some answers I got right, some I missed. But I learned something from all of them and left the experience with a more positive feeling about mathematics.
Unfortunately, most mathematics textbooks are written, it seems, to aid the instructor in judging the students instead of empowering those students with the material. Sometimes the material looks more like a peer review journal than the guide to an area of math that it purports to be. Well, if I'm not taking any math classes, I can just ignore them, figuratively tossing them into the trash can the way that John Nash literally did in front of his class in the movie A Beautiful Mind.
I'll have to think about this math thing. Should I try to get back into it, for fun's sake? Maybe if I do, I should keep it a secret. After all, people don't seem to mind if I just sit in front of the TV doing nothing, but if I take the initiative and do something new? Oh, cause for concern, what's he up to...
Besides elementary-school-level arithmetic, the overwhelming majority of the population has very little use for even middle-school-level mathematics, much less the kind that prospective college students are grilled about on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Were I to take up mathematics as a self-improvement activity, I have no doubt that the people around me would be expecting me to go jumping off into a highly technical specialty field.
But although many, myself included, have allowed themselves to be intimidated in math classes and have developed failure complexes about this field, mathematics itself can be reframed as a fun, amusement activity akin to puzzle solving.
A few years ago I received as a gift a book of mathematical puzzles, one of those "calendar" books with a new problem to solve on each date of the year. The mathematics was like the more difficult SAT questions or the kind I would encounter on my statewide (Florida) mathematics contest exam. But there was no pressure. Some answers I got right, some I missed. But I learned something from all of them and left the experience with a more positive feeling about mathematics.
Unfortunately, most mathematics textbooks are written, it seems, to aid the instructor in judging the students instead of empowering those students with the material. Sometimes the material looks more like a peer review journal than the guide to an area of math that it purports to be. Well, if I'm not taking any math classes, I can just ignore them, figuratively tossing them into the trash can the way that John Nash literally did in front of his class in the movie A Beautiful Mind.
I'll have to think about this math thing. Should I try to get back into it, for fun's sake? Maybe if I do, I should keep it a secret. After all, people don't seem to mind if I just sit in front of the TV doing nothing, but if I take the initiative and do something new? Oh, cause for concern, what's he up to...
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Looking for New Blogs to Follow
It is getting more difficult, it seems, for me to find interesting
blogs worth following. I like the personal touch in a blog, without the
pretentious overblown graphics and design. And I don't care at all for
photo album blogs. I want writing that expresses the writer's opinions
about various topics, along with an appropriate window into their
lives. In other words, I want to read blogs like mine! Apparently,
though, these blogs are too few and far between. I think that potential
writers of this genre have largely gone over to the Facebook
monstrosity. Facebook, in my opinion, homogenizes humanity, taking away
people's individuality and putting their lives into a formula that must
be adhered to in order to "fit". Keep your Facebook, sheep!
Instead, I am going to seriously use a Blogger feature that I have been neglecting lately: the Reader. I have only two blogs left that I follow on it, and one, well...I think the author may have decided to move on to other things in his life. The other one is usually only updated on the average about once of month. So I guess I had better set out to find some interesting, currently updated blogs that aren't trying to shock and awe me with their "perfection". Then I'll pick out the best of them and stick them on Reader. But Facebook? No way...
Instead, I am going to seriously use a Blogger feature that I have been neglecting lately: the Reader. I have only two blogs left that I follow on it, and one, well...I think the author may have decided to move on to other things in his life. The other one is usually only updated on the average about once of month. So I guess I had better set out to find some interesting, currently updated blogs that aren't trying to shock and awe me with their "perfection". Then I'll pick out the best of them and stick them on Reader. But Facebook? No way...
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
NHL Finals Over, NBA's Starting
Last night I did something I haven't done in a long, long time: I sat down and watched a National Hockey League game. And why not? It was the most important game of the year: a finals matchup between the Los Angeles Kings and the New Jersey Devils, with the former ahead in the series 3-2 and with a chance to win the coveted Stanley Cup with a win at home. I missed the first period, and when I tuned in during the second, it was already 4-0 Kings. Then suddenly New Jersey scored and the announcers struggled as hard as possible to make it still look like a game whose outcome was in question. But even I, with as little hockey experience as I have, could easily tell that the Los Angeles goalie, appropriately named Jonathan Quick, wasn't about to carelessly let any Devil shots get by him. Time after time when a Devil would take a shot, he would almost casually reach up and grab the puck out of the air just as it appeared headed for a goal. The Kings ended up winning and Quick was (also) appropriately named playoff MVP.
Tonight begins the opening game in the National Basketball Association final series between the Miami Heat and the Oklahoma City Thunder, with the Thunder playing host. I prefer the Heat, but in all honesty have to say that I greatly admire the great teamwork and selfless talent comprising Oklahoma City (the basketball team, not the city or state). I see this series going six or seven games: both teams have an indomitable will and purpose to succeed. Should be exciting to watch. Unfortunately, I'll be at work tonight and will miss the opening game (which will be over by the time I post this article, which I am currently writing at 2 in the afternoon sitting outside a Dunkin Donuts near work).
Tonight begins the opening game in the National Basketball Association final series between the Miami Heat and the Oklahoma City Thunder, with the Thunder playing host. I prefer the Heat, but in all honesty have to say that I greatly admire the great teamwork and selfless talent comprising Oklahoma City (the basketball team, not the city or state). I see this series going six or seven games: both teams have an indomitable will and purpose to succeed. Should be exciting to watch. Unfortunately, I'll be at work tonight and will miss the opening game (which will be over by the time I post this article, which I am currently writing at 2 in the afternoon sitting outside a Dunkin Donuts near work).
Monday, June 11, 2012
They're Here...
Well, I suppose I knew it wouldn't last...Yesterday evening I sat out on my front porch to relax and enjoy the time of day. I didn't mind the heat or even the humidity around me too much. There was, however, a new feature to my experience, which was inevitable but sad: the mosquitoes have arrived. Quickly noticing that I was being eaten alive, I made my way back indoors, sighing...
We probably won't be rid of the little buggers until cold descends on us sometime in fall (should it even happen by then). That's one of the down sides to where I live: Gainesville lies just north of a vast wetlands basin called Paynes Prairie (perhaps you've heard of it: a terrible chain of accidents involving several vehicles occurred a few weeks ago out there on Interstate-75). The Prairie, the area of which is large enough to swallow up Gainesville, is a natural breeding ground for mosquitoes, and if the wind happens to be blowing our way, well, here comes trouble...
Still, I can enjoy the outdoors if I am just a little cautious. I can use mosquito repellent, to be sure. But I can also pick and choose when I am outdoors. No, I won't let them drive me indoors!
We probably won't be rid of the little buggers until cold descends on us sometime in fall (should it even happen by then). That's one of the down sides to where I live: Gainesville lies just north of a vast wetlands basin called Paynes Prairie (perhaps you've heard of it: a terrible chain of accidents involving several vehicles occurred a few weeks ago out there on Interstate-75). The Prairie, the area of which is large enough to swallow up Gainesville, is a natural breeding ground for mosquitoes, and if the wind happens to be blowing our way, well, here comes trouble...
Still, I can enjoy the outdoors if I am just a little cautious. I can use mosquito repellent, to be sure. But I can also pick and choose when I am outdoors. No, I won't let them drive me indoors!
Sunday, June 10, 2012
An Unintended Lesson from Caillou
The other night I was watching the Sprout Channel, which is actually targeted at little children. One of their staple late-night cartoons shows, Caillou, was on and I was too dang tired to change the channel (which is what I usually do when this show is on). Caillou, by the way, is the name of the little bald-headed boy in the cartoon. He lives in a nice suburban home with his nice suburban family of mother, father, little sister, and conveniently-appearing extended family and friends. Caillou tends to be very enthusiastic about life and learning new things, and his attitude is infectious in a good way. In other words, we're talking about the diametric opposite kind of role behavior than what you'd see on cynical, satirical South Park. Let me give you an example from the episode I just saw...
It's early in the day and Caillou has just come back from the library where he checked out a book he wants to read. The parents at home each tell him and his little sister that they are going to be too busy with other matters to attend to them, but they managed to conveniently coax dependable, useful ol' grandma over to the house to babysit them. That suits upbeat Caillou just fine, who promptly announces to everyone that he is going to make a priority of reading his book. Grandma can concentrate on playing with little sis while he reads. And thus the scene is set for this episode.
It becomes progressively clear over the course of the show that poor Caillou cannot find a quiet, undisturbed place in his house to read his book. If he stays in his bedroom, the pet cat bothers him. The playroom is a no-go as well, as his rambunctious, loud little sister is playing with grandma there. What bothers me is when he goes into the living room and sits on the sofa to read. His mother then walks right into the room and turns on the noisy vacuum cleaner, in essence asserting her presence and territorial authority over her young son. Apparently, vacuuming the floor is part of her important "busy" work that is keeping her from spending time with her little children today, don't you see. Caillou, unlike I'm sure any of the South Park boys (except possibly Butters), is O.K. with mom's brazen rudeness and happily looks elsewhere for quietness. Finally, he discovers the only place where he can read in peace: his own bedroom closet. He reads his book, about travel on the high seas, and imagines himself to be on a voyage of his own. Then his family members, collectively looking for him after discovering that they are no longer able to ruin his reading experience, finally find him in his one successful place of literary refuge. But it is too late: Caillou has finished the book!
Caillou is obviously, at least in this episode, a kid with no chips on his shoulders. But I'd still keep an eye on him (were he actually a real person, that is): with the passage of years and hindsight, benign memories, especially those of interactions with close family members, can easily "go south" and be reinterpreted in a much more critical and even unforgiving light. Sure, the intended message is to demonstrate the "proper" way for children to present themselves in the face of adversity on the part of others. But an unintended lesson may also be that one can usually expect arbitrary, selfish and rude behavior on the part of those in authority...
It's early in the day and Caillou has just come back from the library where he checked out a book he wants to read. The parents at home each tell him and his little sister that they are going to be too busy with other matters to attend to them, but they managed to conveniently coax dependable, useful ol' grandma over to the house to babysit them. That suits upbeat Caillou just fine, who promptly announces to everyone that he is going to make a priority of reading his book. Grandma can concentrate on playing with little sis while he reads. And thus the scene is set for this episode.
It becomes progressively clear over the course of the show that poor Caillou cannot find a quiet, undisturbed place in his house to read his book. If he stays in his bedroom, the pet cat bothers him. The playroom is a no-go as well, as his rambunctious, loud little sister is playing with grandma there. What bothers me is when he goes into the living room and sits on the sofa to read. His mother then walks right into the room and turns on the noisy vacuum cleaner, in essence asserting her presence and territorial authority over her young son. Apparently, vacuuming the floor is part of her important "busy" work that is keeping her from spending time with her little children today, don't you see. Caillou, unlike I'm sure any of the South Park boys (except possibly Butters), is O.K. with mom's brazen rudeness and happily looks elsewhere for quietness. Finally, he discovers the only place where he can read in peace: his own bedroom closet. He reads his book, about travel on the high seas, and imagines himself to be on a voyage of his own. Then his family members, collectively looking for him after discovering that they are no longer able to ruin his reading experience, finally find him in his one successful place of literary refuge. But it is too late: Caillou has finished the book!
Caillou is obviously, at least in this episode, a kid with no chips on his shoulders. But I'd still keep an eye on him (were he actually a real person, that is): with the passage of years and hindsight, benign memories, especially those of interactions with close family members, can easily "go south" and be reinterpreted in a much more critical and even unforgiving light. Sure, the intended message is to demonstrate the "proper" way for children to present themselves in the face of adversity on the part of others. But an unintended lesson may also be that one can usually expect arbitrary, selfish and rude behavior on the part of those in authority...
Saturday, June 9, 2012
List Madness: My Top 50 Beck Songs
For most of 2012 so far, I have been listening during my training runs on my MP3 player (in shuffle mode) to just one musical artist: Beck (aka Beck Hansen), an old favorite of mine. Lately, I have been listening to more of his material and now regard him as my top favorite musical act. This is in spite of the fact that he hasn't released any new albums in the last five years. Still, I have heard about 130 tracks spanning fourteen years and nine albums. The only album of his under general release that I haven't yet heard anything from is Stereopathetic Soulmanure, from 1993.
Beck, many songs of whom are typified by insanely-catchy strings of unrelated words in their lyrics, is most famous for his breakout single Loser, as well as the follow-up album Odelay, which spawned several hit singles. But this was all in the mid-1990's. Although his four album releases over the past decade (condensed into a busy five-year period from 2002 to 2007) haven't generated hits on broadcast radio, that is no indictment against Beck, in my opinion: radio nowadays ignores too many quality acts, instead playing a lot of, well, let's just call it the crap that it is!
As is my custom on this blog, here is my list of personal favorite Beck songs. The album for each entry is indicated by the following abbreviations: One Foot in the Grave [OF], Mellow Gold [Mel], Odelay [O], Mutations [Mut], Midnite Vultures [MV], Sea Change [SC], Guero [G], The Information [I], and Modern Guilt [Mod]. Also listed are two singles and a beautiful cover Beck did of an old Korgis song. Well, here goes...
1--Timebomb [single]
2--Novacane [O]
3--Lost Cause [SC]
4--Pay No Mind [Mel]
5--Deadweight [single]
6--Cellphone's Dead [I]
7--Earthquake Weather [G]
8--Jack-Ass [O]
9--Mixed Bizness [MV]
10--Beercan [Mel]
11--Think I'm in Love [I]
12--Youthless [Mod]
13--Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime [cover]
14--Rental Car [G]
15--Motorcade [I]
16--Loser [Mel]
17--Whiskey Can Can [OF]
18--Get Real Paid [MV]
19--Gamma Ray [Mod]
20--Blackhole [Mel]
21--Teenage Wastebasket [OF]
22--Dead Melodies [Mut]
23--Missing [G]
24--Sexx Laws [MV]
25--Broken Train [MV]
26--Devils Haircut [O]
27--Ramshackle [O]
28--It's All in Your Mind [SC]
29--Lazy Flies [Mut]
30--Minus [O]
31--Woe on Me [OF]
32--Pressure Zone [MV]
33--The New Pollution [O]
34--Sissyneck [O]
35--Hollow Log [OF]
36--Profanity Prayers [Mod]
37--Soldier Jane [I]
38--Scarecrow [G]
39--Girl [G]
40--Movie Theme [I]
41--Nitemare Hippy Girl [Mel]
42--E-Pro [G]
43--Truckdrivin' Neighbors Downstairs [Mel]
44--Broken Drum [G]
45--Sunday Sun [SC]
46--Readymade [O]
47--F#%$ing With My Head [Mel]
48--Mattress [OF]
49--Nausea [I]
50--Where It's At [O]
Note: All of the above are songs that I like A LOT, even the old radio staple Where It's At at #50. Actually, there are only a handful of Beck tunes that I truly dislike. And just one that I abhor: Debra, from Midnite Vultures.
Beck, many songs of whom are typified by insanely-catchy strings of unrelated words in their lyrics, is most famous for his breakout single Loser, as well as the follow-up album Odelay, which spawned several hit singles. But this was all in the mid-1990's. Although his four album releases over the past decade (condensed into a busy five-year period from 2002 to 2007) haven't generated hits on broadcast radio, that is no indictment against Beck, in my opinion: radio nowadays ignores too many quality acts, instead playing a lot of, well, let's just call it the crap that it is!
As is my custom on this blog, here is my list of personal favorite Beck songs. The album for each entry is indicated by the following abbreviations: One Foot in the Grave [OF], Mellow Gold [Mel], Odelay [O], Mutations [Mut], Midnite Vultures [MV], Sea Change [SC], Guero [G], The Information [I], and Modern Guilt [Mod]. Also listed are two singles and a beautiful cover Beck did of an old Korgis song. Well, here goes...
1--Timebomb [single]
2--Novacane [O]
3--Lost Cause [SC]
4--Pay No Mind [Mel]
5--Deadweight [single]
6--Cellphone's Dead [I]
7--Earthquake Weather [G]
8--Jack-Ass [O]
9--Mixed Bizness [MV]
10--Beercan [Mel]
11--Think I'm in Love [I]
12--Youthless [Mod]
13--Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime [cover]
14--Rental Car [G]
15--Motorcade [I]
16--Loser [Mel]
17--Whiskey Can Can [OF]
18--Get Real Paid [MV]
19--Gamma Ray [Mod]
20--Blackhole [Mel]
21--Teenage Wastebasket [OF]
22--Dead Melodies [Mut]
23--Missing [G]
24--Sexx Laws [MV]
25--Broken Train [MV]
26--Devils Haircut [O]
27--Ramshackle [O]
28--It's All in Your Mind [SC]
29--Lazy Flies [Mut]
30--Minus [O]
31--Woe on Me [OF]
32--Pressure Zone [MV]
33--The New Pollution [O]
34--Sissyneck [O]
35--Hollow Log [OF]
36--Profanity Prayers [Mod]
37--Soldier Jane [I]
38--Scarecrow [G]
39--Girl [G]
40--Movie Theme [I]
41--Nitemare Hippy Girl [Mel]
42--E-Pro [G]
43--Truckdrivin' Neighbors Downstairs [Mel]
44--Broken Drum [G]
45--Sunday Sun [SC]
46--Readymade [O]
47--F#%$ing With My Head [Mel]
48--Mattress [OF]
49--Nausea [I]
50--Where It's At [O]
Note: All of the above are songs that I like A LOT, even the old radio staple Where It's At at #50. Actually, there are only a handful of Beck tunes that I truly dislike. And just one that I abhor: Debra, from Midnite Vultures.
Friday, June 8, 2012
LeBron James Takes Over a Game
I think that Miami Heat star LeBron James has come a long way in the past few years. I remember back while he was in Cleveland and trying to take that team to an NBA championship, unsuccessfully. Sometimes it seemed that he would just give up during a game. Then there was that time when Orlando beat Cleveland in a playoff series and James refused to congratulate the winners, instead storming off the court like a sulking baby. Yes, he has come a long way since then. And I have come to like him, both as a player and a person.
Miami signed LeBron James because they wanted a superstar franchise player who could take over a game and lead them to another league title. James saw the talent there and left his old Cleveland team; bad for them but good for Miami. Still, he would prefer to play team basketball, sharing the ball-handling and scoring with his teammates instead of dominating everything. But the fans are clamoring for just the opposite: they want to see LeBron James take over games and decimate the opposition. Well, yesterday against the Boston Celtics they got what they wanted as he strongly led the Heat to a seventh, deciding game with a 45-point performance. But the naysayers, instead of praising him for this, instead spin everything negative by implying that he didn't trust his own teammates anymore and had to do everything by himself.
Damned if he passes off the ball and damned if he keeps it and scores... I guess some folks just get a kick out of damning LeBron James.
Miami signed LeBron James because they wanted a superstar franchise player who could take over a game and lead them to another league title. James saw the talent there and left his old Cleveland team; bad for them but good for Miami. Still, he would prefer to play team basketball, sharing the ball-handling and scoring with his teammates instead of dominating everything. But the fans are clamoring for just the opposite: they want to see LeBron James take over games and decimate the opposition. Well, yesterday against the Boston Celtics they got what they wanted as he strongly led the Heat to a seventh, deciding game with a 45-point performance. But the naysayers, instead of praising him for this, instead spin everything negative by implying that he didn't trust his own teammates anymore and had to do everything by himself.
Damned if he passes off the ball and damned if he keeps it and scores... I guess some folks just get a kick out of damning LeBron James.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Ray Bradbury Passes On
Yesterday Ray Bradbury, one of my all-time favorite writers, died at age 91 after an undisclosed lengthy illness. Not only did I read many of his hundreds of short stories (possessing three collection volumes), but also I enjoyed his novels such as Fahrenheit 451, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and Dandelion Wine. The latter had a great influence on me and put a fitting perspective on childhood and the passage of time (and the passing of people). There was the sad chapter on the passing of the protagonist's grandmother, a gentle spirit who had an uncanny, mystical ability to cook the most tasty, elaborate feasts without ever measuring anything out or referring to any recipe. She would go entirely by her own instincts. I feel that this was the very same way that Bradbury wrote, and it showed in his magical, beautiful prose.
There will never be another Ray Bradbury, although there are many who have been deeply influenced by him. Among them is Stephen King, another favorite of mine, and who quickly commented following Bradbury's passing how important and influential he had been to him. Now excuse me while I go excavate one of my Ray Bradbury short story collections...
There will never be another Ray Bradbury, although there are many who have been deeply influenced by him. Among them is Stephen King, another favorite of mine, and who quickly commented following Bradbury's passing how important and influential he had been to him. Now excuse me while I go excavate one of my Ray Bradbury short story collections...
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Colds and Hand-Shaking
I have been pretty good for the past few years about avoiding catching colds. Until recently, that is. At the end of March, a cold-on-steroids invaded my body, giving me a lot of grief for a few days. And now I have a more benign but still very annoying cold that someone transmitted to me a few days ago.
I am finding myself becoming more like the television character Monk, an obsessive-compulsive detective who tries as hard as possible to avoid shaking people's hands. Personally, I find this cultural tradition to be loathsome and unsanitary. At church, the congregation at the service's start are asked (I mean told) to stand up and greet each other, and then here come the dreaded, germ/disease-coated hands extended out to me. I much prefer the Indian greeting of clasping one's hands together. Sometimes, just to avoid a hand-shaking "incident", I'll just give out a perfunctory wave of my hand, accompanied by a winsome smile and soothing words of friendliness. Before I see that dangblasted hand reaching out at me, in germ-attack mode!
I don't know for sure how I caught my current edition of the cold, but hand-shaking is my prime suspect. And I wonder to myself whether the reason so many people show up late at church isn't because they, like me (and Monk) want to discretely avoid hand contact during that ritual...
I am finding myself becoming more like the television character Monk, an obsessive-compulsive detective who tries as hard as possible to avoid shaking people's hands. Personally, I find this cultural tradition to be loathsome and unsanitary. At church, the congregation at the service's start are asked (I mean told) to stand up and greet each other, and then here come the dreaded, germ/disease-coated hands extended out to me. I much prefer the Indian greeting of clasping one's hands together. Sometimes, just to avoid a hand-shaking "incident", I'll just give out a perfunctory wave of my hand, accompanied by a winsome smile and soothing words of friendliness. Before I see that dangblasted hand reaching out at me, in germ-attack mode!
I don't know for sure how I caught my current edition of the cold, but hand-shaking is my prime suspect. And I wonder to myself whether the reason so many people show up late at church isn't because they, like me (and Monk) want to discretely avoid hand contact during that ritual...
Monday, June 4, 2012
Take a Break, Do Nothing
This evening after a pleasant dinner on my day off from
work, I decided to simply go out and sit on the front porch for a while, just
relaxing and being quiet. No agenda, no
goals. It’s a pleasure in life that I
have enjoyed since back in the mid 1960’s as a kid just sitting on the back
porch. Truth be told, though, I have
gone through periods when I was so caught up in the routines of my life that I
wouldn’t make time for this important non-activity.
Learn to be still…that’s an old Eagles song, didn’t Don
Henley write it? It seems to run counter
to the narrative that dominates our culture, though. We’re supposed to always be busy, aren’t we,
justifying our existence by the important, “relevant” things we do? But I like to take a page from the Hebrew
Scriptures, from the book of Ecclesiastes: it is all a chasing after the wind…
I like breaks, and not just so that I can fill the acquired
free time with purposeful activities.
There is something to be said for just quietly sitting there and
emptying yourself of all your concerns, at least for a little while…
Sunday, June 3, 2012
NBA Players Raging Crybabies with Foul Calls
I understand how fast-paced the action is in National Basketball Association games, so it is understandable that many of the fouls called in them are very close and often worthy of dispute. Still, it gets pretty tedious watching one player after another vehemently shaking his head in denial after being called for a foul. On some occasions, they go after the referee and whine like little babies. On the other hand, I could change my own negative attitude concerning their behavior and actually make a game of my own from this epidemic of poor sportsmanship on the court.
If a player called for a foul just shakes his head in denial (or the head coach on his behalf), that's one dubious point he has just scored for his team (to be the worst sports). The same goes for any contorted, pained facial expressions. If he starts to run his mouth off about it, that's two. And if his actions reap a technical foul, well...he has just scored a three-pointer in my contest to determine which team is composed of the worst crybabies masquerading as adult multimillionaire professional sportsmen...
If a player called for a foul just shakes his head in denial (or the head coach on his behalf), that's one dubious point he has just scored for his team (to be the worst sports). The same goes for any contorted, pained facial expressions. If he starts to run his mouth off about it, that's two. And if his actions reap a technical foul, well...he has just scored a three-pointer in my contest to determine which team is composed of the worst crybabies masquerading as adult multimillionaire professional sportsmen...
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Amusing NBA Playoff Prediction by Sports Radio Jock
I was listening to one of the sports talk radio stations the other day, and the announcer on duty was talking about the two NBA playoff series that had just begun. At the time, Miami was leading Boston in their series 1-0 and San Antonio had a 2-0 advantage over Oklahoma City in theirs. Each series will last until one team or another wins four games. Yet this announcer, who apparently draws a paycheck for running his mouth at this cushy radio job, flat-out decided that both series are ALREADY OVER. With home court advantage being important in basketball, it was to be expected that both Miami and San Antonio would win their home games. Yet this dude gave the series to Miami after only one game being played at the time...
Tonight we have progressed a little further with each series. And surprise, surprise, after each favorite winning their home contests, both of them lost on their opponents' court. So Miami and San Antonio each have a 2-1 lead in their respective series, with San Antonio playing again at Oklahoma City tonight. Don't be surprised if that series is knotted up at two wins apiece after that game is over. But, no... it doesn't matter what happens: San Antonio and Miami have ALREADY won their series. Sure thing, pal...
Tonight we have progressed a little further with each series. And surprise, surprise, after each favorite winning their home contests, both of them lost on their opponents' court. So Miami and San Antonio each have a 2-1 lead in their respective series, with San Antonio playing again at Oklahoma City tonight. Don't be surprised if that series is knotted up at two wins apiece after that game is over. But, no... it doesn't matter what happens: San Antonio and Miami have ALREADY won their series. Sure thing, pal...
Friday, June 1, 2012
Venus Scoots Across the Sun June 5
Next Tuesday, June 5, will be a special event for die-hard
amateur (and probably professional) astronomers: the planet Venus will make what
is going to be its last transit over the Sun this century. What that translates into is that, with the
proper (and expensive) telescope, filter, and assorted other equipment, one
should be able to make out the small circle of Venus as it crosses directly
between the Sun and Earth.
I picked up news about this upcoming event from an
advertisement (for telescopes, surprise) by Meade Instruments on the back of an
astronomy magazine (most likely Astronomy itself). Now I suppose that, were I already a dyed-in-the-wool,
no-holds-barred, and any-other-suitable-metaphor of an amateur astronomer
instead of the rank, barely part-time naked-eye star-planet-moon-clouds-planes-birds gazer
that I am, I might want to invest a little time and money in pursuing this
event. But that’s O.K., because…
I will simply wait until the Venus/Sun transit is over with
and the best photos are released to the public.
And I don’t mind waiting a little for that, either. After all, I already knew that our “sister”
planet was making the transition from Evening Star to Morning Star, but I didn’t
know about the transit (or how rare it was) until just a couple of days
ago. I wonder, though, what the
professionals in the field may be thinking and whether they will be able to
derive some new knowledge and understanding based on the transit event, which
according to the Meade ad will last only about six hours.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
My May 2012 Running
Here are the results from this past month of May, 2012 regarding my running:
Total Miles: 116.36
Longest Run: 6.3 Miles
Days Run: All 31 Days
So I easily surpassed my goal of 100 monthly miles, accomplishing it by running daily and usually in the range of 3-5 miles per run. I either ran around my home neighborhood or on the treadmill at my nearby YMCA. I am pretty satisfied with how I did: I can't remember since I began running long distance when I ever ran on every single day in any given month. And that's going back all the way to 1972!
I plan to continue my running this way, not running extravagantly long distances but instead keeping it in a consistent range while trying to keep up a routine on a daily basis. So far, so good: I can't argue against success!
Total Miles: 116.36
Longest Run: 6.3 Miles
Days Run: All 31 Days
So I easily surpassed my goal of 100 monthly miles, accomplishing it by running daily and usually in the range of 3-5 miles per run. I either ran around my home neighborhood or on the treadmill at my nearby YMCA. I am pretty satisfied with how I did: I can't remember since I began running long distance when I ever ran on every single day in any given month. And that's going back all the way to 1972!
I plan to continue my running this way, not running extravagantly long distances but instead keeping it in a consistent range while trying to keep up a routine on a daily basis. So far, so good: I can't argue against success!
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Fan Clothing Uniformity in NBA Playoffs: Creepy
Bill Maher recently voiced his personal objections to the trend in public sports games, in this case the NBA playoffs, of the fans all wearing the same colors, presumably those of the home team. So it was the other day in Miami (and tonight as well), with the stands full of Heat "white". In Oklahoma City, their fans wear blue, which in the opening home playoff game against Dallas was too funny for me: the visiting Dallas players also wore blue, perfectly matching their opponent's fans, while the Oklahoma City players themselves wore white. The screw-up appeared to be corrected for the next game, though, with the stands all white-garbed.
Yes, Bill Maher, this all creeps me out, too. I can't help but recall those old Nazi propaganda movies with the rallies and everyone dressed exactly the same way. I would feel a lot more comfortable with at least a little bit of nonconformity in the clothing department sprinkled throughout the stands. Sure, fans will tend to wear their team's colors, but they are taking the loyalty/uniformity thing way too far. Now if someone were to pay MY admission price to the game, I might be willing to play along with the dress code as well. But the fans are pretty much themselves shelling out the big bucks to attend these games and should have more self-respect than they are demonstrating by their sheep-like demeanor...
Yes, Bill Maher, this all creeps me out, too. I can't help but recall those old Nazi propaganda movies with the rallies and everyone dressed exactly the same way. I would feel a lot more comfortable with at least a little bit of nonconformity in the clothing department sprinkled throughout the stands. Sure, fans will tend to wear their team's colors, but they are taking the loyalty/uniformity thing way too far. Now if someone were to pay MY admission price to the game, I might be willing to play along with the dress code as well. But the fans are pretty much themselves shelling out the big bucks to attend these games and should have more self-respect than they are demonstrating by their sheep-like demeanor...
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
John F. Kennedy's Birthday Today
Today, our 35th President, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, would be celebrating his 95th birthday were he still alive. After all, he was born on May 29, 1917. So what's wrong about what I just said? I mean, JFK WOULD be turning 95 today, right?
If Kennedy were turning 95 today, then it would be his 96th birthday as his first birthday occurred on the day of his birth, when he was zero-years-old. His second birthday would be when he turned one, and so on. But nevertheless I hear this error regarding celebrities' birthdays all the time on TV, don't you?
John F. Kennedy was the first president I actually remember being president, although I was born during the Eisenhower administration. His tragically-shortened tenure in the office was tumultuous, to say the least, with external Cold War tensions and internal Civil Rights conflicts testing his performance and judgement almost on a daily basis. I thought he handled it all beyond what anyone could reasonably expect, and that he was a great president. I don't know or pretend to know what would have happened in our history had he escaped his assassin's bullets on that sad day of November 22, 1963. Would we have stayed out of Vietnam? Would the Civil Rights movement have been slowed down? We really don't know. But I still think we would have been a stronger people and more cohesive as a nation had he survived...
I wrote this article to try to change the emphasis from JFK's 11/22/63 deathdate to his 5/29/17 birthdate. It shouldn't be that hard for people to remember, as it is always very close to Memorial Day (which was yesterday). Hey, I have an idea: while honoring our fallen soldiers, why not also pause a few moments and honor our fallen president, John F. Kennedy, on his birthday?
If Kennedy were turning 95 today, then it would be his 96th birthday as his first birthday occurred on the day of his birth, when he was zero-years-old. His second birthday would be when he turned one, and so on. But nevertheless I hear this error regarding celebrities' birthdays all the time on TV, don't you?
John F. Kennedy was the first president I actually remember being president, although I was born during the Eisenhower administration. His tragically-shortened tenure in the office was tumultuous, to say the least, with external Cold War tensions and internal Civil Rights conflicts testing his performance and judgement almost on a daily basis. I thought he handled it all beyond what anyone could reasonably expect, and that he was a great president. I don't know or pretend to know what would have happened in our history had he escaped his assassin's bullets on that sad day of November 22, 1963. Would we have stayed out of Vietnam? Would the Civil Rights movement have been slowed down? We really don't know. But I still think we would have been a stronger people and more cohesive as a nation had he survived...
I wrote this article to try to change the emphasis from JFK's 11/22/63 deathdate to his 5/29/17 birthdate. It shouldn't be that hard for people to remember, as it is always very close to Memorial Day (which was yesterday). Hey, I have an idea: while honoring our fallen soldiers, why not also pause a few moments and honor our fallen president, John F. Kennedy, on his birthday?
Monday, May 28, 2012
Race I Wasn't Going to Run Anyway Cancelled
Two of my previous articles were about (1) my decision to avoid a Memorial Day running race in Green Cove Springs (with a $40 entry fee) and (2) the impending arrival of Tropical Storm Beryl in my area. Well, because of Beryl, that race was cancelled, and boy am I glad I didn't enter it: the fees were non-refundable. But...
According to the event's website, those who had entered would be given a $10 discount for the 2013 race. And not only would the racing packets, which included a 2012 technical running shirt, be given to all entrants in this year's race, but they would also be provided with finishing medals. Finishing medals...for a race that never took place?
When I pay my entry fee for a race, I'm sure part of the money goes into the organizers' expense account for providing the medals given to those who finish the run. But I still have to actually finish the doggone race to win one! I mean, what sense would it make for me to have in my running "trophy case" a finishing medal for a race that never actually happened?!
According to the event's website, those who had entered would be given a $10 discount for the 2013 race. And not only would the racing packets, which included a 2012 technical running shirt, be given to all entrants in this year's race, but they would also be provided with finishing medals. Finishing medals...for a race that never took place?
When I pay my entry fee for a race, I'm sure part of the money goes into the organizers' expense account for providing the medals given to those who finish the run. But I still have to actually finish the doggone race to win one! I mean, what sense would it make for me to have in my running "trophy case" a finishing medal for a race that never actually happened?!
Memorial Day Salute and Disturbing Question
Today is Memorial Day and I salute those who gave their lives in service to this nation. I'm sure our national leaders from both major political parties have been very busy today attending public events where they publicly echo my sentiment, albeit in I'm sure a much more verbose manner. And that's got me to wondering...
We as a nation have just committed our fine young soldiers to two more years of being in Afghanistan, standing around being targets of a strong enemy force with some of them inevitably doomed to a tragic death, new additions to our already too-long list of those fallen in military action. And for what? After two years we leave and that country will in all probability either be once again overrun by the Taliban or the present regime will reach an accommodation with them that virtually guarantees them control over much of the country. So why are these very politicians, especially (sad to say) my president Barack Obama, going to allow our young people to undergo this danger and tragedy? How can one honor the dead when they won't honor the living? I just don't get it...
We as a nation have just committed our fine young soldiers to two more years of being in Afghanistan, standing around being targets of a strong enemy force with some of them inevitably doomed to a tragic death, new additions to our already too-long list of those fallen in military action. And for what? After two years we leave and that country will in all probability either be once again overrun by the Taliban or the present regime will reach an accommodation with them that virtually guarantees them control over much of the country. So why are these very politicians, especially (sad to say) my president Barack Obama, going to allow our young people to undergo this danger and tragedy? How can one honor the dead when they won't honor the living? I just don't get it...
Sunday, May 27, 2012
2012 NBA Conference Finals Begin Tonight
Today marks the opening game of the National Basketball
Association’s third round in the 2012 playoffs, also known as the conference
championship round. In the East, Miami
starts its series tomorrow evening against Boston, winner of an exciting
seven-game series against upstart Philadelphia.
Tonight, my favorite in the playoffs, San Antonio, with its amazing
point guard Tony Parker, will open at home against Oklahoma City.
I was pleasantly surprised in the second round: all four
series went the way I wanted. So here’s
how I rank the survivors according to MY liking (not necessarily the favorites
to win):
1--San Antonio Spurs
2--Boston Celtics
3--Miami Heat
4--Oklahoma
City Thunder
Hopefully, then, the NBA finals will pit San Antonio against
Boston, if things go as I wish. Should
be interesting…
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Upcoming Hurricane Season Forecast Uncertain
In yesterday's paper, an Associated Press article appeared reporting on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's prediction about the upcoming hurricane season, "officially" starting on June 1. According to NOAA, there will be nine to fifteen named tropical storms in the Atlantic area, with from four to eight reaching hurricane status. The forecast is for an "average" season, based largely on a very uncertain prediction that the Pacific warming of waters known as El Niño, a known Atlantic storm inhibitor, will develop about two-three months from now.
Well, it's for certain that El Niño isn't there now: hurricane season hasn't even officially started and already in May we have two named tropical storms, quite a rarity. But even if El Niño does come into play later, there is still the danger of a full-blown hurricane striking your area if you live anywhere near the coastline, from Nicaragua in the south all the way north into the Maritime Provinces of Canada. Of course, the greatest concerns I have rest in Florida, which stands out on the map as a big target for these storms to hone in on. But there's no point in worrying about it: if one comes my way, I'll deal with it then. Maybe that sounds like a formula for disaster, but there's really not that much I would have to do to prepare for a coming storm anyway.
In the meantime, I am hoping that rain emanating from tropical storm Beryl will land on our area in the next couple of days and help to put out some fires in the Waldo area (about fifteen miles from me) that have sprung up lately and which are suspected of being the work of arsonist(s).
As R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe sang on the same-titled song on their Reveal album, "I'll take the rain." And I'll add to that, "and you can keep the wind!"
Well, it's for certain that El Niño isn't there now: hurricane season hasn't even officially started and already in May we have two named tropical storms, quite a rarity. But even if El Niño does come into play later, there is still the danger of a full-blown hurricane striking your area if you live anywhere near the coastline, from Nicaragua in the south all the way north into the Maritime Provinces of Canada. Of course, the greatest concerns I have rest in Florida, which stands out on the map as a big target for these storms to hone in on. But there's no point in worrying about it: if one comes my way, I'll deal with it then. Maybe that sounds like a formula for disaster, but there's really not that much I would have to do to prepare for a coming storm anyway.
In the meantime, I am hoping that rain emanating from tropical storm Beryl will land on our area in the next couple of days and help to put out some fires in the Waldo area (about fifteen miles from me) that have sprung up lately and which are suspected of being the work of arsonist(s).
As R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe sang on the same-titled song on their Reveal album, "I'll take the rain." And I'll add to that, "and you can keep the wind!"
Friday, May 25, 2012
Upcoming Freedom Race Interesting But No-Go
I was looking at a website that showed upcoming running races in my general area. One of them, the Freedom 8K Race (5 miles long), will take place on the morning of Monday, May 28 Memorial Day in Green Cove Springs (a few miles south of Jacksonville along the St. Johns River). It would be a relatively easy drive to and back for me, and although I would have preferred a longer race, 8K is still better than 5K. Only one problem, though: I am getting tired of the high entry fee. This one, if I signed up now, would cost me $40. Sure, proceeds are going to a good cause, don't they all? For this particular event, the cause is to help wounded veterans (and their families), including those with post-traumatic stress disorder. A worthy endeavor, if I may say so. Still, I can think of a lot of other different uses for $40 and still be able to step out of my front door and run for 5 miles without paying a penny, something I have already done 8 times this month alone without even hardly breaking a sweat.
Well, I don't see myself running in this race. I think that I have unconsciously decided that shelling out a tidy sum ($25 and over) to run in a race smaller than a half-marathon just won't work for me. Maybe those 5K races might be better suited for me, as long as they stay within my "price range". Still, even at a fee of $20, it seems like a personal waste of money..
Well, I don't see myself running in this race. I think that I have unconsciously decided that shelling out a tidy sum ($25 and over) to run in a race smaller than a half-marathon just won't work for me. Maybe those 5K races might be better suited for me, as long as they stay within my "price range". Still, even at a fee of $20, it seems like a personal waste of money..
Thursday, May 24, 2012
An Election Year Suggestion from Me
Can I please make a suggestion regarding this year's election? Don't wait until late October to decide who you are going to vote for: decide NOW. You have all of the information you need regarding the candidates for office, at least on the presidential, gubernatorial, senatorial, and congressional levels. Even in those races that haven't yet held primaries for their parties' candidates in the general election, you can decide on your favorites (and "contingency" favorites should your first choice lose in a primary). Why do I make this suggestion?
Each time that something comes out in the media about any candidate, either positively or negatively, the contending parties will go to work fabricating spins that seek to either negate the negative news about their own candidate by showing the opponent in a similarly negative light, or if it is positive news about the opponent, to find a source, ANY source (credible or not), that would cast some doubt on the veracity of the positive news. Frankly, I am weary of this manipulation, regardless of the source or target. And it's just going to get worse..
I am not telling you to vote for Obama, Romney, or another candidate: each of us has our own compelling and legitimate reasons to hold onto our own personal political views and express them on the ballot. Just don't wait until you are completely inundated: the media "junk" which is already churning out and which will only intensify in the coming months won't help you anyway in making a rational decision. You already have all of the information you need. Go ahead now, research the various races that affect you where you happen to live, and write down your choices. And then stick with them in November!
Each time that something comes out in the media about any candidate, either positively or negatively, the contending parties will go to work fabricating spins that seek to either negate the negative news about their own candidate by showing the opponent in a similarly negative light, or if it is positive news about the opponent, to find a source, ANY source (credible or not), that would cast some doubt on the veracity of the positive news. Frankly, I am weary of this manipulation, regardless of the source or target. And it's just going to get worse..
I am not telling you to vote for Obama, Romney, or another candidate: each of us has our own compelling and legitimate reasons to hold onto our own personal political views and express them on the ballot. Just don't wait until you are completely inundated: the media "junk" which is already churning out and which will only intensify in the coming months won't help you anyway in making a rational decision. You already have all of the information you need. Go ahead now, research the various races that affect you where you happen to live, and write down your choices. And then stick with them in November!
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Identity and Its Projection Onto the Page
One of the most prolific writers ever, Isaac Asimov, claimed to have written more than 500 books. Although I take some issue with that figure, as some of the books he claimed authorship for were merely collections for which he served as a contributing commentator or editor, there is no mistaking the fact that he had left plenty of material behind after he died in 1992. For those who personally knew him, Isaac Asimov was much more than the paper trail he left behind. But for the rest of us, reading his stories and essays is how we can get to know him, albeit admittedly in a rather imperfect, incomplete way.
That's a positive picture of the duality associated with people's tangible, physical, "real" existence and the projections of themselves that they leave in society's communications networks. People can also leave negative information as well, such as police records, poor academic records, or adverse news stories. Now we can add Facebook to that as well, with all sorts of horror stories abounding about how users posted embarrassing pictures that landed them in trouble with their employers or made comments on their page that continue to hound them. No, Facebook is not paper per se: it's worse, easy to virally transmit anywhere and almost instantaneously.
A few months ago, as a protest to impending legislation that seemed to threatened freedom of expression on the Internet, Wikipedia voluntarily shut itself down for 24 hours. I seriously wonder how the Facebook addicts would react should that site cease its operations for any substantial span of time. Would some of them, who tend to think of it as an extension of their own selves, undergo an identity crisis and freak out? In some ways I envy the kids of today and the remarkable innovations in the area of digitization that have made communications so convenient for them. But suppose I had no Facebook and was a teenager: would some others regard me as an outcast of sorts? I think I already know the answer to that, and it's a shame. Our identities are not what we project onto a page, but who we really are in person. Let's not get the two confused, please...
That's a positive picture of the duality associated with people's tangible, physical, "real" existence and the projections of themselves that they leave in society's communications networks. People can also leave negative information as well, such as police records, poor academic records, or adverse news stories. Now we can add Facebook to that as well, with all sorts of horror stories abounding about how users posted embarrassing pictures that landed them in trouble with their employers or made comments on their page that continue to hound them. No, Facebook is not paper per se: it's worse, easy to virally transmit anywhere and almost instantaneously.
A few months ago, as a protest to impending legislation that seemed to threatened freedom of expression on the Internet, Wikipedia voluntarily shut itself down for 24 hours. I seriously wonder how the Facebook addicts would react should that site cease its operations for any substantial span of time. Would some of them, who tend to think of it as an extension of their own selves, undergo an identity crisis and freak out? In some ways I envy the kids of today and the remarkable innovations in the area of digitization that have made communications so convenient for them. But suppose I had no Facebook and was a teenager: would some others regard me as an outcast of sorts? I think I already know the answer to that, and it's a shame. Our identities are not what we project onto a page, but who we really are in person. Let's not get the two confused, please...
Monday, May 21, 2012
Regina and Hot Summer Running in the City
There is something you might think curious about me, in relation to my running. For some reason, I tend to thrive more in rather hot weather, as long as the humidity is low. In fact, it is humidity that inhibits my ability to run long distances and recover from them. But the summer heat, even into the mid-to-upper nineties, causes little in itself to stymie my efforts. Take today, for example.
The temperature was 88 late in the afternoon, with the humidity at a pretty low 34%. I embarked on my customary 3.25 mile neighborhood course, the running being a little rough at the beginning but "smoothing" out as it progressed. I felt the heat, but it felt good to me. As I continued my run, I felt stronger and unconsciously found myself speeding up. By the end, it felt as if I were practically sprinting with much energy to spare. So what gives?
I grew up in Hollywood, Florida, which is only about 15 miles from Miami. Not only were the summers very hot, but summer usually wrapped itself around about three quarters of the year down there in the semi-tropics. And although the schools I attended had air conditioning, at my house we had none until 1976, just a year before I left home and moved here to Gainesville. So I had, from almost infancy, been conditioned to live in what might be to others to be a very hot, even sweltering environment. I suspect this conditioning never completely went away: for many years after moving to Gainesville I didn't run, but still rode a bicycle much of the time, and often under very stifling-hot conditions. After taking up running in recent years, I pleasantly rediscovered my camel-like ability to endure the heat. And that's a good thing, because here comes the summertime...
Back in 2010, I had my most prolific summer of running ever, amassing some pretty impressive figures over days when the temperature would regularly climb into the 90's. During those runs, my MP3 player was always on a shuffled mix of Regina Spektor songs. What a great voice and creative, talented musical artist. One of her songs, Summer in the City, became required listening for me during each run: if I was approaching the end of a run and hadn't heard it on my shuffle mode, then I would just play it anyway. It perfectly fit the setting I was in.
Regina Spektor is now coming out with a new studio album, titled What We Saw from the Cheap Seats. I can't wait to check out what this favorite musician of mine has been up to lately. As for me, I plan to keep on runnin'...
The temperature was 88 late in the afternoon, with the humidity at a pretty low 34%. I embarked on my customary 3.25 mile neighborhood course, the running being a little rough at the beginning but "smoothing" out as it progressed. I felt the heat, but it felt good to me. As I continued my run, I felt stronger and unconsciously found myself speeding up. By the end, it felt as if I were practically sprinting with much energy to spare. So what gives?
I grew up in Hollywood, Florida, which is only about 15 miles from Miami. Not only were the summers very hot, but summer usually wrapped itself around about three quarters of the year down there in the semi-tropics. And although the schools I attended had air conditioning, at my house we had none until 1976, just a year before I left home and moved here to Gainesville. So I had, from almost infancy, been conditioned to live in what might be to others to be a very hot, even sweltering environment. I suspect this conditioning never completely went away: for many years after moving to Gainesville I didn't run, but still rode a bicycle much of the time, and often under very stifling-hot conditions. After taking up running in recent years, I pleasantly rediscovered my camel-like ability to endure the heat. And that's a good thing, because here comes the summertime...
Back in 2010, I had my most prolific summer of running ever, amassing some pretty impressive figures over days when the temperature would regularly climb into the 90's. During those runs, my MP3 player was always on a shuffled mix of Regina Spektor songs. What a great voice and creative, talented musical artist. One of her songs, Summer in the City, became required listening for me during each run: if I was approaching the end of a run and hadn't heard it on my shuffle mode, then I would just play it anyway. It perfectly fit the setting I was in.
Regina Spektor is now coming out with a new studio album, titled What We Saw from the Cheap Seats. I can't wait to check out what this favorite musician of mine has been up to lately. As for me, I plan to keep on runnin'...
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Media Sports Experts Look Foolish with NBA Analysis
I think it is hilarious (and a little sad) how the sports pundits (I am particularly thinking of ESPN) will take one National Basketball Association playoff game and make sweeping judgmental statements about a team or one or more of its players simply on the basis of their performance in that one game. For example, in the Miami Heat-Indiana Pacers series currently under way, their Friday game showed the Heat with some very poor performances, especially that of one of their stars, Dwyane Wade. All that it seems the sports geniuses could then talk about was how bad Miami had become, will they trade Wade, fire their coach, and so on. So they played again today and Miami beat Indiana. So what's that supposed to mean now? That Miami is suddenly "good" again and all is forgiven?! Nobody really knows how this series will play out and who will advance to the next round. Why can't anyone ever be truthful enough to admit that they simply don't know?
Face it, sports experts: everybody has a bad day every now and then. Only with some of YOU, it's every now and always! I wonder what the point is of these people having their own shows, anyway. If you aren't interested in the sport enough to know how to follow it, you probably aren't interested either in listening to others talking about it sitting around a table. And if you ARE interested in the sport enough to be able to follow it, you also don't need these analysts: they are superfluous. I'm not saying that straight sports news is unnecessary, just the people who sit around shooting the bull (and getting paid for it).
And they are doing just that: shooting bull...
Face it, sports experts: everybody has a bad day every now and then. Only with some of YOU, it's every now and always! I wonder what the point is of these people having their own shows, anyway. If you aren't interested in the sport enough to know how to follow it, you probably aren't interested either in listening to others talking about it sitting around a table. And if you ARE interested in the sport enough to be able to follow it, you also don't need these analysts: they are superfluous. I'm not saying that straight sports news is unnecessary, just the people who sit around shooting the bull (and getting paid for it).
And they are doing just that: shooting bull...
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Bright Springtime Night Sky
Tonight I got off from work a little early and, a little bit after arriving home, I let out my dog Freckles out into the backyard, much to her delight (she is very nocturnal, loving the nighttime while very wary of the sunny day). I walked out there myself and looked around, and then up at the sky. It was quite amazingly clear and the stars shone very brightly for this time of the year. My "favorite" constellation Corvus the Crow (or more appropriately, Corvus the Quadrilateral) was smack dab on the southern meridian. North and to the east (left) a bit was the twin attraction of Virgo's first-magnitude star Spica and the planet Saturn. I turned around and looked to the north: the Big Dipper asterism of the constellation Ursa Major was brighter than I had seen it in years, in its perfectly inverted position straight north of me. To its east (right), Draco "snaked" around, with its head ending in close proximity (in a projected sort of way) to Lyra's "jewel", the beautiful star Vega.
I guess the moon is somewhere else in the sky, otherwise this rare spectacle wouldn't have happened. And in spite of the dearth of rainfall in this drought zone, the air was full of the noisy sounds of frogs while the dreaded onslaught of mosquitoes has yet to appear. Spring, wonderful spring...
I guess the moon is somewhere else in the sky, otherwise this rare spectacle wouldn't have happened. And in spite of the dearth of rainfall in this drought zone, the air was full of the noisy sounds of frogs while the dreaded onslaught of mosquitoes has yet to appear. Spring, wonderful spring...
Friday, May 18, 2012
I Live in Worst Part of Drought-Stricken Florida
I was checking out the news on the Web this morning. There was an interesting piece on one of the sites ranking the worst drought-stricken states in the country. Texas was #1, followed by Florida. A map of Florida was shown and the areas most severely affected by drought were marked a deep red. A narrow band of this color extended from the Jacksonville area westward across northern Florida, passing directly over (and encompassing all of) my home county of Alachua. On the other hand, south Florida, which has undergone several severe storms in the past couple of weeks, stands as the only part of the state not classified as a drought zone.
I don't know how long this rainfall shortage will last. Then again, I heard that there are parts of southern Georgia that haven't been rained on in over a year. But although we're not receiving the precipitation we should be receiving in northern Florida, the air is usually saturated with moisture, quite unlike the climate in an arid desert state like Arizona...
I don't know how long this rainfall shortage will last. Then again, I heard that there are parts of southern Georgia that haven't been rained on in over a year. But although we're not receiving the precipitation we should be receiving in northern Florida, the air is usually saturated with moisture, quite unlike the climate in an arid desert state like Arizona...
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Coarse, Crude, and Cruel
There are some days when it seems that the world just grates on me. People around me seem coarse, crude, and, well, at times downright cruel. I sit in a coffee shop and hear a couple of customers loudly insult another nearby customer who for all practical purposes (as far as I know) is a complete stranger to them. For my part, someone with whom I have an acquaintance from many years ago walks in, notices that I am studying foreign languages, and in a heavy-handed tone, demands to know how I plan to apply it. The idea that I would be justified in studying them because I enjoy it isn't enough, apparently, to this individual who I now realize feels justified somehow in judging me.
People are entitled to their own opinions about things. This even extends, in my own opinion, to entertaining prejudices about people and value assumptions regarding which priorities others should be exercising in their lives. But to think something is one thing. Sharply expressing in public one's judgmental views, on the other hand, comes under the category of coarse, crude, and even cruel behavior. And, frankly, it's THESE people that I see as some of the biggest contributors to misery and suffering in the world. You don't have to be a criminal or a dictator to contribute your own share to the world's troubles. Just a generally nasty, overbearing attitude can go a long way...
Is it just my imagination or is the tone in today's society becoming uglier, with insults, offenses, profiling, and bullying becoming more and more commonplace...and acceptable in social, public settings? Maybe I'm just living within a bubble of this negativity and elsewhere people behave as if they honor and respect other's presence, opinions, and lifestyles, even if they privately disagree with them. I sincerely hope that this is the case and things aren't worsening, as I sadly suspect the case to be...
People are entitled to their own opinions about things. This even extends, in my own opinion, to entertaining prejudices about people and value assumptions regarding which priorities others should be exercising in their lives. But to think something is one thing. Sharply expressing in public one's judgmental views, on the other hand, comes under the category of coarse, crude, and even cruel behavior. And, frankly, it's THESE people that I see as some of the biggest contributors to misery and suffering in the world. You don't have to be a criminal or a dictator to contribute your own share to the world's troubles. Just a generally nasty, overbearing attitude can go a long way...
Is it just my imagination or is the tone in today's society becoming uglier, with insults, offenses, profiling, and bullying becoming more and more commonplace...and acceptable in social, public settings? Maybe I'm just living within a bubble of this negativity and elsewhere people behave as if they honor and respect other's presence, opinions, and lifestyles, even if they privately disagree with them. I sincerely hope that this is the case and things aren't worsening, as I sadly suspect the case to be...
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Time to Add Some Variety to Running Surroundings
I recently received an e-mail promoting and upcoming running race: the 5K Gator Gauntlet Medieval Mud Run. It will be as much an obstacle course as it will a running race, and mud is definitely on the menu! Not exactly my cup of tea, though: I just want to run, much the same way that the late Freddie Mercury of Queen sang about just wanting to ride his bicycle. But are there any simple running races anywhere in the near future around here? Not that I can see, at least until the July 4th three-mile Melon Run. And then, little or nothing for months following that. Well, that's a bummer...
Seeing how my local community of greater Gainesville seems to be on the skids regarding public running races for the next few months, perhaps I should take matters into my own hands and do something to at least create some running variety for myself during the next few months. I'm not talking about organizing any races, though. No, I'll still be running solo, but in different places...
I have habitually either run in my own home neighborhood or on one of my local YMCA's treadmills. But in reality, I could run just about anywhere I wanted. So what if I run down a busy city street and have to stop from time to time at intersections? Why not design different courses all of the Gainesville city map (and beyond)? More to come about this...
Seeing how my local community of greater Gainesville seems to be on the skids regarding public running races for the next few months, perhaps I should take matters into my own hands and do something to at least create some running variety for myself during the next few months. I'm not talking about organizing any races, though. No, I'll still be running solo, but in different places...
I have habitually either run in my own home neighborhood or on one of my local YMCA's treadmills. But in reality, I could run just about anywhere I wanted. So what if I run down a busy city street and have to stop from time to time at intersections? Why not design different courses all of the Gainesville city map (and beyond)? More to come about this...
Monday, May 14, 2012
About to Watch Maltese Falcon, a Favorite
Today I went to my local public library branch, checked out a couple of books, and found a DVD of a great old classic movie: The Maltese Falcon, starring Humphrey Bogart. It's been a while since I saw it, and it's one of my all-time favorites. Let's see, I think after the Thunder/Lakers game I'll check it out...
Sunday, May 13, 2012
NBA Playoffs Entering Second Round
The NBA playoffs finished their first round with the Los Angeles Clippers winning the final seventh game of their series with the Memphis Grizzlies to advance. So the sixteen initial teams have now been reduced to eight. The biggest surprise so far was the early exit of the Chicago Bulls, who suffered devastating injuries to their star players Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah. Other than that, though, things went pretty much as expected. Of the teams I was rooting for, four advanced and four didn't. The San Antonio Spurs, my personal favorite for this year's playoffs, advanced and will play against the Los Angeles Clippers. On the other hand, my least favorite team, the Los Angeles Lakers with its retinue of prima donnas, advanced as well and will play against Oklahoma City, at least giving me the opportunity to root for the Thunder, my next-to-least favorite team in the playoffs. I really do like the way the Thunder play as a team and the attitude of its players; I just wish the franchise had remained in Seattle instead of moving to a state deeply entrenched in reactionary politics. Maybe in the future I'll be able to better dissociate the team from its location: it seems to have worked with San Antonio, after all.
Here's a list of the remaining teams in the order of my "liking":
1--San Antonio Spurs
2--Boston Celtics
3--Miami Heat
4--Los Angeles Clippers
5--Philadelphia 76ers
6--Indiana Pacers
7--Oklahoma City Thunder
8--Los Angeles Lakers
So by the above list, if all goes well, then in the next round San Antonio will beat the Clippers, Oklahoma City will beat the Lakers, Boston will beat Philadelphia, and Miami will beat Indiana. Should be fun to follow. I hope that we don't see any more terrible injuries, regardless which team might be affected..
Here's a list of the remaining teams in the order of my "liking":
1--San Antonio Spurs
2--Boston Celtics
3--Miami Heat
4--Los Angeles Clippers
5--Philadelphia 76ers
6--Indiana Pacers
7--Oklahoma City Thunder
8--Los Angeles Lakers
So by the above list, if all goes well, then in the next round San Antonio will beat the Clippers, Oklahoma City will beat the Lakers, Boston will beat Philadelphia, and Miami will beat Indiana. Should be fun to follow. I hope that we don't see any more terrible injuries, regardless which team might be affected..
Saturday, May 12, 2012
My Running Evolving into Consistent Routine
Today I ran 2 miles, extending my streak of running each day to twelve, starting with May 1st. It was also the shortest distance I've run during this time, with the previous range being from 3.25 to 5 miles a day. I believe that this is significant in that I am evolving with my running into a stable daily routine involving pretty much the same general distance. In the past I had tended to try longer runs, interspersed with shorter ones or even days of no running.
This leveling out of my running distances may also be due to two other causes. One, the year is progressing toward the hotter months of late spring and then summer. There's no point in me trying to prove anything to myself by struggling through 7-10 mile runs in the 90-degree weather dominating my area (northern Florida) at this time. But I can still rack up significant monthly mileage if I stick to a reasonable distance, done on a consistent daily basis. Two, I am trying to manage my time more wisely. There are several other areas in my life that are time-consuming, and I don't want to spend too much of my so-called "free" time running, preparing for it, and recovering from it. So the watchword for now is consistency, and that seems to be working just fine.
Will I ever go back to longer distances? Who knows, but my crystal ball doesn't go that far into the future. Besides, what's the point in exerting too much time and effort thinking ahead that far when there is enough on my plate in the present and the immediate future...
This leveling out of my running distances may also be due to two other causes. One, the year is progressing toward the hotter months of late spring and then summer. There's no point in me trying to prove anything to myself by struggling through 7-10 mile runs in the 90-degree weather dominating my area (northern Florida) at this time. But I can still rack up significant monthly mileage if I stick to a reasonable distance, done on a consistent daily basis. Two, I am trying to manage my time more wisely. There are several other areas in my life that are time-consuming, and I don't want to spend too much of my so-called "free" time running, preparing for it, and recovering from it. So the watchword for now is consistency, and that seems to be working just fine.
Will I ever go back to longer distances? Who knows, but my crystal ball doesn't go that far into the future. Besides, what's the point in exerting too much time and effort thinking ahead that far when there is enough on my plate in the present and the immediate future...
Friday, May 11, 2012
Mitt, It's Bullying, Not Pranks
Lately, Mitt Romney has come under fire for his actions as a high school student when he, along with some classmates, would taunt and ridicule fellow students that looked or acted "different". The implication that many have drawn from this is that the victims, one of whom Romney held down on the floor and sheared his hair off, were gay (or at least so suspected) and that this was a "hate" issue. Although that probably figures into it to a degree, I beg to differ with the focus here.
According to Romney's recollection, he didn't know who was gay or not back then. No, he was just having fun and playing pranks. I say instead, with a memory of how some of my classmates were harassed back in high school, that he was engaged in bullying and that the core driving force in his behavior was not anything about his victims but rather something deeply wrong with his personality and character. I remember the individuals who practiced bullying in high school: I wonder whether they, like Romney or FoxNews fixture Bill O'Reilly, an admitted high school bully, now whimsically look back on their behavior as just having a good time, being a "prankster". Bullies-grown-up, let me enlighten you: playing pranks has its place, but only in the setting of being among friends. Bullying happens when one goes outside their own circle and picks on another out of the general population. And this is what Mitt Romney was fervently engaged in doing. Using aggression, not fun, as the primary motivator. And just like my old school "buddies", many of whom, like ol' Mitt (and "Billo"), most likely have revised their personal recollections to make themselves look like anything other than the contemptible vermin that they were (and possibly still are)...
According to Romney's recollection, he didn't know who was gay or not back then. No, he was just having fun and playing pranks. I say instead, with a memory of how some of my classmates were harassed back in high school, that he was engaged in bullying and that the core driving force in his behavior was not anything about his victims but rather something deeply wrong with his personality and character. I remember the individuals who practiced bullying in high school: I wonder whether they, like Romney or FoxNews fixture Bill O'Reilly, an admitted high school bully, now whimsically look back on their behavior as just having a good time, being a "prankster". Bullies-grown-up, let me enlighten you: playing pranks has its place, but only in the setting of being among friends. Bullying happens when one goes outside their own circle and picks on another out of the general population. And this is what Mitt Romney was fervently engaged in doing. Using aggression, not fun, as the primary motivator. And just like my old school "buddies", many of whom, like ol' Mitt (and "Billo"), most likely have revised their personal recollections to make themselves look like anything other than the contemptible vermin that they were (and possibly still are)...
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