Just Finished Reading Ken Follett's Code to Zero

I have just finished reading my first Ken Follett novel, this one titled Code to Zero.  The story, set in the year 1958 just as America is trying to enter the space race against the Soviet Union by launching its first rocket into space, begins in a familiar way (I think I've seen this scenario in old movies): a man wakes up one morning and discovers that he no longer remembers anything about himself and his job, family, or friends.  Also, there seem to be people watching and pursuing him...this can't be good!  Eventually, our hero, whose name is Charles "Luke" Lucas, discovers that he is a top scientist deeply involved in that impending rocket launch.  Apparently, he had discovered something serious about it and was on the way to Washington to talk about it with a friend in the CIA, Anthony Carroll, when his world went blank on him.  Now, as he tries to recover his own memory and orientation with the help of Billie Josephson, an old flame from his past who is an expert in memory, he discovers that people are out to kill him in order to prevent him from carrying something out that he has no idea of.  Sounds a bit to me like the old Gregory Peck movie thrillers Spellbound and Mirage!

Naturally, I won't give away the resolution to Code to Zero...but this novel does go into the Cold War tension and competition so preeminent in the 1950s between the USA and USSR.  It also examines the fledgling technology used in rocket science (some of the chapter-heading information Follett presents in this regard is a bit esoteric for me), as well as making the claim that our government, as Joseph McCarthy once claimed, was really, truly infested with pro-Soviet spies.  I enjoyed the mainly escapist ride through the book and felt that Follett accomplished his mission in writing it (at least what I think his mission probably was): tell a story in a suspenseful manner about an interesting topic while presenting compelling characters in a way that draws out the reader's empathy or ire.  Nothing fancy, but well written within its own limitations.  So with this book behind me, I'm prepared to seek out some more Follett material...

My September 2014 Running Report

In September, my running mileage rose dramatically, ending the month at 202.3 miles.  This amount was achieved by running multiple times per day.  And I ran on every day of the month.  The longest single run I did in September was 8 miles.  As I end this productive running month, though, my body overall feels a bit sore and I may decide to take a day or two off from running before resuming.  I had been considering entering the Jacksonville Marines Half-Marathon next Saturday, but had decided against it, mainly because it hasn't cooled down enough yet.  Maybe by the end of next month, conditions may become more conducive for me running a half-marathon race  (i.e., more autumn-like weather).  If so, there's one scheduled in Apalachicola on the 27th...

Interesting Potential 2014 World Series Pairings

Now that the 2014 regular season has finished in Major League Baseball, we have the ten teams that have made the playoffs.  In one-game-series on Tuesday and Wednesday for the wild-card teams, Kansas City plays Oakland and Pittsburgh plays San Francisco.  The winners will play further in the divisional playoffs, eventually culminating in the World Series, pitting the American League champion against that from the National League.  Here are the teams this year that made the playoffs:

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Baltimore Orioles
Detroit Tigers
Los Angeles (Anaheim) Angels
Kansas City Royals
Oakland Athletics

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Washington Nationals
St.Louis Cardinals
Los Angeles Dodgers
Pittsburgh Pirates
San Francisco Giants

This selection of teams offers several tantalizing prospects for potential World Series match-ups:

Baltimore vs. Washington: these two teams are neighbors, just a few miles down the road from each other.  Also, Washington (formerly the Montreal Expos) as a franchise have never been to the World Series, so their appearance would be special regardless of their opponent.

Baltimore vs. Pittsburgh: The last two times the Pirates were in the World Series, they won in dramatic fashion, 4 games to 3, in 1971 and 1979...and their opponent each time was the Baltimore Orioles.  No doubt the birds would like a little revenge, however belatedly.

Baltimore vs. Los Angeles Dodgers: this probably wouldn't be that exciting of a Series rematch, but the Orioles did humiliate the Dodgers 4-0 in the 1966 Series.

Detroit vs. St. Louis: in the 1968 World Series, Detroit came from behind to beat the Cardinals; St.Louis handled the Tigers in 2006.  Maybe there's a rivalry here.

Detroit vs. San Francisco: just two years ago, the Giants shut down the Tigers in a World Series sweep...something that I'm sure Detroit would like to do something about this year.

Kansas City vs. St.Louis: the Royals beat the Cardinals in the Missouri Series of 1985, largely on a controversial "safe-at-first" call late in the sixth game...and haven't been back since.  A rematch would definitely be interesting, especially for the revenge-minded Cardinals.

Los Angeles Angels vs. Los Angeles Dodgers: an all-LA series would be great, especially with such strong representatives of this area in 2014.

Los Angeles Angels vs. San Francisco: the Giants bowed to the Angels in the 2002 World Series...so aside from the north-south state rivalry, there is a payback factor in this potential pairing.

Oakland vs. Los Angeles Dodgers: these two franchises have traded World Series victories in the past, with the Athletics winning in 1974 and the Dodgers prevailing in 1988.  This match-up also has intrastate rivalry connotations.

These are just a few of the possible pairings for this season's World Series. But who do I want to see in it?

Baltimore and Pittsburgh again, but I think it's most likely to be an all-LA Series!

Stacking Up the Running Mileage Saturdays

For each of the past four Saturdays, I have amassed on each day cumulative running totals of more than than 10 miles.  I would typically have a reasonable run of about 5 miles and then make up the rest of the total with numerous, smaller runs spanning the rest of the day.  This month, I have had Saturday running mileage totals of 14, 16, 11, and (yesterday) 14.  My longest run yesterday happened to be 8 miles, which gives me a good amount of confidence when considering to enter upcoming half-marathon events.  I think I'll just continue with this "double-digit running miles" Saturday concept and make it a tradition...

UF Public Trespass Arrest Raises Questions

Earlier this week, I picked up a copy of The Independent Florida Alligator free newspaper that someone sometimes leaves lying around on tables in my workplace break room.  What drew my attention was a picture on the front of a middle-aged-to-elderly man lying on his back on the floor, being held down by three police officers.  The picture's caption carried its own headline: "Trespassed".  The caption named the man being restrained, and, along with the short explanatory article on page 4, explained that he had been arrested for "public trespass" after he had gone to the University of Florida Library West...and the workers there had looked his name up in their "public trespass file" when he went to the counter to check out a book.  No information was given as to why this individual was placed on a public trespass list, though, giving rise to speculation on my part as to whether he was profiled for his appearance.  It could well be that the arrested man had been known to the workers for causing a disturbance or complaint in the library or elsewhere on the university campus.  Melissa Mihm, the Alligator's writer, and Kristan Wiggins, the editor, should have elaborated on the reason for his being placed on a "public trespass" list...after all, they already blew this dude's privacy (not to mention humiliating him) by naming him and showing his picture on the front page.  Moreover, this would have been a good opportunity to educate the reading public as to the nature of such a list as well...what are the criteria for putting somebody's name on it?  If this guy hadn't been causing trouble and was simply profiled due to his looks, would I suffer being looked up on a "public trespass" list as well, should I make my own presence known in Library West?  After all, I'm not exactly a "spring chicken" either and often receive (undeserved) automatic senior discounts in various business locales (I guess that's a type of "positive" profiling). Were I to walk into a place like this, which is overwhelmingly populated by people my own children's age (and below), I might stand out as well.

The point I'm making here is that the Alligator was derelict in not providing enough information to support their own front-page story.  This is the type of story that can only give rise to rumors and suspicion, especially in regard to how institutions and the state treat the population at-large.  After all, supposing that this individual had elicited suspicion from the library staff simply for his appearance and not by recognition for an earlier behavioral infraction of his, this would be an example of profiling...does the library staff actually scrutinize people who walk in there by their outward appearance to determine who "belongs" and who doesn't?  A troublesome question...

CONCACAF Champions League Drawing My Attention

Lately, due largely to the lack of decent programs on television to watch, I have been spending more time watching the Spanish-language Univision sports channel (Gainesville Cox Cable Channel 410), which is almost exclusively focused on soccer...either the matches themselves or people sitting around in panel discussions of the sport.  When an actual soccer match is broadcast, usually it is one in the Liga MX Mexican soccer league.  After watching several Liga MX matches, I've become more familiar with some of the teams.  My favorite so far? Pachuca.  Pachuca, by the way, did pretty well last year as well and is one of the Mexican teams that qualified to play in this year's CONCACAF Champions League, which is an ongoing tournament, interspersed throughout the regular season, to determine North America's best soccer team.  There is one flaw I noticed with this idea of running CONCACAF like this, although the idea is pretty awesome just the same: the teams that qualify are based on LAST year's performance...but sometimes, a good team last year is an awful team this year! Take LIGA MX's Leon, which won that league's championship tournament last year but is floundering at the bottom of the standings this year so far.  Still, Leon is in the Champions's League.  Or how about the Montreal Impact of the MLS, which did well enough in 2013's final standings to beat out the other two Canadian clubs but is currently in last place in their division this year? However, as bad as they have performed in 2014, the Impact is, incredibly, one of the best teams in the Champion's League so far...even to the point of already advancing out of the Group Stage to the Quarterfinal Round even with a remaining Group Stage match to go.  So you never know exactly what you're going to get from these teams when they are switched to a different setting.

Currently I'm watching a Group Stage match between Guatemala's Comunicaciones and Puerto Rico's Bayamon.  Bayamon is having its share of problems in the Champions League, though, having lost all of their first three games and being outscored in goals 21-2...

Starbucks Suddenly Packed with Students

Seeing how I work the late night/early morning shift at my job, I often stop by on the way there in the evening at one of the Starbucks in town: the one on NW 13th Street (US 441) and 16th Avenue, just a few blocks north of the University of Florida campus.  Usually, around 9:30 to 10 PM, the place is usually about half full, peopled mostly by either students using it as a study hall or by the local police as a popular break spot.  That was certainly the case Monday evening when I went there, sitting at the window counter after musing for a moment over my numerous seating choices.  But yesterday evening I went there at the same time and could tell immediately that things had changed...the parking lot was full and overflowing.  When I entered the Starbucks, almost every seat in the store was taken by students.  I quickly put my stuff on the remaining free table inside before I got in line to order my coffee.  Two women who came in right after me, after they made their purchases, spent a lot of time wandering around looking for a place to sit.  I don't know why Tuesday was so different from Monday, since classes at UF and Santa Fe have been going on for a few weeks already.  It makes me want to stop by there again tonight to see if it's still standing room only...

Just Finished Reading Robert Jordan's Lord of Chaos

I have just finished reading Lord of Chaos, the sixth book (and one of the longest) in the fourteen-volume The Wheel of Time fantasy series by Robert Jordan (the last three of which were written by Brandon Sanderson following Jordan's death in 2007). To say that the story in the series at the time of this book is convoluted and complicated would be a gross understatement.  That being said, there are some basic plot threads, which are centered around characters originating from the first book, like Rand al'Thor, Mat Cauthon, Perrin Aybara, Egwene al'Vere, and Nynaeve al'Meara...all magically-gifted people (although Mat doesn't seem to ascribe his own subtle abilities to magic) from the remote Two Rivers region. As with the other books in the Wheel of Time series, magic is either male or female in nature and the two forms are in continual conflict, with those practicing it also in opposition to each other, according to whether they are men or women.  The Aes Sedai, the dominant female magically-endowed group in this fantasy land of Jordan's, have taken upon themselves the notion they they alone are capable of responsibly using magic and go about the world trying to enforce their opinions and judgements on everyone else...which inevitably leads them into repeated confrontations with Rand, who as the "Dragon Reborn" (reincarnation runs rampant in this series) is the chief practitioner of the male side of magic...well, that's not exactly true.  For there is a group of villains going back eons called the "Forsaken" who practice their magic in an evil manner to serve the "Dark Lord" (yes, this sounds an awful lot like Harry Potter, doesn't it).  While Rand is trying his utmost to muster his forces to combat his evil opponents, he has to contend with the troublesome and intolerably arrogant Aes Sedai, who by this book are completely broken up into opposing factions and have also been deeply infiltrated by the Dark Lord.  To throw a monkey wrench into it all, protagonists Egwene, Nynaeve, and princess Elayne, all supposedly strongly on Rand's side, are heavily involved as members of the Aes Sedai. I believe I could write on, trying to explain what's going on in this series, but it would take several pages and, anyway, I'm sure that by the time I'm substantially into the next book, things will get even more complicated. Yuck!  Let me just say this: the brewing conflict between Rand and the Aes Sedai comes to a head in Lord of Chaos and, to me, represents the defining feature of the story.

I'm going to continue slogging along in this Wheel of Time series to the very end...which, according to the book's underlying philosophy, is circular in nature and then just starts back over. Gee, that sounds so philosophically profound and all, doesn't it?  But as a reader, I want a resolution of sorts to the numerous story lines and not just a lot of hanging threads. But that ain't gonna happen for a long, long time, with eight more books to go.  A Crown of Swords, which sounds more like a George R.R. Martin book, is next in the Wheel of Time series...

About Yesterday's Florida-Alabama Football Game

Yesterday, at least for a while as late as the third quarter, the University of Florida football team was keeping up with highly ranked Alabama, with the score knotted at one point at 21.  But the Gators were even with the Tide due to three turnovers that they all converted into touchdowns.  Florida quarterback Jeff Driskel had horrible passing statistics for the game, going 9 for 28 with 1 touchdown pass and 2 interceptions.  Yikes!  In contrast, Alabama quarterback Blake Sims, along with wide receiver Amari Cooper, had breakout career performances, heavily contributing to the most yards ever given up by a Gator defense in a single game.  After that 21-21 tie, Alabama protected the football while grinding out three more touchdowns and shutting down Florida's offense.  They were clearly the better team.

After the game I began to see some discontent with Florida coach Will Muschamp in the social media, some even calling for his firing.  I don't get that at all: Florida played Alabama with great tenacity and spirit; they were always big underdogs in this game and few expected them to win it...although I thought (as expressed in yesterday's article) that they had a shot.  Well, they might well have had a chance if the Tide had kept coughing up the football, but that was not to be.  This was a throwaway game for Florida...they don't need it to accomplish what could very well turn out to be a very successful season.  Florida needs more than anything to win against the other six teams in their own East Division.  If they accomplish that...no small feat...that will more than likely give them the division title, the first under Muschamp.  First things first, though: the Gators will need to get by Tennessee in their next game...while qb Driskel and the Florida defensive secondary need to regain the confidence that has been severely attacked over the last two games...

Gators Have a Shot at Beating 'Bama Today

In just a few hours at this writing, the unranked-but-still-undefeated University of Florida football team has an opportunity to return to its glory days of the Urban Meyer era as it plays #2 ranked Alabama in Tuscaloosa, with the kickoff slated at 3:30 PM.  Alabama isn't as strong as it has been in recent years, and the Gators are much improved from last year's dismal 4-8 team.  That having been said, Alabama is favored to win, and should win...but with that weird-shaped football and the way it bounces funny and sometimes unpredictably squirts out of players' grasps, anything might happen up there this afternoon.  I just hope that Florida quarterback Jeff Driskel has his confidence back with his passing, which had faltered measurably in the first half of last week's Kentucky game but came back at the end.  Also, I'd like to see their tenacious defense return and hope that their vulnerability to Kentucky in the second half was due to the opposition's talents and not their own shortfalls...

Pictures Carry Too Much Weight in Today's Society

Recently, much has been made of professionals football's Baltimore Ravens star player Ray Rice and how he slugged his then-fiancee (and now wife) in an elevator in Las Vegas.  NFL commissioner Roger Goodell levied a two-game suspension on Rice, after which the player publicly and contritely apologized...alongside his wife, who also curiously expressed regret at her own involvement in the incident...despite the fact that she was the victim.  There was a video surveillance tape circulating around the media showing Ray Rice dragging his unconscious fiancee out of the elevator and standing there with her lying on the floor.  The video sparked outrage at Goodell's light punishment of Rice, but the matter seemed destined to be finished with...until another video was released, this one in the elevator showing Rice slugging and knocking out his fiancee.  Suddenly, it seemed that everyone in the country exploded into rage over it all, even though it had already been established that Rice had hit his fiancee.  But apparently simply KNOWING this did not seem to make a very deep impression on people...but SEEING it did.

The same can be said for the recent videotaped beheadings of western journalists by ISIS in Iraq/Syria: it appears that the victims' deaths, while tragic and uncalled for, were not the main driving force in radically focusing public opinion so vehemently against this insurgent Muslim extremist militarized group: it was seeing it on video that did it. And now we're on the verge of extensive and extended military involvement in the area against ISIS...

The point to the above examples is not that the information wasn't already out there: it was available, but people did not accept it in its deeper reality and significance until they saw visual evidence: words were not enough.  But I already knew this anyway, judging from my experiences on Facebook for the past few months...

I have noticed that certain Facebook users are in the habit of digging up from the Internet "posters" dressing up often trite and even objectionable messages as some kind of wisdom and presenting them with a graphically designed background...such presentations inevitably elicit "likes" from other users, even when the message has a hateful nature to it. But would the same messages be even read, much less "liked", had they simply been presented as unadorned text? I seriously doubt it. From my own experience with putting links on Facebook with this blog's entries, I have noticed a much higher level of reaction whenever (usually rarely) I insert a picture into an article.  Suddenly my "writing" somehow apparently becomes more readable...   

Behind the Times Using Smart Phone Innovations

When the latest editions of various computer or cell phone gizmos come out from time to time, some people rush out to buy the new products, even to the point of camping out in line the night before they first go on sale in order to get a jump on everyone else.  I'm in the opposite group of folks, who tend to reluctantly join in on new innovations just around the time when something else is coming up to make them obsolete.  Such is the case with these "smart" phones.  I had gone for the longest time on my cell phone without any Internet, finally getting around a couple of years ago to putting it on a relatively primitive Blackberry.  But I upgraded to a more "current" phone on my account, for practically nothing, a few weeks ago and am now in the process of trying to figure how to use it.  I am pretty happy, though, about my Internet access, which is now lot faster and easier to view than with that old Blackberry clunker.  And I have been able to transfer to my new phone an application that I had been heretofore been using a lot on my laptop computer: Quizlet.

Quizlet is a website that allows users to learn and practice material from just about any field that one can dream up...with me, my focus of interest is foreign languages.  With Quizlet, I can study and practice vocabulary lists from many different languages.  The application on my phone has a feature that allows me to practice matching words with their meanings, and I've been availing myself of this a lot in recent days.  How far this will actually take me in learning the languages I'm studying is another matter, though...but at least I am spending more time, interspersed more throughout my day, in studying them...

It looks as if Apple is now coming out with a "smart" wristwatch with a built-in computer to mimic a lot of what we get now with smart phones. I like that innovation, but I think that with the tiny, limiting screen that necessarily goes with a watch's small face, I'd rather wait until they develop eyeglasses that have computers built into them, providing more full screens to interact with. But for now, I think I'll just revel in my ready access to Quizlet, ESPN, Wikipedia, and, oh yes, that cool flashlight that my new cell phone provides...

Misery Loves Company: Georgia-South Carolina Game Lightning Delay

I was planning to watch a little of the Georgia-South Carolina college football game today, scheduled to start at 3:30 this afternoon.  But it's now past 4:30 and the game officials just evacuated the field after the players had come back and the fans were sitting in the stands expecting the game to finally begin.  The TV announcer just said that lightning strikes and stormy conditions had caused the delay, but that these conditions were predicted to hang around the Columbia, South Carolina area as late as midnight.  Now I don't feel so bad about that opening Florida game being delayed and finally cancelled for the same reason.  But there's no way that they will let today's crucial Southeastern Conference East Division game be cancelled: they'll reschedule it if the lightning doesn't abate...like they rescheduled 2001's Florida-Tennessee game, which was scheduled on the Saturday following the 9/11 attacks but was postponed until the end of that year.  But I don't think this Bulldogs-Gamecocks contest will suffer either postponement or cancellation: they have several more hours to get the game in than did Florida and their opponent Idaho, which, after all, was an evening game to begin with.

What I find bizarre is that CBS, which is broadcasting the Ga-SC game, is using this delay to replay the Alabama-Auburn game from last year!  You might think that they could at least come up with an alternate game that's actually going on right now.  In any event, when the scheduled game finally gets underway, I'll be pulling for Steve Spurrier and South Carolina to beat them Dawgs...

Just Finished Reading The Cove and The Maze by Catherine Coulter

Recently I thought it would be a good idea to explore the works of  a different popular fiction writer.  So many to choose from...almost at random, I picked Catherine Coulter, who turns out to be quite prolific.  One of her series, focusing on the FBI, intrigued me...so I read the first two relatively short books: The Cove and The Maze, published in the late 1990s. Although I felt that The Cove was the better book, both seemed very similar in that they involve spunky young women, with dysfunctional family backgrounds, finding themselves each immersed in a murder mystery involving a family member.  They each meet up with a burly, brave, and discerning young FBI agent.  The two, naturally, irresistibly fall head over heels in love with each other as they work together to unravel the mystery.  The Cove focuses on a mysterious West Coast town populated wholly by senior citizens who seem to be guarding a sinister secret while travelers passing through seem to be disappearing.  In The Maze, there is a serial killer who torments his victims by forcing them to play his "game", which involves them making their way through an intricate maze he has devised.

Although both The Cove and The Maze in a way seem like a repeating formula, it did occur to me that they might transfer well to the big screen.  Who knows, maybe there have already been film adaptations of one or both of these  stories...I'm probably not the best Internet researcher around, but you're welcome to check for yourself.  There are a few more of these "FBI" books that Catherine Coulter has written since, and they are easy reading, although once again I emphasize that the characters seem to follow a predictable formula. Still, the author did create some suspense in these whodunnit mysteries, and the protagonists do display a kind of charm...

Where I Was On 9/11

Although I have slackened off a bit from the practice in recent years, I used to regularly sign the "overtime-desired list" at my job, which for the most of my 27-year tenure at the post office, has been spent working the late night, early morning "graveyard" shift.  Usually I have gotten off from work around 7:30 to 8 AM...just in time to combat heavy morning rush hour and school traffic...groan.  But one morning 13 years ago, I was spared this fate when, to my immediate chagrin (although I ultimately WANTED the extra work and pay) I was told to stay a couple of hours longer in the morning to process some mail, along with the next shift's work crew, on the flat-sorting machine.  Oh, well, I was tired but I HAD signed that overtime-list, I said to myself, as I went on my allotted break into what my post office humorously calls a "cafeteria" (tables and seats and a few vending machines...and a television).  I got myself a much-needed coffee and plopped into one of the hard plastic seats in the back of the room to drink it and shut my eyes for a few minutes.  But as I sat there, I noticed that the few others in the room were riveted to the TV, which was showing a skyscraper with a big, gaping and smoking hole near its top.  I asked around and, apparently, a small plane had just accidentally collided with one of the World Trade Center towers, resulting in the incredible picture. I finished my break and returned to work, remarking to my colleague Tim Thrasher what had happened.  He then suddenly raced off to see for himself...and returned momentarily with new, very sobering news: a second plane, a jet airliner, had hit the other tower.  Instantly, we all knew that this was a terrorist attack.  Tom Metz, another "flat-sorter", asked me who I thought was responsible, and I replied with the immediately obvious: Bin Laden.

I finished my overtime shift that morning and was about to leave when somebody came running in to announce that the Pentagon had been hit.  Then I knew that it was time to quickly get my ass home and watch the TV...which I did in time to see the North Tower collapse (the South Tower had already done so by this time). While all this was going on, nobody except the perpetrators (and probably only a few of them) knew of the scope of these attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda on September 11, 2001.  So there was a lot of fear and anxiety regarding what would happen next.  But as the day wore on, it became more clear that there were four passenger jets hijacked that morning, as it was later revealed, by Arab Muslim-extremist terrorists, chiefly from Saudi Arabia and Egypt, with the intention of hitting prominent (and symbolic) American structures.  The attack that failed, the fabled "Let's Roll" Flight 93, had been meant to hit either the US Capitol building or the White House itself, but had reportedly been thwarted by its passengers who, through their cell phones, had learned that other planes had been flown into buildings and that this wasn't a simple hijacking to patiently sit through, endure, and be eventually released...so they staged a bold uprising against the hijackers.  That flight ended in a crash in an open field in western Pennsylvania...

I appreciate how MSNBC continues, each year on 9/11, to show NBC's coverage of the admittedly horrible events as they happened, with announcers Matt Lauer, Katie Couric, and others weighing in on it all. Now, in the evening on 9/11/14, the news stations are talking about the 9/11 attacks. But unfortunately, other than the History Channel, I saw very little else on TV this morning (other than some short segments) to mark the attacks...which should never be forgotten...   

Reunion "Reservations"

My high school just held its 40th year Class of 1974 reunion in Fort Lauderdale.  I had gotten my name included in the reunion's Facebook group and was interested in the various posts and information.  Thanks to those who put in the effort to make it all happen! I think a concept like getting together after a few years to touch base is a good idea in general...but specifically for me, not this reunion.  For one, I also went to school with kids from the Classes of '73 and '75: but the reunion of course left them out, as high school reunions typically do.  For another, my high school graduating class, depending on which section of my yearbook I look at, had somewhere between 410 and 480 students.  Many of these I had never spoken to (nor had they spoken to me) and most of the others were just classmates that I never got to know very well.  Not being by nature a very gregarious person, I only had a small number of friends when I went to high school...I simply was not into the social scene and I cared little about my own popularity among others. From what I could gather from the reunion's Facebook site, there were a few old friends planning to go the reunion and, yes, I suppose it would have been nice to meet back up with them.  That being said, had I attended it I would have felt myself either (mostly) among strangers or among a smaller number of (hopefully former) enemies, for a few of the attendees that I did know would definitely fit into categories like "bully" or "snob" (or much worse, a malevolent combination of the two)...or at least they did forty years ago.  I'd like to think that they all grew up out of their own hangups, as I humbly would like to think that I have also grown some, but why should I go to the expense of time and money to go down there and see?  No thank you, the people I have now, here around me in my present life,...ZERO years from the past...are the ones who are the most real and meaningful to me. Maybe forty years from now I'll try to have a reunion with THEM! Should I happen to run into someone from my high school past, be they old friend or old foe (or old stranger or old slight acquaintance), the doors are always open from my side for resumed friendship or any needed reconciliation...but, to borrow a couple of titles from old rock songs, I do NOT have a delusional "Kodachrome" memory of any "Glory Days" from my high school experiences. Some of it was good, some of it bad...but for the most part it was just LIFE...pretty much the same way I look upon the present...

Miami Stomps New England in Second Half on Opening Day

I was following the opening weekend NFL games off and on earlier Sunday afternoon.  It looked for a while that the Jacksonville Jaguars were a lot better than the experts had predicted when they ran up an early 17-0 lead over the heavily-favored Philadelphia Eagles.  But the expected order of events prevailed as the Eagles mounted an impressive comeback and won easily, 34-17.  Meanwhile, I kept hearing updates on what was happening between my "main" team, the Miami Dolphins, and their nemesis the New England Patriots.  That game was going downhill as well, with the Patriots building up a 17-7 lead and everything looking as if this might also turn into a rout. I took a break from following the football action for a while to do other things and didn't return until the ending of the Carolina-Tampa Bay game, around 7 pm.  Unfortunately, the Buccaneers blew a comeback attempt in the last two minutes of that game with a fumble and lost a close one to the Panthers.  It didn't look good at all for my Florida teams...but wait, how did that Dolphins game turn out...that is, by how much did they get blown away? 

When I saw the final score on my cell phone, I had to do a double take: Miami 33, New England 20!  It seems that after the Dolphins had given the Patriots a 20-10 lead, largely through their own turnovers, they turned around in the second half and dominated the game.  Suddenly, the one fact that Miami had won, over New England no less, rendered the unfavorable outcomes of the other games meaningless to me.  I guess there's a lesson here: I have my preferences with the other teams, to be sure, but I am truly a fan of just one, for better or for worse: the Miami Dolphins.  Maybe this will be the year they turn it around after so long in mediocrity...

Ran Fourteen Miles on Saturday

Saturday I managed to run, over the course of the entire day, 14 miles...a feat I hadn't accomplished going back possibly to 2011.  It's true that I've run a few 13.1-mile half marathon races in the intervening time, but whenever I did that, I was done with running for the day!  Saturday's big mileage didn't occur in a single run, though: I ran several times, with the longest run being for 5 miles.  Still, today I feel a little sore from the running, although this is something normal, to be expected. I'm going to continue stepping up the mileage to see how much improvement I can make in the next couple of weeks: races are coming up in October!

Happy Anniversary, Melissa My Love

To my wonderful and beautiful sweetheart Melissa, Happy 28th Anniversary!  You are such a blessing to me and the light of my life!

Just Finished Reading Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov

I have just finished reading another one of Fyodor Dostoyevky's novels, this one being his most celebrated, as well as his final one: The Brothers Karamazov, from 1880 (I read the English translation).  This is one of those stories that I have to stand back from and let simmer for a while in my mind, for there are many different themes interwoven through the narrative.  The basic thread of the book, though, is the relationship between three (and possibly four) adult brothers along with their difficult father, set in Russia in the author's time of the late nineteenth century. The father, Fyodor Pavlovich, is a ne'er do-well hedonistic philanderer who has appropriated his wealth through his marriages and not by his own toil. He has completely neglected his three sons, Dmitri ("Mitya") from his first marriage and Ivan and Alexia ("Alyosha") from his second, even to the point of not immediately recognizing the last when meeting up with him in adulthood.  The main force driving the story's narrative is the embittered relationsip between irresponsible, capricious, and often violent Dmitri and his suspicious father over money and their mutual love interest, the enticing Grushenka. In counterpoint, Ivan is intellectual, atheistic, and cynical while Alyosha is fervently Christian, patient, and benevolent toward the welfare of others.  These three brothers combine in the story to produce an ongoing argument about religion, morality, and ethics, expressed by the brothers' own actions as well as their own words between themselves and other characters. 

As was the case with Crime and Punishment, the other Dostoyevsky novel I read (and which I prefer), the resolution of The Brothers Karamazov focuses on a murder and the determination of the guilty party.  It is here that I retreat I bit from this review, since, if you the reader haven't yet read this book, then I don't want to give away who the murderer and murdered are...but the book's ending brought back memories of my own jury duty experiences and how both the defense and prosecution sought to obtain my "vote" through psychological manipulation as much as through the actual evidence and testimony. 

There are other crucial characters in this story, such as Pavel Smedyakov, the possibly illegitimate son of Fyodor Pavlovich, Kateria, who was technically engaged to Dmitri but with whom Ivan falls in love, and Father Zosima, who is Alyosha's spiritual leader at the monastery he attended.  Also, there is a subplot involving a poor family that Alyosha ministers to, along with the boys in the immediate neighborhood...

What you have just read is a gross oversimplification of The Brothers Karamazov.  So I'll just leave it at that, for now...maybe as the days and weeks pass, I'll write a bit more about this interesting and profound book...

English Soccer: Stoke City Impressive in Upset Road Win

I was watching a Barclay's English Premier League soccer match on TV this morning after getting home from work.  Normally, one would think that sporting events don't have much of a place in a time of the day when people are eating breakfast or traveling to work or school, but you have to consider that in England (and Europe), our mornings are their afternoons.  So on the weekends, NBC Sports broadcasts live league play at this time of day, although this morning's match was a rebroadcast from August 30.  The teams were Manchester City, last year's league champion, and Stoke City, which finished the previous season buried in the standings along with most of the field.  I expected this contest, which was a home game for Manchester City, to go their way by a couple of goals, at the very least.  Instead, I was treated to a clinic of excellent soccer defense...and a goal that reminded me of how I used to score in soccer as a kid...

It can be pretty intimidating when observing how English professional soccer is played in such a continuously agressive manner, in contrast to what I often see in Major League Soccer in the United States.  There seems to be a lot of standing around in MLS games, but the action in England is usually constant, ferocious and fast!  Stoke City produced a masterpiece against Manchester City as they checked attack after attack from their opponent.  But it was their one scoring driving that brought back memories for me.  During the second half of the match, Stoke City's Mame Biram Diouf took a pass after a turnover deep in his own territory and, by himself, took the ball all the way downfield and outmaneuvered the defenders, culminating in an easy close-up goal kick.  That's what I used to do whenever we played soccer (albeit with a much lower level of skill).  Diouf also did something on this drive familiar to me: when someone came up to challenge him for the ball, he just kicked it ahead a few yards...and then outran his opponent to catch up with it and continue the drive...

I know that soccer is supposed to be all about teamwork, but I never got the more formal education about position playing for the sport.  To me, it was all about wresting control of the ball, running very, very fast, and then punching it hard through the goal...nothing very complicated in that!     

My August 2014 Running Report

As I had mentioned in an article a few days ago, my running has picked up a bit in August, with me almost doubling July's mileage total.  I ran a total of 135.2 miles, running on 29 of August's 31 days.  My longest single run of the month was for 5.3 miles.

August was a turnaround from July, as I see myself growing stronger and increasing in endurance.  I'm beginning to look forward to the fall, when there should be some good opportunities to participate in some local races...

Florida Football Season Opener "Terminated"

Earlier this past week, Melissa and I discussed whether going to see the University of Florida's 2014 season opening game against Idaho was something we wanted to do.  After mulling over it for a little while and considering the length of the game, the transportation hassles involved in getting there, parking, and getting back, and the possibly uncomfortable seating there, we opted out...at least for this time around.  After all, as we reasoned it out, the weather will most likely be more pleasantly cooler later in the fall...even though this game WAS scheduled for the evening.  Yet, even with that we both noted the tendency for late afternoon and evening thunderstorms in our area.  As it turned out, we were both very thankful that we had stayed home...

Late Saturday afternoon, an almost continuous string of rain and lightning strikes descended on Gainesville, lasting for several hours.  The game's start kept being delayed and delayed, until finally at close to 10 pm, they finally allowed the kickoff.  The Gators pulled off a spectacular 60-yard return, but as the returner (appropriately named Showers) was tackled and was sliding about 10 yards further on the rain soaked field, lightning struck again and the field was quickly evacuated.  Not much later, the game was "terminated" and may or may not be rescheduled for later in the season.

One of the ESPN channels (on my local Cox channel 251) was going to broadcast the game, and it was here that I saw the frustration of the fans enduring the conditions out in the stands for so many hours.  Then Melissa brought up a pertinent point: if lightning was a threat for the players on the field, then why did they let people stay in the stands?  Or maybe I just happened to see on TV when they had just let people return to their seats...I deeply hope that was the case!  Anyway, it was almost heartbreaking at one point to see the Florida players, three hours after they were supposed to begin play, all bunched up together and enthusiastically jumping up and down as they began to finally pour out onto the field.  And the excitement after that long-awaited first play...only to be so suddenly and dismally squashed.  Oh well, those are the breaks.

If this game is simply cancelled and not rescheduled, then that's one almost certain victory that Florida won't be able to claim for itself this year.  It might make a difference as to whether they end up being bowl eligible, supposing they unexpectedly "stink up" this year and go 5-6...when they might have gone 6-6 and gotten invited to some insignificant postseason bowl.  But the way I see it, this washout may carry a couple of advantages for them.  For one, it reduces the chances for season-ending injuries for their players.  For another, this is an entire game for which Alabama coach Nick Saban will NOT have film available to study in preparation for his team's upcoming game against Florida later this month. And the Gators will still have a small college opponent next Saturday to help "ease" into the season, as they are accustomed to...

Overnight at Daytona Beach

We (Melissa, our son Will, and I) had a nice overnight stay here at the Hampton Inn in northern Daytona Beach on the ocean.  After the very stormy two evenings we just experienced in nearby Gainesville, we expected more of the same here.  Instead, the clouds parted and the skies have been clear...and the seas calm.  I even got to stargaze a bit from our eastern-facing balcony, noting the rising of the constellations Pegasus, Casseiopeia, and the great "summer triangle" of first-magnitude stars Vega, Deneb, and Altair.  Down below I observed other "points of light": beachcombers wandering around the beach with flashlights.  Melissa and I got up before sunrise and marveled at the beauty of the extraordinarily calm predawn ocean...along with the spectacular presence of Venus just above the horizon and Jupiter above it.  Later this morning I was walking on the beach with Will.  I remarked that usually there are a lot of people out running on the beach, but the humidity right then was so high that no one would dare undertake such a venture.  Immediately after I said this, an elderly man ran past me from behind....

Alphabet Soup of Continental Soccer Tourneys

CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, CAF, AFC, OFC, UEFA...these are the confederations of international soccer, organized on a continental level.

CONCACAF is the Confederation of North, Central American and  Caribbean Association Football.  It comprises what its protracted name suggests, as well as French Guinea, Guyana, and Suriname in South America.  But although CONCACAF has 41 member nations, for the purposes of focusing on the top teams in the various leagues, Mexico, Costa Rica, and the United States are easily the strongest countries.  Although the CONCACAF Gold Cup is held every two years to determine the overall national team champion, I am more interested in the CONCACAF Champions League, within which the top original league teams from the various nations compete annually.  These matches are interspersed throughout the regular season and create a sense of postseason excitement throughout the year.

The other confederation I'm starting to follow is the UEFA, or Union of European Football Associations, which naturally is the umbrella group for the various European leagues and which, like its North American counterpart, holds an annual Champions League with matches also interspersed throughout the regular season.  I just witnessed such a match on TV pitting Club Atletico de Madrid against Napoli (won by the former 3-1).  As a matter of fact, the overriding reason I am concentrating on the UEFA and CONCACAF is simply that they are the confederations whose teams I get to watch play on television. Univision has a Spanish language sports channel that shows many Mexican games and NBC Sports and ESPN have been showing MLS and European matches (especially of Barclay's Premier League in England).  There is a channel in Spanish showing Colombian soccer games, but that would cost more to watch and I have enough as it is...

I am gradually getting to know more how international soccer is run, according to the various leagues, tournaments, and the times that everyone seems to automatically transform into national teams and tourneys.  I like the league teams more, one of the reasons being that I don't care for the overwhelming sense of nationalism that permeates series like the World Cup.  Instead, I'm getting to know teams like Mexico's Cruz Azul, America, and Monterey...England's Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, and Arsenal...Spain's Club Atletico (Madrid), Real Madrid, and Barcelona...and of course the United States' Seattle Sounders, Sporting Kansas City, LA Galaxy, and New York Red Bulls.  I do feel a bit disappointed, however, as I am missing out on a high level of soccer without access to Germany's Bundesliga...

Voted Today...and Past Regrets

Late this afternoon I finally got out to my voting precinct to continue my long string of participation in elections.  In this one, there was an assortment of races, some of them being party primaries (for governor, state attorney general, U.S. House of Representatives, county commission) and some non-partisan (judges and school board).  Except for the governor's race, I was probably less informed and prepared for this voting then any others in several years.  I picked up very little to help me from my local newspaper, the Gainesville Sun (which is turning out to be only useful in my household for its coupons, sales papers, list of local upcoming events, and puzzles section).  Besides, in regard to the judge races, how am I, with no legal background, supposed to feel qualified to rate the jurisprudential abilities of the candidates...and does a sitting judge automatically merit my rubber-stamp vote just because he or she managed to avoid scandal?  I voted anyway, for sometimes even when I AM well informed, it is still a matter of guesswork to an extent.  Sometimes it happens that candidates I voted for get elected and cause me to later regret my support...but then again, that's what reelections are all about!

I began voting for U.S. President in the 1976 election and have voted in every one since, save the 1980 election when I waited too late to register here in Alachua County.  I regret having missed it, though.  But I haven't regretted many of my nine votes for President over the decades...actually, I only regret one: my vote for George W. Bush in 2000.  I supported him then largely on the basis of his reputation for pragmatism and reaching across party lines as the governor of Texas, something I erroneously felt he would continue doing as the President.  But, as I said before, that's what reelections are about, and I supported Bush's opponent, Mr. Kerry, four years later...I still feel good about my 2004 vote but not about that election's outcome...

Just Finished Reading Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land

Robert Heinlein is one of the most renown science fiction writers of the twentieth century. Perhaps his most famous work is his 1961 novel Stranger in a Strange Land, which I just finished reading and which (according to Wikipedia) his wife said was inspired by Kipling's The Jungle Book story of how a boy brought up by animals adjusted to life among humans...only with Heinlein's story, the boy is brought up from birth by Martians and returned to Earth as a young man.  This character, going by the name Valentine Michael Smith, or simply "Michael", has a completely different take on life, death, sex, and society based on his upbringing.  The novel follows his "education" at what it means to be human through his small circle of human friends, who owe their fellowship with him to a ritual called the "sharing of water".  Michael is constantly seeking the deeper meaning of what he perceives around him through a process he calls "grokking".  Sometimes he puts himself into a deathlike trance while he tries to "grok" something.  And speaking of death, Michael sees it (he calls death "discorporation") as something not to be feared but rather a possible cause for elevation into a higher spiritual plane of existence.  Eventually, Michael's exploration into humanity leads him on a collision course with religion and sexuality, combining the two into a cultlike free-love religion that causes the established religions to oppose him, one of them, the Fosterites, with extreme violence.  It was this open expression of sexuality and dropping out of the dominant culture that caused Stranger in a Strange Land to eventually be embraced by many in the late 1960s counterculture "hippie" movement, although Heinlein himself has expressed that he wasn't advocating anything more in his story than for people to try to take a broader perspective on their beliefs and customs.

The supporting characters for Michael included Gillian Boardman, a nurse, Ben Caxton, a muckraking journalist, and Jubal Harshaw, an elderly doctor/lawyer/writer who serves in the story as the framer for the many and often intense philosophical discussions contained within.  For me, it is Jubal who makes Stranger in a Strange Land work as a story: I can't imagine it without him.

When Heinlein first had Stranger in a Strange Land published in 1961, it was a shortened version of his original work, which had undergone extensive editing, largely to omit some of the more sexually suggestive material.  A year or so after Heinlein's death in 1988, though, his wife stopped the publication of this truncated version and authorized the complete original, which is the version now available to us...

Rays and Marlins: Poor Playoff Prospects as Season Nears End

Depending on which team you're looking at, there are only 31 to 35 games left in the 2014 Major League Baseball regular season.  While the Florida teams of Tampa Bay (64-66) and Miami (64-65) can still put themselves into playoff contention with a super-hot streak in the remaining games, both of them will have to pass too many other teams to earn one of the wild card slots...and there is little to no chance that either will win their divisions.  The Rays are looking at this season as a down year (they made the League Championship Series last year), but for the Marlins, after going 62-100 last year there is a positive spirit and hope for the future.  Of course, with Miami, that's assuming that their management won't trade or sell off their star players in order to avoid paying them salaries comparable to general major league standards...a sad pattern typifying this franchise.  But maybe, just maybe, this time around they'll try to hold onto their standouts...but I'm not betting on it.

Tampa Bay is also known for underpaying its players, and they recently dealt away their ace Cy Young Award winning starting pitcher David Price, who had already settled with the Rays for $15 million this year, well below his market value.  When they traded him to Detroit in the final minutes of the July trade deadline, I realized that Rays management cared more about their financial bottom line than their fans.  It's hard to root for teams whose ownership holds them down and regards overachieving players as liabilities to be gotten rid of... 

Planets Pair Off in Evening and Predawn Skies

Following night after night of overcast skies here in Gainesville, I finally got the opportunity to enjoy a clear, unobstructed view of the evening August sky…and the predawn sky as well.  There is a tie-in between the two, as four planets have paired off to put on a kind of celestial show.  Just before sunrise, if you look toward the east, you should find (assuming clear skies) two very bright looking stars close to each other.  But they’re not stars, but rather the planets Jupiter and Venus.  And in the evening sky, looking toward the south-southwest, you can also see what appears to be two very bright stars…but by now you know I’m also talking about planets, these being Mars and Saturn (Mars is the one to the north).  They are located in the relatively faint zodiac constellation of Libra. In ancient times, Libra was simply the claws in the adjacent constellation of Scorpius (the Scorpion).  As a matter of fact, Libra’s two brightest stars are named Zeubeneschamali and Zeubenelgenubi, which mean, respectively, “northern claw” and “southern claw”.  If you look around Mars and Saturn you’ll most likely see these two, dim by comparison with the planets.

I like the summer night sky, remembering nights in south Florida when I would spend a good amount of time examining the sky.  For some reason, I tend to notice more random meteors this time of year, and the phenomenon of summer lightning, when the sky is absolutely devoid of clouds, is an eerie experience.  Only drawback: mosquitos…

Local Gym’s Helen Keller Quote

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”

This quote from the famous deaf and blind civil rights activist Helen Keller prominently adorns the wall behind the check-in counter at my local gym (Gainesville Health & Fitness).  It is obviously meant to convey an exhortational  message that inspires the members as they come in to work out.  That being what it is, I’m not very clear as to the meaning of this statement or its practical viability.

It is one thing for someone like Helen Keller to have boldly lived her life the way she did, fighting presumptions and prejudices against the handicapped…who doesn’t admire her for that…but was it always a “daring adventure”?  What if I were to only esteem what in my life constituted a “daring adventure” and regarded everything else as “nothing”?  You see, I probably have a long way to go before I fully understand Helen Keller’s statement…

I can see how dreaming something that seems out-of-the-box for oneself, like starting a brand new business, drastically changing one’s material existence, or moving to a completely different type of environment would seem like a daring adventure…it doesn’t take sky-diving or bungie-jumping to fulfull that definition.  But in implementing such adventures, there is a great deal of hard, tedious work involved that can at times makes one wonder where the “daring” and “adventure” is.  For example, I know a local entrepreneur with his own prosperous business here in Gainesville.  He has clearly stepped out in a bold if not daring way to independently pursue his economic dreams, and I bet when he envisioned it he saw it as a kind of adventure.  But I happened to step into this individual’s office the other day and was taken aback at the enormous complexity of what he was doing, with lists upon lists of clients and tasks spread out before him. His dream of successfully having his own independent business may have seemed like a daring adventure in its conception, but the actual day-to-day fulfillment of it involves an enormous amount of routine and attention to details that can easily obscure the initial sense of excitement at such an undertaking.  In fact, just about every “daring adventure” necessitates a lot of planning, preparation, and maintenance…it’s important, I guess, then, to keep reiterating your dreams to yourself in the face of this in order to avoid a feeling of entrapment in a boring, tedious existence. 

The main problem I  have with Helen Keller's quote is that is is an all-or-nothing, either/or proposition.  To have daring adventures is largely a subjective call, with each person having his or her own perspective on the matter.  But I've seen too many people during my lifetime who seem to expect others to make life interesting for them...that they are somehow entitled to be entertained and stimulated every moment of their existence.  The common complaint I hear from people like this is "I'm bored."  If you're such a person, who thinks that your life is meaningless unless you're continually being treated to an "adventure" that excites you, and that the burden of responsibility is on others to meet this need for you, then (1) you are probably, deep down inside, a very boring, unimaginative person and (2) I really, truly don't want anything to do with you...  

But perhaps I’m looking at this all wrong.  Maybe, and probably the only way it would work for me, though, is to find an overriding theme for life such that living that theme out with integrity would as a whole constitute a “daring adventure”. The “nothing” of the quote would be the result of living an aimless existence devoid of goals or challenges.  But here one person’s “nothing” could be another’s “daring adventure”… 

Just Finished Reading The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

I just finished reading installment number two in Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn fantasy series, titled The Well of Ascension.  The story continues in what had been known as "the Final Empire" as Vin and Elend, along with the "crew", try to fend off challenging armies bent on taking over the capital city of Luthadel from the rebels who had liberated it and re-enslaving the "skaa" population (corresponding to what we would term as "peasants" or "commoners").  Vin is a mistborn; i.e. she has the ability to ingest and burn certain metals (within her stomach) that accord superhuman abilities.  She is by far the greatest mistborn in generations, and her people reverently depend on her as "the one" who will save them.  By contrast, Elend, her love interest and a principled, compassionate noble who sided with the just struggle against the oppressive "Lord Ruler" in the first book, has neither the charisma nor the forcefulness to hold on to the throne of King as others plot around him to usurp his authority and eventually overthrow him.  In the background of the story is the subplot...which rises to the forefront of the story at the end...of an insidious malevolence within the mist that pervades the lands at night and is now beginning to encroach upon the daytime.  Is Vin the prophesied "Hero of Ages" who will go to the Well of Ascension and release the power to restore the lands and eliminate the mists and ashes afflicting them?  It all comes to a head at the end and raises all kinds of questions for the upcoming third and final book in this trilogy.

Oh, did I say "third and final"?  Excuse me, for Sanderson has decided to write two more trilogies about the mistborn, making nine total books.  I suppose I'll be checking up from time to time on the Internet to see when he'll be coming out with the next book, until it's all over...unless he decides to make a trilogy of trilogies of trilogies, that is...

NFL Experimenting with Extra Point Rule Change

The National Football League, in a move designed to increase interest in the game and make the almost automatic extra point attempt following a touchdown a meaningful exercise, experimented for the first two weeks of this year's exhibition season and moved the ball placement for the kick from the 2-yard line back to the 15-yard line.  This made the "PAT" attempt more of a challenge, essentially turning it into a 33-year field goal attempt.  The two-point option remained the same with the ball placed at the 2-yard line.  Maybe they'll turn this into a permanent rule, but not until 2015 at the earliest.  Critics of making the extra point attempt more significant say they don't want games decided by special teams, but I say that kicking is an important part of the game and missing an extra point in a game might prompt a decision to "go for two" with the next touchdown, making it more exciting.  Besides, the kickers have already been in a state of retreat from their dominant position in the early 1970s when the goal posts were on the goal line and just getting the ball into the other side's half of the field created field goal attempt opportunities.  And don't forget that the kickoffs were moved back, too, in order to reduce touchbacks.  I think the rule makers may be having second thoughts about that change, though, since kickoff returns are probably the single most dangerous, injury-producing type of play in the sport...

My Running Mileage Increasing

Today, on only the 17th day of August, I have already surpassed my July's cumulative running mileage total, hitting the 74-mile mark.  This puts me on pace for 135 miles in August, a sizable increase from last month.  Yet I looked back on my totals for 2013 and I also exceeded 130 miles for August then.  Anyway, at this rate I should be in good shape to tackle some of the upcoming fall races...and perhaps even include one or two half-marathons.  I have noticed a general increase of endurance and comfort in my runs, and so far seem to be avoiding any significant foot or leg pains.  But I'm going to just continue with what I've been doing and, if the opportunity arises, I just might enter one of the upcoming races, either here in Gainesville, Jacksonville, or a nearby locale...

Soccer on TV All Day Long

Whew! Today for me was full of soccer action on TV...I ended up watching parts of six different games!  Barclay's English Premier League opens its regular season this weekend and I was able, while at my local gym, to catch the tail end of Manchester United's surprising upset at the hands (or should I say "feet") of Swansea City.  Then there was a match pitting Leicester City against Everton (a 2-2 draw), and Arsenal and Crystal Palace played it close until Arsenal pulled out a win at the end, 2-1.  All of these games were broadcast on NBC Sports (on two different channels).  Then they showed a MLS contest between Real Salt Lake City and Seattle, won by the former, 2-1.  Later in the afternoon I caught, on one of ESPN's more obscure channels, a game within the FIFA World Cup for Women under 20 between North Korea and the USA.  The Koreans played more like a team and were able to come from behind against the often sloppy Americans and win it on a penalty shoot-out.  And here I am now, watching Univision Deportes in a Spanish play-by-play of the Mexican Primera Division match between Monterey and Cruz Azul.  It cracks me up whenever anyone scores a goal, for the announcer always goes, "GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!!!!!"

Chamber Orchestra Concert at UF

On August 15, 1914, exactly one hundred years ago, the Panama Canal officially opened after more than ten difficult years of construction.  The University of Florida is commemorating this historically significant centennial this weekend with an assortment of exhibits and activities.  To start it all off, a concert of classical music was given at the Phillips Center for the Perfoming Arts.  Melissa (pictured above in front of the Phillips Center) and I were there and we enjoyed it a lot.  Presented by the Symphony of the Americas, which is based in Broward County, the concert featured the Mission Chamber Orchestra of Rome.  The musicians included conductors James Brooks-Bruzzese and Lorenzo Turchi-Floris, along with violinists Orlando and Svetlana Forte and Aleksandre Tigishvili, cellist Juerg Eichenberger, flutist Marilyn Maingart, and oboist Juan Castillo.  Turchi-Floris and Castillo each had premier performances of their own compositions, and Forte and Maingart performed their own arrangements of other composers.  The music was a mix of old classical standards and more recent material.  The composition of Juan Castillo, a Panamanian himself, fit the theme of the weekend well: it is titled "Rapsodia del Canal de Panama".  To close it all, they performed as an encore a jazz piece of Cole Porter, arranged by Orlando Forte for the orchestra and violin...

Just Finished Reading Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace

I just finished reading Leo Tolstoy's gargantuan novel War and Peace and have to say that it was a very worthwhile experience.  My reading was of an English translation, and as such I'm confident that, like that which I encountered reading an English version of Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment recently, the language in the original Russian-language version probably had a distinctive character to it that reflected the author's own style...a character smoothed out through the translation process.  Still, not being as confident with my Russian as I should endeavor to become, I went for the English translation, which read very, very smoothly.

War and Peace is a forerunner of a genre of fiction that we in this present age have become very familiar with: historical fiction.  The story is centered around the lives of the members of some Russian noble families, chiefly the Rostovs, Bezukhovs, and Bolkonskys, as they struggle with the ever-present "game of houses" to maneuver themselves through marriages and dealings into better positions of power and wealth.  By itself this probably wouldn't be all that interesting, but the setting is the Napoleonic Wars of the early nineteenth century, a series of conflicts that saw Russia and France go from adversaries in 1805 to allies in 1807 and then, finally, back to adversaries as Napoleon invaded Russia and occupied Moscow in 1812.  This ruptures the noble families as the young men make their decisions regarding their participation in the war...and the French occupation wreaks havoc with their estates.

Not obvious at the start of War and Peace, the main character (of many) gradually turns out to be Count Pierre Bezukhov, an illegitimate son of a count who, at the end of his life, favors him and bequeaths all of his immense wealth to him.  Pierre, though, comes to regard his newly-gained affluence as more of a burden than a blessing and finds himself pressured and manipulated by others in noble society...including marrying a woman, Helene, toward whom he feels no love.  Pierre is a dreamy, thoughtful man who stumbles through the developing, historically epic events like a Forrest Gump character: he witnesses the famous Battle of Borodino and is in the midst of Napoleon's ill-fated occupation of Moscow.  Continually exposed to extreme peril, Pierre seems to somehow escape the terrible consequences that affect those surrounding him.  He is a genuinely likable character.  Sometimes when I see someone like this in a novel, I wonder whether the author didn't invest his or her own personality in them.  Not knowing Leo Tolstoy, I can only speculate...

There are other characters whose stories Tolstoy focuses on: Andrey Bolkonsky, a cynical and thoughtful military aid during the war, his sister Maria, who is subjugated to the insults of her feebly old, cranky father, Nicholas Rostov, a young man who becomes a hussar soldier and dedicates himself to the military, and his sister Natasha, who goes through romances and heartbreaks.  These are by no means the only characters that the author concerns himself with, but for the purposes of the fictional narrative, they are the most significant.  However, to these must be added the real historical figures of Napoleon Bonaparte, Tsar Alexander I, and Russian commander-in-chief Mikhail Kutuzov.  These actual people, in War and Peace, interact with the fictional characters and behave in congruence to their personalities and philosophies as Tolstoy pictured them.

I became bonded with several of the characters, especially Pierre and Natasha, and their stories are the most unforgettable of the book.  But Tolstoy also spent a great amount of time discussing his beliefs on war and philosophy as it relates to the historical interpretation of events (especially in war).  He opposes the then-generally held view of history flowing from the actions of a few powerful leaders like Napoleon and goes into a series of rather lengthy essays into the nature of free will versus necessity regarding how events are historically examined and analyzed.  It's quite fascinating, actually, especially the final section of the book: for anyone who has a philosophical bent, this to me is required reading of the first order.  Still, Tolstoy's ramblings on war, history, and philosophy seem to belong somewhere else and, especially toward the end, feel awkward juxtaposed next to the fictional narrative.  However, the book is great: please read War and Peace and don't get intimidated by its length: if you've recently read any kind of multi-volume series, this is going to be considerably shorter...

Promotion and Relegation in European Soccer

Barclay's Premier League in professional soccer, which is based in England and Wales, begins its regular season this Friday.  I'm looking forward to watching some of the matches that get broadcast over here.  The NBC Sports Channel (channel 33 here in Gainesville on Cox) has been showing matches from last year to prepare the viewers for what is coming.  Yesterday there was an interesting match between Arsenal (of  London) and Norwich City.  Arsenal is one of those "football clubs" that, along with teams like Manchester City (last year's champion), Manchester United, Chelsea, and Liverpool, have dominated the Premier League over the past several years.  Norwich City, which has its own rich history and tradition in English soccer, found itself finishing the past season in one of the worst three positions in the standings....and this means that, for this 2014-15 season, it has been relegated to the next lower league, called the Football League Championship (or "Championship" for short).  If Norwich City recovers, though, it can regain promotion into the Premier League.  I find this promotion/relegation process intriguing and see that it is used in other European soccer leagues as well.  This year, the Premier League will have the three highest-finishing teams from the Football League Championship last year as part of its twenty-team schedule.  But I have a feeling that, unless any of them happen to be playing the "bigshots", I won't be seeing any of their games on NBC Sports.  By the way, if for some unexpected reason, Norwich City endures a disastrous season this year in the Championship, then it will be relegated to the next lower league, called League 1.  And so on...

The leagues in English soccer go like this, in terms of promotion and relegation, in terms of ranking for prestige:

1 Barclay's Premier League
2 Football League Championship
3 League 1
4 League 2
5 Conference Premier
6 Conference North and Conference South

The levels keep going down to level 10, so you can get a sense as to the degree of depth present in English professional soccer!  By contrast, there is no system of relegation for Major League Soccer here in North America.  If you want something here that is comparable to what is going on overseas, you need to go to a different sport and look at baseball's minor league system.  But even that fails the comparison to a degree, since, in baseball, (1) the minor league clubs on the different levels are mainly run by the major league teams, (2) there are much fewer levels in the minors, (3) it's the players, not the teams, which are promoted or relegated in minor league baseball, and (4) the grassroots local support for minor league baseball teams here is much less than the deep support for soccer clubs within local communities in England and the rest of Europe...

I Want a Cloudless Evening Sky to Star-Gaze

Lately I've been feeling like going outside in the evening to take a look at the summer sky, only to be repeatedly thwarted by the clouds that seem to have become a permanent fixture.  It used to be that with nightfall, the skies would tend to clear up, even if it was overcast during the day.  But this hasn't been the case of late...although I remember something like this happening in my youth.  It seemed like a whole season during 1964, just when I was getting started learning the constellations and was nightly going out to look at the sky to see the stars and planets, was a succession of cloudy, disappointing evenings.  But tonight the prospect of a cloudy sky may hinder one of the premier sky-gazing events we have: the perigee, or closest approach to earth of the moon, takes place as it is in its full phase and should appear to be relatively big as it rises in the east...as the sun sets in the west, of course.  Also, we're entering what is usually the most spectacular annual meteor shower, the Perseids, which should peak early Tuesday morning.  I'll be at work when that happens, though.  Anyway, I've had a very low level of success with spotting meteors during meteor showers ... although I've seen quite a few "rogue" meteors over the course of my lifetime that weren't connected with a shower.

All of the special events aside, I'd just like to experience a clear evening when I can go out into my back yard and observe the sky and my old summertime constellation "friends" like Scorpius, Hercules, Ophiucus, Aquila, Bootes, Lyra, Cygnus, and Sagittarius.  And to see if I can still make out the fainter ones like Sagitta and Delphinus.  Oh, and to see what the planets are up to as well...

Nixon's Resignation Anniversary and Conspiracies

Today marks the fortieth anniversary of the resignation of President Richard Nixon because of his role in the cover-up of the break-in of the Watergate Hotel in September of 1972.  This blatant failure of a true conspiracy illustrates why anything likewise done on massive scale is prone to failure: there are too many opportunities for people to betray the plot, especially in a time such as now in which communication is so readily available and instantaneous.  Yet it seems that all around us we have supposed conspiracies about just any area in which the government, banking, and/or big business seem to play any significant role.  Take what I've been hearing lately about the Ebola virus crisis on George Noory's late night Coast-to-Coast AM radio show...

Ever since they transferred that Ebola-infected American health worker to Atlanta from West Africa, George Noory has been vocal in his questioning of the wisdom of bringing the Ebola virus into the United States like this, all precautions being taken in this process for the isolation of the virus from the general population notwithstanding.  Then he had on as a guest someone who quite rationally emphasized that the Ebola virus isn't easily transmitted from person-to-person and that he would have no problem sitting next to an infected person on a plane.  This guest said that the malnutrition, scarcity of clean water, pollution, general poverty, war, and political oppression common to the lands where the Ebola virus had grown to epidemic proportions had compromised the general population's immune systems and made them much more susceptible to infection.  He also speculated that the aid worker and his colleague who were being sent for treatment in the U.S. probably were just fatigued and weren't actually infected with Ebola.  That's a reasonable opinion, as I see it...whether it is right or not is another matter.  But this guest went further with his argument to claim that the reason that there is now so much media coverage of the Ebola outbreak is due to the development within the American pharmaceutical industry of a new Ebola vaccine which they are anxious to produce and market.  Only one problem: those African nations are too poor to buy it.  But a panicked American public wouldn't be, and isn't it convenient that Ebola is now here on our shores?  So to him, there is a conspiracy to overdramatize the Ebola crisis so that the drug companies can make big bucks.  O.K., that's one conspiracy.  But the following night...

The following night on Noory's show, a different guest came on with his own spin about Ebola.  He claimed that the U.S. was obtaining patents on all the various strains of the virus and that nefarious elements within our government were using those lands in Western Africa to test their effectiveness (supposedly at wiping out human life).  You see, this guest claims to believe that there is an ongoing conspiracy in some parts to kill off nine tenths of the human race on the proposition that this is the optimal population level for planetary sustainability.  But with both conspiracy theories, there is no real proof...just shadow groups working behind the scenes to manipulate the media and the government.  My take on these ideas is that were there true conspiracies, either as the first or second guest had expressed them, then they would have been exposed long ago, with witnesses coming out and documents released.  Instead, conspiracy theorists like Noory's two guests paint a picture of a sealed group of people who have a tight control of all of the information concerning their "plots" and on all the people involved in them.  Not plausible at all, I say...

My Favorite Songs of 2014 So Far

A while back I had written how I had purchased Beck's newly-released album Morning Phase and had enjoyed several of its tracks, especially four of them: Heart is a Drum, Blue Moon, Blackbird Chain, and Turn Away.  I had also mentioned back then that I considered Blackbird Chain to be my personal favorite song of 2014 so far.  Well, I still like that song a lot, as well as Beck's other contributions on this more subdued but pretty album of his.  But after listening to my two area alternative rock stations (on 100.5 and 102.9) regularly, usually while driving, I've heard a few more current songs that I've taken to.  The Imagine Dragons have their slow-moving, driving hit Radioactive that gets a lot of air play.  I also like Fever by the Black Keys. But easily my favorite of these and the other songs I have heard is the Kongos song Come With Me Now.  There aren't too many rock songs out there that make liberal use of the accordion; the only other one I can recall is Paul Simon's masterpiece Boy in the Bubble from his 1987 Graceland album.  But Come With Me Now sounds like other artists as well, with sections eliciting mental associations for me with Led Zeppelin, Muse, and even Rob Zombie.  Especially Zeppelin with that mid-song guitar section.  I thought that I'd tire of hearing it, but as with other great songs, it just continues to grow on me: Come With Me Now is, at this stage in early August, my favorite song of 2014...

Florida Gators 2014 Football Schedule, Prospects

It's still a little more than three weeks until the 2014 college football season begins for the University of Florida, but I thought I might took a look at their schedule and try to divine what their prospects for success are.  Like last year, in which the Gators began well at 4-1 until skidding uncontrollably to a dismal 4-8 finish, this year's start promises a similar rosy early picture...at least for the first three games.  On August 30 and September 6, Florida hosts two smaller colleges: Idaho and Eastern Michigan State...and on September 13, they play at home again against Kentucky.  Chalk up an early 3-0 record for them, nothing that impressive considering their opposition, but certainly helpful in reversing last season's negativity and giving Florida an early advantage in giving them postseason bowl eligibility.  It's the September 20 game at Alabama that's going to present the most problems for them, though.  I see them losing that game and, hopefully, not much more.  I say this because, quite frankly, players tend to get injured against Nick Saban's Crimson Tide, especially quarterbacks (Texas' Colt McCoy in 2009's national championship game and the Gators' John Brantley in 2012).  I want Florida to survive the Alabama game without sustaining too many injuries to key players, because they can still do quite well the rest of the way if their starting team is still essentially intact.

After a bye week, Florida will travel to Knoxville on October 4 to play Tennessee, a team that they were fortunate to come from behind and beat last year.  For Florida to win it again this year, though, I have to go on faith that they are a much improved team...for the Vols probably will be, too.  They will have a shot at beating their annual rival from the West Division, LSU, on October 11 when they return home to play them.  Depending on how healthy Florida is at this stage, I give them a shot at winning this one. The following week they will remain in Gainesville to play Missouri, a team that last year shocked them in mid-season with their performance and set the Gators firmly on their devastating slide of seven straight losses.  I see a different result this time around.  After that, it's another bye week and Florida will go on to three straight crucial East Division games that will ultimately determine their fate for this year (three games that they lost last season).  On November 1, Florida will face Georgia in Jacksonville.  On the 8th they will play Vanderbilt in Nashville.  And on the 15th South Carolina comes in to Gainesville.  I see Florida at this stage gaining some revenge on the Commodores for last year's upset loss...and the Gators winning one of the two games against the Bulldogs and Gamecocks.  And that concludes their Southeastern Conference regular season.

On November 22, Florida plays what should be an "easy" opponent at home, Eastern Kentucky.  But last year's "easy" late-season foe, Georgia Southern, beat the Gators!  Don't expect that to happen again, though.  The 2014 overall regular season ends on November 29 when Florida travels to Tallahassee to play Florida State, a game that in all probability will go to the Seminoles...but should be closer than last year's blowout.  The football schedule also includes the SEC championship game for Florida (should they win the division).  The way I see it, Florida has a good shot at going 6-2 in the league and might be in a tiebreaker situation in the East...so who knows whether they'll make it this far.  But being the guarded optimist that I am, I see the Gators turning it around in 2014 to finish the regular season at 9-3 and returning to a reasonably prestigious postseason bowl appearance...

Pro Soccer Matches More Commonplace on TV

It appears that the push is on in the television sports media to fully promote professional soccer in America as a spectator sport.  I've seen a lot of matches on TV featuring the North American MLS league, especially with teams like the New York Red Bulls, the Philadelphia Union, Sporting Kansas City, Real Salt Lake, Dynamo Houston, and the Los Angeles Galaxy.  The games are quite entertaining, and with each viewing I am becoming more and more familiar with the sport...although I'm still a bit clueless about that offsides rule!  I like the fact that the MLS regular season, unlike with the European Leagues, has been going on all summer, even concurrently with the FIFA World Cup tournament.  Still, I was also able to get a taste of that European competition as well by means of the Guinness International Champions Cup series that just completed with matches between famous European "football clubs" like Barclay Premier League's Liverpool, Manchester United, and Manchester City along with La Liga's Real Madrid and other teams from Greece, Milan, and elsewhere.  But although the games, which were staged in the U.S. (the championship match between Manchester United and Liverpool took place in Miami), were fun to watch and the play seemed excellent, these were actually just pre-season contests for those teams as they prepare for their upcoming regular season in their respective European leagues.  I'm looking forward to seeing some regular season matches of theirs this fall, and I'll also be looking for players I saw in the World Cup on different national teams....

Centennial of Start of World War I Observed

While I was listening to BBC America on my local Public Radio station (WUFT/89.1) as I worked the late-night shift on my job last night, there was a piece about the one hundred-year anniversary of the beginning of World War I.  According to the broadcast, on August 4, 1914, the German army launched its surprise invasion of then-neutral Belgium according to its Schliessen Plan to invade and conquer its main land foe France.  Great Britain, which had up to this point displayed remarkable restraint at staying out of the cascading conflict, had a treaty with Belgium that it then used to jump into the fray.  So for them, the "Great War", as it came to be known during its run of a little less than four and a half years, began with the Germans crossing over into Belgium.  For others, though, World War I began a week earlier, on July 28, when Austria-Hungary, responding to the Serbian nationalist assassination of its Archduke Ferdinand a month earlier, began its armed conflict with Serbia.  This is where the dominoes of entangled treaties and alliances had begun to fall, leading up to the German invasion in the Western theater.  For Russia supported Serbia against Austria, Germany supported Austria-Hungary and threatened Russia, France supported Russia and threatened Germany, and...well, you can see how it all ended up in such a huge mess.  However, in spite of how the war seemed to come about so spontaneously, in fact the Germans had been carefully planning for such a conflict for decades, studying various invasion plans and working out a system of lightning-fast mobilization and transportation of its troops through its railway system.  It could be that this war, in one form or another, was inevitable given the militarism of the German Empire and its conflicting national interests with Britain and France that were on a global scale...

World War II was by far the most devastating and costly war in history, both for its global nature and for the degree to which civilians were victimized.  But for military combat casualties, World War I with its trench warfare and ill-fated frontal charges, particularly in the Battle of the Somme in 1916, was the ultimate nightmare of human existence, with the concentrated carnage and horror on a scale that could never have been imagined....and which hasn't since been matched.  Imagine having been a British soldier in the trenches on that fateful morning of July 1, 1916 in northern France and having to go over the top into "no-man's land" straight into the fire of the waiting Germans.  Nearly twenty thousand British soldiers were killed outright on the first day of battle!

What a tragic waste of a generation of young men, wiped out on the battlefield in this pointless war...

Jeopardy Wagering Strategies

This may be one of the more "trivial" blog entries I've ever written, but I felt some inner need to just get it all out...

The other night, while watching the popular trivia quiz show Jeopardy, they were on the final question, for which each of the three contestants could wager as much money as they had individually amassed throughout the game (before knowing what the question was, of course).

[Wait, switch "answer" for "question", for in Jeopardy, the answers ARE the questions (and vice versa).]

So anyway, this time around, when it was time for the final Jeopardy "answer", Contestant #1 had $21,000, Contestant #2 had $5,000, and Contestant #3 had $25,000 (those figures are approximate as my memory goes, as do the following...but the principle will be the same).  The correct "question" to the "answer", which all three should have gotten, was only written down by the leader, Contestant #3.  But he only had wagered about $10,000, giving him a final total of $35,000.  Had Contestant #1 gotten it right and wagered more than $14,000, he would have beaten Contestant #3 regardless whether the latter got it right or not.  This is important in Jeopardy because only the highest money winner gets to keep his or her earnings.  The other two get a nominal amount of money plus, appropriately, a supply of Alleve.  But Contestant #1 not only missed the final "answer", but only wagered about $4,000!  Both wagered stupidly, in my opinion.  But how should one wager, anyway, at the end of Jeopardy?

If the leader is has more than twice as much money as the second place contestant, than they should only wager enough that, should they lose, they would end up one dollar ahead of twice their nearest opponent's amount.  For example, if Ann has $20,000 and Dave, in second place, has $8,000, then she should wager no more than $3,999, giving her a dollar more than Dave at $16,001 should she miss at the end and he get it right.  And if a contestant is NOT in the lead when the final answer comes around, they should wager everything they have, since they won't be able to get their total winnings anyway should they finish second or third.  If the first place contestant isn't more than twice as "wealthy" as the second place contestant when it is time to wager, they have to wager enough for them to have at least one dollar more than twice their nearest opponent's amount should both write down the correct "question". For the third place contestant going into the final round, if his/her total so far is greater than the difference between the first two, than he or she can win it all, assuming of course that the others wager wisely (and miss the question as well), by getting the question right and by betting whatever money is theirs to wager. 

Looking at the specific game I witnessed, Contestants #1 and #2 should have wagered everything they had since the consolation prizes were insignificant compared to having the highest money total.  So Contestant #1 should have wagered all $21,000 and Contestant #2 should have wagered all $5,000 (but if memory serves me, she bet much less).  Contestant #3, aware that Contestant #1 would end up with $42,000 had he gotten the right "question", should have wagered #17,001 to ensure that he would still end up with the highest total. 

Of course, this all would be vastly different were the Jeopardy producers not such abject cheapskates and instead allowed all of the contestants to keep their hard-fought earnings regardless of their finish...