My October 2014 Running Report

In October, 2014, I ran a total of 310 miles, the most I have ever accomplished in a month.  I did it not by amassing great, long single runs, but rather by running several times during the course of the day...with my longest single run for the entire month coming in at just 6.3 miles.  But my longest "calendar day" running mileage was 26.7 miles, done over the span of October 4.  I ran on every day of the month.

By running more often instead of going on very long runs, I am endeavoring to achieve a balance between training for longer distance races while taking care of my body to avoid injury.  So far it's working, although I have yet to run in a race since my Five Points of Life Half-Marathon back in February, here in Gainesville.  I had been considering the recently held half-marathon in Apalachicola, Florida, but because they insisted on race packet pickup the day before...no exceptions...I passed up on it.  I could have made the drive over to the race and back, but I wasn't going to stay overnight at a hotel there, just because of their asinine policy...which was probably designed to make entrants stay overnight at one of their hotels!  In November, I'll have several opportunities to run in different races and will try to get in at least a couple...

Just Finished Reading Daniel Abraham's The Dragon's Path

Daniel Abraham is a prolific author of science fiction and fantasy stories who often collaborates with others...and likes to use pseudonyms.  Although his ongoing fantasy series The Dagger and the Coin is a solo project published under his own name, Abraham has nonetheless  been receiving much encouragement with it from his friend, George R.R. Martin, of A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) fame.  And as I have earlier written in another article, Abraham's series bears a remarkable resemblance to Martin's.  For one, the characters all have within their personalities...even those being presented as "heroic" protagonists...a rather objectionable brutality.  Also, there is a conflict going on in the central kingdom (with a weak king and serious questions about succession) between the protagonists, who want to suppress the common people and maintain strict authoritarian rule under the nobility, and the antagonists, who have allied themselves with the farmers and other commoners to push for more reforms.  So as a reader I feel that the author is persuading me to take the "good guy" Dawson's side and oppose "bad guy" Issandrian...but I prefer the latter.  Another "hero", Geder, is also extremely brutal and selfish...but he likes to read books, so I guess I'm supposed to like him, too!

In The Dragon's Path, the character Dawson reminds me of Martin's Ned Stark, Geder reminds me a bit of his Tyrion, and there is a subplot across the continent that features the characters Cithrin and Marcus.  Cithrin is like a cross between Martin's Daenerys and Arya, and Marcus resembles Jorah Mormont in that both men are feeling a growing love toward a young woman they are protecting who has a sense of destiny (with Marcus it's Cithrin and with Lord Mormont it's Daenerys).  There is also an extensive historical past with dragons ruling in both series, as well as an aggressive, strange religion that carries sinister foreboding as it spreads.  In a departure from Martin, though, Abraham's human population is divided into several extremely distinct "races", some with scales, some with heavy fur, some with tusks, etc,. and an ongoing mystery as to why it is so divided...

The series name The Dagger and the Coin refers to the great dynamic conquering forces in this fantasy world (and our own, for that matter): war and finance...and seems to be engaged in the question of which of the two truly reigns supreme.  In spite of the relative lack of innovation in The Dragon's Path, I like Daniel Abraham's writing and appreciate how he presents his characters, who already are memorable to me.  I want to know what happens next after this book, and the author has obliged with three more installments in the series, with more to come...

Early Outbreak Convinces Me to Get Flu Shot

Yesterday I decided I had put it off long enough already and got my annual flu shot.  I usually don't get it until a little later in the year, but this year so far quite a few people have already come down with the flu...and my doctor has already told me that, due to a continuing medical condition, I need to get a shot each year.  That's no guarantee that I won't come down with it, though: the last time I caught the flu, a little more than ten years ago, I had gotten a flu shot but to no avail.  Still, the game here is to increase my odds...which also includes being careful to wash my hands often, especially before eating...and otherwise keeping my hands from my face.

You can choose to get all worried and excited about the Ebola virus and the latest news scoops about it. But while that's going on, the flu is quietly spreading through the population, debilitating many and even killing a few in the process.  It is much more of an immediate health threat than Ebola...and it's also something you can take effective action to help prevent for yourself and loved ones...

Just Finished Reading Tolstoy's Anna Karenina

I've just finished reading Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, published in 1878 and considered in literary circles to be among the very best novels ever written.  Its setting is primarily in Russia of that time period, specifically in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and the countryside around them.  The main characters are of the noble class, still separated to a great degree from the peasantry and working class and with their own society and customs.  Naturally, the chief protagonist is the title character, a young woman named Anna Karenina, who is suffering through a marriage to a man much older than her, and for whom she feels no love.  Onto the scene strides young Count Vronsky, a free spirit with the habit of seeing women as potential conquests, and the two fall head over heels in love with each other...of course, placing her in a precarious situation with her marital infidelity.  But instead of continuing their affair confidentially, Anna decides to openly reveal everything to Karenin, her husband...which turns out to be a critical mistake.  For, it seems, extramarital affairs are quite commonplace among the Russian nobility...but the participants follow certain rules of discretion that serve to protect themselves with their marriages and social standing.  Because of Anna's outspokenness, though, she instead suffers public disgrace from her affair.  Vronsky wants to marry her, and eventually she also desires a divorce from her husband with the same aim...but by that time Karenin has changed his mind about granting her one.  What happens next? I leave that to you, good reader, to discover for yourself...

Although Anna Karenina is the "official" main character in this story, I feel rather that a rural land-owning nobleman named Constantin Levin truly fits that role.  I also believe that the author spoke his own philosophical beliefs and questions through this character.  I had earlier written on this blog that I could find no character in Anna Karenina with whom I could empathize.  Well, I did come to appreciate Levin, a character strongly reminiscent in his awkwardness regarding Russian noble society to Pierre, Tolstoy's protagonist in his earlier work War and Peace. Levin has his own love interest in young Kitty, who happens to be Anna's brother's niece (ultimately, it seems, everyone in nobility is related). One of the more humorous parts of the novel is when Levin, invited to participate in the government's nobility-run legislative assembly, finds himself completely baffled by the political process, stumbling through different proceedings without knowing what he is doing.

In Anna Karenina, Tolstoy explores in depth the feelings of his characters and their inner motivations for what they say and do.  So this is a psychological novel of the first order.  But also covered is the Russian society contemporary to Tolstoy's writing...not only the inner social dynamics of the nobility, but also the sometimes changing, sometimes stagnant relationship between that nobility and the "lower" classes, complete with the misunderstandings and mistrust separating them.  And on still another, and very significant level, religion and God's role in people's lives are discussed through various characters...mainly from Levin himself at the story's end.

I don't know whether Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina is the best novel ever written, but I did enjoy it and recommend it.  But as for my own preferences, I liked his War and Peace more...

The 2014 General Election As I See It

The 2014 general election is in full swing here in Alachua County, Florida, with early voting now available.  For me, I cast an early ballot in an election a few years ago but greatly prefer the election day ritual at my local precinct (which this year is on November 4).  Besides, it gives me a chance to check up on what's going on at my precinct site, which just so happens to be the community senior recreational center (which I'll be eligible to use in less than two years).  This year it's no high-glamour presidential election...just the governorship of Florida at stake, along with some state cabinet positions, a U.S. house race, a couple of county commission races, a county tax collector race, five district judge retention questions, three state constitutional amendments, an Alachua County referendum...and an Alachua County nonbinding straw ballot question.  For me, that's plenty to vote on, but I predict that less than half of the eligible voters will cast their ballots this election...while a portion of the non-voters will complain that the Republican Party is trying to suppress the vote with their reasonable (to me) demand for adequate identification at the polling place.

However, my political alignment tends to fall on the Democratic side, so if you are one of those politically hysterical types who automatically equate the Democratic Party with evil and tyranny, you're welcome to stop reading now...and placidly continue on with your own conception of reality.  But at this point I don't see any compelling reason to side with the Republicans in any of the races...especially in the contest for governor between incumbent Rick Scott and his immediate predecessor, Charlie Crist.  After mudslinging at Crist in ad after ad for being a corrupt and flip-flopping politician while blaming him for the international recession that happened after the banking crisis of late 2008, Scott then had the nerve to put on an ad implying that he was above such mudslinging and that only Crist was showing attack ads.  What hypocrisy.  But none of this is why I'm planning to vote for Crist...I just feel he is a decent man (albeit, granted, a somewhat slick politician) who accepts that he would be the governor of ALL the people in Florida, not just those with his own narrow ideological perspective (which I feel is the case with Scott).  That's not an endorsement from me, though, and others are encouraged to follow their own convictions (or hunches, if they aren't sure) about how they will vote.

In one of the county commission races, I was going to go for the Republican there, since on the surface he sounded as if he would make road repair a top priority.  But actually, John Martin would rather hold back on needed repairs because he opposes a proposed sales surtax specifically earmarked for those projects (also on the ballot) and instead insist on doing everything within the budget as it is.  While an admirable stand at first glance, it is an unrealistic one that is destined to further delay needed road work.

Regarding the state constitutional amendments...No.1 is for water and land conservation.  On the surface it seems like a good idea, and I'm going for it.  No.2 is to legalize medical marijuana use and production.  I think this amendment is rather phony in that those supporting it the most are viewing it as a transition to the general legalization of pot (a transitional path that Colorado followed).  And since I have my own suspicions about certain potential producers of the plant wanting to get an inside track on the industry when that general legalization does occur, I'm opposing this amendment on principle.  Amendment No.3 gives the governor power to appoint vacancies to the judiciary.  But unlike the advise and consent requirement for presidential appointments on the federal level of government, I see in this amendment no checks provided on whomever the governor may choose to appoint...so I'm voting "no" on this question, too.

As for the remaining two questions on the ballot, I'm going to "hold my nose" and vote for the proposed Alachua County surtax, because our roads are truly in a deplorable state here.  And the straw ballot question is just political posturing about whether one would support a U.S. Constitutional Amendment only recognizing individual human beings as "persons" and not group entities such as corporations or labor unions...and that spending money is not an expression of free speech protected under the First Amendment.  Implied in this argument is the notion that people are too stupid to filter through the myriad campaign ads that inundate them during the campaign season, many financed by corporate interests.  My answer is that if they are that stupid, then they deserve the stupid government they end up electing: let us carefully avoid restricting our own precious freedom of association and the expressions that arise from them...  

Need Close Games in This Year's World Series

Major League Baseball's World Series continues tonight with a change of location to San Francisco, with it knotted up 1-1 between the Giants and the Kansas City Royals. I wonder, though... if the games continue to develop like the first two...whether anyone outside the two metropolitan areas involved will be interested.  For 7-1 and 7-2 scores are not exactly the kinds of games that tend to rivet one's attention up to the very final out.  And here's the paradox: the various playoff series that have led to this 2014 edition of the World Series have pretty much been blowouts...if you just look at the tally of games won and lost.  But almost every game comprising those "blowouts" has been very close and decided by one or two runs, with many having to go into extra innings to decide.  So, say instead of the 7-1 and 7-2 scores for the first two World Series games we had 4-3 and 5-4 scores.  Even if the same team had won both games...even if that team had gone on to sweep the Series four games to none...it would have been much more entertaining viewing than what we've had so far.

I'm rooting for San Francisco in this Series, but it would disappoint me if they won the next three games with lopsided scores.  I like those tight, tense games that bring in all the teams' extras and relief pitchers into the equation and can dramatically turn on just one pitch.  Of course, if a team I care for more, like the Tampa Bay Rays or Miami Marlins, had been in it this year, I would have been very happy with them routing their opponent each and every game, damn the boredom...

Personal Running Records As I Age

When I resumed running in earnest in 2007 after a thirty-year layoff from the activity, I was fifty years old.  In the seven years between then and now there have been two opposing processes at work regarding "personal records", as they pertained to my best running times for particular distances.  Since my earlier running "records" back in the 1970s were mainly about shorter distances like the quarter mile, mile, and two-mile race, those personal marks still stand and haven't been approached in recent years.  But for the distances I have now embraced, such as 5K, 10K, 15K, half-marathon, and full marathon, I have been working on personal record times for them (especially for the longer distances).  And the first of the aforementioned processes, which is the positive effect of my training and increased fitness and endurance, has given me a good sense of progress with those records.  The main event I'm focused on now, which is the 13.1 mile half-marathon, has my personal record time at 1 hour, 50 minutes, 53 seconds...which I ran in early March, 2013 in a race in Tavares, Florida (a few miles north of Orlando) when I was 56.  Since then, due in large part to plantar fasciitis in my right foot (drastically alleviated through more adequate running shoes) and an adverse employment shift change that has upset my sleeping patterns, my general endurance and running fitness had a setback...but in recent months I have been making a comeback.  My endurance is increasing as well as my speed for the longer distances.  But it is now here, as I just turned 58 and am getting no younger, that the second process is starting to kick in: I am aging and, as this happens, new personal records will be harder and harder to come by until, finally...regardless how fit and trained I am for my age, my best times will be a thing of the past and they will gradually decline.  So while personal records are always a good thing to pursue, I need to be realistic and run for other reasons...

Racist Taunts Cause Soccer Stadium Ban in Moscow

Yesterday I was watching a UEFA Champions League soccer game between Manchester City (of England) and Russia's CSKA Moscow team, with it taking place at the latter's stadium.  The game was exciting, although disappointing (Manchester City, after building an early lead, slipped and ended up with a 2-2 draw).  However, the most remarkable thing I observed wasn't the game itself,  but the desolate, empty stadium surrounding it.  It seems that CSKA Moscow has been placed on a three-game stadium ban because of its fans' racist jeers against opposing teams' players.  And this isn't the only Russian soccer club with a problem in this area: two others have recently undergone censure for racist taunting by their fans at players whose great crime in life apparently is that they don't look like them.  I think this is sad...and a bit hypocritical,  For I remember growing up in the Cold War days when the Soviet Union, which was predominantly Russian, would endlessly propagandize against racism in America and how they, themselves, embraced  and welcomed different people from different races and cultures.  What a lot of bunk.  They're just like everyone else in the world...not better, not worse.  Racism is a problem that permeates all societies...and the ones that act as if they don't have a problem with it are probably the ones with the biggest problem...

Attended First University of Florida Football Game in 37 Years

Back in November, 1977, I was looking forward as an on-campus University of Florida student to a quiet Saturday roaming the campus and mulling over a few thoughts I had been considering.  But the day before this Saturday, which happened to feature the Gators football team homecoming game against Utah State, my mother phoned me telling me that the family of a relative she had known in childhood were inviting me to the game with them.  Not wanting to seem ungrateful (to her) or unsociable (to them), I accepted the offer and sat there suffering through what in retrospect was actually a pretty exciting game.  Florida, which had been heavily favored to run up the score over their opponent, had to come from behind in the second half to win a thrilling homecoming contest.  Those were the days...

As this year's UF homecoming game against the Missouri Tigers (a much more viable opponent) approached, Melissa told me that a friend of hers and her husband, who had tickets to a section of the stadium called Touchdown Terrace, weren't going and would we like to go in their place.  Sure, I said, and after decades I found myself back in the old football stadium...only now we were overlooking the northern end-zone...back in 1977, we'd be floating in air, with only the east and west sides existing back then.  We enjoyed the amenities, including a pleasant buffet dinner, and sat down to watch the game unfold.  I predicted it would be a close contest...was I ever wrong!

Missouri took the opening kickoff and ran it back for a touchdown, giving them a lead they would never relinquish 11 seconds into the game.  Then followed a succession of Florida errors...three interceptions, three fumbles lost, a punt returned by Missouri for a touchdown.  With 5 minutes to go just in the third quarter, the Tigers had built up an insurmountable 42-0 lead.  Florida was able to mount two concluding drives to bring the final score a little closer at 42-13.   It was a pretty humiliating defeat, yet on paper it looked as if (if you disregard the turnovers) Florida easily outplayed Missouri, doubling them up in total yardage and first downs, and with a greater time of possession, third down efficiency...and fewer penalties.

The problem with Florida's performance was that Muschamp attached too much loyalty to Jeff Driskel as the regular starting quarterback and, despite his obvious difficulties in passing accuracy and managing the offense, kept putting him back in there.  I remember a different Gator coach, Steve Spurrier, who was fortunate to have one year, in Terry Dean, the top-ranking passer in the Southeastern Conference.  But because Dean wasn't performing to Spurrier's high standards, he sacked him in mid-season in favor of Danny Wuerffel...who later went to on win the Heisman Trophy and lead his team to the 1996 national championship.  What a difference between Spurrier and the present coach!  After yet another dismal performance by Driskel, I even wonder whether Muschamp will STILL stick with him when they face Georgia in a couple of weeks. Florida's only two scores were both engineered with backup quarterback Treon Harris managing the offense, and he showed confidence and poise.  But regardless who was in there, it was plain to me that Florida's offensive line had a meltdown Saturday night, creating many quarterback sacks, fumbles, and "hurry-ups" (for both Driskel and Harris).  And, dang it, when one of Driskel's passes did hit its target, the receiver was as likely as not to let it slip right through his hands.  Another problem area with the Gators was their slipshod kick and punt return coverage.  But the defense had a pretty good day, considering everything else.  Maybe this game was Muschamp's swan song as head coach, maybe not...but I don't think very many people around here in Gainesville have much confidence in him any more...

In spite of what was happening on the field, though, Melissa and I enjoyed our experience at the stadium...although I wish I had brought a pair of earplugs to mitigate the extreme loudness of the place.  The band, cheerleaders, announcers... you name it, were all great, and they stuck in there with the same spirit even long after the game was a lost cause.  And the fans were pretty revved up as well, almost all standing up in the bleacher sections for almost the entire game and participating in the noisemaking and the "Gator chomp".  Yes, we had a great time.  Hope they resolve this coaching and quarterback mess somehow, but I'm not losing any sleep over it...

San Francisco Will Play Kansas City in 2014 World Series

The 2014 Major League Baseball World Series has been set, and the pairing is unexpected: Kansas City vs. San Francisco, both wild card teams.  However, this isn't the first such matchup: in 2002, Anaheim and San Francisco, both also wild card entries that year,  played their exciting seven-game World Series, with the Angels winning it.  But this year is the first that both wild card teams had to get by that tense (and silly) one-game playoff just to get to the regular divisional playoff series.  And that's quite a feat for even one team!

I have to admit to a little disappointment that Baltimore couldn't at least get a couple of wins in their 4-0 sweep by the Royals for the American League pennant, but am very happy with the National League outcome: I've come to enjoy following the Giants, and beating the pesky St. Louis Cardinals in the process (four games to one) for the pennant was just icing on the cake!  In spite of the lopsided series win-loss totals, though, the games themselves have each been close, exciting contests that have often gone to extra innings to decide.  These types of games really display the value of the team as a whole, with its substitutes and relief pitcher lineup playing significant roles in the late innings (as well as managerial decisions regarding them)...if they hadn't come through as they did for KC and SF, they wouldn't have gotten this far.

So now it's the World Series, and I have my clear favorite: San Francisco.  If the Royals want to win two or three games in the process, I won't begrudge them that concession, though. The first game is slated for this coming Tuesday evening, to be played in Kansas City...

Opposition Criticism of Presidents Following Pattern

It's become pretty apparent to me, for the past few decades with several U.S. presidents from both major political parties taking their turns living in the White House, that those in opposition, regardless whose party they identify themselves with, follow a similar pattern in expressing that opposition.  So the guy you didn't want got elected, did he? Well, for one, he stole the election because of whatever reason (Florida fiasco in 2000, voter "suppression" laws, the president-elect supposedly wasn't born in the U.S., voter fraud, dirty campaigning...you name it).  Also, he is incompetent and foolish/stupid, while at the same time is a devious, sinister mastermind of such villainy that he has become a dictator.  And this administration, which you didn't vote for, is setting all kinds of records for being the most corrupt in history!  Impeach, impeach, impeach!!! Oh, and whoever is in there, in spite of all the scapegoating on him for every single misfortune that arises anywhere during his term in office, is really only a powerless puppet being manipulated behind the scenes by a shadow power.  And the people who voted him into power are obviously stupid and foolish, allowing him and his party to get their votes by manipulating their emotions on hot-button issues (gay rights, flag-burning, wealth inequality, and so on).  They're only stupid and foolish, though, if they didn't vote for YOUR guy, who obviously has the best interests of everyone at heart...right?

Currently Reading Tolstoy's Anna Karenina and Abraham's The Dragon's Path

I am currently in the process of reading two different books: Leo Tolstoy's late nineteenth century classic Anna Karenina and, much more recently written, Daniel Abraham's initial book in his ongoing fantasy Coin and Dagger series, titled The Dragon's Path.  I am a third of the way done with each book...both are very well written but I'm experiencing different reactions so far to each of them.  In Anna Karenina, I find myself in the unenviable position of being committed to reading a long novel that, at least for myself, contains no characters for whom I feel any sense of empathy.  They're all obnoxious, self-absorbed scoundrels, from what I've read so far! But I'm ready to give Tolstoy the benefit of the doubt and see what he has in store for the rest of the book.  Empathy is no problem at all, though, with Abraham's The Dragon's Path.  My problem here is that the author apparently has set out to recreate the dynamics of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, with the names and locales changed.  There's a Tyrion-like character in it, as well as one resembling Ned Stark...along with another reminding me of his daughter Arya.  And there's a counterpart here to the troublesome Lannister family as well.  But it's fun reading and I'm prepared to see how the author will make his series distinct in character from Martin's...

Soccer: League Teams Play Better Than National Teams

Every few weeks during the international soccer season, the various leagues which are scattered across the continents interrupt their schedules and the top players from each country regroup into their national teams to play in tournaments.  For me, I don't care too much for these "superteams": one, they inspire a spirit of often jingoistic nationalism among fans...two, there is more to a team than just throwing together some star players occasionally.  In soccer, as in other team sports, the players on a team need to get to know each other well, especially when it comes to passing the ball and positioning themselves in order to be in the optimal offensive and defensive locations, depending how the game is going at any particular moment.  For eleven players on the field to be able to work well like this together requires a great deal of practice and game experience, something that simply is unavailable to national teams.  Maybe the only exception to this is every four years during the World Cup, which takes place prior to most of the leagues' regular seasons (although not for the U.S.) and affords more of a continuity to better prepare the players on national teams to raise their level of play.  But to stage these national team tournaments in the middle of the league regular season?  I don't get it...

I was dismayed the other night while watching one of these games, this one pitting the United States against Ecuador.  I missed the early part, during which the U.S. managed to score a goal against their South American opponent. While watching their performance, which was sluggish and uncoordinated, I marveled how they could have managed even that one goal.  Anyway, Ecuador did come back late in the match to tie it 1-1.  But it was obvious on both sides, and especially for the U.S. team, that these players were not comfortable playing with each other...and why not?  Their strongest ties were with their league teams.  I personally doubt that the American national team would have a shot at beating ANY of the English Premier League teams...even those at the bottom of the standings like Burnley or Queens Park Rangers.  I even think they'd probably have their hands full against an MLS team in the United States like Seattle or D.C. United.  No, I don't care for these national teams...just give me league play or tournaments involving intact league teams...

Just Finished Reading Robert Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

I just finished reading science fiction writer Robert Heinlein's 1966 novel The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.  Its general theme is the struggle of the moon's inhabitants, in the year 2076, for independence against the Earth that has been exploiting them while imposing authoritarian rule.
Originally a penal colony for the Earth's convicts (reminiscent of Australia's original role in the British Empire), the moon's population by 2076 is overwhelmingly "free", i.e. non-criminals who are mainly the inmate/exiles' offspring and descendants.  Due to the high ratio of men to women here, women are not only highly exalted, but a new form of marriage, the "line" marriage, which is comprised of many husbands and wives in one compact, has taken hold.  The chief protagonist is Manuel "Mannie" O'Kelly, who occupies a special niche in that he apparently is the only one on Luna (which is the proper name for the moon) who can communicate with the supercomputer that controls the telecommunications and life-support systems for the inhabitants.  And he has developed a personal, conversational rapport with "Mike", its mutually agreed upon name.  Mannie is apathetic to the growing resistance movement against the Earth's rule over Luna, but the ensuing plot entangles him with rebel characters (the beautiful Wyoming ("Wyoh") and the anarchist Professor Bernardo).  Together, with Mike as the "commander", they form the initial and topmost cell of an intricate resistance network that is well-nigh impossible for the authorities to break through informants and arrests.  Does the revolt succeed? Well, let's just say that Heinlein has obviously invested a great amount of time and thought determining the factors involved in a successful overthrow, and Mannie's group applies them with zeal.  But the main strategic goal in garnering independence from Earth, which is not to conquer the occupying power but rather to convince it that the political and economic cost of maintaining control isn't worth the effort, has a direct application to what had been going on in 1966, when this novel was published: the U.S. effort to subdue the Communists in Vietnam...which was eventually abandoned because of popular opposition at home, not military defeat abroad.

I was impressed by the attention to detail that Heinlein gave to describing society on Luna, a world inhabited almost completely underground (making it more three-dimensional than on Earth) and which has a thriving, functional economy and system of justice and social mores parallel to, but distinct from, that recognized by the "official" Earth government stationed there.  This is one of those books whose significance has not faded with time...Heinlein's ideas matter today as much as then, even though we never did around to establishing ourselves on the moon. Our current president says we don't need to go back because we've "already been there".  Brilliant.

And on a more speculative note, I wonder how much influence, if any, Heinlein's talking, sentient supercomputer Mike had on Arthur C Clarke's computer Hal in 2001: A Space Odyssey, which came out on the big screen the following year...

Football Suspensions, Due Process

This week in Southeastern Conference football has been marked by two suspensions of star players.  One is Florida's backup quarterback, freshman Treon Harris, who heroically brought his team back from behind in the second half against Tennessee and was possibly slated to take over the starting role.  The other is Georgia's phenomenally talented running back Todd Gurley, whose multitude of long runs had propelled himself into this year's Heisman Trophy discussion.  Harris' trouble came after a woman filed a sexual assault complaint against him, it allegedly happening the Sunday morning following the Tennessee game, and Gurley's after it was revealed that the NCAA was investigating him for violating their rules by selling his own autographs.  In both cases, their colleges immediately suspended him from football...Florida went a step further and banned Harris from campus and classes, only allowing him to take on-line courses.  Just a couple of days ago, though, the woman withdrew the complaint... although her lawyer stated that she might refile it on another day...and Harris was "cleared" of the accusation without ever having been officially charged for the alleged crime.  The University then fully reinstated him, although he will miss tonight's Gator game against LSU.  As for Gurley, he is not accused of anything yet, and what he is being investigated for is no crime but rather an infraction of a private organization's rules.  Yet he will suffer an indefinite suspension unless that investigation results in his exoneration.

Sexual assault is a very serious matter, as it should be...and it is also a very big "hot button" social issue, which is certain to inflame many people to anger and a spirit of vengeance when they hear of it.  But just being accused of something does not automatically imply guilt, and I had been under the impression that one of the factors making our society here in America more civilized is the concept of "due process", whereby one so accused is presumed innocent until an orderly and rational process of presenting evidence and witnesses, all subject to scrutiny and cross-examination, can determine guilt or innocence.  With the lack of convincing evidence or the withdrawal of the accusation, the accused should not have to suffer under a cloud of suspicion for the alleged crime and should be treated as an innocent person.  Popular opinion should play no role in his or her treatment.  But I believe the University of Florida, influenced by the public relations angle of the case, decided to presume guilt upon Harris with its knee-jerk suspension and ban.  As for Gurley, he is also being treated unfairly right now, regardless whether investigation ultimately bears out his guilt or not.  No, universities are not a part of the judicial system, and the concept of due process, as it has been strictly interpreted by the law, pertains to that judicial system, not independent organizations.  But due process IS now almost universally considered to be an essential element of fairness in our society and needs to be practiced wherever it can...

October Running Mileage Over 100 After Ten Days

My running mileage has spiked drastically over the past few days...in fact, in the first ten days of October, I've run 102 miles.  This may be the most I've ever run in a ten-day period, and that includes my marathon-training period of late 2010-early 2011.  But then I was going on very long, single runs while now, my runs are broken up throughout the day into smaller units.  I'm not sure, but I think this way it is not taking the same toll on my legs and feet as it did before.  Eventually, though, I do want to do some long runs as I'd like to get back into running half-marathon races.  But first things first: I'll see how well this new strategy works for me, at least during the next few days...

Just Finished Reading William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying

Recently I read one of William Faulkner's novels, his fifth one, titled As I Lay Dying.  In it Faulkner relates the tale of a rural Mississippi family, the Bundrens, as they deal with the circumstances surrounding the mother, Addie, and her sickness and death...and her wish to be buried many miles away in a town called "Jefferson".  Her husband, Anse, goes along with that wish...but he has his own selfish agendas, one of which is to buy himself some "new teeth" for his rotted mouth, and the other...a shocker which is only revealed at the story's end.  In the process, while the entire family goes on the trek to carry Addie's corpse to the eventual burial site...slowly by a mule-drawn cart...he proceeds to bleed his own children of their own property, money, and health,  with little regard to their sufferings.    In this family are three grown sons (Cash, Darl, Jewel), a young son (Vardaman) and one daughter (teenager Dewey Dell). Each family member has their own story to tell, as well as some of the people surrounding them in the story.  And that's how Faulkner presents this tale...filtered through the perspectives of the various characters involved, without a unifying narrative.  Sometimes this makes the story a little difficult to follow, but eventually it all comes together.  By far the most interesting (and compelling) of these perspectives is that of Vardaman, who as a little boy sees everything going around him with open, innocent eyes and with often hilarious, often sad interpretations.  I found myself looking forward, as I made my way through As I Lay Dying, for the next "Vardaman" section...

As I Lay Dying was adapted to film in 2013 by James Franco, who not only directed it but starred as Darl Bundren.  As it was available on Netflix, I watched it after finishing the book.  Although Franco did a masterful job of adhering to the book's format, plot, and characterizations, those "Vardaman" sections that I had enjoyed so much had been significantly cut, sad to say.  Still, I heartily recommend the movie, as well as the book...although you must understand that this literary/cinematic experience may mess with your emotions a bit.  It did for me...

2014 Baseball Playoffs Reach League Championship Series Stage

Now that the divisional series have all finished in this 2014 Major League Baseball season playoffs, we are left with four surviving teams: Baltimore and Kansas City in the American League...and St. Louis and San Francisco in the National League.  The Royals and Giants, the wild-card one-game winners, have continued their momentum and knocked off teams originally thought to be favorites (Los Angeles Angels and Washington, respectively).  The Orioles and Cardinals (who are coming off impressive series wins against Detroit and the LA Dodgers) are both well-managed teams, both with a strong sense of unity and a strong bullpen...crucial in those later innings after the starting pitcher, no matter how strong he has pitched earlier, begins to tire and becomes vulnerable.  Just ask the Los Angeles Dodgers, whose star-studded lineup could not save them against the Cardinals when their starters (especially Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw) could not depend on relief pitching to help them out when they began to fade in the 6th and 7th innings.  Baltimore and St. Louis, on the other hand, are rock-strong with their relief pitching...and for this reason, I pick them to make it to the World Series.  However, my personal preference is to see Baltimore face off against San Francisco...with the Giants ultimately prevailing.

The League Championship Series begin Friday with Baltimore playing Kansas City while St. Louis plays San Francisco, beginning on Saturday.  I expect some exciting, well-played games in these upcoming series...

Upcoming Election Highlights Florida Governor Race

On Tuesday, November 4, the mid-term elections will be held.  Where I'm at, the elections run from the state-wide governor's race to the local county commission, with some local and state taxing and constitutional amendment questions as well.  It would be a good idea not to wait the day before voting to get as much information on the candidates and issues...that is, assuming you're going to make the effort to get out and vote on Election Day (or in the preceding days comprising the early voting period).

The main election for the state of Florida is for governor, with incumbent Republican Rick Scott facing off against his immediate predecessor, now-Democratic Charlie Crist (there's a strong Libertarian Party candidate as well).  The television ad campaign has been full of vile mudslinging and misrepresentation.  Regardless of which side you're supporting, I can't walk away from this campaign thinking that whoever gets elected will have serious image (and, ultimately, leadership) problems to contend with as sitting governor.  As for me, I can handle either's election, although I think Crist would make the better governor for the next four years as he doesn't subscribe to a narrow ideological viewpoint like Scott.  I also think that the accusation that Crist abandoned the Republican Party is absurd when the opposite is in fact the case.  As is the charge that he was responsible for the high unemployment rate during his earlier term in office...when in fact that was part of the nationwide severe recession that arose from the banking crisis that happened at the close of the George W. Bush presidency.  I also am critical of Scott for his unreasonable hostility toward President Obama...whether one likes it or not, in a democracy you campaign and vote for your side, but if the other wins then you respect the office they hold and deal with them in a respectful manner.  It doesn't mean you have to hug the guy (which is something that hounds Crist among his right-wing detractors), but you can at least treat him as if he weren't a usurping enemy of the people.  And the pro-Scott ads trashing Crist's past and present association with our current president?  They seem to have forgotten that Obama carried Florida in both 2008 and 2012...

English Soccer Regular Season Permeated with Tournaments

I had written before about how I was surprised that soccer in England isn't just about the various teams going through the regular season, but that the top teams are also involved in the European soccer championship series, the advancing rounds of which are interspersed between regular season league games.  As it turns out, I was only scratching the surface of the presence of soccer tournaments within the regular season.  For there are two other very prominent championship tournaments ongoing in English soccer, and they involve the English leagues themselves: the Football League Cup and the FA Cup.

In the Football League Cup, all 92 teams within the top-four tiers of English soccer (Premier League, Championship, League 1, and League 2) face off in a series of knockout rounds to produce a final champion.  Although the Premier League teams are obviously the heavy favorites here, there are many instances of a lower-tier club defeating a higher one.  In fact, tier-four Bradford City actually made it all the way to the championship game in 2013!  I thought it was cool that lower-level teams got to play against the "big guys"...that is, until I discovered the FA Cup...

In English soccer, there are many, many levels in the league structure.  In the top ten tiers, there are over 700 teams.  And in the FA Cup tournament every year, each and every one of them has a shot at winning it!  Yes, theoretically, a 10th-tier team could win the whole thing...but it's highly unlikely, as you might imagine.  Still, I'd like to keep up with the FA Cup, as well as the Football League Cup...not to mention that heretofore mentioned UEFA Champions League dealing with the overall European team championship...

Just Finished Reading Brandon Sanderson's The Hero of Ages

I just finished read the supposedly final book in fantasy writer Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy, titled The Hero of Ages.  I say "supposedly" because Sanderson is producing two more trilogies from his "mistborn" theme.  I'll probably get around to reading them, which are works in progress (and projected works) on the author's part.  But for now, at least, I finished another fantasy series...and this one was a winner!

In The Hero of Ages, what had originally, in the first two books, been an uprising of the people, led by "allomantic" (employing ingested metals to attain superhuman abilities) heroes Kelsier and Vin, against the tyrannical Lord Ruler and later against competing lords and their armies, has ultimately come down to a struggle against two entities: Ruin, the force of destruction and decay, and the Presever, who protects human life and is responsible for the mists that permeate the night...and recently, the daytime.  Kelsier had sacrificed his own life for the cause at the end of book #1...or did he? For he seems to reappear in The Hero of Ages.  But is that really Kelsier? This is one of the mysteries that the final book sets out to solve, and there are others as well.  Among these are special, strange entities such as the Steel Inquisitors, the Koloss, and the Kandra.  Another mystery, resolved at the end, is the relationship between the three types of metal-induced supernatural abilities that certain individuals possess: allomancy, ferochemy, and hemalurgy...and how they relate to the conflicting agendas of Ruin and the Preserver, along with the curious presence of the falling ash and the mists.  Sounds a bit complicated, but Sanderson masterfully manages it all and presents it well.  I was very impressed by the ending of Hero of Ages, which brings closure to the trilogy while leaving a future that might be written about in another (and which apparently is).  Mistborn is, to me, definitely a "must-read" in the fantasy genre.  You won't be disappointed!

Today's Florida-Tennessee Game Seen as a Survival Contest By Many

Today's University of Florida football game is an early one, starting at noon in Knoxville against the University of Tennessee.  Both the Gators and Volunteers see this as a pivotal game in their seasons, as they both are proud schools with winning traditions but recent hard times.  This is more a survivor's game than anything, for the loser will most definitely become stamped within their own community as a failure...even if they go on to a winning season and bowl appearance.  Tennessee may be able to withstand a loss better than Florida: so far this year,the Gators actually have won the games they were expected to win and their one loss was to powerhouse Alabama on the road...but try telling that to some of their many unreasonable fans, who expect perfection from them week after week.  Well, that lot will probably never be satisfied with anything the Gators do. Even if they win today's game, they'll find something negative to focus on and crow about, probably culminating in yet another call to sack coach Will Muschamp and bench starting quarterback Jeff Driskel.  But I've seen this scenario play out every season since poor Ron Zook's first season in 2002 to succeed legend Steve Spurrier as head coach.

Maybe my attitude makes me not as much of a Florida fan as others see themselves, but I'm quite happy to have a moderately successful team that challenges for their divisional title...and makes it to their very competitive conference's title game every once and a while.  And in that regard, the Gators are square in the driver's seat. A loss to Tennessee, for me, would surely be a disappointment.  But as Billy Preston once expressed in his old 1973 summertime hit Will It Go Round in Circles, it's O.K. to "let the bad guy win every once in a while"...

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....