In 1976, rock star Steve Miller came out with a song, one of my favorites, called Fly Like an Eagle. Throughout it he repeats the words "Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping...into the future". From the first time I heard it, it occurred to me that "time" could either be thought of as slipping into the future, the past...or neither...
If you think of the "now" as a point in time...in which all of the living reside...it does seem, in a way, that what we regard as future times are being approached by the "now". So in ol' Steve's hit record, if you replaced "time" with "the now", then his words would ring true...kind of. Let's say it's 10:00 and I'm looking ahead to 10:05. It does look like the present is aimed at the future and is approaching it, with the temporal distance decreasing in minutes from 5 to 4,3,2,1...and then passing through the "now" into the past. In THIS way of looking at it, then, time seems to be moving backward, from the future into the past. I remember many times in my life, mostly when I was young, looking ahead to future events and wondering what I and the world would be like then. But those times would come and go, and now they are in the past. And looking at it all yet another way, since we all live in the present "now", this by definition can be neither the past nor the future...the notion of time slipping in any direction is an illusion. Or is it?
I believe that the common confusion that arises when people think about time, especially the concepts of "past", "now", and "future", is largely due to the two often incongruent realities we live in. Yes, we live in two realities: subjective reality and objective reality...
Subjective reality is the universe from our own personal, individual viewpoints and objective realty is the composite universe in all of its detail, without any special regard to our own individual place in it. To give a very simple example, one might subjectively look down a long, straight path and see its edges approach until they meet at the horizon while, while objectively speaking it would have been learned that, the path continues to that distance without any narrowing of those essentially parallel edges. Infants and little children see things overwhelmingly subjectively: brain development, education and upbringing teach them to see things in a more objective light...but it can cause conflicts...
The concept of "now" has no place within objective reality, nor apparently does the "flow" of time. Physicists have discovered that the so-called "direction" of time makes no difference in any of their formulations about the nature of reality, i.e. "objective" reality...well, that's at least what they told me on the Science Channel! "Now" is only relevant in terms of subjective reality, which is the world as experienced from one's vantage point. "Past" and "future" likewise are subjective concepts since they are based on events happening either before or after "now", respectively. Furthermore, "now"...since it is subjective and not objective in nature...is a personal concept and isn't the same from one individual to another. This resonates with established physics as well, as it has been demonstrated that the concept of simultaneity has no absolute meaning, at least scientifically. To think that there is a universal, same "now" would imply that everywhere at that instant a set pattern of event happens throughout the universe...but it all depends on one's perspective in determining simultaneous events...
I fear I might have completely confused you with this metaphysical rant, but these types of ideas...the nature of time and the two types of reality...thoroughly interest me. And since the whole point of this blog is for me to write about interesting things (from my own subjective viewpoint, of course), it is what it is...
Sunday, March 27, 2016
Saturday, March 26, 2016
Just Finished Reading John Hart's The Last Child
I just happened to be browsing through the book section of a local CVS the other day when I came upon an interesting-looking paperback: The Last Child by John Hart. I picked it up and examined it: good, not part of any series...just a simple, self-contained novel. And so I went about reading it for the last few days...it was a good investment of my time...
The Last Child, published in 2009, is set in a fictional county in today's north-central North Carolina. A thirteen-year old boy named Johnny Merrimon is on a personal crusade to find his twin sister Alyssa, abducted the year before. In the course of his single-minded quest, his personality has become wilder and many around town see him as disturbed, if not actually crazy. His own family had broken up over the tragedy of his sister and he is now living with his mother, the father having disappeared from the scene. A rather evil, wealthy man who owns much of the town has her under his control, and he is brutal toward Johnny. Also looking for lost Alyssa is a local police detective named Clyde Hunt...he is nearly as obsessed about the unsolved case as Johnny. Throw in Johnny's only remaining friend, Jack Cross...along with Jack's family...and Levi Freemantle, the mysterious giant prison escapee who plays a hidden role in it all as a sort of wild-card character, and the story is set to turn in many different directions until it is all resolved at the end...
The mystery of The Last Child is manifold: one, who is responsible for Alyssa's disappearance a year before? I thought I figured that one out early in the story...but I was in the end only partially right with my guess. Two, what happened to Johnny's father? He had been searching for Alyssa, but suddenly left and never came back. And of course, the biggest question: where is Alyssa?
John Hart did a magnificent job balancing all of the numerous plot twists with the character development. I was left at the end understanding why he included many characters who I didn't think were relevant to the story...but it all eventually comes together. Moreover, the author...like Stephen King with his focus on small-town Maine...introduced me to his own home of rural North Carolina...
So, you can probably see from all this that I liked The Last Child, and you would be correct. It's not too long of a book, and the story, a good mystery, is well-told with strong, memorable characters...
The Last Child, published in 2009, is set in a fictional county in today's north-central North Carolina. A thirteen-year old boy named Johnny Merrimon is on a personal crusade to find his twin sister Alyssa, abducted the year before. In the course of his single-minded quest, his personality has become wilder and many around town see him as disturbed, if not actually crazy. His own family had broken up over the tragedy of his sister and he is now living with his mother, the father having disappeared from the scene. A rather evil, wealthy man who owns much of the town has her under his control, and he is brutal toward Johnny. Also looking for lost Alyssa is a local police detective named Clyde Hunt...he is nearly as obsessed about the unsolved case as Johnny. Throw in Johnny's only remaining friend, Jack Cross...along with Jack's family...and Levi Freemantle, the mysterious giant prison escapee who plays a hidden role in it all as a sort of wild-card character, and the story is set to turn in many different directions until it is all resolved at the end...
The mystery of The Last Child is manifold: one, who is responsible for Alyssa's disappearance a year before? I thought I figured that one out early in the story...but I was in the end only partially right with my guess. Two, what happened to Johnny's father? He had been searching for Alyssa, but suddenly left and never came back. And of course, the biggest question: where is Alyssa?
John Hart did a magnificent job balancing all of the numerous plot twists with the character development. I was left at the end understanding why he included many characters who I didn't think were relevant to the story...but it all eventually comes together. Moreover, the author...like Stephen King with his focus on small-town Maine...introduced me to his own home of rural North Carolina...
So, you can probably see from all this that I liked The Last Child, and you would be correct. It's not too long of a book, and the story, a good mystery, is well-told with strong, memorable characters...
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Heavy Rain Predicted for This Saturday's 10K Trail Race
In years gone by it seemed to be a recurring problem when, on the morning of a running race I had signed up for, the temperatures would severely spike downward. Take my first half-marathon in February 2010, for example: for that Sunday morning alone, it got down to about 25 degrees when the race began at 7...very uncomfortable for an almost lifelong Floridian like me. Over and over this kept happening...until recently. Now there is a new weather phenomenon affecting races I plan to enter: rain, rain, and more rain (and sometimes lightning and high winds)...
I stayed out of the Ocala Half-Marathon this year because of an unusually strong storm system that just happened to pass through the area on the morning of the race. Earlier this month I ran a local 10K race with rain threatening at any moment...the downpour luckily held off until I was in my car right afterward, driving home. And now I am looking to this weekend's race, the 10K Trail of Payne run in Paynes Prairie State Park a few miles south of Gainesville. The terrain is almost all trail, and the website promises some stretches where it is a bit muddy. Well, with the weekend's forecast for heavy rains...starting on Friday, the day before the race...not only will I have to run through a lot a precipitation, but the course itself might become so compromised with extremely muddy trails and slippery grass surfaces that just getting through it and finishing, whatever the means and however slowly, would be a great victory. Part of me wants to just scratch it all...after all, I haven't yet signed up and paid the entry fee. But part of me wonders whether this might just be a fun adventure to experience. And yet another part of me is concerned about my healing right foot and whether I'll be ready to run Saturday morning's race. That's two parts against and one part for...I'll just have to wait and see what I decide to do on Saturday morning, I suppose...
I stayed out of the Ocala Half-Marathon this year because of an unusually strong storm system that just happened to pass through the area on the morning of the race. Earlier this month I ran a local 10K race with rain threatening at any moment...the downpour luckily held off until I was in my car right afterward, driving home. And now I am looking to this weekend's race, the 10K Trail of Payne run in Paynes Prairie State Park a few miles south of Gainesville. The terrain is almost all trail, and the website promises some stretches where it is a bit muddy. Well, with the weekend's forecast for heavy rains...starting on Friday, the day before the race...not only will I have to run through a lot a precipitation, but the course itself might become so compromised with extremely muddy trails and slippery grass surfaces that just getting through it and finishing, whatever the means and however slowly, would be a great victory. Part of me wants to just scratch it all...after all, I haven't yet signed up and paid the entry fee. But part of me wonders whether this might just be a fun adventure to experience. And yet another part of me is concerned about my healing right foot and whether I'll be ready to run Saturday morning's race. That's two parts against and one part for...I'll just have to wait and see what I decide to do on Saturday morning, I suppose...
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Florida Men's Basketball in NIT Quarterfinals
The University of Florida men's basketball team, which earlier had been considered a viable NCAA Championship Tournament contender before a late regular season slump knocked them out of consideration, has picked up its game and is currently on something of a hot streak. In the second-tier National Invitation Tournament, the Gators won their first two games 97-68 over North Florida and 74-66 over Ohio State. The remarkable thing about these wins is that Florida has had to play all of its NIT games on the road in hostile arenas despite being higher-seeded...all because their own home site, the O'Connell Center, is already booked for other events. Tomorrow they will once again be on the road against a lower-seeded team in the quarterfinal round, this time against George Washington University in Washington, D.C.. Should Florida again prevail, they will make the celebrated NIT "Final Four" and get to play in the semi-final round in Madison Square Garden in New York City...
Game time for Florida vs. George Washington is Wednesday, March 23 at 7 pm. It will be shown on ESPN2...but I'll be at work. Still, I should be able to pick it up on the radio. I'll have to remember to wear my Gator cap...
Game time for Florida vs. George Washington is Wednesday, March 23 at 7 pm. It will be shown on ESPN2...but I'll be at work. Still, I should be able to pick it up on the radio. I'll have to remember to wear my Gator cap...
Monday, March 21, 2016
Just Finished Reading The History of Now by Daniel Klein
Daniel Klein, a writer who has written a few fictional novels as well as a series of humorous books on philosophy, in 2009 came out with a novel that has a philosophical bent to it: The History of Now. With such an ambitious-sounding title, this book was bound to disappoint...and it did, to some extent. Not that the story wasn't interesting...it certainly was, and the characters were compelling as well. It's just that Klein wrote this rather ordinary tale of the passage of generations in a small New England town in such a pretentious manner that it demanded at least a little rejection from me. It also had a distasteful ring of political correctness about it, something I'll get into a little later...
The (fictional) town of Grandville, Massachusetts goes back centuries, but the story begins at the renovation of a downtown street in the late nineteenth century after an arsonist burned down the old buildings. Four influential families plan the restoration which includes a beautiful theater for the showing of plays. The deVries family is behind the theater project, and eventually the tale settles down into the telling of the life of one of their descendants, Wendel, as he finds himself happily living out his life as the projector operator for this theater, now devoted to showing movies. His daughter Franny and granddaughter Lila also have their own lives, and throwing in Hector, a young man displaced by war and organized crime in his native Colombia, we have the core of the story, primarily presented from the viewpoints of Wendel, Franny, Lila, and Hector...but with the author's pretentiousness hovering over everything...
Trying as hard as I could to get the drift of what Klein was trying to express with this tale of rather ordinary people, I concluded that he was saying that history need not be only about the tumultuous events of rulers, wars, politics, and major trends and innovations, but it is also concerned with the lives and origins of "regular" folks. If that was what he was after, then I didn't need to read this book: I already know that, as do most of us. I also got the feeling that he was promoting the life-philosophy of Wendel, who relishes the present moment and seeks to find a sense of connection with others and the world around him. That I could dig...I sort of liked Wendel and identified with him. What bugged me a lot about The History of Now was how Klein used it as a political rant against George W. Bush and his Iraq War, not that I approved of that very costly military adventure, either. That kind of convenient political correctness bothered me a lot. But his more incidentally politically correct inclusion of African-Americans and Latinos into the story was a brilliant stroke, as it revealed the interconnectedness of humanity, our interdependence, and often entangled origins, in spite of the imaginary walls we sometimes like to employ to artificially divide ourselves from one another...
If you want an interesting story about the lives of people like you or me, than The History of Now is a good book to pick up and read. But I would be careful and try to avoid reading it as some kind of philosophical treatise: it isn't...
The (fictional) town of Grandville, Massachusetts goes back centuries, but the story begins at the renovation of a downtown street in the late nineteenth century after an arsonist burned down the old buildings. Four influential families plan the restoration which includes a beautiful theater for the showing of plays. The deVries family is behind the theater project, and eventually the tale settles down into the telling of the life of one of their descendants, Wendel, as he finds himself happily living out his life as the projector operator for this theater, now devoted to showing movies. His daughter Franny and granddaughter Lila also have their own lives, and throwing in Hector, a young man displaced by war and organized crime in his native Colombia, we have the core of the story, primarily presented from the viewpoints of Wendel, Franny, Lila, and Hector...but with the author's pretentiousness hovering over everything...
Trying as hard as I could to get the drift of what Klein was trying to express with this tale of rather ordinary people, I concluded that he was saying that history need not be only about the tumultuous events of rulers, wars, politics, and major trends and innovations, but it is also concerned with the lives and origins of "regular" folks. If that was what he was after, then I didn't need to read this book: I already know that, as do most of us. I also got the feeling that he was promoting the life-philosophy of Wendel, who relishes the present moment and seeks to find a sense of connection with others and the world around him. That I could dig...I sort of liked Wendel and identified with him. What bugged me a lot about The History of Now was how Klein used it as a political rant against George W. Bush and his Iraq War, not that I approved of that very costly military adventure, either. That kind of convenient political correctness bothered me a lot. But his more incidentally politically correct inclusion of African-Americans and Latinos into the story was a brilliant stroke, as it revealed the interconnectedness of humanity, our interdependence, and often entangled origins, in spite of the imaginary walls we sometimes like to employ to artificially divide ourselves from one another...
If you want an interesting story about the lives of people like you or me, than The History of Now is a good book to pick up and read. But I would be careful and try to avoid reading it as some kind of philosophical treatise: it isn't...
Sunday, March 20, 2016
Wanted: A Three-Dimensional Star Map
Tonight, after hearing that the skies will finally be clearing up after days of being overcast, I plan to step outside and do a little late-winter evening star-gazing. I already know what to expect: the same constellations with their same configurations and the same stars, the brightest of which I know the names. Yes, there will be Orion, with its famous "Belt" of three stars in the middle and the bright stars of Betelgeuse, Rigel, and Bellatrix. North and a little to the west a lies the house-shaped (if you "connect" the stars like the old connect-the-dot puzzles) Auriga, with Capella being the standout star. West of Orion and south of Auriga is Taurus of the Zodiac, Aldebaran its bright star and the famous Pleiades cluster further west. The Zodiac extends eastward with Gemini (containing the "twin" stars Castor and Pollux), the faint Cancer, then Leo with its bright star Regulus...and then on to Virgo toward the eastern horizon. The planet Jupiter will be shining bright, just about between Leo and Virgo. The "dog stars" of Sirius (in Canis Major and the brightest star of the night sky) and Procyon (in Canis Major) will dominate the southern sky...they lie east of Orion. And the Big Dipper, an asterism that is part of the constellation Ursa Major, will be to the right of the North Star (Polaris), with its handle on the bottom and the dipper on top. Yes, I know the arrangement of stars in the night sky quite well...I learned it back in 1964 when I was seven years old. Well, I think it's about time to expand my map into the third dimension...
Stars that appear close together in the sky are in all probability vastly distant from each other...one may be relatively close to us, like Sirius at 8.6 light-years, while "nearby" stars like Betelgeuse and Rigel are each around 1,400 light-years away. What I want is a three-dimensional map of space that I can step into and see the sky from the point at which I am standing. So, for example, I might just want to see how different the stars look from the vantage point of Sirius, so I walk to where it is on my 3-D map...and look around me. Doubtless some stars, like Betelgeuse and Rigel, would be just as bright, but other stars might dim or get brighter. And some may disappear while others become prominent. And the constellations themselves might change a bit in their shapes. Also, I would of course see our own Sun, which would be located at the diametrically opposite part of the sky that we see Sirius in...
A real three-dimensional space map is probably too unwieldy to construct, but with our virtual reality technology on the advance, it should be quite feasible to duplicate it in virtual space. I wonder whether such maps exist yet...if and when they do, I definitely want to be in on it...
Stars that appear close together in the sky are in all probability vastly distant from each other...one may be relatively close to us, like Sirius at 8.6 light-years, while "nearby" stars like Betelgeuse and Rigel are each around 1,400 light-years away. What I want is a three-dimensional map of space that I can step into and see the sky from the point at which I am standing. So, for example, I might just want to see how different the stars look from the vantage point of Sirius, so I walk to where it is on my 3-D map...and look around me. Doubtless some stars, like Betelgeuse and Rigel, would be just as bright, but other stars might dim or get brighter. And some may disappear while others become prominent. And the constellations themselves might change a bit in their shapes. Also, I would of course see our own Sun, which would be located at the diametrically opposite part of the sky that we see Sirius in...
A real three-dimensional space map is probably too unwieldy to construct, but with our virtual reality technology on the advance, it should be quite feasible to duplicate it in virtual space. I wonder whether such maps exist yet...if and when they do, I definitely want to be in on it...
Saturday, March 19, 2016
Just Finished Reading James Patterson's 1st to Die
I've known for many years that James Patterson, whose books I've recently begun to read in earnest, has been coming out every couple of years with a new "number" in his Women's Murder Club series. I actually read one of these a few years ago...but it apparently wasn't the "one" I just read...must have been a "higher" number. Naturally this time around I decided to start at the beginning of the series and read book number one, appropriately titled 1st to Die...
In 1st to Die San Francisco homicide investigator Lindsay Boxer is confronted with a string of serial killings targeting newlyweds...the crimes are brutal and seemingly random, other than the victims' recent weddings. In this endeavor she is teamed up with Chris Raleigh, a partner about whom she initially feels distrust and contempt for his relative inexperience and inter-office political role but who demonstrates his integrity and courage over the course of the story. While working with Chris, Lindsay assembles an informal group of women friends around her: Claire, who works in the coroner's office, Cindy, a newspaper reporter, and Jill, a prosecuting attorney...hence the name Women's Murder Club. But it isn't just this puzzling multiple-murder case that she shares with them: Lindsay has been recently diagnosed with a rare, but often fatal blood disease...and the prognosis for her survival isn't very good...
Eventually Lindsay and her associates uncover the mystery of the newlywed murders as she crosses paths with a famous fiction writer whose personal life is deplorable with his abuse of women. Just what is this awful person's role in the murders, if any? Well, I suppose you're gonna hafta read it to find out...unless, of course, you plan to watch the TV movie version, made in 2003 two years after the novel was released...
I liked 1st to Die...actually, it's been my favorite James Patterson novel so far of the five I've recently read. Next in this series is 2nd Chance: definitely worth looking into...
In 1st to Die San Francisco homicide investigator Lindsay Boxer is confronted with a string of serial killings targeting newlyweds...the crimes are brutal and seemingly random, other than the victims' recent weddings. In this endeavor she is teamed up with Chris Raleigh, a partner about whom she initially feels distrust and contempt for his relative inexperience and inter-office political role but who demonstrates his integrity and courage over the course of the story. While working with Chris, Lindsay assembles an informal group of women friends around her: Claire, who works in the coroner's office, Cindy, a newspaper reporter, and Jill, a prosecuting attorney...hence the name Women's Murder Club. But it isn't just this puzzling multiple-murder case that she shares with them: Lindsay has been recently diagnosed with a rare, but often fatal blood disease...and the prognosis for her survival isn't very good...
Eventually Lindsay and her associates uncover the mystery of the newlywed murders as she crosses paths with a famous fiction writer whose personal life is deplorable with his abuse of women. Just what is this awful person's role in the murders, if any? Well, I suppose you're gonna hafta read it to find out...unless, of course, you plan to watch the TV movie version, made in 2003 two years after the novel was released...
I liked 1st to Die...actually, it's been my favorite James Patterson novel so far of the five I've recently read. Next in this series is 2nd Chance: definitely worth looking into...
Friday, March 18, 2016
Florida Gators Play Today in NCAA Women's Tournament
Last year the University of Florida basketball teams, both men's and women's, faltered from their usual winning ways...the women's team finished 13-17. This year, however, they staged a complete turnaround, now with a 22-8 record and a berth in this year's NCAA Tournament. The Gators are seeded #5 in their region and are playing #12 seed Albany (of New York). Unfortunately for head coach Amanda Butler's team, they are playing in Syracuse...just a few miles from Albany...so their lower-seeded opponent definitely has a home-court advantage here. And should they manage to win this opening round game today, their Sunday opponent in all likelihood will be 4th-seeded Syracuse. So the women's hoops team will be playing their first two tournament games on a hostile court...assuming they get past Albany in the first game. Oh well, at least they made the tournament! And besides, they don't have to play in the same region as Connecticut or Notre Dame, the two schools that have overwhelmingly dominated the sport in recent years...
It is the lack of parity at the top level of play that bothers me about NCAA women's basketball, and it has always been like that. For many years, it was considered a "slam-dunk" that Tennessee would glide onward each season to an easy championship. Over time, this sense of predestined fate has transferred to Connecticut, which has won the last three championships and more than half of the titles in this century. But it isn't just that Connecticut has won many championships: most of the tournament games they play are boring blowouts: do you really want to watch a game (like in last year's tournament) where Connecticut wins, against good teams, 89-33, 91-55, and 105-54? Okay, they finally played it closer in the next two games, winning 91-70 and 81-58...well, not that close, either. The finale, which was against the one team capable of competing on the same court with them, Notre Dame, was only a 10-point margin. These ridiculously lopsided games have been the rule and not the exception with the top-teams in women's NCAA basketball...quite a contrast with the men's tournament, which has much more parity...
They are showing the Belmont-Michigan State game on ESPN right now, but I think I'm going to have to listen to the radio (on 95.3 here in Gainesville) to follow the Florida-Albany game, which at this writing (a few minutes past noon) has just begun. Go Gators!
Wait a minute, they ARE showing the Florida-Albany game on ESPN...either that or they are hopping around from one game to another...
It is the lack of parity at the top level of play that bothers me about NCAA women's basketball, and it has always been like that. For many years, it was considered a "slam-dunk" that Tennessee would glide onward each season to an easy championship. Over time, this sense of predestined fate has transferred to Connecticut, which has won the last three championships and more than half of the titles in this century. But it isn't just that Connecticut has won many championships: most of the tournament games they play are boring blowouts: do you really want to watch a game (like in last year's tournament) where Connecticut wins, against good teams, 89-33, 91-55, and 105-54? Okay, they finally played it closer in the next two games, winning 91-70 and 81-58...well, not that close, either. The finale, which was against the one team capable of competing on the same court with them, Notre Dame, was only a 10-point margin. These ridiculously lopsided games have been the rule and not the exception with the top-teams in women's NCAA basketball...quite a contrast with the men's tournament, which has much more parity...
They are showing the Belmont-Michigan State game on ESPN right now, but I think I'm going to have to listen to the radio (on 95.3 here in Gainesville) to follow the Florida-Albany game, which at this writing (a few minutes past noon) has just begun. Go Gators!
Wait a minute, they ARE showing the Florida-Albany game on ESPN...either that or they are hopping around from one game to another...
Thursday, March 17, 2016
Time for Annual Pollen Outbreak Here in Gainesville
A few weeks ago, I dismally observed a thin coating of green vegetation on my car one morning. Oh no, I thought...here comes the pollen again to ruin my life as it has recently with the coming of each spring...only it was still winter (and still is, for that matter). But that portentous green stuff apparently wasn't the worst of it, no, just the start...other plants, more harmful in their effects, have now swung into attack emitting their noxious products into the air, by now a soup of massive annoyance. I am prone to respiratory allergies, you see, and usually end up taking Zyrtec or Claritin to fight off the symptoms, which involve congested sinuses, headaches, sore throat, and sneezing fits. These pollen waves will go on for the next few weeks until they finally abate...by that time we'll be back into the hot, sweltering dog days of summer...even it is still springtime...
We barely had a winter here in north central Florida...usually, the grass and bushes take at least a couple of months off from growing during this season, but this year they've continued right on through as if we lived down in the tropics. As a matter of fact, cold weather has been markedly absent most of the time in recent winters. There is definitely something going on with the warming climate, whether you want to deny it or not...
We barely had a winter here in north central Florida...usually, the grass and bushes take at least a couple of months off from growing during this season, but this year they've continued right on through as if we lived down in the tropics. As a matter of fact, cold weather has been markedly absent most of the time in recent winters. There is definitely something going on with the warming climate, whether you want to deny it or not...
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Voted in Today's Florida Primary and Gainesville Mayoral Race
A couple of hours ago I drove the very short distance...which I could have walked...to my local precinct and voted in today's Florida Presidential Primary and Gainesville mayoral race. The parking lot at the Senior Recreational Center where I vote was packed...uh-oh, I thought, I'm going to have to stand in a long line and wait a while. But no, there just happened to be a lot of seniors enjoying the facilities...I entered the building, walked down the hallway, and stepped right up to the table where the volunteer gave me my ballot without any line whatsoever. I voted, received my "I Voted" sticker, and walked back out into the parking lot. The entire process, from leaving my house to returning, couldn't have taken more than 20 minutes to accomplish...
Voting sites are designed and located to make it as convenient as possible for residents to be able to vote. That certainly is the case where I live. I'm posting this article while there are still six hours left to vote today. If you read this and haven't voted yet (assuming you live in Florida, of course), why not set aside a few minutes and fulfill your important civic responsibility as a citizen of this great country?
Voting sites are designed and located to make it as convenient as possible for residents to be able to vote. That certainly is the case where I live. I'm posting this article while there are still six hours left to vote today. If you read this and haven't voted yet (assuming you live in Florida, of course), why not set aside a few minutes and fulfill your important civic responsibility as a citizen of this great country?
Monday, March 14, 2016
Just Finished Reading Stephen King's Novella The Sun Dog
I've possessed a hardbound copy of Stephen King's 1990 book Four Past Midnight for several years, but had only gotten around to reading one of its four novellas: The Library Policeman. Two of the book's stories were adapted into movies: The Langoliers (which I saw) and Secret Window, Secret Garden (of which I only caught a couple of scenes). I didn't see the point of reading the former after seeing the movie...which is why I've never read King's Misery or Firestarter, either. As for Secret Window, Secret Garden, there's no reason for me to avoid reading it since I don't know how the story ends. That leaves the remaining novella: The Sun Dog, which I just finished reading...
Keep in mind, with The Sun Dog, that we are dealing with a story set in the author's time frame of 1990. Back then Polaroid was a very popular brand of camera with its pictures developing a few seconds after their jettisoning, something that in our time must seem a bit obsolete. But for protagonist Kevin Delevan, there are few things he wanted more for his fifteenth birthday than the Polaroid Sun 660 he receives. Immediately he lines up his family for a photo op, but the resulting picture reveals only an ugly, stray-looking dog with its back to the camera, facing a fence in the background. And no matter how many photos Kevin takes, he gets that dog with the fence. Although he is inclined to return the obviously defective product, a strange feeling inside him compels him to keep it and investigate the cause of the puzzling photos. It is then his sister who points out to him that the photos are not all the same...they change very gradually. Kevin takes the advice of someone to take the camera to "Pop" Merrill, an elderly, miserly loan shark who has a shop full of gadgets and who has built up a reputation for his ability to take apart clocks and other items...including presumably cameras. Well, that was a bad decision on Kevin's part, because Merrill's greed takes over as he plots to wrest away possession of the camera...
Since I don't give away story endings, this is another one you'll have to read for yourself. But I will say this: Stephen King likes to take ostensibly innocent looking objects...like cars, for example...and impart something supernatural and sinister to them. And by choosing a camera, he also explores the idea of a two-dimensional universe interacting with ours of three dimensions. If that sounds a lot like Edwin Abbott's Flatland, well, King openly acknowledges it in this intriguing story. Of all the characters in The Sun Dog, I found that of "Pop" Merrill to be by far the most interesting and thought-provoking. But that's not surprising since I've long thought that Stephen King's greatest attribute as a writer of fiction has been his genius at character development...
I recommend The Sun Dog...now to read Secret Window, Secret Garden...
Keep in mind, with The Sun Dog, that we are dealing with a story set in the author's time frame of 1990. Back then Polaroid was a very popular brand of camera with its pictures developing a few seconds after their jettisoning, something that in our time must seem a bit obsolete. But for protagonist Kevin Delevan, there are few things he wanted more for his fifteenth birthday than the Polaroid Sun 660 he receives. Immediately he lines up his family for a photo op, but the resulting picture reveals only an ugly, stray-looking dog with its back to the camera, facing a fence in the background. And no matter how many photos Kevin takes, he gets that dog with the fence. Although he is inclined to return the obviously defective product, a strange feeling inside him compels him to keep it and investigate the cause of the puzzling photos. It is then his sister who points out to him that the photos are not all the same...they change very gradually. Kevin takes the advice of someone to take the camera to "Pop" Merrill, an elderly, miserly loan shark who has a shop full of gadgets and who has built up a reputation for his ability to take apart clocks and other items...including presumably cameras. Well, that was a bad decision on Kevin's part, because Merrill's greed takes over as he plots to wrest away possession of the camera...
Since I don't give away story endings, this is another one you'll have to read for yourself. But I will say this: Stephen King likes to take ostensibly innocent looking objects...like cars, for example...and impart something supernatural and sinister to them. And by choosing a camera, he also explores the idea of a two-dimensional universe interacting with ours of three dimensions. If that sounds a lot like Edwin Abbott's Flatland, well, King openly acknowledges it in this intriguing story. Of all the characters in The Sun Dog, I found that of "Pop" Merrill to be by far the most interesting and thought-provoking. But that's not surprising since I've long thought that Stephen King's greatest attribute as a writer of fiction has been his genius at character development...
I recommend The Sun Dog...now to read Secret Window, Secret Garden...
Sunday, March 13, 2016
Florida Men's Basketball Team Misses NCAA Tourney, Accepts NIT Bid
After their three-game skid toward the end of the Southeastern Conference regular season and then only garnering one conference tournament win to finish a 19-14 record (at least so far), the 2015-16 University of Florida men's basketball team was not invited to the NCAA Championship Tournament...a disappointment that I had clearly expected. You can argue whether or not teams like Syracuse or Tulsa deserved to go to the "Big Dance", but Florida simply wasn't good enough. That's not saying that they're not a good team...first year Gator coach Mike White, by all accounts, has done a great job with these players and all of them should be proud after the second-tier National Invitation Tournament extended to them a bid to play there. UF, a number 2 seed in their assigned "quadrant", will play the North Florida Ospreys Tuesday evening at 9 in the first round. Since the Gators' home site of the O'Connell Center is unavailable, they will have to go on the road for this tournament, unfortunately. Still, they have a good chance to up their win total past 20. Should Florida do as expected and beat UNF, they'll face the winner of the Ohio State-Akron game...most likely the Buckeyes.
Florida men's basketball has made a marked improvement from last year, when they finished under .500 and missed both the NCAA and NIT. But if they want to advance far into this year's NIT, they'll need to figure out how they can shoot three-pointers so well while being abysmal at the foul line. You simply cannot put together a string of victories without being able to protect a small lead at the end of a game when the other team is fouling your poor-shooting players and expecting them to miss at the line. Coach White will have a simple goal for next year's team: make the NCAA tournament...he can start with improving his players' foul shooting. But, who knows, maybe UF will surprise everyone and blow all their opponents away in this tournament...and not ever have to worry about protecting a small lead. Well, at least I can hope...
Congratulations, Gators!
Florida men's basketball has made a marked improvement from last year, when they finished under .500 and missed both the NCAA and NIT. But if they want to advance far into this year's NIT, they'll need to figure out how they can shoot three-pointers so well while being abysmal at the foul line. You simply cannot put together a string of victories without being able to protect a small lead at the end of a game when the other team is fouling your poor-shooting players and expecting them to miss at the line. Coach White will have a simple goal for next year's team: make the NCAA tournament...he can start with improving his players' foul shooting. But, who knows, maybe UF will surprise everyone and blow all their opponents away in this tournament...and not ever have to worry about protecting a small lead. Well, at least I can hope...
Congratulations, Gators!
Saturday, March 12, 2016
Ran 2016 Run for Haven 10K in Tioga Today
In spite of not feeling in tip-top running form, along with an unwelcome plantar fasciitis flare-up in my right foot, I decided to go ahead anyway and tackle the challenging Tioga course of the Run for Haven 10K for the second straight year. Unlike almost every other running race, held around 7 to 9 in the morning, this race has the audacity to start at 4:30 p.m., right at the hottest point of the day. Last year it was hot and humid, and I had some difficulty getting through it all...I saw many runners have to stop and walk for long stretches. Today was much of the same, with the temperature in the low 80s and the humidity a tolerable but still unpleasant 60%. But I had learned my lesson from 2015 and changed my tactics...
First of all, I drank plenty of fluids in the two hours before this year's race, preparing for water and salt loss in advance. I also ran a slower, more reasonable pace: after about 1.5 miles, no one passed me...but I passed many, a large portion of who were once again compelled to walk, apparently unprepared victims of the heat and humidity. My final time as I clocked it myself was 59:00, a little less than 3 minutes slower than last year's time. However, due to the crowd of runners in front of me, it took me several seconds to even get to the starting line after the race's beginning...it will be interesting to find out my official finishing time when it is posted (for which I'll provide a link as soon as possible)...
The folks putting on this event combined it with a St. Patrick's Day celebration, which accounts for all of the green you see in the accompanying pictures (I wore green, too). They had a live band and provided "free" food and drink for the race participants, although I passed up on my allotment due to the impossibly long lines of "customers". No problem, I wasn't all that thrilled with last year's meal, anyway...
I like this race because it mixes up, in even proportions, road and trail running. I'm beginning to develop a more realistic default distance running pace that is a bit slower than that I ran with, say, back in 2010-13. But I'm not getting any younger, with my 60th birthday coming this October, and I need to make reasonable adjustments. At my newly adopted pace, I feel confident that I can once again run in longer distance races like half-marathons. Then again, I still need to overcome this nagging, recurring plantar fasciitis problem...
Friday, March 11, 2016
Nancy Reagan and George Martin, R.I.P.
The past few weeks, in a way, have been especially depressing for me...there seems to be too many people dying, both among those in my personal life and those who are famous. The personal losses are naturally more severe, but the more public deaths have hit hard as well. However, it shouldn't have come as much of a surprise that two celebrities who were in their nineties finally passed on: former First Lady Nancy Reagan and renown record producer George Martin...
I have always felt a great degree of respect and admiration for Nancy Reagan, actually much more than for her famous husband "Ronny"...this makes me a bit different from most people who thought more highly of him. She brought a sense of class to the White House that it needed as the center for the role that the President serves as Head of State. Her "Just Say No" slogan against drug abuse and the accompanying campaign while she was First Lady and afterwards is a lasting, positive legacy. I also admire Nancy for rebuking renegade former Reagan staffer Oliver North when he tried to associate himself with her husband during his 1994 Virginia Senate campaign against incumbent Chuck Robb. And her devotion throughout her marriage to Ronald...especially during the final years after he had become afflicted with Alzheimer's, was beautiful to behold. Finally, Nancy was a strong, assertive woman who graciously handled what I perceived to be sexist criticism against her character. When a man displays these traits he is hailed as a great leader, but a woman? Let's just hope that these gender-based double standards can finally be a thing of the past, although I see much of the same nonsense now being directed at Hillary Clinton...
George Martin was doubtless a musical genius...especially in the recording studio...who is best known for recognizing the potential of the Beatles in their early years and bringing them to a high standard of performance on their records, producing many of the greatest albums ever made. Although the band wrote most of their songs (although their early covers of other artists were great), they depended on Martin to make things work in the studio. Two examples: when Penny Lane was being recorded, Paul McCartney, after hearing a French horn play, decided that this orchestral instrument would be a pretty addition to the song...and asked Martin to arrange and include it on the track. No problem for the "Fifth Beatle". And when John Lennon, upon hearing two differently paced tracks of the song Strawberry Fields Forever, decided that he wanted BOTH of them for the final recording, he simply gave them to Martin and told him to fix the problem with the differing tempos...which the producer did by adjusting their speeds. In these and many other instances, George Martin was content to stay in the background and let the Beatles themselves take the "creative genius" credit. I think that was what makes him special to me: not only his talent and hard work, but also his humility and good will toward those who were so fortunate to be associated with him...
I have always felt a great degree of respect and admiration for Nancy Reagan, actually much more than for her famous husband "Ronny"...this makes me a bit different from most people who thought more highly of him. She brought a sense of class to the White House that it needed as the center for the role that the President serves as Head of State. Her "Just Say No" slogan against drug abuse and the accompanying campaign while she was First Lady and afterwards is a lasting, positive legacy. I also admire Nancy for rebuking renegade former Reagan staffer Oliver North when he tried to associate himself with her husband during his 1994 Virginia Senate campaign against incumbent Chuck Robb. And her devotion throughout her marriage to Ronald...especially during the final years after he had become afflicted with Alzheimer's, was beautiful to behold. Finally, Nancy was a strong, assertive woman who graciously handled what I perceived to be sexist criticism against her character. When a man displays these traits he is hailed as a great leader, but a woman? Let's just hope that these gender-based double standards can finally be a thing of the past, although I see much of the same nonsense now being directed at Hillary Clinton...
George Martin was doubtless a musical genius...especially in the recording studio...who is best known for recognizing the potential of the Beatles in their early years and bringing them to a high standard of performance on their records, producing many of the greatest albums ever made. Although the band wrote most of their songs (although their early covers of other artists were great), they depended on Martin to make things work in the studio. Two examples: when Penny Lane was being recorded, Paul McCartney, after hearing a French horn play, decided that this orchestral instrument would be a pretty addition to the song...and asked Martin to arrange and include it on the track. No problem for the "Fifth Beatle". And when John Lennon, upon hearing two differently paced tracks of the song Strawberry Fields Forever, decided that he wanted BOTH of them for the final recording, he simply gave them to Martin and told him to fix the problem with the differing tempos...which the producer did by adjusting their speeds. In these and many other instances, George Martin was content to stay in the background and let the Beatles themselves take the "creative genius" credit. I think that was what makes him special to me: not only his talent and hard work, but also his humility and good will toward those who were so fortunate to be associated with him...
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
NCAA Post-Season Basketball Tournaments in Full Swing
When it comes down to watching basketball, I prefer college...especially at the end of the season when the big scramble is on as to which teams make the NCAA Championship Tournament and which have to settle for the "second-tier" National Invitation Tournament. Last year for the University of Florida, at the end of coach Billy Donovan's tenure with the school (before he went on to coach the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder), the Gators slipped badly and finished, after the Southeastern Conference Tournament, a game under .500, not even getting invited to the NIT. So with their new coach Mike White, UF stands to at least make the NIT field...although the NCAA tourney at this point is a longshot for this very talented but inconsistent team. They begin their SEC Tournament tomorrow against Arkansas...a toss-up in my opinion. Should Florida win that one, they'll go up against ranked Texas A&M...a win in each of these games would give them a 20-13 record which according to some media sports analysts might be good enough to be invited to the "big show". But going on a hot streak has not been the pattern for the Gators this season: still, it would be a marked improvement from the previous year to play in the NIT should it come down to that...
Although I root for the Gators, my favorite college basketball conference is the Atlantic Coast Conference, home of perennial contenders (and multiple national champions) Duke and North Carolina. However, in each of the last four seasons, it has been a different team that got hot at the right time and won the ACC Tournament...last year it was Notre Dame, which for some unknown reason gets to play basketball as an ACC "member". The Fighting Irish sport a good team again this season and would face Duke tomorrow should the Blue Devils get by North Carolina State in today's game. Yesterday, in the first round, Florida State and NC State won their games against Boston College and Wake Forest, respectively. I'm about to watch the second-round contest between Pittsburgh and Syracuse on ESPN...
By Sunday evening the different brackets for the NCAA Championship Tournament will have been announced. Florida will know then if it made the "cut"...and should quickly receive an NIT invitation if it didn't. Still, Gators or no Gators, I'm going to enjoy this year's March Madness, as they call this great time of the year for college basketball...
Although I root for the Gators, my favorite college basketball conference is the Atlantic Coast Conference, home of perennial contenders (and multiple national champions) Duke and North Carolina. However, in each of the last four seasons, it has been a different team that got hot at the right time and won the ACC Tournament...last year it was Notre Dame, which for some unknown reason gets to play basketball as an ACC "member". The Fighting Irish sport a good team again this season and would face Duke tomorrow should the Blue Devils get by North Carolina State in today's game. Yesterday, in the first round, Florida State and NC State won their games against Boston College and Wake Forest, respectively. I'm about to watch the second-round contest between Pittsburgh and Syracuse on ESPN...
By Sunday evening the different brackets for the NCAA Championship Tournament will have been announced. Florida will know then if it made the "cut"...and should quickly receive an NIT invitation if it didn't. Still, Gators or no Gators, I'm going to enjoy this year's March Madness, as they call this great time of the year for college basketball...
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Just Finished Reading James Patterson's Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment
After looking through prolific fiction writer James Patterson's bibliography, I happened upon a series of books that are targeted at the young adult/teen market, called Maximum Ride. And since I like to dabble in this genre of literature from time to time (I've read the Divergent, Twilight, and Hunger Games series), I thought would investigate to see how well Patterson does in this area. Although I later discovered that there was a 1998 Patterson precursor novel to Maximum Ride, titled When the Wind Blows, I began with the 2005 first "official" book: The Angel Experiment...
Without wanting to give away too much, the basic premise of The Angel Experiment is that six children, ranging in age from six to fourteen, have escaped from a sinister place called The School and are trying to maintain their freedom while looking for answers about their origins. Oh, I forgot to mention that all have been genetically modified with bird DNA and can fly, wings and all...while each child possesses his or her own special skills. Angel is the youngest, while Max (or Maximum Ride) is the oldest and the group's leader. Max, who tells the book's story from her own perspective, has a special bond with Angel; when the latter is recaptured by the brutal, wolf-like Erasers, the hunt is on to rescue her. Mysteries abound in this story...what is the true role and intentions of Jeb, an adult employed by the School but who has helped the children's escape and seems to have an benevolent view of them? And what about the mission placed upon Max...one that is vague but at the same time of cosmic importance...
Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment brings back to me memories of the 1996-2000 TV series The Pretender. In that show children with special abilities were brought up, isolated and controlled in a place called "The Centre". One of them, Jarod, in adulthood finally managed to escape and he, too, found himself relentlessly pursued while he struggled to find the important answers to it all. Personally, I would rate Divergent or Hunger Games higher if you're interested in this genre, but I also think that James Patterson did a good job with this series...at least as far as the first book is concerned, that is. I'm going to continue reading it through each successive book, but first I think I'll go back and read When the Wind Blows...
Without wanting to give away too much, the basic premise of The Angel Experiment is that six children, ranging in age from six to fourteen, have escaped from a sinister place called The School and are trying to maintain their freedom while looking for answers about their origins. Oh, I forgot to mention that all have been genetically modified with bird DNA and can fly, wings and all...while each child possesses his or her own special skills. Angel is the youngest, while Max (or Maximum Ride) is the oldest and the group's leader. Max, who tells the book's story from her own perspective, has a special bond with Angel; when the latter is recaptured by the brutal, wolf-like Erasers, the hunt is on to rescue her. Mysteries abound in this story...what is the true role and intentions of Jeb, an adult employed by the School but who has helped the children's escape and seems to have an benevolent view of them? And what about the mission placed upon Max...one that is vague but at the same time of cosmic importance...
Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment brings back to me memories of the 1996-2000 TV series The Pretender. In that show children with special abilities were brought up, isolated and controlled in a place called "The Centre". One of them, Jarod, in adulthood finally managed to escape and he, too, found himself relentlessly pursued while he struggled to find the important answers to it all. Personally, I would rate Divergent or Hunger Games higher if you're interested in this genre, but I also think that James Patterson did a good job with this series...at least as far as the first book is concerned, that is. I'm going to continue reading it through each successive book, but first I think I'll go back and read When the Wind Blows...
Sunday, March 6, 2016
The Three Classes of the United States Senate
The United States Senate isn't a school per se, nor is it a rigid society with different levels of prestige. Nevertheless, it does have classes...although they pertain neither to education nor social stratification. There are three of them to be exact, and in a radical departure from typical government gobbledygook, they are simply designated as "1", "2", and "3". But I haven't yet explained what these classes are, have I? Well, continue on then, intrepid reader...
Every two years for our national Congress, we have elections for both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Because all of the seats in the House are for only two years, then every one of them is up for election every two years (although a lot of them aren't contested, sad to say). U.S. Senate terms, on the other hand, are for six years, and since there are a total of 100 senators...with 2 per state, their elections have been divided up into threes, with approximately a third of the seats up for election every two years. So, depending on which of the three "classes" a senator belongs to, he or she will either bypass the congressional elections in a particular year or have to contend with a reelection campaign (if they still want to remain in the Senate, that is). So, how do the classes specifically work?
In recent history, Class 1 senators (33 in all) have been elected in 2000, 2006, and 2012...and will be due for the next election in 2018. Class 2 senators (33 in all) were elected in 2002, 2008, and 2014...and will be due for their next election in 2020. And Class 3 senators (34 in all) were elected in 2004 and 2010...and will be up for election this year, 2016. My home state of Florida has Classes 1 and 3...Marco Rubio's seat (he isn't running for reelection) is the Class 3 one that Floridians will decide on this November (Democrat Bill Nelson is in Class 1). Now class is important in Senate turnover and party control, because each class contains a certain number of Republican vs. Democratic senators. According to Wikipedia, Class 1 contains 25 senators aligning with the Democrats and only 8 going for the Republican Party. Class 2 is reversed, with 22 Republicans and 11 Democrats in it. And the upcoming election in a few months is all about Class 3, with 24 Republican seats and only 10 Democratic that are up for a vote. That means that, if you only look at the numbers, the Republicans have quite a task ahead of them this year if they want to retain the 54-46 majority they currently enjoy in the Senate. And looking closer, some of the contested seats currently held by Republicans appear to be rather tenuous, especially in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, and New Hampshire...
Every two years for our national Congress, we have elections for both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Because all of the seats in the House are for only two years, then every one of them is up for election every two years (although a lot of them aren't contested, sad to say). U.S. Senate terms, on the other hand, are for six years, and since there are a total of 100 senators...with 2 per state, their elections have been divided up into threes, with approximately a third of the seats up for election every two years. So, depending on which of the three "classes" a senator belongs to, he or she will either bypass the congressional elections in a particular year or have to contend with a reelection campaign (if they still want to remain in the Senate, that is). So, how do the classes specifically work?
In recent history, Class 1 senators (33 in all) have been elected in 2000, 2006, and 2012...and will be due for the next election in 2018. Class 2 senators (33 in all) were elected in 2002, 2008, and 2014...and will be due for their next election in 2020. And Class 3 senators (34 in all) were elected in 2004 and 2010...and will be up for election this year, 2016. My home state of Florida has Classes 1 and 3...Marco Rubio's seat (he isn't running for reelection) is the Class 3 one that Floridians will decide on this November (Democrat Bill Nelson is in Class 1). Now class is important in Senate turnover and party control, because each class contains a certain number of Republican vs. Democratic senators. According to Wikipedia, Class 1 contains 25 senators aligning with the Democrats and only 8 going for the Republican Party. Class 2 is reversed, with 22 Republicans and 11 Democrats in it. And the upcoming election in a few months is all about Class 3, with 24 Republican seats and only 10 Democratic that are up for a vote. That means that, if you only look at the numbers, the Republicans have quite a task ahead of them this year if they want to retain the 54-46 majority they currently enjoy in the Senate. And looking closer, some of the contested seats currently held by Republicans appear to be rather tenuous, especially in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, and New Hampshire...
Saturday, March 5, 2016
Stories 5-8 in Kuttner/Moore's Book Two-Handed Engine
As I've mentioned before in other posts, I am currently in the process of reading the book Two-Handed Engine, a collection of some of the better short fiction by the late husband-wife writing team of Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore. Much of their material is of a speculative nature in the realm of science fiction, fantasy, or horror (or a mixture of the three)...reminiscent of the original Twilight Zone television series in some ways. The tales in this book span the years 1933-55, and the four I have just read were published in 1942-43...
In Compliments of the Author, attributed to the pseudonym Lewis Padgett (a collaboration of Kuttner and Moore), a shady blackmail artist picks the wrong target: a wealthy California man who happens to be a legitimate magician with a vengeful "familiar" in the form of a cat. A strange book finds its way into the hands of the blackmailer...and its solutions for each crisis he faces work uncannily...all the way to the surprise ending. Shock, also by Lewis Padgett, and a Twilight Zone-like speculative sci-fi story, involves a strange visitor from the distant future who makes a hole from his time into a physicist's (1953) apartment. His speech almost impossible to understand, the time-traveling visitor goes out into the world of the "present" to find his other "self", while the hole into that future time remains. Our physicist hero can't restrain his curiosity and goes through the wall...and I'll just leave the ending for you to discover for yourself (if you can ever find this story to read, that it). Reader, I Hate You, which was a solo work by Kuttner, is a story with a comic, absurd twist to it. Kuttner writes himself into the story, telling it in the first person as a writer compelled by a strange "superman" to chase down a reader of Kuttner's in order to retrieve his wife, who is in the form of a crystal (remember, I said this story is absurd). Kuttner must have had a lot of fun writing this one...
And now we're down to the last of the four I've just read: the unforgettable Mimsy Were the Borogoves (also credited to Padgett), widely considered as one of the greatest science fiction short stories ever written...and my all-time favorite of the genre. It is an excellent exercise in speculation on how different in nature children are from adults...especially very young children...and how early education can steer their thinking...and even their humanity...in directions the ramifications of which can be disastrous. Two boxes full of toys from another dimension in the distant future have carelessly been sent back in time by an amateur tinkerer experimenting with his time machine...one ends up in the late nineteenth century, inspiring Lewis Carroll through his conversations with the little girl who finds the box and its contents (hence the tale's quizzical title). The other box, which is the focus of the story, lands in 1942 and is found by a seven-year old boy playing hooky from school by a riverbank. He and his two-year old sister play with the toys he found...but to the parents they make no sense at all, appearing to be arbitrary and random in their operation. The toys themselves are designed to teach and train children for something that no one anticipates. Oops, did I say too much? I don't think so...but I had better leave the rest of it for you to read. And this one should be easy to find, as it is often in "best of science fiction" anthologies. Warning: the 2007 movie The Last Mimzy, which claims to be based on Mimsy Were the Borogoves, bears little resemblance to the original story except to incorporate some of the themes (children, box of strange toys going through time, etc.) while missing the entire point of it all. Kuttner and Moore had been long-deceased by the time this film came out, and I can only imagine that they are spinning in their graves over this distortion of their signature masterpiece...
You usually don't hear about Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore whenever the greatest science fiction writers of the twentieth century are discussed...usually it's folks like Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and Robert Heinlein who get the most attention. But there were many other great science fiction writers in this period as well, and I intend to cover some of their works in future articles...
In Compliments of the Author, attributed to the pseudonym Lewis Padgett (a collaboration of Kuttner and Moore), a shady blackmail artist picks the wrong target: a wealthy California man who happens to be a legitimate magician with a vengeful "familiar" in the form of a cat. A strange book finds its way into the hands of the blackmailer...and its solutions for each crisis he faces work uncannily...all the way to the surprise ending. Shock, also by Lewis Padgett, and a Twilight Zone-like speculative sci-fi story, involves a strange visitor from the distant future who makes a hole from his time into a physicist's (1953) apartment. His speech almost impossible to understand, the time-traveling visitor goes out into the world of the "present" to find his other "self", while the hole into that future time remains. Our physicist hero can't restrain his curiosity and goes through the wall...and I'll just leave the ending for you to discover for yourself (if you can ever find this story to read, that it). Reader, I Hate You, which was a solo work by Kuttner, is a story with a comic, absurd twist to it. Kuttner writes himself into the story, telling it in the first person as a writer compelled by a strange "superman" to chase down a reader of Kuttner's in order to retrieve his wife, who is in the form of a crystal (remember, I said this story is absurd). Kuttner must have had a lot of fun writing this one...
And now we're down to the last of the four I've just read: the unforgettable Mimsy Were the Borogoves (also credited to Padgett), widely considered as one of the greatest science fiction short stories ever written...and my all-time favorite of the genre. It is an excellent exercise in speculation on how different in nature children are from adults...especially very young children...and how early education can steer their thinking...and even their humanity...in directions the ramifications of which can be disastrous. Two boxes full of toys from another dimension in the distant future have carelessly been sent back in time by an amateur tinkerer experimenting with his time machine...one ends up in the late nineteenth century, inspiring Lewis Carroll through his conversations with the little girl who finds the box and its contents (hence the tale's quizzical title). The other box, which is the focus of the story, lands in 1942 and is found by a seven-year old boy playing hooky from school by a riverbank. He and his two-year old sister play with the toys he found...but to the parents they make no sense at all, appearing to be arbitrary and random in their operation. The toys themselves are designed to teach and train children for something that no one anticipates. Oops, did I say too much? I don't think so...but I had better leave the rest of it for you to read. And this one should be easy to find, as it is often in "best of science fiction" anthologies. Warning: the 2007 movie The Last Mimzy, which claims to be based on Mimsy Were the Borogoves, bears little resemblance to the original story except to incorporate some of the themes (children, box of strange toys going through time, etc.) while missing the entire point of it all. Kuttner and Moore had been long-deceased by the time this film came out, and I can only imagine that they are spinning in their graves over this distortion of their signature masterpiece...
You usually don't hear about Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore whenever the greatest science fiction writers of the twentieth century are discussed...usually it's folks like Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and Robert Heinlein who get the most attention. But there were many other great science fiction writers in this period as well, and I intend to cover some of their works in future articles...
Friday, March 4, 2016
Taken Aback at Vicious Presidential Campaign
My focus in this article is the campaign within the Republican Party for the presidential nomination in 2016. I am a Democrat and, frankly, can't see myself voting for any of the GOP candidates. That's not to say that I am happy with the Democratic choices given me, either. I can think of several experienced and capable people who would be better than dynastic Hillary or socialist Bernie...but I have to play with the cards I've been dealt...the best simply chose not to run this year. And seeing what's been going on in the "other" party, I don't blame any of them for staying out...
Donald Trump, with his almost constant insults and childish behavior, has set the vicious tone for the Republican presidential campaign when poll after poll showed that a plurality of this party's voting base identified with Trump's nastiness. The meaner he spoke, the more popular he got. Finally, other candidates, realizing what it took to appeal to this rabble, began to return the Donald's insults as well as starting off against each other. But Trump continued to lead the field of candidates into the primary season and clearly has a large plurality of the delegates so far. Yesterday Mitt Romney, someone for whom I feel absolutely no warmth or sympathy, decided to give a speech denouncing Trump, point by point. Romney wants the voters in the different remaining states with primaries or caucuses to pick whichever candidate has the strongest chance to beat Trump in each state, the ultimate goal being to go to the national convention with no one having a majority of delegates that would seal their nomination. Then, the "insiders" (including presumably Romney himself) could broker the convention to select a more controllable establishment nominee (including presumably Romney himself). What a joke this all is: if Trump does end up getting the Republican nomination, all the Democrats will need to do is just keeping replaying Romney's speech in their ads...
Donald Trump is who he is, a known quantity for many years, and I can't blame him for his tactics...especially when he seems to get a boost in the polls whenever he speaks in insulting and/or vulgar terms against other candidates, the media, demographic groups, or anyone who criticizes him (which in Trump's narcissistic worldview equates to treating him unfairly). I agree with Romney, though, that Trump is too emotionally unstable to be trusted with our nuclear arsenal and at least for that reason alone should be rejected for president. The fact that he also wants to squelch opposition by making it easier to sue anyone who criticizes him, though, is insane...especially considering that Trump should be the defendant in any such lawsuits, not the reverse...
I don't like Trump for his instability and demeanor. But I also don't like teabaggers like Ted Cruz for their rigid ideology and refusal to work with others for the greater good. And I really, really dislike the Republican establishment that has done everything it could to stonewall everything President Obama has tried to do... for example, more than 500 Senate filibusters in the past seven years, many against legislation and nominations of which the Republicans approved but decided to oppose, for no other reason than to go against my duly-elected President. I have my own concerns with the Democrats as well (especially on the far left), but I feel that they are currently the party of reason and pragmatism, while the Republicans can do nothing but obstruct and insult...
This all having been said, I recognize that each of us has to reason out this political process for ourselves and that it is O.K. to arrive at differing conclusions. Which candidate will make the best president? I say vote for whichever party or candidate that you think will do the best job...I don't claim to have a lock on the "correct" answer to that question, I just have my own opinions on the subject...
Donald Trump, with his almost constant insults and childish behavior, has set the vicious tone for the Republican presidential campaign when poll after poll showed that a plurality of this party's voting base identified with Trump's nastiness. The meaner he spoke, the more popular he got. Finally, other candidates, realizing what it took to appeal to this rabble, began to return the Donald's insults as well as starting off against each other. But Trump continued to lead the field of candidates into the primary season and clearly has a large plurality of the delegates so far. Yesterday Mitt Romney, someone for whom I feel absolutely no warmth or sympathy, decided to give a speech denouncing Trump, point by point. Romney wants the voters in the different remaining states with primaries or caucuses to pick whichever candidate has the strongest chance to beat Trump in each state, the ultimate goal being to go to the national convention with no one having a majority of delegates that would seal their nomination. Then, the "insiders" (including presumably Romney himself) could broker the convention to select a more controllable establishment nominee (including presumably Romney himself). What a joke this all is: if Trump does end up getting the Republican nomination, all the Democrats will need to do is just keeping replaying Romney's speech in their ads...
Donald Trump is who he is, a known quantity for many years, and I can't blame him for his tactics...especially when he seems to get a boost in the polls whenever he speaks in insulting and/or vulgar terms against other candidates, the media, demographic groups, or anyone who criticizes him (which in Trump's narcissistic worldview equates to treating him unfairly). I agree with Romney, though, that Trump is too emotionally unstable to be trusted with our nuclear arsenal and at least for that reason alone should be rejected for president. The fact that he also wants to squelch opposition by making it easier to sue anyone who criticizes him, though, is insane...especially considering that Trump should be the defendant in any such lawsuits, not the reverse...
I don't like Trump for his instability and demeanor. But I also don't like teabaggers like Ted Cruz for their rigid ideology and refusal to work with others for the greater good. And I really, really dislike the Republican establishment that has done everything it could to stonewall everything President Obama has tried to do... for example, more than 500 Senate filibusters in the past seven years, many against legislation and nominations of which the Republicans approved but decided to oppose, for no other reason than to go against my duly-elected President. I have my own concerns with the Democrats as well (especially on the far left), but I feel that they are currently the party of reason and pragmatism, while the Republicans can do nothing but obstruct and insult...
This all having been said, I recognize that each of us has to reason out this political process for ourselves and that it is O.K. to arrive at differing conclusions. Which candidate will make the best president? I say vote for whichever party or candidate that you think will do the best job...I don't claim to have a lock on the "correct" answer to that question, I just have my own opinions on the subject...
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
Books I'm Currently Reading
Right now I'm in the midst of reading a number of books. One of them, which I have already mentioned, is Two-Handed Engine, a collection of primarily science-fiction short stories written by the late husband-wife team of Henry Kuttner and C.L.Moore. I've already discussed the first four stories and intend to write about the next four, which I've just read. I've also been continuing reading some of James Patterson's works...right now I'm about two thirds of the way done with his book The Angel Experiment, the first installment in his young adult science-fiction Maximum Ride series. So far, I like his writing here, which is a marked departure from the style he employed in the other books...more crime/mystery oriented...that I've recently read. I also just checked out the first book in his Women's Murder Club series, appropriately titled 1st to Die. I believe I read that book several years ago: it will interesting to see how much of it, if any, I remember. Finally, in anticipation of the March 8th release of fantasy writer Daniel Abraham's fifth and reportedly final volume in his The Dagger and the Coin series, I am quickly perusing the first four books I've already read in this most interesting and underrated saga. Now that's something I'd like to see adapted to an HBO television series...you can have your Game of Thrones, which incidentally has so strayed from creator and author George R.R. Martin's books that it hardly bears watching, in my opinion. Besides, Martin seems to be taking forever with writing his next volume of the supposedly seven-book series (officially titled A Song of Ice and Fire), while Abraham will have cranked out his entire series in a five-year span...
Monday, February 29, 2016
Just Finished Reading Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
I just finished reading Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes...at least the English translation of this famous Spanish novel that was originally published in two volumes in 1605 and 1615. Altogether it is a rather lengthy book to plow through and, despite the fact that it contains many smaller stories imbedded within the larger work, I have to admit that I had some difficulty sustaining my interest in reading through to the end. After all, the basic premise of Don Quixote is laid out at its beginning, with its characters experiencing little change or growth throughout. The two central characters are Alonso Quixado, an elderly minor Spanish noble, and a simple farmer named Sancho Panza. Quixado, who has taken up with books about chivalry to the point where he believes that he is himself a knight errant, hires Sancho as his squire as he sets off on his adventures under the name Don Quixote de la Mancha. He imagines Dulcinea, who is a working class woman in his home town with whom he has had no contact, as a princess who claims his loyalty and affections and for whom he performs all of his gallant deeds of knighthood. Quixote and Panza set off on their adventures in this book...not once or twice, but three different times, and this is probably the best way to divide up the story. In his adventures, Quixote continually interprets normal, everyday experiences such as seeing windmills or a flock of sheep as being encounters with giants or enemy armies, made by enchanters to look like what Sancho plainly sees for what they really are. And the "squire" regularly makes his opinions known to his master, often very much to the latter's consternation...it is Sancho's contribution to the tale that rescues it, in my opinion, with his inexhaustible supply of proverbs (some very silly) that he sprinkles liberally throughout all of his conversations. As for Don Quixote, most of the people who encounter him don't take very long before they conclude that he is suffering from some kind of madness, but yet...
Outside of Don Quixote's own delusions pertaining to chivalry and his own role in it, he comes across as agreeable, knowledgeable, and wise...if a bit loquacious. Those he encounters, once they become aware of his affliction, tend to show sympathy toward him and Sancho...although some, like the Duke and Duchess of the "second" book, concoct elaborate jokes to play on the two. Still, I was left reading about the ostensibly singular character Don Quixote with the feeling that his insanity/rationality duality is more common than one might suspect...
After reflecting on it a little, I can conjure up a list of people I know, both from my personal life (which I'll discreetly keep to myself) as well as some I only know from the media, who display genius and expertise in one or more fields but act totally clueless in others. What makes them ultimately Quixotic, though, is that they themselves don't recognize their own foolishness when assessing their own shortcomings in some areas and insist that those around them "play along" with their self-delusions. I won't give out names, but I can think of politicians (including two current presidential candidates...I wonder if you know who I'm talking about), athletes, musicians, actors, and news media folks who fit these criteria. But what's really disturbing is when people in large numbers appear to actually buy into their madness...
Outside of Don Quixote's own delusions pertaining to chivalry and his own role in it, he comes across as agreeable, knowledgeable, and wise...if a bit loquacious. Those he encounters, once they become aware of his affliction, tend to show sympathy toward him and Sancho...although some, like the Duke and Duchess of the "second" book, concoct elaborate jokes to play on the two. Still, I was left reading about the ostensibly singular character Don Quixote with the feeling that his insanity/rationality duality is more common than one might suspect...
After reflecting on it a little, I can conjure up a list of people I know, both from my personal life (which I'll discreetly keep to myself) as well as some I only know from the media, who display genius and expertise in one or more fields but act totally clueless in others. What makes them ultimately Quixotic, though, is that they themselves don't recognize their own foolishness when assessing their own shortcomings in some areas and insist that those around them "play along" with their self-delusions. I won't give out names, but I can think of politicians (including two current presidential candidates...I wonder if you know who I'm talking about), athletes, musicians, actors, and news media folks who fit these criteria. But what's really disturbing is when people in large numbers appear to actually buy into their madness...
My February 2016 Running Report
Although I was experiencing some physical maladies this past month of February, 2016, I managed to run at least a token amount each day and accumulated 171 total miles...usually accomplished with multiple, smaller runs spread throughout the day. My longest single run was for 4.8 miles. I had planned to participate in my hometown of Gainesville's Five Points Half-Marathon on the 21st, but felt too bad that weekend and decided that it would be prudent to pass this time around...
Next month I'd like to step up the mileage a bit, especially with regard to the distances I cover in single runs. I also would like to run in two different 10K races: the Run for Haven event on the 12th in Tioga (which I ran last year) and the Trail of Payne 10K at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, just south of Gainesville, on the 26th. The latter is a trail run, so the course may be a challenge...especially if it is run under rainy conditions (or if it had rained a lot in the days before the race). As for the Tioga race, I loved the big outdoor party they held, with live music and "free" food for the paying runners...but the 4:30 pm race time did make it a little difficult to withstand with the hot temperatures that fell on us that March afternoon in 2015. Maybe this year we'll catch a break and it'll be cooler...
Next month I'd like to step up the mileage a bit, especially with regard to the distances I cover in single runs. I also would like to run in two different 10K races: the Run for Haven event on the 12th in Tioga (which I ran last year) and the Trail of Payne 10K at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, just south of Gainesville, on the 26th. The latter is a trail run, so the course may be a challenge...especially if it is run under rainy conditions (or if it had rained a lot in the days before the race). As for the Tioga race, I loved the big outdoor party they held, with live music and "free" food for the paying runners...but the 4:30 pm race time did make it a little difficult to withstand with the hot temperatures that fell on us that March afternoon in 2015. Maybe this year we'll catch a break and it'll be cooler...
Saturday, February 27, 2016
Upcoming Election, Gainesville City Commission and Alachua County Commission
I received my sample ballot in the mail today for the March 15 Florida presidential preference primary and Gainesville local elections from my supervisor of elections. There's not very much on the ballot: besides the Republican or Democratic presidential primaries, Gainesville only offers its mayoral race and District 4 in its city commission...and since I'm not in District 4, I can't vote in that race (although one of the contestants, Jim Konish, is a former classmate of mine from Nova High School). It's O.K. that I can't vote for someone else's district...that's the way it should be in representative government. I think Gainesville has worked out its city commission structure quite well: there is the mayor (who also gets to participate as a voting commissioner), two at-large seats (the whole city gets to vote on them), and four districted seats. I reside in District 2, currently represented by Todd Chase. Since the various districts have their own particular demographics, issues, and political leanings, it seems more likely as a result to have a city commission that better represents the diverse interests of its population. One big problem: unless there is a bigger race on the ballot, such as the presidential campaign or statewide offices like U.S. Senate or governor, the voter participation in my local elections is abysmally low. Take the last two elections here, for a commission seat and the runoff election: 12% turnout in both!
There is also an Alachua County Commission, which is comprised of five seats each officially representing a drawn-out district for the entire county, of which Gainesville dominates with its much larger population than the outlying communities. Unlike the case with the Gainesville City Commission, though, each county commissioner is elected at-large from the entire county, not just from the district he or she is supposed to represent. Which doesn't make very much sense to me. I live in Alachua County District 5, which is supposedly the district of Charles Chesnut IV. But this commissioner was elected county-wide...doesn't that defeat the concept of representation by districts? It would be as if the entire United States got to vote on who would be Florida's governor...wait a minute, that might not such a bad idea, considering the individual we've been stuck with for the past few years...
There is also an Alachua County Commission, which is comprised of five seats each officially representing a drawn-out district for the entire county, of which Gainesville dominates with its much larger population than the outlying communities. Unlike the case with the Gainesville City Commission, though, each county commissioner is elected at-large from the entire county, not just from the district he or she is supposed to represent. Which doesn't make very much sense to me. I live in Alachua County District 5, which is supposedly the district of Charles Chesnut IV. But this commissioner was elected county-wide...doesn't that defeat the concept of representation by districts? It would be as if the entire United States got to vote on who would be Florida's governor...wait a minute, that might not such a bad idea, considering the individual we've been stuck with for the past few years...
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Starting to be Able to Follow Ice Hockey Games
The other night I was watching the National Hockey League game between the New York Rangers and the Detroit Red Wings, taking place at Madison Square Garden and broadcast on NBC Sports (local Cox Channel 33). I've written before about how difficult a time I've had trying to to follow the flow of the game, seeing how the small puck is so elusive and often hidden. In spite of that, though, I was surprised to be able to better keep track of its movement...and actually enjoyed the game. I wasn't pulling for one team over the other, although since I've been to New York once, and the hotel I stayed at is a short walking distance from the Garden, I tend to think of the Big Apple as almost a secondary home town. The Rangers did pull out an overtime victory, 1-0, and I thought that the reduced three-on-three setup in overtime served to make the action more exciting...and should be extended to the entire game...
One other reason that I have had for not getting into watching ice hockey is that I've never played the sport...not even in its alternative form of field hockey. Also, I've never ice-skated before, and therefore cannot easily imagine myself in the skates of those athletes in these games...unlike, for example, soccer, where I can sense the limitations of the players based partially on my own personal experience in this sport. Also, I'm still a little lost at some of the rules of hockey...especially concerning off-side calls. Still, I'm looking forward to watching more...I'm sure I'll pick up on what's going on eventually...
My home state of Florida has two NHL teams: the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Florida Panthers. Both are having good seasons this year, and the Lightning made it to the Stanley Cup finals last year. However, although I'll probably end up rooting for them when I'm watching their games, I just don't have that level of fan loyalty built up yet...
One other reason that I have had for not getting into watching ice hockey is that I've never played the sport...not even in its alternative form of field hockey. Also, I've never ice-skated before, and therefore cannot easily imagine myself in the skates of those athletes in these games...unlike, for example, soccer, where I can sense the limitations of the players based partially on my own personal experience in this sport. Also, I'm still a little lost at some of the rules of hockey...especially concerning off-side calls. Still, I'm looking forward to watching more...I'm sure I'll pick up on what's going on eventually...
My home state of Florida has two NHL teams: the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Florida Panthers. Both are having good seasons this year, and the Lightning made it to the Stanley Cup finals last year. However, although I'll probably end up rooting for them when I'm watching their games, I just don't have that level of fan loyalty built up yet...
Monday, February 22, 2016
Watched the Movie Bridge of Spies
Last year I saw preview after preview on TV of the new Tom Hanks film, Bridge of Spies. Already acquainted with the infamous U-2 incident of 1960, I felt inclined to watch it eventually...but never got around to the theater. Well, I did make it out there once, but there was that new Star Wars movie...
No problem...last week Melissa, Rebecca, Will and I sat down one evening and watched Bridge of Spies, which we had rented from Redbox. Not exactly the theater, but then again it was convenient to be able to pause it from time to time. Already knowing where the story was heading, I had expected to see a re-creation of an early-sixties East Europe, but I was stunned at the visual effects nonetheless. After all, under Soviet domination, East Germany was treated in a much more punitive manner following World War II and many of its buildings, fifteen years after war's end, still looked bombed-out. Amazing...
Bridge of Spies is a true story, spanning the years 1957-62, focusing on the efforts of American lawyer James Donovan, played by Hanks, as he first defended accused Soviet spy Rudolf Abel on espionage charges and then was asked by the CIA to handle negotiations with the Soviet Union for the release of downed and captured American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers. The U-2 flights over the U.S.S.R. were done at high-altitude to photograph our Cold War adversary's military activities...Powers's plane was shot down by a missile. Donovan's task was to get the Soviets to agree to an exchange between convicted Soviet spy Abel and Powers. The "bridge" in the movie's title refers to a famous bridge connecting East and West Berlin, where the transfer was to take place. All of this is already known history, but just in case you don't know what happened at the end, I'll leave it for you to discover for yourself. Just keep in mind that I was impressed by this movie, its direction, acting (especially that of Tom Hanks), and its faithfully true portrayal of the events and settings. By the way, since much of the movie is set in East Berlin, it was fascinating to watch the building of the Berlin Wall as an event concurrent with the story's plot...
So go watch Bridge of Spies...especially if you have any kind of positive feelings about the old Soviet Union and how its policies affected the people under its control, whether as citizens of that country or of one of the satellite nations it dominated. Those folks had it really tough back then and I wouldn't wish their ordeals on anyone...
No problem...last week Melissa, Rebecca, Will and I sat down one evening and watched Bridge of Spies, which we had rented from Redbox. Not exactly the theater, but then again it was convenient to be able to pause it from time to time. Already knowing where the story was heading, I had expected to see a re-creation of an early-sixties East Europe, but I was stunned at the visual effects nonetheless. After all, under Soviet domination, East Germany was treated in a much more punitive manner following World War II and many of its buildings, fifteen years after war's end, still looked bombed-out. Amazing...
Bridge of Spies is a true story, spanning the years 1957-62, focusing on the efforts of American lawyer James Donovan, played by Hanks, as he first defended accused Soviet spy Rudolf Abel on espionage charges and then was asked by the CIA to handle negotiations with the Soviet Union for the release of downed and captured American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers. The U-2 flights over the U.S.S.R. were done at high-altitude to photograph our Cold War adversary's military activities...Powers's plane was shot down by a missile. Donovan's task was to get the Soviets to agree to an exchange between convicted Soviet spy Abel and Powers. The "bridge" in the movie's title refers to a famous bridge connecting East and West Berlin, where the transfer was to take place. All of this is already known history, but just in case you don't know what happened at the end, I'll leave it for you to discover for yourself. Just keep in mind that I was impressed by this movie, its direction, acting (especially that of Tom Hanks), and its faithfully true portrayal of the events and settings. By the way, since much of the movie is set in East Berlin, it was fascinating to watch the building of the Berlin Wall as an event concurrent with the story's plot...
So go watch Bridge of Spies...especially if you have any kind of positive feelings about the old Soviet Union and how its policies affected the people under its control, whether as citizens of that country or of one of the satellite nations it dominated. Those folks had it really tough back then and I wouldn't wish their ordeals on anyone...
Sunday, February 21, 2016
Skipped Today's Gainesville Half-Marathon, More Opportunities Ahead
I decided to skip this year's Gainesville Five Points of Life Half-Marathon, which I ran in 2010, 2014, and 2015. During the last three weeks I have gone from experiencing lower left back pain to a more general sense of physical malaise...both of which I've gone through before. Under the circumstances, my running during this period dropped significantly and I felt that I wasn't in tip-top condition to tackle the 13.1-mile course. Maybe next year...
I do feel better now, although lately it seems that the local pollen season has kicked into high gear and I'm having issues with that...I know, it sounds like I'm a bit of a hypochondriac, doesn't it? Nevertheless, I haven't given up on my running, which has begun to pick up again. And there are still a couple of months more of races ahead before the extended hot summer season we experience here in north-central Florida curtails the number of racing opportunities. On March 12th & 26th there will be 10K races here in Gainesville while, in April, half-marathons are being offered in Ocala and Gainesville on the 16th and 24th, respectively and a 10K will take place in town on the 9th. Interspersed between these are numerous 5K events, so there will be plenty of chances for me to get involved with some races if I want...
What I'd like to do the most with my running is get back to the routine I've had in the past of running around my neighborhood in the late morning/early afternoon hours before I go off to work. I've found this time frame to work the best for me as the daytime temperatures haven't reached their maximum while the humidity from the previous night and early morning has usually dissipated to an acceptable level...
I do feel better now, although lately it seems that the local pollen season has kicked into high gear and I'm having issues with that...I know, it sounds like I'm a bit of a hypochondriac, doesn't it? Nevertheless, I haven't given up on my running, which has begun to pick up again. And there are still a couple of months more of races ahead before the extended hot summer season we experience here in north-central Florida curtails the number of racing opportunities. On March 12th & 26th there will be 10K races here in Gainesville while, in April, half-marathons are being offered in Ocala and Gainesville on the 16th and 24th, respectively and a 10K will take place in town on the 9th. Interspersed between these are numerous 5K events, so there will be plenty of chances for me to get involved with some races if I want...
What I'd like to do the most with my running is get back to the routine I've had in the past of running around my neighborhood in the late morning/early afternoon hours before I go off to work. I've found this time frame to work the best for me as the daytime temperatures haven't reached their maximum while the humidity from the previous night and early morning has usually dissipated to an acceptable level...
Saturday, February 20, 2016
Listening to Conservative Talk Radio Lately
I've been listening to my local talk radio station, 97.3/WSKY "The Sky", for the past week while at work...and on the way in my car. In particular, I've been following four different programs, all conservative right-wing shows: Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, and Michael Savage. Although all of them are very much against President Obama, Democrats, and anything politically liberal or even moderate, I have discovered some significant differences among them. But they all share an enormous talent at elucidating their opinions while managing to daily fill a three-hour block of time: pretty impressive, whether or not you happen to agree with what they are saying...
While in non-campaign times, these four are all usually railing at their political enemies on the left or center, we happen to be in an election year and they find themselves divided concerning the Republican race for president. Limbaugh and Hannity have each deliberately taken a neutral stance towards the candidates and have cultivated on-the-air interviews with them, while Levin and Savage have made their own personal choices known without equivocation. Let's take a look at these latter two, whose shows I listen to from 6-9 pm and from 9 to midnight, respectively...
Mark Levin and Michael Savage take themselves very seriously with their own "movements": Levin with his insistence on the U.S. Constitution being only interpreted one way...HIS way...and Savage with his slogan of "Borders, Language, Culture" defining his take on the news. Both remind me at times of the insane Peter Finch character of the newscaster in the 1976 movie Network, who one evening goes off the deep end and beings to rant incoherently...remember "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore"? But then again, at times, both of these guys can sound quite lucid and make their arguments compelling. That makes me want to compare them to Don Quixote, the delusional fictional knight of Miguel Cervantes's imagination, who, when not dealing with the realm of chivalry, seems quite sane and reasonable...even wise and personable. Only with Levin and Savage, it's not chivalry that turns them into mad ravers...it's the Democrats and Obama...
Mark Levin has decided that Ted Cruz is the only true conservative candidate in the GOP field, something I find laughable. And since Donald Trump and Marco Rubio have been criticizing Cruz a lot lately, Levin has been treating them with barely-concealed contempt on his show. Of course, Cruz is a frequent call-in guest. What a surprise. It's also not very surprising that Donald Trump has appeared on Michael Savage's show, since Savage is strongly supporting him...and consequently is, in turn, running down his Republican opponents. Each host has his ongoing conspiracy theory: Levin thinks that the Republican Party establishment has a plan to prevent either Trump or Cruz from obtaining a majority of delegates going into the convention and to force a deadlock, resolvable with an establishment candidate getting the nomination at the end. Savage, for his part, keeps insinuating that Obama somehow was responsible for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's recent death at a west Texas resort without showing any evidence...instead, he keeps replaying a Godfather Part II scene where a Nevada senator is framed in a "family"-owned brothel...
Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, by contrast with Levin and Savage, seem to be downright gentlemen...that is until they begin to talk about Democrats, especially our president. And then they, too, jump into the mud and wallow around. Still, they can be pretty funny at times...
As for me, I want the politicians I vote for to have well-thought out positions on the issues, although it is well-nigh impossible that I'll agree with them on everything. Conservatives have some really good points to consider, but I am sick and tired of the tendency of some of them to tar and feather anyone left of far right with epithets, conspiracy accusations, and predictions of apocalypse. Likewise, I don't appreciate progressives on the left smugly acting as if theirs is the only intelligent, caring political philosophy and that those on the right are bigots, ignorant dupes, and sell-outs to the rich and powerful. I want politicians to take clear stands on the important issues, but also to understand and compassionately accept that, if elected, they become the leader of all...even those who opposed them in the election...and that their responsibilities extend beyond those within their own political camp...
While in non-campaign times, these four are all usually railing at their political enemies on the left or center, we happen to be in an election year and they find themselves divided concerning the Republican race for president. Limbaugh and Hannity have each deliberately taken a neutral stance towards the candidates and have cultivated on-the-air interviews with them, while Levin and Savage have made their own personal choices known without equivocation. Let's take a look at these latter two, whose shows I listen to from 6-9 pm and from 9 to midnight, respectively...
Mark Levin and Michael Savage take themselves very seriously with their own "movements": Levin with his insistence on the U.S. Constitution being only interpreted one way...HIS way...and Savage with his slogan of "Borders, Language, Culture" defining his take on the news. Both remind me at times of the insane Peter Finch character of the newscaster in the 1976 movie Network, who one evening goes off the deep end and beings to rant incoherently...remember "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore"? But then again, at times, both of these guys can sound quite lucid and make their arguments compelling. That makes me want to compare them to Don Quixote, the delusional fictional knight of Miguel Cervantes's imagination, who, when not dealing with the realm of chivalry, seems quite sane and reasonable...even wise and personable. Only with Levin and Savage, it's not chivalry that turns them into mad ravers...it's the Democrats and Obama...
Mark Levin has decided that Ted Cruz is the only true conservative candidate in the GOP field, something I find laughable. And since Donald Trump and Marco Rubio have been criticizing Cruz a lot lately, Levin has been treating them with barely-concealed contempt on his show. Of course, Cruz is a frequent call-in guest. What a surprise. It's also not very surprising that Donald Trump has appeared on Michael Savage's show, since Savage is strongly supporting him...and consequently is, in turn, running down his Republican opponents. Each host has his ongoing conspiracy theory: Levin thinks that the Republican Party establishment has a plan to prevent either Trump or Cruz from obtaining a majority of delegates going into the convention and to force a deadlock, resolvable with an establishment candidate getting the nomination at the end. Savage, for his part, keeps insinuating that Obama somehow was responsible for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's recent death at a west Texas resort without showing any evidence...instead, he keeps replaying a Godfather Part II scene where a Nevada senator is framed in a "family"-owned brothel...
Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, by contrast with Levin and Savage, seem to be downright gentlemen...that is until they begin to talk about Democrats, especially our president. And then they, too, jump into the mud and wallow around. Still, they can be pretty funny at times...
As for me, I want the politicians I vote for to have well-thought out positions on the issues, although it is well-nigh impossible that I'll agree with them on everything. Conservatives have some really good points to consider, but I am sick and tired of the tendency of some of them to tar and feather anyone left of far right with epithets, conspiracy accusations, and predictions of apocalypse. Likewise, I don't appreciate progressives on the left smugly acting as if theirs is the only intelligent, caring political philosophy and that those on the right are bigots, ignorant dupes, and sell-outs to the rich and powerful. I want politicians to take clear stands on the important issues, but also to understand and compassionately accept that, if elected, they become the leader of all...even those who opposed them in the election...and that their responsibilities extend beyond those within their own political camp...
Friday, February 19, 2016
The U.S. Supreme Court, Scalia's Death, and His Replacement
Throughout the history of this country, the Supreme Court has had its factions and divisions, with the differences usually falling along the lines of the political parties with their views on society and governance. Often the Court has been slanted heavily to one side or the other...but in recent years it has been divided pretty much evenly...well, as evenly as an odd number of justices could make it. Five-to-four rulings have predominated, with Justices Roberts and Kennedy usually making up the swing votes. But now, with Justice Scalia's recent death, the division between "conservatives" and "liberals" is a deadlocked four-to-four. And President Obama is in position to change the ideological balance, even if he gets a moderate nominee confirmed...Scalia was the strong voice of the conservation faction.
Those in the political world, almost all being Republicans or conservative independents, treat Scalia's passing as if it will permanently affect the composition of the SCOTUS. But several of the justices are in their advanced years, including some liberals appointed by Democratic presidents. Ruth Bader Ginsburg has certainly had her share of health issues, and is viewed by some as the next justice to leave the Court. We don't know who will win this November's presidential election, but it is almost a sure bet that the winner, possibly a Republican, will be picking her successor. And if it IS a Republican, then we'll be hearing the same worries about the ideological balance being upset...except that it will be coming from the Democrats.
There is plenty of time this year for the President to present a nominee to the Senate and let the process go through. The Republicans have a solid majority there and can choose to accept or reject the nominee, who I hope will be someone acceptable as a reasonable choice. There are a couple of lower court judges already confirmed by this Senate...and I don't discount the idea of the President picking a moderate senator...even a Republican...for the vacant Supreme Court seat. Whatever his pick, though, this president needs to be more engaged in the process and be willing to meet and discuss this important nomination in a spirit of cooperation with the key senators involved, especially those in the Judiciary Committee...
If the Republicans in the Senate choose to stonewall Obama's nomination until after the election, they risk having to deal with another Democratic president...and that president's nominee may be much further to the left that what President Obama may have offered. And also, should they refuse to deal in good faith with Obama, this issue could prove to be a major rallying point to get Democratic voters to the polls this November. I'd like to see a qualified, centrist nominee get confirmed quickly in order to defuse this standoff and allow the Supreme Court to continue its deliberations with a complete roster of nine justices...
Those in the political world, almost all being Republicans or conservative independents, treat Scalia's passing as if it will permanently affect the composition of the SCOTUS. But several of the justices are in their advanced years, including some liberals appointed by Democratic presidents. Ruth Bader Ginsburg has certainly had her share of health issues, and is viewed by some as the next justice to leave the Court. We don't know who will win this November's presidential election, but it is almost a sure bet that the winner, possibly a Republican, will be picking her successor. And if it IS a Republican, then we'll be hearing the same worries about the ideological balance being upset...except that it will be coming from the Democrats.
There is plenty of time this year for the President to present a nominee to the Senate and let the process go through. The Republicans have a solid majority there and can choose to accept or reject the nominee, who I hope will be someone acceptable as a reasonable choice. There are a couple of lower court judges already confirmed by this Senate...and I don't discount the idea of the President picking a moderate senator...even a Republican...for the vacant Supreme Court seat. Whatever his pick, though, this president needs to be more engaged in the process and be willing to meet and discuss this important nomination in a spirit of cooperation with the key senators involved, especially those in the Judiciary Committee...
If the Republicans in the Senate choose to stonewall Obama's nomination until after the election, they risk having to deal with another Democratic president...and that president's nominee may be much further to the left that what President Obama may have offered. And also, should they refuse to deal in good faith with Obama, this issue could prove to be a major rallying point to get Democratic voters to the polls this November. I'd like to see a qualified, centrist nominee get confirmed quickly in order to defuse this standoff and allow the Supreme Court to continue its deliberations with a complete roster of nine justices...
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Currently Reading Two-Handed Engine by Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore
As I mentioned a few days ago on this blog, I am reading a large short story collection of the works, albeit incomplete, of the late husband-wife writing team of Henry Kuttner and C.L. (Catherine Lucille) Moore. The genres of this book, titled Two-Handed Engine, range from science fiction to fantasy to horror. The thirty-seven stories, most of which are collaborations of the couple, are arranged in their order of first publication starting in 1933 and ending in 1955. I am also reading the book in that order, and have just finished the first four stories...
The first story in the book is Shambleau, accredited as a solo work of C.L. Moore. It is a science fiction tale, set on Mars of the future, that spreads the contemporary belief of the author's time that Venus was a wet, marshy planet with its own life forms and that there was life on Mars as well. But the main character, an adventurer named Northwest Smith (resembling Hans Solo of Star Wars fame), is human through and through. While on Mars on nefarious smuggling business (like Solo), he encounters a mob of angry Martians chasing down a small, frightened woman. Smith, being of a gallant nature, holds off the attackers and takes her in. As the story wears on, this "woman" turns out to be a completely different life form, which she calls "Shambleau" but bears an unmistakable similarity to a monster from old Greek mythology...and Smith finds himself in a life and death crisis...
Henry Kuttner alone wrote The Graveyard Rats, the 1936 second story of the book...you just might guess that this is a horror tale. And it is, in the tradition of Kuttner's renown predecessors Edgar Allen Poe and H.P. Lovecraft. The title pretty much states what's going on here, and the rats are particularly ferocious and ravenous...
The third story in Two-Handed Engine is A Gnome There Was, a fantasy also by Kuttner, published in 1941. In it Tim Crockett, a young Californian labor organizer, travels east to a coal mine, where he disguises his intentions while being completely oblivious to that dynamite explosion about to happen...too late...but wait, he's not dead! Somehow, he has been transformed into a different kind of creature...I suppose you can infer the rest. Kuttner explores here a hidden society of fanciful creatures with their peculiar and often very funny norms...
Story number four is The Twonky, the first collaboration of Kuttner and Moore in the book and published in 1942 under the pseudonym Lewis Padgett. I read it many years ago in a "year's best" science fiction anthology. It struck me then as a forerunner of a much better story of theirs, titled Mimsy Were the Borogoves, published the following year. Still, it stands well on its own. A time-traveler from a much more technologically advanced era finds himself accidentally transported to a radio assembly factory in, I suppose, the authors' contemporary time of the early 1940s. Having temporarily lost his memory through the turbulent time travel, he is ordered by the plant's foreman to go to work, i.e. build radios. Drawing from his own knowledge, he builds a radio...but one with much more advanced features...and then recovers his memory and vanishes to return to his own time. Meanwhile, this radio, called a Twonky, is bought by a couple, who subsequently get treated to its more insidious and sinister nature...
Well, that's four stories down and thirty-three to go!
The first story in the book is Shambleau, accredited as a solo work of C.L. Moore. It is a science fiction tale, set on Mars of the future, that spreads the contemporary belief of the author's time that Venus was a wet, marshy planet with its own life forms and that there was life on Mars as well. But the main character, an adventurer named Northwest Smith (resembling Hans Solo of Star Wars fame), is human through and through. While on Mars on nefarious smuggling business (like Solo), he encounters a mob of angry Martians chasing down a small, frightened woman. Smith, being of a gallant nature, holds off the attackers and takes her in. As the story wears on, this "woman" turns out to be a completely different life form, which she calls "Shambleau" but bears an unmistakable similarity to a monster from old Greek mythology...and Smith finds himself in a life and death crisis...
Henry Kuttner alone wrote The Graveyard Rats, the 1936 second story of the book...you just might guess that this is a horror tale. And it is, in the tradition of Kuttner's renown predecessors Edgar Allen Poe and H.P. Lovecraft. The title pretty much states what's going on here, and the rats are particularly ferocious and ravenous...
The third story in Two-Handed Engine is A Gnome There Was, a fantasy also by Kuttner, published in 1941. In it Tim Crockett, a young Californian labor organizer, travels east to a coal mine, where he disguises his intentions while being completely oblivious to that dynamite explosion about to happen...too late...but wait, he's not dead! Somehow, he has been transformed into a different kind of creature...I suppose you can infer the rest. Kuttner explores here a hidden society of fanciful creatures with their peculiar and often very funny norms...
Story number four is The Twonky, the first collaboration of Kuttner and Moore in the book and published in 1942 under the pseudonym Lewis Padgett. I read it many years ago in a "year's best" science fiction anthology. It struck me then as a forerunner of a much better story of theirs, titled Mimsy Were the Borogoves, published the following year. Still, it stands well on its own. A time-traveler from a much more technologically advanced era finds himself accidentally transported to a radio assembly factory in, I suppose, the authors' contemporary time of the early 1940s. Having temporarily lost his memory through the turbulent time travel, he is ordered by the plant's foreman to go to work, i.e. build radios. Drawing from his own knowledge, he builds a radio...but one with much more advanced features...and then recovers his memory and vanishes to return to his own time. Meanwhile, this radio, called a Twonky, is bought by a couple, who subsequently get treated to its more insidious and sinister nature...
Well, that's four stories down and thirty-three to go!
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Happy Birthday, Melissa...and Happy St. Valentine's Day!
My wife Melissa has one of those interesting birthdays: it falls right on a holiday of sorts...and what a holiday: St. Valentine's Day! So, to my dear, beautiful Valentine, Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Eighth Harry Potter Book Coming Out July 31
I was watching MSNBC just now and was surprised to see, scrolling at the bottom of the screen, the news that J.K. Rowling would be releasing a new Harry Potter book, the eighth in the series, on July 31 this year. After investigating this online, I discovered that the new installment, titled Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, will be in two parts and is to pick up where the last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, ended...nineteen years later with his youngest child, Albus Severus, entering Hogwarts Academy for the first time. The original story for this new book was written for a play that will open in London on July 30, the day before the book's release. And why July 31? Why, it's Harry's birthday, of course!
Now I'm going to have to go to my local Books-a-Million to see if they're planning to have another big Harry Potter party on the eve of its publication. But since Kindles and their like will probably take up much of the sales of this new Potter book, I don't know if its hardbound release will have as much public celebratory fanfare. We'll see...
Now I'm going to have to go to my local Books-a-Million to see if they're planning to have another big Harry Potter party on the eve of its publication. But since Kindles and their like will probably take up much of the sales of this new Potter book, I don't know if its hardbound release will have as much public celebratory fanfare. We'll see...
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Some Observations About the Presidential Campaign
Here are some things I noticed about the presidential campaign so far, the day after the New Hampshire primary...
Any time a Republican candidate starts looking good in the polls, the others gang up on him. When Ted Cruz rose to the top in Iowa, both Donald Trump and Marco Rubio went after him. Then after Rubio made his unexpected good showing in that state's caucuses, he was attacked without mercy. Now we have Trump back on top with John Kasich on the upsurge...expect both the Donald and the rest of the "gang" to pile on Kasich...
On one of the cable news channels...I believe it was MSNBC...they did a poll of New Hampshire voters after they voted in the primary. According to the results, almost half of them didn't make their decision about whom they were going to vote for until the final days...this in spite of the fact that the campaign had been going on strong in the media since last spring and their own state had been inundated with information on the candidates and their records and positions...along with many opportunities over the past several months for the voters to evaluate their character and qualifications for the job. What's wrong with these people, I ask myself...
Another pattern about the electorate that makes me scratch my head in puzzlement is the voter turnout issue. Bernie Sanders was on the podium last night in exultant victory, lauding the very high voter turnout in the primary. And it was, by all accounts, high. Fine, I'm O.K. with that. And in the presidential general election, it usually is pretty high as well. Good, good, good. But then wait two years for the so-called "off-year" elections that determine all of the House of Representatives, a third of the Senate seats, and a substantial portion of the Governors, and voter turnout goes way down, especially as I have recently observed, among those same Democratic voters who were so proud of themselves two years earlier for their active involvement in the political process. I've said it before and I'll say it again: something is wrong with the system when a state like my Florida can go for liberal Democrat Barack Obama in 2008, elect tea party Republican Rick Scott in 2010, go once again for Obama in 2012...and, of course, turn right back around and reelect Scott in 2014. It's not the politicians who are in the wrong: it's the electorate with their inconsistent, herky-jerky voter turnout record...
Any time a Republican candidate starts looking good in the polls, the others gang up on him. When Ted Cruz rose to the top in Iowa, both Donald Trump and Marco Rubio went after him. Then after Rubio made his unexpected good showing in that state's caucuses, he was attacked without mercy. Now we have Trump back on top with John Kasich on the upsurge...expect both the Donald and the rest of the "gang" to pile on Kasich...
On one of the cable news channels...I believe it was MSNBC...they did a poll of New Hampshire voters after they voted in the primary. According to the results, almost half of them didn't make their decision about whom they were going to vote for until the final days...this in spite of the fact that the campaign had been going on strong in the media since last spring and their own state had been inundated with information on the candidates and their records and positions...along with many opportunities over the past several months for the voters to evaluate their character and qualifications for the job. What's wrong with these people, I ask myself...
Another pattern about the electorate that makes me scratch my head in puzzlement is the voter turnout issue. Bernie Sanders was on the podium last night in exultant victory, lauding the very high voter turnout in the primary. And it was, by all accounts, high. Fine, I'm O.K. with that. And in the presidential general election, it usually is pretty high as well. Good, good, good. But then wait two years for the so-called "off-year" elections that determine all of the House of Representatives, a third of the Senate seats, and a substantial portion of the Governors, and voter turnout goes way down, especially as I have recently observed, among those same Democratic voters who were so proud of themselves two years earlier for their active involvement in the political process. I've said it before and I'll say it again: something is wrong with the system when a state like my Florida can go for liberal Democrat Barack Obama in 2008, elect tea party Republican Rick Scott in 2010, go once again for Obama in 2012...and, of course, turn right back around and reelect Scott in 2014. It's not the politicians who are in the wrong: it's the electorate with their inconsistent, herky-jerky voter turnout record...
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Two Books I'm Reading Now
The two books that I am currently reading are both pretty lengthy: Don Quixote by Don Miguel de Cervantes and Two-Handed Engine by Henry Kuttner and C.L. (Catherine Lucille) Moore. You've most likely heard of the former, with the delusional self-proclaimed knight engaging in combat against windmills while his simple "squire" Sancho Panza suffers along, with his own delusions to deal with. But there is much, much more to this book, which reads more like a modern novel than the early 17th century composition that it was. I'm approaching the halfway point...when I'm finished I will no doubt write a review...
The other book, Two-Handed Engine, spans the science fiction and fantasy short story writing career of the husband-wife writing team Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore, with their collaborations usually accredited to pseudonyms like Lewis Padgett and Lawrence O'Donnell. I've already read some of their stories, which I picked up from other sci-fi anthologies. Since this book I have now is more than 900 pages in length, with 37 stories, I'm bound to be at it for a while. Maybe instead of waiting until I've finished the entire book before reviewing it, I'll instead write my reactions for each group of three or four stories I've just read as I go along. I'm deeply looking forward to this reading experience, for Kuttner/Moore already are the authors of my all-time favorite science fiction story: Mimsy Were the Borogoves, which is also in this book...
The other book, Two-Handed Engine, spans the science fiction and fantasy short story writing career of the husband-wife writing team Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore, with their collaborations usually accredited to pseudonyms like Lewis Padgett and Lawrence O'Donnell. I've already read some of their stories, which I picked up from other sci-fi anthologies. Since this book I have now is more than 900 pages in length, with 37 stories, I'm bound to be at it for a while. Maybe instead of waiting until I've finished the entire book before reviewing it, I'll instead write my reactions for each group of three or four stories I've just read as I go along. I'm deeply looking forward to this reading experience, for Kuttner/Moore already are the authors of my all-time favorite science fiction story: Mimsy Were the Borogoves, which is also in this book...
Monday, February 8, 2016
Changing Time and Setting of My Blog Writing
I'm trying out a new schedule and strategy for studying and writing, beginning today. I remember that back in 2007-08, when I began this blog, I would routinely write out articles in the early afternoon, just before I went off to work. I usually did this while sitting in a coffee shop like Starbucks. Well, now I am out again, before work and sitting here with my coffee (not Starbucks...but a nice place nearby). The only difference between now and then is that then I would write out my articles on my portable AlphaSmart word processor and then post them the next day from my home computer, while now I'll be posting on the same day, right after I've finished writing...
I'd like to expand the range of my topics, which recently have been relatively limited in comparison to earlier years. In any event, I appreciate your readership and hope that you'll find my articles interesting, regardless of your own personal interests or whether you necessarily agree with my opinions...
I'd like to expand the range of my topics, which recently have been relatively limited in comparison to earlier years. In any event, I appreciate your readership and hope that you'll find my articles interesting, regardless of your own personal interests or whether you necessarily agree with my opinions...
Sunday, February 7, 2016
Denver Defense Dominates Super Bowl
I was rooting for Denver, out of gratitude, to win this year's Super Bowl after they ruined the season of my Miami Dolphins' nemesis, the New England Patriots. No, I've never cared for Peyton Manning...although his only fault in my eyes was that he was the quarterback of the also equally-hated Colts (for older Dolphins fans like me) for many years. Still, I'm happy for him as it looks as if he will retire as a Super Bowl champion after his Broncos' defense destroyed the Carolina Panthers en route to a 24-10 championship tonight. I just finished watching the game, but I concur with the TV announcers who believe that Denver's Von Miller, who caused two fumbles from Carolina's quarterback Cam Newton that led to the Broncos' two touchdowns, should be the game's MVP. I was a little dismayed at the end, though, after Denver upped their advantage to 24-10...it seemed as if the Panthers had just given up, even though there was still a little time left to try to get back into the game. But they punted on fourth down deep in their own territory, and by the time they got the ball back, it was too late to do anything...
This might be called by some an "ugly" game, but that's how it usually is when the defense dominates the opposing offense on the field. Carolina's defense also contained Denver's offense, but the Broncos were able to cause more crucial, big turnovers to secure the win. After the initial disappointment, I anticipate that Carolina and Cam will recover and make another good run at the title next year. But I'll be pulling for Tampa Bay to improve enough to challenge them in their division in 2016...
This might be called by some an "ugly" game, but that's how it usually is when the defense dominates the opposing offense on the field. Carolina's defense also contained Denver's offense, but the Broncos were able to cause more crucial, big turnovers to secure the win. After the initial disappointment, I anticipate that Carolina and Cam will recover and make another good run at the title next year. But I'll be pulling for Tampa Bay to improve enough to challenge them in their division in 2016...
Saturday, February 6, 2016
String of Good Soccer Matches on TV Today
Last Sunday I strained my back somehow while getting up from a chair. So, for the past week, I've been struggling through life, functioning as best as I can at home and work, and gradually recovering from day to day. Finally, I made to this weekend...whew! Today, the first of my two days off, saw me sleeping late into the morning...in the process missing the important soccer match that NBC Sports (Gainesville's Cox Channel 33) was showing between English Premier League leader Leicester City and one of their main challengers, Manchester City. Although few are giving upstart Leicester a chance to win the title, they keep holding their advantage in the league and are now, after 25 games and drubbing Manchester City 3-1 today (and on the road at that), 5 points ahead of second-place Tottenham (also a surprise contender). And there are only 13 games left in the season. What a turnaround from last year...
As late as the end of March in the 2014-15 season, Leicester City, just promoted from the second tier league Football League Championship, was deeply mired in last place with only 4 wins, 18 losses, 7 draws...and only 9 games left in the season. Then, inexplicably, the Foxes caught fire and won 7 of those final games with only 1 loss and a draw, shooting out of last place and away from relegation (i.e. demotion to the next lower league). They have kept up that torrid pace this year with their high powered offense, led by their star forward Jamie Vardy, who plays hard at both offense and defense...
So I missed that first game this morning, but I was able to toggle back and forth between the Tottenham-Watford and Liverpool-Sunderland matches. Fox Sports was showing Germany's Bundesliga as well today: I got to see a couple of good matches earlier...Borussia Dortmund-Hertha Berlin and Bayern Munich-Bayer Leverkusen. As I write this I'm watching the Borussia Mönchengladbach-Werder Bremen match (which is a replay from yesterday). And I found out, that on two of my Spanish-language channels, three different Mexican Liga MX games will be shown this evening...
With the cold, dreary weather outside and the need for me to recuperate from that freak back strain, what could be better than to have a day off and an opportunity to watch my favorite sport? Forget Super Bowl Sunday: Soccer Saturday rules !!!
As late as the end of March in the 2014-15 season, Leicester City, just promoted from the second tier league Football League Championship, was deeply mired in last place with only 4 wins, 18 losses, 7 draws...and only 9 games left in the season. Then, inexplicably, the Foxes caught fire and won 7 of those final games with only 1 loss and a draw, shooting out of last place and away from relegation (i.e. demotion to the next lower league). They have kept up that torrid pace this year with their high powered offense, led by their star forward Jamie Vardy, who plays hard at both offense and defense...
So I missed that first game this morning, but I was able to toggle back and forth between the Tottenham-Watford and Liverpool-Sunderland matches. Fox Sports was showing Germany's Bundesliga as well today: I got to see a couple of good matches earlier...Borussia Dortmund-Hertha Berlin and Bayern Munich-Bayer Leverkusen. As I write this I'm watching the Borussia Mönchengladbach-Werder Bremen match (which is a replay from yesterday). And I found out, that on two of my Spanish-language channels, three different Mexican Liga MX games will be shown this evening...
With the cold, dreary weather outside and the need for me to recuperate from that freak back strain, what could be better than to have a day off and an opportunity to watch my favorite sport? Forget Super Bowl Sunday: Soccer Saturday rules !!!
Friday, February 5, 2016
Just Finished Reading James Patterson's Season of the Machete
Since this is my third consecutive review of a James Patterson novel, you just might come to the conclusion that I have totally immersed myself in this popular mystery/crime writer's works...but you'd be wrong. Especially after I just finished his second published novel, titled Season of the Machete...
Season of the Machete is a thrown-together conglomeration of all sorts of cynical literary and cinematic themes that have worn themselves thin. The story takes place in a foreign country (a small Caribbean nation with a Jamaican culture but not Jamaica per se) and the CIA and American organized crime bosses are in cahoots as they try to manipulate the politics of that country to their mutual advantage. To this end, they agree to hire assassins (in the form of a married couple dedicated to the profession) to create a scenario of fear and unrest through a series of brutal murders that appear to have been committed by revolutionaries on the island. But one man...our protagonist...has seen the hit man at a murder site and the hunt is on...who'll catch him first...or will he catch one of the culprits? If this sounds like a scenario from the Robert Redford movie Three Days of the Condor (released in 1975, two years before this book's publication), don't be surprised: Patterson even made a thinly-disguised reference to the movie...
If you like repeated gory scenes of brutality and killing interspersed with double crosses gone out of control, along with no one ever being quite sure who is the hunter and who is the hunted...then this is the story for you. I found it to be altogether tedious...I began to wish for a giant asteroid collision to happen at the end, just to put all of these pathetic and unlikable people out of their misery...
In other words, I don't recommend Season of the Machete. But it is short enough to where you wouldn't be making much of a reading commitment should you decide to ignore my advice and tackle it anyway...
I think I'll take a little break from James Patterson, but I'm certain to return and see what some other works of his are like. I did, after all, like The Thomas Berryman Number and Along Came a Spider...
Season of the Machete is a thrown-together conglomeration of all sorts of cynical literary and cinematic themes that have worn themselves thin. The story takes place in a foreign country (a small Caribbean nation with a Jamaican culture but not Jamaica per se) and the CIA and American organized crime bosses are in cahoots as they try to manipulate the politics of that country to their mutual advantage. To this end, they agree to hire assassins (in the form of a married couple dedicated to the profession) to create a scenario of fear and unrest through a series of brutal murders that appear to have been committed by revolutionaries on the island. But one man...our protagonist...has seen the hit man at a murder site and the hunt is on...who'll catch him first...or will he catch one of the culprits? If this sounds like a scenario from the Robert Redford movie Three Days of the Condor (released in 1975, two years before this book's publication), don't be surprised: Patterson even made a thinly-disguised reference to the movie...
If you like repeated gory scenes of brutality and killing interspersed with double crosses gone out of control, along with no one ever being quite sure who is the hunter and who is the hunted...then this is the story for you. I found it to be altogether tedious...I began to wish for a giant asteroid collision to happen at the end, just to put all of these pathetic and unlikable people out of their misery...
In other words, I don't recommend Season of the Machete. But it is short enough to where you wouldn't be making much of a reading commitment should you decide to ignore my advice and tackle it anyway...
I think I'll take a little break from James Patterson, but I'm certain to return and see what some other works of his are like. I did, after all, like The Thomas Berryman Number and Along Came a Spider...
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
UF #9 on Nat'l Signing Day
No, I don't remember the name of the organization ranking the schools signing star high school recruits today in college football...but I saw it on one of the mainstream sports cable channels and it looks as if Jim McElwain, Florida's head coach, has done a pretty good job in competition against his rivals for the top talent: Florida was given #9 ranking in terms of their signings. In contrast, their former coach, Will Muschamp, recently hired at South Carolina, seemed quite content with his school's #29 ranking on Signing Day...making me wonder whether that might not also have been the result for Florida had he remained with them. Of course, although it's important to have talent at the outset on your team, it's also crucial to have the knowledge and means to develop the skills these entering college players as they take their level of play to a higher level. One thing I noticed about the rankings, though, is that they don't reveal how successful a particular program was in filling positions that they are deficient in. For the Gators, they desperately need talent on the offensive line. And a decent placekicker wouldn't hurt, either. Maybe that Crawfordville, Florida signee Feleipe Franks...also the nation's #5 ranked high school quarterback as well as a very competent kicker...can fill the bill here. I know one thing: Florida fans won't have very much patience this upcoming season if they see the same kind of stagnant offense they saw for the last half of 2015. Coach McElwain be warned...
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
Iowa Results Change Campaign
The 2016 presidential campaign season has finally entered its "real"
stage after months upon months of public opinion polls, contentious
debates, and mind-numbing exchanges of insults via Twitter, stump
speeches, and media interviews. The "inevitable" Republican, Donald
Trump, didn't win yesterday's Iowa Caucuses as expected: Texas
senator Ted Cruz pulled out the victory with 28% of the vote while Trump
only mustered 24%. But the real story on the GOP side in Iowa, in my
opinion, was the surge for Florida senator Marco Rubio, who nearly beat
out Trump with 23%. Watch out for this guy...if Trump doesn't recover
quickly, Rubio may well storm through to the nomination...
On the Democratic side, it was nearly a dead heat between Hillary Clinton and Vermont senator Bernie Sanders: both sides are currently spinning the results in their candidate's favor, of course. Sanders has a large edge in young voters and independents, while Clinton...unlike in 2008 against Barack Obama...has a large margin over her opponent among African-Americans...
Next week is the New Hampshire Primary. Sanders, whose state of Vermont is right next door, is a shoo-in according to the polls...Clinton just needs to close the gap in order to keep her momentum heading into South Carolina and the other Southern states, where she is much stronger among Democrats. With the Republicans, Trump needs to win New Hampshire (which he should, with a large margin over his opponents in the opinion polls). Cruz, like Clinton, sees his main strength down the line in the South. But if Rubio can gain votes on Trump in New Hampshire like he unexpectedly did in Iowa...watch out!
On the Democratic side, it was nearly a dead heat between Hillary Clinton and Vermont senator Bernie Sanders: both sides are currently spinning the results in their candidate's favor, of course. Sanders has a large edge in young voters and independents, while Clinton...unlike in 2008 against Barack Obama...has a large margin over her opponent among African-Americans...
Next week is the New Hampshire Primary. Sanders, whose state of Vermont is right next door, is a shoo-in according to the polls...Clinton just needs to close the gap in order to keep her momentum heading into South Carolina and the other Southern states, where she is much stronger among Democrats. With the Republicans, Trump needs to win New Hampshire (which he should, with a large margin over his opponents in the opinion polls). Cruz, like Clinton, sees his main strength down the line in the South. But if Rubio can gain votes on Trump in New Hampshire like he unexpectedly did in Iowa...watch out!
Sunday, January 31, 2016
My January 2016 Running Report
In January I ran a total of 280 miles, usually spreading out the mileage over more than one run each day. And I did run on every day of the month. My longest single run was the 9.3 miles I ran in the Newnan's Lake 15K race here in Gainesville, which took place yesterday (see my previous article about it). I skipped the Ocala Half-Marathon I had planned to run in on the 17th because of severe weather over the area...
Next month, on the 21st, will be the Gainesville Five Points Half-Marathon. I should be fine running in it as long as the weather holds up. My emphasis of late with my running is not to go for personal records, but rather to regain confidence in covering long distances without regard to how fast I run...this seems like a good direction for me to go for the future. Not that I won't still enter races from time to time, but I'll be going more for the experiences than the results...
Next month, on the 21st, will be the Gainesville Five Points Half-Marathon. I should be fine running in it as long as the weather holds up. My emphasis of late with my running is not to go for personal records, but rather to regain confidence in covering long distances without regard to how fast I run...this seems like a good direction for me to go for the future. Not that I won't still enter races from time to time, but I'll be going more for the experiences than the results...
Saturday, January 30, 2016
Ran the 2016 Newnan's Lake 15K Today
When I decided to run in this morning's 9.3-mile Newnan's Lake 15K race, east of Gainesville off Hawthorne Road, I had also decided to deliberately tone down the competitive aspect of the event and just concentrate on going at it with the intent of finding my running "groove". If you're familiar through personal experience with distance running, you know what I'm talking about: there is a certain pace, unique to each individual, at which runners can push themselves while still able to run indefinitely without the dreaded lactic acid buildup that can ruin a run. In the previous two races I've participated in, I foolishly went out from the starting line with the notion of speeding up my pace: each attempt left me struggling at the end. For this run, though, I made a point of deliberately going slower than my normal pace for about half the race...and then increasing my speed to the point where I was comfortable while yet pushing myself. I stuck to this plan, which resulted in a much slower overall run (1:31:20) and a next-to-last placing in my male/55-59 group. The irony of this is that, long after I had finished the race with my slow run, many participants in other gender/age groups were still on the course. Apparently, the male/55-59 group is one of the more competitive categories here in Gainesville, where running is very popular...
The temperature at race time (8:30 AM) was about 40 degrees...as the sun rose on this clear day, with no breeze to speak of, the temperature rose into the 50s by race's end...and the air became drier and more pleasant. The course for this race was more or less flat, with a little sloping in sections that only a flatland-Floridian like me would even notice. Near the start and close of the race, I could look over to the side while running and see pretty Newnan's Lake. Almost all of the race was done on asphalt roads, with a little part about a third of the way through going down a dirt path...
Although my finishing time was about 13 minutes slower than my effort here a year ago, I am more satisfied that I resisted the temptation to get hypercompetitive, especially early on. When I did pass other runners, it was simply because the pace I had set for myself dictated it. I think this is the way to go with future races, especially those that are 10K, 15K, and half-marathons. Next month on February 21 will be Gainesville's Five Points of Life Half-Marathon, which I've run in 2010, 2014, and 2015. With my renewed confidence in my ability to discipline my pacing in competitive situations, I'm looking forward to another go at it. My main goal with distance running is to be able to sustain a reasonable degree of activity for as many years possible as I age...
Here is a link to the results from the 2016 Newnan's Lake 15K...
The temperature at race time (8:30 AM) was about 40 degrees...as the sun rose on this clear day, with no breeze to speak of, the temperature rose into the 50s by race's end...and the air became drier and more pleasant. The course for this race was more or less flat, with a little sloping in sections that only a flatland-Floridian like me would even notice. Near the start and close of the race, I could look over to the side while running and see pretty Newnan's Lake. Almost all of the race was done on asphalt roads, with a little part about a third of the way through going down a dirt path...
Although my finishing time was about 13 minutes slower than my effort here a year ago, I am more satisfied that I resisted the temptation to get hypercompetitive, especially early on. When I did pass other runners, it was simply because the pace I had set for myself dictated it. I think this is the way to go with future races, especially those that are 10K, 15K, and half-marathons. Next month on February 21 will be Gainesville's Five Points of Life Half-Marathon, which I've run in 2010, 2014, and 2015. With my renewed confidence in my ability to discipline my pacing in competitive situations, I'm looking forward to another go at it. My main goal with distance running is to be able to sustain a reasonable degree of activity for as many years possible as I age...
Here is a link to the results from the 2016 Newnan's Lake 15K...
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