Well, seeing that it's Tuesday again I guess I'll continue with this series of listing my personal top three favorite songs from different musical acts. I know I left out quite a few of the more popular artists, probably some that you like. For many of these, I may like one or two songs over the course of their careers...but three? Maybe if I were to listen to all of the tracks on all of their albums I'd like more...but I neither have the time nor desire to do this. The following list breaks down this way: other than the first entry, which I should have included a couple of weeks ago, the artists are generally known from the 1990's up to this day. My musical interests during the nineties and up through 2002 were mainly in the genre of hard rock...from 2003 onward it changed to alternative rock/indie music...it's been a very long time since I've followed "top 40" pop music. This list reflects that shift...why not try listening to some of the acts on it you might not have heard?
MELANIE
1 RING THE LIVING BELL
2 LAY DOWN (CANDLES IN THE RAIN)
3 BRAND NEW KEY
THE PRETENDERS
1 MESSAGE OF LOVE
2 MY CITY WAS GONE
3 BACK ON THE CHAIN GANG
THE B-52'S
1 ROAM
2 LEGAL TENDER
3 ROCK LOBSTER
METALLICA
1 SAD BUT TRUE
2 ONE
3 NOTHING ELSE MATTERS
RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE
1 RENEGADES OF FUNK
2 KILLING IN THE NAME
3 BULLS ON PARADE
SUGAR RAY
1 SOMEDAY
2 FLY (with Super Cat)
3 EVERY MORNING
KORN
1 HERE TO STAY
2 MAKE ME BAD
3 GOT THE LIFE
FOO FIGHTERS
1 EVERLONG
2 SOMETHING FROM NOTHING
2 I'LL STICK AROUND
INCUBUS
1 STELLAR
2 DRIVE
3 TALK SHOWS ON MUTE
DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE
1 SOUL MEETS BODY
2 CATH...
3 I WILL POSSESS YOUR HEART
TOOL
1 VICARIOUS
2 SCHISM
3 STINKFIST
SYSTEM OF A DOWN
1 SUGAR
2 ARIELS
3 CHOP SUEY!
COLDPLAY
1 MOSES
2 CLOCKS
3 ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME
FRANZ FERDINAND
1 TWILIGHT OMENS
2 ELEANOR PUT YOUR BOOTS ON
3 THIS FIRE
THE KILLERS
1 ALL THESE THINGS THAT I'VE DONE
2 THE MAN
3 HUMAN
SUFJAN STEVENS
1 DETROIT, LIFT UP YOUR WEARY HEAD
2 CASIMIR PULASKI DAY
3 JACKSONVILLE
REGINA SPEKTOR
1 US
2 FIREWOOD
3 MAN OF A THOUSAND FACES
ARCADE FIRE
1 NEON BIBLE
2 WINDOWSILL
3 ROCOCO
KASABIAN
1 SWITCHBLADE SMILES
2 REASON IS TREASON
3 TREAT
GORILLAZ
1 TO BINGE
2 STYLO
3 REVOLVING DOORS
METRIC
1 CALCULATION THEME
2 SOFT ROCK STAR
3 LOVE IS A PLACE
ANDREW BIRD
1 FIERY CRASH
2 FITZ AND THE DIZZYSPELLS
3 FAKE PALINDROMES
PJ HARVEY
1 THE WHEEL
2 THE ORANGE MONKEY
3 THE COMMUNITY OF HOPE
THE STROKES
1 12:51
2 REPTILIA
3 THE END HAS NO END
SPOON
1 THE GHOST OF YOU LINGERS
2 MERCHANTS OF SOUL
3 GOODNIGHT LAURA
LINKIN PARK
1 BLACKOUT
2 BLEED IT OUT
3 FAINT
CAGE THE ELEPHANT
1 COME A LITTLE BIT CLOSER
2 SHAKE ME DOWN
3 WHOLE WIDE WORLD
MGMT
1 TIME TO PRETEND
2 KIDS
3 ELECTRIC FEEL
TWENTY ONE PILOTS
1 RIDE
2 HEAVYDIRTYSOUL
3 HEATHENS
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
Monday, May 7, 2018
Stormy Daniels News Not High on My Priority List
I got up this morning and flicked on the TV news...guess what they were talking about? The Stormy Daniels affair, Trump lawyers Michael Cohen and Rudy Giuliani and what they said, along with what the president said. Excuse me, but in the grand scheme of things...who cares? Years before he ran for president, Trump had a brief affair with this stripper/porn star and had Cohen pay her $130,000 to keep her mouth shut about it. This rather seedy business nonetheless, at least on the surface, has the appearance of legal propriety. At first, naturally, the president denied any involvement with Daniels...now the affair seems to be acknowledged by all sides. But while I'm disappointed that a man with such a low moral compass was elected to be my president...and sadly with the full support of many who claim to hold personal morality and accountability as important traits in their leaders (quite a few of whom took Clinton to task about Monica Lewinsky)...this simply does not merit, in my opinion, continual coverage on the news channels. Stormy Daniels is not a Russian agent and has nothing whatsoever to do with the much more serious issue of past and potentially future Russian interference in our elections, which should always be front and center stage. But there are other issues as well that actually affect us in our lives and will determine our future in this country and on this planet...for example, climate change should be getting much, much coverage than the meager amount it gets. And other issues like firearms regulation (authorized under the Second Amendment) and our national immigration policy only seem to come up whenever there is a shooting spree, demonstrations, or a Trump tweet. The televised news media seem nowadays only to react to prompts from others instead of proactively investigating in detail the important issues of our day and producing informative and compelling journalism...
Sunday, May 6, 2018
Just Finished Reading Warcross by Marie Lu
Marie Lu has already earned a name for herself in the fiction series business with The Young Elites and Legend...I've yet to read either. She has begun a new one and the first book is titled Warcross. Warcross is a ten-year old interactive virtual reality video game...some 90% of young adults worldwide are avid players and the number keeps growing. Each year there is a world championship tournament played in Tokyo, the home of the game's inventor...a young man by the name of Hideo Tanaka. The story's protagonist is a young woman, Emika Chen, who since her arrest in high school for hacking the accounts of people in retaliation for persecuting a friend of hers, has lived on the outskirts of society, struggling to earn a living in New York City as a bounty hunter whose main focus is finding gambling law violators, usually in relation to Warcross. She is very likable and sympathetic, and is also a big fan of Warcross, both as an anonymous player and a follower of the top world professional leagues and players. At the opening of the world championship, she impulsively hacks into a game, which is being broadcast worldwide...but she is exposed in the act, with her image visible everywhere: now almost everywhere people recognize her. Very shortly thereafter Hideo Tanaka contacts her and invites her to Tokyo...and so continues the rest of the story, which you're invited to read for yourself...
There is a tone to Warcross that is glaringly apparent to me, a outsider in the world of video gaming. My video game playing pretty much ended with Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog series, which my son Will stoically conquered as a little kid. His generation is totally tuned in to video gaming...mine isn't, a truly substantial generation gap. I know folks around me who are totally into this activity and they seem differently wired mentally than those like me who aren't...that's not a criticism, just an observation. I kind of wish that I had gotten into them earlier in my life, but they seemed kind of pointless back then and, well, I still hold to that viewpoint to an extent. But it would have served as a sort of generational conduit had I been a little better versed in the different games. Warcross seems to make the assumption that "virtually" everyone is into video gaming, though...an assumption that I would beg to differ with. Still, it is set sometime in the future...maybe the author thought that by then "my" generation would have already gone by the wayside. I liked Warcross, though, and plan to follow this blossoming series which I expect will be adapted to movies...
There is a tone to Warcross that is glaringly apparent to me, a outsider in the world of video gaming. My video game playing pretty much ended with Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog series, which my son Will stoically conquered as a little kid. His generation is totally tuned in to video gaming...mine isn't, a truly substantial generation gap. I know folks around me who are totally into this activity and they seem differently wired mentally than those like me who aren't...that's not a criticism, just an observation. I kind of wish that I had gotten into them earlier in my life, but they seemed kind of pointless back then and, well, I still hold to that viewpoint to an extent. But it would have served as a sort of generational conduit had I been a little better versed in the different games. Warcross seems to make the assumption that "virtually" everyone is into video gaming, though...an assumption that I would beg to differ with. Still, it is set sometime in the future...maybe the author thought that by then "my" generation would have already gone by the wayside. I liked Warcross, though, and plan to follow this blossoming series which I expect will be adapted to movies...
Saturday, May 5, 2018
2018 Kentucky Derby Has Wide-Open Field
Once again it is the first Saturday in May and voilá, here is the Kentucky Derby horse race, held at the Churchill Downs track just a couple of blocks south of the University of Louisville. In the 2018 edition of this time-honored event that represents the first of the three-race Triple Crown for three-year-old thoroughbreds, there will be 20 entrants, with several horses bunched together as favorites and many more as longshots. At this writing the favorites, in general order of betting odds, are Justify, Mendelssohn, Magnum Moon, Audible, and Belt d'Oro. Sometimes I get a "feeling" about a name and that horse mysteriously wins...Tonality in the Belmont Stakes a few years ago was one such example. Magnum Moon is my choice this time around, based on complete ignorance and only a hunch...but it's all for fun! As for the horse with my favorite name, it's one of the longshots: Free Drop Billy...
The Kentucky Derby is supposedly slated for 6:46 pm and will get 2:30-7:30 coverage on NBC. I'll probably watch some of the prerace programming to get a better sense of the horses and to see any late changes in the lineup and odds. In any event I'm hoping that whichever horse wins this race will also win the Preakness, setting up yet another exciting Triple Crown scenario for the Belmont. We'll see...
The Kentucky Derby is supposedly slated for 6:46 pm and will get 2:30-7:30 coverage on NBC. I'll probably watch some of the prerace programming to get a better sense of the horses and to see any late changes in the lineup and odds. In any event I'm hoping that whichever horse wins this race will also win the Preakness, setting up yet another exciting Triple Crown scenario for the Belmont. We'll see...
Friday, May 4, 2018
Quote of the Week...from John C. Maxwell
Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. John C. Maxwell
John C. Maxwell is a famous leadership development trainer/teacher...I picked the above quote of his because he is discussing the concept of "react". We all react at every moment of our lives to what's going on around us...otherwise we wouldn't survive. Most of our reactions we are unconscious of...what I will discuss are the conscious decisions we make to react to cues we encounter...
Maxwell is making the strong point that the quality of our lives is largely a matter of personal choice. It is important to realize this, for the more successful one becomes the more exposed he or she is to criticism from others...just look at all the businesses with their multitudes of Yelp reviews and authors with similar critiques from Goodreads. You accomplish something worthwhile and somebody's certain to pan it...reacting negatively to this inevitability won't accomplish anything...
There are people that I would term "reactive personalities". They tend to allow any prompt they see or hear lead them to determine what they feel, say, and do. If there is a terrorist attack somewhere, they overreact as if they themselves are about to be attacked. If they see some folks enjoying greater economic prosperity than themselves, they feel resentment instead of rejoicing in their friends' good fortune. If they see someone on TV who reminds them of a negative aspect about someone they know, they're liable to suddenly turn cold toward that person for no apparent reason. These people are more likely to be regarded as "drama queens" or "prima donnas", wanting to be recognized as the "top" of whatever group they happen to be in...our president has one of the worst reactive personalities I've seen in anyone. Another characteristic of reactive people is that they are consumed with themselves and only listen to others in order to judge them or if they themselves are the central topic of discussion. These people are a drudge to be around, demanding loyalty without reciprocating...
The opposite of a reactive person is what John C. Maxwell is suggesting: a proactive individual lives by guiding principles that strengthen them in the face of outside pressure or influence. Such a soul recognizes that they cannot please everyone and that there can be fulfillment in solitude and as a follower...and that true empathy with others requires a release from reacting to what they say or do and instead try to see things from their perspective. If an election goes the wrong way, somebody cuts you off in traffic, or the president tweets something characteristically offensive, you would still be okay in not liking it but you could keep your focus on what you stand for and want to do. This path sounds more attractive to me, not that I always make the right choices in this regard...
John C. Maxwell is a famous leadership development trainer/teacher...I picked the above quote of his because he is discussing the concept of "react". We all react at every moment of our lives to what's going on around us...otherwise we wouldn't survive. Most of our reactions we are unconscious of...what I will discuss are the conscious decisions we make to react to cues we encounter...
Maxwell is making the strong point that the quality of our lives is largely a matter of personal choice. It is important to realize this, for the more successful one becomes the more exposed he or she is to criticism from others...just look at all the businesses with their multitudes of Yelp reviews and authors with similar critiques from Goodreads. You accomplish something worthwhile and somebody's certain to pan it...reacting negatively to this inevitability won't accomplish anything...
There are people that I would term "reactive personalities". They tend to allow any prompt they see or hear lead them to determine what they feel, say, and do. If there is a terrorist attack somewhere, they overreact as if they themselves are about to be attacked. If they see some folks enjoying greater economic prosperity than themselves, they feel resentment instead of rejoicing in their friends' good fortune. If they see someone on TV who reminds them of a negative aspect about someone they know, they're liable to suddenly turn cold toward that person for no apparent reason. These people are more likely to be regarded as "drama queens" or "prima donnas", wanting to be recognized as the "top" of whatever group they happen to be in...our president has one of the worst reactive personalities I've seen in anyone. Another characteristic of reactive people is that they are consumed with themselves and only listen to others in order to judge them or if they themselves are the central topic of discussion. These people are a drudge to be around, demanding loyalty without reciprocating...
The opposite of a reactive person is what John C. Maxwell is suggesting: a proactive individual lives by guiding principles that strengthen them in the face of outside pressure or influence. Such a soul recognizes that they cannot please everyone and that there can be fulfillment in solitude and as a follower...and that true empathy with others requires a release from reacting to what they say or do and instead try to see things from their perspective. If an election goes the wrong way, somebody cuts you off in traffic, or the president tweets something characteristically offensive, you would still be okay in not liking it but you could keep your focus on what you stand for and want to do. This path sounds more attractive to me, not that I always make the right choices in this regard...
Thursday, May 3, 2018
4/29 Sermon on Daniel, Pt. 4
At the Family Church here in Gainesville Philip Griffin, our senior pastor, continued his Counter-Culture series this past Sunday about the Old Testament book of Daniel with a message titled The Conversion of Nebuchadnezzar. The focus passage was Daniel 4: click on it to read it via Bible Gateway. In examining what happened to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Pastor Philip brought up some points about the price of pride...
Once again Nebuchadnezzar has an unsettling dream, although this time around he is a bit gentler about asking for an interpretation. Daniel seeks God and the dream's meaning is revealed: for a time Nebuchadnezzar will become like the animals and leave all of the power and possessions that he has taken so much pride in because he has arrogantly refused to acknowledge God's role in all of his earthly blessings. In the end he is restored to his throne, has repented of his pride, and now understands the love of God. Like him, we can be caught up with what we are proud of but still be insecure and empty...as Philip remarked, we cannot get soul-level contentment from anything this world offers. He also pointed out that pride diminishes our humanity when we come to the belief that we...not God...are masters of our own fate. Our pastor continued, listing five characteristics that Nebuchadnezzar shared with all who are consumed by pride: his identity was wrapped up in his possessions and accomplishments, he was blinded to his sin, he believed he was better and more deserving than others, he overlooked the vulnerable and oppressed, and he took credit for what God had done. But, as Philip concluded, once Babylon's wayward king experienced the life-changing love of God, he expressed his gratitude to his Lord for humbling him...and this applies to us as well...
You can watch this sermon for yourself by clicking on the following link to the church's YouTube video website: [TFC Video]. The Family Church, at 2022 SW 122nd Street (Parker Road), meets on Sunday morning at 9 and 10:30...each service has the weekly message, wonderful praise and worship music, prayer and discipleship opportunities, a hospitality room with coffee and refreshments, and lots of friendly and interesting folks. Daniel continues this Sunday...
Once again Nebuchadnezzar has an unsettling dream, although this time around he is a bit gentler about asking for an interpretation. Daniel seeks God and the dream's meaning is revealed: for a time Nebuchadnezzar will become like the animals and leave all of the power and possessions that he has taken so much pride in because he has arrogantly refused to acknowledge God's role in all of his earthly blessings. In the end he is restored to his throne, has repented of his pride, and now understands the love of God. Like him, we can be caught up with what we are proud of but still be insecure and empty...as Philip remarked, we cannot get soul-level contentment from anything this world offers. He also pointed out that pride diminishes our humanity when we come to the belief that we...not God...are masters of our own fate. Our pastor continued, listing five characteristics that Nebuchadnezzar shared with all who are consumed by pride: his identity was wrapped up in his possessions and accomplishments, he was blinded to his sin, he believed he was better and more deserving than others, he overlooked the vulnerable and oppressed, and he took credit for what God had done. But, as Philip concluded, once Babylon's wayward king experienced the life-changing love of God, he expressed his gratitude to his Lord for humbling him...and this applies to us as well...
You can watch this sermon for yourself by clicking on the following link to the church's YouTube video website: [TFC Video]. The Family Church, at 2022 SW 122nd Street (Parker Road), meets on Sunday morning at 9 and 10:30...each service has the weekly message, wonderful praise and worship music, prayer and discipleship opportunities, a hospitality room with coffee and refreshments, and lots of friendly and interesting folks. Daniel continues this Sunday...
Wednesday, May 2, 2018
Weekly Short Story: Nobody Lives on Burton Street by Gregory Benford
The notion that it is a good thing for people to release their pent-up frustrations by acting out in an aggressive manner seems to have become a generally accepted part of our popular culture. The 1970 Gregory Benford short story Nobody Lives on Burton Street...which appears in the anthology World's Best Science Fiction 1971 (Ace Books)...bears this out. It is at some point in the future and we're seeing a dystopian society where the economy sucks and the state has not only perfected autocratic ways of controlling dissent and protest, but also can manipulate the disaffected masses into channeling their discontent into carefully-directed areas: Burton Street is one such set-up...a completely artificial place. When the government's Force encounters rioters entering this street, which is lined up on both sides by businesses (or fake businesses), we see just how manipulative a controlling power can be with its people...as well as the implementing of this idea that if folks can let out some steam over their miserable lives then they will become more submissive and content in the long run. Guess what? I disagree...
It has been my life experience with others...as well as with myself...that the more people behave and think in an aggressive and hostile manner, the worse they become in this regard, not better. That's because they are reinforcing the negativity underlying their behavior, as well as that behavior. What I think has confused some well-intentioned people about this is that intense physical activity, such as competitive sports, will tire out the participants to where they cannot...at least temporarily...engage in aggressive behavior while they rest and recover. Children who get outside the home to play or, while at school, have a time allotted to go out on the playground and run around, are more likely to be attentive and respectful to others...deprivation of this can make Johnny a rowdy little boy. But here we're talking about physical activity, not hostility and anger...big difference! Screaming behind the wheel at the other drivers bugging you is no "release"...it just builds and reinforces upon itself...curiously, the mind will find itself seeking out imaginary offenses to continue the established behavior. So yes, get out and do sports...but don't confuse that with aggressive and hurtful actions and speech, in spite of commonly promoted beliefs...reinforced by our plague of reality TV and our overly reactive and touchy president...
It has been my life experience with others...as well as with myself...that the more people behave and think in an aggressive and hostile manner, the worse they become in this regard, not better. That's because they are reinforcing the negativity underlying their behavior, as well as that behavior. What I think has confused some well-intentioned people about this is that intense physical activity, such as competitive sports, will tire out the participants to where they cannot...at least temporarily...engage in aggressive behavior while they rest and recover. Children who get outside the home to play or, while at school, have a time allotted to go out on the playground and run around, are more likely to be attentive and respectful to others...deprivation of this can make Johnny a rowdy little boy. But here we're talking about physical activity, not hostility and anger...big difference! Screaming behind the wheel at the other drivers bugging you is no "release"...it just builds and reinforces upon itself...curiously, the mind will find itself seeking out imaginary offenses to continue the established behavior. So yes, get out and do sports...but don't confuse that with aggressive and hurtful actions and speech, in spite of commonly promoted beliefs...reinforced by our plague of reality TV and our overly reactive and touchy president...
Tuesday, May 1, 2018
Tuesday's List: My Top Three Songs from Various Musical Acts, Pt. 4
Here are a few more musical acts with my top three favorite songs from each of them...I continue to plod along chronologically in very rough fashion as I go from the 1980s into the 1990s, although many of the songs are from outside that range. I considered some artists who had one or two songs I really liked...but dang it, I couldn't find a third song that appealed to me so I left them off the list. And don't forget: I'm not necessarily listing the "greatest" songs...only the ones that have personally stuck with me. Here goes...
WHITNEY HOUSTON
1 SO EMOTIONAL
2 THE GREATEST LOVE OF ALL
2 HOW WILL I KNOW
VAN HALEN
1 HUMANS BEING
2 FEELS SO GOOD
3 AND THE CRADLE WILL ROCK...
PET SHOP BOYS
1 WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS (with Dusty Springfield)
2 WEST END GIRLS
3 ALWAYS ON MY MIND
THE BEASTIE BOYS
1 SABOTAGE
2 INTERGALACTIC
3 BRASS MONKEY
BILLY IDOL
1 CRADLE OF LOVE
2 EYES WITHOUT A FACE
3 DANCING WITH MYSELF
DEF LEPPARD
1 ROCK OF AGES
2 HYSTERIA
3 ANIMAL
EURYTHMICS
1 LOVE IS A STRANGER
2 WOULD I LIE TO YOU?
3 HERE COMES THE RAIN AGAIN
MISSING PERSONS
1 DESTINATION UNKNOWN
2 WORDS
3 MENTAL HOPSCOTCH
JEFFERSON AIRPLANE/STARSHIP
1 WHITE RABBIT
2 MIRACLES
3 WE BUILT THIS CITY
JANET JACKSON
1 MISS YOU MUCH
2 ESCAPADE
3 RUNAWAY
ZZ TOP
1 VELCRO FLY
2 SLEEPING BAG
3 SHARP DRESSED MAN
JOHN (COUGAR) MELLENCAMP
1 CHECK IT OUT
2 CHERRY BOMB
3 PINK HOUSES
SHEENA EASTON
1 YOU COULD HAVE BEEN WITH ME
2 WE'VE GOT TONIGHT (with Kenny Rogers)
3 9 TO 5 (MORNING TRAIN)
NIRVANA
1 SCENTLESS APPRENTICE
2 DUMB
3 COME AS YOU ARE
PEARL JAM
1 OCEANS
2 CORDUROY
3 EVEN FLOW
SOUNDGARDEN
1 MY WAVE
2 FACE POLLUTION
3 FRESH TENDRILS
ALICE IN CHAINS
1 AGAIN
2 GRIND
3 HEAD CREEPS
STONE TEMPLE PILOTS
1 SOUR GIRL
2 BIG BANG BABY
3 VASELINE
TRAVELIN' WILBURYS
1 HANDLE WITH CARE
2 MARGARITA
3 END OF THE LINE
COUNTING CROWS
1 MR. JONES
2 A LONG DECEMBER
3 ROUND HERE
DAVE MATTHEWS BAND
1 THE SPACE BETWEEN
2 CRASH INTO ME
3 ANTS MARCHING
COLLECTIVE SOUL
1 WHERE THE RIVER FLOWS
2 PRECIOUS DECLARATION
3 GIVING
THE SMASHING PUMPKINS
1 TONIGHT TONIGHT
2 BULLET WITH BUTTERFLY WINGS
3 TODAY
SARAH MCLACHLAN
1 BUILDING A MYSTERY
2 SWEET SURRENDER
3 FALLEN
STEVE WINWOOD
1 BACK IN THE HIGH LIFE AGAIN
2 HOLDING ON
3 THE LOW SPARK OF HIGH-HEELED BOYS (with Traffic)
RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS
1 GIVE IT AWAY
2 TELL ME BABY
3 SCAR TISSUE
GEORGE THOROUGHGOOD (and the Destroyers)
1 WHO DO YOU LOVE?
2 MOVE IT ON OVER
3 BAD TO THE BONE
BLACK CROWES
1 REMEDY
2 HOTEL ILLNESS
3 HARD TO HANDLE
DEPECHE MODE
1 ENJOY THE SILENCE
2 EVERYTHING COUNTS
3 POLICY OF TRUTH
GREEN DAY
1 GOOD RIDDANCE (TIME OF YOUR LIFE)
2 HOLIDAY
3 BOULEVARD OF BROKEN DREAMS
GARBAGE
1 STUPID GIRL
2 PUSH IT
3 SPECIAL
WHITNEY HOUSTON
1 SO EMOTIONAL
2 THE GREATEST LOVE OF ALL
2 HOW WILL I KNOW
VAN HALEN
1 HUMANS BEING
2 FEELS SO GOOD
3 AND THE CRADLE WILL ROCK...
PET SHOP BOYS
1 WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS (with Dusty Springfield)
2 WEST END GIRLS
3 ALWAYS ON MY MIND
THE BEASTIE BOYS
1 SABOTAGE
2 INTERGALACTIC
3 BRASS MONKEY
BILLY IDOL
1 CRADLE OF LOVE
2 EYES WITHOUT A FACE
3 DANCING WITH MYSELF
DEF LEPPARD
1 ROCK OF AGES
2 HYSTERIA
3 ANIMAL
EURYTHMICS
1 LOVE IS A STRANGER
2 WOULD I LIE TO YOU?
3 HERE COMES THE RAIN AGAIN
MISSING PERSONS
1 DESTINATION UNKNOWN
2 WORDS
3 MENTAL HOPSCOTCH
JEFFERSON AIRPLANE/STARSHIP
1 WHITE RABBIT
2 MIRACLES
3 WE BUILT THIS CITY
JANET JACKSON
1 MISS YOU MUCH
2 ESCAPADE
3 RUNAWAY
ZZ TOP
1 VELCRO FLY
2 SLEEPING BAG
3 SHARP DRESSED MAN
JOHN (COUGAR) MELLENCAMP
1 CHECK IT OUT
2 CHERRY BOMB
3 PINK HOUSES
SHEENA EASTON
1 YOU COULD HAVE BEEN WITH ME
2 WE'VE GOT TONIGHT (with Kenny Rogers)
3 9 TO 5 (MORNING TRAIN)
NIRVANA
1 SCENTLESS APPRENTICE
2 DUMB
3 COME AS YOU ARE
PEARL JAM
1 OCEANS
2 CORDUROY
3 EVEN FLOW
SOUNDGARDEN
1 MY WAVE
2 FACE POLLUTION
3 FRESH TENDRILS
ALICE IN CHAINS
1 AGAIN
2 GRIND
3 HEAD CREEPS
STONE TEMPLE PILOTS
1 SOUR GIRL
2 BIG BANG BABY
3 VASELINE
TRAVELIN' WILBURYS
1 HANDLE WITH CARE
2 MARGARITA
3 END OF THE LINE
COUNTING CROWS
1 MR. JONES
2 A LONG DECEMBER
3 ROUND HERE
DAVE MATTHEWS BAND
1 THE SPACE BETWEEN
2 CRASH INTO ME
3 ANTS MARCHING
COLLECTIVE SOUL
1 WHERE THE RIVER FLOWS
2 PRECIOUS DECLARATION
3 GIVING
THE SMASHING PUMPKINS
1 TONIGHT TONIGHT
2 BULLET WITH BUTTERFLY WINGS
3 TODAY
SARAH MCLACHLAN
1 BUILDING A MYSTERY
2 SWEET SURRENDER
3 FALLEN
STEVE WINWOOD
1 BACK IN THE HIGH LIFE AGAIN
2 HOLDING ON
3 THE LOW SPARK OF HIGH-HEELED BOYS (with Traffic)
RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS
1 GIVE IT AWAY
2 TELL ME BABY
3 SCAR TISSUE
GEORGE THOROUGHGOOD (and the Destroyers)
1 WHO DO YOU LOVE?
2 MOVE IT ON OVER
3 BAD TO THE BONE
BLACK CROWES
1 REMEDY
2 HOTEL ILLNESS
3 HARD TO HANDLE
DEPECHE MODE
1 ENJOY THE SILENCE
2 EVERYTHING COUNTS
3 POLICY OF TRUTH
GREEN DAY
1 GOOD RIDDANCE (TIME OF YOUR LIFE)
2 HOLIDAY
3 BOULEVARD OF BROKEN DREAMS
GARBAGE
1 STUPID GIRL
2 PUSH IT
3 SPECIAL
Monday, April 30, 2018
My April 2018 Running Report
In April I ran for 45 total miles, missing six days with 3.2 miles being my longest single run...pretty low numbers. I passed up on racing opportunities and, well, the reason is clear: I physically did not feel well enough. In mid-month I suffered from a slight back strain and had to take some time off from the activity. I'd like to increase my running in May, but I'll just have to take things one day at a time. Also, the extra overtime I'm getting on my job has cut into the time of day that I would normally be out there hitting the road. After work at the gym may be my best option to train and stay in shape. I think there's a 5K race on May 18...maybe I'll work up to it...
Sunday, April 29, 2018
Looking Back on 1968
After working a little more than my full shift at my workplace, I came home and naturally sat down to relax and watch one of my favorite TV channels: C-Span. It was showing a recap of the tumultuous year of 1968 when assassinations, war, the election, and all the protests were going on. I was there in the middle of it all...no, I wasn't in any of the news stories, I was just an eleven year old kid, going on twelve, and trying to get through my relatively insignificant little life...
The first half of 1968 had me in the sixth grade, a "senior" at my Nova Elementary School in Davie. The second half I was a lowly seventh grader across the field at Nova High. Now here's the kicker: when we were supposedly younger and less mature, we didn't lord our seniority over the lower grades...but in Nova High, the upperclassman were extremely hierarchical about their position and imagined superiority. Doubtless this "reverse-maturity" had a great deal to do with adolescence and the need in some primitive, mammalian-brain-dominated classmates to establish some kind of pecking order. Nevertheless, it was disconcerting for me in August of that year to meet up with kids just a class ahead of me whom I knew back in Nova Elementary and who suddenly didn't recognize me...or pretended not do...
If there was one theme that dominated my life back in 1968 and gave the year a personal stamp, it was my peculiar hobby of AM radio DX-ng, that is, listening to distant stations on the radio. This would occur during the nighttime when picking up stations hundreds and even thousands of miles away was possible...I would regularly listen from my south Floridian home in Hollywood to stations like WBT/Charlotte, NC, WABC/New York, WBZ/Boston, WSM/Nashville, TN, and TransWorld Radio from Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles. I would tune in on frequencies that were essentially a jumbled mess of sounds and strain my ears to pick out anything coherent among the noise...it was definitely a training period for me in both learning to listen and cultivating patience. During the second half of 1968 I discovered that the second-year American Basketball Association had a franchise in Miami called the Floridians...I closely followed their games on Miami's low power AM station WOCN/1450...that was perhaps my most memorable sports season, especially when you couple it with the Miami Dolphin's 1968 season under coach George Wilson: they went 5-8-1 that year but had most of the players they would be using to later go to three Super Bowls, win two, and go undefeated in 1972...
1968 was the year of the long song, which AM radio had previously steadfastly avoided. Hey Jude, MacArthur Park, Time Will Come Today, Those Were the Days, and Sky Pilot, to name some of the more prominent, got a lot of airtime...I know, because I'd be trying to get a station's ID and had to wait until the damned song was finally over! It was also the year that The Prisoner, one of my all-time favorite television series, began its 17-episode run on CBS. So no, I wasn't at all caught up with the turmoil and war and politics the way it is being presented on retrospective documentaries...no, I was caught up with my own life...
The first half of 1968 had me in the sixth grade, a "senior" at my Nova Elementary School in Davie. The second half I was a lowly seventh grader across the field at Nova High. Now here's the kicker: when we were supposedly younger and less mature, we didn't lord our seniority over the lower grades...but in Nova High, the upperclassman were extremely hierarchical about their position and imagined superiority. Doubtless this "reverse-maturity" had a great deal to do with adolescence and the need in some primitive, mammalian-brain-dominated classmates to establish some kind of pecking order. Nevertheless, it was disconcerting for me in August of that year to meet up with kids just a class ahead of me whom I knew back in Nova Elementary and who suddenly didn't recognize me...or pretended not do...
If there was one theme that dominated my life back in 1968 and gave the year a personal stamp, it was my peculiar hobby of AM radio DX-ng, that is, listening to distant stations on the radio. This would occur during the nighttime when picking up stations hundreds and even thousands of miles away was possible...I would regularly listen from my south Floridian home in Hollywood to stations like WBT/Charlotte, NC, WABC/New York, WBZ/Boston, WSM/Nashville, TN, and TransWorld Radio from Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles. I would tune in on frequencies that were essentially a jumbled mess of sounds and strain my ears to pick out anything coherent among the noise...it was definitely a training period for me in both learning to listen and cultivating patience. During the second half of 1968 I discovered that the second-year American Basketball Association had a franchise in Miami called the Floridians...I closely followed their games on Miami's low power AM station WOCN/1450...that was perhaps my most memorable sports season, especially when you couple it with the Miami Dolphin's 1968 season under coach George Wilson: they went 5-8-1 that year but had most of the players they would be using to later go to three Super Bowls, win two, and go undefeated in 1972...
1968 was the year of the long song, which AM radio had previously steadfastly avoided. Hey Jude, MacArthur Park, Time Will Come Today, Those Were the Days, and Sky Pilot, to name some of the more prominent, got a lot of airtime...I know, because I'd be trying to get a station's ID and had to wait until the damned song was finally over! It was also the year that The Prisoner, one of my all-time favorite television series, began its 17-episode run on CBS. So no, I wasn't at all caught up with the turmoil and war and politics the way it is being presented on retrospective documentaries...no, I was caught up with my own life...
Saturday, April 28, 2018
Just Finished Reading The Absolute Value of Mike by Kathryn Erskine
The Absolute Value of Mike is a short 2011 teen-level novel by Kathryn Erskine. Mike, a 14-year old challenged by anything mathematical, happens to have as his widowed father a renowned mathematician who has great plans for his son's future in engineering...too bad Mike doesn't in any way want to be an engineer! Dad one day tells Mike that he will be going to teach a few weeks in Romania, and that Mike will be staying with Aunt Moo and Uncle Poppy out in a small Pennsylvania town where Poppy is developing an artesian screw. Mike doesn't know this aunt and uncle of his father and knows that such an engineering project is designed to enable him to go to a science-based special school that he wants to avoid...so the summer stay-over appeals very little to him. When he arrives there, he finds the situation completely unlike what he had expected...and through the various crises affecting those living there he discovers his own special talents and calling...
Erskine injected a lot of humor into her story, which Mike tells in the first person. Her protagonist, although just a kid, seems to be the only one around who is capable of thinking clearly...in a curious way this causes him at times to descend into angry fits at different people whose self-absorption and grief have allowed them to renege on their responsibilities to each other and to themselves. The town's big project is to raise enough money in a short time for one of its residents to be able to adopt Misha, a Romanian orphan...and Mike finds himself unwillingly put in charge of it all. But before anything can be done, he needs to do some major work helping folks repair their broken lives and stop deceiving themselves...until one of them reveals to Mike that he is also living a broken life of self-deception...
It got a little frustrating reading about a young adolescent acting more mature and reasonable than the adults surrounding him, but I get the fact that the target audience for this book is someone around Mike's age. It's very easy reading, and I enjoyed seeing things from the perspective of this kid...I certainly wasn't anywhere nearly as rationale or lucid when I was that age. And there are some good lessons to be learned from his experiences: The Absolute Value of Mike is a worthwhile way to spend some reading time, regardless of your age...
Erskine injected a lot of humor into her story, which Mike tells in the first person. Her protagonist, although just a kid, seems to be the only one around who is capable of thinking clearly...in a curious way this causes him at times to descend into angry fits at different people whose self-absorption and grief have allowed them to renege on their responsibilities to each other and to themselves. The town's big project is to raise enough money in a short time for one of its residents to be able to adopt Misha, a Romanian orphan...and Mike finds himself unwillingly put in charge of it all. But before anything can be done, he needs to do some major work helping folks repair their broken lives and stop deceiving themselves...until one of them reveals to Mike that he is also living a broken life of self-deception...
It got a little frustrating reading about a young adolescent acting more mature and reasonable than the adults surrounding him, but I get the fact that the target audience for this book is someone around Mike's age. It's very easy reading, and I enjoyed seeing things from the perspective of this kid...I certainly wasn't anywhere nearly as rationale or lucid when I was that age. And there are some good lessons to be learned from his experiences: The Absolute Value of Mike is a worthwhile way to spend some reading time, regardless of your age...
Friday, April 27, 2018
Quote of the Week...from Mark Twain
Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great. ---Mark Twain.
I think one of the biggest problems people have when undertaking ambitious projects in their lives are others around them who berate their goals and drive. What's worse, when the inevitable struggles that accompany the beginning and forging of a major endeavor arise, the reaction from others can be equally negative. I have had projects and goals in the past and a few with which I am currently engaged, but past experience has taught me to keep them close to the vest and not openly share with others outside my supportive family what I am trying to accomplish. That's enough about Twain's "small people", but what about his "really great"?
I believe with all of my heart that people who have achieved greatness in different areas can play a very important role in helping those pursuing significant, related goals in their lives...the only problem for me is that almost all of the ones who seemed to display any interest in sharing that greatness have been authors and speakers from books, television, and radio. This "from a distance" encouraging and motivating can only go so far...after all, they haven't a clue about who I am or my own abilities and values, seeing that we've never met. Sad to say, the people I have encountered over the years who by any calculation would be considered "great", when around me, have seemed more intent on establishing their superiority over me on the social hierarchy totem pole than imparting any sense that I, too, could follow their example. I have heard stories from people who have led very successful careers, and almost without exception they point to one or more people in their past who instilled confidence and hope that they had what it takes to excel in their own right. Of course, my wonderful family encourages me out of love and I appreciate that...but what I'm talking about here is what Twain is talking about...successful people outside the family who can reach out to others: Twain says they do reach out...a few others say a few of them helped in their lives...and I say I'll believe it when I see it and I ain't seen it yet. This void for me has been especially remarkable considering the great number of "teachers" I went through in elementary, junior, and senior high school, any of whom could have made a big difference in my life but none chose to. The NEA can have their self-promoting commercials: I have my own clear memories to the contrary...
I think one of the biggest problems people have when undertaking ambitious projects in their lives are others around them who berate their goals and drive. What's worse, when the inevitable struggles that accompany the beginning and forging of a major endeavor arise, the reaction from others can be equally negative. I have had projects and goals in the past and a few with which I am currently engaged, but past experience has taught me to keep them close to the vest and not openly share with others outside my supportive family what I am trying to accomplish. That's enough about Twain's "small people", but what about his "really great"?
I believe with all of my heart that people who have achieved greatness in different areas can play a very important role in helping those pursuing significant, related goals in their lives...the only problem for me is that almost all of the ones who seemed to display any interest in sharing that greatness have been authors and speakers from books, television, and radio. This "from a distance" encouraging and motivating can only go so far...after all, they haven't a clue about who I am or my own abilities and values, seeing that we've never met. Sad to say, the people I have encountered over the years who by any calculation would be considered "great", when around me, have seemed more intent on establishing their superiority over me on the social hierarchy totem pole than imparting any sense that I, too, could follow their example. I have heard stories from people who have led very successful careers, and almost without exception they point to one or more people in their past who instilled confidence and hope that they had what it takes to excel in their own right. Of course, my wonderful family encourages me out of love and I appreciate that...but what I'm talking about here is what Twain is talking about...successful people outside the family who can reach out to others: Twain says they do reach out...a few others say a few of them helped in their lives...and I say I'll believe it when I see it and I ain't seen it yet. This void for me has been especially remarkable considering the great number of "teachers" I went through in elementary, junior, and senior high school, any of whom could have made a big difference in my life but none chose to. The NEA can have their self-promoting commercials: I have my own clear memories to the contrary...
Thursday, April 26, 2018
4/22 Sermon on Daniel, Pt. 3
At the Family Church here in Gainesville, senior pastor Philip Griffin continued his series on the Old Testament book of Daniel, this message titled Standing When All Others Bow and focusing on Daniel Chapter 3, which you can click on and read through Bible Gateway.
King Nebuchadnezzar has decided to build a ninety-foot tall, nine-foot wide golden idol...possibly of himself...and has commanded all of his officials to fall down and worship it...or else suffer death in a fiery furnace. Daniel's faithful Jewish friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse, though, and when word of this reaches the prideful Babylonian king, he is enraged. His anger further intensifies when he hears them say that their God would rescue them from the flames...but even if he didn't they still would not worship the idol. As it turns out, God does rescue them while in the furnace and nothing of theirs...including their clothing...is burnt. The king repents and appoints them to high posts of authority...
Pastor Philip used this story to discuss the idea of holding to one's faith in God and remaining standing when all others bow, listing three important elements: there is pressure to reform, faith has a price, and suffering contains a promise. It is often easy to bend one's principles in small things and belittle their significance...everybody's doing it, no one will know, and so on goes the rationalizing. Philip also brought up the point that Nebuchadnezzar was a pluralist in religious matters: you could worship your own God...but you'd better worship his as well. We don't worship giant golden idols in our day, but we have our own idols we put beside the real God: money, power, pleasure, sex, to mention a few of them...so maybe we're not as different from the king of Babylon as we would like to imagine ourselves. The price of faith is the willingness to suffer for it to the glory of God and the building of his kingdom...and that price has often been death...one estimate that our pastor revealed was that 70 million Christians since Jesus have paid that price for their faithfulness. But as Philip pointed out, suffering by faith is not only inevitable, but it contains the promises that our character will be purified through it and that God joins us in our suffering. And he concluded the message by stressing that we need to let God, not ourselves, be the one in charge of advancing our success while we refuse to bow down to our culture's idols...and that we are to make Christ first in our hearts, in our day, in our consideration, and in our finances. Whew, that's a lot of wisdom to digest...thank you, Philip!
You can watch Pastor Philip's message online through YouTube...just click on the following link: [TFC Videos]. The Family Church, at 2022 SW 122nd Street, meets for its services Sunday mornings at 9 and 10:30. They have the weekly message, praise and worship music, friendly people, prayer, learning...and free coffee and refreshments. Daniel Part 4 will be the message this Sunday...
King Nebuchadnezzar has decided to build a ninety-foot tall, nine-foot wide golden idol...possibly of himself...and has commanded all of his officials to fall down and worship it...or else suffer death in a fiery furnace. Daniel's faithful Jewish friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse, though, and when word of this reaches the prideful Babylonian king, he is enraged. His anger further intensifies when he hears them say that their God would rescue them from the flames...but even if he didn't they still would not worship the idol. As it turns out, God does rescue them while in the furnace and nothing of theirs...including their clothing...is burnt. The king repents and appoints them to high posts of authority...
Pastor Philip used this story to discuss the idea of holding to one's faith in God and remaining standing when all others bow, listing three important elements: there is pressure to reform, faith has a price, and suffering contains a promise. It is often easy to bend one's principles in small things and belittle their significance...everybody's doing it, no one will know, and so on goes the rationalizing. Philip also brought up the point that Nebuchadnezzar was a pluralist in religious matters: you could worship your own God...but you'd better worship his as well. We don't worship giant golden idols in our day, but we have our own idols we put beside the real God: money, power, pleasure, sex, to mention a few of them...so maybe we're not as different from the king of Babylon as we would like to imagine ourselves. The price of faith is the willingness to suffer for it to the glory of God and the building of his kingdom...and that price has often been death...one estimate that our pastor revealed was that 70 million Christians since Jesus have paid that price for their faithfulness. But as Philip pointed out, suffering by faith is not only inevitable, but it contains the promises that our character will be purified through it and that God joins us in our suffering. And he concluded the message by stressing that we need to let God, not ourselves, be the one in charge of advancing our success while we refuse to bow down to our culture's idols...and that we are to make Christ first in our hearts, in our day, in our consideration, and in our finances. Whew, that's a lot of wisdom to digest...thank you, Philip!
You can watch Pastor Philip's message online through YouTube...just click on the following link: [TFC Videos]. The Family Church, at 2022 SW 122nd Street, meets for its services Sunday mornings at 9 and 10:30. They have the weekly message, praise and worship music, friendly people, prayer, learning...and free coffee and refreshments. Daniel Part 4 will be the message this Sunday...
Wednesday, April 25, 2018
Wednesday's Short Story: Hop-Frog by Edgar Allan Poe
I recently checked out a book of short stories by American horror and mystery writer Edgar Allan Poe. Included among the tales, featuring Masque of the Red Death, the Pit and the Pendulum, the Tell-Tale Heart, and the Raven, is Hop-Frog, originally published in 1849, the year of the author's mysterious premature death at age 40. His stories are full of murderous characters concocting different creative schemes of enacting revenge against their enemies: Hop-Frog is no exception. Set in a kingdom run by a tyrant with his councilors, Hop-Frog is the court jester, a dwarf with a defect causing his walk to resemble that of a toad or frog...hence the name. A young dwarf woman, Trippeta, has also been brought to the court and the two become friends. One day the king decides to play a cruel joke on Hop-Frog, who is well-known to not be able to drink alcohol without quickly becoming intoxicated. In the presence of the abetting councilors, he forces the jester to down drink after drink. When Trippeta steps up and implores the king to stop, he hits her and throws a drink in her face. Hop-Frog immediately sobers up and suggests to the evil king a practical joke that he and his councilors can play on the unsuspecting crowd in the upcoming masquerade party: they will all be dressed up as orangutans and will frighten the party-goers as they charge toward them. Of course, this is an Edgar Allan Poe story and we all know that Hop-Frog has something vengeful in mind, not at all good fun as the king and his cohorts believe...
Poe's stories display an intensity of horror for which I've found no match, not even in today's literary world overflowing with horror writers. Hop-Frog fits this pattern, although I originally began reading it thinking okay, here's a story placed in a fairy tale setting that isn't about some twisted soul committed a ghastly revenge murder on an unsuspecting victim. Oh well, the author obviously had issues of his own to deal with, and apparently this kind of writing worked for him. Upon reading Hop-Frog, I discovered that Poe wrote it with a fellow writer in mind (along with her literary friends) whom he had accused of spreading scurrilous gossip about him regarding another woman. I don't particularly care for the writing of Edgar Allan Poe, but I may go over some of his other, more famous stories just because he is a historical figure in American literature...and then return the book...
Poe's stories display an intensity of horror for which I've found no match, not even in today's literary world overflowing with horror writers. Hop-Frog fits this pattern, although I originally began reading it thinking okay, here's a story placed in a fairy tale setting that isn't about some twisted soul committed a ghastly revenge murder on an unsuspecting victim. Oh well, the author obviously had issues of his own to deal with, and apparently this kind of writing worked for him. Upon reading Hop-Frog, I discovered that Poe wrote it with a fellow writer in mind (along with her literary friends) whom he had accused of spreading scurrilous gossip about him regarding another woman. I don't particularly care for the writing of Edgar Allan Poe, but I may go over some of his other, more famous stories just because he is a historical figure in American literature...and then return the book...
Tuesday, April 24, 2018
Tuesday's List: My Top Three Favorite Songs of Various Musical Artists, Pt. 3
And so I continue with my ongoing weekly list of three personal favorite songs from different musical acts over the span of their careers. This week I'm creeping a little closer to the present, but still stuck in the late 1970s and early-to-mid 1980s for the most part...although some of the songs listed may belong outside that range. And a reminder: this is not my critique of these acts' greatest songs, rather a listing of those that made the greatest positive impact on me. Check it out...you probably have your own favorites of some of these artists...
MANFRED MANN
1 RUNNER (Manfred Mann's Earth Band)
2 BLINDED BY THE LIGHT (Manfred Mann's Earth Band)
3 MIGHTY QUINN
JIMMY BUFFET
1 CHEESEBURGER IN PARADISE
2 COME MONDAY
3 VOLCANO
THE ALLMAN BROTHERS
1 RAMBLIN' MAN
2 WHIPPING POST
3 JESSICA
BACHMAN TURNER OVERDRIVE
1 YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHING YET
2 LOOKIN' OUT FOR #1
3 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS
THE GRATEFUL DEAD
1 TRUCKIN'
2 SHAKEDOWN STREET
3 TOUCH OF GREY
MICHAEL JACKSON
1 MAN IN THE MIRROR
2 ROCK WITH YOU
3 BEAT IT
MEN AT WORK
1 BE GOOD JOHNNY
2 IT'S A MISTAKE
3 WHO CAN IT BE NOW
GENESIS
1 HOME BY THE SEA
2 ABACAB
3 TURN IT ON AGAIN
PETER GABRIEL
1 SHOCK THE MONKEY
2 BIG TIME
3 SLEDGEHAMMER
DURAN DURAN
1 SAVE A PRAYER
2 HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF
3 NEW MOON ON MONDAY
BLONDIE
1 RAPTURE
2 ONE WAY OR ANOTHER
3 HEART OF GLASS
STING
1 ALL THIS TIME
2 FIELDS OF GOLD
3 IF YOU LOVE SOMEBODY SET THEM FREE
PRINCE
1 RASPBERRY BERET
2 KISS
3 LET'S GO CRAZY
U2
1 I WILL FOLLOW
2 BULLET THE BLUE SKY
2 DESIRE
HALL AND OATES
1 I CAN'T GO FOR THAT
2 PRIVATE EYES
3 KISS ON MY LIST
BOZ SKAGGS
1 LIDO SHUFFLE
2 BREAKDOWN DEAD AHEAD
3 LOWDOWN
PAT BENATAR
1 PROMISES IN THE DARK
2 LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD
3 HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT
ROBERT PLANT
1 TALL COOL ONE
2 BURNING DOWN ONE SIDE
3 BIG LOG
CHRISTOPHER CROSS
1 SAILING
2 RIDE LIKE THE WIND
3 ARTHUR'S THEME
THE BANGLES
1 ETERNAL FLAME
2 WALKING DOWN YOUR STREET
3 GOING DOWN TO LIVERPOOL
THE GO-GOS
1 HEAD OVER HEELS
2 VACATION
3 OUR LIPS ARE SEALED
INXS
1 NOT ENOUGH TIME
2 THE ONE THING
3 SUICIDE BLONDE
JETHRO TULL
1 LIVING IN THE PAST
2 THICK AS A BRICK
3 LOCOMOTIVE BREATH
TALKING HEADS
1 ROAD TO NOWHERE
2 ONCE IN A LIFETIME
3 WARNING SIGN
TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS
1 I WON'T BACK DOWN
2 JAMMIN' ME
3 DON'T COME AROUND HERE NO MORE
MADONNA
1 RAY OF LIGHT
2 LIVE TO TELL
3 MUSIC
SUPERTRAMP
1 TAKE THE LONG WAY HOME
2 BREAKFAST IN AMERICA
3 GIVE A LITTLE BIT
PETE TOWNSEND
1 FACE DANCES, PT. 2
2 ROUGH BOYS
3 LET MY LOVE OPEN THE DOOR
ERIC CLAPTON
1 LAYLA (as Derek and the Dominoes)
2 LAY DOWN SALLY
3 TEARS IN HEAVEN
HELEN REDDY
1 I DON'T KNOW HOW TO LOVE HIM
2 PEACEFUL
3 LEAVE ME ALONE (RUBY RED DRESS)
KC AND THE SUNSHINE BAND
1 I'M YOUR BOOGIE MAN
2 GET DOWN TONIGHT
3 KEEP IT COMIN' LOVE
HEART
1 CRAZY ON YOU
2 THESE DREAMS
3 ALONE
ABBA
1 SOS
2 DANCING QUEEN
3 TAKE A CHANCE ON ME
FOREIGNER
1 I WANT TO KNOW WHAT LOVE IS
2 JUKE BOX HERO
3 URGENT
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
1 TUNNEL OF LOVE
2 STREETS OF PHILADELPHIA
3 GLORY DAYS
THE FIXX
1 SAVED BY ZERO
2 ONE THING LEADS TO ANOTHER
3 STAND OR FALL
DIRE STRAITS
1 SKATEAWAY
2 SULTANS OF SWING
3 HEAVY FUEL
CYNDI LAUPER
1 TIME AFTER TIME
2 GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN
3 ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT
AEROSMITH
1 DUDE LOOKS LIKE A LADY
2 BACK IN THE SADDLE
3 LIVIN' ON THE EDGE
MANFRED MANN
1 RUNNER (Manfred Mann's Earth Band)
2 BLINDED BY THE LIGHT (Manfred Mann's Earth Band)
3 MIGHTY QUINN
JIMMY BUFFET
1 CHEESEBURGER IN PARADISE
2 COME MONDAY
3 VOLCANO
THE ALLMAN BROTHERS
1 RAMBLIN' MAN
2 WHIPPING POST
3 JESSICA
BACHMAN TURNER OVERDRIVE
1 YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHING YET
2 LOOKIN' OUT FOR #1
3 TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS
THE GRATEFUL DEAD
1 TRUCKIN'
2 SHAKEDOWN STREET
3 TOUCH OF GREY
MICHAEL JACKSON
1 MAN IN THE MIRROR
2 ROCK WITH YOU
3 BEAT IT
MEN AT WORK
1 BE GOOD JOHNNY
2 IT'S A MISTAKE
3 WHO CAN IT BE NOW
GENESIS
1 HOME BY THE SEA
2 ABACAB
3 TURN IT ON AGAIN
PETER GABRIEL
1 SHOCK THE MONKEY
2 BIG TIME
3 SLEDGEHAMMER
DURAN DURAN
1 SAVE A PRAYER
2 HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF
3 NEW MOON ON MONDAY
BLONDIE
1 RAPTURE
2 ONE WAY OR ANOTHER
3 HEART OF GLASS
STING
1 ALL THIS TIME
2 FIELDS OF GOLD
3 IF YOU LOVE SOMEBODY SET THEM FREE
PRINCE
1 RASPBERRY BERET
2 KISS
3 LET'S GO CRAZY
U2
1 I WILL FOLLOW
2 BULLET THE BLUE SKY
2 DESIRE
HALL AND OATES
1 I CAN'T GO FOR THAT
2 PRIVATE EYES
3 KISS ON MY LIST
BOZ SKAGGS
1 LIDO SHUFFLE
2 BREAKDOWN DEAD AHEAD
3 LOWDOWN
PAT BENATAR
1 PROMISES IN THE DARK
2 LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD
3 HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT
ROBERT PLANT
1 TALL COOL ONE
2 BURNING DOWN ONE SIDE
3 BIG LOG
CHRISTOPHER CROSS
1 SAILING
2 RIDE LIKE THE WIND
3 ARTHUR'S THEME
THE BANGLES
1 ETERNAL FLAME
2 WALKING DOWN YOUR STREET
3 GOING DOWN TO LIVERPOOL
THE GO-GOS
1 HEAD OVER HEELS
2 VACATION
3 OUR LIPS ARE SEALED
INXS
1 NOT ENOUGH TIME
2 THE ONE THING
3 SUICIDE BLONDE
JETHRO TULL
1 LIVING IN THE PAST
2 THICK AS A BRICK
3 LOCOMOTIVE BREATH
TALKING HEADS
1 ROAD TO NOWHERE
2 ONCE IN A LIFETIME
3 WARNING SIGN
TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS
1 I WON'T BACK DOWN
2 JAMMIN' ME
3 DON'T COME AROUND HERE NO MORE
MADONNA
1 RAY OF LIGHT
2 LIVE TO TELL
3 MUSIC
SUPERTRAMP
1 TAKE THE LONG WAY HOME
2 BREAKFAST IN AMERICA
3 GIVE A LITTLE BIT
PETE TOWNSEND
1 FACE DANCES, PT. 2
2 ROUGH BOYS
3 LET MY LOVE OPEN THE DOOR
ERIC CLAPTON
1 LAYLA (as Derek and the Dominoes)
2 LAY DOWN SALLY
3 TEARS IN HEAVEN
HELEN REDDY
1 I DON'T KNOW HOW TO LOVE HIM
2 PEACEFUL
3 LEAVE ME ALONE (RUBY RED DRESS)
KC AND THE SUNSHINE BAND
1 I'M YOUR BOOGIE MAN
2 GET DOWN TONIGHT
3 KEEP IT COMIN' LOVE
HEART
1 CRAZY ON YOU
2 THESE DREAMS
3 ALONE
ABBA
1 SOS
2 DANCING QUEEN
3 TAKE A CHANCE ON ME
FOREIGNER
1 I WANT TO KNOW WHAT LOVE IS
2 JUKE BOX HERO
3 URGENT
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
1 TUNNEL OF LOVE
2 STREETS OF PHILADELPHIA
3 GLORY DAYS
THE FIXX
1 SAVED BY ZERO
2 ONE THING LEADS TO ANOTHER
3 STAND OR FALL
DIRE STRAITS
1 SKATEAWAY
2 SULTANS OF SWING
3 HEAVY FUEL
CYNDI LAUPER
1 TIME AFTER TIME
2 GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN
3 ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT
AEROSMITH
1 DUDE LOOKS LIKE A LADY
2 BACK IN THE SADDLE
3 LIVIN' ON THE EDGE
Monday, April 23, 2018
Just Finished Reading God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert
It hasn't been the most pleasant reading voyage I've experienced, but with God Emperor of Dune I have now finished with four of Frank Herbert's six-volume Dune science fiction series...at least the books he wrote by himself, that is. Here again is my reviewer's dilemma: to summarize what happens in this book without giving away its ending isn't enough to avoid plot spoilers: after all, the beginning of God Emperor of Dune, along with its main protagonist (which I'm afraid I already did on Friday), cannot be revealed else I give away the previous book's ending! And so I guess it will be for the last two Dune books as well...instead I'll do what I've seen Isaac Asimov do in many of his previews for different science fiction short stories in his anthology series: I'll discuss some aspects of Herbert's story while veering as much as I can away from its plot...
There is a lot of philosophy expressed in God Emperor of Dune...much more so than in the previous books, which also delved heavily into metaphysics. The problem with this is that the one doing most of the philosophizing is a godlike character armed with the complete life memories of thousands upon thousands of others and who has the ability to chart...in detail...alternative future paths of reality, thousands of years into the future, based on actions that he can take in his lifetime. His unique circumstances make it hard to model my thinking after his, but from time to time he comes up with some significant ideas that many can apply to their lives...but few often do. One of these is the notion that the beginning of learning is the recognition that I am ignorant...how often do we prideful humans mask our lack of knowledge about a particular area in order to save face or resist a possible challenge to our entrenched worldview? Yet if my car's engine light goes on and I don't know the cause, I will take it to the mechanic...an implicit admission on my part that I don't possess the knowledge to fix it. In like manner, I don't understand climatology on the level that advanced scientists in the field do, so I rely on their expertise when they overwhelmingly claim that the earth is overheating at a rapid rate due to manmade carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. In the case of the car, my learning is based on the effective path I need to take to get it fixed, knowing that I do not possess the resources myself to get it done...with the climate, I can also depend on the scientific community's resources through their research in at least understanding some rudimentary principles that fortify their positions on the subject and then take positive measures in my own life to help contribute to a solution. In both cases, it is my admission that others are more adept and knowledgeable in an area than myself that spurs me on to constructive actions and learning how to solve problems from my particular position...
Ironically, there are also areas in life that I've discovered it's a good idea to pretend that I know what I'm doing when I really don't. In these instances I engage in the practice of "winging it", that is, immersing myself in the activity and stumbling around until I pick up enough knowledge and ability to become effective at it. But still, while I may have initially concealed my ignorance in these cases to other people, in my own mind I never deceived myself into believing I was capable from the start...sometimes you just have to get down in the middle of something and struggle around a bit while being prepared to look a little foolish for a while...
There is a lot of philosophy expressed in God Emperor of Dune...much more so than in the previous books, which also delved heavily into metaphysics. The problem with this is that the one doing most of the philosophizing is a godlike character armed with the complete life memories of thousands upon thousands of others and who has the ability to chart...in detail...alternative future paths of reality, thousands of years into the future, based on actions that he can take in his lifetime. His unique circumstances make it hard to model my thinking after his, but from time to time he comes up with some significant ideas that many can apply to their lives...but few often do. One of these is the notion that the beginning of learning is the recognition that I am ignorant...how often do we prideful humans mask our lack of knowledge about a particular area in order to save face or resist a possible challenge to our entrenched worldview? Yet if my car's engine light goes on and I don't know the cause, I will take it to the mechanic...an implicit admission on my part that I don't possess the knowledge to fix it. In like manner, I don't understand climatology on the level that advanced scientists in the field do, so I rely on their expertise when they overwhelmingly claim that the earth is overheating at a rapid rate due to manmade carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. In the case of the car, my learning is based on the effective path I need to take to get it fixed, knowing that I do not possess the resources myself to get it done...with the climate, I can also depend on the scientific community's resources through their research in at least understanding some rudimentary principles that fortify their positions on the subject and then take positive measures in my own life to help contribute to a solution. In both cases, it is my admission that others are more adept and knowledgeable in an area than myself that spurs me on to constructive actions and learning how to solve problems from my particular position...
Ironically, there are also areas in life that I've discovered it's a good idea to pretend that I know what I'm doing when I really don't. In these instances I engage in the practice of "winging it", that is, immersing myself in the activity and stumbling around until I pick up enough knowledge and ability to become effective at it. But still, while I may have initially concealed my ignorance in these cases to other people, in my own mind I never deceived myself into believing I was capable from the start...sometimes you just have to get down in the middle of something and struggle around a bit while being prepared to look a little foolish for a while...
Sunday, April 22, 2018
Visit to Santa Fe College Planetarium Yesterday
I've been a number of times in the past to the Kika Silva Pla Planetarium at Santa Fe College in northwestern Gainesville, but it had been a while since my last visit. I asked my son Will if he'd like to go, too, and we saw their Saturday afternoon show featuring a tour from planet to planet in our Solar System...appropriately to the different movements of Gustav Holst's symphonic work The Planets. Planetarium director James Albury was still there hosting the event with his good humor and enthusiasm...you might know him as a cohost on the weekly five-minute PBS series Star Gazers...originally titled Star Hustler (I imagine that P.C. dictated the change). It was Albury himself who created this presentation, originally as a fundraiser for some students at Buchholz, a local high school. I was impressed with the graphics and information given, but I wondered whether others in the audience were understanding it all or receiving the entertainment value for which they came. After all, we're not talking about adrenaline-pumping high action and suspense on the level of Star Wars. And maybe the rather dimmed colorization of the planets didn't exactly help, either. Still, I liked the program and learned a few things...
Starting from Mercury and going outward from the Sun, skipping over Earth, and ending at Neptune, the presentation provided various interesting facts about the planets and some of their moons as well. As for the gas giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune (the latter two also referred to as "ice giants"), the orbits of their chief moons were shown as lit-up curves, creating striking visual effects. I also noticed that all of the moons of Uranus were named after characters from English literature, apparently a tribute to William Herschel, the English astronomer who discovered the seventh planet. And with each planet, there was a short description of its own named movement from Holst's masterpiece: Mars is perhaps the most famous, but my favorite by far is that of Neptune...
This planetarium has other shows as well, but it's taking a week or two off between school terms before resuming. Besides The Planets, yesterday's lineup included an imaginary thrill ride journey through the solar system (which I've seen before but has since been enhanced), Child of the Universe (a traditional favorite created by Jack Horkheimer in 1972), and a light show presentation accompanied by the music of Led Zeppelin. Yes, I said Led Zeppelin, believe it or not...
Starting from Mercury and going outward from the Sun, skipping over Earth, and ending at Neptune, the presentation provided various interesting facts about the planets and some of their moons as well. As for the gas giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune (the latter two also referred to as "ice giants"), the orbits of their chief moons were shown as lit-up curves, creating striking visual effects. I also noticed that all of the moons of Uranus were named after characters from English literature, apparently a tribute to William Herschel, the English astronomer who discovered the seventh planet. And with each planet, there was a short description of its own named movement from Holst's masterpiece: Mars is perhaps the most famous, but my favorite by far is that of Neptune...
This planetarium has other shows as well, but it's taking a week or two off between school terms before resuming. Besides The Planets, yesterday's lineup included an imaginary thrill ride journey through the solar system (which I've seen before but has since been enhanced), Child of the Universe (a traditional favorite created by Jack Horkheimer in 1972), and a light show presentation accompanied by the music of Led Zeppelin. Yes, I said Led Zeppelin, believe it or not...
Saturday, April 21, 2018
Who Will Run for President in 2020?
Is late April of 2018 too early to start speculating about the upcoming presidential election in 2020? Well, the successful candidates for their party's nomination to the high office have in recent years announced their candidacies during the first half of the preceding year...this means that early next year will be the focus for this. Naturally, when one of the parties has an incumbent president who can seek reelection, its number of candidates tends to be low. We don't know at this time whether Donald Trump will seek reelection, but for the sake of this article let's assume that he does. Then you would probably see some disaffected Republicans challenge him early on...I'm thinking of senators Jeff Flake of Arizona or Bob Corker of Tennessee, both of whom have traded public criticisms with the president and are not running for reelection to their Senate seats. And should Trump not run...well, expect another 15+ number of aspirants to enter the fray. The Democratic side is more interesting...
Here are a few names being mentioned as possible candidates: former vice-president Joe Biden, Oprah Winfrey, Amy Klobuchar, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Bernie Sanders, Tim Kaine, and Kirsten Gillibrand...the last seven are all sitting U.S. senators. I'm fine with all but the last one...I resent how Gillibrand would repeatedly call on others to resign immediately after any sexual harassment allegation was made against them, especially in the case of Al Franken, her Senate colleague. Will Hillary Clinton try to make another run? Who knows, but I hope she doesn't. Of the list, I would like to see Biden get the nomination...but he keeps talking about how important his family is to him. Excuse me, but don't all these other potential candidates have families, too? And by the way, having a family didn't get in the way of him serving thirty-six years in the Senate and eight more as vice-president. If Biden doesn't run, then my second choice would be Amy Klobuchar, one of my favorite senators who can speak straight to the relevant points of an argument without insulting the other side...something increasingly rare these days...
There are others who have talked about running, notably Dallas Mavericks basketball owner Mark Cuban on the Republican side and recording star Kanye West (who knows which side). Should I take these two seriously? Well, in the era of Trump, you can't write anybody off anymore, the bar has been lowered so much. And I'm sure that there will be some new figures throwing their hats into the ring and making it all the more interesting. As long as the Democratic Party comes together at the end behind their nominee and the "voters" actually bother to get off their butts this time around and go vote (and not waste it on a fringe party candidate), I'm fine with a multitude of candidates from their ranks. But that Republican field in 2015-16 was a bit ridiculous (in number, at least), wasn't it?
Here are a few names being mentioned as possible candidates: former vice-president Joe Biden, Oprah Winfrey, Amy Klobuchar, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Bernie Sanders, Tim Kaine, and Kirsten Gillibrand...the last seven are all sitting U.S. senators. I'm fine with all but the last one...I resent how Gillibrand would repeatedly call on others to resign immediately after any sexual harassment allegation was made against them, especially in the case of Al Franken, her Senate colleague. Will Hillary Clinton try to make another run? Who knows, but I hope she doesn't. Of the list, I would like to see Biden get the nomination...but he keeps talking about how important his family is to him. Excuse me, but don't all these other potential candidates have families, too? And by the way, having a family didn't get in the way of him serving thirty-six years in the Senate and eight more as vice-president. If Biden doesn't run, then my second choice would be Amy Klobuchar, one of my favorite senators who can speak straight to the relevant points of an argument without insulting the other side...something increasingly rare these days...
There are others who have talked about running, notably Dallas Mavericks basketball owner Mark Cuban on the Republican side and recording star Kanye West (who knows which side). Should I take these two seriously? Well, in the era of Trump, you can't write anybody off anymore, the bar has been lowered so much. And I'm sure that there will be some new figures throwing their hats into the ring and making it all the more interesting. As long as the Democratic Party comes together at the end behind their nominee and the "voters" actually bother to get off their butts this time around and go vote (and not waste it on a fringe party candidate), I'm fine with a multitude of candidates from their ranks. But that Republican field in 2015-16 was a bit ridiculous (in number, at least), wasn't it?
Friday, April 20, 2018
Quote of the Week...from Frank Herbert
Never attempt to reason with people who know that they are right. ---Frank Herbert.
Frank Herbert is the author of the Dune science fiction series, and the above quote comes from the main character of Leto II in the fourth book, God Emperor of Dune. It can get to be a little tricky attributing a quote of an author's character to him or her...maybe the expressed idea runs contrary to what they personally believe. I just felt a little funny listing a nonexistent Leto II as the quote's originator, and it seemed to be a pretty good one anyway...so why not give the esteemed author credit for this one?
I "kind of" agree with the above quote...it can seem pointless to convince someone that their point of view needs correction, or at least some broadening, when they are convinced it is the absolute truth. In fact, whenever I hear people casually tossing around the word "truth" to buttress what they say or write, I come away from it thinking that they will automatically regard anything I say to the contrary as delusional or a lie. But not all people who strongly believe something are impossibly resistant to persuasion: this is more about how they think than what they think...
I am not one of the many people around me who have a black-or-white way of mentally processing their world where everything and everybody they experience gets sorted into good or bad categories with no room for nuance and grey areas. I especially see them come out about politics, where their side...whichever one it is...can do no wrong while the other side is the epitome of evil. It is this group of folks that I would apply Herbert's (or Leto's) quote to and avoid any fruitless attempt to reason with them...they are long-gone lost, as far as I am concerned, and any agreement with them on a particular point or issue is purely coincidental...
Frank Herbert is the author of the Dune science fiction series, and the above quote comes from the main character of Leto II in the fourth book, God Emperor of Dune. It can get to be a little tricky attributing a quote of an author's character to him or her...maybe the expressed idea runs contrary to what they personally believe. I just felt a little funny listing a nonexistent Leto II as the quote's originator, and it seemed to be a pretty good one anyway...so why not give the esteemed author credit for this one?
I "kind of" agree with the above quote...it can seem pointless to convince someone that their point of view needs correction, or at least some broadening, when they are convinced it is the absolute truth. In fact, whenever I hear people casually tossing around the word "truth" to buttress what they say or write, I come away from it thinking that they will automatically regard anything I say to the contrary as delusional or a lie. But not all people who strongly believe something are impossibly resistant to persuasion: this is more about how they think than what they think...
I am not one of the many people around me who have a black-or-white way of mentally processing their world where everything and everybody they experience gets sorted into good or bad categories with no room for nuance and grey areas. I especially see them come out about politics, where their side...whichever one it is...can do no wrong while the other side is the epitome of evil. It is this group of folks that I would apply Herbert's (or Leto's) quote to and avoid any fruitless attempt to reason with them...they are long-gone lost, as far as I am concerned, and any agreement with them on a particular point or issue is purely coincidental...
Thursday, April 19, 2018
4/15 Sermon on Daniel, Part 2
At Gainesville's Family Church last Sunday, senior pastor Philip Griffin continued his message series on the Old Testament book of Daniel, titled Counter Culture. This sermon focused on Chapter 2, which you can read via Bible Gateway by clicking on the link. From it comes a question: how do we live in two kingdoms at once?
Daniel has been taken from Judah to Babylon, where he is undergoing training to be assimilated into the Babylonian Empire. Yet although he is supportive of those within this strange and ungodly kingdom and dutifully performs his responsibilities, he holds to his faith in God and the laws that govern it. One day King Nebuchadnezzar demands not only an interpretation of a disturbing dream he has had, but also the dream itself...no one can accomplish this. But Daniel prays to God and the answer is revealed for him...resulting in him being promoted second-in-authority over Babylon...
Pastor Philip poses a question that pertains to us in our age as well as to Daniel in his: how do we live in two kingdoms (or governments)? He then states two ways: we have to seek the peace and prosperity of the earthly kingdom we find ourselves in, and we need to know that all earthly kingdoms have crumbling foundations. In Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, a succession of powerful kingdoms come and go...they are all built on fragile foundations of clay. Only God's kingdom will persevere. So we see a duality of existence here, where as believers in Christ we are in essence exiles in this material world. We are to pursue the well-being of others, shining Christ's light for others to follow. We neither assimilate into our worldly culture nor isolate ourselves, instead engaging in it as spiritual exiles to the glory of God and the building of his kingdom...
You can watch this message through the church's YouTube video website...just click on the following link: [TFC Videos]. The Family Church, located at 2022 SW 122nd Street, holds its Sunday morning services at 9 and 10:30, providing the weekly sermon along with praise and worship music that is always changing from week to week, prayer, fellowship, and opportunities for learning and discipleship. The story of Daniel continues this Sunday...
Daniel has been taken from Judah to Babylon, where he is undergoing training to be assimilated into the Babylonian Empire. Yet although he is supportive of those within this strange and ungodly kingdom and dutifully performs his responsibilities, he holds to his faith in God and the laws that govern it. One day King Nebuchadnezzar demands not only an interpretation of a disturbing dream he has had, but also the dream itself...no one can accomplish this. But Daniel prays to God and the answer is revealed for him...resulting in him being promoted second-in-authority over Babylon...
Pastor Philip poses a question that pertains to us in our age as well as to Daniel in his: how do we live in two kingdoms (or governments)? He then states two ways: we have to seek the peace and prosperity of the earthly kingdom we find ourselves in, and we need to know that all earthly kingdoms have crumbling foundations. In Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, a succession of powerful kingdoms come and go...they are all built on fragile foundations of clay. Only God's kingdom will persevere. So we see a duality of existence here, where as believers in Christ we are in essence exiles in this material world. We are to pursue the well-being of others, shining Christ's light for others to follow. We neither assimilate into our worldly culture nor isolate ourselves, instead engaging in it as spiritual exiles to the glory of God and the building of his kingdom...
You can watch this message through the church's YouTube video website...just click on the following link: [TFC Videos]. The Family Church, located at 2022 SW 122nd Street, holds its Sunday morning services at 9 and 10:30, providing the weekly sermon along with praise and worship music that is always changing from week to week, prayer, fellowship, and opportunities for learning and discipleship. The story of Daniel continues this Sunday...
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Weekly Short Story: Light of Other Days by Bob Shaw
Bob Shaw first published his short story Light of Other Days in 1966...it appeared the following year in the paperback anthology World's Best Science Fiction 1967 (edited by Donald Wollheim & Terry Carr, Ace Books). Shaw, who lived in Northern Ireland and wrote at times for a Scottish sci-fi pulp magazine, chose northern Scotland in the future as the setting for this story...it's not quite clear at the start whether or not it is of an apocalyptic nature. But no, something else is afoot as a young, quarreling couple are driving down the road, enjoying the beautiful scenery...and sizing up the plates of slow glass standing in different places that are taking it all in. Yes, I said "slow glass"...
Slow glass is a fictional creation of the author...yet it has a very intriguing quality and the way he explains it makes it all seem feasible. You see, the glass's peculiar molecular structure causes the passage of light though it to slow down drastically, rendering the glass capable of reproducing whatever it visually captures over a span of time: the thicker and higher quality the glass, the more faithful the picture and more lengthy the time. The uses? People can transport whatever scenes they want back to their humdrum, ugly homes, workplaces, or just about anywhere and use the glass as a "window" into a more beautiful world...so the folks out there in Scotland are selling slow glass that captures their own beautiful countryside. Our couple find a man who is selling some high-quality glass...a look inside his home window reveals a young woman (his wife?) and her baby. But there's something not quite right about her as the story progresses...
In 1966, although computers were already well-established albeit much more primitive than today's which pervade our civilized world, Bob Shaw envisioned an analog way to copy super-real imagery in motion and transport it to distant locations...as well as making it an economic commodity that people at large could purchase according to their own preferences and purchasing ability. I like the idea of using such "slow glass" as windows to give the impression of being in a different place, but nowadays digital technology could accomplish the same ends, couldn't it? So then why am I not hearing of companies marketing the same product and getting rich off it? Customers could have digitally-enabled windows installed around their homes, with each window creating the effect of viewing the outdoors at the appropriately different vantage point...but that view would be of a different location to the residents' liking. Maybe today they'd select Times Square...tomorrow the foothills of Mount Everest. Wouldn't you be interested in something like that?
I was pleasantly surprised at Shaw's well-crafted tale...it's only about eight pages long, too...quite an accomplishment to fit so much significant stuff in it while developing the characters and supplying the surprise ending...
Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Tuesday's List: My Top Three Songs of Various Musical Artists, Pt. 2
My list of my personal top three favorite songs from various acts continues this week in a very rough chronological order...I'm now listing acts generally identified with the 1970s, although many of the songs are from later on. Now I don't claim any sort of artistic discernment...you can read the highbrow reviews from sources like Rolling Stone or Spin if you are so inclined. No, the following tunes just happened to resonate with me...often in connection with events going on in my life during their peak popularity. And, sure, I'm leaving off names...can't include everyone! Still, the list continues next Tuesday...
PAUL MCCARTNEY (solo & with Wings)
1 EVERY NIGHT
2 TOO MANY PEOPLE
3 LISTEN TO WHAT THE MAN SAID
GEORGE HARRISON (solo)
1 BALLAD OF SIR FRANKIE CRISP (LET IT ROLL)
2 YOU
3 WHAT IS LIFE
JOHN LENNON (solo)
1 NUMBER NINE DREAM
2 WORKING CLASS HERO
3 WATCHING THE WHEELS
OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN
1 A LITTLE MORE LOVE
2 HAVE YOU NEVER BEEN MELLOW
3 MAGIC
LYNYRD SKYNYRD
1 FREE BIRD
2 GIMME THREE STEPS
3 WHAT'S YOUR NAME
THE EAGLES
1 THE NEW KID IN TOWN
2 PEACEFUL EASY FEELING
3 ONE OF THESE NIGHTS
JACKSON BROWNE
1 THAT GIRL COULD SING
2 LAWYERS IN LOVE
3 DOCTOR MY EYES
THREE DOG NIGHT
1 ONE MAN BAND
2 THE FAMILY OF MAN
3 ELI'S COMING
SEALS AND CROFTS
1 HUMMINGBIRD
2 EAST OF GINGER TREES
3 THE KING OF NOTHING
STYX
1 TOO MUCH TIME ON MY HANDS
2 MR. ROBOTO
3 COME SAIL AWAY
PAUL SIMON
1 BOY IN THE BUBBLE
2 DUNCAN
3 LOVES ME LIKE A ROCK
ELTON JOHN
1 FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND/LOVE LIES BLEEDING
2 TINY DANCER
3 CAN YOU FEEL THE LOVE TONIGHT
BILLY JOEL
1 PRESSURE
2 SCENES FROM AN ITALIAN RESTAURANT
3 ANGRY YOUNG MAN
JIM CROCE
1 TIME IN A BOTTLE
2 I'LL HAVE TO SAY I LOVE YOU IN A SONG
3 I GOT A NAME
CARLY SIMON
1 YOU'RE SO VAIN
2 MOCKINGBIRD
3 NOBODY DOES IT BETTER
AMERICA
1 LONELY PEOPLE
2 DON'T CROSS THE RIVER
3 ONLY IN YOUR HEART
STEELY DAN
1 HEY NINETEEN
2 REELIN' IN THE YEARS
3 ANY MAJOR DUDE WILL TELL YOU
GERRY RAFFERTY
1 GET IT RIGHT NEXT TIME
2 BAKER STREET
3 STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WITH YOU (with Stealer's Wheel)
DIANA ROSS
1 LOVE HANGOVER
2 AIN'T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH
3 TOUCH ME IN THE MORNING
THE CARPENTERS
1 GOODBYE TO LOVE
2 TOP OF THE WORLD
3 CALLING OCCUPANTS OF INTERPLANETARY CRAFT
AL STEWART
1 ONE STAGE BEFORE
2 ON THE BORDER
3 TIME PASSAGES
WAR
1 CISCO KID
2 LOW RIDER
3 SPILL THE WINE
ARETHA FRANKLIN
1 RESPECT
2 I KNEW YOU WERE WAITING FOR ME (with George Michael)
3 UNTIL YOU COME BACK TO ME
QUEEN
1 ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST
2 BICYCLE RACE
3 KILLER QUEEN
BILLY PRESTON
1 WILL IT GO ROUND IN CIRCLES
2 OUTA SPACE
3 NOTHING FROM NOTHING
DON MCCLEAN
1 VINCENT
2 CASTLES IN THE AIR
3 DREIDEL
DONNA SUMMER
1 LAST DANCE
2 I FEEL LOVE
3 ON THE RADIO
THE CARS
1 TOUCH AND GO
2 BYE BYE LOVE
3 DRIVE
KANSAS
1 SONG FOR AMERICA
2 POINT OF KNOW RETURN
3 DUST IN THE WIND
CAT STEVENS
1 FATHER AND SON
2 OH VERY YOUNG
3 SITTING
FLEETWOOD MAC
1 LANDSLIDE
2 NEVER GOING BACK AGAIN
3 GYPSY
ROD STEWART
1 INFATUATION
2 DOWNTOWN TRAIN
3 YOUNG TURKS
DOOBIE BROTHERS
1 BLACK WATER
2 WHAT A FOOL BELIEVES
3 IT KEEPS YOU RUNNIN'
BOB SEGER
1 WE'VE GOT TONIGHT
2 STRUT
3 RAMBLIN' GAMBLIN' MAN
NEIL YOUNG
1 ROCKIN' IN THE FREE WORLD
2 BIG TIME
3 WONDERIN'
STEVE MILLER BAND
1 SHANGRI-LA
2 FLY LIKE AN EAGLE
3 LIVING IN THE U.S.A.
ROBERTA FLACK
1 KILLING ME SOFTLY WITH HIS SONG
2 WHERE IS THE LOVE (with Donny Hathaway)
3 THE FIRST TIME EVER I SAW YOUR FACE
THE SPINNERS
1 GAMES PEOPLE PLAY
2 I'M COMING HOME
3 GHETTO CHILD
PAUL MCCARTNEY (solo & with Wings)
1 EVERY NIGHT
2 TOO MANY PEOPLE
3 LISTEN TO WHAT THE MAN SAID
GEORGE HARRISON (solo)
1 BALLAD OF SIR FRANKIE CRISP (LET IT ROLL)
2 YOU
3 WHAT IS LIFE
JOHN LENNON (solo)
1 NUMBER NINE DREAM
2 WORKING CLASS HERO
3 WATCHING THE WHEELS
OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN
1 A LITTLE MORE LOVE
2 HAVE YOU NEVER BEEN MELLOW
3 MAGIC
LYNYRD SKYNYRD
1 FREE BIRD
2 GIMME THREE STEPS
3 WHAT'S YOUR NAME
THE EAGLES
1 THE NEW KID IN TOWN
2 PEACEFUL EASY FEELING
3 ONE OF THESE NIGHTS
JACKSON BROWNE
1 THAT GIRL COULD SING
2 LAWYERS IN LOVE
3 DOCTOR MY EYES
THREE DOG NIGHT
1 ONE MAN BAND
2 THE FAMILY OF MAN
3 ELI'S COMING
SEALS AND CROFTS
1 HUMMINGBIRD
2 EAST OF GINGER TREES
3 THE KING OF NOTHING
STYX
1 TOO MUCH TIME ON MY HANDS
2 MR. ROBOTO
3 COME SAIL AWAY
PAUL SIMON
1 BOY IN THE BUBBLE
2 DUNCAN
3 LOVES ME LIKE A ROCK
ELTON JOHN
1 FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND/LOVE LIES BLEEDING
2 TINY DANCER
3 CAN YOU FEEL THE LOVE TONIGHT
BILLY JOEL
1 PRESSURE
2 SCENES FROM AN ITALIAN RESTAURANT
3 ANGRY YOUNG MAN
JIM CROCE
1 TIME IN A BOTTLE
2 I'LL HAVE TO SAY I LOVE YOU IN A SONG
3 I GOT A NAME
CARLY SIMON
1 YOU'RE SO VAIN
2 MOCKINGBIRD
3 NOBODY DOES IT BETTER
AMERICA
1 LONELY PEOPLE
2 DON'T CROSS THE RIVER
3 ONLY IN YOUR HEART
STEELY DAN
1 HEY NINETEEN
2 REELIN' IN THE YEARS
3 ANY MAJOR DUDE WILL TELL YOU
GERRY RAFFERTY
1 GET IT RIGHT NEXT TIME
2 BAKER STREET
3 STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WITH YOU (with Stealer's Wheel)
DIANA ROSS
1 LOVE HANGOVER
2 AIN'T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH
3 TOUCH ME IN THE MORNING
THE CARPENTERS
1 GOODBYE TO LOVE
2 TOP OF THE WORLD
3 CALLING OCCUPANTS OF INTERPLANETARY CRAFT
AL STEWART
1 ONE STAGE BEFORE
2 ON THE BORDER
3 TIME PASSAGES
WAR
1 CISCO KID
2 LOW RIDER
3 SPILL THE WINE
ARETHA FRANKLIN
1 RESPECT
2 I KNEW YOU WERE WAITING FOR ME (with George Michael)
3 UNTIL YOU COME BACK TO ME
QUEEN
1 ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST
2 BICYCLE RACE
3 KILLER QUEEN
BILLY PRESTON
1 WILL IT GO ROUND IN CIRCLES
2 OUTA SPACE
3 NOTHING FROM NOTHING
DON MCCLEAN
1 VINCENT
2 CASTLES IN THE AIR
3 DREIDEL
DONNA SUMMER
1 LAST DANCE
2 I FEEL LOVE
3 ON THE RADIO
THE CARS
1 TOUCH AND GO
2 BYE BYE LOVE
3 DRIVE
KANSAS
1 SONG FOR AMERICA
2 POINT OF KNOW RETURN
3 DUST IN THE WIND
CAT STEVENS
1 FATHER AND SON
2 OH VERY YOUNG
3 SITTING
FLEETWOOD MAC
1 LANDSLIDE
2 NEVER GOING BACK AGAIN
3 GYPSY
ROD STEWART
1 INFATUATION
2 DOWNTOWN TRAIN
3 YOUNG TURKS
DOOBIE BROTHERS
1 BLACK WATER
2 WHAT A FOOL BELIEVES
3 IT KEEPS YOU RUNNIN'
BOB SEGER
1 WE'VE GOT TONIGHT
2 STRUT
3 RAMBLIN' GAMBLIN' MAN
NEIL YOUNG
1 ROCKIN' IN THE FREE WORLD
2 BIG TIME
3 WONDERIN'
STEVE MILLER BAND
1 SHANGRI-LA
2 FLY LIKE AN EAGLE
3 LIVING IN THE U.S.A.
ROBERTA FLACK
1 KILLING ME SOFTLY WITH HIS SONG
2 WHERE IS THE LOVE (with Donny Hathaway)
3 THE FIRST TIME EVER I SAW YOUR FACE
THE SPINNERS
1 GAMES PEOPLE PLAY
2 I'M COMING HOME
3 GHETTO CHILD
Monday, April 16, 2018
War of Words Between Trump and Comey
I find a perverse sort of ironic justice in that former Federal Bureau of Investigations director James Comey, who in 2016 was so concerned that Hillary Clinton would be elected president due to an omission on his part, got canned last year as a part of the winner, Donald Trump's, efforts to obstruct investigations into Russian election interference and the Trump campaign's possible role in it. In my opinion, it was Comey's announcement just ten days before the election that other emails involving Clinton were under investigation, not WikiLeaks or "fake" Facebook news, that destroyed the campaign momentum that she had built into a double-digit lead following her impressive performances in the presidential debates. I find it more than a little frustrating now that Democrats seem to be backing Comey now that's he's on their "side" and slamming Trump...he recently compared him to a Mafia boss. The president responded by calling him a weak and untruthful slime ball...too bad they didn't have this exchange ten days before the election!
I was watching one of the TV news and talk channels the other day and a Republican brought up an interesting point. When James Comey was making a public spectacle of himself in 2016 discussing whether Hillary Clinton would be prosecuted for her alleged email improprieties, he was violating his own organization's policies: the FBI is there to investigate, not prosecute...that is the Justice Department's job. He should have kept his mouth shut about the ongoing investigations...instead he decided to play God and pulled his infamous October surprise about Hillary's email investigation being reopened, an investigation which ended up going nowhere. But by the time he announced this it was too late, too close to the election, and her campaign was greatly weakened...
So now James Comey has his tell-all book out and he's definitely against Donald Trump. I have no argument with him on that, but he also expressed in it regret that Hillary Clinton was angry at him for his publicity stunt on October 28...as if he still believes that he did the right thing by grossly interfering in the election! Personality-wise, I think both Trump and Comey have severe ego issues and are attention-addicted narcissists, seeing themselves as basically above reproach on anything...but although the president scares me with his tendency toward authoritarianism, I am thoroughly sick and disgusted with the former FBI director's pious and self-righteous attitude. And no, I'm not going to buy his crappy book...
I was watching one of the TV news and talk channels the other day and a Republican brought up an interesting point. When James Comey was making a public spectacle of himself in 2016 discussing whether Hillary Clinton would be prosecuted for her alleged email improprieties, he was violating his own organization's policies: the FBI is there to investigate, not prosecute...that is the Justice Department's job. He should have kept his mouth shut about the ongoing investigations...instead he decided to play God and pulled his infamous October surprise about Hillary's email investigation being reopened, an investigation which ended up going nowhere. But by the time he announced this it was too late, too close to the election, and her campaign was greatly weakened...
So now James Comey has his tell-all book out and he's definitely against Donald Trump. I have no argument with him on that, but he also expressed in it regret that Hillary Clinton was angry at him for his publicity stunt on October 28...as if he still believes that he did the right thing by grossly interfering in the election! Personality-wise, I think both Trump and Comey have severe ego issues and are attention-addicted narcissists, seeing themselves as basically above reproach on anything...but although the president scares me with his tendency toward authoritarianism, I am thoroughly sick and disgusted with the former FBI director's pious and self-righteous attitude. And no, I'm not going to buy his crappy book...
Saturday, April 14, 2018
Finishing Week-Long Break from Work
I've had a vacation break from my job this past week...it was a pleasant temporary interruption of my weekly routine. But I also like my work, and look forward to getting back to it tomorrow...wonder what's changed around my workplace? In any event, I'll find out soon enough, I guess...
One thing that being off for a few days has impressed upon me is that I don't get outside enough like I used to...working weekdays often from noon and on into the night and being in the house mornings doesn't give me much of an opportunity to enjoy the sun and daytime. I think I'll be changing that in the future, though with brief daily morning neighborhood runs alternating with bicycling (I just dusted off my dilapidated old bike, filled the tires, and oiled it). Oh, and looking around me, I think a little yard work is also in order..
On a completely different note, the National Hockey League and National Basketball Association regular seasons have ended...with hockey the playoffs have already begun and I've been watching them. I don't see the point anymore paying much attention to the regular season...the coaches often sit out star players and sometimes the worst teams deliberately "tank" in order to be awarded with better draft prospects...I think this is despicable. But in the playoffs they have to go all out and scratch for every win they can get, else they're eliminated. In hockey, I naturally want the semi-local Tampa Bay Lightning to win and in basketball I'm once again pulling for the San Antonio Spurs...as well as the good ol' Miami Heat with Dywane Wade happily back on the squad (they have a tendency to win championships with him on board, go figure). Since the Spurs face daunting Golden State and the Heat will have to play the surging Philadelphia 76ers in the first round, I'm afraid the prospects for these teams aren't very good...but at least the Lightning shouldn't have any problem with New Jersey. Now please excuse me while I finish my vacation...
One thing that being off for a few days has impressed upon me is that I don't get outside enough like I used to...working weekdays often from noon and on into the night and being in the house mornings doesn't give me much of an opportunity to enjoy the sun and daytime. I think I'll be changing that in the future, though with brief daily morning neighborhood runs alternating with bicycling (I just dusted off my dilapidated old bike, filled the tires, and oiled it). Oh, and looking around me, I think a little yard work is also in order..
On a completely different note, the National Hockey League and National Basketball Association regular seasons have ended...with hockey the playoffs have already begun and I've been watching them. I don't see the point anymore paying much attention to the regular season...the coaches often sit out star players and sometimes the worst teams deliberately "tank" in order to be awarded with better draft prospects...I think this is despicable. But in the playoffs they have to go all out and scratch for every win they can get, else they're eliminated. In hockey, I naturally want the semi-local Tampa Bay Lightning to win and in basketball I'm once again pulling for the San Antonio Spurs...as well as the good ol' Miami Heat with Dywane Wade happily back on the squad (they have a tendency to win championships with him on board, go figure). Since the Spurs face daunting Golden State and the Heat will have to play the surging Philadelphia 76ers in the first round, I'm afraid the prospects for these teams aren't very good...but at least the Lightning shouldn't have any problem with New Jersey. Now please excuse me while I finish my vacation...
Friday, April 13, 2018
Quote of the Week...from Emil Zatopek
If you want to run, run a mile. If you want to experience a different life, run a marathon.
---Emil Zatopek
Emil Zatopek was a famous distance runner from Czechoslovakia who won the Olympic gold medals in 1952 for the 5,000 meter, 10,000 meter, and marathon (26.2 miles) races. He was a talented athlete who probably worked harder at his sport than any others of his era, with a harsh, self-imposed training regimen. But I didn't select him for those reasons...it is the quote's meaning that I'd like to discuss here...
I've run a mile many times...and I've managed to finished two marathons, one public and one while training on my own. Back in February 2010 I ran my first-ever half marathon race here in Gainesville and began to set my sights on the marathon event. I trained hard the rest of the year and by the time fall arrived I was regularly going out on runs for fifteen miles or more. When I hit the twenty-mile mark toward the end of the year, I knew that a marathon run was attainable...which I accomplished the afternoon of January 15, 2011 (actually I ran about 27 miles). But I soon came to the conclusion that, at least for myself, this distance took up too much of my time with training and that it made me too injury-prone...I subsequently would only train for half-marathons, which I have run over the past eight years...
The point to all this is that while Zatopek's quote sounds like an either-or, strictly binary proposition, in truth you can experience a markedly different life and run some pretty impressive distances without letting it overshadow everything else you're doing in your life. And, quite frankly, if you've participated in some of these marathon races, you'll find that in many of them the course is doubled over in places so that you're just repeating much of the same terrain...that's no fun! I'm glad I downsized from trying to do marathons and my body appreciates it as well...a half-marathon is a good, solid long-distance event as are 10Ks (6.2 miles) and 15Ks (9.3 miles). As a matter of fact, as I find myself mysteriously getting older each year, I'm finding those last two more fun to run in. But having said all this, I also recognize that each of us is different and some have come to consider the marathon as the crowning event of their running aspirations. And, of course, if you're not into running, none of this applies except as an analogy to other areas with which you are engaged. The main thing is to avoid automatically buying into how others define your interest: that's something you...and only you...get to do...
---Emil Zatopek
Emil Zatopek was a famous distance runner from Czechoslovakia who won the Olympic gold medals in 1952 for the 5,000 meter, 10,000 meter, and marathon (26.2 miles) races. He was a talented athlete who probably worked harder at his sport than any others of his era, with a harsh, self-imposed training regimen. But I didn't select him for those reasons...it is the quote's meaning that I'd like to discuss here...
I've run a mile many times...and I've managed to finished two marathons, one public and one while training on my own. Back in February 2010 I ran my first-ever half marathon race here in Gainesville and began to set my sights on the marathon event. I trained hard the rest of the year and by the time fall arrived I was regularly going out on runs for fifteen miles or more. When I hit the twenty-mile mark toward the end of the year, I knew that a marathon run was attainable...which I accomplished the afternoon of January 15, 2011 (actually I ran about 27 miles). But I soon came to the conclusion that, at least for myself, this distance took up too much of my time with training and that it made me too injury-prone...I subsequently would only train for half-marathons, which I have run over the past eight years...
The point to all this is that while Zatopek's quote sounds like an either-or, strictly binary proposition, in truth you can experience a markedly different life and run some pretty impressive distances without letting it overshadow everything else you're doing in your life. And, quite frankly, if you've participated in some of these marathon races, you'll find that in many of them the course is doubled over in places so that you're just repeating much of the same terrain...that's no fun! I'm glad I downsized from trying to do marathons and my body appreciates it as well...a half-marathon is a good, solid long-distance event as are 10Ks (6.2 miles) and 15Ks (9.3 miles). As a matter of fact, as I find myself mysteriously getting older each year, I'm finding those last two more fun to run in. But having said all this, I also recognize that each of us is different and some have come to consider the marathon as the crowning event of their running aspirations. And, of course, if you're not into running, none of this applies except as an analogy to other areas with which you are engaged. The main thing is to avoid automatically buying into how others define your interest: that's something you...and only you...get to do...
Thursday, April 12, 2018
4/8 Sermon on Book of Daniel, Pt. 1
At the Family Church here in Gainesville, Florida, senior pastor Philip Griffin began a new sermon series, Counter Culture, going through the Bible's Old Testament book of Daniel. Last Sunday was the first installment, titled How to Live Out Conviction in a Culture of Conformity, and focused on the passage Daniel 1:1-21...click on it to read it via Bible Gateway...
As Daniel opens, the setting is the Babylonian conquest of Judah under Nebuchadnezzar and the taking of its best and brightest young people back to Babylon for training and assimilation into that country's society. Daniel, along with his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, is among them. They are renamed according to the Babylonian religion and reeducated. But when offered Babylonian food that violates their own dietary laws, Daniel draws the line and insists on a strict regimen of vegetables and water...
So how can people live out their convictions in a culture of conformity? Using Daniel's experiences in Babylon as a model, Pastor Philip gave five steps: (1) no matter how bad it gets, know that God has not forgotten you, (2) choose your battles...if everything is a bad, nothing will be won, (3) purpose in your heart to trust and obey God, (4) don't treat people as enemies, and (5) live to bring glory to God. Since neither learning about other cultures nor being renamed are violations of scripture, Daniel conformed in these with the dominant society...but chose for his battle the food they would be eating since, as I mentioned before, it would involve breaking dietary laws. Philip pointed out that they wouldn't sit at the King's table and partake of the food because it was regarded as a sacrifice to idols, sitting there implied acceptance of Nebuchadnezzar's oppression, and they had entered into a time of fasting. Yet Daniel did not treat his Babylonian captors as enemies...and we should avoid this temptation in our own circumstances to either assimilate into the world's system or isolate from it, as our pastor stressed. Instead, using salt as a metaphor for our proper role, we should engage and be the salt of the world (Matthew 5:13), a salt which preserves and purifies...
You can watch this message through the church's YouTube video website...click on the following link: [TFC Video]. Located at 2022 SW 122nd Street, the Family Church holds its weekly services on Sunday morning at 9 and 10:30. Besides the sermon there is praise and worship music, prayer, refreshments in the hospitality room, and opportunities for fellowship and discipleship. Daniel will continue next Sunday...
As Daniel opens, the setting is the Babylonian conquest of Judah under Nebuchadnezzar and the taking of its best and brightest young people back to Babylon for training and assimilation into that country's society. Daniel, along with his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, is among them. They are renamed according to the Babylonian religion and reeducated. But when offered Babylonian food that violates their own dietary laws, Daniel draws the line and insists on a strict regimen of vegetables and water...
So how can people live out their convictions in a culture of conformity? Using Daniel's experiences in Babylon as a model, Pastor Philip gave five steps: (1) no matter how bad it gets, know that God has not forgotten you, (2) choose your battles...if everything is a bad, nothing will be won, (3) purpose in your heart to trust and obey God, (4) don't treat people as enemies, and (5) live to bring glory to God. Since neither learning about other cultures nor being renamed are violations of scripture, Daniel conformed in these with the dominant society...but chose for his battle the food they would be eating since, as I mentioned before, it would involve breaking dietary laws. Philip pointed out that they wouldn't sit at the King's table and partake of the food because it was regarded as a sacrifice to idols, sitting there implied acceptance of Nebuchadnezzar's oppression, and they had entered into a time of fasting. Yet Daniel did not treat his Babylonian captors as enemies...and we should avoid this temptation in our own circumstances to either assimilate into the world's system or isolate from it, as our pastor stressed. Instead, using salt as a metaphor for our proper role, we should engage and be the salt of the world (Matthew 5:13), a salt which preserves and purifies...
You can watch this message through the church's YouTube video website...click on the following link: [TFC Video]. Located at 2022 SW 122nd Street, the Family Church holds its weekly services on Sunday morning at 9 and 10:30. Besides the sermon there is praise and worship music, prayer, refreshments in the hospitality room, and opportunities for fellowship and discipleship. Daniel will continue next Sunday...
Wednesday, April 11, 2018
Weekly Short Story: Adjustment Team by Philip K. Dick
I've become accustomed, when reading renowned twentieth century science fiction writer Philip K. Dick's short stories, to experiencing reality-bending moments when what we think should be the normal world around us turns out to be something entirely different. Adjustment Team, first published in 1954 and appearing in the collection Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick (Pantheon Books), is a prime example. Ed Fletcher thinks he is getting out of bed, enjoying an excellent breakfast prepared by his wife Ruth, and going to yet another ordinary day at his downtown office job...but we know better, of course. After all, Ed's office building lies within the sector that is to be "adjusted"...and he'd better get there in time because he's part of it all. The Clerk tells the Summoner (Ed's dog) to summon (by barking) the car that will take his "master" to work earlier than usual that day...but the canine foolishly sleeps past the allotted time and Ed is very late for work...causing disruption of the whole plan. And no, I don't expect you to know what the heck I'm talking about...
The Clerks and Summoners...as well as the Watchers, Adjusters, and the Old Man...are all part of a reality creating-and-changing organization with their own agenda for the world. When Ed steps past the invisible threshold between his normal world and the sector being "adjusted"...well, you have to read through it to get the full vicarious experience as a reader. I will say this much, though: it is his initial experience going to the office that morning that won the story over for me as well as creating an awfully scary scenario that would exceed the terror of any nightmare I might have...
There was a 2011 movie starring Matt Damon called The Adjustment Bureau that adopted some pertinent elements of Dick's story but transformed it into something very different. I've read that there was a legal battle going on between Philip K. Dick's estate and those from the film for royalty payments...I've yet to see this movie and, quite frankly have no intention of doing so anytime in the near future. But the short story is a good one and, in spite of that scary part, also has quite a lot of humor...
The Clerks and Summoners...as well as the Watchers, Adjusters, and the Old Man...are all part of a reality creating-and-changing organization with their own agenda for the world. When Ed steps past the invisible threshold between his normal world and the sector being "adjusted"...well, you have to read through it to get the full vicarious experience as a reader. I will say this much, though: it is his initial experience going to the office that morning that won the story over for me as well as creating an awfully scary scenario that would exceed the terror of any nightmare I might have...
There was a 2011 movie starring Matt Damon called The Adjustment Bureau that adopted some pertinent elements of Dick's story but transformed it into something very different. I've read that there was a legal battle going on between Philip K. Dick's estate and those from the film for royalty payments...I've yet to see this movie and, quite frankly have no intention of doing so anytime in the near future. But the short story is a good one and, in spite of that scary part, also has quite a lot of humor...
Tuesday, April 10, 2018
Tuesday's List: My Top Three Songs of Various Musical Acts, Pt. 1
I thought I'd scan my memory of different musical acts I've enjoyed over the span of my listening lifetime and came up with a list of my favorites from some of them. Now I've already put out some pretty long lists of personal favorite songs from acts like the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, the Doors, the Who, Yes, the Moody Blues, the Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, the Monkees, Electric Light Orchestra, etc...maybe on a future date I'll place links to those lists on this blog..or you can find them for yourself by using the search engine provided in the upper left corner within the blog page. For today, I'm listing my favorites from other artists...it's not a comprehensive list and I plan to come up with more later on...
Well, here's the list...for this one I stuck to acts (I like) with origins going back to the 1960s or earlier. How many of these songs do you recognize?
THE ANIMALS
1 Sky Pilot
2 It's My Life
3 We Gotta Get Out of This Place
ROY ORBISON
1 Crying
2 Oh, Pretty Woman
3 End of the Line (with Traveling Wilburys)
FATS DOMINO
1 I'm Walkin'
2 Blueberry Hill
3 Blue Monday
HERMAN'S HERMITS
1 No Milk Today
2 I'm Into Something Good
3 Listen People
THE BEACH BOYS
1 God Only Knows
2 I Get Around
3 When I Grow Up to Be a Man
THE SUPREMES
1 Up the Ladder to the Roof
2 Where Did Our Love Go
3 Reflections
THE EVERLY BROTHERS
1 Let It Be Me
2 Cathy's Clown
3 All I Have to Do is Dream
BOB DYLAN
1 Tangled Up in Blue
2 Hurricane
3 Knockin' on Heaven's Door
GERRY AND THE PACEMAKERS
1 Ferry Cross the Mersey
2 Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying
3 How Do You Do It
SIMON AND GARFUNKEL
1 America
2 Scarborough Fair
3 Fakin' It
STEVIE WONDER
1 Living for the City
2 You Are the Sunshine of My Life
3 Uptight (Everything's Alright)
THE HOLLIES
1 He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother
2 Stop Stop Stop
3 Carrie Anne
THE TEMPTATIONS
1 Papa Was a Rolling Stone
2 I Can't Get Next to You
3 Ball of Confusion
CHICAGO
1 Dialogue
2 Make Me Smile
3 Questions 67 & 68
THE GUESS WHO
1 No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature
2 Hang On to Your Life
3 Rain Dance
CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL
1 Born on the Bayou
2 Lodi
3 Suzie Q
JAN AND DEAN
1 Dead Man's Curve
2 The Little Old Lady from Pasadena
3 Surf City
JOHNNY CASH
1 Come Along and Ride This Train
2 I Walk the Line
3 What is Truth
MARVIN GAYE
1 What's Going On
2 Inner City Blues
3 Mercy Mercy Me
DIONNE WARWICK
1 Reach Out for Me
2 Alfie
3 Do You Know the Way to San Jose
PETULA CLARK
1 Don't Sleep in the Subway
2 I Know a Place
3 Downtown
THE DAVE CLARK FIVE
1 Bits and Pieces
2 Over and Over
3 Any Way You Want It
THE ASSOCIATION
1 Never My Love
2 Cherish
3 Along Comes Mary
DUSTY SPRINGFIELD
1 What Have I Done to Deserve This (with Pet Shop Boys)
2 I Only Want to Be With You
3 Wishin' and Hopin'
NANCY SINATRA
1 You Only Live Twice
2 Some Velvet Morning (with Lee Hazlewood)
3 Jackson (with Lee Hazlewood)
THE BYRDS
1 Eight Miles High
2 So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star
3 Turn! Turn! Turn!
THE KINKS
1 Tired of Waiting for You
2 All Day and All of the Night
3 A Well-Respected Man
GLEN CAMPBELL
1 Wichita Lineman
2 Try a Little Kindness
3 Dreams of the Everyday Housewife
THE RASCALS
1 You Better Run
2 People Got to Be Free
3 How Can I Be Sure
THE JACKSON FIVE
1 The Love You Save
2 Maybe Tomorrow
3 I Want You Back
THE LOVIN' SPOONFUL
1 Summer in the City
2 Nashville Cats
3 Rain on the Roof
JIMI HENDRIX
1 All Along the Watchtower
2 The Wind Cries Mary
3 Hey Joe
NEIL DIAMOND
1 Forever in Blue Jeans
2 America
3 Longfellow Serenade
CROSBY, STILLS, NASH, and/or YOUNG
1 Our House
2 Carry On
3 Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
THE BEE GEES
1 Holiday
2 Lonely Days
3 Craise Finton Kirk Royal Academy of Arts
SLY & THE FAMILY STONE
1 Runnin' Away
2 Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)
3 Hot Fun in the Summertime
Well, here's the list...for this one I stuck to acts (I like) with origins going back to the 1960s or earlier. How many of these songs do you recognize?
THE ANIMALS
1 Sky Pilot
2 It's My Life
3 We Gotta Get Out of This Place
ROY ORBISON
1 Crying
2 Oh, Pretty Woman
3 End of the Line (with Traveling Wilburys)
FATS DOMINO
1 I'm Walkin'
2 Blueberry Hill
3 Blue Monday
HERMAN'S HERMITS
1 No Milk Today
2 I'm Into Something Good
3 Listen People
THE BEACH BOYS
1 God Only Knows
2 I Get Around
3 When I Grow Up to Be a Man
THE SUPREMES
1 Up the Ladder to the Roof
2 Where Did Our Love Go
3 Reflections
THE EVERLY BROTHERS
1 Let It Be Me
2 Cathy's Clown
3 All I Have to Do is Dream
BOB DYLAN
1 Tangled Up in Blue
2 Hurricane
3 Knockin' on Heaven's Door
GERRY AND THE PACEMAKERS
1 Ferry Cross the Mersey
2 Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying
3 How Do You Do It
SIMON AND GARFUNKEL
1 America
2 Scarborough Fair
3 Fakin' It
STEVIE WONDER
1 Living for the City
2 You Are the Sunshine of My Life
3 Uptight (Everything's Alright)
THE HOLLIES
1 He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother
2 Stop Stop Stop
3 Carrie Anne
THE TEMPTATIONS
1 Papa Was a Rolling Stone
2 I Can't Get Next to You
3 Ball of Confusion
CHICAGO
1 Dialogue
2 Make Me Smile
3 Questions 67 & 68
THE GUESS WHO
1 No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature
2 Hang On to Your Life
3 Rain Dance
CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL
1 Born on the Bayou
2 Lodi
3 Suzie Q
JAN AND DEAN
1 Dead Man's Curve
2 The Little Old Lady from Pasadena
3 Surf City
JOHNNY CASH
1 Come Along and Ride This Train
2 I Walk the Line
3 What is Truth
MARVIN GAYE
1 What's Going On
2 Inner City Blues
3 Mercy Mercy Me
DIONNE WARWICK
1 Reach Out for Me
2 Alfie
3 Do You Know the Way to San Jose
PETULA CLARK
1 Don't Sleep in the Subway
2 I Know a Place
3 Downtown
THE DAVE CLARK FIVE
1 Bits and Pieces
2 Over and Over
3 Any Way You Want It
THE ASSOCIATION
1 Never My Love
2 Cherish
3 Along Comes Mary
DUSTY SPRINGFIELD
1 What Have I Done to Deserve This (with Pet Shop Boys)
2 I Only Want to Be With You
3 Wishin' and Hopin'
NANCY SINATRA
1 You Only Live Twice
2 Some Velvet Morning (with Lee Hazlewood)
3 Jackson (with Lee Hazlewood)
THE BYRDS
1 Eight Miles High
2 So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star
3 Turn! Turn! Turn!
THE KINKS
1 Tired of Waiting for You
2 All Day and All of the Night
3 A Well-Respected Man
GLEN CAMPBELL
1 Wichita Lineman
2 Try a Little Kindness
3 Dreams of the Everyday Housewife
THE RASCALS
1 You Better Run
2 People Got to Be Free
3 How Can I Be Sure
THE JACKSON FIVE
1 The Love You Save
2 Maybe Tomorrow
3 I Want You Back
THE LOVIN' SPOONFUL
1 Summer in the City
2 Nashville Cats
3 Rain on the Roof
JIMI HENDRIX
1 All Along the Watchtower
2 The Wind Cries Mary
3 Hey Joe
NEIL DIAMOND
1 Forever in Blue Jeans
2 America
3 Longfellow Serenade
CROSBY, STILLS, NASH, and/or YOUNG
1 Our House
2 Carry On
3 Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
THE BEE GEES
1 Holiday
2 Lonely Days
3 Craise Finton Kirk Royal Academy of Arts
SLY & THE FAMILY STONE
1 Runnin' Away
2 Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)
3 Hot Fun in the Summertime
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