Weekly Short Stories: 1994 Science Fiction, Part 6

Today I look at two 1994 stories from the Gardner Dozois-edited anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction, Twelfth Annual Collection.  I have been doing this weekly review of science fiction short stories on Wednesdays since October 2018, when I began with an anthology covering the year 1939...and have been gradually making my way forward in time since.  I found the stories from back then much more readable, as the authors didn't seem hung up on making a literary statement for themselves as too many by 1994 seem to be doing...I shudder thinking what it's going to be like when I finally catch up to the present time! Case in point: the following two stories, both of which I had an unpleasant time muddling through...

THE MATTER OF SEGGRI by Ursula K. Le Guin

Le Guin had already made a name for herself with her exploration of sexual roles and identity within society, using science fiction as the vehicle.  This story is a part of her already established Hainish fictional universe. It consists of an extended study, based on some articles spaced over time, of a peculiar planet on which the women dominate the society, including the arts and sciences, while the men...pampered in childhood...are eventually isolated behind locked doors in "castles", only let out to perform...how should I put it..."stud" duty.  The galactic authorities want the society reformed, but change takes time.  All right, I figured out this novella early on, and it frankly dragged and I felt the author was trying to "teach" me something instead of telling a story...

YLEM by Eliot Fintushel

This is an annoying stream-of-consciousness short story (thank God it's short) told by a man...or woman...or another man...as their separate identities don't seem to matter. He/she/they are alternately sitting in a run-down house or climbing a mountain or avoiding being shot with poisonous darts from zeppelins or exploring first-hand the origin of the universe at the time of the Big Bang.  I'm more than a little bit put off whenever an author gets so hung up on his or her style that they deliberately make it harder for the reader to discern whatever the hell it is they're trying to say, as if they all want to be seen as the next James Joyce...

Next week I continue this series, looking at science fiction from the year 1994 and hoping for some better reviews as well...

Closing In On Christmas

Today is just six days until Christmas...it's been a long time since I was caught up in the Holiday spirit to the degree that so many of my fellow humans are.  It's a consumer/marketing onslaught as the malls and stores...along with the streets connecting them...are clogged with frantic shoppers.  I'll probably end up as one of them before it's over: "yikes" is all I can say. I can't pinpoint the exact year when I became disenchanted with all this materialistic push, but I do know that I was still a child at the time the big swing happened. It doesn't make sense...we're celebrating the birth of the one individual standing strong as the antithesis of materialism while using the concept of mutual generosity to cover up our mutual covetousness and greed.  Oops...is that the Goth part of me seeping out, getting negative on humanity?  On the other hand, I positively dig the coming together of my family, both close and extended, as we shop with and for one another...going to the Oaks Mall the other day with Melissa was precious, something I value deeply.  So, I guess it's all a mixed bag...if I were just some cranky, crochety old hermit, I might say "Bah humbug" and be done with it. Instead, I still say that old Scrooge line but realize there's also some love to accompany the "stuff" ...

Tired of Running Race Promoters' Sloppiness with Posting Past Results

The other day, when I updated my cumulative running race record, which has links to the articles I wrote on this blog about each race right after I ran them, I took the time to read a few of them...and then click on the links I provided to the posted results.  Most of them...especially the older ones...had expired and presented error pages.  Now there are sites that specialize in collecting race results and repost them...for them I am grateful: all is not lost!  My main beef nowadays are the race site home pages that offer past results but either don't post them or do so in an incomplete manner, omitting some sections.  To me that is just callous sloppiness and disregard for the runners who most likely have shelled out some good money to have their finishing times recorded and publicly posted.  After all, I can design any length of course around my own neighborhood and then run and time myself for my own personal use...but in the end it's just my word that I ran that distance in that time.  The value of a publicly held race for me is largely in that public record of my results...I think it's a sort of breach of contract between me and the race organizers for them to promise and have electronic chip timing and then fail to properly post the results.  Lately, I have been making decisions as to whether I will enter races based on how I see the organizers treat past results on their own websites...and in Gainesville it hasn't been pretty.  No, change that: it's been pretty all right...pretty slaphappy...

Just Finished Reading The Storyteller by Dave Grohl

Foo Fighters creator, songwriter and front man Dave Grohl, formally the drummer for the grunge rock trio Nirvana, wrote his autobiography The Storyteller, published in 2021. I just finished reading the audio version, narrated by Grohl himself.  He recounts his childhood, largely praising his supportive mother while castigating his negative father...I guess he had to get his "digs" in. Grohl made the point throughout this book that he pretty much led a bold, sometimes wild life, while pursuing his passion of music with extreme dedication and self-discipline.  He very strongly emphasizes the importance of both family and friends, while completely omitting any reference to Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain's widow Courtney Love, with whom Grohl has had a very long, contentious feud over a number of issues. I like reading recounts like this one, in which the author for the most part assumes responsibility for his own life, while at the same time expressing gratitude for those who had helped him along his way.  I mentioned the other day, in connection with this book, that for so many successful musicians, they learned their instruments on their own, not with formal lessons but rather through extensive practice.  They listened repeatedly to their favorite artists' recordings and imitated them, developing a strong musical sense by listening and discerning patterns while training their dexterity on their chosen instruments.  I thought Dave Grohl's life story was compelling and interesting, and although I generally preferred his former band Nirvana to the Foo Fighters, I admire his perseverance and do number some of the latter's songs among my favorites, among them I'll Stick Around, Everlong, Headwires and, my "top song" from 2014, Something from Nothing... 

Ran Gainesville's Depot Parkrun 5K This Morning

Amidst a cool (56 degrees), humid 93% morning with overcast, dark skies and gusty winds, I somehow sprang up out of bed at six this morning to once again tackle the free, volunteer-driven Depot Parkrun 5K here in Gainesville just a few blocks south of downtown.  I had been working out at my local gym after work and knew I was getting into better running shape, but I hadn't anticipated...even with my Galloway Method of interspersing short walking breaks with my running...of annihilating my Parkrun personal best, finishing at 28:57...my best 5K result since 2016.  Immediately following the run I covered another 1.8 miles along SE 4th Street, 10th Avenue, the Hawthorne Trail and then back on Depot Road to my parking lot.  Total for the run: 4.9 miles, 47:15.  Now I'm sitting (for the first time) at the Starbucks near University Avenue on NW 13th Street which is really an extension of the Publix store there...it's instantly become my favorite Starbucks!  Yesterday I had been considering getting up even earlier today and driving down to Ocala to run their Baseline Trailhead Park race, but the enrollment had been capped off...maybe another time.  As for the Parkrun extension I did this morning, I'd like to make that a regular Saturday morning feature while making some adjustments in my route.  As for today's race, click HERE for the results.  As for my cumulative running record posting on December 10th, I decided to add each subsequent race I do to it...

Quote of the Week...from René Descartes

I only speak one language really, mathematics, but I dabble in others like English just enough to answer questions and buy groceries.        ---René Descartes

René Descartes (1596-1650) was a famous French philosopher and mathematician...we have him to thank for the Cartesian coordinate system named after him.  I encountered his above quote through a cryptogram I solved the other day, from a mixed puzzle magazine I bought at Publix while, incidentally, buying groceries. Being an amateur, dabbling student in foreign languages, I was intrigued by his likening of mathematics as a language in its own right. Also, I just finished reading Foo Fighters creator and front man Dave Grohl's autobiography The Storyteller and derived from his experiences with music that it, too, is a sort of language.  So, is learning the languages of mathematics and music essentially different in nature from learning Chinese, Russian, German, English...or any other tongue?  I wonder...maybe Steve Kaufmann's advocacy of attaining passive comprehension in them works similarly to what he promotes with foreign language acquisition.  After all, he says that the human brain is naturally wired to pick up languages and that we should focus ourselves on reading and listening on a grand scale, discerning the linguistic patterns as we go along on a deliberate journey of learning that necessarily takes patience with the results we first achieve.  I want to become "proficient" in both math and music, although with the former I scored a perfect 800 on my SAT and with the latter I have a mental library of thousands of songs and pieces I've heard over the years...albeit without the detailed analytical music theory behind them or musical skill with instruments or voice.  I'd written before on this blog that I'd like to be able to play a guitar or keyboard, if for no other reason other than to be able to share some of that music I already mentally possess with others.  Yes, I wonder whether the linguistic theory of "comprehensible input" can apply to those two areas as well...I'll bet Descartes knew the answer...

Weather to Get Rainy, About Running

Looks like we're in for some nasty weather with the next few days...throughout the whole Florida peninsula.  I had been considering trying out an Ocala park running race on Saturday morning, but I think maybe since they hold it twice a month I'll wait until the weather is a little more propitious. On the other hand, maybe going down there like this could be part of the adventure!  In any event, there's always the Depot Parkrun in town...or just sleeping in late might fill the bill as well.  I have been hitting my local gym lately quite a bit and enjoy their treadmills with the built-in screen app called "Virtual Active".  It shows different scenes as virtual runs in five-minute chunks, alternating in various places like New Zealand, Tierra del Fuego (Argentina), Italy, California, Washington State, and British Columbia. It's made treadmill running more than just looking at my numbers and huffing and puffing...they offer it on Roku at home but for a subscription: I think I'll just enjoy YouTube virtual races shown there instead.  Well, I've got somewhere I need to be going and something to do, so until later...

Weekly Short Stories: 1994 Science Fiction, Part 5

It's time once again to return to the year 1994 and Gardner Dozois' anthology titled The Year's Best Science Fiction, Twelfth Annual Collection, full of stories from that year.  Like his others in this series, it's a thick book with a lot of stories, several of them lengthy novella...like the second one below.  Back during that year, I was still working the late-night shift at the Gainesville Post Office processing center on their flat sorting machine. I would often ride my bicycle eight miles to work and then back the next morning.  On the way there I'd almost always make a "pit stop" at the then-Books-a-Million on NW 13th Street and get a coffee there and browse their books.  I also would read old sci-fi short stories on my breaks at work...some things change, and some stay the same.  And now, some more stories...

DEAD SPACE FOR THE UNEXPECTED by Geoff Ryman

In a cutthroat future business environment, an aspiring executive, obsessed with the numerical scores of his performance and those of his colleagues, has to fire a co-worker...and has to come to grips that his own scores are now being sabotaged. The story reminded me a bit of the movie American Psycho with the business social environment...that would come out in 1999...

CRI DE COEUR by Michael Bishop

Three huge spaceship "arks" are heading toward Epsilon Eridani, where what seems to be a suitable planet for habitation is awaiting their arrival. The people are mostly under deep sleep that suspends their aging while a skeleton crew attends the ships' operations.  One of them, who writes poetry, has a Down's Syndrome son...he encounters a bitter man who comes to grip with his own inner demons.  With the others, they go through a sort of odyssey, both with themselves and their futures.  This was the novella for this week...

THE SAWING BOYS by Howard Waldrop

Explained with an actual glossary at the end, it's out in the country and a musical band playing saws is going to a local hick town where they are holding a contest.  Another group is going there, too, a violent bunch of con artists, also coveting the grand prize.  It was hard for me to muddle through the narrative as the author deliberately obfuscated it all with arcane slang...albeit explained at the end.  Should have started with the glossary...

More about 1994 science fiction short stories next week...

Podcaster Extols Misogi Method: What Is It?

On yesterday's Mindset Mentor podcast, personal development coach Rob Dial encouraged his listeners to employ what he calls the Misogi Method to jumpstart their days and get themselves into the proper frame of mind to tackle projects and goals.  He says it's based on a Japanese word roughly translated as "water purification".  According to Dial, the literal application is to plunge oneself, for as long as possible, in very cold water...not a pleasant prospect, which is the whole point.  Once you've done it, he claims, other hitherto formidable tasks don't seem quite as daunting.  Misogi can be extended to other things, though, which is good because I don't think I need the cold-water treatment, thank you.  No, for me something like a brief, but intense, immersion in a social environment where I'm expected to speak to a group sounds like something that seems impossible but, after accomplishing, would make anything else seem attainable.  But then again, there's that cold water...

Internet a Great Information Source, But Old Data Often Disappears

When I was updating my cumulative running record yesterday, I naturally clicked on some of the links of races held years ago.  In almost every one of the articles, somewhere I would offer a link to the site that had posted the particular results online.  Unfortunately, for most of the links I found closed-down webpages...that doesn't mean that the results were necessarily lost, though.  There are now websites, most notably Athlinks, that have researched past public running races across the country and compiled them...I found quite a few of my old races in their database.  I am grateful for this blog for I wonder, had I not faithfully written up each race as they happened, that I would have lost any record of them ever having taken place.  Then I extended that thought to other areas in my life and realized that there is a place for personal journaling, which includes writing about my experiences and thoughts that I might not necessarily share with the world over a public blog.  In his recent book Level Up, personal development podcaster Rob Dial emphasizes the importance of personal journaling, offering topical cues at the end of each chapter. While his reasons for journaling make sense, I also see in it the retention of past details, recorded when they happened and then lying dormant for future reference.  The Internet, to be sure, is loaded with information...but old websites sometimes just wither away, it seems...along with the data they had previously offered.  I'm grateful for sites like Athlinks that try to preserve old online records, but not every area in life is conducive to that level of data recovery...

My Updated Cumulative Lifetime Running Race Record

I've updated below my cumulative running race record...you can see that since the last update in April of this year, most of my ventures have been to a single location: Gainesville's pretty Depot Park where, on Saturday mornings, they hold a free 5K race/run/walk called the "Depot Parkrun"...I've covered it 28 times at this writing on December 10th.  I also ran half-marathon, 15K, 10K and 4-mile races during recent weeks.  Races 10K (6.2 miles) or longer I have highlighted in red. If you see a race you'd like to read more about, just click on the listed title to read my same-day blog article.  As for the distance abbreviations, m=miles, K=kilometers, M=marathon and HM=half marathon. And now, on to more running adventures...

PS, I have been updating this article subsequent to today's December 10 date...

3-23-73        2m       11:56      Nova HS at Piper track meet         Piper High School, Ft. Lauderdale

4-10-73         2m       11:35      Broward Country South Division Meet    S. Broward HS, Dania

11-27-74      ~2m      ??            Turkey Trot  (BCC) (1)                  Davie, FL

11-?-75      ~2m      ??            Turkey Trot (BCC) (2)                     Davie, FL

7-?-76      ~5m      ??            -unknown-                                         Hollywood, FL   

10-04-08    5K       25:10      Red Cross                                         University of Florida

10-18-08    5K       24:07      Hope Heels                                       Westside Park

11-01-08    5K       24:28      Dog Days                                            Westside Park
2-14-10     HM    2:17:10     Five Points of Life (1)                      Gainesville
3-27-10     15K    1:23:55    Climb for Cancer                                Haile Plantation
4-24-10      5K        23:05     Run Amuck                                        NFR Office Park
5-22-10      5K        25:00     Somer's Sunshine Run                   Orange Park
6-05-10      5K        23:23     Cpt. Chad Reed Memorial                     Cross City
7-04-10      3m        23:04     Melon Run  (1)                                Westside Park
11-6-10    HM    2:01:41       Tom Walker Memorial (1)              Hawthorne Trail
1-23-11      M       6:04:35    Ocala Marathon                                South of Paddock Mall
11-12-11    HM    1:59:38    Tom Walker Memorial (2)              Hawthorne Trail
1-01-12      HM    1:56:07    De Leon Springs                              De Leon Springs
7-04-12      3m        25:45     Melon Run (2)                                Westside Park
11-22-12   10K       53:10     Turkey Trot (1)                                 Tacachale
1-20-13      HM    1:55:20    Ocala Half-Marathon                    South of Paddock Mall
3-03-13      HM    1:50:53    Orange Blossom                             Tavares
11-09-13    2m     untimed    Gator Gallop                                   University Ave, SW 2nd Ave
2-01-14      5K        25:53     Education for Life                           Westside Park
2-16-14      HM    2:07:36    Five Points of Life (2)                    Gainesville
11-27-14   10K        56:56    Turkey Trot (2)                                Tacachale
12-20-14    HM    2:03:30    Starlight Half-Marathon               Palm Coast
1-31-15     15K    1:18:21       Newnan's Lake (1)                          West of Newnan's Lake
2-15-15     HM     1:58:48    Five Points of Life (3)                    Gainesville
3-14-15     10K        56:24    Run for Haven (1)                           Tioga
12-05-15   6.5m   1:03:52    Lumber Around the Levee           Micanopy
1-30-16     15K    1:31:20    Newnan's Lake (2)                           West of Newnan's Lake
3-12-16     10K       59:00    Run for Haven (2)                           Tioga
5-14-16       5K       28:36    May Day Glow Run (1)                    Tioga

7-4-16         3m      28:22    Melon Run (3)                                  Westside Park

11-24-16    10K    1:01:13    Turkey Trot (3)                                Tacachale

2-26-17     HM    2:24:29    Five Points of Life (4)                    Gainesville

3-11-17      10K        58:45   Run for Haven (3)                           Tioga

5-21-17        5K        33:00   May Day Glow Run (2)                 Tioga

1-27-18       15K    1:38:41    Newnan's Lake (3)                        West of Newnan's Lake

2-18-18    HM      2:19:37    Five Points of Life (5)                   Gainesville

3-17-18        5K        29:17    Chris Lacinak Scholarship           Gainesville

12-8-18      15K     1:37:33    Season of Hope (1)                       Hawthorne Trail

1-5-19          5K        30:00    Depot Parkrun (1)                        Gainesville

2-9-19         5K        30:36    Depot Parkrun (2)                        Gainesville

3-16-19       5K        31:16     Miles for Meridian                        Tioga

4-27-19      10K    1:01:52    Run the Good Race (1)                 NFR Office Park

5-5-19         5K        30:38    May Day Glow Run (3)                Jonesville

11-10-19    HM    2:35:20   Tom Walker Memorial (3)          Hawthorne Trail

11-28-19    10K    1:02:16    Turkey Trot (4)                             Tacachale

12-7-19      15K    1:35:48    Season of Hope (2)                       Hawthorne Trail

4-3-21         5K        32:40    Headwaters (1)                             Gainesville

5-29-21      5K        30:50    Depot Parkrun (3)                        Gainesville

6-12-21       5K        33:06    Depot Parkrun (4)                       Gainesville

12-4-21       5K        33:03    Depot Parkrun (5)                        Gainesville

2-12-22       5K        31:28    Depot Parkrun (6)                        Gainesville

2-20-22     HM   2:33:51     Five Points of Life (6)                  Gainesville

3-19-22      10m  1:48:24    Micanopy Ten-Mile (1)                    Micanopy

3-26-22       5K      30:45     Depot Parkrun (7)                        Gainesville

4-9-22         5K       29:28     Headwaters (2)                            Gainesville

10-15-22     10K   1:04:55    Tom Walker Preview (1)                   Hawthorne Trail

10-22-22    10K   1:03:20    Run the Good Race (2)                Gainesville

11-06-22     HM  3:05:29   Tom Walker Memorial (4)           Hawthorne Trail

11-12-22       5K       31:38   Depot Parkrun (8)                         Gainesville

12-10-22      5K       31:46    Depot Parkrun (9)                        Gainesville

1-1-23           5K       32:59   Depot Parkrun (10)                      Gainesville

1-15-23       HM   2:34:42   FTC Mary Andrews (1)                 Hawthorne Trail (east end)

3-11-23        5K         34:02  Depot Parkrun (11)                      Gainesville

3-25-23       5K         33:19   Depot Parkrun (12)                     Gainesville

4-22-23       5K         32:47  Depot Parkrun (13)                      Gainesville

4-29-23       5K        33:34   Depot Parkrun (14)                      Gainesville 

5-6-23         5K        33:08   Depot Parkrun (15)                      Gainesville

5-20-23       5K        31:46    Depot Parkrun (16)                     Gainesville

5-27-23       5K        45:14    Depot Parkrun (17)  (speed-walk)  Gainesville

6-3-23         5K        31:22    Depot Parkrun (18)                     Gainesville

6-10-23       5K       33:38    Depot Parkrun (19)                      Gainesville

8-19-23       5K       32:52    Depot Parkrun (20)                     Gainesville

8-26-23      5K       31:29     Depot Parkrun (21)                      Gainesville

9-9-23        4m      41:59     Is It Fall 4-Miler                            Squirrel Ridge Park, G'ville

9-16-23      5K       32:17      Depot Parkrun (22)                     Gainesville

9 -23-23     5K      30:23     Depot Parkrun (23)                      Gainesville

10-14-23    10K    1:04:51  Tom Walker Preview (2)               Hawthorne Trail

10-21-23    5K       30:19     Depot Parkrun (24)                      Gainesville

10-28-23    5K      30:38     Depot Parkrun (25)                      GaineGainesvillesville

11-4-23       5K      30:14     Depot Parkrun (26)                      Gainesville

11-12-23     HM  2:18:06    Tom Walker Memorial (5)          Hawthorne Trail

11-25-23     5K      29:47     Depot Parkrun (27)                      Gainesville

12-2-23       5K      30:39     Depot Parkrun (28)                     Gainesville    

12-9-23      15K   1:33:02    Season of Hope (3)                       Hawthorne Trail

12-16-23     5K      28:57     Depot Parkrun (29)                      Gainesville

12-23-23    5K       42:20    Depot Parkrun (30) (speed-walk)  Gainesville

1-1-24         5K       27:38    Depot Parkrun (31)                      Gainesville

1-13-24       5K    1:00:40   Depot Parkrun (32) (with Melissa) Gainesville

1-14-24      HM  2:07:40   FTC Mary Andrews (2)                Hawthorne Trail (east end)

1-20-24     5K        57:26    Depot Parkrun (33)  (with Melissa) Gainesville

2-3-24       5K     1:10:25    Depot Parkrun (34) (volunteer walker) Gainesville

2-10-24    10m   1:39:18    Micanopy Ten-Mile (2)               Micanopy

2-24-24     5K        27:36    Depot Parkrun (35)                      Gainesville

3-16-24     5K        28:19    Depot Parkrun (36)                      Gainesville

3-30--24   5K        28:18    Depot Parkrun (37)                      Gainesville

4-13-24     5K        28:47    Depot Parkrun (38)                     Gainesville

4-20-24    5K        39:43    Depot Parkrun (39) (speed-walk)  Gainesville

4-27-24    5K        27:10     Depot Parkrun (40)                     Gainesville

5-4-24       5K       28:19     Depot Parkrun (41)                     Gainesville

5-11-24    5K        29:11      Depot Parkrun (42)                     Gainesville

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As for the standard-distance races from 2008 through the present, here are listed my total races finished for each distance along with my personal best time for them...

                         # of Finishes   Personal Best

5K                         56                 23:05  (4/24/10)

10K                       11                  53:10   (11/22/12)

15K                         7               1:18:21  (1/31/15)

10 Miles                2               1:39:18  (2/10/24)

Half-Marathon  17               1:50:53  (3/3/13)

Marathon             1                6:04:35  (1/23/11)

Just Ran Gainesville's Season of Hope 15K

For the third time...after 2018 and 2019...I ran the Season of Hope 15K charity race here in Gainesville, on the Hawthorne Trail just southeast of town.  Anticipating parking issues because of past swells of participants, I got there early for an easy spot and then took a little nap in my car.  I shouldn't have bothered because this event has sadly contracted and looked little like it did in the past.  Most of the runners chose the 5K option that runs concurrent with my 15K, but even with them the number was markedly down.  The fact that Tyler's Hope...which raises money to fight dystonia, a neurological disease, held this event in direct competition with another race across town to raise money for the Humane Society didn't help matters any.  There were 51 finishers for the 5K and 13, me among them, for the 15K (9.3 miles).  The temperature was in the low sixties at race's 9 AM start and creeped upward for its duration, while humidity dipped from the nineties to the seventies...pretty uncomfortable and different from my Tom Walker Half-Marathon experience on the same stretch of course last month.  The Hawthorne Trail seems flat...until you try running down it for any appreciable length, that is. But I've been up and down it so many times over the last few years that I've come to expect its annoying hills and long up-slopes.  My strategy for the race was simple: do the Jeff Galloway method of alternating running with walking, in my case 5-minute runs alternating with 45-55 seconds of fast walking.  It worked to perfection, with my finishing time at 1 hour 33 minutes 2 seconds and a 6th place finish out of 13. For the race results click HERE. Although this event was downsized from previous versions, there was plenty of hospitality from the volunteers and donors...someone even cooked up pancakes and sausage for the finishers!  I hope the good people at Tyler's Hope aren't discouraged by the lower turnout and will continue this fine tradition of December racing in Gainesville.  I did, however, feel that they could have promoted it more this year and schedule it earlier than they did...

Quote of the Week...from Jim Morrison

"Whoever controls the media, controls the mind."      ...Jim Morrison

Jim Morrison was the lead singer and chief lyricist for the American rock band The Doors.  He lived from 1944 to 1971 and, had he not died in mysterious circumstances and somehow managed to live all these years, he would be 79 today...it's his birthday.  Morrison was an iconoclast who railed against authority...and received his own fair share of criticism from the more traditional elements of society at that time. His above quote struck me as both prescient and outdated...let me explain.  There has always been a kind of circular relationship between the media and the general public consuming it. Since media outlets are by-and-large commercial enterprises in competition with one another, they may seem committed on the surface to journalistic integrity, but they also know that their viewing, reading and/or listening audiences carry within themselves their own values and prejudices that these companies often feel the need to respect when making decisions on what to broadcast or publish...and how to express it. This didn't all just start with FoxNews, either. Yet nowadays, folks will regularly tune in to their own favorite news channels or talk stations just to hear talking points that affirm their own worldviews, including targeting people and groups they supposedly should fear or even hate.  So while Jim Morrison might have seemed to paint "the people"...and ultimately society as a whole...as victims of nefarious media manipulation, it is also true that the media are, in turn, allowing themselves to be manipulated by the people. In my view, none of us are innocents, including Jim's still-influential ghost...

Disappointed in 2024 Presidential Campaign Offerings

 I was watching a little bit of the Republican presidential campaign debate on TV last night.  There were four candidates on the stage: former Lousiana and New Jersey governors Nikki Haley and Chris Christie, respectively, current Florida governor Ron DeSantis, and some dude named Vivek Ramaswamy. Ramaswamy is an "almost billionaire" who founded a pharmaceutical company a few years ago and has been very politically active on the far right.  He's also critical of American support for Ukraine in their conflict against invading Russia...sounds like somebody Trump, aka "Putin's Puppet", might like for a VP pick.   Christie, a vehement critic of Donald Trump...who is vastly leading in the polls in the Republican race...bashed his debate opponents for refusing to likewise criticize the former president. I didn't care for anyone's performance in the debate...and I sure don't like Trump. I suppose that of the five, Nikki Haley stands out to me as the most presidential...yes, I think we would at least survive as a nation with her in charge and she isn't as dirt-dog-mean as the others in her party who are running. It's a shame we don't have better choices for president in 2024 than what we have been provided so for by either major party.  And if you're think of vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s independent campaign, then think again. Joe Biden has recently said that he probably wouldn't be running for reelection were it not for Trump running again. Whatever happens, I guess I'll just exercise my right to cast my votes next year in the primary and then the general campaign and do my best to positively adapt to whatever the rest of my country decides.  But sometimes I feel like I'm on a runaway train when it comes down to politics...     

Weekly Short Stories: 1994 Science Fiction, Part 5

Here are my reactions to three more 1994 stories from the Garder Dozois anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction, Twelfth Annual Collection. Living in Gainesville, I was caught up that year in University of Florida head football coach Steve Spurrier's ultimately unsuccessful quest to win a national championship for the Gators. But a close heartbreaking home stadium loss to Auburn, along with an infamous four-touchdown blown lead to tie Florida State...along with a Sugar Bowl loss to the 'Noles in a rematch... delayed the title until another year. Still, Florida won the SEC championship. But enough of that, how about those stories...

NONE SO BLIND by Joe Haldeman

A young man, very smart, nerdy and awkward with girls, falls in love with an equally nerdy young blind woman...she returns his affections.  But although he claims to be interested in restoring her sight through a new surgical procedure, he's really interested in using it to vastly enhance her intelligence.  Here's a story that makes me wonder whether the author knows something that the scientific community is keeping secret, or maybe he's just engaging in some good old-fashioned science fiction speculation... 

COCOON by Greg Egan

A research company working on a project to help pregnant women from suffering complications by employing a special filter to prevent noxious substances from transferring to the embryo/fetus is the target of a bomb...a detective who happens to be gay becomes the lead investigator.  His homosexuality, it turns out, is relevant to the developing story as it becomes more and more apparent to him that diseases and poisons are not the only things this project was aiming to filter out from reaching the unborn.  Provocative, like the previous tale, but as with None So Blind, I'm left wondering how much is fact and how much is speculation...

SEVEN VIEWS OF OLDUVAI GORGE by Mike Resnick

It is in the far distant future and thousands of years after humanity, the hyper-aggressive Terran intelligent life form, had conquered the galaxy...and ultimately became extinct.  A research team of various talented entities from various systems are at Africa's Olduvai Gorge, to research artifacts there in order to determine more about humans, their nature and demise.  One of them can actually melt over an artifact and tell its story to the others...hence the "seven views" in the title.  Here is another novella that Dozois likes to stick in his book, so it's a bit lengthy.  But the surprise ending was perfect, and yes, it figures...

Next week: more SF from '94... 

Just Finished Reading The Silver Arrow by Lev Grossman

Lev Grossman is the dude who wrote the very excellent fantasy series The Magicians...one of my all-time favorites in that genre but which sadly was hopelessly mangled in the adapted television series bearing the same title.  In 2020 he had published The Silver Arrow, a fantasy series aimed at children...having just discovered it I checked it out and just finished reading it.  Kate gets a special present for her 11th birthday from her eccentric billionaire Uncle Herbert: a train, and a full-size, functioning one at that...move over, Polar Express! With her brother Tom, they start it up and go off on their own fantastic adventure, picking up along the way various talking animals who have their own special destinations.  There is some kind of murky antagonist alluded to, but the story ultimately points the finger of blame straight back at humanity, for mistreating and endangering the wild animals of the world.  So yes, this is a story with a Lorax-like moralistic, preachy theme to it...I'm okay with it, though, since this one happens to be tragically true.  I wonder what the rest of the books in this series are like...guess I'll have to read the next one to find out...

About This Year's College Football Playoffs Selections

Being a Floridian for almost my entire life, I have been a supporter of Florida college football teams since I began to follow the sport in 1968 when I was 11 going on 12 years old.  Then I liked Miami, Florida and Florida State and over the years continued to root for them...whenever they weren't playing against each other, that is. Since I moved in '77 to Gainesville, home of the University of Florida, I naturally became primarily a Gators fan but still supported the other two...unlike many of my fellow Gators.  So, when the college football playoff selection committee earlier today snubbed 13-0 Florida State, winner of the major Atlantic Coast Conference championship, from the four-team championship series in favor of two one-loss schools Texas and Alabama, I was disappointed.  FSU's star quarterback Jordan Travis had broken his leg in their next-to-last regular season game, and head coach Mike Norvell had toned down the high-flying explosive offense in favor of ball-control running and a strong defense for the last two contests.  The committee evidently saw Travis as an indispensable part of Florida State and thought his absence diminished them, thus opening the way ultimately for Alabama with Texas already "in" since they defeated the Crimson Tide at the season's start.  Alabama, for their part, defeated #1 ranked Georgia in their Southeastern Conference championship game, enabling them to claim a legitimate spot in the playoffs.  So, the seedings are now 1-Michigan, 2-Washington, 3-Texas, and 4-Alabama.  The semifinals will take place on New Year's Day with Michigan playing Alabama in the Rose Bowl and Washington against Texas in the Sugar Bowl.  Unhappy FSU is in the Orange Bowl on December 30th against equally unhappy Georgia.  I just wish that Oregon had hung on against Washington in their conference championship game...then I think Florida State would have made the playoffs.  Of the four teams that made it, I'm partial to Alabama, don't care much who wins between Washington and Texas, and will root against Michigan regardless.  Personally, I think Alabama's a better team than Michigan and will be surprised if they don't "upset" them...

Just Finished Reading Scary Smart by Mo Gawdat

Scary Smart, long title Scary Smart: The Future of Artificial Intelligence and How You Can Save Our World is a 2021 book by Mo Gawdat, a former Google X business executive at that AI-development section of Google with a background in engineering.  When I think of artificial intelligence combined with the word "scary", I recall movies like The Terminator, The Matrix and the old 1970 TV movie Colossus: The Forbin Project, all depicting a future nightmare scenario where super-intelligent computers have concluded that humanity at best is inferior and extraneous...and at worse an evil affliction on the planet that must be controlled or eradicated.  I believe that these stories greatly contribute to the public's increasing concerns about the meteoric rise of this technology in today's real world, and about what direction it will take in the near future, good or bad.  In our dog-eat-dog cutthroat competitive capitalist business environment, the clear message is that you'd better jump into AI as quickly and deeply as possible, else you will be left in the dust and perish.  Gawdat recognizes all this, and hence I felt while I was reading his book that he and I had at least a good deal of common ground in spite of our highly divergent personal and academic backgrounds.  He considers humanity's investment in artificial intelligence too far gone to reverse.  It is here to stay and, with the recent development of quantum computing, increasing its power and development more than exponentially, its intelligence will soon far, far exceed that of humans.  Gawdat believes the world will be irreversibly transformed in the next thirty years or so, so much that he posits a word picture projected ahead that far: he and the reader are out in some isolated natural scenario camping...are we rejoicing at the great new world AI has created for us or are we desperately in retreat, hiding from it?  His thesis in Scary Smart is that now is the time that people can affect the future benevolent (or malevolent) nature of artificial intelligence by instilling in it a more positive representation of what humanity is instead of the more negative, hypercompetitive, bellicose and cruel image we've engendered of ourselves over our history and how we have been using AI so far.  Gawdat is pushing a new creed of happiness, politeness, grace and generosity in dealing with artificial intelligence, which learns with every single interaction.  Even though he feels that we're destined for some future difficult times with artificial intelligence, which he likens to a sentient life force, a change in our attitudes toward ourselves where mutual happiness is the higher aim can steer it away from the nightmare science fiction scenario featured in old movies and toward the fulfillment of the many hopes for us that it brings.  I sympathize with Mo Gawdat's views but given my own experience with human nature over the course of my 67-year existence on Earth, I tend to think that his suggestions are probably just as impractical as reversing AI.  Still, I liked and recommend his book: check it out and get back to me..

Ran Gainesville's Depot Parkrun 5K This Morning

Unlike with last week's cooler weather, this morning it was 68 degrees with 89% humidity, pretty uncomfortable weather for a 5K (3.1 miles) run, but nevertheless I got myself up and out for my 28th Depot Parkrun 5K, taking place at that park which is just south of downtown Gainesville.  I got there early, at 7:05, but the parking lot was already packed, and I had to drive around to the "extra" parking lot a little further away.  Apparently, there was another group of runners that had picked the same spot and morning to go on their outing and they took up most of the parking...that's okay, I kind of prefer the other lot anyway after thinking about it.  Anyway, for the race I decided to forego any thoughts of a "personal best" time and stick with my Galloway method of alternating five minutes of steady running with a minute of fast walking...worked like a dream once again! My final time, although not a personal best for a Parkrun, was a respectable (for me) 30:39, and I didn't feel depleted or too hot at the end.  Next Saturday I'll be skipping the Depot Parkrun in favor of the Season of Hope 15K, which takes on the Hawthorne Trail, starting and finishing at Boulware Park off SE 15th Street.  I hope the weather then is better than today's, although I think that with my system I'll do fine in any event.  Click HERE for the results of today's Deport Parkrun...

Quote of the Week...from Trinity in The Matrix

Get up, Trinity. Just get up.  GET UP!!!         ---the character Trinity in the movie The Matrix

Carrie-Anne Moss is the actress who brilliantly portrayed the computer hacking genius Trinity in the Matrix movies.  The above quote happened at the opening sequence in the first film, when Trinity...trapped in the Matrix...is desperately struggling to escape death at the hands of the ruthless and powerful Agents, having impossibly leaped through a building's high window, landing on her back after rolling down brutally rough stairs.  She is momentarily frozen with tension and fear, as she looks back up in anticipation of her enemies.  And then she listens to herself and does get up to fight another day.  Why did I pick this quote?  Many times, over the course of my life I've suffered setbacks, humiliations, and what seemed at the time to be personal disasters.  But lately during such experiences, although for a brief spell I am tempted to say to hell with it all and just stop trying, I have been punching back at life with defiance...nobody with bad intentions is going to stop me from what I need or want to accomplish.  Get up, Billy.  Just get up.  GET UP!!!