Weekly Short Stories: 1997 Science Fiction, Part 3

It's once again that time of week when I discuss what I've been reading in the world of short fiction. I'm currently going through the year 1997 and the Gardner Dozois anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction, Fifteenth Annual Collection, highlighting the genre from that year. As has been the case in this series, Dozier as editor shows a predilection for longer "short stories" and novellas. Here are my reactions to the next two appearing in the book...

WE WILL DRINK A FISH TOGETHER by Bill Johnson

This is a quirky alien contact story set in, of all places, Indian country in South Dakota. The high-level human security officer, originally from that culture, is assigned to protect the alien ambassador to Earth.  He has a conflict of interest...his brother has died and he decides to quit rather than miss his funeral and burial. It's all about keeping true to one's "line", and the story gets further complicated when the wolverine-looking ambassador shows up at his local bar. A fun read...

ESCAPE ROUTE by Peter F. Hamilton

Full of impressive "hard" science fiction technical talk, this novella is set far in the future when humanity, still prone to war, oppression, capitalism and rebellion, has reached out and settled (and exploited) other star systems.  An enterprising private starship captain takes on a special collaboration with some shady characters to harvest precious metals ..and discovers an ancient alien outpost. Full of intrigues and plot twists, this story...in my humble opinion...tried to do a little too much...

Next week I plan to continue with sci-fi from '97..

Listened to a Couple of This Year's Albums...by The Smile and Green Day

After writing on yesterday's article about how I wanted to check out some of this year's music, I started out by listening to The Smile's Wall of Eyes album.  The Smile is for all practical purposes a kind of Radiohead band, with that group's Jonny Greenwood and vocalist Thom Yorke teaming up with drummer Tom Skinner to produce what is essentially Radiohead music.  Greenwood wanted to produce more material and his original band was going too slow...hence The Smile.  Two songs I liked a lot from Wall of Eyes: I Quit and Read the Room.  The other album I began listening to was from another, more established trio: the punk rock Green Day's Savior, and its opening track is a piece I've already heard: The American Dream is Killing Me.  It's refreshing to hear good old fashioned rock with the heavy guitar riffs and Billy Joe Armstrong's trademark working class voice, but the opening lyrics for that song were especially gripping and true: "The American dream is killing me, the American dream is killing me, when it's all double talk and conspiracy".  The song continues along this line, spelling out a grim assessment of where people in our country have come down to...my instincts tell me, though, that this is a worldwide phenomenon: the insanity has spread!  I didn't care too much, though, for the rest of this album: onward to the next of several from 2024...

Time to Check Out Some Good Music from 2024

After Melissa showed me how I can use our Amazon Prime to get Alexa to play commercially-uninterrupted music on my phone, I've been using most of 2024 so far focusing on my favorite acts, like Radiohead, Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, the Who, Regina Spektor, Seals and Crofts, Electric Light Orchestra, Yes, Rush, and Metric...just to name a few.  Should I decide to focus on one artist or group, I can now pretty much listen to their entire discography this way...very convenient.  But one consequence of this great opportunity has been that I haven't exactly been keeping up with music of 2024, that is, songs that will mark this year for me in my memory.  So, it's still July with a lot of time left in '24, and I think I'll check out the new albums released so far by artists I like...should be interesting.  It's worked well for me in the past this way...in 2023 I discovered my favorite songs for that year this way, including my "Song of the Year" for 2023: Oil by Gorillaz.  Time to look for some more musical magic!

Beryl Poised to Hit Texas Coast

At this writing early Sunday evening, Beryl is still a strong tropical storm, predicted to reach minimal hurricane status just before it makes landfall on the Texas coast between Corpus Christi and Galveston early tomorrow morning.  I had written in a previous article that I intended to follow Atlantic tropical storms more this year after it was predicted to be an unusually strong season. Beryl earlier had been a Class 5 Hurricane, attaining at one point sustained 165 mph winds at its center, as it churned westward through the Caribbean.  In its wake Beryl has been blamed for 11 deaths so far, and it caused widespread damage in the West Indies, especially in the Grenadines and Jamaica, before hitting Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and passing through it greatly weakened.  There are predictions of strong storm surge as the storm intensifies and eventually goes ashore.  And then there will be a lot of flooding as Beryl's remnant makes its way inland.  I had the TV on The Weather Channel all day and have enjoyed watching their meteorologists like Paul Goodloe and Molly McCollum...among others...presenting their live reports along various places on the Texas coast, Paul at Rockport and Molly in Corpus Christi...

Difficult, Hilly Course on Recent Melon Run

Not to belabor the point, but that Melon Run at Westside Park on Thursday the Fourth did take a lot out of me, and I was wondering why.  After all, I have been more or less doing 5K runs at Depot Park each week under similar weather conditions.  And then it hit me: of course, the terrain for the Melon Run course is almost constantly sloping, if not outright hilly!  With the finishing time I had under those circumstances, there is no doubt that I doubly exerted myself, much more than with those Depot Park runs.  I'm doing fine now and, although I'm still planning to emphasize more walking in the near future with my races, I know myself well enough to know that I'll probably throw in some runs as well.  But the Dog Days of Summer are definitely here, and I'm definitely grateful for the air conditioning we've been blessed with...

Quote of the Week...from Friedrich Nietzsche

All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking.                    Friedrich Nietzsche

Once in college I wrote a paper about the great nineteenth century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.  Before I turned it in, a fellow student who expressed his liking for Nietzsche asked me if he could read it.  Afterwards, he disdainfully handed it back, giving me an unpleasant expression and walking away...I don't think he ever spoke to me again.  I guess I should have been walking when I wrote that paper...but I did at least get a "B" on it, and my teacher stayed on good terms with me.  As for walking, I have gradually come to believe that not only is it good for thinking, but as the ancient Greek health guru Hippocrates once wrote, it is the greatest medicine as well.  I say this as the summer here in northern Florida continues to set new records for combined heat and humidity, and after I ran a blistering three mile race at Gainesville's Westside Park. I probably should have walked it instead, for although I felt fine immediately thereafter, a few hours later my legs were both cramping up awfully and my general recovery was slow.  I think that walking is great, and during the next two months plan to do my outdoor races as a walker, leaving my running during this period confined to the nicely air-conditioned indoors.  Besides walking for sport and exercise, I am also a habitual pacer, going up and down the floor thinking...it's always a good idea to have paper and pen handy when doing this...

Ran the Jack Gamble 3-Mile Melon Run This Morning

As in previous non-pandemic years, the Florida Track Club held its annual Fourth of July Melon Run, recently named in honor of Jack Gamble.  I've run the event three times before, the last one being quite a ways back, in 2016.  It is held at Albert Massey (Westside) Park)...at least that's where the race starts and ends with the course running around the block enclosing the park and then looping eastward down NW 8th Avenue past the uniquely picturesque outdoor planetarium, the walkway through Loblolly Woods Park, west down NW 16th Avenue, and finally returning down NW 31st Drive to the finishing line near the entrance to the park's pool.  Every year at this time the combination of summer temperature and humidity is stifling, and 2024 was no exception: 77 degrees, 94% humidity and 76 degrees dew point...ugh!  I didn't feel all that well this morning and was a little apprehensive about finding a parking space...no need for concern on both accounts: I quickly adjusted to the race and there were plenty of spaces, since I got there in plenty of time.  I started the course, hillier than my normal weekly Depot Parkrun 5K, holding a little back. But after a mile or so I cranked it up and finished strongly with a time of 26:55, better than anticipated.  There were a whopping 307 finishers in this race and the competition was fierce, with some of Gainesville's fastest runners...and walkers...participating.  I'm glad I went...click HERE to see the results...

Weekly Short Stories: 1997 Science Fiction, Part 2

Here is my second weekly installment of brief reviews from the Gardner Dozois anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction, Fifteenth Annual Collection, featuring the editor's picks of short sci-fi from the year 1997.  During that time I was in my tenth year working for the USPS, and this year happened to be a "kindler and gentler" period in which I was a manual letter clerk, throwing scheme and SCF mail on Tour I...don't worry if you don't know what I'm talking about, most of it is "insider" talk.  Anyway, how about those next stories...

STEAMSHIP SOLDIER ON THE INFORMATION FRONT by Nancy Kress

In this story of how a pervasively digital communications culture takes over a society that thinks itself as "normal", a man whose entire livelihood and relationships are entrenched in being "connected", is concerned about his teenage son, who doesn't seem to have the same inclinations and would rather just sit back and contemplate things.  What young Charlie does know is that his father's information age is about to be transformed into a new one with different priorities. Very applicable to our current times...with our next era hopefully as Charlie has envisioned...

REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL by Greg Egan

This is a great example of hard science fiction, where the story itself introduces the reader into a deeper look at real science, with a consequential deeper understanding of how reality works.  A boy has a brain tumor that causes an unchecked release in his brain of a chemical causing happiness...he is constantly ecstatic even with his state of dire peril.  After the successful operation to remove the tumor, that chemical's production is completely suppressed, leaving him in a chronic state of despair.  After years of this, as a young adult he musters up the courage to undergo a new treatment that could restore his happiness. He now must decide what, in his future, he will choose to be happy about...an intriguing question.  If you could so choose, what would you do? 

MOON SIX by Stephen Baxter

An astronaut on the Moon's surface keeps seeing heat shimmers that transport him to alternate realities with alternate Moons...and alternate human histories.  Two threads wind throughout the story. One is the nature of quantum mechanics and its relationship to alternate worlds...and the author's suggestion that a technology using it could backfire in that regard.  And the second is the massive area on the Moon's surface called Mare Imbrium, and the timing of the asteroid/meteor collision that caused it. I've read a lot of alternate reality stories...this one resonated with me, partially because it alluded to the needless suppression of manned space exploration in recent years as well as how space exploration technology has transformed our world...

Next week: more stories discussed from '97...

Popular Vote Winners in Last Eight Presidential Elections

Here are the popular vote winners in the American presidential elections since 1992.  Since we're supposedly a republic governed by the people's voice in democratic elections and a fair, unbiased system of laws, you might think that our policies and government would reflect the below trend...but you'd be wrong...

1992    DEMOCRAT

1996    DEMOCRAT

2000    DEMOCRAT

2004    REPUBLICAN

2008    DEMOCRAT

2012    DEMOCRAT

2016    DEMOCRAT

2020    DEMOCRAT

Now in 2024, do you think anyone really cares about what is going on in this campaign except within a small number of swing states like Wisconsin, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania?  Because of our electoral college system, if you live in California, Texas, Florida or New York...our country's most populous states...no one cares about your opinion.  A losing president can call the chief elections officer of a state he closely lost and ask him to manufacture nonexistent votes to turn the results around, or the losing party can maneuver in states they lost...but legislatively control...to have those legislatures overturn those results.  Who cares what the rest of the country thinks, as long as they get their power.  Of course, as an individual my degree of influence is strictly limited, which is why I haven't been ranting and raving on this blog like others do on their social media outlets.  After all, we now have a Supreme Court that treats one side as its client interest: even if the doddering and incoherent incumbent nobody had a voice in choosing this year as the nominee wins those swing states, will they turn around and negate the results? Democracy is an illusion, both in Russia and now, sadly, here in America.  I have my own life, with the choices I can make that actually have effects on myself and my loved ones...electoral politics provide no hope in that regard...

Strong Hurricane Beryl Crosses West Indies

After seeing the early forecasts for an extremely active, dangerous 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, I decided to be more intentional on the blog with noting them.  Already in June we've had three named storms...Alberto hit Texas earlier with tropical-storm-force winds while causing some flooding in southeastern Texas.  Then Beryl, a trans-Atlantic storm, only a few days ago rapidly intensified into a strong hurricane...at this writing it's passing through the West Indian Grenadines...with Grenada on the south and St. Lucia and St. Vincent to the north...with a tightly wound center harboring maximum sustained winds of 150: a Category 4 storm unseen at this time of year...and its rapid intensification is unprecedented since records have been kept, both for the time of year and for its eastern Atlantic location.  Beryl's projected path currently has it crossing the Caribbean Sea and eventually hitting Mexico in the eastern Yucatan area, our cruise destination back in early March.  Meanwhile, while all the attention was on Beryl, Tropical Storm Chris was named just off the eastern Mexican coast around where Alberto had been, and then promptly moved inland and dissipated.  There's another disturbance, called Invest 96L, in Beryl's former path between it and Africa...it'll probably strengthen as well.  Since the waters down south in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico are all very warm, wind shear and land itself may be the only factors that can weaken these potentially monster storms.  More later...  

My June 2024 Running and Walking Report

In June I maintained my running and walking training, working out every day of the year and diversifying my activities.  My habit of doing neighborhood long distance run/walks had to take a back seat to the necessity of dealing with family medical issues, and I myself might find myself in the middle of one concerning me in the next few weeks...nothing is clear at this time, though. I ran inside my house, in the back yard, at the gym on the treadmill, and on the weekly Depot Parkrun 5K races.  I also speed-walked one of those races...I'd like to get in at least one 5K event per month in which I do that.  I think my gym treadmill strategy of briefly pushing ahead my limits in running and walking speed is working for me, improving that speed while providing some brief high intensity training.  In July I plan to continue what I did in June, working around "life" with my training and enjoying that life with Melissa...

Ran Gainesville's Depot Parkrun 5K This Morning

At 7:30 race time this morning, it was another very warm and muggy Depot Park, at 75 degrees and 96% humidity, as I ran the Depot Parkrun 5K, a free and volunteer-supported event held Saturdays there, a few blocks from downtown Gainesville.  As with last week, I first gave myself the option of going it slow as a "continuity" run because of the adverse weather, but once again when it started I went all out to run a fast race.  Unlike last Saturday, though, I started out a bit faster and it paid off with me getting a personal best out of my 48 Depot Parkrun finishes so far...at 27:01.  I know my mind is more on the pace than the distance when I drive away from there after it's over and realize that I hadn't heard any of the many beautiful bird songs I've grown accustomed to in this nature park. There were fewer people out there today, but still more than 100...plenty of room for more, and walkers are very welcome! This coming week I signed up for a Florida Track Club race I've run in years gone by, The Melon Run three-miler held each Forth of July at Massey (Westside) Park.  That's on Thursday morning, leaving the next Depot Parkrun two days later up in the air as to what I will do with it: Run? Speed-walk? Volunteer?  Guess I'll figure it out eventually.  Click HERE to see today's Parkrun results...

Quote of the Week...from Fred Lebow

In running, it doesn't matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last.  You can say, "I have finished.'  There is a lot of satisfaction in that.                       Fred Lebow

I greatly enjoy checking out different channels I've subscribed to on YouTube...The Ageless Runner, hosted by "Ralph", who seems to be around my own age, is one of these.  Today he posted his favorite running quotes, the above one by Fred Lebow, the founder of the New York City Marathon, was appropriately his first.  Like me, Ralph and Fred are advocates for popularizing running...especially the long distance variety...among the general population.  Ever since high school, I have enjoyed this activity, or sport...however you might want to term it...because it is basically something I can tailor for myself as an individual and don't need others to accept or validate me in it.  I run races, to be sure, but not so much as against others in competition as much as against myself and my past performances...it lends a sense of structure and discipline to my running.  Although it's difficult to enter, the New York City Marathon also embraces its founder's philosophy, as the race doesn't close down even for the slower runners...or walkers, for that matter.  I run...and walk...to cover the distance, and like Fred's quote, how others do around me doesn't really add up to much of a difference.  But for the competitive folk out there, you also have a right to set your own standards and priorities for yourselves.  I'm just glad you're out there as well...

Chatting with AI Holds Promise for Future Learning, Etc.

Tonight I had a bit of a chat with Gemini, the AI application offered by Google. For all practical purposes I've decided that this might well be the way to go with my foreign language reading, as I can have Gemini generate any number of various sentences in whatever target languages I want, based around any particular topic I want to bring up.  I have a Rosetta Stone of Chinese, Russian, Spanish and English set up and ask Gemini to create, say, six sentences in them that have to do with my stated topic...I happened to pick "long distance running" as one.  So, here was the response:

1) Chinese: 参加马拉松比赛是我的梦想之一。(cān jiā mǎ la sōng bǐsài shì wǒ de mèng xiǎng zhī yī) 

Russian: Участие в марафоне - одна из моих мечт. (Uchastie v maratfone - odna iz moikh mechta.) 

Spanish: Participar en un maratón es uno de mis sueños. (Participar en un maratón es uno de mis sueños.) 

English: Running a marathon is one of my dreams.

2) Chinese: 长跑可以锻炼我的耐力。(cháng pǎo kěyǐ duànliàn wǒ de nài lì) 

Russian: Бег на длинные дистанции может тренировать мою выносливость. (Beg na dlinnye distancii mozhet trenerovat' moyu vynostlivost'.) 

Spanish: La carrera de larga distancia puede entrenar mi resistencia. (La carrera de larga distancia puede entrenar mi resistencia.) 

English: Long distance running can train my endurance.

3) Chinese: 今天天气很好，适合长跑。(jīntiān tiānqì hěn hǎo, shìhé cháng pǎo) 

Russian: Сегодня отличная погода для бега на длинные дистанции. (Segodnya otlichnaya pogoda dlya bega na dlinnye distancii.) 

Spanish: Hoy hace buen tiempo para una carrera larga. (Hoy hace buen tiempo para una carrera larga.) 

English: The weather is great today, perfect for a long run.

4) Chinese: 我正在训练参加半程马拉松比赛。(wǒ zhèngzài xùnliàn cānjiā bàn chéng mǎ la sōng bǐsài) 

Russian: Я тренируюсь, чтобы принять участие в полумарафоне. (Ya treniruyus', chtoby prinyat' uchastie v polumarafone.) 

Spanish: Estoy entrenando para participar en una media maratón. (Estoy entrenando para participar en una media maratón.) 

English: I am training to participate in a half marathon.

5) Chinese: 我和朋友们经常一起周末去长跑。(wǒ hé péngyoumen jīngcháng yīqǐ wèimó qù cháng pǎo) 

Russian: Я часто бегаю на длинные дистанции по выходным с друзьями. (Ya chasto begayu na dlinnye distancii po vykhodnym s druzyami.) 

Spanish: A menudo salgo a correr largas distancias los fines de semana con mis amigos. (A menudo salgo a correr largas distancias los fines de semana con mis amigos.) 

English: I often go for long runs with my friends on weekends.

6) Chinese: 我跑完步后感觉神清气爽。(wǒ pǎo wán bù hòu gǎnj覺 shén qīng qì shuǎng) 

Russian: После бега я чувствую себя бодрым и энергичным. (Posle bega ya chuvstvuyu sebya bodrym i energeticznym.) 

Spanish: Me siento renovado y con energía después de correr. (Me siento renovado y con energía después de correr.) 

English: I feel refreshed and energized after a run.

The parenthesized sections following each sentence lay out their pronunciation...especially helpful with the Chinese characters! These AI algorithms hold the promise to help me make great strides in my language learning and are easy to access and use for practice.  Also, they can quickly surpass the ability of ordinary search engines to explore the Internet for answers to problems I have about various topics.  As someone admittedly possessing a phobia about form-filling and dealing with bureaucracies on just about any level, I find this possibility very hopeful...

Weekly Short Stories: 1997 Science Fiction, Part 1

Today I begin a new anthology of short stories and novellas in Gardner Dozois' series The Year's Best Science...this one being the Fifteen Annual Collection and covering his selections from material published in 1997.  In that year...right after I turned 40...the expansion National League baseball team Florida Marlins improbably won the World Series in an exciting seven-game series against Cleveland.  Immediately afterwards, Marlins owner Wayne Huizenga chastised the south Florida fans for not supporting his team with their attendance and sold off his star players.  But even with that, they won the World Series again with a different owner, only six years later! In the 31 years of their existence so far, the Marlins never won their division and have the worst cumulative regular season winning percentage in the major leagues...yet they have two Series titles: two more, by the way, than Cleveland.  But on to the first stories I'm discussing...

BEAUTY IN THE NIGHT by Robert Silverberg

In our planet's near future, a very advanced and completely different alien race quickly conquers and subjugates Earth. In England, a boy who detests his negligent, deadbeat and abusive father has a differing view of the occupying creatures, who seem to have a fascination with the Stonehenge stone structures at Salisbury.  Thinking the aliens as being beautiful, he concocts a plan to rid himself and his family of the traitor father who is collaborating with them.  This story poses the question, "Who is the real enemy?".  Our protagonist finds his answer and I frankly thought his solution was brilliant.  But then again, Silverberg (still around at age 89) is a brilliant writer...

SECOND SKIN by Paul J. McAuley

A cloak and dagger spy story set in the outer reaches of our solar system, namely on Neptune's moon Proteus, a spy with special genetic modifications to alter his appearance as well as to gain longevity is assigned there from Earth to facilitate the defection of a famous scientist there: a woman he had once been married to.  Along the way, the nature of identity is examined, along with the sad supposition that as long as there is humanity, then there will also be war and intrigues.  But I didn't need this story to tell me that...

Next week: more from 1997...

Olympic Swimming Trials and Pool Training Access

I was watching the Olympic qualifying trials the past few days on NBC, primarily in swimming and running.  I couldn't get past the notion that with the former, the great athletes in these events were privileged to have easy access to pools to train in.  When I went to high school, you could tell that the good swimmers also had that kind of access to pools, and I didn't.  Now I'm 67 and with a gym membership touting its pool to swim laps in, and I have pretty much given up on the idea of ever having access to it with it being so crowded, even late in the evening.  Yet on a personal level I have to take responsibility for making time to get to a pool, whether it is waiting for long stretches at that gym or finding a way to use one of my two city pools when they happen to be open.  I'm still entertaining the notion of drastically improving my swimming form in the various standard strokes and integrating it all with my running as I age...but that pool access is still an obstacle, something that does not exist with my running or walking.  Of course, I'm talking training to a much more modest level than those championship swimmers, and they also merit their due respect for working hard and rising above their more limited and privileged group of competitors...

Just Finished Reading The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

I recently read the 1963 novel The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.  I knew going in that both the author and the main character Esther Greenwood, her early-1950s young college student interning at a New York fashion magazine, had serious issues with depression and attempted suicide...Plath would take her own life soon after the book's initial publication under a pseudonym.  So I wasn't exactly expecting a walk in the garden reading The Bell Jar, but I was still nonetheless enlightened as to how people think in this state of mind.  Esther provides the first person narrative as she goes into clinical, cynical detail describing and evaluating the people around her, including her mother, men, her employer, her best friends...and just about anyone else she runs across.  Coupled with Esther's ceaseless criticisms of others is her increasing compulsion to commit suicide as she mentally rehearses different opportunistic scenarios for the deed. This is a pretty harsh tale as you might imagine, and I couldn't help but make a comparison to the Holden Caulfield protagonist of J.D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye, describing a similar social setting also set in the generally same time and place, only from a young man's equally cynical perspective...only Holden wasn't bent on ending it all.  I find in both characters' narration an extreme narcissism, as if everyone else was on trial for them to judge, and both were quick to condemn life in general.  I've been through adolescent depression...although untreated and never even remotely suicidal...and have experienced a similar rush to judgment about others and life.  I think these books expose a kind of thinking that plagues a lot of us, and that when we finally learn to allow ourselves the freedom to be our own individual selves and grant others their right not to be perfect, then some progress can be made for a happier existence.  I read The Bell Jar because it was one of the "great books" featured on a coffee mug I got a few months ago.  Compared to other books displayed on it, I have to admit to being a little disappointed...yet it does effectively get inside the mind of another in a way that few stories have been able to do.  Looking back on what I've written here, I don't want to sound harsh myself looking at Plath and her protagonist Esther...there's clearly a physical component to depression that some people are predisposed to, and which tends to cast great influence on their outlooks and consequential behavior...

Enjoyed Brief Daytona Beach Outing with Melissa

Yesterday Melissa and I paid an overnight visit to our favorite hotel in Daytona Beach, staying overnight and coming back to Gainesville this afternoon.  Although it was rather brief for both of us, we enjoyed being there...Melissa will be undergoing her first cycle of medical therapy later this week and it was good to be able to enjoy some good times at the beach.  Unfortunately, the weather didn't seem to want to cooperate with us as it was, even for this time of year, exceptionally muggy and uncomfortable as we sat on our high balcony looking out over the pool and beach.  No problem: we ratcheted up the room's air conditioner and kept the curtains open for our oceanfront view.  And now, onward to the week ahead... 

Ran the Hot, Muggy Depot Parkrun 5K This Morning

We've been blessed here in Gainesville to have one of the many Parkruns to participate in...originating in England, they're in many countries and states now.  And they're free, volunteer-driven: you just sign up online and get a barcode to take with you and scan after the race (5K) so your time can be posted on their site.  This morning I went out to Depot Park a few blocks south of downtown where it's held and was taken aback at the big crowd there, as well as the heat (76 degrees) and humidity (98%) at the 7:30 race time: not the formula for a fast run.  So I planned to do a "continuity" run instead, pacing myself and avoid getting overcome by the conditions.  Instead, I did a brisk run around the park and had a pretty decent finishing time of 27:41...click HERE to view the posted results.  And now, on to the rest of the weekend! 

Quote of the Week...from Sijin BT

Responsibility without authority is slavery.                                       ---Sijin BT

I actually was musing on the above topic and came up with the same result, only with "servitude" replacing slavery.  The opposite is also revealing: authority without responsibility is tyranny...are you prepared to vote such a person into office this November?  But when I consider the first statement, I find that it is the worst element of manipulation for someone...regardless of whether I am at work, doing some volunteering, or in other situations...to assign me a task without allowing any flexibility in executing it while often insisting in exquisite detail all of the specific things they insist on.  When I encounter this kind of micromanagement attitude, I wonder why the other party doesn't do it instead...but of course, it's all about them having dominance and control, isn't it?  Sijin BT is an Indian business trainer, focusing on sports.  That's all I know about him, but he certainly got it right with the above quote...

First Named Atlantic Tropical Storm Hits Mexico, Affects Texas

Not that I was in any hurry for the first Atlantic tropical storm to be named this year, but I was a little surprised it took so long, considering how strong the meteorologists said the hurricane season would be in 2024 in the western Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.  A weak-but-broad tropical system was just named Alberto and entered Mexico earlier today, immediately weakening to a depression.  But its larger impact was with strong rain that flooded much of the coastline into Texas...The Weather Channel even sent out one of their own, Molly, to stand out there in the middle of it all.  Normally I don't refer to named Atlantic storms on this blog unless they're threatening us in northern Florida...maybe I'll be more attentive this year.  There is right now a disturbance off Florida's east coast called "Invest 92L" that is predicted to gradually strengthen and pass through north Florida tomorrow...I doubt that it will get strong enough to be the second named tropical storm, but you never know...

Weekly Short Stories: 1996 Science Fiction, Part 11

Here, finally, is the final installment of my reviews of science fiction stories from the year 1996, focusing on a nice, long novella, the kind of tale that anthology editor Gardner Dozois had no problem including in his series The Year's Best Science Fiction (this volume being Fourteenth Annual Collection) in spite of its length.  Dozois, sadly, passed away six years ago...he was also a science fiction writer.  But about that story...

THE ROBOT'S TWILIGHT COMPANION by Tony Daniel 

In the Pacific Northwest...more specifically the area in Washington state around Mount St. Helen...a geologist uses a robot/machine/digger to excavate the ground as he plies his academic field of exploration.  The geologist passes away in an accident, and the robot basically carries the narrative as it incorporates his memories and witnesses the passage of history in the area, including the rise of a violent cult/secessionist movement.  The geologist's children return to continue the work.  And there's something mysterious and apparently sentient at the bottom of the dig they're working on.  The author brought into this story a lot of stuff, and I liked the approach of seeing things from the robot's point of view.  But what impressed me the most was how he exposed what I often see in daily life: the often corrupt and malevolent nature of human organizations that preach how benevolent and necessary they are for the good of society and the world, and how they tend to demonize their opponents in the most vicious ways possible while tolerating no dissent from those within their own ranks.  Also, we see here from this 1996 story what I'm sadly beginning to see now in 2024: the social disintegration of America into sometimes-armed camps of people stuck on their ideologies, truth be damned, and hatred of one another: in our world it's called "doubling down"...

Well, that's it for 1996 in the world of short science fiction, although there's plenty more out there if you're interested in that particular year.  My next installment of this blog feature will jump ahead to the year 1997, continuing to use as a framework the Dozois anthology series...

Podcaster Suggests Some Solutions for Common Anxiety

A couple of days ago Rob Dial, on his Mindset Mentor personal development podcast, discussed a technique of dealing with common, run-of-the-mill anxiety sometimes experienced over the course of the day.  You know, the kind of blah-feeling you get, getting tense but without knowing why.  Dial suggests going through the acronym HALT to try to filter out what may be going on.  HALT stands for hungry, angry, lonely, and tired.  He suggests that the cause for feeling out of sorts may well be simply one of these four, and often it's just a matter of dealing with them and moving on. And I suppose he's right...up to a point.  If I find I haven't eaten for a while, then sure, maybe getting some food down could help.  On the other hand, folks can also find themselves in a constant state of stress-producing hunger just by constantly eating and keeping their insulin levels high. To "hunger" I might add "thirst", and for the kind of drink (like water) that hydrates. Likewise anger can be unquenchable as well...along with addressing one's own anger it might be a good idea to check up on one's own tendency to anger, and whether or not there's a bad habit here to deal with.  Regarding "lonely", for generally extroverted people I imagine that's true, but being introverted I find the opposite applies, that being around others too much can bring me some anxiety.  Finally, being tired can definitely weigh down on one's life, and getting enough quality sleep cannot be underestimated...as well as taking strategic rest breaks throughout the day if possible.  So yes, I like the HALT method of stopping to see if I am anxious because of the above reasons, but at the same time I think it all needs to be tailored to each individual...

Race Walking Rules Weird, Unenforceable

Although I think my progress in speed-walking...or power-walking as it is sometimes called...has been coming along nicely, I'm just a little bit skeptical and curious about actual competitive race-walking, the kind of sport you will be seeing at the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics.  The rules for that sport are little strange, if you ask me.  For one, although regular walking does not require the forward leg to be held straight with no knee bend all the way through ground contact, it's a rule for competitive race-walking and the judge will warn the entrant against it they detect a bent leg.  The other strange rule, which seems reasonable on the surface, is that one foot or the other always has to be visibly in contact with the ground.  Sure, dude, otherwise it's running, right? Yet that word "visibly" is a problem, for it is actually rarely enforced for most cases.  In fact, if you look at videos of walkers in a race, most of them are leaving the ground with both feet for short, visibly undetectable periods...in other words, they're running!  When I speed-walk, I'm both trying very hard to maintain continuous contact with the surface while not caring all that much about keeping my forward leg straight (which, to me is a stupid rule).  But that would get me disqualified in a race, go figure.  Oh well...

A Couple of Notes About Running

This weekend I didn't get around to my long distance run/walk around the neighborhood...let's just say that "life" got in the way as it has a tendency to do. Even though I tend to be a creature of routine, it seems that outside forces have an unseen intelligence behind them bent on destroying my equilibrium and sense of progress with various things.  That being as it is, I still managed this evening after sundown to run in my backyard, with the temperature at 80 and the humidity a muggy 77%, for four miles...all to a mix of Moody Blues song thanks to Amazon Music Unlimited.  This time I didn't do any speed walking, but noticed that my overall pace tonight wasn't any faster than when I walked part of the way...I think that is at least partially due to my need to greatly decelerate and accelerate as I run from fence to fence. ..

The other day I signed up as a member of US Road Running, a group that holds races in different city parks across the country.  For the last couple of years I've seen their races listed in Ocala and Ocklawaha and had considered trying one of them out.  In those two places the distances offered range from 5K up to half-marathon and they're offered each month.  Now they've come to Gainesville, with the races taking place at Westside (Albert Massey) Park and consisting of 1 mile, 5K, 10K and 15K events.  It's held entirely within the park on a trail with a lot of there-and-back, and loops.  I'm looking forward to seeing what these races, scheduled on Saturday mornings late each month starting in July, are like...

Not Too Keen on Retiree Reunions

The other day a colleague of mine informed me of a retiree reunion he attended at a local restaurant...it seems that upwards to forty former coworkers were there, and of the names he mentioned most of them I knew to varying degrees, many having been retired from my facility/organization for a number of years.  At first impulse I thought it might have been interesting to see them all and touch base on how they were doing, but then I thought that after those first few moments I'd most likely be itching to get out of there and on my way.  You see, even when I worked with these folks all those years back then...and I mean nothing derogatory or disrespectful about any of them...my inclination was to simply go to work, do my job, and then go home.  Now I wasn't some unfeeling, unthinking robot about my job, and I would practice learning, reading audiobooks and listening to music and talk shows while performing my assignments there...I still do all that when circumstances permit.  I got along with most of my fellow workers and, hopefully, they generally maintain positive thoughts about me as well.  But I am not into people per se, and being in crowds of them just won't do.  So when I eventually retiree, save the invitations: I'm not going, no matter how good the food is...

Quote of the Week...from Barack Obama

When times get tough, we don't give up.  We get up.                          ---Barack Obama

Barack Obama, our 44th president, also happens to be my all-time favorite since when I could actually vote for president, going back to 1976...I supported him in both 2008 and 2012.  Not that he didn't make his share of mistakes, nobody's perfect, and I didn't agree with all of his policies.  Yet he tried to be a leader on behalf of all Americans, and not just for those who supported him...you're entitled to your own opinions, though...believe whatever you want.  I also liked his generally reasonable and positive attitude toward things, and in this stormy time of a serious medical issue within my own immediate family, I am drawn to the above quote of his: that's right, Barack, you nailed it, old buddy...

Speed-Walked 5 Miles Through Neighborhood This Morning

For the third time in the past five Thursday mornings, I got up early and speed-walked 5 miles through my Gainesville, Florida Northwood Pines subdivision and the adjacent one, Northwood Oaks. It started out a little foggy, warm (74 degrees) and very muggy (99% humidity)...the sky stayed cloudy throughout my walk, in which I consciously exerted myself but probably could have pushed it a little more, in reflection.  The roads seemed emptier, with fewer vehicles then before although a few fellow walkers...and one intrepid runner...passed by me.  I completed the walk, which I began around 6:50, with a time of 1:08:18...putting it right there with my other two: at least I'm consistent if not improving.  Still, I don't feel the kind of intensity that running brings. Nevertheless, the continuity of getting myself out of bed and doing this is a victory, to be sure.  When walking, I try to mimic how I see race walkers move, vigorously moving my arms and trying to land my forward leg straight and bring it that way under me while attempting some forward hip rotation...I wonder whether the judges at those events would cite me for some walking rules infractions or just laugh at me. Walking very fast does look kind of ridiculous, and it's an exercise in humility for me to speed-walk in public, or even better in a race that features runners far ahead of me. My treadmill walking pace is far faster than my road walking...I'm currently working on a 10:31/mile pace at the gym. I walked today listening to a shuffle of songs by the British rock group Queen, thanks to Amazon Music...my favorites from them are Another One Bites the Dust, Bicycle Race, Killer Queen, Keep Yourself Alive and the wonderful collaboration with David Bowie, Under Pressure...

Weekly Short Stories: 1996 Science Fiction, Part 10

Here are my reactions to more of anthology editor Garner Dozois' picks from the year 1996 as they appeared in his The Year's Best Science Fiction, Fourteenth Annual Collection...

DR. TILMAN'S CONSULTANT: A SCIENTIFIC ROMANCE by Cherry Wilder

This is one of two stories (Foreign Devils the other) that fit within the genre of historical fiction, but while the one below goes into alternative outcomes, this one posits explanations for for actually happened in pre-World War I Austria and Russia as a Russian noble family visits a sanitarium in Austria on behalf of one of their own dwelling there.  It seems that someone has discovered a cure for the affliction commonly known as schizophrenia, but he is a mysterious presence within the sanitarium and the cure's secret may well vanish among the tumultuous events going down at that time in history.  I think the author captured the atmosphere of that era very well with this story...

SCHRÖDINGER'S DOG by Damien Broderick

The famous word picture supposition called "Schrödinger's Cat" by physicist Erwin Schrödinger to Albert Einstein in 1935 in a discussion on quantum mechanics suggested two alternate, simultaneous universes, one with a living cat and the other a dead one...separated by a random quantum event.  This is taken in this story to its gruesome conclusion at some time in the near future as scientists literally apply the same principle to terminally ill humans...

FOREIGN DEVILS by Walter Jon Williams

Anyone interested in Chinese history, especially that of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth, will enjoy this take on the decline of the Chinese Empire as Western countries, with imperialist fervor, carve out for themselves economic favors and colonial enclaves.  But behind the power struggles at the Chinese royal court is arising a new form of Foreign Devil...I wonder what H.G. Wells would have thought of this bizarre application of his famed tale of extraterrestrial invasion...

IN THE MSOB by Stephen Baxter

At the risk of prematurely giving away this brief tale, the abbreviation MSOB stands for Manned Space Operations Center.  Doesn't ring a bell? Maybe that's part of the point of it all as a very old and frail man is verbally abused by his seniors home caretakers and discovers that...for a too brief moment...the outside world would like a word or two from him, and a possible photo opportunity.  Cynical as many SF stories are, this one squarely hits the target as it projects into the future the state of the manned space program...

Next week I will conclude my look at science fiction from 1996...

Just Finished Reading Hidden Potential by Adam Grant

Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things is a self-help book by Adam Grant, published last year.  It's getting all kinds of rave reviews on the Internet, and I checked out an audio version from my library and just finished reading it.  I'm wondering whether I've reached my limit of what I can get from this genre of writing, not to mention feeling a little annoyed at Grant's frequent use of examples that conform to whatever narrative he's trying to convey.  Yes, don't be afraid to make mistakes...you can learn a lot more from them if you just accept that they're an integral part of education: I didn't need the Harlem high school chess team to point that out.  And yes, be persistent in pursuing your dreams: likewise, I didn't need the struggling major league knuckle-ball pitcher's saga to convince me of that.  Both of these ideas would have been better illustrated by more relevant examples, but Grant seems to think that winning the championship or being a publicly-recognized all-star is what it's all about.  For me, I have my own standards I want to attain and live up to...I'm really not all that concerned about what others think.  The author did bring up something interesting and innovative at the book's end, when he cited the use of "brainwriting" in place of brainstorming when working out problems in a team setting.  The latter tends to reward people who are the most verbally aggressive while discouraging others from speaking out from fear of reflection.  Instead, brainwriting involves the individuals anonymously writing out their own suggestions and then submitting them into the collective pool of ideas, through which the leaders sort and determine what might work and what probably won't.  But of course, Grant had to cite an example far from my (and probably your) personal experience: a disastrous mine collapse a few years ago in Chile, with the crisis centered around finding a way to rescue the 33 people trapped below the avalanche.  I think maybe I'll (at least for now) leave the self-help stuff to different posts I see on YouTube and instead focus my reading on fiction...

Ran at Night Outside Under Difficult Weather Conditions Yesterday

As I stated in yesterday's article, I have been tailoring my back yard to accommodate more running and walking training in the nighttime hours as the summertime and its hot and humid conditions here in northern Florida wear on.  I went out there right after sunset, with temperatures still in the 80s and humidity in the 60s and, using my ring-tally-counter, ran back and forth across the yard 150 laps to cover 5 miles, all while listening to an Amazon Music shuffle of songs by Led Zeppelin, one of my all-time favorite musical acts.  The nature of the setup requires me to greatly decelerate as I approach each fence, and the turf itself is uneven with sloping that I have to maneuver through, so my pace is by necessity much slower than it would be on a continuous paved and even pathway.  I finished last night's jaunt at 1:09:07, slow but I'm not concerned with the speed anyway, at least at this stage.  For the first 2.8 miles I mixed running with walking at a 4:1 ratio while for the final 2.2 miles I simply ran.  Although it was already nighttime and the brutal 100-degree late afternoon conditions had alleviated somewhat, my shirt and shorts were still completely drenched in perspiration at the end...yes, brutal is the fitting description of this summer so far, and it's technically not even summer yet!  I'm optimistic about using my back yard in the future as a way to run at night...

Adapting to Extreme Heat by Turning to Running at Night

This morning I brought my Honda Civic over to the auto maintenance shop to get routine work on it, including an oil change...the "percentage" on my dashboard reading had gotten pretty low.  When I came around to pick it up this afternoon, I got two "100" readings on my dashboard: one, the oil was restored to "100%"...I guess that's good, right?  But the other was the outside temperature reading: 100 degrees...ugh!  And that's what it's been today, excruciatingly hot here in Gainesville. At 7 PM it had only gone down to 95, and for someone like me who likes to go out this time of day to run and walk in the neighborhood for a reasonably long distance, that's just not going to work.  So I considered my resources and how I could adapt myself to the situation at hand.  About fourteen years ago I read a book by ultra-marathon runner Dean Karnazes titled Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner.  In this sports autobiography, he described how he would regularly run the streets of his home California town and the outlying roads deep into the nighttime hours to train for his ultra-long races.  I thought that was pretty cool, but considering how crazy/wacko some people can be with their paranoia and suspicion, the idea of me doing something like that just didn't seem very wise.  Fortunately, a few years ago we got a nice privacy fence put around our back yard, and with some solar powered lights at strategic spots it can be adequately lit up into the night to provide a venue for back-and-forth running and speed-walking.  Then I bought a simple digital tally counter I could wear as a ring while working out and realized that I had everything in place to do my own all-night running if I so desired.  Since it was so hot today and I have somewhere I need to be tomorrow morning, I decided to wait until the sun sets this evening and the temperature has abated and go into my backyard and see how much back-and-forth ground I can cover...I already have it all measured out and with each successive lap I just hit my tally counter.  I still like going around my neighborhood, but this can be a good makeshift substitute if it works out with the bathroom always nearby while I can still listen to my Amazon Music while running and walking...

Walked the Depot Parkrun 5K Here in Gainesville This Morning

When I awoke earlier today I could easily tell it was going to be a very warm, muggy morning, and the figures confirmed this.  Approaching 7:30, the starting time for Gainesville's weekly Depot Parkrun 5K...held at the park bearing that name a little bit south of downtown...the temperature was 75 with a 100% humidity: we're talking a pretty unpleasant 75-degrees dew point.  So I decided to speed-walk the event, and as it turned out, that was a good decision.  I covered the 3.1-mile, four-lap distance in 38:49, nine seconds better than my previous best 5K walk last month.  But unlike that race, this time I was drenched in sweat from the excess heat and humidity.  I deliberately pushed myself to try to walk with as much exertion as when I run, and to some extent I succeeded in this.  Still, going by my progress on the treadmill at my local gym, I should be walking faster 5Ks, at least dipping into the 37-minute finishing time area.  It seems no matter how fast I think I'm walking for what is generally considered to be a respectable distance, I still have essentially the same level of energy at the end as I do at the start.  So I guess I'm going to have to push myself a little harder next time.  But I 'm still happy with my time under these weather conditions.  Gainesville's Depot Parkrun is a part of a worldwide network, originating in England, of Parkruns scattered across hundreds of communities.  Parkruns are free and volunteer-run.  You sign up online and they give you a barcode to print out and bring with you to scan at the close of each race for your results to be posted on their website.  Speaking of that, click HERE to view today's results...

Quote of the Week...from Max Ehrmann

Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.                                 ---Max Ehrmann

Max Ehrmann's prose poem Desiderata has always been a favorite of mine since I first heard it on the Les Crane singles hit played on the radio more than fifty years ago.  Ehrmann wrote it in 1927, and I've quote lines from it in past articles...including last Friday's.  As for the above excerpt, I have been reflecting on different types of positive, effective dialogue and have broken it all down to four: 

1: I speak about what I want to the other party.

2: The other party speaks about what they want to me.

3: They talk to me about what I want them to.

4: I talk to them about what they want me to.

Note that none of the above necessarily implies that the two of us in dialogue will agree on the content of what is said, but rather that it's the choice of subject matter...spoken with tact and discretion...that can, in my opinion, lead to successful dialogues.  Now the best of dialogues will combine all four elements, but I don't think that's always called for.  Yet over the course of a relationship all four elements need their proper expression and a sense of respectful balance...what do you think?

My 5 Mile Neighborhood Speed-Walk This Morning

This morning I set out on another five mile speed-walk through my north Gainesville subdivision and the adjacent one, the same course I did two weeks ago.  This time around I started earlier, with cooler temperature (average 73) and very high humidity (97%).  But with fast walking, as opposed to running...even slowly...the weather extremes don't seem to affect me that much, and it was perfectly fine this morning as I enjoyed deep shadows before the sun rose too high in the clear skies.  I started out at about 7:00 and finished with a time of 1:09:05...relatively little perspiration or energy loss from the workout.  My limitation with walking at a brisk (for me) pace isn't the distance or weather it seems, but rather my ability to attain a faster speed...even if only for a few seconds.  I used heavier shoes on these road outings, and on the treadmill at my gym attain a faster pace (now I'm working on 5.6 mph, or 10:42/mile).  I think if I can move more efficiently...like I see race walkers do...then I could become a pretty decent seniors athlete with walking.  Today's experience still was rewarding for getting up and getting out there, although I admit to being a bit annoyed at several different neighbors along my route, parked along the road in front of their homes, who would open their car or pickup truck doors wide into the street and then just walk off.  I wouldn't do that, if only for the sake of preserving my car door.  Oh well, listening for the duration of my walk to an Amazon Music shuffle of songs by the excellent Canadian alternative rock band Metric helped to alleviate my frustration...you know, they're a very energizing group to exercise to and Emily Haines is one of the greatest singers around...

Weekly Short Stories: 1996 Science Fiction, Part 9

Here's another installment of my reactions to sci-fi short stories appearing in the Gardner Dozois anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction, Fourteenth Annual Collection, and featuring the editor's selections from 1996.  That year I'll always remember, with mixed feelings, about the Major League Baseball World Series pitting American League champ New York Yankees against the defending champion, "my" Atlanta Braves from the National League.  I wanted Atlanta to repeat in '96 but the Yanks were too tough, riding on their momentum, and overpowered the Braves.  I was, however, happy to see New York's manager Joe Torre, the Atlanta manager in the early 1980s, receive his due recognition...his team would win more titles in ensuing years.  But as I like to say, back to those stories... 

THE WIND OVER THE WORLD by Steven Utley

Leveritt, a geologist. prepping for her inaugural visit to the distant past...the Silurian Period, that is...has at her side a talkative man, Ed Morris, who says he's gone through the natural time Portal before and tries to assure her of the process' safety.  But when they make the jump through time, he never arrived, and the investigation is on about what happened to him.  As the story progressed it reminded me of that great old Twilight Zone episode where two astronaut buddies, just returned from a difficult mission, are out in a bar...and one suddenly vanishes...

CHANGES by William Barton

Hopping from one generation to another within a family, it starts in 1944 during World War II and ends sometime in our near future.  I'm only saying that the author, in 1996, perfectly captured the essence of what is going on right now with our social media, gaming, and virtual reality...I think he's right on target about where we're headed, sad to say.  Also, he predicted here that our space program would flounder with one setback after another...yes, indeed...

COUNTING CATS IN ZANZIBAR by Gene Wolfe

A widowed woman is traveling across the world from country to country in a struggle to evade her pursuers, yet is discovered on a ship in the Philippine Sulu Sea.  It's not a matter of crime or revenge, but rather a secret she holds that those after her, including the "man" on board who identifies her, covet.  This tale from 28 years ago puts the finger right on what many in our present 2024 world are concerned about: the meteoric rise of artificial intelligence, whether those so imbued are capable of true consciousness, and what their rise holds in store for humanity...

HOW WE GOT IN TOWN AND OUT AGAIN by Jonathan Lethem

Another prescient tale about an ongoing trend, projected into the future a few decades.  In an America...and, presumably as well, the rest of the world...is social decline amidst the explosive development of virtual reality. Two young people, Gloria and her friend (the narrator) Lewis go from town to town seeking enough food and money to get by.  They encounter a crew of "scapers" who, as traveling entertainers, go from one locale to another selling shows involving people undergoing extreme virtual reality experiences.  There's a lot of humor in this story, but it's sad as well to consider that, as a society, we seem to be heading down the same road...

Next week I continuing reviewing sci-fi stories from 1996...

Study Method Advocates Sometimes Discount Own Experiences

I find it disingenuous for somebody to get on a podcast or YouTube with listed accomplishments and talent skills in a specific area and then promote a regimen for you or me to also reach their level of attainment while discounting their early history of struggles that were instrumental to their breakthroughs.  Case in point: Steve Kaufmann, a polyglot who has reasonable proficiency in some twenty different languages, is someone I respect and who promotes the "comprehensible input" method of language learning.  Yet his linguistic career and narrative took off AFTER he joined his Canada's foreign service early in his adult years and took their intensive training courses in Mandarin Chinese.  I believe that Kaufmann's experiences back then taught him what to seek out during his subsequent language studies, while most of us don't possess that kind of background to know exactly what to prioritize as we follow his current system.  Still, I think his method is far and away superior to the "don't make mistakes if you want a good grade" nonsense I went through  during my high school and college years.  Still, even more pertinent to Kaufmann's experience is that learning the intricacies of Chinese writing with their thousands of different ideograph characters is a very, very steep mountain to climb unless you intentionally and intensively study them, and even then reading Chinese can be a bit of a slog...

My Sunrise 11.2 Mile Run/Walk

Seeing how the public schools in my county let out for the summer last Friday, I anticipated, with pleasure, a lack of kids and school buses on the streets early this morning as I decided to go then on my distance run/walk, alternating over my pre-planned neighborhood route between two minutes of moderate running and three of fast walking.  Conditions were better than my Memorial Day morning run a week ago.  For one, I started out early, just at sunrise.  And then the weather was more amenable, with a pretty steady average 70 degrees and 81% humidity throughout.  I felt kind of sore afterwards, but that was expected.  For this workout I listened to Amazon Music's shuffle of songs by Electric Light Orchestra, one of my favorite bands from the seventies and early eighties.  This week and the previous one have seen me in a support/care-giver role as Melissa has undergone surgery and is now, thankfully, recovering well...but gradually...from it.  Please keep your thoughts and prayers in mind for her as we pass through this medical/health storm...thankfully all of the post-op news so far is good...  

Coffee Mug Great Books List

A few weeks ago I got a special coffee mug at a local used bookstore.  It depicts several famous books, most of which I have already read...and reviewed on this blog.  There are a few that I've yet to read.  I thought it might be cool to list them all below in the order, from right to left, that they appear on my mug, then place a link on each title to my past blog article about it.  So, here goes...

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger...read in 1972

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

The Complete Stories of Franz Kafka...read only the short story Metamorphosis

Brave New World by Aldeus Huxley

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer...not yet

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath...currently reading

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett...not yet

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

On the Road Jack Kerouac

Ulysses by James Joyce

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes

Little Women by Louise May Alcott

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll...from childhood

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez...not yet

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Lord of the Flies by William Golding 

Ran Gainesville's Depot Parkrun 5K This Morning

On this first day of June, it was unusually pleasant outside as I made my way to Gainesville's Depot Park, a few blocks south of downtown, for yet another Saturday morning Depot Parkrun 5K.  At 7:30 race time, it was 68 degrees with only 73% humidity...not what I had expected.  In any event, I had decided to run this time around at a reasonably brisk pace without walking breaks.  To avoid getting boxed in by others, I got nearer the starting line at the beginning and it paid off.  I kept pretty much the same steady pace throughout the 5K's four laps around the park and finished at 27:23, my second fastest Parkrun finish (I've done 45 since January 2019) and only 13 seconds slower than my personal best there.  Parkruns, free of charge, are held in hundreds of locations worldwide...go to their website and sign up to participate, and you will receive a barcode you can copy and take with you for scanning.  Their system is simple although not foolproof, but I like how the results are usually posted online within a couple of hours of the race.  Press HERE to read today's results.  Depot Parkrun is organized and run strictly by volunteers, and they encourage everyone to pitch in to help in various capacities every few weeks...I'm probably going to do so again in the not-too-distant future.  Melissa couldn't walk this event today as she would have liked (and often does) because she had surgery this past Thursday: happily, it was successful and she is recovering well at home.

Regarding last month, May 2024, I kept up my running and walking.  Although other than regularly exercising my upper body by imitating swimming arm strokes, I haven't been in the pool for a while.  The workouts are divided between me running casually in my house, twice-a-week neighborhood run/walk outings, and occasional visits to my local gym where I more intensely run and walk their treadmill at my maximum personal speeds for brief periods.  Oh, and of course there is the weekly Depot Parkrun, in which I either run, speed-walk, or walk with Melissa.  I like the mix of it all and plan to continue this way into the summertime, during which I intend to increase my emphasis on speed-walking as the temperature outside climbs. Oh, and trying to get into the pool every now and then would be a good thing, too...

Quote of the Week...from Max Ehrmann

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.  But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.  Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.           ---Max Ehrmann

When calamities, accidents, and sudden illness befall us, the first tendency...at least for me...is to go into crisis mode, with the adrenaline spiking and the threat of panic close at hand.  But then reason and reflection, once any immediate danger has been properly addressed and diminished, should gradually assume a more dominant role in dealing with the troubles.  This, I believe, requires a personal level of courage and faith that can lift one out of despair and fruitless worry while remaining in a state of enlightened and realistic vigilance while the situation remains problematic.  It does oneself no good to overthink during these times about worst-case scenarios and then emotionally react to them as if they actually happened. The above quote is taken from writer Max Ehrmann's 1927 prose poem Desiderata, and it addresses this very human tendency to overreact to negative events in people's lives. We can only do what we have the power to do, and beyond that, learning to look at things with a more realistic perspective can contribute to a greater personal sense of balance, serenity and gratitude.  I know...easier said than done.  But "done" it must be...

New Treadmill Routine at Gym

Over the past few weeks I have been occasionally visiting my local gym after work to try out a new routine on their treadmill.  Part of what I am trying to do is work out intensely for brief stretches by running and walking on the treadmill at my maximum speed capable for a sustained length of time.  I start at that speed and see whether I can get to one total mile on it, with a tenth of a mile being the minimum distance to cover.  Once I reach the mile goal, then the next time I am at the gym I will increase the speed by .1 mile and start again.  So far, here's how I've been doing with my running and walking according to this treadmill system (distance in miles, speed in mph):

DATE   RUNNING         WALKING

           MPH  MILES      MPH  MILES

  5/2       7.3   1.0                5.2    .2

  5/3       7.4     .2                5.2   1.0

  5/7       7.4     .7                5.3    .2

  5/8       7.4   1.0                5.3   1.0

  5/11     7.5    .3                 5.4    .2

  5/14     7.5    .4                 5.4   1.0

  5/15     7.5    .7                 5.5    .2

  5/17     7.5   1.0                5.5   1.0

  5/22     7.6    .5                 5.6    .6

  5/26     7.6    .7                 5.6    .8  

  6/5       7.6    .3                 5.6    .3

  6/7       7.6   1.0                5.6   1.0 

  6/10     7.7    .2                 5.7    .1

  6/12     7.7    .5                 5.7    .4

  6/14.    7.7.  1.0.               5.7.   .6

  6/17     7.8    .3                 5.7    .7

  6/24     7.8    .4                 5.7   1.0

  6/30     7.8    .8                 5.8     .2

  7/2       7.8    .4                 5.8     .2

  7/10     7.8    .5                 5.8     .3

Weekly Short Stories: 1996 Science Fiction, Part 8

On this weekly installment of my reactions to short stories of the past, I'm still "in" in the year 1996, going through Gardner Dozois' series of retrospective anthologies title The Year's Best Science Fiction, this volume being the Fourteenth Annual Collection and containing his picks from that year.  Today I'm focusing on one of this book's several novellas, an intriguing tale...

CHRYSALIS by Robert Reed

For millions of years, the remnants of humanity...along with several intelligent life forms picked up along the way...are on a long voyage, fleeing from a self-destructive, warring Earth to reach out into deep space, even beyond our Milky Way galaxy.  The ship is a converted asteroid, run and tended by intelligent, mobile machines called the Artisans that the fleeing humans created.  Sarrie is a young woman on the planet/ship, and the Artisans see her in a special role, to become their Voice that speaks to the worlds they visit as they select and draw upon new life to join them in their long quest.  But as she encounters strange reactions to events from her friends, she begins to question everything...and it comes to a head on a distant, ice-bound world well outside our galaxy.  In some ways, this provocative story brought to my mind the Requiem episode in the old Twilight Zone series, in which three astronauts encounter an animated android on a remote asteroid, and the first Star Trek movie in which future technology catches up with one of our earlier space probes.  This is science fiction at its best: stuff that makes you sit back and speculate...

Next time, more from 1996...

Our Medical Storms

Three years ago I underwent open heart surgery to repair an aortic aneurysm and replace a congenitally defective heart valve.  Instrumental in the successful outcome was Melissa, who cared for me and was my advocate.  Now it is my turn to be that caring advocate as she is undergoing her own medical/health issues in the ensuing days and weeks.  As such, my ordinary routines and schedule are subject to interruption and change...necessary under the circumstances.  Please be with me in my prayers for her successful treatments and quick recovery, and for my ability to be a positive force in her well-being throughout this unfolding process.  As for this blog, it probably would be a healthy discipline for me to try to continue coming out with something fresh each day, but there may still be some gaps here and there...

My Memorial Day 10.4 Mile Run/Walk Around Neighborhood

Before I discuss my long-distance run/walk this morning, I'd like to express my deepest respect and appreciation for all of the Americans who died defending this nation while serving in uniform during times of conflict.  They are treasures, each and every one, and should never be forgotten.  Around my personally-designed 10.4-mile course that runs through my own residential subdivision and the adjacent ones, I saw a number of homes with many little American flags in their front yards to express their support as well.  I decided to do my run this morning instead of Sunday at twilight because, well, we had company over yesterday and I knew I'd be off from work today.  But although late afternoon/early evening temperatures of late have been pretty high, creeping up into the 90s here in northern Florida, the humidity has been relatively low and once the sun has settled low enough in the western sky there's been plenty of shade as well.  This morning all was different and, other than the lower temperatures, much worse.  At the start of my training outing at 8:30, it was 69 degrees with 99% humidity and by the end it was 81 with 73% humidity...and very little cloud cover or shade.  I alternated 3 minutes of brisk walking with 2 of moderate running, and decided to add the walkway along NW 53rd Avenue between 34 St and 43rd.  My finishing time was 2 hours 5 minutes 23 seconds for the 10.4 miles, reasonable but the humidity combined with the heat took its toll on me although I carried Gatorade with me to drink along the way.  During today's activity I listened, via Amazon Music, to a mix of songs by Radiohead, probably my favorite band of the last 20-odd years.  I seem to take better to hotter afternoons with lower humidity than with warm mornings combined with high humidity...especially factoring in the added shade enjoyed later on in the day.  So we'll see how things go as spring blends into summer.  My recovery from today's run/walk seems to be going right on track...

Sinister Trend Shifting My Political Allegiances

I don't know whether others are feeling as I do, but I'm starting to feel a shift...a fundamental one...in my political leanings.  Not that the so-called "leaders" and candidates that I'm starting to lean toward are themselves worthy of following, any more than those I've preferred up until now...they're full of their own flaws and demagoguery.  And the chief one among them is, sorry to say, a complete buffoon who defines the word narcissism.  But I see something sinister and foreboding going on in my society, and it's being pushed primarily from the end of the political spectrum that I have been supporting for many years.  Comedian/commentator Bill Maher has covered this phenomenon extensively in his monologues on Real Time with Bill Maher, and I see it all around me in the media and corporate environment.  So that buffoon I mentioned notwithstanding, where I go this November 2024 election is up in the air.  But I'm realistic about it all, knowing that my one vote is just a drop in the ocean, and I don't pretend to tell you or anyone else what to think or do... 

Walked (and Ran) Today's Depot Park 5K

This morning's Depot Parkrun 5K here in Gainesville, a few blocks south of downtown, was special to me.  Not only was Melissa walking it, but our 34-year-old son Will walked the 3.1 mile, 4-lap distance with us for the first time after recent back surgery...way to go, Will!  For me, I walked with them the first 2½ laps and...seeing that their Gatorade was running out on this blistering hot and humid morning more indicative of summer than spring...finished it with a fast run and then got another chilled bottle out of the car for them as they were finishing up.  My final time of 49:27 reflected this hybrid of primarily social walking with running...worth it all!  If you want to see the results for today's event, click HERE.  Gainesville's Depot Parkrun is held almost every Saturday morning at 7:30 and is part of a worldwide network of hundreds of Parkruns, which originated in England a few years ago.  It's free and volunteer-run...you can just run or walk with the others if you want or, better, sign up online and get your own barcode for them to scan at the end to have your results posted and stored online.  Today was my 44th Parkrun finish since I began it in 2019...

Quote of the Week...from Bob Dylan

Well, the future for me is already a thing of the past.                 ---Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan, Minnesota's great poet/songwriter/performer, turns 83 today...he is a part of that cluster of famous musicians born in the early 1940: he's 15 years older than me.  So for 15 years of his life I wasn't alive...should I be despondent over my death, or non-existence, during that period?  After I die...whenever that happens...should he likewise be despondent should he outlive me?  You see, I'm taking a little of ol' Bob's above quote and working with it, for I think we two just might have overlapping views about the passage of time and the concepts of past, future, and the now.  Not that the "The Bard" was referring to any of this with his quote, other than emphasizing that both future and past are indistinct and essentially unreal while only the now, the very moment we are currently both living through, is truly all that is real.  It's indeed a great mystery, not any less than what happens after death from our own perspective, about what we were before we existed in the first place.  Yet unless you believe in reincarnation, and that would only be a conjecture on your part, time itself seems to be an illusion, a construct that living organisms have used to perpetuate themselves...

Speed-Walked 5 Miles Through Neighborhood This Morning

Today, as planned, I did a neighborhood walk this morning in purely fast-walk mode, no running. But I did extend my planned distance of 3.3 miles to 5 instead...it worked out well.  The temperature was 82 with a 56% humidity...nice conditions for this time of year.  The roads were mostly clear...other than the trash and recyclables pickup and numerous lawn and repair vehicles, that is.  I walked as I would have on one of my weekly Depot Park runs, never tiring or feeling winded.  Yet there is still some constraint on my walking speed that I'm sure will diminish as I do it more and develop the appropriate muscles and hip mobility.  I finished with a time of 1:08:14 and walked the distance to a shuffled mix of Nirvana songs provided by Amazon Music.  One big difference between my neighborhood outings and the more "official" races: when training informally near my house I use heavier Nike Air Monarch athletic shoes while with the races I wear a much lighter Brooks model...both are several years old and probably could use replacing. I thoroughly enjoyed today's walk, and as a general rule plan to do such walks mid-week when circumstances permit...

Weekly Short Stories: 1996 Science Fiction, Part 7

Here is another of my weekly installments whereby I review science fiction short stories I've read that have been written over the years...continuing with 1996.  The two tales for today come from the Gardner Dozois anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction, Fourteenth Annual Collection.  1996 was the year of the Atlanta Summer Olympics, which Melissa and I enjoyed watching.  The highlight for me was the finale in the women's gymnastic competition with the American team gold medal on the line until Kerri Strug's courageous final running vault jump with a painful ankle injury sealed it.  On the down side, though, a bomb went off outside during the Games, killing two and casting undue suspicion on the heroic security guard who had reported the bomb and helped evacuate the park, doubtless saving several lives...it's an example of the cynical concept "no good deed goes unpunished".  But back to those stories...

THE LAND OF NOD by Mike Resnick

Apparently this is the final story in Resnick's Kirinyaga series, set off in the future featuring Koriba as the shaman/leader of a resurrected Kikuyu culture in space...in a virtual setting.  Koriba, disenchanted with how the experiment has progressed, has returned to his native Kenya and suffers further disappointment. The notion that the traditional past of our famous ancestors was somehow "pure" and that we have strayed from it with the need to return to the old ways is a thread throughout many world cultures, not just that of Koriba.  I also think that it is a faulty notion that leads to a lot of trouble...

RED SONJA AND LESSINGHAM IN DREAMLAND by Gwyneth Jones

In a fantasy-like world young, voluptuous Sonja meets up with a tough rogue of a man to survive in the wild and combat the bad guys prowling around...as they get to know each other.  But as the title suggests, it ain't exactly real...and the reason is a brutal commentary on people's need for control over others and how it poisons just about every relationship to an extent.  A cynical view, but sadly too often a true one...

Next week: more from 1996, with a hopefully less cynical take on it all...

Checked YouTube about Theme Park Rides in General Vicinity

The other day I did a search on various theme park rides.  My all-time favorite one is Power Surge, a circular ride moving around an axis that lifts you up and tosses you around, upside-down and all, in your seat high off the ground as it rotates...satisfyingly disorienting you for its approximately two minutes of duration.  When my kids were growing up, two theme parks we visited had Power Surge: Wild Adventures in Valdosta, Georgia and the renovated Cypress Gardens in Polk County, Florida. It was one of the several then-scary rides at the former on that fateful Sunday in March, 2003 that I braved myself to ride on as a challenge to myself: after all, Will and Rebecca had no problem with them!  Since that time I've completely flip-flopped on theme park rides and became an ardent fan, but the children are grown and going to these parks just hasn't been high on our agenda in recent years.  I think the last roller coaster I've ridden was the Dania Beach Hurricane wooden coaster off Stirling Road on the north side of Hollywood in southern Florida where I grew up and would later visit my father. Now the Hurricane is no more and...correct me if I'm wrong...there are ZERO coasters remaining down there. On YouTube I found a posting that shows POV on all of Busch Garden's major rides, including several newer ones I've yet to experience. I think they're the best Theme Park when I consider their distance from my Gainesville home (they're in Tampa), the number of quality rides, price and their shows and amenities.  But for now I'm glad to see the rides on YouTube.  By the way, Montu, Busch Garden's hanging steel roller coaster, is still my all-time favorite coaster and number two all-around ride, behind Power Surge (which you can also "kind-of" experience in a virtual way on YouTube).