Governor Scott Nixes Strange High-Speed Rail Plan

Whenever my sister travels by car from her home near Dallas, Texas to my father's home near Miami, Florida, she spends a very long time within Florida. As a matter of fact, she thinks that most of this cross-country trip occurs within Florida's state boundaries! Which brings up an important point: Florida may not be the largest state, but for its size it has to be the most elongated state. This makes traveling from one end of the state to the other something of an ordeal. For those either living in south Florida or visiting it often, that highly-populated area can be seen as rather isolated from the rest of the state. For that reason, high-speed rail sounds like a reasonable way to connect that area to the rest of the state. And we just had a federally-funded plan for high-speed rail here in Florida. But...

The plan was for this to be America's first truly high-speed rail, destined for opening in 2015 and funded through federal stimulus money. But then teabagger Rick Scott came along and squeaked his way into the governor's seat in a very close election last November. And one of his first actions as governor was to reject federal funding for the project and scrap it outright. What a jerk, right? But...

The $2.6 billion-planned high-speed railway was to be built spanning two central Florida cities: Tampa and Orlando. Two cities that are only 84 miles apart! C'mon, I live in Gainesville and have no trouble driving the 100-plus miles to either city. And Miami, which is about 340 miles from my home? Well, south Florida hasn't had any political clout in Florida since Bob Graham left the Senate. Never mind that a Miami-Tampa or Miami-Orlando high-speed rail system would have closed the distance gap and been used much more heavily: it obviously would have entailed a greater financial investment, and we're supposed to do everything nowadays on a shoestring budget. So now we have nothing.

I have many problems with teabagger Scott being my governor, but the fact is that he is my governor. This is at least one decision he has made that I agree with, though. But his reasons may not have been my reasons. After all, I'm sure that he couldn't care less whether Miami ever got high-speed rail access to the rest of the state. For that matter, I'm not sure that he could care less if Miami just slid into the sea...

Voting Day in Gainesville

Today was election day in Gainesville for three city commission seats. I got to vote in two of them. When one considers how important these posts are by the fact that the commission decides how much they will tax the citizens and then how that revenue is distributed, it always amazes me how few people actually vote in these elections. That's sad because a low turnout often translates into a fringe candidate with extremist views and a zealous following being elected. Let's hope that doesn't happen today!

...Later that night....
No extremists won tonight, although the voting turnout was a disgrace at 14.9% of registered voters. One of my candidates (an incumbent) won without a runoff, and the other two races will be decided on April 12. I shudder to think what the turnout will be then!

My Local Starbucks Hangout

Here is a shot from the inside of the Starbucks I usually frequent the most, from my vantage point seated way, way, back at the end of a section. This store is very popular, and the people working here are pretty friendly (well, almost all of them are). They do seem to have a problem with their storage capacity because they tend to pile up a lot of boxed-up inventory around the customers' seating area, sometimes taking up a couple of tables. But I can live with that as long as I can find somewhere to sit. I've noticed that at the busiest time, on weekend mornings, I never have trouble finding a free table. But then again, most of the customers are doing take-out then, on their way to work or school. My most difficult time at this Starbucks is on Saturday afternoons, when as a general rule I can't find an empty place to sit. But I'm happy that they're doing so well, since this SHOULD mean that the mother company won't close them down as a corporate loss (as they did recently with some of their other stores).

I began coming here right after it opened in the summer of 2000. I don't think that there is any other single coffee establishment that I have patronized regularly for so long a time.

I have been to other non-Starbucks coffee shops across town over the years, but it has generally been Starbucks who seems to understand the importance of a smiling, friendly, and welcoming attitude on the part of its workers to the customer. Frankly, that should be a no-brainer, but it never fails to astonish me how poorly employees treat customers in the locally-owned mom-and-pop businesses I go to. So why go there? Screw them, just because they're local that doesn't mean that they are entitled to my money. When I experience coldness and frowning faces, I conclude that maybe they really don't think my money is important, anyway. So I'll just spend it instead where employees show some good-old fashioned professionalism. If the locals want to compete with this mega-corporation for my dollars, then they can grow some brains and learn to be friendly to me when I walk in the door to do business with them!

Obama Puzzling on Libya

I can't help but think that our president, whom I have supported in the past, is completely out of touch with the situation in Libya. Completely out of touch particularly regarding his appropriate role as leader of the United States, its role in the world, and how we should confront crises that involve mass slaughters still occurring in the 21st century. Does Obama really think that freezing Gadhafi's assets and imposing sanctions on Libya will make that tyrant decide to step down and hand over power to the opposition? Does he really think that trying to align U.S. policy toward Libya with what he terms "the international community" (whatever that's supposed to be) won't be interpreted by Gadhafi (and the rest of our adversaries worldwide, for that matter) as weak and faltering? Does he really think that by simply stating that Gadhafi should realize that he is "on the wrong side of history", then this brutal dictator will say, "Aw shucks, you got me, I quit"?

President Obama's press conference yesterday frightened me a little by his matter-of-fact, business-as-usual demeanor toward urgent matters like Libya's civil war. Libya is an important country whose citizens are rising up against a brutal, corrupt autocrat who has instigated terrorism against the U.S. and its allies while treating fellow Libyans as his own personal, private property to control and toy around with (and even kill) as he pleases. Why should America wait around for other countries, who most likely are taking their cue for action from Obama? If this isn't grounds for some kind of intervention, then what is? But instead, when we should have been hearing a strongly worded set of demands from the president to Gadhafi, all we get is an aloof, emotionally detached lecture. And the dictator continues to feel free to massacre his own people with impunity.

If Gadhafi prevails in this civil war with our president sitting on his hands, I predict that Obama will NOT be reelected. For this show of lack of will would start a chain of aggressive behavior on the part of other adversaries. Frankly, I am beginning to have second thoughts myself about Mr. Obama as my president. But I guess you probably already figured that out. Question is, which of the other turkeys now in the running would I vote for? Sigh...

Quake Makes Me Wake

I had a full day yesterday; normally I check out my kitchen and snack a bit after I get home from work, usually around 11:30 PM. But last night I skipped stuffing my mouth with food and promptly passed out moments after slipping into my recliner. About 1:30, my son, who is on spring break from college, came into the room and woke me up, telling me that there was a breaking news story that I might be interested in. I know that Will was, as he had just spent some time last summer traveling through Japan and is learning the Japanese language.

The massive, 8.9 level earthquake just off the east coast of northern Honshu island, occurring at around 1 AM EST, was devastating enough for those immediately affected. But although there sadly were casualties and much damage from this disaster, it would have been much worse had this nation not prepared for earthquake contingencies through strict building codes, civil engineering, and disaster preparation. Quite a contrast to countries like Haiti or Pakistan!

This is obviously going to be a headline-grabbing news story for some time to come, even after the last tsunami threat from this earthquake to Hawaii and the U.S. west coast has been long forgotten. It will be interesting to see how Japanese society works together to recover. Maybe some of those other countries should be taking notes (as well as the United States with its Katrina debacle)!

Charlie S's Personality

Extreme personality types like Charlie Sheen are almost like a drug in our society. The reason some people like to watch his rambling, manic, and almost incoherent interviews is that it gives them a sense of superiority and security to know that, at least, THEY'RE not that screwed up! Truth be told, though, I think a lot of it also has to do with the fact that many of us identify with Mr. Sheen; but through our own life experiences and conditioning we have learned to control how we express ourselves, knowing that only trouble could result in our lives if we didn't.

Egomaniacs and paranoids go hand in hand and may even be seen as flip sides to the same personalities in one individual. The common thread is an almost solipsist mentality: that one, while not being the universe itself, is at least the obvious focus of everything. When an egomaniac or a paranoid walks into a room where others are present, both presume that they are the automatic focus of everyone's attention. With one, the personal reaction is positive; with the other, it is negative. With Charlie Sheen, he seems to simultaneously take on both roles. He speaks as if he already knows the thoughts of those talking with him before they say anything. And by the way, there's no point in moving the conversation toward asking how anyone else is doing: there's only one person who counts!

My life, from time to time, has been cursed with people who have decided, like Charlie Sheen, that their personal narratives and opinions are the only thing that matters. Consequently, the only sustainable (but unsuitable) way I can interact with them is by nodding in agreement and offering terse affirmative interjections. I say terse because with these types it is difficult for me to even get a coherent phrase into the conversation, much less a complete sentence. And if I should accidentally let it slip out that I actually DISAGREE with any element of their idiosyncratic worldview... no matter how respectfully I express that disagreement...then they see that as a personal insult to them!

I see some tendencies of this narcissistic personality type within myself, unfortunately. But having experienced unrestrained behavior of the sort from others with makeups similar to Sheen, I have learned how offensive and demeaning openly expressing it can be, so I consciously try to avoid it. Instead, I deliberately look for things in others' lives that I feel they are interested in themselves and about which I feel enough interest to use as conversational themes, with me trying to be a good listener. Too bad Charlie and his types in my life never seemed to learn that. It reminds me of a line in Max Ehrmann's Desiderata:

Avoid loud and aggressive persons: they are vexatious to the spirit.

My Promising Return to Running

Yesterday I went to my local YMCA workout room to lift weights, do crunches and exercise on the elliptical cross-trainer machine. I spent about 39 minutes on the cross-trainer and performed 13 sets on the various weight equipment. Then I decided to see what would happen on the treadmill.

I had last previously run last Wednesday, a 1.25 trot around the two blocks surrounding my house. No knee pain then. Yesterday I tried the treadmill, setting it at a 9:40/mile pace with no incline. After 2.5 miles I stopped, with NO pain. What great news! This was the longest I had run since the painful Ocala Marathon this past January 23, so the healing of my IT band seems to be working quite well so far.

I plan on another run a few days from now, probably on Friday or Saturday. Maybe I'll run around my neighborhood and see if I can't step up the distance to 3 miles.

Still, I don't see more marathon runs in my future. Also, I need some new running shoes. As I continue make my recovery from the IT band injury, I need to go down to Tioga (west of Gainesville) and check out the running supply store there. I understand they analyze your feet according to your foot placement and arching and have shoes that can help to curtail future injuries. We'll see...

NBA Comments

I cannot believe that those running the National Basketball Association's Utah Jazz have taken leave of their senses and traded their franchise player, star point guard Deron Williams away to the New Jersey Nets, especially when the team is desperately fighting for a final eighth place playoff spot in the Western Conference against several other teams. Williams was the one reason I ever rooted for Utah, so that franchise can kiss my allegiance goodbye. And perhaps that's just as well...any state where the majority population regards drinking coffee as sinful behavior, well...

Besides, I have traditionally been a Phoenix Suns fan, also because of their star point guard, in this case Steve Nash. Yes, Phoenix does lie in Arizona, another state with, in my opinion, serious attitude problems. So you can bet that if Nash, who has loudly expressed his vehement opposition to Arizona's recent reactionary anti-Latino politics, ever leaves that franchise it will also go the way of the Jazz into my "non-support" category. But for now, Nash is still there and, thanks to Utah's incredible throwaway of Williams, the Suns have climbed ahead of the Jazz in the standings to be only one spot away from a playoff position.

With Deron Williams now with the Nets, I am now a New Jersey fan. That's the way I generally am with basketball: I tend to follow players and THEN the teams they play for. That's why I won't root for the Miami Heat (with quitter Lebron James) but instead tend to support the Boston Celtics and the San Antonio Spurs with their retinues of talented and gutsy team-oriented players.

More on Arab Unrest in Middle East

Massive anti-government protests in many Arab nations have either toppled regimes (Tunisia, Egypt), turned into a bloody civil war (Libya), are in progress with mass demonstrations (Bahrain, Yemen), or are being desperately forestalled by government through hasty reform measures (Saudi Arabia). In all countries, one common thread unites them: the political leadership has been closed off to the general population for decades, both in terms of them being able to pick their leaders and of those leaders having to be held accountable for their decisions. In the USA, popular sentiment is with the people although most of the challenged authorities have friendly relations with America. This country is also heavily dependent on foreign oil, supplies of which are being threatened in countries like Libya, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia. However...

I have heard the argument promoted by advocates for off-shore drilling (either off Florida, Virginia, or California) and in northern Alaska that "home-grown" oil will make us independent of those other unstable and often unfriendly oil producing nations and keep the prices down. While it is true that with more domestically produced petroleum we would at least be better protected from a complete shutdown of our oil supply (an unlikely possibility considering the diversity of petroleum sources across the world), the actual price of oil would still be based on world market standards and would be reflective of the overall price worldwide. Better to keep pushing hard for alternatives to petroleum for meeting our energy demands.

In Libya, the most bloodied nation among these uprisings, the entrenched leadership there has resorted to terrorism and war to keep their hold on power. Gadhafi is one of those deplorable people on this planet who, seeing himself as a leader of people, in term regards those people as his property instead of regarding himself as their servant. Since he doesn't seem capable of understanding that "his" people despise him, it looks as if he will only be toppled through force of arms, sad to say, with many having to sacrifice themselves to achieve this.

Wildfires Proliferating in Florida

It looks as if we in Florida are in for a rather severe stretch for the next couple of months, with wildfires proliferating throughout the state. This year's rate is much higher than last year's, due largely to the scarcity of rain, low humidity, and high winds. A formula for disaster, as I recall, that led to the scary 1998 fire season with its firestorms and even a county-wide evacuation (Flagler). My home Alachua county has not been spared, with several fires flaring up over the past few days. Nothing has approached the city of Gainesville itself, though. Yet.

I don't consider my home neighborhood at much of a risk of being inundated by a fire, but the smoke-laden air from fires even more than a hundred miles away can be almost unbearable to breathe if the wind is blowing the wrong way. For me, that would screw up a lot of my outdoors fitness activities, effectively driving me indoors. For others, especially those with breathing infirmities, it could cause much more serious problems.

Let's hope we get some precipitation, humidity, and calmer winds. And also that some bonehead won't start an uncontrollable fire with careless and illegal burning!

Brats and Bouncers

Lately at my local YMCA swimming pool, as the temperatures have climbed, so has the pool population density. Good for the YMCA, bad for me...

I keep thinking back to that South Park episode that features spoiled brat Eric Cartman trying to avoid the throng of little kids while going to the public swimming pool. His gripe was that they tended to pee in the water; my gripe with them is that they just get in my way. So they really aren't any different from the elderly ladies who go there for water aerobics, an activity that basically involves bouncing up and down in the water (thus I call them "bouncers").

I am trying to build up my swimming endurance to the point where I can just use the 25-meter lanes and completely avoid the shallow section. I may not be quite ready for the lanes yet, but I might just have to go ahead and take the "plunge". For I have had it with the brats and the bouncers.

Sunday afternoon: little kids all over the place. For someone who just wants to swim in a straight line and come back in the shallow end, trying to avoid them can become an exercise in futility. Monday was a different story: I went to the pool at 11 AM on a school day, thinking that I would avoid any hassles with the kids being at school. Wrong. Renegade bouncers (without a structured water aerobics class) were spread out throughout the shallow part, taking up way too much of the pool. I managed to find one little section that I thought I could swim back and forth in, but these ladies seemed to take a perverse sort of pleasure in drifting directly into my path. Finally, after only 20 laps I gave up and left the pool.

Maybe all is for the better anyway, if I want to become an endurance swimmer. I know I can physically handle the longer laps; my hangup is more psychological and simply won't be overcome without pushing through and gaining positive-reinforcing experiences. So either tomorrow or Friday I'll start those longer laps, which run through the pool's deep section. Hey, they've always got a lifeguard, hopefully prepared to pull my drowning ass out of the water!

Early Spring and Allergies For Me

Yesterday the unusually early and warm spring here in northern Florida hit me with full force. The previous day I spent two hours outside cutting down overgrown branches from trees around my yard. That in itself wasn't very helpful to my pollen allergies. Then yesterday I went out on a bicycle ride around the far northern part of Gainesville. The wind was a brutal 25 mph coming out of the south and the temperatures were climbing into the eighties on this, the last day of February. I finished my quite unpleasant ride after 73 minutes, but I'm afraid the effects went on much longer. I had since been suffering from all of the symptoms of the allergies I have undergone in previous years, in particular the nasal congestion, sneezing, and very dry, red eyes.

I don't remember having severe allergies like this last year, but then again back then in mid-February we were still experiencing temperatures dipping down to freezing. I used to take Zyrtec to help with the symptoms, but that made me annoyingly drowsy and I switched to Claritin, a less effective remedy but one with which I can function more effectively. Hopefully, these allergies will lift soon and I can enjoy life a little more. But I don't plan to stop doing what I usually do in spite of them.

Great Florida Birding Trail...Trail?

This is a sign going west on NW 39th Avenue here in Gainesville. It appears to be pointing directly at the adjacent cemetery, but I think it was meant for NW 43rd Street, at the next traffic light. But if you think that the Great Florida Birding Trail runs along that street, then you are sadly mistaken. For the Great Florida Birding Trail, it turns out, is not really a trail at all. It mystically appears at various locations throughout the state wherever the state park service has concluded that birds hang out. The "trail" part is within park boundaries; to get there, forget hiking!

Here is the website for the Great Florida Birding Trail. For all practical purposes, it is just a repackaged presentation of Florida's state park system. And yes, I guess birds fit into it, sure. But it's not exactly as if the state of Florida issued a decree to birds to tell them to hang out there! Birds are wild creatures and live everywhere. I observe and hear several different species of wild birds whenever I walk around my block. I doubt that they are all that different from those I would encounter at Devil's Millhopper a couple of miles down the road (and the actual target for the above-pictured sign). Yeah, I bet the same sorts of birds even congregate at that cemetery!

Instead of burning up gasoline traveling to parks just to see birds, why not just look around you where you live and get to know the amazing diversity of wild avian life thriving there, smack dab in the midst of (God forbid) HUMANITY. On the other hand, these parks all have their own features that may draw visitors. But just to see birds on the Great Florida Birding "Trail"? Oh, please...

Curious About Kakuro

Kakuro has been my favorite puzzle for more than three years. Also known as "cross sums", it resembles more a crossword puzzle than its more popular cousin sudoku, only of course with numerals (a 1-9 range like sudoku) instead of letters filling in the boxes. But I find that kakuro exercises my logical faculties more than sudoku, and I have gotten quite good at it with my focus on the more difficult puzzles found in books like Mensa Kakuro, Black Belt Kakuro, and Kakuro Challenge.

Just three books with tough kakuro games. When I am in a large bookstore like Barnes and Nobles or the soon-to-be-defunct Borders, I see shelf after shelf of sudoku puzzles but only a handful of kakuro books. Why? Is there something wrong with kakuro that makes people want to avoid it? Or maybe there is only a relatively small, finite number of puzzles that can be constructed...

Ha, that last notion is ridiculous, so it must be that people either find kakuro to be too easy, too difficult, or just plain boring. Or maybe it's similar to indie/alternative music not being played on broadcast radio: the corporate-powers-that-be just don't see its potential popularity and simply won't promote it.

All I really know is that now I have exhausted all of the available books providing more advanced-level kakuro puzzles. Now I have to wait for each Thursday when my newspaper Gainesville Sun publishes their excellent, albeit small, kakuro puzzle. Not enough!

By the way, my blog spell-check recognizes "sudoku" as a word but not "kakuro". Corporate power Google. There you go.

Karno's Jr High Track Coach...and Life

In his book Ultramarathon Man, extreme endurance runner Dean "Karno" Karnazes gives a brief summary of his growing years, featuring some people who influenced him. Prominent among them was Karno's junior high track coach Jack McTavish, an ex-servicemen and a stickler for discipline and toughness. He had a philosophy about running races, no matter how long the distance. Start out running hard, and run hard throughout the race. Pacing is for chumps. And at the end of the race, if it doesn't hurt like hell, then you didn't try hard enough. Hmmm...

In the eighth grade, we had a brief (to me, much too brief) period in our physical education class when we ran around the track. I don't even think we would had have that opportunity had it not been for substitute teacher Coach Anderson, a running fanatic and general hard-ass on the order of McTavish. I remember Anderson giving us all a short inspirational lecture, accompanied by having us all do a 600 yard run around the track (that was then a long distance run to most of us). Being completely ignorant of the concept of pacing, I shot out at the start of the race and left everyone behind. Just like McTavish. Then I gutted it out throughout the run and won it. Painfully. Like McTavish. So that dude definitely had something going there with his philosophy on running.

But I think this goes much further in application than running. I have lately been getting myself up and active early each day and pushing myself until late at night, when I am completely exhausted. No, I am not in pain doing this, but in a sense it does hurt to stretch myself this way, deliberately placing myself out of my comfort zone.

I began pushing myself more after I had been sidelined from running due to a pulled tendon in my leg. When I went back to read passages from Ultramarathon Man, I saw broader life applications to Karno's way of thinking. And starting out strong and pushing myself hard throughout the day, no matter what I am involved in, is the main lesson I've picked up.

Blockbuster Close-Out Sale Brings Out Types

Yesterday, the two remaining Blockbuster movie/game rental stores in Gainesville began their week-long close-out sale before they close their doors for the last time. Movies were going pretty cheap, so I took my son over to the closest one, arriving about five minutes after the sale began. Already the parking lot was packed; inside it were wall-to-wall people scavenging for previously "rental" DVDs. I looked around in disbelief: customers were walking around carrying massive stacks of DVDs that they intended to buy. One woman had filled a baby stroller with hers! I wondered to myself where these people were going to find the time to watch all of the movies they were buying. And anyway, most of them are available on television if you just have the patience to wait until one of the many movie channels puts them on their lineups. I concluded that sales like this, such as the semiannual Friends of the Library used book sale, bring out the hoarders and scavengers in our community. And another less pleasant type as well.

As I drove down to the sale, I reached the last traffic light before the Blockbuster store. I pulled into the right turn lane. The light was red and I was second in a line of cars. The car in front was stopped, looking for an opening in the passing traffic to make a turn. Suddenly, the driver behind me began to sit on his horn to make the front car go. He had no view of the traffic himself, but was obviously in a big hurry and not concerned about complicating factors (such as simple reality). Finally, the lead car turned and I was in front, with the light still red (in Florida, you can turn right on red if it's clear unless otherwise specified). I decided that I had enough of this jerk and just sat there, though, and waited for the light to turn green for me. This totally infuriated the man-in-a-hurry and he blasted his horn nonstop. When I finally did turn, he quickly veered past me on my left, still sounding his horn at me. I drove on to Blockbuster.

I went around to the back of the store and parked. When we walked around the corner to the front of the store, we saw how crowded the parking lot was...and that honking dude's car was just pulling in! Evidently, he had wanted to get to Blockbuster when it opened and had been delayed, consequently subjecting anyone in his path to his wrath. So yes, there was a third type there at Blockbuster's: the irrationally panicky impatient.

I'm sorry to see the demise of video rental stores. I know that one can order movies now through the mail or directly from the Internet. Fine. But it takes away the enjoyment from simply browsing through the video store, allowing an interesting title here or there to capture one's attention and curiosity. Now that resource is disappearing. I'm afraid that bookstores are next: Borders is closing 200 stores, including the one in Gainesville, complete with its own clearance sale...

Hoarders, scavengers, and irrationally impatient: CONVERGE!

Everyone else: GET OUT OF THEIR WAY!

Does Democracy Motivate Arab Protesters?

When I hear about all of the anti-government demonstrations going on throughout Arabic-speaking autocracies in the Middle East, I cringe a little when I hear in the press that they are pro-democracy protests. I cringe even more when I witness a supposedly professionally ethical, objective journalist in the midst of one such crowd of demonstrators, encouraging and egging them on. After all, I'm looking at what's happening in my own country and...

Even with the civics curriculum supposedly having been taught to children during their school days (in whatever form or designation it was presented), there seems to be a growing tendency in America for the losing side in elections to (1) cry foul, the election was stolen (2000, 2004 Bush wins), (2) cry foul, the candidate was ineligible (2008 Obama and the "birthers"), (3) cry foul, the winning candidate duped the voters into voting for him or her and thus is somehow not to be truly respected as the winner, and/or (4) cry foul, the process itself has been tainted by special interests who control the political parties and media. So, without even a smidgen of an educational background that would teach people that in a democracy, losers need to respect the winners as their legitimately chosen leaders, how in the world can we expect those continually pouring out into the streets in places like Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, or Bahrain to be putting their lives on the line "for democracy"?

I think that the people in these lands have different reasons for rising up against their governments. Not having another rational means to address their many grievances is the obvious motivation, but just having crossed a threshold of momentum with the magnitude of the demonstrations has emboldened anyone with an axe to grind about anything to protest. And that includes the many in these lands who believe that the state has been too secular and not respectful of their religion. Many of these want a theocracy, not a democracy.

Those demonstrating also include, probably to a higher extent, those whose past, present, and foreseeable futures are mired in poverty as they see their corrupt leaders siphoning off their nations' wealth for their own personal gain. A socialist state may be more to their liking, whether or not democratic institutions accompany it.

Democracy is a fragile and sophisticated institution that requires a certain ability among the population to accept others with differing points of view. But from what I have witnessed so far, there is too much of a "We: Good Guys...Them: Bad Guys...Make Bad Guys Disappear" atmosphere among those pushing for change for any sustainable, workable democracy to gain traction in these countries. Yet. But I don't decry anyone for trying. Still, journalists and the media need to step back and consider the diversity of motives involved here in these protests.

Also, for a true democracy to work to any effective degree, there has to be a judicial system that is generally respected by the population and which is not thought of as being simply the tool of whomever happens to be in power. And the military has to have a strong sense of duty as an institution subordinate to the duly elected powers, not a power unto itself to determine policy (or even if elected civilian leaders stay or go). These countries have a long, long way to go, I'm afraid.

Of course I hope that I'm wrong about things and that all of these countries that are currently in turmoil can transform themselves into societies within which the government serves the people and allows itself to be regularly held accountable, through free elections (implying a concomitant free press) and an independent judiciary. But that seems to be asking for an awful lot, awfully soon.

Gainesville Marathon Passes By as I Pass It Up

Today was the day of the LifeSouth Five Points of Life marathon/half-marathon here in Gainesville. I completely skipped it although I had considered just showing up to observe. I did run around the neighborhood for two miles this morning, doing this for the first time in a week and a half. I wanted to see how much, if any, I had healed from my IT band injury (a tendon inflammation around my right knee) from back in mid-January. I started out well (as usual), but after about a mile and a half began to feel that slight ache under my knee that I knew would eventually intensify into major pain if I continued much longer. So running is on hold, at least for the foreseeable future. That's all right, though, because only my running seems to be hampered by my leg injury.

Instead of running, I have been stepping up my fitness efforts in diverse areas: swimming, cycling, cross-trainer, weight training, walking...and that good old standby: yard work, bound to be more in demand as the temperatures seasonally rise. I am especially heartened by my swimming progress as I am gradually building up an endurance mirroring my running endurance.

Eventually, I'd like to return to running without pushing too hard or too far. I've already accomplished my marathon. Any future running will be done within reasonable parameters that take into account that I am a mortal human being with body parts susceptible to injury. My ideal scenario will be to mix running, swimming, and cycling throughout the week. Hey, wait a minute, that's the triathlon!

Arcade Fire Nets Grammy for Album

Arcade Fire just won the Grammy for best album of the year, The Suburbs. Arcade Fire, by the way, is an indie/alternative rock band whose music NEVER gets air play over broadcast radio. Instead, when I turn on my radio I hear: ancient songs from decades gone by, insipid kiddy-oriented pop, hip-hop drivel (or as Bo Diddley once termed it, "rap crap"), or jingoistic country sludge. Reality check for broadcasters: if Arcade Fire is so good, then why aren't you playing their music?

I just employed words like crap, sludge, and drivel in the previous paragraph to refer to the kind of music that I get on my radio. We did use to have a classical music station, but apparently that was deemed as too highbrow by the dean of journalism at the University of Florida when he switched the program format of Gainesville's public radio station to all-talk. Not that I object to their talk/news programming: I just wonder why we can't have at least SOME programming that fulfills me musically?

Someday, probably in the not-so-distant future, I'll take you on a little tour along my radio band and critique the various stations I encounter. But it may not be a very pleasant article to read!

Arcade Fire is one of my favorite bands. I have all three of their studio albums so far: Funeral, Neon Bible, and The Suburbs. Everything they've done, like with Radiohead, is eminently listenable. My favorite tune of theirs so far is Neighborhood #2 (Laika) (there are four "neighborhood" songs), from Funeral. But take it from me, just pick anything of theirs at random and you're bound to be pleased!

Stephen King's Full Dark No Stars

I have just read Stephen King's latest book Full Dark No Stars. It is a collection of four novellas, patterned after earlier works of his like Different Seasons and Four Past Midnight. The stories all explore the dark side of human nature, especially that element within "ordinary" people that causes them to justify themselves when hurting, even killing, others. There are many gruesome passages very descriptive in graphic carnage, so any squeamish readers who are prone to nightmares may take notice and avoid this book.

The first story is 1922, a first-person account of a Nebraska farmer who enlists the help of his teenage son to murder his own wife (and his son's mother). I'm not giving anything away here; it is the ramifications of that act that determine the story's flow and ending. In 1922, King accomplishes something pretty cool: the transpiring events can either be explained in real, psychological terms or in a paranormal framework (but not both). This intrigues me and is why I recommend it (but not for its gore and violence).

Big Driver is another of Stephen King's many stories featuring a writer as the protagonist and a demented, violent psychopath from the country as the chief adversary. Probably my favorite story of the four, Big Driver nevertheless contains elements of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and King's earlier novel Desperation, neither of which I cared for very much.

Fair Extension presents a familiar story structure: a man with terminal cancer (and a bad case of jealousy toward his best friend) makes a deal with the devil. Only this time the terms are not the protagonist's soul (by this time in human history, souls are almost worthless to the Big Bad Dude), but rather that the stricken character's woes be transferred to someone else that he knows (sounds a lot like the King/Bachman novel Thinner). What struck me about Fair Extension was its unexpected ending, which violated the unspoken rule about "deals with the devil" stories.

The last story, A Good Marriage, was inspired (if you can call it inspiration) by the news about serial killer Dennis Rader, who lived a double life for decades as a community-active family man while at the same time invading women's homes and brutally torturing and murdering them. But King makes the serial killer's wife the protagonist in his story, and once again the violence ensues, along with the self-justification.

There are common elements to all four tales in Full Dark No Stars. In each the protagonist either embarks on a trail of violence or endorses the suffering of others with a sense of justification. But just as important--no, even more so (with the exception of Fair Extension), other people arise as willing accomplices to the acts or as a means of justifying them. And that aspect scares the #@$% out of me more than any of the suspense or violence in the stories. Maybe Stephen King would be happy to know this, moralist that I believe he is deep down inside.