Stars are Bright Over Gainesville Tonight

I stepped outside tonight (it's between 10 and 11 as I write this) and noticed, for a change, how clear the sky is and how bright the stars are.  No clouds or moon are in sight to dim the view.  The early autumn evening sky is not exactly known for its splendor, but looking up in a westward direction the "summer triangle" of first-magnitude stars Deneb, Altair, and Vega highlight their respective constellations of Cygnus (the swan), Aquila (the eagle), and Lyra (the lyre).  I look southward, and just above the nearby tall pine trees and slightly to the east is Fomalhaut, another bright star, in the constellation Piscis Austrinus (the southern fish).  In the north, above the North Star, or Polaris, is the constellation Cepheus (the king), looking like an inverted ramshackle house.  Just east of Cepheus is the relatively bright Cassiopeia (the queen), looking like a "w" or "m" on its side, depending on how you look at it. Further down in the eastern sky can be found Perseus and Andromeda, two constellations, along with Casseiopeia, that are a part of the Greek Perseus mythology.  But to me the constellation that represents the essence of the fall season is Pegasus (the flying horse), which right now is passing near to overhead.  It is a very large constellation, not faint but not that bright, either.  Its dominant feature is the rectagular box of stars from which the horse's head and limbs extend.  I look down from Pegasus to the lower southeastern sky where lies Cetus (the whale).  It, too, usually isn't very bright...but tonight I see a pretty bright star there.  Is that Mira, I wonder...Mira is a variable star that undergoes great extremes in its brightness.  I'll have to find out about it.  Yes, the stars are out tonight, for sure...I can even make out fainter stars and constellations, such as the Zodiac's Capricornus, Aquarius, and Pisces, that are usually invisible from my yard.  It's too bad that conditions here weren't like this when we had our recent "Supermoon" eclipse...

Just Finished Reading Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe

Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, which I just finished reading, is a historically-based fictional story in the setting of late twelfth-century England, during the reign of Richard II "Lionheart".  It centers around the social and political conflict there between noble descendants of the Norman invasion of 1066 and those nobles of native Saxon ancestry...and it delves into the precarious status of Jews in England at that time.  Various parties have returned from the Crusades in Palestine...among them King Richard (disguised as the Black Knight) and the Knights Templar, led by Sir Brian de-Bois Gilbert, a Norman nobleman.  Prince John, Richard's brother, is planning to usurp the throne of England in his absence, only to discover that he has escaped captivity in Europe and is now in England.  The "main" character of Wilfred of Ivanhoe is a young Saxon knight who had gone with King Richard in the Crusade and has returned.  His father Cedric has disowned him after discovering Wilfred's love for the Lady Rowena of high Saxon nobility, whom Cedric wants to wed to the head Saxon pretender to the throne.  And then there is the Jewish moneylender Isaac and his compassionate daughter Rebecca...along with the forest outlaws (generally benevolent in nature) thrown into the mix...and you have several different story lines going on at the same time.  There are tournaments to test the knights' swordplay, along with ambushes, captivities, and daring rescues...but remarkably there really isn't all that much of the title character of Ivanhoe.  One thing that surprised me upon reading this 1820 novel of Scott was his sympathetic focus on the plight of Jews in England and the way they were treated there...especially by the ruling classes.  On the other hand, from the convenient hindsight of our politically correct world in 2015, Isaac, with his miserly nature, was portrayed in a very negative, stereotypical fashion...

There is plenty of knightly, noble action that you might expect from an adventure yarn like Ivanhoe, but this book is also very heavy on dialogue and the discussion of social, historical, ethical, and religious ideas.  So on one level, you could read it for the surface story (which I understand has been adapted a number of times to the screen)...one another level, though, it levels some pretty serious charges at folks who like to loudly trumpet their religion over others without actually practicing it: in other words, religious hypocrites and bigots...

My Favorite Music At This Stage of 2015

Musically speaking, my preference is for independent/alternative rock...although sometimes I like to sit back and listen to classical or ambient music.  My favorite acts are Regina Spektor, Radiohead, Kasabian, Sufjan Stevens, Beck, Arcade Fire, the now-defunct (hopefully just temporarily) Gorillaz, and Spoon...in that order. Of late, I have been listening to recent album releases by Sufjan Stevens (Carrie and Lowell), Kasabian (48:13), and Spoon (They Want My Soul).  Aside from the rotation of hit songs played on my local alternative rock station, WHHZ/100.5, I have spent much of my music listening time with these three albums.  Although Kasabian's Treat and Spoon's Rainy Taxi are standout tracks on their respective albums, it is Sufjan's Carrie and Lowell that contains the best stuff, with four songs...Death With Dignity, Should Have Known Better, Fourth of July, and Blue Bucket of Gold...being some of the best he has ever done.  As for the radio songs I like the most, there are Awolnation's Hollow Moon, Beck's Dreams, Bear Hands' Agora, and the Cold War Kids' First...

I'm eagerly awaiting the release of Beck's new album and for Regina Spektor and Radiohead to come out with something new.  Regina always seems to have at least a couple of memorable tracks on her albums, but I was disappointed in the last one from Radiohead, titled King of Limbs...  

Speaking of music from the radio, I had reported a couple of days ago that WUFT had begun broadcasting their classical music station on FM-102.7.  But, alas, only a day after noting this, they went back off the air!  Maybe they were just testing...or maybe some trouble arose.  I'm still tuning in from time to time with hopes that they're back on the air for good...

Just Finished Reading Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings

The Way of Kings, which came out in 2010, is the first book in what promises to be many over the next several years of fantasy writer Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive series.  Although I have had my share of fantasy reading over the last few years, I began this new series because of my respect toward Sanderson and his writing after reading his excellent Mistborn series...and then reading how he he salvaged Robert Jordan's protracted The Wheel of Time series after the original author died...

The setting of The Way of Kings is an imaginary world with a tumultuous history...in other words, a typical fantasy world.  There are legendary heroic figures from the distant past called Knights Radiant and the Heralds while monsters abounded: the Voidbringers.  As usual in fantasy fiction, our more modern technology is suppressed while alternative forms are introduced: certain gemstones contain special powers to those who know how to use them and a strangely sentient phenomenon called a "high-storm" imparts power to these stones when passing through.  Also, those Knights Radiants had left behind special armor and swords with super powers to those who possessed them: the Shardblades and Shardplates.  Sanderson was very thorough about describing this sometimes nightmarish world, but his main strength here...he has done in other stories...is his character development...

The people in The Way of Kings belong to a more medieval society where royalty, knights, slaves, and wars abound and the weapons of choice are swords and spears.  There seems to be a great deal of emphasis placed on the color of one's eyes: the lighter they are, the higher the position in society they enjoy.  Four characters present the story from their points of view: the reluctant assassin slave Szeth,  the noble and persecuted bridgeman Kaladin, the young scholar girl Shallan, and the king's uncle, brave warrior Dalinar...who, during high-storms, keeps having recurring visions of the past and warnings about the future...

I can see how Brandon Sanderson can eventually turn this series into another overblown fantasy library as did Robert Jordan and Terry Goodkind with more than ten volumes to read through.  However, if he can avoid Jordan's mistake of introducing too many characters and subplots, we might have here an epic series.  It seems to me that, at least in this first book, Sanderson compares and contrasts two often disparate meanings of "nobility"...and applies them to his characters.  I expect this to continue with his next book.  So far, we only have two books in this Stormlight Archive series...it will probably be well into my senior years before it's finished...

Classical Music Now on 102.7-FM in Gainesville

Finally, a strong classical music station is back on broadcast radio here in Gainesville, Florida.  WUFT-FM, which as the University of Florida's College of Journalism radio station, formerly aired classical music as part of a mixed schedule combined with news, National Public Radio programs, and late night jazz programming.  But a few years ago, it went all news/talk and relegated its classical music to a station that could only be accessed online or with a special HD-equipped radio.  Now, it's back on the airwaves...although on a different frequency than I thought it would be.  I was surfing the radio last night when I discovered a powerful new station playing classical music just before I got to that annoying country station on 103.7 kHz.  I checked it out today, and it is that promised (back in June) WUFT classical station, broadcasting on 102.7.  I wasted no time in programming my car radio settings to give me quick access to this gem...

My Belated 2015 Baseball Playoff Picks

I should have written this yesterday, before the American League wild card playoff game between the New York Yankees and the Houston Astros...won by the latter 3-0 at Yankee Stadium.  That result affects how I look on the upcoming games, since my preference among all five AL playoff teams was in the following order:

1-Yankees, 2-Toronto, 3-Houston, 4-Kansas City, 5-Texas

Now I'm rooting for Toronto to handle Texas in their upcoming series while hoping that the Astros can capitalize on Kansas City's late-season slide and upset them in their series.

In the National League, my preferences are in the following order:

1-New York Mets, 2-Chicago Cubs, 3-Pittsburgh, 4-Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-St. Louis

The Cubs play their single wild card game against the Pirates tonight. Whoever wins this contest will face St. Louis in the next round, while the Mets are already slated to go up against the Dodgers. I think that this one-and-done wild card game format is asisine...especially considering the 162 regular season games played by each team to reach this point...not to mention that the true measure of a team is expressed over its starting pitching rotation in a multiple-game series.  That rotation is meaningless in a one-game playoff.  Also, I don't think that since both Pittsburgh and Chicago had better regular season records than the division-winning Mets and Dodgers, they should have to play against the Cardinals, who had baseball's best regular season record.  Instead, once the wild card round is completed, the four teams left in each league should be seeded according to their regular season win-loss records...

As for the World Series, since the Yankees are out of the picture, I'm going for Toronto to win it all.  Now all of this, understand, is based on which teams I want to succeed...not which ones I think are most likely to succeed.  If I went by who I thought was most likely to get to the World Series, I would still pick Toronto in the American League and the Cubs-Pirates winner on the National Side...with the Blue Jays winning the series...

Just Finished Reading Isaac Asimov's Foundation's Edge (Again)

Foundation's Edge is the fourth book in the late science fiction writer Isaac Asimov's Foundation series.  He wrote it, along with the final installment, Foundation and Earth, decades after the first three books.  Unlike those stories, the two concluding novels run together with the same protagonists, based on the same time period...which is 500 years after the beginning of the Foundation as psychohistorian Hari Seldon established it.  It's a little awkward for me to refer in the past tense to something that supposedly might happen some 25,000 years in the future, but since it's all make-believe anyway, who really cares?

In Foundation's Edge, there is another crisis in the galaxy as the Foundation, following Seldon's Plan, attempts to establish the Second Galactic Empire only a thousand years after the fall of the First.  At the midway point in this quest, it looks as if the Foundation can militarily take over the rest of the galaxy and prematurely establish the new empire.  But the novel's protagonist, a Foundation councilman named Golan Trevize, suspects that the Second Foundation, a shadowy Seldon-established counterpart to the First Foundation and which is composed of psychics, is manipulating events (and his Foundation) behind the scenes.  After revealing his suspicions to the Mayor (ruler of the Foundation), she sends him out into space to find the elusive Second Foundation, under the guise of seeking Earth, the mythical original planet of humanity.  Trevize is accompanied by an aging historian named Janov Pelorat, who is sincere in his search for Earth and isn't in on Trevize's secret mission.  Ultimately, as the story unwinds, Trevize finds himself as the focal point of a three-way life-or-death confrontation between civilizations vying for control of the galaxy.  Who will win? Trevise seems to have the answer...but what does all this have to do with robots?

Well, if you haven't been reading the Foundation series, I doubt that much of the above makes a lot of sense to you.  Let's just say that Foundation's Edge is the first book in a two-part conclusion to the Foundation series.  It deals with Golan Trevize's decision about the fate of the galaxy...and the second, Foundation and Earth (which I'm about to start reading for the second time) concerns the significance of that decision.  Good sci-fi reading...I recommend this series, as well as Asimov's Robot and Empire series...

Attended Yesterday's MLS Match Between Orlando City and Montreal

Yesterday Melissa and I traveled down to Orlando to watch a Major League Soccer match between the Orlando City Iron Lions and the Montreal Impact, two teams that are fighting for the sixth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Division...and the regular season is nearing a close.  Orlando, in seventh place, had to beat the Impact in order to at least stay in the hunt...but this match was tied until late in the second half, when Orlando kicked in the winning goal: final score Orlando City 2, Montreal 1.  In case you're wondering about the use of "City" in the team's name, it's just an affectation that MLS teams (all based the United States and Canada) use to imitate their more historically famous counterparts overseas.  For example, we have in the league "Sporting" Kansas City, "Real" Salt Lake, and the Houston "Dynamo" as well.  Still, I think it's silly to not just say "Orlando"...

Before the game we visited the nearby upscale mall where we ate at the Cheesecake Factory.  I recommend their crab bites appetizer and the pulled pork sandwich (with cole slaw inside).  Sitting around there looking at the patrons made me realize what an international magnet the Orlando area is, especially with its nearby Universal and Disney World theme parks...which as I understand is a major reason that MLS granted Orlando an expansion team franchise beginning this year.  When we got into the stadium, which is the Citrus Bowl, the international flavor of both teams as well as of the fans was prominent.  The enthusiasm that the Orlando City fans showed their team was comparable to that of Florida Gator football fans at the "Swamp" here in Gainesville.  I did my part, loudly yelling "GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!!!!" with each of the home team's two goals.  After noting a friendly couple sitting nearby leaving about ten minutes before the end of the game, we decided to prudently follow suit a couple of minutes later in order to beat the stampeding exiting crowd and traffic logjam...but not before seeing that final goal...

My impression of Orlando City as a professional soccer team is very favorable, although they have an expected modest record in the league their first year (11 wins, 13 losses, 8 draws).  Their talent level probably drops a bit after their handful of standouts, but they play very well as a team and seem to be giving their utmost to the game throughout.  And that, for me as a sports fan, makes them worth following. Of course, I'm not too fond of how they rip off the fans when selling drinks at the stadium...Melissa had to pay $5 for a simple bottle of water (without a lid) and two fans sitting in front of us shelled out $22 for a couple of cans of Heineken beer...

The idea of going to the soccer match was Melissa's, as a way of honoring me on my birthday.  We both enjoyed the game (although she's not exactly a die-hard soccer fan) and created some wonderful memories together...

Nor'easter Storm, Not Joaquin, the Concern Along US East Coastal States

Yesterday I was watching the Weather Channel when New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was giving detailed storm preparation instructions.  He discussed the two southernmost Jersey counties and how they were especially susceptible to flooding.  Around the governor on the TV screen, the Weather Channel had "Joaquin" in large letters and was showing projected paths for this hurricane, which was then (and still now) almost stationary in the Bahamas...and growing stronger and stronger.  But Christie wasn't addressing Joaquin: he was referring to the massive cold front storm, commonly known as a "nor'easter", that was spreading up the east coast of the United States.  He said that his sources had predicted heavy flooding and winds up to 75 mph (minimal hurricane force winds).  Crews were on the beaches desperately trying to deposit enough sand there to hold back the storm surge in order to prevent ocean encroachment on the inland...

Today the focus seems to be on the Carolinas, especially lowland South Carolina where 12 to 18 inches of rain are forecast over the weekend.  It is another part of this nor'easter, not related to Joaquin.  As for the hurricane, at this writing it remains in its "spot" in the Bahamas and has strengthened to a powerful Category Four with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph, but its projected future path has shifted during the past 24 hours from hitting the US mainland between North Carolina and Massachusetts early next week to completely missing land, going much further east in the Atlantic.  The funny thing about this is that, among the several computer models for its trajectory given a couple of days ago, the "European" model (which was the one model that worked with Hurricane Sandy back in 2012) diverged greatly from the others in that it had Joaquin doing just what it is now predicted to do and miss everyone...except possibly Bermuda...

My September 2015 Running Report

In September, I ran more carefully in order to recover from plantar fasciitis in my right foot.  I missed the first five days, but ran daily for the rest of the month.  I ran for a total of 171.8 miles.  My longest single run was for 5 miles, while over the course of a single day my longest daily mileage was 12.1 miles.  If I continue to improve as I have over the past three and a half weeks, I should be ready for some long-distance races early in 2016...

In the Middle of Reading Four Different Books

As is the case from time to time, I have found myself in the middle of reading a number of books at once.  This is because I read circumstantially...that is, if I am at a specific time and place I'll have a certain book available to read while in other situations others will be available. I also avail myself of audiobooks and CDs that I check out from the library.  For example, I am listening to Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe (by means of CD) whenever I drive...I'm about two thirds through it.  I have an audiobook version of Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings, the first (and rather lengthy) book in his new, ongoing Stormlight Archive fantasy series, that I listen to on my little MP3 player at convenient times.  I'm at the halfway point in that one.  I'm also midway through Isaac Asmov's fourth book (paperback edition) in his Foundation series, titled Foundation's Edge, which I've read before several years ago but have forgotten the details.  And I have just begun Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, a very long book whose contents don't seem transferable to the cinema, although more than one movie...including even a musical, of all things...have been made from it.  I say this because much of the text is composed of Hugo's musings on society, morality, and religion...how can that be effectively portrayed on the big screen?  No, I never did see any of the movies...I like to form my own internal images of the characters and locales from the written story before I see how others interpreted them...

All of the above I checked out from my local public library.  And with each of them, I searched the books online on the library website and placed holds on them so that they would notify me when they were ready for pickup...and at the library branch closest to me.  The only exception is the audiobook, which downloads directly from the online site that checks them out.  Now that's not to say that I don't have a sizable and growing library of books in my personal possession.  I need to get them organized and begin to read some of the many that I haven't yet read...most of them are science fiction novels and short story collections.  I'm also gradually accumulating books on my Kindle.  However, the public library is a great resource for reading and I have of late been heavily relying on it for my books...

Major Lunar Eclipse Sunday Evening

The moon will be offering a nighttime show on Sunday when it passes through the Earth's shadow, culminating in a lunar eclipse.  The effect will be a darkening...although not complete obscuring...of the moon...for around three hours for observers in the Eastern United States.  The total eclipse (the moon completely inside the Earth's shadow), for our EDT time zone, will be from 10:11 pm until 11:23 pm with the partial phases starting and ending 1-2 hours before and after.  The total eclipse will be visible in eastern North America, South America, western Africa and western Europe.  East Asia and Pacific Oceania will completely miss it, even the partial eclipse, because they'll be in the middle of the day when it happens...and you can't see a full moon at that time...

This event is being called the "supermoon eclipse" or the "super blood moon".  The reason for the "super" designation is that the moon will appear to be slightly larger than usual because it will be at its perigee (closest point in its orbit) to Earth, while "blood" seems to refer to the ongoing string of consecutive eclipses six months apart.  The earthsky.org website can furnish more information about this if you're interested...

If we're fortunate, the skies in Gainesville will be clear enough to watch this lunar eclipse, although in recent weeks a clear night sky hasn't exactly been something to count on.  I'd like to thank my Facebook and workplace friend Evelyn for having posted about this upcoming astronomical show, giving me some forewarning about it...

Grateful for Break from Torrential Rains

Not one who enjoys extremes in weather, I am heartened by the reprieve we've been getting the last few days from the nearly devastating rainfall that has pounded and flooded us this past summer.  And now it's fall season...not that a technical astronomical event as yesterday's fall equinox, with the sun's position on the elliptic passing across the celestial equator on its way into the southern celestial hemisphere, automatically calls for an instant climatic change where I live.  But still, I'm looking forward to our weather pattern shifting from a tropical (and humid) orientation, with storms brewing in the Gulf of Mexico and then passing over us, to one more temperate (and dryer), with cold fronts sweeping down from the northwest.  In any event, the temperatures may still be pretty hot outside, but at least the relative lack of precipitation is allowing the water that has saturated the ground to recede.  Of course, that's not saying that there won't be a big storm today, tomorrow, or the next day...

Baseball Great Yogi Berra Passes Away

The great Yogi Berra, who as New York Yankees catcher over the course of his playing career won ten World Series championships and three American League MVP awards, has passed away at age ninety.  As a little kid growing up in the early 1960s, I quite naturally assumed that he was named after then-cartoon superstar Yogi Bear.  I didn't understand his greatness then, but I did appreciate the baseball card of him I collected from the backs of Post cereal boxes...along with those of other early 1960s baseball players, including his teammates Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris.  Later on I came to associate the name "Yogi Berra" with the chocolate drink Yoo-Hoo, which he promoted for a long time on TV commercials.  It was only later in life that I came to esteem not only the on-field accomplishments of this iconic sports figure, but also his humanity and humor.  And, of course, all of those incredible "Yogi-isms"...many of which I'm hearing on ESPN as they pay homage to his memory: "If you come to a fork in the road, take it", "The game isn't over until it's over" "It's like deja vu all over again", "I really didn't say everything I said", "Baseball is 90 per cent mental.  The other half is physical", ....and on and on it went.  As his off-beat quotes piled up over the years, there began to be a question as to whether some of them may not have come from him.  Oh well, I love hearing them, anyway...

Just Finished Reading John Updike's Rabbit, Run

John Updike, who passed away in 2009, was a writer of both short stories and novels, as well as serving as a regular critic for New Yorker magazine.  He was also someone whose works I never got around to read, and only did so this time because Stephen King's most recent novel Finders Keepers led me to him.  Although Updike wrote a lot, his most famous work seems to be the Rabbit series, the first book of which he published in 1960 and spaced subsequent installments in approximately ten-year intervals as he examined the unfolding life of its main character, Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom...

Set in 1959, Rabbit, Run, as the first book is titled, sees Harry, our "hero", at age 26 in his home town of Mount Judge, Pennsylvania (a mythical suburb of Updike's mythical city of Brewer).  He is a former high school star basketball player and can't seem to let go in his mind of his old "glory days".  He lives near both his parents and those of his wife Janice, whom he had married after discovering that she was pregnant with his first child.  Janice is now pregnant again, and Harry is a door-to-door salesman for kitchen gadgets.  Being something of a dissatisfied "seeker" in life, but never really knowing exactly what he wants or in which direction to look, he starts up his car one night and spontaneously takes off in it, going several hundred miles south and west before returning to Brewer.  But he has left his wife, and the story takes off from this disturbing beginning.  How it develops and ends I'll leave you to read for yourself...

Self-discovery and personal fulfillment in the face of social obligations and responsibilities is a theme I found in Rabbit, Run.  The problem with the character of Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom is that, while he is continually upsetting the latter, he is clueless about the former...ultimately projecting the impression of himself as being something of a selfish, manipulative jerk.  I never could get into this character's mind or find a basic for empathy/sympathy.  Sure, we all have that struggle going on in our lives between what we want for ourselves and how we respond to others' expectations of us.  But Harry never seems to learn anything from his experiences: he is so focused on whatever situation he is currently in that he cannot see beyond it...and the ramifications of his often destructive behavior...

Not only did I find Harry a disagreeable character, but I didn't get how Updike portrayed his thinking. Although he is 26 and fully engaged in what people would call "adult" behavior, in dialogue Harry speaks like a little kid...reminding me of Dennis the Menace's way of talking ("Jeepers, Mister Wilson!")  Yet, when he is alone and the author wants to express his thoughts through the general narrative, Harry comes across as a very serious, contemplative man.  Was this discrepancy intentional on the part of Updike?  Who knows...but I had difficulty with his protagonist as someone who I could imagine as being real, and that was a huge problem for me with this book...

As far as I know, the Rabbit series is comprised of four books.  The next one is titled Rabbit Redux.  Seeing how it is set in time several years later than Rabbit, Run, it might be intriguing to see how Updike developed Harry Angstrom's character, if at all...

Return to Running, Albeit Cautiously

I am cautiously advancing once again with my running, being careful not to cause any aggravation to my right foot, which I now see is a case of plantar fasciitis.  I do the appropriate stretches recommended for this affliction before running and then run on a cushioned surface while wearing thick-soled running shoes.  I will continue to train this way at least until the end of October...and then I'll see where I stand.  I still maintain hopes of running some long-distance races down the line...but they'll most likely be early in 2016.  The main ones ahead of me are the Ocala Half-Marathon in January and Gainesville's FivePoints Half-Marathon the following month.  I had been considering trying to complete a marathon-distance race sometime this winter, but the foot problem has put that idea on hold...unless I make dramatic progress during the next few weeks...

Miami Dolphins, Especially Head Coach, Display Indifference About Loss

I watched in dismay today's Miami Dolphins football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.  Dismay is the proper word for a number of reasons.  For one, they lost, pure and simple...and in the worst possible way: Jacksonville won on a last-minute field goal, 23-20, after they moved into field goal range because a Dolphins defensive player angrily shoved back at a Jaguars player after the end of a play and was called for a personal foul.  As the camera followed this player walking back to the sidelines, he didn't seem particularly perturbed at what he had done...and neither, it appeared, did any of the other Miami players.  In fact, the Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin not only remained completely taciturn and untalkative at the game's end (and for most of it as well), but he actually had the nerve to clap when Jacksonville kicked through the winning field goal with only seconds left.  What is it with this guy and his team?  Where is the kind of passion I see in other NFL and college football teams?  Why should the Dolphins organization expect me, as one of their fans who followed them since 1968, to feel anything other than abject apathy about that team's performance when their own coach and players seem indifferent?  Miami has a lot of talent out there...although they do seem to have some issues on their offensive line.  Still, they have an excellent quarterback in Ryan Tannehill and enough key players to fill in gaps in their lineup.  After all, every team has its own weaknesses.  And I'm okay with the Dolphins having their own.  But weaknesses or not, they just don't seem to care that much whether they win or lose...

Just Finished Reading Isaac Asimov's Prelude to Foundation

The late science fiction writer Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) originally published his Foundation series as a trilogy in the 1950s...or least that's how people in general regarded it, for it wasn't until the 1980s that he added the final two books to make it a quintet.  And upon rereading Book Three, titled Second Foundation, I also felt that the good author didn't properly finish the series and needed to add something else to make it a whole.  I've read all five books before, but time has passed since my first voyage through Asimov's Foundation universe and I forgot many of the more detailed facets of his saga.  During that last decade of his life, he also wrote two prequel novels dealing with how the pivotal character of Hari Seldon came to develop his theory of psychohistory that drove the narrative in the series.  These two, Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation, I hadn't read before.  But before taking on Book Four, Foundation's Edge, once more, I decided  to take a little detour and read the first one...

In case you haven't read any of my other Foundation series book reviews on this blog, let me lay down the "foundation" of the story as it pertains to Prelude to Foundation.  It has been more than 10,000 years since our galaxy has been unified under a single political authority called the Empire, with its capital based on a very densely population planet, called Trantor, near the galaxy's center. Unlike the case with Star Trek or Star Wars, the intelligent population is entirely human.  The origins of humankind have been lost to history, although there are myths that people originally came from one planet, with Aurora and Earth coming up often in speculation.  Also, there were apparently very advanced robots back then at the beginning, too...whether or not this information is ultimately relevant to the book is up to you to find out.  In any event, Hari Seldon is a mathematician by training from an outlying planet in the empire who visits Trantor and gives a speech in which he states the possibility of developing a new science, which he calls "psychohistory" and combines psychology, history, sociology, and mathematics to be able to make long-term forecasts about the future state of the Empire.  Upon being notified of Seldon's speech, the sitting Emperor seeks him out in order have him propogandize the Empire's agenda...in spite of Seldon's informing him that his theory has yet to be developed and his ultimate conclusions about the Empire's future are as yet unknown.  With the aid of others, Seldon flees into the very complex underground world of Trantor, encounters very disparate societies...and tries to hit upon a workable strategy for developing his psychohistory.

Having read the Foundation series before and picking up on some of the hints that Asimov laid throughout the book, I was able to figure out early on some of what would be revealed at the conclusion of Prelude to Foundation as a surprise ending. As it turns out, looking back on it all, the author may well have felt the need to write the book this way, especially considering the shocking way he concluded his series at the end of Book Five...

Because Prelude to Foundation is chronologically the first book in Isaac Asimov's Foundation according to his fictional narrative, I would instead recommend to new readers that they start their reading with the original Book One, simply titled Foundation...and read through the five-part series before reading the two prequels.  Or, maybe, do what I did and, after reading Book Three, go "back in time" and read Prelude to Foundation.  In this way, it may help you if you hadn't read beforehand Asimov's other series about the Empire and what preceded it...

The Florida Teams as the 2015 MLB Season Draws to Close

At the start of the 2015 Major League Baseball season, the National League's Miami Marlins were given a lot of support in the sports media for being a team that was on its way up...definitely a playoff contender and even possibly vying for the East Division title.  In the American League, on the other hand, the Tampa Bay Rays, after losing its longtime manager Joe Madden to the Chicago Cubs in the off-season and trading away some of its major talent, weren't expected to do much beyond finishing last in their East Division.  Instead, the Rays, with its new manager Kevin Cash, surprised most of us, actually being in first place for much of the early part of the season and remaining in wild card contention until just recently.  Miami, however, started out dismally slow and never recovered.  After the All-Star break, they went into an even worse tailspin, actually falling briefly into last place in their division.  Of late, however, they have been playing very well and are now solidly in third place...albeit with a horrendous 64-83 record.  This team disappointed me and many others this year: proven veteran players that they acquired in the off-season, with the notable exception of overachieving 2nd baseman Dee Gorden, have had substandard performances.  Losing their star slugger Giancarlo Stanton halfway through the season to injury didn't help, either...and don't get me going about their pitching...

Tampa Bay is currently only a half-game ahead of last place Boston with a 70-76 record, considerably better than Miami's but getting worse.  They have sixteen games to go in the regular season to try to stay out of the cellar.  Seven of these games will be against the Red Sox...and they will most likely determine where the Rays end up in the standings.  As for the Marlins, I'm sure at this point that they're just looking ahead to 2016 and the many changes they will need to make: a new manager would be a good start...

Voter Turnout, Presidential Election, Off-Year Elections

The second Republican presidential debate was held last night, this time on CNN, and it was that network's turn the following morning to be all giddy about its "news" story.  But to me, as I have interpreted the last few elections, both of presidential election years and of the "off" years, whoever ends up winning the Presidency (or US Senate seat, or state governorship) in politically-divided (or "purple") areas will depend more on voter turnout than on the candidates' comparative virtues or ideology...unless these characteristics are seen as being way over-the-top.  Take the state of Florida, for example.  I ask you: does it make any sense at all for this state to go for Barack Obama, a left-leaning Democrat, in 2008 and then elect as governor a tea party right-wing Republican, Rick Scott, in 2010?  But wait, there's more...two years later, the state went right back and went for Obama again!  Yet even with this, I'm not finished...this same Florida turned around in 2014 and returned Mr. Scott, a favorite of Sean Hannity, back to office!!!

I don't believe for an instant that the Florida people politically veered left in 2008, turned back right in 2010, switched back left in 2012 and then doubled back right in 2014.  No, what happened was that a larger segment of the Democratic-leaning voters decided in the 2010 and 2014 off-year elections that they weren't "motivated" enough to get off their asses and invest about 10-15 minutes of their oh-so-precious time at their local precincts...

Well, 2016 is an "on-year" election, so I expect my fellow moody Democratic voters to be "motivated" once again to actually participate in the electoral process.  Which doesn't bode very well for any of the candidates currently running on the Republican side, regardless who ends up wearing that party's mantle in the general election.  Of course, should either party commit political suicide by nominating someone without a prayer of a chance at winning a nationwide election, voter turnout won't matter much.  Unless, that is, BOTH parties end up nominating "unwinnable" candidates...which I see as a possibility right now with Trump and his repulsive personality ahead on the Republican side and the leftist/Socialist Sanders surging with the Democrats...