In recent weeks I have become a fan of the late English novelist Ruth Rendell, having now read five of her books. The latest one is the second book in her Inspector Wexford mystery series, published in 1967 and titled Sins of the Fathers (formerly A New Lease of Death). The setting is once again the English town of Kingsmarkham where Reginald Wexford is the Chief Inspector for the local police. He works with Inspector Mike Burden...the two teamed up in the first book, too...to tackle a nagging murder case from sixteen years back. A brutish, violent man named Herbert Painter had been convicted of killing his 87-year old employer in her house and was hanged for the crime. Although Wexford, who investigated the case back then, is utterly convinced of Painter's guilt, the verdict is now questioned by Reverend Henry Archery, whose son is engaged to marry Painter's daughter...at the time of the murder just a little girl. The story involves the murdered woman's housekeeper, neighbors, and children as Archery surprisingly assumes the role of lead protagonist in what appears on the surface to be a "whodunit" tale but evolves into a different sort of mystery involving why the characters turned out the way they did. Archery comes across as very sympathetic while Wexford continues to be somewhat cantankerous and blunt. Okay, I didn't like him in the first book either, but now I'm seeing that Rendell was creating this persona of a police detective with a deceptively callous-appearing personality, but who is, underneath it all, wily and perceptive. Yeah, I think this dude might even be likeable, a few more books down the line...
Ruth Rendell is probably best known for this Inspector Wexford series...which I plan to continue reading in its chronological order of publication...but I have so far gotten the most from her "single" novels that are complete in themselves. Stories like Portobello, The Crocodile Bird, and Gallowglass (written under the pen name Barbara Vine) go deep into their characters' psyches and histories as well as providing a detailed look at life in England. I don't see why I can't eventually read all of her books...I'm just a little sad I didn't know about her until just recently, a little more than a year after she died...
Saturday, October 8, 2016
Friday, October 7, 2016
Spending Today With a Tropical Storm
At this writing it's currently around 2:30 pm here in Gainesville. I am sitting on the south end of town in a McDonald's near my workplace, having driven eight miles through a tropical storm more commonly known as Hurricane Matthew as it is now battering the northeastern Florida coast from the Daytona Beach area to Jacksonville. Matthew is currently about as close as it will get to Gainesville, but other than schools and local government offices being closed today, business seems to be going on exactly as before...and the streets are full of traffic. Looking out the window here, I see the rain falling at a 45 degree angle in waves, while the branches of all the trees are shaking violently. Yet as far as many of the people around here are concerned, it's another ho-hum "day in the life". Well, that's not completely true: there are some people in my locality who have lost their power, and the folks sitting in the next booth over appear to be temporary refugees from the east coast area (this McDonald's is on an I-75 exit). But at least at this time, we're not in the "everybody clear the streets and hunker down" mode of existence that characterized my home town back in 2004 when Frances and Jeanne were the hurricanes of interest. Still, if you can stay indoors at home you're probably better off, not to mention that conditions may worsen some later on. But I'm glad that the ornery ol' hurricane decided to veer off a tad to the east, where its effects here are lessened as well as keeping the wind and storm surge damage down more on the coast.
Yesterday while at work, I was listening to my local talk station 97.3/WSKY "The Sky". After 6 pm they switched from their usual programming to a continual audio broadcast of The Weather Channel as various meteorologists were spread along the coast, giving live reports as Matthew approached. I appreciated that about WSKY...much of its normal talk show programming is heavily biased toward one political party, but they do have a sense of community when it comes to something like a threatening tropical storm. As for me today, I am glad to be going to work on my normal schedule...I don't care for the weather dictating the course of my day and I am relieved that my office is open and running. By the time I get off from my shift at midnight, the storm should have passed to the north and things should be improving here in Gainesville...
Yesterday while at work, I was listening to my local talk station 97.3/WSKY "The Sky". After 6 pm they switched from their usual programming to a continual audio broadcast of The Weather Channel as various meteorologists were spread along the coast, giving live reports as Matthew approached. I appreciated that about WSKY...much of its normal talk show programming is heavily biased toward one political party, but they do have a sense of community when it comes to something like a threatening tropical storm. As for me today, I am glad to be going to work on my normal schedule...I don't care for the weather dictating the course of my day and I am relieved that my office is open and running. By the time I get off from my shift at midnight, the storm should have passed to the north and things should be improving here in Gainesville...
Thursday, October 6, 2016
10/2 Sermon on James, Part 2
The sermon I heard at church this past Sunday continued the theme of the New Testament book (or letter or epistle) of James, found near the back of the Bible between Hebrews and 1 Peter. The focus remains on the first chapter, now verses 13-18, and the topic is temptation: its nature, identifying it, succumbing to it, and resisting it. Quite a lot in only six verses...hey, I know...I'll "expand" it into five languages! (Courtesy of Bible Gateway)
James 1 New International Version (NIV)
13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters.17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
Santiago 1 Nueva Versión Internacional (NVI)
13 Que nadie, al ser tentado, diga: «Es Dios quien me tienta.» Porque Dios no puede ser tentado por el mal, ni tampoco tienta él a nadie. 14 Todo lo contrario, cada uno es tentado cuando sus propios malos deseos lo arrastran y seducen. 15 Luego, cuando el deseo ha concebido, engendra el pecado; y el pecado, una vez que ha sido consumado, da a luz la muerte.
16 Mis queridos hermanos, no se engañen. 17 Toda buena dádiva y todo don perfecto descienden de lo alto, donde está el Padre que creó las lumbreras celestes, y que no cambia como los astros ni se mueve como las sombras. 18 Por su propia voluntad nos hizo nacer mediante la palabra de verdad, para que fuéramos como los primeros y mejores frutos de su creación.
Getting back to the sermon, Pastor Philip referred to a recent survey of about two thousand people asking about their particular temptations and how they handled them. As for the type of temptation, responses were varied: worry, procrastination, overspending, pornography, drugs/alcohol, angry outbursts, etc. What did they say led to these temptations? Boredom, loneliness, feeling hurt. And what were they doing to curtail giving in to their temptations? Over half said, "Nothing"!
Later on in his sermon, our pastor listed five fallacies that people trapped in temptations use to justify their behavior: I can control this, no one will know, everybody's doing it, it fulfills me, and how can it be wrong if it feels so good. The problem with temptations is that they are deceptive, poor substitutes for our already-existing, healthy desires. Our own bodies are chemical factories producing natural drugs that regulate our feelings...taking drugs disrupts the process and partially shuts it down. Normal sexual desire is perverted by objectifying people through pornography. It is all right to feel some anger if the situation dictates...but not as a regular response to everything negative...or even to positive things that have been interpreted in the context of chronic discontent. The same is true with other temptations and the corresponding legitimate desires and impulses they distort and undermine. Having to deal with temptations is normal, giving in to them is sinful, and being able to handle them requires trusting in God's goodness and taking delight in him, walking by his Holy Spirit...
This was one of those sermons that have a very practical value for those hearing it. Many of the ideas expressed could have presented in a completely secular setting. But we're a Christian church and we're studying the Bible, which is essentially all about God and how He sees things. And effectively dealing with temptations clearly involves drawing from outside our own capabilities...
James 1 New International Version (NIV)
13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters.17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
Santiago 1 Nueva Versión Internacional (NVI)
13 Que nadie, al ser tentado, diga: «Es Dios quien me tienta.» Porque Dios no puede ser tentado por el mal, ni tampoco tienta él a nadie. 14 Todo lo contrario, cada uno es tentado cuando sus propios malos deseos lo arrastran y seducen. 15 Luego, cuando el deseo ha concebido, engendra el pecado; y el pecado, una vez que ha sido consumado, da a luz la muerte.
16 Mis queridos hermanos, no se engañen. 17 Toda buena dádiva y todo don perfecto descienden de lo alto, donde está el Padre que creó las lumbreras celestes, y que no cambia como los astros ni se mueve como las sombras. 18 Por su propia voluntad nos hizo nacer mediante la palabra de verdad, para que fuéramos como los primeros y mejores frutos de su creación.
Jakobus 1 Schlachter 2000 (SCH2000)
13 Niemand sage, wenn er versucht wird: Ich werde von Gott versucht. Denn Gott kann nicht versucht werden zum Bösen, und er selbst versucht auch niemand;
14 sondern jeder Einzelne wird versucht, wenn er von seiner eigenen Begierde gereizt und gelockt wird.
15 Danach, wenn die Begierde empfangen hat, gebiert sie die Sünde; die Sünde aber, wenn sie vollendet ist, gebiert den Tod.
16 Irrt euch nicht, meine geliebten Brüder:
17 Jede gute Gabe und jedes vollkommene Geschenk kommt von oben herab, von dem Vater der Lichter, bei dem keine Veränderung ist, noch ein Schatten infolge von Wechsel.
18 Nach seinem Willen hat er uns gezeugt durch das Wort der Wahrheit, damit wir gleichsam Erstlinge seiner Geschöpfe seien.
15 Danach, wenn die Begierde empfangen hat, gebiert sie die Sünde; die Sünde aber, wenn sie vollendet ist, gebiert den Tod.
16 Irrt euch nicht, meine geliebten Brüder:
17 Jede gute Gabe und jedes vollkommene Geschenk kommt von oben herab, von dem Vater der Lichter, bei dem keine Veränderung ist, noch ein Schatten infolge von Wechsel.
18 Nach seinem Willen hat er uns gezeugt durch das Wort der Wahrheit, damit wir gleichsam Erstlinge seiner Geschöpfe seien.
Иакова 1 Russian New Testament: Easy-to-Read Version (ERV-RU)
13 Никто из подвергаемых искушению не должен говорить: «Это искушение послано Богом», потому что Бог не имеет ничего общего со злом и никого не искушает. 14 Но каждого искушают его же собственные желания, которые завлекают его и держат в плену. 15 Желание — первоисточник греха; грех же, в свою очередь, когда утвердится, порождает смерть.16 Так не позволяйте же себе обманываться, любимые мои братья и сёстры. 17 Всякий добрый и совершенный дар приходит свыше, от Отца, Создавшего свет Небесный. Бог постоянен и неизменен. 18 Он решил сделать нас Своими детьми через истинное Послание, чтобы мы стали самыми важными среди всех Его созданий.
雅 各 書 1 Chinese New Testament: Easy-to-Read Version (ERV-ZH)
雅 各 書 1 Chinese New Testament: Easy-to-Read Version (ERV-ZH)
13 受到诱惑的人不该说∶“上帝在试探我。”因为上帝与邪恶无关，他也不试探任何人。 14 受到诱惑，是受到自己的邪恶欲望牵制和怂恿。 15 欲望受到孕育，便会生成罪恶，罪恶一旦成熟，便会生出死亡。16 我亲爱的兄弟们，不要上当受骗。 17 一切美好和各种完美的恩赐都来自天上。这些美好的恩赐来自一切光明（日、月、星）之父。上帝永不改变，始终如一。 18 他决定通过真理之言赐予我们生命，要我们在他所创造的万物中，居最重要的位置。
Getting back to the sermon, Pastor Philip referred to a recent survey of about two thousand people asking about their particular temptations and how they handled them. As for the type of temptation, responses were varied: worry, procrastination, overspending, pornography, drugs/alcohol, angry outbursts, etc. What did they say led to these temptations? Boredom, loneliness, feeling hurt. And what were they doing to curtail giving in to their temptations? Over half said, "Nothing"!
Later on in his sermon, our pastor listed five fallacies that people trapped in temptations use to justify their behavior: I can control this, no one will know, everybody's doing it, it fulfills me, and how can it be wrong if it feels so good. The problem with temptations is that they are deceptive, poor substitutes for our already-existing, healthy desires. Our own bodies are chemical factories producing natural drugs that regulate our feelings...taking drugs disrupts the process and partially shuts it down. Normal sexual desire is perverted by objectifying people through pornography. It is all right to feel some anger if the situation dictates...but not as a regular response to everything negative...or even to positive things that have been interpreted in the context of chronic discontent. The same is true with other temptations and the corresponding legitimate desires and impulses they distort and undermine. Having to deal with temptations is normal, giving in to them is sinful, and being able to handle them requires trusting in God's goodness and taking delight in him, walking by his Holy Spirit...
This was one of those sermons that have a very practical value for those hearing it. Many of the ideas expressed could have presented in a completely secular setting. But we're a Christian church and we're studying the Bible, which is essentially all about God and how He sees things. And effectively dealing with temptations clearly involves drawing from outside our own capabilities...
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
Just Finished Reading Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray
Yesterday I referred to English writer Oscar Wilde's 1890 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray when I compared the worsening appearance of the title character in his portrait to the weather maps progressively showing the projected path of very dangerous Hurricane Matthew edging more and more into my state of Florida. But Wilde was writing about something quite different from the weather: what is a good life well spent? Virtuous living while caring for others or pursuing one's own hedonistic inclinations to their fullest without regard to the harm it can do? Along with that is another question: does one's beauty in itself denote goodness...and if not, why are the beautiful and handsome exalted in our world while the ugly vilified?
There are three central characters in The Picture of Dorian Gray: the painter Basil Hallward, Lord Henry Wotton, and Gray himself. The beginning sets the stage for the rest of the book as Basil shows Lord Henry the portraits he has painted of Dorian Gray, a very handsome young man whose appearance captivates the artist. Basil introduces the two to each other, and Lord Henry almost immediately sets out to indoctrinate the relatively innocent, young Dorian with his own worldview of hedonism, his equation of beauty with goodness, and that experiences are justified in themselves regardless of their effects. Dorian is taken up with both "Harry's" message and his friendship and they end up shutting out the increasingly concerned Basil from their company. But before that happens, Dorian makes a wish: may he always stay young and beautiful and that any changes to himself instead appear on the final portrait that Basil has made for him...
No, I am not going to lay down the plot of this book...you just might want to look into it to see what happens. But it's pretty common knowledge...so I don't think I'm giving anything away... that whenever Dorian Gray does something evil, it is reflected in a change in his picture, which he owns and eventually (and understandably) decides to hide away from others. Yet Dorian remains through the years as youthful and unblemished as when Basil painted his picture for him. This does not mean that the lifestyle he lives at the expense of others doesn't carry its own negative consequences. The general society around him begins to shun him for his profligate behavior and the harm he has done through it to many. And there is one individual dedicated to killing Dorian in revenge...although he knows him neither by name nor appearance...
The ending to The Picture of Dorian Gray was right on target and would have been perfect as the conclusion to a Night Gallery or Twilight Zone episode. But of course, it was stories like this one written by Oscar Wilde that inspired the genre that these two great television series presented, as well as renown writers like H.P. Lovecraft and Stephen King. And Wilde himself may have derived this kind of "gothic horror"/psychological fiction from Edgar Allen Poe...but I'm just speculating. I recommend this novel, but be forewarned that it can delve into some seriously abstract philosophical ramblings...
There are three central characters in The Picture of Dorian Gray: the painter Basil Hallward, Lord Henry Wotton, and Gray himself. The beginning sets the stage for the rest of the book as Basil shows Lord Henry the portraits he has painted of Dorian Gray, a very handsome young man whose appearance captivates the artist. Basil introduces the two to each other, and Lord Henry almost immediately sets out to indoctrinate the relatively innocent, young Dorian with his own worldview of hedonism, his equation of beauty with goodness, and that experiences are justified in themselves regardless of their effects. Dorian is taken up with both "Harry's" message and his friendship and they end up shutting out the increasingly concerned Basil from their company. But before that happens, Dorian makes a wish: may he always stay young and beautiful and that any changes to himself instead appear on the final portrait that Basil has made for him...
No, I am not going to lay down the plot of this book...you just might want to look into it to see what happens. But it's pretty common knowledge...so I don't think I'm giving anything away... that whenever Dorian Gray does something evil, it is reflected in a change in his picture, which he owns and eventually (and understandably) decides to hide away from others. Yet Dorian remains through the years as youthful and unblemished as when Basil painted his picture for him. This does not mean that the lifestyle he lives at the expense of others doesn't carry its own negative consequences. The general society around him begins to shun him for his profligate behavior and the harm he has done through it to many. And there is one individual dedicated to killing Dorian in revenge...although he knows him neither by name nor appearance...
The ending to The Picture of Dorian Gray was right on target and would have been perfect as the conclusion to a Night Gallery or Twilight Zone episode. But of course, it was stories like this one written by Oscar Wilde that inspired the genre that these two great television series presented, as well as renown writers like H.P. Lovecraft and Stephen King. And Wilde himself may have derived this kind of "gothic horror"/psychological fiction from Edgar Allen Poe...but I'm just speculating. I recommend this novel, but be forewarned that it can delve into some seriously abstract philosophical ramblings...
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Hurricane Matthew Beginning to Threaten Florida
I just finished reading Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, where a young man's portrait keeps changing and getting uglier each succeeding time he looks at it. In like manner, during the last 24 hours, it seems that each time I see the projected path of monster Hurricane Matthew on the map provided by The Weather Channel, it seems to shift a bit westward...toward my Florida. Although the predicted trajectory of Matthew's center eye is still off-shore, the red-colored "cone of probability" now includes most of northern peninsular Florida...including my hometown of Gainesville. And these westward shifts of the forecasts...like Dorian Gray's portrait...keep looking worse...
Ironically, it was a shift eastward of Matthew that has resulted in it pummeling the already-reeling, poverty and disaster-stricken nation of Haiti, with large low-lying areas full of tent cities in the direct path of its 145 mph winds and massive storm surge and rainfall. So far they've reported three fatalities there from this Category Four storm...that figure is certain to drastically rise. Now, instead of traveling through the mountainous region of eastern Cuba, which would have substantially weakened it for at least a while, Matthew will mostly pass between Cuba and Haiti, keeping it more intact...and dangerous...as it plows through the Bahamas toward our fair state. At this time it is expected to pose its greatest threat to northern Florida on Friday...but the timetable we've been given for this hurricane has been off more than its predicted path. Also, it looks at this point as if Matthew will continue to hug the eastern United States coast all the way to New England...but don't expect that forecast to remain stable, either. Now excuse me while I go get some flashlights and water...
Ironically, it was a shift eastward of Matthew that has resulted in it pummeling the already-reeling, poverty and disaster-stricken nation of Haiti, with large low-lying areas full of tent cities in the direct path of its 145 mph winds and massive storm surge and rainfall. So far they've reported three fatalities there from this Category Four storm...that figure is certain to drastically rise. Now, instead of traveling through the mountainous region of eastern Cuba, which would have substantially weakened it for at least a while, Matthew will mostly pass between Cuba and Haiti, keeping it more intact...and dangerous...as it plows through the Bahamas toward our fair state. At this time it is expected to pose its greatest threat to northern Florida on Friday...but the timetable we've been given for this hurricane has been off more than its predicted path. Also, it looks at this point as if Matthew will continue to hug the eastern United States coast all the way to New England...but don't expect that forecast to remain stable, either. Now excuse me while I go get some flashlights and water...
Sunday, October 2, 2016
2016 Major League Baseball Playoffs Set
The 2016 regular season for Major League Baseball just ended late this afternoon, and the remaining wild-card races have likewise ended...they were close in both leagues. For the American League wild-card spots Toronto and Baltimore got in with identical win-loss records...the Blue Jays won the tie-breaker and will be hosting the Orioles in the one-game playoff this Tuesday. The next day will see the New York Mets at home against the San Francisco Giants...both also finished with the same regular season records, N.Y. winning this tie-breaker. The two teams just missing the playoffs were Detroit and St. Louis in the AL and NL, respectively. On Thursday the League Division Series will start and go on for a few days. Texas will face the American League wild-card playoff winner and the Chicago Cubs will go against that of the National League. Other series will see Cleveland against Boston and Washington against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Indians and Nationals enjoying home-field advantage. I've already indicated a few days ago that I'm going to support Boston and San Francisco for these playoffs...but I feel that the World Series most likely will eventually pit the Rangers against the Cubs. On the other hand, any one of the ten teams that made the playoffs can get hot and surge through to the World Series title...the last few seasons have clearly shown that to be true...
As for me following the baseball playoffs, most of the games will take place while I am at work...meaning that I will miss out on watching the action. I'll just have to wait until the weekends and watch what's available then...
As for me following the baseball playoffs, most of the games will take place while I am at work...meaning that I will miss out on watching the action. I'll just have to wait until the weekends and watch what's available then...
Saturday, October 1, 2016
Just Finished Reading Ruth Rendell's Gallowglass
Gallowglass is a 1990 novel credited to the name Barbara Vine, which was a pseudonym for renown mystery writer Ruth Rendell. Since I've been focusing lately on her works, I thought I'd try out one by Vine. As it turned out, Gallowglass in many ways reminds me of the other two Rendell standalone novels I've read: Portobello and The Crocodile Bird. It goes deeply into the personalities, histories, and relationships of its characters, a Rendell trademark. And while mysteries abound here, the story isn't a "mystery" per se...rather a suspenseful drama...
Much of Gallowglass is told in the first person by an uneducated young Englishman named Joe, who has suffered through much depression in his short life and was on the verge of jumping in front of a speeding train when another young man, Sandor, pulls him out of danger. Sandor demands unquestioning loyalty from Joe because he saved his life, and the latter is not only compliant in this but develops a deep, nonsexual love for him. Sandor, who unlike Joe had gone to college and is well-versed in the arts and literature, dubs his new obedient friend as his "gallowglass", referring to a class of Scottish Celtic warriors of the distant past who fought for their chief. But Sandor is not wholly benevolent in his leadership role and often shows sadistic streaks as well as continually belittling Joe, who is only too willing to quickly forgive him his faults. And Sandor has a big secret he gradually reveals through a story he tells in snippets to Joe: he had been involved, with some young Italians, in the kidnapping of a wealthy Englishman's wife while they were in Italy a few years back in order to obtain a large ransom. It starts to become apparent that he now wants to repeat the feat here in England, kidnapping the same woman, Nina...but with Joe as his new accomplice. So they begin to survey the heavily secured estate where she lives with her paranoid third husband, and the story then departs from Joe's account to a third-person narrative...
One of the main characters in Gallowglass is the bodyguard that Nina's husband hired to look after her. Paul Garnet is a sympathetic and strong individual who devotes himself to taking care of his young daughter Jessica after her mother had essentially abandoned the two of them a few years earlier. He plays an important role in the story's outcome, as do a few other characters whom I have omitted from this short review. Suffice to say that I don't want to reveal anything that would keep you from wanting to read this engrossing story...
I thought it was interesting how Rendell would alternate between writing in the first person from Joe's perspective and in the third person whenever the narrative was about Paul Garnet. I also picked up how Joe would abandon his own conscience and conform himself to whatever Sandor said or did...that, to me, is reminiscent of the numerous "toadies" of the bullies I had the disgust and displeasure of growing up with, most notably at my own school bus stop. I also see the same unquestioning, nearly idolatrous attitude being taken by many supporters of a certain presidential candidate who displays every aspect of being a bully. No, neither Joe nor Sandor are very compelling people for their often revolting personalities...but that by no means detracts from them being very interesting. Gallowglass is a pretty dark tale that might require someone of a tougher constitution to get through. Well, I got through it, anyway...and thought it was a very worthwhile read...
In 1993 BBC made an on-screen adaptation of Gallowglass, which I naturally haven't had time to watch. Maybe it's available on Netflix or another resource...if you don't feel like reading the book, you might want to check it out...
Much of Gallowglass is told in the first person by an uneducated young Englishman named Joe, who has suffered through much depression in his short life and was on the verge of jumping in front of a speeding train when another young man, Sandor, pulls him out of danger. Sandor demands unquestioning loyalty from Joe because he saved his life, and the latter is not only compliant in this but develops a deep, nonsexual love for him. Sandor, who unlike Joe had gone to college and is well-versed in the arts and literature, dubs his new obedient friend as his "gallowglass", referring to a class of Scottish Celtic warriors of the distant past who fought for their chief. But Sandor is not wholly benevolent in his leadership role and often shows sadistic streaks as well as continually belittling Joe, who is only too willing to quickly forgive him his faults. And Sandor has a big secret he gradually reveals through a story he tells in snippets to Joe: he had been involved, with some young Italians, in the kidnapping of a wealthy Englishman's wife while they were in Italy a few years back in order to obtain a large ransom. It starts to become apparent that he now wants to repeat the feat here in England, kidnapping the same woman, Nina...but with Joe as his new accomplice. So they begin to survey the heavily secured estate where she lives with her paranoid third husband, and the story then departs from Joe's account to a third-person narrative...
One of the main characters in Gallowglass is the bodyguard that Nina's husband hired to look after her. Paul Garnet is a sympathetic and strong individual who devotes himself to taking care of his young daughter Jessica after her mother had essentially abandoned the two of them a few years earlier. He plays an important role in the story's outcome, as do a few other characters whom I have omitted from this short review. Suffice to say that I don't want to reveal anything that would keep you from wanting to read this engrossing story...
I thought it was interesting how Rendell would alternate between writing in the first person from Joe's perspective and in the third person whenever the narrative was about Paul Garnet. I also picked up how Joe would abandon his own conscience and conform himself to whatever Sandor said or did...that, to me, is reminiscent of the numerous "toadies" of the bullies I had the disgust and displeasure of growing up with, most notably at my own school bus stop. I also see the same unquestioning, nearly idolatrous attitude being taken by many supporters of a certain presidential candidate who displays every aspect of being a bully. No, neither Joe nor Sandor are very compelling people for their often revolting personalities...but that by no means detracts from them being very interesting. Gallowglass is a pretty dark tale that might require someone of a tougher constitution to get through. Well, I got through it, anyway...and thought it was a very worthwhile read...
In 1993 BBC made an on-screen adaptation of Gallowglass, which I naturally haven't had time to watch. Maybe it's available on Netflix or another resource...if you don't feel like reading the book, you might want to check it out...
Friday, September 30, 2016
My September 2016 Running Report
In September I continued to step up my level of running, covering 130 miles for the entire month with the longest run being for 5.4 miles. I also ran on every day, although in the grand scheme of things taking a day off every now and then might have been more advisable. I have also been running outside in the heat of the early afternoon a lot, and I believe this has helped toughen me up for the upcoming long distance racing season that's set to unofficially begin here in Florida next month. There were some opportunities for me to enter local 5K (3.1-mile) races, but I passed them all up, seeing how I get off from work at midnight on Fridays and the races were all scheduled early Saturday morning. As a matter of fact, it seems to be the pattern for 5K races to hold them at that time. Fortunately, when it comes to half-marathons, quite a few of them occur on Sunday mornings...which gives me the advantage of having more rest beforehand. The most likely prospects for half-marathons in the near future are on October 30th in Port Orange and on November 13th in St. Augustine. Let's see if I'm in good enough shape to enter and finish one, or maybe even both...
One thing that's impeded my running progress is my difficulty losing weight, in spite of all the training I do...while also expending a lot of energy at my physically-demanding job. I haven't always been careful with my food choices, but still I don't think I'm overeating, either...my metabolism must be slowing down. Well, maybe if I start running for longer distances...as I plan to do from time to time during the next few weeks....some of the pounds may start to come off. I'm also enthusiastically looking forward to the seasonal change to cooler autumn days...somebody let me know when that's gonna happen!
One thing that's impeded my running progress is my difficulty losing weight, in spite of all the training I do...while also expending a lot of energy at my physically-demanding job. I haven't always been careful with my food choices, but still I don't think I'm overeating, either...my metabolism must be slowing down. Well, maybe if I start running for longer distances...as I plan to do from time to time during the next few weeks....some of the pounds may start to come off. I'm also enthusiastically looking forward to the seasonal change to cooler autumn days...somebody let me know when that's gonna happen!
Thursday, September 29, 2016
9/25 Sermon on James, Part 1
I regularly attend The Family Church, which is a non-denominational Christian church situated off Parker Road west of Gainesville. The pastors here have always given pretty incisive and interesting Sunday morning sermons, based on the Bible. They emphasize the importance of Jesus Christ as Savior and the need to accept him as such and depend upon him in our daily walk through life. Our current head pastor, Philip Griffin, has just finished a series on the Seven Churches of the book of Revelation and last Sunday began a new one on the book of James...found toward the back of the New Testament. I have to admit that getting wisdom out of the previous reading was akin to squeezing water from a rock, but James, although a short book, is loaded with sagacious exhortations...I myself refer to it as the "Proverbs" of the New Testament...
Sunday's sermon appropriately focused on the very beginning of James, covering the first chapter, verses 1-12. In it the author, who naturally calls himself James, greets the twelve tribes scattered abroad and calls on them to persevere with joy through the trials they are experiencing. For in those trials they will be made stronger and provided the wisdom God intends for them. Comfort, while pleasant, is much less important than maturity...and that can only come about by going through, and learning from, difficult times. And, as the pastor pointed out, while those difficult times may be unavoidable, they can also be useful in shaping character and faith. He also stressed that "life isn't fair, but God is". And regarding the attainment of material wealth, it is considered, from the perspective of James, to be more an impediment to becoming wise and mature than by experiencing a life marked with hardship and poverty.
From my own perspective, I feel that the times in my life when I had to undergo difficult circumstances and then came out of them stronger and more understanding in retrospect were often the most meaningful and memorable. However, I have known of people...and you most likely do as well...who have taken their perceived negative life experiences and constructed a cynical narrative for themselves, along with a overly critical view of humanity in general and loads of specific examples to support that outlook. Hey, y'know, I've fallen into this trap a number of times! So with that innate tendency to be reactive to bad times and hardships comes the need to seek divine guidance and empowerment in order to instead put things in their proper perspective and cultivate wisdom and maturity...and that, I believe, was the intention of James with the opening passages of this book...
By the way, you can watch any of The Family Church (of Gainesville, Florida) sermons on its YouTube site...
And here are those first twelve verses of James, in the NIV courtesy of Bible Gateway:
12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
Sunday's sermon appropriately focused on the very beginning of James, covering the first chapter, verses 1-12. In it the author, who naturally calls himself James, greets the twelve tribes scattered abroad and calls on them to persevere with joy through the trials they are experiencing. For in those trials they will be made stronger and provided the wisdom God intends for them. Comfort, while pleasant, is much less important than maturity...and that can only come about by going through, and learning from, difficult times. And, as the pastor pointed out, while those difficult times may be unavoidable, they can also be useful in shaping character and faith. He also stressed that "life isn't fair, but God is". And regarding the attainment of material wealth, it is considered, from the perspective of James, to be more an impediment to becoming wise and mature than by experiencing a life marked with hardship and poverty.
From my own perspective, I feel that the times in my life when I had to undergo difficult circumstances and then came out of them stronger and more understanding in retrospect were often the most meaningful and memorable. However, I have known of people...and you most likely do as well...who have taken their perceived negative life experiences and constructed a cynical narrative for themselves, along with a overly critical view of humanity in general and loads of specific examples to support that outlook. Hey, y'know, I've fallen into this trap a number of times! So with that innate tendency to be reactive to bad times and hardships comes the need to seek divine guidance and empowerment in order to instead put things in their proper perspective and cultivate wisdom and maturity...and that, I believe, was the intention of James with the opening passages of this book...
By the way, you can watch any of The Family Church (of Gainesville, Florida) sermons on its YouTube site...
And here are those first twelve verses of James, in the NIV courtesy of Bible Gateway:
1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:
Greetings. 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
9 Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. 10 But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. 11 For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Tropical Storm Matthew Entering the Caribbean
Newly-named Tropical Storm Matthew, formerly Invest 97-L, is speeding westward at a 21 mph pace as it approaches the West Indies, focusing on the Martinique vicinity. According to the Weather Channel report I just saw, its maximum sustained winds are at 60 mph and it is expected to continue strengthening as it enters the warm waters of the Caribbean Sea. Matthew should continue its westward course through the central/southern Caribbean, largely missing Puerto Rico and Hispaniola, until the steering currents that determine its path force it abruptly into a northward direction. The sooner this "turn" happens, the better for us in Florida, since this dangerous storm would then more likely pass through eastern Cuba and then the Bahamas, avoiding our state. But should Matthew tarry along its westward course and make its northward shift later, we could be threatened. The predicted timetable for Matthew, at least for now, is for it to strengthen into a minimal hurricane by Friday morning, start making its shift in direction on Saturday morning...and by Monday morning be a much more dangerous hurricane with 105 mph maximum sustained winds and located in the Jamaica/eastern Cuba area. But as we all know, these forecasts are liable to change, and possibly drastically. Still, the various computer models currently seem to be in unusual agreement that Matthew will veer off to the east of Florida and eventually merge with a front sweeping down from the northwest. I don't know about you, but I'm quite content with missing out on this storm...assuming it follows the "prescribed" trajectory. I'm certainly going to keep an eye on the weather reports for the next few days...
Tuesday, September 27, 2016
Soccer: English Premier League in 2016-17 Season So Far
I am following English Premier League soccer now for the third year, having witnessed Chelsea, managed by Jose Mourinho, run away with the championship two years ago and upstart Leicester City, on the brink of relegation (demotion to the next lower league) the year before, surprising everyone last year by coming away with the title. As the different teams retooled themselves for the new 2016-17 season, there was a lot of speculation as to which one would be favored to win it this year, which has now played through six of the scheduled thirty-eight matches for each of the league's twenty teams. Could Chelsea recover their old greatness or Leicester City repeat their miracle season? Or would one of the more traditional powers like Manchester City, Manchester United, or Arsenal take their place on the top of the standings? Well, so far it's been the latter as Manchester City is solidly in first place, having won all six of their games. Tottenham, which challenged Leicester City during the second half of last season before slumping at the end, is also undefeated but with two draws, giving them second place. Then it's Arsenal, Liverpool, Everton, and Manchester United in that order. United, by the way, hired Mourinho and has spent a lot of money in the off-season to sign top European players, making them a team with high expectations. As for Chelsea and Leicester City, the former is doing moderately well, at number eight in the standings (or "table" as they call it across the ocean), but the latter is mired with a losing record in the twelve-spot, a shadow of last year's glory. Stuck in the three-team relegation zone at the bottom of the standings are West Ham, Stoke City, and Sunderland: I get Sunderland being there, but the other two...especially West Ham, which was strong last year...just don't seem to belong there...
I guess the surprises for me, besides Leicester City and West Ham being so disappointing at this stage of the 2016-17 season, is how well both Liverpool and Everton...also based in the city of Liverpool...are doing. Everton had a reputation for fielding a quality team that has been absent for the last couple of years and Liverpool, while almost winning the championship three years ago, has also been a disappointment to its demanding fans. I think it would be great to see these two teams continue to excel this year...
By the way, if you're interesting in watching English Premier League soccer action on TV, NBCSports broadcasts live matches on Saturday and Sunday mornings. In Gainesville this is on Cox Cable channel 33...
I guess the surprises for me, besides Leicester City and West Ham being so disappointing at this stage of the 2016-17 season, is how well both Liverpool and Everton...also based in the city of Liverpool...are doing. Everton had a reputation for fielding a quality team that has been absent for the last couple of years and Liverpool, while almost winning the championship three years ago, has also been a disappointment to its demanding fans. I think it would be great to see these two teams continue to excel this year...
By the way, if you're interesting in watching English Premier League soccer action on TV, NBCSports broadcasts live matches on Saturday and Sunday mornings. In Gainesville this is on Cox Cable channel 33...
Monday, September 26, 2016
Just Finished Reading Ursula K. Le Guin's The Farthest Shore
Actually, I "just finished" reading The Farthest Shore, the third novel in Ursula K. Le Guin's young readers' fantasy series Earthsea, a few days ago but chose to first write about the other two books I had just read (Ruth Rendell's From Doon with Death and Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre). With the first Earthsea book, titled A Wizard of Earthsea, the author had initially intended it to be a singular work, but later decided to expand it into a trilogy. Now, with the addition of other books as well, I suppose the final book in the series will be the last one written before her death...hopefully not to come anytime soon. The Farthest Shore jumps years ahead in time and focuses on the series' unifying protagonist, the wizard Ged, as he tries to discover the source of the ongoing drain of magic in the world. To this end, Arren, a young prince in a northern island kingdom, arrives on Archmage Ged's island of Roke to give more disturbing news and offer his services in the quest to save the world. The two set out in Ged's boat and travel the seas, going first south and then to the "farthest shore" in the west on the island of Selidor. Along the way they encounter numerous adventures, strange cultures, dragons, and news, both derived from others' accounts and via their own dreams, of a sinister wizard in the west who has conquered death and offers immortality to those who join him...
The Farthest Shore reminded me a bit of C.S. Lewis in his Chronicles of Narnia book Voyage of the Dawn Treader...albeit with an more Eastern philosophical flavor instead of the overtly Christian allegories of Lewis. The idea that death is necessary for life and that there needs to be a balance and separation between the two sounds Taoist or Zen to me, given my admittedly relative ignorance of these belief systems. So yes, it is natural for one to want to avoid dying and to stay alive...but it is unnatural not to see death as inevitable. The contrast between the idea of thriving in the present and pursuing a life of meaning and virtue while looking and acting outwardly from oneself, and that of striving to ensure one's own perpetual existence only for the sake of that existence, is rigorously examined, skillfully interwoven throughout this interesting story's narrative. Ged has matured and understands things on a deep level, to the point where he can be a mentor to the young prince Arren. This book was my favorite of the series so far, but I recommend you first read books one and two (A Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan, respectively) before tackling it...
The Farthest Shore reminded me a bit of C.S. Lewis in his Chronicles of Narnia book Voyage of the Dawn Treader...albeit with an more Eastern philosophical flavor instead of the overtly Christian allegories of Lewis. The idea that death is necessary for life and that there needs to be a balance and separation between the two sounds Taoist or Zen to me, given my admittedly relative ignorance of these belief systems. So yes, it is natural for one to want to avoid dying and to stay alive...but it is unnatural not to see death as inevitable. The contrast between the idea of thriving in the present and pursuing a life of meaning and virtue while looking and acting outwardly from oneself, and that of striving to ensure one's own perpetual existence only for the sake of that existence, is rigorously examined, skillfully interwoven throughout this interesting story's narrative. Ged has matured and understands things on a deep level, to the point where he can be a mentor to the young prince Arren. This book was my favorite of the series so far, but I recommend you first read books one and two (A Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan, respectively) before tackling it...
Sunday, September 25, 2016
Sampan Off the Port Bow
If you've been anywhere near a TV set during the last few days and happened to hit upon one of those cable news channels, you've no doubt encountered the extensive coverage of the prolonged protests in Charlotte, North Carolina against the fatal police shooting of a young black man there. At the same time, there is a parallel story going on in Oklahoma where a young white female cop is being charged with manslaughter after shooting to death a black man on a highway there. As a matter of fact, these types of fatal encounters have been accumulating and have gotten quite beyond old...they are reprehensible. Not just because some people got shot, or necessarily because the most highly publicized incidents involved black victims...I wonder if those in other demographic groups who have been killed in this fashion by law enforcement are being filtered out of media coverage because they don't fit the protesters' narrative. No, the truly reprehensible...and frightening...aspect to all of this is the attitude that the police take to citizens under their jurisdiction when they decide that they are suspects: suddenly the lives of the very people they were supposed to be protecting...but whom they're now suspecting...no longer seem to matter very much...
Off and on for the last 52 years, the United States military, while avoiding officially declared wars, has instead been engaged in what our government has termed "police action", especially regarding the adventures in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The missions in these places have been to protect their populations against the "bad guys" (like communists and terrorists) and give the people there the chance to enjoy freedom and prosperity. The problem with all this is that, once the troops were there occupying the land that others called their own, the soldiers often could not distinguish among those who were friends and who were foes. So in a sense the locals collectively became the "suspects", and that tended to cheapen their lives. You may have heard of the terrible My Lai Massacre in South Vietnam, which is an illustration of this point, as well as seeing on the evening news back then the burning down of villages in order to "save" them. The movie Apocalypse Now, which depicted the overwhelming suspicion that a sizable segment of the American troops had of the native population, has a scene in which the Navy boat transporting upriver the movie's protagonist, played by Martin Sheen, encounters a Vietnamese junk boat, also referred to as a "sampan". Someone yells out "Sampan off the port bow!" and, despite Sheen's protestations, the Navy boat's chief insists on stopping it and investigating. The Vietnamese on it dutifully provide the necessary papers, but no, they are now "suspects" and so the boat has to be searched for contraband. While this is going on, a woman in the boat suddenly lurches toward the back and the entire Navy boat goes berserk with gunfire, killing all of the Vietnamese on the sampan. These were supposed to be the people that were being protected in this "police action" most of the world called the Vietnam War, but instead they were always going to be suspects from the soldiers' viewpoint and suffer the resulting peril...
I brought up the above illustration, admittedly in itself a work of fiction, to point out what I believe to be the main problem. Whether one is a policeman on patrol duty in this country or a soldier on "police action" duty in an occupied country, they should be respected and applauded for their brave service and sacrifices. But the behavior of some of these courageous public servants seems to "go south" toward any individual once he or she gets put into the "suspect" category...and the value of that suspect's life becomes diminished as a result. It is not for the police to administer justice or decide who is guilty. I cannot understand how the only available option for subduing uncooperative suspects is to shoot them with deadly force. As far as the racism angle being charged by protesters and movements like Black Lives Matter is concerned, I feel that there may be a tendency for some of those within the police forces to discriminately, even if done unconsciously, move African-Americans they encounter in the line of duty out of the category of the "protected" and into that of the "suspected". And once you're a suspect, life can get very, very scary: make the wrong move and you're history, whether you are a Vietnamese running in a sampan or an American reaching into your pocket or your car...
Off and on for the last 52 years, the United States military, while avoiding officially declared wars, has instead been engaged in what our government has termed "police action", especially regarding the adventures in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The missions in these places have been to protect their populations against the "bad guys" (like communists and terrorists) and give the people there the chance to enjoy freedom and prosperity. The problem with all this is that, once the troops were there occupying the land that others called their own, the soldiers often could not distinguish among those who were friends and who were foes. So in a sense the locals collectively became the "suspects", and that tended to cheapen their lives. You may have heard of the terrible My Lai Massacre in South Vietnam, which is an illustration of this point, as well as seeing on the evening news back then the burning down of villages in order to "save" them. The movie Apocalypse Now, which depicted the overwhelming suspicion that a sizable segment of the American troops had of the native population, has a scene in which the Navy boat transporting upriver the movie's protagonist, played by Martin Sheen, encounters a Vietnamese junk boat, also referred to as a "sampan". Someone yells out "Sampan off the port bow!" and, despite Sheen's protestations, the Navy boat's chief insists on stopping it and investigating. The Vietnamese on it dutifully provide the necessary papers, but no, they are now "suspects" and so the boat has to be searched for contraband. While this is going on, a woman in the boat suddenly lurches toward the back and the entire Navy boat goes berserk with gunfire, killing all of the Vietnamese on the sampan. These were supposed to be the people that were being protected in this "police action" most of the world called the Vietnam War, but instead they were always going to be suspects from the soldiers' viewpoint and suffer the resulting peril...
I brought up the above illustration, admittedly in itself a work of fiction, to point out what I believe to be the main problem. Whether one is a policeman on patrol duty in this country or a soldier on "police action" duty in an occupied country, they should be respected and applauded for their brave service and sacrifices. But the behavior of some of these courageous public servants seems to "go south" toward any individual once he or she gets put into the "suspect" category...and the value of that suspect's life becomes diminished as a result. It is not for the police to administer justice or decide who is guilty. I cannot understand how the only available option for subduing uncooperative suspects is to shoot them with deadly force. As far as the racism angle being charged by protesters and movements like Black Lives Matter is concerned, I feel that there may be a tendency for some of those within the police forces to discriminately, even if done unconsciously, move African-Americans they encounter in the line of duty out of the category of the "protected" and into that of the "suspected". And once you're a suspect, life can get very, very scary: make the wrong move and you're history, whether you are a Vietnamese running in a sampan or an American reaching into your pocket or your car...
Saturday, September 24, 2016
Just Finished Reading Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre
Charlotte Brontë is one of three English sisters...the others are Emily and Anne...who wrote fiction in the early-to-mid 1800s. I already read Emily's Wuthering Heights...here is a link to my 2014 article about it [link]. Jane Eyre was written in the first person from the vantage point of the title protagonist, an orphaned girl, growing up and encountering romance and moral/ethical quandaries in the setting of rural England around the beginning of the nineteenth century, complete with a rigid, entrenched class-based society. A very sympathetic character, Jane has to endure unfair treatment in childhood at the home of her aunt, who heaps abuse on her while spoiling her own three children. Eventually, Jane is sent to Lowood, a charity school primarily for poor orphaned girls. There she grows into a young woman and then sets out to earn her own independent living. She is hired as a little girl's governess and encounters the estate's enigmatic owner Mr. Rochester, along with an ongoing dark secret hidden in the third story of the mansion. Will Jane find romance, and what or who is that mystery that from time to time manifests itself in violence? And at this point, as is usually the case when I'm discussing what I just read, here is where I tell you, the reader, to just go find out the rest for yourself...I'm not gonna spoil the book!
I have a special affinity for stories written in the first person, and Jane Eyre is a very good story. It may be hard to find a more likable character than the persevering, sensitive, generous, compassionate, intelligent...and above all, assertive Jane. The irony of this tale, which for its time was very pro-women, is that the author felt the need to publish it under a man's pseudonym, Currer Bell, instead of her own name, due to the perceived prejudicial attitudes then about women writers. Of course, Charlotte Brontë is now a great name in English literature, and Jane Eyre is the primary reason. I felt, as I was reading it, that Brontë was making a comparison study in religion and ethics, and how structured, organized religion often failed to live up to the compassion and morality that it sought to impose on the general population, while "true religion", as Jane Eyre herself practiced it, was very personal and beautiful. I liked that about this book, which I strongly encourage you to read...
I have a special affinity for stories written in the first person, and Jane Eyre is a very good story. It may be hard to find a more likable character than the persevering, sensitive, generous, compassionate, intelligent...and above all, assertive Jane. The irony of this tale, which for its time was very pro-women, is that the author felt the need to publish it under a man's pseudonym, Currer Bell, instead of her own name, due to the perceived prejudicial attitudes then about women writers. Of course, Charlotte Brontë is now a great name in English literature, and Jane Eyre is the primary reason. I felt, as I was reading it, that Brontë was making a comparison study in religion and ethics, and how structured, organized religion often failed to live up to the compassion and morality that it sought to impose on the general population, while "true religion", as Jane Eyre herself practiced it, was very personal and beautiful. I liked that about this book, which I strongly encourage you to read...
Friday, September 23, 2016
2016 Baseball Wild Card Races
With only nine or ten games remaining in the 2016 Major League Baseball season, the teams are scrambling for the wild card positions in the playoffs. Each league offers two slots, but the competition is close for them. In the American League, while Boston, Cleveland, and Texas appear headed to become their respective divisions' champions, the wild card race is wide open (teams are followed by their win-loss records):
Toronto 83-69
Detroit 82-70
Baltimore 81-70
Houston 81-72
Seattle 80-72
With only three games separating these five teams, who knows how it will end up. The National League likewise has solid division leaders in Washington, Chicago (Cubs), and Los Angeles...either already champions or close to clinching the division. The wild card race here is also very tight, although more restricted:
New York Mets 81-72
San Francisco 81-72
St. Louis 80-72
There's no telling which one of these will end up the odd team out...I'm hoping the Cardinals finally miss the playoffs for a change. I tend to root for San Francisco, but I'd be content to see the Mets get back to the World Series. As for the American League, I'd like to see Houston or Seattle get in as wild cards...but I like Boston in the playoffs. Now who do I think will actually make it to this year's World Series? The Chicago Cubs and Texas Rangers...
Toronto 83-69
Detroit 82-70
Baltimore 81-70
Houston 81-72
Seattle 80-72
With only three games separating these five teams, who knows how it will end up. The National League likewise has solid division leaders in Washington, Chicago (Cubs), and Los Angeles...either already champions or close to clinching the division. The wild card race here is also very tight, although more restricted:
New York Mets 81-72
San Francisco 81-72
St. Louis 80-72
There's no telling which one of these will end up the odd team out...I'm hoping the Cardinals finally miss the playoffs for a change. I tend to root for San Francisco, but I'd be content to see the Mets get back to the World Series. As for the American League, I'd like to see Houston or Seattle get in as wild cards...but I like Boston in the playoffs. Now who do I think will actually make it to this year's World Series? The Chicago Cubs and Texas Rangers...
Thursday, September 22, 2016
Just Finished Reading Ruth Rendell's From Doon with Death
Within the span of only a few hours I happened to finish reading three different (very different) books last night and this morning. I'll discuss them all in time, but today I'm focusing on the Ruth Rendell mystery novel From Doon with Death, her 1964 debut book and the first of the long-running Inspector Wexford series...
Having already been won over to Ruth Rendell's writing from her books Portobello and The Crocodile Bird, I was anxious to see what this Inspector Wexford series would be like. The locale is a small English town named Kingsmarkham and Reginald Wexford is the Chief Inspector for the police there, accompanied by Inspector Mike Burden on their cases. In this first book, they have a murder to solve, that of a seemingly ordinary housewife with no apparent enemies or history to speak of. What were Margaret Parson's routines, who knew her, what was the state of her marriage with her husband, and what was her past like? Wexford and Burden tackle these issues in detail and...guess what? They solve the crime, of course...the culprit, while in 1964 probably caught the bulk of readers totally by surprise, in this year of 2016 would raise hardly an eyebrow. So being as I am now a temporal resident of 2016 and no longer of 1964, I had pretty much figured it all out before the good inspector delivered his speech at the end revealing the murder mystery's solution...
I'm hoping that further books in this series are a little more difficult to solve and that the personality of the lead character of Inspector Wexford will be better developed. He came across to me as a cranky, judgmental sort...not exactly someone that I would care to follow through a series. On the other hand, Inspector Burden was more thoughtful and compassionate. But it's not his series, is it? Still, I intend to plod on through the books, hoping for better. I will say this: Ruth Rendell's The Crocodile Bird and Portobello were much more meaningful and enjoyable for me than From Doon with Death. Having said that, it must be recognized that the latter was her first book, and with first books it's a good idea to be light on the criticism. The next Ruth Rendell book I'll be reading is a 1990 story credited to Barbara Vine, a pseudonym of Rendell's...
Having already been won over to Ruth Rendell's writing from her books Portobello and The Crocodile Bird, I was anxious to see what this Inspector Wexford series would be like. The locale is a small English town named Kingsmarkham and Reginald Wexford is the Chief Inspector for the police there, accompanied by Inspector Mike Burden on their cases. In this first book, they have a murder to solve, that of a seemingly ordinary housewife with no apparent enemies or history to speak of. What were Margaret Parson's routines, who knew her, what was the state of her marriage with her husband, and what was her past like? Wexford and Burden tackle these issues in detail and...guess what? They solve the crime, of course...the culprit, while in 1964 probably caught the bulk of readers totally by surprise, in this year of 2016 would raise hardly an eyebrow. So being as I am now a temporal resident of 2016 and no longer of 1964, I had pretty much figured it all out before the good inspector delivered his speech at the end revealing the murder mystery's solution...
I'm hoping that further books in this series are a little more difficult to solve and that the personality of the lead character of Inspector Wexford will be better developed. He came across to me as a cranky, judgmental sort...not exactly someone that I would care to follow through a series. On the other hand, Inspector Burden was more thoughtful and compassionate. But it's not his series, is it? Still, I intend to plod on through the books, hoping for better. I will say this: Ruth Rendell's The Crocodile Bird and Portobello were much more meaningful and enjoyable for me than From Doon with Death. Having said that, it must be recognized that the latter was her first book, and with first books it's a good idea to be light on the criticism. The next Ruth Rendell book I'll be reading is a 1990 story credited to Barbara Vine, a pseudonym of Rendell's...
Wednesday, September 21, 2016
Watching the Clouds and Moon Last Night
Last night after work, I came home, got a bite to eat, and then went outside to my backyard seat to look at the night sky. It was around one in the morning, and the sky had shifted slightly from the previous time I had sat out there, with Pegasus directly overhead and the star Deneb Kaitos higher and more southern in the sky. But with the exceptions of Capella and Aldeberan lying low above the horizon, that was pretty much all of the stars that I saw, for clouds...those with a small, patchy cotton-like appearance, covered much of the east, where I faced. And near the bottom of the formation was the moon, very bright in almost a last quarter phase. Clouds were flying over and around it, and I began to notice the visual interaction. The closest clouds to the moon, as they generally approached it, did not seem to be going in a straight path, but rather in an unnatural, jerky sort of manner, as if some power were manipulating them. I thought this most peculiar and turned my vision upward to the bulk of the cloud mass. In it there appeared what looked like a face...no, two faces, one emerging at an angle from the other. Then I looked back down at a torrent of low-flying darker clouds as they raced upward from the eastern horizon, passed directly over the moon, and then disappeared in the night sky...
Now you may want to take what I have just written, which is an honest account of what I experienced, and try to draw some sort of conclusion about it. Those inclined to believing more in the paranormal and supernatural may pick up some meaning behind the connections I made with the cloud movements and the faces. Or perhaps, some may decide that I am being unduly influenced by forces that I should leave well enough alone. But the truth is that I just took a few minutes to exercise my faculties of observation and imagination, walking away from it with the pleasant feeling of having experienced something special. So it's not necessary to delve "beyond reality", as a new radio talk show that deals with the paranormal and related topics is named, in order to see meaning in the world around us; learning to observe and imagine...and being able to recognize our imagination simply for what it is...can enrich one's life without going over to the "other side"...
Now you may want to take what I have just written, which is an honest account of what I experienced, and try to draw some sort of conclusion about it. Those inclined to believing more in the paranormal and supernatural may pick up some meaning behind the connections I made with the cloud movements and the faces. Or perhaps, some may decide that I am being unduly influenced by forces that I should leave well enough alone. But the truth is that I just took a few minutes to exercise my faculties of observation and imagination, walking away from it with the pleasant feeling of having experienced something special. So it's not necessary to delve "beyond reality", as a new radio talk show that deals with the paranormal and related topics is named, in order to see meaning in the world around us; learning to observe and imagine...and being able to recognize our imagination simply for what it is...can enrich one's life without going over to the "other side"...
Tuesday, September 20, 2016
The Pets of My Life
My life has been marked by the presence of pets, and these have been of the most familiar types to us here in America: cats and dogs. In my early childhood, not long after my parents moved us into a house in late 1960, they brought home a relatively old, gentle grey cat they named Tom. Tom was the family pet until his death around 1963 or so. Not long thereafter they took me and my sister to the humane society and we got two kittens, the grey/white-striped Tiger and the completely black Panther. Although Tiger seemed to adjust well to life with us, Panther was a bit on the wild side...that one was eventually brought back. Somewhere along the line, we picked up a giant of a cat we called Smoky...one day that cat just wandered off and never came back. Tiger remained as our house pet through '64 and '65, but as we let our cats come and go as they pleased, Tiger became more and more estranged from us until we had given up on it coming back home. In February 1966, my father brought home a cockapoo puppy we named Michelle, after the Beatles song that had been so popular the year before. I think after that Tiger showed up once or twice more...and then never again. Michelle began the era of pets we kept either indoors, in the fenced-in back yard, or on a leash. She gradually became blind until the affliction was total. But we all loved Michelle and she lived a long, happy life, born in 1965 and passing away in 1981...
It wasn't until after I was married a year when Melissa and I got our first pet together, a miniature poodle we named Taffy...after its color. Taffy lived long, from 1987 to 2007, and it was sad at the end when she was finally put to sleep. Cuddles, a dachshund/whatever mix, came along a little puppy in 1997 and also lived to 2007. And then it was Freckles, another mixed-breed with some Australian shepherd in her, whom we got as a little puppy in 2005 and is still plodding along quite well. Oh, I might as well also mention that our grown daughter has taken under her wings her own puppy...
In spite of the fact that I've had several pets in conjunction with the childhood and adult families I've been a part of, I have never decided, on my own initiative, that I myself needed or particularly wanted any of them. It has always been others who seem to have desired the pets, and I was either a child without a say in the matter (although I liked the pets we got) or an adult who was accommodating others' feelings. That doesn't mean that I didn't bond to each cat or dog: I did, and loved them as members of the family, past and present. But during those eight years when I was completely on my own as a single, I never once had the remotest desire to get a pet. To me, they're nice to have in the context of a family, but I'm fine without them, too...
It wasn't until after I was married a year when Melissa and I got our first pet together, a miniature poodle we named Taffy...after its color. Taffy lived long, from 1987 to 2007, and it was sad at the end when she was finally put to sleep. Cuddles, a dachshund/whatever mix, came along a little puppy in 1997 and also lived to 2007. And then it was Freckles, another mixed-breed with some Australian shepherd in her, whom we got as a little puppy in 2005 and is still plodding along quite well. Oh, I might as well also mention that our grown daughter has taken under her wings her own puppy...
In spite of the fact that I've had several pets in conjunction with the childhood and adult families I've been a part of, I have never decided, on my own initiative, that I myself needed or particularly wanted any of them. It has always been others who seem to have desired the pets, and I was either a child without a say in the matter (although I liked the pets we got) or an adult who was accommodating others' feelings. That doesn't mean that I didn't bond to each cat or dog: I did, and loved them as members of the family, past and present. But during those eight years when I was completely on my own as a single, I never once had the remotest desire to get a pet. To me, they're nice to have in the context of a family, but I'm fine without them, too...
Monday, September 19, 2016
Second Frog
I've grown accustomed lately to sitting out in the middle of my back yard around midnight and looking out at the sky. Because there is a lot of overhead tree growth facing the west, my direction tends to be toward the east, particularly the southeast. And this time of the year at my latitude, the southeastern night sky isn't very much to behold. As a matter of fact, under the city lights I have to endure with my star-gazing, there is only one isolated star out in that part of the sky to view: Deneb Kaitos, or Beta Ceti, the brightest star in the constellation Cetus...
In Greek mythology, Cetus represents the whale, or sea-monster...I don't suppose the ancients made much of a distinction between the two...that was attacking the fair Andromeda when the hero Perseus, flying in on the winged horse Pegasus, rescued her...while Queen Cassiopeia, Andromeda's mother, looked on with fear. All five of these characters are constellations in the autumn evening sky, with Cetus being the southernmost. While I sit there looking at the sky, Cetus stretches across it from just above the eastern horizon to the southeast. It has some discernibly visible stars, but overall is still a relatively faint constellation. As for the name Deneb Kaitos...
Deneb Kaitos, the more traditional name given to Beta Ceti, means "tail of the whale". But just last year at a meeting of astronomers who apparently didn't have anything better to do, its official designation was changed to Diphda, which in Arabic means "second frog". Diphda had been around for centuries as well and had been in a kind of competition with Deneb Kaitos for the star's name. I grew up calling it Deneb Kaitos, but I'll keep Diphda handy in case that I hear or read someone discussing it that way. As for "first frog", which star is that? The bright Fomalhaut of the constellation Piscis Austrinus, which just precedes it along approximately the same latitude in the sky. Ah, now I see it: two frogs hopping endlessly across the heavens, one after the other...
Diphda, or Deneb Kaitos, or Beta Ceti, or Second Frog is an orange giant, much larger than our sun, cooler, and with a considerably shorter life span. It is 96 light-years away and there haven't as yet been any planets discovered orbiting it (info provided by Wikipedia). That's a bit different from "first frog" Fomalhaut, a triple-star system which is much closer at 25 light-years, the largest star not being a giant and recently discovered to possess a planetary system. Sometimes while just sitting there gazing at the sky it's easy to just see the stars as dots...looking up facts about each of them can enhance the viewing experience...
In Greek mythology, Cetus represents the whale, or sea-monster...I don't suppose the ancients made much of a distinction between the two...that was attacking the fair Andromeda when the hero Perseus, flying in on the winged horse Pegasus, rescued her...while Queen Cassiopeia, Andromeda's mother, looked on with fear. All five of these characters are constellations in the autumn evening sky, with Cetus being the southernmost. While I sit there looking at the sky, Cetus stretches across it from just above the eastern horizon to the southeast. It has some discernibly visible stars, but overall is still a relatively faint constellation. As for the name Deneb Kaitos...
Deneb Kaitos, the more traditional name given to Beta Ceti, means "tail of the whale". But just last year at a meeting of astronomers who apparently didn't have anything better to do, its official designation was changed to Diphda, which in Arabic means "second frog". Diphda had been around for centuries as well and had been in a kind of competition with Deneb Kaitos for the star's name. I grew up calling it Deneb Kaitos, but I'll keep Diphda handy in case that I hear or read someone discussing it that way. As for "first frog", which star is that? The bright Fomalhaut of the constellation Piscis Austrinus, which just precedes it along approximately the same latitude in the sky. Ah, now I see it: two frogs hopping endlessly across the heavens, one after the other...
Diphda, or Deneb Kaitos, or Beta Ceti, or Second Frog is an orange giant, much larger than our sun, cooler, and with a considerably shorter life span. It is 96 light-years away and there haven't as yet been any planets discovered orbiting it (info provided by Wikipedia). That's a bit different from "first frog" Fomalhaut, a triple-star system which is much closer at 25 light-years, the largest star not being a giant and recently discovered to possess a planetary system. Sometimes while just sitting there gazing at the sky it's easy to just see the stars as dots...looking up facts about each of them can enhance the viewing experience...
Saturday, September 17, 2016
Explosive Growth of Internet Information and Educational Resources
It seems that I am constantly in a state of "catch-up" when it comes to the Internet and the explosion of innovations in this exciting digital age of ours. Being someone who likes history, languages, and reading, the amount of material now available over the World Wide Web is astounding, to say the least. If you want to know what land Florida's counties covered in 1845, 1855, 1902, or later...all you have to do is perform a search and presto, there they are...I was surprised to see a sizeable town called Newnansville, where Gainesville would have been, on the 1845 map that also showed Alachua County extending to cover much of the Gulf of Mexico coastline. You can now learn just about anything on YouTube...all that is needed is your time and attention. Just pick any college course and somebody's probably teaching it somewhere on this site. There is so much language learning material available now on the Internet that it is mind-boggling. And then you can translate anything you see on your screen into just about any language you want. Amazing! And what about the Wiki network that provides so much information and direction on just about any subject conceivable? Today I accidentally stumbled upon one such site: Wikisources...
Wikisources offers a staggering amount of public domain literature, free of charge. I like the fiction, but there are also works about science, history, law, religion, philosophy...just check out their categories for yourself! And what's even cooler is that they has a mobile app called "Wikisurf" that enables me to read any of this material on my cell phone!
Maybe you're chuckling to yourself as I reveal all of these revelations that you might well have known about for some time...I wouldn't be at all surprised, being a bit behind the times in this area. With this revolution of instant availability of information and educational resources, I'm going to have to sit back and consider revising my personal goals as I take into account the ever-expanding possibilities for growth in so many different areas...
Wikisources offers a staggering amount of public domain literature, free of charge. I like the fiction, but there are also works about science, history, law, religion, philosophy...just check out their categories for yourself! And what's even cooler is that they has a mobile app called "Wikisurf" that enables me to read any of this material on my cell phone!
Maybe you're chuckling to yourself as I reveal all of these revelations that you might well have known about for some time...I wouldn't be at all surprised, being a bit behind the times in this area. With this revolution of instant availability of information and educational resources, I'm going to have to sit back and consider revising my personal goals as I take into account the ever-expanding possibilities for growth in so many different areas...
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