Tuesday's List: Pseudo-Countries of the World

After noting over the years the number of "nations" represented as such in the Olympic Games that aren't really independent sovereign states and then seeing various separatist "states" being carved out of others, I realized that it might be a good idea to compose a list of all these "pseudo-countries".  As it is, the quiz website sporcle.com has a list of most of them, thanks to a contributor named varndler who made a capital cities quiz of it...here's a link to that list: [link].  I used it, rearranging the entries and adding a few more.  So, by geographical region, I have listed below the world's current pseudo-countries, broken down by geographical area with the "real" country they are part of list next to them in parenthesis.  Since being a "pseudo-country" isn't a cut-and-dry kind of thing, you might have a few of your own to add to the list.  Oh, by the way, by including certain names on this list I am in no way whatsoever making any sort of commentary on their "national" legitimacy or otherwise...

****THE AMERICAS & THE CARIBBEAN****
ANGUILLA (United Kingdom)
ARUBA (Netherlands)
BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS (United Kingdom)
CAYMAN ISLANDS (United Kingdom)
CURACAO (Netherlands)
FRENCH GUINEA (France)
GUADELOUPE (France)
MARTINIQUE (France)
MONTSERRAT (United Kingdom)
NETHERLANDS ANTILLES (Netherlands)
PUERTO RICO (United States)
SAINT MARTIN (France)
SINT MAARTEN (Netherlands)
ST. BARTHELEMY (France)
ST. PIERRE AND MIQUELON (France)
TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS (United Kingdom)
US VIRGIN ISLANDS (United States)

******ATLANTIC OCEAN*******
ASCENSION ISLAND (United Kingdom)
BERMUDA (United Kingdom)
FAEROE ISLANDS (Denmark)
FALKLAND ISLANDS (United Kingdom)
GREENLAND (Denmark)
ST. HELENA (United Kingdom)
SOUTH GEORGIA (United Kingdom)
TRISTAN DA CUNHA (United Kingdom)

*********EUROPE***********
CATALONIA (Spain)
ENGLAND (United Kingdom)
GIBRALTAR (United Kingdom)
GUERNSEY (United Kingdom)
ISLE OF MAN (United Kingdom)
JERSEY (United Kingdom)
NORTHERN CYPRUS (Cyprus)
NORTHERN IRELAND (United Kingdom)
SCOTLAND (United Kingdom)
SVALBARD (Norway...in Arctic Ocean)
WALES (United Kingdom)

******FORMER SOVIET UNION******
ABKHAZIA (Georgia)
CHECHNYA (Russia)
DONETSK (Ukraine)
LUZHANSK (Ukraine)
NAGORNO-KARABAKH (Azerbaijan)
SOUTH OSSETIA (Georgia)
TRANSNISTRIA (Moldova)

******AFRICA & MIDDLE EAST******
CABINDA (Angola)
PALESTINE (Israel)
SOMALILAND (Somalia)
WESTERN SAHARA (Morocco)

*******EAST ASIA & THE PACIFIC******
COCOS (KEELING) ISLANDS (Australia)
COOK ISLANDS (Australia)
EASTER ISLAND (Chile)
FRENCH POLYNESIA (France)
GUAM (United States)
NEW CALEDONIA (France)
NIUE (New Zealand)
NORFOLK ISLAND (Australia)
NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS (United States)
PITCAIRN ISLANDS (United Kingdom)
TIBET (China)
TOKELAU (New Zealand)
WALLIS AND FUTUNA (France)

*******INDIAN OCEAN******
BRITISH INDIAN OCEAN TERRITORY (United Kingdom)
MAYOTTE (France)
REUNION (France)

Just Finished Reading Y is for Yesterday by Sue Grafton

It had been a while since I read one of Sue Grafton's "alphabet mystery" books featuring spunky and independent California private eye Kinsey Millhone...once I caught up with the author's series I found myself having to wait until the next book came out.  Sadly, Sue Grafton passed away just eleven days ago after fighting cancer for two years...this will be the final book in the series: no "Z". I enjoyed Y is for Yesterday...although I've found myself enjoying her novels when the focus is entirely on Kinsey instead of those that have several flashbacks interspersed throughout the narrative. This particular story keeps hopping back and forth between my favorite detective's investigation in 1989 and the crucial events that transpired ten years earlier...

In 1979 in the city of San Teresa there are a bunch of spoiled rotten high school brats attending a private school.  One of the students, Austin,  is a manipulate bully who blackmails his "friends" into obediently following him.  One classmate who stands up to him is Sloan, a girl who Austin falsely accuses of snitching on a couple of students for cheating on a standardized test.  Sloan is shunned by everyone until she gets hold of a damaging sex video that Austin and others made, consequently demanding that Austin "call off" the shunning.  She ends up murdered...the boy who shot her is now (in 1989) just released from imprisonment and finds himself and his parents being blackmailed by someone who threatens to send that tape to the police.  Not wanting their son to go back to jail, the parents hire Kinsey to discover the identity of the blackmailer, eventually involving herself with mysteries surrounding the events of 1979.  There are other subplots taking place in Kinsey's life, most notably an escaped serial killer who is trying to kill her...

Remember the feared bully Scut Farkas and his toady sidekick Grover Dill from the movie A Christmas Story?  In that tale, the "bad guys" are socially isolated with the rest of the kids basically shunning them.  But with Y is for Yesterday, Sue Grafton much more accurately depicts what usually happens with bullies: they poison the social environment around them, with those who won't kowtow made into scapegoats and shunned: I know, I experienced this in high school at my bus stop and expect that those bullies who have survived to this date are probably just as degenerate and manipulative as they were back then...sad.

I recommend Y is for Yesterday, but if you haven't read anything by Sue Grafton you probably would be better off beginning with the first book A is for Alibi.  That's because although the main mystery in each book is usually independent of the others in the series, Kinsey's personal life progressively develops as the reader "goes through the alphabet"...

Just Finished Reading Nemesis by Isaac Asimov

One of prolific science fiction writer Isaac Asimov's final novels was Nemesis, which was released in 1989, three years before the author's death in 1992.  Set early in the twenty-third century, Earth is an overpopulated and seriously polluted planet with all sorts of environmental and social problems (no surprise here).  A number of Settlements, as they are called, have gone out into the Solar System...these are large, self-contained systems populated by thousands, many of whom are the product of generations living completely away from the original home world.  Rotor, one such settlement, has perfected the ability to travel at approximately the speed of light and, under the direction of its leader Janus Pitt, who is cynical and contemptuous of Earth, has decided to secretly depart to a hidden star system only recently discovered by one its astronomers, Eugenia Insignia.  She takes along her teenage daughter Marlene...who has the intuitive gift of intimately discerning others' hidden motives through their speech and body language...while sending her estranged husband Criles Fisher (and Marlene's father) back to Earth.  She does not know that Criles had been working as a spy for Earth to discern Rotor's intentions, and he is soon enlisted in the effort first to find the missing Settlement with the aid of the invention of superluminal (faster than the speed of light) travel by his new partner, Tessa Wendel.  Making it all a very urgent matter is the discovery that Nemesis, a red dwarf star only two light-years from Earth, is headed in the Solar System's general direction and, upon its passing, will disturb Earth's gravity enough to move its orbit and make it uninhabitable in just a few thousand years.  Is there a habitable world around Nemesis...and what happened to Rotor?  Young Marlene figures greatly in all of this, and her gift contributes immeasurably to the story's resolution.  Naturally, I'm not the one to spill the beans...you'll have to read it for yourself to find out what happens...

Breaking the light barrier in space travel has been a common theme in much science fiction literature, with it being supposed by many writers that humanity will eventually devise a means to bypass Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, which sets an absolute limit on motion at the speed of light.  In reality, good luck with that project...sounds unfeasible to me...but it does open up the universe for stories and speculation.  Other themes that Nemesis incorporates are how to deal with life forms so exotic that they may be completely overlooked at first, as well as how they might communicate with us and see themselves and their environment.  Good stuff to muse upon, and this novel also presents some compelling characters with strong personalities and worldviews.  It also has a great epilogue, expressing the forebodings of Janus Pitt.  I found it to be one of Isaac Asimov's better works, and I've read a lot of them...

NFL Playoff Picture

Starting around 4:30 this afternoon the "2017" National Football League playoffs begin with a wild card game between Tennessee and Kansas City, followed at 8 by Atlanta and the Los Angeles Rams.  The Chiefs and Rams get to play at home since they are division winners, as are the Jacksonville against Buffalo and New Orleans against Carolina in tomorrow's contests.  The lowest seeded wild card round winner will travel to New England the following week and the highest to Pittsburgh, the winners of those games to play for the AFC Championship and a ticket to the Super Bowl.  Likewise, in the NFC Minnesota will host the high seed wild card winner and Philadelphia the low seed.   All in all, so far the twelve teams that made the playoffs are patting themselves on the back amid fan approval, but the four that make a quick exit this weekend will soon be scratching their heads and taking in fan criticism, human nature being what it is.  Ultimately, of course, only the Super Bowl winner will be able to escape hindsight misgivings and speculation about what might have been...

I'm presenting two lists of the twelve teams involved in the playoffs.  The first list ranks them in order of my own preference while the second rates them according to how good I think they are.  As you can see by where I placed the Patriots on the two lists, I'm probably in for a very rough ride this NFL playoff season.  Also note that due to their star quarterback Carson Wentz's season-ending injury in December, I'm not giving the Eagles much of a chance in spite of their top NFC seeding...

BY PREFERENCE:
1 JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS
2 ATLANTA FALCONS
3 KANSAS CITY CHIEFS
4 LOS ANGELES RAMS
5 CAROLINA PANTHERS
6 MINNESOTA VIKINGS
7 PHILADELPHIA EAGLES
8 TENNESSEE TITANS
9 PITTSBURGH STEELERS
10 NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
11 BUFFALO BILLS
12 NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS

BEST TO WORST:
1 NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
2 PITTSBURGH STEELERS
3 MINNESOTA VIKINGS
4 LOS ANGELES RAMS
5 NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
6 CAROLINA PANTHERS
7 JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS
8 PHILADELPHIA EAGLES
9 ATLANTA FALCONS
10 KANSAS CITY CHIEFS
11 TENNESSEE TITANS
12 BUFFALO BILLS

Quote of the Week...from Winston Churchill

I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else.   ---Winston Churchill

Having gone and seen the new movie The Darkest Hour just last week, I thought it would be timely to use a Winston Churchill quote for the second time on this blog.  It was he who galvanized public and political support in Britain and its Commonwealth for their effort to fight Hitler's Nazi Germany and his allies essentially by themselves for a year and a half ...the Soviet Union was then in a non-aggression pact with Germany and America wouldn't enter the war until December of 1941.  But on May 10, 1940 Neville Chamberlain resigned when he could not forge a unity coalition government...the Labor Party insisted on Churchill, so King George asked him to replace Chamberlain.  The situation was dire: the Nazis had just overrun Norway and were now invading Belgium on their way to an unexpectedly quick rout of France...with several hundred thousand British troops trapped on the ground there.  It all looked hopeless as the possibility of most of the British Army being decimated looked more and more probable.  There was a defeatist attitude in the War Room and Churchill was being prodded by the influential Conservative Party leader Lord Halifax to opt for peace talks with Hitler.  Instead, Churchill, who had decades of experience with war strategy and tactics, devised a bold scheme to evacuate the troops from the beaches of Dunkirk with the aid of a flotilla of hundreds of private boats, crossing the channel back and forth under enemy bombardment.  Churchill's political struggles and eventual triumph over Halifax in the first few weeks of his administration was the focus of the movie, which I heartily recommend (Gary Oldman's portrayal of Churchill was amazing)...

It runs against the grain of human nature...and even possibly common sense...to, when confronted with storms, be they personal or more societal in nature, face them with hope and a clear mind.  The tendency, sad to say, is for folks to either bury themselves in denial and/or angrily look for scapegoats in order to alleviate themselves of any responsibility for the problems or their resolution.  Having an optimistic attitude immediately opens oneself to looking for possibilities to make things better...but, as Winston Churchill would agree, it must be based on soberly recognizing the facts as they really are, no matter how dark things might appear...

12/31 Sermon, Titled "Inadequate"

This past Sunday at The Family Church here in Gainesville, Colin Griffin, son of our senior pastor Philip Griffin, delivered a message titled Inadequate. Colin is very active in overseas missions, and has been working lately in the Middle East in places like Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, and Palestine. His frequent contact with practitioners of the Muslim and Jewish faiths has sharpened his feelings of inadequacy whenever he seeks to act in his own power, and has increasingly found himself relying on God through his faith in Christ.  So his selection of  Philippians 4:3-11 as the scripture of focus was wholly appropriate...

In presenting his talk, Colin referred to different times he discussed matters of faith with Muslims and Jews.  One problem he encountered was the commonly held notion...and it's not just in the Middle East...that believers in a particular faith should not cross religious lines and seek to influence believers following other religions.  I, however, believe rather strongly that this spiritual segregation is counterproductive...I say let the ideas flow freely, as long as the participants are respectful toward one another.  After all, we're talking about the most profound things that affect us all...wouldn't it just make sense to keep everything out in the open instead of erecting walls to separate us from each other in this regard?  A good rule to practice when reaching out like this is to devote much of the time in listening to others and earnestly trying to see things from their perspective...this will in turn help to open them up to receiving what you have to convey.  I appreciate and admire Colin's boldness in pursuing meaningful communication with others, in spite of the walls he has encountered.  Of course, he would quickly step in and say that he was completely inadequate to the task, a work that only God could effect to change others' hearts...

Colin's excellent sermon can be seen on the church's YouTube video website...just click on the following link: [link].  Next week Two weeks from now Pastor Philip will start a series about the book of Philippians...Colin's message was a nice introduction to it.  The Family Church is located at 2022 SW 122nd Street and holds its Sunday morning services at 9 and 10:30.  There's the message, praise/worship music, many friendly folks, prayer and discipleship opportunities...and a warm hospitality center where visitors can get some coffee.  A good way to spend a Sunday morning...

Weekly Short Story: Let's Be Frank by Brian Aldiss

"It is an impossible story scientifically speaking, but it makes a weird kind of sense with a socko last paragraph".  This was how science fiction legend Isaac Asimov described the brief but brilliant 1957 tale Let's Be Frank, written by Brian Aldiss and appearing in Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stores 19 (1957), (DAW Books).  Frank Gladwebb, a young English nobleman living in the sixteenth century, fathers a son...who remains in a deep sleep for his first nineteen years of life.  Upon awakening, son and father discover that they are one and the same...a shared consciousness between two different bodies.  Eventually Frank II has his own offspring, some of whom are "normal", but also...and it becomes obvious that this is a genetic mutation (although genes and mutations had yet to be discovered)...there are more "Franks".  Go down the line a few generations and we are seeing a hidden, embedded society of people, outwardly looking distinctly different, but inwardly (and simultaneously) the same conscious entity.  Where does this all eventually lead? Read it and find out!

Aldiss provided the explanation of genetic mutation for the Frank "syndrome", and Asimov posited that it was all scientifically impossible, but I have a slightly different proposition about this.  If one accepts the notion of a consciousness inhabiting a body, then certain possibilities open up.  Suppose it is like the case with the Franks in this story...but pretend that there is no simultaneous awareness of the others.  After all, each person has his or her own internal nervous system, brain, and memory, and has to process information and experiences within the limits of physical laws.  Suppose a consiousness...like Frank...permeates many, many different bodies.  In Aldiss's story, they all are experiencing all of themselves with complete mutual awareness...but suppose it's all just like the author presented it except that each body...despite sharing the same consciousness...was cut off from each other due to physical restraints.  In such a case each person would think that he or she is the entire conscious entity instead of realizing their commonality with one another. You don't need to go much further with this line of reasoning before you're plunging deeply into metaphysics and religion...

I like stories like Let's Be Frank that present an intriguing angle on the nature of reality...and our role as living beings in it.  But still, it is probably scientifically impossible, especially as that "socko last paragraph" reveals...

Tuesday's List: My Favorite Music During 2017

My musical tastes for 2017 diverged down two different paths.  On one I continued to listen to indie/alternative rock on the radio...primarily the local Gainesville-area station 100.5/WHHZ "The Buzz"...while on the other I began to more intently listen to classical music.  I was greatly disappointed in several of my favorite alternative rock acts, i.e. Arcade Fire, Gorillaz, Sufjan Stevens, and Spoon, when none of their new studio albums released this year yielded a single track that I liked...that's one reason I turned classical.  Still, I heard enough good rock music on the radio...some of it from a year or two (or more) back...that I think I have enough to compose a list of my favorite songs of the year.  So yes, some of these songs may not be all that current, but it was in 2017 when I noticed and began to like them.  The best musical act, in my opinion, was the duo Twenty One Pilots, which had my top favorite song as well as some others.  Also, Beck, one of my favorites, just released his latest album Colors back in October...I've only heard a couple of tracks from it so far.  Well, without further ado, here's my list of favorite songs for this past year:

1 RIDE..............................................Twenty One Pilots
2 THE MAN.....................................The Killers
3 HEAVYDIRTYSOUL...................Twenty One Pilots
4 SPIRITS.........................................Strumbellas
5 THE WHEEL.................................PJ Harvey
5 GO ROBOT....................................Red Hot Chili Peppers
6 HO HEY..........................................Lumineers
7 HEATHENS....................................Twenty One Pilots
8 LAY IT ON ME..............................Vance Joy
9 ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME....Coldplay
10 UP ALL NIGHT.............................Beck
11 STRESSED OUT...........................Twenty One Pilots
12 STAY............................................Rihanna
13 WHOLE WIDE WORLD............Cage the Elephant
14 FEEL IT STILL...........................Portugal. The Man

As for classical music, I tended to listen to whatever was on the radio: my favorite stations are 102.7/WUFT CLASSICAL and, on my TuneInRadio app, WCRI from Rhode Island.  I did especially like Henryk Górecki's Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, Gustav Mahler's Ninth Symphony, and that incredible Second Movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.  Maybe this coming year I'll start listing my classical favorites like I do with the popular hits...

My December 2017 Running Report

My running improved over the month of December, although I did not extend the distance of my longer runs.  I covered a total of 94 miles for the month, running on all but one day with a meager 4.1 miles being my longest run.  I didn't run in any races and wonder whether I'll be in shape to run some of the longer events in January.  I think some of this has to do with motivation, which has been somewhat lacking in me lately.  Sure, I do my daily routines, but I don't seem to have a strong vision of regularly going out there on long runs like I used to.  And it seems like something is always interfering with my progress, be it foot pain, a bad cold, or going into bad coughing fits at times during my runs.  I'd like to stabilize my daily running distance at about five-to-seven miles per run...maybe if I can get back to that level I'll feel more confident entering half-marathon races like in years past.  But to do this I'll have to get past those interfering physical obstacles...

Our St. Augustine Eco Tour Holiday Boat Ride

Friday Melissa and I drove over to St. Augustine again to go on the Eco Tour holiday lights boat ride up and down the Matanzas River (Intracoastal Waterway there).  I say "again" because on Saturday, the 16th we had gone there for the very same reason but the traffic was so congested that we missed our appointed time...we simply could not park or even approach the downtown marina area in time.  But the good folks at Eco Tour were sympathetic and graciously put us on last Friday's 6 pm boat...no problem with the traffic or parking this time!  Just to be safe, though, we got there early in the afternoon and walked up and down St. George's and King Streets, exploring stores (and drinking coffee) in misty, very chilly, windy, and overcast weather throughout the day and evening.  At the city marina just south of where the main bridge crosses, we found our group and departed on time for our hour-long tour on an open motorboat seating around 12-14.  Most of the other passengers were couples like us, but there was a large family at the end with three excited little kids...I found their noisiness to enhance the experience although at times I couldn't make out what the tour guide was saying.  We first went south toward the southern bridge, stopped facing the famous lighthouse, turned back north, passing a "party pirate" yacht, went under the Bridge of Lions, and passed the spooky Spanish fort, on whose walls folks were casting big shadows.  The guide told us that it had never fallen in battle and that this was largely because it was virtually indestructible, made from little seashells that absorbed bombardment instead of collapsing.  Interesting...

We kept going further north until we reached that beautiful, 200-foot tall cross on the edge of the river.  Because of the intense ground lights and the overcast sky, a giant, dark shadow of the cross was etched onto the clouds...an amazing sight.  Then we headed back, with the brilliant downtown city's Christmas lighting making it almost seem to be on fire (see photo above).  I really liked Eco Tours, although there are other tour companies operating out of this marina that are probably fine, too.  They also have more nature-based boating excursions where the natural flora and fauna of the area are explored...

All in all, Friday's adventure was very fun, and Melissa and I enjoyed it.  I got to drink lots of coffee, we ate at Scarlett O'Hara's, and went into an extraordinary art gallery off King Street near the marina.  But that's St. Augustine for you: a different, memorable experience each time you go there...

Just Finished Reading The Maze Runner by James Dashner

After finishing my reading of James Dashner's 2009 dystopian young adult novel The Maze Runner, I was stunned to discover that not only was it the first book of a five-part series, but also had been made three years ago into a blockbuster hit movie...I guess that shows how far off the beaten track I roam.  I had never even heard of it until I happened to be browsing the shelves of my local public library here in northern Gainesville and happened upon a "Playaway" audiobook unabridged edition of this novel.  So I listened to the eleven-plus hours at my own convenience and came away with the conclusion that I must be an addict for this kind of whacked-out fiction.  After all, I like stories and series like The Hunger Games, Divergent, The Age of Miracles, Wither, and the like that mix together the angst of youth with a seemingly hopeless, nightmare future.  The Maze Runner fits in perfectly with this genre...

Thomas, a teenager armed only with the knowledge of his first name, his only solid memory of his past, finds himself transported upward within a box that is opened in the presence of other boys in a bizarre setting: The Glades.  The Glades are surrounded by four walls that go up into the sky...beyond them is an elaborate maze, populated by gruesome, murderous creatures called grievers...half-living and half-machine. Some of the boys, including eventually Thomas, daily run through the maze...which changes slightly from one day to the next...in order to look for a means of escape.  Only boys stung by grievers and then afterward treated with serum that is also provided by means of the box can recover some of their memories.  Each month a new boy arrives, like Thomas devoid of memory about his past.  But only one day after Thomas gets there, a girl named Teresa comes up in the same box...and with some disturbing messages...

So the maze and the reasons for the boys being sent without memory to this nightmare scenario is a big puzzle that needs to be solved.  Thinking that this was a standalone novel when I checked it out, I was a little disappointed that many questions were left unanswered at the end.  And then I heard the words "END OF BOOK ONE".  Groan...it's a series...

Still, I liked Dashner's writing in The Maze Runner and recommend it.  Of course, you may have already seen the movie in which case you probably wouldn't want to bother with reading it.  If I can get it on Netflix I think I'll watch it and plan to read the second book...which probably won't explain everything, either...

Quote of the Week...from Vladimir Putin

Stalin is the most popular figure in all of Russia.           ---Vladimir Putin

The above is a quote from the current president of the Russian Federation, who during his incrementally-lengthening tenure has rolled back representative democracy in his country, persecuted his political opponents, and restricted the freedom of the press...while engaging in an aggressive foreign policy designed to interfere with neighboring countries like Ukraine and Georgia through military occupation and fomenting rebellion.  It is strongly suspected that under his direction, Putin interfered with our own presidential election in 2016 and has also tampered with other countries' elections.  Yet he consistently gets a very high popularity rating among his people, at worst in the 60s percentile and recently climbing to the upper 80s.  To understand this, it is important to note something about the Russian people...

Every culture on Earth has its own traditions and priorities, and Russia has a long, long history of its people living under autocratic or totalitarian rule with very little experience of democratic representation and freedom of expression as we see it practiced here.  Whether or not their leader becomes revered is largely a matter of how well he has asserted Russia's presence on the world stage and comes across as strong.  Actually, to a lesser extent Americans also judge their own presidents by similar standards...this is not confined to being "Russian".  But we here also have a strong tradition of individual freedom and have a system of two well-established political parties in opposition to each other.  Of course, there are many Russians opposed to Putin and his regime and tactics...but we in America would be deluding ourselves if we thought that he is only in power because he oppresses his people and crushes political opponents.  In fact, Vladimir Putin is very highly regarded in general over there...and I'm sure that he was careful to create the same kind of image for himself that Josef Stalin accomplished: ruthless to the enemy, but benevolently and paternally taking care of his own.  That's the image, not necessarily the reality (Stalin was responsible for untold millions of deaths): but politics are politics, and people react to their leaders in their own way and judge them differently in different countries...

Unlike Stalin, though, who was an ideologue and extremely paranoid, Vladimir Putin is just a savvy, rather cold-blooded Russian nationalist whose priorities are (1) to protect and advance his own political power using whatever means necessary and (2) to look after the interests of Russia and Russian nationals.  Beyond this, he is not particularly interested in being anyone's friend or ally...unless doing so furthers (1) or (2)...

12/24 Sermon: Christmas Series, Part 4

At The Family Church here in Gainesville, senior pastor Philip Griffin concluded his Christmas Series of sermons that emphasized the theme of "irrational" when it comes to looking at God and his relationship with us.  For this message, the title was Irrational Joy...a joy founded in God's love for us and not on our own circumstances.  There were a number of scripture references...just click on them to read them via Bible Gateway...

At the start of his message, Pastor Philip made a point of distinguishing between the terms "happiness", which depends...as I had earlier mentioned...on our own circumstances, and "joy", which comes from God and being deeply rooted in him.  Philip described that joy as surrendering control to God (Luke 1:46-47), knowing that we are loved and included (Luke 2:10, 1 Corinthians 1:26-27), and finding the answer to the deepest longings of our soul (Matthew 2:10, 1 Peter 1:8-9).  Mary's joy depended on completely surrendering her control to God, for her circumstances were challenging on many fronts.  God picked the lowly shepherds for the angels to announce the Lord's birth because this showed that everyone is included as his beloved.  And for our souls' deepest longings, people and "stuff" will always disappoint, but God never will...

Although when I wrote this summary, the particular message from last Sunday hadn't yet been uploaded, I'm sure it eventually will appear on the church's YouTube video website, which you can access through the following link: [link]...just scroll down to the bottom left video on hat site to see the latest sermon.  The Family Church is located at 2022 SW 122nd Street (also known as Parker Road) and will hold its final Sunday morning services of the year at 9:30 and 11...starting in 2018 those times change to 9 and 10:30.  I'm always learning something new every time I go there and hear messages full of insight, as well as the beautiful, inspiring music.  Oh, and with friendly folks all around and delicious coffee, how can you go wrong?

Weekly Short Story: Fast Falls the Eventide by Eric Frank Russell

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.

So goes the second stanza to the Christian hymn Abide with Me! Fast Falls the Eventide. Twentieth-century science fiction writer Eric Frank Russell clearly used it for his wonderful short story Fast Falls the Eventide, which appeared in the anthology Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 14 (1952)(DAW Books, 1986).  I picked it because it examines a topic common in science fiction: the far distant future and the ultimate fate of Earth's humanity...

It is millions upon millions of years into the future and Earth's atmosphere is barely breathable while the Sun is a diminishing, dying red.  There are only around a million humans left on the planet, while they have achieved a kind of symbiosis with the planet's remaining, evolved life forms, with partial verbal communication between species commonplace.  Although life on this planet is gradually dying out, humanity has spread throughout the cosmos and is thriving on worlds on which other, alien civilizations rule.  It is the strategy for our species' survival over the eons that intrigued me in this story, a strategy accurately spelled out at the story's end by a Zelamite leader called Nethame upon the arrival of the only human, a young woman from Earth named Melisande, to his own planet.  And it seems the Zelamites are looking for their own ideas for withstanding the ravages of time...

Many science fiction stories and series...Star Wars included...see the conquering of space as being basically a matter of combining military prowess, faster-than-light technology, and sheer numbers to advance whatever race or species is doing the conquering.  I liked Fast Falls the Eventide because it presents an alternative in which all sides win.  I also was intrigued with the notion of humanity keeping its basic biological form over the vast stretches of time...one might think that our species would have undergone a number of different transformations over that period.  But, of course, this is just a story in the final analysis, and Russell...who was known for seeing things in ways that others couldn't or wouldn't...painted a somber yet hopeful picture of the ways things might turn out...

I'd like to place a link to this interesting tale, but apparently it hasn't yet become part of the public domain...still, it's definitely a worthy investment of your time if you happen to come across it...

Tuesday's List: My Favorite John Denver Songs

John Denver, during his peak popularity years throughout most of the 1970s, was one of my favorite recording artists, mixing folk, rock, and country and western music in his special way to produce some of the most beautiful songs of that era.  He sadly died in a plane crash twenty years ago, but his music is just as fresh today as when he first recorded it.  Here is the list of my top favorite songs of his, each followed by its year of release...

1 SUNSHINE ON MY SHOULDERS [1974]
2 FAREWELL ANDROMEDA (WELCOME TO MY MORNING) [1973]
3 FOLLOW ME [1971]
4 FLY AWAY (with Olivia Newton-John) [1975]
5 SHANGHAI BREEZES [1982]
6 BACK HOME AGAIN [1974]
7 LOOKING FOR SPACE [1976]
8 MY SWEET LADY [1971]
9 LIKE A SAD SONG [1976]
10 ANNIE'S SONG [1974]
11 PERHAPS LOVE (with Placido Domingo) [1982]
12 ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH [1973]
13 FOR BABY (FOR BOBBIE) [1972]
14 THIS OLD GUITAR [1974]
15 GOODBYE AGAIN [1972]
16 TAKE ME HOME, COUNTRY ROADS [1971]
17 THANK GOD I'M A COUNTRY BOY [1975]
18 THE EAGLE AND THE HAWK [1971]
19 STARWOOD IN ASPEN [1971]
20 LEAVING ON A JET PLANE [1969]
21 WILD MONTANA SKIES (with Emmylou Harris) [1982]
22 SWEET SURRENDER [1974]
23 CALYPSO [1975]
24 I'M SORRY [1975]
25 POEMS, PRAYERS, AND PROMISES [1971]

Enjoying Christmas at Home with Family

Usually I try to put out something on a daily basis on this blog.  Since today is Christmas, I just haven't got around to writing anything.  I've had a wonderful day at home with my family and hope that you have enjoyed this great holiday as well.  Right now (besides writing this, that is) I am watching Alfred Hitchcock movies on the Turner Classic Movies channel, the NBA game between Houston and Oklahoma City...and surfing around the TV dial for anything else.  I'm alternating this important activity with going to the kitchen where there are all sorts of goodies to eat.  Yesterday we all had a great time playing some brand new board games we had just bought...that Pandemic is fun but man, is it intricate.  It is "cool" that the weather suddenly changed to a wonderfully pleasant temperature...tomorrow it's going to warm up again.  Well, back to my crucial movies/sports/food...

Went on Polar Express Train Ride Yesterday

Yesterday Melissa and I went down to Tavares to ride the "Orlando" version of the Polar Express train ride, based on the popular Warner Brothers Christmas movie featuring Tom Hanks.  Kids were invited to wear their pajamas or nightgowns to the event, and there were plenty of them around for this children-oriented ride.  But in spite of my relatively advanced age, I liked the movie a lot and I thought it would all be a sweet experience to go on the ride...I wasn't disappointed...

If you saw the move The Polar Express, you'd know that there is a lot of high action in it, including a skiing adventure on the train top as well as a number of breathtaking rollercoaster-like stretches.  Nothing like that here, of course...the ride consisted mainly on recreating some of the movie's main characters, a reading of the story from the original book by Chris Van Allsburg, serving that famous "hot chocolate" (with a big sugar cookie thrown in ), and a lot of fun interaction between the actors and the passengers.  I got as much of a kick out of seeing and hearing the little children's enthusiasm as I did the show itself.  Oh, each of us passengers got our own Polar Express ticket with a letter punched individually, like in the movie...

The Polar Express train rides take place during the Christmas season on railways across the country.  Naturally, in central Florida the scenery isn't going to be snowy.  Still, we witnessed an extraordinarily beautiful sunset over Lake Dora while riding it.  I encourage anyone, regardless of age, to try it out sometime...although we're probably done with the rides this 2017 season.  And watching the movie beforehand will also make the experience more meaningful...

Just Finished Rereading The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub

I first read The Talisman, a 1984 collaborative novel by Stephen King and Peter Straub, several years ago but had since forgotten the general thread of the story...so I read it again.  As is the case with most of Stephen King's works (I can't speak about Straub, not having read his books), there is here a great clash between the forces of good and those of evil, perhaps more than usual.  The Talisman is a quest of sorts, set in the current time and covering the breadth of the United States and a parallel, alternate universe called "The Territories".  Young Jack Sawyer, only twelve, is given the task of recovering something called the "Talisman" from a sinister building on the West Coast.  The stakes are high: his mother, a cancer-ridden retired movie star, is dying of the ailment while her "twinner", i.e. the corresponding personality in the Territories, is its queen and also dying.  The enemy is "Uncle" Morgan, the greedy and power-hungry former business partner of Jack's diseased father who has access to both worlds and is exploiting the Territories for his own material gain.  Who will end up controlling  the Territories, will Jack's mom survive...heck, will Jack even survive his difficult journey?  That's something that you, the potential reader of this book, will have to discover for yourself...

There are some interesting characters in The Talisman, notably Speedy, the aged blues artist who gives Jack his quest, and Wolf, a young "good" werewolf from the Territories who travels with Jack into the "real" world.  I also liked how King and Straub depicted a phony, cultish religious leader who takes advantage of the tolerance and acceptance of his professed faith by society in order to subjugate and profit from it.  And as I said before, this story more than anything is a showdown between the good and the bad...not the best book I've read from Stephen King, but it's okay.  I also read the 2001 sequel to The Talisman, titled Black House.  I forgot what happened in that one, too, so I guess I'm going to read it again as well...

Quote of the Week...from Nikki Haley

At the UN we're always asked to do more & give more. So, when we make a decision, at the will of the American ppl, abt where to locate OUR embassy, we don't expect those we've helped to target us. On Thurs there'll be a vote criticizing our choice. The US will be taking names.
                                                         ---Nikki Haley, United States Ambassador to the United Nations

I don't know where you stand on Israel, Palestine, and all of the controversies that surround them.  I'll tell you where I stand, though.  I feel that there has been a horrible double standard going on for the last seventy years between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs that the world in general has been getting away with...and I think the reason has more to do with widespread anti-Semitism and hatred for the Jewish state than any professed sympathies for the Palestinians.  And whether you like it or not, Israel is a viable nation with the right to establish its capital anywhere on its territory...and they decided to make Jerusalem that capital city many years ago.  Past American presidents had promised to recognize it as well but backed down...but not Donald Trump, who clearly and repeatedly promised to the American people during the 2016 campaign that he would recognize the Israeli capital.  And yesterday the United Nations held a vote to condemn the United States of America for simply acknowledging reality...

The non-binding resolution condemning the United States for recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital carried 128-9, with 35 abstentions.  America's traditional adversaries like Russia, China, Iran, and others predictably voted against the US as also did European Union countries and those with majority Muslim populations.  Only the US, Israel, Guatemala, Honduras, and a number of small Pacific island nations opposed the measure.  Canada, Mexico, and a number of Central American and Caribbean countries (excluding Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Cuba) voted to abstain...

Ever since the United Nations General Assembly voted in 1975 for a resolution equating Zionism with racism, it has been obvious that Israel would never get a fair shake in that body...true, they did manage to repeal that outrageous decision sixteen years later.  But with this action on the part of the American president, we're talking about the U.N. taking my country to task for making what I see as a perfectly legitimate decision, one that is really nobody's else's business...Turkey's planning to move its Palestinian embassy to East Jerusalem, so what?  I absolutely agree with the above December 19th Twitter post by Ambassador Haley: many of these countries are quite content to receive their millions of dollars of aid at American taxpayers' expense and feel unaccountable for their own behavior toward us in return...it's about time we changed the rules here. And if you've read this blog for any length of time, you already know that I am no fan of the current president.  Still, on this one issue he's right...

12/17 Sermon: Christmas Series, Part 3

At The Family Church in Gainesville, Florida, senior pastor Philip Griffin continued his Christmas series last Sunday morning with a message titled Irrational Love...that is, love that transcends our ability to understand it through our capacity for reason.  This love is the love of Christ, expressed in the two focus Bible passages of John 3:16 and Ephesians 3:16-19...click on them to read them through the Bible Gateway website. Not only did God so love the world that he gave his only begotten son so that those who believe will not perish, but how wide, long, high, and deep that love is surpasses knowledge...

Dimensions like width, length, height, and depth are little more than intellectual constructions unless they are applied to something.  Pastor Philip did just this as he said that God's love is wide enough to reach everyone (Psalms 86:5), long enough to last forever (Jeremiah 31:3, Romans 8:38-39, Psalms 32:10), high enough to be everywhere (Psalms 36:5, Psalms 119:64, Psalms 139:7-10) , and deep enough to meet our greatest needs (Psalms 142:6-7, Philippians 4:19).  Philip asked, where do we find our sense of affirmation and self-worth...from others and our own accomplishments and circumstances...or from God?  The best answer, he pointed out, is clear: God's love is available for all, is enduring (as opposed to our flawed, human level of patience with others), fills all space, location, and circumstance...and frees us from personal prisons like anxiety, depression, worry, and hopelessness...

The Family Church is located at 2022 SW 122nd Street, in far western Gainesville.  You can view this message by clicking on the church's YouTube video website...here's a link to it: [link].  Sunday morning service times (including Christmas Eve) are at 9:30 and 11...next year they change to 9 and 10:30.  Looking forward to the Christmas Eve service...