Just Finished Reading Children of Dune by Frank Herbert

Children of Dune is the third book of the science fiction Dune series by Frank Herbert, first published in 1976.  It continues the saga of the Atreides family of planetary rulers as they try to avert a future containing human extinction.  The planet Dune, also called Arrakis, is once again the story's main setting as Paul Atreides' two children, the girl Ghanima and the boy Leto, have the same gift (or curse depending on how one views it) of possessing the collective memories of all their ancestors...just like Paul's sister Alia.  How the siblings differ from their aunt in handling this situation, which each of them had even before birth, determines the flow of this often difficult-to-follow tale...

It can be a bit tricky trying to review a book that is down the line in a series...even describing the beginning events, characters, and setting can give away the intended suspenseful endings of the previous volumes.  I may have already provided some information that someone who has started the Dune series doesn't need to know at this juncture...but I did mention at the beginning that Children of Dune is the third book, didn't I? Still, I will go no further with specifics...and believe me, there are an incredible amount of them packed into this book...

One element of the Dune series that bears discussion is the fictional spice melange, a highly addictive substance that can produce visions...sometimes prescient...in its users as well as extend life spans and provide other benefits.  The giant worms on Arrakis are the universe's only source of melange, and it is crucial to those engaging in interstellar travel.  That Arrakis has a monopoly on it makes it the focus of interstellar intrigues and wars, a clear analogy to nations on Earth that possess a superabundance of oil.  Also, Herbert though his character Leto lays down the supposition that autocracy based on a structure of nobility is the natural result of the progression of society...not exactly the kind of thing we want to hear in our world that touts democracy as an ideal, albeit one which is often very elusive...

I've already begun reading the next book in the series, titled God Emperor of Dune. I admit that this is not by any stretch one of my favorite book series, one of the reasons being the author's tendency to go off on long ramblings of a dubious metaphysical nature.  One of the problems is that he makes all kinds of statements about the nature of time, but injects prescience (the ability to foresee the future) into it all, creating a paradox unless the one seeing "ahead" has a choice between alternate futures.  But by doing this, Frank Hebert...maybe unwittingly...lifted an idea put forth earlier by Philip K. Dick in his 1955 short story Captive Market.  Well, I'm still plodding along...if I can get through Thomas Pynchon's overly tedious and confounding Gravity's Rainbow, I suppose I can get through the Dune  series as well...

Interesting C-Span Discussion on 1968 Politics

Earlier today on one of the C-Span channels they were showing a very interesting program about politics in the tumultuous year of 1968.  It was a discussion consisting of author Michael A. Cohen of the book American Maelstrom: The 1968 Election and the Politics of Division, Robert F. Kennedy's daughter Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, who served as lt. governor of Maryland from 1995 to 2003, and the C-Span moderator.  Townsend was sixteen when her father declared his candidacy for president on March 16, 1968 and had a special perspective on the events and personalities involved during this period.  For me, I was eleven years old and this was the first presidential campaign I was aware of.  When the New Hampshire Primary results came in and Minnesota Senator Eugnene McCarthy made a surprisingly strong showing against incumbent president Lyndon Johnson, my mother was overjoyed...she'd heard McCarthy on TV and was impressed by his boldness, especially against Vietnam.  So being essentially ignorant of the world of politics at the time, I essentially latched on to her feelings and, like her, was put out when Kennedy announced he was also running just a short time later.  On March 31, Johnson announced he would not run for reelection and Vice-President Hubert Humphrey soon entered the race soon afterwards.  This big scramble involving McCarthy, Kennedy, Johnson, and Humphrey in the span of three weeks or so came about almost solely from the Vietnam War stalemate and the backlash of negative public opinion following the Tet Offensive by the Communists that had been going on for a few weeks.  Johnson dedicated the rest of his presidency to  unsuccessfully seeking a peace deal to the conflict, something that he believed the Nixon campaign sabotaged just before the general election when an agreement seemed assured...the American involvement in the war would drag on four more years...

I enjoyed the C-Span program and especially liked the rapport between the moderator, Townsend, and Cohen as they discussed the personalities, politics, and motivations of the candidates...especially the relationship between Robert Kennedy and President Johnson and a comparison of the personalities of Kennedy (more personal and emotional) and McCarthy (more standoffish and intellectual).  I found it all very intriguing and all the more so because I was there at the time paying attention to these events.  The bitter irony about Johnson's exit from seeking reelection is that back then the party nominees were basically chosen from state conventions...run by party insiders...and few delegates were picked from the relatively few primaries.  Had Johnson stayed in, he no doubt would have won his party's nomination over either McCarthy or Kennedy.  After all, after Humphrey entered the race, he did not campaign nor did he enter any of the primaries...it makes that big California victory by Kennedy over McCarthy even more of a tragedy: RFK was assassinated immediately following his victory speech on June 6, but Humphrey already had enough delegates to secure the nomination on the first ballot...to paraphrase our current president, it was all rigged...

If you want to watch this excellent program, click on the following link: [link-to-video]...it should lead you to it...

Just Finished Reading The Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz

I had just finished reading Clifford Simak's 1952 science fiction novel City, which initially gave no indication that it would made a big deal about dogs, and picked up Dean Koontz's 2007 horror/suspense novel The Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz...guess what, it's all about dogs, too!  Only with Koontz's story, it's about golden retrievers in particular.  Amy Redwing, a young woman with a secret past, has devoted her life to caring for abandoned or abused golden retrievers.  Brian McCarthy, her love interest, has his own past...including a sadistic ex-girlfriend with custody of their mentally handicapped daughter Hope.  Amy and Brian are the clear-cut "good guys".  On the "bad" side are two of the most evil people I have ever read about...and there have been some pretty awful ones.  There is a lot of killing and torturing...both physical and psychological...in this novel, and I think the author went way overboard in depicting how Hope (who her mother calls "Piggy") is mistreated.  But have no fear, folks, for the noble golden retrievers...led by the seemingly angelic Nickie...have come to save the day...

The Darkest Evening of the Year, on one hand, is a feel-good story about dogs and how we should treat them better.  But little children are also vulnerable, and they should be treated better than they often are.  The problem I had with Koontz's novel, though, is that his characterizations of the protagonists Amy and Brian seemed too shallow while he dwelled deeply on the thought processes of the evil Vanessa, her boyfriend, and the completely amoral hit man they hired.  On one hand the author is saying to be good to dogs and kids...on the other, he's giving a primer on how to develop for oneself a philosophy of pure evil.  So no, I didn't care for this book...but then again, you might beg to differ: why not try it out and give your own impressions?

Quote of the Week...from Martin Luther King, Jr.

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
                                                                        ---Martin Luther King, Jr.

The day before yesterday was the fiftieth anniversary of a terrible tragedy: the assassination of American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.  While he was alive Dr. King was continually in the midst of issues such as desegregating the South, opposing the Vietnam War, and standing up for workers' rights. While he was speaking on behalf of striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee early that Thursday evening, he was shot to death...I was an eleven-year kid sitting around in the living room with my family watching Bewitched on TV when the news broke in.  While King was deemed a controversial figure by many during his life, after death his legacy has only strengthened over the years...he wrote and said many, many wise things, and the above quote applies especially in todays' world...

Few things rub me the wrong way than people who only want their own limited worldview validated to them, avoid any challenges to it, and scorn the challengers...I see this repeatedly happening on television news channels as well as on the floor of the U.S. Senate.  On issue after issue I see advocates for both sides talking past each other and deliberately ignoring the opposing points of view...they seem to be promoting the notion that sincere ignorance of the big picture is a virtue that prevents confusion on the part of the adherent.  After all, it's harder to bring in monetary contributions, mobilize voting drives and organize protest demonstrations if you're open to the other guy's take on things...better to just "stick to your guns" and be immovable, right?   To me...and most probably Martin Luther King, Jr., had he still been around (at age 89) to witness the sorry state of today's political climate...that's pure conscientious stupidity.  And yes, it is dangerous because people are increasingly and intentionally closing themselves off to one another and building their own walls dividing our society into opposing camps, with each side increasingly viewing the other as enemies. I find this pretty interesting considering how the Internet has made instant, far-reaching communication available for nearly all of us...it's as if there is some kind of negative reaction to this going on that promotes ignorance and stupidity as tools to keep a sense of identity intact...maybe Dr. King couldn't have known this would have happened, who could back in the sixties...
 

4/1 Sermon: Jesus in His Own Words, Part 2

This past Easter Sunday at The Family Church here in Gainesville, our senior pastor Philip Griffin delivered the second part of his series Jesus in His Own Words with the message titled I Am the Way.  The Biblical passage of focus, which you can read through Bible Gateway by clicking on it, is John 14:1-9 ...

Jesus is speaking with his disciples, and he assures them that although he will be going away, he will be working to prepare a place for them.  Unaware...or maybe in denial...that he is referring to his own impending death as well as their eventual deaths, they question him about his statement.  What follows in verse 6 is one of the seminal verses in Christianity: Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." As Pastor Philip outlined, Jesus tells his disciples to trust in him, follow him, and know him.  Trust, for Jesus gives the peace that the world cannot provide through his presence in our lives...but first we must step out in faith.  Follow...Jesus is not just a teacher or philosopher: either you're all in with him or you're not in at all...no fence-sitting here. And, Philip concluded, know: to know Jesus is not to just cognitively know him, but to relationally know him...to know Jesus is to know the Father...

You can view this sermon through the church's YouTube video website...just click on the following link: [TFC Videos].  The Family Church, at 2022 SW 122nd Street (Parker Road) at the western end of Gainesville...accessible via Newberry Road, SW 24th Avenue, or Archer Road...holds its Sunday morning services at 9 and 10:30.  Besides the excellent message, there is praise and worship music, a prayer ministry, and opportunities not just for discipleship and learning, but also to meet some down-to-earth, friendly folks.  Wonder what the message will be next week...

Weekly Short Story: Obits by Stephen King

Obits is another entry by Stephen King in his 2016 collection of short stories titled The Bazaar of Bad Dreams.  In it an aspiring young writer, Michael Anderson, uncertain about his own abilities and prospects, gets hired as an obituary writer for an off-beat on-line magazine after he sends them a draft of a prank, scathing obituary he wrote about a recently deceased celebrity.  His nasty obit columns continue...except now he's being paid for them and they quickly become the magazine's most popular item.  Rejected by his boss after asking for a pay raise, he angrily writes an imaginary obituary about her and then throws it away...only to discover a few hours later that she actually died.  It soon becomes clear to him...as well as to a colleague with whom he is infatuated...that he has the "gift" of being able to cause others' deaths by writing their obituaries.  And the story goes on from there...

What captured my interest the most about Obits was the way King showed how Anderson...and his colleague...both became increasingly seduced by the power that he had with his obituaries.  The full ramifications of all this came out in the end, though...but Anderson would never be the same again.  This story won some kind of award and I can understand why: not necessarily for its horror or suspense value, but more for its examination of how people can get themselves psychologically dependent...to the point of obsession...on very unhealthful and even dangerous things, especially when the element of power comes into play.  Get the book (I recommend the public library) and read it!

Tuesday's List: DVDs I Own

After reading Tim Federle's touching novel The Great American Whatever, with protagonist teenager Quinn's infectious enthusiasm for old movies, I got to thinking about all the different movies I've watched...an all-time personal list of my own favorites is in the works. In the meantime, I thought I'd open up the cabinet beneath my television containing the assorted DVDs that have piled up over the years.  Most are of movies, and some are of TV series...why don't I just list a few of my favorites, and this way give a sense of where I'm at when it comes to movies and television....

A BEAUTIFUL MIND
THE POLAR EXPRESS
YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE
FACTOTUM
THE GODFATHER
HARRY POTTER (all eight movies)
LORD OF THE RINGS (three-movie set, extended version)
MATRIX
MATRIX RELOADED
MATRIX REVOLUTIONS
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY
A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS
FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE
AIRPLANE!
INCEPTION
PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES
SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS (first three seasons)
BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD (volume three)
THE TWILIGHT ZONE (selected episodes)
THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW (early episodes)
THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES (early episodes)
CASABLANCA
MEMORIES (a Japanese animation movie)
THE PRODUCERS (original movie)

Of course, I don't need to "own" a movie or TV episode in order to watch it...sometimes Netflix or Amazon Prime is showing it, sometimes it's on TV somewhere, and almost always I can check it out from my local public library system.  The television series I would most like to add to my collection is the original Winnie the Pooh cartoon series.  As for The Godfather, I'm glad I have the original movie DVD but would prefer a set comprising both Parts I and II that is an extended version showing the so-called "TV" presentation that included many more scenes and went in chronological order.  I also have a few old VHS movies, including Forrest Gump and many of the old classic Disney cartoon flicks...I need to hook up a VHS player to watch them, though...

Just Finished Reading The Great American Whatever by Tim Federle

The Great American Whatever is a 2016 realistic, non-dystopian (for a change) young adult novel written by Tim Federle.  Set in the present time in Pittsburgh, sixteen year old Quinn Roberts has quite a few issues in his life to deal with: the loss the previous December of his beloved sister Annabeth in a car wreck, his father having earlier abandoned them, his mother retiring to living on the couch, his own sexual orientation and when to "come out", and his deep-seated desire to become a successful screenwriter.  Quinn has shut off his cellphone and hasn't gone back to school since the accident...it takes his lifelong close friend Geoff to spur him on to reenter the world of the living, but it's going to take a while.  Written in the first person by Quinn, the story is very endearing and sweet, and the personalities of the characters are revealed through their dialogue and Quinn's introspective insights.  He is an avid movie buff and keeps lists of his favorites, as well as things like the "top ten greatest lines"...kind of reminds me of myself in this regard.  And yes, the title gets explained toward the book's end...

In commentary following The Great American Whatever, Tim Federle revealed that, like Quinn, he is gay and wanted to write a story from that perspective of a teenager having to deal with his identity as well as the social climate and reaction to LBGTQ+ issues...there seems to be much more support nowadays than in decades past, but the bullies are still there, sad to say.  I've heard he has written some other novels as well...this was a good story and I'll probably end up reading another of his sometime in the "great future whatever"...

NCAA Men's Basketball Tourney Down to Final Game

Well, the NCAA men’s basketball championship tournament has reached the final game...after starting with 68 teams just a few days ago. Although the three Florida teams are all gone, each of them...Florida, Miami, and Florida State...were competitive in their losses, nothing to be ashamed of. The Hurricanes, I’m sure, were very disappointed being knocked out in the first round by severe underdog Loyola of Chicago, but they should take solace in losing to a team that made it all the way to the Final Four before losing to Michigan. The injury-hampered Gators played gamely against a much-improved Texas Tech in the second round and the Seminoles should have beaten Michigan in their Elite Eight game but had some serious problems with their shooting in the second half. In the end, tomorrow night will feature Villanova against Michigan in the championship game. Although I don’t particularly care for either team, I’m gratified that neither of them are among the 20 teams cited by the FBI for possible player-payment violations. Will I watch the game? No way...I’m working!

My March 2018 Running Report

This month I ran a total of 67 miles, a relatively low figure for me, with my longest single run also low, at 3.2 miles.  Toward the end of March I had to take a few days off from the activity, suffering from an unknown inflammatory/allergic response to something...these things happen to me from time to time and I just have to function through it all until things get better.  Still, I did manage to run a race, the Chris Lacinak Scholarship Fun Shamrock 5K in northeastern Gainesville.  And I only missed running for 5 days...

I think it might be a good idea to change where I run, just to make things more interesting.  I do have a GPS mileage counter app on my phone, so I can improvise and do something different each day and still be able to tally my mileage.  As for races in April, I think there are a couple of 5K events around town, one on the 21st and the other a week later...guess I'll just have to wait and see how I feel then.  I've been getting a lot of overtime work on my job lately, and the coming month promises more of the same, if not even more hours...this cuts into my running, albeit for a good cause.  If it isn't too late when I get off from work, I go to my local 24/7 gym...I like to use the elliptical cross-trainer there.  I don't plan to be running very long distances in the foreseeable future...just keeping a regular routine of shorter daily runs may be the best strategy for me...

Quote of the Week...from Dean Karnazes

I think I have some of my clearest thoughts when I'm out running.          ---Dean Karnazes.

A little more than a year ago I quoted Dean Karnazes, a long distance runner whose book Ultra-Marathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner remains as one of my favorites...here's a link to that quote.  The above comment is something I can also relate to...well, not lately...

For a few years at the start of this decade I was like Karnazes (although my running mileage was much lower than his) in that I would go out on daily long training runs in the late morning/early afternoon before I would go to my job.  During those runs there really wasn't anything to distract me...unless you consider the mp3 music I was listening to as a distraction...so I did a lot of thinking, too.  My thoughts during those runs were mostly of an uplifting, constructive nature...not the self-defeating thoughts that too many of us get into a rut repeating to ourselves.  And the successful conclusion of these long runs also gave me a push into a more positive frame of spirit that carried over to the rest of the day...

Nowadays I run either indoors, at the gym, or outdoors in my back yard...not the same thing as getting out on the road and touring the neighborhoods.  And consequently I've found it easier to let myself get out of the "zone" while running and sidetracked by distractions.  Road running, on the other hand, is something of a commitment of my time and it's easy to go off into a good state of cognitive reverie when I'm out there.  I need to do more of it if for no other reason...but there is also another good reason to get back out on the road: it gives me a sense of belonging and engagement with the world around me and reduces the sporadic feelings of alienation that I am prone to experience...

Maybe running isn't for you, but there is probably another kind of activity that can produce the same positive results that Dean Karnazes suggested.  In any event, all of us need to be able to find a time and place to "break the limiting pattern" of our routine daily existence and provide a different setting that gives us a chance to see things from a more objective...and hopeful...perspective...
                                                 

3/25 Sermon: Jesus in His Own Words, Part 1

Last Sunday...which was also Palm Sunday, celebrating Jesus' entry into Jerusalem...senior pastor Philip Griffin of Gainesville's Family Church began a new series titled Jesus in His Own Words.  This message focused on his words "I am he", using the passage John 18:1-11, which you can click on and read via Bible Gateway.  In it, Jesus is about to be betrayed by Judas and arrested, and his statement not only identifies himself from the crowd, but also reveals his divine nature, as Philip makes clear.  Bible translations often quote him as saying "I am he", but in essence Jesus is saying "I AM"...staking the claim that he is the great I AM God of the Old Testament.  In this, Pastor Philip stated that one cannot sit on the fence: as C.S. Lewis once wrote, Jesus is either a liar, a lunatic...or Lord.  When Jesus speaks this "I am" in the presence of the arresting soldiers, they all fall down...no one can stand in the presence of God's glory.  But when Peter dashes forward, in his own mind trying to defend Jesus, and lops off a priest's servant's ear, Jesus restores the ear and rebukes him, revealing that his mission is to give his life so that those who believe, confess, and repent may have a living relationship with God through him and eternal life.  So as our pastor outlined, Jesus demonstrated in his words his claim to be one with God, his power that greatly dwarfs that of man-made armies, and his mission of personal sacrifice for us.  That's pretty remarkable, isn't it?

You can watch this message through the church's YouTube video website...click on the following link: TFC Video.  The Family Church, at 2022 SW 122nd Street, regularly meets for its Sunday morning services at 9 and 10:30 with the sermon, praise and worship music, prayer, and opportunities for fellowship, learning, and discipleship.  This coming Sunday is Easter, and there will be an extra service held at 7:15 AM.

Weekly Short Story: Ur by Stephen King

Continuing with discussions about short stories from Stephen King's 2015 collection The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, today it's about Ur, a novella-length piece that touches upon alternate realities.  Wesley, a digitally-challenged college English instructor...after breaking up with his girlfriend who would ridicule his insistence on using only paper books...decides to buy a Kindle online.  It arrives...strangely colored pink...but he soon discovers that this is the least of its anomalies.  Turns out that he can use it to access and purchase works of different authors that are not in their bibliographies...many written after their supposed deaths!  In time he sees that he can hit upon different alternate scenarios of reality...and then he explores the device's news archive feature.  One selection has the world ending in a nuclear holocaust...no future there.  And speaking of the future, a local news app on the Kindle displays future newspaper headlines...leading to the story's climactic crisis...

Ur combines good characters and a Twilight Zone-like speculative mood to form a great story of suspense and possibilities.  It also forms a part of Stephen King's "universe" of related stories that tie together on different levels.  It's definitely a worthwhile investment of your reading time...as are most of the tales in The Bazaar of Bad Dreams... 

Tuesday's List: My Favorite TV Channels

What I watch on television depends on what happens to be on at any given time, and what my own schedule is.  I'm usually watching during mid-to-late mornings on workdays and after 10:30 at night when I usually get home...if I didn't get overtime or stop off at the gym.  On days off I watch more in the afternoon and early evening, depending on what I'm doing then and whether there is anything good to watch.  None of the channels are always watchable...I have to pick and choose what different ones are showing and going to show by checking the cable service's schedule.  Still, there are some channels I watch more than others, and this list ranks them...along with the reasons why.  By the way, I don't get most of the premium channels like HBO and Epix...and I don't plan to sign up anytime soon...

Each entry is followed by the Cox Communications (Gainesville's cable provider) channel number...and then the brief, brief commentary...

1 C-SPAN 2 (81)......ever since 2001 I have been following live US Senate proceedings here
2 UNIVISION (40).....I like to watch Mexican league soccer and practice my Spanish
3 CNN (37).....still my "go-to" channel to check out the news...but they tend to get sidetracked
4 NEWSY (276).....covers a broader range of news issues than the other cable news channels
5 MUSIC CHOICE CLASSICAL MUSIC MASTERPIECES (949)....full pieces of classical music
6 THE WEATHER CHANNEL (31)....not as dependable as before with their "features" preempting ongoing weather coverage
7 CARTOON NETWORK (43).....only reason I watch it: Family Guy
8 COMEDY CENTRAL (44)....only reason I watch it: South Park (newer, inferior episodes excepted)
9 ESPN/ESPN2 (26, 27).....I like the live sporting events, you can have the talk shows
10 WCJB-ABC (7)....this is my local news source
11 MTV LIVE (1098)....formerly called Palladia, live rock and pop performances
12 C-SPAN (80) .....live US House proceedings, book and commentary programs
13 TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES (46)......uninterrupted classic movies, sometimes a good one is on
14 MUSIC CHOICE ROCK CLASSICS (918)....usually there's something good being played here
15 MUSIC CHOICE THE '70S (929).....listening to this channel brings back a lot of memories
16 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC (83)....a good source for programming about science and geography
17 METV (117).......great old shows like Honeymooners, Twilight Zone
18 WNBW4 (115).....more old series, including Johnny Carson
19 SY FY (51)....I avoid original series, focus on movies
20 AMERICAN MOVIE CLASSICS (52)....ditto with #19
21 TNT (45)......I enjoy their NBA live broadcasts, occasionally their movies
22 MSNBC (63)......I used to watch it more, but got tired of all the smug head-nodding
23 FOX NEWS (38)....I sometimes watch it to analyze how propaganda is purveyed
24 MUSIC CHOICE ALTERNATIVE ROCK (915).....the best "popular" music of today as I see it
25 NBC SPORTS (33)....English Premier League soccer, hockey, other interesting sports

Just Finished Reading Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen

Carl Hiaasen is a south Floridian journalist and novelist, having written several stories set in that area in which I grew up. Although I'd heard his name before, I never did get around to reading anything of his until, once again, I was randomly scanning the shelves of my local public library where I found a copy of one of his recent works, the 2013 crime novel Bad Monkey...

Andrew Yancy is a former Miami area police detective who has been suspended for assaulting the husband of a woman he was having an affair with...not exactly the model of a virtuous hero.  While suspended, he has been assigned as a health inspector in the Florida Keys where he resides, performing routine inspections of the local eateries.  Meanwhile, a tourist out fishing hooks a severed arm, and, before his suspension, Yancy is entrusted with taking it to Miami forensics to attempt an identification.  Ultimately, it turns out that the arm belongs to a Nicholas Stripling, a man who was under investigation for defrauding medicare.  The plot develops and before you know it, the setting shifts to the Bahamas...specifically Andros Island, where new characters, including that "bad monkey", are introduced...

Bad Monkey, with all of its serious issues and violence, was nevertheless a pretty funny novel. Hiaasen, like my favorite author Stephen King, apparently has quite a sense of humor and he infected this work (and I presume his others as well) with it.  Yancy lives on Big Pine Key and is horrified that his next door neighbor is building a high-rise structure that blocks his view of the sunset...so throughout the story he schemes to sabotage the project, with very humorous results.  No, I did not at all like Andrew Yancy, but he filled his role perfectly...Bad Monkey is good escapist literature, and I recommend it with that in mind...
 

Stepping Out Back, Stargazing Last Night

Last night I went outside in my back yard and looked up at the sky, something that I had fallen out of the habit of doing recently.  You see, since I was seven I have enjoyed star-gazing, checking out where "my" constellations and their stars are against the celestial background while noting the moon and planets (if they're visible) as well as the weather...and how the neighborhood seems to be doing.  It was easy to see the moon, high up in the west in its first quarter phase and emitting a faint halo through the thin clouds surrounding it...it was in Gemini, one of the bright constellations marking the brilliant winter evening sky.  There was Orion, Auriga, and Canis Major as well in that sector...always a visual draw with their brilliance...but my eyes turned more eastward as I observed the ascending springtime stars.  Leo was nearly overhead and Corvus was low in the southeast, just above the treeline of tall pines.  On the eastern horizon were the stars Arcturus and Spica...and looking north there was the inverted Big Dipper from the constellation Ursa Major.  My home seems to be directly under a jet route, because in the few minutes I was out there I saw a number of them passing overhead...we're also not very far from the Gainesville airport...

Lately the humidity has been higher than usual, and I prefer dryer air when I'm outside.  Last night conditions were cool and very pleasant.  Since I have a chain link fence surrounding my back yard, the rest of the neighborhood is pretty transparent to me...someone was out walking their dog with a flashlight and a car in the opposite cul-de-sac briefly flashed its headlights at me as it rounded it.  I can see how having a sense of neighborhood community is a good thing...but frankly, I'm getting tired of feeling like I'm in a fishbowl every time I step outside my back door.  Yes, I think a nice privacy fence will coming soon to my home...

Just Finished Reading City by Clifford Simak

City is a 1952 science fiction novel by Clifford Simak, one of the greatest writers in this genre from the twentieth century.  Actually, it is more or less a coherent stringing together of several short stories that Simak had published from 1944 to 1951...two of them, Huddling Place and Desertion, rank among my all-time favorites.  I was overjoyed to see it on my local public library's bookshelves and readily checked it out...what an intriguing story!

In City, Simak envisions a future for humanity that I doubt anyone else could have concocted in their wildest dreams...as well as what lies in store for animal life on Earth, particularly dogs.  This having been noted, I must stress that the author inserted a very, very unlikely scenario in our near future when humanity has developed the technology to (1) develop a body based on a completely different biology and chemistry than our own, intricately adapted to life on a crushing, extremely poisonous planet like Jupiter, and (2) to be able to transfer a person's consciousness, or soul, into that synthetic body.  Not very likely, I'd posit...any more than we would train dogs to speak and think on the same level as people...another feature of this book.  However, alongside these far-flung speculations was a soberly realistic one: the development of artificial intelligence...as personalized by the robot Jenkins... to such a degree that it would assume the role of determining the future of life on Earth, as well as that on other worlds.  Now that prediction, made way back in the late 1940s, I'm afraid, is a very likely possibility as even today we find ourselves being swept away and confounded by the Internet and "smart" machines as we push buttons and delegate to them more and more of the things we used to do ourselves...

One reason I like to read old science fiction is that it often places our own time as the future that it describes...invariably there is a wide discrepancy between the author's vision and our own present reality.  Often there has been nuclear war and apocalypse, and often space travel has progressed much faster and to much farther places than it actually has.  I guess that having neither of these in our recent past is better than having both, but why couldn't we just have passed up on the war stuff and gone straight into settling other worlds?  But what if, in the process of exploring other worlds to populate, we discover paradise and virtual immortality?  Would Earth's population empty out as people by the billions are enticed to that other world and life?  Maybe that notion, put forth by Clifford Simak in this thought-provoking book that is both funny and a little scary, isn't quite as far-fetched as it may sound...

Quote of the Week...from Madeleine L'Engle

The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been.
                                                              ---Madeleine L'Engle

Madeleine L'Engle  was a renowned author of children's books, most famous for her Time series that opened with the 1962 book A Wrinkle in Time...now adapted to a new movie currently out in theaters and starring Storm Reid (great acting), Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, and Chris Pine, among others.  I just saw it with Melissa this past Saturday and was duly impressed...I wish all film adaptations of books I read were as faithful to the spirit, characters, and flow of the story.   Go see it...but first I recommend you read the book.  I read it back in June, 2015...here's my review: [link]...

There's a corollary to the above quote, and it's also from Madeleine L'Engle: You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children. I like her take on aging and writing, as exemplified by these two quotes. She should know, having lived a full life (passing away in 2007 at age 88) with a gift at writing for the younger reading audience...

As sentient beings, we humans...regardless of our current age...have this duality in our lives that we each have to deal with, some of us more successful at it than the rest.  On one hand our past experiences, accumulated over the course of a lifetime, determine to a great extent who we are in the present.  So in a significant way, we are who we were...as the first quote of l"Engle would indicate.  This tends to come out in the difference between how people see themselves and how others see them...let me explain...

When folks know each other well over a span of time and have built up memories of each other, they tend to regard each other based more on those memories and less on how each one really is in the present...this causes a resistance to accepting change in others with whom one is familiar.  On the other hand, when people are strangers they tend to judge one another strictly on their behavior and appearance in the present...understandable since they have nothing else to go on, but still unrealistic in that we all have our own respective pasts that help to define our presents.  But L'Engle takes a more positive approach to being able to draw upon our pasts while we live in the present...we are each of us, after all, individual, unique tapestries spanning the years...

3/18 Sermon on Philippians, Part 10

Last Sunday at The Family Church here in Gainesville, senior pastor Philip Griffin delivered his tenth and final sermon on the Bible's New Testament book of Philippians, a series themed on how to achieve joy.  This installment, Joyful Contentment, focuses on the final verses of Paul's letter from a Roman prison to the church in Philippi: click on Philippians 4:10-23 to read it via Bible Gateway...

In opening his message, Pastor Philip stressed that satisfaction is found in a soul-level contentment in Jesus Christ...this doesn't come automatically, but rather is something that has to be learned and worked on.  To achieve true contentment is indeed a process, and it involves recognizing what will lead...and not lead...to it.  Philip brought out five pointers to this end: stop comparing, stop tying contentment to circumstances, depend on Christ's strength, become a giver, and learn to distinguish between needs and wants.  Instead of being on the endless, pointless treadmill of comparing ourselves to others, why not pursue God's virtues of righteousness, faith, love, and endurance?  Contentment doesn't come from circumstances...either having what others have, having more and more, or falling for the myth that God's will is for us to be happy (leading to doing whatever we please to do).  Regarding giving, Philip pointed out that studies have shown the poor, percentage-wise, are greater givers than the rich...supporting the sad truth that the more we have, the more we trust in what we have.  And as for needs vs. wants, I feel that too many of us can't distinguish between them...one big reason is the lack of appreciation for the concept of "enough".  In sum, our joy and contentment do not come from our circumstances or "stuff", but from God...we need to change our focus and attitude...

You can view this message on YouTube through the Family Church's video website...just click on the following link: [TFC Videos].  Located at 2022 SW 122nd Street (Parker Road), The Family Church holds its Sunday morning services at 9 and 10:30...this coming Easter Sunday will also feature an earlier one at 7:15.  There will be, along with the message, praise and worship music, prayer, and discipleship and fellowship opportunities.  There is a hospitality room where refreshments are provided and folks can mingle before and between services.  Looking forward to this Sunday...

Weekly Short Story: Mile 81 by Stephen King

In 2015 Stephen King came out with yet another of his short story collections, titling this one The Bazaar of Bad Dreams.  The first story was another of his "monster car" tales...remember Christine and From a Buick 8? This one, Mile 81, is set at a closed and abandoned Maine rest stop off I-95 between Portland and Augusta.  Little Pete Simmons is out with his big brother George and George's twelve-to-thirteen year-old friends as they ride their bicycles around and look for fun.  When they decide to go on a trail they designed for daredevil stunts, George...who feels responsible for taking care of Pete...tells him to stay back and "hang around" while he and his buddies do their daring bike jumps.  Instead Pete, looking for an interesting experience to tell the others, sets out to find the old abandoned I-95 rest stop, where he knows the older teenagers like to go to drink and make out.  Getting there, he finds a bottle of vodka and drinks himself to sleep.  In the meantime...

A mud-covered nondescript station wagon pulls off the road in front of the rest stop.  One good Samaritan after another pull off the road to provide assistance.  But when they touch the car...well, I did say that this was one of King's "monster car" tales, didn't I?  So what does little Pete have to do with this contraption from the gates of hell and the resolution of the story?  Guess you'll have to read it to find out!

What I liked about Mile 81 was how the author took two apparently different narratives and brought them together at the end to make it all seem sensible and satisfactory...a hung-over little kid is hardly the kind of hero anyone would expect, but little Pete has brought with him the solution to this crisis.  And yes, Stephen King did get around to explaining what that awful car was all about...which is more than he ever did in From a Buick 8...