This entry stands as a hodge-podge of different items, as its title strongly suggests...
My wonderful wife Melissa is off to Indiana at her seminary for a couple of weeks to complete a couple of her required courses. I'm missing her already, although I drove her to the airport just this morning. May everything go well "up" there!
I understand the temperatures in northern Indiana right now are more temperate and comfortable then here in sweltering northern Florida...the heat and humidity have definitely interfered with my running (as has a recent week of jury duty). There's a long distance race here in Gainesville in November (the Tom Walker Memorial Half-Marathon) that I've run a couple of times in the past...I sure would like to be in shape to run it. Guess I'll have to come up with some alternate ways of building my endurance back up during these dog days of summer...including more frequently using the treadmill at my local stupendously air-conditioned gym...
Speaking of sports, Major League Baseball just finished the All-Star break and it looks as if my two Floridian teams, Tampa Bay and Miami, won't be going anywhere in the post-season (as most have predicted they wouldn't). The Rays, however, have surprised a lot a folks (including myself) by being a strong third place in the American League East...the Marlins, with their previous star lineup decimated by incoming team president Derek Jeter, are predictably in last place in their National League East Division. Looks like the Red Sox, Yankees, Indians, and defending World Series champions Houston are in line to make the playoffs in the American League with Seattle and Oakland fighting for the last spot. The National League is much more wide open, with Philadelphia, Atlanta, Washington, Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Arizona, Colorado, and even San Francisco still in the hunt for the postseason. Sometimes I'll come across a televised game while surfing around, but I rarely watch it in its entirety...and it really doesn't matter who's playing or what the score is: I like to take each half-inning on its own terms as the strategies unfold between the pitchers, batters, fielders, and managers...
It won't be too much longer before the University of Florida begins the Dan Mullen era of football. It used to be that the term "era" referred to several years, but recently with the stunted "eras" of the last two coaches we've had, it's getting to be a sad joke when a new one gets hired as we wonder how long he'll last. I have a better feeling about Mullen, though: not only has he been very successful the last few years in coaching Mississippi State, but he was also offensive coordinator under Urban Meyer and taught Tim Tebow a few things about how to play quarterback in college football...the Gators are in desperate need to have a good offensive season after eight straight dismal ones. Now if the new head coach can just keep his players from being arrested...
Sunday, July 29, 2018
Saturday, July 28, 2018
Musical Interests Veering Away from Alternative Rock, Toward Metal and Classical
Well, I pretty much said it all in this article's title...now for me to expand it into a paragraph or two. Usually by this time of year I've already compiled a short list of current songs I like for the ongoing year. In late July of 2018 the list has but one song, and it is really from last year: Arcade Fire's Creature Comfort. I keep tuning in to my local alternative rock station, 100.5 WHHZ "The Buzz", but other than some retro hits I'm picking up on nothing that I like...has the genre changed or have I? I still have WUFT/Classical on 102.7 as the default local station on my car radio, and I often listen on my smartphone to WQXR, the famous classical music station out of New York. But there's a genre that I had hitherto avoided but now enjoy hearing from time to time: heavy metal...
I would probably listen to heavy metal music...the more intense the better...for longer periods were it not for the dismal lyrical themes that accompany the genre and its performers. I don't see why so much of it is involved with death and spiritual darkness, yet that seems to be the mindset embedded within so many of its artists...or at least that's how they like to portray themselves. Too bad: although instrumentally I think that some of it bears well artistically, even to the level of classical music, I can't take the negativity of the words being screamed out...and it gets so dogmatic and predictable to the point where each song seems to be a parody of the genre. I think heavy metal needs to break free of its stereotypical lyrical chains and speak to a broader listening audience...I think it would boom in popularity were this to happen. I hear there are Christian heavy metal bands...well, maybe that's a good area for me to explore. Also, if I could just dispense with lyrics and singers and just listen to the music...are there any purely instrumental heavy metal acts out there?
I would probably listen to heavy metal music...the more intense the better...for longer periods were it not for the dismal lyrical themes that accompany the genre and its performers. I don't see why so much of it is involved with death and spiritual darkness, yet that seems to be the mindset embedded within so many of its artists...or at least that's how they like to portray themselves. Too bad: although instrumentally I think that some of it bears well artistically, even to the level of classical music, I can't take the negativity of the words being screamed out...and it gets so dogmatic and predictable to the point where each song seems to be a parody of the genre. I think heavy metal needs to break free of its stereotypical lyrical chains and speak to a broader listening audience...I think it would boom in popularity were this to happen. I hear there are Christian heavy metal bands...well, maybe that's a good area for me to explore. Also, if I could just dispense with lyrics and singers and just listen to the music...are there any purely instrumental heavy metal acts out there?
Friday, July 27, 2018
Quote of the Week...from Michael McDonald
I don't use my blog anymore. All the people I'm trying to reach are on Facebook.
---Michael McDonald
The Michael McDonald in the above 2011 quote...taken from a New York Times article by Verne G. Kopytoff...isn't the famous singer/songwriter of Doobie Brothers fame. At the time of the quote this Michael McDonald was an aspiring young filmmaker who had been blogging to promote his videos. When his viewership declined in direct correlation to Facebook's rise to prominence, he stopped his blog in favor of the new social media site. I know his lament: I started this very blog back in 2007, before Facebook and when personal blogging was being heavily promoted on the Internet. I used to get feedback from across the country and even abroad, although I did nothing to promote my blog...it has always been for me primarily a disciplined exercise in writing. I did notice, like with Mr. McDonald, that no one was commenting on my articles anymore...other than spam sources... by around 2011-12. So I decided in 2013 to begin placing links to my blog entries on Facebook...the difference now with the comments or "likes" I occasionally receive is that I know the folks making them while before it could be anybody with Internet access, from anywhere in the world...
This blog, which you are probably reading via Facebook, is actually a Google site and is still available worldwide as much so as it was eleven years ago. The difference since Facebook's advent is that the potential reading audience has vastly shrunk due to people's drift away from "universal" interaction that characterized the blogosphere in the first decade of this century and toward exclusively associating with those they are familiar with...a tendency toward clannishness, something I find unhealthy. Still, Facebook has been good to me over the past five years and I relish the connection with people I had lost contact with over the years, as well as with my friends and family around me now. But I miss the more cosmopolitan nature of blogging whereby people across the planet were increasingly exploring others' blogs and establishing groundbreaking connections...Facebook pretty much smashed that once-promising trend...
---Michael McDonald
The Michael McDonald in the above 2011 quote...taken from a New York Times article by Verne G. Kopytoff...isn't the famous singer/songwriter of Doobie Brothers fame. At the time of the quote this Michael McDonald was an aspiring young filmmaker who had been blogging to promote his videos. When his viewership declined in direct correlation to Facebook's rise to prominence, he stopped his blog in favor of the new social media site. I know his lament: I started this very blog back in 2007, before Facebook and when personal blogging was being heavily promoted on the Internet. I used to get feedback from across the country and even abroad, although I did nothing to promote my blog...it has always been for me primarily a disciplined exercise in writing. I did notice, like with Mr. McDonald, that no one was commenting on my articles anymore...other than spam sources... by around 2011-12. So I decided in 2013 to begin placing links to my blog entries on Facebook...the difference now with the comments or "likes" I occasionally receive is that I know the folks making them while before it could be anybody with Internet access, from anywhere in the world...
This blog, which you are probably reading via Facebook, is actually a Google site and is still available worldwide as much so as it was eleven years ago. The difference since Facebook's advent is that the potential reading audience has vastly shrunk due to people's drift away from "universal" interaction that characterized the blogosphere in the first decade of this century and toward exclusively associating with those they are familiar with...a tendency toward clannishness, something I find unhealthy. Still, Facebook has been good to me over the past five years and I relish the connection with people I had lost contact with over the years, as well as with my friends and family around me now. But I miss the more cosmopolitan nature of blogging whereby people across the planet were increasingly exploring others' blogs and establishing groundbreaking connections...Facebook pretty much smashed that once-promising trend...
Thursday, July 26, 2018
7/22 Sermon on Upward Habits, Part 6
At The Family Church here in Gainesville last Sunday, senior pastor Philip Griffin delivered the sixth installment in the ongoing Upward Habits sermon series with the message Relationships of Accountability. As always, the Bible served as the focus: this day it was Mark 2:1-5, which you can read via Bible Gateway by clicking on it. The text refers to the time in the ministry of Jesus when he was speaking to many people crowded within a house...a paralyzed man's four friends, faithful about the Lord's healing power but unable to reach him through the crowd, carried their crippled friend to the roof, made a hole, and lowered him through the ceiling. Jesus was moved and forgave the paralytic of his sins...because of his friends' faith. The question Pastor Philip posed is "Who do we have to carry us through life?"
So why do we need accountability? Philip structured his answer around four reasons: because we all need to be loved, carried, strengthened by the faith of others, and healed. With being loved, we need it even when...no, especially when we are acting in "high-maintenance" mode and are not all that lovable. Only through God's grace can we change ourselves...that environment of grace enables the kind of Godly fellowship we need. With the need to be carried, most of us are not physically paralyzed, but our emotional and/or spiritual paralysis cries out for help...we need others to pick us up, as Philip pointed out. And yes, the faith of others strengthens us...Pastor Philip emphasized...that as we bring others to Jesus we need enough faith to know that he is good and able to heal them. Finally, we all need healing: our pastor noted that the "easy" healing Jesus performed was the physical one...the spiritual healing through the forgiveness of the paralytic's sins was his more profound healing. Philip concluded his message by referring to the accountability questions of John Wesley that believers can use as they develop Godly accountability relationships with others...they vary from website to website, but here is one link that most closely imitates the list we were provided: [Wesley Questions]…
The Family Church, at 2022 SW 122nd Street, meets each Sunday morning at 9 and 10:30 for its weekly services. There is the message, praise and worship music, prayer and discipleship opportunities, a hospitality room with coffee and treats, and a lot of very friendly people. If you'd like to watch Pastor Philip's message about accountability in its entirety, just click on the following link to the church's YouTube video website: [TFC Videos]...
So why do we need accountability? Philip structured his answer around four reasons: because we all need to be loved, carried, strengthened by the faith of others, and healed. With being loved, we need it even when...no, especially when we are acting in "high-maintenance" mode and are not all that lovable. Only through God's grace can we change ourselves...that environment of grace enables the kind of Godly fellowship we need. With the need to be carried, most of us are not physically paralyzed, but our emotional and/or spiritual paralysis cries out for help...we need others to pick us up, as Philip pointed out. And yes, the faith of others strengthens us...Pastor Philip emphasized...that as we bring others to Jesus we need enough faith to know that he is good and able to heal them. Finally, we all need healing: our pastor noted that the "easy" healing Jesus performed was the physical one...the spiritual healing through the forgiveness of the paralytic's sins was his more profound healing. Philip concluded his message by referring to the accountability questions of John Wesley that believers can use as they develop Godly accountability relationships with others...they vary from website to website, but here is one link that most closely imitates the list we were provided: [Wesley Questions]…
The Family Church, at 2022 SW 122nd Street, meets each Sunday morning at 9 and 10:30 for its weekly services. There is the message, praise and worship music, prayer and discipleship opportunities, a hospitality room with coffee and treats, and a lot of very friendly people. If you'd like to watch Pastor Philip's message about accountability in its entirety, just click on the following link to the church's YouTube video website: [TFC Videos]...
Wednesday, July 25, 2018
Weekly Short Story: N. by Stephen King
No, the above article title doesn't contain a typo: the story I'm discussing today...actually more of a novella than a short story...is N., appearing in what I consider to be one of Stephen King's best collections of his short fiction: the 2008 Just After Sunset. When I first read it right after the book came out, I knew right away that this was a classic, and I hold firm to that conclusion. The abbreviated title refers to a Maine psychiatrist's coded reference in his notes to a patient of his...what happened to that patient, along with the reason that Dr. John (or Johnny) Bonsaint's papers are now in the hands of his sister Sheila, form the launching pad for this venture into the sometimes murky distinction between what one perceives and what is really out there. You see, Johnny has committed suicide and Sheila is desperately searching for his reasons when she comes across N.'s story, which the author proceeds to relate...
In a typically "Stephen King" creepy part of rural Maine, along a winding river, lies Ackerman Field, hard to get to and even harder for N., who while photographing the rustic scenery stumbles upon the field, which is beyond a gate with a NO TRESPASSING sign. Drawn somehow by the field beyond, he goes past the barrier and sees eight vertical stones sticking up out of the ground in a rough circle. Wait, or is it seven stones...and is that dark presence within them simply an optical play on his eyes? N. looks through his camera lens and once again sees eight stones...and the darkness is gone. Looking with his own eyes, he sees eight again...and thus begins an inexorable chain of increasing obsessive compulsive behavior designed to keep the number at eight, lest the evil thing within escape into our universe...and N. is convinced that it, along with other unspeakable monsters following behind, would then devour our reality...
Stephen King masterfully displayed the actions and inner thinking of someone afflicted with full-blown, life-disrupting OCD. Throughout the experiences of N., it's never completely clear as to how much of what he is perceiving is coming from him and how much is objectively real. But one thing is certain: either his obsessive-compulsiveness or that causing it is very, very contagious...
N. has become one of my all-time favorite Stephen King stories. It's a combination horror story and psychological thriller of the highest order. Sometimes an author will load up his short story collections with forgettable and shallow tales, but I've found that while I like some of Stephen King's short stories more than others, it's tales like N. that often surpass the quality of his more renowned longer works...
In a typically "Stephen King" creepy part of rural Maine, along a winding river, lies Ackerman Field, hard to get to and even harder for N., who while photographing the rustic scenery stumbles upon the field, which is beyond a gate with a NO TRESPASSING sign. Drawn somehow by the field beyond, he goes past the barrier and sees eight vertical stones sticking up out of the ground in a rough circle. Wait, or is it seven stones...and is that dark presence within them simply an optical play on his eyes? N. looks through his camera lens and once again sees eight stones...and the darkness is gone. Looking with his own eyes, he sees eight again...and thus begins an inexorable chain of increasing obsessive compulsive behavior designed to keep the number at eight, lest the evil thing within escape into our universe...and N. is convinced that it, along with other unspeakable monsters following behind, would then devour our reality...
Stephen King masterfully displayed the actions and inner thinking of someone afflicted with full-blown, life-disrupting OCD. Throughout the experiences of N., it's never completely clear as to how much of what he is perceiving is coming from him and how much is objectively real. But one thing is certain: either his obsessive-compulsiveness or that causing it is very, very contagious...
N. has become one of my all-time favorite Stephen King stories. It's a combination horror story and psychological thriller of the highest order. Sometimes an author will load up his short story collections with forgettable and shallow tales, but I've found that while I like some of Stephen King's short stories more than others, it's tales like N. that often surpass the quality of his more renowned longer works...
Tuesday, July 24, 2018
Tuesday's List: My Top Three Movies of Various Actors
Here is a list of my top three favorite films that various actors have starred or appeared in. No, I couldn't include everybody and probably missed a few of your favorites. Also, for a particular actor I may have excluded a movie they were in that you like...there are three reasons this might happen: (1) I haven't yet seen the movie, (2) I didn't like the movie and/or their performance in it, or (3) it was a good movie but just didn't make the list. There's no particular order in how I present the actors below...hope you enjoy going through it...
HARRISON FORD
1 MOSQUITO COAST
2 RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
3 STAR WARS
HUMPHREY BOGART
1 THE MALTESE FALCON
2 CASABLANCA
3 THE CAINE MUTINY
RICHARD PRYOR
1 STIR CRAZY
2 SILVER STREAK
3 BUSTIN' LOOSE
BRUCE WILLIS
1 THE SIXTH SENSE
2 THE JACKAL
3 SIN CITY
TOM CRUISE
1 RAIN MAN
2 EYES WIDE SHUT
3 VANILLA SKY
JULIE ANDREWS
1 THE SOUND OF MUSIC
2 THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE
3 MARY POPPINS
SAMUEL L. JACKSON
1 PULP FICTION
2 STAR WARS REVENGE OF THE SITH
3 STAR WARS THE CLONE WARS
JAMES STEWART
1 VERTIGO
2 REAR WINDOW
3 IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
GARY COOPER
1 SERGEANT YORK
2 HIGH NOON
3 PRIDE OF THE YANKEES
TOM HANKS
1 FORREST GUMP
2 SAVING PRIVATE RYAN
3 BRIDGE OF SPIES
JOHN WAYNE
1 RED RIVER
2 THE GREEN BERETS
3 SANDS OF IWO JIMA
SALLY FIELD
1 SYBIL
2 SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT
3 LINCOLN
LAWRENCE FISHBURN
1 THE MATRIX
2 APOCALYPSE NOW
3 THE MATRIX RELOADED
MARLON BRANDO
1 THE GODFATHER
2 ON THE WATERFRONT
3 APOCALYPSE NOW
FAYE DUNAWAY
1 BONNIE AND CLYDE
2 NETWORK
3 LITTLE BIG MAN
ROBERT DUVALL
1 THE GODFATHER, PARTS 1 & 2
2 APOCALYPSE NOW
3 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
AUDREY HEPBURN
1 MY FAIR LADY
2 BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S
3 SABRINA
GENE HACKMAN
1 THE CONVERSATION
2 SUPERMAN 1 & 2
3 BONNIE AND CLYDE
GENE WILDER
1 THE PRODUCERS
2 STIR CRAZY
3 YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN
ROBERT REDFORD
1 THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR
2 BRUBAKER
3 BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID
PAUL NEWMAN
1 BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID
2 HARPER
3 COOL HAND LUKE
DUSTIN HOFFMAN
1 LITTLE BIG MAN
2 MARATHON MAN
3 MIDNIGHT COWBOY
AL PACINO
1 DOG DAY AFTERNOON
2 THE GODFATHER, PARTS 1 & 2
3 THE SCENT OF A WOMAN
DIANE KEATON
1 THE GODFATHER, PARTS 1 & 2
2 ANNIE HALL
3 LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBAR
HARRISON FORD
1 MOSQUITO COAST
2 RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
3 STAR WARS
HUMPHREY BOGART
1 THE MALTESE FALCON
2 CASABLANCA
3 THE CAINE MUTINY
RICHARD PRYOR
1 STIR CRAZY
2 SILVER STREAK
3 BUSTIN' LOOSE
BRUCE WILLIS
1 THE SIXTH SENSE
2 THE JACKAL
3 SIN CITY
TOM CRUISE
1 RAIN MAN
2 EYES WIDE SHUT
3 VANILLA SKY
JULIE ANDREWS
1 THE SOUND OF MUSIC
2 THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE
3 MARY POPPINS
SAMUEL L. JACKSON
1 PULP FICTION
2 STAR WARS REVENGE OF THE SITH
3 STAR WARS THE CLONE WARS
JAMES STEWART
1 VERTIGO
2 REAR WINDOW
3 IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
GARY COOPER
1 SERGEANT YORK
2 HIGH NOON
3 PRIDE OF THE YANKEES
TOM HANKS
1 FORREST GUMP
2 SAVING PRIVATE RYAN
3 BRIDGE OF SPIES
JOHN WAYNE
1 RED RIVER
2 THE GREEN BERETS
3 SANDS OF IWO JIMA
SALLY FIELD
1 SYBIL
2 SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT
3 LINCOLN
LAWRENCE FISHBURN
1 THE MATRIX
2 APOCALYPSE NOW
3 THE MATRIX RELOADED
MARLON BRANDO
1 THE GODFATHER
2 ON THE WATERFRONT
3 APOCALYPSE NOW
FAYE DUNAWAY
1 BONNIE AND CLYDE
2 NETWORK
3 LITTLE BIG MAN
ROBERT DUVALL
1 THE GODFATHER, PARTS 1 & 2
2 APOCALYPSE NOW
3 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
AUDREY HEPBURN
1 MY FAIR LADY
2 BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S
3 SABRINA
GENE HACKMAN
1 THE CONVERSATION
2 SUPERMAN 1 & 2
3 BONNIE AND CLYDE
GENE WILDER
1 THE PRODUCERS
2 STIR CRAZY
3 YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN
ROBERT REDFORD
1 THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR
2 BRUBAKER
3 BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID
PAUL NEWMAN
1 BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID
2 HARPER
3 COOL HAND LUKE
DUSTIN HOFFMAN
1 LITTLE BIG MAN
2 MARATHON MAN
3 MIDNIGHT COWBOY
AL PACINO
1 DOG DAY AFTERNOON
2 THE GODFATHER, PARTS 1 & 2
3 THE SCENT OF A WOMAN
DIANE KEATON
1 THE GODFATHER, PARTS 1 & 2
2 ANNIE HALL
3 LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBAR
Monday, July 23, 2018
Just Finished Reading The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare by G.K. Chesterton
English writer G.K. Chesterton came out with his short novel The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare in 1908, during the middle of a historic period in which anarchists wreaked havoc across the world...one of them assassinated our own president, William McKinley, in 1901. In Chesterton's tale, set in England, this movement is the central theme as two poets with different worldviews meet in a park. During their discussion about their respective philosophies, Gregory reveals his belief in the destruction of society's institutions for the greater good of humanity...he is an anarchist. Syme counters his argument by exalting the law and the beauty of order that society bestows on us. The two conclude with Gregory inviting Syme, who expresses doubt as to the degree of Gregory's commitment to anarchism, to a real anarchists' meeting...only he must swear an oath to never speak of it to others. Once at the meeting place, Syme turns the tables on Gregory and elicits a corresponding secrecy oath from his fellow poet: having it, he reveals that he is working undercover for the police and is infiltrating anarchist groups. Both feel bound by their oaths, but Gregory is very uncomfortable in the presence of an undercover cop...so when he is nominated to be the local chapter's representative to the general council, he makes a weak speech toning down the severity of their plans. Then Syme unexpectedly rises up and opposes him, making a thundering and passionate address supporting anarchism and its violence. The members enthusiastically choose Syme over Gregory to be Thursday...that's the cover name...and the winner now has to meet with this group that organizes and oversees anarchist activities. Syme is introduced to the others...each named by a day of the week...with Sunday, a very large, charismatic man, leading them all. There, I've given you enough background story...you can read the rest yourself, but beware: while certain subsequent events might lead you to make your own conclusions as to where it will all lead, the ending is nothing short of puzzling...
Chesterton put an enormous amount of humor in The Man Who Was Thursday, and the developing situation as the tale progresses is nothing short of ridiculous. Had the ending been a little clearer, who knows, this might have been a more universally known and liked story. In a few movies I've seen of late, like Fight Club, Vanilla Sky, and American Psycho, they seem to deliberately confuse the viewer as to what is real and what isn't...and who exactly is who. I know a lot of us enjoy being messed with like this, but I don't...when I first discovered as a kid that Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz had dreamt everything up, I thought it all was a cop-out...although back then the term didn't yet exist for me. There is a message...or maybe more appropriately...a moral at the end of this perplexing-yet-funny story, but the question of what is real and what isn't obscured it all for me and detracted from my enjoyment. Why not check out The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare and tell me what you think? You're sure to get a few good laughs from it, although I bet you'll also be scratching your head in bewilderment at the end...
Chesterton put an enormous amount of humor in The Man Who Was Thursday, and the developing situation as the tale progresses is nothing short of ridiculous. Had the ending been a little clearer, who knows, this might have been a more universally known and liked story. In a few movies I've seen of late, like Fight Club, Vanilla Sky, and American Psycho, they seem to deliberately confuse the viewer as to what is real and what isn't...and who exactly is who. I know a lot of us enjoy being messed with like this, but I don't...when I first discovered as a kid that Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz had dreamt everything up, I thought it all was a cop-out...although back then the term didn't yet exist for me. There is a message...or maybe more appropriately...a moral at the end of this perplexing-yet-funny story, but the question of what is real and what isn't obscured it all for me and detracted from my enjoyment. Why not check out The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare and tell me what you think? You're sure to get a few good laughs from it, although I bet you'll also be scratching your head in bewilderment at the end...
Sunday, July 22, 2018
Media Outlets Making Money Off the People They Interview for Free
Media outlets make money off the people they interview for free...does this bother you? It bugs me, although I acknowledge that the overall flow of information might be seriously slowed were they obliged to pay folks for asking them questions and then airing them. My mind keeps going back to Fox News celebrity Jesse Watters, a likeable young man who made his name on the old Bill O'Reilly show going up and down city streets and exposing the abject ignorance of people at large when they couldn't correctly answer the simplest questions. Now Jesse is a millionaire and his star only keeps rising...after O'Reilly was canned in disgrace for his sex scandals, Watters has been given his own prime time show on that channel. I don't know about you, but I for one would never sign any release for a street-side interview with any for-profit news organization, especially those with a reputation for spinning the news in a specific direction and whose stars are soaking themselves in wealth...unless they in turn paid me for my contribution to their profits. It's one thing to say that paying people to be interviewed would ethically taint objectivity and somehow violate journalism ethics: it's another for companies and their employees to nearly universally practice this behavior...excluding special paid interviews...while always carefully looking after their own financial bottom line. Sure, it can be argued that with more public figures like government officials the press needs unimpeded access to them without a demand for compensation. And many artists, athletes, and others aspiring to public fame and wealth see any media exposure...paid or unpaid...as something to be sought after. But for me...and most of us as well...I don't believe it is proper for others to enrich themselves at our expense...
Saturday, July 21, 2018
Just Finished Reading The Right Side by Spencer Quinn
In Spencer Quinn's 2017 novel The Right Side (which I just finished reading), LeeAnne Hogan is a young soldier returning from multiple tours in Afghanistan...this time it is because she has been seriously injured in a blown operation...or was it a betrayal from the inside? In any event, after staying in a German hospital she is now at Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, trying to come to grips with the difficult fact that she has lost her right eye and the face immediately around it is horribly scarred. LeeAnne's attitude is bitter and hard toward those around her, including her psychiatrist, for whom she reserves a higher degree of animosity than the others. But he knows that there is more to her injury: there is shrapnel lodged within her brain, inoperable, and this may pose a major problem to their plans for her eventual recovery from this ordeal. There is one person at Bethesda, though, who has befriended LeeAnne: her roommate there, Marci...also a victim of war. For her this occurred in Iraq when she lost a leg to an IED (improvised explosive device) while driving a truck. The two bond and LeeAnne learns of Marci's life, including that she has an eight-year-old daughter living with Marci's mother. Marci tragically dies from a sudden infection and LeeAnne has had enough of the hospital life: she sneaks out and heads west with the intention of finding her friend's family in northwestern Washington state. Meanwhile, a military investigator is seeking her out to return to Kabul and help him solve the mystery surrounding the debacle that had cost her eye and the lives of several others. I'm not giving away the story by relating all this...this happens as a background story to LeeAnne's experiences as she seeks some kind of inner peace about her life as it seems to have become completely unraveled...
At a crucial stage in her journey LeeAnne encounters a large stray dog that seems to have an instinctive sense of protectiveness exclusively for her, even knowing to stay on her right side where she is essentially blind due to her missing eye. Never a dog lover, LeeAnne tries to get rid of it to no avail...Goody, which she later names it, becomes an important character in her story. And Marci's daughter Mia is another...except that she has gone missing...
With The Right Side we have a painfully close examination of the soul of a proud and injured veteran as she faces the rest of her life traumatized, disfigured and partially blind...not to mention the searing headaches she suffers, likely from that shrapnel. How can LeeAnne reconcile her experiences with her life ahead? Whom can she trust and whom must she avoid? She is quite a character...I recommend this book if only for that stubborn willfulness and defiance she displays toward others. Not that I want to adopt Sgt. Hogan's demeanor: a lot of it is based, I think, on erroneous conclusions she has made about the intentions and attitudes those around her have for her...something that this story also brings out. I also liked the story itself, with the mysteries about Mia and the Afghanistan tragedy drawing me to its conclusion. I've never read anything from Spencer Quinn before, but I understand that much of his fiction is of a more lighthearted and humorous nature. Still, I think I'll poke around some of his books and see how they stack up to The Right Side, which I heartily recommend...and also which just might be the start of a series (I hope so)...
At a crucial stage in her journey LeeAnne encounters a large stray dog that seems to have an instinctive sense of protectiveness exclusively for her, even knowing to stay on her right side where she is essentially blind due to her missing eye. Never a dog lover, LeeAnne tries to get rid of it to no avail...Goody, which she later names it, becomes an important character in her story. And Marci's daughter Mia is another...except that she has gone missing...
With The Right Side we have a painfully close examination of the soul of a proud and injured veteran as she faces the rest of her life traumatized, disfigured and partially blind...not to mention the searing headaches she suffers, likely from that shrapnel. How can LeeAnne reconcile her experiences with her life ahead? Whom can she trust and whom must she avoid? She is quite a character...I recommend this book if only for that stubborn willfulness and defiance she displays toward others. Not that I want to adopt Sgt. Hogan's demeanor: a lot of it is based, I think, on erroneous conclusions she has made about the intentions and attitudes those around her have for her...something that this story also brings out. I also liked the story itself, with the mysteries about Mia and the Afghanistan tragedy drawing me to its conclusion. I've never read anything from Spencer Quinn before, but I understand that much of his fiction is of a more lighthearted and humorous nature. Still, I think I'll poke around some of his books and see how they stack up to The Right Side, which I heartily recommend...and also which just might be the start of a series (I hope so)...
Friday, July 20, 2018
Quote of the Week...from Woody Allen
Life is a tragedy filled with suffering and despair and yet some people do manage to avoid jury duty.
---Woody Allen
I'd like to add this line to the above quote by the famed comedic actor and filmmaker: "...but I'm not one of them". The twisted folks over at the courthouse must love me, because they can't get enough of calling me in to jury duty. I often ask others around me about their own experiences with this, and it stuns me how many of them have never received a jury summons. Yet in the not-so-distant past I've been nabbed four times...and got stuck on a jury in three of them, including this week when I sat in on a very serious five-count trial against someone accused of attempted sexual battery and robbery, among other charges. Well, that somber experience is over for me with yesterday's verdict (no point in going into any detail about it)...the good judge guaranteed to us intrepid jurors that we're now exempt for a whole year from once again having our lives disrupted and compelled by the state to attend to this duty, under threat of prosecution should we refuse. Whoopee...I understand that once I turn seventy I'll have a choice to decline jury duty, but that's more than eight years off in the future and a number of potential jury summons still stand between now and then. I'm of the "conviction" that compulsory jury service...well... it simply should not be compulsory. The state could institute a policy whereby by default a citizen could still be summoned at random from the pool to serve on a jury while those who are averse to it could go to the trouble to sign up for automatic exemption, a process that they would be forced to renew every year or two...or else go back into the jury pool. I think this would leave the potential jury pool viable and large enough, much in the same way most people don't use the no-call list but those who do have to proactively take the necessary action to apply for that status. Just a suggestion, but I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for some political bigshot to adopt and champion it. Guess I'll just have to be content with the sad fact that I was born to be a juror...
Regarding this past week's jury experience, I found all the employees there (entrance security, bailiffs, lawyers, clerks, judges) to be courteous, patient, and accommodating...sadly, that hasn't always been the case in the past. The other six jurors I ended up empaneled with were also a welcome departure from my past "trials". These people were thoughtful, attentive, very courteous, and friendly, and if they were in a hurry during deliberations to arrive at a quick verdict none of them gave any such indication...every argument in the case was methodically reviewed as each count against the defendant was weighed according to the law as the judge had provided us. I applaud my fellow jurors for this...but after it was over, of course, we all left the building and each others' lives...I'll probably see one or two of them around from time to time in the future and wonder why they seem familiar...
Finally, a note about Woody Allen. I liked him in Sleeper and he was okay in Annie Hall, but surprisingly when I looked at his filmography it turns out that these are the only two movies of his I've seen in their entirety! I think one of the reasons for this is that he seemed to have built up a kind of cult status among highbrow movie critics and I'm more into entertainment than "art" in cinema...not to say that some of my favorite films don't merit "art" status. Allen also has gone through some serious relational problems that created some scandal and bad publicity for him more recently...not knowing the facts in detail, I make no judgment one way or another. So I'm not placing Woody Allen on any kind of role model pedestal by presenting his quote (which I found on the A-Z Quotes website)...no, I used it because it is thoroughly hilarious and fits my take on jury duty to a T...
---Woody Allen
I'd like to add this line to the above quote by the famed comedic actor and filmmaker: "...but I'm not one of them". The twisted folks over at the courthouse must love me, because they can't get enough of calling me in to jury duty. I often ask others around me about their own experiences with this, and it stuns me how many of them have never received a jury summons. Yet in the not-so-distant past I've been nabbed four times...and got stuck on a jury in three of them, including this week when I sat in on a very serious five-count trial against someone accused of attempted sexual battery and robbery, among other charges. Well, that somber experience is over for me with yesterday's verdict (no point in going into any detail about it)...the good judge guaranteed to us intrepid jurors that we're now exempt for a whole year from once again having our lives disrupted and compelled by the state to attend to this duty, under threat of prosecution should we refuse. Whoopee...I understand that once I turn seventy I'll have a choice to decline jury duty, but that's more than eight years off in the future and a number of potential jury summons still stand between now and then. I'm of the "conviction" that compulsory jury service...well... it simply should not be compulsory. The state could institute a policy whereby by default a citizen could still be summoned at random from the pool to serve on a jury while those who are averse to it could go to the trouble to sign up for automatic exemption, a process that they would be forced to renew every year or two...or else go back into the jury pool. I think this would leave the potential jury pool viable and large enough, much in the same way most people don't use the no-call list but those who do have to proactively take the necessary action to apply for that status. Just a suggestion, but I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for some political bigshot to adopt and champion it. Guess I'll just have to be content with the sad fact that I was born to be a juror...
Regarding this past week's jury experience, I found all the employees there (entrance security, bailiffs, lawyers, clerks, judges) to be courteous, patient, and accommodating...sadly, that hasn't always been the case in the past. The other six jurors I ended up empaneled with were also a welcome departure from my past "trials". These people were thoughtful, attentive, very courteous, and friendly, and if they were in a hurry during deliberations to arrive at a quick verdict none of them gave any such indication...every argument in the case was methodically reviewed as each count against the defendant was weighed according to the law as the judge had provided us. I applaud my fellow jurors for this...but after it was over, of course, we all left the building and each others' lives...I'll probably see one or two of them around from time to time in the future and wonder why they seem familiar...
Finally, a note about Woody Allen. I liked him in Sleeper and he was okay in Annie Hall, but surprisingly when I looked at his filmography it turns out that these are the only two movies of his I've seen in their entirety! I think one of the reasons for this is that he seemed to have built up a kind of cult status among highbrow movie critics and I'm more into entertainment than "art" in cinema...not to say that some of my favorite films don't merit "art" status. Allen also has gone through some serious relational problems that created some scandal and bad publicity for him more recently...not knowing the facts in detail, I make no judgment one way or another. So I'm not placing Woody Allen on any kind of role model pedestal by presenting his quote (which I found on the A-Z Quotes website)...no, I used it because it is thoroughly hilarious and fits my take on jury duty to a T...
Thursday, July 19, 2018
7/15 Sermon on Upward Habits, Part 5
Scripture reading was the focus of last Sunday's continuing message series Upward Habits at The Family Church here in Gainesville. The guest speaker was Steven Jones, who always has something interesting and inspiring to say when he visits our podium...this presentation was no exception. By drawing upon the Gospel story of the bleeding woman, afflicted by her condition for twelve years and who was healed by touching Jesus's garments, Steven gave a structured approach to reading scripture...you can read these Bible passages for yourself through Bible Gateway by clicking on each passage: Matthew 9:20-22, Luke 8:42-48, Mark 5:24-34...
Steven made the analogy between the bleeding woman and ourselves...we all "bleed" because we have free will and live in a fallen world, he pointed out. He broke down his message into three areas we need to be engaged in with a heartfelt, consistent manner regarding scripture: analyze our approach, assess our attitude, and acknowledge our need. Analyzing our approach to scripture, continued Steven, involves becoming intentional and focused...like that woman seeking Jesus who looked for that one touch...seeking quality and not necessarily quantity in what we get from it. With assessing attitude, Steven emphasized three necessary elements: being poor in spirit with an attitude of surrender, brokenness, and empty-handedness, demonstrating fear of the Lord, i.e. properly responding to him with awe and wonder...and finally, the gratitude of a heart overflowing. We acknowledge our need...our "spiritual anemia"...as Steven, a physician himself, gave some medical analogies: spiritual dyspnea (shortness of breath) corresponds to anxiety, spiritual fatigue corresponds to low energy, apathy, and the lack of hope, and spiritual pica (which involves strange cravings caused by physical deficiencies) corresponds to divergent, sinful fixations and behavior patterns...
In concluding this enlightening and very interesting message, Steven Jones revealed some practical pointers to help with our scripture reading. Best that we intentionally set aside quiet time for it, then study the Bible...followed up when appropriate by journaling. Steven uses for himself a journaling system with the acronym SOAP: the Scripture, his Observations, its Application, and concluding with Prayer. Our speaker closed with a significant statement: When I engage with Jesus through upward habits, there will always be a downward response. And that downward response comes from God himself...
You can watch this message from Steven Jones by clicking on the following link to the church's YouTube video website: [TFC Videos]. The Family Church is at 2022 SW 122nd Street holds its weekly Sunday morning services at 9 and 10:30 with heartfelt praise and worship music, prayer and discipleship opportunities, the inspiring weekly message, and a lot of very friendly people. The hospitality room next to the entrance is open for coffee and treats before and between services. Looking forward to the next sermon...
Steven made the analogy between the bleeding woman and ourselves...we all "bleed" because we have free will and live in a fallen world, he pointed out. He broke down his message into three areas we need to be engaged in with a heartfelt, consistent manner regarding scripture: analyze our approach, assess our attitude, and acknowledge our need. Analyzing our approach to scripture, continued Steven, involves becoming intentional and focused...like that woman seeking Jesus who looked for that one touch...seeking quality and not necessarily quantity in what we get from it. With assessing attitude, Steven emphasized three necessary elements: being poor in spirit with an attitude of surrender, brokenness, and empty-handedness, demonstrating fear of the Lord, i.e. properly responding to him with awe and wonder...and finally, the gratitude of a heart overflowing. We acknowledge our need...our "spiritual anemia"...as Steven, a physician himself, gave some medical analogies: spiritual dyspnea (shortness of breath) corresponds to anxiety, spiritual fatigue corresponds to low energy, apathy, and the lack of hope, and spiritual pica (which involves strange cravings caused by physical deficiencies) corresponds to divergent, sinful fixations and behavior patterns...
In concluding this enlightening and very interesting message, Steven Jones revealed some practical pointers to help with our scripture reading. Best that we intentionally set aside quiet time for it, then study the Bible...followed up when appropriate by journaling. Steven uses for himself a journaling system with the acronym SOAP: the Scripture, his Observations, its Application, and concluding with Prayer. Our speaker closed with a significant statement: When I engage with Jesus through upward habits, there will always be a downward response. And that downward response comes from God himself...
You can watch this message from Steven Jones by clicking on the following link to the church's YouTube video website: [TFC Videos]. The Family Church is at 2022 SW 122nd Street holds its weekly Sunday morning services at 9 and 10:30 with heartfelt praise and worship music, prayer and discipleship opportunities, the inspiring weekly message, and a lot of very friendly people. The hospitality room next to the entrance is open for coffee and treats before and between services. Looking forward to the next sermon...
Wednesday, July 18, 2018
Weekly Short Story: Ghost of a Chance by Theodore Sturgeon
Ghost of a Chance is a 1955 lighthearted fantasy short story by Theodore Sturgeon, more known to me for his often profound short science fiction. I read it from Caviar, a small paperback collection of his short fiction from the same year...the book was literally falling apart in my hands when I read it. In it Gus, a likeable single man somewhere between "young" and "middle-age" runs across a pretty, but distinctive-looking diminutive young woman with white hair, pale skin, and black eyes. It's apparent from the start that the two are attracted to each other, but Iola punctuates their first chance meeting by suddenly slapping Gus's face...and then runs away! There's an explanation for this strange behavior, for which the story's title provides a clue. A ghost is also attracted to Iola and he is very, very jealous of any unfortunate man with whom she begins a friendly relationship, causing all sorts of mischief to him. So Iola slaps Gus to protect him from this strange apparition...but does that stop him from pursuing her? You can read for yourself how Gus and Iola deal with this problem...I brought up this story for a couple of reasons...
In many dramatic television series, there are interspersed among the serious episodes a few that are comedic, even farcical in nature... the late comedian Shelly Berman's Twilight Zone episode The Mind and the Matter is probably my favorite of these. Their appeal comes usually from the sympathetic characters...Ghost of a Chance is like this, with simple, good-natured, and down-to-earth Gus someone that you naturally want to root for. His dialogues with his more educated friend Henry Gates, a practical psychologist, show true mutual and respectful affection between the two in spite of the needling that Henry gives Gus. It's a sweet, short tale of little consequence as far as weighty philosophical or social issues are concerned. Stories like this are often included in an author's larger collection of works without ever being highlighted or greatly discussed, yet in Theodore Sturgeon's mind this was a worthwhile writing venture at a specific point in his career...and I enjoyed reading it...
In many dramatic television series, there are interspersed among the serious episodes a few that are comedic, even farcical in nature... the late comedian Shelly Berman's Twilight Zone episode The Mind and the Matter is probably my favorite of these. Their appeal comes usually from the sympathetic characters...Ghost of a Chance is like this, with simple, good-natured, and down-to-earth Gus someone that you naturally want to root for. His dialogues with his more educated friend Henry Gates, a practical psychologist, show true mutual and respectful affection between the two in spite of the needling that Henry gives Gus. It's a sweet, short tale of little consequence as far as weighty philosophical or social issues are concerned. Stories like this are often included in an author's larger collection of works without ever being highlighted or greatly discussed, yet in Theodore Sturgeon's mind this was a worthwhile writing venture at a specific point in his career...and I enjoyed reading it...
Tuesday, July 17, 2018
Tuesday's List: South Florida Radio & TV Stations, 1968-73
This is one of my quirkier, more personal lists. I grew up in Hollywood, which lies right in the middle of the heavily populated three southeastern counties of Florida: Palm Beach, Broward, and Dade. I also had, from 1968 to 1973 when I was going to Nova High School (corresponding to my 7th-11th grade years there) a hobby of listening to radio to pick up distant stations, called "DXing" and now obviously obsolete with the advent of the internet and easy-to-download apps that can pick up just about any station anywhere. Well, during that time I compiled a listening log as well as lists of the local FM and TV stations. I'm sure that the TV and radio station lineup looks quite different now than from back then, so I though it might be a sort of contribution of mine to the storehouse of knowledge accruing on the internet to put out a list of these old stations from my old home area. They are all from either Palm Beach, Broward, or Dade county...my favorite radio stations were WQAM, WFUN, WSRF (all three with rock n' roll formats), WSHE-FM (album rock), and WKAT (talk radio). Sometimes WFTL would broadcast local high school football games live and faithfully gave us all the scores late on game night. In early 1971, WMYQ on 96.3 made the big breakthrough in south Florida with a strong popular music format for the first time on the FM band...others would soon follow in a torrent, quickly converting that once-neglected band into the one most people listen to today...later that decade, as the disco era ensued, the station on 100.7 would reign supreme, while the one on 94.9 renamed itself "Zeta Four" and commanded my listening loyalty with some really good album rock. Here's the list, with the TV section listing the channels and the AM/FM sections listing the frequencies...
SOUTH FLORIDA TV STATIONS (1968-73)
2 WTHS Miami (Educational/Public)
4 WTVJ Miami (CBS)
5 WPTV Palm Beach (NBC)
6 WCIX Miami (Independent)
7 WCKT Miami (NBC)
10 WLBW/WPLG Miami (ABC)
12 WEAT West Palm Beach (ABC)
17 WSEC Miami (Educational)
23 WLTV Miami (Spanish)
51 WKID Fort Lauderdale (Independent)
61 W61AA Fort Lauderdale (Independent)
SOUTH FLORIDA AM RADIO STATIONS (1968-73)
540 WQAM Miami
610 WIOD Miami
710 WGBS Miami
740 WSBR Boca Raton
790 WFUN South Miami
850 WEAT West Palm Beach
900 WSWN Belle Glade
940 WINZ Miami
980 WLOD Pompano Beach
990 WFAB Miami
1000 WJTS/WRYZ Jupiter
1080 WVCG Coral Gables
1140 WMIE/WQBA Miami
1190 WAVS Fort Lauderdale
1220 WOAH/WLTO/WCMQ Miami
1230 WJNP West Palm Beach
1260 WAME/WWOK Miami
1290 WIRK West Palm Beach
1320 WGMA Hollywood
1340 WQXT Palm Beach
1360 WKAT Miami Beach
1400 WFTL Fort Lauderdale
1420 WDBF Delray Beach
1430 WIII/WRSD Homestead
1450 WOCN Miami
1470 WRBD Pompano Beach
1490 WMBM Miami Beach
1520 WIXX/WEXY Oakland Park
1550 WRIZ Coral Gables
1580 WSRF Fort Lauderdale
SOUTH FLORIDA FM RADIO STATIONS (1968-73)
89.7 WMCU Miami
91.3 WTHS Miami
92.1 WHMS Hialeah
93.1 WKAT/WTMI Miami
93.9 WGOS/WBUS Miami Beach
94.9 WAEZ/WOCN Miami Beach
96.3 WGBS/WJHR/WMYQ Miami
97.3 WIOD/WAIA Miami
97.9 WWOS Palm Beach
99.1 WEDR Miami
99.9 WWOG Boca Raton
100.7 WMJR Fort Lauderdale
101.5 WWPB/WLYF Miami
102.7 WCKO Pompano Beach
103.5 WSRF/WSHE Fort Lauderdale
104.5 WEAT West Palm Beach
105.1 WYOR Coral Gables
105.9 WFLM/WIXX/WAXY Fort Lauderdale
106.7 WFTL Fort Lauderdale
107.9 WIRK/WPBF West Palm Beach
SOUTH FLORIDA TV STATIONS (1968-73)
2 WTHS Miami (Educational/Public)
4 WTVJ Miami (CBS)
5 WPTV Palm Beach (NBC)
6 WCIX Miami (Independent)
7 WCKT Miami (NBC)
10 WLBW/WPLG Miami (ABC)
12 WEAT West Palm Beach (ABC)
17 WSEC Miami (Educational)
23 WLTV Miami (Spanish)
51 WKID Fort Lauderdale (Independent)
61 W61AA Fort Lauderdale (Independent)
SOUTH FLORIDA AM RADIO STATIONS (1968-73)
540 WQAM Miami
610 WIOD Miami
710 WGBS Miami
740 WSBR Boca Raton
790 WFUN South Miami
850 WEAT West Palm Beach
900 WSWN Belle Glade
940 WINZ Miami
980 WLOD Pompano Beach
990 WFAB Miami
1000 WJTS/WRYZ Jupiter
1080 WVCG Coral Gables
1140 WMIE/WQBA Miami
1190 WAVS Fort Lauderdale
1220 WOAH/WLTO/WCMQ Miami
1230 WJNP West Palm Beach
1260 WAME/WWOK Miami
1290 WIRK West Palm Beach
1320 WGMA Hollywood
1340 WQXT Palm Beach
1360 WKAT Miami Beach
1400 WFTL Fort Lauderdale
1420 WDBF Delray Beach
1430 WIII/WRSD Homestead
1450 WOCN Miami
1470 WRBD Pompano Beach
1490 WMBM Miami Beach
1520 WIXX/WEXY Oakland Park
1550 WRIZ Coral Gables
1580 WSRF Fort Lauderdale
SOUTH FLORIDA FM RADIO STATIONS (1968-73)
89.7 WMCU Miami
91.3 WTHS Miami
92.1 WHMS Hialeah
93.1 WKAT/WTMI Miami
93.9 WGOS/WBUS Miami Beach
94.9 WAEZ/WOCN Miami Beach
96.3 WGBS/WJHR/WMYQ Miami
97.3 WIOD/WAIA Miami
97.9 WWOS Palm Beach
99.1 WEDR Miami
99.9 WWOG Boca Raton
100.7 WMJR Fort Lauderdale
101.5 WWPB/WLYF Miami
102.7 WCKO Pompano Beach
103.5 WSRF/WSHE Fort Lauderdale
104.5 WEAT West Palm Beach
105.1 WYOR Coral Gables
105.9 WFLM/WIXX/WAXY Fort Lauderdale
106.7 WFTL Fort Lauderdale
107.9 WIRK/WPBF West Palm Beach
Monday, July 16, 2018
Just Finished Reading Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson
Brandon Sanderson is one of my favorite fantasy fiction writers, responsible for several different series in the genre. I've been keeping up more or less with two of them: Mistborn and The Stormlight Archive...it can be difficult waiting for the next installment in an ongoing series as I can forget a lot about what has already happened by the time the next book comes out. In Mistborn, there was an original trilogy and then an appended series to it came out featuring the allomantic gunslinger Waxillian, his sidekick Wayne, and others as they bring law to a corrupt and lawless land. Whoa, you're saying...what the heck is "allomantic"?
In the Mistborn series on this particular fantasy world of Sanderson's someone is allomantic...or practices allomancy...when they possess the ability to digest metals and then act on them and the surrounding metals in the environment, resulting...depending on the metal type and their rare ability...in jumping high, influencing others' emotions, healing oneself quickly, or changing the flow of time around them, to name a few tricks. Wax, as he is usually called, is a "coinshot", frequently performing the Superman stunt of "leaping tall buildings in a single bound"...the story's action quickly becomes three-dimensional because of this. In Shadows of Self, which I just finished reading, Wax and his colleagues are faced with a corrupt alliance of nobles and criminals as well as a threat from the past that could destroy the delicately budding modern society on his world...
Shadows of Self is the second of the Mistborn series featuring Wax and Wayne...I had to quickly reread the previous book to catch my memory back up. It's an engrossing story, as usual expertly told by Sanderson with interesting, distinctive characters that you want to get to know. I'm looking forward to reading the next installment in his series, which I have placed on hold at my local public library...
In the Mistborn series on this particular fantasy world of Sanderson's someone is allomantic...or practices allomancy...when they possess the ability to digest metals and then act on them and the surrounding metals in the environment, resulting...depending on the metal type and their rare ability...in jumping high, influencing others' emotions, healing oneself quickly, or changing the flow of time around them, to name a few tricks. Wax, as he is usually called, is a "coinshot", frequently performing the Superman stunt of "leaping tall buildings in a single bound"...the story's action quickly becomes three-dimensional because of this. In Shadows of Self, which I just finished reading, Wax and his colleagues are faced with a corrupt alliance of nobles and criminals as well as a threat from the past that could destroy the delicately budding modern society on his world...
Shadows of Self is the second of the Mistborn series featuring Wax and Wayne...I had to quickly reread the previous book to catch my memory back up. It's an engrossing story, as usual expertly told by Sanderson with interesting, distinctive characters that you want to get to know. I'm looking forward to reading the next installment in his series, which I have placed on hold at my local public library...
Sunday, July 15, 2018
Not Too Keen on Jury Duty
I'm always urging people on this blog to exercise their civic duty and regularly vote in all the elections that are offered...and make those votes on an informed basis. The urging is necessary because in our country voting is voluntary...you can be registered and still skip elections that don't meet your interest level. This, however isn't true for jury duty...now that's something I wish I had a choice about. And if I had that choice, maybe I'd come out sounding like a hypocrite about "civic duty" because I have a strong aversion to it...
Unlike with voting, jury duty involves a substantial disruption of my schedule and puts me in a place where I am limited in where and what I can do and say for a protracted amount of time while continually being under others' scrutiny. I am often forced to stand around in hallways for long periods, waiting for someone to make a decision about where my "number" is supposed to go next. On selection day I never know how long it will take...possibly only a few minutes but more probably hours and hours. Once selected, there's no guarantee about how long I'll then have to devote my life to deciding the case. The temperature indoors can get to be a problem...usually it can be pretty chilly: they even advise jurors to bring a light sweater with them. I absolutely cringe at the thought of having to go through the security checkpoint whenever I enter the building as the employees scrutinize me and my possessions...I understand the necessity but I dislike it anyway. And, at least for the last few times I've been there, the building where all this takes place didn't even have a room to sit down and get food and refreshments during breaks...we were always told to go out to one of the nearby eateries for this. Someone told me that there now is such a place within the courthouse, though...but I'll believe it when I see it. And finally, I feel offended at the matter-of-fact, ho-hum attitude that the people working there often display in the midst of the personal crises that the defendants, victims, and loved ones for either side are going through. And quite frankly, I'm not at all keen on hobnobbing and getting "friendly" with perfect strangers just because a couple of opposing lawyers decided we all were the best "fit" among the motley lot for their particular trial...
My wife, when she was recently summoned, drew a high jury pool number: when she called the given phone number the night before she was to report, they told her she didn't have to. Unfortunately, my own jury number is very low and although I'll make the perfunctory call later this evening, I hold little to no hope of avoiding this ordeal, starting tomorrow...
Unlike with voting, jury duty involves a substantial disruption of my schedule and puts me in a place where I am limited in where and what I can do and say for a protracted amount of time while continually being under others' scrutiny. I am often forced to stand around in hallways for long periods, waiting for someone to make a decision about where my "number" is supposed to go next. On selection day I never know how long it will take...possibly only a few minutes but more probably hours and hours. Once selected, there's no guarantee about how long I'll then have to devote my life to deciding the case. The temperature indoors can get to be a problem...usually it can be pretty chilly: they even advise jurors to bring a light sweater with them. I absolutely cringe at the thought of having to go through the security checkpoint whenever I enter the building as the employees scrutinize me and my possessions...I understand the necessity but I dislike it anyway. And, at least for the last few times I've been there, the building where all this takes place didn't even have a room to sit down and get food and refreshments during breaks...we were always told to go out to one of the nearby eateries for this. Someone told me that there now is such a place within the courthouse, though...but I'll believe it when I see it. And finally, I feel offended at the matter-of-fact, ho-hum attitude that the people working there often display in the midst of the personal crises that the defendants, victims, and loved ones for either side are going through. And quite frankly, I'm not at all keen on hobnobbing and getting "friendly" with perfect strangers just because a couple of opposing lawyers decided we all were the best "fit" among the motley lot for their particular trial...
My wife, when she was recently summoned, drew a high jury pool number: when she called the given phone number the night before she was to report, they told her she didn't have to. Unfortunately, my own jury number is very low and although I'll make the perfunctory call later this evening, I hold little to no hope of avoiding this ordeal, starting tomorrow...
Saturday, July 14, 2018
Elizabeth Warren's Recently Expressed View on Democracy
Just a few days ago I tuned in to one of the C-Span television channels...they not only broadcast live floor proceedings of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, but also feature committee hearings as well as advocacy speeches and conventions. I happened to come across an American Civil Liberties Union meeting/convention, and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren was at the podium. She was speaking about what she considered to be "democracy", citing first a long list of anti-Trump nationwide protest demonstrations that have transpired ever since his election. But to Warren the numerous demonstrations, while to her being democracy in action, also had another "democratic" force to add to theirs: the ACLU's many lawsuits against Trump policies. Now you can argue...and I might add, quite persuasively...that the protests as well as the legal challenges were appropriate, relevant, and called for to the better good of the country and its people. But is this really what "democracy" is?
I know a lot of people bandy about the word "democracy" in different ways. Some, like my friend in Montana, will claim that the United States isn't and was never intended to be a democracy: it is a republic...I get his gist, he and I probably agree on the fundamentals, semantics aside. And some, like Senator Warren, seem to equate with democracy the exercise of the First Amendment through protests and going through the judicial system. To me, though...and I believe to a lot of other folks...democracy means the people governing themselves by electing representatives who they believe will pursue the same aims and philosophy to which they themselves adhere . But for this to happen effectively, eligible voters need to CONSISTENTLY participate in whatever elections present themselves, be they for president, congress, governor, state legislature, or local; it's all crucial. You don't only vote because you feel the "Bern" for a charismatic, trendy candidate and then ignore all the other races when your idol isn't on the ballot...you are reneging on your responsibilities as a citizen if you do this. So when hundreds of thousands...sometimes more than a million...protesters take to the streets across the country with their signs and messages for this cause or that, these actions by themselves accomplish absolutely nothing when it comes to changing the politics coming out of elective offices. They aren't exercising democracy: they are exercising their First Amendment right of free speech, something that I applaud regardless which "side" they're on. The problem is when people elevate that form of expression over the power of the ballot box, which is the true expression of democracy, Elizabeth Warren's take on it all notwithstanding...
I know a lot of people bandy about the word "democracy" in different ways. Some, like my friend in Montana, will claim that the United States isn't and was never intended to be a democracy: it is a republic...I get his gist, he and I probably agree on the fundamentals, semantics aside. And some, like Senator Warren, seem to equate with democracy the exercise of the First Amendment through protests and going through the judicial system. To me, though...and I believe to a lot of other folks...democracy means the people governing themselves by electing representatives who they believe will pursue the same aims and philosophy to which they themselves adhere . But for this to happen effectively, eligible voters need to CONSISTENTLY participate in whatever elections present themselves, be they for president, congress, governor, state legislature, or local; it's all crucial. You don't only vote because you feel the "Bern" for a charismatic, trendy candidate and then ignore all the other races when your idol isn't on the ballot...you are reneging on your responsibilities as a citizen if you do this. So when hundreds of thousands...sometimes more than a million...protesters take to the streets across the country with their signs and messages for this cause or that, these actions by themselves accomplish absolutely nothing when it comes to changing the politics coming out of elective offices. They aren't exercising democracy: they are exercising their First Amendment right of free speech, something that I applaud regardless which "side" they're on. The problem is when people elevate that form of expression over the power of the ballot box, which is the true expression of democracy, Elizabeth Warren's take on it all notwithstanding...
Friday, July 13, 2018
Quote of the Week...from Albert Einstein
Memory is deceptive because it is colored by today's events. ---Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein, of course, is the famous physicist responsible for the General Theory of Relativity and the advent of the nuclear age with its ramifications for the planet. Besides being a scientist, he was also something of a philosopher and had quite a few ideas about how the mind works. This above quote of his rings true to me, as it paints people's memories as being subjected to revision according to what they are currently experiencing and how they interpret it...
What happened in the past, objectively speaking, is immovable and cannot be changed. But memory is a function of the present time, whereby the overwhelming complexity of events that occurred before at a specific time gets filtered through one's own intellect, personal narrative, and subjective emotional bias to produce something that bears similarity to the thing being remembered...but in essence is really quite different. We tend to "highlight" our past and distill from it the events that we feel contributed the most to our present situation as we see it. Moreover, what our present situation is can also be seen largely as the product of selectively interpreting in a distorted way over a span of time what happened to us in the past and acting upon it. On a larger scale, the different political parties and social movements will consistently create a past that naturally leads to the present situation while affirming along each step their stated agendas. Along with this, facts that would mitigate their criticism of other parties that they regard as adversaries are ignored because they don't "fit" the narrative. More personally, I rarely think about when I've been sick in the past, but whenever I do get under the weather those memories pop up in my mind, making me feel like I've been sickly pretty much my entire life, which is false...yet when I'm sick it feels that way. Once I've recovered, my "past" changes as I put illness completely out of my mind. When I'm down on myself and others, I tend to look to my memories to find evidence corroborating this cynical mood. And when I feel joy, gratitude, and benevolence toward others, I can much more easily find examples of this as well to paint an entirely different picture of my past...
The point to all this that people like to see the passage of time in terms of narratives...much like a story...and their interpretation of the past will consequently include memories contributing to that narrative and exclude those contradicting it. Einstein was often seen as a "dreamer" and given to imaginative reverie, speculating freely about world around us and how we deal with it. It's a shame he's no longer around...I wonder what he'd be saying about what's on the news and how it's being reported, along with the narratives being espoused...
Albert Einstein, of course, is the famous physicist responsible for the General Theory of Relativity and the advent of the nuclear age with its ramifications for the planet. Besides being a scientist, he was also something of a philosopher and had quite a few ideas about how the mind works. This above quote of his rings true to me, as it paints people's memories as being subjected to revision according to what they are currently experiencing and how they interpret it...
What happened in the past, objectively speaking, is immovable and cannot be changed. But memory is a function of the present time, whereby the overwhelming complexity of events that occurred before at a specific time gets filtered through one's own intellect, personal narrative, and subjective emotional bias to produce something that bears similarity to the thing being remembered...but in essence is really quite different. We tend to "highlight" our past and distill from it the events that we feel contributed the most to our present situation as we see it. Moreover, what our present situation is can also be seen largely as the product of selectively interpreting in a distorted way over a span of time what happened to us in the past and acting upon it. On a larger scale, the different political parties and social movements will consistently create a past that naturally leads to the present situation while affirming along each step their stated agendas. Along with this, facts that would mitigate their criticism of other parties that they regard as adversaries are ignored because they don't "fit" the narrative. More personally, I rarely think about when I've been sick in the past, but whenever I do get under the weather those memories pop up in my mind, making me feel like I've been sickly pretty much my entire life, which is false...yet when I'm sick it feels that way. Once I've recovered, my "past" changes as I put illness completely out of my mind. When I'm down on myself and others, I tend to look to my memories to find evidence corroborating this cynical mood. And when I feel joy, gratitude, and benevolence toward others, I can much more easily find examples of this as well to paint an entirely different picture of my past...
The point to all this that people like to see the passage of time in terms of narratives...much like a story...and their interpretation of the past will consequently include memories contributing to that narrative and exclude those contradicting it. Einstein was often seen as a "dreamer" and given to imaginative reverie, speculating freely about world around us and how we deal with it. It's a shame he's no longer around...I wonder what he'd be saying about what's on the news and how it's being reported, along with the narratives being espoused...
Thursday, July 12, 2018
7/8 Sermon on Upward Habits, Pt. 4
This past Sunday at The Family Church here in Gainesville, Kevin Sides stepped in for senior pastor Philip Griffin and delivered the next installment in the Upward Habits sermon series. This one, simply titled Giving, addressed the importance of allowing God to work his grace through us in our giving. Kevin's scripture of focus was in 2 Corinthians 8, which you can read via Bible Gateway by clicking on the passage. In it Paul is discussing the collection from God's people and their attitudes toward giving...
Kevin structured his message around four aspects of how God's grace affects our giving: it allows us to give, it orders our giving, it grows our giving, and it rewards our giving. He pointed out that all we have...material possessions and money...comes from God, who rightfully owns everything and entrusts it all to us as stewards. By accepting God's grace in our lives, we prioritize our giving...first to the Lord, then to others...and finally giving ourselves in the sacrificial model of Jesus. As for how God's grace grows our giving, Kevin listed three ways: tithing, free will offering, and cheerful, eager giving above and beyond everything else. Finally, Kevin revealed how God's grace rewards our cheerful giving: with heart joy, heart freedom, Godly praise, and gospel work. He closed by emphasizing that God doesn't want our money, but rather our hearts. At the message's conclusion Kevin had copies of a book he believes will further enlighten us about our giving, The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn, offered to each household in the church as a gift from him...thank you, Kevin...
You can watch this full message on giving, which greatly enlarges on Kevin's outline that I roughly reproduced above, by clicking on the following link to the church's YouTube video website: [TFC Video]. The Family Church is at 2022 SW 122nd Street (Parker Road) and holds its Sunday morning services at 9 and 10:30. They feature the weekly message, praise and worship music, prayer and discipleship opportunities. The series continues next Sunday...
Kevin structured his message around four aspects of how God's grace affects our giving: it allows us to give, it orders our giving, it grows our giving, and it rewards our giving. He pointed out that all we have...material possessions and money...comes from God, who rightfully owns everything and entrusts it all to us as stewards. By accepting God's grace in our lives, we prioritize our giving...first to the Lord, then to others...and finally giving ourselves in the sacrificial model of Jesus. As for how God's grace grows our giving, Kevin listed three ways: tithing, free will offering, and cheerful, eager giving above and beyond everything else. Finally, Kevin revealed how God's grace rewards our cheerful giving: with heart joy, heart freedom, Godly praise, and gospel work. He closed by emphasizing that God doesn't want our money, but rather our hearts. At the message's conclusion Kevin had copies of a book he believes will further enlighten us about our giving, The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn, offered to each household in the church as a gift from him...thank you, Kevin...
You can watch this full message on giving, which greatly enlarges on Kevin's outline that I roughly reproduced above, by clicking on the following link to the church's YouTube video website: [TFC Video]. The Family Church is at 2022 SW 122nd Street (Parker Road) and holds its Sunday morning services at 9 and 10:30. They feature the weekly message, praise and worship music, prayer and discipleship opportunities. The series continues next Sunday...
Wednesday, July 11, 2018
Weekly Short Story: The Persistence of Vision by John Varley
The Persistence of Vision is a 1978 short story by John Varley, appearing in the anthology Donald A. Wollheim Presents The 1979 Annual World's Best SF. Set around the year 1988 (in the near future from the author's perspective), a young man decides to skip the long bread lines during yet another "non-depression" and go out on the road. When he gets to New Mexico he discovers and stays at various communes...and travels onward until he reaches a stone wall. Within is a different kind of community, self-supporting and composed of deaf and blind people who had been born that way through an outbreak of rubella measles in the mid-1960s. The residents welcome him and teach him how to communicate with them. What specifically happens next and how it all ends is something you can discover for yourself...this is one of the best short stories I've read and it has definitely opened my mind to all sorts of speculation...
Varley touched upon the regrettable trend in the past to throw the deaf and blind together with the mentally disabled and isolate them from society. In his story, the large group born with this condition gets together and, under the inspired and creative leadership of one woman, builds the special community out west that the story's protagonist encounters. Being human like everyone else...and thus with strong social instincts...they develop an extremely intricate, layered system of communications over the years involving touch. By necessity at first...and then by desire...all sorts of social taboos in the "outside" world get knocked down, and our seeing and hearing traveler has to struggle to overcome his initial resistance to all this. Eventually, he realizes that he is the handicapped one here and can never fully understand all that is being expressed between the others. Finally, there is an eerie element to The Persistence of Vision...the "***" (read as "Star-Star-Star") section...that reminds me of another great science fiction story, Lewis Padgett's 1942 Mimsy Were the Borogoves, in that ultimately the nature of reality and our place in it become matters of focus. Brilliant!
What is the opposite of living a highly active, socially engaged existence without seeing or hearing? I thought about that question a little while and came up with the answer: just sitting there watching television! Yet that is a hallmark of our society...maybe we all could stand for taking at least a little break from that isolating sensory inundation, even if it's only for a few minutes at a time, and shut out the noise and sights. Wonder what we'd find there...
Varley touched upon the regrettable trend in the past to throw the deaf and blind together with the mentally disabled and isolate them from society. In his story, the large group born with this condition gets together and, under the inspired and creative leadership of one woman, builds the special community out west that the story's protagonist encounters. Being human like everyone else...and thus with strong social instincts...they develop an extremely intricate, layered system of communications over the years involving touch. By necessity at first...and then by desire...all sorts of social taboos in the "outside" world get knocked down, and our seeing and hearing traveler has to struggle to overcome his initial resistance to all this. Eventually, he realizes that he is the handicapped one here and can never fully understand all that is being expressed between the others. Finally, there is an eerie element to The Persistence of Vision...the "***" (read as "Star-Star-Star") section...that reminds me of another great science fiction story, Lewis Padgett's 1942 Mimsy Were the Borogoves, in that ultimately the nature of reality and our place in it become matters of focus. Brilliant!
What is the opposite of living a highly active, socially engaged existence without seeing or hearing? I thought about that question a little while and came up with the answer: just sitting there watching television! Yet that is a hallmark of our society...maybe we all could stand for taking at least a little break from that isolating sensory inundation, even if it's only for a few minutes at a time, and shut out the noise and sights. Wonder what we'd find there...
Tuesday, July 10, 2018
Tuesday's List: Past World Cup Champions (in Soccer)
In international soccer, the World Cup is the premier event, with a tournament of the world's top national teams taking place every four years, conveniently between the Summer Olympic years. This year, with Russia as the host country, we see four semifinalists with that round's matches scheduled today and tomorrow: France vs. Belgium and England vs. Croatia. Both France and England have won the World Cup before, but neither Belgium nor Croatia have even appeared in a championship final. As for the host, that nation's team gets an automatic bid in the World Cup, which gives it a tremendous advantage even if it's mediocre: all its games will be home games. And the host team has won the World Cup six times...but not this year, although Russia did make it to the quarterfinals.
Here's the list of past Men's World Cup Champions, starting with the last one and going back...
YEAR CHAMPION RUNNER-UP HOST
2014 GERMANY Argentina Brazil
2010 SPAIN Netherlands South Africa
2006 ITALY France Germany
2002 BRAZIL Italy Japan
1998 FRANCE Brazil France
1994 BRAZIL Italy United States
1990 WEST GERMANY Argentina Italy
1986 ARGENTINA West Germany Mexico
1982 ITALY West Germany Spain
1978 ARGENTINA Netherlands Argentina
1974 WEST GERMANY Netherlands West Germany
1970 BRAZIL Italy Mexico
1966 ENGLAND West Germany England
1962 BRAZIL Czechoslovakia Chile
1958 BRAZIL Sweden Sweden
1954 WEST GERMANY Hungary Switzerland
1950 URUGUAY Brazil Brazil
1942, 1946---no World Cup due to World War II---
1938 ITALY Hungary France
1934 ITALY Czechoslovakia Italy
1930 URUGUAY Argentina Uruguay
The Women's World Cup of soccer began in 1991 and is held every four years as well, taking place the year after the men's Cup. As you can see below, the U.S. has done well, and why not? Unlike with American boys, who are steered to American football, the girls often have great soccer programs in school...with girl's soccer leagues serving as a counterpart to the boy's football leagues...
Here's the list of past Women's World Cup champions...
YEAR CHAMPION RUNNER-UP HOST
2015 UNITED STATES Japan Canada
2011 JAPAN United States Germany
2007 GERMANY Brazil China
2003 GERMANY Sweden United States
1999 UNITED STATES China United States
1995 NORWAY Germany Sweden
1991 UNITED STATES Norway China
Here's the list of past Men's World Cup Champions, starting with the last one and going back...
YEAR CHAMPION RUNNER-UP HOST
2014 GERMANY Argentina Brazil
2010 SPAIN Netherlands South Africa
2006 ITALY France Germany
2002 BRAZIL Italy Japan
1998 FRANCE Brazil France
1994 BRAZIL Italy United States
1990 WEST GERMANY Argentina Italy
1986 ARGENTINA West Germany Mexico
1982 ITALY West Germany Spain
1978 ARGENTINA Netherlands Argentina
1974 WEST GERMANY Netherlands West Germany
1970 BRAZIL Italy Mexico
1966 ENGLAND West Germany England
1962 BRAZIL Czechoslovakia Chile
1958 BRAZIL Sweden Sweden
1954 WEST GERMANY Hungary Switzerland
1950 URUGUAY Brazil Brazil
1942, 1946---no World Cup due to World War II---
1938 ITALY Hungary France
1934 ITALY Czechoslovakia Italy
1930 URUGUAY Argentina Uruguay
The Women's World Cup of soccer began in 1991 and is held every four years as well, taking place the year after the men's Cup. As you can see below, the U.S. has done well, and why not? Unlike with American boys, who are steered to American football, the girls often have great soccer programs in school...with girl's soccer leagues serving as a counterpart to the boy's football leagues...
Here's the list of past Women's World Cup champions...
YEAR CHAMPION RUNNER-UP HOST
2015 UNITED STATES Japan Canada
2011 JAPAN United States Germany
2007 GERMANY Brazil China
2003 GERMANY Sweden United States
1999 UNITED STATES China United States
1995 NORWAY Germany Sweden
1991 UNITED STATES Norway China
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