9/2 Sermon on "Theology for Dummies", Pt. 5

At The Family Church here in Gainesville, senior pastor Philip Griffin continued his sermon series explaining the fundamental concepts of Christianity...he calls it "Theology for Dummies", always self-deprecatingly referring to himself when presenting it.  Last Sunday's message was about the Christian church and asked the question, "What is the church all about?"...his Bible passages of focus were 1 Peter 2:4-12, 21-25, which you can click on to read via Bible Gateway, a good site to explore in its own right...

In asking what the church is about, Pastor Philip gave three basic answers: it's about being the church and not attending the church, being in the world and not of it, and being servants and not consumers.  Many people, as Philip noted, when asked what "church" brings to their minds, will respond with the image of a building where people go.  But, as he continued, we are the church building and the blocks putting it together...with Jesus representing the cornerstone on which it is built.  As far as the world is concerned, we as Christians have dual citizenship: one foot in the world, one foot in God's kingdom.  Our pastor stressed that while we may be tempted to either assimilate into the world's system and morality or isolate ourselves from it, we are instead called to be change agents within this world: love the world while walking through it (as Jesus did) but not be a part of it.  As with our identities within the church, our focus should be to emulate Jesus's example as servants, using the gifts God has bestowed on us in concert with others whose gifts we are lacking.  Pastor Philip concluded that this makes us all dependent upon each other, just as those blocks depend on each other's integrity and position within the church body...

Your can watch this message by clicking on the following link to the church's YouTube video website: [TFC Videos].  The Family Church is located at 2022 SW 122nd Street and holds its Sunday morning services at 9 and 10:30, including the weekly sermon, praise and worship music, prayer, and lots of friendly people eager to meet and chat.  There are also different courses for discipleship, mentoring, and learning...child care and teaching are also provided.  I look forward to next Sunday...

Weekly Short Story: The Cabinet of Oliver Naylor by Barrington J. Bayley

Barrington J. Bayley's science fiction short story The Cabinet of Oliver Naylor has so many different facets to it that I left it with a sense of frustration at not being able to put it all together.  Appearing in the anthology Donald A. Wollheim Presents The 1977 Annual World's Best SF, Bayley's tale primarily concerns itself with the deep, deep space voyage of Englishman Oliver Naylor.  He is both a philosopher and inventor, and takes advantage of a future invention called the Harkham velocitator that enables faster-than-light travel...even to several hundred powers of the speed of light.  Naylor's universe is an infinite one with an infinite level of complexity: the one problem with space travel like this is that it's still nearly impossible to find one's way back.  And that is the problem that Naylor sets out to solve, using the concepts of identity and logic machines to aid him.  Along the way he picks up a space hitchhiker...which not only begins to eerily resemble Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in some respects, but also turns out to be a big, big, mistake for the reclusive, solitary traveler...

This story delves into speculation about how society might develop in the near-future while presenting space travel more in terms of how we travel in a personal manner (as we do by car) rather than the traditional sci-fi picture of large spaceships and fleets...I liked that.  It also went a little deep philosophically about the concepts of identity and logic...muddy waters to wade through when you're reading a work of fiction.  I believe that the author may have tried to fit too much stuff into one story...or maybe I'm just not getting all that he was trying to express.  Some of The Cabinet of Oliver Naylor seems farcical while other parts set forth the notion that, regardless how advanced humanity may become technologically, it still has to deal with its repugnant basic nature that doesn't grow with the science...now that I get.  This is one story that I would truly welcome others to read and give feedback...

Spans Between Recent Supreme Court Nominees and Their Confirmation Votes

Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley (R, IA) has been accused by the opposition Democrats in the Senate of placing President Trump's July 10 nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh, on a fast track to confirmation.  First, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D, NY), along with other senators, stated that no nominee should be considered in an election year...signaling in advance their opposition.  Other Democrats had already come out against Trump's pick...even before it was made.  In their defense, I remind readers that the president had already promised that his nominee would be from a list of names already hand-picked by right-wing conservative think tanks.  After Brett Kavanaugh's nomination was announced, the emphasis changed to his long record of writings while he served in government, including working for Ken Starr's investigation of President Clinton in the 1990s, for the George W. Bush administration as legal counsel, and later as a federal judge.  There has been a strong push to get all of his records, but Grassley has resisted, stating that much of it is irrelevant to Kavanaugh's consideration for the high court...Democrats counter that the nominee's writings are being sifted out by an employee at the George W. Bush library and that many of the ones released have been altered.  Whatever you might think of all this, let's just consider how long it will take between Trump's nomination of Kavanaugh, when the final Senate confirmation vote is expected to happen, and how this compares to other sitting Supreme Court justices and their confirmation experiences.  As of today, September 4 as Kavanaugh's Senate confirmation hearings begin, it has been 56 days since his nomination.  Grassley has stated that he wants the final Senate vote around October 1...if that happens, then it will have taken 83 days between Kavanaugh's nomination and confirmation vote.  Here's a list of the current Supreme Court justices along with the current nominee, ranked by speed taken between their nomination and confirmation by number of days...I placed Kavanaugh in two spots, the first showing his status today and the latter as Chairman Grassley projects it.  Keep in mind that John Roberts was initially nominated by Bush to be an associate justice to replace Sandra Day O'Conner, but was elevated to Chief Justice when William Rehnquist passed away...I totaled the two processes and the number represents the time from his initial nomination to the final Senate vote.  Well, here's that list, which I assembled after researching Wikipedia...the nominating president and party affiliation follow the justices' names in parentheses...

DAYS   NOMINEE
50          RUTH BADER GINSBURG (Clinton, D)
56          so far: BRETT KAVANAUGH (Trump, R)
62          JOHN ROBERTS (W. Bush, R)
65          NEIL GORSUCH (Trump, R)
66          SONIA SOTOMAYOR (Obama, D)
73          STEPHEN BREYER (Clinton, D)
82          SAMUEL ALITO (W. Bush, R)
83          projected: BRETT KAVANAUGH (Trump, R)
87          ELENA KAGAN (Obama, D)
99          CLARENCE THOMAS (HW Bush, R)

Just Finished Reading The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson

Brandon Sanderson, one of my favorite authors of fantasy fiction, already occupies my attention with two of his ongoing series, Mistborn and The Stormlight Archives.  He has also begun a new fantasy series for young readers, the first installment published in 2013 and titled The Rithmatist...I just read it. It's set in an alternative world similar to ours, but with marked differences: where the United States is lies the United Isles instead...and magic is present with the discovery of Rithmatics centuries earlier.  What is Rithmatics? It involves the precise drawing of circles and other geometric shapes around oneself (presumably by one with the rare magical powers of a Rithmatist) with chalk that projects force into the real world.  Although Armedius Academy...the school that Rithamtist wannabe Joel, the main character, attends...holds Rithmatics competitions, the ability is primarily used in war, to fight the scourge of "Wild Chalklings" that has plagued this world and is now being fought on the isle of Nebrask.  There are specific strategies for winning at Rithmatics that involve different types of drawing...Sanderson lays several of them out in detail, although I couldn't make heads nor tails of them.  To become a Rithmatist involves going through a religious ritual...and a special room of inception...at age eight: only about one in a thousand come out with the special magic ability.  Joel, now in his teens, missed his chance when his father, a master chalk-maker, suffered a fatal accident and he stayed with him instead of going to the inception.  Joel's lack of Rithmatic ability, though, doesn't stop him from learning everything he can about this field.  Generally rejected by Rithmatic professors, Joel finds a friend and tutor in Professor Fitch, as well as a rebellious Rithmatic student, Melody.  In the meantime, Rithmatists are disappearing and the circumstances indicate violence, possibly death.  Can Joel help to solve the mystery?  And who is this sinister new Professor Nalizar...Joel strongly suspects him of foul play...

The idea of working in two-dimensional drawings and making them materializing in three dimensions is an intriguing idea, but it's already been done before in a SpongeBob SquarePants episode when the lovable yellow sponge comes across a magic pencil that a frustrated artist dropped into the sea from his boat...his drawing of himself springs to life and causes all kinds of havoc.  The Rithmatist was an enjoyable read, but I was a bit disappointed and a little confused by the ending.  Brandon Sanderson is supposed to come out with a sequel to it, but it's been five years and counting now.,.apparently, this series isn't high on his priority list...

Saw the Movie "Alpha" Yesterday

Yesterday afternoon Melissa, Will, and I went to see the movie Alpha at a local theater...I had been intrigued by the previews shown late last year and looked forward to its release.  The setting is twenty thousand years ago in Europe as a small community of people brave the elements and set out for their annual bison hunt.  These are modern humans in every respect, not the stereotypical cavemen of films past. The father, who is the chief of the group, has allowed his son Keda to join the hunting party on their trek to the buffaloes...with much reservation expressed by his mother, who feels that he is not yet ready for such a dangerous task.  And dangerous it is, for it involves inciting the large herd to charge them and then steer them around, over the steep cliff to their deaths.  But Keda gets charged by one and hung up on one of its horns, both of them going over the edge, to his father's horror.  It seems at first to be certain death, but no, he is seen lying on an inaccessible ledge halfway down to the bottom, maybe dead but possibly unconscious.  Convinced by the others in his group that his son is dead, the father erects a memorial to him (a pile of stones) and they leave to return home with their dearly-won prizes from the bison.  But the boy is not dead...and at this point the story is all about him and how he manages to tame and befriend an injured wolf: believe it or not, I'm not giving away anything beyond the previews I saw...

The name "Alpha" refers to the top dog in the wolfpack, and it is also the name Keda gives his new companion in the wild as they together struggle to survive.  This movie has a great story, believable characters, and stupendous special effects of which I'm pretty sure much was computer enhanced...given the long list of credits to this effect given at the end.  It's one of the films you definitely should go and see this year...that's quite a recommendation, coming from somebody who doesn't get out to the theater that often...

Just Finished Reading The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

A few days ago on this blog I listed the top 51 fantasy book series according to BuzzFeed...Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy was #8.  So when I discovered that my son Will had already read it and left behind the first two volumes, I sat down to read it for myself...and I just finished reading the first book, titled The Blade Itself...

Abercrombie lifted his title from a saying by Homer, which he inserted at the beginning: The blade itself incites to violence.  And The Blade Itself is full of sharp, deadly blades, as well as all kinds of gratuitous, gory violence: squeamish readers beware.  If you can handle it, though, you might find, as I did, that not only is the story interesting, but the characters are deep and unforgettable.  It all takes place on another one of those fantasy worlds with its own continents, islands, nations, magic, history...and, of course, wars.  The narrative jumps around among its main characters:

 ---Logen "Ninefingers", a Northman (Viking-like) warrior with a long resume of wartime atrocities and now an outcast from his old ruler Bethod's empire.
 ---Inquistitor Glokta, a cynical yet strangely compelling figure, formerly a war hero but reduced to near-crippled status after his torture while a POW...right now he's my favorite character.
 ---Jezal, an inexperienced and somewhat pompous nobleman who is talented at fencing but virtually ignorant about the realities of war.
 ---First Magi Bayaz, a powerful wizard with a dark side who seems to want to do good.
 ---Collem West, a practical, courageous, and sympathetic officer.
 ---The Dogman, a friend and fellow fighter for Logen who, after their separation, sets out with his comrades to fight their enemies.
  ---Ferro, an abused former slave from the south with a single-minded passion for revenge. 

The United Empire is being attacked from the north, by Bethod's Northmen, and from the south, by the Gurkul Empire (which resembles loosely the early Muslim caliphates).   And then there are the Flatheads, or Shanka, in the far north that may eventually threaten the whole world.  It is in this context of conflict that the above characters (and others) find themselves...

One thing that bugged me with this book was the incredible number of names introduced, making it difficult to keep up with references to characters or places brought up earlier: I decided to write down each new name, with the page number, whenever I found one.  The other problem I had was: no map! In fantasy fiction, if you're going to make a big deal about its geography, then you'd better provide a map as well...but Abercrombie didn't.  Being a totally map-oriented kind of guy, I did find a useful one on the internet and have been using it ever since...

I'm already close to 200 pages through the next book in this series, titled Before They Are Hanged...and, yes, the title is derived from yet another famous line.  My son picked a good series to read...I'm intensely interested in seeing what happens to the different characters, as well as how some of the mysteries are explained in the end.  So far, I think it merits its high ranking from BuzzFeed...

Quote of the Week...from Alberto Salazar

We may train or peak for a certain race, but running is a lifetime sport.   ---Alberto Salazar

Alberto Salazar was known for excelling at the marathon in the early 1980s...now he is a track coach and running instructor.  This quote of his is true, with an important qualification. After all, a lot of folks, especially as they age, may find themselves physically unable to continue running even if they enjoyed it earlier in their lives.  That having been noted, what Salazar said resonates with me: when I look at the calendar and see an upcoming race, that motivates me to want to train more for it.  But when I sit back and reflect upon running, it is the daily activity and my experiences while training that ultimately define it for me.  My problem is that I have numerous little afflictions that come up from time to time, requiring me to take a few days off from running.  I also live in northern Florida, which for much of the year features hot and humid weather and works against just stepping outside anytime and jogging for a few miles.  I have run my share of races at different distances, but it has been the times when I regularly went out running on my own that ultimately that have brought me the most satisfaction.  This summer has been especially noteworthy for its heat and mugginess...I'm hoping that September will bring more hospitable conditions, if only slightly.  And with that, here's my August, 2018 running report...

In August I ran a total of 72 miles with 5 miles being my longest single run.  I missed 4 days from running due to an upper respiratory infection, which I'm still struggling to completely recover from (one of those little afflictions I earlier referred to).  I'll turn 62 in October and I'd like to take my running to a higher level by covering longer distances while at the same time adjusting my regular running pace to a level that is more conducive to where I am at in life.  I'd like to continue participating in races as they come up, but with the main goal of getting through to the finish line without so much stress on how fast I run them.  If I'm to successfully see running as a lifetime sport for me, as Alberto Salazar claims, then I'll need to make a few adjustments here and there...

8/26 Sermon on "Theology for Dummies", Pt. 4

At The Family Church here in Gainesville, senior pastor Philip Griffin continued his series discussing the basics of the Christian faith, humorously titled Theology for Dummies with a message about the Holy Spirit. His scripture reference of focus was John 14:15-26, which you can click on to read via Bible Gateway...

Pastor Philip brought up three questions: who is the Holy Spirit, what does He do in my life, and how do I receive Him? The Holy Spirit is one of the Trinity, i.e. the three persons that God manifests himself through, the Father and Son being the others. Philip added that He is personal and can both help us to fulfill God's plan for us and be grieved when we turn our backs on Him.  The Holy Spirit makes his home in me, a believer, and is my advocate/comforter/counselor, one who comes alongside and declares truth.  And, as our pastor stressed, he also empowers me to do His will. In answer to that final question...how do I receive the Holy Spirit...Pastor Philip listed three steps: trusting my life to Jesus, surrendering it to him so that the Holy Spirit will fill me, and remaining in Him so that He will produce fruit in me...

You can view this sermon, in which Pastor Philip greatly expands on my paltry summary and adds a lot of other interesting material, by clicking on the following link to the church's YouTube video website: [TFC Videos].  The Family Church is at 2022 SW 122nd Street and holds its Sunday morning services, consisting of praise and worship music, the weekly message, and prayer, at 9 and 10:30.  There are numerous programs for discipleship and learning offered, as well as weekly small group meetings at different times.  Looking forward to the next message... 

Weekly Short Story: Appearance of Life by Brian Aldiss

I'm already familiar with the science fiction writing of Brian Aldiss: one of my all-time favorite short stories is his 1957 Let's Be Frank, which I discussed on this blog back at the start of the year.  Appearance of Life, which appeared in the anthology Donald A. Wollheim Presents The 1977 Annual World's Best SF, is another tale that probes deeply into the ultimate nature of reality and consciousness.  As such, I found its ending difficult to completely grasp, both what the protagonist discovered and how he reacted to it...

It is far, far into the future and humanity has extended itself into the distant reaches of space, filling star systems with its civilizations.  In the process, the discovery of a bygone species, the Korlevalulaw, has led to speculation as to their nature...their biology must not be like ours since their worlds would not have been habitable.  On one such planet, Norma, is a giant enclosed tunnel belting it, thousands of miles long and a mile or two wide on the interior.  Upon discovering it to be empty within, the idea was hatched to make it into a museum of our history, placing within it old spaceships and relics...in chronological fashion...from eons past.  The unnamed narrator is a Seeker, whose role is to take the information and experiences he collects in his travels and derive a whole from these parts.  While visiting this museum nested within the alien structure, he discovers two ancient personalized conversation cubes...one from a husband and the other from his wife...and sets them to each other.  The resulting conversation presents an "appearance of life" in them, although they are in essence only technological projections of their former real selves...at this point the Seeker has an epiphany and discovers the "secret of the universe"...

Brian Aldiss apparently likes to speculate about metaphysical topics, and Appearance of Life is an prime example.  I remember a couple of old Twilight Zone episodes that reflect what I believe he was trying to express here: the first was The After Hours, where a young woman goes to a large department store to return an item, only to eventually discover that she isn't who she thinks she is.  In the other, Five Characters in Search of an Exit, five people dressed in different roles (clown, soldier, hobo, ballet dancer, and bagpipe player) find themselves together at the interior bottom of a tall smooth cylinder...they're not what they seem to be either.  In like fashion, Aldiss used the two cubes to illustrate a similar, albeit much-more sweeping speculation about humanity's true nature...intriguing, but I'm not buying it.  Still, it's a worthwhile reading adventure, pretty deep in the metaphysical department: go for it if that's your area of interest...

Tuesday's List: Proposed State and Local Amendments for November Election

A few days ago Alachua County's Supervisor of Elections Kim Barton sent to me, under my alter ego's moniker "Resident", a detailed list of the Florida State Constitution amendments to be voted on in the general election to be held November 6. Along with these thirteen proposed changes are two Alachua County questions and two proposed revisions to Gainesville's city charter. So, you can see that there's more to citizen participation in their government than picking their own representatives: sometimes we can directly make an impact on issues we care deeply about.  I like this because...let's face it...I might go for one political party over another because they side with me on some crucial issues or their general philosophy of government resonates with mine, but on many issues I may be completely at odds with their positions.  By having these amendment questions I can cut through all that and address each one for myself.  It also gives me a greater appreciation of what lawmakers have to go through when handling legislation...it can get pretty doggone complicated.  The brochure I received from the elections supervisor also included brief summaries of what each amendment is about...I may be discussing a few of them in future articles leading up to the election.  By the way, the deadline for registering to vote in the 2018 general election is October 9...early voting will be October 22 through November 3.  And oh, by the way, if you're reading this before the polls close at 7 pm this evening, have you voted yet in today's primary election?

Here's that list...I alternately highlighted each entry in blue and red to help the reader visually distinguish them from each other... 

PROPOSED STATE CONSTITUTION AMENDMENTS
1 INCREASED HOMESTEAD TAX EXEMPTION
2 LIMITATIONS ON PROPERTY TAX ASSESSMENTS
3 VOTER CONTROL OF GAMBLING IN FLORIDA
4 VOTING RESTORATION
5 SUPERMAJORITY VOTE REQUIRED TO IMPOSE, AUTHORIZE, OR RAISE STATE TAXES OR FEES
6 RIGHTS OF CRIME VICTIMS; JUDGES
7 FIRST RESPONDER AND MILITARY MEMBER SURVIVOR BENEFITS; PUBLIC COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES
8 SCHOOL BOARD TERM LIMITS AND DUTIES; PUBLIC SCHOOLS
9 PROHIBITS OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS DRILLING; PROHIBITS VAPING IN ENCLOSED INDOOR WORKPLACES
10 STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE AND OPERATION
11 PROPERTY RIGHTS; REMOVAL OF OBSOLETE PROVISION; CRIMINAL STATUTES
12 LOBBYING AND ABUSE OF OFFICE BY PUBLIC OFFICERS
13 ENDS DOG RACING

ALACHUA COUNTY QUESTIONS
1 CHILDREN'S TRUST OF ALACHUA COUNTY AUTHORITY TO LEVY ONE-HALF MILL AD VALOREM TAXES
2 HALF-CENT SALES SURTAX TO IMPROVE SCHOOL FACILITIES

CITY OF GAINESVILLE CHARTER AMENDMENTS
1 GAINESVILLE REGIONAL UTILITIES AUTHORITY
2 CITY COMMISSION ELECTIONS AND TERMS OF OFFICE

Just Finished Reading My Ántonia by Willa Cather

Willa Cather is another author that I had never heard of...until I happened to be browsing at my local Books-a-Million store when I came across her 1918 novel My Ántonia.  Flipping through it, I saw it dealt with rural pioneer farming life in Nebraska around the turn of the century...not exactly something I was at all familiar with.  So I decided to read it and just finished.: here's my reaction...

The way Cather set up the narrative to this story is interesting.  The "original" anonymous narrator runs into an old friend, Jim Burden, and together they recall their childhood life in a rural Nebraska town years earlier.  The name of a Bohemian immigrant girl named Ántonia gets brought up, and Jack reveals that he is close to finishing writing her story.  Later he sends a completed copy, which forms the body of the book, written in the first person from Jim's perspective...

After he was orphaned in Virginia, ten-year-old Jim rides a train west to Nebraska to his grandparents' farm to live with them, accompanied by a farmhand boy named Jake Marpole.  The hard work there shapes Jim's character and he grows close to his grandmother and grandfather.  Down the road a bit, a new family has just immigrated from Bohemia (the Czech-speaking part of the then-Austria-Hungary Empire) and are living in poor conditions in their shack of a home with poor food...the Burdens set out to meet and help the Shimerda family.  Fourteen-year old Ántonia is one of the children, and, like many others in this family, is rather headstrong and proud.  But a friendship forms between her and Jim as they learn each other's culture and language.  In spite of the book's title, though, the story isn't as much about Ántonia per se as it is about how immigrant families deal with their often very difficult adjustment to a different life in America.  Sometimes one of the spouses didn't want to move...the father in this case...and, at least as was the case back then, people with high professional and social standing in the "old country" found themselves either disrespected according to their former position or even placed by others as being "lower class", quite a drop and a problem many had to deal with, along with language barriers.  But Jim, his grandparents, and others in the community pitch in to help this family survive and have a more optimistic future after that first dismal (and tragic) winter...

My Ántonia is not exactly what you would call an action thriller, but rather a literary snapshot of an era in our history in which life was tough and people took responsibility for their own lives while pulling together in times of trouble to help each other out.  I found it refreshing and liked it...maybe you would, too...

Intensely Tumultuous Political Times Looming

Before I continue, I want to take this time to salute a great American hero, John McCain, who just passed away yesterday from cancer.  He devoted his life to public service, first as an Naval combat pilot in Vietnam, shot down and held as a POW for many years there and suffering terrible privation and torture.  Later, he entered politics and served with distinction in the United States Senate.  He ran for president twice, both times demonstrating the maturity and respect toward his adversaries that the current White House occupant sorely lacks.  I'll miss him...

Regardless of your political philosophy or what you may think about our current president, you should agree with me that the rest of this year will be loaded with passionate and divisive rhetoric coming from all sides of the national political landscape.  In a few days, Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, will begin his confirmation hearing in the Senate...there is fierce opposition from the Democrats, who fear that his seating will tilt the court to positions that are anti-women, anti-worker, anti-regulation, and anti-environment while protecting the president from being held legally accountable for any alleged misdeeds.  So yes, you can expect a lot of emotion flying about in the news over Kavanaugh alone.  But Robert Mueller's independent investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion with them by the Trump campaign seems to be entering a period of cascading "flipping" of people like former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, National Enquirer CEO David Pecker, and Trump's personal and business financial chief Allen Weisselberg, who may have detailed knowledge to share about the president's role in various dealings that are being examined.  Trump, his attorney Giuliani, and his cheerleaders in the media like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh are responding to it all by calling the investigation a witch hunt, the FBI and Department of Justice full of corruption, everything negative reported about him in the media being "fake news", and that Attorney General Sessions should be investigating Hillary Clinton and the Democrats, not Trump.  And so it all goes around, and this story about the two women being paid hush money to help Trump win the election, along with Michael Cohen alleging that his client directed him to break the law, is just ratcheting up the fervor.  You can hardly turn on CNN, Fox, or MSNBC and get coverage of the issues that Americans are concerned about...not that I'm complaining too much: after all, this is all news, too: still, other things are going on in the country and the world and it would be nice to hear a greater diversity of stories.  As for your reactions to all this, I just say believe what you want to believe...whether you're a follower of conventional journalism or Trumpworld's Orwellian alternative facts, I'm sure there's some media "pundit" out there willing and able to spoon-feed for you all the talking points you need to armor yourself with regardless of your perspective...

So what's going to go down with this Mueller investigation and will Trump fire Sessions after the 2018 midterm elections and then try to shut Mueller down?  By the end of 2018, we should have a clearer picture about what's in front of us...there are rumblings about a move to initiate impeachment should the Democrats take the House of Representatives, although the Senate would almost certainly never vote to convict and remove Trump (two thirds vote required there).  I've always said that the best scenario would be for Mueller to issue his final report and vindicate Trump of impeachable wrongdoing...this prolonged scandal business wasn't good for the country with Watergate and it isn't now, either.  Unfortunately, I sadly suspect that when everything does finally come out, our president is going to have some major problems on his hands.  No, I didn't vote for Trump and I think his character is repulsive, but he is my president and needs to tend to the nation's business...and, dang it, I agree with some of his policies.  As for Brett Kavanaugh, I like the guy and feel that in a less politically-charged time he would be more accepted.  Yes, he's a conservative: the conservative candidate won the presidential election and nominated him...my beef is that when we had a liberal president and a court vacancy, the Republican-controlled Senate refused to consider his nominee.  The Democrats in the Senate are still rightfully offended by that reprehensible action by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in 2016, but Kavanaugh shouldn't be treated the worse for it...

Just Finished Reading Middlemarch by George Eliot

George Eliot was the pen name for Mary Anne Evans, an English writer who felt the need to make it seem as if a man wrote her stories in order for that male-dominated nineteenth-century literary society to take them seriously.  I just finished reading her novel Middlemarch, which I encountered a little while ago while browsing through my local Books-a-Million...the paperback edition has a whopping 1,436 pages!  So yes, this was an epic of a book...just finishing it gave me a feeling of accomplishment.  The story, set in the imaginary English town of Middlemarch and the outlying rural areas, centers around the families Vincy, Brooke, and Garth...along with the idealistic young physician Tertius Lydgate and the sanctimonious and parsimonious banker Nicholas Bulstrode.  While the novel, set around 1830, treats various issues like class distinctions, land reform, religion's role in society, and making the responsible practice of medicine more science-based, the intertwining stories of three couples drive the narrative.  Dorothea Brooke is a "higher class" young woman who eschews her privileged position to marry a much older man, Edward Casaubon, a frustrated Biblical scholar whose writings are already considered obsolete before they are even submitted and published...he curtly rebuffs her attempts to assist him and the marriage slides from there.  Casaubon's younger cousin Will Latislaw develops an impossible, painful love for Dorothea...sounds like a conflict brewing here. Doctor Lydgate finds and marries Rosamond Vincy, pretty, immature, and self-absorbed...each of the two eventually find their previously held adoration of the other falling into disillusionment.  And then there is Rosamond's brother Fred, a financially irresponsible young man with a bad habit of owing other people money...will he be able to win the heart of his childhood sweetheart Mary Garth?  And then there's something fishy going on with Bulstrode: what's he trying to hide, anyway?

I only scratched the surface of some of the many characters and subplots in Middlemarch.  The author did a masterful job of presenting the perspectives of the major participants and showed them to have a depth and complexity that reflected how people really are: a mixture of good and bad, strong and weak...I think that was my favorite thing about it, along with how often people make the wrong assumptions about others' motivations.  It was also interesting to see how people can fall under faulty reasoning and make momentous, often disastrous, decisions that effect them for years and even a lifetime.  Middlemarch is considered to be a masterpiece in English fictional literature: I liked it, but have to admit that it probably would have carried more meaning to me had I been an Englishman reading it back in 1871 when it was first published...

Quote of the Week...from Erma Bombeck

If a man watches three football games in a row, he should be declared legally dead.  
                                                                        ---Erma Bombeck

Erma Bombeck (1927-96) was a famous humorist of the late 1900s who poked fun at suburban life of that time.  Her above comment could apply to me during football season...especially on Saturdays as the college football schedule usually starts at noon and doesn't finish until early Sunday morning.  Add to that my interest in soccer and baseball and you have someone who, at least one day of the week (I work Sundays when the NFL plays most of its games), is pretty much stuck in the recliner with my eyes glued to the set.  Usually: events and opportunities come along from time to time and I'm not fanatical about having to watch football...but some days it just happens to turn into a long, long string of games.  I've noticed something peculiar both about football as well as other team sports: if I'm not especially interested in who will win a particular game, then I tend to become more interested in following it from beginning to end...I wonder if others have the same experience.  And I don't bet money on anything...that's one vice that I learned to avoid by directly seeing its effects on others.  As for this 2018 season, which is about to begin...

I root for Florida, Miami, and Florida State in that order in college football while I support the Florida NFL teams Miami, Tampa Bay, and Jacksonville in like fashion.  By far I like to see the Gators and Dolphins do well, something that hasn't generally been happening too much in recent years.  UF does have a new head coach in Dan Mullen and he seems determined to bring back a robust offense to a team that hasn't had one since 2009 during the Tim Tebow era.  As for the Miami Dolphins, I have little hope of them sustaining any kind of success with their dull "player's" coach Adam Gase and their equally dull quarterback Ryan Tannenhill…this franchise is suffering from severe apathy and complacency in the crucial leadership positions, although it's apparent on the field that many if not most of the players care deeply about doing their utmost to win.  Who knows, maybe they'll do well enough to sneak into the playoffs, but I'm not holding my breath waiting for it.  As for the Gators, I'd just like to see them (1) have a good offense, (2) be competitive in each game they play, and (3) play a bowl game at season's end...I don't think that's asking too much, do you?

8/18 Sermon on "Theology for Dummies", Part 3

At The Family Church here in Gainesville, senior pastor Philip Griffin continued his sermon series Theology for Dummies, in which he explains different aspects of the basics of Christianity.  This past Sunday he delivered a message titled Who is Jesus?, using a number of different Bible passages...I'll list them at the bottom of this article...

In asking the title question, Pastor Philip gave some possible answers that have been floated around by people: Jesus is a prophet, a good teacher, the archangel Michael, a general cosmic presence, etc.  Looking at scripture, Philip laid out a different answer: Jesus is fully God, he became fully man, he was born of a virgin, he was an atoning sacrifice for our sins, he rose bodily from the dead, and he will come again.  The Colossians verse mentions that Jesus was firstborn over all creation, meaning he is supreme and full of authority and power. By fully becoming a man, as Philip continued, Jesus experienced the troubles and painful experiences that we go through, making worshipping him easier than a distant, aloof God.  Our pastor stressed that Jesus's virgin birth was important in that it broke the chain of original sin passed down from Adam...my one question would be what about Mary, his mother...wasn't she also a descendant from Adam?  By dying on the cross, Jesus substituted himself for us as the death penalty for our own sins as we confess them and accept him as savior.  When Jesus rose from the dead, Pastor Philip pointed out, it was his real body and around 500 eyewitnesses saw him alive...some, like Thomas, touching him, and others eating with him.  And Philip concluded, Jesus has promised to come again...he is preparing a place for us and will return at a time that none of us know...

You can watch this message on the church's YouTube video website...just click on the following link: [TFC Videos].  The Family Church is located at 2022 SW 122nd Street, holding its Sunday morning services at 9 and 10:30.  There's the always interesting message, great praise and worship music, prayer, and chances to sign up for different programs held during the week and on Sunday, including small groups in which the weekly sermon is discussed.  I like the hospitality room where I can get some good coffee before the service.  I'm looking forward to next week's message...

Here are the Bible passages that Pastor Philip used in his message.  Look them up if you have a Bible, or click on Bible Gateway to use that wonderful website's search engine...just cut and paste the passage you want to read...

Colossians 1:15-17
John 1:1-3
John 1:14
Matthew 1:18
Luke 1:34
Romans 3:23
Isaiah 64:6
Hebrews 9:22
1 John 2:2
1 Corinthians 5:3-8
John 14:3
Mark 13: 32, 35

Weekly Short Story: The Test by Richard Matheson

Richard Matheson, a respected twentieth century writer of science fiction and horror in his own right, is more known for his stories for television, most notably The Twilight Zone.  His 1954 short story The Test is more of a social commentary than it is science fiction: the sci-fi angle is there because it is a scary look into a possible future...the movie Logan's Run took this story's main theme to even greater extremes.  The Test appeared in the retrospective anthology Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 16 (1954)…

Les and Terry are the father and mother and Jim and Johnny are the children, but the character of focus here is Les's 80-year old father Tom.  In this dystopian future scenario, the elderly are considered to be an excessive burden on society and its resources...consequently, every five years they are required to undergo a rigorous set of tests to ascertain their mental and physical viability.  If they fail, they are sentenced to death and if they pass, they get a five-year reprieve until they have to repeat it all again.  Les and Terry feel burdened by having Tom around, but also feel guilty about what will happen should he fail his test, which is quickly approaching...so Les repeatedly coaches his father with little hope of him passing.  What happens...well, once again here is where I suggest you read the story for yourself...

The Test was written after Social Security was enacted, but before Medicare and Medicaid became law.  Growing old can be difficult enough by itself without the feeling being imparted that the elderly are useless and need to be "dealt" with somehow.  The measure of how much a society deserves to exist can be made by how they take care of those unable to fend for themselves.  In our country we have two different models for this: the capitalistic one that encourages special tax-free retirement savings accounts that will be available through retirement, as well as an improving technology and enhanced medical care brought about by free enterprise, and the collective one in which the government provides safety nets like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid to ensure that the people's basic needs will be met as their aging progressively limits their abilities.  Mixing these two together along with family support seems to be a good formula, but the specifics are often hotly contested politically.  I think each generation, from the very old to the very young, needs to be treated within society with dignity and valued not only for what they may have done in the past or may have to offer in the future, but also as active members in the present.  In The Test, Tom was 80...that's not so far off from where I'm at now, so maybe I'm a little bit biased in favor of the old folks, seeing how I'm becoming one myself.  This sobering tale should serve as a wake-up call for anyone who thinks the world belongs to a certain age span and not beyond...

Tuesday's List: BuzzFeed's 51 Best Fantasy Series Ever Written

Being a fantasy fiction fan, sometimes I browse the net to see how others rate the best series and look into any recommendations.  Some of the "best of" lists aren't very good, in my opinion, but after looking over BuzzFeed's best fantasy series list (by Tanner Greenring, Jack Shepherd, and Isaac Fitzgerald), I decided to reproduce it here...you can read excellent write-ups after each entry by clicking on the website: [BuzzFeed].  The series I haven't yet read I highlighted in blue, and the ones I have read I've used red.  One glaring omission from this list is Daniel Abraham's wonderful The Dagger and the Coin series...I'd rate it near the top.  Also, at the bottom of this list is the remarkable series The Magicians by Lev Grossman: that's my favorite fantasy series of all (just avoid the TV adaptation if you can).  Well, here's that list...

1 THE KINGKILLER CHRONICLES by Patrick Rothfuss
2 THE STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE by Brandon Sanderson
3 A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE by George R.R. Martin
4 THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien
5 THE LIGHTBRINGER by Brent Weeks
6 HIS DARK MATERIALS by Philip Pullman
7 DISCWORLD by Terry Pratchett
8 THE FIRST LAW by Joe Abercrombie
9 THE SWORD OF SHANNARA TRILOGY by Terry Brooks
10 DEMON CYCLE by Peter V. Brett
11 THE RIDDLE-MASTER TRILOGY by Patricia A. McKillip
12 MISTBORN by Brandon Sanderson
13 GENTLEMEN BASTARD SEQUENCE by Scott Lynch
14 THE INHERITANCE TRILOGY by N.K. Jemisin
15 LIVESHIP TRADERS by Robin Hobb
16 HARRY POTTER by J.K. Rowling
17 THE SWORD OF TRUTH by Terry Goodkind
18 THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA by C.S Lewis
19 THE EARTHSEA CYCLE by Ursula K. LeGuin
20 THE FIONAVAR TAPESTRY by Guy Gavriel Kay
21 RAVEN'S SHADOW by Anthony Ryan
22 THE BROKEN EMPIRE by Mark Lawrence
23 A LAND FIT FOR HEROES by Richard K. Morgan
24 OUTLANDER by Diana Gabaldon
25 THE WHEEL OF TIME by Robert Jordan
26 MALAZAN BOOK OF THE FALLEN by Steven Erikson
27 THE BLACK COMPANY by Glen Cook
28 ELEMENTAL LOGIC by Laurie J. Marks
29 THE CHRONICLES OF AMBER by Roger Zelazny
30 THE AVALON SERIES by Marion Zimmer Bradley
31 THE MERLIN QUINTET by Mary Stewart
32 THE DARK ELF TRILOGY by R.A. Salvatore
33 THE ELRIC SAGA by Michael Moorcock
34 REDWALL by Brian Jacques
35 TEMERAIRE by Naomi Novik
36 INHERITANCE CYCLE by Christopher Paolini
37 THE RIYRIA REVELATIONS by Michael J. Sullivan
38 PRINCE OF NOTHING  by R. Scott Bakker
39 DRAGONLANCE by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
40 THE CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT by Stephen R. Donaldson
41 THE POWDER MAGE by Brian McClellan
42 THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING by T.H. White
43 THE BARTIMEUS SEQUENCE by Jonathan Stroud
44 THE GORMENGHAST SERIES by Mervyn Peake
45 THE ABHORSEN TRILOGY by Garth Nix
46 THE DARK IS RISING SEQUENCE by Susan Cooper
47 THE FARSEER TRILOGY by Robin Hobb
48 THE TRAITOR SON CYCLE by Miles Cameron
49 DREAMBLOOD by N.K. Jemisin
50 THE RIFTWAR CYCLE by Raymond E. Feist
51 THE MAGICIANS TRILOGY by Lev Grossman

2018 Atlantic Hurricane Season, Calm Now But Entering Peak Period

As we approach the end of August this year, it's a good idea to remind ourselves that we are also entering the most intense period of the Atlantic hurricane season.  Last year in late August/early September we had the one-two punch of Harvey in Texas/Louisiana and Irma in Florida, and then Maria devastated Puerto Rico during the second half of September...followed by Nate hitting the U.S. in Mississippi after causing several deaths in Central America.  So far this year we've only gone through the "E" storm: Florence, Gordon, Helene, Isaac, and Joyce are to be the next ones, hopefully none of them destined to cause any degree of damage or danger.  But although it's been relatively mild in the Atlantic in 2018, it only takes one direct hit by a strong hurricane to change everything.  I'm going to keep an eye on the weather forecasts to see what might be brewing out there: they're predicting no tropical activity in the North Atlantic for the next 48 hours, so for the time being we're off the hook. Still, a prudent inventory of hurricane supplies and some modest stockpiling might be in order at least until we pass this peak phase of the season...

Local State Senate Race Shows Rift in Democratic Party

Last Monday I was discussing on this blog the different candidates in August 28's primary election for different races when I came across Florida's State Senate District 8 seat, currently held by Republican Keith Perry.  I mentioned then that I didn't know anything about the two Democratic candidates vying in the primary for that job: Kayser Enneking and Olysha Magruder.  Well, after looking though my mail yesterday, I stand corrected about them: I got literature from both sides.  Kayser Enneking sent a positive piece describing her former status as Medical Director for the UF Surgical Center, along with her promise to look after the health interests of Floridians...including expanding Medicaid, focusing on the opioid epidemic, and working to make health care and prescription drugs more affordable.  Olysha Magruder sent out an attack ad accusing Enneking of being the party establishment's favorite, listing the funds that she received from it for her campaign...implying that Magruder herself wasn't as fortunate with the donations.  And she criticized Enneking for being an "out of touch millionaire": that for me was perhaps the most telling thing about this ad.  On the other side, Magruder presented herself as "a local educator and activist" who has long fought for "progressive values".  H-m-m, I'm seeing a dovetailing of this campaign with much of what's going on in the Democratic Party elsewhere in the country...

The young New York state political neophyte with the complicated name who recently upset a sitting Congressman in their Democratic primary got a lot of people talking, but probably what really got the rift going between the party's so-called "establishment" and more leftist "progressives" was the close contest in 2016 between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.  Apparently, we're seeing something like this develop in Florida's District 8 between Enneking and Magruder.  I expect more campaign mail from these two in the next few days: early voting began yesterday and things will most likely ratchet up between the two candidates.  But when Magruder disparaged Enneking for being a millionaire...sorry, folks, I can't support anyone espousing this kind of nonsense.  Medical professionals who, over the span of their career, take care of their money will most likely become millionaires...that criticism made me suspect that Magruder feels that no one has the right to be wealthy or that having money disqualifies one for leadership.  And that kind of talk, my friends, will never do: she's out!  As for Enneking, if you've read this blog any amount of time you'll know that I tend to vote Democrat and the good doctor, at least as far as I can see at this point, seems like she'd make a good state senator.  On the other hand, I happen to like Keith Perry and think he's been faithfully doing the best job he could do...if Enneking wins this primary contest against Magruder, I'll have to do some serious soul-searching: not the case if Magruder wins...

Just Finished Reading The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson

Brandon Sanderson is one of my favorite authors of fantasy fiction, and he is currently engaged in writing two different series that I am trying to keep up with: Mistborn and The Stormlight Archive. I have found it easier to go through a series when it's already been completed: then I can go straight from one book to the next without having to wait the required time...often lasting several years...for the next installment to come out.  Sanderson, unlike some other writers I know (like George R.R. Martin), however, has been disciplined and prompt with his writing...still, I suffer from memory drain between each book's publication.  The Bands of Mourning, which I just finished reading, is the third volume of the Wax and Wayne series, which itself is a subset of the Mistborn series.  I originally thought that it was going to be the final book in a trilogy, but no, there's still at least one more to go...

On the fantasy world of Scadrial, certain gifted humans have the ability to digest different metals and temporarily use them for specialized superhuman abilities, called "allomancy"...along with associated talents called "feruchemy" and "hemolurgy"...this is the premise for Sanderson's Mistborn series.  With The Bands of Mourning, western-style-lawman Waxillium Ladrian, actually a noble lord in his home capital city and an allomancer/feruchemist, continues to fight his uncle Eduarn, member of a subversive group of criminals and disgruntled nobles called "Set" and who has long held Wax's sister Telsin prisoner.  With Wax are his long-time sidekick Wayne, officer Marasi, and Wax's fiancée Steris...as well as MeLaan, a "kandra"...a creature that can change its form to look like others.  Their exploits, as well as their developing personal stories and revelations about the mysteries of their world, take them far away to find the Bands of Mourning, which will impart all the special gifts to anyone who possesses them: the Set seek them for their own nefarious ends...or is there something else on their mind?

Much more significant to me than the actual story in The Bands of Mourning were its characters and their relationships to each other.  Sanderson is a gifted writer who obviously believes in deep, interesting characters that the reader can identify with.  The progression of Steris from Wax's overly formal fiancée-by-contract to his genuine love interest as she reveals new aspects of her personality was one of the most compelling features of this story, which continues in the next book, titled The Lost Metal...set to come out sometime early next year. Hope I don't forget too much before then...