Sunday, October 28, 2018
Looking Back on D.C. Visit
On our trip to Washington, D.C. this past week, Melissa and I enjoyed exploring the sights, most of them centering on the Mall...this despite the fact that in the middle of it all I experienced a severe, painful dental emergency and had to undergo a root canal! Still, during the "toothache" part of the stay I managed to dissociate the pain from the very interesting touring we were doing...I really got to dig being in our capital city. Our hotel was just a block south of the Mall area, right near the Smithsonian Space and Air Museum. After check-in late Tuesday afternoon, we walked out to the middle of the Mall to survey the scene...the Capitol building to the east and the Washington Monument to the west, with the Lincoln Memorial behind it. Wednesday we made a day of visiting the Capitol and also ventured into the adjacent Library of Congress for a while. Thursday, alas, had me first undergo my adventure in D.C. dentistry...thankfully they graciously fit me into their schedule and did a great job...after which we went on an evening open-window trolley tour through the capital, starting from the beautiful Union Station and stopping at the Lincoln Memorial, Iwo Jima stature, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. Friday we explored some of the museums and gardens near our hotel as the rain began to fall outside from the remnants of Pacific Hurricane Willa. And yesterday we returned. There is so much to explore in this great city and its surroundings that just three full days looking around doesn't even began to scratch the surface. In coming articles I'll write from time to time in greater detail about some of these and other aspects of our trip and stay. Right now, I'm very happy to be back home!
Saturday, October 27, 2018
Back Home from Nation's Capital
Melissa and I just got back from our trip this week to Washington, DC. It's kind of late at night right now, and both of us need to get up early tomorrow morning...I'll write more about various aspects of our stay there during the days and weeks to come. I did something similar about a family visit to Manhattan back in 2010 and it seemed to work well on the blog. Until later...
Friday, October 26, 2018
Quote of the Week...from W. Somerset Maugham
If you can tell stories, create characters, devise incidents, and have sincerity and passion, it doesn't matter a damn how you write. W. Somerset Maugham
W. Somerset Maugham, the twentieth century British author who wrote Of Human Bondage and The Razor's Edge, has a good point with the above quote. I've read lots of books over the past few years...most of them critical successes or very popular...and the literary styles the different authors use in them varies enormously from one book to the next...the range of diversity is even more extreme with short stories. One important thing, I think, is that regardless how outlandish the story's situation or characters are, there need to be prominent elements of it that give the reader a sense of familiarity and reality...even if the tale is a bizarre fantasy. Stephen King has claimed that he likes to place ordinary, relatable people as his characters into unusual circumstances...and then let them work it all out for themselves, usually without a specific notion as to where the story will lead as he is writing it. Others, like Isaac Asimov, would outline their stories at the beginning of the writing process and then go on from there. You know, I really need to begin writing my own fiction...no harm in trying how different successful authors do it, maybe ultimately "my" style will be a combination of others'. But the main thing is to begin...and with that I'd like to bring up two related and very pertinent quotes, the first by Anne Lamott and the last by Edgar Rice Burroughs:
Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere.
If you write one story, it may be bad; if you write a hundred, you have the odds in your favor.
Here's to writing a hundred stories!
W. Somerset Maugham, the twentieth century British author who wrote Of Human Bondage and The Razor's Edge, has a good point with the above quote. I've read lots of books over the past few years...most of them critical successes or very popular...and the literary styles the different authors use in them varies enormously from one book to the next...the range of diversity is even more extreme with short stories. One important thing, I think, is that regardless how outlandish the story's situation or characters are, there need to be prominent elements of it that give the reader a sense of familiarity and reality...even if the tale is a bizarre fantasy. Stephen King has claimed that he likes to place ordinary, relatable people as his characters into unusual circumstances...and then let them work it all out for themselves, usually without a specific notion as to where the story will lead as he is writing it. Others, like Isaac Asimov, would outline their stories at the beginning of the writing process and then go on from there. You know, I really need to begin writing my own fiction...no harm in trying how different successful authors do it, maybe ultimately "my" style will be a combination of others'. But the main thing is to begin...and with that I'd like to bring up two related and very pertinent quotes, the first by Anne Lamott and the last by Edgar Rice Burroughs:
Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere.
If you write one story, it may be bad; if you write a hundred, you have the odds in your favor.
Here's to writing a hundred stories!
Thursday, October 25, 2018
10/21 Sermon on Miracles, Part 7
Last Sunday at The Family Church here in Gainesville, senior pastor Philip Griffin closed out his series on seven important miracles, or signs, of Jesus as related in the New Testament's Gospel of John. This message was about the seventh miracle...that of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead...and the scripture of focus was John 11:21-12:3...click on the passage to read it via Bible Gateway...
In discussing the miracle about Lazarus, Pastor Philip concentrated more on the differing beliefs and behavior that sisters Martha and Mary displayed to Jesus while he was a guest at their home. In reference to Martha, Philip pointed out that spending time with Jesus is more important than our "to-do" lists...Martha was driven in task mode, by the tyranny of the "urgent". She was also prone to accusing others ("I'm doing all this work, why aren't you?"). But, as Philip continued, we have to each lay boundaries for ourselves so that our priorities don't get overturned...Mary had hers straight...
Pastor Philip structured the passage in three terms: sitting at Jesus's feet, falling at Jesus's feet, and worshipping at Jesus's feet. Mary made the right decision to be with Jesus and sit at his feet, learning from him. When Lazarus, brother of Martha and Mary, feel ill, they implored Jesus to go visit him for healing...but the Lord tarried, and Lazarus died. Both sisters expressed their disappointment to Jesus, but they differed in that Martha did not perceive Jesus's true nature as Lord while Mary, who had spent time with him, fell at his feet in grief. Jesus, moved by her actions, wept with her, sharing in her mourning...he can provide solace to us in our grief, too, without the need to resort to chemicals, busywork, or others. Finally, as Jesus approached the tomb of Lazarus, Martha tried to stop him from entering, claiming there would be a bad odor...but in essence trying to block any miracle since she did not know him for who he was. Likewise, we may find ourselves skeptical of what the Lord can do with ourselves if we had not spent time sitting and falling at his feet. Worshipping Jesus at his feet, which Mary practiced, happened because she first sought out his presence and then relied on him during her time of trouble. Pastor Philip concluded by listing four aspects of worship: (1) worship means to value something above all...God does not need our worship: we do, (2) worship is sacrificial...like the expensive perfume Mary poured on Jesus's feet, (3) worship flows from gratitude, and (4) worship...like that perfume...is like a sweet aroma for others, inspiring them to follow in the same way...
You can watch this sermon by clicking on the church's YouTube link: [TFC Videos]. The Family Church is located at 2022 SW 122nd Street and meets each Sunday morning at 9 and 10;30 for services, which include praise and worship music, the weekly message, and prayer. There are numerous small group and discipleship sessions interspersed through the week that you can participate in as well. Before and between the services, free coffee is available in the hospitality room next to the entranceway. And there are lots of friendly folks around who want to meet and get to know you....
In discussing the miracle about Lazarus, Pastor Philip concentrated more on the differing beliefs and behavior that sisters Martha and Mary displayed to Jesus while he was a guest at their home. In reference to Martha, Philip pointed out that spending time with Jesus is more important than our "to-do" lists...Martha was driven in task mode, by the tyranny of the "urgent". She was also prone to accusing others ("I'm doing all this work, why aren't you?"). But, as Philip continued, we have to each lay boundaries for ourselves so that our priorities don't get overturned...Mary had hers straight...
Pastor Philip structured the passage in three terms: sitting at Jesus's feet, falling at Jesus's feet, and worshipping at Jesus's feet. Mary made the right decision to be with Jesus and sit at his feet, learning from him. When Lazarus, brother of Martha and Mary, feel ill, they implored Jesus to go visit him for healing...but the Lord tarried, and Lazarus died. Both sisters expressed their disappointment to Jesus, but they differed in that Martha did not perceive Jesus's true nature as Lord while Mary, who had spent time with him, fell at his feet in grief. Jesus, moved by her actions, wept with her, sharing in her mourning...he can provide solace to us in our grief, too, without the need to resort to chemicals, busywork, or others. Finally, as Jesus approached the tomb of Lazarus, Martha tried to stop him from entering, claiming there would be a bad odor...but in essence trying to block any miracle since she did not know him for who he was. Likewise, we may find ourselves skeptical of what the Lord can do with ourselves if we had not spent time sitting and falling at his feet. Worshipping Jesus at his feet, which Mary practiced, happened because she first sought out his presence and then relied on him during her time of trouble. Pastor Philip concluded by listing four aspects of worship: (1) worship means to value something above all...God does not need our worship: we do, (2) worship is sacrificial...like the expensive perfume Mary poured on Jesus's feet, (3) worship flows from gratitude, and (4) worship...like that perfume...is like a sweet aroma for others, inspiring them to follow in the same way...
You can watch this sermon by clicking on the church's YouTube link: [TFC Videos]. The Family Church is located at 2022 SW 122nd Street and meets each Sunday morning at 9 and 10;30 for services, which include praise and worship music, the weekly message, and prayer. There are numerous small group and discipleship sessions interspersed through the week that you can participate in as well. Before and between the services, free coffee is available in the hospitality room next to the entranceway. And there are lots of friendly folks around who want to meet and get to know you....
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
Weekly Short Stories: '39 Sci-Fi, Part 4
This past week I continued going through the science fiction short story anthology Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 1 (1939), reading some more intriguing tales. All the authors were familiar to me, from the wife/husband writing team of C.L. Moore and Henry Kuttner to L. Sprague de Camp and the series editor, Isaac Asimov himself. Here's my reaction to each of them...
GREATER THAN GODS by C.L. Moore
This story, set about three hundred years into the future from its writing, examines alternate futures and how a simple decision a person makes can have a reverberating effect down through history. A young scientist has a difficult decision to make: which woman he will ask to marry him. As he looks at each of their three-dimensional pictures on his desktop, their descendants from centuries into the future call out to him through them, each one presenting how the world had turned out as well as how his original marriage went. The two scenarios he observes point to diametrically different outcomes, with humanity in one dying out in lethargy and complacency and in the other having turned into a totalitarian, militarist nightmare of conquest, brutality and leader worship. Forced into a decision in the end, he does something I first thought I had smartly figured out earlier...but no, then I suddenly realized that I had read this story before!
TRENDS by Isaac Asimov
One of Asimov's first published stories, Trends paints a picture of how in history the pendulum in society periodically swings back and forth between science and religious fervor. His protagonist, John Harmon, has designed a spaceship in 1973 to take him to the Moon and back, but the people, led by religious extremists, see it as evil and protest the upcoming launch. One of Harmon's own people betrays him and sabotages the launch...all looks lost. But then again, will that pendulum begin to swing back in the other direction? It's a good little story that, however, exposes the author's own hostility to religion as he depicts it being intolerant and anti-liberty. Then again, I can't remember ever reading him ever discussing the brutality of state-sponsored atheism as enforced in the Soviet Union, China, and other totalitarian regimes during his lifetime...intriguing because Asimov himself was born in the USSR...
THE BLUE GIRAFFE by L. Sprague de Camp
Athelstan Cuff is a middle-age Englishman living in America with his wife and adopted son Peter. Peter is sensitive about being adopted, and so his father sits him down and tells the story behind it, one that goes many years earlier in British colonial South Africa...more specifically the Bechuanaland Protectorate (now the nation of Botswana). In one of the wildlife reserves there has been discovered something remarkable: a blue giraffe. Cuff, a biologist working in Cape Town, is sent to investigate: a blue giraffe isn't the only anomaly among the animals there. His investigation points to an earlier missing scientist, Hickey, and what he was trying to accomplish in this area. In the process Cuff has one hilarious adventure after the other, culminating in the explanation as to why Peter was adopted. This story was very funny, as most assuredly it was intended to be...
THE MISGUIDED HALO by Henry Kuttner
Not exactly a science fiction story, this story involves an extraterrestrial angel sent on a mission to bestow a halo of sainthood on a Kai Yung, living in Tibet. On arriving there, he finds Kai Yung living in a drunken state of dissolution and concludes that this one has fallen into sin and no longer merits the halo. Could it have been a mistake? The angel goes to America and finds a place called Tibbett in the Midwest...and a man named K. (Kenneth) Young. He concludes that this may have been the intended recipient and places on him the halo, with it always hovering a few inches over his head and quite visible. When Mr. Young, an advertising executive, awakens the next morning and gets ready for work, his wife points out the strange circle above him. His subsequent antics while trying to hide it from others and the sequence of mishaps he experiences form the rest of the story, which I think would have played quite well as one of those humorous-type Twilight Zone episodes. I mean, what would you do if suddenly there were a permanent, visible halo over your head?
And the reading continues...
GREATER THAN GODS by C.L. Moore
This story, set about three hundred years into the future from its writing, examines alternate futures and how a simple decision a person makes can have a reverberating effect down through history. A young scientist has a difficult decision to make: which woman he will ask to marry him. As he looks at each of their three-dimensional pictures on his desktop, their descendants from centuries into the future call out to him through them, each one presenting how the world had turned out as well as how his original marriage went. The two scenarios he observes point to diametrically different outcomes, with humanity in one dying out in lethargy and complacency and in the other having turned into a totalitarian, militarist nightmare of conquest, brutality and leader worship. Forced into a decision in the end, he does something I first thought I had smartly figured out earlier...but no, then I suddenly realized that I had read this story before!
TRENDS by Isaac Asimov
One of Asimov's first published stories, Trends paints a picture of how in history the pendulum in society periodically swings back and forth between science and religious fervor. His protagonist, John Harmon, has designed a spaceship in 1973 to take him to the Moon and back, but the people, led by religious extremists, see it as evil and protest the upcoming launch. One of Harmon's own people betrays him and sabotages the launch...all looks lost. But then again, will that pendulum begin to swing back in the other direction? It's a good little story that, however, exposes the author's own hostility to religion as he depicts it being intolerant and anti-liberty. Then again, I can't remember ever reading him ever discussing the brutality of state-sponsored atheism as enforced in the Soviet Union, China, and other totalitarian regimes during his lifetime...intriguing because Asimov himself was born in the USSR...
THE BLUE GIRAFFE by L. Sprague de Camp
Athelstan Cuff is a middle-age Englishman living in America with his wife and adopted son Peter. Peter is sensitive about being adopted, and so his father sits him down and tells the story behind it, one that goes many years earlier in British colonial South Africa...more specifically the Bechuanaland Protectorate (now the nation of Botswana). In one of the wildlife reserves there has been discovered something remarkable: a blue giraffe. Cuff, a biologist working in Cape Town, is sent to investigate: a blue giraffe isn't the only anomaly among the animals there. His investigation points to an earlier missing scientist, Hickey, and what he was trying to accomplish in this area. In the process Cuff has one hilarious adventure after the other, culminating in the explanation as to why Peter was adopted. This story was very funny, as most assuredly it was intended to be...
THE MISGUIDED HALO by Henry Kuttner
Not exactly a science fiction story, this story involves an extraterrestrial angel sent on a mission to bestow a halo of sainthood on a Kai Yung, living in Tibet. On arriving there, he finds Kai Yung living in a drunken state of dissolution and concludes that this one has fallen into sin and no longer merits the halo. Could it have been a mistake? The angel goes to America and finds a place called Tibbett in the Midwest...and a man named K. (Kenneth) Young. He concludes that this may have been the intended recipient and places on him the halo, with it always hovering a few inches over his head and quite visible. When Mr. Young, an advertising executive, awakens the next morning and gets ready for work, his wife points out the strange circle above him. His subsequent antics while trying to hide it from others and the sequence of mishaps he experiences form the rest of the story, which I think would have played quite well as one of those humorous-type Twilight Zone episodes. I mean, what would you do if suddenly there were a permanent, visible halo over your head?
And the reading continues...
Tuesday, October 23, 2018
Tuesday's List: Last Six Amendments to Fla Constitution on Ballot
Today I'm continuing my discussion from last Tuesday about the proposed amendments to Florida's state constitution with Amendments Seven through Thirteen, using the very good website Be Ready to Vote. Amendment Eight was struck by the state supreme court, so we're left with six. Several of these frustrate me because they're essentially bundled amendments with different parts to them. Many of the proposals are already a part of state law, but for some reason people somewhere feel the need to enshrine them as part of the constitution. I'll have to be honest here: I'm a bit skeptical about this idea of ordinary people, without the benefit of trained professional staff and legal and scientific experts, directly making sweeping constitutional decisions...our elected representatives in this republic of ours are supposed to be doing this! Still, the questions are there on the ballot, and I'm determined to decide for myself on them one way or another, for better or for worse...it's almost like a crap shoot with some of these questions, though...
7 FIRST RESPONDER AND MILITARY MEMBER SURVIVOR BENEFITS; PUBLIC COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES
Exactly what mandating first responder death benefits has to do with requiring a supermajority on college governing boards to increase tuitions is beyond me, but they're lumped together in this strange proposed amendment. I agree with the part that adds paramedics and emergency technicians to the first responder designation...I always thought they already were. I have no opinion about the college part of this proposal, and I want death benefits to go out the way it's described...even though it's not indicated exactly how they'll be funded. Still, I think it's a good gesture and I'm voting "yes"...
8 SCHOOL BOARD TERM LIMITS AND DUTIES; PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Removed from ballot by court.
9 PROHIBITS OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS DRILLING; PROHIBITS VAPING IN ENCLOSED INDOOR WORKPLACES
Another weird combo amendment. I'm against offshore oil and gas drilling, but think that making rules about vaping in enclosed indoor workplaces should be a matter for each organization to decide for itself...for the record, I've never smoked a single cigarette and therefore have no personal interest in vaping. The ban on the drilling is already part of state law...why do we have to make every piece of already-passed legislation part of the constitution? I'm voting "no" because the vaping section overreaches...
10 STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE AND OPERATION
This one sets specific dates for the convening of the state legislature and makes Florida's already-established Dept. of Veterans Affair constitutionally-mandated: so who's trying to abolish it? And it mandates elections for sheriff and other public offices for all counties, affecting only five of our sixty-seven. I don't yet know how I'm voting: this proposal seems inconsequential to me...
11 PROPERTY RIGHTS; REMOVAL OF OBSOLETE PROVISION; CRIMINAL STATUTES
The main thing this amendment does is to remove the obligation of the state to pursue criminal charges against someone after the law on which the prosecution is based is changed...sounds like a no-brainer to me. Also there's supposedly an old state law allowing for messing with the property rights of non-citizens that will go by the wayside if this amendment is approved...I'm voting "yes"...
12 LOBBYING AND ABUSE OF OFFICE BY PUBLIC OFFICIALS
In essence this proposed amendment extends the time span that legislators, statewide elected officials, and judges must wait until they are allowed to go into lobbying...from two to six years. There's also a provision prohibiting state officials from receiving "disproportionate benefits" from their employment. Sounds like a good amendment, voting "yes"...
13 ENDS DOG RACING
Well, this one seems simple enough: should we finally end pari-mutuel gambling on dog races? The sport/industry has been in decline for some with few tracks remaining in the state. I have childhood memories of my father being a big greyhound racing enthusiast, although I think he got a little carried away with it all, including the gambling aspect. It's sad that there's been documented abuse of these beautiful animals...I always enjoyed watching them run their little races during the few times I attended them. I'm voting "no" because I want to give the people running these tracks and caring for these dogs a chance to turn their profession around and return it to a more prominent place in Florida as an entertainment destination. After all, we are a tourism-oriented state...
7 FIRST RESPONDER AND MILITARY MEMBER SURVIVOR BENEFITS; PUBLIC COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES
Exactly what mandating first responder death benefits has to do with requiring a supermajority on college governing boards to increase tuitions is beyond me, but they're lumped together in this strange proposed amendment. I agree with the part that adds paramedics and emergency technicians to the first responder designation...I always thought they already were. I have no opinion about the college part of this proposal, and I want death benefits to go out the way it's described...even though it's not indicated exactly how they'll be funded. Still, I think it's a good gesture and I'm voting "yes"...
Removed from ballot by court.
9 PROHIBITS OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS DRILLING; PROHIBITS VAPING IN ENCLOSED INDOOR WORKPLACES
Another weird combo amendment. I'm against offshore oil and gas drilling, but think that making rules about vaping in enclosed indoor workplaces should be a matter for each organization to decide for itself...for the record, I've never smoked a single cigarette and therefore have no personal interest in vaping. The ban on the drilling is already part of state law...why do we have to make every piece of already-passed legislation part of the constitution? I'm voting "no" because the vaping section overreaches...
10 STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE AND OPERATION
This one sets specific dates for the convening of the state legislature and makes Florida's already-established Dept. of Veterans Affair constitutionally-mandated: so who's trying to abolish it? And it mandates elections for sheriff and other public offices for all counties, affecting only five of our sixty-seven. I don't yet know how I'm voting: this proposal seems inconsequential to me...
11 PROPERTY RIGHTS; REMOVAL OF OBSOLETE PROVISION; CRIMINAL STATUTES
The main thing this amendment does is to remove the obligation of the state to pursue criminal charges against someone after the law on which the prosecution is based is changed...sounds like a no-brainer to me. Also there's supposedly an old state law allowing for messing with the property rights of non-citizens that will go by the wayside if this amendment is approved...I'm voting "yes"...
12 LOBBYING AND ABUSE OF OFFICE BY PUBLIC OFFICIALS
In essence this proposed amendment extends the time span that legislators, statewide elected officials, and judges must wait until they are allowed to go into lobbying...from two to six years. There's also a provision prohibiting state officials from receiving "disproportionate benefits" from their employment. Sounds like a good amendment, voting "yes"...
13 ENDS DOG RACING
Well, this one seems simple enough: should we finally end pari-mutuel gambling on dog races? The sport/industry has been in decline for some with few tracks remaining in the state. I have childhood memories of my father being a big greyhound racing enthusiast, although I think he got a little carried away with it all, including the gambling aspect. It's sad that there's been documented abuse of these beautiful animals...I always enjoyed watching them run their little races during the few times I attended them. I'm voting "no" because I want to give the people running these tracks and caring for these dogs a chance to turn their profession around and return it to a more prominent place in Florida as an entertainment destination. After all, we are a tourism-oriented state...
Monday, October 22, 2018
Mr. Irwin Goes to Washington
This Tuesday Melissa and I will be traveling to Washington, D.C. to stay there a few nights and check out many of the sights, including the Capitol, the White House, the Smithsonian, the various monuments, memorials, and museums...and just have a fun, enlightening time. Melissa went there on a school trip with our daughter Rebecca and classmates, teachers, and other parents back in 2005...I have no memory of the place although I once was there...as an infant back in 1957. I don't know whether Congress will be in session during our visit, but it sure isn't right now...I think they're all scrambling about back in their home states and districts, campaigning for reelection. After we get back, I'll probably write some blog articles here about different aspects of our trip...I plan to take a lot of pictures, too. Should be interesting...
Sunday, October 21, 2018
Alachua County Commission Structure Antiquated, Needs Reform
As a citizen both of the city of Gainesville and its county, Alachua, I live under the government of two coexisting commissions: the city and the county. The city commission, which employs term limits for its members, has three at-large commissioners (including the mayor) elected by the entire city and four districted commissioners who respond to the needs and priorities of those belong to their respective districts. This system strikes me as being eminently fair, both discouraging career politicians from dominating the commission as well as encouraging a greater political diversity within it...from time to time we get a conservative voice or two there, although Gainesville as a whole tends to vote Democratic. The Alachua County Commission, on the other hand, neither employs term limits nor does it elect its commissioners by district: although it assigns each elected commissioner a district, they are all voted on county-wide. The result has been a liberal Democrat-dominant county commission with little conservative opposition and entrenched, powerful commissioners with little desire to ever give up their seats...Mike Byerly's been there since 2000. This coming election has two seats up for vote...wait, make that one: "District" 4, held by Democrat Ken Cornell, is unopposed, so he's already "in". The other is between Democrat Marihelen Wheeler (a former candidate for state legislature and the U.S House), Libertarian Party candidate Gregory Caudill, and non-partisan candidate Scott Costello. The traditional party of opposition, the Republicans, apparently have seen the pointlessness of tying to put up and fund candidates in races that they have little-to-no chance of winning. That's too bad: although Gainesville as Alachua County's population center heavily leans Democratic and liberal, the outlying communities and unincorporated, more rural areas tend to be conservative and more supportive of Republican candidates. If the county commission were to adopt the city's system of combining districted seats with at-large ones, I think we'd see a better, more inclusive county commission that properly addressed its people's concerns...the way it ought to be. And just what is it with their refusal to enact term limits, anyway?
Saturday, October 20, 2018
Political Talk Has Become Pointlessly Personal and Rancorous
One of the things I learned as a part of growing up into a mature adult capable of getting along with others in a civil manner is that whenever someone asks me how to do something, what the rules are, or which is the better choice, not to answer them in absolute terms as some do, laying down the law in capital letters and multiple exclamation points, so to speak. Instead, I have gotten into the habit of expressing myself in terms of how I would handle the procedure, policy, or choice, usually with reasons given. If there were alternate choices or approaches involved, I'd also try to mention them as well, giving the person asking me a sense of empowerment and of being properly informed. I don't think a lot of folks approach this in the same way, though, and almost never whenever politics are involved...
Yesterday afternoon while driving to the library I was fiddling around with my radio tuner and landed on a station broadcasting the Sean Hannity show. To this individual, anything goes as long as it promotes his political views...and that includes personally vilifying people he disagrees with. I parked my car, went in, checked out my books, and walked out. Along the sidewalk was a row of newspaper racks, one of which contained the local left-wing political rag The Gainesville Iguana. I grabbed a copy and went to my car. As I browsed through it, I noticed the same blunt, in-your-face kind of "my way or the highway" mindset I was just picking up from Hannity...except that these viewpoints were promoting the far left, not the far right. There was no attempt on any level to respectfully address the opposing views on any issue, just as Hannity refuses to ever try to see anything from his political opponents' perspective...
I suggest that one of the cable channels start a new kind of talk show, but one with a special format: guests who normally argue for one viewpoint over another would, during their time on the air, agree to take the opposite position and plead their opponent's case instead. Wouldn't you like to watch a debate in which Ted Cruz tried to see things from a liberal perspective and Bernie Sanders from a conservative one? Never will happen, of course...but at least I'd like to see media opinion makers and politicians start displaying some basic, common respect toward those on the other side, including complimenting them and pointing out areas of common cause. But the trend nowadays...for some time, sadly...is for people to condemn in the most vicious personal terms those whose political philosophies differ from their own priorities, while either ignoring the behavior of those on their own side or going through great semantic contortions defending them. As Marvin Gaye once sang, "Yeah, it makes me wanna holler and throw up both my hands"...
Yesterday afternoon while driving to the library I was fiddling around with my radio tuner and landed on a station broadcasting the Sean Hannity show. To this individual, anything goes as long as it promotes his political views...and that includes personally vilifying people he disagrees with. I parked my car, went in, checked out my books, and walked out. Along the sidewalk was a row of newspaper racks, one of which contained the local left-wing political rag The Gainesville Iguana. I grabbed a copy and went to my car. As I browsed through it, I noticed the same blunt, in-your-face kind of "my way or the highway" mindset I was just picking up from Hannity...except that these viewpoints were promoting the far left, not the far right. There was no attempt on any level to respectfully address the opposing views on any issue, just as Hannity refuses to ever try to see anything from his political opponents' perspective...
I suggest that one of the cable channels start a new kind of talk show, but one with a special format: guests who normally argue for one viewpoint over another would, during their time on the air, agree to take the opposite position and plead their opponent's case instead. Wouldn't you like to watch a debate in which Ted Cruz tried to see things from a liberal perspective and Bernie Sanders from a conservative one? Never will happen, of course...but at least I'd like to see media opinion makers and politicians start displaying some basic, common respect toward those on the other side, including complimenting them and pointing out areas of common cause. But the trend nowadays...for some time, sadly...is for people to condemn in the most vicious personal terms those whose political philosophies differ from their own priorities, while either ignoring the behavior of those on their own side or going through great semantic contortions defending them. As Marvin Gaye once sang, "Yeah, it makes me wanna holler and throw up both my hands"...
Friday, October 19, 2018
Quote of the Week...from Philip K. Dick
Each of us assumes everyone else knows what he is doing. They all assume we know what we are doing. We don't. Philip K. Dick
I think one of the major blunders that people make, both when they are assessing the behavior and intentions of others in their lives as well as judging and ascribing motives to those in the public limelight...especially politicians...is that they assume that everyone else is always competent and sure-minded about what they are trying to accomplish...and have their reasons all laid out in a perfectly logical pattern. I for one disagree with this notion, as apparently did the great twentieth century science fiction author Philip K. Dick, who said with the above quote what I'd been thinking for years. Many, many years, in fact...
One of my most vivid memories was when I was a thirteen-year old eighth-grade student sitting in a drafting class. I was very awkward then, especially when it came to being around others. I was sitting there quietly, pretending to be working...I'm sure the others around me thought this was what I was doing...but I was actually observing several of my fellow students interacting around me. I got the impression...a strong impression...that they all either were supremely confident and showed it as they talked with one another showing such apparent poise...or that they were all putting on a monumental collective act of deception. I came away from that experience realizing that when people grew up, they learned to wrap themselves up in images they want to project to others about themselves, images that don't necessarily reflect their own realities...especially their uncertainties, confusion, and self-doubts...
I have a tendency to be skeptical about conspiracy theories of all kinds because of this awareness of peoples' generally muddled and mixed-up inner natures, their outward presentation of themselves notwithstanding. We're not robots capable of creating and implementing exorbitantly complicated algorithms that require so many things to go "right" in order for some of the so-called conspiracies I've heard to be real and successful. Neither are our political leaders all that deliberately evil as whoever happens to be their opposition likes to portray them. If you're going to say some bad things about the last three presidents...Trump, Obama, and Bush...I say that calling them on their lapses and failings in the end is probably much closer to the truth than saying that any of them were (or are) part of some coordinated, convoluted scheme to "take over". It might behoove some of us who are entrenched in an "our side vs. their side" mindset to try to recognize that most folks...and politicians...like my old eighth-grade classmates...are largely concocted images on the outside and disarray and conflict within...
Thursday, October 18, 2018
10/14 Sermon on Miracles, Part 6
As Gainesville's Family Church continued its Sunday morning sermon series about miracles that Jesus produced as revealed in the Gospel of John, Colin Griffin, our senior pastor Philip Griffin's son and a committed international missions worker, stood up as guest speaker. He presented the story of Jesus healing the blind man as related in John 9...click on the passage to read it through Bible Gateway...
Colin laid out the stages in the blind man's physical and spiritual healing: first he hears Christ, then he sees him...and then ultimately he knows him and his true nature. It's important to recognize, Colin continued, that the blind man responds in obedience to Jesus: God listens to people who do his will. The blind man stands up for Jesus against the criticisms of the surrounding religious leaders, who want to persecute him for healing on the Sabbath...eventually resulting in his being thrown out of the temple. He is not only physically healed, but also comes to a deeper understanding of Christ: first Jesus is a man to him, then a prophet...finally, the Lord, his Lord. Colin concluded by emphasizing that knowing Jesus necessarily means coming to him and involves stepping out, often if not usually, into very uncomfortable situations. It consequently demands total commitment. And, he added, those who understand their own spiritual blindness can receive Jesus, but not those who deny theirs...
You can watch Colin's sermon through the church's YouTube video website...just click on the following link: [TFC Videos]. I very much appreciate this talented and inspired speaker and enthusiastically look forward to a future day when he will once again bless us with another message. The Family Church is located at 2022 SW 122nd Street, holding its Sunday morning services at 9 and 10:30. After being welcomed by the friendly greeters at the door, you can chat with any number of folks before the service while drinking complimentary coffee offered in the hospitality room. Then the service commences, starting with beautiful and moving praise and worship music, then the weekly message, and finally opportunities for prayer. The church also offers a number of small groups and courses that meet during the week at different times. This Sunday: Miracle Number Seven...
Colin laid out the stages in the blind man's physical and spiritual healing: first he hears Christ, then he sees him...and then ultimately he knows him and his true nature. It's important to recognize, Colin continued, that the blind man responds in obedience to Jesus: God listens to people who do his will. The blind man stands up for Jesus against the criticisms of the surrounding religious leaders, who want to persecute him for healing on the Sabbath...eventually resulting in his being thrown out of the temple. He is not only physically healed, but also comes to a deeper understanding of Christ: first Jesus is a man to him, then a prophet...finally, the Lord, his Lord. Colin concluded by emphasizing that knowing Jesus necessarily means coming to him and involves stepping out, often if not usually, into very uncomfortable situations. It consequently demands total commitment. And, he added, those who understand their own spiritual blindness can receive Jesus, but not those who deny theirs...
You can watch Colin's sermon through the church's YouTube video website...just click on the following link: [TFC Videos]. I very much appreciate this talented and inspired speaker and enthusiastically look forward to a future day when he will once again bless us with another message. The Family Church is located at 2022 SW 122nd Street, holding its Sunday morning services at 9 and 10:30. After being welcomed by the friendly greeters at the door, you can chat with any number of folks before the service while drinking complimentary coffee offered in the hospitality room. Then the service commences, starting with beautiful and moving praise and worship music, then the weekly message, and finally opportunities for prayer. The church also offers a number of small groups and courses that meet during the week at different times. This Sunday: Miracle Number Seven...
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
Weekly Short Stories: '39 Sci-Fi, Pt. 3
This week I continued reading through the science fiction anthology Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 1 (1939), in which he and Martin Greenberg selected...forty years later...what they thought was the best of that year in short fiction. I finished three more stories, and here's my discussions for each of them...
THE ULTIMATE CATALYST by John Taine
Known more for his non-fiction, especially his biographical series on mathematicians, Taine wrote this one with a well-developed sense of biology and chemistry. It is sometime in the future and the last dictator on Earth has been exiled to a confined area in the Amazon jungle...unfortunately he still is a tyrant within that domain. Trapped there is a scientist and his daughter...he reveals to the dictator that he has developed a plant food that tastes like meat, handy in that vegetation is the only viable form of food in this region. But the scientist has ulterior motives, and this tale just might send anyone prone to queasiness right over the edge...probably a good idea not to read The Ultimate Catalyst while eating...
THE GNARLY MAN by L. Sprague de Camp
Anthropologist Matilda Saddler, after studying cultures from all over the world, finds her most interesting subject right in the middle of a Coney Island carnival show: Ungo-Bungo, a supposed ape-man whose skull bone structure seems strange to her, turns out when she meets him to be a well-spoken. amiable Irishman...until he reveals his true identity: he is the last surviving Neanderthal, some 50,000 years old. Interesting this tale is, especially in light of the Lester del Rey story The Day is Done about a different "last Neanderthal", appearing in the same anthology and which I discussed last week...
BLACK DESTROYER by A.E. von Vogt
The "black destroyer" in this tale is a "coeurl", a ferocious but highly intelligent cat-like predator...but with vibration-inducing tentacles emanating from its shoulders...inhabiting a very remote, nearly dead planet. Although essentially immortal, it is running out of food: salvation seems to have arrived with the landing of an exploratory spaceship from Earth. The humans encounter the beast...and the intricate chess game ensues between them, with not only their survival but also the future of space dominance at stake. I liked the way the author presented the coeurl's viewpoint as its remarkable adaptability is progressively revealed. But I didn't like the way that von Vogt explained its origin and even less how the story ultimately resolved itself. Plus, as is often the case with hard science fiction, much of the dialogue...especially toward the end...got too bogged down in esoteric technicalities. Still, as an adventure story it was suspenseful and interesting...it would carry over well to film...
More stories from this book next Wednesday...
THE ULTIMATE CATALYST by John Taine
Known more for his non-fiction, especially his biographical series on mathematicians, Taine wrote this one with a well-developed sense of biology and chemistry. It is sometime in the future and the last dictator on Earth has been exiled to a confined area in the Amazon jungle...unfortunately he still is a tyrant within that domain. Trapped there is a scientist and his daughter...he reveals to the dictator that he has developed a plant food that tastes like meat, handy in that vegetation is the only viable form of food in this region. But the scientist has ulterior motives, and this tale just might send anyone prone to queasiness right over the edge...probably a good idea not to read The Ultimate Catalyst while eating...
THE GNARLY MAN by L. Sprague de Camp
Anthropologist Matilda Saddler, after studying cultures from all over the world, finds her most interesting subject right in the middle of a Coney Island carnival show: Ungo-Bungo, a supposed ape-man whose skull bone structure seems strange to her, turns out when she meets him to be a well-spoken. amiable Irishman...until he reveals his true identity: he is the last surviving Neanderthal, some 50,000 years old. Interesting this tale is, especially in light of the Lester del Rey story The Day is Done about a different "last Neanderthal", appearing in the same anthology and which I discussed last week...
BLACK DESTROYER by A.E. von Vogt
The "black destroyer" in this tale is a "coeurl", a ferocious but highly intelligent cat-like predator...but with vibration-inducing tentacles emanating from its shoulders...inhabiting a very remote, nearly dead planet. Although essentially immortal, it is running out of food: salvation seems to have arrived with the landing of an exploratory spaceship from Earth. The humans encounter the beast...and the intricate chess game ensues between them, with not only their survival but also the future of space dominance at stake. I liked the way the author presented the coeurl's viewpoint as its remarkable adaptability is progressively revealed. But I didn't like the way that von Vogt explained its origin and even less how the story ultimately resolved itself. Plus, as is often the case with hard science fiction, much of the dialogue...especially toward the end...got too bogged down in esoteric technicalities. Still, as an adventure story it was suspenseful and interesting...it would carry over well to film...
More stories from this book next Wednesday...
Tuesday, October 16, 2018
Tuesday's List: The First Six Florida Constitutional Amendments on the Ballot
A few weeks ago I listed the thirteen amendments to the Florida State Constitution that are up for vote this November 6th...since then Amendment Eight has been withdrawn. Today I'm discussing...very briefly...each of the first six amendments and my take on them. For any of these amendments to be accepted in the state's constitution, they need to receive approval of at least 60% of the voters in the election. I learned a lot about them from the website Be Ready to Vote...click on it to get some needed information, complete with pros and cons for each proposed amendment. I plan to discuss Amendments Seven through Thirteen next Tuesday...
1 INCREASED HOMESTEAD TAX EXEMPTION
This amendment increases up to a maximum additional $25,000 homestead tax exemption on properties valued at $100,000 or higher. For those eligible who want to save tax money for themselves, this seems good...but local governments stand to lose an enormous amount of needed revenue should this pass...I'm voting "no".
2 LIMITATIONS ON PROPERTY TAX ASSESSMENTS
This is only for non-homesteaded property and limits to 10% the taxable value increase for such property. Apartment renters and vacation home owners in particular stand to personally benefit from such an amendment, but as with the first one, this is estimated to cause a serious shortfall in local government revenue. Again, I'm voting "no".
3 VOTER CONTROL OF GAMBLING IN FLORIDA
This amendment seems to be getting the most media attention, with supporters pointing to other states of differing political orientations that have this amendment in their constitutions...let the people decide if they want a casino or not, right? But the way I see it, since casinos are a good source of government revenue, I'd rather see people voluntarily fund it playing at them than forced to through more compulsory taxes...and I really don't want to see Florida feel as if it needs to resort to a state income tax. Since voting "yes" will inhibit casinos, I'm voting "no" although I'm personally no fan of gambling...
4 VOTING RESTORATION
This amendment restores full voting rights to convicted felons...excluding murderers or those convicted of sex crimes...once they have completed their sentences and are no longer on probation or parole. The current state law, which is undergoing a court challenge right now, mandates five years before a felon can even begin a tedious application process to restore voting rights. I'm voting "yes"...I believe in the restoration of rights (and hope) after criminals have served their punishment, otherwise rehabilitation means nothing...
5 SUPERMAJORITY VOTE REQUIRED TO IMPOSE, AUTHORIZE, OR RAISE STATE TAXES OR FEES
This amendment, pushed by Tea Party Governor Rick Scott, makes it very difficult to raise taxes and may in the end necessitate cuts to important state services, including those to people unable to fend for themselves. If you're a "never tax" Floridian, vote for it...I'm noting "no"...
6 RIGHTS OF CRIME VICTIMS; JUDGES
While increasing the mandatory retirement age of judges from 70 to 75, this amendment gives emphasis to crime victims. The website I referred to mentioned that many of this amendment's provisions are already state law. There is also proposed a further time limitation on convicts' appeals...and eliminates a section already in law that prevents victims' rights from interfering with those of the accused. I'm fine with letting judges work to 75. About the time limit on appeals I'm unsure...how far does it go? But what killed this amendment for me was allowing victims' rights to impinge upon those of the accused...as a friend of mine recently remarked: innocent until proven guilty and let nothing unfairly interfere with due process. This amendment in a revised form might be acceptable to me as I also care about crime victims, but I'm voting "no"...I'm also wary of the distorted TV ads in favor of it that appear to equate suspects with convicts...
One thing about the above amendments, as well as those that follow: the fact that they are on the ballot in the first place, to me, seems to be an indictment against the ability or willingness of a sitting state government, composed of the governor, the senate, and the house...all controlled by the same party...to govern and pass meaningful legislation. After all, didn't we elect them to represent us and pass laws? Oh well, as I said, the election is November 6th...
1 INCREASED HOMESTEAD TAX EXEMPTION
This amendment increases up to a maximum additional $25,000 homestead tax exemption on properties valued at $100,000 or higher. For those eligible who want to save tax money for themselves, this seems good...but local governments stand to lose an enormous amount of needed revenue should this pass...I'm voting "no".
2 LIMITATIONS ON PROPERTY TAX ASSESSMENTS
This is only for non-homesteaded property and limits to 10% the taxable value increase for such property. Apartment renters and vacation home owners in particular stand to personally benefit from such an amendment, but as with the first one, this is estimated to cause a serious shortfall in local government revenue. Again, I'm voting "no".
3 VOTER CONTROL OF GAMBLING IN FLORIDA
This amendment seems to be getting the most media attention, with supporters pointing to other states of differing political orientations that have this amendment in their constitutions...let the people decide if they want a casino or not, right? But the way I see it, since casinos are a good source of government revenue, I'd rather see people voluntarily fund it playing at them than forced to through more compulsory taxes...and I really don't want to see Florida feel as if it needs to resort to a state income tax. Since voting "yes" will inhibit casinos, I'm voting "no" although I'm personally no fan of gambling...
4 VOTING RESTORATION
This amendment restores full voting rights to convicted felons...excluding murderers or those convicted of sex crimes...once they have completed their sentences and are no longer on probation or parole. The current state law, which is undergoing a court challenge right now, mandates five years before a felon can even begin a tedious application process to restore voting rights. I'm voting "yes"...I believe in the restoration of rights (and hope) after criminals have served their punishment, otherwise rehabilitation means nothing...
5 SUPERMAJORITY VOTE REQUIRED TO IMPOSE, AUTHORIZE, OR RAISE STATE TAXES OR FEES
This amendment, pushed by Tea Party Governor Rick Scott, makes it very difficult to raise taxes and may in the end necessitate cuts to important state services, including those to people unable to fend for themselves. If you're a "never tax" Floridian, vote for it...I'm noting "no"...
6 RIGHTS OF CRIME VICTIMS; JUDGES
While increasing the mandatory retirement age of judges from 70 to 75, this amendment gives emphasis to crime victims. The website I referred to mentioned that many of this amendment's provisions are already state law. There is also proposed a further time limitation on convicts' appeals...and eliminates a section already in law that prevents victims' rights from interfering with those of the accused. I'm fine with letting judges work to 75. About the time limit on appeals I'm unsure...how far does it go? But what killed this amendment for me was allowing victims' rights to impinge upon those of the accused...as a friend of mine recently remarked: innocent until proven guilty and let nothing unfairly interfere with due process. This amendment in a revised form might be acceptable to me as I also care about crime victims, but I'm voting "no"...I'm also wary of the distorted TV ads in favor of it that appear to equate suspects with convicts...
One thing about the above amendments, as well as those that follow: the fact that they are on the ballot in the first place, to me, seems to be an indictment against the ability or willingness of a sitting state government, composed of the governor, the senate, and the house...all controlled by the same party...to govern and pass meaningful legislation. After all, didn't we elect them to represent us and pass laws? Oh well, as I said, the election is November 6th...
Monday, October 15, 2018
Just Finished Reading The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
The Three Musketeers, by French novelist Alexandre Dumas, is one of those books that I probably should have read back in school...better late than never, I say. Dumas published in it 1844, but this historical novel's theme goes back to the 1620s during the reign of France's Louis XIII and England's Charles I. The two kingdoms seem to be in a perennial state of conflict, either in war or preparing for it. The French king has a special guard unit, called the musketeers, that operates independently of other forces, and the Cardinal has his own guard that often battles that of the King's...most particularly those musketeers. There are special musketeers, called "the inseparables", named Athos, Parthos, and Aramis...hence the book's title. A young man from Gascony province, d'Artagnan, has arrived seeking to be accepted by the musketeers and trained into their group. But he gets drawn into a scuffle with a mystery man and loses his father's letter to their leader. Disappointed, d'Artagnan finds himself first accidentally drawn into duels with the three musketeers and then, united with them, fends off an attack from the Cardinal's guards...in doing so gaining the good graces of the King and resulting in his appointment to the King's guard...
The Three Musketeers is full of "honor" and dueling to the death in its defense, something I'm not very enthusiastic about. It all seems so immature and pointless as it is near-to-impossible for one man to have a simple conversation with another without it ending in an insult and an invitation to fight it out. While this nonsense is going on, there is intrigue between the King of France, his wife Anne (who is also Queen of Austria), the Cardinal, and Lord Buckingham of England...the most powerful man there behind King Charles. Rochefort, the mystery man d'Artagnan earlier encountered and is always seeking for revenge, along with Milady de Winter, one of literature's greatest villainesses, work for Cardinal Richelieu while Constance Bonacieux, working for the Queen, is d'Artagnan's love interest. The plot gets pretty convoluted, and predictably in this context of international conflict and intrigue, not all survive to the end...
There apparently really was a historical d'Artagnan as well as the three musketeers: Dumas derived much of his material from his knowledge of that era's history as well as another Frenchman's semi-fictional work from 1700. As it turns out, The Three Musketeers was the first of a series that Alexandre Dumas wrote, and he had a collaborator with these novels: August Maquete. Probably needless to say, I read an English translation of this work, not the French original. Did I like this novel? Once I got past the buffoonery with the incessant dueling, I began to enjoy the different characters as well as learning quite a bit about early 17th century European history...including an important assassination that occurred in 1628...
The Three Musketeers is full of "honor" and dueling to the death in its defense, something I'm not very enthusiastic about. It all seems so immature and pointless as it is near-to-impossible for one man to have a simple conversation with another without it ending in an insult and an invitation to fight it out. While this nonsense is going on, there is intrigue between the King of France, his wife Anne (who is also Queen of Austria), the Cardinal, and Lord Buckingham of England...the most powerful man there behind King Charles. Rochefort, the mystery man d'Artagnan earlier encountered and is always seeking for revenge, along with Milady de Winter, one of literature's greatest villainesses, work for Cardinal Richelieu while Constance Bonacieux, working for the Queen, is d'Artagnan's love interest. The plot gets pretty convoluted, and predictably in this context of international conflict and intrigue, not all survive to the end...
There apparently really was a historical d'Artagnan as well as the three musketeers: Dumas derived much of his material from his knowledge of that era's history as well as another Frenchman's semi-fictional work from 1700. As it turns out, The Three Musketeers was the first of a series that Alexandre Dumas wrote, and he had a collaborator with these novels: August Maquete. Probably needless to say, I read an English translation of this work, not the French original. Did I like this novel? Once I got past the buffoonery with the incessant dueling, I began to enjoy the different characters as well as learning quite a bit about early 17th century European history...including an important assassination that occurred in 1628...
Sunday, October 14, 2018
Comments and Cognitive Reverie
One of the problems, which incidentally is simultaneously a blessing, when I dutifully post in Facebook each of this blog's articles (which are published through Google's Blogger site), is that readers tend to not only know me personally but also know, should they choose to place a comment, that their opinions will be open for all to read and that they will be instantly identified with them. Sometimes, as mathematician John Nash, while speculating on a win-win mathematical model scenario, once remarked to a friend in the movie A Beautiful Mind, "You have no respect for cognitive reverie", I like to just sit back and look at things from different perspectives. I want this blog to be more oriented toward open speculation and "cognitive reverie" as well, but I'm afraid that, with a couple of noteworthy exceptions, folks just aren't comfortable with opening up with their thoughts and reactions. There is a solution to this, though: anyone reading this blog, whether through Facebook or directly on the web, can submit their own comments to me. I have it set up on my blog to directly take comments (bypassing Facebook) without them immediately appearing. Before I publish any, I need to first review them...my initial primary reason for this was to avoid publishing the numerous spam comments that were beginning to proliferate. Now, though, pre-screening is useful in that anyone can submit to me his or her comment and then ask me NOT to publish it...I'll comply with any such request. Also, anonymous comments can be submitted as well...if they don't sound like spam and aren't demeaning or profane, then likewise they'll be published at the end of the article (within the blog). In any event, I always endeavor to respond to any reasonable comment, regardless whether I agree or disagree with the expressed view, in a respectful and appreciative manner...
Cognitive reverie to me is an activity in which one isn't tied down to any kind of dogma or ideology, instead just taking a particular subject and breaking it down...sometimes coming to conclusions that don't fit the mainstream of socially-promulgated thought. Therefore it grieves me somewhat when I go down this road and then get a reaction from someone who is an ideologue, forming their opinions on just about everything based on what somebody else wrote or said that fits their "party line"...to me, that is the opposite of what I would call cognitive reverie. Such people can easily disprove this about themselves by simply revealing to me at least one issue (the more the better) in which they agree with the "other side's" views. Another way is to make their opinions more personal and to explain how they interact with their own life and experiences...or explain the thinking process that led them to their conclusions. To me, a natural product of thinking for yourself is to sometimes arrive at different conclusions to things that a particular ideology or doctrine espouses. Thinking for yourself through the vehicle of open speculation and cognitive reverie also makes you more interesting to others instead of sounding like an obvious one-dimensional, unimaginative copycat hack...
Cognitive reverie to me is an activity in which one isn't tied down to any kind of dogma or ideology, instead just taking a particular subject and breaking it down...sometimes coming to conclusions that don't fit the mainstream of socially-promulgated thought. Therefore it grieves me somewhat when I go down this road and then get a reaction from someone who is an ideologue, forming their opinions on just about everything based on what somebody else wrote or said that fits their "party line"...to me, that is the opposite of what I would call cognitive reverie. Such people can easily disprove this about themselves by simply revealing to me at least one issue (the more the better) in which they agree with the "other side's" views. Another way is to make their opinions more personal and to explain how they interact with their own life and experiences...or explain the thinking process that led them to their conclusions. To me, a natural product of thinking for yourself is to sometimes arrive at different conclusions to things that a particular ideology or doctrine espouses. Thinking for yourself through the vehicle of open speculation and cognitive reverie also makes you more interesting to others instead of sounding like an obvious one-dimensional, unimaginative copycat hack...
Saturday, October 13, 2018
This Week's Football Polls Perplexing with LSU, Fla, and Ky
As games across the South are either finished, in progress, or scheduled for later, the two standing college football polls, the Associated Press and USA Today/Coaches, currently have several Southeastern Conference schools in their respective Top 25...no surprise here since it's the premier conference in the sport. Three 5-1 teams...LSU, Florida, and Kentucky, are ranked in the "teens": LSU is 13th, Florida 14th, and Kentucky 18th in the AP, while with the coaches it's LSU 12th, Florida 16th, and Kentucky 20th. So all three teams have the same win-loss record. However, Florida beat LSU...so why are they ranked behind them? And Kentucky beat Florida...so why are they likewise ranked worse? This is one of the problems I have with these polls...I remember many years when the Gators would play and defeat Tennessee early in the season...as the season wore on, Florida would play well but usually lose one or two more games, while the Volunteers, ending up with no better a record than Florida, would stack up win after win, ending up ranked higher at the season's end. Is there a built-in prejudice here? Probably in both cases...nowadays LSU is expected to be highly ranked, Florida hasn't cracked the Top Ten in years, and Kentucky has traditionally been identified with the league's doormats. But things have changed, and you might think that the sports journalists and coaches would be up-to-date on them, especially which teams won in head-to-head competition...
By the way, at this writing LSU is beating Georgia 16-0 at halftime, Florida came back from a 21-3 deficit to win over Vanderbilt 37-27, and Kentucky has a bye week. Two weeks from now the Gators face Georgia in Jacksonville...
By the way, at this writing LSU is beating Georgia 16-0 at halftime, Florida came back from a 21-3 deficit to win over Vanderbilt 37-27, and Kentucky has a bye week. Two weeks from now the Gators face Georgia in Jacksonville...
Friday, October 12, 2018
Quote of the Week...from Stephen King
Get certain. Do your job. Vote. ---Stephen King
Often when I present someone's quote on this blog I don't know the context in which he or she is making it. Gladly, this is not the case with Stephen King's quote: he posted it yesterday on Twitter, with a link to a tweet from USA Today that read, "A new survey found that just 35 percent of Americans ages 18-29 are 'absolutely certain' that they will vote in November." King wasn't very happy about that number, consequently his admonition. I, on the other hand, am astounded in a positive sense with it, as I will explain...
As I showed in my Tuesday article this week, the percentage of registered voters aged 18-29 has been utterly dismal for off-year general elections, i.e. elections in even-numbered years when the presidency wasn't being voted on (like 2018). Their voting turnout for 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014 was 18.2%, 20.3%, 20.3%, and 16.3%, respectively. So for registered voters in this age range to rise up to 35% for this coming election is certainly encouraging...but that's not all. The USA Today report expressed 35% of Americans 18-29, not just registered Americans in that group! Maybe they misreported this part, but if even if they did, we may be looking at a lot of surprises on election night, November 6th...
Often when I present someone's quote on this blog I don't know the context in which he or she is making it. Gladly, this is not the case with Stephen King's quote: he posted it yesterday on Twitter, with a link to a tweet from USA Today that read, "A new survey found that just 35 percent of Americans ages 18-29 are 'absolutely certain' that they will vote in November." King wasn't very happy about that number, consequently his admonition. I, on the other hand, am astounded in a positive sense with it, as I will explain...
As I showed in my Tuesday article this week, the percentage of registered voters aged 18-29 has been utterly dismal for off-year general elections, i.e. elections in even-numbered years when the presidency wasn't being voted on (like 2018). Their voting turnout for 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014 was 18.2%, 20.3%, 20.3%, and 16.3%, respectively. So for registered voters in this age range to rise up to 35% for this coming election is certainly encouraging...but that's not all. The USA Today report expressed 35% of Americans 18-29, not just registered Americans in that group! Maybe they misreported this part, but if even if they did, we may be looking at a lot of surprises on election night, November 6th...
Thursday, October 11, 2018
10/7 Sermon on Miracles, Part 5
This past Sunday at The Family Church here in Gainesville, senior pastor Philip Griffin discussed the fifth of seven signs, or miracles, performed by Jesus as revealed in the New Testament Gospel of John. This miracle, in which Jesus revealed himself as "Lord of the Storm" when he walked on water and calmed that storm, is described in John 6: 16-21...click on the passage to read it via Bible Gateway. In introducing this message, Pastor Philip reminded us that these miracles served the purpose of pointing to who Jesus is and what he does...
The severe and dire storm that the disciples endured on their boat in the Sea of Galilee connects with the storms that we experience nowadays in our lives: Jesus is instrumental in both. For storms, as Pastor Philip related, are unavoidable, Jesus comes to us in our storms, and he wants us to trust him to get us through them. Not only weren't the disciples spared from their storm, but Jesus had in fact sent them into it. Pastor Philip speculated that the disciples, during their long ordeal fighting the storm, may have grumbled "this isn't fair" or "why did Jesus lead us here", but at the darkest hour of the night he came to meet them. Jesus likewise comes the closest to us in our own darkest hours. Philip noted that when Jesus reached where the boat was, he began to pass them by...why? Jesus wanted them to call out to him and invite him into their boat and into their situation...this way letting him be Lord of the Storm for them. God's greatest desire is for us to depend on him and trust in him. A lot of us are mad at Jesus and are unwilling to ask him into our boat for different reasons...here are four that our pastor mentioned: "I don't believe he can do anything about the storm", "I'm mad at Jesus for allowing the storm", "I'm proud, so I won't ask for help, and "I think Jesus has given up on me". But on that night on the Sea of Galilee, as Pastor Philip concluded, Jesus changed everything, calming both the storm and his disciples...his presence calms us as well in our storms...
You can watch this week's sermon by clicking on the following link to the church's YouTube video website: [TFC Videos]. The Family Church meets each Sunday morning for the weekly message, praise and worship music, prayer, and fellowship. The people are friendly and there's free coffee offered in the hospitality room before and between services. The series on miracles continues this Sunday...
The severe and dire storm that the disciples endured on their boat in the Sea of Galilee connects with the storms that we experience nowadays in our lives: Jesus is instrumental in both. For storms, as Pastor Philip related, are unavoidable, Jesus comes to us in our storms, and he wants us to trust him to get us through them. Not only weren't the disciples spared from their storm, but Jesus had in fact sent them into it. Pastor Philip speculated that the disciples, during their long ordeal fighting the storm, may have grumbled "this isn't fair" or "why did Jesus lead us here", but at the darkest hour of the night he came to meet them. Jesus likewise comes the closest to us in our own darkest hours. Philip noted that when Jesus reached where the boat was, he began to pass them by...why? Jesus wanted them to call out to him and invite him into their boat and into their situation...this way letting him be Lord of the Storm for them. God's greatest desire is for us to depend on him and trust in him. A lot of us are mad at Jesus and are unwilling to ask him into our boat for different reasons...here are four that our pastor mentioned: "I don't believe he can do anything about the storm", "I'm mad at Jesus for allowing the storm", "I'm proud, so I won't ask for help, and "I think Jesus has given up on me". But on that night on the Sea of Galilee, as Pastor Philip concluded, Jesus changed everything, calming both the storm and his disciples...his presence calms us as well in our storms...
You can watch this week's sermon by clicking on the following link to the church's YouTube video website: [TFC Videos]. The Family Church meets each Sunday morning for the weekly message, praise and worship music, prayer, and fellowship. The people are friendly and there's free coffee offered in the hospitality room before and between services. The series on miracles continues this Sunday...
Wednesday, October 10, 2018
Weekly Short Stories: '39 Sci-Fi, Part 2
This week I continued reading through the science fiction short story anthology Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 1 (1939), which DAW published in paperback in 1979, as I read two more stories: Cloak of Aesir by Don A. Stuart and The Day is Done by Lester del Rey. The former is about humanity's fate in a distant future under the yoke of alien conquerors while the latter goes thousands of years into the past as modern humans witness the end of the Neanderthals, which they supplanted...
Cloak of Aesir is the longest story in the book and may also be the one most loaded down with technical details...it might help you if you're adept at the intricacies of subatomic physics...I'm not. Don A. Stuart is the pen name for John W. Campbell, Jr., the noted long-time editor of the magazine Astounding Science Fiction. The story revolves around an uprising of humans against the planet-wide despotic-but-relatively benevolent rule by the Sarn, a humanoid-like race that conquered Earth in a very destructive war some four thousand years earlier in our late twentieth century. One man has invented a cloak...hence the story's title...that not only shields him from any weapon the Sarn can throw at him, but can also produce its own effects on the occupying enemy through the concept of "negative energy" (referring back to my aforementioned suggestion about subatomic physics). The Sarn leader, a virtually immortal woman (their society is strictly matriarchal), is wise both in tactics of rule both over the humans and her own power-hungry rivals, but four thousand years is a very long time in which her foes can develop their own brilliant secret strategies. How the story develops and ends...well, I'm not going to spoil it for you. I will say this: the ending is worth plowing through all the technical details, much of which was over my head...
Much shorter and more to my liking is Lester del Rey's The Day is Done. This is the writer who, three years later in 1942, would write Nerves, a story about a nuclear reactor meltdown, thirteen years before there was ever such a thing as a nuclear reactor! Del Rey goes back in time and speculates about Hwoogh, the last Neanderthal on Earth. Marginalized and ridiculed but still cared for by the band of Cro-Magnons he lives with, this is what I call a tear-jerker of a tale. Hwoogh has his own memories of life with his kind, and how his world drastically changed with the advent of the "Talkers", which he called the Cro-Magnons. Although it deals with the distant past, there are applications to this story in today's world, in any setting in which people find themselves marginalized and often demeaned and abused by others due to their disability, disfigurement...or even just looking different. I strongly recommend The Day is Done, but you might want to keep a box of Kleenex handy should the tears start flowing...
And onward I march through this book: five stories down, fifteen to go...
Cloak of Aesir is the longest story in the book and may also be the one most loaded down with technical details...it might help you if you're adept at the intricacies of subatomic physics...I'm not. Don A. Stuart is the pen name for John W. Campbell, Jr., the noted long-time editor of the magazine Astounding Science Fiction. The story revolves around an uprising of humans against the planet-wide despotic-but-relatively benevolent rule by the Sarn, a humanoid-like race that conquered Earth in a very destructive war some four thousand years earlier in our late twentieth century. One man has invented a cloak...hence the story's title...that not only shields him from any weapon the Sarn can throw at him, but can also produce its own effects on the occupying enemy through the concept of "negative energy" (referring back to my aforementioned suggestion about subatomic physics). The Sarn leader, a virtually immortal woman (their society is strictly matriarchal), is wise both in tactics of rule both over the humans and her own power-hungry rivals, but four thousand years is a very long time in which her foes can develop their own brilliant secret strategies. How the story develops and ends...well, I'm not going to spoil it for you. I will say this: the ending is worth plowing through all the technical details, much of which was over my head...
Much shorter and more to my liking is Lester del Rey's The Day is Done. This is the writer who, three years later in 1942, would write Nerves, a story about a nuclear reactor meltdown, thirteen years before there was ever such a thing as a nuclear reactor! Del Rey goes back in time and speculates about Hwoogh, the last Neanderthal on Earth. Marginalized and ridiculed but still cared for by the band of Cro-Magnons he lives with, this is what I call a tear-jerker of a tale. Hwoogh has his own memories of life with his kind, and how his world drastically changed with the advent of the "Talkers", which he called the Cro-Magnons. Although it deals with the distant past, there are applications to this story in today's world, in any setting in which people find themselves marginalized and often demeaned and abused by others due to their disability, disfigurement...or even just looking different. I strongly recommend The Day is Done, but you might want to keep a box of Kleenex handy should the tears start flowing...
And onward I march through this book: five stories down, fifteen to go...
Tuesday, October 9, 2018
Tuesday's List: National Voter Turnout Since 2000
I have often berated registered voters for skipping off-year elections, i.e. the general elections in which the presidency is not at stake. Still, the entire U.S. House of Representatives is elected in each of those years as well as one third of the Senate and a high percentage of state governorships...not to mention the many state and local political seats. Your president is not the king: there's a lot more to our republic with its elected representatives on several levels...but if you won't vote in these elections, don't then turn around and complain about the politicians that you allowed OTHERS to elect. I say this in particular to the younger voters, who are notorious as a group for only voting in presidential elections. I'm not picking on today's millennials, either...this apathy among the 18-29 age group consistently goes back many years...
I compiled a list of national voter turnout for general elections in even-numbered years since 2000. With each year I have listed the national voter turnout percentage, the percentage for voters 60 and older, and then the percentage for that group of 18-29. If you're wondering about the voters in the 30-59 age group, their percentages are consistently between the oldest and youngest groups. Florida usually has a higher turnout than the national average by a few percentage points, understandable since it also has a higher percentage of seniors in its population. Here's my list, with the data derived from the United States Election Project website. To make my point as clear as possible, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016 were presidential election years while 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014 were off-year elections. Need I say to my younger friends that the upcoming 2018 general election beckons you to buck the trend and get to the polls this time around? Well, I'm saying it anyway: VOTE!
YEAR NATIONAL 60+ 18-29
2000 55.3 67.3 34.5
2002 40.5 57.1 18.2
2004 60.7 69.7 45.0
2006 41.3 57.6 20.3
2008 62.2 71.0 48.4
2010 41.8 59.0 20.3
2012 58.6 71.2 40.9
2014 36.7 54.9 16.3
2016 60.1 71.4 43.4
2018 ???? ???? ????
I compiled a list of national voter turnout for general elections in even-numbered years since 2000. With each year I have listed the national voter turnout percentage, the percentage for voters 60 and older, and then the percentage for that group of 18-29. If you're wondering about the voters in the 30-59 age group, their percentages are consistently between the oldest and youngest groups. Florida usually has a higher turnout than the national average by a few percentage points, understandable since it also has a higher percentage of seniors in its population. Here's my list, with the data derived from the United States Election Project website. To make my point as clear as possible, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016 were presidential election years while 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014 were off-year elections. Need I say to my younger friends that the upcoming 2018 general election beckons you to buck the trend and get to the polls this time around? Well, I'm saying it anyway: VOTE!
YEAR NATIONAL 60+ 18-29
2000 55.3 67.3 34.5
2002 40.5 57.1 18.2
2004 60.7 69.7 45.0
2006 41.3 57.6 20.3
2008 62.2 71.0 48.4
2010 41.8 59.0 20.3
2012 58.6 71.2 40.9
2014 36.7 54.9 16.3
2016 60.1 71.4 43.4
2018 ???? ???? ????
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