Just Finished Reading A Killer Collection by Ellery Adams

I just finished reading yet another Ellery Adams (pen name of Jennifer Stanley) cozy mystery novel, this one the first in a different series.  The book is titled A Killer Collection and the series, centered around the western North Carolina Blue Ridge Mountains and the folk/craft industry there, is called Antiquities and Collectibles Mysteries.  Delving into this new series may have been a mistake: I couldn't care less about pottery...which was the theme of A Killer Collection...and understood less why anyone on Earth allow themselves to get into a murderous frenzy over collecting it.  Now food...that's another story...maybe I'll return to her Supper Club series for the next book.  Anyway, in this story the protagonist is Molly, a young, single reporter at a local periodical devoted to collectibles.  Her editor/boss is irritating, and she has a coworker she's slowly developing a romance with.  She lives with her mother and their cat...fall asleep yet?  Well, the author goes into a degree of detail describing the pottery creation process...now I'm really sinking into slumber!  The story does pick up at a pottery sale/auction, an event where everyone seems to go a little berserk as they claim different pottery pieces to buy.  One of them is the wealthiest collector in the area, known for his rudeness and arrogance...guess who ends up dead?  And the mystery is on.  One thing I like about these cozy mysteries is that, if one book doesn't resonate with me, it's short enough for me to finish and then consider whether it was just that book or the theme of the series.  To me, A Killer Collection is a good story...I just don't give much of a hoot about pottery or folk art in general...

Ran Gainesville's Depot Parkrun 5K This Morning

One of my "atomic" habits I'm trying to instill is to get up earlier in the day.  One big reason for this is that most running races are held on Saturday mornings, usually around 7-9.  I have missed quite a few of them since resuming regular running in 2007, so getting up at 6 am today was for me a big accomplishment...of course, having the previous night off as I begin a week's vacation didn't hurt!  I took advantage of my early rising to run, for the eleventh time, in Gainesville's free weekly 5K race, held Saturday mornings at 7:30 in beautiful Depot Park, just a few blocks south of downtown.  Although the humidity was high, the temperature was pleasantly in the upper 50s...and the runners and walkers were exuberant and positive, spanning from childhood to old age and looking like a sampling from the United Nations: awesome!  I was trying out my Nike Air Monarch shoes, the brand I wore in several races a few years ago including a number of half-marathons...my feet had been hurting in recent races when I wore lighter shoes, and I wanted more padding, even if it meant the shoes were heavier.  So, I planned to go slowly today, picking 36 minutes as a reasonable finishing time.  Although being at the back of the crowd (it took me some twenty seconds just to reach the starting line) and I deliberately went super-slow at the beginning, I managed to finish with a time of 34:02, definitely far from my fastest but better than expected.  I'm happy to report that these shoes worked well...my feet are definitely grateful!  Even though I may not run in this event on a weekly basis, I do think it would be beneficial for me, as a matter of habit, to get up early on Saturday mornings in the future since I already have a 3.3 mile running course laid out through my neighborhood.  You can see today's Depot Parkrun 5K race results by clicking HERE...

Quote of the Week...from Steve Jobs

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.  Don't be trapped by dogma...which is living with the results of other people's thinking.                                           ---Steve Jobs

Just a couple of Fridays ago I quoted the late Steve Jobs. The late cofounder of Apple had some pretty profound things to say.  I dare say that most of us do as well, if as Jobs has suggested, we listen to our own inner voices and not allow the noise of others and their dogma drown out our own capacity for independent, realistic and positive thought.  I don't need a religious guru, political radio/TV commentator, or narcissistic business tycoon/politico to regale me with their spin on things, as if I can't figure it out for myself.  The problem, though, in this age when we can almost instantly have vast amounts of information on our smartphones...including news of the world, our country and localities...is that bias and dogma are now pervasively inherent in even the selection by various news sources as to what is reported (and what isn't), with that undesirable, underlying dogma often just in the background, out of sight.  Bill O'Reilly once had a show on FoxNews called the No-Spin Zone, but he himself was one of the worst ever spinners of information to custom-fit his own dogma.  It's only too easy in these days to hear or read a particular news story and get carried away with it...before my rational mind filters it all through what I already know to be true, and to discern what the sources and their motivations might be behind its telling.  Figuring out the news has gotten a lot more complicated...

The Opera Scene from the Movie Hannibal

Have you ever been to Florence, Italy? I haven't, and I'm not sure whether what I've seen in a certain major movie is really that northern Italian city or a reasonable facsimile thereof.  I was similarly fooled when I thought the principals in the 1959 Alfred Hitchcock thriller North by Northwest were actually traipsing about on the carved presidential heads at Mount Rushmore, but no, the movie shots were cleverly made around artificially constructed models in the studio.  I say all this because, having recently seen the 2001 thriller Hannibal, follow-up to the acclaimed Silence of the Lambs with Anthony Hopkins portraying erudite and cultured cannibalistic serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter, there is a two-minute scene (at 1:02-1:04) in which Hopkins' character is seated in an outdoors theater watching a wonderful operatic performance.  I was curious as to which centuries-old work it was and, to my astonishment after looking it up, discovered that the opera itself was imaginary and that what I saw was only a "libretto" titled Vide Cor Meum (See My Heart) based on a poem by philosopher Dante Alighieri and composed solely for the movie by Patrick Cassidy.  You may not go for the horror genre in film, especially the kind that shows gore and extreme violence like this one.  But this two-minute segment is almost magical in its otherworldliness, and also captures the building suspenseful conflict between Lecter and Italian police inspector Rinaldo Pazzi, played by Giancarlo Giannini, as the two exchange dueling stares in the midst of the performance.  I have noticed that I have a tendency, when rewatching movies I like, to fast-forward to the most appealing scenes. This one, very brief scene from an admittedly disturbing movie, to me, is one of those unforgettable, all-time greats.  You can hear the extended version of the piece by searching on YouTube.  I come away from this particular experience with a greater appreciation...as well as some apprehension...as to how expertly done media can influence my thoughts and emotions, this time for the better.  As for Hannibal, it all focuses down to a spectacular two-minute interlude.  Makes me want to visit Florence...or a reasonable facsimile thereof...

Weekly Short Stories: 1989 Science Fiction, Part 8

Today I finish my look at the year 1989 in short science fiction as it appeared in the Gardner Dozois anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction: Seventh Annual Collection.  I have enjoyed reading through these stories, although it's very clear how much better some are than others.  A lot of it, as far as I am concerned, has to do with whether the author lays out a clear narrative in plain language or tries to be "literary" or "cute" and muddle up the narrative enough to where the reader spends too much time and effort just trying to figure out what's going on.  There's a good mix of these two extremes with the following four stories...

JUST ANOTHER PERFECT DAY by John Varley

A victim of a motorcycle accident in 1989 now suffers from a short-term memory impairment that has him forgetting the previous day's events upon falling asleep, having to start all over again each time.  He wakes up again and encounters a note he wrote to himself to guide and inform him along his clean-slate new day, and there's some disquieting "new" news...

THE LOCH MOOSE MONSTER by Janet Kagan

A quirky little yarn about settlers on a distant world where scientists can seed...through plants...different forms of genetically modified animal life.  There's rumored to be a mysterious, monstrous creature in a lake, but from the title you might guess what form it takes...

THE ODD OLD BIRD by Avram Davidson

This story of Archaeopteryx, the first bird...being discovered in the present, or at least a couple of centuries ago, seemed strangely derivative to me, to the point where I accurately anticipated the punchline ending as it were all a twisted joke to be slowly revealed.  These kinds of stories either work or not...knowing in advance how it would end kind of ruined it for me since I read something very similar in a previous anthology...

GREAT WORK OF TIME by John Crowley

Crowley takes time travel fiction to its frustrating and paradoxical extremes in this novella as a man is caught time-traveling between the years 1983 and 1883, while a secret organization whose aim is to prevent the collapse of the British Empire takes advantage of the time machine to subtly manipulate history, using the protagonist as point man to effect the most pivotal change of all.  But there is a grave cost to all this tinkering with time, causing me to wonder whether Stephen King read this story and may have used some of its ideas in his great 2011 novel 11/22/63, although he claims he first thought of the story back in 1971: maybe King has a time machine, too...

Next time (I plan to a week off from this blog) I move on to the year 1990 as I continue to discuss science fiction short stories...

Some Stuff about Facebook

First of all, before I go further, I deeply appreciate you readers of this blog, all of you.  Chances are very strong that you access it from Facebook, where I post my (usually) daily entries.  But I have to admit that I'm not very enamored with Mark Zuckerberg's social media site, since it is largely there for people to bond with one another and establish social pecking orders.  For me, I'm more like the Goth Kids in South Park who say screw the established order...we're going our own way and if you don't like it, too bad.  I had a friend request the other day, not an uncommon occurrence but still annoying, since the overwhelming number of my Facebook "friends" are people who, although connected with me in some way, I have never even had a simple pleasant conversation with.  Yet to Facebook they are "friends".  You don't have to interact in person to have a conversation...I value those who have taken a few moments of their lives to type in a comment to one of my posts...or even hit one of "like" icons.  Anyway, this young man who friend-requested me is someone I've never met but seems to have some affiliation with the church I used to attend...or at least organized Christianity.  I checked out his posts before responding and he is heavy on both Bible verses and subscribing to far-right-wing political propaganda, including bashing in a hatefully personal way Anthony Fauci, the epidemiologist who spearheaded the fight against COVID-19 in cooperation with Presidents Trump and Biden.  Worshipping the two gods of Religion and Politics may seem for some to be totally compatible...and it's true that if you're into some of the homegrown paramilitary groups flourishing here in America, the fusion of the two into one mega-god to idolize might sound alluring.  My take is simple: restrict your automatic acceptance of things requiring faith to that faith which you have adopted, and keep a skeptical eye on the other stuff that you (and I) are being constantly deluged with in this scam-filled digital media age...

Podcaster's Suggestions for Manifesting One's Desired Future

On one of last week's Mindset Mentor podcasts, personal development coach Rob Dial discussed a subject he's covered a number of times before: manifesting your future.  He is a strong believer that people can become who they want to become...within the obvious limits of physics and biology, of course...if they assiduously follow the necessary steps: he lays out three, although I'm breaking down the "first" step into two.  One, you need to know what it is you want to achieve and/or become, and in as great a detail as possible.  Lots of folks get tripped up here...they really don't have a clue about where they want to go.  Two...and this is where a lot of skeptical, analytical people might find objections...is to believe with no hint of failure that what you're after is already a done deal: you just have to live it out and that there is no reality in which your aims are not fulfilled.  Three, you must make a plan, a strategy...again, in as much detail as possible, to go about daily working toward success.  Finally, none of the first three is possible without taking action: execution, on a consistent basis in accordance with your plans and directed at who you want to become, completes the picture.  Sounds simple, but if anyone...including myself...wants to throw cold water on this algorithm of Dial's, I think they should strictly follow the steps as he has outlined before doing so.  Just speaking for me alone, I can look back at numerous times I've undertaken projects for self-improvement and can confidently say that for those times I fell short, I was also falling short on at least one...and usually more...of the podcaster's suggested steps...

Not a Fan of DeSantis, But At Least He's Not Trump

The other day, a friend of mine from work Facebook-messaged me about a supposed bill a Florida legislator is filing which stipulates that any blogger who mentions Governor Ron DeSantis would have to be registered, whatever that's supposed to mean.  I replied that this sounded like the last Harry Potter book, The Deathly Hallows, in which anyone simply saying out loud the Dark Lord's name, Voldemort, would instantly prompt a visit from his Death Eaters.  Maybe if this legislation...and I can't imagine anyone to regard it as anything more than a foolish political stunt...passes, I'll just say "Voldemort" when referring to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named instead. But that's the Internet for you and, for all I know, this is just a hoax.  I've found that, although DeSantis has been heavy-handed with his decrees and criticisms in various areas, most particularly his conveniently one-sided interpretation of "woke" culture, his interference with university and public school curricula, his callousness in busing undocumented immigrants to out-of-state "sanctuary cities" and opposition to effective public health measures to prevent the spread of Covid, I never detected in him the narcissistic hypersensitivity to criticism that is so characteristic of his former political ally and now presidential rival, Donald Trump. In fact, DeSantis has always been politically savvy enough to recognize that it comes with the job to expect criticism from those in the opposition Democratic Party...it's the Trump wing of his own party that seems to be beside themselves with irrational anger and hatred toward the governor in spite of his attempts to appeal to the basest elements of that base.  For the last election, I switched my party affiliation to Republican in order to help to nominate principled conservatives who believe in respecting election results. DeSantis, although some may not like the new more restrictive voter/election law he signed, has not been an active participant in the election denial lunacy we saw after Joe Biden was legitimately elected U.S. president over sore loser denier Donald Trump, and unlike the former president he has shown a sense of responsibility when dealing with hurricane threats, displaying a spirit of bipartisan cooperation with our current Democratic president.  Also, I have never heard DeSantis speak ill of Trump, although the reverse is plainly true. Were the Republican Primary for president held today with Ron DeSantis on the ballot, I would vote against Trump and for DeSantis in a heartbeat. Our governor bravely served our country in the military and is articulate and persuasive, educated and well-informed on a number of issues...can't say any of this about the Orange Man. Although I have never voted for DeSantis in his two gubernatorial races and likely wouldn't support him nationally in a general election, at least I can see him, if eventually elected, as a serious president seeking to do America's bidding (although I may many times disagree with him) and, unlike Trump, not holding everything and everyone hostage, including our country's best interests, to his own ego gratification. As far as whom you and everybody else support or oppose, I guess that's your own business to figure out: be my guest and vote (or not vote) however it suits you...I never endorse or campaign for (or against) anyone, just expressing my opinions on the subject every now and then...

Checking Out This Year's March Madness in NCAA Basketball

From time to time over the years...starting with the improbable run by Jacksonville University in 1970 to the NCAA championship finals against UCLA, I have followed in a sporadic way men's college basketball.  Perhaps my most intense season was in 1983 when I had a lot of free time on my hands and spent an enormous amount of time watching college hoops on TV...especially games in the Atlantic Coast Conference.  That was when super-teams like Michael Jordan's North Carolina Tarheels, Ralph Sampson's Virginia Cavaliers and Hakeem Abdul Olajuwon's independent Houston Cougars were surpassed at the end by the Cinderella North Carolina State Wolfpack, coached by the indefatigable Jim Valvano...never seen anything like that again.  I enjoyed the rise in stature of my hometown Florida Gators in later years under coaches Lon Kruger and Billy Donovan...those back-to-back championship seasons in 2006 and 2007 were incredible.  Of late, my interest has waned...probably at its lowest when the March Madness tournament in 2020 was cancelled because of the COVID-19 outbreak.  Today I switched my TV back and forth watching a number of games as the regular season is coming to an end before conference championship tournaments begin next week...that's already happening on the women's side.  Florida most likely will not be going to the NCAA tournament this year with a 16-15 overall record, but they showed me why they, under first year coach Todd Golden, should at least get a bid in the second-tier NIT.   I haven't been keeping up with this season, but I have a few days to catch up before the bids for the 68-team field in the NCAA tournament are presented.  And then the fun begins with the brackets...

Quote of the Week...from Barack Obama

This idea of purity, and you're never compromised, and you're always politically "woke" and all that stuff, you should get over that quickly.  The world is messy; there are ambiguities. People who do really good stuff have flaws.  People who you are fighting, may love their kids and, you know, share certain things with you. There is this sense sometimes of: "The way of me making change is to be as judgmental as possible about other people, and that's enough." ...That's not activism.  That's not bringing about change.  If all you're doing is casting stones, you're probably not going to get that far.  That is easy to do.

                     ---Barack Obama

I haven't always agreed with our 44th President, but regarding "woke" culture, I think he pretty much said it all in this excerpt from a 2019 speech.  The only thing I feel the need to add is that when folks say "woke" in this context they are almost exclusively referring to the political left and liberals.  I, on the other hand, think there is an equally oppressive "woke" culture on the political right, one that allows for no dissent when it comes to their pet issues such as opposing: gun regulation, masking, vaccines and social distancing during the COVID crisis, kneeling before sporting events, reproductive rights, respecting sexual preference and identity, while obsessing on the border...and other issues. The tribalism of ideology is dividing our society as never before...if you don't mind, I'd like to just be able to be myself, warts and all, and let the chips fall where they may...and from my perspective, so can you! Pick your poison if you want to go down either the left or right politically correct road and be as smug as you want about how virtuous you are: but people need to feel free to express themselves without clowns coming down on them for using the "wrong" pronoun or expressing the "wrong" opinion.  

Just Finished Reading Chili con Corpses by Ellery Adams

If you're thinking about the title of the book I'm about to discuss, I wonder if you, like myself, see it as both grotesque and funny...I keep thinking about that old South Park episode Scott Tenorman Must Die.  Chili con Corpses is the third volume in Ellery Adams' (pen name of Jennifer Stanley) Supper Club cozy mystery series, set in the imaginary western Virgina town of Quincy's Gap.  The principals are all there again, including the protagonist James Henry, a pudgy divorced ex-college literature professor who has settled down in the area as the head of the public library.  He and four others are trying to lose weight and control their eating habits, having formed in the first book the Supper Club, more informally known among themselves as the "Flab Five"...this series is definitely not sensitive about "body shaming".  In this episode, James and Club member Lucy are in a romantic relationship, but there are serious disagreements between the two...seems like a broken record with them.  Two gorgeous young women, twins, are introduced to the group and instantly provoke jealously with their looks.  On a school field trip to a nearby cave, a murder occurs that involves them...that's all I'll say in case you want to read it.  As for the title, you South Park viewers will be relieved to know that there are no corpses in the chili.  Instead, the cuisine of this story is Mexican based, and what sounds like an excellent recipe for chili is given out...I for one happen to love chili, especially in winter and with a lot of shredded cheese on top.  The stories in this series aren't all that deep, but the writing is simple enough...an underrated talent in my opinion...and you really do get to know the characters, always a plus for me.  Still, I'm heading over to a different Ellery Adams mystery series, this one about antiques and collectibles...

Weekly Short Stories: 1989 Science Fiction, Part 7

Once again here we are, discussing more science fiction short stories from 1989 as they appeared in the lengthy Gardner Dozois anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction, Seventh Annual Collection.  I would be remiss leaving that year before mentioning the terrible "World Series" earthquake, at a scale of 6.9, which happened right in the middle of a game between the San Francisco Giants and Oakland A's.  Thousands were injured and 63 died during this strongest quake to hit central California since the devastating one in 1906. Now let's check out some more of the stories from '89...

THE THIRD SEX by Alan Brennert

A person is born with no sexual organs, male or female, and as such lives within society dancing between the two roles since no viable alternate is available.  A real commentary on how people, even in our own so-called "enlightened" times, still irrationally obsess in a judgmental way about sexual identity and preferences.  Intriguing tale...

WINTER ON THE BELLE-FOURCHE by Neal Barrett, Jr.

A white American westerner in the nineteenth century talks tough as he tracks out the land in the wild cold but is sensitive to his adoptive environment and the natives dwelling there. Then comes a young white woman with a name we should all know.  Their encounter provides us with an alternative explanation for her eventual greatness...

ENTER A SOLDIER. LATER: ENTER ANOTHER by Robert Silverberg

Two great figures from world history are recreated in essence on a miniature level for the hotshots in our future to study...how Genghis Khan and Socrates interact surprises all...

RELATIONSHIPS by Robert Sampson

A lonely middle-aged man, unlucky in love, one day discovers that he can recreate...temporarily...women from his past.  Since they continue to reject him, this doesn't do him much good until...

Next week I conclude my look at the year 1989 in the subgenre of short science fiction...

My February 2023 Running and Walking Report

A few days ago, I strained my back a little while playing "double soccer" with my 40-pound mixed breed puppy Daisy in the back yard...I was losing my balance and instinctively jerked my back in a probably unwise way to keep it.  But I've kept myself functional and active over the past few weeks, still available for races although a confluence of factors has seemed to impede me from this.  The main running race I wanted to participate in during February was the Florida Track Club's Micanopy Ten-Miler on Saturday morning of the 11th.  Unfortunately, not only do I get off from work late Friday nights, but they had forecast 90% chance of rain with thunderstorms for the entire Saturday morning in question.  I had signed up for it but as a FTC member was spared an entry fee, so Friday night I decided to skip the race.  I woke up the next morning and discovered it wasn't storming after all...I felt bummed out from the faulty forecasting.  I ran the same event in March of 2022 and had wanted to establish a tradition with it.  And although here in Gainesville we're blessed with a free 5K race (the Deport Parkrun) every Saturday morning, I just never got around this month to pulling my sleepy body out of bed to get out there by race time at 7:30.  Still, I've been consistently running at home and walking, keeping myself in shape. As for March, on the 25th there is the annual Trail of Payne 10K run that's in Paynes Prairie south of Gainesville...I've always managed to avoid it over the years and, of course, it's on a Saturday morning.  Looks like I'll have to change my sleeping and waking times if I ever want to run another race...and I'm now more than a little skeptical of my local weather forecasts. I'm looking a bit ahead to April 8th when there will be yet another half-marathon held from Hawthorne, going down the same Hawthorne Trail stretch I ran in another half-marathon on January 15th.  What I would like is to get into the habit of running at least one public race per month, even if it is only the 5K Parkrun...but preferably a longer event...

YouTube an Interesting Site for Exploring

Right now, on my television (in Roku mode) is a YouTube video, three hours forty-three minutes in length, from the viewpoint of someone running the Boston Marathon...and man, the weather on this date is awful!  Rain, obvious cold, slick roads...not exactly my choice for running a race, but definitely interesting to watch.  Of late I have been exploring what's available on YouTube and have been pleasantly surprised.  Although audiobooks and movies seem to be largely available only at a premium, the "free" version of this site contains an incredible selection of video types to watch.  If you want to learn anything in an academic setting without the twin traumas of exams and tuition, you can attend high quality classes online in just about any subject you want...I'm partial to the college mathematics material and my current favorite teacher is "Professor Leonard", who has an excellent teaching style, not skipping steps and showing the kind of respect toward the students I found uncommon in my own experience going to school.  His courses span college curricula from algebra review to precalculus to three levels of calculus to differential equations to statistics.  I had hoped he taught linear algebra, but alas, that's not to be...but there are other resources for that.  I also like foreign language listening practice videos...Kendra puts out some good ones in the more known languages.  When I was recliner-bound, recovering at home from my open-heart surgery in 2021, I liked to watch coffee shop videos that would go on for hours...just empty shops with hot, steaming coffee cups in different tables with usually some piano or light jazz in the background.  Lately I've noticed a plethora of "study with me" videos, usually of college students either doing their assignments (mostly on computer) at home or in public places like Starbucks (my preference).  I also have enjoyed going on various roller coaster rides vicariously on YouTube...my favorites are the rides at Tampa's Busch Gardens like Montu and Kumba...and some of the newer ones I've yet to go on.  I've always regarded Montu as the "Cadillac of Coasters" and have ridden it in the "real world" some 27 times...unfortunately I've read that Kumba (rode it 22 times) may soon be disassembled to make way for future attractions at the park...still, I'll have the YouTube experience to fall back on, I suppose. I've only begun to scratch the surface of what is available on this fascinating medium. I just turned around to see what's going on in the marathon: there are some blue patches in the sky around the 27-minute mark, but they're all still far from downtown Boston on the course, although they're no longer way out in the boonies where the race began...

This Winter Ridiculously Warm Here in Northern Florida

It's hard to imagine that we're still in the middle of the winter as February winds to a close with daytime temperatures in the upper 80s day after day...ugh.  I would have thought that we'd be seeing temperatures dipping in the 40s at night with highs in the 70s...but no, this 2023 winter has got to be the record-setting warmest, at least in my memory, for northern Florida.  Of course, I grew up in South Florida, living throughout childhood without any air conditioning at home, so I'm at least a little conditioned to stifling heat...but now I can find refuge indoors with the AC cranked up to high.  I was watching the Weather Channel this morning...they were deploring what they (and they alone) were calling "Winter Storm Piper" as it made its way with snow and icy conditions across Wisconsin, headed toward Michigan.  It's funny: I had all my winter clothing ready to go in anticipation of getting at least some use, which mostly now involves throwing on a light sweater when the house gets just a little too chilled.  I hope this all doesn't portend a record breaking hot summer...

Just Finished Reading "And In the End" by Ken McNab

And In the End is a 2020 book by Ken McNab describing the turmoil-filled year of 1969 for the British band the Beatles, a year that led to their breakup.   I just finished reading it and thought the author, a journalist from Scotland, did an excellent job treating the subject from the viewpoints of not only Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, but also from others who were around them at that crucial time.  After the drug overdose death of their manager Brian Epstein in 1967, the Beatles were directionless and helpless regarding their financial and legal matters.  Creating Apple Records as a new way to bring in and promote new talent, they soon discovered that their project was speeding them toward bankruptcy.  The fact that the British tax laws meant that they were losing some 90% of their income to the government didn't help, as was also the fact that although John, Paul and George wrote by far most of their own music, they did not own majority ownership rights to the songs and only derived a percentage of the royalties.  Epstein's death and Apple's financial troubles prompted Lennon in a January 1969 news conference to declare how badly the band's finances were...prompting successful American music promoter and manager Allen Klein, already known for his work with groups like the Rolling Stones and Animals, to quickly meet with Lennon and his soon-to-be wife Yoko Ono: not only did Klein impress the two, but Lennon convinced Harrison and Starr to join him in hiring Klein as the Beatles' manager.  But Paul McCartney was skeptical at the start of Klein and thought him to be engaged in shady practices...he wanted his fiancée Linda's father John Eastman to take charge as band manager.  This split between McCartney and the other three Beatles, along with several other negative incidents over the course of the year, including Harrison's angry departure from the band only a week after beginning recording for a new album in January and several difficult business meetings, eventually culminated...despite the band's having recorded two excellent, memorable albums (Let it Be and Abbey Road)...in their breakup.  Without reproducing the book in its entirety, let me instead provide my own insights. For one, each of the Beatles had their own personal lives, loves, and interests. These tended to draw them apart from each other.  The money and song ownership issues cast a gloom over their whole Beatles enterprise, to which they had devoted themselves so much for their entire adult lives...they were worn out from it all.  But to me, the glaring problem that accelerated their demise was the faulty notion...probably held more by Paul than the others...that they were under some sort of time pressure to constantly stay busy coming out with new material.  Looking back from today's era when it's an accomplishment for musical acts to space their albums out by two or three years, the frantic pace of the Beatles in the sixties seems almost insane. If anything, these guys seriously needed a break from it all and to chill out!  Ironically, they had just signed a contract in September of '69 that would have accorded them that breathing room when John, reacting to Paul's suggestion that they go on the road performing at small venues, retorted that he was leaving the band.  Had they managed to stay together, I'm sure their music would have been a lot different, and I regret that we missed out on a lot of potentially great songs because of their breakup.  The supreme irony, I think, is that after Lennon's outburst at McCartney, the band did end up going on an extended break...after which the latter announced the end of the Beatles in April of 1970.  If you're interested in the history of rock music, or maybe just liked the Beatles and some of their songs, this is a good book that captures the personalities and viewpoints of the principals involved in the closing of their illustrious, long collaboration...

Quote of the Week...from Steve Jobs

Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice.            ---Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs (1955-2011) co-founded Apple and led the company as a pioneer in the new digital information age.  I never did go for the Apple line of products...probably my loss. Since today is Jobs' birthday, I decided to check out some of his quotes...he's got a lot of good ones, but I settled on the one above.  Whether you're a leader or just some ordinary "Bill" like me getting through life, each day carries with it a multitude of choices, decisions that sometimes have a trivial nature, but often can change the direction of your life in a profound way.  I have to be centered on my own thinking process and have enough confidence to make those decisions, at times acknowledging that I might be in error but never going against my strongest convictions just to fit in with others who convey a more aggressive manner to express their opinions.  I'm a big fan of the Desiderata line "Avoid loud and aggressive people, they are vexatious to the spirit".   That doesn't mean I feel the need to pick an argument with those I disagree with, but I've long grown past the time when I gave a hoot about what the background of other people thought of me...at least beyond a certain point.  Each of us has to chart our own course according to the values we individually hold dear.  But that doesn't not mean forsaking community and close relationships: it does mean establishing in an honest way who we really are to those we care for and love the most...which is actually a way to demonstrate deep respect for them.  Of course, if you're a complete lowlife jerk, it might behoove you to forget what Jobs said and listen for a change to those other opinions...

Podcaster's Notions about Gut Feelings Interesting but Possibly Flawed

On a recent Mindset Mentor podcast of his, personal development coach Rob Dial discusses his opinions about intuition, more specifically what he terms "gut feelings", in making decisions about others and situations.  Announcing that it was science, he claims that we all have a separate nervous system from our brain-controlled Central Nervous System (CNS): the Enteric Nervous System (ENS), that exists with more than 500 million neurons within the walls of our digestive system.  This much I go along with...Michael Gershon discovered the ENS in the late nineties, according to Dial.  What I do have difficulty automatically accepting is Dial's notion that connects the ENS, or "second brain" as Gerson terms it, with the idiomatic expressions "gut feeling" and "butterflies in stomach" as if it's giving me independent information.  Dial goes further and says that the ENS, unlike the brain which often focuses on the future and past, is wholly rooted in the present and makes itself known through feelings.  The part of his show that I did get was that we shouldn't carelessly dismiss those feelings and signals...regardless from where in our bodies they arose.  If you want to believe that you're a multiplicity of thinking systems, go for it...I tend to think that it's a lot more complicated and interrelated (and interdependent) than that.  Rob Dial is good in his "lane" of self-improvement advice and coaching, but he's not a scientist...neither am I.  Just because he or I may have learned a little about something doesn't qualify either of us from going downtown with it and attributing special narratives where they haven't been shown to apply...

Weekly Short Stories: 1989 Science Fiction, Part 6

Here are four more selections of 1989 science fiction short stories I'm reviewing from the late Gardner Dozois' anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction, Seventh Annual Collection.  Let's see, back at that time I was working at the Gainesville Post Office Downtown Station mail processing facility, on the graveyard shift keying letters on the letter sorting machine (LSM) and then later switching over to the newly installed flat sorting machine (FSM) for magazines and mail of that size.  While doing this I would listen to music on my Sony Walkman. My "Song of the Year"? Handle With Care by the star-studded supergroup Traveling Wilburys, with Sowing the Seeds of Love by Tears for Fears a close second.  But back to those stories...

LOTTERY NIGHT by S.P. Somtow

In Thailand a family feels it needs to win the local lottery to keep their financial heads above water. The son teams up with a friend to visit a nearby graveyard where his great aunt's ghost just might cough up the winning number for him.  Full of Thai culture, ancestor worship, Buddhism and superstitions...maybe not so much science fiction, although entertaining...

A DEEPER SEA by Alexander Jablokov

In a future Earth, whales and dolphins have achieved civil rights with the human community, even to the point of becoming space explorers, their bodies modified and shielded as they become essentially cyborgs in space and on environmentally hostile worlds. A Russian scientist familiar with them has to make grave decisions of conscience as he confronts his past abuse of these highly intelligent mammals during wartime...

THE EDGE OF THE WORLD by Michael Swanwick

On an alternative Earth, the world abruptly ends somewhere in the Middle East. Three American teens whose parents are stationed there during tense times decide to go down the often-treacherous steps over the steep cliff and edge.  In the process they reveal their true selves to one another...quite a chilling ending that reminded me of the Twilight Zone episode And When the Sky Was Opened...

SILVER LADY AND THE FORTYISH MAN by Megan Lindholm

In today's time a young woman, a would-be professional writer, tries against hope to keep up with her bills while working underpaid in a big city department store.  One evening an ordinary-looking "fortyish" man enters and ultimately reveals himself to be Merlin.   This is a very funny story, full of odd, awkward predicaments, and should capture the hearts of anyone who has a writer's block and is struggling to make it in the literary world...

Next week I conclude my look at 1989 science fiction short stories...

Constellations of the Month: Canis Minor and Monoceros

I had originally intended to just make Canis Minor ("Little Dog" in Latin) my "constellation of the month" for February, but since, as you can see, it's only represented on star maps by two stars connected together: I thought that might be a little boring.  So, I added Monoceros (supposedly representing a Unicorn), sandwiched between Canis Minor and, to the south, Canis Major.  Monoceros is basically a sector of the night sky marked by dim stars...good luck making it out in the city.  But both stars in the Little Dog are easily visible, and Procyon is a bright, first-magnitude star, a nearby one only some 11 light years away (just 67.4 trillion miles!).  The drawing of Monoceros connects the faint stars to resemble a unicorn...just barely, but none of its stars are brighter than fourth magnitude. The Rosette Nebula is in its "head", at 6.0 magnitude just barely visible to the unaided eye if there are no earthbound lights to interfere with viewing.  There is also a Messier object in the constellation's south part, M50, which is a star cluster. Out of this whole picture I am used to easily finding Procyon against the background patterns of other constellations, most notably Gemini to the north, Orion to the west and Canis Major (with Sirius, the night sky's brightest star) to the south.  Next week I'll try out figure out another constellation (or two) to discuss...