Constellation of the Month: Crux (the Southern Cross)

Crux is a striking little constellation in the celestial southern hemisphere...if you're located in a southern-enough latitude to be able to see it, that is.  I have lived most of my live in Florida, which if you happen to be in the Keys or southern Dade County is just far enough south to see Crux barely scrape the southern horizon at its apex.  Perhaps from my old house where I grew up at 26 degrees North latitude, I might have been able to see it were it not for the trees and city lights obstructing my view.  No, instead it wouldn't be until 2 AM on our cruise ship in February 2020 when it was near the Virgin Islands that I (and Melissa) saw it for our first time looking out at the beautiful seas over the rails...pretty romantic, right?  Yet I could accurately draw this constellation and its position in the sky ever since 1964, when I was first introduced to it at seven years age. The four brightest stars, two of them first-magnitude, can form either a cross if you connect just the opposite ones, or a rough diamond if you connect the adjacent ones...the former pattern is what stuck through the ages. The Coal Sack Nebula occupies a large part of Crux, along with parts of adjacent Centaurus and Musca...it's reported to be a very visible "dark" patch in the already dark sky, if you can wrap your head around that.  Anyway, someday I'd like to be south enough on a clear night to be able to clearly make out Crux...along with the many other southern celestial constellations I've known of for decades. I call Crux my "constellation of the month" for this May because it is during this month that it crosses the Meridian during the mid-evening hours...even though my only time seeing it was that February in the early morning hours. Next month I'll pick another constellation to discuss...  

"Stepping Out" Today into Long, Brisk Walking

This morning I skipped Gainesville's Depot Parkrun 5K, which I had participated in for the previous three weeks in a row...I don't think I had ever raced for three straight weeks.  Instead, this morning I ran indoors to the NYC Marathon on YouTube and, just now, went out on a brisk 3.2 mile walk in my neighborhood as the storm clouds with their thunder and lightning quickly gathered to threaten my excursion's last mile or so.  I like working out indoors and also appreciate that here in Gainesville we have a Parkrun (check their website HERE to see if they have one in your area), but I miss getting out on my old neighborhood courses as well.  Since I have the Runkeeper app on my phone, I can pretty much walk anywhere and at any time...no need to change clothes, either, as I would if going out on a jog.  As the northern Florida weather deteriorates over the rest of spring and through the summer with scorching temperatures well into the nineties, I think long, fast walks are going to be the theme in my exercising for 2023.  I even plan to do pure walks during some of my future Depot Parkrun races, with two sets of personal records there to work on: one for running, and one for walking...

Quote of the Week...from Yogi Berra

It was impossible to get a conversation going...everyone was talking too much.           ---Yogi Berra

Yogi Berra was the great Hall of Fame catcher for the New York Yankees, known for his many funny sayings that seem to contradict themselves...with the above quote this seems to be an example, at least on the surface.  For it would seem that this is what a conversation is...people talking to each other, right?  The other day my TV unexpectedly found itself tuned in to the Dr. Phil show and, as usual, he was doing his best to manipulate the emotions of his viewers by having on guests with diametrically opposed views on a hot-button issue.  They never did have what I would normally call a conversation, that is the two sides patiently alternating between listening to the other and speaking.  No, each side had their own rock-hard position, and they not only would refuse to consider the other's viewpoint but also seemed determined to prevent it from being expressed, with continual interruptions as it all degenerated into a shouting match...of course with the "good" doctor playing the phony role of neutral intermediary when he in fact was the one who instigated it all.  But you don't have to be on a reality/exploitation show to see that folks in general have problems with simple conversation, rarely ever changing their views on anything and viewing such a change as a sign of personal weakness with their standing in relation to the other side in jeopardy of diminishing.  Conversation isn't just talking...it's also listening, and doing so in an empathetic way so that although the speaker might not say everything you agree with, you can at least see where they're coming from and demonstrate this in your reply instead of "doubling down", a trend that is sadly on the rise...

Funny French Running Race Goes Through Buildings and Tight Spaces

I've been watching YouTube of late with their many virtual treadmill running videos made by folks participating in various races across the USA and world.  The other day I came across a very funny one, 9 KM Inside The Race For Treadmill/ A la Décourverte de Dinard...click HERE to view this 55-minute piece (while it's still up).  It's a 5.4-mile race in Dinard, a coastal town in Brittany, northwestern France.  Runners start on a beach and then brush by onlookers and others just going about their daily business as they go upstairs and downstairs, around narrow walkways and even through schools, hotels and other buildings in very close quarters in perhaps the most convoluted, maze-like course ever devised.  You really get to know the town from the inside...looks like the actual people living there were completely caught off guard by the event!  I can't see doing this at home...here in Gainesville everything is separated too much: maybe we could have an on-campus University of Florida run involving running through various buildings, including the Reitz Student Union and Library West. Shands Hospital would probably be inappropriate.  I already did something a little similar during the old Five Points of Life half-marathon when we'd make a detour through the Gators' football stadium...a lot of fun, but in an event like the French one I just saw on YouTube requires a lot of volunteers standing at numerous strategic points to direct the runners and separate them from the rest of the poor perplexed souls who are just out there minding their own business...

Weekly Short Stories: 1991 Science Fiction, Part 1

Today I'm starting on a new book in Gardner Dozois' anthology series The Year's Best Science Fiction, this one subtitled Ninth Annual Collection and covering the editor's picks from the year 1991. I remember 1991 for a number of things...it certainly was a big year internationally, with the Persian Gulf War's Operation Desert Storm taking place as General Norman Schwartzkopf's Allied troops...primarily of American soldiers...drove Iraq dictator Saddam Hussein from Kuwait and then deeply into his own country before the invasion stopped.  But back to that year's sci-fi short fiction... 

BEGGARS IN SPAIN by Nancy Kress

Scientists in the near future have discovered how to genetically manipulate children to be born without the need to ever sleep, and a small number of them are born in the USA and world at large.  How society reacts to them reflects the common roots of prejudice, built upon fear and envy of what is perceived to be others' unfair advantages in life.  Although the analogies from this important story could apply to different areas in today's world, I couldn't help but see the similarities to how Jewish people have been mistreated by different societies over the centuries...

LIVING WILL by Alexander Jablokov

A wealthy, aging man has programmed his computer to a high AI level, to the point where he can converse with it as it becomes more similar to his own personality...remember that this came out 32 years ago!  He is noticing that his mental faculties are quickly declining and soon Alzheimer's is diagnosed.  Now what does his computer have to do with his new strategy?  Disturbing and intriguing...

A JUST AND LASTING PEACE by Lois Tilton

Here is an alternative history tale about the aftermath of the American Civil War.  In this world the defeated South is subjected to long-term military occupation and oppressive rule, with the "rebels"...now generations distant from the original conflict...suffering degrading persecution and discrimination from the North, with the white population kept at a bare subsistence level.  It's basically Jim Crow flipped over, and the narrator, a white southern boy, describes the growing armed resistance movement.  In "our" real world, the Union victors were very mild with their Reconstruction by world historical standards...look at what would go down in former Yugoslavia among the Serbs, Croats, Bosnians and Kosovans in the ensuing 1990's after their previous centuries of conflict among themselves... 

Next week I continue reviewing science fiction short stories from 1991...

Enjoyed Our Brief Visit to Daytona Beach

 

Melissa and I just got back from a two-night trip to Daytona Beach, staying at our favorite hotel there.  Sometimes it's good to break the regular pattern and routine and get out of town, if only for a little while.  For the most part we rested and enjoyed the ambiance...although I did go out on a 4.5-mile beach run yesterday afternoon during low tide.  The temperatures during the day stayed in the seventies...unusual for this time of year...but the winds coming from the southeast were ferocious, as I discovered during my run when I turned around to go back to our hotel.  As is the case in my workplace, they're doing some renovation work at this hotel...some things I guess you just can't get away from...

Podcaster Repeats Theme of Manifestation

Today's Mindset Mentor podcast featured host Rob Dial, a personal development coach, repeating a theme he's frequently discussed in the past: manifesting one's own reality by believing to the utmost degree the positive things he or she envisions...and then acting on it.  He cited an example back when he was a student at a crowded Florida university with parking shortages, but repeatedly convinced himself on successive occasions that an empty slot would just open up for him near the front, and presto! wouldn't you know it, but they did!  Oh, by the way, the same thing happened to me recently on a couple of occasions...people often come and go and it's perfectly reasonable to expect places to open up.  I think it's important to possess confidence when thinking of the future, and to have personal destinations or achievements ahead in as specific detail as reasonably possible.  This way my mind is working behind the scenes to direct me toward their attainment.  But I tend to look at it all with a double negative: if I DON'T employ a confident attitude about successful future outcomes, then they WON'T materialize...or at least to the degree that I had wanted.  I also think how well you get through life involves how well you react to disappointments and setbacks, which are inevitable.  I did appreciate that Rob Dial emphasized personal action and not just passively sitting back expecting everything to automatically come together...

'23 Kentucky Derby Exciting, Pre-Race TV Hype Not

Yesterday I watched on TV the Kentucky Derby horse race for three-year-old thoroughbreds, as usual picking my "favorites" from the list having the most interesting names.  Also as usual, there were nearly twenty in the field...actually down in number due to some scratches, including early favorite Forte.  The TV announcers went around and around doing pieces on the different horses, jockeys, owners and trainers involved...yawn.  Finally, the race began and I was taken by how today's video technology has greatly enhanced the viewing of these events, clearly showing the field racing in the backstretch and turns as the jockeys maneuvered their horses around and through their competition.  In the end it was a horse with middling odds, Mage, that edged out another non-favorite, Two Phil's. in what turned out to be a pretty exciting finish.  I'm not sure, though, that I want to sit again through all that pre-race hype.  And I'd be very surprised if this year's Derby winner will go on to win either of the other two races in the Triple Crown, assuming Mage will even be entered in them...

Ran Gainesville's Depot Parkrun 5K This Morning

Parkruns have sprung up all over the country, having originated I believe in England.  Like their name implies, they occur in area parks...Gainesville has one that takes place at pretty Depot Park a few blocks south of downtown every Saturday morning at 7:30. You sign up in advance on their website and get barcodes that you can (like me) print out...some folks somehow get them put on their smartphones.  Then at the end of each event the finishers get a token that gets scanned along with their barcodes, the results to be presented later in the day online.  It's a pretty neat system and it's free...but since it is also totally supported by volunteers, volunteering is always in demand: won't be long, I think, before I throw my hat into that and see where it lands.  This morning I got up and out there to run my unprecedented third straight Depot Parkrun.  With the temperature at 67 degrees and humidity at 84%, I had originally planned on going at a much slower pace but discovered a hidden source of energy within me and picked it up with each lap (four of them equal 5K).  My finishing time was 33:08...you can see the overall results by clicking HERE. Now the question is: will I go for a fourth straight Parkrun next Saturday?  Guess I'll have to see how I feel then...

Quote of the Week...from Scut Farkus

What, you're gonna cry now?  Come on, crybaby! Cry for me, come on! CRY!     ---Scut Farkus

Scut Farkus was the big bad bully character in Jean Shepherd's immortal 1983 movie A Christmas Story, for which he compiled a number of already published short stories and wrapped them together within a holiday theme.  It's become a TV staple, with a couple of channels running nonstop marathons at Christmas.  I already knew Jean Shepherd in the mid-1970s for his late-night humorous monologue shows on my local talk radio station in Miami Beach, WKAT/1360, shows that originated from the mighty WOR/710, (50,000-watt clear channel) in New York City.  I also had read the short story he wrote to which the above quote pertains.  Little Ralphie, around eight I guess, is all excited as Christmas approaches...he desperately wants a Red Rider toy air rifle, but his mother says no, "You'll shoot your eye out".  And now his own teacher has just written the same thing on a homework assignment he wrote about it...and Ralphie is trudging home in the snow, tears falling from his eyes.  Suddenly Scut Farkus, the school bully...accompanied by his little, stocky toady Grover Dill...jumps in Ralphie's way, confronting him and ridiculing his crying.  And then our hero does something unexpected: he charges his adversary, pushing him to the ground, proceeding to beat him up.  The scene didn't look realistic to me and, besides, I knew from Shepherd's earlier short story that it was the more manageable Dill that Ralphie fought, not impossible Farkus.  I also had a problem with the bully in this story being a social outcast among the kids...where I grew up in South Florida during the sixties and seventies, it was the bully who was the popular kid on the block or at the bus stop.  I could take the above quote of an imaginary figure in different directions, but since I always remember this jeering taunt of Scut's, I decided to turn it on its head and make something sweet about it.  You see, we have a year-old mixed breed puppy dog named Daisy, and when Melissa ("Mommy" as far as Daisy is concerned) ever goes into another room in the house with the door closed, Daisy sidles up to the door and begins to whimper just like she did when she was very young and temporarily separated from her litter.  And every now and then when she does this, I go straight into my Scut Farkus routine, repeating almost verbatim the above quote...but with some good-natured affection thrown in...                                                                            

If I Were to Compile a Puzzle Magazine

If I were to publish one of those variety puzzle books you often see on supermarket magazine shelves, it would leave out much of the stuff already in them.  Right off the top, I would eliminate word searches...too easy.  And forget the "easy" to "medium level sudoku puzzles, and just about any kind of crosswords...except "codewords", which is kind of fun and which I would definitely include in my magazine.  Although I'm horrible at word logic puzzles, I'm still optimistic enough that maybe if I get to be 100, good Lord willing, I'll finally have figured out how to solve them.  Other logic puzzles based on numbers like kakuro (aka cross-sums), ken-ken and "hard" sudoku are among my favorites.  And I would definitely load up my publication with cryptograms...just can't ever get enough of them.  Oh, and I'd definitely have a few of the puzzles containing two pictures, with a specified number of differences I'm to discover...that's always fun! Mazes are also an entertaining carry-over from my younger years.  Although smartphones seem to dominate people's entertainment these days when they can't get around to plopping down in front of a TV screen to zone out or play video games, I'm still of that old school with my torn-out sheets of paper stuffed into my shirt pocket, containing the above kinds of cool puzzles and instantly ready for me to work on at a convenient moment... 

Weekly Short Stories: 1990 Science Fiction, Part 7

Below are my final reviews from 1990 science fiction short stories and novellas appearing in the Gardner Dozois anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction, Eight Annual Collection.  Can you guess which book I'm starting next week?  How'd you know...The Year's Best Science Fiction, Ninth Annual Collection!  But first I have to finish up with 1990...

WHITE CITY by Lewis Shiner

This is a speculative, fanciful tale about the electrical technology pioneer Nikola Tesla...and a demonstration he publicly performs aimed to dazzle everyone.  And dazzle it does, just as Tesla planned.  What is unplanned are the people's reactions...

LOVE AND SEX AMONG THE INVERTEBRATES by Pat Murphy

In a dying world poisoned by nuclear holocaust radiation, a woman has designed a special robot that will "survive" the impending extinction of organic life on Earth, including her own.  But can it reproduce?  With a twisted sense of humor, she "solves" the problem.  Funny and very sad at the same time...

THE HEMINGWAY HOAX by Joe Haldeman

A critically acclaimed, muddled mess of a novella this is, touching upon the often-tortuous topics of time travel, alternate worlds and questions of identity, mixing them all up until at the end you don't know which way is up. John Baird, an English professor with a penchant for writing, is approached by a con artist to forge Ernest Hemingway's early lost works.  This leads to a Hemingway look-alike...or is it Hemingway's ghost...materializing and killing Baird in various horrible ways while the con man is elsewhere sleeping with Baird's wife.  The rationale for the killings is that Baird's hoax will somehow lead to the end of the world...but to the ghost's astonishment, the writer keeps surviving them all until...until I don't know what the hell happens at the end.  If you're going to write about these topics, you'd better establish some ground rules about them beforehand to prevent everything from descending into chaos.  I did learn a bit about Ernest Hemingway, though...

Next week: that next book as Gardner's sci-fi anthology series moves to the year 1991...

Podcaster Big on Stepping Out of the Box

Podcaster Rob Dial, on a recent episode, promoted the idea of continual learning in fields extraneous to one's business or expertise in order to pick up useful information and principles that can cross over with their applications.  He cited examples of the person who transferred the then-innovation of banks offering drive-through options for their customers to the fast-food industry and the founder of Priceline, who observed that grocers would sell overripe bananas at a discount...so why not use this for unsold airline tickets as well?  Dial calls all this "thinking outside the box", an already well-worn cliche, I admit.  But he does have a good point: every field of endeavor and specialty contains within it elements that are transferrable to others.  The podcast host suggested that we take an hour each weekday...or five a week...to learn something absolutely new about an area that we're unfamiliar with. I'm "kind of" on board with this, with two caveats.  One, if you're rooted in your own specialty and only skimming the surface of the target subject matter just to pick up some ideas for your own use, then I'm afraid you're going to miss out on a lot of understanding pertinent to that area. And two, when starting to learn in a new field, the beginning is often deceptively easy, with the more profound lessons to be learned requiring more extensive study, an extra investment of time Dial perhaps wasn't considering: hopping around from one area to another is going to stymie many possible benefits.  And the elite in any field will tell you that while they like to see that field popularized, sometimes those who are accomplishing this aren't exactly on the money with their presentation, leaving out important stuff.  Still, I think...especially with Internet sites like search engines, Wikipedia and YouTube as good points of departure...that delving into unaccustomed areas can not only be lucrative, but also just plain fun...

Rural vs. City Long Distance Races

I was training in my living room, running to a YouTube complete video of the Mississauga Half-Marathon, from a runner's perspective.  The individual involved also recorded the Toronto and Oakville half-marathons this way...Mississauga and Oakville are nearby communities to Toronto (in Ontario, Canada in case you didn't know).   I was taken by the rural emphasis for the running courses in Oakville and Mississauga while Toronto had the runners go straight down the main drag into the city's urban center.  I guess if you live around there, you appreciate the diversity of the courses...the scenery in the more rural half-marathons was pretty and interesting.  But to me at least, running in the heart of a city is something that one doesn't experience every day, and I enjoyed looking at all the different kinds of businesses...especially restaurants and coffee places...that Toronto offers.  Let me go one step further: if I were out of town, even far away, I would definitely pick Toronto's race over those of the other two sites to hop on a plane to fly to.  Yet I'm guessing it probably costs more to run in it...and the organizers' expenses must be considerably higher.  That's why I don't hold it against our local blood bank charity here in Gainesville, LifeSouth, for ending their 2006-22 run of holding such an event here in my hometown.  Ten years ago, I could run their half-marathon, which went right through the heart of the city (and through the University of Florida, even its football stadium) and then opt for the more rural setting of the Ocala Half-Marathon, set along roads south of town where there are many horse farms.  Now, though, there are neither any Ocala nor LifeSouth events (if you discount the latter's much toned-down 5K race) and if you want to run a marathon or half-marathon anymore around here, you have to go to the Hawthorne Trail, which I like but is far away from anything other than a lot of boring trees...that wouldn't do for a YouTube video, especially since the last half-marathon I ran there repeated the same pathway four times...with the marathon event demanding runners go down the same monotonous stretch back and forth eight times.  C'mon, we can do better than that without necessarily having to pass by Tim Tebow's statue...

My April 2023 Running and Walking Report

With the temperatures predictably warming up this time of the year as we head toward summer in typically hot and humid northern Florida where I live, I find myself doing a lot of my running training indoors, plodding along to the images of marathons others have run on YouTube, shown on my wide screen TV via Roku.  Yesterday I "ran" the very recent (and very rainy) London Marathon with my virtual Chinese friend, who also made a video of his (very fast) New York City Marathon a few years ago...加油!  The day before, I was in Paris running their city-wide distance event...virtual rocks!  But I also miss getting out on the open road, and to this effect I think next month I'll be doing what I call "reverse-Galloway" training.  Jeff Galloway, a successful marathon runner in his own right, came up with a plan for people to train up to that distance by running a few minutes and then intermittently taking short walking breaks...this helps with the repetitive motion as well as conserving energy and allowing the body to better cool itself.  I used his method back in 2010 to build up my endurance and know it works.  This time around, as the temperatures keep increasing outside, I'd like to go out on long walks...with short intermittent running breaks.  I already know my courses...they're the same ones I traveled down in the past.  Mixing this activity up with the virtual TV running, while paying regular visits to my local gym to use their treadmill and cross-trainer, is my training plan for the next few months.  Oh, and run an occasional Depot Parkrun 5K.  Speaking of that wonderful free weekly, Saturday morning event held here in Gainesville, in April I ran it twice, on the 22nd and 29th.  I did goof up, missing the Hawthorne-based half-marathon that took place on the 8th...but that's all right: better luck next time! I hope you're doing well with your health and fitness.  Running isn't in the cards for everyone, but there are plenty of other kinds of physical activities that you may find to your liking...I think walking is pretty awesome, too, and also enjoy just kicking around a couple of soccer balls with my dog in the backyard...

Ran Gainesville Depot Parkrun 5K This Morning

Amid forecasts of really stormy weather later on in the day, I awoke this morning anticipating some early rain...but no, it was like last week: partly cloudy, 69 degrees with 97 % humidity...warm and muggy.  I headed down to Gainesville's Depot Park, some eight blocks south of University Avenue just east of Main Street.  It's a pretty place to stroll, jog, walk your dogs or bring your little kids to play.  On Saturday mornings they hold a free 5K run/walk, managed through volunteers with finishing times accomplished through barcodes (signup is online) and posted each week on their website.  Today's race was my fourteenth there since my first Parkrun in 2019...my goal this time around was to establish as comfortable a pace as possible considering the stifling humidity.  To that extent it worked, as I got into a groove and ran negative splits (faster at the end than the beginning), finishing at 33:34, good enough for me today. Unfortunately, at the finishing line there was major confusion about the scan-tokens they were handing out and this translated to the posted results.  You can see today's Parkrun results by clicking HERE...looks like their tokens and scanning screwup wrecked their results page (including my own finishing time which I'm glad I recorded on my watch).  [Later note: they did eventually get around to recording and posting most entrants' times although the process was a bit slipshod, in my opinion] Now that I've racked up a number of runs here, it's probably time I began to sign up for some of the many volunteer opportunities they offer...especially with that confusion at the finishing line this morning with their barcode tokens, an area in which I think I'd be an asset.  It was good to see more people out there participating in the race, with several first-timers. In any event, mission accomplished: I dragged my sorry old ass out of bed early today and ran the race...now let's see what happens with those storms blowing in from the Gulf of Mexico...

Quote of the Week: From Ralph Waldo Emerson

The article below is a reprint from what I wrote on December 21, 2018. It features American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson's view on what constitutes a truly great accomplishment.  This goes out to all the people out there...primarily men in my experience...who are obsessed with their positions on imaginary social pecking orders, constantly trying to show how accomplished they are with their degrees and positions and wealth and businesses, and who get enraged because it's obvious that I don't give a damn about their delusions.  On the other hand, Mr. Self-Important Dude, if feeling superior to me is what makes you feel adequate enough to go on living, I'm not here to change your mind: believe whatever you want to believe...

To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.                                        ---Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson was a famous nineteenth century American philosopher and poet who championed the ideal of individualism.  For someone as myself who generally conforms to society's standards for conduct without complaint, I nevertheless also find myself continually put under pressure by others to speak and make decisions that conform with their agendas for me and not how I would act according to my own values and purposes.  I recognize that with each of us there is necessarily a tug of war going on between how we want to individually live our lives and how others want us to live out our sole chance at life on Earth...unless of course they happen to believe in reincarnation.  My philosophy has always been to respect the personal decisions of people around me concerning their own lives as long as they do not trample on the rights of others or mine.  But there are some people in this world, sad to say, who are incapable of leaving well enough alone and who seem to regard me as some kind of project...or worse an object...that they are entitled to hound and pressure into conforming to what they deem to be "good enough".  They are incapable of processing my expressed respect of them as being anything other than a sign of my own weakness, which they are only to eager to exploit.  But that's the world for you...only problem is that some folks, especially the real religious ones, who claim to be not conforming to this world, are actually some of the most worldly in this regard.  To associate with them entails never quite being accepted for oneself...there's always something else I have to do to gain their "approval".  Only one problem: I couldn't care less...and never did...whether they approve of me or not, and I never will, seeing them for what they are...

Alaskan Cruise in the Works for Us

Melissa and I are planning on doing something this summer we've wanted to do for many years: go on an Alaskan cruise.  We're sticking with the company we used on our initial cruise in 2020 just before all hell broke lose with the COVID outbreak...that one went to the Caribbean with stops in Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands (St. Thomas).  This excursion will begin and end at Seattle with stops in Victoria, Canada, and Alaska's Sitka, Skagway and Juneau.  Besides the obviously much cooler weather we'll be experiencing this time of year, I'm looking forward to seeing a completely different type of topography in the Pacific Northwest.  Back in 2019 I read James Michener's excellent book Alaska, which further whetted my desire to visit this region: click HERE to read my review from 12/10/19.  I've also wanted to see Seattle for a number of reasons...there's something special about that city that draws me to it...even as a kid I was a big Seattle Supersonics NBA fan and bravely pulled for the expansion Seattle Pilots baseball team in 1969 that moved to Milwaukee the following year.  I like its association with the aerospace industry, coffee, and the grunge movement in rock music...and of course there's a lot more.  This should all be a fun adventure for the both of us...

Weekly Short Stories: 1990 Science Fiction, Part 6

Here are my reviews of four more stories from the year 1990 as they appeared in Gardner Dozois' anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction, Eighth Annual Collection. In last week's article I mentioned my two favorite songs from that year, but late that summer Led Zeppelin's first box set came out and one of Gainesville's radio stations, WRUF/Rock 104 (now airing country and western) played it in its entirety, introducing me to a lot of extraordinary music I hadn't yet heard from this great rock bank, defunct since 1980.  The next two years for me would be dominated musically by Plant, Page, Jones and Bonham's catalog of songs.  But for now, back to those four stories...

CIBOLA by Connie Willis

A Colorado-based newspaper reporter gets a touchy assignment: interviewing a local woman claiming to know where Coronado's fabled Seven Cities of Cibola are.  Apparently in the past, the myth of Cibola had led explorers to the American southwest, but this woman claims it to be right smack in the middle of Colorado...although it's only visible at certain times.  A very funny tale this is, with a surprising...well, not all THAT surprising, ending...

WALKING THE MOONS by Jonathan Lethem

Another funny story, this one about a grown disabled man who is engrossed in planet-hopping, at least vicariously through the use of his virtual reality apparatus, as his mother attends to his physical/medical needs.  Yet again, here comes a journalist to get his scoop.  This story is prescient...written in 1990 but here I am 33 years later "virtually" running marathons while watching recordings of real ones on my widescreen TV...

RAINMAKER COMETH by Ian McDonald

In a part of the American west marked by seven years of drought, a man comes into town carrying an assortment of peculiar gadgets, claiming to be able to bring the "rainmakers".  Exactly who the rainmakers are is beyond anyone's ability to believe...a thoroughly brilliant, creative concept you'll want to read this story to discover for yourself...

HOT SKY by Robert Silverberg

In another prescient story...this time much more ominous...about global warming gone wild written years before Al Gore popularized the subject, a ship is out to capture a giant rogue iceberg in the open Pacific Ocean to haul back to water-starved San Francisco.  But at the berg's site they receive a distress signal from a boat already there.  A great story about the conflicting ethics a captain can face in an emergency, with people's real lives in the balance no matter what his decision is...

Next week I conclude my look at short science fiction from the year 1990...

Podcaster Expands Notion of Personal Development

Rob Dial, a podcaster with his Mindset Mentor show, talks a lot about personal development.  Some of his episodes resonate with me and some are just a little off...every now and then he gets some profound wisdom in, like what he said last week.  Dial promotes a lot of personal growth ideas like being proactive, stressing action over feelings, journaling, meditation and the like.  But on a recent podcast he pointed out that a lot of folks misunderstand what personal development is.  You don't just set aside special times for it, but rather it encompasses your entire waking day, and it's often the troublesome, stressful and unexpected events and conflicts that arise that can provide the greatest opportunities for growth...if you can learn how to react to them and then proceed onward.  That's encouraging, because sometimes it seems that the moment I step outside my door and into the big, bad world, the crap begins to fly...to put it a little crudely.  For a lot of us, our jobs consist largely of what I call "chaos management", which is meeting the various challenges that hit us from different directions while somehow still adhering to our core assignments...and while keeping ourselves from succumbing to anxiety and frustration.  Yes, this is often where the growth is, although I also see the advantages to stepping around trouble when I see it coming my way, and to think ahead enough to avoid it completely. But sometimes it comes anyway...