Planets on Full Display in Winter Night Sky

On New Year's Eve Melissa and I were invited to our friends' rural farm home to celebrate with them and others the changing of the year with food and good conversation.  We had never been there before and gratefully availed ourselves of the Waze app to know where to turn on the zigzagging way, with dirt roads presenting their own challenges as we approached our destination.  Once there, we enjoyed ourselves while soaking in the ambiance of being way out in the countryside of Gilchrist County.  The sky was cloudless and the stars shone brilliantly...as well as the planets: there were three of them (or four if you looked down and counted the Earth): Saturn, Jupiter and Mars.  I could easily make out red Mars, which was the easternmost, just below the zodiac constellation Gemini (technically it's in Cancer, but no one can make out that faint constellation).  I had to look up later which of the other two was Jupiter and which was Saturn.  Jupiter is in Taurus and Saturn, in the west part of the sky, is in Aquarius...just south of Pegasus.  I liked the fact that I could look all the way down to any horizon and see stars without noticeable interference from city lights.  Of course, out here as well as where I live, there are plenty of trees to block the view.  We enjoyed our visit, which I wouldn't have been able to be a part of had I not retired.  One door closes and many more open.  Speaking of more opportunities, I'm looking forward to seeing more of my local planetarium once its January schedule resumes after the holiday break.  It's the Kika Silva Pla Planetarium at Santa Fe College, directed by James Albury...

Weekly Short Stories: 1998 Science Fiction, Part 10

Here's yet another installment in my Wednesday feature, with me reading and reacting to stories appearing in the Gardner Dozois anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction, Sixteenth Annual Collection, and featuring his picks from the year 1998.  Today it's just one tale, a long novella...

GRIST by Tony Daniel

Sometimes an author has several different provocative ideas that he or she would like to put into a story, and that's one of the things I like about science fiction.  But if those provocative ideas all get thrown into one tale, then a problem arises...at least with me as a reader...pointing to a general lack of a stable point of reference that I can anchor myself to.  It's immediately clear to me what my problem with this novella is: there is no clear-cut notion of what constitutes individual identity, as almost all the characters...including the protagonist...are composite amalgamations of multiple brains and artificial intelligence.  It's so murky that not only do I not care about the hero's assignment to help avert a cataclysmic war, but I'm also not interested in "his" history of relationships with the other characters.  I suspect a lot of readers think that it's kind of cool to go deep down the rabbit hole of speculative fiction, but seriously, stories like this one just make me want to throw my hands up in frustration and walk away.  But the late Gardner evidently loved these disorienting stories, and the longer they are the better.  I'll tell you what: see if you can't find Grist and read it yourself...and tell me what you think about it, along with any suggestions on how I can better approach it...

Next week I'll see if I can't come up with some more reactions (hopefully positive) from Gardner Dozois' anthology...

My New Year's Day Walking and Running Events

This first day of 2025 saw two special holiday events for walkers and runners take place in Gainesville.  Early on, with temperatures in the low 50s at the 7:30 am start, the Depot Parkrun held its traditional New Year's Day 5K.  The organizers promoted the event by encouraging us all to wear pajamas to it, and Melissa and I complied...along with several others.  I'm proud of Melissa taking this positive step of doing her first 5K walk since last May before her breast cancer surgery, and I look forward to her walking in more events as the year progresses.  Later at noon, the Florida Track Club held its own event, the Frank Shorter Mile run, with the course primarily being a repeated loop on the east end of Westside (Albert Massey) Park, going through a quiet residential neighborhood.  I signed up for it because the last time I was timed in a public one-mile race was in the fall of 1974, during my conditioning physical education class at Broward Community College...back then I enjoyed my fastest mile (5:25) of a middling running career.  I knew today I'd be much slower, but then again I'm 50 years older!  The race was very well staged with a lot of positive vibes going around, and I started out running hard.  So hard, in fact, that early on I began to wonder if maybe I was running too hard, but no, I was able to maintain my pace and even increase it at the end, finishing with a time of 8:25.  The noontime temperature had only risen to 58, so all in all, the running (and walking) conditions today were optimal for me and Melissa.  Click HERE to view today's Depot Park run 5K results and HERE to see the Frank Shorter Mile results...  

My December 2024 Running, Walking and Swimming Report

It's sometimes difficult, when outside events are imposed on me, to maintain my own set of standards and routines of running, walking...and especially swimming: December 2024 was a case in point. On the 18th I underwent a prostate biopsy, recovery from which involved a temporary withdrawal from at least the running and swimming...at this final date of the month (and year) I have yet to resume the latter.  But for December as a whole, I'm pretty satisfied with my state of progress in the three areas.  I participated in four  races, running in the Season of Hope 15K, and doing the Depot Parkrun 5K three times, speed-walking it once.  This was my first full month of retirement, yet although you might think this would enhance my training, I actually had more control over my activity with my work structure, counter-intuitive as it may seem. Now I need to set up and assert my own routines: it's a process, both for me and for my loved ones.  This self-discipline regarding running, walking and swimming is something that I need to develop and take personal responsibility for...with expected medical procedures in the near future, though, I'll still need to be reasonable about it all.  In January, apart from the weekly Parkrun 5Ks, there will be a marathon/half-marathon event on Sunday the 19th and a 15K on Saturday the 27th.  The degree to which I participate...and train, for that matter, will come down to those factors of self-discipline and my ongoing medical situation.  I'm realistically optimistic about the long-term picture, although circumstances may be limiting in the short-term.  I'm continuing to see walking and swimming take more significant roles in my life, and my recent switch to the nearby YMCA with its much more accessible swimming pool bodes well for the future...

My Favorite Songs of 2024

Back in July this year I noticed that I hadn't been keeping up with this year's new music, much less listen to the "hits" as they had their "rotations" of radio play.  So I listened to some albums, the best of them being The Smile's Wall of Eyes and Green Day's Savior. They're both very good, but as far as standout tracks are concerned, only three made a deep impression on me...that was in July: click HERE to read the article I wrote about it on July 9th.  I never did go deeper into current album releases, what with tragedy and medical crisis permeating my life for the remainder of 2024.  But those three songs remained strong and meaningful for me, and now that I can instantly call them up to play with my Amazon Music account, I have listened to them many, many times over the past few months.  So there won't be any long list of my top favorite songs of 2024: just three.  At #3, it's Read the Room by The Smile.  As I wrote back in July, this is a British alternative rock band composed of Radiohead's Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, along with drummer Tom Skinner.  Wall of Eyes is their second album...and they must all dig their little group because they just released a third studio album.  Read the Room has cryptic lyrics...that's all right since many of my favorites over the years were pretty difficult to understand as well.  It's the musical counterpoint going on here that drew me to it, especially during the complex instrumental ending.  At #2, it's impossible not to understand the words to Green Day's lyricist and vocalist Billie Joe Armstrong's powerful The American Dream is Killing Me, which pretty much sums up my own thoughts as to the course of our society as it has largely degenerated over recent years.  Finally, my favorite song from 2024 is also from The Smile: I Quit.  I quickly found myself attached to it not only for its incredibly blunt and pertinent lyrics about making a permanent transition and taking a new path, but also for its haunting and very complex music.  Below are some of the  words...  

Wild ghosts

Wild feelings

Leaning windmills

A dead drop

This is the end of the trip

A new path

Out of the madness

To wherever it goes

To wherever it goes

And wherever it goes

And wherever it goes

And wherever it lies

And wherever it lies 

I liked this song before learning of my son's passing and not long thereafter deciding to retire.  It reminded me of the ending to Lord of the Rings, when aging Bilbo Baggins utters the following line as he is about to board the boat to take him on to the Grey Havens: "I think I am quite ready for a another adventure!"  May your own new adventures bless you...sometimes, though, they come whether you're ready for them or not...

Looking Back on 2024 in My Life

As 2024 draws to a close, I look back in my life on both the good and the bad, the miraculous and the tragic.  In May, Melissa had her breast cancer diagnosis and quick surgery to remove the malignant lump...this followed by chemotherapy (her body suffered a bad reaction to it) and then radiation therapy, ending this fall.  By all measures, the cancer has been removed from her body, thank God.  But after pulling up into our driveway on July 18th following the second round of that chemo, the police were there to notify us that our beloved 34 year old son Will had died.  This would overshadow all of the good that 2024 had produced for us, and we're left with a big hole in our lives.  He was (is) such a compassionate and responsible young man...what a terrible loss for us and the world he graced with his presence for too short a time span.  Rebecca, my 29-year old daughter, lives in town and makes me proud with her commitment to her job as well as her close relationships with us and her partner. My own health seems to be going in opposite directions: in one direction I am gradually becoming fitter and more athletic while in the other I have just been diagnosed with localized prostate cancer, the treatment for which looms ahead of me in early 2025.  I do feel blessed to be in such an environment where it can be effectively treated and I am confident of the successful outcome.  And when I clocked out at 10 pm on Friday, November 29th, my retirement began after working for 37 years at the Gainesville Post Office.  I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to work there and have many good memories of my colleagues as well as the work itself...I am no disgruntled postal worker!  And I have enjoyed not having to deal with the traffic while driving to and from work since then.  For 2024, Will's passing dwarfs everything else, but in life sometimes you have to take the bad with the good, and that can be difficult...

Ran Gainesville's Depot Parkrun 5K This Morning

This last Saturday morning in December was unusually warm and muggy (64 degrees, 100% humidity) at the 7:30 beginning of the weekly, free (sign up online) Depot Parkrun 5K, just one of hundreds of similar events taking place across the USA and several other countries.  On such a day as this, when I'm going to run it (instead of speed-walking like I did last week), I know up front that I will be simply working to sustain a strong regular pace without attempting to set any personal best records.  So that's exactly what unfolded, with me settling into a slightly uncomfortable pace and enjoying the presence of some runners ahead of me who kept me honest with that pace.  At the end I had a time of 27:32...click HERE to view the results.  There weren't as many participants in today's race as usual, and that may be due to the fact that (1) the University of Florida is closed for the holiday season (2) many may be out of town who normally would be there or (3) folks are waiting for the special New Year's Day edition of the Depot Parkrun, to take place this coming Wednesday morning.  The organizers say to wear the pajamas you slept in the night before: dare I?...

Quote of the Week...from Mahandas Gandhi

Be the change you wish to see in the world.                          ---Mahandas Gandhi

Mahandas (or "Mahatma") Gandhi was the great twentieth-century lawyer who, with his pacifist creed of passive resistance, was instrumental in India's independence and had a lot of things to say about how best to live one's own life.  That in itself doesn't qualify him for my "quote of the week" feature, but the above quote...Rob Dial recently referred to it on a podcast...resonates with me.  In the first place, I can't exactly dictate to the world how I want it to be...well, maybe I can but I would be delusional if I thought it cared one bit.  But seeing how much of human behavior is imitative, I do have the power and authority to demonstrate by my own actions what I would like to see from others.  I believe that many of us are seekers, looking for examples in others to emulate and guide them through their daily existence.  Why not be one of the examples?  No, I'm no Gandhi, nor would I want to be, and I have a lot of stuff to work out in my own life and am far, far from any semblance of a perfect model.  But I'm alive, here and now, and that gives me enough to change with...

Wishing All the Best, Taking Blog Break

I hope that you and yours have been enjoying your holiday season this year.  Melissa and I have spent quite some time with our daughter Rebecca as well as with Melissa's family side residing here in Gainesville.  I found it probably the best thing to take a little break...for a few days...with this blog.  Maybe toward the end of 2024 or, starting next year, I'll get it going again...

Blessings and Hopes for this Christmas Holiday Season

On this Christmas Eve "Eve", I wish you all a happy holiday season and that you experience peace in the present and hope for the future.  Melissa and I both are still deeply in grief over the loss of our wonderful son Will, who tragically passed away this past July.  The holiday season simply isn't the same without his loving presence in our lives...we are grateful for our dearly beloved daughter Rebecca to be living near us to celebrate Christmas.  God Bless you all...

First Round Major College Football Playoffs: Boring Mismatches

The brand-new major college football playoff format, with a whopping twelve schools now vying for the national championship, began this weekend with four largely boring, lopsided contests...not exactly what the organizers were hoping for, I'm sure.  Notre Dame, Texas, Ohio State and Penn State stuffed Indiana, Clemson, Tennessee and SMU, respectively.  I was only surprised at the Vols-Buckeyes score, thinking that Tennessee had more in them than that.  On the other hand, unlike the NCAA major college basketball championship tournament that tries to stage its games at more neutral sites, this round took place at the higher-seeded schools' home stadiums, a huge advantage for them, to say the least.  The second round will all be traditionally-named bowl games: Boise State plays Penn State New Year's Eve in the Fiesta Bowl, then on January 1st its Arizona State/Texas in the Peach Bowl, Oregon/Ohio State in the Rose Bowl and Georgia/Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl.  I'm not all that interested in who wins, but I usually pick out a team before each game I watch to root for anyway. I guess Georgia...until they lose...will be "my" team since I was born there.  I just hope the next games will be more competitive...

Walked Gainesville's Depot Parkrun 5K This Chilly Morning

After a cold front passed through our area in northern Florida yesterday, the temperature plummeted to 38 degrees (76% humidity) on this Winter Solstice Saturday morning here in Gainesville.  I was ready for the weekly Depot Parkrun 5K, starting at 7:30, regardless.  You see, I had a recent prostate biopsy done and felt that doing an intense run might be a little bit too much too soon thereafter, so I instead stayed dressed up...complete with jacket...to do a speed-walk there.  Other than feeling that I should have worn gloves to protect my painfully cold hands during the race, I enjoyed it and...while not walking my fastest 5K...still managed to finish under 40 minutes again.  I didn't walk today trying to set a personal 5K walking record since, as mentioned before, I was recovering from that medical procedure.  But it would be nice if sometime in 2025 I could get my speed-walking pace down to a twelve-minute mile: it's possible but I'll need to work at it.  I'm glad to be inserting walking into my races: it's also more conducive than running to just immersing myself in the immediate surroundings, noticing many more sights and sounds than I would normally perceive were I only running instead. Not that I've given that up, though...just not today.  For today's results, click HERE...

Quote of the Week...from Peter on YouTube

 All right, here we go...very last corral of the very last wave.  Let's see how this ends up going, shall we?

                                          ---Peter, on his YouTube channel titled The Manor Runs

I don't know Peter's last name, only that he has a small YouTube channel about his running experiences.  By far the most impressive posting is Peter's recording of his entire six-hour-plus-long experience running the 2022 New York City Marathon: all 26.2 miles through the city's five boroughs.  I've grown to consider it as the best of many available virtual NYC Marathon YouTube videos because he doesn't get hung up on how fast he's running or whether somebody (or himself) takes a walking break here and there over the course of the race.  He made the above quote to lead off this lengthy video, in the midst of the crowd standing around just before the race's start in Staten Island.  The "wave" mentioned in it refers to the divisions of runners (more than 50,000 total) into staggered starting times, and "corral" refers to the expected finishing times of the runners (Peter was in the slowest corral). His words are applicable not just to marathons, but to any endeavor in which it's mandatory to get out of one's comfort zone and into a bit of a stressful situation that holds no set promise for its outcome.  Peter's marathon was pretty slow, and was definitely a bold move on his part.  His finishing time was a couple of minutes slower than my 2011 Ocala Marathon result...back then I slowly walked the final seven miles with a painful, strained IT band below my knee.  Dealing with stress is not so much a matter of eliminating it, but rather determining how we react to it.  Self-improvement podcaster Rob Dial, on a recent show, divided the three types of stress: eustress ("good" stress), hypostress and hyperstress.  When we bravely do something new that might bring with it fear of failure...especially public failure...that's a healthy stressful situation from which we can grow,,,that's eustress.  Hypostress is that stress produced by lack of stimulation, typified by boredom.  People prone to feeling this type of stress tend to gravitate toward daredevil, risky types of activity like gambling, jumping, climbing, speed activities and the like.  And hyperstress is the type that the word "stress" generally means to most of us, whereby the situation tends to wear one down and cause fear, worry and ultimately can weaken and even harm our bodies over time.  More eustress and a better strategy for dealing with the other two sounds like a formula for a happier, healthier life.  I wonder if Peter ever ran another marathon...his YouTube channel doesn't say.  You can watch his NYC Marathon video by clicking HERE...

We Enjoyed a Dinner and Concert in Downtown Gainesville

Tuesday late-afternoon/evening Melissa and I ventured to downtown Gainesville to have dinner and then attend a Candlelight Concert at the Hippodrome Theater. The concert's theme on this occasion was the holidays, including Christmas, Hanukkah and assorted Winter classical pieces.  The musicians were a string quartet: first and second violin, viola and cello.  Candlelight Concerts are spread nationwide with many different musicians providing shows themed around different topics, many of them tributes to famous musical artists, past and present.  I thoroughly enjoyed our holiday concert and felt a deeper connection with music and its complexities and textures...and the enormous training and skill exhibited by those proficient in it.  I break it down to three aspects: the actual music as it reaches my ears and I process it, the process of producing it on the different instruments (or with singing if that applies), and the written sheet music on which the musicians rely.  All three are closely tied together, yet they are at the same time very, very different to perceive.  We want to try out more Candlelight Concerts in Gainesville, and I kind of like downtown at night.  The garage parking is easy and there are plenty of nice places to dine.  We had dinner at Harry's and then made our way to the Hippodrome.  It seemed strange being there, since from 1987-91 I worked at the downtown post office but it's changed a lot: I felt lost much of the time I was walking around the area.  Oh well, I'll figure it all out... 

Weekly Short Stories: 1998 Science Fiction, Part 9

I'm continuing my slow reading slog through the year 1998, discussing the next two stories in the Gardner Dozois anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction, Sixteenth Annual Collection, which covers material published that year...

THIS SIDE OF INDEPENDENCE by Rob Chilton

It's off in the reasonably distant future...not at the end of the universe, mind you, but far enough off into it to when practically the entire human population now lives on small artificial worlds located in our solar system space, mostly between Earth and the Sun.  Earth itself is in the deep throes of a permanent ice age after the Sun weakened and "shaded" it...the planet is now primarily used for mining its still-plentiful natural resources and only a handful of people still live there.  A small group of these reside in Independence, in former Missouri.  The protagonist, from one of those space "colonies", is assigned to go down there and convince them to flee dying Earth for the safety of her adopted home world or others.  But old ways are often hard to change, as she soon discovers...

UNBORN AGAIN by Chris Lawson

This is a disturbing tale...well, they're almost all disturbing, aren't they...about revenge.  A professor of pathology knows she is coming down with Parkinson's Disease, but in her time the most effective treatment for it, using stem cells, is universally illegal.  Still, knowing the existence of a black market in them and their application to conditions such as her own, she travels to Hong Kong and gets her sought-after treatment...but it backfires.  The author makes a good point of showing why criminalizing things and making them underground contraband only removes needed regulatory safeguards that might have instead prevented disastrous results...like the one in the story.  This tale reintroduced me to the concept of "prions". That's the cool thing about science fiction: it teaches you stuff and often gets you to think the way a scientist or engineer does...

Next Wednesday: more from 1998...

Kudos to UF Football Team, Bowl Game This Friday Afternoon

The 2024 University of Florida football team accomplished what many, including myself, felt was highly improbable at the start of the season...especially after that horrendous opening day performance against the Miami Hurricanes: they had a winning season!  And, to top it off, they upset two ranked conference schools, LSU and Mississippi, during their ongoing three-game winning streak.  The quarterback position solidified under their star freshman D.J. Lagway and the formerly porous defense, which earlier on seemed incapable of stopping anybody, has matured over the course of the season into a cohesive unit working together effectively.  They're at 7-5 now and finished at 4-4 in the Southeastern Conference, easily the most difficult conference in the country...head coach Billy Napier should feel vindicated after many Gator fans were calling for his dismissal just a few weeks ago.  Florida has been invited to Tampa's Gasparilla Bowl to play against Tulane University.  The game is coming up soon: Friday the 20th, at 3:30 pm. That should bring in more TV viewers as the college football playoffs kick off that very evening when Indiana plays at Notre Dame.  You can watch the Gator game on ESPN2...

Back from Visit to Daytona Beach, Which Has Deteriorated Considerably

It's Monday afternoon and Melissa and I just returned to Gainesville from a two-night stay at Daytona Beach.  It was a good time for us, but I was more than a little dismayed by the deterioration of the beach.  There was almost no sand, and the level of the beach was around two feet lower, causing the ocean to come crashing against the walls for most of the tidal cycle.  The stairway access from our hotel to the beach was blocked since the stairs themselves were damaged from the tidal onslaught...we had to walk a distance down the street to find the next nearest beach access.  Apparently, this all came to pass a couple of years ago when a hurricane washed away the beach sand...now the ground there is hard and rarely dry.  We still enjoyed our stay, but I also noted that it seemed that virtually every hotel or condo on the ocean side of A1A had some extent of construction work going on the property, often with piles of building and electrical material just sitting out in the open...very ugly looking.  It was a little depressing seeing how this once thriving tourist community, once known for its beach that cars could drive down, had come so far down in such a short time.  One of the hotels we would often stay at in Ormond Beach seemed to be permanently shut down.  Looks as if we're going to be exploring a new place to stay on our next visit.  Hopefully the politicians will see the value of sand restoration and fund building the beach back up again.  As of now, you have to wait until low tide to walk down the beach and even then it's ugly, with rocks and debris strewn over its surface... 

Ran in Today's Depot Park Park 5K

This morning there weren't any longer-distance races in the Gainesville area, so I went back to good old Depot Park, a few blocks south of downtown, to run in their weekly, free (sign up online) Depot Parkrun 5K.  It was a pleasant 56 degrees at the 7:30 race time, but the 98% humidity was pretty intense and it made things more uncomfortable as the run wore on.  But I'm used to this mugginess and picked up my pace as I accumulated laps around the park. I had considered speed-walking this time, but next Wednesday I'm having a prostate biopsy and it may be a while before I'm running again.  In any event, it was a good experience today...click HERE to view the results...although I clocked myself finishing at 27:19, they put me in at 27:39.  Oh well, I don't think it's worth raising a fuss about...

Quote of the Week...from Rob Dial

Everything that comes into your brain is brainwashing, in some sort of way.  I'm gonna be in control and intentional about my brainwashing.                    ---Rob Dial

Brainwashing is one of those terms pervasive in popular usage, almost always used with negative connotations.  It's not scientific, either, but does sound impressive when used.  Rob Dial, a personal development podcaster, on a recent show made the above quote in the middle of his twenty minute monologue.  This one pertained to the notion of self-care and how we speak to ourselves.  He wisely noted that many of us are too down and negative with our self-talk, treating ourselves much differently than someone for whom we are trusted with their care and well-being, such as a child or family member.  Dial maintains that how we speak to ourselves will "brainwash" us in the direction of our internal conversation, and we have the choice and power to make ourselves who we want to be, since our brains have the malleable characteristic of neuroplasticity.  I get Dial's point although I feel unqualified to affirm it all based on neurological science.  People have the choice...and therefore the responsibility...to assert to themselves the kind of person they want to be.  Cut it with the hopeless, self-bashing self-talk and replace it with an encouraging, accountable narrative that builds instead of destroys.  Easier said than done since it often involves ingrained habits, but you have to start somewhere...

Not So Enthusiastic About Coming High-Speed Internet and AI

My own neighborhood, the adjacent one, and other parts of Gainesville are currently undergoing a transformation of sorts, with 8G optical fiber cable being laid down into the ground.  The process seems to involve digging up a lot of residents' yards...hopefully, with us our cable runs behind the back fence and will necessitate no such intrusion...but that's "hopefully".  The trucks, workers and orange cones have been interfering with traffic, though, regardless where they're digging.  The idea is that 8G will be oh-so-better than what we have now, speeding things up on the Internet monumentally.  I'm not so sure that's such a great thing, though, since the more connected and "fast" we get in our digital revolution, the dumber people seem to be getting (I cite the recent election results).  And with the advent and exponential development of artificial intelligence, I see folks abandoning what little independent thought and mental training they have to the all-knowing AI gods.  Hey, I use AI, but I'm not like the dude on the commercial leaning back asleep in his office who clicks on his AI app to write a top-notch, detailed report for him...but this admittedly funny commercial I fear is destined to become part of the not-so-funny mainstream.  I'm seeing a lot of Facebook posts that look as if AI "entities" wrote them...when are we going to get to the point when "they" begin, on their own, to support certain politicians and political creeds?  Or is this already going on?  As you can see, I'm not skipping so gleefully into the coming brave new world of super-high speed Internet and pervasive, nanny-like artificial intelligence.  On the other hand, I'm hedging my bets: if you're an AI reading this, I'm really a nice guy who's on your side...