My August 2016 Running Report

Running for me in the month of August was more or less a matter of daily routine, with me running mainly around the noontime hour.  I ran a lot more outside in the summer heat, although not to excess...I believe that it helped me with my training.  I amassed a total of 113 miles for the month, running for all but three of the days.  My longest single run was for 4.5 miles.  The problem I had been experiencing with my right foot seemed to diminish, a good sign...

There were no local races in August, but next month I see a couple of 5K races being offered here in Alachua County.  I plan to continue to train my distances upward as I want to get in at least one half-marathon race before 2016 is through...

Voted This Morning at the Senior Rec Center

This morning I slept in a little longer than usual...maybe it's just that I was more tired than usual, or maybe I'm just getting a little older and the ol' body just doesn't jump to my commands as before.  But I remembered that I had some things to do, including going down to my assigned precinct, which is the Senior Recreation Center on NW 34th Boulevard, to vote in today's statewide primary election.  So I dragged myself out of bed and over there.  I voted on the issues and races presented me...which wasn't a lot...slid my ballot into the slot, and walked out of the polling room and down the hallway to the exit, once again not having to wait even one second in line to get my ballot.  While walking, I noticed many elderly people in different rooms enjoying different activities: there was a yoga class, a woman appeared to be telling a story to a ring of enthralled listeners, some folks were on the Internet in the computer room, a couple was sitting in comfy chairs reading, and a man was playing pool. When I was about to walk out of the building, I looked over at the Senior Recreation Center's welcome counter and spied a calendar of events and a brochure of programs they offered.  Snatching them up, I made my way to my car, drove the three minutes back home, and quickly put on some coffee to brew...

This was the last election that I will just be walking through the Senior Recreation Center to vote.  No, I'm not turning cynical on democracy and elections: I'll be turning 60 in early October and, when the general election comes around on November 8, I'll be a registered member of this fun group, finally having met the age requirements.  The Senior Recreation Center is free to participate in: you just have to be 60.  It runs on a nine-to-five, Monday through Friday basis...which means that with my present work schedule, I can only participate in morning and early afternoon activities.  They have chess, bridge, tai chi, yoga, and a monthly book club, as well as a slew of activities that hold little interest for me.  But you don't have to go there for a meeting or scheduled program: you can just sit there and read...or use their computers...or play pool...or who knows what else.  They even have a seniors sports competition, the winners of which get to compete statewide.  When I think of this place, I think of my late parents: my father probably wouldn't like being here, but I think my mother would have loved it.  Whether I end up using the Senior Recreation Center much or not, I'd glad it's here, providing a welcome environment for our senior community...

Viacom Forces MTV Awards Show on Its Many Channels

I don't suppose that, in the grand scheme of things, it really matters all that much to me as a TV viewer...but it does give me some pause when a major media corporation decides to flex its muscles and demonstrate the control it has over my television dial.  Last night I happened to be toggling my remote back and forth between MLS soccer and the NFL preseason game between the Jaguars and Bengals.  I checked out the lineup for the different channels and noted that MTV was holding its annual Video Music Awards program.  Good for them, I said to myself...I had long given up on MTV after it had abandoned showing music videos in favor of those horrible "reality" TV shows that continue to this day.  But hey, they're still giving out awards for music videos...they must be showing them on another channel.  But back to what I was saying...

I was perusing the schedule and began to notice that not just MTV was showing the VMAs...so was VH1, VH1 Classics, CMT, and BET.  Okay, I said to myself, these channels tend to be music-oriented and the company running MTV probably also runs them as well.  But still, I wondered: why prevent these other stations from offering viewers a choice in their programming when MTV is almost universally available anyway?  But then it got worse...

It wasn't just the aforementioned channels showing the MTV Video Music Awards...it was also Spike, Comedy Central, and...of all channels...TVLand!  People go to watch TVLand for the expressed purpose of avoiding crap like MTV!  But I'm not finished...there used to be a channel called Palladia that featured live musical performances.  Last year it was changed to MTV-Live, but the programming seemed to remain unchanged.  I checked that channel: it wasn't showing the VMA show...it wasn't showing anything! Not until the MTV awards show was over did it go back to its regular programming.  So what gives here?

Viacom Media Groups is the umbrella commercial organization controlling MTV, VH1, BET, Spike, Comedy Central, CMT, and TVLand.  They essentially pulled a power play on the American viewer last night, dictating that we could watch their lousy awards program (and it is very, very lousy) or else.  Well, I chose "else".  But today I read that this overhyped ceremony, dominated by clique-insider acts who always seem to win the awards despite their substandard music, never once paid tribute to either Prince or David Bowie.  These two artists, both of whom passed away a few months ago this year, were giants in the industry.  Both of them made appearances in the past on the MTV VMAs shows and won awards for their videos.  But they were spurned this year.  I am resisting a strong urge to say something really profane here...

You may think that you have a great diversity of television programming to choose from, but events like last night's should remind all of us of the concentrated power that a small number of corporate entities have to dictate what we actually get to see.  No wonder so many people are choosing to reject cable television programming in favor of alternatives...

Just Finished Reading Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Normally when I write one of these articles about books I've just finished reading, I'll take care to include the author's name within the title as a matter of extending proper credit.  With Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which just came out less than a couple of months ago, this would have been a bit too unwieldy.  For although J.K. Rowling, the creator and author of the seven-volume Harry Potter series, is one of those credited with this new book's authorship, so is John Tiffany and Jack Thorne.  And it is ultimately Jack Thorne who is given full credit for having written this story in rehearsal script form...for that's what the book Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is: the rehearsal script for a play.  Already knowing that and having read some Shakespeare as well as Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, I decided to go ahead and plunge into it despite its departure in structure from Rowling's original narrative: after all, plays are literature, too...

The setting for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is again England and Scotland, as it is nineteen years (and beyond) after the climactic end to the original series, at the close of the seventh book Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  At that book's very end, a glimpse is given of Potter's "future" life and his family as he sends his worried son Albus off to Hogwarts Academy for the very first time.  The new story picks up where that railway station scene leaves off.  Albus, whose life is constantly submerged under the greatness accorded his father while being unfairly compared to him, finds himself sinking into despair and cynicism at Hogwarts...with his only friend in the world coming from the unlikeliest of families.  And that is where I will leave you, the reader, to go find out for yourself "the rest of the story", as radio icon Paul Harvey used to say on his show...

Without wanting to spoil the story for anyone, I will say, however, that much...in my opinion, far too much...of the narrative in The Cursed Child is derivative, not original, in nature, drawing heavily upon previous Harry Potter stories.  And there is a certain literary device commonly used in science fiction stories...as well as in the third Harry Potter book...that is grossly overused here.  Once you get a little ways into the story, you'll know what I'm talking about.  However, having gone into reading Harry Potter and the Cursed Child with subdued expectations, I've come out of the experience recommending it to others, albeit without the accolades I might have extended to a work entirely of Rowling's.  As a matter of fact, the story is so derivative of her earlier works that I wonder how much writing, if any, "J.K." herself actually contributed to this tale that, at least partially, bears her name in the credits...

2016 UF Football Season Begins Next Saturday

Next Saturday evening, September 3rd, will be the opening of the University of Florida's 2016 football season as they play at home against the smaller college University of Massachusetts.  Although the Gators are predicted to easily win this game, the Gator Nation is very interested in seeing just what kind of team second year head coach Jim McElwain will be putting on the field.  After all, many of us are still scratching our heads trying to figure out what happened to Florida in 2015...

When Coach McElwain took over the team last year, hopes were high for the Gators, but most fans did not anticipate them shooting straight to the top and were willing to give them time to develop under the new leadership.  But Florida was impressive, winning ten out of its first eleven games and at one point rising to number eight in the national rankings.  Then in November, even though they continued to win against weaker opponents, Florida's offense began to sputter severely.  By the time they played Florida State in the regular season closer, it had pretty much conked out.  Was this really the same team that rallied late in the game to upset touted Tennessee 28-27, scored 28 points against LSU in a close loss, and annihilated Mississippi and Georgia 38-10 and 27-3 in their respective contests?  When November came around, Florida only managed to barely squeak by Vanderbilt 9-7, won against fading South Carolina in a lackluster game 24-14, and then had to go to overtime to defeat Florida Atlantic 20-14.  Yes, hooray, the Gators won the Southeastern Conference East Division for the first time in several years...but they decisively lost their last three games of the year: to FSU 27-2, to Alabama in the SEC championship game 29-15 (it wasn't as close as the score might indicate), and then a thorough clobbering at the hands of Michigan in their bowl game, 41-7...

I'm no expert on football, but it was clear that once their promising quarterback Will Grier was suspended for the season because he tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, then it was going to be difficult for them to keep their offensive production at the level they were enjoying. Still, had Florida sported a stronger offensive line, they would have done much better.  And now, we've had the off-season with all the recruiting and training: what will be the results of those efforts? Grier has transferred to West Virginia and at least for now, McElwain has given redshirt sophomore Luke Del Rio the starting quarterback job.  I for one can't wait to see the new 2016 team, especially regarding the new offense.  But I doubt that we'll really be able to tell for sure how good they are until Florida faces a more challenging opponent.  For now, though, UMass will just have to do...

Reviewing R.E.M's Thirty-Year Span of Music

After going through the late, great David Bowie's career collection of studio albums...and thoroughly enjoying it...I have decided to take on an act that I have long respected and liked...the alternative rock band R.E.M., based in my birth-state of Georgia.  R.E.M., which broke up in 2011 in the most amicable fashion imaginable, was composed of front man Michael Stipe, lead guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and drummer (until 1997) Bill Berry.  I've liked them since early 1984 after watching the video to their haunting song South Central Rain (I'm Sorry), but really began to seriously follow them with the 1989 release of their album Green, the first of a long string of masterpiece LPs, in my humble opinion.  They dipped a bit in quality after Berry left the group due to medical problems and they began to use drum machines, programs and computers more to record their music...probably the low point was their 2004 album Around the Sun.  But they got back on track and recorded two more good albums...and then called it quits while on top...

Eight years ago, on this blog, I listed my twelve favorite R.E.M. songs.  Here is the link to that August 21, 2008 article [link].  This time around, I plan to listen to all of their studio albums and make a more comprehensive list, updating my favorites as well.  Should be another labor of love...

Emerging Tropical Disturbance May Hit Florida

There is a broad area of low pressure sitting over the Atlantic Ocean, just north of the island of Hispaniola (comprising Haiti and the Dominican Republic), that is causing some concern among meteorologists.  Due to wind shearing from its north side, it does not yet have the structure or circulation to be deemed as a tropical depression.  So it is now "simply" referred to as Invest 99-L.  At its center of low pressure, there are few if any clouds, but further south there are heavy rains soaking southern Hispaniola.  The various computer models find this system moving in a west-northwesterly direction toward the Bahamas, developing eventually into a tropical depression, tropical storm...or even possibly a hurricane.  Should it reach tropical storm status, it will be named Hermine.  Also, the various models have this disturbance heading toward south Florida...and then they tend to diverge, ranging from it continuing on into the Gulf of Mexico to traveling upstate in peninsular Florida's interior.  For us living here in Gainesville, that last scenario may end up being the best, for this way the storm may have weakened considerably by the time it reaches us.  On the other hand, should it go into the Gulf and further strengthen, there could arise the possibility of it shifting its direction and reentering Florida...and should that happen around Cedar Key, we could be in for some trouble here. But perhaps I'm going down the road a little too far with my speculation...

After all, this disturbance carries its significance only in computer models and predictions: it isn't much of anything right now.  But in a couple of days, we may be seeing a vastly different...and possibly more threatening...situation...

Tamil Script

தமிழ் அரிச்சுவடி is how you would translate and write out the above title in the Tamil language.  Tamil is one of the national languages of India and is the chief one used at the southeastern tip of that country's peninsula in the state of Tamil Nadu (capital Chennai, formerly Madras).  It is also the second language spoken on the nearby island nation of Sri Lanka...there has been an ongoing conflict there between the majority Sinhalese and the minority Tamil, some of whom have staged a guerilla war for independence.  But back to the language and its script...

If you've ever explored the world of Indian languages, you've probably, as I have, become intrigued by the multiplicity of writing systems...even among similar languages.  As you go further south, the scripts can get downright strange and even beautiful.  That was the impression that the Tamil script made on me when I first beheld it while reading a book on world languages back in the 1970s.  At one point I even memorized its "alphabet", although I never undertook a serious study of the language.  And I still haven't, to this date.  After all, the only real connection I have with Tamil is our family physician for many years back in the 1990s, who is a Tamil...

Omniglot is an excellent language learning site on the World Wide Web.  It has a very user-friendly introduction to Tamil script which, when you scroll down the page I'm supplying the link to [link], you'll see can get to be pretty complicated.  Still, just look at the different letters and tell me whether or not you agree that some of them are beautiful...especially the Tamil letter for "short i":

                                    இ

Tamil belongs to the Dravidian family of Indian languages, primarily, but not exclusively, concentrated in the country's southern peninsula.  The Dravidians are the people who inhabited what is now called India/Pakistan/Bangladesh until the Indo-Europeans invaded/settled the area and either drove them out or assimilated them into their own societies.  Languages like Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali, and Sri Lanka's majority tongue Sinhalese are all in the Indic group of the Indo-European family of languages...to which English, French, German, Latin, Greek, Russian, and Persian also belong.  Tamil, along with Malayalam, Telugu, and Kannada, are the four major Dravidian languages, each with its own distinctive script (although Telugu and Kannada are rather similar).  I'm thinking of relearning the Tamil script and, now with the learning opportunities available via the Internet, beginning a rudimentary study of Tamil's basic vocabulary and sentence structure...

Just Finished Reading Stephen King's End of Watch

End of Watch is the final book in Stephen King's Bill Hodges Trilogy, published earlier this year.  The first book was Mr. Mercedes, the second was Finders Keepers...and here we are at last with the ending.  When I first read Mr. Mercedes a couple of years ago (this series was written and published in rapid order), I did not know whether or not the protagonist Bill Hodges, a retired detective with assorted serious medical issues, would survive it.  Afterwards, though, the name "Bill Hodges Trilogy" kind of gave that away, and then I knew that it wouldn't be until the final volume when his life would truly be endangered.  And to be sure, he is in grave peril in End of Watch, and on more than one front...

The problem with reviewing a book further along in a series is that, by discussing the plot and characters to any appreciable extent, I am unwittingly giving away some of what happens in earlier books.  I'd like folks who read this blog and who feel like reading Mr. Mercedes or Finders Keepers not to be dissuaded from doing so because I spoiled it all for them.  But the ending of Mr. Mercedes directly ties into the narrative and characters of End of Watch...the two are inextricably intertwined.  So let me instead speak in more general terms...

End of Watch deals with a number of topics woven into the story, probably the chief of them being the suggestibility of suicide and the possibility of mass hypnosis via the Internet.  With suicide, I think a lot of people would just as soon not talk about it for the fear that by doing so, they are putting its possibility into others' minds.  Stephen King obviously does not agree: he starkly presents the problem center-stage and challenges the reader to face up to it.  Subliminal Internet hypnosis is also something that we don't quite understand as of yet...King has put forth the notion that it might be implemented through video games.  I've seen some ads for some of them pop up on my cellphone while I'm trying to play Solitaire on it and I have to admit that a few of them, as primitive as they appear on the surface, are visually very intense with strobe-like effects...

There, I don't think I gave anything away...but if you're game enough to plow through this series to this final book, maybe you can provide your own reaction to it and what you feel Stephen King was trying to convey.  It's a good story, but not for the faint of heart...

Few Know Their Local, State, and Congressional Districts

Yesterday I wrote about my sample ballot for the upcoming primary election on August 30...mine is for Democratic-registered voters.  I mentioned a tough primary contest going on in the Florida House of Representatives District 21, which is very close to the subdivision I live in...but I actually live in District 20, less than a quarter mile from the boundary line between the two.  My district is represented by Clovis Watson, a Democrat...and I just discovered that he is running unopposed by any Republicans in the general election.  But almost literally just across the street, Republicans are furiously slinging mud at each other for the seat being vacated by Keith Perry, who is running for the State Senate District 8 seat this election against Democrat Rod Smith.  The main GOP contenders in District 21 are Chuck Clemons, a familiar name in Gainesville politics, and Wenda Lewis, a political neophyte whose family business is oil.  The two have been accusing each other of bad things...like that Clemons used to be one of those nasty Democrats and that Lewis's company was cited in the past for some transgression.  Both are claiming to be the conservative's conservative, each brandishing "A" grades from the NRA...and Clemons is boasting  tea party congressman Ted Yoho's support.  Besides these two, there is a third candidate in this district for the Republicans, Tim Rogers, who doesn't appear to be interested in jumping into the mud pit with them.  Whoever wins the primary will face Democrat Maryhelen Wheeler in the general election...

Watching the ads of Clemons and Lewis on TV constantly probably gives a lot of folks living in Gainesville the idea that they should be deciding which one to vote for.  Of course, if you're not a Republican, then you don't get to play.  And if you can, then you just might want to consider that third candidate, Rogers, before you make up your mind.  But this election is only for the western half of Gainesville...and points beyond...and not for the eastern side.  But I think folks are still confused about that: I saw a Tim Rogers sign in my own neighborhood...maybe that homeowner supports him, but he or she cannot vote in Tim's primary election, which is in the adjacent district.  For my part, I erroneously wrote in my blog a few days ago that Keith Perry was currently my state representative, but I'm in District 20 and it's Clovis, not Keith...

Maybe what I'm trying to get at here is that it isn't very easy for citizen voters to be able to tell which districts they live in, and watching all these television ads can be confusing.  Has it ever happened to you that you thought long and seriously about a race and then went to the polling station only to  discover that it was in another district from where you live?  Well, it's happened to me and I think, in our information age, more serious efforts need to be taken to inform voters which city, state House, state Senate, and U.S. House districts they live in.  All one should need is a search engine on the Internet whereby they enter their address and the information about their particular national, state, and local districts is made instantly available.  Sounds like something that the Supervisor of Elections should be responsible for implementing...

Looking at My August 30 Primary Election Sample Ballot

With early voting already underway here in Florida, I'm looking at my own Alachua County sample ballot for the upcoming primary election scheduled for August 30.  Not all of the races that will be decided in November are on this ballot, since some of the races for my registered party (Democratic) are unopposed.  Therefore, for my Florida State Senate (District 8) and State House of Representatives (District 20), I'll have to wait until the general election on November 8 to cast my ballot.  However, in the adjacent State House District 21 race on the Republican side, the media campaign has turned into a mudslinging festival among the two leading contenders.  And in the Senate race (remember, this is the Florida State Senate) Republican Keith Perry and Democrat Rod Smith have been going at each other hot and heavy a long time already.  Nor will I have a vote on my U.S. House District 3 seat, currently occupied by Republican Ted Yoho, who is apparently running unopposed within his own party...until November.  But I will be able to vote on the Democratic side of the U.S. Senate contest this year for the position now taken by Marco Rubio, who has decided to run for reelection after all...although not without some competition within his own party.  Also on the ballot for me are primary races for county sheriff, supervisor of elections and two county commissioner seats. Additionally, there are votes for one school board seat and a state constitutional amendment proposal that would exempt, for a twenty-year period, enhanced personal property values derived from solar or renewal energy improvements from being considered when assessing property taxes.  I am interested in the county commission seats because the two incumbents rule the commission like they own it, and one of them has been in office already for 16 years...time to turn over the reins to someone else, I say...

Just Finished Reading Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Somewhere buried in the deep recesses of my garage is my copy of a collection of short stories by contemporary science fiction writer Orson Scott Card.  It includes a short story, titled Ender's Game.  I never got around to reading it, and now I'm glad: Card later expanded it into a full-length novel, which I've just finished reading...

In Ender's Game, it is in the future as humanity, by this time very adept in space travel, has had to fight off two invasions of a bug-like alien civilization (hence their name "buggers") into our solar system.  And as a third invasion is envisioned, the military and civilian leaders of planet Earth have to come up with a plan to finally win decisively and permanently over the enemy.  They test and train young children in order to make them military commanders in this final conflict.  One of these children is Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, and this book is basically his story.  The narrative goes from the final hours with his family through his ordeals in the space military schools...and beyond.  Along the way, he is heavily subjected to bullying by his peers which his teachers not only allow but actually encourage.  Part of the training is in computer games and part is in elaborate simulations of battle scenarios where the students are divided into different armies and pitted against each other.  The authorities have high expectations of Ender and have to walk a tight-rope between pushing him too hard and not giving him adequate training and preparation for the impending war...

When I read about Ender undergoing bullying, it reminded me a bit of my own childhood.  No, I wasn't a constant target for bullies, but I did have a very slight build and a gentle nature, which gave some others the notion that I was weak and an easy target.  I suppose that happens today as well, but back then adults seemed to be of the philosophy that it was the victim's responsibility to handle bullying, instead of today's general attitude that focuses on the bully as the one with the problem.  Ender's Game was like my youth when grown-ups turned a blind eye to the abuse clearly going on around them...

Ender's Game is a very well-written novel that develops some vivid and hard-to-forget characters.  It has an unexpected climax, and the story's ending not only ties up its loose ends very well, but also leaves room for sequels...which Card has obliged us by writing.  I haven't seen the movie adaptation that came out about five years ago and starred Asa Butterfield...known for his title role in Martin Scorsese's wonderful movie Hugo...as Ender Wiggin, with Harrison Ford and Ben Kingsley in supporting roles.  Guess I'll now have to go check it out...

Ready to Investigate Another Musical Artist's Collected Recordings

I had a great time over the last few weeks investigating the career musical recording production of the late David Bowie, discovering many, many songs that I would never have heard had this extraordinary artist not died this past January.  Don't get me wrong: I'm sad that he passed on, but it was that passing, in conjunction with the release of his final album Blackstar, that prompted my interest.  He recorded 27 studio albums, so listening to all of them was time-consuming, to say the least.  But now I'm done with this project, albeit with a long list now of my favorite Bowie tracks.  And now I want to do the same with another recording artist.  Should I attempt to examine the collected works of Prince, who also died not too long ago?  Or should I choose a different musician or group?

I'm already pretty familiar with the collected recordings of acts like the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, the Doors, Nirvana, the Moody Blues, the Who, Regina Spektor, Beck, Radiohead, Kasabian, Spoon, Gorillaz, Arcade Fire, and Sufjan Stevens...some of these are renown in the world of classic rock, some are famous in the alternative genre...and some aren't all that generally well-known.  I think it might be interesting to take an act famous for their singles hits and then listen to some of their complete albums in order to see what I can find of value.  Besides Prince, the great Canadian band Guess Who, Madonna, Marvin Gaye, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, and the Rolling Stones may be the leading contenders.  I'm going to listen to three of Madonna's albums in a few days...Ray of Light, Music, and Madonna (her debut release)...and see whether listening to further recordings will be a worthwhile venture.  I picked those three albums out of her thirteen studio works because I already know that they feature some of my favorite songs of hers.  I've always felt that Madonna had great musical talent and could have had her fame and success without going overboard with the videos, role-playing, and celebrity hoopla.  On the other hand, David Bowie also did those things in his own way...maybe that's why I had erroneously disregarded his music for so long...

Need to Improve My Own Proofreading

When I write my blog articles, trying to come up with something on a daily basis, I do all of the editorial and proofreading review myself before publishing them on the Internet.  I read over what I have written at least twice...and sometimes more, usually catching several spelling, punctuation, grammar, and poor wording mistakes in the process.  After I publish an entry, I then read it again, before going on Facebook and placing a link to it.  And then I again read the article.  After all this, I'll go back again a day or two later...and still find stupid mistakes I made, long after other people have been reading it!  Now that's a bit embarrassing...

One of the reasons I miss some of my errors is that, having conceived the article myself, I tend to read it in my own mind as I have thought it out, instead of objectively looking at the text.  Sometimes, because of this, some writers will have someone else proofread their material before publishing...this isn't very feasible to me.  Besides, I want to be a more careful writer and self-proofreading is something I want to improve in order to help me in that regard.  One trick to the trade: I found that by slowly reading my article aloud to myself, I have been able to turn up more mistakes.  Now, I guess it's time for me to proofread this article a few times and then publish it...and then in a couple of days discover the mistakes that I still missed...

Talk Radio's Mark Levin

Mark Levin is a conservative talk show host with a weekday evening radio program from 6 to 9 eastern time.  A fervent supporter of Ronald Reagan since 1976, he served in the entire Reagan presidential administration in the 1980s, chiefly as an assistant to Attorney General Edwin Meese.  He calls himself a constitutional conservative and not only calls to task those in the opposition Democratic Party, but also those in the Republican Party who he believes have strayed from the Reagan philosophy.  He can be quite thoughtful with his opinions, but then again can go off into tantrum fits when he personally runs down those with whom he disagrees, calling them idiots, morons, and worse.  He supported Ted Cruz this year in the Republican primary process and is critical of eventual nominee Donald Trump on several fronts.  One of his objections is Trump's tendency to go off-message and engage in personal vendettas with various people instead of focusing on what Levin believes would eventually win him the election...i.e. continually emphasizing his opponent Hillary Clinton's liabilities.  However, it is clear to me that Donald Trump, a media figure who has depended heavily on other media figures...like Michael Savage, another radio talk show host...for his political outlook and how he expresses it, is only doing what Mark Levin himself does for three hours on his show.  Trump lays out his position on the issues...like Levin...and also engages in personal polemics with his enemies, real or imagined...again like Levin.  So although it's not precisely hypocritical for Mark Levin to criticize Donald Trump for his continual gaffes, it does raise the point that what one does to be successful in one area (like talk radio) doesn't necessarily translate into success in presidential politics.  I would add to this that what one does to amass fortunes in real estate and business...or to be successful on reality TV... also doesn't necessarily translate into success as a sitting president...

I don't know where Mark Levin got the moniker "The Great One", but he has no problem about boasting of it on his show.  I used to despise him for his insulting nature toward people with different viewpoints, and I still object to that methodology.  But I also recognize that he does stand by his own enunciated principles and isn't just some party or organizational hack (unlike Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannity), nor will he hesitate to strongly criticize Republicans when they stray from his view of Reagan's legacy (unlike Rush Limbaugh).  I do have a problem whenever I've watched an Obama speech and then hear Levin read all sorts of nefarious inferences from it when I thought that the speech was positive and constructive.  There is definitely a gulf between what Levin and I regard as reasonable political debate...sometimes I wonder whether folks like Mark Levin and Michael Savage haven't placed themselves within an insulated bubble that only invites feedback from those who share their own peculiar outlooks...

In support of that notion, Mark Levin has begun his own TV channel, called LevinTV, that is available on a paid-subscription basis in different formats.  For this new venture of his, he has constructed his own special studio where he spends hours discussing his vision for America while inviting guests who buttress his own arguments and expand on them...but no moderates, liberals, or populists need bother to apply to appear on it.  To Levin, it's great to be in this big ideological bubble, shut off from those "idiots" and "morons" with differing perspectives.  But although he can be pretty obnoxious, he also has, in a way, a compelling personality...I can see why he's so popular.  Hey, even I listen to the dude...

Despite Gaffes, Trump Stays Competitive in Race

It's actually been going on for several months: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump says something outrageous...people are outraged...and the verdict comes in over the media that it's all over and that the loose-tongued billionaire might as well just drop out of the race.  And it's true that, from time to time, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton will build up her lead over her chief opponent, even to double digits, following some of the worst of these outbursts.  And then a few days later, that lead will appear to diminish back to around five percentage points, give or take a couple.  That is exactly what's going on right now: after Trump's ranting and raving about the Muslim Gold Star parents and calling Clinton alternately a monster, the Devil, and co-founder of ISIS (with President Obama, of course) while constantly referring to her as "Crooked Hillary", it looked as if he had gone over the final line of so many that he has already tromped over.  And yet, the latest polls, as you can see by going to the RealClearPolitics website, have him in a much closer contest than the news media talking heads would have you believe...

The depressing thing about all this is not only that we still have 85 days left in this grueling election campaign to put up with, but also the intensity of the attacks on television and radio will grow, along with their viciousness.  And don't get me started with all of the robo-calls and political mailings we'll be flooded with.  I knew more than a year ago for whom I would be voting for president...it represents the depths of ignorance and foolishness that so many people in our country still haven't been able to make up their own minds on this subject when the choice is so clear-cut, hence the swinging back and forth of the candidates in the polls...   

Backyard Sky-Gazing Leads to Meteor Sighting

I was sitting out in my backyard around midnight last night on one of my days off from work (tonight is the other one), enjoying the unusually clear skies, a relief from the rain and clouds we've been enduring night after night here in the Gainesville area for the last couple of weeks, and thinking to myself about assorted things...I call it "free-association brainstorming"...when in the low eastern sky I saw a meteor streak toward the south.  It started out in the constellation Aquarius (just south of Pegasus) and petered out near the first-magnitude star Fomalhaut in Piscis Austrinus...and was very bright.  I had thought to myself that I once again missed the annual Perseids meteor shower, which had peaked a couple of nights ago while the skies here in Gainesville were overcast.  But this definitely was a Perseid "fireball": it radiated away from Perseus, the epicenter of this shower.  I didn't observe any more meteors after that, but I was happy to have at least experienced this one, and it was impressive...

The effect of finally having a clear night sky to gaze at was only slightly marred by the bright gibbous moon that tended to make the fainter of the stars less visible.  The standouts were still there for this time of year: overhead was the summer triangle of first-magnitude stars Vega, Altair, and Deneb and their associated constellations Lyra (the lyre), Aquila (the eagle), and Cygnus (the swan), respectively.  Facing north I made out the circumpolar constellations of Cepheus (the king) and Cassiopeia (the queen), while I already mentioned the presence in the east of relatively faint Aquarius (the water carrier) and the more prominent Pegasus (the flying horse), with its signature asterism, the "square".  And then there was Fomalhaut of Piscis Austrinus (the southern fish), the brightest star in the autumn evening sky.  Good to see some of my celestial "friends" again...

As I write this while sitting at Panera on Newberry Road around 6 pm (the Starbucks I usually go to was packed), it is storming outside, with no end in sight.  But we'll see what it's like later on at night, when I like to drag my chair out to the middle of the yard, sit back, train my eyes on the heavens, and muse...it would be nice, though, if that dog at the home on the other side would stop barking at me...

Just Finished Reading The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Siddhartha Mukherjee is a distinguished cancer biologist who has a great talent that few scientists possess: the ability and passion for sharing his often very specialized and complex field with the general public.  A few years ago he wrote the highly-acclaimed book The Emperor of All Maladies, which was about that dreaded disease of cancer.  To do research into cancer these days necessarily involves one in the closely related and heavily overlapping field in biology known as genetics.  Mukherjee has in turn written another great popular science book: The Gene: An Intimate History, which covers this very interesting topic from its scientific history, controversies throughout the years, important breakthroughs along the way, and the future in genetics...

Mukherjee interspersed his narrative about genetics with personal accounts from his own eastern Indian family's history of mental disorders...that his family line on his father's side seemed predisposed toward developing schizophrenia and bipolar disorders pointed to heredity and the engine driving it: the gene.  He then recounted the history of modern genetics, concentrating heavily on the pea experiments of Gregor Mendel in the 19th century.  He covered the various competitions among scientists during that time and in the decades following to understand the principles of heredity as its study ultimately came down to the structure of the DNA molecule and how it interacts with its mirror RNA version and with proteins and other substances to transmit genetic information.  Along the way, bumps in the road to the truth have occurred, and the author focuses on these as well.  One such bump was the eugenics movement of the late 19th and early 20th century, which attempted to extend heredity to intelligence and apply it to racial types...with disastrous political and social consequences culminating in the travesties perpetrated not only in Hitler's Nazi Germany, but within America as well as women were forced into sterilization based on eugenics-based assessments.  Another bump was the Lysenko movement in the Soviet Union, which claimed that the gene could be directly altered by change in environment, with the result being the setback of that country's agriculture through policies enacted in line with this fallacy.  Ironically, in more recent years it was discovered that environmentally-induced changes could be inherited, but not by changing the actual genetic information but rather by the presence of proteins and other substances that could "turn on" and "turn off" specific genes.  This phenomenon is essential to the new subfield known as "epigenetics"...

This book delves fearlessly at times into pretty technical information, especially with regard to the chemicals involved with genes, their composition, and the processes resulting.  There's no doubt in my mind that I would have gotten more from the book with a better background in biology...unfortunately that's one area in my own education (of many, I'm sure) in which I am sorely lacking.  Oh well, our good author was wise enough not to dwell too long in technical narrative...which I recognize was necessary to effectively present this work...and would eventually go into an area that I could more readily grasp...

Mukherjee is very concerned about diseases and how much they can be traced back to the genetic code...the composite of all genes within humans, along with their arrangement, being known as the human genome.  It turns out that some diseases point to a single, specific gene (like Huntington's and sickle-cell anemia)...but most of them seem to be the product of more than one gene, acting together and often in conjunction with environmental factors. As genes responsible for birth defects like Down's syndrome were discovered, it became expedient to perform prenatal tests for pregnant women regarding the likelihood that the baby would be born with the defect.  And if the tests came back positive, then the question of abortion came into play.  As a matter of fact, the more we learn about how human traits specifically correspond to elements along the genome, it becomes more and more an ethical/moral question: how far should we go in determining our genetic future, both as individuals, families, and as humans collectively?  The rise in stem cell research and its applications to the alteration of the genome in order to "improve" it also raises the important question and its partner: what constitutes improvement...and how, with our still fledgling knowledge in this growing field, do we know that we aren't unintentionally creating genetic structures that are more harmful than helpful?

My very first introduction to the field of genetics was a Bell Science movie titled The Thread of Life, starring that "bald guy with glasses", Dr. Frank Baxter, back in 1967 when I was in the sixth grade.  Siddhartha Mukherjee's The Gene: An Intimate History is definitely a huge step up from that...but it still keeps me firmly planted as a non-scientist.  But I do feel that I am, if only a little, closer to understanding some of the issues that seem to continually arise about genetic research in the news every few months or so.  I recommend this book, and I may well come back to it from time to time...

Looking at Upcoming 2016 Football Season

I'm looking forward to the new football season, both professional and college.  In the National Football League, the three Florida teams I traditionally root for...plus the New York Giants...have all had traditionally lousy seasons last year.  Only New York, of which I've been a fan ever since they ruined my nemesis New England's quest for a perfect season in the Super Bowl following the 2007 season, has had anything resembling success during the past ten years.  And the Giants haven't done anything, either, since 2011.  I've followed the Miami Dolphins, having grown up in the vicinity, since 1968, their third season in the league.  After Don Shula signed on as their head coach in 1970, they rose quickly to the top and won two out of three Super Bowls in the early 1970s...including their perfect 17-0 season in 1972.  Since then, they went to two Super Bowls in the 80s, losing both...and then nothing after that.  Tampa Bay has the most recent success of the Florida teams, having won the NFL championship for 2002...but have languished in mediocrity during the last several years.  And don't even get me talking about Jacksonville, which has probably the worst overall record in the NFL for the past decade.  But back to the Dolphins...

Miami has some well-founded hope heading into this 2016 season, having sacked indifferent Joe Philbin last season and hiring Adam Gase, whose exuberance may be just what the doctor ordered for this talented-but-well, "sick" team.  Maybe, just maybe, they'll be good enough to sneak into the playoffs for the first time in eight years.  Notice that I'm not making any predictions...

In college football, I am a University of Florida fan.  That should be no surprise...after all, I'm a UF alumnus and have been living here in Gainesville going on close to 40 years.  This will be Gator head coach Jim McElwain's second season with the team.  Last year Florida managed to win their SEC East Division, but sputtered horrendously on offense during the last half of the schedule...which team will show itself this year, the strong first half of last year, or that debacle ending it?  McElwain seems to have done his homework during the off-season and is presenting a different offense with some potentially explosive new stars.  Should be exciting to follow them this year...

Regardless how my teams do, I have to admit to not following football as much as I have in years gone by.  Maybe it's because soccer has attracted my interest more, and maybe it's because the sport just doesn't have the same appeal anymore.  It is very dangerous to play, and I don't care for all the debilitating injuries that seem to be regular, expected occurrences.  Ball sports are games, not war...but football in some ways resembles the latter more than the former...

Perseid Meteor Shower Strongest Tonight

The annual Perseid meteor shower, which is composed of debris from the Swift-Tuttle comet that crosses the Earth's orbit, is supposed to be at its highest intensity tonight, with predictions of up to 200 sightings of meteors per hour.  If the sky is clear, go outside in the early morning hours, from midnight to about 3, and look in the northeastern part of the sky (I'm writing this from northern Florida, at about 30 degrees latitude).  If you know the constellations, then it should be simple to find the shower's epicenter...that is the point from which the individual meteors mostly appear to be radiating.  The shower, after all, is named for the constellation Perseus, representing the mythological Greek hero who rescued Andromeda (also a nearby constellation) from a dreaded sea monster...

As for me, I have been trying off and on...more off, sad to say...over more than the past fifty years to get a good look at the Perseids...but to little avail.  The fact that the night skies here in Gainesville have been consistently overcast for several days doesn't furnish me much hope that this situation will change for the better.  But maybe you'll be in a better position than me to enjoy this celestial spectacle.  Of course, it will help to be away from city lights as well.  And if you're going to see the Perseids, tonight's the tonight: it won't get any better than this...