In September I had to contend with some soreness in my right foot, as well as some back strain issues...limiting my ability to train. I missed seven days of running because of this, but managed somehow to run a total of 47 miles during the month. My longest single run was for just 3.5 miles...it's been a while since I've run anything on the order of middle distance, much less the long distances that I prefer...
So with the weather supposedly cooling a bit this coming month, I should hopefully be able to get back to increasing my mileage. It sounds like a broken record, for my running so far in 2017 has not been anywhere near what I want it to be. Yet I think I may have solved that foot problem by going back to the protective shoes I used to wear...ever since I switched back, my feet seem fine. In any event, I will need to drastically get back my endurance over longer distances if I'm to run upcoming races this fall and winter. And I'd better hurry up: the Tom Walker Memorial Half-Marathon SE of Gaineville will be held November 11, just six weeks from now. And then there's the 10K Turkey Trot on the Tacachale campus in NE Gainesville on Thanksgiving. Next year will spotlight the Ocala Half-Marathon and the 15K Newnan's Lake Run, both in January, and the Five Points of Light Half-Marathon here in Gainesville in February. A grand total of five middle-to-long distance races in our immediate area. If I can remain healthy, I should be able to swing this...
Saturday, September 30, 2017
Friday, September 29, 2017
Quote of the Week...from Senator Bill Nelson
One of the great privileges of being a part of the Senate, it being the greatest deliberative body in the world, is out of the discussions of ideas, hopefully truth can ultimately be achieved.
---Bill Nelson.
---Bill Nelson.
Bill Nelson is one of the two United States senators from my home state of Florida. Originally a Democratic congressman who once flew on the Space Shuttle back in the 1980s, he is a staunch advocate for our space program and for Florida's future role in it. He also is very strong on national defense, the environment, the rights of seniors...and above everything, the interests of the state he represents. Although Nelson's speech mannerisms can be at times a little irritating, their content is almost always spot on, making him one of the few politicians on Capitol Hill that I consistently agree with. He's up for reelection next year, and most Floridians are anticipating that Republican lame duck governor Rick Scott will run against him, making the contest a most difficult one to win. The above quote, reflective of Nelson's three terms of service in the United States Senate, is once again totally true...and you can test its validity out as C-Span 2 shows its floor proceedings live...
If you're like me and sick and tired of the talking media heads spinning the issues out of control...both from the "left" and "right"...then maybe you'd appreciate a more dispassionate setting where those same issues can be discussed and debated in a civil manner, and without the participants interrupting each other and flying off the handle. In the Senate there is a deliberate atmosphere of comity, and the senators are constantly referring within their speeches to the opposition party as "our friends across the aisle". That doesn't mean that they aren't fully committed to promoting their own viewpoints and criticizing the others': it means that within this setting, at least, personalities are deemphasized while the issues at hand, with their various ramifications, get the deserved center stage...
I have been following the Senate on C-Span 2 since 2001...one of my first experiences was of an eloquent and persuasive speech by Senator Jeff Sessions, now our attorney general. Over the last sixteen years there has been a lot of turnover in this body, but I have made it a point to know all of the senators by name, state, and appearance...and a little about each one's politics and speaking styles. I was a little distressed by the recent Republican primary loss in Alabama by Luther Strange to Judge Roy Moore...I got to like "Big Luther"...as the president accurately depicts him...for his gentle politeness as well as when he would preside over the Senate. So in a way, the personalities are still there...but on the floor the talk is all about the issues, which is the way I wish the media in general covered politics. Notice that in this article I've praised both Democratic and Republican senators...that's because, my political leanings notwithstanding, I've come to greatly respect...and even like...these people. I'm a firm believer that gentle, reasonable persuasion can change hearts much better than can smears and hyperbole...although the last presidential election didn't exactly bear that out, did it...
If you're like me and sick and tired of the talking media heads spinning the issues out of control...both from the "left" and "right"...then maybe you'd appreciate a more dispassionate setting where those same issues can be discussed and debated in a civil manner, and without the participants interrupting each other and flying off the handle. In the Senate there is a deliberate atmosphere of comity, and the senators are constantly referring within their speeches to the opposition party as "our friends across the aisle". That doesn't mean that they aren't fully committed to promoting their own viewpoints and criticizing the others': it means that within this setting, at least, personalities are deemphasized while the issues at hand, with their various ramifications, get the deserved center stage...
I have been following the Senate on C-Span 2 since 2001...one of my first experiences was of an eloquent and persuasive speech by Senator Jeff Sessions, now our attorney general. Over the last sixteen years there has been a lot of turnover in this body, but I have made it a point to know all of the senators by name, state, and appearance...and a little about each one's politics and speaking styles. I was a little distressed by the recent Republican primary loss in Alabama by Luther Strange to Judge Roy Moore...I got to like "Big Luther"...as the president accurately depicts him...for his gentle politeness as well as when he would preside over the Senate. So in a way, the personalities are still there...but on the floor the talk is all about the issues, which is the way I wish the media in general covered politics. Notice that in this article I've praised both Democratic and Republican senators...that's because, my political leanings notwithstanding, I've come to greatly respect...and even like...these people. I'm a firm believer that gentle, reasonable persuasion can change hearts much better than can smears and hyperbole...although the last presidential election didn't exactly bear that out, did it...
Thursday, September 28, 2017
9/24 Sermon on David, Part 2
Last Sunday at The Family Church here in Gainesville, senior pastor Philip Griffin continued his series on David, king of Israel. This message's title was Life's Battlefields and focused on the Old Testament book of 1 Samuel, particularly chapter 17, verses 26-50...you can read it in the New International Version (or a different translation if you prefer) via the following link to Bible Gateway: [link]. The setting is the confrontation between the Israelites, led by King Saul, and the Philistines, championed by the arrogant giant Goliath...who is challenging anyone to face him: no one wants to. David steps up, however...much to the consternation of his brothers...and tells Saul that it was God who rescued him from the bear and lion when he was herding his sheep, and that same God will protect him from the Philistine...
Pastor Philip drew four important principles from this passage: listen to the right voice, use what God has already given me, focus on the size of God and not the size of the problem, and rely on God's power and not my own. The setting in 1 Samuel was literally a battleground, but our lives have times in which we must either take a stand...or retreat. Sometimes prudence is called for, especially when it involves discerning the significance of the "battle", e.g. someone out in traffic is overcome with road rage against me...discerning God's wisdom through the Holy Spirit will lead me away from any conflict of that sort. But other times God will direct and empower me to stand up and face the adversary, be it human or situational...with the emphasis, of course, on God being the one in charge. He will not ask of me anything that he hasn't already equipped me for: David was equipped with his life experience of fighting predators while shepherding, his sling, and stones....and more than anything, his faith in God...
You can watch the video for this message by clicking on the following link to the church's YouTube video website: [link]. The Family Church, located at 2022 SW 122nd Street, holds its Sunday morning services at 9:30 and 11 and invites you to attend. There's the weekly sermon, inspiring praise music, friendly folks all around, and prayer and discipleship opportunities...and, of course, that delicious complimentary coffee...
Pastor Philip drew four important principles from this passage: listen to the right voice, use what God has already given me, focus on the size of God and not the size of the problem, and rely on God's power and not my own. The setting in 1 Samuel was literally a battleground, but our lives have times in which we must either take a stand...or retreat. Sometimes prudence is called for, especially when it involves discerning the significance of the "battle", e.g. someone out in traffic is overcome with road rage against me...discerning God's wisdom through the Holy Spirit will lead me away from any conflict of that sort. But other times God will direct and empower me to stand up and face the adversary, be it human or situational...with the emphasis, of course, on God being the one in charge. He will not ask of me anything that he hasn't already equipped me for: David was equipped with his life experience of fighting predators while shepherding, his sling, and stones....and more than anything, his faith in God...
You can watch the video for this message by clicking on the following link to the church's YouTube video website: [link]. The Family Church, located at 2022 SW 122nd Street, holds its Sunday morning services at 9:30 and 11 and invites you to attend. There's the weekly sermon, inspiring praise music, friendly folks all around, and prayer and discipleship opportunities...and, of course, that delicious complimentary coffee...
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Wednesday's Short Story: The Big Front Yard by Clifford Simak
Back in May I discussed another of the great twentieth century science fiction writer Clifford Simak's short stories: Huddling Place, from 1944. But one of the first sci-fi stories I ever read was his 1958 The Big Front Yard, which I found while thumbing through one of my father's old paperback anthologies. It also appears in Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories 20 (1958), published by DAW Books in 1990. Unlike many other stories I have read over the years, it has strongly stuck with me to this day...and for good reason...
Hiram Taine is a solitary handyman living on the edge of the woods outside a New England village with his dog Towser. The folks from the village like and respect him, and bring in their broken down televisions and other contraptions for him to repair. One day he notices that Towser is acting as if he is smelling a rat or woodchuck...and it seems to be coming from the basement. Later he discovers that the ceiling of the basement has been replaced by an impermeable smooth glassy barrier. Not freaking out as I (and most people) would have done, Taine with his "Yankee sensibility" continues to go about his own business in town and returns home to find his house's front closed in on itself, completely impassable. Going in from the back, he sees that the front windows and door open out to a very sunny desert scene...while it's still nighttime and New England in the back! Whatever "rats" had built the basement ceiling had also transformed his house into a gateway to another planet. Taine knows they came from outer space because Towser had picked up their buried spaceship's scent. And the story continues from there...
When I first read The Big Front Yard as a kid, the idea of just walking through a door and instantly traversing enormous distances greatly intrigued me...even now I often joke about wanting to be able to step into a closet and come out at some distant destination, saving me the time, expense, and hassle of going through all that tedious travel. But when I reread it the other day, I picked up on something else: there is a character named Beasly, a man whose features you might recognize in a few others you know in your own life. He does odd jobs around town to earn his frugal lifestyle and is generally regarded as somewhat slow-witted, consequently commonly being jeered at by some of the town's kids and shown disrespect by those he works for...except for Taine, who treats him as an equal. But as it turns out, Beasly has a special talent that has gone undiscovered for his entire life, a talent that is crucial to the story's successful outcome. I wonder how many of us regard ourselves as superior to others whose mental faculties we deem to make them not quite "complete", when the truth is that each and every one of us are complete in our own right and deserve an opportunity for a dignified life within our society...
Hiram Taine is a solitary handyman living on the edge of the woods outside a New England village with his dog Towser. The folks from the village like and respect him, and bring in their broken down televisions and other contraptions for him to repair. One day he notices that Towser is acting as if he is smelling a rat or woodchuck...and it seems to be coming from the basement. Later he discovers that the ceiling of the basement has been replaced by an impermeable smooth glassy barrier. Not freaking out as I (and most people) would have done, Taine with his "Yankee sensibility" continues to go about his own business in town and returns home to find his house's front closed in on itself, completely impassable. Going in from the back, he sees that the front windows and door open out to a very sunny desert scene...while it's still nighttime and New England in the back! Whatever "rats" had built the basement ceiling had also transformed his house into a gateway to another planet. Taine knows they came from outer space because Towser had picked up their buried spaceship's scent. And the story continues from there...
When I first read The Big Front Yard as a kid, the idea of just walking through a door and instantly traversing enormous distances greatly intrigued me...even now I often joke about wanting to be able to step into a closet and come out at some distant destination, saving me the time, expense, and hassle of going through all that tedious travel. But when I reread it the other day, I picked up on something else: there is a character named Beasly, a man whose features you might recognize in a few others you know in your own life. He does odd jobs around town to earn his frugal lifestyle and is generally regarded as somewhat slow-witted, consequently commonly being jeered at by some of the town's kids and shown disrespect by those he works for...except for Taine, who treats him as an equal. But as it turns out, Beasly has a special talent that has gone undiscovered for his entire life, a talent that is crucial to the story's successful outcome. I wonder how many of us regard ourselves as superior to others whose mental faculties we deem to make them not quite "complete", when the truth is that each and every one of us are complete in our own right and deserve an opportunity for a dignified life within our society...
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Tuesday's List: Fundamental Units of Physics and Derived Formulas
A few decades ago I was studying basic college physics when I tired of having to remember all of the formulas in mechanics and electricity...and decided to develop numerical strings for each type of quantity that, for me at least, were easier to retain. Now in physics there are seven fundamental units, of which everything else can be derived (back then I only used four):
1 mass.......................kilogram (kg)
2 length.....................meter (m)
3 electric current........ampere (A)
4 time........................second (s)
5 thermodynamic temperature...degree Kelvin scale, or kelvin (K)
6 amount of substance...mole (mol)
7 luminous intensity.....candela (cd)
For the purposes of this article, I'll leave off the last three units, although you might find it interesting that thermodynamic temperature does not figure into the formula for energy...heat energy or otherwise. What I did was to write out four-number strings, each number representing the exponential powers for the units or combinations thereof. So...
mass: 1 0 0 0 kg
length: 0 1 0 0 m
current: 0 0 1 0 A
time: 0 0 0 1 s
From this we can derive more strings:
area 0 2 0 0 length-squared
volume 0 3 0 0 length-cubed
velocity 0 1 0 -1 length per time
acceleration 0 1 0 -2 length per time-squared
density 1 -3 0 0 mass per length-cubed
force 1 1 0 -2 mass multiplied by length per time-squared
energy 1 2 0 -2 mass mult. by length-squared per time-squared
power 1 2 0 -3 mass mult. by length-squared per time-cubed
pressure 1 -1 0 -2 mass per length per time-squared
charge 0 0 1 1 current mult. by time
voltage 1 2 -1 -3 mass mult. by length-squared per current per time-cubed
Each number of the string represents the exponential power of that fundamental unit within the formula...and you multiply across the string. A unit represented by "0" simply isn't present within that formula. I found this numerical mnemonic system, once learned, to be easier to remember...
And it's also easier to see relationships between the different formulas, for example:
We're taught that force=mass x acceleration...or:
1 0 0 0 mass
0 1 0 -2 acceleration
1 1 0 -2 force (note that when multiplying exponents you add the powers)
If you're interested, you can go through the whole physics textbook like this and the formula derivations can get to be almost a matter of second nature after a while...
1 mass.......................kilogram (kg)
2 length.....................meter (m)
3 electric current........ampere (A)
4 time........................second (s)
5 thermodynamic temperature...degree Kelvin scale, or kelvin (K)
6 amount of substance...mole (mol)
7 luminous intensity.....candela (cd)
For the purposes of this article, I'll leave off the last three units, although you might find it interesting that thermodynamic temperature does not figure into the formula for energy...heat energy or otherwise. What I did was to write out four-number strings, each number representing the exponential powers for the units or combinations thereof. So...
mass: 1 0 0 0 kg
length: 0 1 0 0 m
current: 0 0 1 0 A
time: 0 0 0 1 s
From this we can derive more strings:
area 0 2 0 0 length-squared
volume 0 3 0 0 length-cubed
velocity 0 1 0 -1 length per time
acceleration 0 1 0 -2 length per time-squared
density 1 -3 0 0 mass per length-cubed
force 1 1 0 -2 mass multiplied by length per time-squared
energy 1 2 0 -2 mass mult. by length-squared per time-squared
power 1 2 0 -3 mass mult. by length-squared per time-cubed
pressure 1 -1 0 -2 mass per length per time-squared
charge 0 0 1 1 current mult. by time
voltage 1 2 -1 -3 mass mult. by length-squared per current per time-cubed
Each number of the string represents the exponential power of that fundamental unit within the formula...and you multiply across the string. A unit represented by "0" simply isn't present within that formula. I found this numerical mnemonic system, once learned, to be easier to remember...
And it's also easier to see relationships between the different formulas, for example:
We're taught that force=mass x acceleration...or:
1 0 0 0 mass
0 1 0 -2 acceleration
1 1 0 -2 force (note that when multiplying exponents you add the powers)
If you're interested, you can go through the whole physics textbook like this and the formula derivations can get to be almost a matter of second nature after a while...
Monday, September 25, 2017
The Ongoing NFL Kneeling-at-the-National Anthem Controversy
I wrote early on in the 2016 National Football League season that I strongly disagreed with the tactics taken by then-San Francisco 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick as he remained seated during the pregame playing of the National Anthem as a protest against how he perceived blacks and other minorities were being treated in this country. Several players on his team and others joined him in this silent but ostentatious action, and at the time I stated that since the league was not going to take any disciplinary action against them then I would boycott the season. And I did, until I noticed that that same league was making sure that the police and our brave soldiers were being honored during different halftime shows and decided that in an imperfect world, they were probably doing the best they thought they could. Still, I objected to the protests...and multimillionaire Kaepernick, a sympathizer of brutal communist totalitarian dictator Fidel Castro, should have been the last person to emulate or be called "courageous" for taking his stand...or should I say "seat". But it seemed that the furor over all this had finally died down until it looked as if all of the teams were blacklisting Kaepernick, a capable pro quarterback who was an available free agent but not being considered...and believe me, some teams desperately need a quarterback who doesn't totally suck. As this 2017 season has begun and progressed, more and more players were seen kneeling during the anthem, and the league offices once again averted their eyes. Then President Trump went off on one of his spontaneous rants the other day at a rally aimed at his whopping 35% base of supporters and angrily urged fans to walk out of stadiums and for the teams to fire players who refuse to honor our national symbols. I thought it was interesting that during the Charlottesville incident when white supremacist racists demonstrated against the removal of a Confederate statue, his off-the-cuff reaction was that they had a legal permit to do so and then equated their actions with the counter-demonstrators. But with these NFL protestors Trump decided to make a "moral statement" instead and come down harshly against them. So let me see...when it's white racists protesting, our prez says there are some very good people among them and takes great pains to emphasize that it's their legal right...when it's blacks protesting against white racism, he says "Fire them!" H-m-m, I think I'm beginning to understand where Mr. Trump stands on race...
In spite of disliking the protests at the playing of the National Anthem, I do respect and agree to a great extent with the reasons for them...blacks and other minorities really don't get a fair shake in this society, especially with regard to their treatment by police and how the justice system more severely prosecutes them. But I'm standing back and watching how it's all being spun on TV and I have to wonder whether I'm the only one who discerns that the issue is being twisted around a bit. To disrupt an assembly through protest is in of itself a deliberate act of disunity...to stand together at the playing of the anthem would have been the act of unity. Instead, different teams are all pretending to be "united" by holding arms and doing other sorts of symbolic acts...but the unity is among themselves only, not with the fans or the people at large. And Trump is consequently being portrayed as a "divider"...which I agree he most assuredly is, but not for the reason they're all giving over the air...and it's a shame, because I find myself at times agreeing with the president's positions on different issues: if he only didn't act as a wrecking ball in promoting his viewpoint. The protesters most certainly are ALSO dividers, not unifiers, and it might be argued that their divisiveness is for a good cause...you're not going to hear me disagree on that one. But I think that all of this symbolic stuff going on isn't going to make anyone's life better...if anything it will just entrench those whose mindsets need the most change. In any event, our bumbling, blustering president has turned the protests from a social statement into a political one: if you're against Trump, then kneel, if you support him, stand...never mind how you feel about the honor and privilege of being an American anymore...
In spite of disliking the protests at the playing of the National Anthem, I do respect and agree to a great extent with the reasons for them...blacks and other minorities really don't get a fair shake in this society, especially with regard to their treatment by police and how the justice system more severely prosecutes them. But I'm standing back and watching how it's all being spun on TV and I have to wonder whether I'm the only one who discerns that the issue is being twisted around a bit. To disrupt an assembly through protest is in of itself a deliberate act of disunity...to stand together at the playing of the anthem would have been the act of unity. Instead, different teams are all pretending to be "united" by holding arms and doing other sorts of symbolic acts...but the unity is among themselves only, not with the fans or the people at large. And Trump is consequently being portrayed as a "divider"...which I agree he most assuredly is, but not for the reason they're all giving over the air...and it's a shame, because I find myself at times agreeing with the president's positions on different issues: if he only didn't act as a wrecking ball in promoting his viewpoint. The protesters most certainly are ALSO dividers, not unifiers, and it might be argued that their divisiveness is for a good cause...you're not going to hear me disagree on that one. But I think that all of this symbolic stuff going on isn't going to make anyone's life better...if anything it will just entrench those whose mindsets need the most change. In any event, our bumbling, blustering president has turned the protests from a social statement into a political one: if you're against Trump, then kneel, if you support him, stand...never mind how you feel about the honor and privilege of being an American anymore...
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Just Finished Rereading Stephen King's 11/22/63
Back in April of 2012 I read for the first time Stephen King's time travel novel 11/22/63...here is a link to my article about it: [link]. Since I'd be simply repeating from I wrote about this outstanding piece of speculative science fiction, I thought I'd go off in a (very) slightly different direction today...
Time travel has always been a popular theme in fiction and its prospects appeal to a wide swath of the population...at least to that part that is capable of reflection and isn't constantly surrendering itself to pleasure-seeking and ego gratification. I think I might have an answer as to why the idea of venturing into the past or future appeals to a lot of us: time is the dimension of space-time in which we can't travel other than the steady, second-by-second pace with which we live it out. I can imagine what the beach is like and I can also physically go there. And I can imagine the past or future...but my brain and body are trapped in the now. What time travel fiction accomplishes is to make the now a totally personal and portable concept, with the travelers toting it around with them "whenever" they go. And once you can separate now from the notion that we're all locked into the present, where we dwell with our earlier life...and even earlier nonexistence...trailing back on one side, and our future life...and death and beyond...projected ahead on the other...then immortality sounds a bit more achievable, even if this is only felt unconsciously. But even if time travel were possible, we still live within our own physical bodies, subject to wear and tear by aging and vulnerable to injury and disease. But it does seem exciting to some people to be able to escape the confines of our own lifespans and experience other times...as if they were getting away with something much more meaningful and transcendent than traveling cross-country or abroad...
In the 2012 article I wrote about 11/22/63, I alluded to the movie Groundhog Day, which was a different kind of time travel story...one with impenetrable temporal walls confining Bill Murray's character to a single, repeating day. There's another time-themed story, Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five, that has as its protagonist Billy Pilgrim, who has become "unstuck" in time and goes back and forth through different points within his lifespan and experiences. His time travel, like that in Groundhog Day, while in many ways different, is also based on subjective, experiential reality and not on scientifically provable objective reality. I imagine that if there is truly anything to time travel, it will be as a subjective and not an objectively demonstrable experience...
Time travel has always been a popular theme in fiction and its prospects appeal to a wide swath of the population...at least to that part that is capable of reflection and isn't constantly surrendering itself to pleasure-seeking and ego gratification. I think I might have an answer as to why the idea of venturing into the past or future appeals to a lot of us: time is the dimension of space-time in which we can't travel other than the steady, second-by-second pace with which we live it out. I can imagine what the beach is like and I can also physically go there. And I can imagine the past or future...but my brain and body are trapped in the now. What time travel fiction accomplishes is to make the now a totally personal and portable concept, with the travelers toting it around with them "whenever" they go. And once you can separate now from the notion that we're all locked into the present, where we dwell with our earlier life...and even earlier nonexistence...trailing back on one side, and our future life...and death and beyond...projected ahead on the other...then immortality sounds a bit more achievable, even if this is only felt unconsciously. But even if time travel were possible, we still live within our own physical bodies, subject to wear and tear by aging and vulnerable to injury and disease. But it does seem exciting to some people to be able to escape the confines of our own lifespans and experience other times...as if they were getting away with something much more meaningful and transcendent than traveling cross-country or abroad...
In the 2012 article I wrote about 11/22/63, I alluded to the movie Groundhog Day, which was a different kind of time travel story...one with impenetrable temporal walls confining Bill Murray's character to a single, repeating day. There's another time-themed story, Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five, that has as its protagonist Billy Pilgrim, who has become "unstuck" in time and goes back and forth through different points within his lifespan and experiences. His time travel, like that in Groundhog Day, while in many ways different, is also based on subjective, experiential reality and not on scientifically provable objective reality. I imagine that if there is truly anything to time travel, it will be as a subjective and not an objectively demonstrable experience...
Saturday, September 23, 2017
The Gustav Mahler Test
No, this isn't an examination about the late 19th/early 20th-century Austrian composer Gustav Mahler...not that the works of this important link between romantic and modern classical music aren't worth examining. Instead, this is more like a litmus test than an academic one...and it indirectly concerns my driving...
I am one of those people who can't keep their hands off the radio dial when on the road...don't worry, I'm looking where I'm going. My favorite stations are few in number: WUFT/Classical on 102.7, WUFT/NPR News-Talk on 89.1, WHHZ on 100.5 (alternative rock)...and occasionally WIND on 92.5 (classic rock)...I've pretty much given up on WSKY/97.3 with its extremely biased right-wing political talk format. Sometimes I find myself riveted to one station...more often, I'm surfing around on the dial for something interesting. But for the last couple of weeks, I have been listening to a CD that my friend Rob from work gave me a while back: Mahler's Ninth Symphony in D-Minor, which he composed shortly before his death and was consequently never performed in his lifetime. But it is widely considered to be one of his best symphonies, and the symphony is the form that he excelled in. Although Mahler's Ninth is difficult to get my arms around...it seems much less structured to my untrained classical music ears than a symphony by Mozart or Beethoven...I have come to sense more and more that its mood matches mine, almost as if a kind of synchronicity is going on. As a result, this CD has become a test of sorts regarding whatever is on the radio. When I'm on the radio the question comes up: does any of this stand up to Mahler's Ninth? Usually it doesn't and I switch over to the CD, which picks up on the symphony at the point when I left off the previous time. But lately, I haven't even bothered to listen to the radio and just keep the Ninth playing in the background as I drive...
I am one of those people who can't keep their hands off the radio dial when on the road...don't worry, I'm looking where I'm going. My favorite stations are few in number: WUFT/Classical on 102.7, WUFT/NPR News-Talk on 89.1, WHHZ on 100.5 (alternative rock)...and occasionally WIND on 92.5 (classic rock)...I've pretty much given up on WSKY/97.3 with its extremely biased right-wing political talk format. Sometimes I find myself riveted to one station...more often, I'm surfing around on the dial for something interesting. But for the last couple of weeks, I have been listening to a CD that my friend Rob from work gave me a while back: Mahler's Ninth Symphony in D-Minor, which he composed shortly before his death and was consequently never performed in his lifetime. But it is widely considered to be one of his best symphonies, and the symphony is the form that he excelled in. Although Mahler's Ninth is difficult to get my arms around...it seems much less structured to my untrained classical music ears than a symphony by Mozart or Beethoven...I have come to sense more and more that its mood matches mine, almost as if a kind of synchronicity is going on. As a result, this CD has become a test of sorts regarding whatever is on the radio. When I'm on the radio the question comes up: does any of this stand up to Mahler's Ninth? Usually it doesn't and I switch over to the CD, which picks up on the symphony at the point when I left off the previous time. But lately, I haven't even bothered to listen to the radio and just keep the Ninth playing in the background as I drive...
Friday, September 22, 2017
Quote of the Week...from Brooks Atkinson
People everywhere enjoy believing things that they know are not true. It spares them the ordeal of thinking for themselves and taking responsibility for what they know.
---Brooks Atkinson
In his heyday from the early to mid-twentieth century, Brooks Atkinson was a famous figure, writing influential theatrical reviews for more than three decades for the New York Times and serving as an overseas correspondent in China during World War II and afterwards in Moscow. I don't know the context and origin of the above quote (nor do I know Brooks Atkinson for that matter), but I know where I found it: a book of cryptograms! But whatever Brooks Atkinson may have originally meant by this saying, I thought it had a very broad application to myself, others around me...and the way the world in general works. That having been noted, though, I'm going to specifically apply it to something that's been eating at me for years: "parrot politics"...
Parrot politics is a term I coined myself, although it should already be a commonly used expression. It's meaning is self-evident: the ever-increasing tendency for people to "parrot" whatever they hear or read from others they are following in the media, be it talk radio, the Internet, television, printed media, etc., as if it were something they had thought up for themselves. I see a lot of this phenomenon on Facebook, and from BOTH sides of the political spectrum. It's easy to detect: somebody around you suddenly goes off on a detailed rant that they obviously couldn't have reasoned out for themselves but is rather a repeat of what they got from another source. The content is usually like this: "our" side is ever-so highly principled with its advocates being people of honor, wisdom, and good intentions who deserve respect while the "other" side is slimy and deceitful with its advocates being full of ulterior motives, selfish, stupid, and corrupt, half of whom belong in jail and none of whom should be in politics. It's not the media people who formulate and present these opinions that I have the major problem with (although they should know better)...no, it's the unquestioning "believers" among the general population who may not even understand what they are passionately regurgitating to others but choose to do it because they know it promotes "their" side and slams the other. It's kind of like watching a game and your team just got away with a penalty but you expediently claim there was no foul committed. Wouldn't it be ultimately more productive to take each issue and discuss it on its pros and cons...and leave out the personalities?
I have my own political perspectives and tend to lean toward one party over the other...I've made no secret of that here on this blog. But when I'm listening to the opinions of others, regardless of their political orientation, I do try to think for myself and discern the difference between what is true and what is just a rehash of twisted propaganda. Unfortunately, the trend, with some folks at least, seems to be going in the opposite direction...
---Brooks Atkinson
In his heyday from the early to mid-twentieth century, Brooks Atkinson was a famous figure, writing influential theatrical reviews for more than three decades for the New York Times and serving as an overseas correspondent in China during World War II and afterwards in Moscow. I don't know the context and origin of the above quote (nor do I know Brooks Atkinson for that matter), but I know where I found it: a book of cryptograms! But whatever Brooks Atkinson may have originally meant by this saying, I thought it had a very broad application to myself, others around me...and the way the world in general works. That having been noted, though, I'm going to specifically apply it to something that's been eating at me for years: "parrot politics"...
Parrot politics is a term I coined myself, although it should already be a commonly used expression. It's meaning is self-evident: the ever-increasing tendency for people to "parrot" whatever they hear or read from others they are following in the media, be it talk radio, the Internet, television, printed media, etc., as if it were something they had thought up for themselves. I see a lot of this phenomenon on Facebook, and from BOTH sides of the political spectrum. It's easy to detect: somebody around you suddenly goes off on a detailed rant that they obviously couldn't have reasoned out for themselves but is rather a repeat of what they got from another source. The content is usually like this: "our" side is ever-so highly principled with its advocates being people of honor, wisdom, and good intentions who deserve respect while the "other" side is slimy and deceitful with its advocates being full of ulterior motives, selfish, stupid, and corrupt, half of whom belong in jail and none of whom should be in politics. It's not the media people who formulate and present these opinions that I have the major problem with (although they should know better)...no, it's the unquestioning "believers" among the general population who may not even understand what they are passionately regurgitating to others but choose to do it because they know it promotes "their" side and slams the other. It's kind of like watching a game and your team just got away with a penalty but you expediently claim there was no foul committed. Wouldn't it be ultimately more productive to take each issue and discuss it on its pros and cons...and leave out the personalities?
I have my own political perspectives and tend to lean toward one party over the other...I've made no secret of that here on this blog. But when I'm listening to the opinions of others, regardless of their political orientation, I do try to think for myself and discern the difference between what is true and what is just a rehash of twisted propaganda. Unfortunately, the trend, with some folks at least, seems to be going in the opposite direction...
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
9/17 Sermon on David, Part 1
In embarking on a new series about the important Old Testament figure of David, The Family Church's senior pastor Philip Griffin delivered a message titled The Heart That God Chooses and, relying primarily on passages from the book of 1 Samuel, Chapters 10-17 as well as from Acts 13:22 and Psalms 51:10, contrasted the responses of Saul and David to God's calling upon them to be the first king of Israel...
As 1 Samuel 17:7 explains, God looks at the hearts of people, not their outward appearance. And how does one's heart manifest itself to the Lord? Pastor Philip delineated fours ways: a willingness to wait, a desire to obey, a bold faith, and genuine repentance. Saul wouldn't wait a day or two for Samuel to make the required sacrifice to God, but David was willing to wait many years after his anointing to finally become king. Saul's disobedience in this matter is contrasted with how God saw David, testifying that "he will do everything I want him to do". When the Philistines presented the giant Goliath as their champion, Saul shrank back in fear caused by lack of faith, but David stepped forward and proclaimed God...not himself...as the champion on his side. And as for repentance, Saul would often back down in sorrow from his wrongful actions...but only temporarily. David, himself flawed, however was true in his repentance...particularly in the affair of Bathsheba and Uriah...
No, it's not like it was three thousand years ago and I doubt that anyone reading this is dealing with their proper role as a warrior/king on a brutal battlefield. But in our daily lives we are confronted constantly with situations that can challenge our patience, our obedience to God, and our faith...while calling us to humbly repent whenever we transgress. Let us be people whose hearts speak to God!
For the Biblical passages used in Philip's message, I invite you to use the search engine on the Bible Gateway site through the following link: [link]. And you can view this sermon off the church's YouTube video website...here's a link to it: [link]. The Family Church, at 2022 SW 122nd Street in western Gainesville, holds its Sunday morning services at 9:30 and 11...
As 1 Samuel 17:7 explains, God looks at the hearts of people, not their outward appearance. And how does one's heart manifest itself to the Lord? Pastor Philip delineated fours ways: a willingness to wait, a desire to obey, a bold faith, and genuine repentance. Saul wouldn't wait a day or two for Samuel to make the required sacrifice to God, but David was willing to wait many years after his anointing to finally become king. Saul's disobedience in this matter is contrasted with how God saw David, testifying that "he will do everything I want him to do". When the Philistines presented the giant Goliath as their champion, Saul shrank back in fear caused by lack of faith, but David stepped forward and proclaimed God...not himself...as the champion on his side. And as for repentance, Saul would often back down in sorrow from his wrongful actions...but only temporarily. David, himself flawed, however was true in his repentance...particularly in the affair of Bathsheba and Uriah...
No, it's not like it was three thousand years ago and I doubt that anyone reading this is dealing with their proper role as a warrior/king on a brutal battlefield. But in our daily lives we are confronted constantly with situations that can challenge our patience, our obedience to God, and our faith...while calling us to humbly repent whenever we transgress. Let us be people whose hearts speak to God!
For the Biblical passages used in Philip's message, I invite you to use the search engine on the Bible Gateway site through the following link: [link]. And you can view this sermon off the church's YouTube video website...here's a link to it: [link]. The Family Church, at 2022 SW 122nd Street in western Gainesville, holds its Sunday morning services at 9:30 and 11...
Weekly Short Story: Barrier by Anthony Boucher
During the past few days I have been rereading my all-time favorite Stephen King novel 11/22/63, an odyssey about time travel. In line with this theme I picked another time travel "special", the 1942 short story Barrier by Anthony Boucher, which appeared in the collection Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 4 (1942) published by DAW Books in 1980. You may be familiar with this book, for I've already discussed two tales from it, Mimic by Donald A. Wollheim and Nerves by Lester del Rey...it contains a few other gems as well...
Once you overcome the impossible physics of time travel...at least into the past...the way is open for wild speculation and the paradoxes that can occur. Neither King in 11/22/63 nor Boucher in Barrier disappoint in this respect. In Boucher's story, a time machine built in the "advanced" time (from 1942's perspective) of 1973 propels John Trent...hired by the inventor for the trip...500 years into the future. He finds himself in a stagnant and totalitarian society...science and free thought are prohibited and everything "legal" derives from that time's scriptures and their interpreters, an apparent dig by the author against organized religion. Everything in this society is run by the principle of Stasis...no societal change, no scientific development...and definitely no time travel...are allowed. They have gone so far as to construct a barrier to time travel...Trent manages to get through because his machine is from the past. The Stasis builds another, more effective barrier and at the instant it is activated, many time travelers from the future collide with it...and the conflict between the totalitarian status quo and the future full of inevitable change ensues in earnest, with our hero in the middle of it all...
Change and growth are indispensable to a healthy society, and Anthony Boucher is by no means alone in emphasizing this. And while principles and precepts can be important guidelines in structuring a society, it is also crucial that people rely on what they can see going on before them with their own eyes and not practice denial of reality in favor of dogma...I see too much of that denial going on in the world around me. But what I liked the most about Barrier was the time travel speculation...and the ingenious way how Bokor, one of the time travelers from the future, is able to circumvent the Stasis and "beat the system"...
Once you overcome the impossible physics of time travel...at least into the past...the way is open for wild speculation and the paradoxes that can occur. Neither King in 11/22/63 nor Boucher in Barrier disappoint in this respect. In Boucher's story, a time machine built in the "advanced" time (from 1942's perspective) of 1973 propels John Trent...hired by the inventor for the trip...500 years into the future. He finds himself in a stagnant and totalitarian society...science and free thought are prohibited and everything "legal" derives from that time's scriptures and their interpreters, an apparent dig by the author against organized religion. Everything in this society is run by the principle of Stasis...no societal change, no scientific development...and definitely no time travel...are allowed. They have gone so far as to construct a barrier to time travel...Trent manages to get through because his machine is from the past. The Stasis builds another, more effective barrier and at the instant it is activated, many time travelers from the future collide with it...and the conflict between the totalitarian status quo and the future full of inevitable change ensues in earnest, with our hero in the middle of it all...
Change and growth are indispensable to a healthy society, and Anthony Boucher is by no means alone in emphasizing this. And while principles and precepts can be important guidelines in structuring a society, it is also crucial that people rely on what they can see going on before them with their own eyes and not practice denial of reality in favor of dogma...I see too much of that denial going on in the world around me. But what I liked the most about Barrier was the time travel speculation...and the ingenious way how Bokor, one of the time travelers from the future, is able to circumvent the Stasis and "beat the system"...
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
Tuesday's List: Miami Dolphins and Florida Gators Football Win-Loss Records Since 1966
The first football game I ever watched on TV was early during the 1967 season, in other words 50 years ago...and it was between the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams, two teams that will face each other this Thursday night. But although I successfully rooted for the Rams in that bygone game, I came to be an ardent fan of the Miami Dolphins, beginning with their third season in 1968. That year I also started to follow college football and pulled equally for Florida, Florida State, and the University of Miami. After moving to Gainesville in 1977, my allegiances focused on the Gators, but I still supported the Dolphins. Over the years, Miami and UF have had their glory seasons and some not-so-good times. Below I've listed each team's win-loss record, starting with 1966, the first year of the Miami Dolphins as well as the year that Gator quarterback Steve Spurrier won the Heisman Trophy. I've marked with an asterisk (*) the years that the respective teams made the postseason. Those times Miami made it to the Super Bowl and lost I highlighted with blue and their Super Bowl championship years I highlighted with red. Similarly, the years Florida won the Southeastern Conference championship I highlighted with blue, their National Championship seasons with red (they naturally won the SEC those years as well). So here's that list, which I admit to putting on this blog in order that I can easily refer to it:
DOLPHINS GATORS
1966 3-11 9-2*
1967 4-10 6-4
1968 5-8-1 6-3-1
1969 3-10-1 9-1-1*
1970 10-4* 7-4
1971 10-3-1* 4-7
1972 14-0* 5-5-1
1973 12-2* 7-5*
1974 11-3* 8-4*
1975 10-4 9-3*
DOLPHINS GATORS
1967 4-10 6-4
1968 5-8-1 6-3-1
1969 3-10-1 9-1-1*
1970 10-4* 7-4
1971 10-3-1* 4-7
1972 14-0* 5-5-1
1973 12-2* 7-5*
1974 11-3* 8-4*
1975 10-4 9-3*
1976 6-8 8-4*
1977 10-4 6-4-1
1978 11-5* 4-7
1979 10-6* 0-10-1
1980 8-8 8-4*
1981 11-4-1* 7-5*
1982 7-2* 8-4*
1983 12-4* 9-2*
1984 14-2* 9-1-1
1985 12-4* 9-1-1
1986 8-8 6-5
1987 8-7 6-6*
1988 6-10 7-5*
1989 8-8 7-5*
1990 12-4* 9-2
1991 8-8 10-2*
1992 11-5* 9-4*
1993 9-7 11-2*
1994 10-6* 10-2-1*
1995 9-7* 12-1*
1996 8-8 12-1*
1997 9-7* 10-2*
1998 10-6* 10-2*
1999 9-7* 9-4*
2000 11-5* 10-3*
2001 11-5* 10-2*
2002 9-7 8-5*
2003 10-6 8-5*
2004 4-12 7-5*
2005 9-7 9-3*
2006 6-10 13-1*
2007 1-15 9-4*
2008 11-5* 13-1*
2009 7-9 13-1*
2010 7-9 8-5*
2011 6-10 7-6*
2012 7-9 11-2*
2013 8-8 4-8
2014 8-8 7-5*
2015 6-10 10-4*
2016 10-6* 9-4*
2017 1-0 1-1
Monday, September 18, 2017
Just Finished Reading Stephen King's Secret Window, Secret Garden
Although I've possessed a copy of Stephen King's 1990 book Four Past Midnight for several years, for much of that time I had only gotten around to reading one of its four novellas: The Library Policeman. With The Langoliers, I saw the television movie version in its entirety, so I wasn't motivated to read it...at least yet. A little while back I did get around to reading The Sun Dog, which depends on the obsolete Polaroid camera process for it to have its full intended effect on the reader. Which leaves Secret Window, Secret Garden, a story that I had put off for a long time because I had seen a short section of the film version starring Johnny Depp. As it turns out, nothing was given away during that brief viewing, so when I read it for the first time last week the story was fresh, including the ending...although at a certain point I suspected what was "really" going on...after all, King had already written a variation on this same theme in an earlier novel...and no, I'm not telling you its name because that would give away the story...
Mort Rainey is a novelist with writer's block as he struggles to cope with his traumatic recent divorce. He is staying alone at his (and ex-wife Amy's) vacation home in the woods...once again way out in rural Maine, near a small town once again a product of Stephen King's imagination. A rustic man from Mississippi, identifying himself as John Shooter, knocks on his door one day and claims that Rainey stole his story, which he had titled Secret Window, Secret Garden and Mort as Sowing Season. Mort denies this and offers proof...but the original Ellery Queen Mystery magazine in which it appeared many years earlier will take time to get there. In the meantime, Shooter ratchets up the pressure...and, increasingly, the terror as he threatens and acts...
As sadly is the case with too many film adaptations to Stephen King's stories, the movie Secret Window, Secret Garden has an entirely different ending to it...why do they do that, whether you're talking about The Mist, The Shining, Pet Sematary, or others when the book's ending was so good and integral to the story? And for some reason, the movie reverses the titles of Rainey's and Shooter's stories. All this notwithstanding, I enjoyed Secret Window, Secret Garden...although in the final analysis it was a pretty gloomy tale...
Mort Rainey is a novelist with writer's block as he struggles to cope with his traumatic recent divorce. He is staying alone at his (and ex-wife Amy's) vacation home in the woods...once again way out in rural Maine, near a small town once again a product of Stephen King's imagination. A rustic man from Mississippi, identifying himself as John Shooter, knocks on his door one day and claims that Rainey stole his story, which he had titled Secret Window, Secret Garden and Mort as Sowing Season. Mort denies this and offers proof...but the original Ellery Queen Mystery magazine in which it appeared many years earlier will take time to get there. In the meantime, Shooter ratchets up the pressure...and, increasingly, the terror as he threatens and acts...
As sadly is the case with too many film adaptations to Stephen King's stories, the movie Secret Window, Secret Garden has an entirely different ending to it...why do they do that, whether you're talking about The Mist, The Shining, Pet Sematary, or others when the book's ending was so good and integral to the story? And for some reason, the movie reverses the titles of Rainey's and Shooter's stories. All this notwithstanding, I enjoyed Secret Window, Secret Garden...although in the final analysis it was a pretty gloomy tale...
Sunday, September 17, 2017
My Music Listening Drastically Switches to Classical
Although the late Polish classical music composer Henryk Górecki usually doesn't make anyone's list for the greatest composers of all time, it comes down to the fact that it was he who sparked an epic change in my musical preferences over the past few weeks. Although I liked to listen casually to classical music on my drives to and from work, when my local classical radio station on 102.7 played the second movement of Górecki's Symphony of Sorrowful Songs I realized that I had been letting musical treasures slip by me unnoticed. Coupled with the doleful shape of things in the alternative rock genre of late, I drastically switched my listening to classical music. A few weeks ago I listed my top thirty favorite classical music pieces...since then the list would need a bit of revision as I keep hearing more and more incredible music. But although I can listen to this music easily on the radio, I've found myself wanting to hear the most highly regarded pieces from the most beloved and respected composers. To this end I found a website that lists forty of these giants of musical history, along with ten of each one's greatest works. Here is a link to that site: [link]...
So now I'm intentionally setting out to explore some of the greatest music of all time instead of just passively taking in whatever the radio programmers decide to play. Yesterday I listened to Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, a stunning orchestral work intended as a ballet. Yes, I can see how some may have gotten a little riled up at its premier performance in 1913...it was like nothing ever done before...or since, for that matter. And right now I'm listening to Béla Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra...who knows where this will all lead...
So now I'm intentionally setting out to explore some of the greatest music of all time instead of just passively taking in whatever the radio programmers decide to play. Yesterday I listened to Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, a stunning orchestral work intended as a ballet. Yes, I can see how some may have gotten a little riled up at its premier performance in 1913...it was like nothing ever done before...or since, for that matter. And right now I'm listening to Béla Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra...who knows where this will all lead...
Saturday, September 16, 2017
Just Finished Reading Dennis Lehane's Live By Night
When I checked out Dennis Lehane's 2012 gangster novel Live By Night from my library, I foolishly didn't first see whether it was in the middle of a series...well, turns out it's the second book in his Coughlin crime series. Fortunately, though, this story was very well-contained and I feel that I didn't miss too much by skipping book #1, which is titled The Given Day...
The setting for Live By Night changes from Boston to Tampa to Cuba, during the Prohibition-era '20s and '30s and then the first few years following its repeal. The protagonist is Joe Coughlin, the youngest son of a Boston police captain who from early on has chosen the life of organized crime, much to his father's dismay. Joe finds himself caught in the middle of a war between booze-smuggling crime families while at the same time he has fallen for the mistress of his chief enemy. In a heist, someone double-crosses him, he is arrested, and sent to prison...where he comes under the influence of Maso Pescatore, a powerful crime boss. Joe eventually gets released and Pescatore employs him as the head of his Tampa operations. But maybe I've already said too much...after all, part of the enjoyment of reading a book of this type is all of its plot twists and turns: you never know what will happen next when you turn the page...
Joe Coughlin could best be described as a gangster with a conscience, which is a concept I find difficult to accept. Yet somehow Lehane makes him a sympathetic character all the way through the story, believable or not. I honestly didn't enjoy Live By Night all that much, but it did give me a better sense about what all was going on during the brief Prohibition period in our country's history. After finishing it, I discovered that it was adapted to film last year, the movie starring Ben Affleck. The third book in this series has been out for a couple of years...
Dennis Lehane also wrote Mystic River and Shutter Island, two more stories with movie counterparts. Maybe I'll try one or both of these sometime in the near future...
The setting for Live By Night changes from Boston to Tampa to Cuba, during the Prohibition-era '20s and '30s and then the first few years following its repeal. The protagonist is Joe Coughlin, the youngest son of a Boston police captain who from early on has chosen the life of organized crime, much to his father's dismay. Joe finds himself caught in the middle of a war between booze-smuggling crime families while at the same time he has fallen for the mistress of his chief enemy. In a heist, someone double-crosses him, he is arrested, and sent to prison...where he comes under the influence of Maso Pescatore, a powerful crime boss. Joe eventually gets released and Pescatore employs him as the head of his Tampa operations. But maybe I've already said too much...after all, part of the enjoyment of reading a book of this type is all of its plot twists and turns: you never know what will happen next when you turn the page...
Joe Coughlin could best be described as a gangster with a conscience, which is a concept I find difficult to accept. Yet somehow Lehane makes him a sympathetic character all the way through the story, believable or not. I honestly didn't enjoy Live By Night all that much, but it did give me a better sense about what all was going on during the brief Prohibition period in our country's history. After finishing it, I discovered that it was adapted to film last year, the movie starring Ben Affleck. The third book in this series has been out for a couple of years...
Dennis Lehane also wrote Mystic River and Shutter Island, two more stories with movie counterparts. Maybe I'll try one or both of these sometime in the near future...
Friday, September 15, 2017
Quote of the Week...from Neil deGrasseTyson
No one is dumb who is curious. The people who don't ask questions remain clueless throughout their lives. ---Neil deGrasse Tyson.
I wonder how different my life might have turned out if, from the first days of elementary school through the end of high school, at least one teacher had shown the patience, attention, and respect toward me, an individual student, that their profession calls from them and about which their union likes to boast on television ads. Eventually, I did begin to encounter good teachers, but only after I had entered college...my freshman year chemistry teacher exemplified the above quote from renowned astrophysicist and popularizer of science Neil deGrasse Tyson, a man who I'm sure would be an excellent teacher, regardless of the grade level. Mr. Hill was slow, methodical, and careful, taking great pains to try to elicit questions from the students in his classes...his mantra was that the only dumb question is the one not asked. But Neil's quote has a much broader application than a formal education setting: being curious and seeking answers flies in the face of the tendency of our popular culture...
No one wants to be seen as an ignoramus...after all, that would be a sign of "weakness" and if there is one overriding theme to how people are expected to behave, it is that they must show to others that they are strong. Just look at all the sit-coms on television, where the "dummy" character is the one who asks questions...and by this supposedly reveals his or her utter stupidity to the roar of the laugh track. And as far as curiosity about the world around us being an obstacle to relationships, there are those people out there who amazingly have no concept as to what being curious means...they tend to define everything up front in uncompromising black & white, good & bad terms and if anything, regard folks regularly showing general interest and curiosity in what's going on around them as being wasteful and selfish...after all, they could be doing something more "useful" instead...
I am currently reading Neil deGrasse Tyson's latest book, titled Astrophysics for People in a Hurry. It doesn't contain complicated mathematical equations, and it neither babies the reader by overgeneralizing the concepts expressed within it nor does it unduly tax one's mind. For the generally curious soul, I recommend this book...but if you think you've already got everything figured out, why bother learning anything new?
Thursday, September 14, 2017
Hurricane Irma Cancelled Last Sunday's Church Service
Last Sunday's services at The Family Church here in Gainesville, Florida were cancelled due to Hurricane Irma, and thus I have no sermon here to summarize as I have been regularly doing on Thursdays for nearly a year. I'm looking forward to this coming Sunday's message, but in the meantime permit me to ramble on a bit...
These Thursday blog articles are qualitatively different from the others that I write in that I am not, for the most part, writing my own original thoughts, but rather...with varying degrees of success...those from whomever is behind the pulpit from week to week. Now to be sure, each sermon has its own structure, and part of the experience of receiving it is to reflect on the message and determine its application to my own life and how I should respond. The way I see it, these personal reflections are just that: personal, and each of us is going to receive the message in the special way that God intends for us...
This coming Sunday should see things at the church resume as usual. The Family Church is located at 2022 SW 122nd Street and holds its Sunday morning services at 9:30 and 11. There is the weekly message, praise music, prayer and discipleship opportunities, very friendly people...and some good complimentary coffee. Looking forward to being there again...
These Thursday blog articles are qualitatively different from the others that I write in that I am not, for the most part, writing my own original thoughts, but rather...with varying degrees of success...those from whomever is behind the pulpit from week to week. Now to be sure, each sermon has its own structure, and part of the experience of receiving it is to reflect on the message and determine its application to my own life and how I should respond. The way I see it, these personal reflections are just that: personal, and each of us is going to receive the message in the special way that God intends for us...
This coming Sunday should see things at the church resume as usual. The Family Church is located at 2022 SW 122nd Street and holds its Sunday morning services at 9:30 and 11. There is the weekly message, praise music, prayer and discipleship opportunities, very friendly people...and some good complimentary coffee. Looking forward to being there again...
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
Weekly Short Story: The Malted Milk Monster by William Tenn
The Malted Milk Monster is a short story written by William Tenn and which appeared in the retrospective anthology Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 21 (1959), published by DAW Books in 1990. Although listed as science fiction, it really belongs to Stephen King's brand of horror fiction...I could easily see this tale being in one of his short story collections. The author's real name was Philip Klass and he wrote quite of lot of science fiction before he "retired" from the craft into a cushy English professor job at Penn State University. This particular story of his is one of my favorites and delves into the mind of a typically irrational and emotion-driven child...but one with a frightening secret power...
Dorothy, an unpopular little girl, has a very vivid and all-encompassing imaginary fantasy world in which she spends a great amount of her time. She also has a crush on Carter Broun, a young man who is her teacher's husband. After sitting in a soda shop watching, with his wife, the girl in the corner going through malted milkshake after malted milkshake, he wonders what's in her mind as the two walk on back home. The next thing he knows, he is in a strange world...deep in Dorothy's mind and trapped. Whatever happened to Carter's body, he doesn't know...all he does know is that his consciousness, along with others whom she ensnared into her mind, cannot escape. Or can he? Carter embarks on a strategy...but what it is and how well it works is something that you, the prospective reader of this remarkable tale, will need to discover for yourself...
Like many good stories, The Malted Milk Monster carries analogies for our real world. There are people like Dorothy, not necessarily endowed with supernatural powers, but with an unhealthy combination of narcissism and the desire to dominate others...and they aren't just children. A lot of us have tendencies to be narcissistic or domineering...but together within one person, this can be extremely toxic...
Dorothy, an unpopular little girl, has a very vivid and all-encompassing imaginary fantasy world in which she spends a great amount of her time. She also has a crush on Carter Broun, a young man who is her teacher's husband. After sitting in a soda shop watching, with his wife, the girl in the corner going through malted milkshake after malted milkshake, he wonders what's in her mind as the two walk on back home. The next thing he knows, he is in a strange world...deep in Dorothy's mind and trapped. Whatever happened to Carter's body, he doesn't know...all he does know is that his consciousness, along with others whom she ensnared into her mind, cannot escape. Or can he? Carter embarks on a strategy...but what it is and how well it works is something that you, the prospective reader of this remarkable tale, will need to discover for yourself...
Like many good stories, The Malted Milk Monster carries analogies for our real world. There are people like Dorothy, not necessarily endowed with supernatural powers, but with an unhealthy combination of narcissism and the desire to dominate others...and they aren't just children. A lot of us have tendencies to be narcissistic or domineering...but together within one person, this can be extremely toxic...
Tuesday, September 12, 2017
Tuesday's List: My Favorite Monkees Songs
The Monkees, an American pop/rock band manufactured for a television series designed to capitalize on the blockbuster 1965 Beatles film Help!, unwittingly outstripped that TV show in popularity with their music. Don Kirschner, who was in charge of the recording process, employed songwriters Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart to pen their songs while professional musicians came in to provide the instrumentation. Two of the Monkees...Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones...were just professional actors, but the other two...Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork...were musicians in their own right. It was Nesmith who began to demand that the Monkees themselves provide the music and not just the vocals, causing controversy as well as Kirschner angrily leaving his job after only the second album. As it turned out, their music continued to be good and they produced a phenomenal SIX studio albums in a little more than two years, two of them after the television series was cancelled in early 1968 after just two seasons and 107 episodes...
The Monkees were wildly popular, outselling the Beatles during their "glory" days in 1967. But the Fab Four weren't upset: they supported the Monkees and praised them, wondering how they could combine their arduous acting routine for the series with recording, promotional appearances...and even concert tours. And I wonder, too...could it be that all those highbrows who put down this very likeable group were wrong and there was a lot more to the Monkees than suspected? All I know is that, in the winter, spring, and summer of 1967 I was a diehard fan, watching their show, listening to their music, and even collecting their bubblegum cards (let me insert here that I was ten years old)...
At the end of 1968, the movie Head came out, which was a very cynical look at the Monkees...I didn't like it at all. But the soundtrack album...that's an entirely different matter, with it being their crowning achievement (Tork and Nesmith were fantastic). Following Head, Peter Tork left the group, they made two more albums, and then Michael Nesmith left. They disbanded in 1970, but every decade or so since they've reunited, made a new album, and toured. But I'm not at all a fan of their later works, and I'm sad that Davy Jones passed away five years ago...
Below is a list of my thirty favorite Monkees songs...you really should check them out...
1 PLEASANT VALLEY SUNDAY.....Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones (1967)
2 SOMETIME IN THE MORNING.....More of the Monkees (1967)
3 CIRCLE SKY....................................Head (1968)
4 DAYDREAM BELIEVER................The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees (1968)
5 THE PORPOISE SONG....................Head (1968)
6 CAN YOU DIG IT.............................Head (1968)
7 LOOK OUT (HERE COMES TOMORROW)....More of the Monkees (1967)
8 SATURDAY'S CHILD.......................The Monkees (1966)
9 TAKE A GIANT STEP.......................The Monkees (1966)
10 A LITTLE BIT ME, A LITTLE BIT YOU......Single (1967)
11 YOU JUST MIGHT BE THE ONE.....Headquarters (1967)
12 THE GIRL THAT I KNEW SOMEWHERE....B-Side of #10 Single (1967)
13 WRITING WRONGS........................The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees (1968)
14 THE DOOR INTO SUMMER...........Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones (1967)
15 FOR PETE'S SAKE...........................Headquarters (1967)
16 I'M A BELIEVER..............................More of the Monkees (1967)
17 DADDY'S SONG..............................Head (1968)
18 SHADES OF GRAY..........................Headquarters (1967)
19 VALLERI...........................................The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees (1968)
20 SHE....................................................More of the Monkees (1967).
21 LAST TRAIN TO CLARKSVILLE.......The Monkees (1966)
22 (I'M NOT YOUR) STEPPIN' STONE.....More of the Monkees (1967)
23 MONKEE'S THEME...........................The Monkees (1966)
24 WORDS..............................................Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones (1967)
25 LOVE IS ONLY SLEEPING..............Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones (1967)
26 AUNTIE'S MUNICIPAL COURT......The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees (1968)
27 I WON'T BE THE SAME WITHOUT HER......Instant Replay (1969)
28 EARLY MORNING BLUES AND GREENS.....Headquarters (1967)
29 I'LL BE BACK UPON MY FEET.......The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees (1968)
30 GONNA BUY ME A DOG.................The Monkees (1966)
The Monkees were wildly popular, outselling the Beatles during their "glory" days in 1967. But the Fab Four weren't upset: they supported the Monkees and praised them, wondering how they could combine their arduous acting routine for the series with recording, promotional appearances...and even concert tours. And I wonder, too...could it be that all those highbrows who put down this very likeable group were wrong and there was a lot more to the Monkees than suspected? All I know is that, in the winter, spring, and summer of 1967 I was a diehard fan, watching their show, listening to their music, and even collecting their bubblegum cards (let me insert here that I was ten years old)...
At the end of 1968, the movie Head came out, which was a very cynical look at the Monkees...I didn't like it at all. But the soundtrack album...that's an entirely different matter, with it being their crowning achievement (Tork and Nesmith were fantastic). Following Head, Peter Tork left the group, they made two more albums, and then Michael Nesmith left. They disbanded in 1970, but every decade or so since they've reunited, made a new album, and toured. But I'm not at all a fan of their later works, and I'm sad that Davy Jones passed away five years ago...
Below is a list of my thirty favorite Monkees songs...you really should check them out...
1 PLEASANT VALLEY SUNDAY.....Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones (1967)
2 SOMETIME IN THE MORNING.....More of the Monkees (1967)
3 CIRCLE SKY....................................Head (1968)
4 DAYDREAM BELIEVER................The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees (1968)
5 THE PORPOISE SONG....................Head (1968)
6 CAN YOU DIG IT.............................Head (1968)
7 LOOK OUT (HERE COMES TOMORROW)....More of the Monkees (1967)
8 SATURDAY'S CHILD.......................The Monkees (1966)
9 TAKE A GIANT STEP.......................The Monkees (1966)
10 A LITTLE BIT ME, A LITTLE BIT YOU......Single (1967)
11 YOU JUST MIGHT BE THE ONE.....Headquarters (1967)
12 THE GIRL THAT I KNEW SOMEWHERE....B-Side of #10 Single (1967)
13 WRITING WRONGS........................The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees (1968)
14 THE DOOR INTO SUMMER...........Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones (1967)
15 FOR PETE'S SAKE...........................Headquarters (1967)
16 I'M A BELIEVER..............................More of the Monkees (1967)
17 DADDY'S SONG..............................Head (1968)
18 SHADES OF GRAY..........................Headquarters (1967)
19 VALLERI...........................................The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees (1968)
20 SHE....................................................More of the Monkees (1967).
21 LAST TRAIN TO CLARKSVILLE.......The Monkees (1966)
22 (I'M NOT YOUR) STEPPIN' STONE.....More of the Monkees (1967)
23 MONKEE'S THEME...........................The Monkees (1966)
24 WORDS..............................................Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones (1967)
25 LOVE IS ONLY SLEEPING..............Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones (1967)
26 AUNTIE'S MUNICIPAL COURT......The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees (1968)
27 I WON'T BE THE SAME WITHOUT HER......Instant Replay (1969)
28 EARLY MORNING BLUES AND GREENS.....Headquarters (1967)
29 I'LL BE BACK UPON MY FEET.......The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees (1968)
30 GONNA BUY ME A DOG.................The Monkees (1966)
Monday, September 11, 2017
Just Got Power Restored After Hurricane Irma
By yesterday, my family and I were prepared for Hurricane Irma as it approached from the south, and then it was just a matter of staying put at home and "hunkering down", as we brave Floridians like to put it. And everything was fine throughout the day and evening: we spent much of it watching The Weather Channel and amusing ourselves over the meteorologists out "in the field" in places like Naples, Fort Myers and Tampa. The Naples dude was standing out there in the middle of it all, enduring this ferocious storm's eyewall no less, and then suddenly in the background you could see a car start up and drive on by! Jim Cantore was further up the road in Fort Myers: right as the "dirty" eye of Irma reached his position, once again there was activity in the background: folks chatting it up and walking their dogs like it was any other ordinary day...don't these people know what "hunker down" means? In any event, Hurricane Irma defied predictions and remained inland long enough to weaken...and then slightly veered west from its northward path, passing us here in Gainesville to the west. At this writing...around 2:30 pm...its center is on the Fla-Ga state line and it has only maximum sustained winds of 60 mph...
Irma was another of those hurricanes whose impact was strongly felt quite a distance from its eye. Miami, Orlando, and Jacksonville all suffered flooding and damage from strong storm bands, and in Gainesville the worst effects seemed to come just after midnight. We lost electricity at 1:03 am as strong gusts hit us and the surrounding area...we finally got our power back more than 12 hours later at 1:20 pm. Our home was spared damage, but one of the metal posts in our chain link fence broke. And there were plenty of tree limbs lying around...
There is nothing quite like the feeling you get after losing electricity for 12 hours and then it suddenly comes back on. There's no doubt about it: some of us, myself included, are strongly conditioned by modern civilization with all of its technological benefits. Break the circuit and we're suddenly back in survival mode...
Irma was another of those hurricanes whose impact was strongly felt quite a distance from its eye. Miami, Orlando, and Jacksonville all suffered flooding and damage from strong storm bands, and in Gainesville the worst effects seemed to come just after midnight. We lost electricity at 1:03 am as strong gusts hit us and the surrounding area...we finally got our power back more than 12 hours later at 1:20 pm. Our home was spared damage, but one of the metal posts in our chain link fence broke. And there were plenty of tree limbs lying around...
There is nothing quite like the feeling you get after losing electricity for 12 hours and then it suddenly comes back on. There's no doubt about it: some of us, myself included, are strongly conditioned by modern civilization with all of its technological benefits. Break the circuit and we're suddenly back in survival mode...
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