My April 2019 Running Report

April continued with more of the kinds of positive running experiences I experienced in  March: I ran a total of 126 miles for the month, my longest single run being for 10 miles...and I missed one day of running.  Last Saturday morning I ran in a new race for me, the Run the Good Race 5K/10K held in town at the North Florida Regional office park...I ran the 10K event.  I believe I have the energy and fitness level to begin to regularly tackle longer distance training runs...I'd like to get back up to daily 6-mile+ runs with occasional peak runs of around 10-13 miles, running through my own designed courses I used to extensively train on in years gone by.  No, I don't plan to run a 26.2-mile marathon, but I do think that I am suited for about half that distance...I've run 11 half-marathon races since 2010 and don't see any reason to stop.  But for the next few months, the only races I'll run will be the 5K variety.  For example, next Saturday evening on May 4th at the town of Tioga west of Gainesville on Newberry Road they'll hold their annual May Day Glow Run 5K, which I've run before...I plan to enter it again.  And each Saturday morning at 7:30 there is the free Depot Parkrun 5K, held at that city park off Main Street and Depot Road.  I would like to get my 5K time back down to a more respectable level, and this race gives me the chance to do something more sociable with my running through the hot summer months.  But first let's see what May has in store for me...

The No-Crime, So No-Obstruction Argument About Trump

I've heard from more than one opinion source that it was ridiculous (I think Senator Lindsey Graham used the word "absurd") to consider whether Donald Trump was guilty of obstruction during the Mueller investigation into the extent of Russian interference in the 2016 and whether Trump or his campaign conspired with this adversarial foreign power.  Since the final report stated that there was insufficient evidence to charge the president or his campaign with conspiracy, some of his vocal supporters are claiming that since there was no crime, then how could he have been obstructing the investigation of one?  The logical fallacy of such an argument is easy for me to see...let me explain...

If I am pulled over by the police for a traffic violation that the officer later decides not to ticket me for...but I am uncooperative and disrespectful during our interaction and, say, call his boss to get him to back off or try giving a bribe, that officer is justified with charging me with resisting an officer...tantamount to an obstruction charge.   Sitting there screaming "witch hunt!" or "hoax!" and personally insulting the officer likewise mitigates against me...as well as not presenting my current driver's license or auto registration. Never mind that the original charge is dropped...I've created a new one by my subsequent behavior.  Now to Trump: there are two periods for which his behavior has been scrutinized and reported on: the original target of the investigation, that is the 2016 election campaign, and then the investigation itself.  It matters not what the final results about 2016 are...the question is whether Trump improperly interfered with the investigation itself.  And that's where all the hullaballoo about "obstruction" is coming from.  But of course, if you're a "forever Trumper", unquestioningly believing carte blanche anything he says because he's your idol above all idols and is standing firm against all those evil communist Democrats, you'll never believe anything negative anyone says about him...or even what you see and hear with your own senses for that matter.  I am no expert in the law, but at this stage the obstruction question seems more a political one than a legal one, anyway...it's all in the hands of Congress to deal with according to the Constitution, something that our president seems to have a great deal of difficulty grasping...

Alachua County Friends of the Library Sale Going On Through Wednesday

This afternoon Melissa and I paid a visit to the Alachua County Friends of the Library book sale, held every April and October at a warehouse on the 400 block of North Main Street.  It's fun to go in there and browse around...you never know what you'll find.  Melissa found several books of interest and I bought three for myself: A Separate Peace by John Knowles and two novels of Joseph Conrad: Victory and The Secret Agent...all three for a total of 75 cents!  I also picked up an interesting looking 300-piece jigsaw puzzle for a couple of bucks...this is the place to go for puzzle enthusiasts: there is a large assortment to choose from and you can't beat the prices.  This sale is a big event in Gainesville, lasting from Saturday through Wednesday...the large room houses all genres of used books and includes sections like the aforementioned jigsaw puzzles, audiobooks, DVDs, music CDs, vinyl records, old magazines, and a "collectibles" book section where the prices are a little steeper.  During the opening Saturday and Sunday of the sale this place is usually packed with people, so if you're a bit phobic about crowds you might want to avoid it...or if you're like me and simply dislike being in midst of jostling, coughing, and sniffling multitudes, you ought to limit your visit time.  Within each genre section books are displayed in no particular order...to cover it all you have to read each title, which can get tedious in a hurry...especially when people are crowding all around you, some blocking your access.  Since I already have plenty of reading material at my disposal, I just browsed around and kept my eyes open for anything of special interest...we'll see how good these books are that I purchased...

Ran the "Run the Good Race" 10K This Morning

Local physicians Kathy and Peter Sarantos in 2016 began what has become a running tradition here in Gainesville.  Each April they organize the Run the Good Race 5K/10K racing event, with proceeds donated to organizations committed to fighting human trafficking...in today's politically split world, here's one issue everyone can get together on.  I finally got around to entering it this year and just finished running the 10K (6.2 miles) distance.  The course is near I-75 in the North Florida Regional Medical Center office park and residential area behind, across the street from the Oaks Mall...both races began and ended in front of the NFR Cancer Center.  I ran this course before...or something close to it...when I participated in the Run Amuck With the Duck 5K back in 2010.  Today's 10K course was simply a doubling over of the 5K...everyone started off at 8.  Since it was Saturday and the roads were relatively empty due to the medical offices being closed, there was very little traffic to be concerned about.  What I loved about this course was the many hills and slopes, something strikingly missing from my neighborhood self-designed courses.  That residential backstretch on NW 18th Avenue had one monster in particular...I humbly admit to walking part of the way up it.  Race time temperature and humidity both averaged around 60...ideal running conditions for me.  The sky was cloudless and some of us, I'm sure, regretted not having thought of wearing sunglasses...

In a way, the start of the these races tends to be more of a challenge to me than the other parts due to the extreme crowdedness of the runners, walkers, dogs, strollers...and a little girl on a scooter.  Eventually, though, it thinned out to the point where I didn't have to constantly restrain my running in order to avoid suffering catastrophic collisions with others.  I ran at my training pace and finished the race with a time of 61:52...the second half was much faster than the first and despite the hills I felt I could keep on running strong long after it was over.  I was surprised a few minutes later to discover that I had actually won my age category (Men's 60-69) and went up onstage to get my little medal and photo opportunity with Dr. Kathy. This was one of my better public runs of late and I feel encouraged.  263 runners and walkers completed the 5K event and 50 the 10K...I was the oldest 10K runner...

There were little things about the way this race was handled that runners like me notice and appreciate.  Indoor bathrooms, a place to stand inside before the race while it was still chilly outside, the positive energy coming from the Sarantos and the volunteers, recovery food and water available afterwards, water stations at strategic distances during the race, extremely convenient parking...I could go on.  It's definitely a race I'd like to make into my own tradition...a real class act. Kathy and Pete attend the same church as me and many others there who chose to run or walk the 5K as a team...I was the only one of the bunch taking on the 10K distance...

Here's a link to the race results: [start2finish race management]...

Quote of the Week...from Marcus Aurelius

When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to alive.
                                                                                --Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius was the Roman Emperor from AD 161-180, presiding over a period of relative peace and prosperity while credited with being something of a philosopher, with his own written works.  In perspective I'm sure that he was flawed and did some things...like persecuting Christians, for example...these actions we today look back upon most unfavorably: not cool at all.  But in case you never met me, I also happen to be flawed in my own ways and I bet you are in yours, too.  So anyway, I read some of his more famous quotes and found three especially worth mentioning...they mesh quite well with other and with Aurelius' recurring theme of personal responsibility.  The first heads this article...here are the other two:

It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinions than our own.

The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.

All three statements rely on the presumption that I always have a choice in our present moment as to what I think and that the fruits (or harm) of my resulting action (or inaction) that affect my welfare and attitude is, in the end, my own personal responsibility.  This stands directly in opposition to popular narratives circulating around society today such as the notion that I'll never get a fair shake in this world due to my demographic group and how it's been treated in the past as well as the present.  Or how about the idea that I am a slave of my own childhood treatment and the core of my subconscious is hidden away in distant past traumas...there may be some objective truth to one or both of these notions, but dwelling on them will only frame myself as a passive victim of fate instead of a proactive conscious entity with the power to shape my own life and affect the world around me in a positive way.  So each new day is also a new beginning, a convenient time marker to press the personal "reset" button and start afresh.  Sure, it's healthy to take into consideration others' feelings and opinions, but I need to be grounded and centered about my own foundational principles and not just flow with the latest fads and nonsense because that's what the crowd is doing.  And ultimately I do have the free choice to determine what I am thinking and as a result live a creative life with the inner contentment and joy that I am responsible for it... 

Just Finished Reading Sad Cypress by Agatha Christie

One of my deficiencies in reading is that somehow I have missed on reading some authors who are renowned in their craft.  Mystery writer Agatha Christie is one of these, and I just finished reading only her second Hercule Poirot story, Sad Cypress from 1940.  Poirot is the Belgian detective who adds a facet of humanity to the mystery sleuth, a more compelling character than Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.  He is enlisted by a physician concerned that a young woman on trial for murdering a romantic rival by poison is innocent.  The defendant in question is Elinor Carlisle, whose engagement to her longtime friend from childhood Roddy gets broken off after he goes for pretty Mary Gerrard, who has been caring for Elinor's ill aunt Laura Welman.  Someone has sent Elinor an anonymous note claiming that Mary appears to be ingratiating herself to the very wealthy invalid in hope of receiving some of her inheritance...Elinor is widely considered to be Mrs. Welman's closest relative and the primary beneficiary should she pass away.  And with the other characters involved, the mystery develops as to who the real murderer is.  Don't worry, I haven't given away too much of the story...barely scratched the surface as a matter of fact...

I like these short mystery novels...I read through Sue Grafton's entire Alphabet Mystery series featuring California private eye Kinsey Millhone.  Sad Cypress...the title is derived from a line in a Shakespeare play...is just one of 33 Christie wrote with Hercule Poirot.  I think I'll be reading more and more of his exploits in the future...

Weekly Short Stories: 1946 Science Fiction, Part 1

This week marks Part One in my look back at some of the standout short science fiction from the year 1946, as compiled in the book Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 8 (1946).  World War II had ended the previous year with the explosion of atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki...much of the ensuing stories in this genre pertain to problems the Bomb would generate in the years to come.  Of the first four stories, three directly relate to this topic while the other...the opening story...eerily portends the digital reality we're living through right now...

A LOGIC NAMED JOE by Will F. Jenkins (Murray Leinster)
Personal computers...in this story attributed to the groundbreaking Carson Circuit instead of digital microtechnology...have permeated the culture of the near future (from the perspective of 1946).  In the comfort of your own living room you can get the news and weather, watch movies, listen to music, do business, communicate with others...who would have thought this possible?  The flip side of this is twofold: the ensuing destruction of personal privacy and the use of this system to criminal and/or destructive ends...exactly the situation we see with the Internet today.  And on top of it all, a freak computer (Jenkins calls computers "logics") trains itself as an "Alexa", inviting users to ask any question they want, no matter how scientifically impossible, intrusive, or criminal...and then relies on all the other logics in the worldwide system to come up with solutions.  Yes, this is another one of those bizarre, prescient stories that make you wonder whether the author wasn't a time traveler...

MEMORIAL by Theodore Sturgeon
A nuclear scientist/engineer turned pacifist hits upon an idea to turn the bellicosity of Earth's population in this nuclear age into one of emphasizing world peace over everything else.  How will he accomplish this?  By exploding his own atomic device...in the remote desert...creating a deep pit of reactivity that will remind humanity of the horrors of this type of warfare for thousands of years.  Will he get to do this and if so, will it work?  After all, there is another way people could respond to his planned act...

LOOPHOLE by Arthur C. Clarke
Civilized, intelligent Martians have been observing humanity's progress on Earth and are dismayed when they see them using atomic bombs in warfare.  So they build a fleet of fighting ships and send them to encircle our planet, warning us that each launch of a rocket into space will result in the destruction of one of our cities.  But the Martians know that it will only be a matter of time before humans try to get around their edict, so they plot for the complete destruction of human life on Earth.  This story...with a wild ending...is the first one contributed by Arthur C. Clarke of 2001: A Space Odyssey fame and is accompanied by two others in this anthology, to be reviewed at a future date...

THE NIGHTMARE by Chan Davis
Another creepily prophetic story, The Nightmare delves into the subject of nuclear terrorism as, somewhere in the Bronx of densely populated New York City, Geiger counters are picking up telltale readings of a nuclear bomb.  Will the investigators get to it in time...and what does it all have to do with the idea that dispersing the population instead of concentrating them in centers like New York would serve as a deterrent to nuclear attack? This notion was also propounded by Clifford Simak in his story City...

Next week: more of my reactions from the 1946 sci-fi anthology...

Music As I See It in 2019 So Far

I was planning to devote this article to listing various upcoming album releases this year from different acts I've come to like and follow.  Unfortunately, the only album I could identify is Beck's Hyperspace: he just released a single from it, while at the same time announcing the new album...and I don't know when it's coming out.  That's okay, there is so much old music I haven't heard from my favorite bands and solo artists that I can occupy my listening time with them.  I just checked out Simon and Garfunkel's penultimate album Bookends...it's long been my favorite of this duo from the 60s, containing brilliant songs like America, Bookends, Hazy Shade of Winter, and Fakin' It.  I've also been listening a bit to the great 1968 Rolling Stones album Beggars Banquet, featuring my own personal favorites Street Fighting Man and Prodigal Son. And, of course, I do very much like Paul McCartney's 2018 album Egypt Station, the track Caesar Rock still my favorite song of 2019 so far with his Happy With You a solid second.  And I'm also listening to Antonin Dvorak's 9th "New World" Symphony in E-Minor...the second "Largo" movement is very compelling, but the whole thing is incredible, quickly becoming one of my all-time favorite classical works...

It's a shame, I suppose, that I never did get to care very much for either country or hip-hop music, since especially here in northern Florida these two genres dominate the popular music scene.  This past weekend C&W icon Garth Brooks gave a concert at the University of Florida football stadium and you would have thought it was the Second Coming by how folks reacted to it on Facebook...I never did care for Brooks and this adulation hit me hard that the kind of music I like is no longer widely followed by the population at large.  Well, they can have theirs and I'll enjoy mine...as long as they don't impose their tastes on me, that's all I ask: it's bad enough to hear crap that now passes as "popular" music on so many commercials nowadays...

Just Finished Reading City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

City of Ashes is Cassandra Clare's second book, published in 2008, of her six-part series The Mortal Instruments.  Once again sixteen-year old Clarey, still progressively discovering her supernatural talents, finds herself in another string of life-or-death adventures with her friends Simon, Jace, Isabelle, and Alec as they fight their nemesis Valentine.  The setting once again is New York City as the angelic Shadowhunters...assigned to Earth to destroy demons...find themselves in a developing civil war between those who follow Valentine's mission to destroy non-demonic "downworlders" like werewolves and vampires and the "good guys" who want to preserve and respect them, of which Jace and Clarey stand out as the heroes.  It's hard to reveal the plot beyond this since by doing so I might not only be spoiling the book for potentials readers (like you) but also would be unwittingly spoiling the first book in the series, City of Bones.  Instead, I'll just post some general reactions...

Stephanie Meyer, in my opinion, did a much better job with her Twilight series of presenting a young adult fiction series that vividly painted a picture of an alternative culture where vampires and werewolves thrived.  And as for that genre of fiction in general, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling are the gold standards...The Mortal Instruments to me falls short to a degree.  Still, it's entertaining escapist reading although I wished that the author had invested more time and energy in developing the main characters' personalities before undertaking the numerous plot and identity twists prevalent in the stories...and some of the dialog seems stilted and unnatural.  Well, that's just my opinion...why don't you read it and share yours?  In any event, I'm going to read on to the end of the series: the next book is titled City of Glass...

Mueller Report, A.G. Barr, Political Social Media

With the release of Independent Counselor Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in our 2016 elections, almost all of the media and popular attention has been on the level of culpability on the part of Donald Trump, his campaign, and decisions made during his presidency so far.  There has been much criticism...misguided, in my opinion...about Attorney General William Barr's handling of the report and his press conference before its release.  But Barr has made good on his promise and efforts to release this report, something that he legally did not have to do.  As the nation's chief law official he had to look at Mueller's findings through the prism not of whether Trump behaved well...or even ethically, but rather whether, based on the investigation's results, charging him with conspiracy or obstruction was recommended.  Since Mueller himself made no conclusion to that effect, and Donald Trump is an active, sitting president, there is a legitimate Constitutional question about going forward with legal action of any kind against him.  There is, though, the Constitutionally-amenable avenue of impeachment, which Congress may or may not choose to pursue...that is, though, a political and not legal process, and not under the authority of the Attorney General.  But Barr, whether or not you happen to agree with his legal philosophy, has acquitted himself well here and I'm tired of hearing people on TV running him down.  Now back to the "Russian" investigation results...

There is a very clear lesson ordinary folks like you or me can draw from the report's conclusion that Russia interfered with the 2016 elections by dumping phony websites and messages on social media in targeted states, largely through its so-called Internet Research Agency...I'm sure they (as well as other countries) are still up to their mischief under new names.  When reading my newsfeed on Facebook I'm continually coming across certain posts by Facebook friends who have a very emotionally-invested take on politics, the posts they pick up and copy from other sources.  Also, with some of their comments I've read with a strong political flavor they will place links to Internet websites affirming and expanding on their viewpoints, as if doing this in itself proves their point for them.  I would be very, very skeptical and careful about reposting others' politically-charged posts or links to sources whose legitimacy might be suspect...like picking up food off the floor and eating it, you don't know where they've been.  I have a better idea: for a change, why not do what I do and just write out your own opinion and philosophy without hiding behind somebody else's?   Just a suggestion, but it seems to me that if you're one of these people with such strong feelings about politics and you're capable of writing, then you would want others to know your thoughts to better persuade them...and you can write to your heart's content on Facebook, or like me start up your own blog...

Severe Squall Line and Storm Blasts Gainesville

I had quite a little adventure yesterday afternoon in my quest to drive the eight miles from my home to my workplace, extending the final total distance covered by several miles.  A severe storm front, headed by an intense squall line "highlighted" by torrential rain, strong winds, tornadoes, and lightning, swept through the area, starting at about 11 in the morning.  I had planned on staying home and driving to work later when the weather was less threatening, but almost immediately after the squall line hit, our power went out...something unusual for my subdivision since we have underground lines.  So with no electricity I decided to get ready for work and head on out, a little earlier than planned.  That was fortuitous since I had no idea how bad it was outside on the road.  At least from NW 34th Street on west all the traffic lights were out, and 34th was blocked by the police south of 39th Avenue...apparently an accident or fallen tree down the road.  So I went west and found myself in a succession of traffic standstills while steering to avoid fallen branches and emergency vehicles.  I even tried driving down a stretch of I-75, entering at 39th Avenue.  The traffic there was relatively light and smooth-running until about a mile short of the Newberry Road exit, where a small sign flashed, "Road Closed 1 Mile Ahead: Crash".  Fortunately, the exit occurred before the crash site and I left at Newberry Road.  As I was turning off, I noticed none of the vehicles around me were heeding that sign and saw them all coming to a sudden halt down the road where emergency vehicles were flashing their lights...oh well, you can lead a horse to water...  On Newberry Road it was bumper-to-bumper traffic and I turned off at Perkins Restaurant and snuck my way through the back of the Oaks Mall Plaza and through the Oaks Mall parking lot to SW 62nd Blvd.  At the SW 20th Avenue intersection a car nearly rammed me as I was turning left and already clearly in the middle of the intersection...I had the impression they weren't looking where they were going. Eventually I made my way down to SW 43rd Street and noticed as I approached Wal-Mart that the traffic light was working...hooray! From that point onward the drive to work was routine. The power in my house was out until early evening, and as I drove by around 10:15 after work I noticed power crews heavy at work on a line at NW 34th St and 16th Ave.  Today many of the streets are strewn with small branches, leaves, and pine needles...other than that you wouldn't know that anything had happened the day before.  After getting home from work, I flicked my TV on Channel 20 for the local Gainesville news at 11 and, after the lead story briefly mentioning...in words, no pictures...that a storm had swept through, they quickly passed on to other stories that were of much less immediate interest...I wish they would prioritize their news better.  Maybe I'll start watching their competitor from now on...I switched over and they at least showed some of the roadside debris...

I'm sitting here writing this and basking in this pleasant, meteorologically unremarkable day...not to mention being off from work...

Quote of the Week...from John Bingham

If you run, you are a runner.  It doesn't matter how fast or how far.  It doesn't matter if today is your first day or if you've been running for twenty years.  There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get.  You just run.                             ---John Bingham

John Bingham is a marathon runner...now in his 70s...who has promoted marathon and distance running for the masses, stressing the activity itself and not competitiveness in races.  He and his followers have been dubbed "penguins" because of their slowness and tendency to take walking breaks in the middle of races.  Some in the sport object to its growing appeal to slower runners, but I believe they're not thinking this out correctly.  In order for a sport's championship to mean anything, it is important that underneath that excellence is a mountain of lower achievers...a sport that no one engages in is one whose elite is the elite...of what?!!  Running is an activity you just need some good shoes to invest in and...you're a participant!  Some of my more memorable runs have just been me stepping out my front door and going off on long runs up and down the streets of my neighborhood and those nearby.  I don't try to run fast...and if I feel like it, I'll take a minute or so here and there and walk a bit.   As for races, like Bingham I'm getting along in years and don't see me making the local news for excelling in my age category in a race even if I trained with winning them as my primary goal.  My priority when running in a race is first to finish it and second to maintain a pace in line with my level of practice...besides that I'm just there to savor the experience.  So Bingham and I are in total agreement with our running philosophies...neither of us need to prove anything to anybody else, and if others don't like running slowly, then who's forcing them to?  If they don't like my strategy in a race, then they can dang well pay my entry fee for me before telling me how to run...

Mueller Report Just Out

The redacted version of independent counselor Robert Mueller's report about his investigation of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election came out around 11 this morning...I was watching the lead-up to the release, including the press conference by Attorney General William Barr and the cable news channels talking heads' reactions.  As expected, Barr restated his earlier summary's position that there was no demonstrated collusion on the part of Donald Trump or his campaign with the Russians and that regarding obstruction, the evidence did not rise to the standard of warranting prosecution.  Barr did...and I think to his credit...candidly reveal that his views of the theory of illegal obstruction did vary with that of the independent counselor, but of course we already knew that. Barr's press conference performance was roundly criticized by CNN and MSNBC panelists for being too sympathetic to the President while Fox was generally supportive of Barr.  Someone on CNN did correctly mention that attorneys general in the past have often been seen, besides serving as the country's chief law enforcement official, as politically supportive of the sitting president...examples on the Democratic side are Obama's Eric Holder and Lorretta Lynch, Clinton's Janet Reno, and John F. Kennedy's own little brother Robert.  I'm no fan of Trump but I always felt that Barr has done his best to be fair and impartial...I saw nothing in his press conference to take issue with. I heard that, in accordance with the law, he did allow a Trump attorney to see the redacted version without comment or revision a few hours before it was released to Congress and the public, but now that everyone can see it I look at that preview as a moot point...

So now anyone who wants to can read the Mueller Report...Barr stated in his press conference that it would be made available on the Justice Department's website.  I'm sure that in the next few hours and days a lot of it will come to the forefront of the news.  And after everyone gets to examine the document, it would be a good idea for Robert Mueller to testify before Congress to clarify different sections that many assuredly will have questions about.  But there's one overriding element of this news story on which everyone agrees but gets very little coverage: the Russian government massively interfered in our 2016 election.  And that is what I am the most interested in learning about, especially with another election looming before us...

Weekly Short Stories: 1945 Science Fiction, Part 3

Today I finish looking back at the year 1945 and its best short science fiction, as appearing in the anthology Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 7 (1945).  Here are my reactions to those five stories...

THE POWER by Murray Leinster
In late-fifteenth-century Italy a man writes another about discovering a great power from a mysterious teacher/guru type.  Through successive correspondences he reveals his conclusion that his benefactor is a kind of fallen soul with dark knowledge...but our hero is too tempted by the riches the Power brings him to reject him.  The Power is about how a different, alien culture is inevitably filtered though one's own  "home culture" narrative...which tends to distort the motives and reality of who the other party is and what they have to offer.  The close-mindedness of those living five hundred years ago is obvious in this story, but how presumptuous would we be in our world today should something similar happen to us?

GIANT KILLER by A. Bertram Chandler
My least favorite story of this bunch, it is also the longest.  Often in short science fiction the author will trick...or least try to trick...the reader by making an alien society or species the protagonists...I've seen this done in more than one Twilight Zone episode as well.  The hero in Giant Killer is young Shrick, one of the People, as Chandler puts it, who not only has to fight the Giants in the wide open spaces but also survive the murderous wrath of his own, who have condemned him for being one of the Different.  Intrigued?  Then please read it...who knows, you may like it more than I did...

WHAT YOU NEED by Henry Kuttner
Speaking of the 1960s television series The Twilight Zone, there was one episode with the same title as this story...no wonder since it was an adaptation.  The written version goes into greater detail about how the seller of curious ordinary items that mysteriously seem to come into use at crisis moments is able to match his products with his customers...I probably would have enjoyed Kuttner's original story more had I not already seen the Twilight Zone version, which turned out to be one of the great, classic episodes of that wonderful series...

DE PROFUNDIS by Murray Leinster
Another one of those "see things from the alien's viewpoint" stories, this one is set down deep in an alien world's ocean as an intelligent, telepathic...but very ferocious...serpent creature encounters an human underwater exploration vessel accidentally broken from its cable leading to the surface.  Like the same author's story The Power, once again we're treated to a native culture filtering input about aliens and the unknown through their own pre-taught narrative, eventually arriving at preposterously wrong conclusions...

PI IN THE SKY by Fredric Brown
One night the brightest stars in the sky...468 of them to be exact...begin to move very quickly, appearing to defy the speed of light limitation in their motion.  Their night sky destination seems to be in the general area between the constellations Ursa Major and Leo...what's going on?  One of those wily old scientists common in sci-fi tales extrapolates the stars' motions and arrives at an impossible conclusion, leading to an old apartment building in Boston.  An impossible story with a semi-plausible explanation, more than anything it is a satire about our market culture and one of the funniest...

Next week I begin to look at the year 1946 in the universe of short science fiction literature...

Lyndon Johnson Biographer Robert Caro's Writing Suggestion

The other day I was listening to my local Public Radio station and they were interviewing Robert Caro, best known for his series of biographies about former president Lyndon Baines Johnson.  He was promoting his new book Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing and the discussion went back and forth between Johnson's presidency, his early life, and Caro's philosophy about writing.  With me being a history buff and having first broken into a sense of political awareness while still a little kid during Johnson's presidency in the mid-to-late 1960s, Caro was riveting with some of the stories.  But what made this interview memorable was his revelation about writing...

When Robert Caro was in college, he attended a creative writing course in which his professor assigned the students one short story per week.  Being a procrastinating crammer by nature as well as a gifted writer, Caro would wait until the night before it was due, conjure up a tale, and whip up a paper...always receiving a good grade.  But at the end his professor admonished him, saying that he needed to slow his writing down if he wanted to truly be great in the craft.  Later, while working as a journalist, Caro naturally had to write fast and to the point.  But when he set out to produce a book, he decided to write out his first drafts in longhand, which he says slowed down his writing enough to allow more of his thoughts to come through and influence it. That struck me as I had been under the impression that undertaking any lengthy, ambitious writing venture would naturally entail wanting to speed up the writing process...but Robert Caro's comments do make sense, now that I look at it...

I am so accustomed now to writing on a keyboard now that the idea of taking out pen and paper seems to be a challenge...after all, it's a lot easier to edit my spelling, grammar, and word choices in a word processor setting.   But I don't see why I necessarily have to abandon the computer with my writing.  Instead, since the goal is to slow things down, I could develop and employ a writing structure that forces me to pause and reflect on what I am writing and allow ideas that enrich the text to arise from the dark recesses of my mind.  Worth pursuing...

NBA and NHL Playoffs Worth Watching

The National Basketball Association and National Hockey League have finally begun their playoffs after regular seasons spanning more than 80 games, many of them played by teams "tanking" in order to receive higher draft picks next year as a reward for finishing lower in the standings.  Also, these regular season games have often featured marquee players sitting out entire games as a coaching strategy, in spite of the fact that they were the main factor drawing people to spend their hard-earned money to attend their games...what a ripoff.  One of the biggest stars, Lebron James, was actually shut down for the final games of the Los Angeles Lakers schedule after it became clear that they wouldn't make the playoffs.  Even if you ignore the letdown to Lakers fans (and those in cities the Lakers visited) with this decision, it also affected the other teams as those playing Los Angeles dealt with a lower level of competition when many were vying either to reach the playoffs or attain a higher seeding.  I'm not familiar with whether the NHL has these problems, but I imagine something similar has been going on as well.  But now we're in the playoffs and tanking and shutdowns are over...and that makes the games legitimate, finally...

I don't really have any teams in the playoffs that I am strongly rooting against, but I will note that for a number of seasons the Philadelphia 76ers had allegedly deliberately lost games during their lean years in order to secure higher draft picks and build the team that way...well, they have a strong team now and I don't feel like rewarding them for doing it that way.  In the NBA East the nearby Orlando Magic not only made the playoffs for the first time since 2012, they also surged at the season's end to finish with a winning record and beat the #2 seed Toronto Raptors on the road in the series' first game.  In the West I traditionally root for San Antonio and, like Orlando, the lower seeded Spurs upset their opponent Denver in their first game...go Spurs and Magic!  I also enjoy sitting back and savoring the excellence of the Golden State Warriors whenever they're on the air.  In the NHL I was going to pull for Tampa Bay throughout the playoffs, but the Lightning can't seem to score against a surging, defensively tough Columbus team in the first round and are behind 3 games to 0 and likely to exit the playoffs way too early.  After the Lightning, I don't have any particular favorite although for some reason I feel drawn to Boston and Vegas...let's see whether they get to the finals and make me appear psychic...

During this time there's almost always a playoff game going on late in the evening when I get off from work...ahh, games that actually matter with the coaches and players giving it their all, for a change...

Impending Storm and Some Personal Thoughts About Work

I sitting here at the Magnolia Parke Starbucks in northwestern Gainesville looking out the window, at the increasingly stormy-looking weather approaching us from the west.  We're supposed to get a storm passing through in the next hour or so...should be interesting to watch.  I'm enjoying this day off from work...that reminds me, a respected co-worker the other day posted on Facebook some sage advice about work that bears repeating.  Here are his four points: (1) Not everyone at your workplace is your friend. (2) Do your job. (3) Get paid. (4) Go home.  Just speaking for myself and my own work experiences, I think some good folks expect too much socially from their work environment and need to recognize that while we're all here together on the job it is much more important to be polite and respect others, both face-to-face and behind their backs...given that I'm certainly not anywhere near perfect myself in this area.  I don't automatically have to be a close friend in the workplace to others and they aren't in turn obligated to be overly friendly...and it doesn't have any bearing on our respective personalities, just our priorities.  Better that I'm the adult in the room and practice politeness, patience and discretion...while focusing on the tasks that I am there to perform in the first place.  In other words, a little professional detachment can go a long way toward making one's job not only bearable, but actually enjoyable and fulfilling.  And to my colleague's four points I'd like to add one that I've long adopted (and recently written about) from Max Ehrmann's prose poem Desiderata: Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexatious to the spirit. At least that's how it all seems to me...you and others are entitled to your own opinions on the subject based on your experiences...

Y'know, I think instead of just sitting here looking out the window at everything blowing around in the wind I'll go to my local gym and hit the treadmill and elliptical for a while.  Yes, it's good to be off from work, although it is a good job...

Just Finished Reading City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

I was doing my usual wandering-around browsing thing in Books-a-Million the other day when I turned down the "young adult" aisle of fiction.  There was a series, The Mortal Instruments, as well as other books by Cassandra Clare.  Inside the first book, titled City of Bones, was a rough map of New York City with various scenes from the story marked as to their location.  I decided to check it out, and just finished reading it.  The protagonist is Clary, a Manhattan teen, just turning 16, whose father had earlier mysteriously died and whose mother is suddenly very secretive about something.  On a lark of disobedience, Clary one night goes with her best friend, nerdy video-game enthusiast Simon, to Pandemonium, a local night club where teens are allowed.  She witnesses what appears to be the murder of a blue-haired boy by two other boys...and who is that mysterious girl who accompanied him to that back room where the killing occurred?  Incredibly, although Clary sees it all, no one else...including Simon...sees any of the people or events she describes.  The three perpetrators see her, though, and eventually reveal themselves as Jace, Alec, and Isabelle...Shadowhunters, whose mission as descendants of the Biblical angelic Nephilim is to seek out and destroy demons, of which that blue-haired "boy" was one.  And there is a reason for Clary's ability to see them while others can't...but that's later and I'm not giving away the story.  Instead, let me describe my general reactions to this book...

In at least this first book of the series, I suspect that the author was trying to capitalize on the success of the Harry Potter series, while using themes from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Star Wars. Valentine, the name of the villain here, sounds like Potter's nemesis Voldemort: starts with V, nine letters, three syllables, stress on the first one.  Plus,Valentine, like Voldemort, stresses the need for "purity" of paranormal beings...an allegory to racial bigotry.  As for Buffy, the combat is on as it's open season on those nasty demons.  And regarding Star Wars, remember all that convoluted stuff about whose father was who and who was brother and sister?  City of Bones is loaded with that sort of intrigue, which to me got quickly annoying.  For a young adult level of reading, though, I liked the story and want to see what happens to the various characters in the series...so I've already begun reading the next book, City of Ashes...

Later...I get home after writing this, turn on the TV, and what's on the Sy Fy channel?  Nothing other than the movie adaptation to City of Bones!  I'm not watching the whole thing, but it seems to me that they did a pretty impressive job with the beginning...

Quote of the Week...from Donald Trump

Little pencil-neck Adam Schiff.  He's got the smallest, thinnest neck I've ever seen.
                                                           Donald Trump, President of the United States of America

The above quote capsulizes why I will NEVER vote for Donald Trump for president...for that matter, not even for neighborhood poop-scooper if such an ignominious office ever existed.  Here is a standing president with all the responsibility, power, and authority which that important, historic office entails, repeatedly stooping to his comfort-zone level of schoolyard bully...I know because the low-lifes at my old school bus stop used to tag their targets with derogatory, demeaning nicknames...and the spineless kids around them, wanting to ingratiate the bullies, would repeat the insults.  Much like the grinning, nodding, cheering crowd of "adults" assembled behind Trump as he delivered the above quote to them at a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Thursday evening, March 28th.  You see, Adam Schiff is the Democratic chairman on the House Intelligence Committee and as such represents oversight and political opposition to our president, who through a number of statements has revealed his authoritarian tendencies as well as his open admiration of dictators worldwide...Trump has often described his political opposition as treasonous, even when Democrats didn't applaud some of his statements at the last State of the Union address before Congress.  The sad fact is that on some issues I happen to agree with our president, and on others that the far left in the Democratic Party have espoused I find myself I bit taken aback by their extremeness.  But serving as president of my United States of America is more than political ideology or even personal intelligence...character is involved here as well.  It's one thing that Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, and other presidents during their tenures would personally deride others in private conversations with confidants...it's entirely something else for a president to use the bully pulpit of his office to vociferously, publicly rally others to his hate-filled and offensive words targeting individuals who may have rubbed him the wrong way.  Ideology and issues fade in contrast with this president's disgusting behavior and attitude...it's a complete embarrassment to have him as my leader.  Donald Trump gets his fair share of criticism in the media, some of it personal...so did Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and so on.  There are established professional insulters on TV and radio like Stephen Colbert and Rush Limbaugh, some on the left and some on the right, who can engage in political tit-for-tat verbal scuffles and defend or attack the president and his opposition...Mr. Trump, who may have been received 62 million votes in the 2016 election, nevertheless represents the interests of all 300+ million of us... and does not need to be wallowing around himself in the mud. Then again, that seems to be what he likes doing the most...

Just Finished Reading (Again) Lisey's Story by Stephen King

I first read Stephen King's novel Lisey's Story in 2008, two years after it was first published. Considering it one of his greatest works, I returned and just finished rereading this tale of a woman's grief over her recently departed husband, a successful novelist, and her struggle against those trying to steal away his papers.  The story can be a bit difficult to read in that King jumps around frequently from one time period to another...usually in mid-sentence!  As the title intimates, it is Lisey's story, but it is also that of Scott, going back to his childhood and examining his family history of insanity as well as hitting upon different pivotal points in his marriage.  And of course there is the ongoing, horribly scary drama...as only Stephen King can write it...of a madman stalking Lisey for those papers.  In the backdrop is an imaginary place called "Boo'ya Moon"  to where, from childhood onward, Scott could retreat from the hostile real world, as well as draw out ideas for his stories...but how imaginary is it?  Lisey knows the answer, and her emotionally disturbed sister Amanda may as well...but I'll leave this mystery to you, the potential reader, to unravel at your own convenience...

Stephen King has long claimed that we all have a source within ourselves...like Scott's Boo'ya Moon...to which we can visit and replenish our imagination.  With each person it looks different, but King has pointed out in Lisey's Story that it also contains its own dangers, one of which is that it can be very tempting to remain there too long, making it difficult to return to the real world.  On the other hand, I think that while that may be true for a few, the problem with most of us is that we rarely get to know our own Boo'ya Moon...

More than anything, Lisey's Story is about a relationship of love, between Lisey and Scott Landon over the course of their lives together...and even beyond.  The level of honesty and intimacy between them makes this one of the most compelling love stories of our age.  But developing characters and making them seem so real has always, in my opinion, been Stephen King's greatest gift as a writer...

By the way, Lisey's Story is yet another one of those Stephen King novels set in the problematic small Maine town of Castle Rock...and, yes, my "favorite" King locale, Derry, is also referenced.  And it looks as if an eight-part TV miniseries based on the book is in the works...