Government Shutdown Finally Ends (with a Whimper, not a Bang)
Well, folks, it’s official: the federal government has re-opened for business. And it only took sixteen days for the United States Congress to get it done.
Consider me underwhelmed.
During the past sixteen days, many people far from the halls of Congress were hurt due to the Congress’s collective intransigence. The law of unintended consequences seems to apply, considering people as diverse as mollusk fishermen in Maine and Alaska, restaurant owners in rural Wisconsin and Oregon, and federal park goers the nation over had their lives interrupted.
And what good did all this do? Not a blessed thing, as it made the United States look like idiots — far worse than laughingstocks — in the eyes of the world. Here are just a few things pointed out by Ed Schultz on his “The Ed Show” program on MSNBC in the past few weeks: Most countries around the world are appalled by how the Congress shut down the federal government, including Germany, France, Russia, and the UK. Even Syria said they do better by their federal employees than we do, and that’s pretty bad.
But guess what? There’s one organization or country that’s known to be even worse than Syria, and even they are taking potshots at the United States. None other than the Taliban (yes, that Taliban) actually said Congress is “sucking the blood” from the American people.
(Words fail me, knowing that.)
So how low can this Congress go, anyway? They’ve already proven by this latest fiasco they’re all about petty political gamesmanship rather than doing the will of the American people. If they had been about the will of the people, the government wouldn’t have been shut down for one hour, much less sixteen whole days.
Because of the Congress’s obduracy, we now have China, of all nations, wondering why the American people aren’t in open revolt.
And that’s saying something.
Don’t get me wrong. There are still some good legislators, though not many. (My personal favorite Senator is Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an Independent.) These legislators want to do their jobs and work for the best interests of the American people by doing “the art of the possible,” (read: compromise) and they’re no doubt just as tired of these stupid partisan games as the rest of us.
But there are way too many sitting in Congress right now who don’t want to do anything at all. These are the ones actively harming the country.
I blame Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) for most of this latest mess. I realize he didn’t start it — Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) is usually credited instead — but Boehner had the power to bring a vote to the floor at any time in the past sixteen days. He just didn’t do it.
When a politician would rather pursue his own agenda instead of the good of the country, it’s time for that politician to go.
I’m not the only person ever to think this, either. The words Oliver Cromwell spoke in 1653 certainly seem to apply. But if you don’t have time to read all of Cromwell’s historic speech, you should at least read this one (a paraphrase of Cromwell’s), delivered by British Conservative Member of Parliament Leo Amery to outgoing Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in 1939 after Chamberlain’s policy of appeasing Adolf Hitler hadn’t worked. Consider, please, that Amery was one of Chamberlain’s best friends when you read the following words:
You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!
Honestly, isn’t this what all Americans want to say to Speaker Boehner right now? (If it isn’t, what planet are you living on?)
A Quick Saturday Update
Folks, I’ve been remiss this past week in getting some blogs up to be read, but there is a reason for that.
You see, I’ve been working on an anthology submission for the past week-plus. It has taken a lot of time, mostly because I was asked to substantially revise a story and I wasn’t quite sure how to do it despite the editor’s excellent notes.
This is why I didn’t review anything last week, it’s why I may not review anything this week, either (it depends on how fast I can do the remaining work, really), and it’s also why my blogging has been nonexistent since I posted my end-of-the-season take on the 2013 Milwaukee Brewers.
On the plus side, I have been able to play my instruments and will be playing next week’s concert with the UW-Parkside Community Band after all.
On the minus side, the Racine Concert Band (of which I’m a member) got exceptionally bad news in that Racine Mayor John Dickert’s budget has no money whatsoever for the band in it. There is still time to counter this, but the easiest thing to do if you’re a Racine resident and love the free summer concerts out at the Racine Zoo is to call both your alderman and Mayor Dickert and ask that the RCB be properly funded.
Anyway, this week has been taken up with writing and editing, which is why I haven’t written any blogs. But next week I should have more time, and thus should write at least a few blogs on various subjects — but personally, I’m hoping the federal government will have re-opened for business by then and that the debt ceiling crisis will have been averted even if it is a rather easy blog subject to write about.
My Final Take on the 2013 Milwaukee Brewers Season
The 2013 season for the Milwaukee Brewers was one of intense disappointment, yet with some glimmers of hope for the future. The play of the “baby Brewers” (Caleb Gindl, Khris Davis, Scooter Gennett, et. al.) down the stretch was extremely enjoyable, and the starting pitchers finally rounded into form in late July to help them along.
So, without further ado, here’s my take on the Brewers’ high points, low points, and “huh, what were they thinking?” points of 2013.
The high points:
Brewers CF Carlos Gomez’s many highlight-reel worthy catches made watching the Brewers far less painful after Ryan Braun ended up getting a 65-game suspension. Gomez had his best overall season, batting .284 with 24 home runs, 73 RBI and 40 stolen bases, and was named to the 2013 All-Star team. Gomez has a legitimate chance to win a Gold Glove award for his work this past season; if he wins, he’ll be only the second Brewers OF to win (Sixto Lezcano was the first, in 1979) and will be the first Brewers player to have done so since Robin Yount in 1982.
Brewers SS Jean Segura, in his first full-time major league season, performed extremely well with the exception of his running the bases backward (see below). Segura played well defensively at short (committing only 15 errors in ’13 versus 10 in ’12 in a much smaller sample size) while batting .294 with 12 HRs, 49 RBI, and 44 SBs, and was named to the 2013 All-Star team.
Note: Segura was easily the top first-year player in major league baseball during 2013, but is not eligible for the Rookie of the Year Award because he played too many innings for the Brewers during the 2012 stretch run.
The Brewers bullpen was the best in the league for most of the 2013, slipping only in August and September due to their season-long heavy workload. The best of the bullpen were Francisco Rodriguez, who notched his 200th overall save before being traded to the Baltimore Orioles, Jim Henderson (5-5, 2.70 ERA, 28 saves in 32 chances) and setup man Brandon Kintzler (3-3, 2.69 ERA, 26 holds, 77 innings pitched). Kintzler’s success story is remarkable in two ways: One, he sustained an injury last year that resulted in him getting designated for assignment in late June — fortunately for the Brewers, every other major league team passed on Kintzler and they kept his rights and contract. And two, it wasn’t so long ago (four years, to be exact) that Kintzler was just a regular guy, pitching in one of the independent leagues to keep his baseball dreams alive and driving a limousine to support himself.
Finally, the outstanding pitching of starter Kyle Lohse (11-10, 3.35 ERA, 20 quality starts in 198 2/3 innings pitched) needs to be discussed. Lohse was signed right before the season started, so it took him a few months to get into his regular season form. But once he did, Lohse became the ace of the Brewers staff while mentoring many of the Brewers younger pitchers. Lohse’s record is deceptive due to exceptionally poor run support during June and July, which caused Lohse to get a substantial amount of no-decisions rather than wins.
Lohse’s best game was that wild win in Atlanta just one week ago, where he pitched a complete game shutout while giving up only two hits and throwing only 89 pitches. This particular effort was noteworthy because of the game’s odd start — Carlos Gomez hit a home run, then was impeded from scoring by Atlanta Braves C Brian McCann. An altercation ensued, punches were thrown (by bench player Reed Johnson, mostly), Gomez and Braves 1B Freddie Freeman were both ejected while McCann and Johnson were inexplicably allowed to continue onward. A lesser pitcher than Lohse would’ve allowed himself to get thrown by all this drama; instead, Lohse concentrated on what he had to do — and did it brilliantly.
The low points:
Oh, brother. Must I even say it? (Yes, I suppose I must.)
Obviously, the suspension of Brewers LF Ryan Braun was the biggest, baddest low point of the entire 2013 season. (See my blogs here, here and here for further details.) Braun is the best player the Brewers have; he’s a former MVP, has been named to the All-Star team several times, and was also a former Rookie of the Year. So when his season was cut short due to a 65-game suspension (after having significant time on the disabled list for a thumb issue), it couldn’t help but adversely affect the Brewers.
Once Braun had to admit that he’d lied about ever taking performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), he was excoriated in the court of public opinion. This was due to the fact that before the scandal broke, he had been seen as what the best of baseball is supposed to be about — a clean game played by clean players on a clean field.
(Yes, that’s hyperbolic for a reason. I’m getting to that.)
As you might expect, no one is as perfect as all that, most especially not a major league baseball player.
When Braun finally had to admit that he’d lied about taking a performance-enhancing substance (believed now to be some form of quick-acting testosterone), all Hell broke loose in the media. Jeff Passan was possibly the worst offender, writing several columns about Braun that showed that Passan viewed cockroaches above Braun — way, way above — and making a major journalistic mistake late in August when he failed to check his sources before again excoriating Braun, then having the sources roundly deny his allegations. But other respected writers like Christine Brennan and Bob Nightengale also were extremely critical of Braun (though they didn’t make Passan’s sourcing mistake), mostly because they seemed to feel a sense of personal betrayal that usually is only felt by fans, not by reasonably impartial journalists with major reputations to consider.
Nothing else — no, not even the Brewers woeful 6-22 record in May — came close.
But because there were obviously many, many other low points to consider, I’ll name just a few:
- The revolving door at first base due to Corey Hart’s knee surgeries was a major key to the Brewers’ failures, both defensively and with regards to driving in runs. None of the replacements did particularly well, with Juan Francisco being perhaps the worst of the lot due both to his slipshod defense and his propensity for swinging wildly at balls in the dirt.
- The infield defense was suspect, partially due to the gaping hole at first base. When utility infielder Yuniesky Betancourt ends up playing 137 games (including numerous stints as a defensive replacement at first despite never playing the position in the majors prior to this year), that’s a sign of desperation right there.
- Second baseman Rickie Weeks’ season (.209, 10 HRs, 24 RBI, 7 SB in 10 attempts with 105 Ks in 399 plate appearances) was abhorrent. Weeks has lost what little defensive range he ever had, lost the vast majority of his speed on the bases along with his bat speed, lost most of his power . . . in some ways, it was almost a blessing that Weeks tore his hamstring because nearly every Brewers fan was calling for Weeks’ head due to Weeks’ $11M contract. It’s even money that Weeks will lose his job to rookie Scooter Gennett in 2014.
- The starting pitching in the first two months of the season was Godawful. (‘Nuff said.)
- John Axford’s early meltdown as the Brewers closer was both surprising and sad. While Axford eventually rebounded as a setup man (allowing only one ER from May 15 to July 27), he never got close to sniffing the closer’s job again due to the joint performances of Rodriguez and Henderson before getting mercifully traded to the St. Louis Cardinals.
And the “huh?” points:
The first one is obvious — what on Earth was Jean Segura thinking back in April when he first stole second base, then “stole” first base and tried to steal second again?
For that matter, why did Segura make so many baserunning mistakes early in the season? It seemed like he was always getting thrown out at third, or at home, or trying to stretch a double into a triple . . . granted, Segura’s fast and smart, and he did eventually learn from these mistakes. But it was really difficult to watch him make these mistakes over and over in the first three months of the season before he finally caught on.
That gets into the second “huh” — that is, so many Brewers got thrown out on the bases that I was tempted to send them all to baseball re-education camp. (Sample re-educator dialogue: “Now, children, you don’t want to make the first out by getting thrown out due to carelessness. Pay attention to what the other team is doing, children! Don’t let your mind wander so much! Don’t run yourselves out of innings! You’re old enough to know better, really! Pay attention, pay attention, pay attention!”) There was no excuse for this, either, aside from the whole “youth and inexperience angle” that was trotted out time and time again for Segura — and as he was far from the only offender, and as the others on the team were much older than his own twenty-two years, I just didn’t understand this at all.
Why did the Brewers re-sign Alex Gonzalez, anyway? Yes, he was and is a quality individual; yes, he probably was a good role model for the younger players. But after a year on the disabled list, Gonzalez had lost his hitting stroke and was never able to regain it, and was released midseason.
Everything else from the 2013 Brewers season falls into the realms of what might have been. To name just two burning questions:
- What would’ve happened had Corey Hart not played on his bad foot during the tail end of 2012, when the Brewers were desperately trying for the second Wild Card spot? Hart’s injury to his plantar fascia was the same one suffered by Albert Pujols of the Angels this year, and the Angels quickly put Pujols on the season-ending DL. Had the Brewers done the prudent long-term thing and shut Hart down rather than taping him up to the point his bad foot was immobilized and it was hard to watch him move around in the field or bat, would Hart have ended up needing not one but both of his knees surgically repaired in 2013?
- What would’ve happened had Braun told the truth in 2012? If he’d have served a 50-game suspension then, would he have been treated like Melky Cabrera and Bartolo Colon rather than the pariah he’s become? And would it have made any difference whatsoever to the 2013 Brewers’ record? (It surely would’ve made a difference to the Brewers players — not to mention Brewers fans.)
So here’s to 2014, Brewers fans. And let’s hope that for all our sakes that Braun will rebound, that Hart will be re-signed and have a monster season, and that if Weeks is still the starting second baseman at the start of 2014 that he actually deserves to be.
A Guest Blog from Jason Cordova — ‘How to Genre Hop Without Driving Yourself Completely Insane’
Folks, I’m pleased to welcome fellow author Jason Cordova to my blog. Jason and I have known each other for several years now, and have even attempted to collaborate on a novel together (maybe that’ll come to fruition one of these years, as the idea was really, really good). Jason wrote a novel, CORRUPTOR, and has sold a number of short stories, with the most recent sale being to the anthology MENTAL WARD. He’s currently working on a number of projects and is one of the busiest people I know, which is why I’m really pleased he stopped by.
Jason is also the owner-operator of Shiny Book Review, which means that technically, he’s my boss over at SBR. Fortunately, he doesn’t seem to think in hierarchical terms very often, which is why he’s a very good boss.
So here he is . . . the one, the only, Jason Cordova!
*********** Guest Blog Starts Now ***********
Barb mentioned a few weeks ago (or last week, maybe) that she was open to me doing a guest post on her blog. Since her blog has many more visitors than mine (primarily because she actually has interesting stuff going on), I figured, “Sure, sounds like fun!” Then she even gave me a subject matter to discuss, which made it, like, even easier. So take a seat, relax, and have a sip of Earl Grey. I’m about to bore you to tears.
How To Genre Hop
(without driving yourself insane)
*cue dramatic music*
One of the hardest things for any writer to do is to write in a genre they are unfamiliar with. Most of the popular writers get labeled in one genre and stay there. This isn’t always a bad thing, no. I myself have found that when I’m searching in the horror section, I’m looking for Dean Koontz. In fantasy, usually the team of Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman catch my eye first. Science fiction? David Weber.
We mentally lump our favorite writers into their genres and keep them there. And for the most part, the authors are content to stay there. But… did you know David Weber wrote a fantasy series? I didn’t, not until someone pointed it out to me (The War God’s Own, for those of you interested). Would you read a science fiction novel by Margaret Weis? Or a romance by Dean Koontz?
Barb asked me once how I genre-hopped. You see, I write in just about every genre, and though I still think of myself as a science fiction author, I’ve published fantasy, horror, thriller, YA and alternate history. Barb’s question made me think about the difficulties of writing in various settings. How do you genre hop without tripping up? How do you keep the settings straight in your head? I then had a revelation. Perhaps that’s the difficulty with genre hopping? Perhaps the problem is that writers are focusing too much on the setting and it’s being difficult?
One of the first things I worry about when writing a story is the main character. Who are they? What are they up to? Why are they doing whatever it is that makes them worth writing about? I want them to be, well, cool. I want them to do things that I can only dream about doing (which includes, but is not limited to, being a super secret ninja warrior assassin in the 1000 BC). I want them to be funny, smart, and interesting enough that when a reader picks up the book, it doesn’t matter to them what the setting is, because they like the main character that much.
(side note/disclaimer: if Jim Butcher stuck Harry Dresden in space, fighting an alien invasion and using ray guns, I would read the sh*t out of that book.)
You see, the setting really isn’t all that important, not at first. Who your main character is, now that is important. It’s easier to build the setting around a fantastic character than it is fitting a character into a setting. Generally speaking, that is. I can already hear the clamors of “Well, that’s not how I do it, and I can hop genres fine!” If that’s the case, awesome. I’d love to review your book sometime.
Ray Bradbury had a solid piece of advice: First, find out what your hero wants, then just follow him!
So you’ve got the character set? Not yet? Okay, well, when you do, what do you do them next? For example, when I was writing Nightwalker, I had the image of a really articulate, well-dressed doctor traversing the Wild West to kill evil. I didn’t know much about where he was, but I knew all about him. A former Civil War doctor who had been injured in battle, he was cursed/possessed by an ancient demon in exchange for him life. The demon, however, is bound by oath to destroy all evil. So an internal struggle for the soul of a man. But is it horror? Urban fantasy? Something else?
Who cares? He’s an interesting character. He’ll find a home somewhere.
I think (I may be wrong here) that a lot of problems stem from a fear of writing the wrong setting. But if your character is just that awesome, does it really matter?
I can already hear people shouting about A Song of Fire and Ice (aka Game of Thrones) and how George R. R. Martin focuses on the setting and it works for him. To which I reply “Really? So you’ve never come upon a certain character’s chapter and found yourself glazing over as you read, waiting for one of your favorites to pop up?” I know I do this when I read a Daenerys chapter (what? she’s gotten boring over the past three books!)**, and I’m fairly certain I’m not alone.
So try to remember that setting (by extension, genre) is secondary when it comes to your book and that your main character is what’s going to sell it. If you can make your character interesting (and cool; never forget the cool), then your book will be a little more memorable.
For those of you searching for my titles, I have links on both my website (www.jasoncordova.com) as well as an Amazon author page (www.amazon.com/Jason-Cordova/e/B004CZHHPU/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0).
**********
Thank you, Jason, for that excellent guest blog, Stop by anytime!
And for the rest of you, please do check out his new story in the anthology MENTAL WARD, which is available right now.
BTW, the ** is for my agreement with Jason over Daenerys’ character in the last three books in the Song of Ice and Fire series. She’s a strong woman. I know this, as I’ve reviewed all five of the books over at SBR (here’s a link to all of SBR’s reviews if you don’t believe me). But these last three books, well . . . Daenerys seems sexually obsessed to the point of near-madness, and I don’t buy it that this is all because of her link with her three dragons. And all of that makes her predictable at best, boring at worst — and makes those the chapters I’m the most likely to skip over and never read again if I can help it.
Jason is right. He’s not the only one wondering what’s up with Daenerys, because I am, too. And while I know that sex sells, especially on TV (it’s doing bang-up business for HBO, words chosen precisely), it can be really, really annoying to read the same sorts of scenes over and over and over again.
‘This is a Disaster:’ Federal Government Shuts Down
What a mess.
The federal government has been shut down, all because the Congressional Republicans wanted to defund the Affordable Care Act (popularly known as “Obamacare”). The Rs did not get their wish as the ACA was funded anyway . . . but the government is still shut down until further notice.
Does this make any sense to you? Because it surely doesn’t make any to me.
“But Barb,” I can hear you saying now. “You’re a political junkie. Surely you knew this was coming, so why are you so bemused?”
I did know this was coming, yes. But I don’t understand why anyone — especially a cool political operator like Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) — would want to shut down the United States government. Because, as Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) said on Rachel Maddow’s Monday evening late night show at 11 p.m. CDT, “This is a disaster.”
Now, Schakowsky was talking specifically about the people who will be “furloughed” due to the Congress’s overall inaction tonight — many of them making less than $30,000 per year. Those are the people who do not have the resources to withstand even a day without pay, much less weeks or months . . . and the knowledge that the current Republican leadership has absolutely no endgame in progress (that is, any way to avoid doing what they’ve just done) makes this even worse.
“But Barb,” again you say. “The Republicans do not like Obamacare and are standing on principle. Isn’t that a good thing?”
Um, no, it isn’t.
Obamacare was funded anyway. So the people who aren’t going to get paid now that the government has been officially shut down are the lower wage workers Rep. Schakowsky mentioned, right along with people who work in the federal park system (shut down), much of NASA (shut down), much of the Department of Defense (yes, the active duty military will be paid, thank goodness, but the civilian analysts helping to analyze threats have all been effectively laid off for no good reason, something Boehner and his compatriots among the Rs had to know), and many, many more.
All of this gets even worse, folks, when you consider that Congress will still be paid even though most of the rest of the government is shut down. And that is not just wrong — it’s completely and utterly hypocritical.**
All night long, I’ve tried to understand why the Republicans — supposedly the party that wants to “keep the United States safe” — would want to cause this catastrophe. Because it’s obvious that shutting down the government is likely to harm national security.
But then again, I suppose the Rs weren’t satisfied with simply harming the people just trying to get by — those G-1 and G-2 workers out there who have been indefinitely “furloughed” (meaning: sent home without pay).
So, why did all this happen, anyway? Was there any rhyme or reason to it whatsoever? Or is this all the equivalent of the political theatre of the absurd?
The pundits, whether they’re on MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, or some other station, all seem to blame the radical right-wing Tea Party Representatives right along with freshman Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) for the current government shutdown. (Fox News is complimentary toward these people, while the others are all condemnatory. But the person mostly being named as being the prime mover here is, for better or for worse, Senator Cruz.)
To my mind, though, the one person who is responsible beyond a shadow of a doubt is Speaker Boehner. Boehner’s been in the U.S. House of Reps. since 1990, which means Boehner saw what happened the last time the government shut down. At that point, Newt Gingrich (R-GA) was the Speaker of the House, and things did not go favorably for him or his party due to Gingrich’s insistence on shutting down the government to get his own way.
Speaker Boehner knows better than this. He has to know better than this. But for whatever reason, he either couldn’t get his Republican caucus to listen to him, or he just didn’t care to set them straight.##
So here’s where we stand at this hour: The federal government has shut down. The low-wage workers will be hurt badly by this, the defense contractors will be hurt badly by this, NASA will be hurt badly by this . . . and the Congress will still get paid for their overall intransigence.
It’s at times like this that I truly wonder about the state of American democracy. Seriously.
———
Notes:
**Before anyone says it, I am aware that the Rs wanted to level the playing field and make sure that everyone in the Congress, the White House, and elsewhere in the government that’s currently exempted from the ACA would have to abide by the same rules as everyone else. I agree that this makes sense, and had the House tried to talk about this earlier this year — long before now — I’d have been happy to entertain the idea.
Now, though? What sense does it make?
##I’m not enamored by the way the Congressional Democrats have acted, either. But the Ds in the House have no real power, while the Ds in the Senate have at least tried to do their jobs, as they’ve been trying to get the House to come to the bargaining table since late March or early April. The R-driven House refused to do so, which is why I blame them far, far more than the Ds.
Electronic Oddities
Sometimes, folks, I just need to vent. And what better thing to vent at than our electronically driven lives?
I’ve had four things happen lately that are really vexing, but in a very slow-burning sort of way. The first one was when I took an online exam for a place of employment — this is something many employers do these days — and was told after I took it that I “must be a computer” because I’d “gone too fast to be a human being,” and was immediately disqualified from that particular job!
I still don’t know what to think about that one, with one exception: I’m obviously not a computer. No matter what that particular program thinks.
The second thing was back in August, when I played the contest “Beat the Streak in a Day” through MLB.com’s fantasy page. In case you don’t know about the whole “Beat the Streak” contest, it’s named after Joe DiMaggio’s legendary 56-game hitting streak. Fans pick 57 players (over time in the regular Beat the Streak contest, but in one day for BTS in a Day) who we hope will all get hits. You can pick any position player (it won’t let you pick pitchers), providing they’re not on the disabled list, the suspended list, or are otherwise unavailable.
I saved all my picks, did everything the program said to do — and then seven of my picks somehow were not updated even though the site said they were.
When I compared notes to the picks I knew I had made, I had 43 out of 57 right. This would not be enough for a prize. It certainly does not beat Joe D’s streak, and many others came closer than I did to getting all of the players they’d picked to get hits right. But I was annoyed with this program for saying I’d only gotten something like 35 out of 57 right rather than the 43 I know I had right.
When this happened again with the BTS in a Day contest this past Friday — where I couldn’t even check to see how my picks had done because the site glitched, though I checked twice before all the picks were locked and made sure of my actual picks (I wanted no repeat of the August issue, thanks) — I was extremely frustrated, and did write to the contest to ask for an explanation.
This time, the results page said I got 36 right. I don’t have any idea if this is correct because I cannot check it; I can basically go over every player I know I picked, painstakingly (which is what I did last time), but my rough estimate had me getting around 44 or 45 right rather than 36.
I don’t know if I’ll get an answer. I don’t know if they’ll actually get my real picks right — the “results page” I got was for the earliest BTS in a Day contest back in June, I think, because some of “my picks” were Ryan Braun (who I used to pick before his suspension), Yasmani Grandal (same) and a few others like Paul Konerko who I know I didn’t pick this last time.
So that’s two and three — which means you might be wondering what the fourth vexing issue is. (Even if you aren’t, I’m going to tell you anyway. Lucky you, huh?)
It’s simple. An e-mail to me got trapped somehow in the ISP aether, and I didn’t get it until five full days after it was apparently mailed. As it was a professional e-mail — meaning it has bearing on one of my joint careers (music and writing) — this was not good.
Obviously, I couldn’t answer the e-mail until I saw it. But I didn’t see it in my inbox for five full days — and then, it showed up only as spam, which it wasn’t. (I check my spam folder every day, and I know it was not there all that time before it finally did show up.)
Because of this electronic glitch, I wasn’t able to answer this professional e-mail. And it was a time-sensitive e-mail, to boot, which makes me appear less than professional — all because of my ISP doing something really bizarre.
Mind you, this sort of thing happens far less than it used to. But e-mail, reliable though it usually is, can still go astray . . . I just have to hope that my explanatory e-mail will make sense, and that they’ll believe me that this really did happen.
Anyway, that’s four solid things that have something to do with computers, computer programs, or otherwise electronically driven oddities. And while I understand how programs can get messed up from time to time, I’m beyond tired of it.
Let me know if I’m the only one these weird things are happening to, OK? Because I’m starting to wonder if Murphy has my number on speed dial.
Just Reviewed “Brave Genius” at SBR
Folks, I’ve rarely read such an entertaining, interesting, thought-provoking piece of nonfiction as Sean B. Carroll’s BRAVE GENIUS: A Scientist, a Philosopher, and Their Daring Adventures from the French Resistance to the Nobel Prize, which is why I reviewed it this evening over at Shiny Book Review (SBR for short, as always). Carroll’s conception is this — if not for the French Resistance, would we even know about Albert Camus or Jacques Monod? Would they be the same men? Would they have the same drive? And without them, would the Resistance have been anywhere near as effective?
Everything else in BRAVE GENIUS, including Camus’ sterling accomplishments as a writer and philosopher and Monod’s work with enzymes (and Monod’s later accomplishment as the writer of perhaps the most unlikely bestseller in the history of mankind, CHANCE AND NECESSITY), is subordinate to this premise. And Carroll makes a very good case as to why this was so, to the point that I compared his case a few times to Malcolm Gladwell’s OUTLIERS.
Here we have two men who were at the beginning of their careers in 1940 when the French government fell to the Nazis. (Carroll calls this “leading ordinary lives,” but I don’t really think any life is ordinary. I’d rather say that they were still important, driven men who hadn’t yet found their voices.) They were forged in the fire of the French Resistance, and without their efforts — Monod as “Malivert,” one of the top fund-raisers and activists in all of the French Resistance, and Camus as the then-unknown editor of the influential underground newspaper Combat — would everything have taken the same course at the end of World War II?
The World War II historicity here is palpable. The suspense is still there, sixty-plus years after all of Monod’s and Camus’s efforts. And it’s by far the standout part of the book, which it needs to be as this is Carroll’s central premise.
Overall, I think BRAVE GENIUS is one of the most interesting, most compelling pieces of nonfiction I’ve read all year. It’s not 100% perfect (which is why I gave it an A rather than an A-plus), but it’s riveting, especially in those World War II sections. Literally, if you open this book up and start reading, you won’t want to stop, even though some of Camus’s ideas (not to mention Monod’s research) takes more than a bit of thought to plow through.
That said, I think you definitely should continue on with BRAVE GENIUS no matter how long it takes you to finish it, precisely because those ideas are so important.
Really, if you’ve ever cared why existentialism as a philosophy matters (even though there’s evidence Camus hated the term and probably would’ve come up with another one, given time), or wondered what the French Resistance actually did during the Vichy appeasement besides the simple term “resist,” this book is for you. And if you want to know why Monod’s research was so important, or more about Monod’s book CHANCE AND NECESSITY (not an easy read to get through, but a book with more compelling ideas per capita than most), or simply want to know more about what these two important, influential men were like as people, this book is for you.
I couldn’t recommend this book more highly, in short . . . so go grab a copy of BRAVE GENIUS (from your local library, if nothing else) and start reading as soon as you can. Then come back here and let me know what you thought.
Milwaukee Brewers Win Wild One in Atlanta
Only the 2013 Milwaukee Brewers could start a game with a bench-clearing brawl after, of all things, a home run — but end up with a 4-0 shutout over the Atlanta Braves behind the golden arm of starting pitcher Kyle Lohse.
The Brewers started out Wednesday night with a home run in the first inning by CF Carlos Gomez. However, Gomez didn’t actually end up touching home plate due to Braves C Brian McCann standing in the middle of the baseline — in effect, impeding Gomez’s progress toward home plate. Words were exchanged, the benches cleared, and after that somehow McCann stayed in the game but Gomez and Braves 1B Freddie Freeman both ended up ejected.
Why Freeman was ejected rather than McCann remains a mystery, especially as Freeman didn’t really do anything. Reed Johnson came off the bench and threw two haymakers at Gomez, at least one of which actually connected, but Johnson wasn’t thrown out, either.
Anyway, as odd as that start was, none of it mattered once Lohse took the mound in the bottom of the first. Lohse was fully in control of the game, threw only 89 pitches, and gave up only two hits in completely shutting down the Braves. The 4-0 win brought Lohse’s season to a close; he finished with a 11-10 mark and a 3.35 ERA.
As a Brewers fan, watching Gomez hit a home run, then get thrown out, then have the umpires figure out whether or not Gomez should get credit for a HR or a triple as Gomez did not touch home plate (eventually, they gave Gomez the HR, probably because of being impeded by McCann) . . . all of that was quite wearying. The last thing I was expecting was for Lohse to come out and pitch his best game of the year after all that drama.
Yet Lohse did exactly that. Which is why this particular win was one of the wildest ones of the season — yet also one of the most satisfying.
Personally, I’m glad that Lohse was still with the Brewers to pitch in this game. Lohse was a hot commodity at the trade deadline, precisely because he’s a solid pro with a good playoff record. When he wasn’t traded — probably due to his three-year contract — I breathed a sigh of relief.
Tonight, Lohse proved, as if he needed to, that he’s still a big money pitcher. But he also showed heart. He was not fazed by what happened in the first inning. He just went out, did his job, and shut down the Braves.
Every Brewers fan should tip his or her cap to Lohse tonight, precisely for reminding us all what the game is all about. And reminding us that with just a few different breaks (Corey Hart not needing a second knee surgery, for example, or Ryan Braun not being suspended for 65 games), maybe the Brewers could’ve been a contender after all.
Just Reviewed Katharine Eliska Kimbriel’s “Night Calls” at SBR
Folks, today’s review of Katharine Eliska Kimbriel’s NIGHT CALLS is up over at Shiny Book Review (SBR for short) and it’s something special.
You might be wondering why that is. Well, today is the ninth anniversary of my beloved husband Michael’s death. It’s not easy for me to do much of anything on days like this, so if I feel strong enough and competent enough and capable enough to review a book, right there — in and of itself — you should realize I feel very strongly about it.
But more to the point, NIGHT CALLS is a heartwarming book that should delight all lovers of fantasy. It features a strong, capable young woman in Alfreda Sorensson who’s no one’s plaything; unlike the meek and mild female characters in Stephanie Meyer’s conception, Alfreda does for herself, thank you. And in taking on responsibility slowly, we can see how Alfreda grows and changes and learns . . . all good, all life-affirming, all an excellent message if you need one, but done in such a way that it’s subordinate to the story itself.
To write a novel that’s more than the sum of its parts is very difficult. Now, I’ve reviewed four of Katharine Eliska Kimbriel’s novels, and all four have been able to do this to one degree or another, in two different genres, no less — an outstanding record that I’ve rarely seen out of anyone not named Rosemary Edghill. And best of all, to my mind, is this — NIGHT CALLS is a comfort book in that there’s so much good in it, so much meaning in it, that it’s something that I can see myself turning back to read and re-read many times over the years — just as I’ve done with Rosemary’s TWO OF A KIND and MET BY MOONLIGHT and all her shared work with Mercedes Lackey, not to mention Rosemary’s excellent “Hellflower” series (written as eluki bes shahar) and her three novels in the “Twelve Treasures” series.
That’s the highest praise I can possibly give.
Now, why would I want to write all this on one of the most difficult days of the year? Well, it’s simple. Michael and I both loved to read young adult novels. We found them to be interesting, in the main, because seeing a coming of age story done well is, in and of itself, life-affirming. If you can do it with some humor and heart — as Patricia C. Wrede did in CALLING ON DRAGONS, say, or as Diana Wynne Jones did in her “Chrestomanci series” — so much the better.
And trust me, Ms. Kimbriel did exactly that in NIGHT CALLS.
It was reading books like Ms. Kimbriel’s that inspired me to start writing ELFY in the first place. Which is why I’m very glad to be able to read and review her work, even though until this last year I hadn’t a clue it was available. The good part about that is that I’ve read four of her excellent books this year, and all four of them — the three in her “Chronicles of Nuala” series and NIGHT CALLS — are likely to be on my “best books of 2013” list.
This makes me wonder how many other excellent writers are out there that I don’t yet know about. (“More writers left to explore?” I say. “Whee!”)
And it also gives me some hope that my own writing career is not yet dead, even though my health this year has been terrible and I’ve been slow off the mark to get things done despite all the good will in the world due to that.
Anyway, that’s why I reviewed Ms. Kimbriel’s excellent NIGHT CALLS today. For hope. For inspiration. For the belief that despite bad things happening, good people can still win out.
And I think that if you give Ms. Kimbriel’s work a try, you, too, will be favorably impressed.
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