‘Children of Memory’ completes the journey

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By Ande Jacobson

Adrian Tchaikovsky’s series that began with Children of Time, concludes with Children of Memory, released in November 2022. Again many of the characters (or their descendants from previous books) are back. This time, an instance of the AI known as Avrana Kern is built into yet another interstellar ship. She and all of her other instances are what remain of the ancient human terraformer/scientist who jump-started the advancement of numerous species on diverse worlds, though not all intelligent life was directly the result of her intervention. The ship this time is called the Skipper, and its crew is comprised of a Human (with a capital H), a few portiids (a type of intellectually advanced jumping spider), an enhanced octopus, an interlocutor or observer who has taken Human form but is in reality a colony of intelligent entities from the planet Nod, and two new arrivals. Continue reading →

Come hear (or play) SaXmas this December

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By Ande Jacobson

Over the years, I’ve written several articles promoting the annual holiday tradition – San Jose’s Saxophone Christmas (or SaXmas for short). Saxophone Christmas is the brainchild of founder Ray Bernd, a man who is a walking saxophone encyclopedia and strives to bring saxophonists together to share their love of this unique and often misunderstood family of instruments. While not exactly a flash mob in the traditional sense, SaXmas is a one day festival of holiday music to brighten the season. The players gather in the morning to renew old friendships and spend a couple of hours together playing through a set of holiday tunes, most of which are arranged for this momentous ensemble by Ray himself. After a short break, the group then plays two free concerts in the local area that afternoon. Ray always tries to schedule the earlier concert at an outdoor venue, and the second concert at an indoor location. That way even if the weather doesn’t cooperate, there will be at least one concert, and with any luck, two. The San Jose SaXmas is always on the third Saturday of December. This year that puts the 29th annual event on 16 December 2023. The San Jose SaXmas concerts will take place as follows:

  • San Jose’s Christmas in the Park from 2-3pm, weather permitting
  • Eastridge Mall from 5-6pm no matter the weather

For those in the Sacramento area, there’s a SaXmas for you as well! The 11th annual Sacramento SaXmas concerts (both inside) will take place on 2 December 2023 as follows:

  • KP International Market – Rancho Cordova (inside the market – by the food court) 2-3pm
  • Sunrise Mall – (inside mall – near entrance of Macy’s south) 5-6pm

Continue reading →

‘Children of Ruin’ continues the journey

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By Ande Jacobson

Adrian Tchaikovsky’s series that began with Children of Time, continues with Children of Ruin, originally released in May 2019. Many of the characters from the first book are back, at least in reference, and their descendants do them proud by continuing the adventure. The Humans (with a capital H) and the Portiids now have a strong working relationship on the planet known as Kern’s World, although direct communication is still a bit challenging given the differences in their thought and expressive processes. Capital H Humans are humans who have embraced a mutually beneficial relationship with the Portiids (i.e., large jumping spiders with an advanced intellect and civilization seeded and accelerated by humans of the distant past). Kern’s World from the first book is a planet that was terraformed and seeded with a virus to accelerate the intellectual development of monkeys. Alas, there were no monkeys, but a particular species of jumping spider evolved with the virus to establish a robust civilization on the planet. The planet was named Kern’s World after Avrana Kern, an ancient terraformer/scientist who over the centuries had uploaded her consciousness into an AI and enjoys a type of immortality. Initially, Kern was seen as some kind of god by the Portiids, but eventually when she made herself visible to the Portiids, she became something of an adviser. The first book is discussed in greater detail in ‘Children of Time’ expands minds.

In the second installment in the trilogy, Tchaikovsky runs a parallel storyline alternating sections between the distant past and what is now the present, along the way introducing some new life forms while evolving the existing ones. Continue reading →

Make your appointment with ‘Sweeney Todd’

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Alea Selburn as Mrs. Lovett and Steve Allhoff as Sweeney Todd (Photo Credit: SCP)

By Ande Jacobson

‘Appointments’ are going fast for Sunnyvale Community Player’s (SCP) production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street this fall. This is a show that should not be missed. I was fortunate to be granted an early appointment to catch a little more behind the scenes at the first full dress rehearsal with all of the elements in play. As a music director and player, it’s not often that I have been able to observe this part of the process from quite this vantage point, i.e., from the house without a musical score in front of me, though I had to take a quick peek backstage before the run-through started to see the pit setup (with permission of course). That said, this is not a review. This is partially a continuation of my earlier orchestra chronicle expanded to the production overall. Continue reading →

Remembering the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake

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SJSU Engineering By John Pozniak from Wikimedia Commons

By Ande Jacobson

34 years ago at the time of this writing on 17 October at 5:04 p.m. (or as I thought of it, at 1740 L), I was in class in grad school at San Jose State University. I was an engineering student working on my master’s degree and was listening to a lecture in my digital data transmissions class. When the shaking started, one student in the back made a beeline for the door jamb while the rest of us dove under the tables. We were in the new wing of the engineering building in a sort of small, tiered lecture hall that seated 30-40 and had long tables with comfy rolling chairs along the tiers. The professor was still lecturing when he noticed us all under the tables and mentioned that he should probably get under a table or something. He was originally from Switzerland, but this was his first earthquake here, so he wasn’t quite as well-versed as the majority of the class in our earthquake protocols. Continue reading →

The Sweeney Todd orchestra adventure

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By Ande Jacobson

While I have no plans to return to performance myself, I recently had the privilege of attending the first orchestra rehearsal for Sunnyvale Community Players’ (SCP) upcoming production of Sweeney Todd, not as a player, not as the music director, but as a very interested observer. I arrived early as the orchestra members trickled into the lobby of the theater to assemble the ensemble. Once everyone was in place, some of the players were noodling a bit or practicing some of the challenging sections of their parts while others were talking quietly. Eventually, the music director arrived carrying an amp for one of the keyboard players. He set up the amp, handed out a revised cut sheet, and then took his place in front of his orchestra to begin the rehearsal at the top of the score. Music director Val Zvinyatskovsky was the youngest person present at the tender age of 17, and yet he had the attention and command of the room. While it was the first time they had come together in this particular ensemble, everyone was ready to work. Continue reading →

‘Democracy Awakening’ puts it all in perspective

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By Ande Jacobson

Heather Cox Richardson’s newest book, Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America, was released on 26 September 2023 and is a must read to understand how we got to where we are, the dangers we face, how Americans have strengthened our democracy in times of yore, and finally, how we can again counter the authoritarian threat and reclaim our democracy from those who would abolish it forever. For those who regularly read Professor Richardson’s nightly newsletter, Letters from an American, there isn’t a lot of new material in this book. What is new is how Richardson has condensed the journey and the solution into this tight volume. This isn’t a big book. In fact, it’s a collection of 30 essays of six to eight pages apiece. Bounding these essays are a Forward introducing the material and discussing how the book came about and a Conclusion at the end tying together the pieces of how we could go about recovering and strengthening our democracy going forward. Richardson is honest that she can’t say it’s a sure thing, but the vast majority of Americans want our democracy to survive. The question is whether the overwhelming majority of people will pull together to make it so. Only time will tell. Continue reading →

‘Children of Time’ expands minds

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By Ande Jacobson

Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time trilogy begins with a bang. Or perhaps I should say the first book, Children of Time, originally released in June 2015 spins a mind expanding tale. The premise is one that draws deeply on Tchaikovsky’s roots as a zoologist (with a combination psychology/zoology pedigree). It is thought-provoking science fiction at its finest introducing a world where humans are not the dominant species. Although sparked by human interference, the green planet known as Kern’s World is home to a wide-ranging arachnid and insect population that has developed beyond the wildest human imagination. Marine life as well has surpassed what we know today on Earth. It wasn’t always this way, but humankind had run out of options. In the far future, humankind had finally destroyed the Earth. In their final days they sent out ark ships in hopes that the species could find a new home through advanced terraforming experiments intended to seed potential worlds with the ecosystems necessary to support human life. Alas, the best of the intentions are often usurped by unexpected events. Continue reading →

The splooting squirrel

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By Ande Jacobson

It’s important not to forget about the simple things in life. There’s so much happening every day that takes our attention. Crises seem to never stop, and everything is presented as an emergency. Sometimes we all need a break.

Recently, I was bringing in my garbage and recycle bins after pickup and noticed a squirrel watching me from the nearby fence. It wasn’t on top of the fence though. There are often squirrels running up and down the trees and fences in our development, but this little fellow was splooted vertically, head down, tail up, on the fence. I was intrigued. I’ve seen other squirrels do this on tree trunks from time to time, usually watching and chasing each other, but I hadn’t before seen one do this on a fence all by itself this way. When they are on the fence, they are usually in motion either running up or down or along the top of the fence. They sometimes stop and sit (not sploot) on top in a more stable position for a variety of reasons, especially if they are carrying something and need to adjust their load. Continue reading →

Wear a raincoat!

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By Ande Jacobson

I recently received a review copy of an upcoming book by Teri Kanefield and illustrator Pat Dorian that’s coming out in February 2024, and it’s a good one. Their new book entitled, A Firehose of Falsehood: The Story of Disinformation, is a graphic novel providing an extremely well-sourced history and use of disinformation and the damage it can do. Many of the scenes depicted are fictionalized accounts to illustrate aspects of how disinformation grew into the powerful, malevolent tool it has become. It’s not new and in fact has its origins in ancient times. The ways in which disinformation is deployed have evolved with our technology to the point where it’s become so ubiquitous, it’s often hard for people to recognize. In the end, the only real protection we have is to wear a figurative raincoat to protect ourselves from its onslaught and be ever vigilant in verifying the information we consume through reputable sources. That raincoat consists of awareness, education, and care. It takes effort, but the alternative is bleak. This upcoming book is considered a crossover YA/Adult work, and as I was reading, it sparked a bit of Rocky and Bullwinkle nostalgia in the sense that it seemed to hit on multiple levels. Continue reading →