Is Everything Happening all the Time?

In the 90s I read an interview with Frank Zappa where he expressed the belief that “everything was happening all the time.” That is, time is almost illusory–there is no real past, present, or future. Or to be more precise, such states are primarily based on perspective of a sentient individual. Here are Zappa’s comments:

Oh, the other thing that you have to realize is time doesn’t start here and end over there. Everything happens all the time….The reason I can say that is time depends on the point from which you’re looking at it. It only appears that things are transpiring because we are here. If we were someplace else, they would not have transpired yet. If you could move your point of reference to the event taking place, you could change the way in which you perceive the event. So, if you could constantly change your location, you could live the idea that everything is happening all the time.

When I first read this, I could not grasp this idea. Now, I think I have a better understanding of it, especially the part about the way the past, present, and future seemed (wholly?) based on perspective. On the other hand, how can everything be happening all the time? How can an individual be born, become a teenager, adult, elderly and then die–at the same time?! Those events don’t seem dependent on perspective (or are they?). This is something I have yet to grasp. If anybody can help me understand this better, I’d love to hear from you.

Some Key Attributes of Childcare Workers Can’t be Taught

When I run a children’s program, I spend a lot of time looking for good staff. Specifically, I’m looking for traits and attributes that I believe really can’t be taught. One example is the desire to work with children, including the desire to see them do well and be happy–basically, a concern and love for children. I don’t think a person can work successfully with children without this. Another important trait is the ability to be alert and assertive when supervising children. To succeed at working with children in a class room setting, one has know be vigilant about what’s happening and then appropriately respond to inappropriate behavior. To be clear, this also includes knowing when to ignore certain behavior, effectively encouraging positive behavior, and acting in proactive ways to avoid inappropriate behavior (e.g., being well-organized and planned, among many other things). Some of this can be taught, but my sense is that the alertness and assertiveness that I have in mind is very difficult to teach. It seems linked to a person’s personality and desire and enjoyment of working with children (or people in general).

I’m curious to hear if you guys agree with me. Are these attributes critical for working successfully with children? Do you believe that these attributes largely can’t be taught or developed? If you believe they can be taught, what are some ways of teaching and training someone to develop these attributes?

“Our Entire Democracy is now at Risk. History will judge what we do at this moment.”

These are the closing words of a 100 scholars. Specifically, they find recent actions to make voting more difficult, by Republican controlled state legislature, alarming.

Statutory changes in large key electoral battleground states are dangerously politicizing the process of electoral administration, with Republican-controlled legislatures giving themselves the power to override electoral outcomes on unproven allegations should Democrats win more votes. They are seeking to restrict access to the ballot, the most basic principle underlying the right of all adult American citizens to participate in our democracy. They are also putting in place criminal sentences and fines meant to intimidate and scare away poll workers and nonpartisan administrators. State legislatures have advanced initiatives that curtail voting methods now preferred by Democratic-leaning constituencies, such as early voting and mail voting. Republican lawmakers have openly talked about ensuring the “purity” and “quality” of the vote, echoing arguments widely used across the Jim Crow South as reasons for restricting the Black vote.

These scholars urge Congress to act, passing laws to counter these efforts, even if it means suspending the filibuster. I’m wary of language like this, but I can’t dismiss these claims. I’m concerned; I don’t think we’re out of the woods, even though Trump is not in office. Here is Max Boot, former Republican Senator and Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, and former Republican Congresswoman, Barbara Comstock.

General McCaffery on General Flynn’s comments about coup in the U.S.:

NFL Quarterbacks Thread

Thread for topics relating to NFL QBs. The first topic is on the QBs with the strongest arm. Do you agree with the QBs chosen by NFL Throwback?

I think Cam Newton should be on this list. In terms of driving the ball downfield, in terms of line drives, I feel like he had one of the strongest arms. And this raises a related issue–namely, the difference between throwing the ball for distance versus throwing the ball on a rope (i.e., distance with a flat trajectory). A QB can throw it far without necessarily throwing it driving the ball with a flat trajectory. To me, this requires a lot of power. To me, Newton was up there with the best I’ve seen–e.g., Favre, Elway, maybe Marino.

I have a problem with Brady being in there. He didn’t have a weak arm, but he doesn’t seem like he belongs in this group. (I would put Newton above him.) Do you think Brady had a stronger arm than Troy Aikman, Phil Simms, Steve Bartkowski, Neil Lomax, Ken Anderson, Dan Fouts, or what about Jay Cutler?

NFL Running Backs Thread

Thread for NFL RBs. First up: NFL Throwback has a video on the best power backs. Do you agree with their picks?

I question the Herschel Walker, Craig “Ironhead” Heyward, and Marion Barber picks. I think Walker had power, but I feel like he wasn’t good enough of a RB to be on this list. Ironhead was maybe a better power runner than Walker, but I feel like he, too, wasn’t that good–not for a long enough time. I liked Barber as a RB, but was he good enough? Was he a better RB and better power RB than someone Natrone Means or someone like Stephen Davis or Marion Butts? Or what about OJ Anderson? (Or maybe people don’t think of him as a power back? Is Roger Craig not considered a power back?) I will say this: If I were building a roster, I’d take Barber over Walker and Heyward. (By the way, watching Barber’s highlights–the way he runs reminds me of Marshawn Lynch.) I question whether Jamal Lewis should be in there as well, for the same reasons I question Walker and Heyward. Is Barber better than Ricky Williams or someone like George Rodgers (I barely remember George Rodgers.)?

I really like runners like Brandon Jacobs, Jonathan Stewart, and Eddie George. Leonard Fournette is in that mold (but he’s been a disappointment).

1/6 Insurrection

During this week the House passed a bi-partisan bill to form a commission to investigate the 1/6 insurrection. House Minority Leader, Kevin McCarthy, opposed it at the last minute, even though he initially gave support to Rep. John Katco (R) to work on this bill with Katco’s Democratic counterpart, Rep. Bennie Thompson. Mitch McConnell has now also publicly opposed this.

In any event, I wanted to post the articles about this in the thread, Journal During the Trump Regime (10): Interregnum, but that thread is to slow to open and navigate now. Because of that I’m starting this thread to post comments about the insurrection. I’ll start things off in the first comments by posting something from the Interregnum thread.

The Beatles Discography

I’ve been listening to entire albums on weekends, usually in the morning. The Beatles seem like a good band to listen on a Saturday or Sunday morning (at least that’s how I feel right now). But instead of writing reactions in the “Saturday/Sunday” morning thread, I thought I’d create a separate thread for Beatles albums specifically. My plan is to listen to the albums in chronological order.

Yacht Rock Thread

I’ve been discovering musicians in this so-called genre that I’ve never heard of before, and I’m amazed at how good these songs sound to me. There’s a certain sound that I really liked during the late 70s and early 80s, and I guess it would fall under the yacht rock category, but for some reason the amount of songs in this vein seemed really limited. Or maybe I’m tired of the songs I’m most familiar with. Perhaps that’s one reason I’m enjoying these songs so much–i.e., I haven’t had time to grow tired of them. What’s weird is that the songs evoke a feeling of nostalgia, although I’ve never heard them before. (Is there a plethora of good songs for every sub-genre that never made it on the radio?)

I’ll go over the first one in the first comment section.

Philly D.A. (2021)

This is a thread to discuss Philly D.A. is an eight part Independent Lens docuseries now playing on PBS. The series follows a newly elected D.A., Larry Krasner, who never worked as a prosecutor, but worked as a civil rights defense attorney instead. For most of my life, I’ve thought about improving government services, and I’ve gained some thoughts on the obstacles preventing this. For these reasons, I’m really interested in following Krasner and tracking his progress. Here’s a clip:

Great Food Synergies

Some types of food seem to go well with each other. A great example in Hawai’i is spam musubi–spam, rice, and nori. It might be the tomato-basil-mozzarella equivalent in Hawai’i, which may or may not speak badly about Hawai’i. What are some others? I’d also be interested in hearing an explanation as to why these foods go well together.