Once In Every Lifetime

An exploding star, photographed by the James Webb Space Telescope

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I read something somewhere the other day that stuck with me. If we went into the past, none of the people would be there anymore.

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Fareed Zakaria, on the debt- "The American people are the real villains. They've decided that they like Republican taxes and Democrat spending."

I love that. People like to blame the government for everything, but forget that the government is us.

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The Young Ones debuted on this day in 1982, if you can believe it. That somehow means it was only like 5 years old when we used to watch it.

Once in every lifetime,

Comes a love like this,

Oh I need you, you need me,

Oh my darling can't you see.

Young Ones.

Darling we're The Young Ones.

The Young Ones.

Shouldn't be afraid.

To live, love, there's a song to be sung.

Cause we may not

Be The Young Ones

very long.

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Cliff Richard- The Young Ones

The young ones

Darling, we're the young ones

And young ones

Shouldn't be afraid

To live, love

While the flame is strong

For we may not be the young ones

Very long

Tomorrow

Why wait until tomorrow?

'Cause tomorrow

Sometimes never comes

So love me

There's a song to be sung

And the best time is to sing

While we're young

Once in every lifetime

Comes a love like this

Oh I need you and you need me

Oh, my darling, can't you see?

Young dreams

Should be dreamed together

And young hearts

Shouldn't be afraid

And some day

When the years have flown

Darling, then we'll teach the young ones

Of our own

Once in every lifetime

Comes a love like this

Oh, I need you and you need me

Oh, my darling, can't you see?

Young dreams

Should be dreamed together

And young hearts

Shouldn't be afraid

And some day

While the years have flown

Darling, then we'll teach the young ones

Of our own

https://youtu.be/w-TKxkbnOqw

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The Angelic Upstarts- The Young Ones

https://youtu.be/uyxdy8sI7Is

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Zuzu asked me for some examples of philosophy questions last night before bed. They must have inspired her to think a bit differently, because when she woke up this morning she said, "Hey, why is it that when you're standing up, your feet are laying down, and when you lay down, your feet are standing up?" Haha, exactly my type of joke.

November 9, 2023

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The Stranger, The Big Lebowski- "Sometimes there's a man... I won't say a hero, 'cause, what's a hero? But sometimes, there's a man. And I'm talkin' about the Dude here. Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's the Dude, in Los Angeles."

Let me update that for 2022.

The Stranger, The Big Kornacki- "Sometimes there's a man... I won't say a hero, 'cause, what's a hero? But sometimes, there's a man. And I'm talkin' about Steve Kornacki here. Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Steve Kornacki, from MSNBC."

November 9, 2022

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The people who like the stroke victim think the people who like the magic pill salesman are nuts, and the people who like the magic pill salesman think the people who like the stroke victim are crazy.

November 9, 2022

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Let's just admit it, it's very hard to look at the current election through anything but tribal terms. Are you a former Hillary supporter who now tells Republicans to stop whining? Did you stop whining last time? Or are you a Trump supporter who used to tell Hillary supporters to just get over it? Are you getting over it? If our opinions have any value, they need to have some consistency.

If it's an option, take a look at your social media posts from early November 2016, and see if they prove that you're currently a hypocrite!

In 2016 I thought Hillary was not a great choice as a candidate, but I supported her, recognizing that Trump was magnificently unfit for the role, a likely progenitor of a cataclysmic disaster of epic proportions. 

Here I am now though, demanding he concede, since he obviously lost. Am I hypocrite? I checked back and saw I called it for him in 2016 at about 9pm on Election Night, stating that I couldn't wait to hear his concession speech, but that unfortunately I have to wait for years to hear it. Apparently I have to keep waiting.

I think many are misremembering the Democrats' position Election Night in 2016. Serious concerns about Russia didn't materialize until after he was inaugurated. Nobody was claiming that the 2016 election was a fraud. Hillary conceded that night!

Sorry, what I just said was not quite right. One person was crying about massive fraud back in 2016- Trump himself! Remember that he was so distraught about losing the popular vote that he claimed 3 million people voted illegally? Do you get the feeling that if he loses this time by 7 million votes, he'll say 7 million people voted the illegally? I'd take that bet, a hundred to one. (Why did he only pick the number to tie? Why not 4 million in 2016???)

So despite Trump's 2016 cries of fraud, the will of the voters was actually accepted.

So where are we now? There seems to be a key argument in Republican circles that the media does not decide the election, that the courts decide elections. Do I even have to mention what's wrong with that argument? I've never seen a clearer example of the logical fallacy of the false choice. It's not the media or the courts, anymore than it's tge incumbent president. The voters decide the election!

And the voters did. Yet those who believe the president at his word, necessarily accept another false choice as a foundational belief- either Trump wins or it was rigged. That's just total nonsense on the surface. No rational person could genuinely believe that Biden mathematically had a zero percent chance to win, yet that's exactly what Trump's fraud mantra means- "I win, or it's rigged."

As part of the president's supporters' reconciliation with themselves on the result, they need to realize first that it was in deep possible for Biden win legitimately. Next they need to realize that it really wasn't that hard to do, clearly he only needed to flip Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania by 80,000 votes combined.

After "downplaying" Covid-19, making apparent orphans of 545 children, and casting Biden as a dementia patient, is it really that hard to believe that this was possible? (Don't be fooled by Trump's Bed of Nails Effect either. I mentioned three things but could have easily mentioned three hundred others.)

So sorry, but there were not millions of illegal votes, and there were not tens of thousands. It is what it is, you might say.

Between 2000 and 2014 a billion votes were cast with 30 cases of voter fraud. 

Chris Christie, of all people, said it best: "If your base is not supporting your concession because of fraud, show it to us. We can't support that blindly, so show us the evidence."

As with any extraordinary claim, it should be dismissed in the absence of evidence. We can also dismiss any Trump-style promises that it is a week or two away. They either have evidence or they don't, the end.

Here's just one fact that does some heavy-lifting towards proof: Biden won Philly by less of majority than Hillary won in 2016. If there was widespread rampant fraud, don't you think he would have won by more?

I hope that I am wrong but I fear that they have something pernicious in mind- comparing signatures, with the sole intent up scrapping legal, valid ballots to the advantage of their own candidate. Comparing signatures is not an exact science, and if they can subjectively wipe out 100,000 votes across several states, they might still see that as the clearest path to victory. 

Nevermind the fact that each one of the hundred thousand has a one-in-a-million chance of being fraudulent. 

Do the math. For a one in ten chance that there is even one fraudulent ballot among those hundred thousand, should we wipe out all hundred thousand? What sounds more anti-democratic to you in this case, voter fraud or voter suppression?

I heard something recently about Trump that I wish I heard several years ago. He relies strictly on narrative, facts are superfluous. His narrative in this case is voter fraud, and he's sticking to it. (Notice that this was also his narrative before the election even took place, and it was his narrative when he won in 2016 as well.)

Big problem though, Biden did just win a mandate to work cooperatively and heal the nation. An impossible task with Trump remaining in the way. He was the last one to put on a mask (narrative- masks make you look weak), maybe he'll be the last one clinging to this narrative too. I hope so.

I really don't want to believe the pernicious intent, and I would be very happy to admit that I was wrong. Let's accept that the first stage of grief is shock and denial, and allow it. Again Hillary supporters, remember 2016? 

That goes for Trump supporters and for Trump himself this time around. Let's allow them that for now. After all, the election was about empathy. The prominent Republicans who are congratulating Biden are marking the path towards acceptance. We have major problems to solve and can only do it together.

November 9, 2020

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Carl Sagan would have been 81 today. Demon-Haunted World is one of my favorite books. And on the subject of books, this is something he had to say about them: "They allow people long dead to talk inside our heads." Hey, get out of my head Sagan!

November 9, 2015

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Little sucker dozed off... I can fix that.

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Stepped outside my house this morning and a guy rode past on a unicycle. Elitist.

November 9, 2010

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On this day in 1971, John list murdered his wife, mother, and three children. He planned the murders so meticulously (notes to school, lights set to automatically go on and off) that nobody found them for a month. He disappeared after the murders, assumed a new identity, remarried, and was only caught after a 1987 broadcast of America's Most Wanted. His reasons for murdering them- financial, and that they were straying from their religion. What kind of a religion was he practicing?

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On this day in 1979, the NORAD computers detected a purported massive Soviet nuclear strike, but after checking the data closely, the alert is cancelled. Another close call.

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No Country for Old Men was released on this date in 2007. A perfect film, with one of the all-time greatest screen villains, and best endings.

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Ivan Turgenev was born in this day in 1818.

"Nothing is worse and more hurtful than a happiness that comes too late. It can give no pleasure, yet it deprives you of that most precious of rights - the right to swear and curse at your fate!"

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Movie star, and inventor of wi-fi, Hedy Lamarr, was born on this day in 1914. 

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Bob Gibson was born on this day in 1935.

"Have you ever thrown a ball 100 miles an hour? Everything hurts. Even your ass hurts. I see pictures of my face and say, 'Holy shit', but that's the strain you feel when you throw. I had one of those faces you look at it, man, and say, 'Man he's an ass-hole.' Could be, depends on if you pissed me off or not."

National Baseball Hall of Fame"One of the best athletes to ever play the game, the ex-Harlem Globetrotter posted a 1.12 ERA in 1968, the lowest figure since 1914, and a factor in convincing baseball officials to lower the pitching mound the next year."

"I've played a couple of hundred games of tic-tac-toe with my little daughter and she hasn't beaten me yet. I've always had to win. I've got to win."

Umpire Doug Harvey- "Barry Bonds? I'll tell you what, if he hit a home run off (Bob) Gibson or (Don) Drysdale and stood and admired it, they'd knock that earring out of his ear the next time up."

Hank Aaron's advice to Dusty Baker on facing Bob Gibson:

“Don’t dig in against Bob Gibson, he’ll knock you down. He’d knock down his own grandmother if she dared to challenge him. Don’t stare at him, don’t smile at him, don’t talk to him. He doesn’t like it. If you happen to hit a home run, don’t run too slow, don’t run too fast. If you happen to want to celebrate, get in the tunnel first. And if he hits you, don’t charge the mound, because he’s a Gold Glove boxer.’ I’m like, ‘Damn, what about my 17-game hitting streak?’ That was the night it ended.”

Bob Gibson- "Why do I have to be an example for your kid? You be an example for your own kid. Let me be the way I want."

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Dylan Thomas left us in 1953 at the age of 39. He drank himself to death.

"Poetry is not the most important thing in life... I'd much rather lie in a hot bath reading Agatha Christie and sucking sweets."

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IFLScience- Ordering The Vegetarian Meal? There’s More Animal Blood On Your Hands

http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/ordering-vegetarian-meal-there-s-more-animal-blood-your-hands

Interesting take on vegetarianism.

November 9, 2014

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The Marginalian- Carl Sagan on the Meaning of Life

Today would have been Carl Satan's 8th birthday, born in 1934. (I kind of like that auto-correct failure...should be Sagan, and 80th.)

http://www.brainpickings.org/2013/07/08/carl-sagan-meaning-of-life/

November 9, 2014

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Salon- Atheism explodes in Saudi Arabia, despite state-enforced ban

Who says there's no good news these days?

http://www.salon.com/2014/06/12/atheism_explodes_in_saudi_arabia_where_just_talking_about_atheism_is_illegal_partner/

November 9, 2014

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DARK DAY #2- November 9, 2016

Sarah Silverman started the day out right.

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Remember when Trump held the press conference during the primaries to say he supports Planned Parenthood? Yeah, neither did a lot of other people.

November 9, 2016, 6:29 AM

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Finally some good news, Zuzu woke up and seems completely unconcerned about the state of the country.

November 9, 2016, 6:51 AM

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I don't know about you, but for my children's sake I'm really hoping Overlord Trump doesn't start his dissident purge with those who have criticized him on Facebook every day for a year.

November 9, 2016, 7:14 AM

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On the positive side, we finally have proof there's no God.

November 9, 2016, 8:47 AM

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Since most people who voted for Trump did so begrudgingly, it seems like the only people who are truly happy this morning are the KKK.

November 9, 2016, 9:02 AM

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I'm going to hand it to Trump, "Drain the Swamp" is a great tagline, and I've come to realize I support it more than ever.

November 9, 2016, 6:52 PM

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I am comforted by the fact that although there are peaks and valleys, the general trend since ancient history has been toward a more safe and just world. Reflect on the fact that 30%-40% of skulls in ancient graveyards show evidence of death by violence. Since then, slavery became universally outlawed. We got human rights, and women's rights, and civil rights, and gay rights, and animal rights, and our chances of death by violence have been the lowest in our history.

I am discomforted by the fact that it could end in an instant, a minor slight could literally lead to World War III. Could Obama's legacy be that he didn't do more to control the U.S.'s nuclear arsenal? The chance that a lunatic could be in charge materialized, slight as it seemed. I've been saying this for a year. Well mostly thinking it. Forget Obama's legacy, what's my legacy? And more importantly, what's our legacy?

November 9, 2016, 8:09 PM

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Tip- don't unfriend the people whose views you disagree with. Keep your finger on the pulse and debate. It doesn't matter if you win- just know your stuff, be open to learn, and make them think. (And if you need an argument, I'm happy to help.)

https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/03/28/daniel-dennett-rapoport-rules-criticism/

November 9, 2016, 8:18 PM

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I'm going to allow myself 10 seconds to think about this...

Two weeks before the election Trump had about a 15% chance to win. The FBI released the email thing which was the focus of the news for a week, at which point he rose to 30% or so. The FBI cleared her, and his chances only slightly dropped. Clinton lost PA, FL, MI, and WI, each by 1%. If the same thing happened, but in Clinton's favor, how conciliatory would have Trump's concession speech been?.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Alright, done.

November 9, 2016, 9:08 PM

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I have a column in the paper today... essentially something I posted here the other day. I OK'd their edit but missed that they changed "My God, what a stupid system!" to "My gosh, what a stupid system!"

My God, that makes me sound like a dope! Yes well, hopefully the rest compensates.

Do you know the trick to get around the paywall? Copy and paste it into an incognito browser.

Sorry for my giant, listless face.

https://lancasteronline.com/opinion/we-ultimately-have-a-set-of-shared-principles-column/article_450eafde-2084-11eb-87f6-072927a312a3.html

November 9, 2020

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No Country For Old Men was released on this day in 2007. Here's Roger Ebert praising it:

15 years of Coen Brothers' Oscar Best Picture Winning neo-Western crime thriller film, No Country for Old Men 

"'No Country for Old Men' is as good a film as the Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan, have ever made, and they made 'Fargo.' It involves elements of the thriller and the chase but is essentially a character study, an examination of how its people meet and deal with a man so bad, cruel and unfeeling that there is simply no comprehending him. Chigurh is so evil, he is almost funny sometimes. "He has his principles," says the bounty hunter, who has knowledge of him.

This movie is a masterful evocation of time, place, character, moral choices, immoral certainties, human nature and fate. It is also, in the photography by Roger Deakins, the editing by the Coens and the music by Carter Burwell, startlingly beautiful, stark and lonely.

Many of the scenes in 'No Country for Old Men' are so flawlessly constructed that you want them to simply continue, and yet they create an emotional suction drawing you to the next scene. Another movie that made me feel that way was 'Fargo.' To make one such film is a miracle. Here is another."

Highest echelon dialogue:

Gas Station Proprietor: “I didn’t put nothin’ up.”

Anton Chigurh: “Yes, you did. You’ve been putting it up your whole life you just didn’t know it. You know what date is on this coin?” 

G: “No.” 

A: “1958. It’s been traveling twenty-two years to get here. And now it’s here. And it’s either heads or tails. And you have to say. Call it.”

G: “Look, I need to know what I stand to win.”

A: “Everything.”

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Carl Sagan- “We live in a vast and awesome universe in which, daily, suns are made and worlds destroyed, where humanity clings to an obscure clod of rock.”

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William Shakespeare, As You Like It- “The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”

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J.D. Salinger, A Girl I Knew- "She wasn't doing a thing that I could see, except standing there leaning on the balcony railing, holding the universe together."

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John Kruk- “It's amazing that fans want to see me play. What is our society coming to?"

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Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything- “If this book has a lesson, it is that we are awfully lucky to be here-and by 'we' I mean every living thing. To attain any kind of life in this universe of ours appears to be quite an achievement. As humans we are doubly lucky, of course: We enjoy not only the privilege of existence but also the singular ability to appreciate it and even, in a multitude of ways, to make it better. It is a talent we have only barely begun to grasp."

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Mark Twain- “Never tell the truth to those who are not worthy of it.”

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Campbell:

A bit of advice

Given to a young Native American

At the time of his initiation:

As you go the way of life,

You will see a great chasm. Jump.

It is not as wide as you think.

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Arthur Schopenhauer- "Religion is the masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how they shall think."

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Sagan, yet again- "If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe."

Addendum

Myspace Blog

November 9, 2008

Haven’t heard enough about Obama?

He are some things you might not want to know about our new Spider-Man comic collecting, grammy-winning, Harry Potter reading, dog meat eating, espanol hablaing, pet ape keeping, Moby-Dick loving, Bob Dylan listening, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest watching, scrabble playing, Picasso appreciating, president-elect.

http://www. telegraph. co. uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/barackobama/3401168/Barack-Obama-The-50-facts-you-might-not-know. html

My favorite fact about Obama- he took Michelle to see Do the Right Thing on their first date. This can not be a bad guy! But we'll see. I'm not sure what to think of his non-coffee-drinking ways.

(This election reminded me of one of my quirks- for some reason I'm really into presidential trivia. I can't imagine why I haven't found any enjoyment in that the past 8 or so years. I guess maybe for some reason it seemed trivial.)