Among the unsolicited phone calls that came in on a very warm yesterday was one from the Czech Republic. I never answer calls from unknown numbers; perhaps that was an opportunity missed, for the caller if not for me. At the same time, new friend requests come in daily via Facebook, but since I topped out at the arbitrary limit set by the social network a long time ago, I can't add a friend until I lose one.
Fortunately, a few dribble away most weeks so a few more can join the party.
According to Google, the average American has about 16 friends, about four of whom are "close" friends. Google doesn't seem to be able to quantify how many friends, including close ones, that we may lose in a lifetime. Facebook, by contrast, allows each of us to have 5,000 friends and probably at least a few of us would be close friends if we ever had the chance to actually meet.
On a vaguely related topic, isn't it convenient that in the comics the characters have those little clouds above their heads? So you can tell what they are thinking even when they are quiet?
I've always wished real life was like that.
But in a way it is. If you pay attention to facial expressions, gestures and body language, you can tell a lot about what somebody is thinking, even sometimes what they subconsciously are expressing. Then of course there is what they say -- and don't say.
All of that is routine but every now and then, very rarely, I meet somebody and something happens. I see sparkles over their heads. Sparkles -- that's the only way of describing it. Sort of like glitter or fireworks.
It means I've just met a person with whom there is the possibility for a deep connection. The way life goes, that connection may or may not happen but I never forget the sparkles. Occasionally I even tell them about it, but that really is rare.
Even as we discover the friends we need; we have to reject others. Maybe there's a lesson from Facebook's odd limitation -- that we have to lose somebody in order to let somebody else in. Sort of a serial monogamy type of thing, only 5,000 times over.
For me, these are the types of thoughts that came to me when I was lying semi-conscious after my stroke, with mortality hanging over me like a cloud that might burst at any second. There were no wishes for money or food or fame or success of any kind. Not even sex. They were only about love.
It may sound silly or corny but that's why I write the way I do.
***
Your news:
* Former Capitol Police Chief says Jan. 6 rioters "came prepared for war." (CNN)
* Facebook, Australia reach deal to restore news pages after shutdown (WashPo)
* Young People Struggle To Keep Friends Close As Pandemic Pulls Them Apart -- The pandemic has prolonged the post-graduation transition amid a tough economy. With the lack of in-person interaction, young professionals are trying to adjust to a diminishing social circle. (NPR)
* Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) traveled to Utah last week during the winter storms that claimed dozens of lives and knocked out power to millions of residents. Critics likened the Trump-supporting politician's travels to the Cancun getaway of Sen. Ted Cruz, who after blaming his kids has now turned to faulting the media for his blunder. [HuffPost]
* In his latest reform move, Los Angeles’s district attorney, George Gascon, is seeking information about officers with histories of misconduct that could affect their credibility in court. [The Los Angeles Times]
* Illinois Becomes 1st State To Eliminate Cash Bail (NPR)
* Following the passage of California's Proposition 22, corporations are hoping to press their advantage and use the model to convert millions more jobs to contract work. [Bloomberg]
* Sen. Josh Hawley, who famously cheered the Capitol protesters last month, asked Merrick Garland, Biden’s pick to lead the Department of Justice, about his stance on defunding the police. “As you no doubt know, President Biden has said he doesn’t support defunding the police, and neither do I,” Garland said at his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing. [HuffPost]
* Gov. Gavin Newsom said that the state was reorganizing its vaccination efforts and that more doses would go to the Central Valley, which has been slammed by the pandemic. [The Bakersfield Californian]
* Scientists believe that if authorized, Novavax’s vaccine could be one of the more powerful weapons against the pandemic. It would be a shift in fortune for the company, which last year was struggling to survive. (WSJ)
* A police officer who battled the rioters in the Capitol last month was stunned by the racist slurs hurled at him. “I got called a [racist slur] a couple dozen times ... protecting this building,” said Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, adding that a "large number" of people in the crowd were "racist." [HuffPost]
* California's governor recently approved a law that would extend a requirement that a vote-by-mail ballot be sent to every eligible voter to each election “proclaimed or conducted” before the beginning of 2022. [California Legislature]
* 74% of Americans believe voters should have the ability to cast absentee ballots by mail in future elections -- an idea supported by 62% of Republicans and even stronger majorities of independent and Democratic voters. [HuffPost]
* California’s almond bloom, the largest single pollination event on earth, has begun. [The San Luis Obispo Tribune]
* U.S. bank profits fell 36.5% in 2020 on pandemic concerns - FDIC (Reuters)
* Seven Hundred Leagues Beneath Titan’s Methane Seas -- Mars, Shmars; this voyager is looking forward to a submarine ride under the icebergs on Saturn’s strange moon. (NYT)
* The Cherokee Nation is asking Jeep to stop naming its SUVs after the Native American tribe. The automaker has been using the Cherokee brand name for about 45 years, but Chuck Hoskin Jr., principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, thinks enough is enough. “It’s time for both corporations and team sports to retire the use of Native American names, images and mascots from their products,” Hoskin told reporters. [HuffPost]
* As Pandemic Took Hold, Suicide Rose Among Japanese Women -- Job losses, urban isolation, household burdens: Covid-19 has compounded the pressures on women, raising alarms in a country that has worked to reduce some of the world’s highest suicide rates. (NYT)
* Lawrence Ferlinghetti, poet and titan of the Beat era, dies at 101 (LAT, WashPo)
* Golf legend Tiger Woods' lengthy emergency surgery following his one-vehicle rollover crash required the insertion of a rod, screws and pins to stabilize his leg, according to a statement on his Twitter account.Woods was "awake, responsive, and recovering," after the surgery at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, the statement said. The 45-year-old was driving shortly after 7 a.m. PT on Tuesday in Rancho Palos Verdes, near Los Angeles, when the SUV he was using crossed a median and veered across two lanes of road before hitting a curb, hitting a tree and landing on its side in the brush.Woods remained conscious but sustained serious leg injuries, authorities said Tuesday. (CNN)
* Facebook Announces Plan To Break Up U.S. Government Before It Becomes Too Powerful (The Onion)
***
The world is a beautiful place
to be born into
if you don’t mind happiness
not always being
so very much fun
if you don’t mind a touch of hell
now and then
just when everything is fine
because even in heaven
they don’t sing
all the time-- Lawrence Ferlinghetti
-30-
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