“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” -- George Berkeley
_________________
On one of the warmest evenings of the year, a group of neighbors celebrated a man's 80th birthday with champagne and shortbread -- the latter a nod to his Scottish roots. A dozen people across all age ranges from a few months to the birthday boy sat around a small table perched at the edge of a street.
He quoted Berkeley, the great Irish philosopher, who questioned whether anything we consider real actually exists outside of our consciousness. Mere objects like the table and chairs we were using are ideas perceived by the mind and therefore cannot exist without being perceived.
It's an attractive notion when one scans the news each day, as I do as a public service. When sorting headlines and news summaries from the major news organizations and a handful of minor ones, I rely on journalistic judgement to choose the ones I endorse.
This does not mean I agree with the point of view in these articles; I rarely commit to that. Rather, it means these are the things going on that I think all should know about.
Then again, if all of these things are mere projections of our minds, maybe we should join together and thinks of a few solutions.
Perhaps we could imagine solutions for the problems these headlines capture -- war, violence, poverty, cruelty, destruction, mayhem, planetary decline.
All we need to do is imagine a better world.
***
My decision whether to publish my essay at Meta (formerly Facebook) is now a day-to-day one as I transition away from the social network. In any event, all of my essays, with links to the headlines and archives of thousands of essays and photos are available at my personal blog site: <http//www.hotweir.blogspot.com/>.
FRIDAY NEWS HEADLINES:
* Facebook Renames Itself Meta -- The social network, under fire for spreading misinformation and other issues, said the change was part of its bet on a next digital frontier called the metaverse. (NYT)
* The 37-Year-Olds Are Afraid of the 23-Year-Olds Who Work for Them -- Twenty-somethings rolling their eyes at the habits of their elders is a longstanding trend, but many employers said there’s a new boldness in the way Gen Z dictates taste. (NYT)
* Chief federal judge in D.C. assails Jan. 6 prosecutions: ‘The rioters were not mere protesters’ (WP)
* Lawyer John Eastman, architect of a Donald Trump scheme to overthrow the 2020 election, admitted to a progressive activist posing as a fan that he was counting on former Vice President Mike Pence to thwart American voters and toss Joe Biden's victory. But Pence turned out too be too much of an "establishment guy at the end of the day," Eastman complained on video. [HuffPost]
* Former U.S. president Donald Trump’s slashing rhetorical style and divisive politics allowed him to essentially take over the Republican Party. His supporters are so devoted that most believe his false claim that he lost the 2020 election because of voter fraud. But the same tactics that have inspired fierce political loyalty have undermined Trump’s business. (Reuters)
* Keep or Replace? The Fate of the Minneapolis Police Is in Voters’ Hands. -- In the city where the “defund the police” movement took off, voters will decide next week whether to replace their Police Department with a new public safety agency. (NYT)
* A landmark congressional hearing to probe the extent to which the oil industry misled the public about global climate change featured executives of some of the world’s largest fossil fuel companies and industry trade groups further downplaying climate science. None of the industry representatives would commit when asked to pledge to no longer direct funds to efforts aimed at obstructing climate initiatives. [HuffPost]
* Biden unveils $1.75 trillion spending plan, but divisions delay economic agenda (WP)
* Afghanistan's Taliban government is pressing for the release of billions of dollars of central bank reserves as the drought-stricken nation faces a cash crunch, mass starvation and a new migration crisis. (Reuters)
* In Afghanistan, a girls’ school is the story of a village (AP)
* Climate Change Became the Largest Part of Biden Spending Bill -- As paid family leave and other priorities were taken out of the president’s plan, the largest piece became a $555 billion plan to fight climate change. (NYT)
* Wages and salaries jumped in the three months ending in September by the most on records that date back 20 years as companies are forced to offer higher pay to fill a near-record number of available jobs. (AP)
* Los Angeles is aiming to run entirely on clean energy by 2035. If successful, it would be the first major U.S. city to do so. (WP)
* A criminal complaint charging former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo with a misdemeanor sex offense was filed in a court in Albany, the state capital, the first prosecution stemming from a misconduct scandal that led to his resignation. (Reuters)
* The University of California, San Francisco, is opening a $535 million brain research facility that will be the largest neurology and neuroscience center in the country. (SFC)
* Lawmakers say they will propose constitutional changes to theCalifornia’s recall election process. (AP)
* One Marin farm tested sprinkling seaweed powder over its dairy cows’ alfalfa and hay. The result was a drastic decrease in methane emissions. (SFC)
* The Turnarounds That Sparked Michigan and Michigan State to Undefeated Starts (WSJ)
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us, only sky
Livin' for today
Ah
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too
Livin' life in peace
You
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Sharing all the world
You
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
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