For a minute I tried to solve the problems I've been having at Meta by transferring my daily essays, photos, lyrics and archives to my long-time blog page at Blogspot, but as of today I'm abandoning that effort.
So I am back on Facebook.
Perhaps the daily traffic I grew used to will return as well. Or perhaps not. Either way, since few people use Facebook to read long commentaries on the news, the fit here will always be an awkward one.
So be it.
The news headlines this week are dominated by the climate change summit at Glasgow, the biggest city in my immediate ancestral past. My mother was born in the nearby village of Eaglesham, ten miles to the south, in 1915.
Her father was a tool and die maker at the locomotive factory in Glasgow. He migrated to the U.S. to take a job advertised by Ford Motor Company in Detroit, and that's how I came to be born in the Motor City just after World War Two.
My grandfather was good with his hands. I'm not. (I can't even type properly.)
The only things I can wrangle as a tool and die maker are words.
***
For anyone paying close attention to the news, these are days of high anxiety. In conversations with numerous friends, I am sensing that watching the cable TV news shows is only making everything worse.
In that context, I should explain that what I do in the second segment of my posts every single day. I sort the headlines, aggregating them into a virtual news show.
I started doing this at the urging of various friends who are fed up with the existing newscasts, especially in broadcast formats.
Most days I scan a dozen or so of the major newspapers and news services to collate any the stories that are important for informed people to know about. If there is a summary to go with the headline I include that, but it is not necessary to track down the actual article unless you want to.
The philosophy here is to snack on the news, not gorge on it. I'd rather spend the bulk of my own time on music, film, books, art and with friends virtually and physically. As opposed to developing a news addiction.
It is possible to be a serious person without being an unhappy one -- at least I hope so. While we need to know what is going on, we don't need to obsess on it. So I'll gather the crap into one long list so you don't have to.
[NOTE: For now I'll publish here and on Blogspot simultaneously. It turns out that it is nearly impossible to read Blogspot on a phone.]
HEADLINES:
* Harnessing the energy of the ocean to power homes, planes and whisky distilleries -- On Scotland’s Orkney Islands, an audacious experiment is underway to invent a tomorrow powered by waves and tides. (WP)
* 'When are my parents coming?': Ten-year-old Mansoor only narrowly escaped Afghanistan as it fell to the Taliban in August, and while he is now living safely in Washington state with relatives, he asks them every day if he can return. Mansoor is among approximately 1,300 children evacuated to the U.S. from Afghanistan without their parents or legal guardians, according to the HHS. (Reuters)
* Sea foam showers County Waterford village in Republic of Ireland (BBC)
* "Labor action has surged in many industries over the past two years, including in bookselling, a business where unions had been rare. 'I think COVID-19 was a rude awakening for bookstore workers, and really anyone who works with the public,' says Owen Hill, a buyer at Moe’s Books in Berkeley, California, which unionized earlier this year. (AP)
* School board members face dark new reality of abuse, threats from parents (WP)
* World headed for 2.4C warming despite climate summit (BBC)
* Knopf plans to publish a memoir by Paul Newman next year based on hours of recordings the movie star left behind, as well as interviews with family, friends and associates. (NYT Books)
* The infrastructure bill could power the largest expansion in Amtrak’s history (WP)
* Toxic foam covers sacred Yamuna river in India (BBC)
* Twitter announced it’ll roll out a subscription product to lure super users into paying for features like an undo button, anews-aggregating “Top Stories” feature, and ad-free articles that will send a portion of revenue back to publishers. (Nieman Lab)
* Mysterious-looking fog hides Chinese island (BBC)
* Renewable energy in the U.S. nearly quadrupled in the past decade, report finds (WP)
* 'Sea snot' spreads across Turkish sea (BBC)
* Pfizer Asks F.D.A. to Expand Booster Eligibility to All Adults (NYT)
* Citing China threat, NASA says moon landing now will come in 2025 (WP)
* Tudor wall paintings uncovered in Yorkshire ‘discovery of a lifetime’ -- ‘Pristine’ 16th-century work found beneath plaster in bedroom at Landmark Trust’s Calverley Old Hall (Guardian)
* Unvaccinated Texans 40 times more likely to die of covid than those fully vaccinated in 2021, study says (WP)
* Bounty CEO Rebrands Business As Metaverse Of Napkins (The Onion)
***
"Open Season"
Song by High Highs
Get on your knees
And I thought you can leave it all in your mind in it
All in your mind in it
Crawl in the backseat old friend
It is really all in your mind in it
All in your mind
You look
So tired of living like a kite, kite, kite, kite
Look at all the trees in the light
They are growing all in your mind in it
All in your mind in it
Look at all the leaves in the fire
They are burning all in your mind in it
All in your mind
You look
So tired of living like a kite, kite, kite, kite
Get on your knees
And I thought you can leave it all in your mind in it
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