David Weir: 2021-06-13

Saturday, June 19, 2021

Geniuses Love Company

Overlooked by many during the pandemic last year was an important analytical piece by a CalTech professor. She based her article on the latest published collection of Albert Einstein's letters and writings.

<https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/not-lone-genius>

According to legend, Einstein was a lone genius, coming up with ideas and concepts nobody else thought of.

But as with most myths, the truth is more complex. According to The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, a 16-volume series of books co-edited by numerous scholars, Einstein worked with many collaborators and was deeply enmeshed in the world of science.

Einstein's native language was German so his writings have had to be translated for the rest of us to read them. All of the volumes are now available in English and free in electronic formats.

The CalTech article, written by Prof. Diana Kormos-Buchwald, notes that Einstein developed his special theory of relativity in 1905 with help from his college friend Michele Besso and his first wife, Mileva Marić.

He later perfected his general theory of relativity in 1915 with help from both Besso and another college friend, mathematician Marcel Grossmann.

Perhaps most illustrative of all was his involvement in experiments with younger physicists to test the structure of radiation and matter, and ultimately the development of the ground-breaking field of quantum mechanics. When approached by one of his young colleagues about being listed as a co-author on an important paper on that topic, Einstein demurred:

"I just don't know whether I should count as a co-author since after all you did all the work..."

Einstein was a tinkerer and inventor of gadgets, including a patented refrigerating system. And he was an original thinker, who indeed came up with brilliant ideas.

But perhaps his true genius was as a synthesizer, a collaborator, and a mentor of younger people.

And there might be a lesson in that for all of the rest of us.

***

I've spent so much time publishing here at Facebook during the pandemic that I've sort of neglected other channels like LinkedIn. But that changed on Friday when I debuted a new column at LinkedIn.

For now my plan is to write it occasionally and see what the response is like. For my Facebook friends, here is that first column published yesterday:

Friday, June 18, 2021

So You're Going Back to the Office, eh?

Here are five related trending topics on LinkedIn this week. I'll take them on one at a time:

• Are visible tattoos okay at work?

It all depends where you work. If you are in a consumer-facing job with customers of various ages and backgrounds, like a doctor's office, then no, visible tattoos are not a good idea. But if you work in Starbucks or a bike shop, go for it. And if you are starting new job in a marijuana dispensary, dude, please get a tattoo!

• Does a “dream job” really exist?

No. That kind of job exists in your dreams. When you're awake, the only way to get one is to create it yourself. That's why some people start companies. I did.

• What advice would you give to your younger self?

My younger self needed to take more chances and try more things while I still could. He needed to cause a bit more trouble in the world. He needed to realize that there is going to be an end to all of this, and it's going to come sooner than you think.

• What do you think about a five-hour work day?

Now I'm retired, I work a five-hour day. I wake up and write for five hours and give the stories away for free. Then I party the rest of the time. You might give that a try.

• Here's what's luring people back to offices.

The myth is that offices are mainly about the work. Offices are about the people; the work can be done anywhere, as we all realized during the pandemic. Humans are social creatures; whether we acknowledge it or not we need each other. Hopefully more people will remember that coming out of the pandemic.

Besides, and this is really important. The best work is almost always done collaboratively, by teams. The individual superstar is pretty much an urban myth. Hell, even Albert Einstein didn't work alone.

***

P.S. The response was terrific -- 157 reactions and 49 comments, mostly about tattoos.

***

The news:

* Conservative Supreme Court? It's Actually 3-3-3. Chief Justice John Roberts, along with Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh, demonstrated their collective power at America's highest court on Thursday. They fueled the Supreme Court's limited opinions on Obamacare and religious liberty, in action that marks a twist for the conservative-dominated bench and adds to the suspense of the next two weeks as the court finishes its annual term. (CNN)

* A Pill to Treat Covid-19? The U.S. Is Betting on It. -- A new $3.2 billion program will support the development of antiviral pills, which could start arriving by the end of this year. (NYT)

* Poll: Many Americans resuming pre-virus activities (AP)

* Juneteenth holiday marking end of slavery becomes law after decades of inaction (WP)

* Half of GOP voters believe that Arizona Republicans' sham "audit" of the 2020 election could generate some sort of evidence that leads to Donald Trump's reinstatement as president. Trump still puts out several statements a week lying that the election was stolen. [HuffPost]

* Where was the FBI before the attack on the Capitol? (WP)

* California farmers struggle under severe drought (Reuters)

* New Wildfires Are At A 10-Year High In The Hot, Dry Western U.S. (NPR)

* Unrelenting U.S. Southwest heatwave continues as power grids hold up (Reuters)

* Obamacare has survived over 2000 attempts to kill it (CNN)

* Many Expected to Shun Iran Vote Seen as Presidential Race of One -- An ultraconservative judiciary chief appears to have the only real chance of winning after a council of powerful clerics disqualified virtually all the other viable candidates. (NYT)

* Israel launched airstrikes on the Gaza Strip late Thursday for a second time since a shaky cease-fire ended last month’s 11-day war. The strikes came after activists mobilized by Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers launched incendiary balloons into Israel for a third straight day. There were no immediate reports of casualties. [AP]

* Elite Afghan Forces Suffer Horrific Casualties as Taliban Advance -- At least 24 commandos were killed in one battle in the Afghan north, and that kind of stark loss is playing out across the country: “We mourn. The Taliban celebrate. And it hurts too much.” (NYT)

* The House of Representatives voted to repeal the 2002 legislation that permitted the invasion of Iraq, in a big win for critics of American foreign policy. Withdrawing the authorization wouldn't immediately end any current U.S. military operations but would be a step toward reforming Washington's approach to global affairs. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will vote on Tuesday on whether to repeal the 2002 authorization. [HuffPost]

* China Weighs Lifting Birth Restrictions Completely by 2025 (WSJ)

* Israeli Officer Who Killed Autistic Palestinian Man Charged With Manslaughter -- The indictment came more than a year after the fatal shooting. The family of the victim protested the charges as too lenient, calling them “unjust” and “unacceptable.” (NYT)

* St. Louis couple who pointed guns at protesters plead guilty, will give up firearms (WP)

* The government’s new online portal for America’s poorest families to receive the child tax credit is proving too difficult to use and could hinder the Biden administration’s efforts to cut child poverty. The government will start distributing monthly checks to parents as part of the American Rescue Plan, but the website is inaccessible to many and plagued with issues. [HuffPost]

* Google's adtech business set to face formal EU probe by year-end (Reuters)

* Google searches for new measure of skin tones to curb bias in products (Reuters)

* Weird ‘living fossil’ fish lives 100 years, pregnant for 5 (AP)

* The Boy Who Learned to See—And What He Teaches Us About Vision-- At age 15, Liam McCoy underwent surgery to allow him to see clearly for the first time. But repairing his eyes was easier than retraining his brain. (WSJ)

* Bear goes on rampage in Japan, storms military base, airport (WP)

* Museum Head: Baseball's Embrace Of Negro Leagues Is An Atonement, Not A Validation -- Baseball's box scores instantly turn human accomplishments into history. But for decades, Negro League players' statistics were kept segregated from other major leagues. (NPR)

* Not Real News: A look at what didn’t happen this week (AP)

* Report: Only 3% Of Conversations Actually Need To Happen (The Onion)

***

"We're All in This Together" (excerpt)

Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens

Songwriters: Nevil Robert S / Gerrard Matthew R T

We're all in this together
Once we know
That we are
We're all stars
And we see that
We're all in this together
And it shows
When we stand
Hand in hand
Make our dreams come true

Friday, June 18, 2021

So You're Going Back to the Office, eh?

Here are five related trending topics on LinkedIn this week. I'll take them on one at a time:

• Are visible tattoos okay at work?

• Does a “dream job” really exist?

No. That kind of job exists in your dreams. When you're awake, the only way to get one is to create it yourself. That's why some people start companies. I did.

• What advice would you give to your younger self?

• What do you think about a five-hour work day?

Now I'm retired, I work a five-hour day. I wake up and write for five hours and give the stories away for free. Then I party the rest of the time. You might give that a try.

• Here's what's luring people back to offices.

-30-

Where the Money Goes

(Filed from the road.)

Millennials (AKA Gen Y) are those born roughly between 1980-1996. They have been defining marketing trends since they came of age.

Now, they are posted to inherit more wealth ($68 trillion) from their baby boomer parents than any generation in history.

And they are digital natives.

They've grown up in a world dominated by the technology companies I call "America's Royalty." Virtually every one of them carries a mobile device in their pocket or purse that is capable of housing all of the world's known information over the entire sweep of time, i.e., the millennia.

So it makes sense that one of the otherwise obscure stories that caught my eye this week is how millennials have embraced digital banking over the traditional brick and mortar banks we grew up with.

When it comes to transferring money, cashing or depositing checks, paying bills or making investments, they are rapidly transitioning to green, paperless systems that will soon render the old savings and loan of "It's a Wonderful Life" lore to the history books.

That chapter will henceforth have to be titled "It *Was* a Wonderful Life."

I'm still getting used to the fact that the days when I took my teenagers to our local bank branch to open their first checking account are a relic of history they won't repeat with their kids. When we made those trips, the "bankers" would shake my kid's hand and say something like, "You're a real adult now."

They wore a certain self-satisfied smile when they said that, like they knew something the kid didn't. I'm pretty sure it's called "debt."

As a kid I learned about banking in an odd way. As something of a purported math whiz, I was studied by the local bank when it was first introducing computers into its arsenal, in the early 60s. It was only a matter of time before ATMs would be replacing tellers and, well, the rest is history.

After studying my pattern-recognition skills for a spell, the local banker guy told my father that unfortunately, I was not "banker material, psychologically."

Alas, perhaps that is why my personal millennials will not be inheriting very much of that $68 trillion wealth -- what has been dubbed as the "Greatest Transfer of Wealth of All Time."

I spent all of my reporting career "following the money" instead of accumulating it.

Sorry, kids.

***

The news:

* Earth currently traps an ‘unprecedented’ amount of heat, NASA says (WP)

* Climate Change Batters the West Before Summer Even Begins -- Global warming has been fueling disasters in the region for years. Now, an early heat wave and severe drought are threatening lives and leaving water in perilously short supply. (NYT)

* What’s Going On With Illegal Fireworks in California? (California Today)

* U.S. Supreme Court rejects Republican challenge to Obamacare law (Reuters)

* Bipartisan infrastructure pitch gains steam in Senate (WP)

* U.S. Economy Drives Global Inflation -- The world’s central banks are hanging on how the Fed will respond to a rise in inflation, wary of being caught in the crosscurrents of an extraordinary U.S. economic expansion. (WSJ)

* Hong Kong police used a sweeping national security law Thursday to arrest five editors and executives of a pro-democracy newspaper on charges of colluding with foreign powers — the first time the legislation has been used against the press in yet another sign of an intensifying crackdown by Chinese authorities in the city long known for its freedoms. (AP)

* Israelis Wonder When or Whether Netanyahu Will Exit Official Residence -- Even after the new government took over on Sunday, the outgoing prime minister vowed to be back in office soon and hosted at least one former dignitary as if he were still running the show. (NYT)

* In poorest countries, surges worsen shortages of vaccines (AP)

* Delta variant fuelled 50% rise in England infections: study (Reuters)

* Nepal desperately needs vaccines (AP)

* Texas Governor Signs Bill To Allow Permit-Free Gun Carrying -- People age 21 and up will no longer have to obtain a license, complete training or undergo a background check to carry a handgun in public. (HuffPost)

* Next week, British computer scientist Sir Tim Berners-Lee, dubbed the "Father of the Web" will auction the original source code for the World Wide Web as an NFT. The work includes the original archive of dated and time-stamped files from 1990 and 1991, containing 9,555 lines of source code and original HTML documents that taught the earliest web users how to use the application. The auction item also includes an animated 30-minute video of the code being written and a digital signature from Berners-Lee himself, as well as a letter written by him over 30 years later in which he reflects on the process of creating the code and the impact it has made. (NPR)

* Tech Industry’s Glory Days in Washington Are Over-- Lobbyists representing large tech companies such as Facebook are facing a tough crowd in Congress and the White House. (WSJ)

* More than half of millennials are happy to switch to or already have a digital-only bank, reveals a new poll from one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory and fintech organizations. (deVere Group)

* Republicans parroted Putin’s propaganda. Now Putin parrots Republican propaganda. (WP)

* Congress Is Poised To Take Back Some Of Its War Powers From The President (NPR)

* Title IX Protections Extend to Transgender Students, Education Dept. Says (NYT)

* China launches first astronauts to its new space station, as race with U.S. heats up (WP)

* House Passes Bill to Make Juneteenth a Federal Holiday, Sending It to Biden -- The measure would designate June 19 as a federal holiday to commemorate the end of slavery. More than a dozen Republicans voted against it (NYT)

* The New Yorker Reaches Deal With Union To Avoid Strike -- The tentative agreement includes raises of 10% for most staffers. (HuffPost)

* The birthrate is falling for American women in their 20s, especially in places where the local economy is booming. (NYT)

* Long-time magazine writer Janet Malcolm has died at 86. (New Yorker)

* Old Vegetarian Rambling On About Days When Menus Only Had One Non-Meat Option (The Onion)

***

"I'm Busted"

Song by Ray Charles

Written by Harlan Howard

My bills are all due and the baby needs shoes and I'm busted
Cotton is down to a quarter a pound, but I'm busted
I got a cow that went dry and a hen that won't lay
A big stack of bills that gets bigger each day
The county's gonna haul my belongings away cause I'm busted

I went to my brother to ask for a loan 'cause I was busted
I hate to beg like a dog without his bone, but I'm busted
My brother said there ain't a thing I can do
My wife and my kids are all down with the flu
And I was just thinking about calling on you and I'm busted

Well, I am no thief, but a man can go wrong when he's busted
The food that we canned last summer is gone and I'm busted
The fields are all bare and the cotton won't grow
Me and my family got to pack up and go
But I'll make a living, just where I don't know cause I'm busted

I'm broke, no bread, I mean like nothing

-30-

Thursday, June 17, 2021

"Only the Truth Can Provide Relief"

“I dearly love the state of Texas, but I consider that a harmless perversion on my part, and discuss it only with consenting adults.” -- Molly Ivins

---

When I was a kid, perhaps no myth had greater power over my imagination than that of Davy Crockett. Like millions of other boys, I had a coonskin cap and a toy rifle. And like millions of others, I was mesmerized by Walt Disney's 1955 TV series version of Crocket's's heroic last stand at the Alamo.

The only problem is that it wasn't true.

Now, three Texas writers have published a book, "Forget the Alamo," revising the historical record in significant ways. They document that the territory's war for independence from Mexico, including battle between the ragged group of volunteers held up at the old mission in San Antonio and Santa Ana's Mexican army, was in part over the issue of slavery.

At the Alamo, the pro-slavery group, (Crockett's side), lost.

And there was nothing heroic about the occasion. Many of the volunteers broke ranks and ran, and were easily cut down in the open as they tried to flee. Crockett himself appears to have surrendered and was executed.

This information is only now gaining currency because the memoirs of Mexican soldiers at the scene and other contemporaneous accounts are finally being taken seriously by historians.

This couldn't happen at a more propitious moment, as the current government in Texas desperately attempts to ban serious discussion of the state's racist history in the schools. That's what the debate over "critical race theory" is all about.

And to top it off, John Wayne's movie, "The Alamo," in 1960, which furthered the heroic Crockett myth, was part of Wayne's fierce support for Richard Nixon for President. The film was simply a piece of political propaganda based on Wayne's belief that *his* America was falling apart at that time.

Sound familiar?

Today, in 2021, Texas is about to become a majority-Latino state. And the federal government is poised to declare Juneteenth (June 19, 1865) -- the date when slavery finally ended in Texas -- as an official national holiday.

So it really is time to abolish the old Anglo myths like the Alamo fairy tale, acknowledge the role of slavery in America's creation, and stop suppressing minority voters, which is happening right now, in real time.

The late, great Texas muckraker Molly Ivins got it right when she said: "There are times a country is so tired of bull that only the truth can provide relief."

This, my friends, is one of those times.

***

The news:

* 'Forget The Alamo' Author Says We Have The Texas Origin Story All Wrong (NPR)

* Texas Governor Abbott Signs Law Banning Teaching of Critical Race Theory in Public Schools (National Review)

* ‘A Momentous Day’: New York and California Lift Most Virus Restrictions -- Officials made the move after more than 70 percent of adults in both states had received a first dose of the coronavirus vaccine. (NYT)

* Trump-era hunt for pandemic ‘lab leak’ went down many fruitless paths -- The quest by spy agencies and public health officials relied on public reports and intelligence from foreign governments. Now President Biden has reinvigorated the search, ordering a fresh intelligence review. (WP)

* Cases of a dangerous Covid-19 variant are 'rapidly increasing' in U.S., expert says (CNN)

* Many Post-Covid Patients Are Experiencing New Medical Problems, Study Finds -- An analysis of health insurance records of almost two million coronavirus patients found new issues in nearly a quarter — including those whose Covid infection was mild or asymptomatic. (NYT)

* As coronavirus recedes, colds and common viruses return — especially for kids (WP)

* Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, Forceful on Jan. 6, Privately Are in Turmoil-- The far-right groups face a cash squeeze, internal discord, social-media cutoff and isolation from the financial system. (WSJ)

* The nation cannot forget Donald Trump’s betrayal of his oath (Editorial Board/WP)

* One in three U.S. election officials feels unsafe - survey (Reuters)

* The Biden administration’s suspension of new oil and gas leases on federal land and water was blocked by a federal judge in Louisiana, who ordered that plans continue for lease sales that were delayed for the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska waters. It's a setback to Biden's efforts to transition away from fossil fuels and stave off the worst effects of climate change. [AP]

* In some areas of California, drought is a continuous state of being. (CalMatters)

* Senate bill would ban toxic ‘forever chemicals’ in makeup, which new study found are often unlabeled (WP)

* As storms grow more violent and Louisiana loses more of its coast, the family that makes Tabasco Sauce is fighting erosion in the marshland that buffers its factory from hurricanes and floods. (AP)

* Putin agrees at "pragmatic" summit with Biden to resume arms talks (Reuters)

* Putin says that he and Biden have agreed that their two nations will start consultations on cybersecurity. (AP)

* Once, Superpower Summits Were About Nukes. Now, It’s Cyberweapons. -- But with the ease of denying responsibility and the wide range of possible attackers, the traditional deterrents of the nuclear age no longer work. (NYT)

* Israeli Aircraft Bomb Gaza Just Days Into New Government -- After a day of rising tensions, which saw a far-right march in Jerusalem and incendiary balloons launched from Gaza, Israel’s new coalition government ordered airstrikes against Hamas. (NYT)

* Portland begins removal of illegal campsites as homelessness rises (WP)

* New York grapples with growing presence of homeless in midtown Manhattan (Reuters)

* Computer trouble hits Hubble Space Telescope, science halted (AP)

* Fed says inflation is growing faster than projected and moves up expectations for rate hike (WP)

* My Father Vanished When I Was 7. The Mystery Made Me Who I Am. -- My dad was a riddle to me, even more so after he disappeared. For a long time, who he was – and by extension who I was – seemed to be a puzzle I would never solve. (NYT Mag)

* NotMilk says it has achieved a breakthrough: plant-based milk that mimics dairy (WP)

* Senate Votes To Make Juneteenth Federal Holiday So Long As No One Thinks Too Hard About Its Significance (The Onion)

***

"Ballad Of Davy Crockett"

Song by Fess Parker

Songwriters: Tom Blackburn / George Edward Bruns

Born on a mountain top in Tennessee
Greenest state in the land of the free
Raised in the woods so he knew ev'ry tree
Kilt him a be 'are when he was only three
Davy, Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier

In eighteen thirteen the Creeks uprose
Addin' redskin arrows to the country's woes
Now, Injun fightin' is somethin' he knows
So he shoulders his rifle an' off he goes
Davy, Davy Crockett, the man who don't know fear

Off through the woods he's a marchin' along
Makin' up yarns an' a singin' a song
Itchin' fer fightin' an' rightin' a wrong
He's ringy as a be 'are an' twict as strong
Davy, Davy Crockett, the buckskin buccaneer

Andy Jackson is our gen'ral's name
His reg'lar soldiers we'll put to shame
Them redskin varmints us Volunteers'll tame
'Cause we got the guns with the sure-fire aim
Davy, Davy Crockett, the champion of us all

Headed back to war from the ol' home place
But Red Stick was leadin' a merry chase
Fightin' an' burnin' at a devil's pace
South to the swamps on the Florida Trace
Davy, Davy Crockett, trackin' the redskins down

Fought single-handed through the Injun War
Till the Creeks was whipped an' peace was in store
An' while he was handlin' this risky chore
Made hisself a legend for evermore
Davy, Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier

He give his word an' he give his hand
That his Injun friends could keep their land
An' the rest of his life he took the stand
That justice was due every redskin band
Davy, Davy Crockett, holdin' his promise dear

Home fer the winter with his family
Happy as squirrels in the ol' gum tree
Bein' the father he wanted to be
Close to his boys as the pod an' the pea
Davy, Davy Crockett, holdin' his young'uns dear

But the ice went out an' the warm winds came
An' the meltin' snow showed tracks of game
An' the flowers of Spring filled the woods with flame
An' all of a sudden life got too tame
Davy, Davy Crockett, headin' on West again

Off through the woods we're ridin' along
Makin' up yarns an' singin' a song
He's ringy as a be 'are an' twict as strong
An' knows he's right 'cause he ain' often wrong
Davy, Davy Crockett, the man who don't know fear

Lookin' fer a place where the air smells clean
Where the trees is tall an' the grass is green
Where the fish is fat in an untouched stream
An' the teemin' woods is a hunter's dream
Davy, Davy Crockett, lookin' fer Paradise

Now he's lost his love an' his grief was gall
In his heart he wanted to leave it all
An' lose himself in the forests tall
But he answered instead his country's call
Davy, Davy Crockett, beginnin' his campaign

Needin' his help they didn't vote blind
They put in Davy 'cause he was their kind
Sent up to Nashville the best they could find
A fightin' spirit an' a thinkin' mind
Davy, Davy Crockett, choice of the whole frontier

The votes were counted an' he won hands down
So they sent him off to Washin'ton town
With his best dress suit still his buckskins brown
A livin' legend of growin' renown
Davy, Davy Crockett, the Canebrake Congressman

He went off to Congress an' served a spell
Fixin' up the Govern'ments an' laws as well
Took over Washin'ton so we heered tell
An' patched up the crack in the Liberty Bell
Davy, Davy Crockett, seein' his duty clear

Him an' his jokes travelled all through the land
An' his speeches made him friends to beat the band
His politickin' was their favorite brand
An' everyone wanted to shake his hand
Davy, Davy Crockett, helpin' his legend grow

He knew when he spoke he sounded the knell
Of his hopes for White House an' fame as well
But he spoke out strong so hist'ry books tell
An' patched up the crack in the Liberty Bell
Davy, Davy Crockett, seein' his duty clear

When he come home his politickin' done
The western march had just begun
So he packed his gear an' his trusty gun
An' lit out grinnin' to follow the sun
Davy, Davy Crockett, leadin' the pioneer

He heard of Houston an' Austin so
To the Texas plains he jest had to go
Where freedom was fightin' another foe
An' they needed him at the Alamo
Davy, Davy Crockett, the man who don't know fear

His land is biggest an' his land is best
From grassy plains to the mountain crest
He's ahead of us all meetin' the test
Followin' his legend into the West
Davy, Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier

Wednesday, June 16, 2021

American Royals

Our lives today are so dominated by the "Big Five" that it might be easy to forget just how recently this came to be the case. Here they are, ranked by market cap:

Apple 1976 -- 45 years old. (Children: Mac (37), iPhone (14).)

Microsoft 1975 -- 46 years old. (Adopted child, PowerPoint, is 34.)

Amazon 1994 -- 27 years old soon. (Child Alexa will soon turn 7.)

Google 1998 -- 23 years old soon. (Adopted child, YouTube is 16.)

Facebook 2004 -- 17 years old. (Adopted child, Instagram, will soon turn 11.)

There are not very many human families in the U.S. with these kind of demographics -- two of the five are Gen X, two are Gen Y, and one is Gen Z.

In 1975, by contrast, the top five U.S. companies were all automobile or oil companies. But back in the early 1960s, scientists at MIT had envisioned a world where networked computers would tie everyone together, and Apple and Microsoft were the first two giants to emerge in the Internet era, which kicked off in the 1990s.

So this entire ecosystem has grown up in our lifetimes. We are therefore the living custodians of what remains of the previous world, with all of its messy inefficiencies and lack of connectedness.

When my grandchildren ask me about my youth, they seem mainly perplexed by a world utterly bereft of screens. A world where kids like me ran free in fields, hunted for sport, made up our own games, and never called anyone on a phone.

When you wanted to see friends you ran to their house. The front doors were always unlocked, at least in the places where I lived.

Movies existed, of course, and so did early television, but they were mainly sidelights to our play outdoors.

One huge past event hovered over everything -- World War II. Its aftermath was palpable in the surplus Army jackets we all wore, the Army tents we camped in, and the stories our fathers and uncles told from their years overseas.

I remember talking with several of my cousins, all boys, about how we would prefer to die when we had to. Nobody chose cancer, heart attacks, strokes, accidents, murder or fire, the stuff that would actually happen to us. We all said we would die as military heroes when it came to it.

That seemed feasible enough as we grew because boys of my age were subject to the draft, which meant going off to Vietnam. Some of my cousins did.

I didn't. By 18 I'd turned against the war and was committed to be a draft dodger, after college. So, I joined the Peace Corps, and by the time that was over, my draft status was determined by a lottery, and I drew a high number.

That war ended gradually and ignominiously. The guys who would have come home as war heroes came home instead to a bitterly divided nation. Many were addicted to drugs, suffering from what later came to be called PTSD, and scorned by an older generation of veterans who didn't understand our generation's general antipathy to war, and to the Vietnam War particularly.

Many of the former soldiers joined the antiwar movement.

As we aged, more wars would ensue, but now they would be fought only by professional troops. No more draft. While they fought abroad, most of us -- 99 percent -- lived in peace in more affluence than the world had ever seen.

In the process it was not lost on my generation that the last real heroes preceded us and that none of us are going to die as heroes.

But we could die rich, richer than anyone could have imagined. And we could get that way by the computer.

And that, children, is how the Big Five became America's royalty.

***

[Personal note: Now the pandemic restrictions have been lifted and it is summer in California, I'm going to be moving place to place more fluidly, staying in different zip codes, and turning off my location information at Facebook. Officially speaking, I'm gone for the summer.]

The news:

* A Top Virologist in China, at Center of a Pandemic Storm, Speaks Out -- The virologist, Shi Zhengli, said in a rare interview that speculation about her lab in Wuhan was baseless. But China’s habitual secrecy makes her claims hard to validate. (NYT)

* U.S. Covid-19 Deaths Top 600,000 (WSJ)

* The Senate unanimously approved a bill Tuesday that would make Juneteenth, the date commemorating the end of chattel slavery in the United States, a legal public holiday. (NPR)

* ‘Pure insanity’-- Justice Dept. rebuffed Trump bid to overturn election (Reuters)

* England Extends Covid Restrictions, Delaying Opening One Month (AP)

* Bipartisan group of senators introduces $40 billion bill to close the digital divide (WP)

* In Congress, Republicans Shrug at Warnings of Democracy in Peril -- As G.O.P. legislatures move to curtail voting rules, congressional Democrats say authoritarianism looms, but Republicans dismiss the concerns as politics as usual. (NYT)

* "I’m a gay, Christian pediatrician and have no doubt: Jesus would reject anti-trans laws." (WP)

* Some stolen U.S. military guns used in violent crimes (AP)

* The Woman Who Forced the U.S. Government to Take UFOs Seriously (The Guardian)

* NIH says five U.S. states had coronavirus infections even before first reported cases (Reuters)

* Like many cities across the United States, the homeless population in Portland, Ore., has increased because of the pandemic, leading the overwhelmed city to start issuing ultimatums to people to clear out. (WP)

* Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said at a news conference that she was sorry for comparing pandemic-era health recommendations to the Holocaust. The Georgia Republican and QAnon conspiracy theorist visited the Holocaust Museum and said she had learned more about the horrors of the Nazi genocide against Jewish people. [HuffPost]

* G.O.P. Bills Rattle Disabled Voters: ‘We Don’t Have a Voice Anymore’ (NYT)

* Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Why do presidents forget that? " President Biden should break with his recent predecessors and end all attempts to criminalize the practice of journalism. I can see why it would be difficult for any administration to put up with inconvenient leaks. But that is what democracy requires." (Opinion -- Eugene Robinson/WP)

* A new federal intelligence report warns that adherents of QAnon could target Democrats and other political opponents for more violence as the movement’s false prophecies don’t come true. Trump’s loss to Biden disillusioned some believers in “The Storm,” a supposed reckoning in which Trump’s enemies would be tried and executed. [AP]

* ‘I’m Not Looking For Conflict With Russia,’ Biden Says (NYT)

* Huge disparities in vaccination rates are creating islands of vulnerability across the country (Editorial Board/WP)

* The departure of Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister of Israel is a relief for Democrats, but Iran and the Palestinians could test Mr. Biden’s relations with a fragile new Israeli government. (NYT)

* Overdoses from fentanyl have increased by more than 2,100 percent in California in five years. (The Guardian)

* Shifting Focus, NATO Views China as a Global Security Challenge (NYT)

* Google said it is offering staff more employment flexibility, allowing roughly 20% of its employees to work from home permanently and another chunk of workers to shift to a different office locations. (WSJ)

* Tech giants have to hand over your data when federal investigators ask. (WP)

* The Salton Sea, California’s largest lake, is drying up and exposing communities to toxic dust from the pesticides in the lake bed. A number of proposals to fix the issue focus on pulling in water from the Sea of Cortez in Mexico. (USA Today)

* The Salton Sea also experienced three dozen earthquakes up to 3.2 magnitude within 24 hours on Monday. (San Luis Obispo Tribune)

* Deb Haaland, the interior secretary, has advised President Biden to reinstate boundaries at Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante in Utah, and also in a marine area off New England. All were reduced by former President Trump. (NYT)

* Doctors Warn Of Burns From Asphalt As A Record-Breaking Heat Wave Envelops The West (NPR)

* Historic heat wave brings 100-degree heat to 40 million in western U.S. (WP)

* A litter of gray wolf pups was spotted in Colorado for the first time in 80 years. (NYT)

* Pitchers will be ejected and suspended for 10 games for using illegal foreign substances to doctor baseballs in a crackdown by Major League Baseball that will start June 21. The commissioner’s office, responding to record strikeouts and a league batting average at a more than half-century low, said Tuesday that major and minor league umpires will start regular checks of all pitchers, even if opposing managers don’t request inspections. (AP)

* Man Takes Solace In Fact That World’s Oldest Person Didn’t Become Notable Until Age 112 (The Onion)

***

"You Are My Hero"

Tom T. Hall

You are my hero, don't ever let me down
You are my hero, don't let me see you frown
It's only a mountain you can climb that high
No that's not a teardrop there's something in your eye

I know you can do it I know you'll come through
And if I will follow I'll be a hero too

You are my hero, I know that you can win
You are my hero, my hero and my friend
You know if you take it one step at a time
You can climb that mountain hero friend of mine

I know you can make it there's little you can't do
And if I will follow I'll be a hero too

You are my hero, there never was a doubt
You are my hero, it makes me want to shout
I know you can get there a winner by a mile
When I think about it makes me want to smile

You know where you're going, you know what to do
And if I should follow I'll be a hero too, a hero just like you

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