In Motion

 Lately I’ve spent more time moving around the Bay Area than has been the case for many years, either by commuter train, hired car, or courtesy of a vehicle driven by family or friends.

This, after two years of relative immobility due to the pandemic.

In the process, I’ve been in and out of train stations, restaurants, grocery stores, parks, coffee houses, family homes, doctor’s offices, a Tesla, crowded streets, empty streets, hilly paths, familiar places and new places.

The masks are coming off here, there and everywhere, though they are still “required” by some, namely Bart and Lyft.

Maybe because it’s been unseasonably warm, this all seems like a brand new world to me. We’ve been doing all the same old things — celebrating birthdays, shopping, meeting for coffee, working on taxes, getting eye care and dental care, having work meetings, catching up with friends — but it all seems lighter, airier, nicer.

After all, the Covid-19 pandemic is finally over.

While that may not be technically true for everybody, it is true for the great majority of us. And it should be because there is no reason to be afraid anymore or to hang back from socializing.

Those who continue to shrink from contact (except those who are severely immunocompromised) are doing so by choice and making a statement in the process. They are saying they don’t really want to be with other people, they’d prefer to be alone.

But as I have written many times, isolation kills, so too much alone time is a very bad idea. It is healthier to reach out, connect, get out of your comfort zone if necessary.

As Covid fades from the headlines (it barely accounts for 5 percent of the news these days), we need to recover our sense of social balance. Humans are social animals. We need to be together.

That is the headline. We all have to make the story work.

Today’s Headlines (43):

1. Russia Shuffles Command in Ukraine as Thousands Flee the East (NYT)

2. Evacuations urged as war moves east; Zelensky presses for oil boycotts (WP)

3. Refugees continued to flee eastern Ukraine ahead of a looming Russian assault, as both sides prepared for what is likely to become the war’s biggest battles. Russia’s main objective now is to seize the parts of the eastern Donbas region not yet controlled by Moscow. Fresh Russian units arrived to staging grounds for an expected offensive north of the Ukrainian city of Izyum. (WSJ)

4. As battle looms in Ukraine's east, Austrian leader to meet Putin (Reuters)

5. Ukraine 'ready for big battles' against Russia (BBC)

6. Ukrainian defenders dig in as Russia lines up more firepower (AP)

7. Putin’s War in Ukraine Shatters an Illusion in Russia (NYT)

8. Exodus swells to more than 4.5 million as battlefronts shift (WP)

9. Civilian casualties increase in eastern Ukraine (NHK)

10. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister: Country Preparing for Next Battle After Winning Kyiv (WSJ)

11. War to slash Ukraine's GDP output by over 45%, World Bank forecasts (Reuters)

12. Ukraine braces for a new, potentially more challenging phase (WP)

13. Ukraine's prosecutor general: 1,222 bodies found in Kyiv region (NHK)

14. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called a train-station strike in Kramatorsk the “latest war crime of Russia.” Residents in Bucha continued to clean up from weeks of Russian occupation, which they described as a spree of killing, raping and looting. (WSJ)

15. Spurred by Putin, Russians Turn on One Another Over the War (NYT)

16. In Ukraine, civilians are helping to shape the narrative of the war (WP)

17. US doubts new Russian war chief can end Moscow’s floundering (AP)

18. Hundreds of thousands of professional workers, many of them young, have left Russia since its invasion of Ukraine, accelerating an exodus of business talent and further threatening an economy targeted by Western sanctions. Russia’s central bank cut its key interest rate to 17% from 20%, saying the ruble’s rebound had reduced the risk that inflation would spike. (WSJ)

19. Inside the covert network sending arms and drones to Ukraine forces (WP)

20. Why Calls for War Crimes Justice Over Ukraine Face Long Odds (NYT)

21. Russian students are turning in teachers who don’t back the war (WP)

22. Biden to Discuss Ukraine With India’s Modi in Virtual Meeting (WSJ)

23. Most Americans blame Vladimir Putin, oil companies for high gas prices: POLL (ABC)

24. War crimes were part of Russia's master plan, national security adviser says (Politico)

25. Even with ties, Ukrainian families struggle to reach the United States (NPR)

26. Protest spotlights child death toll in Ukraine’s Mariupol (WP)

27. From Nuremberg to Darfur, history has seen some war criminals brought to trial (NPR)

28. French elections: Macron and Le Pen to fight for presidency (BBC)

29. Cheney says Jan. 6 committee has enough evidence for a criminal referral for Trump (Politico)

30. Why This Coastal County Has the Highest Covid Death Rate in Its State (NYT)

31. Greetings from the pandemic memory hole, where the last two years are one big blur (WP)

32. America’s homeless ranks graying as more retire on streets (AP)

33. Texas woman charged with murder after ‘self-induced abortion’ (KXAN)

34. Murder charges to be dropped for Texas woman arrested over abortion (WP)

35. Not just Florida. More than a dozen states propose so-called 'Don't Say Gay' bills (NPR)

36. What's the tallest wave ever recorded on Earth? (LiveScience)

37. New Theory Suggests That Dark Matter Could Be an Extra-Dimensional Cosmic Refugee (ScienceAlert)

38. In This Michigan County, Pandemic Stimulus Funds Are Remaking Public Health Programs (NYT)

39. What Humans Can Learn From Nature’s Biggest Hibernators — Could bears hold the key to better treatments for stroke, osteoporosis, and Alzheimer’s? (Atlantic)

40. 10 hidden Gmail features you should be using (Komando)

41. Globalization Is Over. The Global Culture Wars Have Begun. (David Brooks/NYT)

42. How Moneyball and Stadium Politics Killed Opening Day in Oakland (Politico)

43. Study Finds Big Bang Result Of Last Universe Blowing Itself Up With Fireworks (The Onion)