The Bay Area may be the only place in America that has escaped the heatwave that has most people sweltering. It’s actually been cold around here, with heavy fogs until Tuesday afternoon when it cleared for a bit.
On a lazy afternoon, I watched a fat rat slither along the fence outside my window — not a welcome sight. But then I was diverted by the small robot that cleans our house.
It slipped into my room through the open door and navigated around my one chair, the desk, the coffee table, the bed and all over the one small rug.
I have a very simple room and a fairly simple lifestyle. Perhaps the only remarkable thing about me is that I sort through the news headlines every day and share them with a lot of people.
Plus I tell stories.
Nothing in the news attracted me today enough to devote an essay to, although Liz Cheney running for President is a juicy topic. But I’m in a dreamy mood after having talked with a few friends. I can usually tell I that like a person the moment I meet them.
Friends are my nourishment and the antidote to the loneliness of writing. I’ve published over 5,000 of these little online essays since 2006. I’ve also written a book answering questions about my life through Storyworth. It has 51 chapters and was in response to a request from my daughter.
51 questions is a pretty lengthy interview in journalism or life— you might try it sometime. But the key to good interviews is simply listening to a person’s answers — in each of them you can find a lead to the next question.
Because of that, and considering it’s an entire life we’re talking about here, 51 isn’t so many questions after all. If each question covered a year, I’d still have 24 more to go. But one thing I almost never write about is my love life, real or imagined.
Maybe I’ll do that one day. It’s sure to be better than the rat, the robot, and the weather, plus it’s both hot and cold.
LATEST LINKS:
As Prices Soar in Ukraine, War Adds Economic Havoc to the Human Toll (NYT)
Europe Agrees to Cut Gas Consumption as Russia Crimps Supplies (WSJ)
Russia to drop out of International Space Station after 2024 (AP)
CIA at 75: After debacles and scandals, a return to a focus on Moscow (NPR)
Will Wisconsin’s Republicans Make Voting Meaningless, or Just Difficult? (New Yorker)
Donald Trump being investigated by DoJ in Jan 6 criminal probe, report says (Independent)
This Georgia Prosecutor Has Donald Trump in Her Sights, and She’s Not Stopping (NYT)
Former President Donald Trump crossed out sentences that distanced him from the rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and refused to call for their prosecution in a draft of a speech he delivered the next day, congressional testimony showed. In the attack, thousands of Trump supporters breached the Capitol in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden's presidential victory. (Reuters)
Trump didn’t want to call for Jan. 6 rioters’ prosecution, new video shows (WP)
Georgia’s grand jury investigation into Trump’s bid to upend the 2020 presidential election results in the state is heating up. Gov. Brian Kemp, scorned by Trump after refusing to embrace the then-president's election lies, was scheduled to present testimony in the investigation launched by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. [HuffPost]
Liz Cheney is already looking beyond 2022 (CNN)
Trump and Pence back in Washington for rival speeches (AP)
Top Pence Aides Testify to Grand Jury in Jan. 6 Investigation (NYT)
The inside story of how John Roberts failed to save abortion rights (CNN)
After Supreme Court ruling, activists push prayer into schools (WP)
Biden's Education Department may be signaling yet another student-loan payment pause extension (Business Insider)
Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) celebrated his gay son’s wedding less than a week after he voted against a bill that would protect his son’s right to have one. [HuffPost]
U.S. basketball player Brittney Griner appeared at a Russian court on Tuesday for the fifth hearing of her trial on drugs charges that could carry a jail sentence of up to 10 years. The two-time Olympic champion was arrested at an airport in Moscow in February after vape cartridges containing hashish oil were found in her baggage. (Reuters)
U.S. Officials Grow More Concerned About Potential Action by China on Taiwan (NYT)
U.S. and Taliban officials have exchanged proposals for the release of billions of dollars from Afghan central bank reserves held abroad into a trust fund, three sources familiar with the talks said, giving a hint of progress in efforts to ease Afghanistan's economic crisis. (Reuters)
Fears of more long COVID, a ‘mass disabling event’ as variants rip through California (LAT)
We’ve all got Covid-19 fatigue, but BA.5 shows it’s not over (Vox)
In Australia, hospital admissions for COVID-19 have reached a new high for a second straight day, while the daily death toll rose to its second-highest as an outbreak fueled by a coronavirus sub-variant sweeps the country. Nearly 5,600 patients infected with COVID are in hospital, while 100 new deaths were reported. (Reuters)
Skyrocketing COVID cases affect daily life in Japan (NHK)
Covid origin studies say evidence points to Wuhan market (BBC)
Shopify is laying off 1,000 employees (Verge)
Afghanistan is facing a climate calamity – it’s time the world took notice (Guardian)
Relentless attack by fire crews help slow the spread of California’s Oak Fire burning near Yosemite (Fox)
‘Parks are wild by nature’: Yosemite visitors undeterred by raging forest fires (Guardian)
Firefighters finally started to control California's largest wildfire so far this year, halting its eastward expansion toward nearby Yosemite National Park while thousands of people remained under evacuation orders. More than two decades of drought and rising temperatures have conspired to make California more vulnerable than ever to wildfires. (Reuters)
US to plant 1 billion trees as climate change kills forests (AP)
California’s Worst Drought on Record Spells Trouble for Classic Green Lawns (WSJ)
Pacific Northwest braces for temperatures above 110 degrees as heat wanes in Northeast (WP)
“Bold Theory” That T. rex Was 3 Species Rebutted – “Tyrannosaurus rex Remains the One True King of the Dinosaurs” (SciTechDaily)
The Alps' glaciers are on track for their highest mass losses in at least 60 years of record keeping, data shared exclusively with Reuters shows. If greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, the Alps glaciers are expected to lose more than 80% of their current mass by 2100. (Reuters)
U.S. is MIA on deep-sea critical minerals (Politico)
There is growing concern for surfers as the population of sharks in Monterey Bay is drastically increasing. (CBS)
Seaweed helps Maine lobstermen ride the storm of climate change (WP)
More than half of U.S. startups valued at $1 billion or more might not exist without immigrant founders, according to a new report. (SFC)
College Senior Holding Out Hope That Internship Will Lead To Class-Action Lawsuit (The Onion)
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