Slivers of Time

 (From three years ago.)

I spent many years walking beaches seeking little slivers of polished seaggass. White, green, blue, bluegreen, brown, amber, even red, they are the remainders of bottles and other glass objects left by the tides after salt, sun, sand, waves and time have had their way with them.

My collection, which ultimately contained thousands of pieces, filled several large jars and bottles. Eventually, I started giving it away to my grandchildren and a few friends. Like everything else you collect in life, you can't take it with you.

Walking next to the surf for hours at a time was also for me a time to think, mostly about problems that have no solutions. But walk I did all over beaches in the U.S., Mexico, South America, Asia, the South Pacific, the Caribbean, Australia, on islands and the edges of continents of almost every ocean on the planet.

I collected more than seaglass at beaches -- driftwood, shells, stones, lures -- anything that drifted in from the sea. I once found a note in a bottle. Another time, bags of marijuana. On a few occasions,  coins, some quite old.

All of the collections are mostly gone now, like my other possessions. Only the memories of finding those treasures remain.

LINKS:

• Judge dismisses Trump’s countersuit against E Jean Carroll that claimed she defamed him (Guardian)

• Trump Faces Looming Threat of Racketeering Charges in Georgia Case (WSJ)

• Judge overseeing Trump documents case criticizes special counsel (Axios)

• The Justice Department faces its biggest test in its history with the election conspiracy case against Trump (AP)

• A prominent conservative writer, lionized by Silicon Valley billionaires and a U.S. senator, used a pen name for years to write for white supremacist publications and was a formative voice during the rise of the racist “alt-right,” HuffPost's Christopher Mathias reports. [HuffPost]

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• Donald Trump gloats about USA’s Women’s World Cup elimination (Guardian)

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• With a fast burst of sea level rise, New Orleans’s outer defenses are drowning (WP)

• Are G.O.P. Voters Tiring of the War on ‘Wokeness’? (NYT)

• West African leaders will meet Thursday after Niger’s junta defies key deadline and shuts airspace (AP)

• What Is Happening in Niger? What to Know About the Coup (WSJ)

• U.S. imports from China plummet as relations remain tense (WP)

• Ukraine says woman detained in Zelensky assassination plot (The Hill)

• Russia's air force is barely able to leave its own airspace because Ukraine's defenses are so strong, UK intel says (Insider)

• Ukraine Plans to 'Liberate Black Sea' With Naval Drones (Newsweek)

• France may soon overtake Russia as the world’s No. 2 arms exporter (France24)

• Zoom can now train its A.I. using some customer data, according to updated terms (CNBC)

• Dungeons & Dragons tells illustrators to stop using AI to generate artwork for fantasy franchise (AP)

• Don’t quit your day job: Generative AI and the end of programming (Venture Beat)

• 47% of Warren Buffett's $375 Billion Portfolio Is Invested in 3 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks (Motley Fool)

• Putting the AI in orgAnIzing (Politico)

• How hospitals are using A.I. to fight doctor burnout (CNBC)

• Microsoft AI Red Team building future of safer AI (Microsoft)

• AI language models are rife with political biases (MIT TR)

• Sheet Placed Over Dianne Feinstein Between Votes (The Onion)