text:
Moderna and Pfizer Share Top Prize in Popular Science's 'Best of What's New' Awards
Phil Hall
Lifesaving vaccines, an anti-tracking software and an electric mountain bike were among the breakthroughs honored in the 2021 "Best of What's New" Awards from the magazine Popular Science.
What Happened: The awards span 10 categories focusing on big picture concerns on health and the environment to individual distractions in entertainment and personal care. The magazine cited 10 products and technologies per category, totaling 100 citations for innovation.
"Despite the supply chain challenges making headlines in 2021, breakthroughs …
Full story available on Benzinga.com
Source: benzinga.com


text:
G20 Riyadh Summit: Realizing the Opportunities of the 21st Century for All
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Nov. 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as the 2020 Presidency of the G20, is proud to be hosting the Leaders' Summit week culminating with the Leaders' Summit 21 – 22 November.
All invited guests and Leaders of G20 countries and International Organizations have confirmed their participation in the Leaders' summit starting tomorrow. They will, over the next two days, carry on the discussions that have been taking place throughout this year and agree much needed action to address the challenges we all face as a global community.
The Saudi G20 Presidency is dedicated to Realizing the Opportunities of the 21st Century for all and during this global pandemic in protecting lives, livelihoods and building an inclusive, sustainable and resilient recovery.
Before and during the Leaders' Summit, media will have access to photos, videos, press releases, and a series of media briefings and roundtables on the themes of the Saudi G20 Presidency.
Click here to access the official Media Microsite.
All activities and press conferences will be streamed live, and broadcast-quality footage will be made available, as well as:
Press Releases and Media Briefs
The Communiqué
Speech Transcripts
Summit Video Gallery
Summit Photo Gallery
Information about the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Working in partnership with the four area school boards, the Sudbury Student Services Consortium oversees the transportation of close to 22,000 students on 419 buses daily in the Greater Sudbury area, Espanola and Manitoulin.
For more information about transportation, including student eligibility and bus cancellation procedures, please call the Sudbury Student Services Consortium at 705.521.1234 or toll-free at 1.877.225.1196. Hours of operation are Monday through Friday from between 7 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday.
When transportation is cancelled, Rainbow District School Board staff are expected to report to work when it is safe for them to do so.
School Bus Transportation: What you should know!


2014 Mercedes ML350 SUV a stunning vehicle. Navigation, blind spot detection, a host of immensities. Vehicle is in excellent condition.All cars and trucks go through our 52 point service and safety pre-sale check. All maintenance and service is current and up to date. Extended 4 year warranty available. .Appointments are always available, 7 days a week from 8 am till 9 pm. Our doors are open for walk-in from 12 noon till 6 pm 5 days week Monday thru Friday. Trades always welcome. Extreme Motors Inc. 858-278-3988, visit our website @ extremotorssd.com. Clean Title.
Message: Thought you might be interested in this 2014 Mercedes-Benz ML350.


Want to get a Malaysian vehicle driving license?
Before you can start taking driving lessons at a driving institute, the very first license you will need is a Learner's Driving License (LDL).
The LDL is commonly known as the L-license.
The following are 12 facts about the Malaysian Learner's Driving License.
1) To get an LDL , first you will need to register with a driving school or driving institutes.
2) You have to attend the Kursus Kurikulum Pendidikan Pemandu KPP 01.
The KPP 01 will last for 6 hours.
3) You will need to sit for the Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan (JPJ) KPP computer test.
4) After you've pass the KPP computer test, you can now take out your LDL.
5) The LDL cost is RM30.
6) The LDL validity is either 3 or 6 months.
7) LDL can be renewed but the maximum license validity is 2 years.
Meaning, you have a maximum of 2 years to complete your driving lessons.
After the 2 years time period, you LDL will be null and void.
You will have to sit through the 6 hours KPP 01 course and pass the KPP computer test again to get a new LDL.
8) When you have an LDL, you must display the L-sign on your vehicle.
9) You are only allowed to drive with the presence of a certified driving instructor.
10) LDL holders cannot carry any passengers.
11) LDL holders cannot carry any goods.


AUSTRALIAS Most Popular Manufactured Sports Cruiser, Great Family Boat with Two Double Beds These Boats offer such a Spacious Entertaining Area.
The Below Cabin Area is CLIMATE Controlled AIRCOND, a GENERATOR for all your 240volt needs, ELECTRIC BBQ, , A Fully Equiped Galley with Microwave and Cook top, Fully Enclosed Bathroom with Shower and Toilet, Tv and Dvd, and Off corse a Clarion Stereo.
The Mustang 38 is such a Fantastic Boat to get the Familiy and Freinds Out On the Water.


I'm in the process of transferring data from a MacBook (MB) (early 2015) to a late 2016 MacBook Pro (MBP). The two machines are directly connected using gigabit Ethernet adaptors plugged into USB-C ports. And I'm getting about 400 Mb/s. I guess that's about ⅔ of the read speed of the MB SSD. I initially tried to do the transfer using WiFi and after about 3% completion, the status said 2 minutes until completion. And it sat there for two hours before I cancelled it and dug out the Ethernet dongles.
Quite a performance difference between the two laptops. The MB is a 1.3 GHz Core M with 8GB of memory. The MBP is a 3.3 GHz Core I7 with 16GB of memory. Both have SSD drives though the MBP has double the capacity and at least 3x the read and 10x the write speed. The read speed pegged the scale on the Blackmagic speed test at 2 GB/sec and the write speed was 1.8 GB/sec. The MB is a very light 2.03 lbs with the MBP weighing in at 3.02 lbs. It feels much heavier. The picture shows a comparison of the 15" 2012 MBP, the 13" 2016 MBP and the 12" MB. I have been using the 15" Apple laptops since the 2001 PowerBook G4 Ti. For travel, I've used the 11" MB Air and the 12" MB but both seemed pretty underpowered compared to the MBP but the SSDs kind of compensated for the lackluster performance making them both great travel laptops.
There has been a lot of discussion about the touchbar on the new MBP. When I saw the demo videos I wasn't really sure what value it adds. But I don't hate it either. The fingerprint reader to log in is incredibly fast and easy to use. It is also is a physical power button. So far, no complaints. Another complaint seen on the Internet was the keyboard. It is a similar design to the MB but feels much better and is much more positive. And a bit noisier. It has a huge trackpad with the same device to simulate a physical "cick" even though it doesn't move at all. It feels convincing enough to me. Plus, I set the preferences to just tap and not press anyway.
For the MB, I had already accumulated some dongles as it only had a single USB-C port. Fortunately, the new MBP has four of the type C ports.
Never been a MAC guy per se, but I will say their screens are much better than non-mac laptops!
Before 2001, I was primarily Windows and unix. After OS X came out I saw little reason to stick with Windows except for a small number of software packages that were only available for Windows. Mostly packages that worked with real odd hardware. Such as a hardware OTDR to test fiber.
I must admit that the Lenovo Helix Ultrabook is a very nice laptop though it's a bit heavy. The touchscreen (with stylus) is very handy to have.
Enjoy the new toy, Richard!
It's always fun to get a new toy to play with. I was kind of on the wall with this version of the laptop but one of the techs who went with me to Barrow last week had one and really liked it. I've used many different operating systems over the years and generally preferred the different unix variants. OS X is unix with a pretty user interface so it was an easy sell.
That touch bar is interesting. The other attorney in our office just bought one and was showing me. I was surprised at how large the track pad was on it too.
The touch bar is an interesting idea. I rarely used the old function keys and it has the potential of being much more useful. But time will tell. The large trackpad is pretty nice. About the same size as the Magic Trackpad for the iMac.


Hi! I apologize for the inconvenience but this page isn't ready yet. My new site is still under construction but I wanted to get it up and running as quickly as possible. Check back soon for this page because new information is being added every day.


This tree is native in eastern China; the kaki is the fruit of the persimmon tree. It has the size of a tomato, its skin is orange, and its flesh has a flavor which reminds that of the apricot, the pear, and the fresh almond. The fruit is very popular in Japan, where it is also called kaki. There are two varieties ob kaki: one, which is non-astringent, tastes crispy. The other is rich in tannin and is savored when its flesh is very ripe.
The kaki is the fruit of the persimmon tree which is part of the hardwood family like ebony. It is the only tree in this family to produce an edible fruit. The persimmon tree is also grown in China, Israel, Korea,the United States, in southern Europe, Israel and Spain (Valencia region), where it has a protected designation of origin.. There are hundreds of different varieties of persimmon but they can be classified into two broad categories being the Asian persimmon and the American persimmon, a younger species. Their fruits are available in the fall, from September to December. The kaki remains attached to the tree even after the leaves have fallen.
The two most popular Asian varieties of the kaki are the Hachiya and the Fuyu that have the size of a tomato. The Hachiya has a sweet and tender flesh as well as a thin, smooth orange-colored peel. It must be consumed when it is very ripe and very soft otherwise it is not edible. The Fuyu can be consumed when it's still firm. This fruit contains non-edible brown seeds which have to be removed before consuming.
The kaki is a fruit which contains many bioactive substances and has a strong antioxidant potential. It contains polyphenols, carotenoids (orange pigment), vitamin C, tannins, all substances favoring a health profile. In addition to having powerful antixoydants, carotenoids are precursors of vitamin A, a vitamin essential to vision, immune system and skin health.
In a study specifically on khaki consumption and cholesterol levels, the authors showed that persimmon consumption had a positive impact on total blood cholesterol levels and LDL (bad cholesterol)3.
When purchased, you should choose an intact fruit and avoid the yellow or greenish persimmons. Those two colors are signs that they are not ripe. The fruit can be eaten raw with a spoon. The fuyu can be chewed like an apple. It can also be pulped (with a little lemon juice) and served on ice cream, cake or pancake. Otherwise, it can also decorate fruit salads, rice, seafood or poultry. It can accompany cheese and can also aromatize yogurt or puddings. Finally, the persimmon can be cooked to make a jam, dehydrated or canned.
If the purchased kaki is not ripe, let it ripen at room temperature. You can also put it in a paper bag to speed up this process. If you add fruits that emit ethylene like bananas or apples, it can even more quickly ripen. The ripe kaki can be stored in the fridge for a few days. Otherwise, it can be frozen in whole form or pulped with lemon juice to avoid discoloration.
• The kaki contains many active components, such as amino acids, carotenoids, flavonoids, tannins, catechins and vitamin A.
• Among the carotenoids, present in the kaki seed, β-carotene, lycopene, β-cryptoxanthin monomyristique acid ester, di-myristic acid ester of zeaxanthin, and oleanolic acid were identified.
• The fruit of the persimmon tree also contains many anthocyanins, one of its features is the concentration in these molecules is quite high especially when the fruit is young, characteristic of the astringency of the fruit.
• A study evaluated the concentration of a number of nutrients in persimmon fruit juice from different regions of Korea. The results indicate that the levels of the constituents are significantly different depending on the samples. However, tartaric acid, glucose, gallic acid, epicatechin gallate, and the parapartic acid remain the dominant constituents of each chemical group.
In Asia, the fruit of medicinal properties has been lent for a long time. For example, it is reputed to regulate Qi in China, understand the vital force, the flow of energy.
As for energy, no doubt, kaki is a glucose concentrate – it contains up to 20% of it and thus gives a lot of energy. It is also richer than any other vitamin A fruit, packed with vitamin C, beta-carotene and lycopene, excellent antioxidants. The Global Cancer Research Fund also recommends the use of lycopene to control many cancers.
Also, the University of Jerusalem published a study demonstrating that the high content of this fruit in fibers, minerals and polyphenols allowed to fight against atherosclerosis, a congestion of the arteries that leads to cardiovascular diseases and heart attacks.
Another study by researchers at Toyama University in Japan and published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry has shown that a diet rich in persimmon fruit improves lipid metabolism, that is, how the body assimilates fats, by testing the fruit on laboratory rats. In addition, it turns out to be beneficial against fatty diabetes.


text:
Current: Mass Effect Andromeda multiplayer gameplay details confirmed
Mass Effect Andromeda multiplayer gameplay details confirmed
BioWare has confirmed launch details on the Mass Effect Andromeda multiplayer gameplay, revealing the online component for its hotly anticipated sci-fi RPG will ship with 25 character kits and all major alien races.
In addition, players will be able to get to grips with over 40 unique weapons plucked straight from Andromeda's single-player campaign, and there's five maps to tuck into upon release: Firebase Zero, Firebase Icebreaker, Firebase Magma, Firebase Derelict, and Firebase Sandstorm.
If you fancy looking at how Mass Effect Andromeda multiplayer gameplay works, the check out the new Mass Effect Andromeda video below, which offers a glimpse at four-player co-op in action. BioWare recently confirmed that the online portion of the game will feature microtransactions for those who want to purchase extra in-game points, though pleasingly, all additional multiplayer content will be free.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/6OmW
Mass Effect Andromeda will ship for PS4, PC, and Xbox One in the U.S. on March 21 and in Europe on March 23. The game takes place hundreds of years following the Reaper invasion depicted in the original trilogy, and sees newcomer Ryder exploring the titular Andromeda galaxy to find a new safe haven for humanity. Pre-load Mass Effect Andromeda on PS4 now.
Making Call Of Duty An Xbox Exclusive Could Prevent Microsoft's Acquisition Of Activision Blizzard From Passing Regulators
David Carcasole / January 19, 2022
If you were concerned that Call Of Duty would become an Xbox exclusive, then rest easy, because it's more likely you have nothing to worry about.
Ghostrunner DLC Project_Hel Has Been Delayed Into March
The upcoming Ghostrunner DLC expansion Project_Hel has been delayed from its January release date into the beginning of March 2022.
The New TellTale Games Vows Not To Repeat Previous TellTale's Mistakes
The TellTale Games of old allowed crunch and poor choices to become its ultimate downfall. The new TellTale, vows not to make the same mistakes.
Role Playing Game


Congrats to our Fellow Workers in Minneapolis!
MINNEAPOLIS- In a major victory for the nation's first fast food union, the National Labor Relations Board filed a legal complaint against Jimmy John's today, validating union claims that the franchise owners Mike and Rob Mulligan violated labor rights by firing six workers who blew the whistle on company policies which force workers to make sandwiches while sick.
"This is a tremendous victory for workers rights and public health advocates. Jimmy John's is not above the law. Seven months ago Jimmy John's fired six of us for telling the public that because our employer disciplines and fires workers for calling in sick, and because our poverty wages prevent us from taking a day off without pay, customers are exposed to sandwiches made by sick workers almost every day at Jimmy John's. We are demanding paid sick days for all restaurant workers to end this public health crisis," said Erik Forman, one of the fired workers.
The NLRB Complaint also alleges that Jimmy John's committed a slew of violations by using an anti-union Facebook group to unlawfully discourage workers from engaging in union activity, threatening workers with a mass firing in retaliation for union activity, interrogating employees about union activity, and unlawfully removing union posters from stores. Unless Jimmy John's agrees to reinstate the fired workers and comply with a government settlement of the charges, the company will be prosecuted by NLRB attorneys in an Administrative Law Court.
This is the second NLRB Complaint against Jimmy John's in the past year. Last January, the Labor Board threw out the results of a union election marred by illegal employer misconduct and implemented a settlement agreement. This latest Complaint demonstrates that Jimmy John's violated the first settlement agreement in which they pledged to respect workers rights, which could bring about serious legal consequences for franchise owners Mike and Rob Mulligan.
Workers at Jimmy John's began a campaign for the right to call in sick without being disciplined and paid sick days after a union survey of employees last Winter revealed that on average two employees are working while sick every day in the ten-store franchise. Franchise managers Mike and Rob Mulligan stonewalled employee requests for reform of the sick day policy for more than two months, prompting union supporters to take their message to the public by posting 3000 copies of a poster explaining that workers are forced to work while sick at the chain.
an outright lie when the union released Department of Public Health reports which showed two outbreaks of foodborne illness at the franchise in the last five years, both due to employees working while ill.


text:
Regeln » land to nine IRB World Sevens titles
Negrimar » Forum » Regeln » land to nine IRB World Sevens titles
#1 | land to nine IRB World Sevens titles 02.04.2019 03:39
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith says hell play Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC divisional playoffs. What he cant predict is how his sprained left knee will feel during the game. Smith said Monday "its not about can I go. Its about how confident do I feel when I am going. I will play Sunday. But its about how much I dont worry about the knee -- and thats when the confidence increases." The 34-year-old Smith says the knee "felt good" after doing some cutting during a light practice Monday. Hes expected to test it out more thoroughly Wednesday. Smith, Carolinas all-time leading in touchdowns, sprained his posterior cruciate ligament in Carolinas Week 16 win over New Orleans and sat out the regular season finale against Atlanta. Stitched NFL Jerseys . The Broncos quarterback earned the offensive award Wednesday after passing for 374 yards and three touchdowns in a 37-21 win over the Raiders Monday night. Manning completed 32-of-37 passes and had a passer rating of 135. NFL Jerseys Outlet . The Wizards announced Friday that Webster had surgery to repair a herniated disc in his lower back. The operation was performed Thursday in Los Angeles. http://www.cheapnfljerseysoutlet.com/. The 57-year-old Tietjens has coached New Zealand to nine IRB World Sevens titles and to four Commonwealth Games gold medals as its only coach in the professional era. New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive Steve Tew said the re-signing was made with a focus on 2016 when sevens will be in the Olympics. Wholesale Baseball Jerseys Online . The team sent out a press release on Friday stating Poile was resting and recovering and that he will remain in hospital for further observation. The Predators were preparing for the game against the Wild when Poile was hit by a puck that flew off the ice at him where he was standing in a tunnel behind the bench. China Jerseys Outlet . -- Michael Phelps is 0 for 1 in his comeback to the pool.null ' ' '
10-man Parma 2-0. Meanwhile, Paul Pogba » « to video review before it was confirmed. C


Rhya Tamašauskas is a Toronto-based designer and co-founder of the plush toy company Monster Factory. As a design instructor at a Design Exchange summer camp in 2008, I crossed paths with Rhya while on a field trip to the Monster Factory studio, which closed at the end of 2016. Unbeknownst to either of us, we would each find ourselves drawn into the quilting world and cross paths for a second time almost eight-and-a-half years later on Instagram. Rhya's paper-pieced designs are a combination of whimsy and quirk; one could never imagine doe-eyed root vegetables and frolicking kittens the way she has. Her work tells stories through textiles.
What kind of stories do you like to tell and why?
My stories come from my memories and experiences, and are then mixed with magic and of course seasoned with humor. Oh, and they are always bursting with wild characters. I am a passionate daydreamer and for as long as I can remember I've always loved the idea of magical realism, where our ordinary world can be heightened with wonder and enchantment. For example a regular old city street can be teeming with strange and endearing creatures or a root vegetable can come to life and join you for a picnic in the park.
Quilting allows me to capture tiny snapshots of these stories in a block, and then combine them all together to create a larger tale and world created from stitches and seams.
What are three words that describe your design and/or quilting style?
And I think it would be fair to say that my work is both salty and sweet all at once, if that makes sense.
What drew you into quilting and why do you love it?
Quilting hit me like an unexpected delicious pie to the face. My story begins with an invitation to create a couple blocks for a community quilt that would be gifted to the lovely Jacqueline Sava of Soak Wash. I was excited to contribute but wasn't even sure where to start? My grandmother has always been an incredible quilter and I've admired her work since I was a little girl, but I had honestly never considered quilting as vehicle for my stories and designs until I faced this project. So I did as I always do, dove straight in, drafting up a design and then sewing away.
Let's just say I was hooked immediately and that my stitch ripper got a real work out on that project! I finished those two blocks and I haven't looked back since. Since then I've just been designing and designing. I've been reading and studying up like crazy about different techniques and tips and tricks. And I've also found a brilliant and supportive community of makers online. It's been so wonderful getting to learn about this art, where it started and the incredible makers from past to present who make up this beautiful world of patchwork and piecing.
I love quilting and block design because it allows me to tell stories through stitches and textiles. And I love how the properties and challenges of drawing with fabric inform my design and the final product. I've been experimenting intensively over the last year with patchwork and paper piecing, trying to find just the right balance and shape of seams to make my work resonate with excitement and character.
I feel a little ridiculous saying this, but I feel obsessed. I wake up in the morning with ideas and can't wait to see them come to life on my sewing machine. It's enriching and fulfilling and my creative spirit feels like it is spinning with potential! And I can't wait to see where this journey will take me next!
What other media do you enjoy working with?
I love illustration, specifically drawing with pen and ink and painting with gouache or watercolor. Before discovering quilting I was deep into experimenting with surface design, creating oodles of repeat patterns teeming with strange stories and funny critters. In fact, I feel as though my quilt designs are minimal and graphic version of my illustrations. And of course I think surface design and quilt design can go hand in hand. It's impossible to not consider how a fabric design might heighten a quilt pattern I'm making, and how I could design the perfect one! For example if I'm creating a character who might be sporting a sweater or pants, I could see designing a repeat pattern to use for the clothing pieces. It would be a great opportunity to incorporate my illustration into the blocks and also another avenue to add more story and dimension.
And last but not least I still adore toy making. I'm currently tinkering with a doll design right now. A line I'm hoping to create using Spoonflower and potentially release as a pattern for others to download and make.But ultimately at this moment in time, my heart has found a home in a world full of dazzling geometric patterns and stories. I'm in love with quilting. It feels cozy and warm, just like coming home.
Find Rhya on Instagram @rhya.


text:
In Kvartali Coop Maksimarket you can buy takeaway food in reusable packaging
Starting this week, in Kvartali Coop Maksimarket in Tartu it will be possible to buy food in reusable packaging. The Coop retail chain was the first one to join the new initiative. The pilot project will last 6 months.
According to Janek Balõnski, co-founder of reusable packaging company Ringo Eco, the pilot project aims to find out how consumers make decisions in the store and how to make the service even more convenient for the buyers: "Ringo's logic is simple – instead of disposal the life of packaging is extended by washing and reusing it. Consumers can select special reusable packaging at the grocery store, pay a service fee and a small deposit, and then return the packaging to a Ringo return container to receive the deposit back. Ringo's goal is to reduce the amount of single-use food packaging."
As a market leader, the company is constantly looking for ways to make its work more environmentally friendly, says Martin Miido, head of communications at Coop Eesti: "With the reusable food packaging offered by Ringo, Coop can contribute to reducing the number of single-use plastic in the food trade. If customers accept the new solution well, we will certainly consider extending the service to other Coop stores."
"Kvartal Centre promotes the possibilities of recycling and the circular economy, and Ringo offers customers a convenient solution in this area," said Veronika Tuisk, business manager of Kvartal. Today you can buy food in reusable packaging at PokeBowl, Blender, R-kiosk, Tokyo Sushibaar, V Café, and Joyce.
V Spa will soon join the Ringo service in Tartu, where all disposable drinking cups will be excluded from the assortment during a pilot project. "More important news regarding the reuse of packaging is expected this year," Janek Balõnski promised.
Coop Eesti is the oldest and largest retail chain group in Estonia, 100% owned by Estonian consumers. Under this brand, 19 independent regional consumer cooperatives operate with a total of 330 stores, about 6,000 employees and 70,000 customer-owners. As the leader of cooperative trade in Estonia, Coop differs from private retailers in that profit here is not an end in itself, but rather a means of maintaining and developing life in different regions of Estonia.
60 restaurants have already joined the Ringo Eco reusable packaging service. Currently, the company's product portfolio includes 30 different reusable packages. At the moment, there are already 120 return points in Tallinn and Tartu, and their number is increasing every week. Technical preparations are underway for the launch of the largest food packaging cleaning centre in Northern Europe and the start of cooperation with food manufacturers. In 2022, the company hopes to prevent 1 million single-use units of packaging from entering the market.


text:
Olga Tokarczuk - Explore Lecture
Nobel diploma
Olga Tokarczuk - Nobel Lecture
Olga Tokarczuk – Facts – 2018
Share on Facebook: Olga Tokarczuk – Nobel Lecture Share this content on Facebook Facebook
Tweet: Olga Tokarczuk – Nobel Lecture Share this content on Twitter Twitter
Share on LinkedIn: Olga Tokarczuk – Nobel Lecture Share this content on LinkedIn LinkedIn
Share via Email: Olga Tokarczuk – Nobel Lecture Share this content via Email Email this page
The Tender Narrator
Olga Tokarczuk delivered her Nobel Lecture in Literature on Saturday 7 December 2019 at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm.
Swedish [pdf]
Polish [pdf]
© THE NOBEL FOUNDATION 2019
General permission is granted for the publication in newspapers in any language after December 7, 2019, 16.45 CET. Publication in periodicals or books otherwise than in summary requires the consent of the Foundation. On all publications in full or in major parts the above underlined copyright notice must be applied.
The first photograph I ever experienced consciously is a picture of my mother from before she gave birth to me. Unfortunately, it's a black-and-white photograph, which means that many of the details have been lost, turning into nothing but gray shapes. The light is soft, and rainy, likely a springtime light, and definitely the kind of light that seeps in through a window, holding the room in a barely perceptible glow. My mom is sitting beside our old radio, and it's the kind with a green eye and two dials—one to regulate the volume, the other for finding a station. This radio later became my great childhood companion; from it I learned of the existence of the cosmos. Turning an ebony knob shifted the delicate feelers of the antennae, and into their purview fell all kinds of different stations—Warsaw, London, Luxembourg and Paris. Sometimes, however, the sound would falter, as though between Prague and New York, or Moscow and Madrid, the antennae's feelers stumbled onto black holes. Whenever that happened, it sent shivers down my spine. I believed that through this radio different solar systems and galaxies were speaking to me, crackling and warbling and sending me important information, and yet I was unable to decipher it.
When as a little girl I would look at that picture, I would feel sure that my mom had been looking for me when she turned the dial on our radio. Like a sensitive radar, she penetrated the infinite realms of the cosmos, trying to find out when I would arrive, and from where. Her haircut and outfit (a big boat neck) indicate when this picture was taken, namely, in the early sixties. Gazing off somewhere outside of the frame, the somewhat hunched-over woman sees something that isn't available to a person looking at the photo later. As a child, I imagined that what was happening was that she was gazing into time. There's nothing really happening in the picture—it's a photograph of a state, not a process. The woman is sad, seemingly lost in thought—seemingly lost.
When I later asked her about that sadness—which I did on numerous occasions, always prompting the same response—my mother would say that she was sad because I hadn't been born yet, yet she already missed me.
"How can you miss me when I'm not there yet?" I would ask.
I knew that you miss someone you've lost, that longing is an effect of loss.
"But it can also work the other way around," she answered. "Missing a person means they're there."
This brief exchange, someplace in the countryside in western Poland in the late sixties, an exchange between my mother and me, her small child, has always remained in my memory and given me a store of strength that has lasted me my whole life. For it elevated my existence beyond the ordinary materiality of the world, beyond chance, beyond cause and effect and the laws of probability. She placed my existence out of time, in the sweet vicinity of eternity. In my child's mind, I understood then that there was more to me than I had ever imagined before. And that even if I were to say, "I'm lost," then I'd still be starting out with the words "I am"—the most important and the strangest set of words in the world.
And so a young woman who was never religious—my mother—gave me something once known as a soul, thereby furnishing me with the world's greatest tender narrator.
The world is a fabric we weave daily on the great looms of information, discussions, films, books, gossip, little anecdotes. Today the purview of these looms is enormous—thanks to the internet, almost everyone can take place in the process, taking responsibility and not, lovingly and hatefully, for better and for worse. When this story changes, so does the world. In this sense, the world is made of words.
How we think about the world and—perhaps even more importantly—how we narrate it have a massive significance, therefore. A thing that happens and is not told ceases to exist and perishes. This is a fact well known to not only historians, but also (and perhaps above all) to every stripe of politician and tyrant. He who has and weaves the story is in charge.
Today our problem lies—it seems—in the fact that we do not yet have ready narratives not only for the future, but even for a concrete now, for the ultra-rapid transformations of today's world. We lack the language, we lack the points of view, the metaphors, the myths and new fables. Yet we do see frequent attempts to harness rusty, anachronistic narratives that cannot fit the future to imaginaries of the future, no doubt on the assumption that an old something is better than a new nothing, or trying in this way to deal with the limitations of our own horizons. In a word, we lack new ways of telling the story of the world.
We live in a reality of polyphonic first-person narratives, and we are met from all sides with polyphonic noise. What I mean by first-person is the kind of tale that narrowly orbits the self of a teller who more or less directly just writes about herself and through herself. We have determined that this type of individualized point of view, this voice from the self, is the most natural, human and honest, even if it does abstain from a broader perspective. Narrating in the first person, so conceived, is weaving an absolutely unique pattern, the only one of its kind; it is having a sense of autonomy as an individual, being aware of yourself and your fate. Yet it also means building an opposition between the self and the world, and that opposition can be alienating at times.
I think that first-person narration is very characteristic of contemporary optics, in which the individual performs the role of subjective center of the world. Western civilization is to a great extent founded and reliant upon that very discovery of the self, which makes up one of our most important measures of reality. Here man is the lead actor, and his judgment—although it is one among many—is always taken seriously. Stories woven in first person appear to be among the greatest discoveries of human civilization; they are read with reverence, bestowed full confidence. This type of story, when we see the world through the eyes of some self that is unlike any other, builds a special bond with the narrator, who asks his listener to put himself in his unique position.
What first-person narratives have done for literature and in general for human civilization cannot be overestimated—they have completely reworked the story of the world, so that it is no longer a place for the operations of heroes and deities upon whom we can have no influence, but rather a place for people just like us, with individual histories. It is easy to identify with people who are just like us, which generates between the story's narrator and its reader or listener a new variety of emotional understanding based on empathy. And this, by its very nature, brings together and eliminates borders; it is very easy to lose track in a novel of the borders between the narrator's self and the reader's self, and a so-called "absorbing novel" actually counts on that border being blurred—on the reader, through empathy, becoming the narrator for a while. Thus literature has become a field for the exchange of experiences, an agora where everyone can tell of their own fate, or give voice to their alter ego. It is therefore a democratic space—anyone may speak up, everyone can create a speaking voice for herself. Never in the history of humanity have so many people been writers and storytellers. We have only to look at the statistics to see that this is true.
Whenever I go to book fairs, I see how many of the books being published in the world today have to do with precisely this—the authorial self. The expression instinct may be just as strong as other instincts that protect our lives—and it is most fully manifested in art. We want to be noticed, we want to feel exceptional. Narratives of the "I'm going to tell you my story" variety, or "I'm going to tell you the story of my family," or even simply, "I'm going to tell you where I've been," comprise today's most popular literary genre. This is a large-scale phenomenon also because nowadays we are universally able to access writing, and many people attain the ability, once reserved for the few, of expressing themselves in words and stories. Paradoxically, however, this situation is akin to a choir made up of soloists only, voices competing for attention, all traveling similar routes, drowning one another out. We know everything there is to know about them, we are able to identify with them and experience their lives as if they were our own. And yet, remarkably often, the readerly experience is incomplete and disappointing, as it turns out that expressing an authorial "self" hardly guarantees universality. What we are missing—it would seem—is the dimension of the story that is the parable. For the hero of the parable is at once himself, a person living under specific historical and geographical conditions, yet at the same time he also goes well beyond those concrete particulars, becoming a kind of Everywhere Everyman. When a reader follows along with someone's story written in a novel, he can identify with the fate of the character described and consider their situation as if it were his own, while in a parable, he must surrender completely his distinctness and become the Everyman. In this demanding psychological operation, the parable universalizes our experience, finding for very different fates a common denominator. That we have largely lost the parable from view is
a testament to our current helplessness.
Perhaps in order not to drown in the multiplicity of titles and last names we began to divide literature's leviathan body into genres, which we treat like the various different categories of sports, with writers as their specially trained players.
The general commercialization of the literary market has led to a division into branches—now there are fairs and festivals of this or that type of literature, completely separate, creating a clientele of readers eager to hole up with a crime novel, some fantasy or science fiction. A notable characteristic of this situation is that what was only supposed to help booksellers and librarians organize on their shelves the massive quantity of published books, and readers to orient themselves in the vastness of the offering, became instead abstract categories not only into which existing works are placed, but also according to which writers themselves have started writing. Increasingly, genre work is like a kind of cake mold that produces very similar results, their predictability considered a virtue, their banality an achievement. The reader knows what to expect and gets exactly what he wanted.
I have always intuitively opposed such orders, since they lead to the limiting of authorial freedom, to a reluctance toward the experimentation and transgression that is in fact the essential quality of creation in general. And they completely exclude from the creative process any of the eccentricity without which art would be lost. A good book does not need to champion its generic affiliation. The division into genres is the result of the commercialization of literature as a whole and an effect of treating it as a product for sale with the whole philosophy of branding and targeting and other, similar inventions of contemporary capitalism.
Today we can have the great satisfaction of seeing the emergence of a wholly new way of telling the world's story that is purveyed by the on-screen series, the hidden task of which is to induce in us a trance. Of course this mode of storytelling has long existed in the myths and Homeric tales, and Heracles, Achilles or Odysseus are without doubt the first heroes of series. But never before has this mode taken up so much space or exerted such a powerful influence on the collective imagination. The first two decades of the twenty-first century are the unquestionable property of the series. Their influence on the modes of telling the story of the world (and therefore on our way of understanding that story, too) is revolutionary.
In today's version, the series has not only extended our participation in the narrative in the temporal sphere, generating its various tempos, offshoots and aspects, but also introduced its own new orders. Since in many cases its task is to hold the viewer's attention for as long as possible—the series narrative multiplies the threads, interweaving them in the most improbable manner so much so that when at a loss it even harks back to the old narrative technique, once compromised by classical opera, of the Deus ex machina. The creation of new episodes often entails the total, ad-hoc overhaul of the psychology of the characters, so that they will be better suited to the developing events of the plot. A character who begins as gentle and reserved winds up vindictive and violent, a supporting character turns protagonist, while the main character, to whom we have already grown attached, loses significance or actually completely disappears, much to our dismay.
The potential materialization of another season creates the necessity of open endings in which there is no way that mysterious things called catharsis can occur or resound fully—catharsis, formerly the experience of the internal transformation, the fulfillment and satisfaction of having participated in the action of the tale. Such complication, rather than conclusion—the constant postponement of the reward that is catharsis—renders the viewer dependent, hypnotizes her. The fabula interrupta, created long ago, and well known from the stories of Scheherazade, has now made its bold return in series, altering our subjectivity and having bizarre psychological effects, tearing us out of our own lives and hypnotizing us like a stimulant. At the same time, the series inscribes itself into the new, drawn-out and disordered rhythm of the world, into its chaotic communication, its instability and fluidity. This story-telling form is probably the one most creatively searching for a new formula today.
In that sense, there is serious work in the series on the narratives of the future, on reformatting the story so that it suits our new reality.
But above all, we live in a world of too many contradictory, mutually exclusive facts, all battling one another tooth and nail.
Our ancestors believed that access to knowledge would not only bring people happiness, well-being, health and wealth, but would also create an equal and just society. What was missing in the world, to their minds, was the ubiquitous wisdom that would naturally arise from information.
John Amos Comenius, the great seventeenth-century pedagogue, coined the term "pansophism," by which he meant the idea of potential omniscience, universal knowledge that would contain within it all possible cognition. This was also, and above all, a dream of information available to everyone. Would not access to facts about the world transform an illiterate peasant into a reflective individual conscious of himself and the world? Will not knowledge within easy reach mean that people will become sensible, that they will direct the progress of their lives with equanimity and wisdom?
When the Internet first came about, it seemed that this notion would finally be realized in a total way. Wikipedia, which I admire and support, might have seemed to Comenius, like many like-minded philosophers, the fulfillment of the dream of humanity—now we can create and receive an enormous store of facts being ceaselessly supplemented and updated that is democratically accessible to just about every place on Earth.
A dream fulfilled is often disappointing. It has turned out that we are not capable of bearing this enormity of information, which instead of uniting, generalizing and freeing, has differentiated, divided, enclosed in individual little bubbles, creating a multitude of stories that are incompatible with one another or even openly hostile toward each other, mutually antagonizing.
Furthermore, the Internet, completely and unreflectively subject to market processes and dedicated to monopolists, controls gigantic quantities of data used not at all pansophically, for the broader access to information, but on the contrary, serving above all to program the behavior of users, as we learned after the Cambridge Analytica affair. Instead of hearing the harmony of the world, we have heard a cacophony of sounds, an unbearable static in which we try, in despair, to pick up on some quieter melody, even the weakest beat. The famous Shakespeare quote has never been a better fit than it is for this cacophonous new reality: more and more often, the Internet is a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury.
Research by political scientists unfortunately also contradicts John Amos Comenius' intuitions, which were based on the conviction that the more universally available was information about the world, the more politicians would avail themselves of reason and make considered decisions. But it would appear that the matter is not at all so simple as that. Information can be overwhelming, and its complexity and ambiguity give rise to all sorts of defense mechanisms—from denial to repression, even to escape into the simple principles of simplifying, ideological, party-line thinking.
The category of fake news raises new questions about what fiction is. Readers who have been repeatedly deceived, misinformed or misled have begun to slowly acquire a specific neurotic idiosyncrasy. The reaction to such exhaustion with fiction could be the enormous success of non-fiction, which in this great informational chaos screams over our heads: "I will tell you the truth, nothing but the truth," and "My story is based on facts!"
Fiction has lost the readers' trust since lying has become a dangerous weapon of mass destruction, even if it is still a primitive tool. I am often asked this incredulous question: "Is this thing you wrote really true?" And every time I feel this question bodes the end of literature.
This question, innocent from the reader's point of view, sounds to the writer's ear truly apocalyptic. What am I supposed to say? How am I to explain the ontological status of Hans Castorp, Anna Karenina or Winnie the Pooh?
I consider this type of readerly curiosity a regression of civilization. It is a major impairment of our multidimensional ability (concrete, historical, but also symbolic, mythic) to participate in the chain of events called our lives. Life is created by events, but it is only when we are able to interpret them, try to understand them and lend them meaning that they are transformed into experience. Events are facts, but experience is something inexpressibly different. It is experience, and not any event, that makes up the material of our lives. Experience is a fact that has been interpreted and situated in memory. It also refers to a certain foundation we have in our minds, to a deep structure of significations upon which we can unfurl our own lives and examine them fully and carefully. I believe that myth performs the function of that structure. Everyone knows that myths never really happened but are always going on. Now they go on not only through the adventures of ancient heroes, but rather also make their way into the ubiquitous and most popular stories of contemporary film, games and literature. The lives of the inhabitants of Mount Olympus have been transferred to Dynasty, and the heroic acts of the heroes are attended to by Lara Croft.
In this ardent division into truth and falsehood, the tales of our experience that literature creates have their own dimension.
I have never been particularly excited about any straight distinction between fiction and non-fiction, unless we understand such a distinction to be declarative and discretionary. In a sea of many definitions of fiction, the one I like the best is also the oldest, and it comes from Aristotle. Fiction is always a kind of truth.
I am also convinced by the distinction between true story and plot made by the writer and essayist E.M. Forster. He said that when we say, "The king died and then the queen died," it's a story. But when we say, "The king died, and then the queen died of grief," that is a plot. Every fictionalization involves a transition from the question "What happened next?" to an attempt at understanding it based on our human experience: "Why did it happen that way?"
Literature begins with that "why," even if we were to answer that question over and over with an ordinary "I don't know."
Thus literature poses questions that cannot be answered with the help of Wikipedia, since it goes beyond just information and events, referring directly to our experience.
But it is possible that the novel and literature in general are becoming before our very eyes something actually quite marginal in comparison with other forms of narration. That the weight of the image and of new forms of directly transmitting experience—film, photography, virtual reality—will constitute a viable alternative to traditional reading. Reading is quite a complicated psychological and perceptual process. To put it simply: first the most elusive content is conceptualized and verbalized, transforming into signs and symbols, and then it is "decoded" back from language into experience. That requires a certain intellectual competence. And above all it demands attention and focus, abilities ever rarer in today's extremely distracting world.
Humanity has come a long way in its ways of communicating and sharing personal experience, from orality, relying on the living word and human memory, through the Gutenberg Revolution, when stories began to be widely mediated by writing and in this way fixed and codified as well as possible to reproduce without alteration. The major attainment of this change was that we came to identify thinking with language, with writing. Today we are facing a revolution on a similar scale, when experience can be transmitted directly, without recourse to the printed word.
There is no longer any need to keep a travel diary when you can simply take pictures and send those pictures via social networking sites straight into the world, at once and to all. There is no need to write letters, since it is easier to call. Why write fat novels, when you can just get into a television series instead? Instead of going out on the town with friends, it would be better to play a game. Reach for an autobiography? There's no point, since I am following the lives of celebrities on Instagram and know everything about them.
It is not even the image that is the greatest opponent of text today, as we thought back in the twentieth century, worrying about the influence of television and film. It is instead a completely different dimension of the world—acting directly on our senses.
I don't want to sketch an overall vision of crisis in telling stories about the world. But I'm often troubled by the feeling that there is something missing in the world―that by experiencing it through glass screens, and through apps, somehow it becomes unreal, distant, two-dimensional, and strangely non-descript, even though finding any particular piece of information is astoundingly easy. These days the worrying words "someone, "something," "somewhere," "some time" can seem riskier than very specific, definite ideas uttered with complete certainty―such as that "the earth is flat," "vaccinations kill," "climate change is nonsense," or "democracy is not under threat anywhere in the world." "Somewhere" some people are drowning as they try to cross the sea. "Somewhere," for "some" time, "some sort of" a war has been going on. In the deluge of information individual messages lose their contours, dissipate in our memory, become unreal and vanish.
The flood of stupidity, cruelty, hate speech and images of violence are desperately counterbalanced by all sorts of "good news," but it hasn't the capacity to rein in the painful impression, which I find hard to verbalize, that there is something wrong with the world. Nowadays this feeling, once the sole preserve of neurotic poets, is like an epidemic of lack of definition, a form of anxiety oozing from all directions.
Literature is one of the few spheres that try to keep us close to the hard facts of the world, because by its very nature it is always psychological, because it focuses on the internal reasoning and motives of the characters, reveals their otherwise inaccessible experience to another person, or simply provokes the reader into a psychological interpretation of their conduct. Only literature is capable of letting us go deep into the life of another being, understand their reasons, share their emotions and experience their fate.
A story always turns circles around meaning. Even if it doesn't express it directly, even when it deliberately refuses to seek meaning, and focuses on form, on experiment, when it stages a formal rebellion, looking for new means of expression. As we read even the most behavioristically, sparingly written story, we cannot help asking the questions: "Why is this happening?," "What does it mean?," "What is the point?," "Where is this leading?" Quite possibly our minds have evolved toward the story as a process of giving meaning to millions of stimuli that surround us, and that even when we're asleep keep on relentlessly devising their narratives. So the story is a way of organizing an infinite amount of information within time, establishing its relationship to the past, the present and the future, revealing its recurrence, and arranging it in categories of cause and effect. Both the mind and the emotions take part in this effort.
No wonder one of the earliest discoveries made by stories was Fate, which apart from always appearing to people as something terrifying and inhuman, did in fact introduce order and immutability into everyday reality.
A few years later, the woman in the photograph, my mother, who missed me although I hadn't yet been born, was reading me fairy tales.
In one of them, by Hans Christian Andersen, a teapot that had been thrown on the trash heap complained about how cruelly it had been treated by people―as soon as its handle broke off, they had disposed of it. But if they weren't such demanding perfectionists it could still have been of use to them. Other broken objects picked up his tune, and told truly epic stories of their modest little lives as objects.
As a child, I listened to these fairy tales with flushed cheeks and tears in my eyes, because I believed deeply that objects have their own problems and emotions, as well as a sort of social life, entirely comparable to our human one. The plates in the dresser could talk to each other, and the spoons, knives and forks in the drawer formed a sort of a family. Similarly, animals were mysterious, wise, self-aware creatures with whom we had always been connected by a spiritual bond and a deep-seated similarity. But rivers, forests and roads had their existence too―they were living beings that mapped our space and built a sense of belonging, an enigmatic Raumgeist. The landscape surrounding us was alive too, and so were the Sun and the Moon, and all the celestial bodies―the entire visible and invisible world.
When did I start to have doubts? I'm trying to find the moment in my life when at the flick of a switch everything became different, less nuanced, simpler. The world's whisper fell silent, to be replaced by the din of the city, the murmur of computers, the thunder of airplanes flying past overhead, and the exhausting white noise of oceans of information.
At some point in our lives we start to see the world in pieces, everything separately, in little bits that are galaxies apart from one another, and the reality in which we live keeps affirming it: doctors treat us by specialty, taxes have no connection with snow-plowing the road we drive to work along, our lunch has nothing to do with an enormous stock farm, or my new top with a shabby factory somewhere in Asia. Everything is separate from everything else, everything lives apart, without any connection.
To make it easier for us to cope with this we are given numbers, name tags, cards, crude plastic identities that try to reduce us to using one small part of the whole that we have already ceased to perceive.
The world is dying, and we are failing to notice. We fail to see that the world is becoming a collection of things and incidents, a lifeless expanse in which we move around lost and lonely, tossed here and there by somebody else's decisions, constrained by an incomprehensible fate, a sense of being the plaything of the major forces of history or chance. Our spirituality is either vanishing or becoming superficial and ritualistic. Or else we are just becoming the followers of simple forces―physical, social, and economic―that move us around as if we were zombies. And in such a world we really are zombies.
This is why I long for that other world, the world of the teapot.
All my life I've been fascinated by the systems of mutual connections and influences of which we are generally unaware, but which we discover by chance, as surprising coincidences or convergences of fate, all those bridges, nuts, bolts, welded joints and connectors that I followed in Flights. I'm fascinated by associating facts, and by searching for order. At base―as I am convinced―the writer's mind is a synthetic mind that doggedly gathers up all the tiny pieces in an attempt to stick them together again to create a universal whole.
How are we to write, how are we to structure our story to make it capable of raising this great, constellation form of the world?
Naturally, I realize that it is impossible to return to the sort of story about the world that we know from myths, fables and legends, which, communicated orally, kept the world in existence. Nowadays the story would have to be far more multidimensional and complicated; after all, we really do know much more, we're aware of the incredible connections between things that seem to be far apart.
Let us take a close look at a particular moment in the history of the world.
It is August 3, 1492, the day on which a small caravel named Santa Maria is to set sail from a quay at the port of Palos in Spain. The ship is commanded by Christopher Columbus. The sun is shining, there are sailors going to and fro on the quay, and there are stevedores loading the last crates of provisions on board. It is hot, but a light breeze from the west saves the families who have come to say farewell from fainting. Seagulls strut grandly up and down the loading ramp, closely observing the human activities.
The moment that we can now see across time led to the death of 56 million of the almost 60 million native Americans. At the time, they represented about 10 percent of the world's entire population. The Europeans unwittingly brought them some lethal gifts―diseases and bacteria to which the indigenous inhabitants of America had no resistance. On top of that came ruthless oppression and killing. The extermination continued for years, and changed the nature of the land. Where beans, corn, potatoes and tomatoes had once grown in cultivated fields that were irrigated in a sophisticated way, wild vegetation returned. In just a few years, almost 150 million acres of arable land changed into jungle.
As it regenerated, the vegetation consumed vast quantities of carbon dioxide, thus weakening the greenhouse effect, and that in turn lowered the global temperature of the Earth.
This is one of many scientific hypotheses to explain the onset of the minor ice age that in the late sixteenth century brought a long-term cooling of the climate in Europe.
The minor ice age changed the economy of Europe. Over the decades that followed, the long, frozen winters, cool summers and intense precipitation reduced the yield of traditional forms of farming. In Western Europe, small family farms producing food for their own needs proved inefficient. Waves of famine ensued, and the need to specialize production. England and Holland were worst affected by the colder climate; as their economies could no longer rely on farming, they began to develop trade and industry. The threat of storms prompted the Dutch to dry out the polders and to convert marshy areas and shallow marine zones into land. The southward shift of the range where cod occur, though catastrophic for Scandinavia, proved advantageous for England and Holland―it allowed these countries to start developing into naval and commercial powers. The significant cooling was particularly acutely felt in the Scandinavian countries. Contact with Greenland and Iceland broke off, the severe winters reduced the harvests, and years of famine and shortages set in. So Sweden turned its greedy gaze southward, embarking on war against Poland (especially as the Baltic Sea had frozen, making it easy to march an army across it) and getting involved in the Thirty Years' War in Europe.
The efforts of scientists, trying to establish a better understanding of our reality, show it to be a mutually coherent, densely connected system of influences. This is no longer just the famous "butterfly effect," which as we know involves the way that minimal changes at the start of a process can lead in the future to tremendous, unpredictable results, but here we have an infinite number of butterflies and their wings, in constant motion―
a powerful wave of life that travels through time.
In my view, the discovery of "the butterfly effect" marks the end of the era of unswerving faith in our own capacity to be effective, our ability to control, and by the same token our sense of supremacy in the world. This does not take away from mankind our power to be a builder, a conqueror and an inventor, yet it illustrates that reality is more complicated than mankind might ever have supposed. And that we are nothing but a tiny part of these processes.
We have more and more proof of the existence of some spectacular, sometimes highly surprising dependencies on a worldwide scale.
We are all―people, plants, animals, and objects―immersed in a single space, which is ruled by the laws of physics. This common space has its shape, and within it the laws of physics sculpt an infinite number of forms that are incessantly linked to one another. Our cardiovascular system is like the system of a river basin, the structure of a leaf is like a human transport system, the motion of the galaxies is like the whirl of water flowing down our washbasins. Societies develop in a similar way to colonies of bacteria. The micro and macro scale show an endless system of similarities.
Our speech, thinking and creativity are not something abstract, removed from the world, but a continuation on another level of its endless processes of transformation.
I keep wondering if these days it's possible to find the foundations of a new story that's universal, comprehensive, all-inclusive, rooted in nature, full of contexts and at the same time understandable.
Could there be a story that would go beyond the uncommunicative prison of one's own self, revealing a greater range of reality and showing the mutual connections? That would be able to keep its distance from the well-trodden, obvious and unoriginal center point of commonly shared opinions, and manage to look at things ex-centrically, away from the center?
I am pleased that literature has miraculously preserved its right to all sorts of eccentricities, phantasmagoria, provocation, parody and lunacy. I dream of high viewing points and wide perspectives, where the context goes far beyond what we might have expected. I dream of a language that is capable of expressing the vaguest intuition, I dream of a metaphor that surpasses cultural differences, and finally of a genre that is capacious and transgressive, but that at the same time the readers will love.
I also dream of a new kind of narrator―a "fourth-person" one, who is not merely a grammatical construct of course, but who manages to encompass the perspective of each of the characters, as well as having the capacity to step beyond the horizon of each of them, who sees more and has a wider view, and who is able to ignore time. Oh yes, I think this narrator's existence is possible.
Have you ever wondered who the marvelous storyteller is in the Bible who calls out in a loud voice: "In the beginning was the word"? Who is the narrator who describes the creation of the world, its first day, when chaos was separated from order, who follows the serial about the origin of the universe, who knows the thoughts of God, is aware of his doubts, and with a steady hand sets down on paper the incredible sentence: "And God saw that it was good"? Who is this, who knows what God thought?
Leaving aside all theological doubts, we can regard this figure of a mysterious, tender narrator as miraculous and significant. This is a point of view, a perspective from where everything can be seen. Seeing everything means recognizing the ultimate fact that all things that exist are mutually connected into a single whole, even if the connections between them are not yet known to us. Seeing everything also means a completely different kind of responsibility for the world, because it becomes obvious that every gesture "here" is connected to a gesture "there," that a decision taken in one part of the world will have an effect in another part of it, and that differentiating between "mine" and "yours" starts to be debatable.
So it could be best to tell stories honestly in a way that activates a sense of the whole in the reader's mind, that sets off the reader's capacity to unite fragments into a single design, and to discover entire constellations in the small particles of events. To tell a story that makes it clear that everyone and everything is steeped in one common notion, which we painstakingly produce in our minds with every turn of the planet.
Literature has the power to do this. We should drop the simplistic categories of highbrow and lowbrow literature, popular and niche, and take the division into genres very lightly. We should drop the definition of "national literatures," knowing as we do that the universe of literature is a single thing, like the idea of unus mundus, a common psychological reality in which our human experience is united. The Author and the Reader perform equivalent roles, the former by dint of creating, the latter by making a constant interpretation.
Perhaps we should trust fragments, as it is fragments that create constellations capable of describing more, and in a more complex way, multi-dimensionally. Our stories could refer to one another in an infinite way, and their central characters could enter into relationships with each other.
I think we have a redefinition ahead of us of what we understand nowadays by the concept of realism, and a search for a new one that would allow us to go beyond the limits of our ego and penetrate the glass screen through which we see the world. Because these days the need for reality is served by the media, social networking sites, and indirect relationships on the internet. Perhaps what inevitably lies ahead of us is a sort of neo-surrealism, some rearranged points of view that won't be afraid to stand up to a paradox, and will go against the grain when it comes to the simple order of cause-and-effect. Indeed, our reality has already become surreal. I am also sure that many stories require rewriting in our new intellectual contexts, taking their inspiration from new scientific theories. But I find it equally important to make constant reference to myth and to the entire human imaginarium. Returning to the compact structures of mythology could bring a sense of stability within the lack of specificity in which we are living nowadays. I believe that myths are the building material for our psyche, and we cannot possibly ignore them (at most we might be unaware of their influence).
No doubt a genius will soon appear, capable of constructing an entirely different, as yet unimaginable narrative in which everything essential will be accommodated. This method of storytelling is sure to change us; we will drop our old, constricting perspectives and we will open up to new ones that have in fact always existed somewhere here, but we have been blind to them.
In Doctor Faustus Thomas Mann wrote about a composer who devised a new form of absolute music capable of changing human thinking. But Mann did not describe what this music would depend on, he merely created the imaginary idea of how it might sound. Perhaps that is what the role of an artist relies on―giving a foretaste of something that could exist, and thus causing it to become imaginable. And being imagined is the first stage of existence.
I write fiction, but it is never pure fabrication. When I write, I have to feel everything inside myself. I have to let all the living beings and objects that appear in the book go through me, everything that is human and beyond human, everything that is living and not endowed with life. I have to take a close look at each thing and person, with the greatest solemnity, and personify them inside myself, personalize them.
That is what tenderness serves me for―because tenderness is the art of personifying, of sharing feelings, and thus endlessly discovering similarities. Creating stories means constantly bringing things to life, giving an existence to all the tiny pieces of the world that are represented by human experiences, the situations people have endured and their memories. Tenderness personalizes everything to which it relates, making it possible to give it a voice, to give it the space and the time to come into existence, and to be expressed. It is thanks to tenderness that the teapot starts to talk.
Tenderness is the most modest form of love. It is the kind of love that does not appear in the scriptures or the gospels, no one swears by it, no one cites it. It has no special emblems or symbols, nor does it lead to crime, or prompt envy.
It appears wherever we take a close and careful look at another being, at something that is not our "self".
Tenderness is spontaneous and disinterested; it goes far beyond empathetic fellow feeling. Instead it is the conscious, though perhaps slightly melancholy, common sharing of fate. Tenderness is deep emotional concern about another being, its fragility, its unique nature, and its lack of immunity to suffering and the effects of time. Tenderness perceives the bonds that connect us, the similarities and sameness between us. It is a way of looking that shows the world as being alive, living, interconnected, cooperating with, and codependent on itself.
Literature is built on tenderness toward any being other than ourselves. It is the basic psychological mechanism of the novel. Thanks to this miraculous tool, the most sophisticated means of human communication, our experience can travel through time, reaching those who have not yet been born, but who will one day turn to what we have written, the stories we told about ourselves and our world.
I have no idea what their life will be like, or who they will be. I often think about them with a sense of guilt and shame.
The climate emergency and the political crisis in which we are now trying to find our way, and which we are anxious to oppose by saving the world have not come out of nowhere. We often forget that they are not just the result of a twist of fate or destiny, but of some very specific moves and decisions―economic, social, and to do with world outlook (including religious ones). Greed, failure to respect nature, selfishness, lack of imagination, endless rivalry and lack of responsibility have reduced the world to the status of an object that can be cut into pieces, used up and destroyed.
That is why I believe I must tell stories as if the world were a living, single entity, constantly forming before our eyes, and as if we were a small and at the same time powerful part of it.
Translated by Jennifer Croft and Antonia Lloyd-Jones
Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 2019
MLA style: Olga Tokarczuk – Nobel Lecture. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Media AB 2021. Wed. 20 Jan 2021. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/2018/tokarczuk/lecture/>


Hundreds of excited players and their families packed Leon J. Breen Field on Saturday Aug. 4, as Little League Baseball® kicked off the 2018 Eastern Regional Tournament in Bristol, Conn.
The opening ceremony began with each of the 12 teams from the New England and Mid-Atlantic Regions carrying their banners onto the field, where they were introduced and lined up across the infield. There was no shortage of energy, as teams came out to "Everybody Dance Now" with their hometown fans cheering them on.
The 12-man umpire crew was also recognized during the ceremony, including umpire Bristol native Chris Wasieleuski, who received a rousing applause.
First to speak was East Region Director Corey Wright, who ensured the players that regardless of the outcome of their games, the tournament would be an unforgettable experience.
"Now I give all of you my word, I'm going to make all your Little League® dreams come true," said Mr. Wright.
Bristol Mayor Ellen Zoppo-Sassu was next to the podium, who thanked all the teams for coming and provided her own words of encouragement to the tournament's participants. She made sure to commemorate Connecticut's own Fairfield American team, coming off their third straight state championship.
After the Little League and Parent pledges, several volunteers were honored on the field to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the A. Bartlett Giamatti Little League Leadership Training Center in Bristol. Among these volunteers was recently-retired Region Director Don Soucy and 86-year old Connecticut native Paul DiNoia, who threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
The teams then left the field to watch the 2018 Little League Challenger Division® Exhibition Game, giving children with physical and intellectual challenges the opportunity to demonstrate their talents to a packed stadium.
This year's participants were Bristol's own Ed Beardsley Challenger Little League team, which was buddied by Staten Island's Mid Island Little League; and Vermont's South Burlington Little League teams. The Beardsley Challenger Little League team is named in honor of the late Ed Beardsley, who was a native of Bristol, and was a pioneering figure in the development of the Little League Challenger Division.
The team was split into two, eight-player teams, accompanied by their families and buddying Little League players. There was no shortage of offense in the two-inning exhibition, with the final score coming out to a 16-16 tie.
Whether it was dancing to the Macarena between innings or sprinting around the bases in hope of an inside-the-park home run, the players were glowing with excitement as an engaging crowd cheered them on. One player even did his best Babe Ruth impression by calling a base hit to right field.
He also thanked the Little League buddies, the state championship teams, and the umpires, for helping to make a great experience for his players.
The Eastern Regional Tournament officially began on Sunday morning and is scheduled to conclude on Saturday, Aug. 11, with the New England Region and Mid-Atlantic Region Championship games. The two region champions will advance to play in the 72nd Little League Baseball World Series, to be played Aug. 16-26 in Williamsport, Pa.


make 2019 a year of beautiful photos!
Take your photos to another level with our one click mobile and desktop filters!
13 of our newest desktop presets perfect for transforming your summer photos in one click!
One click mobile and desktop filters by @doyoutravel and @gypsea_lust.
We'd like to say a big thank you for taking interest in our Lightroom Presets. We really hope they help you achieve your goals and bring your photos to the next level. Whether that be creating a perfect Instagram feed or even for your professional photography.
The preset packs we have for sale are the same presets that we've spent the last 3 years crafting together to use on all of our images.
We're so stoked with the response and love seeing your beautiful edits. Check out over 1400 customer reviews and edits here.
Subscribe to be the first to receive special offers and discounts!
Subscribe to be the first to receive special offers and discounts.


text:
The useless shyster Alan Bersin is gone. One of a long tradition of both parties appointing lawyers to positions for which attorneys are of no use.
HuffPo December 22, 2011 Andrea Stone
Customs And Border Commissioner Alan Bersin Resigns
WASHINGTON — Time's up for the head of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, who announced Thursday he is stepping down at the end of the year when his recess appointment expires.
Alan Bersin served as the administration's Southwest "border czar" on undocumented immigration and drug smuggling. President Obama nominated him to be CBP commissioner in September 2009, and appointed him commissioner in March 2010 after the Senate failed to confirm him...
Bersin was one of 15 officials to be given temporary recess appointments in 2010 after their nominations stalled in the Senate. In November, Don Berwick, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and a lightening rod in the battle of health care reform, resigned from his temporary job before it expired at the end of the year.
Bersin was singularly inappropriate for the position of Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, as like Zoe Baird, he was a serial employer of illegal alien nannies. But it was the continued use of lawyers for positions that call for professional law enforcement executives that is the most concern. All of the failures of involving immigration enforcement involved a cadre of shysters, Chertoff, Bersin, Napolitano, Myers, Morton. Every single one a shark with a sheepskin from an expensive law school. And nary a single one ever made an arrest.


The 2009–10 UCI Asia Tour was the 6th season of the UCI Asia Tour. The season began on 6 October 2009 with the Tour of Milad du Nour, and ended on 20 September 2010 with the Tour de Hokkaido.
The points leader, based on the cumulative results of previous races, wears the UCI Asia Tour cycling jersey. Ghader Mizbani from Iran was the defending champion of the 2008–09 UCI Asia Tour. Mehdi Sohrabi of Iran was crowned as the 2009–10 UCI Asia Tour champion.


text:
Home News Singtel to launch nationwide cellular IoT network in Singapore
Singtel to launch nationwide cellular IoT network in Singapore
Singaporean telecommunications company Singtel is to roll-out a nationwide cellular IoT network next month, the company has announced.
The network will support CAT-M1 and NB-IoT technologies which will allow businesses to benefit from applications with low-power consumption, deep coverage and multiple connections.
In addition, Singtel says it will work with businesses and cybersecurity experts to help them implement reliable IoT solutions. It is unclear what this entails thus far, but the company says it hopes to alleviate security concerns that are currently acting as a deterrent for businesses looking to invest in IoT.
Bill Chang, chief executive officer, Group Enterprise at Singtel, said, "The launch of our network provides an ideal platform for the proliferation of IoT devices and applications. With more businesses embracing the digital future, it paves the way for IoT adoption as Singapore advances towards becoming a Smart Nation. We welcome businesses to be part of the growing IoT ecosystem by leveraging on our robust infrastructure and network."
Read more: M1 and Nokia complete Singapore's first "live" NB-IoT demo
Singtel touts advantages of cellular
A cellular IoT network can support devices with battery life of up to 10 years or more, as it leverages both low-band and mid-band frequencies. Singtel claims that the advantage of using its cellular IoT over CAT-M1 network is that it enables businesses to make VoLTE calls in future using small portable devices with long battery life, such as wearables and trackers with voice capability.
In tandem with the deployment, Singtel says it will be inviting businesses and technology partners to try out and develop IoT solutions at the IoT Innovation Lab. Set up in collaboration with Ericsson, the Iab allows businesses to experience new IoT applications first-hand and develop business models.
Mr Chang added, "We are constantly forging partnerships with IoT enablers to create a rich IoT ecosystem, and develop end-to-end solutions to meet our customers' needs."
Read more: Vodafone and Spark both announce IoT networks for New Zealand
cat-m1


Fossil Mint sandstone is unusual and highly variable in colour. If there is a colour that appears in the stone more often than others it is the pale mint green.
However yellows, browns, reds and even purples are evident in the stone. The black fern-like fossils are frost-finger like mineral deposits exposed when the stone is split. The variability from slab to slab and the intricate patterns in Fossil Mint will always grab attention.


text:
Donald James « Don » MacLean, né le  à Palo Alto en Californie, est un ancien joueur américain de basket-ball, évoluant au poste d'ailier fort.

Carrière

Palmarès
 NBA Most Improved Player 1994

Références

Liens externes

Naissance en janvier 1970
Naissance à Palo Alto
Joueur américain de basket-ball
Joueur drafté par les Pistons de Détroit
Joueur des Bullets de Washington
Joueur des Nuggets de Denver
Joueur des 76ers de Philadelphie
Joueur des Nets du New Jersey
Joueur des SuperSonics de Seattle
Joueur des Suns de Phoenix
Joueur du Heat de Miami
Joueur de basket-ball des Bruins de l'UCLA
Consultant sportif

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Community honors fallen 9/11 victims, heroes
Remember, honor and never forget: That is the theme of the Brighton Area Fire Authority's annual ceremony recognizing the fallen first responders who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks 15 years ago today.
Community members, firefighters and the general public gather at 6 p.m. today at the station on Grand River Avenue in downtown Brighton to honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty.
The program begins with a procession of uniformed staff, the presentation of colors and the national anthem sung by Andrea Peterson of St. Patrick Catholic Church in Brighton.
Brighton Fire Chief Michael O'Brian will give a welcome address with remarks by Hartland Township Fire Chief Adam Carroll and South Lyon Fire Chief Mike Kennedy to follow.
Capt. Greg Mowbray will close the ceremony following the presentation of the wreath by the area fire chiefs.
Brighton Area Fire Department's ceremony is held by the steel beam from one of the collapsed World Trade Center towers, which was installed at the station on the 10th anniversary of the attacks.
On Saturday, the department sponsored a 5K (3.1-mile) run/walk in memory of the terrorist attack victims. The runners began at the Mill Pond and finished at the Sept. 11 memorial at the fire hall.
On Sept. 11, 2001, militants with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked four airlines — two of the planes were flown into the World Trade Center towers in New York City while the third plane hit the Pentagon and the fourth crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.
Three people in the towers at the time they collapsed survived while more than 3,000 people were killed during the attacks, including more than 400 police officers and firefighters.
Contact Livingston Daily business reporter Noe Hernandez at 517-552-2854 or nhernandez@livingstondaily.com. Follow him on Facebook or Twitter @sayyesnoe.


This is California Speed Shop ™ Instagram Profile (@californiaspeedshop). Here you can discover all stories, photos, videos posted by California Speed Shop ™ on Instagram Profile.
You can see all stories, posts, likes, followers, followings, comments, and so on identified with California Speed Shop ™ Instagram Profile from here.
Altogether California Speed Shop ™ has 73,059 followers and follows 51 on Instagram. Since joining Instagram California Speed Shop ™ has posted around 1,095 photos and videos there altogether.
On the off chance that you need take after more updates or need to get general cautions at whatever point California Speed Shop ™ posts anything on instagram click here and follow the user.
One lean and mean #Chevy! 🇺🇸 Owned by @zx_racer Send a pic of your car to us for a chance to get featured!
Check out this great Camaro find from @wickedponyracing owner by an elderly lady🇺🇸🏁 Would you keep her "as-is" or do a full blown resto?
Check out this '72 Plymouth found by @2manymopars 🇺🇸🏁 What would be the FIRST thing you do to this car?


text:
Q: Hide textOutput() when un-click row of a DT::datatable in shiny app I have the shiny app below in which when the user clicks on a row of the datatable a subset happens in another dataframe df and a text is displayed.
When I press the Next actionbutton() the text displayes the data of the next row of the subseted dataframe.
But when the row is un-clicked I want this message to be hidden again.
shinyApp(
  ui <- fluidPage(DT::dataTableOutput('tableId'),
                  textOutput("celltext"),
                  actionButton("next","Next")),

  server <- function(input, output) {
    rv <- reactiveValues(text=NULL)
    dt <- reactiveValues(data=NULL)
    rnum <- reactiveVal(0)
    output$tableId = DT::renderDataTable(
      iris[,c(1,5)],  selection = list(target = 'row',mode="single")
    )
    species<-c("setosa","setosa","virginica","virginica","setosa","setosa","virginica","virginica")
    flower<-c("a","b","c","d","e","f","g","h")
    score<-c(7,5,6,9,1,2,3,4)
    df<-data.frame(species,flower,score)

    observeEvent(input$tableId_rows_selected, {
      if(is.null(input$tableId_rows_selected)){
        return(NULL)
      }
      else{
        row <- input$tableId_rows_selected
        dat<-df[df$species %in% iris[row,5],]
        dt$data <-dat[order(dat$score,decreasing = T),]
        rv$text <- paste("flower",dt$data[1,2],"has score",dt$data[1,3])
        rnum(1)
        output$celltext <- renderText({
          rv$text
        })
      }

    })

    observeEvent(input[['next']], {
      rnum(rnum()+1)
      rv$text <- paste("flower",dt$data[rnum(),2],"has score",dt$data[rnum(),3])
    })
  }
)

A: You can check for the length of input$tableId_rows_selected while rendering celltext.
library(shiny)

shinyApp(
  ui <- fluidPage(DT::dataTableOutput('tableId'),
                  textOutput("celltext"),
                  actionButton("next","Next")),

  server <- function(input, output) {
    rv <- reactiveValues(text=NULL)
    dt <- reactiveValues(data=NULL)
    rnum <- reactiveVal(0)
    output$tableId = DT::renderDataTable(
      iris[,c(1,5)],  selection = list(target = 'row',mode="single")
    )
    species<-c("setosa","setosa","virginica","virginica","setosa","setosa","virginica","virginica")
    flower<-c("a","b","c","d","e","f","g","h")
    score<-c(7,5,6,9,1,2,3,4)
    df<-data.frame(species,flower,score)

    observeEvent(input$tableId_rows_selected, {
      if(is.null(input$tableId_rows_selected)){
        return(NULL)
      }
      else{
        row <- input$tableId_rows_selected
        dat<-df[df$species %in% iris[row,5],]
        dt$data <-dat[order(dat$score,decreasing = T),]
        rv$text <- paste("flower",dt$data[1,2],"has score",dt$data[1,3])
        rnum(1)

        output$celltext <- renderText({
          if(length(input$tableId_rows_selected))  rv$text
          else ''
        })
      }

    })

    observeEvent(input[['next']], {
      rnum(rnum()+1)
      rv$text <- paste("flower",dt$data[rnum(),2],"has score",dt$data[rnum(),3])
    })
  }
)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Tatjana Andrejewna Akimowa, geborene Semjonowa, (; engl. Transkription Tatiana Akimova (Semenova); * 26. Oktober 1990 in Tscheboksary, Tschuwaschische ASSR, Russische SFSR, Sowjetunion) ist eine russische Biathletin.

Karriere
Tatjana Akimowa trat international erstmals bei den Biathlon-Juniorenweltmeisterschaften 2011 in Ridnaun in Erscheinung und wurde dort 17. des Sprints und Zehnte der Verfolgung. Im weiteren Jahresverlauf folgten die Sommerbiathlon-Weltmeisterschaften 2011 in Nové Město na Moravě. Im Sprintrennen platzierte sie sich mit drei Schießfehlern auf dem 23. Platz, im auf dem Sprint basierenden Verfolgungsrennen wurde sie mit zehn Fehlern erneut 23. und letzte nicht als überrundete Läuferin aus dem Rennen genommene Starterin.

Am 11. Juni 2015 heiratete sie den Biathleten Wjatscheslaw Akimow und nahm seinen Familiennamen an. Zuvor startete sie unter ihrem Mädchennamen Semjonowa.

Ihren ersten Weltcupsieg holte Tatjana Akimowa im Dezember 2016 beim Sprintrennen in Nové Město. Dort kam sie vor Anaïs Chevalier und Susan Dunklee in Ziel.

2017 holte sie mit der Mixed-Staffel bei der Biathlon-WM in Hochfilzen die Bronzemedaille.

In der darauffolgenden Saison nahm sie an den  Olympischen Winterspielen 2018 in Pyeongchang teil, wo sie ihr bestes Resultat mit Platz 15 im Einzel erzielte.

Am 10. August 2019 wurde Akimowa Mutter einer Tochter, woraufhin sie in der Saison 2019/20 pausierte. Schon im vorherigen Jahr hatte sie aufgrund ihrer Schwangerschaft nicht an Wettbewerben teilgenommen.

In der Saison 2020/21 kehrte sie in den Weltcup zurück. Im Dezember bestritt sie mit dem Sprint von Hochfilzen ihr erstes Rennen, in dem sie mit Platz 29 und zwei Schießfehlern direkt wieder in die Punkteränge laufen konnte. In der darauffolgenden Verfolgung wurde sie, ebenfalls mit zwei Fehlern, 33., was einen erneuten Punktegewinn bedeutete. Die Rennen in Hochfilzen waren für sie die ersten seit fast drei Jahren.

Statistik

Platzierungen im Biathlon-Weltcup

Olympische Winterspiele
Ergebnisse bei Olympischen Winterspielen:

Weblinks

 Российский биатлон: Молодежная сборная России. Женщины (Kurzbio mit Bild, russisch, gesichtet 4. Januar 2012)

Einzelnachweise

Biathlet (Russland)
Olympiateilnehmer (Russland)
Teilnehmer der Olympischen Winterspiele 2018
Universiadeteilnehmer (Russland)
Teilnehmer der Winter-Universiade 2013
Universiadesieger (Biathlon)
Sportsoldat (Russland)
Sowjetbürger
Russe
Geboren 1990
Frau


Build assets with Monefly. It's the ultimate platform for building wealth.
Track values - property value estimates, share market data, superfund balances and car value data updated daily. Unlimited data free.
Easily monitor growth performance. With assets, loans and net worth data on tap, it's easy to make better investment decisions.
Build financial intelligence with our content-rich library and training programs packed with ideas on how to build your assets.
Peer compare data - measure your financial performance against your peers in your suburb with our remarkable insights.


text:
There's Something Strange About Peyton Manning's 'Furious' HGH Denial
12/27/2015 09:20 pm ET Updated Jan 10, 2017
It's not a complete denial.
By Lydia O'Connor
Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning gave a confusing response Sunday when pressed to explain allegations that a clinic sent NFL-banned performance-enhancing drugs to his house under his wife's name, first calling the reports "complete trash" and then distancing himself from his wife's prescriptions.
After an Al Jazeera documentary, "The Dark Side: Secrets of the Sports Dopers," aired earlier that day and included the claim that a clinic mailed human growth hormone and other drugs to Manning's wife, Manning went on ESPN to clear things up.
"It's completely fabricated, complete trash, garbage," Manning told ESPN host Lisa Salters. He denied ever using HGH. He also said he attended the Guyer Institute in Indiana -- where the pharmacist worked who alleged sending HGH to Manning's wife -- to recover from a neck injury in 2011.
The pharmacist, Charlie Sly, has since recanted the claims, telling ESPN that he "made up" the HGH delivery. Manning also denied ever knowing Sly. Later on Sunday he told NBC Sports he's likely to sue over the allegations.
But when pressed to explain how his wife Ashley Manning was involved, the quarterback distanced himself from anything she received from the clinic and did not deny her being a patient there, saying only that the report "violated" her medical history and privacy.
"Any medical treatments that my wife received, that's her business," he said. "That has nothing to do with me. Nothing that's been sent to her or [that] my wife has used have I ever taken. Absolutely not. I have my treatments that I do, she may have hers and that is her business. There's no connection between the two."
A spokesman for Manning confirmed to NFL Network reporter Ian Rapoport that Manning's wife was a patient at the clinic and did have a prescription but wouldn't confirm what it was, Rapoport said on Twitter.
It remains unclear whether Ashley Manning was ever in possession of the drug.
"As the statements pile up regarding the Peyton Manning report," ProFootballTalk founder Mike Florio pointed out, "Ashley Manning's silence becomes even more conspicuous."
Manning to me for NBC on suing Al Jazeera: "Yeah, I probably will. I'm that angry." — Al J: Anti-aging clinic said Sly DID work there in'11.
— Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) December 28, 2015
Al Jazeera has not backed away from the story and told reporters that Sly did work for the clinic in 2011, contrary to comments Sly made to ESPN claiming otherwise.
Amazing Photos From The 2015 NFL Season
Lydia O'Connor
Reporter, HuffPost
Peyton Manning Peyton Manning Doping Peyton Manning Hgh Al Jazeera Human Growth Homrone
Green Bay Packers running back Eddie Lacy is flipped and brought down by Denver Broncos linebacker DeMarcus Ware during the first quarter on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2015, at Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver. (Mark Reis/Colorado Springs Gazette/TNS via Getty Images)
Colorado Springs Gazette via Getty Images


text:
Q: Convertir un String a Array[Int] y viceversa Help me please!

STRING to ARRAY[Int]

input : var str = "4869"
output: var num:[Int] = [4,8,6,9]

ARRAY[Int] to STRING

input : var num2:[Int] = [5,8,9,6]
output: var str2 = "5896"

A: Version corta sin explicación:
import UIKit

let str = "24234k234hj234"
var digits = str.flatMap({Int(String($0))})

print(digits)

imprime
[2, 4, 2, 3, 4, 2, 3, 4, 2, 3, 4]

al reves
let numbers= [1,2,3]
let text = numbers.map({String($0)}).joined()

imprime
"123"

Explicación
Un string se puede interpretar como un arreglo de caracteres, por lo que recorrerlo.
let str = "123456"
for char in str {

}

Ahora, cada elemento es de tipo character, por lo que tienes que castearlo, una forma podrías ser:
Int(char)

Pero Int no tiene un constructor con tipo character, así que antes tendrías que pasar es chracter a string
String(char)
Luego pasarlo a Int
Int(String(char))
Eso sí, este constructor devuelve un optional por lo que tendrías que hacer un unwrapping.
Int(String(char))!
Esto, forced unwrapping no es recomendable, por lo que podrías ponerlo dentro de un condicional, así te aseguras de solo tomar los número, acá un ejemplo completo
import UIKit

let str = "123123"
var digits: [Int] = []

for char in str {
    if let digit = Int(String(char)) {
        digits.append(digit)
    }
}

print(digits)

en este caso imprime
[1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3]

otro ejemplo, con letras entremedio
let str = "24234k234hj234"
...
print(str)

imprime
[2, 4, 2, 3, 4, 2, 3, 4, 2, 3, 4]

map es una function que te permite aplicar un acción a cada elemento del arreglo, flatMap ignora los nulos y entrega la versión no
optional
joined junta los elementos de un arreglo.