We are such stuff as dreams are made on; and our little life is rounded with a sleep. The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool. So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

Divided and conquered. It is not just in America, it is quite everywhere?! Imagine that the whiteness is created by the rich for the poor, in America. Then the Redness is created by the power for the powerless, in China. Tim Wise Part 3 the history of whiteness

There is one commentary on politico.eu on Ukraine by Mariam Naiem. On June 6, a catastrophic event unfolded in Ukraine as the dam in Nova Kakhovka was destroyed, another war crime by Russia. I’d like to highlight the following paragraph. “To us (Ukrainians), it feels as though the world is anticipating yet another tragedy, as if we are simply characters in a dystopian series. Only when faced with a concoction of pandemics, floods, bombings, torture and rape can we receive help and support. And not only this, but we have to repeatedly prove to the audience that we are brave, honest, “civilized” and not wasteful. Prove again and again that no, we are not Nazis — contrary to what Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed. When making a moral case for support, that we are not irrational or too emotional.” ...

美国作家Cormac McCarthy去世了，看到了一个推引用了他小说中的一段话： “They spoke less and less between them until at last they were silent altogether as is often the way with travelers approaching the end of a journey.” 这让我想起辛弃疾的词： 少年不识愁滋味，爱上层楼。爱上层楼，为赋新词强说愁。 而今识尽愁滋味，欲说还休。欲说还休，却道天凉好个秋！ 岁月带来了似曾相识的沧桑感。 McCarthy还有写火的段落，比如在Blood Meridian: “The flames sawed in the wind and the embers paled and deepened and paled and deepened like the bloodbeat of some living thing eviscerate upon the ground before them and they watched the fire which does contain within it something of men themselves inasmuch as they are less without it and are divided from their origins and are exiles. For each fire is all fires, and the first fire and the last ever to be.” ...

“We are living through the end of the useful internet. The future is informed discussion behind closed doors, in Discords and private fora, with the public-facing web increasingly filled with detritus generated by LLMs, bearing only a stylistic resemblance to useful information. Finding unbiased and independent product reviews, expert tech support, and all manner of helpful advice will now resemble the process by which one now searches for illegal sports streams or pirated journal articles. The decades of real human conversation hosted at places like Reddit will provide useful training material for the mindless bots and deceptive marketers that replace it.” ...

A river runs through it by Norman Maclean Like many fly fishermen in western Montana where the summer days are almost Arctic in length, I often do not start fishing until the cool of the evening. Then in the Arctic half-light of the canyon, all existence fades to a being with my soul and memories and the sounds of the Big Blackfoot River and a four-count rhythm and the hope that a fish will rise. ...

Sugar substitutes are often labelled as sugarless, sugar free, no sugar added, or aritificial sweeten. 越甜的食物往往含有更多的游离糖，包括果糖、蔗糖、葡萄糖等。甜味不仅意味着食物含有更多热量，而且甜味还会刺激大部分人的食欲，让人多吃，以获取更多的热量。这在食物丰富的现代社会，逐渐成了一个健康问题，与热量摄入过多相关的疾病成为个人、家庭和社会的沉重负担。 假如你是糖尿病的高危人群，比如肥胖，不要指望通过代糖降低罹患糖尿病的风险，有的研究反而提示改用代糖体重增加更多；假如你不是高危人群，也不要试图用代糖来防病，那不仅无效，还有可能增加心血管病和中风的风险。想要健康，还是应该尽量吃不甜的食物、喝不甜的饮料， 比如白水。 进化决定了我们对甜味的钟爱。漫长的进化过程中，人类大脑逐步形成了对糖的依赖，糖可以激活大脑中与奖赏和食欲相关的区域，导致食欲的增强。即使食物或者饮品中加入的是代糖，大脑也会通过甜味将其与高热量食物联系起来，因为高糖食物通常也是高能量食物。摄入代糖后，大脑可能会期望获得更多的能量，从而增加食欲。 想要健康，远离代糖。

There are two books to note. Gimme some truth by Jon Wiener, 1999 Wiener had a legal battle with the US government for over two and a half decades. One thing is that Nixon attempted to have Lennon deported in the spring of 1972. FBI kept a file on Lennon. The basic issue was that government officials everywhere like secrecy. By keeping the public from learning what they have done, they hope to avoid criticism, hinder the opposition, and maintain power over citizens and their elected representatives. Classified files and official secrets lie at the heart of the modern government bureaucracy and permit the undemocratic use of power to go uncrecognized and unchallenged by citizens. By the way, Jon Wiener has another book, Set the night on fire: L.A. in the sixties. ...

a song, night vision, by Suzanne Vega When the darkness takes you With her hand across your face Don't give in too quickly Find the thing she's erased a poem, a sunday drive, by Margaret Atwood Burial by fire is the last mercy: decay is reserved for the living. The desire to be loved is the last illusion: Give it up and you will be free.

penelope Her characters are people in a muddle, hopeless cases and outsiders whom she called exterminatees. She does not think that people get what they deserve in this world. Her style is plain, and subtle. She is evasive and reserved. She is inspired by Ruskin and William Morris. “novels arise out of the shortcomings of history.” “they are all gone into the world of light.” Cavafy I have gazed so much on beauty that my eyes overflow with it. ...