僕は三⼗七歳で、そのときボーイング７４７のシートに座っていた。その巨⼤な⾶⾏機はぶ厚い⾬雲をくぐり抜けて降下し、ハンブルク空港に着陸しようとしているところだった。⼗⼀⽉の冷ややかな⾬が⼤地を暗く染め、⾬合⽻を着た整備⼯たちや、のっぺりとした空港ビルの上に⽴った旗や、ＢＭＷの広告板やそんな何もかもをフランドル派の陰うつな絵の背景のように⾒せていた。やれやれ、またドイツか、と僕は思った。    ⾶⾏機が着地を完了すると禁煙のサインが消え、天井のスピーカーから⼩さな⾳でＢＧＭが流れはじめた。それはどこかのオーケストラが⽢く演奏するビートルズの「ノルウェイの森」だった。そしてそのメロディーはいつものように僕を混乱させた。いや、いつもとは⽐べものにならないくらい激しく僕を混乱させ揺り動かした。    僕は頭がはりさけてしまわないように⾝をかがめて両⼿で顔を覆い、そのままじっとしていた。やがてドイツ⼈のスチュワーデスがやってきて、気分がわるいのかと英語で訊いた。⼤丈夫、少し⽬まいがしただけだと僕は答えた。   「本当に⼤丈夫？」   「⼤丈夫です、ありがとう」と僕は⾔った。スチュワーデスはにっこりと笑って⾏ってしまい、⾳楽はビリー・ジョエルの曲に変った。僕は顔を上げて北海の上空に浮かんだ暗い雲を眺め、⾃分がこれまでの⼈⽣の過程で失ってきた多くのもののことを考えた。失われた時間、死にあるいは去っていった⼈々、もう戻ることのない想い。    ⾶⾏機が完全にストップして、⼈々がシートベルトを外し、物⼊れの中からバッグやら上着やらをとりだし始めるまで、僕はずっとあの草原の中にいた。僕は草の匂いをかぎ、肌に⾵を感じ、⿃の声を聴いた。それは⼀九六九年の秋で、僕はもうすぐ⼆⼗歳になろうとしていた。    前と同じスチュワーデスがやってきて、僕の隣りに腰を下ろし、もう⼤丈夫かと訊ねた

A few months ago, while meeting with an A.I. executive in San Francisco, I spotted a strange sticker on his laptop. The sticker depicted a cartoon of a menacing, octopus-like creature with many eyes and a yellow smiley-face attached to one of its tentacles. I asked what it was. “Oh, that’s the Shoggoth,” he explained. “It’s the most important meme in A.I.” And with that, our agenda was officially derailed. Forget about chatbots and compute clusters — I needed to know everything about the Shoggoth, what it meant and why people in the A.I. world were talking about it. The executive explained that the Shoggoth had become a popular reference among workers in artificial intelligence, as a vivid visual metaphor for how a large language model (the type of A.I. system that powers ChatGPT and other chatbots) actually works.

Astronomers observe time dilation in early universe Ian Sample 3-4 minutes 7/3/2023 Astronomers have watched the distant universe running in slow motion, marking the first time that the weird effect predicted by Einstein more than a century ago has been observed in the early cosmos. The scientists found that events appeared to unfold five times slower when the universe was a mere 1bn years old, or about a tenth of its present age, because of the way the expansion of the universe stretches time. “We see things changing about five times slower than today,” said Geraint Lewis, a professor of astrophysics and lead author of the study at the University of Sydney. “It’s like watching a movie with the speed turned down.” According to Einstein’s theory of general relativity, astronomers should see ancient cosmic events happen more slowly than modern ones. The effect, known as time dilation, is driven by the expansion of the universe, as laid out in the scientist’s fundamental exposition of gravity in 1915. One consequence of the expanding universe is that light is stretched as it travels across the cosmos, making the wavelength longer. The effect causes ancient galaxies to appear redder than they are, or redshifted. But time is also stretched: if a distant object flashes once every second, the expansion of the universe ensures that more than one second elapses between the flashes by the time they reach Earth. Astronomers have previously seen stars explode in slow motion, with the flash and fade unfolding at roughly half normal speed, from when the universe was half its present age. But attempts to see time dilation in the very early cosmos by observing extremely bright, distant galaxies called quasars had failed to find the effect. Lewis and his colleague Dr Brendon Brewer at the University of Auckland ran detailed statistical analyses on 190 quasars observed over two decades and found that contrary to earlier work, cosmic events did appear to unfold much more slowly in the early universe. The key to their success, described in Nature Astronomy, was to find the equivalent of a clock’s tick in the quasars’ rich and erratic light displays. While astronomers fully expected to see time dilation in the ancient universe and were puzzled as to why earlier work had failed to spot the effect, the prediction still had to be tested, Lewis said. “On some level, this builds confidence that we know how the universe operates,” he said. “We have this picture given to us by Einstein and we test it and test it and test it. A good scientist doesn’t take these things for granted. You have to keep testing.” Prof Brian Schmidt, an astronomer at the Australian National University in Canberra, who shared the Nobel prize in physics in 2011 for discovering the accelerating expansion of the universe, said science progressed by continually testing the predictions of theories. “In this case, Lewis and collaborators have extended the time dilation studies undertaken previously with supernovae to larger distances,” he said. “And while they have found that once again general relativity has predicted what has been observed, this clears up some potential concerns around time dilation seen in quasars from other studies.”

screenrant.com /barbie-oppenheimer-nolan-box-office-battle-deeper-meaning/ Barbie Vs. Oppenheimer Is Hilarious - But 2023's Huge Box Office Battle Has A Deeper Meaning Alex Keenan 5-6 minutes 7/2/2023 Home Movies Movie Features The Barbie vs Oppenheimer box office battle is objectively funny to watch play out, but the clash does have larger implications for audiences. An image of Margo Robbie in Barbie and Cillian Murphy in Oppeheimer While the box office battle between Barbie and Oppenheimer is objectively amusing, there’s a deeper meaning behind the Gerwig-Nolan film clash this summer. It’s a time-honored tradition to pit movies against each other, whether it's Alien vs. Predator or Mothra vs. Godzilla. Sometimes, this is even intentional, as releasing two movies on the same day that are very different from each other is called ‘counterprogramming’ and is a way to draw audiences from one project to another. But there’s more to this dual-release than just marketing or a fan dispute of whether Christopher Nolan or Greta Gerwig is your favorite director, but is a way to gauge the current cultural temperature in America. Barbie is a film co-written and directed by Greta Gerwig and featuring Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie as Ken and the titular Barbie, respectively. Barbie's cast of characters will likely explore themes of of appearances vs. reality, the nature of perfection, and existentialism. In the other corner, the Oppenheimer movie cast will portray a biological thriller directed and written by Christopher Nolan. The film is about the life of Robert Oppenheimer, a physicist who helped develop the first nuclear weapons. Both films have similar budgets and are set to release on July 21, 2023, which has led to the Barbie vs. Oppenheimer box office battle as a feud between fans of each director and the films overall. Barbie Vs. Oppenheimer Is A Battle For The Soul Of Cinema... Well, Almost An image of Kate McKinnon holding a stilettos and birkenstock in Barbie While the Barbie vs. Oppenheimer clash may seem superfluous on the surface, it may become something of a touchstone for the current cultural climate in the U.S., a way to gauge where the soul of cinema currently lies. This is especially due to how different these two movies are, from featuring very different aesthetics, leads, and tones from two very different directors, and especially ones that are publicly recognized as masters of their craft. But even beyond how funny it is to pit the neon pink gaudiness of Barbie against the intense charcoal of Oppenheimer, there are potentially larger ramifications for both directors behind it. First of all, there are two very different filmmaking philosophies at work in Barbie and Oppenheimer. One is an approach to make a very fun, accessible movie that's made for everyone, regardless of whether they like Barbies or not. It also has something intelligent to say regarding life and philosophy. On the other side, Nolan is famous for his strict cinematic tenets and is the stereotypical modern auteur that tends to make very dark, mind-bending films. No matter how much fun it is to pit Barbie and Oppenheimer against each other, there will be room for both on the big screen and among audiences. But the direct comparison between the two makes for an interesting clash of film theories and understanding of what is more appealing to American audiences, especially in a period where divisiveness and diametrical opposition are on the rise. With both films addressing what it means to live a meaningful life, whether that means considering one’s mortality or examining the ramifications of world-changing, destructive possibility, the popularity of one film or the other could reflect which of these societal anxieties audiences are more concerned with. Barbie Is Caught Up In A Christopher Nolan Custody Battle An image of Emily Blunt holding Cillian Murphy by his coat lapels in Oppenheimer Beyond the cultural messages behind Barbie vs. Oppenheimer, there are also professional implications to the clash, as Oppenheimer is Nolan's first release for Universal Pictures and his first since Memento that wasn’t made for Warner Bros. This schism occurred because Nolan wasn’t happy with Warner Bros.’ plans to release their 2021 films in theaters and on the streaming service HBO Max. Nolan said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter “Some of our industry’s biggest filmmakers and most important movie stars went to bed the night before thinking they were working for the greatest movie studio and woke up to find out they were working for the worst streaming service.” Since the 2021 schism, Warner Bros. has wanted to encourage Nolan to return to the studio. However, conversely, the studio is also releasing Barbie in direct competition with Oppenheimer, providing mixed messages, to Nolan and the public at large. As such, the Barbie vs. Oppenheimer clash could, weirdly enough, have some degree of influence over how Nolan’s professional future progresses and who he works with.

〔幕启：这种大茶馆现在已经不见了。在几十年前，每城都起码有一处。这里卖茶，也卖简单的点心与菜饭。玩鸟的人们，每天在蹓够了画眉、黄鸟等之后，要到这里歇歇腿，喝喝茶，并使鸟儿表演歌唱。商议事情的，说媒拉纤的，也到这里来。那年月，时常有打群架的，但是总会有朋友出头给双方调解；三五十口子打手，经调人东说西说，便都喝碗茶，吃碗烂肉面（大茶馆特殊的食品，价钱便宜，作起来快当），就可以化干戈为玉帛了。总之，这是当日非常重要的地方，有事无事都可以来坐半天。〔在这里，可以听到最荒唐的新闻，如某处的大蜘蛛怎么成了精，受到雷击。奇怪的意见也在这里可以听到，象把海边上都修上大墙，就足以挡住洋兵上岸。这里还可以听到某京戏演员新近创造了什么腔儿，和煎熬鸦片烟的最好的方法。这里也可以看到某人新得到的奇珍--一个出土的玉扇坠儿，或三彩的鼻烟壶。这真是个重要的地方，简直可以算作文化交流的所在。\n\n〔我们现在就要看见这样的一座茶馆。〔一进门是柜台与炉灶--为省点事，我们的舞台上可以不要炉灶；后面有些锅勺的响声也就够了。屋子非常高大，摆着长桌与方桌，长凳与小凳，都是茶座儿。隔窗可见后院，高搭着凉棚，棚下也有茶座儿。屋里和凉棚下都有挂鸟笼的地方。各处都贴着\"莫谈国事\"的纸条。〔有两位茶客，不知姓名，正眯着眼，摇着头，拍板低唱。有两三位茶客，也不知姓名，正入神地欣赏瓦罐里的蟋蟀。两位穿灰色大衫的--宋恩子与吴祥子，正低声地谈话，看样子他们是北衙门的办案的（侦缉）。〔今天又有一起打群架的，据说是为了争一只家鸽，惹起非用武力解决不可的纠纷。假若真打起来，非出人命不可，因为被约的打手中包括着善扑营的哥儿们和库兵，身手都十分厉害。好在，不能真打起来，因为在双方还没把打手约齐，已有人出面调停了--现在双方在这里会面。三三两两的打手，都横眉立目，短打扮，随时进来，往后院去。〔马五爷在不惹人注意的角落，独自坐着喝茶

CHAPTER I. Down the Rabbit-Hole Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, “and what is the use of a book,” thought Alice “without pictures or conversations?” So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her. There was nothing so _very_ remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so _very_ much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, “Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!” (when she thought it over afterwards, it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural); but when the Rabbit actually _took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket_, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge. In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again. The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well. Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to wonder what was going to happen next. First, she tried to look down and make out what she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything; then she looked at the sides of the well, and noticed that they were filled with cupboards and book-shelves; here and there she saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs. She took down a jar from one of the shelves as she passed; it was labelled “ORANGE MARMALADE”, but to her great disappointment it was empty: she did not like to drop the jar for fear of killing somebody underneath, so managed to put it into one of the cupboards as she fell past it. “Well!” thought Alice to herself, “after such a fall as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling down stairs! How brave they’ll all think me at home! Why, I wouldn’t say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the house!” (Which was very likely true.) Down, down, down. Would the fall _never_ come to an end? “I wonder how many miles I’ve fallen by this time?” she said aloud. “I must be getting somewhere near the centre of the earth. Let me see: that would be four thousand miles down, I think—” (for, you see, Alice had learnt several things of this sort in her lessons in the schoolroom, and though this was not a _very_ good opportunity for showing off her knowledge, as there was no one to listen to her, still it was good practice to say it over) “—yes, that’s about the right distance—but then I wonder what Latitude or Longitude I’ve got to?” (Alice had no idea what Latitude was, or Longitude either, but thought they were nice grand words to say.) Presently she began again. “I wonder if I shall fall right _through_ the earth! How funny it’ll seem to come out among the people that walk with their heads downward! The Antipathies, I think—” (she was rather glad there _was_ no one listening, this time, as it didn’t sound at all the right word) “—but I shall have to ask them what the name of the country is, you know. Please, Ma’am, is this New Zealand or Australia?” (and she tried to curtsey as she spoke—fancy _curtseying_ as you’re falling through the air! Do you think you could manage it?) “And what an ignorant little girl she’ll think me for asking! No, it’ll never do to ask: perhaps I shall see it written up somewhere.” Down, down, down. There was nothing else to do, so Alice soon began talking again. “Dinah’ll miss me very much to-night, I should think!” (Dinah was the cat.) “I hope they’ll remember her saucer of milk at tea-time. Dinah my dear! I wish you were down here with me! There are no mice in the air, I’m afraid, but you might catch a bat, and that’s very like a mouse, you know. But do cats eat bats, I wonder?” And here Alice began to get rather sleepy, and went on saying to herself, in a dreamy sort of way, “Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats?” and sometimes, “Do bats eat cats?” for, you see, as she couldn’t answer either question, it didn’t much matter which way she put it. She felt that she was dozing off, and had just begun to dream that she was walking hand in hand with Dinah, and saying to her very earnestly, “Now, Dinah, tell me the truth: did you ever eat a bat?” when suddenly, thump! thump! down she came upon a heap of sticks and dry leaves, and the fall was over. Alice was not a bit hurt, and she jumped up on to her feet in a moment: she looked up, but it was all dark overhead; before her was another long passage, and the White Rabbit was still in sight, hurrying down it. There was not a moment to be lost: away went Alice like the wind, and was just in time to hear it say, as it turned a corner, “Oh my ears and whiskers, how late it’s getting!” She was close behind it when she turned the corner, but the Rabbit was no longer to be seen: she found herself in a long, low hall, which was lit up by a row of lamps hanging from the roof. There were doors all round the hall, but they were all locked; and when Alice had been all the way down one side and up the other, trying every door, she walked sadly down the middle, wondering how she was ever to get out again. Suddenly she came upon a little three-legged table, all made of solid glass; there was nothing on it except a tiny golden key, and Alice’s first thought was that it might belong to one of the doors of the hall; but, alas! either the locks were too large, or the key was too small, but at any rate it would not open any of them. However, on the second time round, she came upon a low curtain she had not noticed before, and behind it was a little door about fifteen inches high: she tried the little golden key in the lock, and to her great delight it fitted! Alice opened the door and found that it led into a small passage, not much larger than a rat-hole: she knelt down and looked along the passage into the loveliest garden you ever saw. How she longed to get out of that dark hall, and wander about among those beds of bright flowers and those cool fountains, but she could not even get her head through the doorway; “and even if my head would go through,” thought poor Alice, “it would be of very little use without my shoulders. Oh, how I wish I could shut up like a telescope! I think I could, if I only knew how to begin.” For, you see, so many out-of-the-way things had happened lately, that Alice had begun to think that very few things indeed were really impossible. There seemed to be no use in waiting by the little door, so she went back to the table, half hoping she might find another key on it, or at any rate a book of rules for shutting people up like telescopes: this time she found a little bottle on it, (“which certainly was not here before,” said Alice,) and round the neck of the bottle was a paper label, with the words “DRINK ME,” beautifully printed on it in large letters. It was all very well to say “Drink me,” but the wise little Alice was not going to do _that_ in a hurry. “No, I’ll look first,” she said, “and see whether it’s marked ‘_poison_’ or not”; for she had read several nice little histories about children who had got burnt, and eaten up by wild beasts and other unpleasant things, all because they _would_ not remember the simple rules their friends had taught them: such as, that a red-hot poker will burn you if you hold it too long; and that if you cut your finger _very_ deeply with a knife, it usually bleeds; and she had never forgotten that, if you drink much from a bottle marked “poison,” it is almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or later. However, this bottle was _not_ marked “poison,” so Alice ventured to taste it, and finding it very nice, (it had, in fact, a sort of mixed flavour of cherry-tart, custard, pine-apple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot buttered toast,) she very soon finished it off.

When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow. When it healed, and Jem’s fears of never being able to play football were assuaged, he was seldom self-conscious about his injury. His left arm was somewhat shorter than his right; when he stood or walked, the back of his hand was at right angles to his body, his thumb parallel to his thigh. He couldn’t have cared less, so long as he could pass and punt. When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident. I maintain that the Ewells started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before that. He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out. I said if he wanted to take a broad view of the thing, it really began with Andrew Jackson. If General Jackson hadn’t run the Creeks up the creek, Simon Finch would never have paddled up the Alabama, and where would we be if he hadn’t?

TOM CRUISE, ACTEUR EN APESANTEUR A 61 ans, le comédien et producteur de la saga « Mission : Impossible » défie les lois de la gravité terrestre et de la jeunesse, dans une carrière où il n’a cessé de jouer avec ses obsessions. Vous pouvez partager un article en cliquant sur les icônes de partage en haut à droite de celui-ci. La reproduction totale ou partielle d’un article, sans l’autorisation écrite et préalable du Monde, est strictement interdite. Pour plus d’informations, consultez nos conditions générales de vente. Pour toute demande d’autorisation, contactez syndication@lemonde.fr. En tant qu’abonné, vous pouvez offrir jusqu’à cinq articles par mois à l’un de vos proches grâce à la fonctionnalité « Offrir un article ». https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2023/07/11/tom-cruise-acteur-en-apesanteur_6181405_3246.html Il a eu 61 ans le 3 juillet et revient, avec toutes ses dents et un charme à peu près intact, sur les écrans dans Mission : Impossible. Dead Reckoning, partie 1, réalisé par Christopher McQuarrie, septième épisode d’une franchise inaugurée en 1996 par Brian De Palma. On aura nommé Tom Cruise, producteur et héros de cette saga d’espionnage parmi les plus populaires de l’histoire du cinéma. Trois milliards cinq cents millions de dollars (3,2 milliards d’euros) de recettes et, vingt-sept ans plus tard, cette franchise « à l’ancienne » est l’une des rares à pouvoir tenir la dragée haute au laminoir super-héroïque qui a broyé Hollywood pour le réduire à l’un des moments les plus pauvres, artistiquement et intellectuellement, de son histoire. L’arrivée au cinéma de l’Impossible Mission Force (IMF), un service autonome d’élite des renseignements américains, et de son agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise) n’intervient pas par hasard, au moment où la saga James Bond divague dans les limbes. Roger Moore, qui a infléchi le personnage vers le cool impérial, a pris sa retraite en 1985, son successeur, Timothy Dalton, plombe la succession en deux films, et Bond disparaît en 1989 jusqu’à l’arrivée, au demeurant en demi-teinte, de Pierce Brosnan en 1995. Cruise a glissé dans l’intervalle son pied dans la porte et sort le premier volume d’une possible franchise d’espionnage un an plus tard. Comme dans toute assomption, il convient d’abord de tuer le père, d’autant que Tom Cruise fut lui-même contraint de se construire à partir de l’absence du sien. JEU DE RÔLE ŒDIPIEN Cela se joue sur deux tableaux. Bond en premier lieu. A mille lieues du flegme et de l’ironie de Moore, qui traverse la fleur à la boutonnière les champs de mines et la couche des femmes, Cruise incarne un héros torturé et sacrificiel, solitaire, investi à deux cents pour cent dans sa geste rédemptionnelle. Mission : Impossible, c’est James Bond rédimé par Jésus Christ. John Woo ne s’y est pas trompé, disposant Tom Cruise tel un Christ en croix sur la paroi d’une montagne dont il a entrepris l’ascension, au début de la deuxième mission.

Octopuses Have Remarkably Similar Sleep Patterns to Humans–and May Even Dream Andy Corbley 3-4 minutes 6/30/2023 Sleeping octopus – SWNS Researchers found that, like us, the octopus transitions between two sleep stages, a “quiet” stage and an “active” stage that resembles REM sleep in mammals. Their arms and eyes twitch, their breathing rate quickens, and their skin flashes with vibrant colors—which has led scientists to conjecture that they may even be dreaming. Researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) in Japan, along with colleagues from the University of Washington in the US, meticulously examined the brain activity and skin patterning in octopuses during that active period of sleep. Roughly once an hour, the octopuses entered an active sleep phase for around a minute. During that stage, the octopuses’ brain activity very closely resembled their brain activity while awake, just like REM sleep does in humans. The study also found that while sleeping, the octopuses cycled through the same skin patterns. The scientists theorized that the animals may have been practicing their skin patterns to improve their waking camouflage behavior, or simply maintaining the pigment cells. Another idea is that the octopuses could be re-living and learning from their waking experiences, such as hunting or hiding from a predator, and reactivating the skin pattern associated with each experience. The research team said their findings, published in the journal Nature, highlight the remarkable similarities between the sleeping behavior of octopuses and humans. “All animals seem to show some form of sleep, even simple animals like jellyfish and fruit flies,” said senior author Professor Sam Reiter, head of the Computational Neuroethology Unit at OIST. “But for a long time, only vertebrates were known to cycle between two different sleep stages.” REMARKABLE MARINE LIFE: Kayaker Singing in Hopes of Attracting Beluga Whales Never Imagined They Were Actually Listening “The fact that two-stage sleep has independently evolved in distantly related creatures, like octopuses, which have large but completely different brain structures from vertebrates, suggests that possessing an active, wake-like stage may be a general feature of complex cognition,” added co-author Dr, Leenoy Meshulam. What does this mean to science? In extrapolation, it means that sleeping, and indeed dreaming, was selected for in both humans and octopuses independent of the fact that the evolutionary paths which produced these animals diverged 500 million years ago. While sleeping, animals in nature are extremely vulnerable. They’re unable to hunt or forage for food, unable to defend themselves against predators, unable to search for a mate, and unable to protect their offspring. MORE EVOLUTIONARY SCIENCE: Scientists Discover Butterflies Originated in America 100 Million Years Ago When Upstart Moths Wanted to Bask in the Sun Indeed, sleep overrides all other prime activities of life, the activities most people would suggest to be the most basic and important among multi-celled organisms. One might conclude then that sleep, and potentially dreaming, is one of the most fundamental needs for life. SHARE This Fascinating Study With Your Friends…

To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles, And by opposing end them: to die, to sleep No more; and by a sleep, to say we end The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks That Flesh is heir to? 'Tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep, To sleep, perchance to Dream; aye, there's the rub, For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause. There's the respect That makes Calamity of so long life: For who would bear the Whips and Scorns of time, The Oppressor's wrong, the proud man's Contumely, [F: poore] The pangs of dispised Love, the Law’s delay, [F: dispriz’d] The insolence of Office, and the spurns That patient merit of th'unworthy takes, When he himself might his Quietus make With a bare Bodkin? Who would Fardels bear, [F: these Fardels] To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But that the dread of something after death, The undiscovered country, from whose bourn No traveller returns, puzzles the will, And makes us rather bear those ills we have, Than fly to others that we know not of? Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, And thus the native hue of Resolution Is sicklied o'er, with the pale cast of Thought, And enterprises of great pitch and moment, [F: pith] With this regard their Currents turn awry, [F: away] And lose the name of Action. Soft you now, The fair Ophelia? Nymph, in thy Orisons Be all my sins remember'd.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed\nthe Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon\nlight of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of\nwithering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of\ncaptivity.\n\n\n\nBut one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is\nstill not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly\ncrippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One\nhundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst\nof a vast ocean of material prosperity.\n\nOne hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of\nAmerican society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come\nhere today to dramatize an appalling condition.\n\nIn a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the\narchitects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and\nthe declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which\nevery American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be\nguaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of\nhappiness.\n\nIt is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar\nas her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred\nobligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back\nmarked \"insufficient funds.\" But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice\nis bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great\nvaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check -- a\ncheck that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of\njustice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce\nurgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to\ntake the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark\nand desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is\nthe time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the\ntime to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid\nrock of brotherhood.\n\nIt would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to\nunderestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the\nNegro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating\nautumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a\nbeginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now\nbe content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as\nusual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is\ngranted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake\nthe foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.\n\nBut there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm\nthreshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our\nrightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to\nsatisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and\nhatred.\n\nWe must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and\ndiscipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical\nviolence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting\nphysical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed\nthe Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many\nof our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to\nrealize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is\ninextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.\n\nAnd as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot\nturn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, \"When\nwill you be satisfied?\" We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy\nwith the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways\nand the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's\nbasic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be\nsatisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York\nbelieves he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we\nwill not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness\nlike a mighty stream.\n\nI am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and\ntribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have\ncome from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of\npersecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the\nveterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned\nsuffering is redemptive.\n\nGo back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to\nLouisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that\nsomehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley\nof despair.\n\nI say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and\nfrustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in\nthe American dream.\n\nI have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true\nmeaning of its creed: \"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are\ncreated equal.\"\n\nI have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former\nslaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a\ntable of brotherhood.\n\nI have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state,\nsweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into\nan oasis of freedom and justice.\n\nI have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they\nwill not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their\ncharacter.\n\nI have a dream today.\n\nI have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are\npresently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be\ntransformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be\nable to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as\nsisters and brothers.\n\nI have a dream today.\n\nI have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and\nmountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked\nplaces will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and\nall flesh shall see it together.\n\nThis is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this\nfaith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.\nWith this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation\ninto a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to\nwork together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together,\nto stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.\n\nThis will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new\nmeaning, \"My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land\nwhere my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let\nfreedom ring.\"\n\nAnd if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom\nring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the\nmighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies\nof Pennsylvania!\n\nLet freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!\n\nLet freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!\n\nBut not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!\n\nLet freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!\n\nLet freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every\nmountainside, let freedom ring.\n\nWhen we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every\nhamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day\nwhen all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles,\nProtestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of\nthe old Negro spiritual, \"Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are\nfree at last!\

Der Präsident der Türkei - die als letztes Nato-Land den Beitritt Schwedens zur Verteidigungsallianz blockiert - stellt eine Bedingung für sein JA. Einen Tag vor dem NATO-Gipfel in Vilnius hat der Präsident der Türkei, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, erklärt, dass er dem Nato-Beitritt Schwedens zustimmt, wenn gleichzeitig die Europäische Union "offenen Beitrittsgespräche" mit seinem Land wieder aufnimmt. Diese Forderung kommt überraschend. Bislang hatte Erdogan als Hauptgrund für die Blockadehaltung der Türkei zum schwedischen Nato-Beitritt unzureichendes Vorgehen gegen "Terrororganisationen" genannt. Die Antwort aus Brüssel kam prompt. * Brüssel zu Erdogan: Kein Junktim zwischen EU- und NATO-Mitgliedschaft An diesem Dienstag beginnt der Nato-Gipfel im litauischen Vilnius. Um die Aufnahme Schwedens zu ermöglichen, müssen alle Mitglieder des Bündnisses zustimmen. Die Türkei ist das letzte NATO-Land, das die Aufnahme von Schweden in die Verteidigungsallianz zuletzt blockiert hatte. Erst EU-Beitrittsgespräche mit der Türkei - dann ist Schweden an der Reihe Vor seinem Abflug nach Vilnius sagte Erdogan an die EU-Länder gerichtet: "Öffnen Sie zuerst den Weg für den Beitritt der Türkei in der Europäischen Union, und dann werden wir ihn für Schweden öffnen, so wie wir ihn für Finnland geöffnet haben. Diesbezüglich habe ich gestern Abend dasselbe zu Herrn Biden gesagt, und ich muss dasselbe auch in Vilnius sagen." Die EU hatte bereits 2005 mit der Türkei Beitrittsgespräche begonnen. Diese wurden allerdings vor einigen Jahren wieder auf Eis gelegt, weil Brüssel inakzeptable Entwicklungen im Bereich der Rechtsstaatlichkeit sah. Die Antwort aus Brüssel auf Erdogans jüngsten Vorstoß kam umgehend: Das Eine habe Nichts mit dem anderen zu tun. EU-Kommissionssprecherin Dana Spinant sagte: "Beide Prozesse verlaufen parallel laufen, die NATO-Erweiterung, der Beitritt neuer NATO-Mitglieder, ist eine Schiene. Der Prozess der EU-Erweiterung des Beitritts neuer EU-Mitglieder eine andere. Das sind separate Prozesse, man kann sie nicht miteinander verbinden."