Honderden
mensen hebben vandaag afscheid genomen van de onlangs overleden
wereldberoemde Britse wetenschapper Stephen Hawking. In Cambridge vond
een afscheidsceremonie plaats waarbij ook verschillende bekende
gezichten aanwezig waren zoals acteur Eddie Redmayne, Hawkings vertolker
in de film The Theory of Everything.
Redmayne, die een Oscar kreeg voor zijn rol als Hawking, was
tijdens de dienst een van de sprekers. Ook zijn tegenspeelster Felicity
Jones, die Hawkings vrouw Jane speelde, was aanwezig. Verder zaten
behalve de naaste familie van Hawking onder meer Queen-gitarist Brian
May, model Lily Cole en Space X-topman Elon Musk in de kerk van de
universiteit van Cambridge.
Hawking overleed op 14 maart op 76-jarige leeftijd. De
combinatie van Hawkings theorieën met zijn handicap (bij Hawking werd
op 21-jarige leeftijd de ziekte ALS vastgesteld) maakte van hem een
icoon: de briljante geest in een verlamd lichaam.
Buiten
de kerk in het centrum van Cambridge hadden zich al uren voor de
begrafenis veel mensen verzameld om getuige te zijn van de
begrafenisstoet en afscheid te nemen van de legendarische Britse
kosmoloog en natuurkundige.Zes portiers van Gonville en Caius College droegen de kist naar de Great St Mary’s Church. Ze
waren speciaal door de familie van Hawking gevraagd om dit te doen;
zij assisteerden de professor bij lezingen of diners en waren goed
bevriend met hem.
Isaac Newton
Een
dankdienst voor Hawkings levenswerk volgt nog in de abdij van
Westminster in Londen op 15 juni. Zijn as zal dan worden begraven naast
het graf van Sir Isaac Newton die daar werd begraven in 1727, en in de
buurt van die van Charles Darwin.
De
decaan van Westminster, John Hall, zei dat het 'volkomen passend' was
dat de laatste rustplaats van de professor 'in de buurt van zijn
collega-wetenschappers ligt'.
Een hacker heeft vandaag een zoekmachine met wachtwoorden en
e-mailadressen toegankelijk gemaakt. In de database zitten
honderdduizenden gegevens van Nederlanders, maar de zoekfunctie lijkt te
zijn uitgeschakeld.
Wie wil controleren of zijn gegevens op
internet staan, krijgt een melding te zien dat de zoekfunctie niet
werkt. De AD-journalist die als eerste melding maakte van de zoekmachine
en die ook contact heeft met de bewuste hacker, zegt dat dat expres zo
is. De hacker zou bij nader inzien toch niet willen
dat de gegevens op straat komen te liggen en zegt dat hij tevreden is
over wat de zoekmachine teweegbrengt. "Misschien heb ik mijn doel ook
wel bereikt, als ik de vele reacties vandaag zie.
Het AD had
eerder toegang gekregen tot de zoekmachine en erover geschreven. In het
interview zegt de hacker dat hij de zoekmachine uit angst voor de
juridische consequenties helemaal niet meer online wil zetten, maar
uiteindelijk verscheen toch een uitgeklede versie.
Oud en versleuteld
De
wachtwoorden zijn afkomstig uit tientallen grote datalekken van de
afgelopen jaren, bij onder meer LinkedIn, Dropbox, Playstation en Uber.
Ze waren versleuteld. De eerste tekens van mailadressen en wachtwoorden
werden wel getoond; om die reden linkt de NOS niet naar de zoekmachine.
De database
zou combinaties van zo'n 1,4 miljard mailadressen en wachtwoorden van
over de hele wereld bevatten. Zo'n 3,3 miljoen daarvan zouden van
Nederlanders zijn.
'Tipgever, geen hacker'
De
hacker wil met het project duidelijk maken dat internetgebruikers
persoonlijke informatie goed moeten beveiligen. "Ik ben een tipgever,
geen hacker", zegt hij tegen de krant.
Volgens
het AD zijn deze gegevens tot nu toe vrijwel alleen beschikbaar op
afgesloten of onbekende websites, waar de data te koop werden
aangeboden. De gegevens zijn echter steeds makkelijker te vinden.
In de database staan veel gegevens van personeel van grote
overheidsinstanties en bedrijven in Nederland. Ook staan er
parlementariërs op de lijst, waardoor hackers mogelijk toegang hebben
tot gevoelige informatie. Criminelen kunnen de mailadressen en
wachtwoorden gebruiken om bijvoorbeeld persoonlijke informatie te winnen
of online aankopen te doen.
'Blijft een gevaar'
De gegevens zijn afkomstig uit datalekken die al eerder in het nieuws waren. Zo ontvreemdden hackers in 2012 meer dan 160 miljoen wachtwoorden en andere data bij netwerksite LinkedIn. In 2014 en 2016 verschaften criminelen zich toegang tot tientallen miljoenen gegevens bij taxidienst Uber.
De
bedrijven hebben destijds gebruikers geadviseerd hun wachtwoorden aan
te passen. "Maar het blijft een gevaar omdat mensen heel vaak
wachtwoorden hergebruiken", zegt Herbert Bos, hoogleraar Systems en
Network Security in AD. "Als mensen je e-mail en wachtwoord hebben, hebben ze je identiteit."
Beveiligingsonderzoeker
Rickey Gevers is niet onder de indruk van de zoekmachine: "Die database
met 1,4 miljard adressen en wachtwoorden staat al zeker een halfjaar
online, ik heb hem zelf ook."
Gevers zegt verder dat er al
zoekmachines bestaan waarmee je de database kunt doorzoeken. "En ik moet
nog zien dat die nieuwe zoekmachine online komt. Er zijn mensen
opgepakt voor zulke dingen." Voor wie vreest dat zijn of haar gegevens
in de database staan, heeft Gevers een tip: "Wijzig je wachtwoorden
geregeld."
Chinese Space Station Is Tumbling Toward an Easter Sunday Crash
ARLINGTON, Va. – The falling Chinese space station Tiangong-1 is
tumbling in orbit and may crash back to Earth early Easter Sunday (April
1), experts say. Estimates for the crash of Tiangong-1range sometime
between March 31 and April 1, with a focus of 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) on
April 1, according to Aerospace Corp., which is tracking the space
lab's fall. That April 1 target comes with an error of 16 hours, so the
spacecraft could potentially begin its fiery death dive anytime between
Saturday and Sunday afternoon. An analysis by the European Space Agency
also supports that re-entry estimate.
But scientists and engineers still cannot pinpoint exactly where and
when the 9.4-ton (8.5 metric tons) space station will fall. Partly that
is because the school bus-size Tiangong-1 is tumbling as it falls, which
makes it hard to predict how atmospheric drag will affect the
spacecraft's re-entry time and path, Aerospace Corp. engineers said
Wednesday (March 28).
"It is tumbling," Roger Thompson, a senior engineering specialist with
Aerospace Corp., told reporters at the company's office here Wednesday.
"We have been able to confirm that there is a tumble, we just can't tell
the orientation."
Aerospace Corp. confirmed using U.S. Air Force radar data and telescope observations, Thompson said.
This map by the European Space
Agency shows the area in which China's Tiangong-1 space station could
fall (shown in green) around April 1, 2018.
Credit: European Space Agency
Tiangong-1 launched in September 2011
to test docking systems and other technology needed for an even larger,
multi-module space station to be built in the 2020s. The station was
visited by China's uncrewed Shenzhou-8 spacecraft in November 2011 and
two crewed missions, one each in 2012 and 2013, respectively.
In March 2016, Tiangong-1 stopped communicating with its mission
control center in Beijing, leading the China Manned Space Engineering
Office (CMSEO) to declare its mission over. Tiangong-1 has been space junk ever since.
Currently, Tiangong-1 is expected to fall to Earth somewhere between
the latitudes of 42.7 degrees north and 42.7 degrees south, a range that
spans the border of South Dakota and Nebraska in the north and Tasmania
in the south.
As re-entry day nears for Tiangong-1, satellite trackers will be able
to make more refined predictions for where and when it will crash. In a
statement today (March 29), CMSEO officials said the public should not
fear being hit by debris from Tiangong-1.
"There is no need for people to worry about its re-entry into the
atmosphere. It won't crash to the Earth fiercely, as in sci-fi movie
scenarios, but will look more like a shower of meteors," the statement
said according to the state-run Xinhua news service.
You can still see the Tiangong-1 space station in the night sky, if you know when and where to look and have good weather.
In fact, the chances of being struck by debris from Tiangong-1 are less than 1 in a trillion, according to a fact sheet from Aerospace Corp.
If you are able to see the Tiangong-1 re-entry, you can report your
sighting to Aerospace Corp.'s Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris
Studies through the CORDS website here. Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him@tariqjmalik. Follow us@Spacedotcom,Facebook andGoogle+. Original article onSpace.com.
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But scientists and engineers still cannot pinpoint exactly where and
when the 9.4-ton (8.5 metric tons) space station will fall. Partly that
is because the school bus-size Tiangong-1 is tumbling as it falls, which
makes it hard to predict how atmospheric drag will affect the
spacecraft's re-entry time and path, Aerospace Corp. engineers said
Wednesday (March 28).
"It is tumbling," Roger Thompson, a senior engineering specialist with
Aerospace Corp., told reporters at the company's office here Wednesday.
"We have been able to confirm that there is a tumble, we just can't tell
the orientation."
Aerospace Corp. confirmed using U.S. Air Force radar data and telescope observations, Thompson said.
Tiangong-1 launched in September 2011
to test docking systems and other technology needed for an even larger,
multi-module space station to be built in the 2020s. The station was
visited by China's uncrewed Shenzhou-8 spacecraft in November 2011 and
two crewed missions, one each in 2012 and 2013, respectively.
In March 2016, Tiangong-1 stopped communicating with its mission
control center in Beijing, leading the China Manned Space Engineering
Office (CMSEO) to declare its mission over. Tiangong-1 has been space junk ever since.
Currently, Tiangong-1 is expected to fall to Earth somewhere between
the latitudes of 42.7 degrees north and 42.7 degrees south, a range that
spans the border of South Dakota and Nebraska in the north and Tasmania
in the south.
As re-entry day nears for Tiangong-1, satellite trackers will be able
to make more refined predictions for where and when it will crash. In a
statement today (March 29), CMSEO officials said the public should not
fear being hit by debris from Tiangong-1.
"There is no need for people to worry about its re-entry into the
atmosphere. It won't crash to the Earth fiercely, as in sci-fi movie
scenarios, but will look more like a shower of meteors," the statement
said according to the state-run Xinhua news service.
You can still see the Tiangong-1 space station in the night sky, if you know when and where to look and have good weather.
In fact, the chances of being struck by debris from Tiangong-1 are less than 1 in a trillion, according to a fact sheet from Aerospace Corp.
If you are able to see the Tiangong-1 re-entry, you can report your
sighting to Aerospace Corp.'s Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris
Studies through the CORDS website here.
Writer best known for his crime fiction books featuring the Berlin private detective Bernie Gunther
Berlin held a great fascination for the author Philip Kerr, who has
died aged 62 of cancer: it was a place where the impact of evil upon
essentially decent people was felt especially keenly. His morally
ambiguous fictional private detective Bernie Gunther first appeared in
March Violets (1989), set in the city in 1936, after the Nazis’ rise to
power, and the first of his Berlin Noir trilogy. Each book, he later
admitted, was aimed at painting Gunther into a corner “so that he can’t cross the floor without getting paint on his shoes”.
A German Requiem (1991) ended the trilogy by taking events to the end
of the second world war and Vienna, but the lure of his protagonist and
Berlin, which proves as much a character as its citizens, remained
strong. The One from the Other (2006) was the first in a run of 10 more
Berlin Noir novels. If the Dead Rise Not (2009) won the Ellis Peters Historic Crime award, and Greeks Bearing Gifts, set in 1957, is due to be published next month.
In the intervening years, Kerr produced standalone books, starting
with the ambitious A Philosophical Investigation (1992), which married
cyber-punk crime with the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein. A complex
and demanding tale of a serial killer, it led to him being listed
alongside Iain Banks and AL Kennedy as one of Granta’s Best Young
British Novelists under 40. But critical acclaim was not matched by
sales. His commercial breakthrough arrived only in 1995 with Gridiron, a
Towering Inferno-style action story.
Gunther was not Kerr’s only serial crime solver. In 2014 his love of
football led him to embark on the first of three Scott Manson thrillers
about a Premier League football coach and all-round fixer.
Born in Edinburgh,
Philip was the son of William Kerr, a building planner, and his wife,
Ann (nee Brodie). His parents had converted from the Free Church of
Scotland to the evangelical Baptist church, deeming it more
“family-friendly”.
It was not an easy fit for a boy with an aversion to water. “I could not swim or even bear to have my head under water and
consequently the spectacle of full immersion baptism – and by extension,
the very idea of washing away the sin that was required to make my
peace with Jesus – was horrifying to me,” he later wrote.
As a result, from an early age he knew that “Jesus and I were not
going to get along.” The final break came after his father’s death. When
he saw a white horse galloping across a field six months later, Philip,
by now a trainee tax lawyer aged 22, realised he needed to rebel
against the path chosen for him.
He read widely, including “unsuitable” novels hidden by his parents. At the age of 12 he stole the key to a cupboard in which DH Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover was hidden.
This resulted in his first paid work as a writer. Aware his father
would miss his copy of the book and that his friends wanted to read it,
Kerr wrote his own version, The Duchess of the Daisies, which he rented
out for “the edification of his schoolmates”.
Resentment of the church became entwined with an uncomfortable
relationship with his birthplace, of which he said: “If you want to scar
a child for life then bring it up in the city of John Knox.” At the
upmarket Melville school his dark complexion led to racist bullying by his sandy-haired contemporaries
and masters. The experience reinforced his sense of exclusion and in
later years he described himself as a “deracinated Scot”. When he was 15
the family moved to the Midlands. His time at Northamptonshire grammar
proved happier, and he returned to it for speech days.
Though he had wanted to study English at Birmingham University, Kerr
bowed to paternal pressure and took up law. After a year in a kibbutz,
Kerr returned to Birmingham for a postgraduate degree in jurisprudence.
After he left law, work as an advertising copywriter included a spell
at Saatchi and Saatchi – though he had a tendency to get fired. While
colleagues enjoyed boozy lunches, he preferred to be in the London
Library, where he worked on five unpublished “sub-Martin Amis” novels
until turning to crime in March Violets.
By the time Gridiron was published he was married to the journalist
and author Jane Thynne, whom he had met while he was working as a gossip
columnist on the London Evening Standard, and with whom he had three
children, William, Charlie and Naomi.
Though the film rights to Gridiron and other novels were sold, none
made it further than development. Steven Spielberg optioned the fantasy
series The Children of the Lamp (2004-11), written under the name PB
Kerr. The author regarded his relationship with Hollywood with wry
amusement and enjoyed recounting anecdotes about La La Land. While
waiting for Tom Cruise in the actor’s trailer, he found himself fretting
about being late for a further meeting that day, with Robert De Niro.
His commitment to research led him into dangerous situations,
sometimes in the seamier areas of Berlin, or as when travelling with the
St Petersburg police for Dead Meat (1993), his thriller set among the
Russian mafia. One particularly frightening day ended with the discovery
of holes in the flak jacket he had been wearing. They marked where the
previous wearer had been shot.
Kerr’s non-fiction works ranged from a research guide to anthologies
of feuds and lies. He continued working until recently, copyediting his
last novel, due for publication next year.
He is survived by Jane and his children.
• Philip Ballantyne Kerr, writer, born 22 February 1956; died 23 March 2018
24 maart 1882
Dr. Robert Koch ontdekt tuberkelbacil
Wereld
Stop Tuberculose Dag herdenkt de dag in 1882 waarop Dr. Robert Koch de
wetenschappelijke wereld verbaast door aan te kondigen dat hij de
oorzaak van tuberculose, de tuberkelbacil had ontdekt. Koch’s ontdekking
opende de weg naar diagnose en genezing van tuberculose.
World Tuberculosis Day
24 March 2018
Each year we commemorate World TB Day on March 24 to raise public
awareness about the devastating health, social and economic consequences
of tuberculosis (TB) and to step up efforts to end the global TB
epidemic. The date marks the day in 1882 when Dr. Robert Koch announced
that he had discovered the bacterium that causes TB, which opened the
way towards diagnosing and curing this disease.
Despite significant progress over the last decades, TB continues to be
the top infectious killer worldwide, claiming over 4 500 lives a day.
The emergence of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) poses a major health
security threat and could risk gains made in the fight against TB.
The theme: "Wanted: Leaders for a TB-free world"
The theme of World TB Day 2018 - “Wanted: Leaders for a TB-free world”-
focuses on building commitment to end TB, not only at the political
level with Heads of State and Ministers of Health, but at all levels
from Mayors, Governors, parliamentarians and community leaders, to
people affected with TB, civil society advocates, health workers,
doctors or nurses, NGOs and other partners. All can be leaders of
efforts to end TB in their own work or terrain. This is a critical theme, given the political importance of
the upcoming UN General Assembly high-level meeting on TB this year,
which will bring together Heads of State in New York. It follows on from
a very successful Ministerial Conference on Ending TB in Moscow on
16-17 November, 2017 which resulted in high-level commitments from
Ministers and other leaders from 120 countries to accelerate progress to
end TB. World TB Day provides the opportunity to shine the spotlight
on the disease and mobilize political and social commitment for
accelerate progress to end TB.
Background
Last year, WHO reported that 10.4 million people fell ill with
TB and there were 1.8 million TB deaths in 2016, making it the top
infectious killer worldwide. This disease is deeply rooted in
populations where human rights and dignity are limited. While anyone can
contract TB, the disease thrives among people living in poverty,
communities and groups that are marginalized, and other vulnerable
populations. These include: migrants, refugees, ethnic minorities, miners
and others working and living in risk-prone settings, the elderly,
marginalized women and children in many settings etc. Factors such as
malnutrition, poor housing and sanitation, compounded by other risk
factors such as tobacco and alcohol use and diabetes, affect
vulnerability to TB and access to care. Furthermore, this access is
often hindered by catastrophic costs associated with illness, seeking
and staying in care, and lack of social protection, resulting in a
vicious cycle of poverty and ill-health. The transmission of
multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) adds great urgency to these concerns.
Synopsis Originating in ancient China, tai chi is one of the most
effective exercises for health of mind and body. Although an art with
great depth of knowledge and skill, it can be easy to learn and soon
delivers its health benefits. For many, it continues as a lifetime
journey. There are many styles and forms of tai chi, the major ones being
Chen, Yang, Wu, Wu (different words in Chinese) and Sun. Each style has
its own features, but all styles share the same essential principles. The essential principles include mind integrated with the body;
control of movements and breathing; generating internal energy,
mindfulness, song (loosening 松) and jing (serenity 静). The ultimate
purpose of tai chi is cultivate the qi or life energy within us to flow
smoothly and powerfully throughout the body. Total harmony of the inner
and outer self comes from the integration of mind and body, empowered
through healthy qi through the practice of tai chi. Tai Chi for Health programs are modernized tai chi incorporating medical science to deliver health benefits more quickly.
Just what is tai chi?
There is much more to tai chi than one can see, and virtually no one
can describe such a complex art in one simple sentence. Yes, it’s
aesthetically pleasing, easy and enjoyable to practice. It can be a
meditation and an integral exercise for all parts of the body and the
mind. It brings tranquility and helps you think more clearly. Tai chi
can be many things for different people; regular practice will bring
better health and wellness.
The flowing movements of tai chi contain much inner strength, like
water flowing in a river, beneath the tranquil surface there is a
current with immense power—the power for healing and wellness.
With consistent practice, people will be able to feel the internal
energy (qi 氣), convert it to internal force (jing 勁) and use it to
generate more internal energy. This process would greatly enhance tai
chi development, leading to a more balanced mental state; at the same
time your fitness, agility and balance will improve. The unique feature
of tai chi is that it is internal. Internal means building the inner
strength from inside out, therefore you can continue to develop at any
age.
Numerous studies
have shown tai chi improves muscular strength, flexibility, fitness,
improve immunity, relieve pain and improve quality of life. Muscle
strength is important for supporting and protecting joints and is
essential for normal physical function. Flexibility exercises enable
people to move more easily, and facilitate circulation of body fluid and
blood, which enhance healing. Fitness is important for overall
functioning of the heart, lungs, and muscles. In addition to these
components, tai chi movements emphasize weight transference to
improve balance and prevent falls.
Aside from the health benefits, tai chi runs deep and strong. It’s
easy to learn and becomes a way of life for many practitioners. Yet,
because of its depth, no one ever knows it all, and thereby lies the
fascination and the never-ending challenge of the art. There will be
times, no matter how brief, when a practitioner will enter a mental
stage of tranquillity, moving to a different world, time, and space, a
world where there is no schedule, no hustle and bustle. Yet the person
still feels very much a part of the world. In a non-religious sense,
it’s a spiritual experience. Such an experience is so satisfying that it
is beyond words. Being part of the world, being in harmony with the
world and nature, thus is the paradox of tai chi, health and beyond.
Penguin Books is a Britishpublishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane, his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence, bringing high-quality paperback fiction and non-fiction to the mass market.
Penguin's success demonstrated that large audiences existed for serious
books. Penguin also had a significant impact on public debate in
Britain, through its books on British culture, politics, the arts, and science.
Penguin Books is now an imprint of the worldwide Penguin Random House, an emerging conglomerate which was formed in 2013 by the merger with American publisher Random House.Formerly, Penguin Group was wholly owned by British Pearson PLC, the global media company which also owned the Financial Times,[7]
but in the new umbrella company it retains only a minority holding of
25% of the stock against Random House owner, German media company Bertelsmann,
which controls the majority stake. It is one of the largest
English-language publishers, formerly known as the "Big Six", now the "Big Five".
Elizabeth
Gilbert was born in Waterbury, Connecticut in 1969, and grew up on a
small family Christmas tree farm. She attended New York University,
where she studied political science by day and worked on her short
stories by night. After college, she spent several years traveling
around the country, working in bars, diners and ranches, collecting
experiences to transform into fiction.
These explorations
eventually formed the basis of her first book – a short story collection
called PILGRIMS, which was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway award, and
which moved Annie Proulx to call her “a young writer of incandescent
talent”.
During these early years in New York, she also worked as a
journalist for such publications as Spin, GQ and The New York Times
Magazine. She was a three-time finalist for The National Magazine Award,
and an article she wrote in GQ about her experiences bartending on the
Lower East Side eventually became the basis for the movie COYOTE UGLY.
In
2000, Elizabeth published her first novel, STERN MEN (a story of brutal
territory wars between two remote fishing islands off the coast of
Maine) which was a New York Times Notable Book. In 2002, Elizabeth
published THE LAST AMERICAN MAN – the true story of the modern day
woodsman Eustace Conway. This book, her first work of non-fiction, was a
finalist for both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics
Circle Award.
Elizabeth
is best known, however for her 2006 memoir EAT PRAY LOVE, which
chronicled her journey alone around the world, looking for solace after a
difficult divorce. The book was an international bestseller, translated
into over thirty languages, with over 10 million copies sold worldwide.
In 2010, EAT PRAY LOVE was made into a film starring Julia Roberts. The
book became so popular that Time Magazine named Elizabeth as one of the
100 most influential people in the world.
In 2010, Elizabeth
published a follow-up to EAT PRAY LOVE called COMMITTED—a memoir which
explored her ambivalent feelings about the institution of marriage. The
book immediately became a Number One New York Times Bestseller, and was
also received with warm critical praise. As Newsweek wrote, COMMITTED
“retains plenty of Gilbert’s comic ruefulness and wide-eyed wonder”, and
NPR called the book “a rich brew of newfound insight and wisdom.”
Her
latest novel, THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS, published in Autumn 2013, is
a sprawling tale of 19th century botanical exploration. O Magazine
named it “the novel of a lifetime”, and the Wall Street Journal called
it “the most ambitious and purely-imagined work of (Gilbert’s)
twenty-year career.” Elle Magazine said, “Looks like Gilbert keeps
raising on the bar.”
THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS was a New York
Times Bestseller, and Janet Maslin called it “engrossing…vibrant and
hot-blooded.” The novel was named a Best Book of 2013 by The New York
Times, O Magazine, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, and The New
Yorker.”
“The Signature of All Things”
Elizabeth
Gilbert’s first novel in twelve years is an extraordinary story of
botany, exploration and desire, spanning across much of the 19th
century. The novel follows the fortunes of the brilliant Alma Whittaker
(daughter of a bold and charismatic botanical explorer) as she comes
into her own within the world of plants and science. As Alma’s careful
studies of moss take her deeper into the mysteries of evolution, the man
she loves draws her in the opposite direction—into the realm of the
spiritual, the divine and the magical. Alma is a clear-minded scientist;
Ambrose is a Utopian artist. But what unites this couple is a shared
passion for knowing—a desperate need to understand the workings of this
world, and the mechanism behind of all life.
The Signature of All
Things is a big novel, about a big century. Exquisitely researched and
told at a galloping pace, this story novel soars across the globe—from
London, to Peru, to Philadelphia, to Tahiti, to Amsterdam and beyond. It
is written in the bold, questing spirit of that singular time. Alma
Whittaker is a witness to history, as well as maker of history herself.
She stands on the cusp of the modern, with one foot still in the
Enlightened Age, and she is certain to be loved by readers across the
world.
Cambridge Analytica LLC (CA) is a privately held company that combines data mining, data brokerage, and data analysis with strategic communication for the electoral process. It was created in 2013 as an offshoot of its British parent company SCL Group to participate in American politics.
In 2014, CA was involved in 44 US political races. The company is partly owned by the family of Robert Mercer, an American hedge-fund manager who supports many politically conservative causes. The firm maintains offices in London, New York City, and Washington, D.C.
In 2015, it became known as the data analysis company working initially for Ted Cruz's presidential campaign. In 2016, after Cruz's campaign had faltered, CA worked for Donald Trump's presidential campaign, and on the Leave.EU-campaign for the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union. CA's role in those campaigns has been controversial and is the subject of ongoing criminal investigations in both countries. Political scientists dispute CA's claims about the effectiveness of its methods of targeting voters.
On March 17, 2018, The New York Times and The Observer reported on Cambridge Analytica's use of personal information acquired from Facebook,
without permission, by an external researcher who claimed to be
collecting it for academic purposes. In response, Facebook banned
Cambridge Analytica from advertising on its platform. The Guardian further reported that Facebook had known about this security breach for two years, but did nothing to protect its users.
A series of undercover investigative videos released in March 2018,
showed Cambridge Analytica's Chief Executive Officer boasting about
using prostitutes, bribery sting and "honey traps" to discredit
politicians whom it conducts opposition research on. Nix also claimed
that the company "ran all of (Donald Trump's) digital campaign",
including possible illegal activities. The Information Commissioner of
the UK has asked for a warrant to search the company's servers.
A
closer look at body fat: Where does it come from, why do we need it,
what are the best ways to burn it off, and where the heck does it go?
Body fat, or the more technical term adipocytes (adipo means fat and cyte means
cell), is found in many places around the human body and mostly
underneath your skin, what we call subcutaneous fat. There is also some
on top of your kidneys, inside your liver, and a small amount in your
muscle tissue, which we call visceral fat.
An adult male often tends to carry his body fat in his chest,
abdomen, and buttocks. An adult female tends to carry her fat in the
breasts, hips, waist, and buttocks.
The main role of body fat is to serve as a type of energy storage
facility. Up until the mid-nineties, it was thought of strictly as a
passive place for us to store energy for the hard times, the times when
our ancestors’ hunt didn’t go well (or the weather was poor) and there
wasn’t enough food available. This turned out to be incorrect and it
does have other uses but it is exceedingly good at storing energy.
A single pound of fat contains roughly 3,500 calories of stored
energy. Assuming you could burn 100% body fat as fuel, this is enough
energy for a 150-pound person to trudge about 35 miles. And that is only
one pound of fat and most of us have a lot more than that to spare.
The multiverse idea
states that there are an arbitrarily large number of Universes like our
own, but whether there are any with differences in the laws of physics
remains an open question.
"We are all agreed that your theory is
crazy. The question that divides us is whether it is crazy enough to
have a chance of being correct." Niels Bohr spoke these words to
Wolfgang Pauli about the latter's theory of elementary particles, but it
could just as easily apply to many of today's most controversial modern
physics ideas. One that's gotten a lot of attention recently is that of a Multiverse.
In short, it's the idea that our Universe, and all that's contained
within it, is just one small region of a larger existence that includes
many similar, and possibly many different, Universes like our own. On
the one hand, if our current theories of physics are true, the
Multiverse absolutely must exist. But on the other hand, as Sabine Hossenfelder rightly points out, it's unlikely to teach us anything useful.
The observable
Universe might be 46 billion light years in all directions from our
point of view, but there's certainly more, unobservable Universe,
perhaps even an infinite amount, just like ours beyond that.
Why must the Multiverse exist? Quite simply: there must be more
Universe than the part that is observable to us. If you look just at the
portion of the Universe we can see, you can measure its spatial
curvature, and find that it's incredibly close to flat. No regions
repeat; no locations connect or loop back on one another; no
large-curvature regions show themselves on a scale approaching that of
the Universe we can observe. If the Universe were a hypersphere, the
four-dimensional analogue of a sphere, it must have a radius of
curvature hundreds of times the size of what we can observe. There must
be more Universe out there than what we can access.
Inflation causes
space to expand exponentially, which can very quickly result in any
pre-existing curved space appearing flat. If the Universe is curved, it
has a radius of curvature hundreds of times larger than what we can
observe.
But this isn't just a conclusion from observations; it's the same
conclusion that we'd draw from our leading theory of the Universe's
origin: cosmological inflation. Prior to the hot Big Bang, the fabric of
the Universe was expanding at an exponential rate, where every 10-35 seconds or so, it would double in scale in all dimensions. Inflation went on for at least as long as 10-33
seconds or so, but could have lasted far longer: seconds, years,
millennia, trillions of years or an arbitrarily long length of time.
When inflation ends, the Universe we're left with is stretched flat, the
same temperature everywhere, and far, far vaster than anything we can
ever hope to observe. Considering the finite nature of all we can see,
inflation is the natural way to create a Multiverse of possibilities.
Bock et al. (2006, astro-ph/0604101); modifications by E. Siegel
Inflation set up
the hot Big Bang and gave rise to the observable Universe we have access
to, but we can only measure the last tiny fraction of a second of
inflation's impact on our Universe.
Without a solid knowledge of how inflation began, or if it ever had a
beginning, we cannot know how much "Multiverse" there is out there
beyond our actual Universe. But based on the properties of inflation
that imprint themselves on the Universe we inhabit, we can draw a few
conclusions about it. In particular:
The lack of spatial curvature,
The adiabatic nature and spectrum of fluctuations imprinted on the cosmic microwave background,
The magnitude of imperfections that gave rise to the large-scale structure we see,
The constraints on the gravitational waves inflation could have created,
And the superhorizon fluctuations that we observe (on scales larger than the visible Universe),
all give us some important constraints on the type of inflation that
occurred, and teach us two very important lessons, if the implications
of these verified and validated theories are correct, about our
Multiverse.
The fluctuations in
the CMB are based on primordial fluctuations produced by inflation. In
particular, the 'flat part' on large scales (at left) have no
explanation without inflation, and yet the magnitude of the fluctuations
constrains the maximum energy scales the Universe reached at the end of
inflation. It's far lower than the Planck scale.
1.) Inflation did not occur at arbitrarily high energies. There's an energy scale at which the laws of physics no longer make sense: the Planck scale, or about 1019
GeV. This is about 100 trillion times larger than the maximum energies
the LHC achieves, and a factor of about 100 million higher than the
highest energy cosmic particles we've ever detected in the Universe.
From the imprints of inflation, we can conclude that the temperature at
the start of the hot Big Bang never got higher than about 1015 or 1016
GeV, safely below the Planck scale. This implies that inflation likely
occurred below that scale as well. If true, this would mean that the
inflationary epoch obeyed the current laws of physics, as well as every
region of the Multiverse that inflation created.
Artist’s
logarithmic scale conception of the observable universe. Note that we're
limited in how far we can see back by the amount of time that's
occurred since the hot Big Bang: 13.8 billion years, or (including the
expansion of the Universe) 46 billion light years. Anyone living in our
Universe, at any location, would see almost exactly the same thing from
their vantage point.
2.) There are countless regions where inflation did not end, and still continues today.
The idea that the Big Bang happened everywhere at once may apply to our
Universe, but certainly ought not to apply to the vast majority of
Universes existing in the Multiverse. Assuming that inflation is a
quantum field, like all fields we know of, it must spread out over time,
meaning that in any region of space, it has a probability of ending at a
certain time, but also a probability of continuing on for a while
longer.
If inflation is a
quantum field, then the field value spreads out over time, with
different regions of space taking different realizations of the field
value. In many regions, the field value will wind up in the bottom of
the valley, ending inflation, but in many more, inflation will continue,
arbitrarily far into the future.
In the region that became our Universe, which may encompass a large
region that goes far beyond what we can observe, inflation ended
all-at-once. But beyond that region, there are even more regions where
it didn't end. Those regions grow and inflate as time goes on, and even
though many of those new regions will see inflation end, the ones where
it doesn't will continue to inflate. Inflation, therefore, should be
eternal to the future, at least in some regions of space. This is
irrespective of whether it was eternal to the past or not.
Wherever inflation
occurs (blue cubes), it gives rise to exponentially more regions of
space with each step forward in time. Even if there are many cubes where
inflation ends (red Xs), there are far more regions where inflation
will continue on into the future. The fact that this never comes to an
end is what makes inflation 'eternal' once it begins.
Accepting all of this leads to an inescapable conclusion: we live in a
Multiverse, and our Universe is just one of countlessly many that exist
within it. However, the standard predictions that come out of this are
difficult to do science with. They include:
That different regions where inflation ends should never collide or interact.
That the fundamental constants and laws in different regions should be the same as they are here.
And that unless inflation was truly eternal to the past, there
isn't enough "space" to contain all the parallel Universes that the
many-worlds interpretation of quantum physics would require.
The idea of
parallel Universes, as applied to Schrödinger's cat. As fun and
compelling as this idea is, without an infinitely large region of space
to hold these possibilities in, even inflation won't create enough
Universes to contain all the possibilities that 13.8 billion years of
cosmic evolution have brought us.
It's always possible to construct a contrived model that defies these
generic predictions, and some scientists make a career of doing so. Writing in NPR, Sabine Hossenfelder is right to criticize that approach, stating, "Just because a theory is falsifiable doesn't mean it's scientific."
But just because variants of the Multiverse are falsifiable, and just
because the consequences of its existence are unobservable, doesn't mean
that the Multiverse isn't real. If cosmic inflation, General
Relativity, and quantum field theory are all correct, the Multiverse
likely is real, and we're living in it.
An illustration of
multiple, independent Universes, causally disconnected from one another
in an ever-expanding cosmic ocean, is one depiction of the Multiverse
idea.
Just don't expect it to solve your most burning questions about the
Universe. For that, you need physics you can put to an experimental or
observable test. Until that day arrives, the consequences of a
Multiverse will likely remain in the realm of science fiction: where
they presently belong. It's okay to speculate, but if you insist on
attributing a physics problem's solution to an untestable feature of the
Universe, you're essentially giving up on physics. We all know that the
mysteries of the Universe are hard, but that's no reason to not even
try to find a solution. The Multiverse is real, but provides the answer
to absolutely nothing.
Astrophysicist and author Ethan Siegel is the founder and primary writer of Starts With A Bang! His books, Treknology and Beyond The Galaxy, are available wherever books are sold.
In sommige landen worden vaders en het vaderschap jaarlijks in het zonnetje gezet op 19 maart, de naamdag van Sint Jozef.
Vaderdag
wordt op deze dag gevierd in België (voornamelijk in Antwerpen en de
Kempen), Spanje, Italië, Portugal, Liechtenstein en sommige Midden- en
Zuid-Amerikaanse landen.
19 maart was trouwens de oorspronkelijke dag waarop in tal van streken het vaderschap geëerd werd. Sint Jozef wordt namelijk beschouwd als het ideaalbeeld van de vaders. Sint Jozef was de man van Maria en de (wettige) vader van Jezus.
Griepprik heeft 49 procent van griepgevallen in Europa voorkomen
De BiltDe
griepprik van het griepseizoen 2017-2018 heeft tot nu toe ongeveer 49%
van de griepgevallen bij gevaccineerde mensen in Europa voorkomen. Het
B/Yamagata-griepvirus veroorzaakt dit griepseizoen de meeste infecties
in Nederland, maar was niet opgenomen in de griepprik. Ook blijkt dat
het andere B-griepvirus (van de Victoria-lijn), dat wel is opgenomen in
de griepprik, toch voor gedeeltelijke bescherming heeft gezorgd. Dat is
de conclusie van tussentijdse onderzoeksresultaten van het Europese
I-MOVE-project naar effectiviteit van de griepprik. In dit project
werken verschillende instituten in Europa samen, waaronder het RIVM en
het NIVEL. De eerste Nederlandse schattingen geven een effectiviteit van
45% aan.
Europees project effectiviteit griepprik
Binnen verschillende Europese landen worden gegevens van patiënten
met griepachtige klachten verzameld. Het RIVM en NIVEL zijn Nederlandse
deelnemer aan het Europese I-MOVE project. Deze Europese aanpak levert
grotere aantallen patiënten op dan alleen vanuit Nederland. Hiermee kan
de effectiviteit van de griepprik nauwkeuriger worden geschat.
Onderzoeksgegevens
Het RIVM en het NIVEL hebben gegevens aangeleverd van patiënten die
bij de huisarts zijn geweest en van patiënten die zijn opgenomen in het
ziekenhuis met griepachtige klachten. Bij deze patiënten is onderzocht
of de infectie werd veroorzaakt door het griepvirus. In de analyse wordt
de vaccinatiegraad bij patiënten die geen infectie met een griepvirus
bleken te hebben vergeleken met de vaccinatiegraad bij patiënten die wel
een infectie met het griepvirus bleken te hebben.
Onderzoeksresultaten
Uit de analyse blijkt dat de vaccin-effectiviteit tegen het
B/Yamagata-griepvirus in Europa tot nu toe 49% was bij mensen die de
huisarts bezochten met griepachtige klachten. Het is opvallend dat de
effectiviteit zo hoog is, aangezien het virus niet is opgenomen in de
meest gebruikte trivalente griepprik. De resultaten laten zien dat het
andere B-virus (van de Victoria-lijn), dat wel is opgenomen in de
griepprik, toch voor gedeeltelijke bescherming heeft gezorgd. Bij
ouderen is de effectiviteit van de griepprik wat lager, namelijk 34%
vaccin-effectiviteit tegen B-griepvirussen (Yamagata-lijn en
Victoria-lijn samen genomen) bij patiënten van 65 jaar en ouder, die in
het ziekenhuis zijn opgenomen. Aan het einde van het griepseizoen worden
alle analyses opnieuw uitgevoerd, wanneer er meer gegevens beschikbaar
zijn. Griepseizoen 2017/2018 in Nederland
De griepepidemie in Nederland duurt nu al 13 weken. De epidemie wordt
gedomineerd door het B/Yamagata-griepvirus. Gemiddeld duurden
griepepidemieën de afgelopen 20 jaar negen weken, waarmee deze epidemie
langer duurt dan gemiddeld. Voor Nederland is ook de voorlopige
vaccin-effectiviteit berekend voor mensen die de huisarts bezochten met
griepachtige klachten. Hieruit blijkt dat in Nederland de effectiviteit
45% is, wat overeenkomt met de Europese schatting. De nauwkeurigheid is
echter minder, omdat het aantal deelnemers veel kleiner is dan in de
Europese studie. De Nederlandse schattingen worden ook aan het eind van
het seizoen herhaald als er meer gegevens beschikbaar zijn. In Nederland
zijn er te weinig gegevens beschikbaar om een schatting te maken voor
patiënten die in het ziekenhuis zijn opgenomen.
De afgelopen weken was de sterfte bij mensen in de leeftijdsgroep 75
jaar en ouder verhoogd, ten opzichte van de sterfte die in deze tijd van
het jaar wordt verwacht (sterftedata ontvangen van het CBS). Griep is
één van de mogelijke oorzaken van oversterfte, maar er zijn meer
factoren, zoals de recente koude periode, die hieraan bij kunnen dragen.
Ken’s magnificent historical epic begins with Fall of Giants,
where five interrelated families move through the momentous dramas of
the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for
women’s suffrage.
A thirteen-year-old Welsh boy enters a man’s world in the
mining pits. . . . An American law student rejected in love finds a
surprising new career in Woodrow Wilson’s White House. . . . A
housekeeper for the aristocratic Fitzherberts takes a fateful step above
her station, while Lady Maud Fitzherbert herself crosses deep into
forbidden territory when she falls in love with a German spy. . . . And
two orphaned Russian brothers embark on radically different paths when
their plan to emigrate to America falls afoul of war, conscription, and
revolution.
From the dirt and danger of a coal mine to the
glittering chandeliers of a palace, from the corridors of power to the
bedrooms of the mighty, Fall of Giants takes
us into the inextricably entangled fates of five families—and into a
century that we thought we knew, but that now will never seem the same
again. . . .
Winter of the World
follows the five interrelated families through a time of enormous
social, political, and economic turmoil, beginning with the rise of the
Third Reich, through the great dramas of World War II, and into the
beginning of the long Cold War.
Carla von Ulrich, born of German and English parents,
finds her life engulfed by the Nazi tide until daring to commit a deed
of great courage and heartbreak . . . . American brothers Woody and
Chuck Dewar, each with a secret, take separate paths to momentous
events, one in Washington, the other in the bloody jungles of the
Pacific . . . . English student Lloyd Williams discovers in the
crucible of the Spanish Civil War that he must fight Communism just as
hard as Fascism . . . . Daisy Peshkov, a driven social climber, cares
only for popularity and the fast set until war transforms her life,
while her cousin Volodya carves out a position in Soviet intelligence
that will affect not only this war but also the war to come.
The saga continues in the third novel, Edge of Eternity,
when the five families come to one of the most tumultuous eras of all:
the 1960s through the 1980s, from civil rights, assassinations, mass
political movements, and Vietnam to the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile
Crisis, presidential impeachment, revolution—and rock and roll.
East German teacher Rebecca Hoffmann discovers she’s
been spied on by the Stasi for years and commits an impulsive act that
will affect her family for the rest of their lives. . . . George Jakes,
the child of a mixed-race couple, bypasses a corporate law career to
join Robert F. Kennedy’s Justice Department and finds himself in the
middle of not only the seminal events of the civil rights battle but a
much more personal battle of his own. . . . Cameron Dewar, the grandson
of a senator, jumps at the chance to do some official and unofficial
espionage for a cause he believes in, only to discover that the world
is a much more dangerous place than he’d imagined. . . . Dimka Dvorkin,
a young aide to Nikita Khrushchev, becomes an agent both for good and
for ill as the United States and the Soviet Union race to the brink of
nuclear war, while his twin sister, Tanya, carves out a role that will
take her from Moscow to Cuba to Prague to Warsaw—and into history.
Autumn by Ali Smith review – a beautiful, transient symphony
Set just after the EU referendum, the first post-Brexit novel is a poignant and subtle exploration of the way we experience time
Ali
Smith’s latest novel is billed as the first in a four-part series,
Seasonal, with each novel to be named, as the title suggests, after a
season: Smith seeks thus to explore “what time is, how we experience
it”. This question – of the nature of time itself, and the nature of our
experience of time – is ancient and baroque. We conduct our lives with
reference to an agreed symbolical system, clock time, and yet there is
also the wholly subjective experience of time – which the philosopher Henri Bergson called la durée or duration. As in: time flies when you’re having fun.
It is impossible to know precisely how other people experience time.
Despite this indeterminacy, novelists convey invented characters through
linear time and even seek to imagine their “duration” as well. The
enterprise is very strange and, as Thomas Mann wrote in The Magic Mountain,
“it is clear that time, while the medium of the narrative, can also
become its subject. Therefore, if it is too much to say that one can
tell a tale of time, it is none the less true that a desire to tell a
tale about time is not such an absurd idea.” Smith has written and
published very quickly – making Autumn the first “post-Brexit novel” – and the galloping style and speed of composition fit with the central theme.
Smith’s most recent novel, the critically acclaimed and 2015 Baileys prize-winning How to Be Both,
was an experiment in “duration” – the reader’s. It is comprised of two
stories, one set in 15th-century Italy, which we might call A; and the
other in modern-day Britain, B. Two editions of this novel exist: in
one, the order runs AB; in the other, BA. The reader can, if she has the
inclination, read the novel in both orders, one after the other.
However, owing to the ineluctable conditions of linearity, we can only
experience the novel for the first time in one order or another, AB or
BA. This seems to be very much the point. Autumn begins in a wild region of no-time, as Daniel Gluck
dreams that he is young again, or dead: “He must be dead, he is surely
dead, because his body looks different from the last time he looked down
at it, it looks better, it looks rather good as bodies go … But pure
joy! He’d forgotten what it feels like, to feel.” He feels stripped of
all the “rotting rot … till everything is light as a cloud”. Yet he
understands that this state of pure being will not last, and, abruptly,
we return to quotidian reality, where everyone is defined by numbers and
fixed categories:
It is a Wednesday, just past midsummer. Elisabeth Demand – 32 years
old, no-fixed-hours casual contract junior lecturer at a university in
London, living the dream, her mother says, and she is, if the dream
means having no job security and almost everything being too expensive
to do … has gone to the main Post Office in the town nearest the village
her mother now lives in.
Elisabeth is defiantly reading Brave New World and waiting
to apply for a new passport. The clock has stalled; miserable people
queue alongside her, staring into space. “COMMUNITY, IDENTITY,
STABILITY”, thinks Elisabeth, citing Huxley. Inevitably, when she
reaches the front of the queue, her application is rejected. Her
photograph is “the wrong size”, the man says. “He writes in a box … HEAD
INCORRECT SIZE.” Then, he “folds the Check & Send receipt and tucks
it into the envelope Elisabeth gave him with the form … He hands it
back to her across the divide. She sees terrible despondency in his
eyes. He sees her see it. He hardens even more.”
Abandoning her doomed endeavour, Elisabeth goes to the Maltings Care
Providers plc to see Gluck who, we discover, has been a close friend
since she was a child. He is now 101 years old, and spends his days in
“the increased sleep period” that “happens when people are close to
death”. “His eyes are closed and watery. There’s a long time between
each breath in and out. In that long time there’s no breathing at all,
so that every time he breathes out there’s the possibility that he might
not breathe in again.”
In a series of flashbacks, we discover how Elisabeth and Daniel first
met, in 1993, when she was a child of eight and he was a venerable and
intriguing neighbour. At the time, Daniel collected “arty art”,
including the work of real-life artist Pauline Boty.
A founding figure in British pop art, Boty created subversive, witty
paintings and collages until her premature death in 1966. She recurs
through the novel, as a symbol of all those who are “Ignored. Lost.
Rediscovered years later. Then ignored. Lost. Rediscovered again years
later. Then ignored. Lost. Rediscovered ad infinitum.” Always, Smith’s
characters must rebel against other people’s mantras about the world,
their certainties. As a child, Elisabeth disobeyed her mother’s
injunction to stay away from Daniel. Boty refused to succumb to drab
conventions about what artists who happen to be women might do.
In the uneasy present of Smith’s novel, the EU referendum has
just occurred and Britain is full of “people saying stuff to each other
and none of it actually becoming dialogue”:
All across the country, there was misery and rejoicing. All across
the country, what had happened whipped about by itself as if a live
electric wire had snapped off a pylon in a storm and was whipping about
in the air above the trees, the roofs, the traffic. All across the
country, people felt it was the wrong thing. All across the country,
people felt it was the right thing. All across the country, people felt
they’d really lost. All across the country, people felt they’d really
won.
The atmosphere is sullen: “The whole city’s in a storm at sea and
that’s just the beginning.” Daniel sleeps through the turmoil, like Rip
Van Winkle, dreaming of life and youth. Elisabeth imagines parallel
realities, beyond all the contemporary vitriol, where Daniel is awake.
In a flashback, Daniel says to Elisabeth: “The rain falls. The wind
blows. The seasons pass … and the leaves from all the trees round about
fall … and when the costumes have rotted away or been eaten clean by
creatures happy to have the sustenance, there’s nothing left of them,
the pantomime innocents or the man with the gun, but bones in grass,
bones in flowers, the leafy branches of the ash tree above them. Which
is what, in the end, is left of us all, whether we carry a gun while
we’re here or we don’t. So. While we’re here. I mean, while we’re still
here.”
If time demolishes all things, then does the febrile, forlorn present
matter anyway? Does anything matter – Elisabeth’s friendship with
Daniel, Boty’s lost art, or the sorrowful bureaucrat in the post office?
I think Smith is writing about finitude, and how life is fleeting,
extraordinary and improbable, and yet unique mortals are trammelled by
external edicts, forced to spend their time earning minimal wages,
measuring passport photographs with a ruler.
In her memory-scapes and dreamworlds, Smith reveals the buried
longings of her characters; their agony, their hopeful eagerness, their
fear of death. At one point, she imagines “all the things from the past …
like a huge national orchestra biding its time … all the objects
holding still and silent till the shops empty of people … Then, when
darkness falls, the symphony … The symphony of the sold and the
discarded. The symphony of all the lives that had these things in them
once. The symphony of worth and worthlessness.” Autumn is a beautiful, poignant symphony of memories, dreams and transient realities; the “endless sad fragility” of mortal lives.
Pietro is een stadsjongen
uit Milaan. Zijn vader is scheikundige, en gefrustreerd door zijn werk
in een fabriek. Zijn ouders delen een liefde voor de bergen, dat is waar
ze elkaar ontmoetten, waar ze verliefd werden en waar ze trouwden in
een kerkje aan de voet van de berg. Door deze gedeelde passie kan hun
relatie voortbestaan, zelfs wanneer tragische gebeurtenissen
plaatsvinden. Het stadsleven vervult hun vaak met gevoelens van spijt
dat ze niet voor een ander leven hebben gekozen. Dan ontdekken ze een
dorpje in het Noord-Italiaanse Valle d'Aosta waar het gezin vanaf dat
moment iedere zomer zal doorbrengen. De elfjarige Pietro raakt er
bevriend met de even oude Bruno, die voor de koeien zorgt. Hun zomers
vullen zich met eindeloze wandelingen door de bergen en zoektochten door
verlaten huizen en oude molens en er bloeit een ogenschijnlijk
onverwoestbare vriendschap op.
De Italiaanse auteur Paolo Cognetti schreef met zijn roman De acht bergen
een ontroerend mooi verhaal over de vriendschap tussen twee jongens,
Pietro en Bruno. De jongens hebben een heel verschillende achtergrond
maar delen hun zomers, al spelend, werkend en wandelend, in de bergen
van Noord-Italië. Als volwassen mannen delen ze hun zoektocht naar
geluk, ieder op hun eigen manier. Pietro is een ‘wereldreiziger’ en
Bruno verlaat nooit de berg van zijn (en Pietro’s) jeugd. Jacandra van
den Broek van Lees Magazine had een gesprek met de auteur over
vriendschap, eenzaamheid en onze plek in het universum.
Je roman De acht bergen is erg succesvol. De buitenlandse
rechten waren al aan meer dan dertig landen verkocht voordat het boek
verscheen en het werd bekroond met de prestigieuze Premio Strega Prijs.
Hoe is het om zo’n succes te hebben?Ik ben vooral heel blij
dat ik nu de vrijheid heb om mijn boeken te schrijven en mijn werk te
doen zonder me zorgen te hoeven maken over geld. Hiervoor moest ik
altijd ander werk ernaast doen, zoals lesgeven, in de horeca werken en
documentaires maken. Ik begon met schrijven toen ik achttien jaar oud
was en heb zeven eerdere boeken geschreven, waaronder een roman,
verhalenbundel, reisboeken. En ook een boek over schrijven. Dit is voor
het eerst in mijn leven dat ik fulltime schrijver kan zijn, iets wat een
onmogelijke droom leek toen ik achttien was. Hoewel ik het laatste jaar
dan weer vooral veel gereisd heb om over mijn boek te praten. En net
als veel andere schrijvers geef ik eigenlijk de voorkeur aan schrijven
boven praten.
Zou een deel van het succes van deze roman verklaard kunnen
worden doordat het verhaal een nostalgisch gevoel oproept van ‘going
back to nature’? En hoe vermijd je als auteur dan dat de lezer de bergen
alleen maar romantiseert en als een clichétegenhanger van de stad ziet?
Er is in onze maatschappij wel zo’n nostalgie gaande
waarbij de natuur verheerlijkt wordt. Misschien draagt dat inderdaad bij
aan de populariteit van mijn boek, ik weet het niet. Er zit denk ik ook
iets universeels in Bruno’s gevoelens voor de bergen, zodat men die bij
wijze van spreken in China net zo goed kan begrijpen als in Italië. Ik
heb wel geprobeerd om het cliché te vermijden. Ik heb het in het boek om
die reden niet over ‘natuur’, want zoals Bruno zegt is dat een
nietszeggende, vage term. Ik noem het, net als Bruno, de bergen, de
rivier, de bossen, het meer, allemaal dingen die een concreet beeld
oproepen en die je om je heen ziet als je er middenin staat. Dingen die
je misschien niet ziet als je vanuit de stad met een romantische bril op
aan de bergen denkt. Voor mij is het geen cliché want ik woon daar
zelf, het is mijn leven. Dat is ook zichtbaar in je beschrijvingen, die van binnenuit zijn geschreven. Wie waren je literaire voorbeelden?
Mijn grote voorbeeld is de Italiaanse schrijver Mario
Rigoni Stern, die vele romans heeft geschreven over de bergen. Andere
leermeesters voor mij zijn Amerikaanse auteurs, zoals Jack London,
Ernest Hemingway en Mark Twain, want in Italië hebben we geen grote
traditie in landschapsfictie, we hebben een grote stadse
literatuurtraditie. Als hoofdpersoon Pietro de bergen voor de eerste
keer ziet, denkt hij ook aan Mark Twains Mississippi en Jack Londons
Alaska.
"Ik hou er van om alleen te zijn, terwijl ik er tegelijkertijd bang voor ben om té alleen te zijn."
Een andere verklaring voor het succes kan misschien gevonden
worden in het feit dat de roman gaat over een vriendschap tussen twee
mannen. Het is daarmee een tegenhanger van de succesvolle boeken over
vrouwenvriendschappen zoals die van Elena Ferrante.Je kunt
zeggen dat er behoefte is aan authentieke relaties in de literatuur en
mijn roman is een verhaal over een grootse vriendschap. Het thema van
vriendschap was eigenlijk een beetje een vergeten onderwerp geworden in
onze literatuur, we schrijven veel over familie, bijvoorbeeld
liefdesrelaties en relaties tussen ouder en kind. Maar vriendschap was
vergeten geraakt terwijl het een belangrijk thema was in onze klassieke
literatuur. Ikzelf geef sterk de voorkeur aan vriendschap boven familie
in mijn leven. Misschien juist wel omdat in Italië een groot
familiegevoel de norm is. Ik krijg het nogal benauwd van familie,
terwijl vriendschap me een gevoel van vrijheid geeft. En
mannenvriendschappen zijn erg belangrijk voor mij. Ik heb vriendschappen
nodig om me ergens geworteld en thuis te voelen. Wil dat zeggen dat de vriendschap tussen Pietro en Bruno
gebaseerd is op je eigen ervaringen met vriendschap? Wat maakt hun
vriendschap zo bijzonder?Dat klopt. Hun levens zijn
compleet tegenovergesteld aan elkaar, maar hun karakters zijn nagenoeg
hetzelfde. Soms lijken ze wel één en dezelfde persoon te zijn. Het zijn
allebei heel gevoelige jongens en ze begrijpen elkaar zonder te praten.
Maar hun lot verschilt, omdat ze op een andere plaats geboren zijn: de
een is een stadsjongen en de ander een jongen van de bergen, de een
krijgt daardoor wel onderwijs, de ander niet. Daar hebben ze niet voor
gekozen maar het bepaalt wel dat de één een reiziger is en de ander
altijd op dezelfde plaats blijft. Hun verhaal deed me soms ook aan Brokeback Mountain van Annie
Proulx denken. Is er misschien ook sprake van andere gevoelens dan
vriendschap tussen Pietro en Bruno?Grappig dat je dat zegt,
ik hou erg van Brokeback Mountain en ik heb mijn verhaal geschreven met
het idee dat Pietro verliefd zou kunnen zijn op Bruno. Er zijn scénes
waarin ze lichamelijk contact hebben, zoals toen ze als jongens in bed
lagen, of samen op de motor zaten. Pietro zegt dan ook dat hij gelukkig
is. Dus misschien is Pietro’s geheim zijn liefde voor Bruno, maar ik
weet het niet zeker. Ik laat het graag aan de verbeelding van de lezer
over. Welke karaktertrekken of eigenschappen van jezelf kunnen we in Pietro en Bruno terugvinden?Ik
ben verlegen, hoewel in het verleden meer dan nu. Ik hou er van om
alleen te zijn, terwijl ik er tegelijkertijd bang voor ben om té alleen
te zijn. Mijn verhouding tot eenzaamheid is gecompliceerd omdat het me
enerzijds aantrekt en anderzijds angst aanjaagt. Beide personages hebben
dat aspect in zich. Pietro zegt in het verhaal ook dat eenzaamheid iets
positiefs maar tegelijkertijd iets negatiefs heeft. Alleen zijn is ook
iets dat je moet ‘leren’ en telkens als je een tijdje onder vrienden
bent geweest, moet je er weer opnieuw aan wennen.
Eenzaamheid is een belangrijk thema in het verhaal. Is het in
dat verband een bewuste keuze om geen moderne communicatiemiddelen in
het verhaal te laten voorkomen?Enerzijds heb ik de mobiele
telefoons om esthetische redenen uit het boek gelaten. Het geeft een
mooier, opgeruimder beeld. Anderzijds is het ook een statement over dat
thema. Ik denk dat we tegenwoordig te angstig zijn voor eenzaamheid.
Mensen zijn geobsedeerd door communicatie. Mensen van mijn leeftijd en
jonger denken dat ze niet kunnen leven zonder hun telefoon en
internetconnectie, zelfs niet voor een paar dagen. Maar volgens mij is
het belangrijk om juist wel een tijdje alleen met jezelf te kunnen zijn.
Het vraagt om een ander soort concentratie. Het doet me pijn aan het
hart om te zien dat we onze relatie met eenzaamheid aan het kwijt raken
zijn. Is dat ook de reden waarom je Pietro en Bruno tot zulke grote
literatuurliefhebbers hebt gemaakt? Lezen vraagt ook om een bepaalde
concentratie.Ja, dat klopt. Ze zijn grote lezers inderdaad,
met name van literaire romans. Dat is trouwens nog een eigenschap van
mezelf die ik in mijn personages heb gestopt. Als Pietro in Nepal is, vertelt een man hem over de acht
bergen die de grote berg in het midden van de cirkel, Sumeru, omringen
en samen de wereld representeren. Sommige mensen reizen langs de acht
bergen, zoals Pietro, en andere mensen klimmen naar de top van Sumeru,
zoals Bruno. Daarop vraagt de man “Wie zal er meer geleerd hebben, hij
die langs de acht bergen gereisd is of hij die de top van Sumeru bereikt
heeft?”. Wie denk jij dat het meeste leert?Het is een open
vraag in het boek. Het is een vraag zonder antwoord, denk ik. Ik
probeer te reflecteren op het verschil, zonder naar een antwoord te
zoeken. Sommige mensen komen tot een bewustwording of vinden rust in het
een of het ander. Anderen realiseren zich dat ze iets van beide in zich
hebben waarbij een deel in hen de berg Sumeru wil beklimmen, op één
plek blijven, terwijl een ander deel in hen juist de acht bergen, de
wereld, wil bereizen. Ik zelf behoor daar ook toe. Ik denk dat het ook
niet goed is om alleen voor één manier te kiezen. Dat is ook waarom
Bruno met bewondering naar Pietro kijkt en Pietro andersom ook naar
Bruno. Ze hebben beiden op hun eigen manier veel geleerd. Ik lijk op het
eerste gezicht misschien meer op Pietro maar ik heb zelf ook mijn berg
Sumeru gevonden in een klein dorpje in de bergen. Ik ben daar nu ook
belangrijke projecten begonnen zoals een literatuur- en kunstfestival en
andere culturele evenementen. Dus misschien stop ik nu wel met reizen
en begin ik aan de klim naar de top van mijn berg Sumeru. Ben je zelf ook een bergbeklimmer in de letterlijke zin?Ik
heb als kind wel veel in de Alpen gewandeld en bergen beklommen, maar
toen was ik nog erg jong. En net als Pietro had ik veel last van
hoogteziekte. Nu geef ik net als hij de voorkeur aan een berghoogte van
de middencategorie. Maar ik ben ook graag in steden, zoals hier in
Amsterdam, vanwege hun schoonheid. En om mensen van heel verschillende
pluimage te ontmoeten, want dat mis ik soms in de bergen.
Is het voor jou als schrijver noodzakelijk om de plaatsen waarover je schrijft te kennen?Ja,
het is voor mij heel belangrijk om naar die plaatsen toe te gaan en ze
met mijn eigen ogen te aanschouwen. Schrijven is voor mij in zekere zin
als fotograferen. Romans als deze confronteren je als lezer met je eigen
(onbeduidende) plaats in het universum. Is dat een onderwerp dat je
bezighoudt?Ja, je plek vinden in de wereld heeft me altijd
beziggehouden. Je hebt mensen die sinds hun geboorte weten waar ze
thuishoren. Maar ik ben het soort mens voor wie dat een zoektocht was.
Ik denk dat ik die plek nu gevonden heb. Het is een plek waar je het
gevoel hebt dat je kunt groeien en waar je iets kunt opbouwen dat
belangrijk voor je is. Ik heb jarenlang in de bergen gewoond zonder daar
te wortelen, zonder iets op te bouwen. Op een dag ben ik daar mee
begonnen en vond ik die plek. We hebben De acht bergen gekozen als leesclubboek van de
maand oktober hier bij Lees Magazine. Ben je bekend met het fenomeen van
leesclubs?Wat een eer. Ja, als auteur ben ik wel bekend
met leesclubs. Ik ben er ook heel dankbaar voor dat ze bestaan. In
Italië hebben we te maken met een grote crisis in boekenland, misschien
nog wel meer dan in andere landen. En leesclubs helpen auteurs om
gelezen te worden. Dus ze zijn heel belangrijk.
De acht bergen is het boek dat in de maand oktober gelezen wordt door de leesclub.
Leent jouw boek zich er voor om in een leesclub te worden besproken of vind je het meer een boek dat tot contemplatie uitnodigt?
Dat hangt van de persoonlijkheid van de lezer af, denk ik.
Ikzelf ben meer iemand die niet graag praat over wat een boek bij mij
losmaakt. Maar er zijn vast ook veel mensen die juist wel graag hun
ervaringen met anderen delen. Mijn boek nodigt in ieder geval uit om na
te denken, of te praten, over je eigen plek in de wereld, waar je
thuishoort of welke ‘bergen’ je wil bereizen. En over hoe je je verhoudt
tot eenzaamheid. Dat zijn onderwerpen waarover ik lezers graag zie
praten, maar ze kunnen het natuurlijk ook hebben over de ouder-kind
relaties en het onderwerp van vriendschap of de gevoelens tussen Bruno
en Pietro. Ben je al bezig aan een volgende roman?
Ik zit nog in het denkproces. Om echt te beginnen aan het
schrijfwerk moet ik eerst klaar zijn met het reizen en vertellen over
dit boek. Daarvoor moet ik terug zijn op mijn berg, terug naar mijn
normale leven, mijn boeken en de stilte. Ik wil mijn volgende boek laten
gaan over een vrouw in de bergen, gebaseerd op het personage van Lara
(de vrouw van Bruno), en andere personages uit mijn vroegere werk. Er
zit iets krachtigs in de relatie die ik zag tussen sommige vrouwen die
ik in de bergen heb leren kennen, en het idee van in vrijheid een nieuw
leven beginnen. Daar wil ik graag een verhaal over schrijven. Maar
daarvoor heb ik de stilte nodig.
