Great Wits is Oft to Madness Near Allied (Dryden)

Currently Reading:
Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton [?]

A couple of my friends are big G.K. Chesterton fans, so I eventually got around to reading some of his stuff. An amazing thinker and writer, although apparently he could barely read at age 9. When interviewed and asked which one book he would take should he be stranded on a desert island he replied: "Why, A Practical Guide to Ship Building of course". When the London Times asked a number of writers to reply on the question "What is wrong with the world?" Chesterton had by far the shortest reply:

Dear Sirs
I am.
Sincerely Yours,
G.K. Chesteron

Some other famous quotes are ?:

"The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult, and left untried".

Standing between 300-400lbs Chesterton was deemed physically unfit for service in World War I. One time an elderley woman bluntly demanded "Why aren't you out at the front?" to which Chesterton replied "My dear madam, if you step round this way a little, you will see that I am."

The book Orthodoxy deals with Chesterton's defense of his philosophy and his faith. One idea that really struck me was Chesterton's discussion on logic versus mysticism. That is, the idea of trying to clearly understand everything in this world via logic, versus allowing and embracing the mystery and fantasy of our world.

This topic was of immediate interest to me. I am someone who has typically placed great value on thinking logically. My major and minor (computer science and philosophy, respectively) further cultivated that logical inclination. Chesterton brings up some stunning analogies showing the limitations, even the dangers, of the logical man who cannot accept the mystery/fantasy of the world. He argues that madmen aren't those who have lost their reason, but rather those who have lost all but their reason. It is mystery and mysticism that keeps a man sane and healthy Chesteron argues. One particuarly enjoyable section reads:

The general fact is simple. Poetry is sane beacuse it floats easily in an infinite sea; reason seeks to cross the infinite sea, and so make it finite. The result is mental exhaustion... To accept everything is an exercise, to understand everythign a strain. The poet only desires exaltation and expansion, a world to stretch himself in. The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits.

THAT is an extremely interesting thought that I will have to brood on some more as I continue on in this book.

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Who I've Been Makes Who I Am

A quote I came across in Dachau (formerly a WWII concentration camp, now a memorial) went: "We are creating the background history for tomorrow". We do that both collectively as a whole, and also on an individual basis. This is why the study of history, both personal and collectively, is so important to understanding who we are and where we're going. I unfortunately have a pretty bad memory, especially on personal events (I think this is partly because I'm very forward-looking). One of my goals this year is to develop a discipline for recollection/reflection, even if this starts with asking myself "what did I do 2 days ago?" So take a moment and recall: what did you do two days ago??

Check out some of the "Year in Pictures" collections that recently came out. Some really encapsulate the significance of major global events of 2006, others are simply amazing captures. Enjoy and Happy New Year! ^_^

2006 Year in Pictures Collections

BBC
CBC(Editor's Choice, Viewer's Choice)
Globe and Mail
MSNBC
New York Times
Time Magazine
World Press Photo

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Where I begin

Its sort of like being beat up. Well sort of anyway. You feel a bit spacey, and there's some difficulty in focusing that can be accompanied by head throbbing. Not to mention the temperamental effects including impaired patience, mild unhappiness, loss of judgement, and just feeling plain drained. Its not a great state to be in. This is the world of sleep deprivation. Its a good reminder to know that sleep deprivation is used in torture. Suddenly the stupidity of self inflicted sleep deprivation grows in magnitude. There's something to be learned here...

Reflecting on this has reminded me of the clear depravity and brokenness of man. I constantly mess things up. I rarely know what's best for me, and even when I do, I have an uncanny history of choosing otherwise (sleep deprivation). This goes across the board though, don't forget that we're a species that lets 40,000 children starve every day, kills millions in wars, and causes countless broken relationships and families.

This is where life's biggest questions and conflicts begin: understanding there is something very wrong with us. This is why my faith (Christianity) is so mind-blowingly relevant to me. It meets me where I am: one who is hopelessly depraved and broken. Our attitude upon recognizing this should be one of humility. Its very easy for Christians (well anyone) to become proud and cocky. I think this is only possible when we forget our place. We are not in a place of strength of power, but of weakness and need. This is the most fundamental of truths in what it means to be a Christian. For it was in that place of weakness and need that God met us, it is where God saved us. Our humble recognition of that is where we need to begin, day after day.

In the economy of mercy
I am a poor and begging man
In the currency of grace
Is where my song begins (Economy of Mercy - Switchfoot)

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No more

Everyone dies. If we call approaching death "dying", then it would follow that we are all dying. Now for the Christian readers they would argue for rapture-related exceptions but for the sake of discussion today let's not go there.

Dying is rather significant (at least somewhat significant) - so what are we doing about it? Do we think about it? Are we aware - and have we come to grips with this reality? I fear our answers to such questions. I know for me (and I suspect most of us) death seems so distantly irrelevant. Which is sort of silly, we think so much about other upcoming events in our lives: getting a driver's license, becoming an adult, getting married, etc. What should death mean to us?

There's a inherent sadness that I experience as I ponder death. Certainly those religiously minded yearn for the "next life", but we all want to experience things on earth. I would like to grow personally, perhaps experience marriage, travel the world, learn a Bach cello suite, pee off a ridiculously tall tree, and the such. To think of losing those opportunities forever makes me sad. So we cling to life, and we cling hard.

Let us not forget what is worse than death, and that is watching others die. I have yet to experience the sorrow of having a close one pass away. But in terms of myself, even at my young age I have become aware of how mental capacity, physical health and ability quickly decline. There's such insecurity and fear in that - to imagine one's self losing power, ability and throughput. As I've watched my parents grow old I've seen this firsthand, and know should I live to be old I surely face the same.

But it doesn't end there. I do not regret thinking about death, because it helps me treasure life even more! That the sunlight upon my face feels that much more vibrant! The joy of laughing with a friend or enjoying the peacefulness of a quiet walk. The become so much more real, so much more valuable. So I am glad to have thought about physical death. I am glad for what you've taught me. Yet regret arises for I know I could have done more. I should have done more. This is why I will remember you, and what your short and simple life has taught me. Thank you Mr. Grasshead.

The author does not wish to portray any insensitivity to the death of loved ones. Rather just the contemplation upon the simple life and death of a plant. Well in this case a rather large number of plants. The author doesn't actually know how to refer to a single grass. He just says "there's some grass". I mean, some people use "blade", but that's in reference to the leaf structure, not the plant itself. "A grass" perhaps is most accurate, but I digress.
The author currently resides in Winnipeg, Canada and spends some of his free time practicing grass-revival techniques, mostly involving water.

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Contentment

Life is filled with all sorts of changes and experiences. I can ask all sorts of difficult questions trying to evaluate the past - should I have done X? Why did I leave Y? Did I ever consider Z?

This brings up the discipline of contentment. I just started a new job. Could my cubicle be nicer? Sure. Could it be worse? Again, sure. Could my salary be better or worse? Sure. I am not attempting to trivialize circumstances, rather I am challenged to consider what it means to seek contentment.


Ascetics and masochists aside, I do believe contentment is a good and important thing. However it is an incredibly variable thing. Some days I believe I need some very expensive item that is really snazzy and I will be content. Other times on a hot day, all it takes is to sit in some shade and enjoy some cool water.

What matters is one's standard for contentment. Person A can be content with a $10 bottle of wine, while person B cannot be content with less than a $100 bottle of wine. I personally think A is better off. Our society however pushes both person A and B to be discontent. To always crave something more, something better. But how much is enough? How is it possible that our society who gets the top 10% best water, food, shelter, clothing, technology, wealth, healthcare, etc still manages to be discontent and always craving for more?

Simplicity is a freedom. Contentment is a freedom. I for one would rather be content and free, than constantly craving and discontent. People talk about doing financial tip X or saving up for Y to improve one's standard of living. Here's a cheaper (but harder) tip - learn contentment. This brings up many other hard (but incredibly important) issues. If we're people who do wrong things, if we are spiritual beings, then we will crave a much deeper contentment. And that, is something only God (not I) can help you with.

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Perspectives

Life as we know it is governed by our perspectives. Something can happen that person A and B both experience, but can exist as completely different experiences based on their perspectives. Our perspectives hold great power over the way we interact with the world. Hence, improving our perspectives (in truthfulnes and wisdom) becomes a very worthwhile activity.

A neat site I came across helped me experience a hypothetical perspective, which gave me a better global perspetive. What if the earth only had a population of 100, yet all the proportions of races, religion, wealth, standard of living and the such remained the same. Check it out at www.miniature-earth.com/ which has a neat flash presentation. This topic of perspectives has been on my mind...

in the days before the anniversary of September 11th, 2001. The question came - what do I know of 9/11? Sure I know the surface media story and the basics, and could regurgitate (roughly) what was replayed over and over and over on the news during that entire month. I can't name any of the individuals that were accused. I can't give any clear explanation on how the twin towers could collapse after burning for under 2 hours... (while in 1975 a fire broke out for over 3 hours over 6 floors with virtually no structural damage)

In fact tons of alternative theories began to abound, easily spread by the advent of the internet. The official 9/11 Commission Report was released three years after 9/11. ABC recently also showed a docudrama The Path to 9/11" was then based off of. Still, many people seem quite convinced that something wasn't adding up.

Before we just label these as mere conspiracy theories, consider: these theories are rapidly gaining support from educated people who actually know a bit of what they're talking about. Consider a movement such as the Scholars for 9/11 Truth. They have quite an educated membership of about 300 including people experienced in advanced research, engineering, physics, etc. The wikiepdia does point out however, notably no one from the American Society of Civil Engineers is yet part of this organization.

Haven't caught up on some of the hard criticisms of the official 9/11 Commission Report? Check out some of these videos, roughly handpicked: Jim Fetzer 9/11 Panel Discussion, the popular Loose Change documentary, an MIT Engineer's take on the WTC collapse. There's countless other organizations, websites, and videos, some of which are more reasonable than the others.

I wish I could have the right and truthful perspective on much of the world's happenings. 9/11 had huge repercussions, perhaps giving ease to the American public allowing its government to declare war on Iraq. That was based on one particular perspective of 9/11, that gave sympathy to the Americans and fueled anger towards the "terrorists".

I think exposing myself to more documentaries/movies/etc can help. Best not to shut one's eyes. My problem is more of fear and this is why I have yet to vote - I find myself a paralyzed agnostic when it comes to such matters. :(

Edit (2006/09/12) - Google Video is hosting an area with tons of eyewitness footage, plus a special film called "7 Days in September". Worth checking out - http://video.google.com/911anniversary.html

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Ideas

Been thinking about ideas, and how good it is to always be exposed to new perspectives, thoughts, ideas, etc. Last night had dinner with a Canadian IVCF worker who's been visiting Central Asia regularly, an Uzbek medical student studying theology at the Schloss, a Russian speaking Ukranian theological student, and a British medical student currently working for the Christian Dental and Medical Fellowship. Its so enriching to encounter different ideas, perspectives, cultures, etc.

It reminds me you of the bigger picture. Let me give you an example - in Canada you don't ride with strangers and you always buckle your seatbelt. Well in Uzbekistan it is quite the opposite - in Uzbekistan any car is a potential taxi. That is, if you need to get anywhere you just flag down any car, and see if they'll take you were you need to go. Everyone does it, its not an especial source of crime, although one always needs to exercise common sense. There's a convention of how much they charge and how much you pay, but they'll take you were you need to go. A few do this full time, but for the most part, most are just ordinary people. The idea being if someone is going where you're going anyway, you can help each other out. Oh, and its illegal to wear a seatbelt in the rear seats.

On that note, a couple other interesting ideas and perspectives I came across today:

-Video of King of the Hill's take on megachurches

-A great article by the author of InternetMonk.com titled "Wretched Urgency" tackling the question - is Christianity about converting people?

Ideas are powerful things. What we think matters.

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Lest we forget...

The topic on my mind has been history, looking specifically at the instance of World War II, but really history in general.

Life is a story. History an even bigger story. If you want to understand me, you need to understand my story. Why am I so afraid of being embarrassed? Know my story and know the answer. And if I want to know myself better, my parents, my upbringing, then there's some stories I need to know too.

Want to know some of the most important lessons about life and who we are as humans beings? Know the story and know the answer.

For Christians so much of our understanding of God through history in the OT and NT is about understanding story. Not just that X and Y happened - you need to read into a story to understand the characters and were the story is going.

Upon completing a history course here, after visiting an actual WWII concentration camp, reflecting on my complete lack of knowledge of my family background - I have really been deeply changed. History - the big story - is something to be learned, loved, learned from, and what helps us write the next page of the story.

Consider WWII - I think most of us born after WWII simply cannot understand it. How could such a thing happen? Estimates for total casualties lies between 50 and 60 million. The number is really too hard to understand. Try doubling Canada's population and then killing everyone. Still the question begs, how did it happen?

As with most stories, nothing is a complete surprise. Take centuries of antisemitism, add economic anxiety, nations scared of war because of WWI, add some propaganda, some extremist beliefs and rulers, and there it came. Accepting that WWII happened as a progression of events and decisions makes it worse - because good people (and I think Christians as well) could have acted in ways to prevent the horrors that unfolded.

Those involved in atrocities - many of the soldiers from different nations - were they just incredibly evil people? Again I don't think so - the tales of how on Christmas during WWII, the American soldiers could hear the Germans singing Silent Night.

We need to start to see - the story of history is so vital in learning about who we are as humankind. Likewise our smaller individual stories that we have written and are still writing - these are forming who we will become. The events leading to WWII began a very ugly story... The challenging question is this - what story are we writing? One historian writes a great statement, this is from when he explains how the stage for WWII came into being:

"Each of us is shaping the background history of tomorrow" (Chaim Schatzker

I could go on, about the horrors, heroics and heartwrenching parts of WWII. I just finished watching a 10 part HBO series called Band of Brothers, based on the experiences of Easy Company, a paratrooper company that was dropped behind enemy lines on D-day. The brotherhood, the suffering they endured, the men who were broken by war, those who persevered... All these stories tug at my heart...

Life is a battle. We need brothers, and I am thankful for mine. Corporal Carl Lipton of Easy Company, during an interview of his experiences in World War II, quoted Shakespeare's St. Crispen's Day Speech:

From this day to the ending of the world we in it shall be remembered. We lucky few, we band of brothers. For he who today sheds his blood with me shall be my brother. (Shakespeare)

Here's to our stories, and the brothers who shed blood in the unglorious trenches of life by my side.

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I don't know

To err is human, to moo, bovine.

I have often wondered: as humans, should we ever be surprised to find that we're wrong or have committed some fault of some sort? It would seem doing wrong, or being imperfect (what Christians would call "sin") pervades everything we do. Whether a simple miscalculation when adding numbers, to hurting someone close to me - it seems my very nature to do so.

One would think the resulting attitude would then be of humility. In arguments or disputes we should be unsurprised and quite expecting to find ourselves with at least some fault.

My experience (and I would be as bold to suggest others' experiences as well) is quite different. I tend to assume I am right, and it is others that are at fault. On a deeper level there is insecurity - its not that I'm unaware of my faults and proclivity to do wrong... perhaps in the resultant shame a conflict emerges. I want anything but that shame, so I'll try to become perfect, to always be right - anything to avoid facing the brokenness and sinfulness of myself.

Maybe salvation has stories to tell
Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell
Where can you run to escape from yourself
Where you gonna go... salvation is here

-Dare You to Move by Switchfoot

I've often gone in search for adventure and battle... I do not need to look far though. Trying to learn this - what does it mean to see myself truely, to accept who I am, and to pour that before my Maker?

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Surprisingly Undeep

I'm standing here. I look around for a moment - to remind myself if I really am where I think I am. Yup... to be perfectly clear: I don't want to be where I am. There's countless other places I could think of being - places I would much rather be.

Life is like that. We often find ourselves in places we don't want to be. Confuscius say "road to growth, easy it is not"... or maybe it was Yoda... Life's like that, you have to give something to get something. Strength is the product of struggle. Want patience? Try waiting. Want wisdom? Try making some mistakes and then looking back.

Its a tradeoff that fortunately is not always in our power to choose, it seems we are invariably faced with these less than appealing aspects of life. Ergo, our natural reflexive reaction is less than positive. The famous saying "the price of freedom is eternal vigilance" comes to mind. We all like freedom, but if it costs us eternal vigilance, then screw freedom! ...oh wait I take that back, freedom is pretty good and pretty important to me.

Ginny Owen's song is moving... If you want me to:

The pathway is broken
And the signs are unclear
And I don’t know the reason why you brought me here
But just because you love me the way that you do
I’m gonna walk through the valley
If you want me to

"But I don't want to be here" I cry... I want to fly... I want to be elsewhere - becoming who I want to be... discovering who I really am? Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails (Prov 19)... His plans are good too, and good for me... and then the second verse of If you want me to rings so close to home:

It may not be the way I would have chosen
When you lead me through a world that’s not my home
But you never said it would be easy
You only said I’d never go alone

I let out a deep sigh. 1 part dissatisfaction, 1 part faith, 1 part trust I tell myself... hopefully... I shrug my shoulders, zip up my jacket and walk into Convergys. Scheduled to work xmas eve, xmas, NY's eve, and NYs...

Can't deprive you of the chorus to the song:

CauseI’m not who I was
When I took my first step
And I’m clinging to the promise you’re not through with me yet
So if all of these trials bring me closer to you
Then I will go through the fire
If you want me to

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Globalize this

Heh I being at work on the computer at work means I'm blogging lots...

Wouldn't want to be this guy:

More Pics(BBC)

I've never had any personal encounters with pepper spray but that's gotta be pretty painful... was chatting with rob last night who lives out in HK, and how there are big WTO protests as WTO is meeting there right now. Buses suspended from going to the island where the talks are held... (Edit - BBC put more pictures up here)

Its an issue I wished I thought more about, and knew more about too. I mean the shoes I'm wearing, the clothes I'm wearing, so many of the items around us we have - they were all made halfway around the globe, perhaps in less than pretty circumstances, with barely any benefit to the hands that made them.

I'm no expert, but heres my quick lowdown on the WTO stuff if you haven't heard much about it. WTO is the World Trade Organization, usually associated with globalization. They promote free trade, i.e. opposing trade tariffs, restrictions. The main beef is when you have such powerful and rich people calling the shots in free trade, then the smaller poorer countries are going to get screwed over. Free trade then can create extremely competitive prices that means some producers/growers are going to get screwed over. BBC has an excellent In Depth section on these world trade issues (Link) and Wikipedia has a detailed article on the WTO also (Link)

So what can someone like me even do about such things? Certainly we cannot vote on WTO, etc. Perhaps what we buy becomes our vote? We've all heard of the stories - and many of them true. Nike employees in some south east asian country being paid 2 cents for every shirt they produce. I recently bought a great documentary looking at some of these corporate problems (The Corporation, Reviews). Feel free to borrow it from me.

I think its good for us, especially as citizens of one of the richer countries that historically has gained a lot more from free trade than other poorer countries to be aware of the situation out there. The global economic situation seems dire... still over a billion people living on less than $1USD a day. The fact that free trade might make things WORSE for those people makes some people pretty pissed off. Pissed off enough to protest even at risk of getting a faceful of pepper spray (see above).

Some companies are trying to make a difference, economically and environmentally. One such company I respect is Mountain Equipment Co-op, who in their mission state they specifically seek good and fair compensation and working conditions for those producing their clothing/backpacks. But even then its tough to be competitive - MEC used to have a lot of its clothing and backpacks produced right in Canada, but I guess competition/greed has pushed them back to almost outsourcing all of its production, but it is clear that they are firm on being socially and environmentally responsible, as seen here.

As for me? Maybe I should be a little more pissed off.

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The unglorious trenches that must be held

Yesterday night I was tempted to buy Band of Brothers, a miniseries based on WWII stories of the famous airborne regiment Easy Company. Theres something about war stories thats so appealing - perhaps its the adventure, the glory, the chance to test and see what you're really made of.

Aye what a beautiful letdown it is. Its funny how that works out - especially as Christians we want to do great things. The beautiful letdown is when we are faced with a difficult struggle - one that is not glorious nor adventurous. It is painful, slow, filled with drudgery - the type of battle that is infinitely easier to avoid and ignore...

Perhaps blogs are meant to vent... I don't know. Maybe I'm the type of person who almost has to wear his heart on a sleeve. Alas another lot has fallen to me, no plans to get into the specific details here. Theres a mix of feelings - why me?. If it is for the greater good (which I do believe it to be), then this is selfish response to be sure. So I tremble - will I be the man?

I'm learning that the battle is not won on the spotlight of this world. It is these unglorious trenches - when everything in you wants to quit or run away and hide. No one would see, no would know. One episode of Band of Brothers a soldier shares his shameful confession. That on D-Day when they stormed the beach, he got seperated from his platoon, and ended up in a hole well concealed. He confesses that he never tried to find his group, that during all the battle he hid. No one knew, no one had to know. But he makes his confession, and from there he takes up his responsibility, his calling, and his purpose and fights from then on - wow.

Chambers words echo and haunt once more: "It is ingrained in us that we have to do exceptional things for God—but we do not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things of life." O that we would stand by the grace and strength of God in our unglorious trenches and fight the battles that fall to each of us.

Edit - Oh my I've glanced over my last few posts... far too serious, introspective, meh ai yah. OK some humour to lighten to mood. Although stay tuned, I think my next topic will try to address - why is it so easy and common for people to share relatively intimated and personal reflections on blogs anyway???

Some good times working at Convergys (all true):

Me: Thank you for calling Comcast. My name is allan, can I please have the phone number on your account starting with area code?
Some guy: *starts dialing*
Me: Uh.. could you just tell me please?
-
Me: Ok, now that we did that could we try opening up a web browser and lets see if you can get online.
Lady: Heck no! I only know how to turn this thing on
Me: *presses mute button and groans*
-
Cool NYer: Yeah man I feel ya
Me: Uh.. haha (considers saying "ya I feel it too brotha, but wisely doesn't)
-
Me: Ok could you turn off the computer please?
Lady: *presses button on the monitor* Ok theres nothing on my screen now
-
Lady: So why are they called cookies anyway?
Me: you know what? I have no idea... no one's ever asked me that before (and I still don't know!

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Impulse vs Stability vs Passion

If I look at my life I see hobby after hobby gone by. I find myself switching hobbies/passions very frequently. I've never been to sure what to make of this. I find when I'm into something I tend to get way too into it, and then a few months later I'm switching hobbies. Maybe I just like to be learning something new - or perhaps I develop unsustainable behaviour over my hobbies? hmm

Anyway my latest project was completed last night, at least the first phase. The 1st year med students this year are taking part in an fundraising project for HIV/AIDS relief in KwaZulu-Natal, a province of South Africa where 36% of adults are HIV infected! Yikes - anyway I got onboard to design and make their website. Just finished it last night at 6:30am... lol maybe that answers my question about "unsustainable behaviour". Take a look, I'd like some feedback/suggestions. http://simunye.webhop.org. I was mostly aiming for something with a pretty clean look.

So yeah maybe sometimes I pursue too many things, which leads me to want to understand impulsiveness vs passion vs desire. This question started after reading a particular devotional by Oswald Chambers (whose teaching I hold in high regard) which basically said that impulsiveness goes against everything a Christian disciple is trying to become. That Jesus was never impulsiveness, but there a calm strength that might result in doing very "loud" and passionate things, but that it isn't impulsiveness. This can get into semantics, but he seems to define impulsiveness as "thoughtless action", which it probably is.

I get a lot of impulses - I think we all do. I guess the true mark of a mature disciple is restraint and reflection too. Then on, sometimes we may know the right thing to do right away, in which case we should just do it. Come to think of it, "impulsiveness" is a pretty good term to describe children. Here's to growing up *raises glass*

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A sober view

Last Friday Terry gave a talk at youth group, somehow age came up and he said something along these lines: the older you get, the easier it is to rationalize yourself. Which is pretty scary, when I consider how easy it is already to convince myself that I'm right, and what I want is right, and that pretty much everyone else is wrong.. lol. Pride runs deep, it will do all it can to try to glorify the self and put itself above everyone else.

For the kingdom come, kingdom come
Your kingdom come
Won't you let me down, yeah
Let my foolish pride forever let me down
   -Beautiful Letdown by Switchfoot

I think theres a part of all of us that wants to be great. Whether in the eyes of certain people, others, what we think God's eyes see, our own eyes... hmm. We want to be special, recognized, glorified. I want to share a teaching by Oswald Chambers again, its a toughie but a goodie: It is ingrained in us that we have to do exceptional things for God—but we do not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things of life, and holy on the ordinary streets, among ordinary people—and this is not learned in five minutes. (Link).

Teach us to walk the humble path...

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