terça-feira, 25 de dezembro de 2007

Iesu Christi autem generatio sic erat

Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678), The Nativity. Bristol Museum, UK. Mt 1:18-25 18 Iesu Christi autem generatio sic erat. Cum esset desponsata mater eius Maria Ioseph, antequam convenirent inventa est in utero habens de Spiritu Sancto. 19 Ioseph autem vir eius, cum esset iustus et nollet eam traducere, voluit occulte dimittere eam. 20 Haec autem eo cogitante, ecce angelus Domini in somnis apparuit ei dicens: “ Ioseph fili David, noli timere accipere Mariam coniugem tuam. Quod enim in ea natum est, de Spiritu Sancto est; 21 pariet autem filium, et vocabis nomen eius Iesum: ipse enim salvum faciet populum suum a peccatis eorum ”. 22 Hoc autem totum factum est, ut adimpleretur id, quod dictum est a Domino per prophetam dicentem: 23 “ Ecce, virgo in utero habebit et pariet filium, et vocabunt nomen eius Emmanuel ”, quod est interpretatum Nobiscum Deus. 24 Exsurgens autem Ioseph a somno fecit, sicut praecepit ei angelus Domini, et accepit coniugem suam; 25 et non cognoscebat eam, donec peperit filium, et vocavit nomen eius Iesum. Lc 2:1-18 1 Factum est autem, in diebus il lis exiit edictum a Caesare Augusto, ut describeretur universus orbis. 2 Haec descriptio prima facta est praeside Syriae Quirino. 3 Et ibant omnes, ut profiterentur, singuli in suam civitatem. 4 Ascendit autem et Ioseph a Galilaea de civitate Nazareth in Iudaeam in civitatem David, quae vocatur Bethlehem, eo quod esset de domo et familia David, 5 ut profiteretur cum Maria desponsata sibi, uxore praegnante. 6 Factum est autem, cum essent ibi, impleti sunt dies, ut pareret, 7 et peperit filium suum primogenitum; et pannis eum involvit et reclinavit eum in praesepio, quia non erat eis locus in deversorio. 8 Et pastores erant in regione eadem vigilantes et custodientes vigilias noctis supra gregem suum. 9 Et angelus Domini stetit iuxta illos, et claritas Domini circumfulsit illos, et timuerunt timore magno. 10 Et dixit illis angelus: “ Nolite timere; ecce enim evangelizo vobis gaudium magnum, quod erit omni populo, 11 quia natus est vobis hodie Salvator, qui est Christus Dominus, in civitate David. 12 Et hoc vobis signum: invenietis infantem pannis involutum et positum in praesepio ”. 13 Et subito facta est cum angelo multitudo militiae caelestis laudantium Deum et dicentium: 14 “Gloria in altissimis Deo, et super terram pax in hominibus bonae voluntatis ”. 15 Et factum est, ut discesserunt ab eis angeli in caelum, pastores loquebantur ad invicem: “ Transeamus usque Bethlehem et videamus hoc verbum, quod factum est, quod Dominus ostendit nobis ”. 16 Et venerunt festinantes et invenerunt Mariam et Ioseph et infantem positum in praesepio. 17 Videntes autem notum fecerunt verbum, quod dictum erat illis de puero hoc. 18 Et omnes, qui audierunt, mirati sunt de his, quae dicta erant a pastoribus ad ipsos. Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), L'Adoration des Mages. Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Bruxelles/Brussels, Belgique/België. Mt 2:1-11 1 Cum autem natus esset Iesus in Bethlehem Iudaeae in diebus Herodis regis, ecce Magi ab oriente venerunt Hierosolymam 2 dicentes: “ Ubi est, qui natus est, rex Iudaeorum? Vidimus enim stellam eius in oriente et venimus adorare eum ”. 3 Audiens autem Herodes rex turbatus est et omnis Hierosolyma cum illo; 4 et congregans omnes principes sacerdotum et scribas populi, sciscitabatur ab eis ubi Christus nasceretur. 5 At illi dixerunt ei: “ In Bethlehem Iudaeae. Sic enim scriptum est per prophetam: 6 "Et tu, Bethlehem terra Iudae, nequaquam minima es in principibus Iudae; ex te enim exiet dux, qui reget populum meum Israel" ”. 7 Tunc Herodes, clam vocatis Magis, diligenter didicit ab eis tempus stellae, quae apparuit eis; 8 et mittens illos in Bethlehem dixit: “ Ite et interrogate diligenter de puero; et cum inveneritis, renuntiate mihi, ut et ego veniens adorem eum ”. 9 Qui cum audissent regem, abierunt. Et ecce stella, quam viderant in oriente, antecedebat eos, usque dum veniens staret supra, ubi erat puer. 10 Videntes autem stellam gavisi sunt gaudio magno valde. 11 Et intrantes domum viderunt puerum cum Maria matre eius, et procidentes adoraverunt eum; et apertis thesauris suis, obtulerunt ei munera, aurum et tus et myrrham.

quarta-feira, 19 de dezembro de 2007

Ainda Mais Frases de Groucho Marx


"Hello, I must be going."

"Quote me as saying I was misquoted."

"A woman is an occasional pleasure but a cigar is always a smoke."

"I married your mother because I wanted children, imagine my disappointment when you came along."

"Behind every successful man is a woman, behind her is his wife."

"Why was I with her? She reminds me of you. In fact, she reminds me more of you than you do!"

"Time wounds all heels."

"Do you think I could buy back my introduction to you?"

"It is better to have loft and lost than to never have loft at all."

"I must confess, I was born at a very early age."

"You've got the brain of a four-year-old boy, and I'll bet he was glad to get rid of it."

"You know I could rent you out as a decoy for duck hunters?"

"Ice Water? Get some Onions - that'll make your eyes water!"

"He may look like an idiot and talk like an idiot but don't let that fool you. He really is an idiot."

"Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?"

"Room Service? Send up a larger room."

"A black cat crossing your path signifies that the animal is going somewhere."

"A hospital bed is a parked taxi with the meter running."

segunda-feira, 17 de dezembro de 2007

Bobby McFerrin improvisa sobre Bach

(Se eu não estivesse a ouvir E a ver... não acreditava...!)

Maxim Vengerov toca Johann Sebastian Bach

Partita N.º 2 BWV 1004, Sarabande

Sviatoslav Richter toca Fryderyk Chopin

Étude Op. 25, N.º 11 ('Winter Wind')

Citações sobre Educação


"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." Mark Twain

"A educação visa melhorar a natureza do homem, o que nem sempre é aceite pelo interessado." Carlos Drummond de Andrade

"Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one." Malcolm Forbes

"College isn't the place to go for ideas." Helen Keller

"A morte do homem começa no instante em que ele desiste de aprender." Albino Teixeira

"Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater." Gail Godwin

"Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten." B. F. Skinner

"The advantage of a classical education is that it enables you to despise the wealth that it prevents you from achieving." Russell Green

"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence." Robert Frost

"To repeat what others have said, requires education; to challenge it, requires brains." Mary Pettibone Poole

"A educação tem raízes amargas, mas os seus frutos são doces." Aristóteles

"Eduque-o como quiser; de qualquer maneira há-de educá-lo mal." Sigmund Freud

Sobre poder e responsabilidade estudantil

Acho que se pode aprender com isto. Bem falta faz aos estudantes e aos professores portugueses! O texto não está assinado, mas penso que é do editor do THES, Gerard Kelly.

The Times Higher Education Supplement
Leader: Student power has to go with commitment
Published: 07 December 2007

A few years ago, we reported on the case of the student who was awarded £200 by his university because he got stuck in a lift and missed a lecture. It wasn't an isolated incident - another student at another university was refunded £62.50 in course fees because of dissatisfaction "with the timing and quality of feedback". And yet another had her bus fare refunded after a lecture was cancelled without notice. Now it seems even coffee stains on essays invite censure. Students pay and students expect. Last year the number of complaints handled by the Office of the Independent Adjudicator rose by 44 per cent.
Nothing highlights the emergence of student power and the ambivalence surrounding it more than one particular Oxbridge nugget in our own poll on student experience. Cambridge and Oxford are second and fourth respectively. But they score poorly on the issue of providing a fair workload - students give both universities the lowest mark in that category. One might charitably conclude that students are revolting against an overtaxing workload that allows them little time for such essentials as part-time paid employment. Conversely, one might suppose that asking students to always approve of a regime that is demanding, rigorous and at some level pushes them to their intellectual limits is a little naive. It goes to the nub of the dilemma facing universities - it is not always possible to both maintain academic standards and please the student customer.
On the other hand, it is a foolish university that neglects its appeal to a student audience. In the US, mighty Harvard has had to take steps to restore its tarnished record on undergraduate teaching. In the UK, the London School of Economics feels it has to act after student complaints about the quality of teaching. Last week, the 1994 Group announced that the student voice would be central to teaching and learning.
Few would claim that students base their choice of university solely on the quality of its teaching and learning, which is why The Times Higher commissioned Opinionpanel Research to test a broad measure of the university experience. Prospective students want well-stocked libraries, up-to-date internet and sporting facilities, plentiful and good accommodation, an opportunity to work, relevant links with industry, helpful staff, a sense of community and a decent social life, as well as a good and creditable course.
This constant and insistent holding to account is, naturally, irksome to those who a decade or more ago did not have to bother with undergraduates demanding value for money. But in many respects - though not all - it is to be welcomed. It is easy to groan at pampered teenagers clamouring for en-suite rooms replete with wi-fi wonders. But if those same students insist that work submitted has relevant and detailed feedback, that marking procedures are robust, that the library stays open for longer and that they have at least some contact hours with the well-known experts who feature so prominently in the prospectus, surely an institution ultimately benefits.
The problem remains that treating students as a market would treat any other customer is bound to contaminate a crucial element of the educational encounter. Students do not buy a guaranteed outcome and wait passively for academics to deliver it. Baroness Deech's analogy with gym membership is a good one - the flabby won't get fit just by joining, they have to exercise. Students have a responsibility to subject their brain to a workout. Academics have a duty to interrogate, challenge, critique and, if warranted, fail the work of their pupils. If students are customers they are customers who enter into a compact - one that can be broken by them as well as by their university.

sábado, 1 de dezembro de 2007

1640 Restauração da Independência de Portugal