Emma Saya

Gedanken.... Die Niemandsrose

2011-05-19T02:45:00.000+03:00

DIE NIEMANDSROSE (TRANDAFIRUL NIMANUI) - Paul Celan (1963)

SELBDRITT, SELBVIERT

Krauseminze, Minze, krause,
vor dem Haus hier, vor dem Hause.

Diese Stunde, deine Stunde,
ihr Gespräch mit meinem Munde.

Mit dem Mund, mit seinem Schweigen,
mit den Worten, die sich weigern.

Mit den Weiten, mit den Engen,
mit den nahen Untergängen.

Mit mir einem, mit uns dreien,
halb gebunden, halb im Freien.

Krauseminze, Minze, krause,
vor dem Haus hier, vor dem Hause.

ZWÖLF JAHRE

Die wahr-
gebliebene, wahr-
gewordene Zeile: ... dein
Haus in Paris - zur
Opferstatt deiner Hände.

Dreimal durchatmet,
dreimal durchglänzt.
.......................

Es wird stumm, es wird taub
hinter den Augen.
Ich sehe das Gift blühn.
In jederlei Wort und Gestalt.

Geh. Komm.
Die Liebe löscht ihren Namen: siê
schreibt sich dir zu.

PSALM

Niemand knetet uns wieder aus Erde und Lehm,
niemand bespricht unsern Staub.
Niemand.

Gelobt seist du, Niemand.
Dir zulieb wollen
wir blühn.
Dir
entgegen.

Ein Nichts
waren wir, sind wir, werden
wir bleiben, blühend:
die Nichts-, die
Niemandsrose.

Mit
dem Griffel seelenhell,
dem Staubfaden himmelswüst,
der Krone rot
vom Purpurwort, das wir sangen
über, o über
dem Dorn.

EINE GAUNER- UND GANOVENWEISE
GESUNGEN ZU PARIS EMPRÉS PONTOISE
VON PAUL CELAN
AUS CZERNOWITZ BEI SADAGORA

Manchmal nur, in dunkeln Zeiten
Heinrich Heine, An Edom

Damals, als es noch Galgen gab,
da, nicht wahr, gab es
ein Oben.

Wo bleibt mein Bart, Wind, wo
mein Judenfleck, wo
mein Bart, den du raufst?

Krumm war der Weg, den ich ging,
krumm war er, ja,
denn, ja,
er war gerade.

Heia.

Krumm, so wird meine Nase.
Nase.

Und wir zogen auch nach Friaul.
Da hätten wir, da hätten wir.
Denn es blühte der Mandelbaum.
Mandelbaum, Bandelmaum.
Mandeltraum, Trandelmaum.
Und auch der Machandelbaum.
Chandelbaum.

Heia.
Aum.

Envoi

Aber,
aber er bäumt sich, der Baum. Er,
auch er
steht gegen
die Pest.

... RAUSCHT DER BRUNNEN

Ihr gebet-, ihr lästerungs-, ihr
gebetscharfen Messer
meines
Schweigens.

Ihr meine mit mir ver-
krüppelnden Worte, ihr
meine geraden.

Und du:
du, du, du
mein täglich wahr- und wahrer-
geschundenes Später
der Rosen -:

Wieviel, o wieviel
Welt. Wieviel
Wege.

Krücke du, Schwinge. Wir - -

Wir werden das Kinderlied singen, das,
hörst du, das
mit den Men, mit den Schen, mit den Menschen, ja das
mit dem Gestrüpp und mit
dem Augenpaar, das dort bereitlag als
Träne-und-
Träne.

Ginduri... Tractate on the Heretical (day seven)

2011-05-14T00:43:00.005+03:00

Tractate on the Heretical
(day seven)

Everybody knows the sweet song of freedom
and I know it too. one day you’ll be told< “oh, glorious
are his bones, he who is rotting now!”
noble thoughts dozing in the brain cringing
in confusion. the tenderness all around.
the pandemonium in which the gods no longer can be patient
mozart buried in a common grave
and despite it all a tear rusts in the true light which
I approach closer ever closer which I’m awfully scared of
and which I must endure
all the way to the great warehouse of water lilies
alone in the mad forest of grief
everybody knows the sweet song of freedom
and I know it too. a time will come when the death
of a bum on the street will move an empire
when the night leaf will murder the day leaf
when your intention will be to sing
but ashes will permeate the spaces in your name
everybody knows the sweet song of freedom
and I know it too

accustoming myself to it day and night
forever.

(sursa: Aurel Dumitrascu, translated by Adam J. Sorkin and Liana Vrăjitoru, revista Poesis International nr. 4, p.32)

En passant

2010-12-10T14:45:00.002+02:00

Toutes les ébènes ont rendez-vous
Lambeaux de nuit quand nos ombres s'éteignent
Des routes m'emmènent, je ne sais où
J'avais les yeux perçants avant, je voyais tout

Doucement reviennent à pas de loup
Reines endormies, nos déroutes anciennes
Coulent les fontaines jusqu'où s'échouent
Les promesses éteintes et tous nos voeux dissous

C'était des ailes et des rêves en partage
C'était des hivers et jamais le froid
C'était des grands ciels épuisés d'orages
C'était des paix que l'on ne signait pas

Des routes m'emmènent, je ne sais où
J'ai vu des oiseaux, des printemps, des cailloux

En passant

Toutes nos défaites ont faim de nous
Serments résignés sous les maquillages
Lendemains de fête, plus assez saouls
Pour avancer, lâcher les regrets trop lourds

Déjà ces lents, ces tranquilles naufrages
Déjà ces cages qu'on n'attendait pas
Déjà ces discrets manques de courage
Tout ce qu'on ne sera jamais, déjà

J'ai vu des bateaux, des fleurs, des rois
Des matins si beaux, j'en ai cueilli parfois

En passant (Jean Jacques Goldman)

Ginduri... De vorba cu mine insumi

2010-10-11T01:50:00.002+03:00

Vorbesc cu mine însumi, cum aş vorbi cu-n frate
Întors rănit din lupta cu zilele de ieri,
Şi parcă tot nu-mi vine să cred că n-am dreptate –
Că El şi Eu nu suntem decât acelaşi frate,
Şi-aceeaşi rană-i doare pe ambii scutieri.

Armurile alt’dată pătate de rugină
Azi par mai sclipitoare decât oricând,
Iar spada,
Încrucişată-n luptă de-atâtea ori,
E plină
De sângele netrebnic al celor ce cad pradă
Aceluiaşi proteic şi veşnic Torquemada.

Vorbesc cu mine însumi şi-mi zic:
- De ce mă minţi
De-atâţia ani de-a rândul că tu eşti cel mai mare
Din toţi îmblânzitorii cohortelor barbare,
Că-n gestul tău palpită străvechile altare,
Iar vasta catedrală, zidită de părinţi,
Cu-ntreaga-i melodramă de dumnezei şi sfinţi,
O poți schimba-ntr-o clipă,
De nu ţi-ar fi ruşine
De bărbile lor albe,
De mine
Şi de tine?

Vorbesc cu mine însumi şi-mi zic:
- De atâţia ani,
De când mă porţi spre-acelaşi sublim necunoscut,
De ce mă minţi cu-aceleaşi îndemnuri de temut
Şi-mi profanezi credinţa cu-acelaşi prefăcut
Surâs –
Citit pe buze de josnici curtezani ?
De ce din armonia superbelor cântări
Azi nu se mai aude decât grozavul urlet
Al celor ce se-neacă în descărcări de tunet
Departe-n cine ştie ce profunzimi de mări !...

Mă simt aşa de singur, c-aproape-mi este frică
Să mai vorbesc cu mine,
Şi-mi zic:
- Ascultă frate,
Ascunde-ţi rana,
Uită c-ai fost rănit şi tu –
Tu, ce-ai strivit atâţia ce nu se mai ridică –
Te scutură de greul armurii-nsângerate;
Iar celui ce te-ntreabă de-ţi sunt sau nu-ţi sunt frate
Răspunde-i: „Nu”

(Ion Minulescu- De vorba cu mine insumi, Bucuresti, 1913)

The End

2010-09-29T15:15:00.002+03:00

This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I'll never look into your eyes...again

Can you picture what will be
So limitless and free
Desperately in need...of some...stranger's hand
In a...desperate land

Lost in a Roman...wilderness of pain
And all the children are insane
All the children are insane
Waiting for the summer rain, yeah

There's danger on the edge of town
Ride the King's highway, baby
Weird scenes inside the gold mine
Ride the highway west, baby

Ride the snake, ride the snake
To the lake, the ancient lake, baby
The snake is long, seven miles
Ride the snake...he's old, and his skin is cold

The west is the best
The west is the best
Get here, and we'll do the rest

The blue bus is callin' us
The blue bus is callin' us
Driver, where you taken' us

The killer awoke before dawn, he put his boots on
He took a face from the ancient gallery
And he walked on down the hall
He went into the room where his sister lived, and...then he
Paid a visit to his brother, and then he
He walked on down the hall, and
And he came to a door...and he looked inside
Father, yes son, I want to (...) you
Mother...I want to... (...) you

C'mon baby, take a chance with us
C'mon baby, take a chance with us
C'mon baby, take a chance with us
And meet me at the back of the blue bus
Doin' a blue rock
Doin' a blue rock
C'mon, yeah

(........)

This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end

It hurts to set you free
But you'll never follow me
The end of laughter and soft lies
The end of nights we tried to die

This is the end

Despre vise, regasire, inceput.... Inception

2010-08-04T18:17:00.001+03:00

In timp ce gindurile imi zburau prin te miri ce sfere mai mult sau mai putin cunoscute, colorate sau populate, si degetele butonau tastatura prin diverse siteuri dintr-o sfera deja mai familiara, blogosfera, dau peste un titlu suficient de incitant incit sa apas butonul "view trailer". E vorba despre un film. Inception. (oare cum s-o traduce in romana inception? Pentru ca alte cuvinte precum deception, insertion, conception au echivalente in -tie, deceptie, insertie, etc.).
Am urmarit trailerul si m-a pus pe ginduri. Din nou. Oare cit din visele, din gindurile noastre se afla in controlul nostru? Cit de in siguranta sunt ele in fata influentelor externe? Cit din constiinta proprie ramine nealterata sau, mai dur spus, scutita de manipulare? Si nu in ultimul rind, ce rezulta din amestecarea viselor, a dorintelor, cu realitatea? ..o regasire, un nou inceput, o continuare, o creatie?
Inception. Da. Vreau sa vad filmul si-sper eu- sa-l si inteleg.
Voi ce credeti? :)

A fost...

2010-06-08T03:32:00.004+03:00

A fost
cindva
o fetita
simpla
vesela
....

A fost
cindva
o femeie
un soare
si dansul
in picioare
....

A fost
cindva
....
Acum
este
....
un suflet
inaltare
...

...
A fost
Este
Liniste...

Never give a sword to a man who can't dance. (Confucius)

Ceea ce oferă lumină trebuie să suporte arderea (Viktor Frankl)

Nu se va elibera inima nici unui om...daca n-a curatit cele dinlauntru. (Emilianos Simonopetritul: Sf. Isihie)

My Heart is in the Work—Jon Kolko

2010-05-20T00:26:00.001+03:00

M-am gindit sa incep o serie de postari dintr-o dubla perspectiva: stiintifica, pe cit posibil, motivanta,si deconectanta, datorita subiectelor din sfere de interes personal si profesional. Who knows? Le voi sorta pe categorii: stiinta, lingvistica, curiozitati. Pentru inceput am ales prezentari care mi-au captat atentia si mi-au placut. M-au lasat cu un fel de "wow". Pe parcurs o sa intervin si eu cu pareri proprii. AColo unde nu sunt, inseamna ca nu am completari. Stiu, stiu, blah blah-ul meu e plictisitor. Dar sper ca "pofta sa vina mincind." :) Asa ca acest post e un mix de stiinta, lingvistica, curiozitati. :D

Martin Polley on May 10th, 2010 Jon Kolko (frog design) gives a talk that “examines our ability to affect change at the intersection of experience, behavior, meaning, and culture, and will emphasize our responsibility to approach our work with philanthropic enthusiasm that would make [Andrew] Carnegie proud.” (Interaction 10, February 2010, Duration: 30 minutes)
Source: http://johnnyholland.tv, http://vimeo.com/9665365

The sound and the query

2010-05-14T19:50:00.005+03:00

Why do questions take the form they do? An MIT linguist explains how the noises we make help to shape the sentences we speak.
(Peter Dizikes, MIT News Office)

In linguistic terms, a question is largely the re-ordering of a statement. Shuffle the words around, make a couple of other changes, and “John rode a horse” becomes “What did John ride?”

Linguists call this re-arranging of words “wh-movement,” due to the wh-words used in questions (who, when, and so on) and they believe it occurs in two forms. English displays what linguists call “overt wh-movement,” in which word order is shuffled heavily, since many questions begin with wh-words. (There are exceptions: “John rode a what?”) But some languages, like Japanese, deploy “covert wh-movement,” in which word order remains largely intact as a statement becomes a question, and the wh-words appear in a variety of locations.

But what determines which of these options a given language uses? In a new book, “Uttering Trees,” MIT linguistics professor Norvin Richards asserts that if we carefully study prosody — the way the pitch of our voices goes up and down — we can determine which kind of wh-movement any language will employ. In turn, Richards believes, this suggests that for all languages, the sound pattern in sentences is more integral to the syntax — the processes and principles that govern the structure of sentences — than scholars have generally thought.

“If you were to ask a syntactician why English forms its questions one way and Japanese forms its questions another way, there isn’t really an answer,” says Richards. “But I’m shooting for a deeper explanation in the book. And the idea is that there’s a universal principle explaining the prosody we observe when we ask questions.”

If the pattern Richards has detected holds up, it could persuade more linguists that the relationship between sound and syntax is a necessity, not a contingency. “If what I’m saying is right,” Richards says, “then I think that as the syntax begins to build the sentence structure, it’s also making a rough draft of the prosody.” That could alter linguists’ views about how the rules of language are laid down, and provide more evidence for the notion of Universal Grammar, the idea that an innate facility for language helps shape the form of languages globally.

Sound system

There are actually two distinct essays in “Uttering Trees,” published this month by MIT Press. (The title refers to the tree-like sentence diagrams linguists use.) The first essay analyzes how similar elements of sentences must be separated for the sake of comprehension, while the second develops Richards’ thesis about sound and questions, surveying English, Japanese, Basque, Bengali, Tagalog, French, Portugese, and more. To get a flavor for his work, consider this second issue.

Recordings of Japanese spoken in Tokyo, when charted by the frequency of the speaker’s voice, show that the statement “Naoya-ga nanika-o nomiya-de nonda” (“Naoya drank something at the bar”) maintains a rising-and-falling pitch pattern. But in the question, “Naoya-ga nani-o nomiya-de nonda no?” (“What did Naoya drink at the bar?”), the words “nomiya-de nonda” have a low, flat frequency, interrupting the rising-and-falling pattern. This flat intonation falls between the wh-word, “nani-o,” and the question-indicating complementizer, “no,” at the end of the sentence.

“There’s this prosodic phenomenon,” says Richards. “You get a big pitched peak on the wh-word, then people mutter, so the prosody is kind of flat between the wh-word and the complementizer, then it goes back up. People squash these words so that they’re lower than they would be in the corresponding statement. We have nice phonetic evidence that they’re creating a prosodic domain that starts with the wh-word and ends with the question mark.”

So while there are two kinds of wh-movement, Richards proposes that every language ends up like Japanese, in the sense that wh-words and complementizers exist in a single prosodic domain. In some languages, including Japanese, this is accomplished by direct changes in the prosody, while, others, like English, require a greater transportation of wh-words, so they can be located in the same prosodic domain as question marks. But if we can locate the question mark and understand how prosody is organized, Richards argues, we can predict where the wh-word will be situated in every tongue — which provides evidence for the common foundations of all languages. In Bengali, Richards has found, the sentence, “ora Suneche ke abe” (“They have heard who will come”) shifts into a question as, “ora ke abe Suneche?” (“Who have they heard will come?”). In this case, “ke” serves as the wh-word, with the relevant prosodic domain lying between it and the closing question indicator.

Colleagues have praised “Uttering Trees.” Answering questions by e-mail, Elena Anagnostopoulou, a professor of linguistics at the University of Crete, says Richards “asks a question that has rarely been addressed before, namely why some languages have overt and others covert wh-movement,” and defends his thesis “very convincingly.” The book, she believes, lays out a “novel research agenda, where new proposals are raised and the proposals are highly predictive.” The predictive aspect of Richards’ theory is precisely what will be tested by future research. For all the languages he samples, scores more await evaluation in terms of wh-movement. For now, though, Richards’ idea is sound.

(http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2010/uttering-trees-0326.html)

When ideas fail, words com in very handy. (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

Nicholas Christakis: The hidden influence of social networks

2010-05-13T13:22:00.007+03:00

Nothing is so unbelievable that oratory cannot make it acceptable. (Marcus Tullius Cicero)

A change of mind

2010-05-11T13:59:00.002+03:00

A change of mind

One protein appears to control neurons’ ability to react to new experiences, MIT scientists show.
(Anne Trafton, MIT News Office)

Plasticity — the brain’s ability to change in response to external input — is critical for most cognitive functions, including learning and memory. Those changes usually involve a strengthening or weakening of synapses, the connections between brain cells (neurons).

MIT neuroscientists have now found that a single protein, known as Arc, appears to control neurons’ ability to strengthen and weaken their synapses by regulating the number of neurotransmitter receptors on their surfaces. The finding could help researchers identify new drug targets for Fragile X and Angelman syndromes — inherited forms of mental retardation that have been linked to deficits of Arc.

“The more we understand the chain of cellular events that Arc is involved in, the more we can identify particular targets where we could intervene,” says Mriganka Sur, head of MIT’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences (BCS).

Sur and Mark Bear, the Picower Professor of Neuroscience, are senior authors of a paper on the work that appeared in the March 14 online edition of Nature Neuroscience.

A surprising discovery

Jason Shepherd, co-lead author of the paper and a postdoctoral associate in Bear’s lab, began studying Arc as a grad student at Johns Hopkins University. He and his colleagues showed that Arc weakens synapses by removing receptors for glutamate, a neurotransmitter that stimulates neuron activity, from neuron cell membranes. They also discovered that when the Arc gene is turned off in mice, they lose their ability to form long-term memories.

In the new study, Shepherd and co-lead author Cortina McCurry, a recent PhD recipient in BCS, did a series of experiments designed to pinpoint the role of Arc in the visual cortex of mice. They started with a classic experimental setup that involves sealing one eye for two days, depriving the eye of visual input. In normal mice, this strengthens synapses in the part of the cortex receiving input from the open eye, and weakens them in cortical cells wired to the closed eye.

Shepherd and McCurry performed their experiments on mice with a mutation in the Arc gene that renders the protein ineffective. Because of Arc’s known role in weakening synapses, they expected mice without Arc not to show any synaptic weakening from the closed eye. That prediction came true, but to the researchers’ surprise, they found that the synaptic strengthening normally seen from the open eye also disappeared.

“If you knock out the gene, you don’t get either response,” says Shepherd. “The brain is not responsive at all to the changes in sensory input.”

They observed the same lack of plasticity in studies of Arc-deficient mice that were repeatedly exposed to the same visual stimulus (for example, a horizontal bar), which normally provokes neurons to enhance their response to that particular stimulus.

The results suggest that Arc has an indirect role in inserting glutamate receptors in the cell membrane, as well as its previously known role in removing them, according to the researchers. “It’s remarkable to find one single gene and its protein to be so responsible” in different types of plasticity, says Sur.

While others have shown in experiments with neurons that Arc appears to have a role in both suppressing and stimulating synapses, this paper is the first to demonstrate the effect in living animals, says Hey-Kyoung Lee, associate professor of biology at the University of Maryland, who was not involved in the research. “The current paper clearly shows that Arc plays a critical role in shaping cortical synapses with sensory experience,” she says.

Shepherd is now planning experiments to image the Arc protein in single cells in the visual cortex. He also plans to further investigate the protein’s role in Fragile X and Angelman syndromes.
(http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2010/brain-plasticity-0324.html)

Moral judgments can be altered ... by magnets

2010-05-04T18:10:00.001+03:00

Moral judgments can be altered ... by magnets
By disrupting brain activity in a particular region, neuroscientists can sway people’s views of moral situations.
(Anne Trafton, MIT News Office)

To make moral judgments about other people, we often need to infer their intentions — an ability known as “theory of mind.” For example, if one hunter shoots another while on a hunting trip, we need to know what the shooter was thinking: Was he secretly jealous, or did he mistake his fellow hunter for an animal?

MIT neuroscientists have now shown they can influence those judgments by interfering with activity in a specific brain region — a finding that helps reveal how the brain constructs morality.

Previous studies have shown that a brain region known as the right temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) is highly active when we think about other people’s intentions, thoughts and beliefs. In the new study, the researchers disrupted activity in the right TPJ by inducing a current in the brain using a magnetic field applied to the scalp. They found that the subjects’ ability to make moral judgments that require an understanding of other people’s intentions — for example, a failed murder attempt — was impaired.

The researchers, led by Rebecca Saxe, MIT assistant professor of brain and cognitive sciences, report their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of March 29. Funding for the research came from The National Center for Research Resources, the MIND Institute, the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, the Simons Foundation and the David and Lucille Packard Foundation.

The study offers “striking evidence” that the right TPJ, located at the brain’s surface above and behind the right ear, is critical for making moral judgments, says Liane Young, lead author of the paper. It’s also startling, since under normal circumstances people are very confident and consistent in these kinds of moral judgments, says Young, a postdoctoral associate in MIT’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences.

“You think of morality as being a really high-level behavior,” she says. “To be able to apply (a magnetic field) to a specific brain region and change people’s moral judgments is really astonishing.”

Thinking of others

Saxe first identified the right TPJ’s role in theory of mind a decade ago — a discovery that was the subject of her MIT PhD thesis in 2003. Since then, she has used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to show that the right TPJ is active when people are asked to make judgments that require thinking about other people’s intentions.

In the new study, the researchers wanted to go beyond fMRI experiments to observe what would happen if they could actually disrupt activity in the right TPJ. Their success marks a major step forward for the field of moral neuroscience, says Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, professor of philosophy at Duke University.

“Recent fMRI studies of moral judgment find fascinating correlations, but Young et al usher in a new era by moving beyond correlation to causation,” says Sinnott-Armstrong, who was not involved in this research.

The researchers used a noninvasive technique known as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to selectively interfere with brain activity in the right TPJ. A magnetic field applied to a small area of the skull creates weak electric currents that impede nearby brain cells’ ability to fire normally, but the effect is only temporary.

In one experiment, volunteers were exposed to TMS for 25 minutes before taking a test in which they read a series of scenarios and made moral judgments of characters’ actions on a scale of one (absolutely forbidden) to seven (absolutely permissible).

In a second experiment, TMS was applied in 500-milisecond bursts at the moment when the subject was asked to make a moral judgment. For example, subjects were asked to judge how permissible it is for a man to let his girlfriend walk across a bridge he knows to be unsafe, even if she ends up making it across safely. In such cases, a judgment based solely on the outcome would hold the perpetrator morally blameless, even though it appears he intended to do harm.

In both experiments, the researchers found that when the right TPJ was disrupted, subjects were more likely to judge failed attempts to harm as morally permissible. Therefore, the researchers believe that TMS interfered with subjects’ ability to interpret others’ intentions, forcing them to rely more on outcome information to make their judgments.

“It doesn’t completely reverse people’s moral judgments, it just biases them,” says Saxe.

When subjects received TMS to a brain region near the right TPJ, their judgments were nearly identical to those of people who received no TMS at all.

While understanding other people’s intentions is critical to judging them, it is just one piece of the puzzle. We also take into account the person’s desires, previous record and any external constraints, guided by our own concepts of loyalty, fairness and integrity, says Saxe.

“Our moral judgments are not the result of a single process, even though they feel like one uniform thing,” she says. “It’s actually a hodgepodge of competing and conflicting judgments, all of which get jumbled into what we call moral judgment.”

Saxe’s lab is now studying the role of theory of mind in judging situations where the attempted harm was not a physical threat. The researchers are also doing a study on the role of the right TPJ in judgments of people who are morally lucky or unlucky. For example, a drunk driver who hits and kills a pedestrian is unlucky, compared to an equally drunk driver who makes it home safely, but the unlucky homicidal driver tends to be judged more morally blameworthy.

(http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2010/moral-control-0330.html)

He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed. (Albert Einstein)

Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the discernible concatenations, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. (A. Einstein)

Stephen Wolfram: Computing a theory of everything | Video on TED.com

2010-04-28T20:07:00.002+03:00

Stephen Wolfram: Computing a theory of everything Video on TED.com

Michael Sandel: What's the right thing to do? | Video on TED.com

2009-12-31T11:50:00.001+02:00

Michael Sandel: What's the right thing to do? Video on TED.com

BE THE CHANGE YOU WISH TO SEE IN THE WORLD!

Multumesc! :)

2009-12-17T23:59:00.017+02:00

Celor care au fost aproape de mine, pentru urarile lor, pentru caldura lor, pentru timpul si atentia acordata...Multumesc! Din suflet! Fie ca absolut toate urarile si dorintele primite sa se realizeze la fiecare, inmiit (si cu bonus -lol)! (angel, hug)

P.S. Si pentru ca eu m-am lasat la sfirsit... La multi ani, Emilia! A mai trecut un 17. :)
Traim subt greul vazduhului ca pe-un fund adinc de mare. Nici o suferinţa nu-i asa de mare sa nu se preschimbe in cintare. (L. Blaga, Catren, Ce aude unicornul)
Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts. (A. Einstein)

Sentimente

2009-11-12T23:50:00.001+02:00

And finally.... din aceeasi categorie "ascultati, priviti, evaluati" continui (sau poate inchei) cu...Sentimente! :(
As vrea sa pot spune mai multe, dar nu pot. Cel putin deocamdata.
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[a fost al treilea gong, la urmatorul se va face lumina ]

Culori

2009-11-08T16:56:00.004+02:00

Din seria ascultati, priviti, evaluati si eventual notati, revin de data aceasta cu...Culori. Enjoy! :)
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Clipul original AICI: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfaCOjnotp0
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Sunete

2009-11-07T19:07:00.002+02:00

Variatiuni pe aceeasi tema
Ascultati, comparati...evaluati (eventual notati) :)
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...si completati! (lol) Care va place cel mai mult? :)

Punct

2009-11-01T13:01:00.000+02:00

-PAUZA-

STOP!

Zeilen der Zeit... Gefühle und Gedanken heute

2009-09-18T18:00:00.003+03:00

Schwarze Milch der Frühe wir trinken sie abends
wir trinken sie mittags und morgens wir trinken sie nachts
wir trinken und trinken
wir schaufeln ein Grab in den Lüften da liegt man nicht eng
Ein Mann wohnt im Haus der spielt mit den Schlangen der schreibt
der schreibt wenn es dunkelt nach Deutschland dein goldenes Haar
Margarete
er schreibt es und tritt vor das Haus und es blitzen die Sterne er
pfeift seine Rüden herbei
er pfeift seine Juden hervor läßt schaufeln ein Grab in der Erde
er befiehlt uns spielt auf nun zum Tanz

Schwarze Milch der Frühe wir trinken dich nachts
wir trinken dich morgens und mittags wir trinken dich abends
wir trinken und trinken
Ein Mann wohnt im Haus der spielt mit den Schlangen der schreibt
der schreibt wenn es dunkelt nach Deutschland dein goldenes Haar
Margarete
Dein aschenes Haar Sulamith wir schaufeln ein Grab in den Lüften da
liegt man nicht eng

Er ruft stecht tiefer ins Erdreich ihr einen ihr andern singet und spielt
er greift nach dem Eisen im Gurt er schwingts seine Augen sind blau
stecht tiefer die Spaten ihr einen ihr andern spielt weiter zum Tanz auf

Schwarze Milch der Frühe wir trinken dich nachts
wir trinken dich mittags und morgens wir trinken dich abends
wir trinken und trinken
ein Mann wohnt im Haus dein goldenes Haar Margarete
dein aschenes Haar Sulamith er spielt mit den Schlangen

Er ruft spielt süßer den Tod der Tod ist ein Meister aus Deutschland
er ruft streicht dunkler die Geigen dann steigt ihr als Rauch in die Luft
dann habt ihr ein Grab in den Wolken da liegt man nicht eng

Schwarze Milch der Frühe wir trinken dich nachts
wir trinken dich mittags der Tod ist ein Meister aus Deutschland
wir trinken dich abends und morgens wir trinken und trinken
der Tod ist ein Meister aus Deutschland sein Auge ist blau
er trifft dich mit bleierner Kugel er trifft dich genau
ein Mann wohnt im Haus dein goldenes Haar Margarete
er hetzt seine Rüden auf uns er schenkt uns ein Grab in der Luft
er spielt mit den Schlangen und träumet der Tod ist ein Meister
aus Deutschland

dein goldenes Haar Margarete
dein aschenes Haar Sulamith

(Paul Celan-Todesfuge)

(...) einer Hoffnung, heute
auf eines Denkenden
kommendes
Wort
im Herzen (...)
(Paul Celan- Todtnauberg, Exzerpt)

... Erreichbar, nah und unverloren blieb inmitten der Verluste dies eine: die Sprache. (...) Sie, die Sprache, blieb unverloren, ja, trotz allem. Aber sie mußte nun hindurchgehen durch ihre eigenen Antwortlosigkeiten, hindurchgehen durch furchtbares Verstummen, hindurchgehen durch die tausend Finsternisse todbringender Rede. Sie ging hindurch und gab keine Worte her für das, was geschah; aber sie ging durch dieses Geschehen. Ging hindurch und durfte wieder zutage treten, «angereichert» von all dem. (Celan, GW, Bd. 3, Bremer Ansprache, S. 185; Bremer Literaturpreisrede, S. 185f.)

Ginduri.... Noduri si semne

2009-09-10T17:20:00.004+03:00

Plutea o floare de tei
în lăuntrul unei gândiri abstracte
deşertul se umpluse cu lei
şi de plante.
Un tânăr metal transparent
subţire ca lama tăioasă
tăia orizonturi curbate şi lent
despărţea privirea de ochi
cuvântul, de idee,
raza, de stea
pe când plutea o floare de tei
în launtrul unei gândiri abstracte.

(Nichita Stanescu- Noduri si semne, Semn 1)

To be or not to be....Phoenix

2009-08-27T16:15:00.006+03:00

"Azi imi ard o pana,
Maine un varf de gheara,
Si astfel invat cum sa nu uit,
Sa renasc din cenusa." (Scoala pentru pasarile Phoenix)

QED: Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions. - Albert Einstein

P.S.

De ce?

2009-08-22T20:00:00.005+03:00

Din nou eu cu gindurile mele :no: De obicei reusesc sa inteleg, sa discern, sa accept, sa iert, sa tolerez, sa trec cu vederea, sa zimbesc, si totusi...de ce?
De ce suntem hiene?
De ce ne bucuram de raul altuia?
De ce judecam pripit?
De ce suntem lasi?
De ce ne e frica sa stam drepti?
De ce suntem egoisti?
De ce preferam tacerea si ambiguitatea?
De ce suntem duplicitari si farisei?
De ce intoarcem privirea cind vedem suferinta, nedreptatea, o mina intinsa sau neputinta si injustitia?
De ce nu suntem solidari?
De ce nu avem voce?
De ce asteptam mereu ca celalalt sa faca primul pas?
De ce nu avem curaj?
De ce nu iubim?
De ce nu strigam atunci cind pleaca cineva drag?
De ce ne ascundem dupa pretexte?
De ce, de ce, de ce?

Eu strig: IUBESC OMUL ca intreg, iubesc fiinta, iubesc viata ... si ma doare sa vad... indiferenta. Da, indiferenta, raceala, orgoliile ranite sau nu, lasitatea. Intr-adevar, e trista necunoasterea omului, dar si mai trist e, atunci cind nici macar nu incercam sa il/ne cunoastem. DE CE?

Everyone should be respected as an individual, but no one idolized. (Albert Einstein)

Brain and Beauty

2009-08-21T14:10:00.003+03:00

Beauty is famously in the eye of the beholder; but it’s also in the beholder’s brain, and may work differently in the brains of men and women.
In men, images they consider to be beautiful appear to activate brain regions responsible for locating objects in absolute terms — x- and y-coordinates on a grid. Images considered beautiful by women do the same, but they also activate regions associated with relative location: above and behind, over and under. The difference could be the result of evolutionary pressures on our hunter-gatherer ancestors.
The findings, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, are preliminary and based on a small number of people, but intriguing nonetheless.
"This the first study about neural activation in aesthetic tasks to include sex as a variable," said study co-author Camilo Cela-Conde, an evolutionary anthropologist at Spain’s Universitat de les Illes Balears.
Earlier studies on sex-based cognitive differences have found that men seem to have a heightened sense of absolute location. Women, by contrast, are quicker to process relative values.
How these brain systems became tied to the perception of beauty, widely considered a defining human trait, is an evolutionary mystery. According to Cela-Conde, aesthetics may simply be a byproduct of other cognitive tasks.
Differences in cognitive tasks, however, may be less mysterious: For much of human history, men and women had different jobs. Their brains may thus have developed in subtly different ways.
"In current hunter-gatherer groups, men are in charge of hunting; meanwhile women collect," said Cela-Conde. "If this is a scheme that can be extended to ancestors’ behavior, then we can think about a selective pressure to increase the capacity of spatial orientation in men, and the capacity to identify edible plants and tubers in women."

I

n the study, 10 men and 10 women looked at images of modern and classic paintings, as well as photographs of landscapes, artifacts and urban scenes. The researchers recorded their reactions with a magnetoencephalograph, which monitors real-time neural activity by measuring magnetic fields generated by electrical currents in the brain.
(To avoid confounding by romantic regions of the brain, close-up images of people were not included.)
The subjects varied as to what they considered beautiful, but brain patterns were consistent: coordinate-processing activation in both men and women, and category-processing in only women.
These differences do not seem to translate into differences in the actual experience of beauty. In earlier research, said Cela-Conde, both men and women describe beauty as being "original, interesting and pleasant."
However, as the differences were expressed only in response to images the subjects found to be beautiful, they do not seem to reflect a general sex-based difference in perception.
As the brain regions involved are far more developed in humans than chimpanzees — our closest living relative — Cela-Conde’s team suspects that the differences are rooted in early hominid divisions between men and women.
Another possible explanation is language-based: Coordinate-reading brain systems are less activated by linguistic communication than categorical systems.
The differences observed in the study would then originate in another sex-based difference, albeit an arguable one: Women are especially talkative.
(Sursa: http://www.wired.com/; Citation: "Sex-related similarities and differences in the neural correlates of beauty." Camilo J. Cela-Conde, Francisco J. Ayala, Enric Munar, Fernando Maestu, Marcos Nadal, Miguel A. Capo, David del Río, Juan J. Lopez-Ibor, Tomas Ortiz, Claudio Mirasso, and Gisele Marty. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 106, No.8, Feb. 23, 2009).

QED: 1. A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be. (Albert Einstein )
2. Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. (Albert Einstein)
3. Aquila non capit muscam. (Proverb latin)

Purificare

2009-08-20T19:12:00.009+03:00

1. Cauta pe Dumnezeu cita vreme il poti gasi si striga la el cita vreme este aproape de tine.
2. Bunatatea nu interzice umilinta.
3. Dumnezeu se descopera nu unei minti ascutite ci unei inimi curate!

P.S. In memoriam Prof. Dr. Gottfried Kolde (1936-2009)
Wir Wanderer, die wir stets den einsameren Weg suchen,
beginnen keinen Tag dort, wo wir einen anderen beendet haben,
und kein Sonnenaufgang findet uns dort, wo der Sonnenuntergang uns verließ. (Khalil Gibran)

Gott hab` Sie selig, Herr Professor! In schmerzhafter Trauer, Ihre treue Emilia.