#aula magna

[martagrimalt]

El 4 de enero de 2023 llevé a cabo la charla sobre la cultura de cancelación en la histórica Aula Magna del Centre Cultural la Nau de la Universtat de València, dentro de la programación de la XXª edición de Tenderete, Festival d’Autoedició Gràfica i Sonora per excel·lència de València.

Después de mi exposición abrimos un sorprendente y fructífero debate que alargamos placenteramente 2 horas, pudiendo plasmar distintas reflexiones de manera distendida, ávida y abierta, generando un clima de confianza, suscitando la valiosa mente.

Quiero agradecer a la organización de Tenderete y en especial a Alejandro Álvarez por invitarme a llevar a cabo dicha charla.

Fotografías de Josep Vidal y Alejandro Álvarez.

[pier-carlo-universe]

Cristina e Grandi Donne – Una serata in ricordo di Cristina Antoni

Alessandria celebra la vita e le passioni di Cristina Antoni con un evento dedicato alle donne iconiche, a sostegno dell'Istituto Europeo di Oncologia e dell'Hospice Il Gelso.

Alessandria celebra la vita e le passioni di Cristina Antoni con un evento dedicato alle donne iconiche, a sostegno dell’Istituto Europeo di Oncologia e dell’Hospice Il Gelso. Venerdì 22 novembre 2024, l’Aula Magna dell’Istituto Leonardo da Vinci di Alessandria sarà teatro di un evento speciale dedicato alla memoria di Cristina Antoni, a un anno dalla sua scomparsa. La serata, dal…

[luicr]

Estuvimos de nuevo en esos espacios mágicos y amados de la Universidad Central de Venezuela. En el Aula Magna, con sus nubes de Calder y sus más de mil butacas fijas. El sitio se llenó de un entusiasta público, de todas las edades para celebrar los 80 años del Orfeón Universitario. Un “juvenil octogenario”, como dijo en su discurso el rector Victor Rago. El Orfeón Universitario es la universidad, con su diversidad de voces en una polifonía perfecta. Así lo describió el académico. También Rago aprovechó para recordar que aún están detenidos un profesor y siete estudiantes de la UCV, a raíz de los sucesos del 29 de julio, luego de las elecciones presidenciales. De inmediato el gentío se puso de pie y empezó a gritar “libertad, libertad”. Las acopladas voces de los integrantes del Orfeón ucevista se dejaron escuchar pero yo no dejaba de pensar en los orfeones anteriores. Por ejemplo los muchos amigos que perdimos en aquel accidente de Las Azores en 1976. O el que más tarde formó Raúl Delgado Estévez y que heredó esa fuerza inconfundible de sus compañeros desaparecidos. Se me antojó que este actual Orfeón es muy diferente. Yo sólo hago caso a mi oído musical porque no soy experta en esta materia. O quizás fue el repertorio escogido para la ocasión aniversario predominantemente de música sacra…Y cuando nos regalaron la tonada de luna llena y caballo viejo, piezas fundamentales, los nuevos arreglos no me convencieron y me pareció que las piezas nunca arrancaron… Extrañé, entonces,  aquél otro Orfeón y también al que dirigió Raúl Delgado Estévez, con su alegría infinita… Pero al final convocaron al escenario a los muchos ex orfeonistas que se encontraban en la sala. Mandaron a poner más podios y esas voces se multiplicaron. Creo que sumaron entonces unas 100 personas…Un hermoso y sentido coro que interpretó el Himno de la UCV ante ese público emocionado…”Campesino que estás en la tierra…” Deseo que se consoliden en la música coral y que se sigan fortaleciendo. Nuestro himno… Todas las voces, todos los orfeones Aquí con la cantante venezolana María Teresa Chacin también ex orfeonista El rector Victor Rago al arpa El techo del Aula Magna con sus nubes Con mi hija Maru

[innanzituttoticalmi]

via castiglioni, via orfeo, and every other alley in between via castiglioni and via santo stefano

[primepaginequotidiani]

PRIMA PAGINA Corriere Adriatico di Oggi sabato, 21 settembre 2024

[schismusic]

Æon Flux and the end of all things

I don't remember the first time I heard of Æon Flux but I sure as hell remember the first time I watched it, and it wasn't too long ago which would technically not warrant the level of obsession I have for that shit, but here we are anyway.

I was knocked the fuck out on painkillers, two of my wisdom teeth freshly removed, not even remotely worried about the exam that I had coming up in like two days from then. So I was barely moving away from my swivel chair and sleeping on a whole ass armored pillow to prevent from tossing and turning and shit felt so surreal to me. It was like the eating chair from the last Cronenberg movie. So I delved into Æon Flux essentially blind and bingewatched the shit out of it. Twice. Ended up downloading the whole thing from some sketchy ass 1080p remastered torrent, rewatched it again, and spread it around personally in a more cauterized Google Drive folder (so if you guys got a nasty ass virtual STD from it, my bad I guess), not even a month after watching the series. Shit was fucked, in short, and every rewatch just fueled this obsession even further.

(image taken from Episode 1, Season 1)

One thing about me: when I obsess over stuff I want to draw something at the very least inspired by it. Happens to me a lot with Autechre, who are actually one of maybe three bands I would not hesitate to call my favourite based on an absolutely objective principle which is absolutely not up for discussion and which might be the object of a future post at this point. But the point is fucking Æon Flux is essentially impossible to replicate because Peter Chung's character designs are so recognizable that you start seeing them in literally every other movie that came out in the late '90s/early 2000s - and for reference, Æon Flux was brought to an end in 1995. Consequently, all attempts at drawing Æon Flux-inspired stuff end up either feeling very derivative or looking like fucking trash. Artistry is a weird thing because sometimes it inspires other people, other times it just inspires man-slaughtering rage.

Somewhat many of my friends are or have at one point tried to be accomplished visual artists. Some have made it to professional/teaching level, some others have an art school diploma or degree - and I'll be using this space to shout out @coto-letta aka V., who has recently rejoined Tumblr after years of absence. We met on here, when her handle was much different, and I mistook her for an ex of mine (whom, surprisingly, we are still on relatively good - if quiet - terms with) so I slid into her DMs as you do, and she was like "yeah actually I have no clue who the fuck you are I just think your blog is neat and dropped a follow" which was quite a fundamental moment in understanding that while my life was written like a dodgy soap-opera, that didn't mean I was the centre of the entire world. Anyway, the reason I'm shouting her out is because sometimes something deeper and older than you remember has a way of finding you again when you least expect it and that's what happened when in January 2023 (after V. had left Tumblr for at that point about two years and we had exchanged Instagram accounts) I somehow ended up on her Insta and found out she had been tagged in a picture taken somewhere that looked suspiciously like my university's conference hall and I could not fucking believe she was in my city. I slid into her DMs again, as you do, and found out that no, that wasn't my uni's aula magna, but yes, she was in fact relocating in my city for her master's. So we met up after maybe seven years of on-and-off Internet friendship. It's a neat story, sure, but how the fuck do we tie it into Æon Flux?

(image taken from Episode 3, Season 2: Leisure)

Not trying to be overly dramatic here, but Æon Flux to me is just about a condensation of everything that "art" can mean. Not just visual flare or style, not just deep meaning or interesting ways of putting across one or more questions and never a definitive answer to any of them (more often than not, it's sets of possible answers - usually two, neither of which ends up covering the whole array of possibilities, both of which actually leave a lot to be desired in a number of different ways), not just this insane fucking music that toys with everything you expect from animation courtesy of Drew Neumann who may just rank as one of the best soundtrack artists ever in virtue of this single work. It's the whole package. You would think it'd work taken in pieces, and it does, no objection to that: but it works even better as a whole package. If the moral questioning (and the philosophical musings of season 3, which is unjustly underrated because "it's too normal" by hipster wannabe critic dilettantes who like to think that they could do better than that. Everybody else on the other hand is generally able to stop pull their head out their own ass and recognize, at the very least, the excellent craftsmanship and talent that went into the ten long episodes) wasn't accompanied by the weird fetishistic sex it'd be somewhat less impactful, almost like a cauterized Tenshi no tamago made into a series for mainstream late-night TV audiences. The twist was that MTV's executives, at the time, "didn't understand [the double entendres], they didn't even notice them. So, we were okay", in producer Japhet Asher's own words in the short documentary Investigation: The History of Æon Flux. The network was, in fact, trying to break into the mainstream - they simply couldn't keep their creatives at bay. No wonder they turned to Jersey Shore as they went along.

(image taken from Episode 5, Season 3: The Demiurge)

Even just the main characters' purported edginess, clearly something "of its time", is never played entirely straight. Both leads are way too complex, and very clearly presented as such, to be just summed up by "Æon Flux is an anarchist/Trevor Goodchild is a dictator". Both of which are true, by the way, they're just one part of a full picture. Even within the context of its necessary linearity - this is still an animated short and as such moves only in one direction, even though a number of episodes (specifically Mirror and Chronophasia) deliberately fuck with the viewer's perception of times on varying degrees of diegesis and extradiegesis - the series could be perceived as, indeed, a sandbox: consequently, the viewer could set sail and explore it. This is further encouraged by the series's active weirdness to whoever would want to try and make sense of the world's story. There is no history, there is just the story at hand: an eternal present which you can't understand ("un eterno presente che capire non sai": Ferretti knew his shit, regardless of how it went after CCCP) and which Æon and Trevor are not interested in even trying to contextualize. Not a surprise then that they'd be into each other: their closeness in body and heart doesn't exist at the mind's level, and the whole thing falls apart miserably every time it looks like they could be finally let their weapons down. But as Æon completely understands, and as Trevor seems to actively try to ignore, the fight is already the whole point: star-cross'd as they may be, the entire act of playfully hunting each other for sport both in the bedroom and on the battlefield is what Trevor Goodchild and Æon Flux thrive on. Trevor wants stability but an Æon who doesn't fight back is simply not Æon; Æon does not want the stability, but she definitely likes Trevor to an extent and finds more in common with him that she would probably be willing to admit (I would like to thank Tumblr user @brw on thons very good analysis of the episode A Last Time for Everything, which heavily inspired this section of the post!). In short: if Trevor seems to embody Pier Paolo Pasolini's idea that "there is nothing more anarchistic than power" ("non c'è nulla di più anarchico del potere") then Æon flips the statement on its head: "there is nothing more powerful than anarchism". That is, of course, until we once again confront my signature ad-hoc elephant in the room that this statement just summoned.

(Image taken from Episode 1, Season 1)

No spoilers intended, but if you so much as google the name of the series you will easily find out that Æon Flux dies a whole lot throughout the series*. Season 1 and all the shorts from season 2 end with her dying ungrateful deaths and a couple of the long episodes leave much to be desired in the way of positive closure, with Ether Drift Theory representing a peak in bleakness for season 3. Most of the shorts where Æon dies imply that either absolutely nothing changes in the world around when she's lost or that Trevor Goodchild literally just succeeds in all of his goals (see Season 1's finale), and one could make a case that even if she did carry her missions through there would be absolutely nothing to show for it: somebody goes up the chain of power, everything is restored, there is one more tyrant to murder. Not to be that one guy who quotes Nietzsche about everything, but the eternal recurrence of the same is the first thing that comes to mind when watching Æon Flux, especially exemplified and even literalized by the episode War, possibly the best of the short ones: it's the same fucking story four times over a five-minute run time and nothing ever gets better for anyone. The body count in the episode is unquantifiably large - every one of the fallen a potential new Æon Flux or Trevor Goodchild. But this, in a way, implies that Æon keeps being reborn, and one could argue that the act of capturing a fly with her venus-fly-trap eye could simply be her coming back to life, as it were; stopping the most evident sign of decay, turning her eyes outward yet again, to face the eternal return of the same again and again and again…

(Image taken from Episode 8, Season 3: Ether Drift Theory)

You can find Æon Flux for free on the Internet Archive.

*as I was discussing the final draft of this post with my friend @oldshittydog we had a pretty interesting discussion which I thought should be added here for an even clearer, fuller picture:

[eternal-echoes]

“In the Western world it is widely held that only positivistic reason and the forms of philosophy based on it are universally valid. Yet the world's profoundly religious cultures see this exclusion of the divine from the universality of reason as an attack on their most profound convictions. A reason which is deaf to the divine and which relegates religion into the realm of subcultures is incapable of entering into the dialogue of cultures. At the same time, as I have attempted to show, modern scientific reason with its intrinsically Platonic element bears within itself a question which points beyond itself and beyond the possibilities of its methodology. Modern scientific reason quite simply has to accept the rational structure of matter and the correspondence between our spirit and the prevailing rational structures of nature as a given, on which its methodology has to be based. Yet the question why this has to be so is a real question, and one which has to be remanded by the natural sciences to other modes and planes of thought - to philosophy and theology. For philosophy and, albeit in a different way, for theology, listening to the great experiences and insights of the religious traditions of humanity, and those of the Christian faith in particular, is a source of knowledge, and to ignore it would be an unacceptable restriction of our listening and responding. Here I am reminded of something Socrates said to Phaedo. In their earlier conversations, many false philosophical opinions had been raised, and so Socrates says: "It would be easily understandable if someone became so annoyed at all these false notions that for the rest of his life he despised and mocked all talk about being - but in this way he would be deprived of the truth of existence and would suffer a great loss".[13] The West has long been endangered by this aversion to the questions which underlie its rationality, and can only suffer great harm thereby. The courage to engage the whole breadth of reason, and not the denial of its grandeur - this is the programme with which a theology grounded in Biblical faith enters into the debates of our time. "Not to act reasonably, not to act with logos, is contrary to the nature of God", said Manuel II, according to his Christian understanding of God, in response to his Persian interlocutor. It is to this great logos, to this breadth of reason, that we invite our partners in the dialogue of cultures. To rediscover it constantly is the great task of the university.”

- Pope Benedict XVI, MEETING WITH THE REPRESENTATIVES OF SCIENCE - Aula Magna of the University of Regensburg, 12 September 2006

[ulisesbarreiro]

CHARLES HOSKINSON WAS PRESENT AT UTN-REGIONAL BUENOS AIRES

Charles Hoskinson with Ulises Barreiro (CEO of Token Mithrandir)

As part of the celebrations at the diploma award ceremony of the Universidad Tecnológica Nacional, as the certificates of the first graduates of the ADA LABS, a seminar specialized in HAskell and Plutus programs, programs used to program within the CARDANO network, were handed out. Charles Hoskinson presented the diplomas to the graduates and gave a spectacular speech in front of more than 150 people who were present in the UTN's aula Magna. There were also other speakers such as the Secretary of Labor Julio Cordero, and a large part of the organizing community of Fundación Cardano such as J.J. Siler, Rafael Fraga, and the Dean of the UTN, Engineer Guillermo Oliveto, among other guests.

It was a magnificent party, where Charles talked about the importance of blockchain in this world that is advancing by leaps and bounds in this 21st century.

The students learned several qualities about Cardano, the teachers were Robertino and Karina both from IOHG (another of the organizing legs of the CARDANO ecosystem), Cardano is a third generation blockchain network that aims to improve previous generations by providing a more sustainable, scalable and secure platform for decentralized applications and digital assets. These are some of its main advantages that the graduates understood: Scientific philosophy: Cardano's development is based on peer-reviewed research and evidence-based methods, which helps ensure the long-term sustainability and security of the platform. Scalability: Cardano's Ouroboros consensus protocol is designed to support large transaction volumes while maintaining security and decentralization. This makes it an attractive platform for large-scale applications.

Security: Cardano's proof-of-stake consensus mechanism is designed to provide a high level of security while reducing the power consumption associated with proof-of-work systems. Smart contracts: Cardano supports the creation of smart contracts through its Plutus platform. Plutus is a smart contract language designed to be powerful and easy to use.

Interoperability: Cardano is designed to be interoperable with other blockchain networks, which can facilitate its integration with existing systems and technologies.

Regulatory compliance: Cardano's design takes into account the need for regulatory compliance, which can make it a more attractive platform for businesses and other organizations that need to comply with regulations.

Community governance: Cardano has a strong community focus and includes a treasury system that allows the community to fund projects that align with the platform's objectives. In this aspect INTERSEC was created, and from there they are working on what is called governance.

Note that this Cardano blockchain has one of the strongest crypto communities in Latin America. This community is made up of several communities, and one of them is Cardano's Mithrandir token community. To close, I can tell you that as CEO of token Mithrandir I could talk briefly with Charles Hoskinson, as well as our CTO Daniel Rodriguez and our Community Manager Lucas Cariddi. It was a party for the Token Mithrandir community.

[aqueerfromspace]

We were in the Aula Magna watching the others preparing for the rehearsal. We were holding each other close, you kissed me on the cheek and I kissed you back; than you looked at me with fondness, like you loved me (or maybe it was just my impression) and whispered "Then they all think we're girlfriends". "And is it a problem to your?" I thought, but I stayed quite. I really did want to kiss you in that moment.

[freddygamboa]

✨ Con gran emoción y un inmenso honor, les comparto que estaré participando como invitado especial en el XIV Congreso Internacional de la Oralidad a la Literatura Infantil y Juvenil - Memorias de Iberoamérica. 🌎✨

El jueves 17 de octubre, en el aula magna del Instituto de Investigaciones Filológicas de la UNAM, tendré la oportunidad de compartir un espacio con grandes exponentes de la oralidad y la literatura. ¡Es un sueño hecho realidad!

Gracias a todos los que han sido parte de este camino, y los invito a acompañarme en este maravilloso evento. 📚

[frank-olivier]

2022 Nobel Prize lectures in physics (December 2022, Aula Magna, Stockholm University, Sweden)

Alain Aspect: From Einstein's doubts to quantum technologies: non-locality a fruitful image

John F. Clauser: Experimental proof that nonlocal quantum entanglement is real

Anton Zeilinger: A Voyage through Quantum Wonderland

Tuesday, December 13, 2022

[onnarcissismdisorder]

 «Non si può morire di università: troppi studenti sono stati vittime della pressione e della narrazione tossica di un’università in cui è esaltata la retorica di un’eccellenza irraggiungibile, di uno standard surreale»

[opescadordepensamentos]

De“DRÁCULA” - DE BRAM STOKER A FRANCIS F. COPPOLA, O AMOR E A MALDIÇÃO DO SANGUE

Por @actardoque - 2013

Cartaz do filme, na época do lançamento.

No ano de 1992, o genial cineasta Francis Ford Coppola apresentou ao mundo, sua proposta para um dos maiores ícones da literatura fantástica, personagem capaz de arrepiar qualquer pessoa em qualquer situação: o Conde Drácula. Trabalhando diretamente sob a obra literária gótica do romancista irlandês Bram Stoker, publicada em 1897, e usando a principal linha da narrativa do romance, que é o diário do personagem Jonathan Harker, Coppola criou uma das mais incr��veis adaptações do clássico. Com toda concepção baseada na arte em quadrinhos de Jim Steranko (que desenhou Indiana Jones, de Steven Spielberg), e ao contrário do que aparenta,  inúmeras cenas e técnicas cinematográficas do filme foram baseadas em produções anteriores sobre o príncipe das trevas e os recursos antigos usados nestas. A cena em que Drácula sobe de seu caixão pela primeira vez, por exemplo, é uma referência ao clássico Nosferatu (1922), de F.W. Murnau. Outros filmes como A Bela e a Fera (1946) de Jean Cocteau, na cena em que o protagonista transforma as lágrimas de Mirna em diamante, ou o caixão de cristal de Lucy, que aparece em inúmeras versões da Branca de Neve, são alguns exemplos. Coppola priorizou o uso destes recursos com a finalidade de centralizar o trabalho na direção das cenas e não nos efeitos especiais computadorizados. O uso de sombras que independem dos personagens, inundações de sangue nos ambientes, a diversificação visual do próprio Drácula, oferecem como resultado um verdadeiro espetáculo estético. A escolha de Gary Oldman para o papel de Drácula levou a incorporação do personagem em níveis de genialidade, com tão incrível personificação. O elenco de apoio com Winona Ryder (Mirna), Keanu Reeves (Hacker) e Anthony Hopkins (Van Helsing) dá aos devidos personagens suas caras e sustento ideal.

Gary Oldman: um Drácula no limite da genialidade

O maior mérito do filme diz respeito a sua construção equilibrada de inúmeros elementos como o amor romântico (Drácula busca a eternidade do amor em Mirna), o terror como faceta humana e sobrenatural, o erotismo em uma linha tênue entre o sentimento/vida e a perversão/morte, além da reflexão sobre a religião (cristianismo) e o cientificismo do século XIX (refletidos no filme, por exemplo, na invenção do telégrafo e da cinematografia) amparado na figura de Van Helsing. O discurso desse personagem assume teor irônico ao fazer uma crítica a postura do cristianismo em relação à sexualidade humana, potencial transmissora dos males do sangue. Em determinada passagem do filme, a situação se exemplifica com a chegada de um telégrafo que diz “Amiga próxima da morte... doença do sangue desconhecida da ciência... estou desesperado... Jack Seward”. O médico que trata de Lucy, amiga de Mirna, que foi mordida por Drácula, pede ajuda a Van Helsing, que ministra uma aula magna de ciência para acadêmicos e cientistas. O discurso que ele faz, após manusear um morcego em uma gaiola, apresenta um dos dilemas centrais que o filme levanta:

“O morcego-vampiro dos pampas, pode consumir 10 vezes seu peso em sangue diariamente, ou suas células sanguíneas morrem. O sangue e as doenças, tais como a sífilis nos interessam (...) o próprio nome “doenças venéreas”, as doenças de Vênus... imputa a elas origens divinas. Envolvem problemas sexuais que dizem respeito às éticas e ideais da civilização cristã. De fato, a civilização e a “sifilização” avançaram juntas.”

Cabe aí a observação de dois pontos. O primeiro diz respeito ao filme, quando o representante da ciência, Van Helsing, precisará se municiar dos elementos da fé cristã (cruz, palavras em latim, água benta) para vencer o príncipe das trevas. Sua luta contra os males do sangue sai da esfera científica e passa a depender da fé, como elemento central. O que denota que a ciência por si somente não é capaz de resolver as coisas. Fatores metafísicos e científicos caminham então, lado a lado. A segunda refere-se ao perídodo em que foi lançado o filme, na década de 90. A maldição do sangue era a AIDS, doença ainda sem cura que, no período, levava milhares pessoas à morte e aterrorizava tantas outras, forçando uma verdadeira e custosa transformação nos hábitos sexuais da humanidade. A “sifilização” proposta pela fala de Van Helsing tinha um objetivo muito além da trama do filme, falando diretamente para a sociedade contemporânea. Considerando-se o entendimento de que o peso das decisões é o diferencial que tem seu preço, afinal, como mostra a história, foi o conde Vlad quem amaldiçoou Deus pela perda da amada, durante a Idade Média, deixando de lutar pela cruz, para ser seu inimigo. A redenção de Drácula evidencia uma valorização do amor como transcendental e transformador. Quando conduz a trama sob o fio do romance, Coppola propõe uma reflexão profunda sobre o amor e o livre arbítrio, retomando a própria originalidade romântica e idealista em que a obra foi escrita por Bram Stoker. Vale lembrar que o romancista pesquisou profundamente o folclore e a mitologia que envolvia vampiros na Europa, para compor seu antológico trabalho que, ao seu modo, reflete as questões da sociedade. Por fim, toda obra literária, assim como as obras cinematográficas, tem o poder de diagnosticar questões de sua época e, como Mary Shelley com seu Frankenstein, Stoker via com horror a crença absoluta no poder da ciência (ou a "cientificização") em seu tempo.  Certas obras transpassam os limites da temporalidade.

Bram Stoker: catalisando o horror cientificista do seu tempo

[geekypedia]

UCV 301! ... Felices trescientos un años de fundación, a La Casa que vence la Sombra. Una serie de fotos de sus emblemáticas obras, en estos días donde reina el silencio y la tranquilidad en sus espacios por su receso decembrino. ... #UCV #ucv301 #universidad #university #caracas #venezuela #aulamagna #ingenieria #engineering #happy #birthday (at Aula Magna UCV) https://www.instagram.com/p/CmeVtpqLeAQ/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[eternal-echoes]

“The mysterious name of God, revealed from the burning bush, a name which separates this God from all other divinities with their many names and simply asserts being, "I am", already presents a challenge to the notion of myth, to which Socrates' attempt to vanquish and transcend myth stands in close analogy.[8] Within the Old Testament, the process which started at the burning bush came to new maturity at the time of the Exile, when the God of Israel, an Israel now deprived of its land and worship, was proclaimed as the God of heaven and earth and described in a simple formula which echoes the words uttered at the burning bush: "I am". This new understanding of God is accompanied by a kind of enlightenment, which finds stark expression in the mockery of gods who are merely the work of human hands (cf. Ps 115). Thus, despite the bitter conflict with those Hellenistic rulers who sought to accommodate it forcibly to the customs and idolatrous cult of the Greeks, biblical faith, in the Hellenistic period, encountered the best of Greek thought at a deep level, resulting in a mutual enrichment evident especially in the later wisdom literature. Today we know that the Greek translation of the Old Testament produced at Alexandria - the Septuagint - is more than a simple (and in that sense really less than satisfactory) translation of the Hebrew text: it is an independent textual witness and a distinct and important step in the history of revelation, one which brought about this encounter in a way that was decisive for the birth and spread of Christianity.[9] A profound encounter of faith and reason is taking place here, an encounter between genuine enlightenment and religion. From the very heart of Christian faith and, at the same time, the heart of Greek thought now joined to faith, Manuel II was able to say: Not to act "with logos" is contrary to God's nature.”

- Pope Benedict XVI, MEETING WITH THE REPRESENTATIVES OF SCIENCE - Aula Magna of the University of Regensburg, 12 September 2006

[parole-parole-parole]

Oh ragazz* con i capelli corti e lo sguardo incazzato che oggi era in aula magna, quanto sei bell* e quanto mi fai paura.