L’ENCYCLOPÉDIE – AL – compilado (4)

ALKAHEST ou ALCAHEST. “Paracelse et Vanhelmont, ces deux ilustres adeptes, déclarent expressément qu’il y a dans la nature un certain fluide capable de réduire tous les corps sublunaires, soit homogenes, soit hétérogenes, en la matière primitive dont ils sont composés, ou en une liqueur homogene et potable, qui s’unit avec l’eau et les sucs du corps humain, et retient néanmoins ses vertus séminales, et qui étant remêlée avec elle-même, se convertit par ce moyen en une eau pure et élémentaire; d’où, comme se le font imaginés ces deux auteurs, elle réduirait enfin toutes choses en eau.”

“Boyle en était si entêté, qu’il avoue franchement qu’il aimerait mieux posseder l’alkahest, que la pierre philosophale même.”

Metalinguagem: “Or comme il lui arrive solvente le transposer les lettres des mots, et de se servir d’abréviations, et d’autres moyens de déguiser la pensée, comme lorsqu’il écrit mutratar pour tartarum, mutrin pour nitrum; on croit qu’alkahest peut bien être ainsi un mot déguisé; de-là quelques-uns s’imaginent qu’il est formé d’alkali est, & par conséquent que c’est un sel alkali de tartre volatilisé. (…)

Dautres prétendent qu’alkahest vient du mot Allemand algueist, comme qui dirait entierement spiritueux ou volatil; d’autres veulent qu’il soit pris de saltz-gueist, c’est-à-dire, esprit de sel; car le menstrue [solvente!] universel doit être, à ce qu’on prétend, tiré de l’éau, & Paracelse lui-même appelle le sel, le centre de l’eau, où les métaux doivent mourir, &c.”

“4°. L’alkahest n’éprouve aucun changement ni diminution de force en dissolvant les corps sur lesquels il agit; c’est pourquoi il ne souffre aucune réaction de leur part, étant le seul menstrue inaltérable dans la nature.”

 

ALLEGORIE. “L’allégorie n’est proprement autre chose qu’une métaphore continuée, qui sert de comparaison pour faire entendre un sens qu’on n’exprime point, mais qu’on a en vûe.” “l’on sait assez quelle carrière les Rabbins ont donnée à leur imagination dans le Talmud & dans leurs autres Commentaires.” “Les Payens eux-mêmes faisaient grand usage des allégories, & cela avant les Juifs; car quelques-uns de leurs Philosophes voulant donner des sens raisonnables à leurs fables & à l’histoire de leurs dieux, prétendirent qu’elles signifiaient toute autre chose que ce qu’elles portaient à la lettre; & de là vint le mot d’allégorie, c’est-à-dire un discours qui, à le prendre dans son sens figuré A’LLO\AGOREUEI, signifie toute autre chose que ce qu’il énonce.”

“M. de la Nause dans un discours sur l’origine & l’antiquité de la cabale, inséré dans le tome IX. de l’Académie des Belles-Lettres, prétend que ce n’était point pour se cacher, mais pour se mieux faire entendre, que les Orientaux employaient leur style figuré, les Egyptiens leurs hiéroglyphes, les Poètes leurs images, & les Philosophes la singularité de leurs discours, qui étaient autant d’especes d’allégories. En ce cas il faudra dire, que l’explication était plus obscure que le texte, & l’expérience le prouva bien; car on brouilla si bien les signes figuratifs avec les choses figurées, & la lettre de l’allégorie avec le sens qu’on prétendait qu’elle enveloppait, qu’il fut très-difficile, pour ne pas dire impossible, de démêler l’un d’avec l’autre. Les Platoniciens surtout donnaient beaucoup dans cette méthode; & le desir de les imiter en transportant quelques-unes de leurs idées aux mystères de la véritable religion, enfanta dans les premiers siècles de l’Église les hérésies des Marcionites, des Valentiniens, & de plusieurs autres compris sous le nom de Gnostiques.”

Une faible fable.

 

ALLIANCE. “Sicut in Adam omnes moriuntur, ita in Christo omnes vivisicabuntur” “Et le Seigneur parlant au serpent, dit: Je mettrai une inimitié entre toi & la femme, entre ta race & la sienne; elle te brisera la tête, & tu l’attaqueras en secret par le talon. La postérité de la femme qui doit briser la tête du serpent est le Messie; par sa mort il a fait périr le diable, qui avoit l’empire de la mort: Ut per mortem destrueret eum qui habebat mortis imperium, id est diabolum. 1. Cor. xv. 22 [15:22]. Rom. v. 12. 19 [5:12-19]. Genes. iii. 15 [3:15]. Hebr. ii. 14 [2:14].” “Cette alliance fut renouvellée 121 ans après; lorsque les eaux du Déluge s’étant retirées, & Noé étant sorti de l’arche avec sa femme & ses enfans, Dieu lui dit: Je vais faire alliance avec vous & avec vos enfans après vous, & avec tous les animaux qui sont sortis de l’arche, ensorte que je ne ferai plus périr toute chair par les eaux du Déluge; & l’arc-en-ciel que je mettrai dans les nues sera le gage de l’alliance que je ferai aujourd’hui avec vous. Genes. IX. viii. ix. x. xi [9:8-11].”

“Toutes ces alliances ont été générales entre Adam & Noé, & toute leur postérité: mais celle que Dieu fit dans la suite avec Abraham, fut plus limitée; elle ne regardoit que ce Patriarche & sa race, qui devoit naître de lui par Isaac. Les autres decendans d’Abraham par Ismael & par les enfans de Cethura, n’y devoient point avoir de part. La marque ou le sceau de cette alliance fut la circoncision; que tous les mâles de la famille d’Abraham devoient recevoir le huitieme jour après leur naissance”

 

ALLUSION. “Une observation à faire sur les allusions en général, c’est qu’on ne doit jamais les tirer que de sujets connus, ensorte que les auditeurs ou les lecteurs n’ayent pas besoin de contention d’esprit pour en saisir le rapport, autrement elles sont en pure perte pour celui qui parle ou qui écrit.”

 

“ALPARGATES, ce sont des sortes de souliers qui se font avec le chanvre. On prend le chanvre quand il est prêt à être filé, on le tord avec les machines du Cordier; on le natte à deux brins; on coud cette natte en la reployant sans cesse sur elle-même, plus ou moins, selon que la largeur de l’empeigne & des quartiers le demande; elle forme tout le dessus du soulier. Le Cordonnier ajuste la semelle à ce dessus, comme s’il étoit de cuir, & l’alpargate est faite. Il y a des alpargates d’hyver & d’été. Celles d’été sont d’une natte extrèmement légere & fine. Celles d’hyver sont d’une natte plus épaisse & plus large, & cette natte est encore soûtenue en-dessous par une fourrure ou piquûre de laine ou de coton.”

 

“ALTERCATION, s. f. (Jurispr.) léger démêlé entre deux amis ou deux personnes qui se fréquentent. Ce mot vient du Latin altercari, qui signifioit simplement converser, s’entretenir ensemble. Ils n’ont pas ensemble de querelle formée: mais il y a toûjours quelques petite altercation entre eux.”

Anúncios

2 PALABRAS – Allende

“Por cinco centavos entregaba versos de memoria, por siete mejoraba la calidad de los sueños, por nueve escribía cartas de enamorados, por doce inventaba insultos para enemigos irreconciliables. También vendía cuentos, pero no eran cuentos de fantasía, sino largas historias verdaderas que recitaba de corrido sin saltarse nada. (…) A quien le comprara cincuenta centavos, ella le regalaba una palabra secreta para espantar la melancolía. No era la misma para todos, por supuesto, porque eso habría sido un engaño colectivo. Cada uno recibía la suya con la certeza de que nadie más la empleaba para ese fin en el universo y más allá.”

“Muchos cayeron por el camino, pero ella era tan tozuda que consiguió atravesar el infierno y arribó por fin a los primeros manantiales, finos hilos de agua, casi invisibles, que alimentaban una vegetación raquítica, y que más adelante se convertían en riachuelos y esteros.”

“Ese día Belisa Crepusculario se enteró que las palabras andan sueltas sin dueño y cualquiera con un poco de maña puede apoderárselas para comerciar con ellas.”

“Se trataba de los hombres del Coronel, que venían al mando del Mulato, un gigante conocido en toda la zona por la rapidez de su cuchillo y la lealtad hacia su jefe. Ambos, el Coronel y el Mulato, habían pasado sus vidas ocupados en la Guerra Civil y sus nombres estaban irremisiblemente unidos al estropicio y la calamidad. Los guerreros entraron al pueblo como un rebaño en estampida, envueltos en ruido, bañados de sudor y dejando a su paso un espanto de huracán. Salieron volando las gallinas, dispararon a perderse los perros, corrieron las mujeres con sus hijos y no quedó en el sitio del mercado otra alma viviente que Belisa Crepusculario, quien no había visto jamás al Mulato y por lo mismo le extrañó que se dirigiera a ella.”

“Estaba cansado de recorrer esa tierra maldita en guerras inútiles y derrotas que ningún subterfugio podía transformar en victorias. Llevaba muchos años durmiendo a la intemperie, picado de mosquitos, alimentándose de iguanas y sopa de culebra, pero esos inconvenientes menores no constituían razón suficiente para cambiar su destino. Lo que en verdad le fastidiaba era el terror en los ojos ajenos. Deseaba entrar a los pueblos bajo arcos de triunfo, entre banderas de colores y flores, que lo aplaudieran y le dieran de regalo huevos frescos y pan recién horneado. Estaba harto de comprobar cómo a su paso huían los hombres, abortaban de susto las mujeres y temblaban las criaturas, por eso había decidido ser Presidente. El Mulato le sugirió que fueran a la capital y entraran galopando al Palacio para apoderarse del gobierno, tal como tomaron tantas otras cosas sin pedir permiso, pero al Coronel no le interesaba convertirse en otro tirano, de ésos ya habían tenido bastantes por allí y, además, de ese modo no obtendría el afecto de las gentes. Su idea consistía en ser elegido por votación popular en los comicios de diciembre.”

“ —¿Qué carajo dice aquí? – preguntó por último.

—¿No sabes leer?

— Lo que yo sé hacer es la guerra – replicó él.

Ella leyó en alta voz el discurso. Lo leyó tres veces, para que su cliente pudiera grabárselo en la memoria. Cuando terminó vio la emoción en los rostros de los hombres de la tropa que se juntaron para escucharla y notó que los ojos amarillos del Coronel brillaban de entusiasmo, seguro de que con esas palabras el sillón presidencial sería suyo.”

“Ella procedió a explicarle que por cada cincuenta centavos que pagaba un cliente, le obsequiaba una palabra de uso exclusivo. El jefe se encogió de hombros, pues no tenía ni el menor interés en la oferta, pero no quiso ser descortés con quien lo había servido tan bien. Ella se aproximó sin prisa al taburete de suela donde él estaba sentado y se inclinó para entregarle su regalo. Entonces el hombre sintió el olor de animal montuno que se desprendía de esa mujer, el calor de incendio que irradiaban sus caderas, el roce terrible de sus cabellos, el aliento de yerbabuena susurrando en su oreja las dos palabras secretas a las cuales tenía derecho.

— Son tuyas, Coronel -dijo ella al retirarse-. Puedes emplearlas cuanto quieras.”

“Cansado de ver a su jefe deteriorarse como un condenado a muerte, el Mulato se echó el fusil al hombro y partió en busca de Belisa Crepusculario. Siguió sus huellas por toda esa vasta geografía hasta encontrarla en un pueblo del sur, instalada bajo el toldo de su oficio, contando su rosario de noticias. Se le plantó delante con las piernas abiertas y el arma empuñada.

— Tú te vienes conmigo -ordenó.

Ella lo estaba esperando.”

DO CAOS AO BARRO, DA LAMA AO CAOS: Lisboa, 1755

Este microconto foi inspirado – ou é a “tradução intersemiótica música-conto” – pelo álbum conceitual “1755” da banda portuguesa e lisboeta Moonspell (lançado em 2017).

 

*  *  *

 

…Do caos primordial Deus criou o que não havia e fez a Terra, que era boa. E, insatisfeito, fez da terra o Homem, que era ainda melhor. Mas queriam os desígnios divinos insondáveis que, após uma passagem incalculável – da perspectiva humana – de tempo, a lama regressasse ao caos, sem destruir a perfeição de todo o seu Plano. Vamos direto, como um diretor de teatro que anseia por montar o cenário do Epílogo para a platéia em suspensão e ansiedade asfixiantes, ao desfecho desta história: Lisboa, capital portuguesa, Ano do Domínio da Igreja Apostólica Romana 1755.

A humanidade, ao menos a parte devota, sempre especulou sobre o quando e o como do seu fim. O livro de João, o João profeta apocalíptico, não o primeiro João, benévolo, nunca falou de forma clara. Sua poesia enunciativa e admoestadora dificilmente poderia ser entendida senão de forma figurada, críptica. Como, afinal, seriam os cristãos julgados no Último Dia, no Segundo Advento de Jesus Cristo? Seria através de ondas de fogo, labaredas que chovessem dos céus, uma guerra inaudita entre todos os homens com armas brancas ou pólvora, ou mediante um Neo-Dilúvio, uma tsunami? Na virada de 999 d.C. para o ano 1000, muitos padres e intérpretes autorizados pelo Papa anunciavam a chegada da marca fatal – que não veio, a despeito da virada cabalística. Mas o Eevento estava cada vez mais próximo, isso nenhum lógico, beato ou herege, poderia negar. Certamente não demoraria mais um milênio inteiro! Havia sinais…

As sucessivas gerações corruptas de homens apenas atestavam as Escrituras, página por página, crime por crime, e ignomínia por ignomínia. Permita-me, no entanto, aludir, em meio a matéria tão importante: as gentes que discorriam sobre o Apocalipse sempre se olvidavam do onde, como coisa óbvia, autoevidente demais! Talvez tivessem pensado que o cataclismo final sobreviria de forma simultânea sobre todo o globo terrestre, circunavegado por Fernão de Magalhães ainda no século XVI. Mas, de forma simbólica, e, repito, só Deus sabe o porquê, a Hecatombe, ou pelo menos seu epicentro, pois não chegaram mais notícias ao autor deste manuscrito, se deu inopinadamente em Lisboa, afetando o coração da nação que ousou, a primeira de todas, dominar o mundo com bravura, sendo não obstante tão pequena em território e escassa em número.

Então foi assim que se deu, no local referido: as fundações, onde pisam os homens, foram de repente desestabilizadas. O concreto virou virou areia. Onde não virou areia, cindiu-se; e o horizontal verticalizou-se, e o vertical deitou-se. Formou-se uma onda de choque. As placas tectônicas africana e euroasiática se atritaram com veemência e ferocidade. Abismos se abriram. A força inigualável, imparável, inanalisável, colossal, arrancando raízes de árvores ancestrais, desabando edificações, gerando montanhas em planícies, desfigurando planaltos e achatando e homogeneizando picos e vales, sem discriminar nenhum panorama, fez-se sentir por todas as criaturas mortais lusitanas. Aquela força, em suma, que os pagãos teimam em chamar pelo simples e neutro epíteto de “Natureza”.

Na cidade não havia mais a Mão do Homem, só a Mão Todo-Poderosa da tal “Natureza”. E logo não havia mais cidade. Apenas um sítio arqueológico sem arqueólogos para estudá-lo e escavá-lo.

Se uma voz então dissesse alguma coisa, é provável que dissesse: – É porque te amo tanto, Homem, que ouso fazê-lo! Um fim indolor e grandiloquente. Uma ópera geográfica, geológica, grave, dissonante, profunda. – Assim se expressaria, decerto, o Diretor desta magnum opus da aniquilação.

Vede, todos são já cadáveres; mas é como se ainda escorresse o sangue em profusão. Vede! Para quê todas as tumbas do passado? Eis um cemitério muito mais eficaz e superlativo, muito mais imediato; a todos escapa a luz do sol, as caveiras ocupam o devido lugar, sem cerimônia, sem velo, sem coveiro – a não ser Um só.

E não há chamas, mas é como se tudo ardesse. E já nada se move, mas é como se as pedras não cessassem de rolar e o chão nunca deixasse de desmoronar, o destino de deslizar… A morte se tornou um quadro eterno que precisa se completar na Estática da beleza da tragédia. Nem um chiado branco se houve nesse negro dia. Está-se diante do retrato humano mais belo, porque nenhum artista de talento acabado e com os modelos mais perfeitos à mão poderia reproduzir esta… cena. Já narrada há tanto tempo, em linhas tortas, por João, não custa reiterar.

Quarenta foi o número de fundações de templos de igrejas caídas, soterradas, pulverizadas, esfareladas, como se elas representassem mais do que as centenas de milhares de seres humanos que desapareceram em fugazes instantes. E se houvesse 666, o número da besta em templos seria escombros, igualmente. O Poder Supremo não faz concessões à aritmética. Nenhum camelo atravessou qualquer agulha. Lisboa foi Sodoma, foi Gomorra: ricos e pobres jazem agora juntos, só corpo, sem alma, condenados, sem dúvida, pelo previdente Juízo Divino. Dentre todos, ninguém se encontrava à destra do Livro. Não havia nenhum Eleito na cidade de Lisboa.

Um dia, e este dia foi Primeiro de Novembro, véspera do Dia dos Mortos, os conquistadores dos Sete Mares, exaltados por Camões, foram marcados — pelos Sete Pecados. E abatidos num átimo por Quatro Navegadores-Bestas, Anjos-Vingadores. Que sirva esta história que já começou em ruínas como alegoria — do frágil destino humano: oriundos do pó das dignas Estrelas, estamos fadados a decair do material de que fomos feitos, o Barro Celeste, à Sepultura infecta, às recônditas cavernas do Hades, indiferentes a noções tais quais ordem e caos…

 

*  *  *

 

CURIOSIDADE HISTÓRICA: Realmente houve um grande terremoto em Lisboa no ano de 1755, ou “sismo”, como chamam os portugueses. Registra-se que pelo menos 1/3 da cidade foi totalmente destruído. No litoral, houve a formação de ondas de 20 metros de altura e a ocorrência de múltiplos incêndios nos destroços deixados. A Livraria Real foi consumida pelo fogo, perdendo-se livros que remontavam à Idade Antiga, perda imensurável de tesouros que nos faz lembrar de Alexandria mas também do descaso que acabou por “assassinar” nosso Museu Nacional, no Rio de Janeiro, em 2018. Não havia condições de medir os tremores como hoje se faz, mas especula-se que este evento atingiu de 8.5 a 9 pontos na escala Richter. Estatísticas, consideradas inconfiáveis pelos sismólogos mais pessimistas, que julgam que a mortandade foi muito maior, apontam para 10 mil vítimas fatais àquela ocasião.

O grande desastre serviu como catalisador para o surgimento da própria sismologia moderna e foi citado por pensadores de primeira grandeza, como Voltaire, em ensaios de cunho filosófico.

THE HIGHER LEARNING IN AMERICA – Veblen, 1918 (e à frente de 2018)

26/10/16 – 09/02/17

“The university man is properly, a student, not a schoolmaster.”

“A quem quer que seja inclinado de coração ao conhecimento superior, o irrefreável espetáculo do funesto chauvinismo e da inflada vulgaridade, exprimidos pelos supostos líderes da academia germânica, tudo isso nada pode representar senão o extremo do desalento.” “O anjo destruidor também produziu estragos nos outros países europeus, mas em nenhum lugar como na Alemanha.”

R.T. Crane – The Futility of All Kinds of Higher Schooling, part I chapter IV. “A Symposium on the value of humanistic, particularly classical studies as a training for men of affairs, 1909.

“it is known to have, on occasion, became a difficult question of inter-bureaucratic comity, whether commercial geography belongs of right to the department of geology or to that of economics; whether given courses in Hebrew are equitably to be assigned to the department of Semitics or to that of Religions; whether Church History is in fairness to be classed with profane History or with Divinity, etc. – questions which, except in point of departamental rivalry, have none but a meretricious significance.”

“Plato’s classic scheme of folly, which would have the philosophers take over the management of affairs, has been turned on its head; the men of affairs have taken over the direction of the pursuit of knowledge.”

“It follows as an inevitable consequence of the current state of popular sentiment that the successful businessmen among the alumni will have the deciding voice, in so far as the matter rests with the alumni; for the successful men of affairs assert themselves with easy confidence, and they are looked up to, in any community those standards of steem are business standards, so that their word carries weight beyond that of any other class or order of men.”

O HOMEM DA LIXEIRA DE OURO: “It is, indeed, a safe generalization that in point of fact the average of university presidents fall short of the average of their academic staff in scholarly or scientific attainments, even when all persons employed as instructors are counted as members of the staff.”

ho·mi·lé·ti·ca

(feminino de homilético)

substantivo feminino

Teoria ou arte da eloquência do púlpito

“homilética”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa [em linha], 2008-2013 https://www.priberam.pt/dlpo/homil%c3%a9tica

[consultado em 03-02-2017].

“It is usual among economists, e.g., to make much of the proposition that economics is an <art> – the art of expedient management of the material means of life; and further that the justification of economic theory lies in its serviceability in this respect. Such a quasi-science necessarily takes the current situation for granted as a permanent state of things; to be corrected and brought back into its normal routine in case of aberration, and to be safeguarded with apologetic defence at points where it is not working to the satisfaction of all parties. It is a <science> of complaisant interpretations, apologies, and projected remedies.” “The result is by no means that nothing is accomplished in this field of science under this leadership of forceful mediocrity, but only that, in so far as this leadership decides, the work done lies on this level of mediocrity.”

P. 209: “Our professors in the Harvard of the [18]’50s were a set of rather eminent scholars and highly respectable men. They attended to their studies with commendable assiduity and drudged along in a dreary, humdrum sort of way in a stereotyped method of classroom instruction. . . .

And that was the Harvard system. It remains in essence the system still – the old, outgrown, pedagogic relation of the large class-recitation room. The only variation has been through Eliot’s effort to replace it by the yet more pernicious system of premature specialization. This is a confusion of the college and university functions and constitutes a distinct menace to all true highter education. The function of the college is an all-around development, as a basis for university specializations. Eliot never grasped that fundamental fact, and so he undertook to turn Harvard college into a Herman university – specializing the student at 18. He instituted a system of one-sided contact in place of a system based on no contact at all. It is devoutly to be hoped that, some day, a glimmer of true light will effect an entrance into the professional educator’s head. It certainly hadn’t done so up to 1906.” Charles Francis Adams, An Autobiography

“Under the elective system a considerable and increasing freedom has been allowed the student in the choice of what he will include in his curriculum; so that the colleges have in this way come to refer the choice of topics in good part to the guidance of the student’s own interest.”

“And why the sea is boiling hot,

And whether pigs have wings.”

“E por que o mar está fervendo,

E se porcos têm asas”

tradução minha descontextualizada e infrutífera, como veremos logo abaixo:

A Morsa & O Carpinteiro, trecho de Lewis Carroll – Alice Através do Espelho

Adam Smith – Moral Sentiments

Porque esta noite fervente está o mar
E os porcos criaram asas!

— tradução canônica

A citação vem em resposta à tola pergunta do homem-comum: “Para quê o conhecimento desinteressado?” Ou seja: não te interessa, estulto pragmático!

GARDÊNIAS NO JARDIM DE JESUS, NÃO EXATAMENTE NO ZÊNITE DAS COISAS…

“The man of the world – that is to say, of the business world – puts the question, What is the use of this learning? and the men who speak for learning, and even the scholars occupied with the <humanities,> are at pains to find some colourable answer that shall satisfy the worldly-wise that this learning for which they speak is in some way useful for pecuniary gain.”

“It is true, in out-of-the-way corners and on the lower levels – and on the higher levels of imperial politics – where men have not learned to shrink from shameful devices, the question of children and of the birth-rate is still sometimes debated as a question of the presumptive use of offspring for some ulterior end. And there may still be found those who are touched by the reflection that a child born may become a valuable asset as a support for the parents’ old age. Such a pecuniary rating of the parental relation, which values children as a speculative means of gain, may still be met with. But wherever modern civilization has made its way at all effectually, such a provident rating of offspring is not met with in good company. Latterday common sense does not countenance it.” “No mother asks herself if her child will pay.”

“the barbarian [an]im[us]”

“The fact, however, is patent. It should suffice to call to mind the large fact, as notorious as it is discreditable, that the American business community has, with unexampled freedom, had at its disposal the largest and best body of resources that has yet become available to modern industry, in men, materials and geographical situation, and that with these means they have achieved something doubtfully second-rate, as compared with the industrial achievements of other countries less fortunately placed in all material respects.”

A superfluidade em segundo grau de qualquer “escola de comércio”: “No gain comes to the community at large from increasing the business proficiency of any number of its young men. There are already much too many of these businessmen, much too astute and proficient in their calling, for the common good.” “business is occupied with the competitive acquisition of wealth, not with its production. (…) Gains due to such efficiency are differential gains only.” ”The work of the College of Commerce, accordingly, is a peculiarly futile line of endeavour for any public institution, in that it serves neither the intellectual advancement nor the material welfare of the community.”

ADVOGADO DO CATÓLICO (OU POR QUE O RIQUINHO ODEIA TANTO FILOSOFAR – AQUELE QUE SEMPRE FOGE DO SOFRER E, FAZENDO ASSIM, NUNCA SOFRE, DEMONSTRANDO SEU BAIXO VALOR COMO SER HUMANO): “in point of substantial merit the law school belongs in the modern university no more than a school of fencing or dancing.” “What it had in view is the exigencies, expedients, and strategy of successful practice; and not so much a grasp of even those quasi-scientific articles of metaphysics that lie at the root of the legal system.” “a body of lawyers somewhat less numerous, and with a lower average proficiency in legal subtleties and expedients, would unquestionably be quite as serviceable to the community at large as a larger number of such men with a higher efficiency; at the same time they would be less costly, both as to initial cost and as to the expenses of maintenance that come of that excessive volume and retardation of litigation due to an extreme facility in legal technique on the part of the members of the bar.”

“The fees and other incidental expenses do not nearly cover the cost of the schools; otherwise no foundation or support from the public funds would be required, and the universities would have no colourable excuse for going into this field.” “and none take kindly to this training, in commerce or law, except those who already have something more than the average taste and aptitude for business traffic, or who have a promising <opening> of this character in sight.”

Eis, resumidamente, por que um administrador de empresas não precisaria ler Weber jamais. Apenas obedecer o chamado de sua vocação. Quem sabe um dia leria Duas Vocações por puro tédio, com aquela pontinha de sorriso sarcástico nos lábios.

“The schedule of salaries in the law schools attached to the universities runs appreciably higher than in the university proper; the reason being, of course, that men suitable efficiently to serve as instructors and directive officials in a school of law are almost necessarily men whose services in the practice of the law would command a high rate of pay.”

Barões da indústria na sala de aula… Eike Batista, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, perdendo seu precioso tempo com um bando de fedelhos tão ambiciosos quanto sem talento?

“The creation and maintenance of such a College of Commerce, on such a scale as will make it anything more than a dubious make-believe, would manifestly appear to be beyond the powers of any existing university. So that the best that can be compassed in this way, or that has been achieved, by the means at the disposal of any university hitherto, is a cross between a secondary school for bank-clerks [bancários!] and travelling salesmen of a subsidiary department of economics.”

“So far as any university administration can, with the requisite dignity, permit itself to avow a pursuit of notoriety, the gain that is avowedly sought by its means is an increase of funds, – more or less ingenuously spoken of as an increase of equipment. An increased enrolment of students will be no less eagerly sought after, but the received canons of academic decency require this object to be kept even more discreetly masked than the quest of funds.”

The Denise Neddermeyer Syndrome or DNS (Denial of -Useful- Service): “It is not that this characterization would imply exceptionally great gifts, or otherwise notable traits of character; they are little else than an accentuation of the more commonplace frailties of commonplace men. As a side light on this spiritual complexion of the typical academic executive, it may be worth noting that much the same characterization will apply without abatement to the class of professional politicians, particularly to that large and longlived class of minor politicians who make a living by keeping well in the public eye and avoiding blame.” “it is not at all unusual, nor does it cause surprise, to find such persons visibly affected with those characteristic pathological marks that come of what is conventionally called <high living> – late hours, unseasonable vigils, surfeit of victuals and drink, the fatigue of sedentary ennui. A flabby [flácido] habit of body, hypertrophy of the abdomen, varicose veins, particularly of the facial tissues, a blear eye [olhos cansados; expressão vaga] and a colouration suggestive of bile and apoplexy, – when this unwholesome bulk is duly wrapped in a conventionally decorous costume it is accepted rather as a mark of weight and responsibility, and so serves to distinguish the pillars of urbane society. Nor should it be imagined that these grave men of affairs and discretion are in any peculiar degree prone to excesses of the table or to nerve-shattering bouts of dissipation. (…) <Indulgence> in ostensibly gluttonous bouts of this kind – banquets, dinners, etc. – is not so much a matter of taste as of astute publicity, designed to keep the celebrants in repute among a laity whose simplest and most assured award of esteem proceeds on evidence of wasteful ability to pay.”

“With due, but by no means large, allowance for exceptions, the incumbents are chosen from among a self-selected body of candidates, each of whom has, in the common run of cases, been resolutely in pursuit of such an office for some appreciable time, and has spent much time and endeavour on fitting himself for its duties. Commonly it is only after the aspirant has achieved a settled reputation for eligibility and a predilection for the office that he will finally secure an appointment. The number of aspirants, and of eligibles, considerably exceeds the number of such executive offices, very much as is true for the parallel case of aspirants for political office.” Graças a Zaratustra!

“Among the indispensable general qualifications, therefore, will be a <businesslike> facility in the management of affairs, an engaging address and fluent command of language before a popular audience, and what is called <optimism,> – a serene and voluble loyalty to the current conventionalities and a conspicuously profound conviction that all things are working out for good, except for such untoward details as do not visibly conduce to the vested advantage of the well-to-do businessmen under the established law and order.”

“The volume of such public discourse, as well as the incident attendance at many public and ceremonial functions, is very considerable; so much so that in the case of any university of reasonable size and spirit the traffic in these premises is likely to exceed the powers of any one man, even where, as is not infrequently the case, the <executive> head is presently led to make this business of stately parade and promulgation his chief employment. In effect, much of this traffic will necessarily be delegated to such representatives of the chief as may be trusted duly to observe its spirit and intention; and the indicated bearers of these vicarious dignities and responsibilities will necessarily be the personal aids and counsellors of the chief; which throws them, again, into public notice in a most propitious fashion.”

“Philandropist”, o presidente de instituição que adora discursar um pouco sobre tudo e não chegar a nenhum ponto louvável científica ou pragmaticamente falando.

A ética do trabalho de reitor é estritamente negativa, pois o único mandamento já formulado é o da “lista negra” ou “the inter-academic blacklist”

“Men of unmanageably refractory temperament, such as can not by habituation be imbued with the requisite deviation and self-sufficiency, will of necessity presently be thrown out, as being incompetent for this vocation.”

De uma maturidade muito mais contemporânea que a verborragia salvacionista de um Boaventura Santos.

Eu proponho um quietismo ativo! Rá!!

“the other peoples of Christendom are following the same lead as fast as their incumbrance [tradições, tabus] of archaic usages and traditions [redundant] will admit; and the generality of their higher schools are already beginning to show the effects of the same businesslike aspirations, decoratively coloured with feudalistic archaisms of patriotic nuncombe [ladainha, lenga-lenga].”

Let the invisible hand of doom take the duties!

“All that is required is the abolition of the academic executive and of the governing board. Anything short of this heroic remedy is bound to fail, because the evils sought to be remedied are inherent in these organs, and intrinsic to their functioning.”

“It is undeniable, indeed it is a matter of course, that so long as the university continues to be made up, as is now customary, of an aggregation of divers and sundry schools, colleges, divisions, etc., each and several of which are engaged in a more or less overt rivalry, due to their being so aggregated into a meaningless coalition, – so long will something formidable in the way of a centralized and arbitrary government be indispensable to the conduct of the university’s affairs” Departamentos inter e multi e trans e meta e paradisciplinares: apenas chuva no molhado ou, o que é pior, mais arqui-inimigos (insult to injury).

“There is always a dearth of funds, and there is always urgent use for more than can be had”

“college spirit” – happy hours, fofocas e o óbvio esporte patrocinado de alto rendimento.

“A gentleman’s college> is an establishment in which scholarship is advisedly made subordinate to genteel dissipation”

“it has become a moot [irrevelante] question in academic policy whether a larger number of fellowships with smaller stipends will give a more advantageous net statistical result than a smaller number of more adequate stipends. An administration that looks chiefly to the short-term returns – as is commonly the practice in latterday business enterprise – will sensibly incline to make the stipends small and numerous; while the converse will be true where regard is had primarily to the enrolment of carefully selected men who may reflect credit on the institution in the long run.”

“It is also true that the average stipend attached to the fellowships offered today is very appreciably lower than was the practice some 2 or 3 decades ago; at the same time that the cost of living – which these stipends were originally designed to cover – has increased by something like 100%.”

“The extremely common and extremely unfortunate practice of keeping the allowance for maintenance and service in the university libraries so low as seriously to impair their serviceability. But the exigencies of prestige will easily make it seem more to the point in the eye of a businesslike executive, to project a new extension of the plant; which will then be half-employed on a scanty allowance, in work which lies on the outer fringe or beyond the university’s legitimate province.”

“lecture rooms are the least exacting and the most commonly well supplied. They are also the more conspicuous in proportion to the outlay.”

“In a few years the style architectural affectations will change, of course” “And then, edifices created with a thrifty view to a large spectacular effect at a low cost are also liable to so rapid a physical decay as to be ready for removal and replacement before they have greatly outlived their usefulness in this respect.”

“In recent scholastic edifices one is not surprised to find lecture rooms accoustically ill designed, and with an annoying distribution of light, due to the requirements of exterior symmetry and the decorative distribution of windows; and the like holds true even in a higher degree for libraries and laboratories, since for these uses the demands in these respects are even more exacting. Nor it is unusual to find waste of space and weakness of structure, due, e.g., to a fictitious winding stair, thrown into the design to permit such a façade as will simulate the defensive details of a mediaeval keep, to be surmounted with embrasured battlements and a (make-believe) loopholed turret. So, again, space will, on the same ground, be wasted in heavy-ceiled, ill-lighted lobbies”

“That these edifices are good for this purpose, and that this policy of architectural mise-en-scène is wise, appears from the greater readiness with which funds are procured for such ornate constructions than for any other academic use. It appears the successful men of affairs to whom the appeal for funds is directed, find these wasteful, ornate and meretricious edifices a competent expression of their cultural hopes and ambitions.”

Para se bater com algumas pessoas é preciso know-how. Já bati de frente, de lado, por trás, sempre alcançando resultados aquém do esperado. Agora eu bato na diagonal!

O Politicamente Correto virou Fascistamente Correto.

I just wanna know… How low can you go?

Tratando hematomas a pancadas.

Trust me!, says the oligopolizer.

estandardização quântica dos padrões aleatórios

L’ENCYCLOPÉDIE – AL – compilado (3)

ALGEBRE. “il faut observer que les Arabes ne se servent jamais du mot algebre seul pour exprimer ce que nous entendons aujourd’hui par ce mot; mais ils ajoutent toujours le mot macabelah, qui signifie opposition et comparaison; ainsi algebra-almacabelah est ce que nous appellons propremente algebre. (…) Les anciens auteurs Italiens lui donnent le nom de regula rei & census, c’est-à-dire, la regle de la racine & du quarré: chez eux la racine s’appelle res, et le quarré, census.”

“Elle soulage la mémoire et l’imagination en diminuant beaucoup les efforts qu’elles seraient obligées de faire, pour retenir les différentes choses nécessaires à la découverte de la vérité sur laquelle on travaille, et que l’on veut conserver presentes à l’esprit: c’est pourquoi quelques auteurs appellent cette science géométrie métaphysique.”

“Diophante est le premier et le seul auteur parmi les Grecs qui ait traité de l’algebre. On croit que cet art a été fort cultivé par les Arabes: on dit même que les Arabes l’avaient reçu des Perses, et les Perses des Indiens. On ajoute que les Arabes l’apparterent en Espagne; d’où, suivant l’opinion de quelques-uns, il passa en Anglaterre avant que Diophante y fût connu.”

“Luc Paciolo, ou Lucas à Burgo, cordelier, est le premier dans l’Europe qui mit écrit sur ce sujet: son livre, écrit en Italien, fut imprimé à Venise en 1494. Il était, dit-on, disciple d’un Léonard de Pise et de quelques autres dont il avait appris cette méthode: mais nous n’avons aucun de leurs écrits. Selon Paciolo, l’algebre vient originairement des Arabes: il ne fait aucune mention de Diophante; ce qui ferait croire que cet auteur n’était pas encore connu en Europe. Son algebre ne va pas plus loin que les équations simples et quarrées; encore son travail sur ces dernieres équations est-il fort imparfait, comme on le peut voir par le detail que donne sur ce sujet M. l’abbé de Gua, dans un excellent mémoire imprimé parmi deux de l’académie des sciences de Paris en 1741.”

“Viete ne considera donc point les racines réelles négatives, non plus que les racines impossibles, que Bombelli avait introduites dans le calcul; et ce ne fut que par des voies indirectes qu’il vint à bout de déterminer, lorsqu’il en eu besoin, le nombre des racines réelles positives.”

“Il n’est presqu’aucune science qui n’ait dû au grand Descartes quelque degré de perfection: mais l’algebre et l’analyse lui sont encore plus redevables que toutes les autres. Vraisemblablement il n’avait point lu ce que Viete avait découvert dans ces deux sciences, et il les poussa beaucoup plus loin.” “C’est lui qui a introduit dans l’algebre les exposans, et qui a donné les príncipes élémentaires de leurs calculs” “Voyez le commencement de sa Géométrie.” “enfin, l’application de l’analyse et de la géométrie à la physique, dont on n’avait point vu jusqu’alors d’aussi grand exemple.”

“la détermination du nombre des racines vraies ou fausses, c’est-à-dire positives ou négatives” “Quoique Newton fût né dans un temps où l’analyse paraissait déja presque parfaite; cependant un si grand génie ne pouvait manquer de trouver à y ajouter encore.” “A cela il faut joindre l’application des fractions au calcul des exposans; l’expression en suites infinies des puissances entieres ou fractionnaires, positives ou négatives d’un binome quelconque; l’excellente regle connue sous le nom de Regle du parallélogramme; (…) methodus differentialis.”

“Je me suis contenté dans cet article de donner l’idée générale de l’algebre, telle à-peu-près qu’on la donne communément; et j’y ai joint, d’après M. l’abbé de Gua, l’histoire de ses progrès. Les savans trouveront à l’article ARITHMÉTIQUE UNIVERSELLE, des réflexions plus profondes sur cette science, et à l’art.” Pomposo.

Obs.: em Francês, número irracional é “nombre sourd”.

ALK. O popular pingüim, pingouin, provindo do Norueguês! Depois convertido para “auk” (termo compartilhado pelos anglo-saxões). “La forme de son bec est des plus singulières; il est si comprimé, si applati par les cotés, qu’il ressemble à un triangle; de sorte qu’il parait avoir presqu’autant de hauteur ou de profoundeur que de longueur. (…) Les aîles sont composées de 28 plumes et la queue de 12, qui sont pointues, et d’autant plus longues, qu’elles sont plus proches du milieu § En general cet oiseau est noir en dessus et blanc en dessous; mais on voit outre cela quelques mélanges.”

ALLEGRO. “designa, do lento ao rápido, o terceiro dos quatro principais graus de movimento estabelecidos na Música Italiana. Adjetivo que significa contente; e é também a expressão de um movimento alegre e animado, o mais vivo de todos depois do presto. Vide Mouvement. O diminutivo allegretto indica uma agitação mais moderada, um pouco menos de vivacidade na medida.”

#offtopic Não deixa de ser irônico e paradoxal que antes se prefira o amanhã que o hoje.

“ALLEMANDE, s. f. (Musique.) est une sorte de piece de Musique, dont la mesure est à 4 tems, & se bat gravement. Il paroît par son nom que ce caractere d’air nous est venu d’Allemagne: mais il est vieilli, & à peine les Musiciens s’en servent-ils aujourd’hui; ceux qui l’employent encore lui donnent un mouvement plus gai.”

“ALLIGATOR, s. m. espece de crocodile des Indes Occidentales; il a jusqu’à 18 piés de long, & sa grosseur est proportionnée à sa longueur. Il est amphibie.[!]”

“ALLURE, s. f. c’est la maniere de marcher des bêtes. Ce mot s’applique en Morale à la conduite, & se prend en mauvaise part.”

“ALLURES, s. f. plur. (Manége.) train, marche d’un cheval. Les allures du cheval sont le pas, l’entre-pas, le trot, l’amble, le galop, le traquenard, & le train rompu.”

L’ENCYCLOPÉDIE – AL – compilado (2)

“ALEGRETTE, Géogr., ville de Portugal dans l’Alentéjo, sur la riviere Caia et les confins de Port-Alegre [apesar de haver um município de Alegrete no Rio Grande do Sul, não se trata deste, mas realmente de coordenadas européias]. Long. 11, 10; lat. 39, 6.”

“ALENTÉJO, Géogr., grande province de Portugal, qui s’etend du sud au nord, depuis les montagnes d’Algarve jusqu’aux frontieres de l’Estramadure portugaise, dans un espace de 50 lieues; et de l’est à l’ouest, depuis la mer et le Tage jusqu’aux frontieres de l’Estramadure espagnole et de l’Andalousie, dans un autre espace de 40 lieues. Elle a de vastes plaines très-propres à l’agriculture, et des coteaux très-própres au vignoble, qui sont tous très-négligés par l’indolence des Portugais. Les huiles et les fruits y abondent, ainsi que le gibier et le poisson. On y trouve des marbres de différentes couleurs, et on y fabrique una faïence estimée, dont le grand débit se fait en Espagne. Cette province est fort peuplée: on y comptait en 1732, 260.000 personnes. Elle se partage en 8 jurisdictions, et renferme 4 villes du quatrieme ordre, 88 petites villes ou bourgs, et 355 paroisses [paróquias]. L’Alentéjo fait un grand tiers du royaume de Portugal[!].”

ALLEMAGNE. “C’est un composé d’un grand nombre d’États souverains & libres, quoique sous un chef commun. On conçoît que cette constitution de gouvernement établissant dans un même Empire une infinité de frontieres différentes, supposant d’un lieu à un autre des lois différentes, des monnoies d’une autre espece, des denrées [mercadorias perecíveis] appartenantes à des maîtres différens, &c. on conçoit, dis-je, que toutes ces circonstances doivent mettre beaucoup de variété dans le commerce.”

“ALLEMANDS. s.m. (…) Ce mot a un grand nombre d’étymologies, mais elles sont si forcées, qu’il vaut presqu’autant n’en savoir aucune que de les savoir toutes. Cluvier prétend que l’Allemand n’est point Germain, mais qu’il est Gaulois d’origine. Selon le même auteur, les Gaulois, dont Tacite dit qu’ils avoient passé le Rhin & s’étoient établis au-delà de ce fleuve, furent les premiers Allemands. Tout ce que l’on ajoûte sur l’origine de ce peuple depuis Tacite jusqu’à Clovis, n’est qu’un tissu de conjectures peu fondées. Sous Clovis, les Allemands étoient un petit peuple qui occupoit la plus grande partie des terres situées entre la Meuse, le Rhin, & le Danube. Si l’on compare ce petit terrein avec l’immense étendue de pays qui porte aujourd’hui le nom d’Allemagne, & si l’on ajoûte à cela qu’il y a des siecles que les Allemands ont les François pour rivaux & pour voisins, on en saura plus sur le courage de ces peuples, que tout ce qu’on en pourroit dire d’ailleurs.”

“ALMAMOUN, est le nom d’un Calife des Sarrasins, le septieme de la race des Abbassides, à qui nous avons l’obligation de la premiere mesure de la Terre qui ait été faite depuis l’Ére chrétienne.”

L’ENCYCLOPÉDIE – AL – compilado (1)

“ALECTO, s.f. Uma das três fúrias; Tisífone e Megera são suas irmãs. São filhas de Acheron [Aqueronte; Caronte?] e da Noite. Também responde por Desejo [ou Inveja]. Que origem e que pintura do desejo! Me parece que para as pessoas e para as crianças, que devemos considerar como imaginosas, isso é mais admirável que se limitar a representar essa paixão como um grande mal. Dizer que o desejo é um mal, é como não fazer entender outra coisa, senão que o desejoso [senso também de invejoso] se importa com um outro homem: mas qual é o invejoso que não tem horror de si mesmo, quando ouve dizer que a Inveja é uma das três fúrias, e que ela é filha do Inferno e da Noite? Essa construção emblemática da teologia do paganismo não se dava sem razão; tudo se deve à invenção dos poetas: e o que seria mais capaz de mostrar aos outros homens a virtude como amável e o vício como odioso do que essas fortes imaginações?”

“ALGOL ou tête de Meduse, étoile fixe de la troisieme grandeur, dans la constellation de Persée.”

Le pèché de la Perse de Persée.

“ALILAT, nom sous lequel les Arabes adoraient la lune [já foi mais bonita – em Dragon Ball, até ela morre 2 vezes, coitada!], ou, selon d’autres, la planete de Vénus, que nous nommes hesperus le soir, et phosphorus le matin.”