Ströbeck, the Chess Village

There's a chess tournament held every year in Ströbeck (central Germany) usually supplemented with pageantry and a live game. The chessmen are school children who, over the years, work their way up from mere pawns to pieces, minor and major, even to king and queen. This tradition isn't merely a show, but more a way of life for the 1200 villagers.

"Está a nevar em Lisboa."

Carro eléctrico coberto de neve nos Restauradores (1945).

BALADA DA NEVE
Batem leve, levemente,
como quem chama por mim.
Será chuva? Será gente?
Gente não é, certamente
e a chuva não bate assim.

É talvez a ventania:
mas há pouco, há poucochinho,
nem uma agulha bulia
na quieta melancolia
dos pinheiros do caminho...

Quem bate, assim, levemente,
com tão estranha leveza,
que mal se ouve, mal se sente?
Não é chuva, nem é gente,
nem é vento com certeza.

Fui ver. A neve caía
do azul cinzento do céu,
branca e leve, branca e fria...
Há quanto tempo a não via!
E que saudades, Deus meu!

Olho-a através da vidraça.
Pôs tudo da cor do linho.
Passa gente e, quando passa,
os passos imprime
e traça na brancura do caminho...

Fico olhando esses sinais
da pobre gente que avança,
e noto, por entre os mais,
os traços miniaturais
duns pezitos de criança...

E descalcinhos, doridos...
a neve deixa inda vê-los,
primeiro, bem definidos,
depois, em sulcos compridos,
porque não podia erguê-los!...

Que quem já é pecador
sofra tormentos, enfim!
Mas as crianças, Senhor,
porque lhes dais tanta dor?!...
Porque padecem assim?!...

E uma infinita tristeza,
uma funda turbação
entra em mim, fica em mim presa.
Cai neve na Natureza
e cai no meu coração.

Augusto Gil

ART GALLERY - Edward Hopper

Edward Hopper (1882-1967), the best-known American realist of the inter-war period and one of my favourits. Gas, 1940, oil in canvas, The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

It was his famous painting of a lone gas station attendant standing beside three gas pumps in a rural gas station at dusk. The gas station is surrounded by dark woods. It is in the middle of nowhere. The attendant is the lone person in the scene. The sole light is from the old-time gas pump heads. I was suddenly aware of the radiance of these lowly gas pump heads. They were all that was between this man and darkness. In that moment I realized we must take our light wherever it comes from. These low-tech gas pumps provided all the light there was, and it was more than enough. Read more here.

Mozart's Gift

Mozart’s 250th birthday celebrations in Prague

His music has taught us how to live. In "Beyond Good and Evil" Prelude to a Future Philosophy, Nietzsche rejoices that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, "the last chord of a centuries-old great European taste . . . still speaks to us" and warns that "alas, some day all this will be gone." I hope not, the hills are still alive with the sound of Mozart.

Also, listening to Mozart can also be good for your health, lift the spirit and may even make you smarter as sugested by a 1993 study in University of California where it was found that listening to a Mozart piano sonata caused a rise of the spatial IQ in college students because of the similarity between the rhythms of brain wave patterns and baroque music. This so-called "Mozart Effect" was challenged in August 1999 by a Harvard Medical School researcher who did similar testing and saw no significant IQ improvement.

IQ boost or not, what is significant is that the music of Mozart is greatly loved today and continues to inspire and create overwhelming enthusiasm for life.

Have a look at Mozart 250th aniversary official website.

"Don't be afraid?"

Some Hamas officials tried to reassure the world of its intentions: "Don't be afraid," Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, told the BBC. "Hamas is a Palestinian movement, it is an aware and mature movement, one which is politically open in the Palestinian arena, and to its Arab and Islamic hinterland, and similarly open to the international arena."

Winston Churchill must be turning over in his grave. At the end of WWII, he was confident that the West would forever be able to impose terms on Palestinians and their Arab supporters:"I'm committed to creation of a Jewish National Home in Palestine. Let us go on with that; and at end of war we shall have plenty of force with which to compel the Arabs to acquiesce in our designs. Don't shirk our duties because of difficulties. ..." Churchill confidential notes, July 2, 1943.

This election seems to say that he was wrong. Half a century later, nobody seems to have "acquiesced" and expectations are not on that direction, taking into account some comments on the media before the elections:

According to Hamas candidate Yasser Mansour, Hamas still wants "Palestine from the river to the sea" -- and believes in retaking the land from Jordan to the Mediterranean, including Israel. (Jan. 17)

In the British Guardian newspaper, Hamas’s Zahar is quoted again claiming all of Israel:"It's our land," said Dr Zahar. "Nobody among our sons and grandsons will accept Israel as a legal state. ... Israel is a foreign body. Not in this generation, not in the next generation, will we accept it here." (Jan. 10)

And on Palestinian television, Zahar said:We do not recognize the Israeli enemy, nor his right to be our neighbor, nor to stay [on the land], nor his ownership of any inch of land. ... Our principles are clear: Palestine is a land of Waqf [Islamic trust], which can not be given up. (Jan. 17, translated by Palestinian Media Watch).

A Rebel for All Seasons

James Dean playing chess. James Dean made only seven films (four of which were uncredited roles) in his brief career (which was ended by his death in an automobile accident in 1955).

Old New York (4)

(N.Y. Public Library Picture Collection)
New York - The Old Halfway House, 1864. At the junction of Broadway & 8th Avenue & 50th Street.

Rir pode ser um bom remédio

Um bom momento de humor inteligente no rescaldo das eleições presidenciais, a ler em O Jumento. Acho bem que conservemos o sentido de humor, mesmo nos maus momentos.

PORTUGAL BUSCA SALVADOR?

Contributos para uma reflexão antes de votar. A ler no El Pais de hoje.

Portugal, con más de dos millones de pobres, una tasa de desempleo en ascenso y la estructura social menos igualitaria de Europa, busca un salvador. Los sondeos indican que cree haberlo hallado en Aníbal Cavaco Silva. Hoy, el ex primer ministro puede conseguir que la derecha, por vez primera desde la Revolución de los Claveles de 1974, gane la presidencia en las urnas.
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Delirios de grandeza. Así y todo, en 2004, 925.000 portugueses mayores de 15 años se fueron en avión de vacaciones; mientras, dos millones de personas subsisten con menos de 350 euros al mes. "Los portugueses tenemos a veces delirios de grandeza y damos pasos más grandes que las piernas", dice Arminda Ferreira de Sousa Silva, empleada doméstica en Lisboa. "Mi vecina, por ejemplo, pidió un crédito al banco para irse a Brasil porque otra vecina se había ido antes a Punta Cana".
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La historia del rey luso Sebastián narra cómo su pueblo esperó inútilmente el regreso del gallardo soldado que, desaparecido en combate en Alcazarquivir (Marruecos) en 1578, debía salvar a la patria. Es la metáfora más querida por los portugueses, afirma Rosa Mendes. "La grandeza de la victoria de Cavaco", añade, "sólo dará la medida de la amargura nacional. Siempre creemos colectivamente en lo que colectivamente sabemos que no debemos creer. Pero nuestra crisis es tan profunda que no hay Sebastián que nos salve".
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"CAVACO ES UN CASO extraordinario, como síntoma, de la irracionalidad que ha invadido a la sociedad portuguesa", afirma el filósofo José Gil. "Sin necesidad de hablar, sólo con su presencia, como si fuera un santo, las multitudes rugen ante él como si aquello fuera una procesión en rogativa o una concentración de comunistas". "Se trata de un fenómeno casi religioso", añade el autor del ensayo y éxito de ventas Portugal hoy: el miedo a existir. "Es un fenómeno irracional de masas que crea un populismo sin discurso. Como si fuera un mesías laico, Cavaco ha convencido al pueblo de que el milagro es posible".

Eleições Presidenciais

De acordo com as sondagens, hoje o dia começou assim. Espero que o sol levante lá para a tarde.

Aulas de Xadrez

Professor de xadrez c/formação especializada dá aulas de iniciação, aperfeiçoamento, treino e competição, no Jardim da Estrela ou outro jardim de Lisboa. Garante o cumprimento escrupuloso das 50 regras de ouro do professor de xadrez.

Os tempos de Mário Soares

"Trazer para esta sociedade, mais do que nunca sociedade de espectáculo, o eco da antiga paixão portuguesa, quer a recalcada do antigo regime, quer a exaltada e exaltante das duas décadas após Abril, era uma aposta arriscada, para muitos perdida e, em todo o caso, objectivamente quixotesca. Filho desses dois tempos, de que foi actor político precoce e, depois, personagem histórico, Mário Soares ousou trazer de novo para uma arena pública, já longe desses tempos turbulentos, essa antiga paixão política, sem querer saber se estaria ou não fora de estação. Passada a surpresa, esta audácia quase juvenil do antigo Presidente da República foi recebida com cepticismo por muitos, com sarcasmo por outros e, sobretudo, como uma ocasião inesperada para ajustar contas antigas e menos antigas com o homem que, melhor do que ninguém, de entre os activos, se identificou e é identificado com a Revolução de Abril e, em particular, com o tipo de democracia que ela instaurou em Portugal."

Eduardo Loureço, Publico (18/1/06), publicado na íntegra por Tiago Mendes, aqui, em Selecções de Crónicas de Imprensa.

ART GALLERY - Edward Hopper

Edward Hopper (1882-1967), the best-known American realist of the inter-war period and one of my favourits. Nighthawks 1942, Oil on canvas 30 x 60 in.,The Art Institute of Chicago.

This is not just an image of big-city loneliness, but of existential loneliness: the sense that we have (perhaps overwhelmingly in late adolescence) of being on our own in the human condition. When we look at that dark New York street, we would expect the fluorescent-lit cafe to be welcoming, but it is not. There is no way to enter it, no door. The extreme brightness means that the people inside are held, exposed and vulnerable. They hunch their shoulders defensively. Hopper did not actually observe them, because he used himself as a model for both the seated men, as if he perceived men in this situation as clones. He modeled the woman, as he did all of his female characters, on his wife Jo. See more here.

Old New York (3)

(N.Y. Public Library Picture Collection)

New York - Paving Fourth Avenue, 1893.

France defends right to nuclear reply to terrorism

“The leaders of states who would use terrorist means against us, as well as those who would consider using in one way or another weapons of mass destruction, must understand that they would lay themselves open to a firm and adapted response on our part,” Chirac said during a visit to northwestern France, where France’s nuclear submarines are based.
“This response could be a conventional one. It could also be of a different kind.”

Quem diria? Ler artigos no Finantial Times e Liberation.

Granny still enjoy Chess and Dancing

Photographer Bob Oresick noted, "The remarkable Lillian Aylward. [Massachusetts] state champion in fencing, taught fencing at [Boston College] for 30, left this tournament to go dancing in Watertown."
Credits to http://h2otown.info/taxonomy/term/24

Kids Learn to Play Chess

Picture of chess boards being taken to the school, somewhere in old URSS.
Today, chess education has become the single most important academic enrichment movement in the new millennium. Chess is a stealth educational activity that teaches logic, critical thinking and creative problem solving by means of a child-friendly and hands-on cooperative dialog between two players.

ART GALLERY - Edward Hopper

Edward Hopper (1882-1967), the best-known American realist of the inter-war period and one of my favourits. Early Sunday Morning, 1930, Oil on canvas35 x 60 in.Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Hopper often cropped his paintings to look like they were captured by the lens of a movie camera. The scenes that he painted are not filled with lonliness but are simply about lonely people. What makes this a masterwork is not only the climate, the color, and the light, but the inspired solitude with which it is imbued.

More Respect, Please

Tony Blair takes a high-pressure hose to graffiti on a wall in Swindon

"People's freedom to be safe from fear has to come first" said the Prime Minister Blair, launching an action plan to promote respect. New government proposals will "deter bad behaviour and invest in good behaviour", Tony Blair has said. Launching the Respect Action Plan, he stressed that rights have to be paired with responsibilities to tackle low-level social disorder.

It seems that some lessons were learned from Paris evenments in last November, which was a clear signal to all European countries.

For what's Respect is about, have a look on the official site, in Guardian, BBC News or Telegraph.

Uma baixa no Xadrez Angolano

Luanda, 07/01 - O secretário permanente da Federação Angolana de Xadrez (FAX), Manuel Andrade, faleceu sexta-feira, em Luanda, vítima de disparos de arma de fogo quando regressava a casa, segundo a Angola Press.

Round Table Chess

Anyone in for a game of Round Table Chess? Rules are here.

Old New York (2)

(N.Y. Public Library Picture Collection)

New York - The old Columbia House, corner of Stanton & Columbia Streets (1861).

"Chess for Blood" Quotes

"Chess is ruthless: you've got to be prepared to kill people." (Nigel Short, British chess champion)

“You cannot play at Chess if you are kind-hearted”
(French Proverb)

“Chess is mental torture” (Garry Kasparov)

“Chess is war over the board. The object is to crush the opponents mind” (Bobby Fischer)

“No price is too great for the scalp of the enemy King”
(Koblentz)

Serra da Estrela

(click to enlarge)
Serra da Estrela (Star Mountain) yesterday late afternoon with outside temperature at 4ºC.

Coisas que melhoram algumas vidas

No rescaldo do fim de ano, encalhei numa oportuna chamada de atenção no blogue A Destreza das Dúvidas, para um belo artigo sobre Jorge Luis Borges no Bomba Inteligente.

Também em tempos coloquei algo sobre o JLB aqui e aqui. Ler Borges é fundamental.

PIODÃO

(click to enlarge)

(click to enlarge)
Southwest of Serra da Estrela is one of the country's most picturesque rural villages, the striking village of PIODÃO. Once remote, tourism has brought it back to life. The houses have been restored, with their dark stone contrasting wonderfully with the bright white parish church (photo Summer 2003).

Old New York (1)

(N.Y. Public Library Picture Collection)
New York old house, corner of Houston & Cannon Streets (1864).

LISBOA - DAKAR 2006

Antonio VENTURA (POR) in stage 1
Toda a informação sobre o percurso, etapas e história do rali no site oficial, aqui ou there (english).

ART GALLERY - Wassily Kandinsky

Wassily Kandinsky, Russian-born French Expressionist Painter, 1866-1944 - Winter Landscape Oil on cardboard. 70x97 cm Russia-Germany, 1909 - The State Hermitage Museum Digital Collection.

The Album

To start 2006 with good music, I highly recommend "White Mansions" to anyone - especially if you like country and the earlier music of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils. One of the best albums I have ever listen.

Be S.M.A.R.T in 2006

It is traditional to make resolutions at the beginning of the year, but all too often these New Year's resolutions are broken quickly. This may be because many goals, although well meant, are simply unrealistic, for example, "I will take up regular exercise" or "I will stop eating chocolate".

To attain your goals, they must be S.M.A.R.T:

(S)pecific - definite, concise and written. Writing your goals helps crystallize exactly what you want to accomplish. Write each goal in one or two sentences. Clearly define it in terms of your senses: How does it look, feel, smell, taste and sound? See your goal in terms of size, color, location, movement and any other characteristic or property that can be perceived by the senses. A short, written, simple, concise goal statement is easier to think about, remember, and act on.

(M)easurable - to determine its dimensions. When a goal is measurable, you have a standard by which to analyze it and estimate completion. If it is not measurable, it is extremely difficult to project when you will attain it, how far you have to go, or how much energy it will take.

(A)dvance - set in advance. Each goal is a destination, a desired outcome for your endeavors. If it is not set in advance, then you cannot make plans, nor take effective steps to attain it. When you set a goal in advance, you give focus to your life, thoughts and energy.

(R)ealistic - attainable. One of the easiest ways to set yourself up for failure is to select improper goals. No goal is impossible, but it may be unrealistic at your particular state of development at a given time. Make sure that your goals are realistic and attainable for you, based on where you are right now.

(T)ime - cover a definite time period. You must set a definite time by which to accomplish each goal. A definite time period gives you a standard by which to measure and regulate your performance. This time period should be realistic in light of your level of skill, time and resources available, time constraints of the goal itself, and of past performance by yourself and others.

If you write your goals, in each area of you life, concisely and in great detail, then you can make a written plan. If you follow your plan consistently and persistently, your vision for the New Year will be realized, probably I would say.

Others argue that it often happens despite the fact that we do nothing more than write them down, like Henriette Klauser in Write It Down, Make It Happen. She says that even if you don’t create an action plan for each goal and work your plan, there is tremendous power in simply identifying what you want and focusing some thought on the outcome.

I have already written my personal goal list for 2006. And you?

Happy New Year 2006!