http://www.goodreads.com/user/updates_rss/943 en-US Tue, 13 May 2008 08:36:40 -0700 60 http://www.goodreads.com/ 200 41 http://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/gr_logo.gif 24798354 Tue, 13 May 2008 08:36:40 -0700 http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show_group/29521.Purcell Héctor made a comment in the Classical music lovers group:

Link: Purcell - Music for the funeral of Queen Mary ]]> 24770065 Mon, 12 May 2008 22:04:39 -0700 http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show_group/29505.The_Jews Héctor made a comment in the World Peace group:

When and How Were the Jewish People Invented? is the provocative title of the most recent book to be published in Israel by Shlomo Sand, a professor at Tel Aviv University. Sand, one of the “new” historians, attacks what he calls the myth that the Jews are the descendants of the Hebrews, exiled from the kingdom of Judea. He has attempted to show that the Jews are neither a race nor a nation, but ancient pagans -- being in the main, Berbers from North Africa, Arabs from the south of Arabia, and Turks from the Khazar empire -- who converted to Judaism between the fourth and eighth centuries CE. According to Sand, the Palestinians are probably descended from Hebrews who embraced Islam or Christianity. Sand doesn’t challenge Israel’s right to exist or the notion of its sovereignty, but he thinks that sovereignty is undermined by its exclusively ethnic base, which stems from the racism of Zionist ideologues. In other words: Israel shouldn’t be a Jewish state, but a democratic secular one belonging to all its citizens. Quoted in Haaretz on 21 March 2008, Sand was pessimistic about how his work would be received in Israel: “There was a time when anyone who claimed that the Jews had a pagan ancestry was accused on the spot of being an anti-Semite. Today, anyone who dares suggest that the Jews have never been and still are not a people or a nation is immediately denounced as an enemy of the state of Israel.” Sand may be mistaken. A no less challenging work that presents the Torah as in large part a collection of myths and legends, has been well received by the Israeli media and in secular circles. In their book, The Bible Unearthed, two eminent Israeli archaeologists, Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman, present an argument based on excavations and ancient documents which calls into question long-cherished convictions. Israeli society may be more receptive to challenging questions than it is given credit for.

See Are the Jews an Invented People? by Eric Rouleau ]]> 24768477 Mon, 12 May 2008 21:37:15 -0700 http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show_group/27114.Black_Gold Héctor made a comment in the World Peace group:

Oil Consumption by country:

Rank/Countries/Amount

#1 United States: 20,730,000 bbl/day
#2 China: 6,534,000 bbl/day
#3 Japan: 5,578,000 bbl/day
#4 Germany: 2,650,000 bbl/day
#5 Russia: 2,500,000 bbl/day
#6 India: 2,450,000 bbl/day
#7 Canada: 2,294,000 bbl/day
#8 Korea, South: 2,149,000 bbl/day
#9 Brazil: 2,100,000 bbl/day
#10 France: 1,970,000 bbl/day
#11 Mexico: 1,970,000 bbl/day
#12 Italy: 1,881,000 bbl/day
#13 Saudi Arabia: 1,845,000 bbl/day
#14 United Kingdom: 1,827,000 bbl/day
#15 Spain: 1,573,000 bbl/day

In Energy Statistics by NationMaster ]]> 24759332 Mon, 12 May 2008 19:52:10 -0700 http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show_group/29494.Mistake_Translation_ Héctor made a comment in the Classical music lovers group:

I found a reference (in italian) about Saint Cecilia. According it, she is the patron saint of musicians for a mistake translation or interpretation: "È quanto mai incerto il motivo per cui Cecilia sarebbe diventata patrona della musica. In realtà, un esplicito collegamento tra Cecilia e la musica è documentato soltanto a partire dal tardo Medioevo. La spiegazione più plausibile sembra quella di un'errata interpretazione dell'antifona di introito della messa nella festa della santa (e non di un brano della Passio come talvolta si afferma). Il testo di tale canto in latino sarebbe: "Cantantibus organis, Cecilia virgo in corde suo soli Domino decantabat dicens: fiat Domine cor meum et corpus meum inmaculatum ut non confundar" ("Mentre suonavano gli strumenti musicali (?), la vergine Cecilia cantava nel suo cuore soltanto per il Signore, dicendo: Signore, il mio cuore e il mio corpo siano immacolati affinché io non sia confusa"). Per dare un senso al testo, tradizionalmente lo si riferiva al banchetto di nozze di Cecilia: mentre gli strumenti musicali (profani) suonavano, Cecilia cantava a Dio interiormente. Da qui il passo ad un'interpretazione ancora più travisata era facile: Cecilia cantava a Dio... con l'accompagnamento dell'organo! Si cominciò così, a partire dal XV secolo (nell'ambito del Gotico cortese) a raffigurare la santa con un piccolo organo portativo a fianco. In realtà i codici più antichi non riportano questa lezione dell'antifona (e neanche quella che inizierebbe con Canentibus, sinonimo di Cantantibus), bensì Candentibus organis, Caecilia virgo.... Gli "organi", quindi, non sarebbero affatto strumenti musicali, ma gli strumenti di tortura, e l'antifona descriverebbe Cecilia che "tra gli strumenti di tortura incandescenti, cantava a Dio nel suo cuore". L'antifona non si riferirebbe dunque al banchetto di nozze, bensì al momento del martirio."

In Santa Cecilia

En español: Cecilia de Roma ]]> 24684741 Mon, 12 May 2008 02:17:57 -0700 http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show_group/26994.Silvio_Rodriguez Héctor made a comment in the Classical music lovers group:

Silvio Rodriguez - En estos días ]]> 18592187 Sat, 08 Mar 2008 07:37:15 -0800