Funny 21st Birthday Card Verses

Hugo Aldave

haldaveh@gmail.com

In 1929 Thomas Hobbes had a revelation. That year, the English philosopher and political thinker who was visiting Paris and a columnist friend recorded his next episode cited in the text A brief Life of Thomas Hobbes, 1588-1679, Aubrey, J (1957): Reached the 40 years without paying attention to geometry and, when he finally did, it was for chance. While in the library of a gentleman, he saw on a table, Euclid's Elements, which opened in Proposition 47 of Book I. Read the statement and said "Oh my God, this is impossible. So read the show, which it referred to another proposition, which he also read. Et sic deinceps to be convinced, through demonstration of that truth.

Trudeau. R, J in his book The Non Euclidean Revolution (1987) notes: For me the Pythagorean theorem is very surprising. Although in this world shaped by man right angles abound, I see them rather as natural phenomena related to the thunder or the Big Dipper. Standing in a field at right angles to be facing south. A fruit that falls on the tree is a path at right angles to the horizon. On the other hand, C2 = a2 + b2 does not evoke any kind of experience. The numbers are not part of nature, and if they were, it is unlikely that I came across three of them that are so related. Because the equation is needed is abstract and strange. I can not imagine such a thing has something to do with the everyday right angles. So when the veil of familiarity rises, as sometimes happens, I see the Pythagorean Theorem in its pristine form, and I am dumbfounded.

Einstein, A (1988) in "Autobiographical Notes" in Paul A Schlippe (ed) Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist, The Library of Living Philosophers VII. Open Court speaks of wonder and a sense of mystery that was five years old when his father showed him a compass and adds: At twelve years experience a second wonder, of a completely different, in a Euclidean Geometry book fell into my hands at the beginning of the year. There were sections, for example, that the three altitudes of a triangle are at a point, which though by no means obvious, could yet be proved with such certainty that any doubt appeared to be out of place. This clarity and certainty caused me an indescribable impression.

was convinced by the demonstration route, and correct reasoning approach the apex of knowledge, however, with the same intensity and rigor of epistemological turns complementary ways of thinking guided by the unexpected event, the emergence of a good idea, or look puzzled that plans always escapes the spiritual bond, but they keep in their stories captive and warriors, spells and converts ... amazed.

Borges invites us to imagine Droctulft [1] : Through an obscure geography of forests and swamps of war was brought to Italy from the margins Danube and Elbe, and maybe did not know who was South and perhaps did not know that war against the Roman name. Perhaps professed Arianism, which holds that the glory of the Son reflects the glory of the Father, but is consistent devotee imagine earth, Hertha, whose idol was covered hut to hut in a cart pulled by cows, or the gods of war and thunder, they were clumsy wooden figures, wrapped in woven clothing and charged with coins and bangles. Came from the forests and wild boar inextricable huro was white, cheerful, innocent, cruel, loyal to his captain, and his tribe, not the universe. wars bring it to Ravenna, and there is something that has never seen, or has not been fully. Go day and cypresses, and marble. See a set which is multiple without disorder, is a city, an organism composed of statues, temples, gardens, rooms, bleachers, vases, capitals, regular and open spaces. None of these plants (I know) it pretty impressive, as we now play it would play a complex machinery whose purpose not know, but guess whose design an immortal intelligence. Maybe you just know a single arch, with an incomprehensible inscription in Roman letters eternal. Suddenly the blind and renews this revelation, the city. Knows that she will a dog or a child, not even begin to understand but he also knows that she is worth more than their gods, and that the oath and all the swamps of Germany. Droctulft abandons his people and fight for Ravenna.

To complete the historical projection of that act into the future Borges writes: After a few generations, the Lombards, who blamed the deserter, as he proceeded, there were Italians, Lombards and perhaps some of their blood, could beget begat Alighieri.

Examining the history of the captive notes Arturo Echavarria Ferrari [2] "Droctulft march from barbarism to specialization while the English in India has fallen from civilization to barbarism."

Borges to tell his grandfather that meeting with British India writes: "Perhaps the two women felt for a moment sisters, were far from their island home and in an incredible country. My grandmother suggests some questions, the other replied with some difficulty, searching for words and repeating them as amazed an ancient flavor. Fifteen years would not speak the native language and it was not easy to retrieve. He said he was from Yorkshire, his parents emigrated Buenos Aires, who had lost their malon, who had led the Indians and now a wife of a chieftain, who already had two children and was very brave. That I was saying in a rustic English, interspersed with Araucanian or plain. [3]

And then he adds, Borges the impact of those words in the imagination of those who heard of or indeed the barbaric life of the region: "That I was saying in a rustic English, interspersed with Araucanian or pampas, and the story behind a life loomed Feral the horse-hide tents, the fires of dung, charred meat feast or raw viscera, the stealthy march at dawn, the assault of the pens, the howl and looting, war, the mighty herding farms by naked riders, polygamy, the stench and magic. [4]

Droctulft then there was a traitor, is a convert, seduces the majesty of the empire, and the behavior of British India also explains the appeal of wild life. Mysterious reasons in order to perception Warrior generate splendor in his vision, he sees something he has ever seen, and dies before the altar of the immortal, the vigor of the captive to reject any offer of protection of Borges's grandmother, is understandable in magic charms his mind and destiny.

The figure of the European woman who opts for the desert, and the figure of the barbarian who embraced the cause of Ravenna can be antagonistic. But both would fit a secret impulse, an impulse more profound than reason and that the two complied ... and I remain astonished, then the concept of hard work, happy defeated.

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[1] HISTORY OF GUERRERO AND THE CAPTIVE. P. 49 et seq El Aleph. JORGE LUIS BORGES

[2] Arturo Echavarria Ferrari Borges: Theory of the language and literature. Unpublished doctoral dissertation (Harvard 1976)

[3] The Aleph pp 50-1

[4] Op cit p 51