"HOMBRES DE MENTES"

Una película. Dos cliches. 1) Un título excelente en Inglés ("The Men Who Stare at Goats") y un título pedorro en Castellano ("Hombres De Mentes") 2) Excelente trailer. Película chota.

LUNA(TICOS)

Cuándo Zeus se enoja...

YO NO CREO EN EL CALENTAMIENTO GLOBAL, PERO QUE LO HAY...

No es que no creo en el calentamiento global. Decir eso es como no creer en la fuerza de gravedad. Creo en él. En lo que no creo es en culpar al hombre por este fenómeno.

Es sabido que las temperturas promedio de la tierra no fueron siempre las mismas. ¿Alguno vio "La Era del Hielo"? Hubo épocas en dónde todo el globo parecía ser la antártida (o el planeta helado de Hoth, si prefieren) y hubo otras en dónde todo era Caribe. Nosotros vivimos en una época intermedia. Ni muy muy ni tan tan.

Lo que no puedo creer es que se piense que es culpa nuestra por tener fábricas y usar desodorante que el planeta se está poniendo cada vez más quente (léase quenchi). Esto iba a volver a pasar de la misma manera en que había pasado en el pasado.

Es probable que con nuestra codicia sin límites lo hayamos apurado algunos cientos de años, pero nada más que eso.

Y toda esta pavada, ¿que tiene que ver con el chobi de la derecha? se preguntarán. Hace un par de años que vengo notando la existencia de estos simpáticos seres en mi barrio. (Este se refugió en la entrada de casa de los cascotazos que caían anoche del cielo.) Sin saber mucho del caso, se parece mucho a los Geckos australianos. La moraleja es que es un animal de climas más cálidos, y se lo ve bastante cómodo en Vicente López. Esto creo que es una consecuencia del calentamiento global (que no es culpa nuestra). Es eso, o ¡a alguien se le escapó una hembra embarazada que tenía de mascota y se están reproduciendo como conejos!

Un par de detalles simpáticos. Este pichón no tenía cola, presumiblemente por habérselas encontrado con un depredador voraz (nuestra perra Laika). Además notamos que no tiene párpados y conjeturamos que tampoco tiene lagrimales, ya que periódicamente se relamía los labios, incluyendo unos lengüetazos a cada ojo. FREAK!

Future pope stalled pedophile case

By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer Gillian Flaccus, Associated Press Writer LOS ANGELES – The future Pope Benedict XVI resisted pleas to defrock a California priest with a record of sexually molesting children, citing concerns including "the good of the universal church," according to a 1985 letter bearing his signature. The correspondence, obtained by The Associated Press, is the strongest challenge yet to the Vatican's insistence that Benedict played no role in blocking the removal of pedophile priests during his years as head of the Catholic Church's doctrinal watchdog office. The letter, signed by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was typed in Latin and is part of years of correspondence between the Diocese of Oakland and the Vatican about the proposed defrocking of the Rev. Stephen Kiesle. The Vatican confirmed Friday that it was Ratzinger's signature. "The press office doesn't believe it is necessary to respond to every single document taken out of context regarding particular legal situations," the Rev. Federico Lombardi said. Another spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, said the letter showed no attempt at a cover-up. "The then-Cardinal Ratzinger didn't cover up the case, but as the letter clearly shows, made clear the need to study the case with more attention, taking into account the good of all involved." The diocese recommended removing Kiesle (KEEZ'-lee) from the priesthood in 1981, the year Ratzinger was appointed to head the Vatican office that shared responsibility for disciplining abusive priests. The case then languished for four years at the Vatican before Ratzinger finally wrote to Oakland Bishop John Cummins. It was two more years before Kiesle was removed; during that time he continued to do volunteer work with children through the church. In the November 1985 letter, Ratzinger says the arguments for removing Kiesle are of "grave significance" but added that such actions required very careful review and more time. He also urged the bishop to provide Kiesle with "as much paternal care as possible" while awaiting the decision, according to a translation for AP by Professor Thomas Habinek, chairman of the University of Southern California Classics Department. But the future pope also noted that any decision to defrock Kiesle must take into account the "good of the universal church" and the "detriment that granting the dispensation can provoke within the community of Christ's faithful, particularly considering the young age." Kiesle was 38 at the time. Kiesle had been sentenced in 1978 to three years' probation after pleading no contest to misdemeanor charges of lewd conduct for tying up and molesting two young boys in a San Francisco Bay area church rectory. As his probation ended in 1981, Kiesle asked to leave the priesthood and the diocese submitted papers to Rome to defrock him. In his earliest letter to Ratzinger, Cummins warned that returning Kiesle to ministry would cause more of a scandal than stripping him of his priestly powers. "It is my conviction that there would be no scandal if this petition were granted and that as a matter of fact, given the nature of the case, there might be greater scandal to the community if Father Kiesle were allowed to return to the active ministry," Cummins wrote in 1982. While papers obtained by the AP include only one letter with Ratzinger's signature, correspondence and internal memos from the diocese refer to a letter dated Nov. 17, 1981, from the then-cardinal to the bishop. Ratzinger was appointed to head the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith a week later. California church officials wrote to Ratzinger at least three times to check on the status of Kiesle's case and Cummins discussed the case with officials during a Vatican visit, according to correspondence. At one point, a Vatican official wrote to say the file may have been lost and suggested resubmitting materials. Diocese officials considered writing Ratzinger again after they received his 1985 response to impress upon him that leaving Kiesle in the ministry would harm the church, Rev. George Mockel wrote in a memo to the Oakland bishop. "My own reading of this letter is that basically they are going to sit on it until Steve gets quite a bit older," the memo said. "Despite his young age, the particular and unique circumstances of this case would seem to make it a greater scandal if he were not laicized." As Kiesle's fate was being weighed in Rome, the priest returned to suburban Pinole to volunteer as a youth minister at St. Joseph Church, where he had served as associate pastor from 1972 to 1975. Kiesle was ultimately stripped of his priestly powers on Feb. 13, 1987, though the documents do not indicate how or why. They also don't say what role — if any — Ratzinger had in the decision. Kiesle continued to volunteer with children, according to Maurine Behrend, who worked in the Oakland diocese's youth ministry office in the 1980s. After learning of his history, Behrend complained to church officials. When nothing was done she wrote a letter, which she showed to the AP. "Obviously nothing has been done after EIGHT months of repeated notifications," she wrote. "How are we supposed to have confidence in the system when nothing is done? A simple phone call to the pastor from the bishop is all it would take." She eventually confronted Cummins at a confirmation and Kiesle was gone a short time later, Behrend said. Kiesle, who married after leaving the priesthood, was arrested and charged in 2002 with 13 counts of child molestation from the 1970s. All but two were thrown out after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional a California law extending the statute of limitations. He pleaded no contest in 2004 to a felony for molesting a young girl in his Truckee home in 1995 and was sentenced to six years in state prison. Kiesle, now 63 and a registered sex offender, lives in a Walnut Creek gated community, according to his address listed on the Megan's Law sex registry. An AP reporter was turned away when attempting to reach him for comment. William Gagen, an attorney who represented Kiesle in 2002, did not return a call for comment. More than a half-dozen victims reached a settlement in 2005 with the Oakland diocese alleging Kiesle had molested them as young children. "He admitted molesting many children and bragged that he was the Pied Piper and said he tried to molest every child that sat on his lap," said Lewis VanBlois, an attorney for six Kiesle victims who interviewed the former priest in prison. "When asked how many children he had molested over the years, he said 'tons.'" Cummins, 82 and now retired, initially told the AP he did not recall writing to Ratzinger about Kiesle, but he remembered when shown the letter with his signature on Friday. He said things had changed over the past quarter century. "When he (Ratzinger) took over I think he was following what was the practice of the time, that Pope John Paul was slowing these things down. You didn't just walk out of the priesthood then," Cummins said. "These things were slow and their idea of thoroughness was a little more than ours. We were in a situation that was hands-on, with personal reaction." Documents obtained by the AP last week revealed similar instances of Vatican stalling in cases involving two Arizona clergy. In one case, the future pope took over the abuse case of the Rev. Michael Teta of Tucson, Ariz., then let it languish at the Vatican for years despite repeated pleas from the bishop for the man to be removed from the priesthood. In the second, the bishop called Msgr. Robert Trupia a "major risk factor" in a letter to Ratzinger. There is no indication in those files that Ratzinger responded. The Vatican has called the accusations "absolutely groundless" and said the facts were being misrepresented.

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Como Funciona un Servo Hitec HS-422

PRIMER DÍA DE CLASES lleno de teorías

Una de mis primeras observaciones fue: ¿En esta aula entran 300 pibes? ¡Es tanto más chica de lo que me había imaginado! Después de una velocidad sin precedentes en el uso de la matemática avanzada, conté 180 bancos -incómodos por cierto- (3 bancos por 6 columnas por 10 filas). 6:43: fui el primer hombre en entrar al aula. Ya había como 12 mujeres sentadas. (Esto disparó una teoría acerca de como la puntualidad discrimina sexos). Los infantes siguieron llegando. Me pregunté si me había confundido de aula y había entrado accidentalmente en la guardería. Esta teoría se esfumó al ver llegar a una señora de la edad de mis viejos. En toda rigurosidad, lo que atentó en contra de la teoría no fue la edad de la pobre señora, si no que no tenía cara de maestra jardinera. A las 7:09 las cotorras que tenía sentadas atrás empezaron a amargarse con la fantasía de que el profesor no iba a venir. FLASHBACK VIOLENTO: Afiches en el estacionamiento: Paro Nacional de Docentes 30 y 31 de Marzo. "Fuck!" 7:18 entró una señora, que si bien era más jóven que la antes descripta, sospeché que era la profesora. En parte porque apoyó sus cosas en el banco que da la espalda al pizarrón y en parte porque cerró las puertas del aula, pero principalmente lo sospeché porque ella dijo: Hola, soy la profesora. Nos habló con mucha paciencia, como si hablara con tontitos, pero para mi sorpresa, a la mitad del aula le costaba trabajo seguirle el ritmo. Un flaco que llegó tarde (con la cabeza rapada y rastas en la nuca) rompió el silencio de los que enfrentamos el pizarrón pidiendo una hoja prestada para tomar notas. El siguiente comentario refleja una de dos cosas: O mi vejez o la sabiduría que me ha sabido dar la vida: "Escuchame, papafrita, ¡¡¿¿como puede ser que vengas a la facultad el primer día sin una hoja??!! ¿Pensabas que venías a precalentar?" Después de explicarnos en detalle como funciona el complejísimo sistema de calificaciones y promociones, nos obligaron a comprar un libro (ver NdelE) escrito por el titular de la cátedra y nos mandaron a casa a leer el primer capítulo para la semana que viene. Mi reloj reflejaba las 8:09. Última teoría del día: en el ambiente académico, el tiempo viaja al doble de velocidad: la clase se suponía que debía durar hasta las 9. ¿Alguién sabe dónde puedo desayunar? NdelE: Idea para un negocio redondo: escribir un libro y hacerlo bibliografía obligada de mi cátedra. Esta epifanía me sorprendió haciendo la cola con 140 imberbes, esperando para pagar $30 por el mismo libro. 140 x $30 x comisión x cuatrimestre x 21 años (el libro se usa desde el 89) = casita en la playa en la polinesia al momento de jubilarme. Nada mal.

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