And the is... Spain.

Well the old rivalry between my country and "nostros hermanos" (our brothers in spanish) seems long gone, Spain is European champion and they have my congratulations and had my support. This is quite interesting considering Portugal only act against Spain, this talking in historical terms. But that shows the power of Europe, the idea of the European Union, we are different, but not that different, and all the bullshit of the past is in the past. Obviously my country is my country, but Europe gives us the perspective to see beyond, and these tornaments show how one can feel for their country and be brothers with all others. So congratulations to Spain, enjoy your time in the spotlight, next our turn ;P Go PORTUGAL.:P

Enjoy the silence

Today a late late post, better late than never :P.
Anyway not going to write much since I have shit to do, regardless a nice song for all intents and purposes, one of those that suits all and nothing... Enjoy...

The big bang theory

No, I am not going to tell you about the physics theory ;P, if you are curious about it just google it. This is a funny TV series I found, and it is awesome, at least if you have any geek bones in you. It is about the life of these guys, doctors, real doctors ;P, thus they have their PhD, in this case in physics. Here is a sample...

No post...

... sorry, visitor.

"I belive his name is Mr. Crato, but I am not sure."

Actually I sure, Nuno Crato is his full name. The title is to relate to his entitled best start of a text, since after reading it one necessarily wonders what comes next. I don't want to make a big post about just one person after having a long weekend that provides me with a lot of material for posts.
So before talking about the things said by Mr. Crato that made me view things from another perspective on the issue of education, I want to share what I did over the weekend.
I went to Oxford for the Luso 2008, which was the annual meeting of Portuguese Students and Researchers in the United Kingdom. For those who haven't been to Oxford, well it is one of those must see places, thus I highly recommend a visit, but this was not a tourist visit and as such I will say no more than this.
The meeting was very good, some talk with a lot of interesting people (as always some more interesting than others :P), diverse topics, high socialization, which for me was the whole point of the meeting. Create a network of people with different views, but common interests, or even without them, actually I think it was a meeting of awareness over Portugal. How strange it is that we have so many brilliant people around that we don't quite hear about, but this would take this post in a direction not intended for today.
The last of the talks was done by Mr. Crato and he talk, among other things, about Education and more specificity the modern pedagogy novelists. The funny and well written speech was an eye opener for me, not that I agree with all he said, but that was partly the point, the following of seemingly consensual ideas, that are generic enough for all to agree but also too generic to have any practical use. This was one of the ideas, the need for the real understanding of what people mean with concepts in education, and NOT the mere description of abstract concepts that have little practicality, namely because due to the encrypted nature of the describe concepts. I could go on, but I think this is enough for some to read more about this (I will provide some links). Nevertheless I do want to describe one of the things said.
The student that reaches the answer by himself, doesn't exist, or better yet rarely exists. The concept that teaching is providing help to the student to find things out by himself, because he is somehow as brilliant as the best minds that developed these concepts after years of education (this is a mathematics example :P). The thing is, he is not, the understanding of concepts is not exclusive of those who reach it by themselves, or even for those who are guided there, if are provided the complete knowledge of it and it is assimilated, well the concept would be mastered. The evolution of knowledge over thousands of years, worked, people mastered knowledge, and produced new knowledge, thus it is somewhat strange that this is disregarded over this pedagogy umbrella. Some thoughts, practising, memorising, are key aspects in our lives, and in the way we learn, they are tools that speed up learning and reasoning... Anyway hope I didn't bore you too much with this view of mine influenced by this nice talk...
Now one of the links, if you want more google it ;P...

http://pascal.iseg.utl.pt/~ncrato/Recortes/EduquesNuncaExistiu.htm

Well I'll leave you with a taste of Oxford and its grand colleges...

Twenty Years (Placebo for those who don't know :P)

There are twenty years to go
And twenty ways to know
Who'll wear, who'll wear the hat

There are twenty years to go
The best of all I hope
Enjoy the ride
The medicine show

Thems the breaks
For we designer fakes
We need to concentrate on more than meets the eye

There are twenty years to go
The faithful and the low
The best of starts, the broken heart, the stone

There are twenty years to go
The punch drunk and the blow
The worst of starts, the mercy part, the phone

And thems the breaks
For we designer fakes
We need to concentrate on more than meets the eye

Thems the breaks
For we designer fakes
But it's you I take, cause you're the truth, not I

There are twenty years to go
A golden age I know
But all will pass will end too fast you know

There are twenty years to go
And many friends I hope
Though some may hold the rose
Some hold the rope

That's the end - and that's the start of it
That's the whole - and that's the part of it
That's the hide - and that's the heart of it
That's the long - and that's the short of it
That's the best - and that's the test in it
That's the doubt - the doubt, the trust in it
That's the sight - and that's the sound of it
That's the gift - and that's the trick in it

You're the truth, not I, you're the truth, not I
You're the truth, not I, you're the truth, not I

You're the truth, not I, you're the truth, not I
You're the truth, not I, You're the truth, not I.