Aspectos del debate sobre la “cuestión religiosa” en Colombia, 1930-1935

Los veredictos de los dos partidos tradicionales colombianos sobre la “cuestión religiosa” implicaron que los más fuertes defensores de la Iglesia fueran conservadores y los más anticlericales fueran liberales. La elección de Olaya Herrera, presidente liberal, en 1930 les dio esperanzas a quienes querían construir un país más laico, después de casi cincuenta años de gobiernos conservadores aliados con el clero. Sin embargo, los presidentes de la República Liberal querían evitar un conflicto eclesiástico; ciertos anticlericales impulsaron desde la prensa y desde sus puestos políticos una discusión sobre la “cuestión religiosa”. La alta jerarquía eclesiástica se sentía amenazada, y decidió organizar un Congreso Eucarístico Nacional, que se celebró en agosto de 1935, como muestra colectiva de fuerzas para hacerles frente a los descreídos. La mayoría izquierdista del Concejo municipal de Bogotá envió al Congreso un despectivo telegrama; esa misiva y la reacción que provocó en los miembros del clero aunaron los temas y los miedos de los actores de los dos extremos del debate, acallando las voces más moderadas. Los opositores se convirtieron en caricaturas y el discurso político se inclinó aún más hacia un “diálogo de sordos” empleando una retórica de violencia y eliminación.One of the few consistent ideological differences between Colombia’s two traditional parties revolved around the “religious question.” The strongest defenders of the Church were Conservatives while Liberals were the most anti-clerical. The election of Olaya Herrera, a Liberal, as president in 1930 gave hope to those who wanted a more secular country after almost fifty years of Conservative governments allied with the clergy. However, since the presidents of the Liberal Republic wanted to avoid a religious conflict, various anti-clerical militants forced a discussion about the “religious question” in the press and from their political offices. The Church hierarchy felt threatened and decided to organize a National Eucharistic Congress in August 1935 as a collective show of force. The leftist majority in the Bogotá municipal council sent the Congress a disrespectful telegram; their message, and the reaction to it by members of the clergy, solidified the opinions and fears on both extremes in the debate about the Church’s role in Colombian society, pushing more moderate voices aside. The opposition became a caricature in the increasingly violent rhetoric and the two sides stopped listening to each other in an atmosphere of mutual fear and mistrust.Os veredictos dos partidos tradicionais colombianos sobre a “questão religiosa” pressupunham que os mais fortes defensores da Igreja fossem conservadores e os mais anticlericais, liberais. A eleição de Olaya Herrera, presidente liberal, em 1930, deu esperanças aos que queriam construir um país mais laico, depois de quase cinquenta anos de governos conservadores aliados ao clero. Contudo, os presidentes da República Liberal queriam evitar um conflito eclesiástico; certos anticlericais impulsionaram, a partir da imprensa e dos seus postos políticos, uma discussão sobre a “questão religiosa”. A alta hierarquia eclesiástica se sentia ameaçada e decidiu organizar um Congresso Eucarístico Nacional, que se celebrou em agosto de 1935, como amostra coletiva de forças para lidar com os descrentes. A maioria esquerda do Congresso municipal de Bogotá enviou ao Congresso um depreciativo telegrama; essa missiva e a relação que provocou nos membros do clero uniram os temas e os medos dos atores dos dois extremos do debate, fazendo calar as vozes mais moderadas. Os opositores se converteram em caricaturas e o discurso político se inclinou ainda mais a um “diálogo de surdos”, empregando uma retórica de violência e eliminação

The use of a vortex insertion technique to simulate the extratropical transition of Hurricane Michael (2000)

On 19 October 2000, Hurricane Michael merged with an approaching baroclinic trough over the western North Atlantic Ocean south of Nova Scotia. As the hurricane moved over cooler sea surface temperatures (SSTs; less than 25°C), it intensified to category-2 intensity on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale [maximum sustained wind speeds of 44 m s−1 (85 kt)] while tapping energy from the baroclinic environment. The large “hybrid” storm made landfall on the south coast of Newfoundland with maximum sustained winds of 39 m s−1 (75 kt) causing moderate damage to coastal communities east of landfall. Hurricane Michael presented significant challenges to weather forecasters. The fundamental issue was determining which of two cyclones (a newly formed baroclinic low south of Nova Scotia or the hurricane) would become the dominant circulation center during the early stages of the extratropical transition (ET) process. Second, it was difficult to predict the intensity of the storm at landfall owing to competing factors: 1) decreasing SSTs conducive to weakening and 2) the approaching negatively tilted upper-level trough, favoring intensification. Numerical hindcast simulations using the limited-area Mesoscale Compressible Community model with synthetic vortex insertion (cyclone bogus) prior to the ET of Hurricane Michael led to a more realistic evolution of wind and pressure compared to running the model without vortex insertion. Specifically, the mesoscale model correctly simulates the hurricane as the dominant circulation center early in the transition process, versus the baroclinic low to its north, which was the favored development in the runs not employing vortex insertion. A suite of experiments is conducted to establish the sensitivity of the ET to various initial conditions, lateral driving fields, domain sizes, and model parameters. The resulting storm tracks and intensities fall within the range of the operational guidance, lending support to the possibility of improving numerical forecasts using synthetic vortex insertion prior to ET in such a model

Las "tomas" de colegios durante la República Liberal, 1936-1942: parte de la estructura discursiva de "La Violencia"

After the 1935 elections, in which Conservative electoral abstention resulted in a completely Liberal government, the dream of secular public education animated Colombian Liberals. In various municipalities, Liberal leaders ended contracts with the Catholic clergy to operate schools in public buildings; the seizures of these schools became acts of political theater, with mutual accusations between the parties of armed plots inspired by the Spanish Civil War. These seizures would become part of the discursive structure of the protagonists of La Violencia in the 1940s and 1950s, justifying for them the massacres of members of the opposite party.Después de 1935, cuando la abstención electoral conservadora favoreció un gobierno completamente liberal, el sueño de una instrucción pública laica se afirmó entre los liberales colombianos. Los mandatarios liberales de varios municipios decidieron terminar los contratos que tenían con el clero para enseñar en edificios estatales; las �tomas� de esos colegios se convirtieron en teatro político, con acusaciones mutuas de conspiraciones armadas, inspirados por la Guerra Civil Española. Esos hechos serían una parte importante de la estructura discursiva de los protagonistas de La Violencia de los años cuarenta y cincuenta para justificar las masacres de los miembros del partido opuesto

Las "tomas" de colegios durante la República Liberal, 1936 - 1942: parte de la estructura discursiva de la Violencia.

After the 1935 elections, in which Conservative electoral abstention resulted in a completely Liberal government, the dream of secular public education animated Colombian Liberals. In various municipalities, Liberal leaders ended contracts with the Catholic clergy to operate schools in public buildings; the seizures of these schools became acts of political theater, with mutual accusations between the parties of armed plots inspired by the Spanish Civil War. These seizures would become part of the discursive structure of the protagonists of La Violencia in the 1940s and 1950s, justifying for them the massacres of members of the opposite party

Aspectos del debate sobre la 'cuestión religiosa' en Colombia, 1930-1935

Los veredictos de los dos partidos tradicionales colombianos sobre la "cuestión religiosa" implicaron que los más fuertes defensores de la Iglesia fueran conservadores y los más anticlericales fueran liberales. La elección de Olaya Herrera, presidente liberal, en 1930 les dio esperanzas a quienes querían construir un país más laico, después de casi cincuenta años de gobiernos conservadores aliados con el clero. Sin embargo, los presidentes de la República Liberal querían evitar un conflicto eclesiástico; ciertos anticlericales impulsaron desde la prensa y desde sus puestos políticos una discusión sobre la "cuestión religiosa". La alta jerarquía eclesiástica se sentía amenazada, y decidió organizar un Congreso Eucarístico Nacional, que se celebró en agosto de 1935, como muestra colectiva de fuerzas para hacerles frente a los descreídos. La mayoría izquierdista del Concejo municipal de Bogotá envió al Congreso un despectivo telegrama; esa misiva y la reacción que provocó en los miembros del clero aunaron los temas y los miedos de los actores de los dos extremos del debate, acallando las voces más moderadas. Los opositores se convirtieron en caricaturas y el discurso político se inclinó aún más hacia un "diálogo de sordos" empleando una retórica de violencia y eliminación

Presence as the Defining Factor in a VR Application

The sense of presence that a user experiences in a virtual environment is perhaps the best known attribute of virtual reality. It is an appeal to this sense of presence that is used to distinguish virtual reality as something different from merely a multimedia system or an interactive computer graphics display. Our basic understanding of presence, however, is still primarily anecdotal in nature. We have yet to rigorously explore basic questions about the nature of presence. We describe an application of virtual reality, virtual reality graded exposure (VRGE), in which a sense of presence is the salient factor determining the success of the application. Sujective and objective data from a clinical study on the usefulness of VRGE for treating persons with acrophobia is analyzed as experimental evidence for formulating several assertions about the characteristics and nature of presence. We then discuss the implications of our assertions on several open questions concerning the definition, quantification and usefulness of presenc