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" Of the many debates that galvanize contemporary humanities, one of the most important one is devoted to the problem of interpretation. Shusterman has participated in it by co-editing a fundamental anthology ""The Interpretive Turn"", as well as making his opinions known.
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" Shusterman's account of interpretation is constructed in opposition to both analytic aesthetics and deconstruction, which are often said to constitute the two opposite poles of contemporary interpretive theory. As he claims, both of them share ""a picture of understanding as the recapturing or reproducing of a particular ... [""separate and autonomous""] meaning-object"", yet they differ as to whether such act is possible. Deconstructionists, assuming their protean vision of language as ""systematic play of differences"", claim it is not, and hence deem every reading a ""misreading"", while analytic aestheticians think otherwise, usually construing the objective work-meaning as ""metaphysically fixed in the artwork"" and identifying it with the intention of the artist or ""semantic features of the work itself"".
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" To avoid both these extremes Shusterman proposes a conception of textual meaning inspired by Wittgenstein (and his notion of language games) in which meaning is thought of as a correlate of understanding, the latter term being conceived as ""an ability to handle or respond to [something] in certain accepted ways"" which, although shared and legitimized by the community, can be quite different and constitute many diverse ""interpretation games"".
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" Interpretation, thus, is not an act (be it successful or inherently condemned to failure) of discovering the meaning of text, but rather of constructing it, or, as Shusterman would like to put it, of ""making sense'"" of text. One of the corollaries of this account is that correctness of interpretation is always relative to the ""rules"" (typically implicit) of a given interpretation game. Since there are many different incommensurable games existing at the same time and since some of them have undergone some significant changes over history (and some may even have disappeared from use), we can speak of a plurality of correct interpretations of the same text both in synchronic and diachronic dimensions. Another consequence of this theory is Shusterman's logical pluralism which claims not only that there can be different (even contradictory), yet equally true interpretations (that would be only a cognitive pluralism), but also that there are legitimate forms of approaching texts which do not even aim at interpretational truth or plausibility, but rather aim at other useful goals (e.g., providing pleasure or making an old text more relevant to contemporary readers).
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" Another of Shusterman's contributions to the theory of interpretation is his critique of a widely held view he calls 'hermeneutic universalism', and attributes to Hans-Georg Gadamer, Alexander Nehamas and Stanley Fish, among others. Agreeing with basic anti-foundationalist thrust of the hermeneutic universalists' position, Shusterman simultaneously rejects their thesis that ""to perceive, read, understand, or behave at all intelligently ... must always be to interpret"" and seeks to refute it with many original arguments. He also insists that the notion of interpretation needs a contrasting category to guarantee its own meaningfulness. If everything is interpretation then the concept loses its point. Shusterman argues that immediate, non-interpretive understanding can serve that role of contrast. Inspired by Wittgenstein and Heidegger's theory of hermeneutic circle, Shusterman proposes:
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" ""the immediacy of uninterrupted understandings of language (as when I immediately understand simple and pertinent utterances of a language I know well) and the mediacy of interpretations (as when I encounter an utterance or text that I do not understand in terms of word-meaning or contextual relevance and then have to figure out what is meant)"".
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" Among Shusterman's achievements in the theory of interpretation, there are also the accounts of literary criticism he created in his earlier, analytic period, as well as his pragmatist arguments against interpretational intentionalism and his genealogical critique of deconstructionist (Harold Bloom's, Jonathan Culler's), analytic (Joseph Margolis') and neo-pragmatist (Richard Rorty's, Stanley Fish's, Walter Benn Michaels and Steven Knapp's) literary theories which, as he claims, are all governed at their core by an ideology of professionalism.
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" According to Shusterman, one of the most pressing sociocultural problems of today is the aesthetic legitimization of popular art. He feels that though popular art may now seem to be socially justified, its artistic value is still questioned which leads to the following problems:
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" A sincere advocate of popular aesthetics, Shusterman is careful to distinguish his stance from one-sided apologia and would rather characterize it as 'melorism' which ""recognizes popular art's flaws and abuses but also its merits [while also holding] that popular art should be improved because it can and often does achieve real aesthetic merits and serve worthy social ends"".
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" Putting his meliorism into practice, Shusterman seeks to win aesthetic legitimation for popular art in two ways:
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"'Somaesthetics' is a term coined by Shusterman to denote a new philosophical discipline he has invented as a remedy for the following problems:
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" The above-mentioned conditions have determined the nature of somaesthetics as a grounded-in-philosophical-aesthetics yet interdisciplinary project of theory and practice which can be defined as:
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" To clarify the terminological issues, one needs to mention that Shusterman has intentionally put the term 'soma' (instead of the more familiar 'body') in the name of his disciplinary proposal to emphasize one important feature of his conception of corporeality. For Shusterman, who is a true disciple of Dewey in this regard, bodily and mental (as well as cultural and biological) dimensions of human beings are essentially inseparable, and to signify this unity (this ""sentient perceiving ""body-mind"""") he prefers to use the term 'soma' which, unlike 'body', does not automatically connote passive flesh contrasted to dynamic soul or mind.
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" Although Shusterman's project may at first glance seem utterly innovatory and even iconoclastic, its various elements, as Shusterman himself admits, can be traced to many respected traditions: ancient Greek philosophy and the later Western philosophies (Michel de Montaigne, John Dewey, Michel Foucault), but also East-Asian wisdom such as Confucianism.
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" Somaesthetics divides into three fundamental branches:
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" Shusterman himself works in all three somaesthetic subdisciplines:
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" While undeniably a new phenomenon, somaesthetics, which by now forms the center of Shusterman's philosophical inquiries, has already influenced many scholars working in fields as diverse as philosophy, art education, dance theory, health and fitness studies.
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"= = = SmartLink (smart card) = = =
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" SmartLink is a RFID-enabled credit card-sized smartcard that is the primary fare payment method on the PATH transit system in Newark and Hudson County in New Jersey and Manhattan in New York City. It was designed to replace PATH's paper-based farecard, QuickCard, and there was plans to expand its usage throughout most transit agencies in the tri-state area. The SmartLink card has been available to the public since July 2, 2007. Although the MetroCard used in the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) can also be used on the PATH, the reverse is not true for SmartLink, as it cannot be used when riding in the MTA.
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" However, it is due to be replaced by the OMNY card by 2023.
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" All SmartLink cards are eligible for online registration. In order to register a card, one must simply go to PATH's registration page and complete a form detailing the card holder's name, the unique serial code of the SmartLink card, and address. An account holder's information can be accessed online or by calling the SmartLink hotline. Money from lost cards can be transferred to a replacement card if the customer has an account; however, all replacement cards carry a $5 fee.
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" Registration of the card also permits the holder to monitor its usage and to link the SmartLink card to a credit card in the automatic replenishment program. When the card balance drops to five trips (or five days, for riders with an unlimited pass), the SmartLink card is topped up using the credit card on the account. This program can be managed online, on the PATH website.
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" Pre-loaded SmartLink cards with 10 trips are available at all stations for $30.00 (10 trips at $2.50 each, plus a $5.00 card fee). However, MetroCard Vending Machines (MVMs) at all PATH stations are able to refill the SmartLink cards to a monetary amount equal to 1, 2, 4, 10, 20 and 40 trips as well as the daily or 30 day unlimited passes.
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"$5.00 SmartLink Cards with no trips, ready for charging at any PATH MetroCard Vending Machine, are available from vending machines at 33rd Street, Hoboken, Journal Square, Exchange Place, Newport and World Trade Center.
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" Pre-loaded SmartLink Cards are available for $55.00 (20 trips at $2.50 each, plus a $5.00 card fee) at newsstands in PATH terminals (33rd Street, Hoboken, Journal Square, Newark, World Trade Center). Zero trip and 20 trip cards are also available for purchase online on the PATH website.
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" When buying a SmartLink card for the first time, an additional, one-time $5 fee is levied to offset the cost of producing the card. The cards can be refilled in specified numbers of trips or by adding unlimited passes. When refilling, the regular fare structure is used and the $5 card purchase fee is not imposed. As of November 1, 2019 the following fare structure is in effect:
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" The maximum number of trips that can be loaded on the card is 140. An unlimited pass can be loaded on top of a regular trip SmartLink card. When that occurs, the individual rides will remain in the background of the card. When the unlimited pass expires the individual trips will be available for use.
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"†Discounted fares are offered to seniors 65 years or older. The disabled, military, and students are not included in PATH's reduced-fare program.
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" The initial testing phase was delayed several times due to software problems. It was originally intended to start in August 2006, but was postponed to October 2006. Continuing problems moved the testing phase of Senior SmartCards to February 2007.
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" On July 2, 2007, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) commenced the initial roll-out of the SmartLink card to the general public at the World Trade Center station. On July 23, 2007 the card was introduced at the 33rd Street station. On August 6, 2007 the card was introduced at the Hoboken station.
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" During the initial roll out, the cost of the card was $29 which included the 20 ride fare of $24 plus a $5 charge for the card. In February 2008 the cards were formally rolled out to the general public at all stations. In the initial stage, the SmartLink card allowed riders to place the same value on it as if they were purchasing a QuickCard by using machines located in PATH stations.
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" On October 24, 2008, the Port Authority announced that as of November 30, 2008, NJ Transit ticket machines on NJ Transit stations would no longer sell the QuickCard and as of December 31, 2008, NJ Transit ticket machines in PATH stations (Newark, Hoboken, Journal Square, Exchange Place, and Pavonia-Newport) would no longer sell the cards. The machines at the 33rd Street, Grove Street and WTC stations were removed in 2008.
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" At the end of 2010, the QuickCard was discontinued and replaced with the SmartLink Gray card, a non-refillable, disposable version of the SmartLink card. This card was sold at selected newsstand vendors and was available in 10, 20 and 40 trips (at the discounted price of $2.10 per trip). Unlike the regular SmartLink cards, the SmartLink Gray cards had an expiration date.
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" In 2016, PATH announced that it would discontinue the sale of SmartLink Gray cards on January 31 in favor of passengers using the refillable, plastic SmartLink card. A short term exchange program was offered until February 2016 to allow passengers to swap their paper card for the plastic card without having to pay the $5.00 fee for the plastic card.
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" The Port Authority, part of several transit systems in the New York-New Jersey region, is hoping that one day there will be a universal fare card for the region's transportation. However, estimates for expanding the SmartLink card to the New York City Subway and MTA buses may cost as high as $300 million. Estimates for adding New Jersey Transit would cost an additional $100 million.
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" In June 2019, the Port Authority announced it was in talks with the MTA to implement OMNY on the PATH by 2022. Under the presented plan, SmartLink would be phased out along with the MetroCard by 2023.
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"= = = Chã de Igreja = = =
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" Chã de Igreja is a town in the northern part of the island of Santo Antão, Cape Verde. It is situated near the north coast of the island, in the valley of the river Ribeira da Garça, 19 km northwest of the island capital Porto Novo. In 2010 its population was 672. The nature reserve Cruzinha, which includes the small seaside village Cruzinha da Garça (part of Chã de Igreja), stretches northeast of Chã de Igreja along the coast.
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"= = = Our Lady, Star of the Sea = = =
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" Our Lady, Star of the Sea is an ancient title for the Virgin Mary. The words ""Star of the Sea"" are a translation of the Latin title Stella Maris.
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" The title has been in use since at least the early medieval period. Originally arising from a scribal error in a supposed etymology of the name ""Mary"", it came to be seen as allegorical of Mary's role as ""guiding star"" on the way to Christ. Under this name, the Virgin Mary is believed to intercede as a guide and protector of seafarers in particular, the Apostleship of the Sea, and many coastal churches are named ""Stella Maris"" or Star of the Sea.
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" The name ""stella maris"" is first applied to the Virgin Mary in the manuscript tradition of Saint Jerome's Latin translation of the ""Onomasticon"" by Eusebius of Caesarea. although this is in fact a misnomer based on a transcription error.
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" For reaching this meaning the Hebrew name ""Miryam"" (מרים) had to go through a series of transformations: in Judeo-Aramaic it became ""Maryām"", rendered in Greek as ""Mariam"" (Μαριάμ).
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" It was this form that was etymologized by Eusebius. He interpreted ""Maryām"" as ""mar-yam"" (מר-ים) ""drop of the sea"", based on מר ""mar"", a rare biblical word for ""drop"" and ים ""yam"" ""sea"".
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