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TOPIC: science

In The News

Le Weekend: Harry Potter In Tokyo, Roman Remains, Ghana’s Smooth TikTokers

March 18-19

  • Georgia on Moscow’s mind
  • Tarantino’s final movie
  • Parks & rec logo fail
  • … and much more.
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A Brazilian Plea For Science, Religious Freedom And The Right To Samba As You Wish

An evangelic group has threatened to take legal action against a samba school because of its mix of religious iconography at the 2023 Carnival festivities. A Brazilian secular institute has a response.

-OpEd-

SÃO PAULO — To celebrate religious diversity at 2023 carnival, the samba school Gaviões da Fiel in São Paolo combined Christian symbols with imagery from African religions — for example, Christ with Oxalá (a deity from Candomblé, an African diasporic religion).

Gaviões received a disclaimer note from the country's conservative Evangelical Parliamentary Front (FPE). In these politicians’ view, "one cannot compare Christ and Oxalá … under no circumstances", and there would only be one god, one Son, and one Holy Spirit.

Having interpreted this artistic syncretism as an immoral, vile act, the FPE is now threatening to take legal action against the samba school.

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Le Weekend: STEM Barbie Dolls, Hijab Trolling In Iran, Holy ChatGPT

March 11-12

  • Bakhmut diary
  • AI art or straight up theft?
  • Oscars v. oligarchs
  • … and much more.
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Le Weekend: Ukraine Protecting Banksy, Uganda’s Climbing Nurse, 3D-Printed Basketball

March 4-5

  • Cold War 2.0
  • Remote kissing
  • The dark side of consumption
  • … and much more.
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In The News
Worldcrunch

Le Weekend: Madeleine McCann Twist, Trendy Dubai Museum, Bernie Photobombing

February 25-26

  • Cold and dark in Turkey rubble
  • Life in Kyiv, one year on
  • Loud tracks for wildlife
  • … and much more.
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In The News
Worldcrunch

Le Weekend: Removing Banksy, Neruda Poison Probe, Pigeon Backflips

February 18-19

  • Colliding on Google Maps
  • Pharrel ft. Louis Vuitton
  • Earthquake lessons for Colombia
  • … and much more.
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In The News
Worldcrunch

Le Weekend: Earthquake Hits Ancient Sites, Locust Robot, Croissant Cereal

February 11-12

  • Cartoonish fashion
  • Double pride of gay Mayans
  • Paid for clubbing in Berlin
  • … and much more.
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In The News
Worldcrunch

Le Weekend: Sikh Helmet, Anarchy In Italy, RIP Paco Rabanne

February 4-5

  • Russia cleansing all things Ukrainian
  • The meaning of Scholz-ing
  • Bear selfies
  • … and much more.
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In The News
Worldcrunch

Le Weekend: Endangered Odessa, Italy Gets Its Artifacts, Gravity-Defying Fashion

January 28-29

  • Camel-inspired fabric
  • Leopard-print in Ukraine
  • Keep calm and parent on
  • … and much more.
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Ideas
Rohan Banerjee*

Joshimath, The Sinking Indian City Has Also Become A Hotbed Of Government Censorship

The Indian authorities' decision to hide factual reports on the land subsidence in Joshimath only furthers a sense of paranoia.

MUMBAI — Midway through the movie Don’t Look Up (2021), the outspoken PhD candidate Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) is bundled into a car, a bag over her head. The White House, we are told, wants her “off the grid”. She is taken to a warehouse – the sort of place where CIA and FBI agents seem to spend an inordinate amount of time in Hollywood movies – and charged with violating national security secrets.

The Hobson’s choice offered to her is to either face prosecution or suspend “all public media appearances and incendiary language relating to Comet Dibiasky”, an interstellar object on a collision course with earth. Exasperated, she acquiesces to the gag order.

Don’t Look Upis a satirical take on the collective apathy towards climate change; only, the slow burn of fossil fuel is replaced by the more imminent threat of a comet crashing into our planet. As a couple of scientists try to warn humanity about its potential extinction, they discover a media, an administration, and indeed, a society that is not just unwilling to face the truth but would even deny it.

This premise and the caricatured characters border on the farcical, with plot devices designed to produce absurd scenarios that would be inconceivable in the real world we inhabit. After all, would any government dealing with a natural disaster, issue an edict prohibiting researchers and scientists from talking about the event? Surely not. Right?

On January 11, the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), one of the centers of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), issued a preliminary report on the land subsidence issue occurring in Joshimath, the mountainside city in the Himalayas.

The word ‘subsidence’ entered the public lexicon at the turn of the year as disturbing images of cracked roads and tilted buildings began to emanate from Joshimath.

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In The News
Worldcrunch

Le Weekend: Madonna At The French Museum, Ben Franklin 2.0, Norway’s Runic Record

January 21-22

  • Dragon’s Breath danger
  • Greta and the “mud wizard”
  • Belarus’ secret war
  • … and much more.
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In The News
Worldcrunch

Le Weekend ➡️ Royal Trolling, Canine Rope-Skipping, Noma Closing

January 14-15

  • From the mosque to Ukraine’s frontlines
  • Netflix's boost in Romania
  • A failed 10-ton heist
  • … and much more.
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