Proverbial

Everyone used to wonder what it would be like, but no one dared think it might actually happen. Guess what? It did (.br):
Flight controllers throughout Brazil started a strike tonight. “All airports in the country are closed for take-offs since 18h44″, informs Infraero [the State company responsible for public airports]. One controller told Terra that [...]

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Midget funerals, according to Brazilian wisdom, is one of those things that are supposed to exist but no one has ever actually seen. I couldn’t help but think that that might have something to do with this piece of trivia from this Werner Herzog text:
I was shooting a film with an entire cast of midgets, [...]

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Up to 2,7 million people die from malaria each year, and is not only a disease associated with poverty, but it is considered an obstacle in dealing with such. So, it should be no wonder that scientists are actively studying ways of effectively fighting the disease where the usual methods won’t work. But I have [...]

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About a month ago, Wimbledon organizers announced that, after years of refusing to do so, they’d finally caved in to public pressure and this year’s tournament would have equal prizes for men and women. Last friday, it was time for French Open organizers to say this year they’ll have total parity among players.
Which, of course, [...]

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First, a 17-year-old girl from Oklahoma builds a spectograph for less than U$ 1000 for a science competition. Now, a high school student builds a working fusion reactor from parts bought at the local hardware store and eBay. And people complain American kids are not being taught enough science.

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Heh:
Seven months after a conclave of scientists downgraded the distant heavenly body to a “dwarf planet,” a state representative in New Mexico aims to give the snubbed world back some of its respect. State lawmakers will vote Tuesday on a bill that proposes “as Pluto passes overhead through New Mexico’s excellent night skies, it be [...]

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Brazil, March 8, 2007:
Riot police fired tear gas at protesters in Sao Paulo after more than 6,000 people held a largely peaceful march, sending hundreds of demonstrators fleeing and ducking into businesses to avoid the gas.
(…)
And in the southern city of Porto Alegre, more than 500 people yelled “Get out, imperialist!” as they marched to [...]

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My only experience with the oeuvre of Jean Baudrillard was reading The Transparency of Evil for a Communication Theory class in college. But spending five years surrounded by professors enamored of anything written by someone with a French surname (Baudrillard, Derrida, Foucault, Mafesoli, Virilio et al.) meant having some contact with the whole idea of [...]

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An allegedly Greek user uploads a video to YouTube making fun of Mustafa Atatürk, and the next thing you know a Turkish court bans access to the site. Meanwhile, offended Turks flood YouTube with “response” videos.
Recently I had the pleasure of meeting Mustafa Hulusi, a British artist of Turkish-Cypriot origin that was in Rio [...]

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Ever wondered why so many people say it’s a bad thing to let the government decide who is or isn’t a journalist? Look no further than - where else? - France:
The French Constitutional Council has approved a law that criminalizes the filming or broadcasting of acts of violence by people other than professional journalists. The [...]

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