J.K. Rowling offende i Sikh

mercoledì, 3 ottobre 2012 — borislimpopo

Nel suo nuovo romanzo The Casual Vacancy, il primo dopo la lunga saga di Harry Potter, J. K. Rowling descrive uno dei suoi personaggi femminili, Sukhvinder, come «baffuta, ancorché dal seno possente», «un uomo-donna peloso».

Sukhvinder è descritta come appartenente alla comunità Sikh, e i Sikh (comprensibilmente, devo dire) se la sono avuta a male, anche se la proposta di censurare le frasi incriminate dall’edizione indiana del romanzo mi pare un rimedio peggiore del male.

Coppia Sikh

media.salon.com / Credit: imagedb.com

Ecco l’articolo di Prachi Gupta, pubblicato su Salon del 2 ottobre 2012:

Quote of the day

J.K. Rowling’s description of a hirsute Sikh “man-woman” has angered the Sikh community

India’s Sikh community has condemned J.K. Rowling’s recent novel, “The Casual Vacancy,” for describing one of the female characters, Sukhvinder, as “mustachioed, yet large-mammaried” and portraying her as a “hairy man-woman.” (Traditionally, followers of the Sikh religion are forbidden from cutting or trimming their hair).

India’s Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), a Sikh group, has spoken out regarding the depiction. The Daily Mail reports:

SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar described Rowling’s choice of words as ‘a slur on the Sikh community’, adding: ‘Even if the author had chosen to describe the female Sikh character’s physical traits, there was no need for her to use provocative language, questioning her gender. This is condemnable.’

He added: ‘If anything is written against the Sikh maryada (dignity), we will write to [India’s] prime minister Manmohan Singh and urge him to take up the matter with the government in the United Kingdom for action against Rowling.

‘Nobody can injure our religious sentiments. If something has been written against the Sikh faith, I condemn it vehemently and strongly.’

Sikh leaders are evaluating whether they should remove the passage in Indian editions of the novel.

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Sync!

mercoledì, 3 ottobre 2012 — borislimpopo

Assolutamente affascinante.

Qui una sintetica spiegazione di come sia possibile (anzi necessario):

Watch 32 discordant metronomes achieve synchrony in a matter of minutes | Kurzweil AI

October 1, 2012
If you place 32 metronomes on a static object and set them rocking out of phase with one another, they will remain that way indefinitely. Place them on a moveable surface, however, and something very interesting (and very mesmerizing) happens, notes io9.

The metronomes in this video fall into the latter camp. Energy from the motion of one ticking metronome can affect the motion of every metronome around it, while the motion of every other metronome affects the motion of our original metronome right back. All this inter-metranome “communication” is facilitated by the board, which serves as an energetic intermediary between all the metronomes that rest upon its surface. The metronomes in this video (which are really just pendulums, or, if you want to get really technical, oscillators) are said to be “coupled.”

The math and physics surrounding coupled oscillators are actually relevant to a variety of scientific phenomena, including the transfer of sound and thermal conductivity.

* * *

Watch 32 discordant metronomes achieve synchrony in a matter of minutes | io9

Robert T. Gonzalez

If you place 32 metronomes on a static object and set them rocking out of phase with one another, they will remain that way indefinitely. Place them on a moveable surface, however, and something very interesting (and very mesmerizing) happens.

The metronomes in this video fall into the latter camp. Energy from the motion of one ticking metronome can affect the motion of every metronome around it, while the motion of every other metronome affects the motion of our original metronome right back. All this inter-metranome “communication” is facilitated by the board, which serves as an energetic intermediary between all the metronomes that rest upon its surface. The metronomes in this video (which are really just pendulums, or, if you want to get really technical, oscillators) are said to be “coupled.”

The math and physics surrounding coupled oscillators are actually relevant to a variety of scientific phenomena, including the transfer of sound and thermal conductivity. For a much more detailed explanation of how this works, and how to try it for yourself, check out this excellent video by condensed matter physicist Adam Milcovich.

Succede anche in natura, ad esempio con le lucciole:

Se siete rimasti affascinati come lo sono io, vi consiglio il bel libro di Steven H. Strogatz (Sync: How Order Emerges From Chaos In the Universe, Nature, and Daily Life), tradotto anche in italiano da Rizzoli anche se al momento – mi risulta – indisponibile (Sincronia. I ritmi della natura, i nostri ritmi).

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