> In a bombshell accusation, Todai Shimbum, the student-run paper of Tokyo University, alleges that a graduate admissions site embedded a keyword related to Tiananmen Square for over a year. The goal was apparently to prevent the page from loading in mainland Chinese and thus block Chinese students from attending, the paper alleges.
> Todai Shimbun reports that the keyword appeared on the website for graduate admissions to its Computational Biology and Medical Sciences Program (メディカル情報生命専攻). The keyword used was 六四天安門 (roku-shi tenanmon), or “June 4th Tiananmen.” June 4th was the date of the student Tiananmen Square uprising in 1989.
I understand that it isn't supposed to be accurate, given that it's based on a fictional country 'P' and based on a fictional church 'C', but the parallels are obvious to Polish/Catholic regime.
As someone living in a country where blasphemy lynching are still a part of life, and professors are made to renounce scientific beliefs[1], it feels disturbingly familiar to me.
By fictionalized, I mean to say that certain aspects of the anime are inconsistent with historical record. I don't just mean the thinly-veiled references to Poland or the Catholic Church. For instance, one glaring anachronism is the Pear of Anguish. While the inquisitor in the show refers to his as a "prototype", no such device in any form existed until some two to three centuries later. The Pear in the show is a literary device that gruesomely establishes the stakes faced by the characters. It also operates as a visual metaphor for the Church's desire to silence dissent. But in no way or shape was it an instrument of torture in the 16th century.
Another point is that none of the characters in the show have existed in any capacity. They are not analogues of or stand-ins for the historical contributors to the heliocentric model. The characters' personalities and backgrounds, while consistent with the setting, are the inventions of the mangaka.
Now with all that said, the show excellently conveys the difficulty and threats faced by thinkers across the ages in the course of the Scientific Revolution. The historical circumstances were no less dire than what was depicted in the anime. But as a show, it still has more in common with romanticized depictions of men looking up at the night sky, such as in the Sarah Williams poem, the Old Astronomer, than it does with a thoroughly scrutinized biography of the astronomers of the era.
> As someone living in a country where blasphemy lynching are still a part of life, and professors are made to renounce scientific beliefs[1], it feels disturbingly familiar to me.
It pains me to know the spirit of the Inquisition is still present in the 21st century.
> By fictionalized, I mean to say that certain aspects of the anime are inconsistent with historical record. I don't just mean the thinly-veiled references to Poland or the Catholic Church. For instance, one glaring anachronism is the Pear of Anguish. While the inquisitor in the show refers to his as a "prototype", no such device in any form existed until some two to three centuries later. The Pear in the show is a literary device that gruesomely establishes the stakes faced by the characters. It also operates as a visual metaphor for the Church's desire to silence dissent. But in no way or shape was it an instrument of torture in the 16th century.
I can somewhat empathize with this—the torture that did exist at the time (crushing someone to death, breaking their bones on the wheel, Schwedentrunk, flaying people alive, and far too many other practices I'd like to avoid mentioning at all) I would be more than happy to never see visualized. The historical record is important, but sometimes inaccuracies are useful in conveying symbolic power and threats. Some translation and interpretation is always necessary if you want to produce a coherent narrative.
Realistically, with history-as-entertainment, if you can capture some things well you're doing far better than many even try to. I love Ridley Scott but his depictions of history are far more of a discussion about how the west views itself today rather than even trying to translate something from the time to today. Which is fine! It's entertainment. And many do far better than he does.
> The historical record is important, but sometimes inaccuracies are useful in conveying symbolic power and threats. Some translation and interpretation is always necessary if you want to produce a coherent narrative.
Translation and interpretation is something I have no problem with, as these are not flaws of the work. However, I'm of the view that valuing a work of art requires being able to scrutinize it, while still being able enjoy it. It doesn't do one any favors to accept false facts. There are several works that establish "truths" compelling enough to be credible for someone without the background knowledge. To those who fail to question if something is true, art becomes artifice and fiction becomes indistinguishable from reality.
> Realistically, with history-as-entertainment, if you can capture some things well you're doing far better than many even try to.
> I love Ridley Scott but his depictions of history are far more of a discussion about how the west views itself today rather than even trying to translate something from the time to today.
That you're able to appreciate the ideas being conveyed and the motives behind doing so is precisely the reason a sense of scrutiny is necessary. Kingdom of Heaven is definitely an example of a movie that provides a retrospective/revisionist examination of the Crusades rather than an historical one. Such an insight can't obtained from mindlessly watching it as a "realistic Lord of the Rings".
While these things might be discussed in interviews, behind-the-scenes featurettes, or in the audio commentary, public exposition of these aspects of storytelling is rarely afforded to anime or manga.
Apologies, didn't mean to criticise you, I just wanted to gush over the show.
Acc to reddit, the show's characters are proxies for famous scientists of the era, like Kepler, Copernicus etc. Not their lives, but they seemed to be mapping their theories to characters in that way.
There's no need to apologize. I didn't take your statements as criticism I simply assumed you were confused as to what I meant. "Fictionalized" often has a negative connotation, and I only wanted to clarify my usage of the term was in the strictest and most technical meaning.
Nevertheless, It's certainly a show worth gushing over. It's a well-done work of art.
> Acc to reddit, the show's characters are proxies for famous scientists of the era, like Kepler, Copernicus etc. Not their lives, but they seemed to be mapping their theories to characters in that way.
The relationships between some of the characters are reminiscent of the real-life relationship between Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler as noted in a biography called The Nobleman and the Housedog by Kitty Ferguson. You might find it interesting.
If you like this anime, you might enjoy Spice and Wolf. Although, since you're on Reddit, you might have already seen either adaptation.
Haven't seen the anime, but at the time of Copernicus Poland wasn't THAT Catholic. I mean it was Catholic, but it wasn't extermist about that compared to Western Europe.
Polish Kingdom had a long-standing conflict against Teutonic Knights over Prussia (which is where Copernicus lived). Prussian Confederation joined Poland to be defended against Teutonic Knights and Copernicus even participated in defence of Olsztyn castle against them.
Czech hussites (protestants before Luter) participated in wars against Teutonic Knights on the Polish side, and Polish king supported them to some degree against Catholic crusades.
Few decades before Copernicus Poland even sent a delegation to Council of Constance defending the right of pagans no to be invaded in crusades and supporting Lithuanians against Teutonic Knights. The guy making this argument was Paweł Włodkowic who taught in Kraków Academy before Copernicus studied there.
Also - Polish nobility was starting to embrace reformation in 16th century and even forced Polish kings to give them guarantees of religious freedom. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Confederation
TL;DR: Poland was pretty tolerant for the time. It became hardcore Catholic after counterreformation.
I made a mistake in the timeline of Orb: On the Movements of the Earth. It begins in an unspecified year of the early 15th century, not the 16th, and thus several decades before Copernicus and his subsequent discoveries. It does, however, stretch across multiple periods of time.
All the same, thank you for the information as it provides significant context for the setting and for what could be a future plot point should the show decide to exploit it.
As I've mentioned in another thread in this comment section, there are a number of fictionalizations in the show that might, for lack of better phrasing, "stand out" to those who are more familiar with the history of the setting and era. But in spite of all that, it has an excellent story and the characters roles are very well performed. It's a real gem from studio Madhouse and I have no reservations in recommending it.
man, the internet is being so weird about this truck it's absurd.
Like its shape is weird and 'dangerous', but the F150, RAM truck etc etc are MORE dangerous shape wise, but because it has a 'conventional' shape and the change happened gradually, some how it's ok?
The strangest was the carrot test, they kept doing this test the Cyber truck frunk... but guess what, same happens if you put carrots across the opening of other EV truck with auto close... I saw a video of it same happening with an F150 EV...what even was the point of this whole hullabaloo
I am not American, I don't even have a car, I just hate that this nonsense is polluting my internet feeds.
It's a big car with a long truck, congrats, it's not the anti christ, shut up about it.
exactly, Pedestrian safety of all american trucks is terrible, yet we don't hear about the big speeding wall that are the 'conventional' american truck... but apparently the cyber truck is a pedestrian predator they 'suddenly' discovered.
Either do something about the terrible truck design... or shut up and tolerate the cyber truck like you tolerate the F150 EV or whatever.
Fluff like this just pollutes the EV news space without providing any new info.
Surely the fact that it's a three ton machine that can accelerate from 0-60 in 3 seconds is relevant too. As far as I'm aware the F150 can't match that.
> Surely the fact that it's a three ton machine that can accelerate from 0-60 in 3 seconds is relevant too. As far as I'm aware the F150 can't match that.
The F150 EV has similar weight and speed[1], not sure how it's relevant?
In fact it proves the point, no one talks about how the F150 EV or the Silverado EV etc etc having similar characteristic flaws as the cyber truck, because that doesn't generate clicks.
If anything should be generating articles, it should be the Hummer EV, that things in absurdly big, heavy and fast, even for american trucks... but that doesn't generate clicks.
Cybertruck gets undue attention, mostly negative because clickbait, and we should stop clicking such obvious baits.
Well, no, not exactly, you literally just wrote another reply, right below, explicitly saying no, you didn't mean weight, you meant people talking about the slicing edges of the cybertruck.
It's not the front shape or slicing people. It's the weight. I have no idea why you think anyone is hand-wringing about slicing people. No one thinks slicing people with hard edges is the problem.
It makes sense if you're A) mad about All Duh People Lying About Slicing Car or B) Actually All Heavy Cars Are Bad. You are stuck on saying A but wanting to make sense, as in B, which is at least internally coherent and reality-based, if purist.
> It's not the front shape or slicing people. It's the weight. I have no idea why you think anyone is hand-wringing about slicing people. No one thinks slicing people with hard edges is the problem.
I literally provided links the reply below you mentioned, please read them! they do talk about the weight, but they are much more worried about the shape and its effect on pedestrian collision.
Please read the links, I'll share them here again.
I talk about the front shape and its effect on pedestrian safety.
The article about the cyber truck always talk about how its wedge shape will slice people off or whatever... but the Standard American truck shape (big flat front nose) is just as dangerous, being hit by a speeding wall is not beneficial either.
If publications want to talk about bad truck shapes in good faith, talk about ALL truck shapes! Singling out the truck made by Tesla when the trucks made by other American automakers is just as dangerous is obvious click bait, and just pollutes the EV news scape.
> The F150, generously, is 2/3 the weight. (median F150 vs. lowest cybertruck)
I was comparing like with like, and acc to google the F150 EV is about the same weight as the Cybertruck. (around ~ 3,000 Kg)
Also I was referring to the line in this article where they talk about how it doesn't meet EU regulations, which leads to another article[1] of their, which talks a LOT about cybertruck's bad front shape... (which I must mention for clarity, IS bad)... but make no mention of the even WORSE shapes by other competing American trucks.
Because the fact is... Tesla sells clicks. They reference a letter [2] by the NGO protesting about the (private) import of this particular turck... but said NGO's website makes no mention of OTHER dangerous american trucks privately imported to europe and parading about. The story is not the shape or pedestrian safety... it's click.
Btw, I am not in Europe. I live in a 3rd world country, not sure where I gave that insinuation.
TL:DR; ALL american trucks are terribly shaped and designed or whatever. ALL american trucks have multiple other issues and recalls... as is routine with the damn things.
Yet this particular stupid truck gets posted because it's click bait, NOT because there is some actual information to be gained. We should downvote such clickbait pollution on our feeds.
I love how people who claim to not care dedicate so much time to telling everyone how much they don’t care. You could have just not posted. But clearly you do care a lot. Get help.
I care about EVs and climate change and emission reduction and all that.
What I don't care about is the Electric vehicle news feed being polluted with irrelevant nonsense when there are far more important news to be shared.
I don't care about the Cybertruck's oddities... because those oddities are common to other american EV trucks and therefore bring nothing new to the table.
That is an industry green wash to make you buy a new car.
There are multiple other technologies which will surpass EVs efficiency, and wont require scrapping 1.5 billion existing cars or disposing of huge battery packs after 10 years.
You are preaching to the choir, I an a public transit advocate.
But I am also a realist, and as much I'd like buses and trains, we are going to have private cars anyways, and if private cars are inevitable, I'd rather they be electric.
> if private cars are inevitable, I'd rather they be electric.
Thats the issue. The car industry has brainwashed everyone into thinking that owning an EV is the best option for the planet. It isnt. EVs are way more pollutant in creation and disposal. Emissions out of the exhaust pipe are one tiny part of the climate impact of a vehicle.
Replacing Petrol/Diesel with Hydrogen/Synthetic fuel is a much greener option overall.
All credible lifecycle ghg emissions analyses have found that EVs have substantial reductions vs ICE. It is true that they have more emissions from manufacture but this is overcome, on average, in a few years. This is true even on carbon intense electric grids. And their emissions drop as the grid gets cleaner.
The Cybertruck is a likely exception. It's manufacturing emissions are likely enormous and it's likely to be driven less than average since it's impractical.
If we all dump our vehicles and buy EVs, the energy required to to scrap/recycle 1.5 billion ICE vehicles far outweighs any savings we would make and will take decades to recover.
On top of that they have massive chemical battery packs which are horrible to mine the resources for, are useless after 10 years, and cannot be recycled.
The report you quoted confirms all of this.
Simply putting synthetic fuel into our existing cars negates all of that and turns our existing cars tailpipe emissions into water.
The ICEs traded in for EVs don't get scrapped, they get sold as used cars. It's unclear if or how much the transition to EVs will shave off their expected lifespan. It will play out over decades.
Also batteries aren't useless after 10 years. They can be used for grid storage for years after being retired from EV service.
Synthetic fuel schemes are very expensive and haven't proven to be scalable.
(2014 article that twitter decided to present to me today)
> The World Bank recently decided to ask an important question: Is anyone actually reading these things? They dug into their Web site traffic data and came to the following conclusions: Nearly one-third of their PDF reports had never been downloaded, not even once. Another 40 percent of their reports had been downloaded fewer than 100 times. Only 13 percent had seen more than 250 downloads in their lifetimes. Since most World Bank reports have a stated objective of informing public debate or government policy, this seems like a pretty lousy track record.
____
I wonder if things have improved in any meaningful way in the ten years since.
It depends on the discipline, also the mode of learning (I'm distance learning so no physical library access).
My uni (Northampton) has access to a LOT of journals... but has a blindspot in management, specifically accountancy focus journals; am doing my lit review for my MSc dissertation and the number of times I hit a dead end is frustrating.
Sci-hub and Annas-Archive are also not interested in that segment, so double whammy.
But surprisingly Archive.org was able to help me out a bit, so thanks for that.
So soon, all the democrats will be on BlueSky and all the republicans will be on X/Twitter?
Meanwhile us foreigners will have to maintain an account on both platforms to understand what our global overlords have decided for us today ;p
As an aside, my country has banned Twitter... yet everyone in the government, from the prime minister to the junior bureaucrat, uses twitter to issue announcements. They all use VPN. The whole thing is hilarious and sad. And I have to use VPN to find out if the road I'll go out yet is blocked or if we will have electricity today.
Basically, the international market is unlikely to move to BlueSky, then again I could be wrong.
Once funny people and porn completely migrate to BlueSky, it might gain proper adoption. Gotta keep in mind $10/month will keep away a good chunk of demographics, if without it your posts/replies are basically unseen.
Bluesky is a decentralized service similar to Mastodon, so you don't need to maintain an account on the US service if you don't want to. I don't know if they're actually connected or not.
> Ms. Perry’s husband, Dr. David Cox, 67, does what he can to avoid romanticizing the grandparent experience, clocking when friends grumble about having become an “overworked babysitter.” Still, he feels pangs of sadness, particularly when he and Ms. Perry pass a park full of happy kids.
