Old mandate, new law

WHEN Annapurna Devi visited the rainforests of the Amazon she wanted to bring back a memento that embodies the pristine beauty of the region. She chose some necklaces and earrings made of olho-de-cabra seeds, or the red and black tento seeds, which the indigenous communities turn into beautiful jewellery. Devi was the only one among a host of visitors from other countries to buy the jewellery. The Americans, Canadians and British loved the jewellery as much but said they could not carry it home because customs officials would confiscate any item that contained foreign plant material.

Happy feet

Oasis of quiet

Afestival project in Australia is encouraging people to find quiet spaces in noisy places. Brainchild of artist Jason Sweeney, the Stereorepublic project, a part of the summer-end celebrations in Adelaide, intends to sensitise planners towards considering sound as an important factor in a city’s environment.

News Snippets

>> The Federal Court in Australia has said that musicians should be entitled to receive royalties when commercial radio streams music online.

No jumping borders

The UK government has placed a temporary export bar on two oil paintings that gave the 18th Century British public their first chance to see what a kangaroo and a dingo looked like.

Apple loses its track

Inaccuracies in Apple Maps could be “life-threatening” to motorists in Australia’s searing heat, police have warned. Sharon Darcy, the acting senior seargent of Victoria state, said, “Tests on the mapping system by police confirm the mapping system lists Mildura in the middle of the Murray Sunset National Park, approximately 70 km away from the actual location of Mildura.

Search ends in gangland

Crust falls apart

SEISMOLOGISTS say the two undersea quakes that struck near the Indonesian province of Aceh on April 11, 2012, could have been triggered by changes happening at the faults on the Indo-Australian plate of the Earth’s crust. The plate spans Australia, eastern Indian Ocean and the Indian subcontinent.

Over the line humour

“How do you kill 1,000 flies at once? Slap me in the face.” It is just one of many examples of the racist pictures of Aboriginal people posted on a Facebook page, Aboriginal Memes.

Getting the bulletin right

In the PBS documentary, Monsoon, the poet S P Kurada notes, “The wild monsoon winds blow with abandon, swaying everything in their path.