[LINK] Some Friday links

[rfmcdonald]

• Acts of Minor Treason's Andrew Barton points out that genes aren't everything, that the environment (in its broadest sense) controls the expression of genes in any species.


• blogTO's guest writer Matthew Harris summarizes the controversy surrounding the Bohemian Embassy condo development on Queen Street West.


• Centauri Dreams speculates about the idea of humanity dispatching biological packages to distant worlds in order to encourage the panspermic spread of our biosphere. The idea is controversial.


• At Crooked Timber, Henry Farrell speculates that the ongoing debt crisis in Greece might accelerate European integration.


• Far Outliers visits anti-Chinese legislation in independent Indonesia and the treatment of Chinese in the Dutch East Indies by Japan during the Second World War.


• A Fistful of Euros' Douglas Muir examines the upcoming examination of the legality of Kosovo's declaration of independence, suggesting that the court's likely to fudge the decision rather than take a controversial stance.


• Joe. My. God announces the good news that the European Union is requiring aspiring member-states to respect gay rights and the sad news that the Roman Catholic diocese of Washington D.C. has closed down its foster child program rather than stop discriminating against same-sex couples.


• Language Hat explores the sorts of largely good-hearted ethnic jokes made by people in the very multiethnic Russian Caucasian republic of Dagestan.


• The Search's Douglas Todd writes about how a Pentecostal preacher has been coordinating chaplaincy services


• Steve Munro points out that, contrary to rumour, the TTC employs ten thousand people.


• Window on Eurasia suggests that Lithuania's overlookied Russophone community is starting to mobilize behind demands for greater recognition.