[BLOG] Some Monday links

• A BCer in Toronto argues that, given rising tuition, decreasing post-gradauation incomes, and difficult terms, Canada's student loan system is broken.


• Centauri Dreams' Paul Gilster points out, based on some plausible-sounding calculations that the huge amounts of energy needed to launch interstellar probes may well postpone the launch of the first probe to Alpha Centauri--the first to arrive in a reasonable timespan--to the mid-23rd century.


• City of Brass maps the location of anti-mosque controversies across the United States, observing that the number of mosques actually isn't rising much (6% over 10 years) and that talk of a Muslim takeover is spectacularly premature.


• At Eastern Approaches, Georgia's wine industry--slowly recovering from post-Soviet collapse--is examined.


• Far Outliers' Joel remarks about the complicated migration histories of Finnic, Baltic, and Slavic peoples on the Baltic Sea.


• Marginal Revolution notes how high minimum wages in South Africa contribute to catastrophically high levels of structural unemployment, much to the dismay of many workers.


• Gideon Rachman takes a look at the discomfort of Luxembourg with the ongoing disputes within the European Union.


• Slap Upside the Head congratulates some school boards for implementing anti-bullying policies, sometimes against the opposition of parents who presumably think homophobic bullying is OK.

[DM] On arrival cities

I've a post up reacting very positively indeed to Canadian journalist Doug Saunders' new book Arrival City, a tome that stands to play a critical role in the interpretation of rural-to-urban migration. Go, read the post and the book.