[BLOG] Some Thursday links

[rfmcdonald]

• Beyond the Beyond's Bruce Sterling links to an interview with Woody Allen when he remarks that, no, the huge drama reporteed surrounding the appearance of Carla Bruni in his movie just didn't happen, and wonders if media exaggeration here is typical.


• Crooked Timber remarks on the sheer amount of crazy, like the geocentric universe, emerging from some people.


• The Global Sociology Blog goes against Malcolm Gladwell in arguing that the "broken windows" theory--the belief that if you go hard against people who commit minor offenses, like property crimes, overall crime will go down--is fundamentally wrong.


• At GNXP, Razib Khan explores the controversy surrounding new discoveries that, contrary to established opinion, the Amazon rainforest actually supported a dense population until quite recently.


• At Itching for Eestima, Guistino observes that, although there are few Russians in his area of Estonia, there are plenty of Russian-language publications on the rack at the local grocery store.


• Murdering Mouth examines the links between demographic change and economic change.


• Slap Upside the Head publicizes the news of a lesbian couple's house in Tennesse that was recently destroyed by arson.


• Transit fan Steve Munro is not at all impressed by Toronto's transit organizations.


• At The Search, Douglas Todd writes about a Danish delegation that was exploring the reasons for Canada's relative success in integrating immigrants.


• Finally, Eugene Volokh suggests that Dinesh D'Souza's screed accusing Obama of having the reflexes of a Luo tribesman is explainable alone by D'Souza's tradition of writing very foolish screeds with little connection to reality.