[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

[rfmcdonald]

• Acts of Minor treason's Andrew Barton argues that the idea of using transhumanism to solve problems overlooks the fact that normal people created these and can deal with these issues, suggesting also it relates to a certain effort at self-determination in a grey Geselleschaft world.


• Daniel Drezner makes the point that saying American students are distracted by information technologies unlike their more studious counterparts in East Asia overlooks interesting--and well-known--patterns of, um, everything related to Internet and technology usage in that area.


• Leading a negotiations scenario, Lawyers, Guns and Money's Robert Farley describes how a simulated set of negotiations over Nagorno-Karabakh, no matter what outside powers agreed, failed because of the entrenched hostilities of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Nagorno-Karabakh.


• At The Long Game, Matt Warren describes how Stratfor founder George Friedman is traveling central and eastern Europe, claiming inspiration from the people he meets for his futurological predictions.


• Slap Upside the Head mocks Michael Coren, a Canadian talking head, who doesn't think much of "It Gets Better" or queer people generally.


• Tim Gueguen points out that whatever Canadians might think of the monarchy now, reopening the constitutional debates of the past is so unappealing that the monarchy is likely to stay.


• Torontoist reproduces the first ads for the World's Biggest Bookstore, Toronto's biggest bookstore just north of Yonge and Dundas. I'm surprised that people at the time thought it brash.