[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

[rfmcdonald]

• Acts of Minor Treason's Andrew Barton likes television and wishes it a good future.


• Behind the Numbers' Carl Haub observes that the collapse in Singapore's fertility rate to radically sub-replacement levels continues unabated.


• Bluejacket 1862 notes that Malta is quite exposed to the mess in Libya.


• Eastern Approaches features discussion about the revelance of post-1989 central Europe to the post-2011 Middle East, with particular emphasis on Poland as the largest successful country.


• Geocurrents Events' Martin Lewis notes that Libya, unlike other North African countries, has its population dispersed in two widely settled enclaves in west and east.


• The Invisible College's Mel O'Brien lists a series of genocide-related academic conferences upcoming.


• Language Hat reports on a study suggesting that infants speaking Spanish or Catalan natively can determine whether people in silent videos are speaking English or French based on facial cues alone.


• At Lawyers, Guns and Money, Paul Campos takes on the misuse of historical memory associated with the belief that the United States is poorer--it's not, there's been strong economic growth, it's just that the very rich have taken it all up.


• The Loom's Carl Zimmer suggests that we should look to blue whales--and other cetaceans--for tips on treating cancer, since they don't suffer from this malady nearly as much as their body mass should have them.


• At Love and Fiction, Clifford Jackman makes the point that the question of why people do good is just as important, if not more so, as reasons for doing evil.


• The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer disagrees strongly with opposition to solar power plant construction in California, commenters disagree.


• At Spacing Toronto, Jessica Lemieux meditates on the reality that Toronto's green spaces, like (I would add) the Toronto Islands, are conscious products of city planning.


• Understanding Society's Daniel Little is critical of John Searle's contention that language is necessary for intention, pointing out that intention is expressed capable in humans and non-humans without.


• Japan, Scott Peterson at Wasatch Economics lets us know, is outsourcing science and engineering to neighbouring countries. Since advanced technology and science drives the export-driven sectors of the Japanese economy that keeps the entire thing afloat, this isn't good.