[NEWS] Some Saturday links

[rfmcdonald]

• National Geographic notes the high intelligence and capability for suffering of elephants, wonders if given California's pressing need for water the Salton Sea can survive, and notes that building a Nicaragua canal to supplement Panama's could create an environmental catastrophe.


• io9 notes that, economically, we're heading for a cyberpunkish "Blade Runner" future of disparities, and observes that apparently the first animals on Earth didn't need much oxygen.


• The Atlantic places official homophobia in Russia in the context of prudishness about sex generally, and observes that casual sex app Tinder works in Antarctica.


• The Daily Mail tracks fertility in the United Kingdom's different immigrant groups by nationality.


• The New Republic suggests that Pussy Riot's recent arrest by Cossacks in Sochi might have been a PR ploy on their part.


• The Huffington Post notes that Tennessee, by cracking down on unions in its Tennessee Volkswagen plants, may have discouraged Volkswagen from making further investments in the area. (In the German co-management system, unions have a critical say in determining investment.)


• Al Jazeera notes the plight of the Hindus of Pakistan, persecuted in Pakistan but unwelcome in India.


• The New York Times observes that a decade of tunnel-digging has given geologists in New York City wonderful crosssections of the city's geological structure.


• The Dodo notes the discovery of a feline species, Pallas' cat, in the Himalayas.