A Bit More Detail

[BLOG] Some Friday links

2019-05-31T23:56:40Z

Matt Thompson at anthro{dendum} writes about the complex, often anthropological, satire in the comics of Charles Addams.

Architectuul looks at the photography of Roberto Conte.

Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait notes a new computer model suggesting a supernova can be triggered by throwing a white dwarf into close orbit of a black hole.

D-Brief notes how ammonia on the surface of Pluto hints at the existence of a subsurface ocean.

Bruce Dorminey notes how the bombardment of Earth by debris from a nearby supernova might have prompted early hominids to become bipedal.

The Dragon's Tales notes that NASA has awarded its first contract for its plans in lunar space.

Far Outliers notes the reactions, within and without the Soviet Union, to the 1991 Soviet coup attempt.

Matt Novak at Gizmodo's Paleofuture notes how, in 1995, Terry Pratchett predicted the rise of online Nazis.

io9 notes the impending physical release this summer of DVDs of the Deep Space Nine documentary What We Left Behind.

JSTOR Daily suggests some ways to start gardening in your apartment.

Victor Mair at Language Log claims that learning Literary Chinese is a uniquely difficult experience. Thoughts?

The NYR Daily features a wide-ranging interview with EU official Michel Barnier focused particularly, but not exclusively, on Brexit.

The Planetary Society Blog notes that an Internet vote has produced a majority in favour of naming outer system body 2007 OR10 Gonggang.

The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer considers the possibility that foreign investors in Mexico might be at risk, at least feel themselves at risk, from the government of AMLO.

The Signal looks at how the Library of Congress archives spreadsheets.

Van Waffle at the Speed River Journal looks at magenta spreen, a colourful green that he grows in his garden.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes how we on Earth are carelessly wasting irreplaceable helium.

Window on Eurasia refers to reports claiming that a third of the population of Turkmenistan has fled that Central Asian state. Could this be accurate?

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[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

2019-05-22T11:36:40Z

Architectuul notes the recent death of I.M. Pei.

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes what, exactly, rubble-pile asteroids are.

The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly writes about definitions of home.

Centauri Dreams considers white dwarf planets.

The Crux notes how ultra-processed foods are liked closely to weight gain.

D-Brief observes that a thin layer of insulating ice might be saving the subsurface oceans of Pluto from freezing out.

Bruce Dorminey notes the critical role played by Apollo 10 in getting NASA ready for the Moon landings.

The Dragon's Tales notes the American government's expectation that China will seek to set up its own global network of military bases.

Andrew LePage at Drew Ex Machina reports on the Soviet Union's Venera 5 and 6 missions to Venus.

Far Outliers looks at the visit of U.S. Grant to Japan and China.

Gizmodo notes a recent analysis of Neanderthal teeth suggesting that they split with Homo sapiens at a date substantially earlier than commonly believed.

io9 notes the sheer scale of the Jonathan Hickman reboots for the X-Men comics of Marvel.

Joe. My. God. shares the argument of Ted Cruz that people should stop making fun of his "space pirate" suggestion.I am inclined to think Cruz more right than not, actually.

JSTOR Daily notes the wave of anti-black violence that hit the United States in 1919, often driven by returned veterans.

Language Hat shares a recognizable complaint, written in ancient Akkadian, of bad customers.

Language Log shares a report of a village in Brittany seeking people to decipher a mysterious etching.

This Scott Lemieux report at Lawyers, Guns and Money about how British conservatives received Ben Shapiro is a must-read summary.

Benjamin Markovits at the LRB Blog shares the reasons why he left his immigrant-heavy basketball team in Germany.

Marginal Revolution looks at one effort in Brazil to separate people from their street gangs.

The NYR Daily looks at how ISIS, deprived of its proto-state, has managed to thrive as a decentralized network.

Personal Reflections' Jim Belshaw tells of his experiences and perceptions of his native region of New England, in southeastern Australia.

The Planetary Society Blog notes how the Chang'e 4 rover may have found lunar mantle on the surface of the Moon.

The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer notes that while Argentine president Mauricio Macri is polling badly, his opponents are not polling well.

Roads and Kingdoms shares a list of things to do in see in the Peru capital of Lima.

The Signal examines how the Library of Congress engages in photodocumentation.

Van Waffle at the Speed River Journal explains how he is helping native insects by planting native plants in his garden.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes how scientific illiteracy should never be seen as cool.

Towleroad notes the questions of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as to why Truvada costs so much in the United States.

Window on Eurasia notes how family structures in the North Caucasus are at once modernizing and becoming more conservative.

Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell notes how the distribution of US carriers and their fleets at present does not support the idea of a planned impending war with Iran.

Arnold Zwicky examines the tent caterpillar of California.

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[BLOG] Some Friday links

2019-03-01T17:23:44Z

Centauri Dreams notes the astounding precision of the new Habitable Planet Finder telescope.

D-Brief notes that the lack of small craters on Pluto and Charon suggests there are not many small bodies in the Kuiper Belt.

Far Outliers notes the many and widely varying transliterations of Bengali to English.

JSTOR Daily notes the extent to which border walls represent, ultimately, a failure of politics.

Language Log examines the emergence of the Germanic languages in the depths of prehistory.

Anna Aslanyan at the LRB Blog considers the eternal search for a universal language.

Noah Smith shareshis Alternative Green New Deal Plan at his blog, one that depends more on technology and market forces than the original.

Mitchell Abidor at the NYR Daily writes about the incisive leftism of journalist Victor Sorge.

Out There notes the reality that the worlds of our solar system, and almost certainly other systems, are united by a constant stream of incoming rocks.

At the Planetary Society Blog, Emily Lakdawalla examines the data transmitted back by OSIRIS-REx from that probe's Earth flyby.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel examines cosmic conditions at the time the solar system formed 4.56 billion or so years ago.

Towleroad notes the censorship of many explicitly gay scenes from Bohemian Rhapsody in its Chinese release.

Window on Eurasia looks at the many ways in which the social norms of North Caucasian men are converging with those of the average Russian.

On St. David's Day, Arnold Zwicky pays tribute to the daffodil and to the Welsh.

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[BLOG] Some Monday links

2019-02-18T18:42:57Z

Colby King writes at the Everyday Sociology Blog about furnace, kiln, and oven operators as recorded in the American Community Survey. What experiences do they have in common, and which separate them?

Far Outliers reports on the work of the Indian Labourer Corps on the Western Front, collecting and recycling raw materials from the front.

L.M. Sacasas at The Frailest Thing makes the case that the seeming neutrality of modern digital technologies are dissolving the established political order.

Joe. My. God. notes a report from Andrew McCabe suggesting that Trump did not believe his own intelligence services' reports about the range of North Korean missiles, instead believing Putin.

JSTOR Daily notes how the interracial marriages of serving members of the US military led to the liberalization of immigration law in the United States in the 1960s.

Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money reports on the connections of the police in Portland, Oregon, to the alt-right.

Alex Tabarrok at Marginal Revolution shares a report of the discovery of English-speaking unicorns in South America that actually reveals the remarkable language skills of a new AI. Fake news, indeed.

The NYR Daily shares a short story by Panashe Chigumadzi, "You Can't Eat Beauty".

Personal Reflections' Jim Belshaw welcomes a new fluidity in Australian politics that makes the elections debatable.

Drew Rowsome looks at the horror fiction of Justin Cronin.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel shares some of the key historical images of Pluto, from its discovery to the present.

Window on Eurasia takes a look at the only church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church operating in Russia, in the Moscow area city of Noginsk.

Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell makes the point that counting on opinion pieces in journalism as a source of unbiased information is a categorical mistake.

Arnold Zwicky looks back, on President's Day at Berkeley, at his experiences and those of others around him at that university and in its community.

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[BLOG] Some Thursday links

2019-02-14T16:14:13Z

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait looks at the evidence for the massive collision that left exoplanet Kepler 107c an astoundingly dense body.

The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly tells her readers the secrets of the success of her relationship with her husband, Jose.

Centauri Dreams notes what the New Horizons probe has found out, of Ultima Thule and of Pluto, by looking back.

The Crux shares the obituaries of scientists from NASA for the Opportunity rover.

D-Brief reports that NASA has declared the Opportunity rover's mission officially complete.

Dead Things introduces its readers to Mnyamawamtuka, a titanosaur from Tanzania a hundred million years ago.

Drew Ex Machina shares a stunning photo of Tropical Cyclone Gita, taken from the ISS in 2018.

Far Outliers notes how the Indian Army helped save the British army's positions from collapse in the fall of 1914.

Joe. My. God. notes a Christian group in the United States trying to encourage a boycott of supposedly leftist candy manufacturers like Hershey's.

JSTOR Daily looks at why covenant marriage failed to become popular.

Scott Lemieux at Lawyers, Guns and Money explains the hatred for new Congressperson Ilham Omar.

The Planetary Society Blog links to ten interesting podcasts relating to exploration, of Earth and of space.

Drew Rowsome interviews Tobias Herzberg about Feygele, his show in the Rhubarb festival at Buddies in Bad Times.

Frank Jacobs at Strange Maps looks at the evidence, presented by (among others) Geneviève von Petzinger, suggesting that forty thousand years ago cave artists around the world may have shared a common language of symbols.

Window on Eurasia suggests that the policies of Putin are contributing to a growing sense of nationalism in Belarus.

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[NEWS] Five D-Brief links: Small Magellanic Cloud, Pluto, Neanderthals, Atacama, rogues

2018-11-19T21:06:27Z

D-Brief notes that the Small Magellanic Cloud is losing gas, diminishing its future capacity for starbirth.

D-Brief notes evidence that the strange ridges of Pluto are legacies of glaciers.

Neanderthals, a new analysis shared by D-Brief suggests, suffered from head trauma at rates similar to that of Homo sapiens.

D-Brief notes how recent heavy rain in the Atacama Desert of Chile killed many of the local extremophile microbes adapted to desert conditions, with obvious implications for life on Mars.

D-Brief notes the discovery of two rogue planets, OGLE-2012-BLG-1323 and OGLE-2017-BLG-0560.

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[BLOG] Some Friday links

2018-10-26T16:35:52Z

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes the frequency with which young red dwarf stars flare, massively, with negative implications for potential life on these stars' planets.

Centauri Dreams shares a proposal for probe expeditions to Pluto and Charon, and to the wider Kuiper belt beyond.

D-Brief explains just how elephants manage to eat with their trunks.

JSTOR Daily answers the question of just why so many American states--other subnational polities too, I bet--have straight-line borders.

Language Hat links to a recent blog post examining the very specific forms of language used by the Roman emperor Justinian.

At Lawyers, Guns and Money, Paul Campos looks at where the whole concept of "political correctness" came from, and why. (Hint: It was not anti-racists who did this.)

Geoffrey K. Pullum at Lingua Franca describes the circumstances behind his new book, _Linguistics: Why It Matters.

At the LRB Blog, Caroline Eden writes about the shipwrecks of the Black Sea, preserved for centuries or even millennia by the sea's oxygen-poor waters.

Gabrielle Bellot writes at the NYR Daily about how she refuses to be made into an invisible trans woman.

At the Speed River Journal, Van Waffle describes--with photos!--how he was lucky enough to find a wild growth of chicken of the woods, an edible bracket mushroom of the Ontario forests.

Window on Eurasia suggests that the loss of Ukraine by the Russian Orthodox Church will contribute to that church being increasingly seen as a national one, limited by borders.

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[NEWS] Links on oceans near and far: mental health, Salton Sea, Europa, Enceladus, Pluto

2018-07-17T20:46:08Z

There definitely is something to the idea that oceans, and other large bodies of water, can be healing. The immenseness of Lake Ontario (to name one body) is sublime. Global News reports on one study.

The scale of the disaster in California's Salton Sea, drying up and poisoning the nearby land, is appalling. The Verge shows the scene.

NASA notes one mechanism for the gradual recycling of the ocean of Europa, up into its outer icy crust. Universe Today reports.

Some Earth bacteria could thrive in the predicted environment of Enceladus. Universe Today reports.

Cold environments still watery thanks to substantial amounts of brine could support life, conceivably on worlds as distant as Pluto. Universe Today reports.

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[BLOG] Some Friday links

2018-07-13T18:31:28Z

Architectuul has an extended long interview with architect Dragoljub Bakić, talking about the innovative architecture of Tito's Yugoslavia and his experiences abroad.

Centauri Dreams remarks on how the new maps of Pluto can evoke the worlds of Ray Bradbury.

The Crux answers an interesting question: What, exactly, is a blazar?

D-Brief links to a study suggesting that conditions on Ross 128 b, the second-nearest potentially habitable planet, are potentially (very broadly) Earth-like.

Dangerous Minds shows how John Mellencamp was, in the 1970s, once a glam rocker.

The Finger Post shares photos from a recent visit to Naypyidaw, the very new capital of Myanmar.

Gizmodo explains how the detection of an energetic neutrino led to the detection of a distant blazar, marking yet another step forward for multi-messenger astronomy.

JSTOR Daily reports on the now-overlooked writer of supernatural fiction Vernon Lee.

Language Log makes an argument that acquiring fluency in Chinese language, including Chinese writing, is difficult, so difficult perhaps as to displace other cultures. Thoughts?

Lawyers, Guns and Money suggests that the decline of the neo-liberal world order is needed. My main concern is that neo-liberalism may well be the least bad of the potential world orders out there.

Lingua Franca takes a look at how Hindi and Urdu, technically separate languages, actually form two poles of a Hindustani language continuum.

The Map Room Blog links to a unique map of the London Underground that shows the elevation of each station.

Rocky Planet notes that the continuing eruption of Kilauea is going to permanently shape the lives of the people of the Big Island of Hawai'i.

Window on Eurasia notes that the Buddhists of Kalmykia want the Russian government to permit a visit by the Dalai Lama to their republic.

Writing at Worthwhile Canadian Initiative, Livio Di Matteo notes that the Trump demand NATO governments spend 4% of their GDP on defense would involve unprecedented levels of spending in Canada.

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[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

2018-07-03T15:42:21Z

Adam Fish at Anthro{dendum} takes a look at the roles of drones in capitalism, here.

Bad Astronomy talks about the discovery of a nascent planet in orbit of young star PDS 70.

Centauri Dreams notes what the discovery of a Charon eclipsing its partner Pluto meant, for those worlds and for astronomy generally.

D-Brief notes a demographic study of Italian centenarians suggesting that, after reaching the age of 105, human mortality rates seem to plateau. Does this indicate the potential for further life expectancy increases?

Dead Things shares the result of a genetics study of silkworms. Where did these anchors of the Silk Road come from?

Jonathan Wynn at the Everyday Sociology Blog considers the role of the side hustle in creative professions.

Far Outliers reports on the time, in the 1930s, when some people in Second Republic Poland thought that the country should acquire overseas colonies.

Hornet Stories reports on how, in earlier centuries, the English word "pinke" meant a shade of yellow.

JSTOR Daily reports on how, nearly two decades later, Sex and the City is still an influential and important piece of pop culture.

Language Hat links to Keith Gessen's account, in The New Yorker, about how he came to teach his young son Russian.

Lingua Franca, at the Chronicle of Higher Education, reports on the decent and strongly Cuban Spanish spoken by Ernest Hemingway.

The NYR Daily looks at the mystique surrounding testosterone, the powerful masculinizing hormone.

The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer shares his thoughts on the election, in Mexico, of left-leaning populist Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Worst-case scenarios aren't likely to materialize in the short and medium terms, at least.

Vintage Space notes how, at the height of the Cold War, some hoped to demonstrate American strength by nuking the Moon. (Really.)

Window on Eurasia links to an essayist who suggests that Russia should look to America as much as to Europe for models of society.

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[BLOG] Some Thursday links

2018-02-23T02:00:20Z

Kambiz Kamrani at Anthropology.net notes that lidar scanning has revealed that the pre-Columbian city of Angamuco, in western Mexico, is much bigger than previously thought.

James Bow makes an excellent case for the revitalization of VIA Rail as a passenger service for longer-haul trips around Ontario.

D-Brief notes neurological evidence suggesting why people react so badly to perceived injustices.

The Dragon's Tales takes a look at the list of countries embracing thorough roboticization.

Andrew LePage at Drew Ex Machina takes a look at the most powerful launch vehicles, both Soviet and American, to date.

Far Outliers considers Safavid Iran as an imperfect gunpowder empire.

Despite the explanation, I fail to see how LGBTQ people could benefit from a cryptocurrency all our own. What would be the point, especially in homophobic environments where spending it would involve outing ourselves? Hornet Stories shares the idea.

Imageo notes that sea ice off Alaska has actually begun contracting this winter, not started growing.

JSTOR Daily notes how the production and consumption of lace, and lace products, was highly politicized for the Victorians.

Language Hat makes a case for the importance of translation as a political act, bridging boundaries.

Language Log takes a look at the pronunciation and mispronunciation of city names, starting with PyeongChang.

This critical Erik Loomis obituary of Billy Graham, noting the preacher's many faults, is what Graham deserves. From Lawyers, Guns and Money, here.

Bernard Porter at the LRB Blog is critical of the easy claims that Corbyn was a knowing agent of Communist Czechoslovakia.

The Map Room Blog shares this map from r/mapporn, imagining a United States organized into states as proportionally imbalanced in population as the provinces of Canada?

Marginal Revolution rightly fears a possible restart to the civil war in Congo.

Neuroskeptic reports on a controversial psychological study in Ghana that saw the investigation of "prayer camps", where mentally ill are kept chain, as a form of treatment.

The NYR Daily makes the case that the Congolese should be allowed to enjoy some measure of peace from foreign interference, whether from the West or from African neighbous (Rwanda, particularly).

At the Planetary Society Blog, Emily Lakdawalla looks at the many things that can go wrong with sample return missions.

Rocky Planet notes that the eruption of Indonesian volcano Sinabung can be easily seen from space.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes how the New Horizons Pluto photos show a world marked by its subsurface oceans.

Window on Eurasia notes that, although fertility rates among non-Russians have generally fallen to the level of Russians, demographic momentum and Russian emigration drive continue demographic shifts.

Livio Di Matteo at Worthwhile Canadian Initiative charts the balance of federal versus provincial government expenditure in Canada, finding a notable shift towards the provinces in recent decades.

Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell makes the case, through the example of the fire standards that led to Grenfell Tower, that John Major was more radical than Margaret Thatcher in allowing core functions of the state to be privatized.

Arnold Zwicky takes a look at some alcoholic drinks with outré names.

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[BLOG] Some Sunday links

2018-02-04T16:16:09Z

Eddie Chong at anthro{dendum} shares a listing of anthropology-relevant links from around the blogosphere.

The Everyday Sociology Blog takes a quick look at the sociology of food.

Joe. My. God. notes that a court ruling making same-sex marriage imaginable has helped an evangelical Christian candidate leap to the front of Costa Rica's presidential elections.

JSTOR Daily explains the import of President's Day to, among others, non-Americans.

Language Hat examines the spelling of the Irish word "imbolc" or "imbolg", used to describe a festival marking the start of spring.

Lawyers, Guns and Money calls for legal enforcement of supply chains for minerals and the like, to ensure that they were not produce through human exploitation (for instance).

Miranda Vane at the LRB Blog introduces her readers to the northern English sport of Cumberland & Westmorland Wrestling.

Marginal Revolution highlights the argument of a commenter who argued that self-driving trucks cannot perform on themselves the tasks that human truckers are expected to. (Yet?)

The NYR Daily examines the transformation of Putin in office from mere oligarch to the world's leading kleptocrat.

Personal Reflections' Jim Belshaw celebrates a new Australian satirical newssite, the Betoota Advocate.

At the Planetary Society Blog, Emily Lakdawalla notes new findings suggesting some Kuiper belt objects have huge moons, relatively and absolutely.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes that while a powerful laser cannot rip up space literally, it can do pretty remarkable things nonetheless.

Towleroad shares an essay by Cyd Ziegler talking about the importance of gay Atlantis Cruise ships for him, in the light of a scandal onboard a ship involving a fatal drug overdose.

Arnold Zwicky looks at, among other things, tulip trees and magnolias.

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[BLOG] Some Thursday links

2018-01-25T17:41:08Z

The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly talks about the long process of planning and work--almost two years!--going into the production of a trade non-fiction book.

Centauri Dreams touches upon the new European Southern Observatory ExTrA telescope that will study Earth-like planets of red dwarfs, and shares a new model indicating the likely watery nature of the outer planets of TRAPPIST-1.

D-Brief takes a look inside the unsettlingly thorough data-collection machineries of home assistants like Google Home and Alexa.

JSTOR Daily looks at a paper examining the long and complicated process by which, through trade and empire, the United Kingdom ended up embracing tea.

Lawyers, Guns and Money pays tribute to Ursula K Le Guin and Mark E. Smith of the Fall.

Marginal Revolution links to a source arguing that regulatory costs have played the biggest role in the sharp increase of housing prices in California (and elsewhere?).

The NYR Daily considers if Pope Francis' shocking willingness to make excuses for the abetters of child abuse in Chile has anything to do with his relationship, as an Argentine, to his home country's complicated past of church collaboration with the military regime of the dirty war.

Out There considers what, exactly, would happen to a person if they stood completely still in relation to the universe. Where would they go (or, more accurately, where would the universe go without them)?

The Planetary Society Blog reports on the preparations of the New Horizons probe for its encounter, at the very start of 2019, with Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69.

Peter Rukavina shares beautiful posters he made out of last year's map calendar.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes that, although the multiverse is almost certainly real, its existence hardly solves the pressing problems of physics.

Towleroad describes Reverend Raymond Broshears, a gay preacher in San Francisco who, after one beating in 1973, organized the vigilante Lavender Panthers to defend the community and to fight back. Complicated man, he, with a complicated legacy.

Arnold Zwicky looks into the latest sociological and psychological research on the especially warm friendships that can exist between gay men and straight women. What factors are at work?

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[NEWS] Four science links: neutrinos and Antarctica, 'Oumuamua, Ceres and Pluto, panspermia

2017-11-24T21:23:54Z

This feature explaining how neutrino telescopes in Antarctica are being used to study the Earth's core is fascinating. The Globe and Mail has it.

Universe Today shares "Project Lyra", a proposal for an unmanned probe to interstellar asteroid 'Oumuamua.

Dwarf planets Ceres and Pluto, Nora Redd suggests at Discover, may have much more in common than we might think. Is Ceres a KBO transported into the warm asteroid belt?

Universe Today reports on one paper that takes a look at some mechanisms behind galactic panspermia.

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[BLOG] Some Thursday links

2017-11-16T20:41:35Z

Centauri Dreams takes a look at the exciting early news on potentially habitable nearby exoplanet Ross 128 b.

The Crux notes that evidence has been found of Alzheimer-like illness in dolphins. Is this, as the scientists argue, a symptom of a syndrome shared between us, big-brained social species with long post-fertility lifespans?

D-Brief takes a look at the idea of contemporary life on Mars hiding away in the icy regolith near the surface.

Far Outliers notes one argument that Germany lost the Second World War because of the poor quality of its leaders.

Gizmodo notes the incredibly bright event PS1-10adi, two and a half billion light-years away. What is it? No one knows ...

Lawyers, Guns and Money celebrates the end of the Mugabe dictatorship in Zimbabwe.

The Map Room Blog links to some fascinating detailed maps of the outcome of the Australian mail-in vote on marriage equality.

Roads and Kingdoms visits rural Mexico after the recent quake.

Cheri Lucas Rowlands shares some beautiful photos of fantastical Barcelona.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes the insights provided by Pluto's mysterious cool atmosphere, with its cooling haze, has implications for Earth at a time of global warming.

Window on Eurasia notes that Russia is not going to allow even Tatarstan to include the Tatar language as a mandatory school subject.

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[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

2017-09-20T18:42:25Z

Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait notes the continuing maps and naming of the Pluto system.

Centauri Dreams considers one method to detect photosynthesis on Earth-like worlds of red dwarf stars.

D-Brief notes the discovery of Octlantis, a permanent community of octopi located off the coast of Australia.

The Dragon's Gaze notes Earth-like world can co-exist with a Jovian in a circumstellar habitable zone.

Hornet Stories notes that Morrissey is now in Twitter. (This will not go well.

Language Log notes the kanji tattoo of one American neo-Nazi.

The LRB Blog notes how the English town of Tewksbury is still recovering from massive flooding a decade later.

Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the improbable life of Barry Sadler, he of "The Ballad of the Green Berets".

The Map Room Blog shares this terrifying map examining the rain footprint of Hurricane Irma.

Spacing reviews a fascinating dual biography of architects Frank Lloyd Wright and Philip Johnson.

Window on Eurasia notes an call to restore to maps the old Chinese name for former Chinese Tuva, Uryankhai.

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[BLOG] Some Thursday links

2017-07-20T14:01:59Z

James Bow considers the idea of Christian privilege.

Centauri Dreams reports on the oddities of Ross 128.

D-Brief shares Matthew Buckley's proposal that it is possible to make planets out of dark matter.

Dead Things reports on the discoveries at Madjedbebe, in northern Australia, suggesting humans arrived 65 thousand years ago.

Bruce Dorminey reports on the idea that advanced civilizations may use sunshades to protect their worlds from overheating. (For terraforming purposes, too.)

Language Hat notes the struggles of some Scots in coming up with a rationalized spelling for Scots. What of "hert"?

The LRB Blog considers the way in which the unlimited power of Henry VIII will be recapitulated post-Brexit by the UK government.

Drew Rowsome quite likes the High Park production of King Lear.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel considers the idea that Pluto's moons, including Charon, might be legacies of a giant impact.

Unicorn Booty notes the terrible anti-trans "Civil Rights Uniformity Act." Americans, please act.

The Volokh Conspiracy considers/u> the perhaps-unique way a sitting American president might be charged with obstruction of justice.

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[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

2017-07-18T18:41:56Z

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes a new study suggesting some hypervelocity stars were ejected from the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Crooked Timber's John Holbo wonders how else Trump can transgress the norms of the presidency.

The Crux notes the exceptional hardiness of the tardigrade. These forms of life might well outlive the sun.

Gizmodo notes the evidence for a recently frozen subsurface ocean on Pluto's Charon.

Joe. My. God. notes the Israeli government's effective, if confused, opposition to same-sex adoption.

Unicorn Booty looks at the significant impact RuPaul's Drag Race has on music sales.

Window on Eurasia notes how Putin's political allies have been having trouble coming up with a positive future.

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[BLOG] Some Friday links

2016-11-18T20:14:10Z

blogTO notes that the TTC plans on raising fares for next year.

Centauri Dreams notes the evidence for an ocean on Pluto.

City of Brass' Aziz Poonawalla argues against Muslims voluntarily registering in an American listing of Muslims.

Dangerous Minds notes the sadness of Abbie Hoffman at Janis Joplin's use of IV drugs.

Joe. My. God. notes that Manhattan's Trump Place complex has opted to drop the name.

Language Hat looks at a seminal Arabic novel published in mid-19th century France.

Language Log looks at an intriguing Chinese-language sign in London.

Lawyers, Guns and Money suggests that the US-Iran nuclear deal is likely to stay.

The LRB Blog looks at a critic's old building, an old warehouse, in New York City.

The NYRB Daily looks at the art of the spot illustration.

Window on Eurasia notes the state of interethnic relations in Kazakhstan.

Arnold Zwicky looks at some flowers of Mediterranean climate zones.

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[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

2016-10-27T02:26:35Z

Beyond the Beyond links to an interview with Darran Anderson, a writer of cartographic fiction.

Centauri Dreams notes that 2028 will be a time when microlensing can b used to study the area of Alpha Centauri A.

The Crux engages with the question of whether or not an astronaut's corpse could seed life on another planet.

The Dragon's Gaze links to a study that gathers together signals for planetary companions orbiting nearby stars.

Joe. My. God. notes that the only gay bar in Portland, Maine, is set to close.

Language Log notes the proliferation of Chinese characters and notes that a parrot could not be called to the stand in Kuwait.

Lawyers, Guns and Money notes that the last time the Chicago Cubs won, Germany was an empire.

The Map Room Blog notes the discovery of an ancient stone map on the Danish island of Bornholm.

The Planetary Society Blog examines some of the New Horizons findings of Pluto.

The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer argues that Venezuela is now a dictatorship.

Towleroad notes
Window on Eurasia notes a Russian cleric's call for the children of ethnically mixed marriages in Tatarstan to be legally identified as Russians.

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[BLOG] Some Thursday links

2016-10-20T15:01:29Z

Beyond the Beyond notes that electronic newspapers just don't work.

blogTO notes that the Eaton Centre's HMV is closing.

Crooked Timber notes that it will be shifting to moderated commenting.

D-Brief notes a new sharp image of Eta Carinae.

Dead Things notes that some monkeys are apparently making stone tools.

Joe. My. God. shares Le Tigre's new pro-Clinton song, "I'm With Her".

The LRB Blog is critical of Britain's hostility towards refugee children.

The Map Room Blog links to a new historical atlas of Tibet.

The NYRB Daily examines Assange's reasons for using Wikileaks to help Trump.

The Planetary Society Blog notes that New Horizons target 2007 OR10 has a moon.

The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer notes the reasons for Ecuador's clamping down on Assange.

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[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

2016-10-19T15:45:25Z

blogTO reports that Honest Ed's will have its final sign sale this weekend.

D-Brief looks at the New Horizons probe's next target after Pluto, and reports that Venus is tectonically active.

Centauri Dreams reports on the mechanics of the antimatter sail.

Dangerous Minds features a video of France Gall singing about computer dating in 1968.
The Dragon's Gaze considers biological fluorescence as a marker for life on red dwarf exoplanets.

Lawyers, Guns and Money reports on a wall of taco trucks set to face Donald Trump in Las Vegas.

The LRB Blog notes the flailings of the Nigerian president.

The NYRB Blog reports on how Brexit will wreck a British economy dependent on single market access.

Transit Toronto notes that preliminary work has begun on the Scarborough subway.

The Volokh Conspiracy's Orin Kerr links to an editorial of his arguing that it should be made easier for Americans to migrate.

Window on Eurasia notes that Russia is losing a third world war over brainpower and looks at the problems of sleeping districts in Moscow, a legacy of Soviet misplanning.

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[BLOG] Some Thursday links

2016-10-06T17:42:11Z

blogTO notes that 1975 was a formative year for Toronto.

Centauri Dreams speculates about the oceans of Pluto and Saturn's Dione.

Crooked Timber talks about Hannah Arendt's arguments about the importance of bearing testament.

D-Brief looks at the cnyodont, an extinct reptile ancestral to mammals.

Dangerous Minds shares photos of Patti Smith.

The Dragon's Gaze suggests that K-class dwarf stars are best for life.

Language Log looks at a merging of Wu and Mandarin Chinese on signage.

Lawyers, Guns and Money reports on how supply chains can hide corporations from responsibility.

The Volokh Conspiracy notes an American court ruling to the effect that barring Syrian refugees is unconstitutional discrimination.

Window on Eurasia reports on collapsing life expectancy in many Russian regions, looks at Russia's withdrawal from the plutonium agreement with the United States, and criticizes American policy towards Belarus and Lukashenka.

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[NEWS] Some Friday links

2016-08-29T21:18:50Z

Bloomberg notes the recent challenge to one-family rule in Gabon, looks at Russia's new Internet firewall, examines the Syrian Kurds' withdrawal beyond the Euphrates, and reports on near-record migration into the United Kingdom.

Bloomberg View talks about inequality in China, looks at continuing disputes over Second World War history in Poland and Ukraine, and examines the things Texas and California have in common.

CBC reports on the impending release of a report on foreign workers, looks at the integration problems of Syrian refugees re: housing, and reports on Canada's interest in more immigration from China.

The Inter Press Service notes how drought is hurting cocoa farmers in Cameroon.

MacLean's looks at how some in the Conservative Party have not moved past same-sex marriage, describes how the new British Columbia tax on foreign buyers of real estate is deterring Chinese, and reports on the catastrophic potential of carbon release from melting permafrost.

National Geographic notes how the young generation sees Pluto and its classification history.

The National Post describes how design fans want the CBC to release its 1974 standards manual, and looks at controversy over a study claiming extensive support in mosques for extremist literature.

Wired has photos from the uninhabited cities of China, and describes the new prominence of the alt right.

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[NEWS] Some Wednesday links

2016-08-24T16:16:02Z

Bloomberg talks about Poland's problems with economic growth, notes that McMansions are poor investments, considers what to do about the Olympics post-Rio, looks at new Japanese tax incentives for working women, looks at a French war museum that put its stock up for sale, examines the power of the New Zealand dairy, looks at the Yasukuni controversies, and notes Huawei's progress in China.

Bloomberg View is hopeful for Brazil, argues demographics are dooming Abenomics, suggests ways for the US to pit Russia versus Iran, looks at Chinese fisheries and the survival of the ocean, notes that high American population growth makes the post-2008 economic recovery relatively less notable, looks at Emperor Akihito's opposition to Japanese remilitarization, and argues that Europe's soft response to terrorism is not a weakness.

CBC notes that Russian doping whistleblowers fear for their lives, looks at how New Brunswick farmers are adapting to climate change, and looks at how Neanderthals' lack of facility with tools may have doomed them.

The Globe and Mail argues Ontario should imitate Michigan instead of Québec, notes the new Anne of Green Gables series on Netflix, and predicts good things for Tim Horton's in the Philippines.

The Guardian notes that Canada's impending deal with the European Union is not any model for the United Kingdom.

The Inter Press Service looks at child executions in Iran.

MacLean's notes that Great Lakes mayors have joined to challenge a diversion of water from their shared basin.

National Geographic looks at the elephant ivory trade, considers the abstract intelligence of birds, considers the Mayan calendar's complexities, and looks at how the young generation treats Pluto's dwarf planet status.

The National Post notes that VIA Rail is interested in offering a low-cost bus route along the Highway of Tears in northern British Columbia.

Open Democracy notes that the last Russian prisoner in Guantanamo does not want to go home, and wonders why the West ignores the Rwandan dictatorship.

TVO considers how rural communities can attract immigrants.

Universe Today suggests sending our digital selves to the stars, looks at how cirrus clouds kept early Mars warm and wet, and notes the discovery of an early-forming direct-collapse black hole.

Variance Explained looks at how Donald Trump's tweets clearly show two authors at work.

The Washignton Post considers what happens when a gay bar becomes a bar with more general appeal.

Wired notes that the World Wide Web still is far from achieving its founders' dreams, looks at how news apps are dying off, and reports on the Univision purchase of Gawker.

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