A Bit More Detail

[BLOG] Some Friday links

Fri, 30 Aug 2019 21:27:12 GMT

Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait shares a video of the expansion of supernova remnant Cas A.

James Bow shares an alternate history Toronto transit map from his new novel The Night Girl.

Chris Bertram at Crooked Timber notes the Boris Johnson coup.

The Crux notes a flawed study claiming that some plants had a recognizable intelligence.

D-Brief notes the mysterious absorbers in the clouds of Venus. Are they life?

Dangerous Minds shares, apropos of nothing, the Jah Wabbles song "A Very British Coup."

Cody Delistraty looks at bullfighting.

Dead Things notes the discovery of stone tools sixteen thousand years old in Idaho which are evidence of the first humans in the Americas.

io9 features an interview with authors Charlie Jane Anders and Annalee Newitz on worldbuilding.

Joe. My. God. notes that a bill in Thailand to establish civil unions is nearing approval.

JSTOR Daily looks at how using plastic in road construction can reduce pollution in oceans.

Language Log looks to see if some police in Hong Kong are speaking Cantonese or Putonghua.

Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the perplexing ramblings and--generously--inaccuracy of Joe Biden.

The LRB Blog asks why the United Kingdom is involved in the Yemen war, with Saudi Arabia.

The Map Room Blog looks at the different efforts aiming to map the fires of Amazonia.

Marginal Revolution reports on how some southern US communities, perhaps because they lack other sources of income, depend heavily on fines.

The NYR Daily looks at the complex literary career of Louisa May Alcott, writing for all sorts of markets.

Window on Eurasia reports on the apparently sincere belief of Stalin, based on new documents, that in 1934 he faced a threat from the Soviet army.

Arnold Zwicky takes a look at fixings, or fixins, as the case may be.

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[BLOG] Some Thursday links

Thu, 13 Jun 2019 20:58:18 GMT

Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait looks at Abell 30, a star that has been reborn in the long process of dying.

Centauri Dreams uses the impending launch of LightSail 2 to discuss solar sails in science fiction.

John Quiggin at Crooked Timber, as part of a series of the fragility of globalization, considers if migration flows can be reversed. (He concludes it unlikely.)

The Crux considers if the record rain in the Midwest (Ontario, too, I would add) is a consequence of climate change.

D-Brief notes that the failure of people around the world to eat enough fruits and vegetables may be responsible for millions of premature dead.

Dangerous Minds introduces readers to gender-bending Italian music superstar Renato Zero.

Dead Things notes how genetic examinations have revealed the antiquity of many grapevines still used for wine.

Gizmodo notes that the ocean beneath the icy crust of Europa may contain simple salt.

io9 tries to determine the nature of the many twisted timelines of the X-Men movie universe of Fox.

JSTOR Daily observes that the Stonewall Riots were hardly the beginning of the gay rights movement in the US.

Language Log looks at the mixed scripts on a bookstore sign in Beijing.

Dave Brockington at Lawyers, Guns, and Money argues that Jeremy Corbyn has a very strong hold on his loyal followers, perhaps even to the point of irrationality.

Marginal Revolution observes that people who create public genetic profiles for themselves also undo privacy for their entire biological family.

Sean Marshall at Marshall's Musings shares a photo of a very high-numbered street address, 986039 Oxford-Perth Road in Punkeydoodle's Corners.

The NYR Daily examines the origins of the wealth of Lehman Brothers in the exploitation of slavery.

The Planetary Society Blog shares a panorama-style photo of the Apollo 11 Little West Crater on the Moon.

Drew Rowsome notes that classic documentary Paris Is Burning has gotten a makeover and is now playing at TIFF.

Peter Rukavina, writing from a trip to Halifax, notes the convenience of the Eduroam procedures allowing users of one Maritime university computer network to log onto another member university's network.

Dylan Reid at Spacing considers how municipal self-government might be best embedded in the constitution of Canada.

The Speed River Journal's Van Waffle pays tribute to the wildflower Speedwell, a name he remembers from Watership Down.

Strange Maps shares a crowdsourced map depicting which areas of Europe are best (and worst) for hitchhikers.

Window on Eurasia notes the distribution of native speakers of Russian, with Israel emerging as more Russophone than some post-Soviet states.

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[BLOG] Some science links

Sun, 03 Apr 2016 03:46:23 GMT

Centauri Dreams looks at the nascent planets of HL Tauri, notes the water ice mountains of Titan, and notes the implications of red dwarfs for SETI searches.

Discover's The Crux looks at the moving frontiers of nuclear fusion research.

D-Brief suggests the Moon has a critical influence on Earth's magnetic field and notes a new effort to track down the Wow signal in two of our solar system's comets.

The Dragon's Gaze notes that 55 Cancri e is likely a lava world and looks at starless planet PSO J318.5338−22.8603.

The Dragon's Tales studies the magic islands of Titan's Ligeia Mare and notes that world's ethane cycle.

The Map Room Blog shares new maps of Switzerland and a gravity map of Mars.

The Planetary Society Blog's Emily Lakdawalla reports on Ceres, while elsewhere the massive cuts to the Russian space budget are explored.

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[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

Wed, 10 Feb 2016 18:22:17 GMT

blogTO notes a controversial condo project on Dupont just east of me, and Torontoist notes a controversial condo project in Yorkville.

Centauri Dreams notes preliminary research suggesting rocky exoplanets will be structured like the Earth.

The Dragon's Gaze links to a paper suggesting that tightly-packed exoplanet systems are product of gas giants.

Joe. My. God. notes that the Georgian Orthodox Church has requested police protection for a man who filed a marriage equality lawsuit in that country, since previous gay activists have been publically attacked.

Marginal Revolution notes an apparent permanent downwards shift in employment in the United States.

The Map Room Blog notes the return of stolen maps of Samuel de Champlain to the Boston Public Library.

The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer wonders if the Democratic Party can shift as far left as the Republicans have shifted right.

Peter Rukavina recounts his recent visit to New Hampshire to see the primaries.

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[BLOG] Some Friday links

Fri, 05 Feb 2016 23:47:35 GMT

The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly advises readers how to conduct interviews.

City of Brass' Aziz Poonawalla thanks Obama for quoting his letter on Islam in America.

Crooked Timber takes issue with The New Yorker's stance on Sanders.

The Dragon's Gaze notes the complexity of interactions between stellar winds and the magnetospheres of hot Jupiters.

Joe. My. God. notes that ex-gay torturers in the United States have gone to Israel.

Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the scale of the breakdown in Venezuela.

Marginal Revolution looks at changing patterns in higher education.

The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer notes that carbon capture is difficult.

Peter Rukavina shares a preliminary printed map of Charlottetown transit routes.

Savage Minds notes the importance of infrastructure.

Strange Maps shares very early maps of Australia.

Torontoist notes an early freed slave couple in Toronto, the Blackburns.

Window on Eurasia notes the implications of global warming for Arctic countries.

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[OBSCURA] One scenario imagining the collapse of the Russian Federation

Tue, 26 Jan 2016 01:37:09 GMT

Earlier this month, Paul Goble at Window on Eurasia linked/a> to "Экономические последствия распада РФ. Только факты, без эмоций", translated by Google as "The economic consequences of the collapse of the Russian Federation. Just the facts, without emotion". This article imagined a scenario where the Russian Federation would come apart at the seams, on ethnic and economic lines, as indicated by the map below.

In most cases, the independence of the subjects of the current Russian Federation will allow for economic growth and an increase in the standard of living of the population because they will not have to send so much of their income to Moscow whose “’elites’” care only about how to remain in power and how much wealth they can take from the population.

There are three reasons, the Ukrainian analysts say, why the regions and republics may separate from the USSR: “a desire to independently control their own natural resources, nationality concerns, and close economic ties with other countries. In many cases, these are mixed, but the analysts consider each group in turn.

The regions and republics which might separate from Russia in order to control their natural resources include Bashkortostan, the Astrakhan Republic, Buryatia, Komi, a unified Don-Kuban, Sakha, the Siberian Republic, Tatarstan, the Urals Republic, Yugra, and the Orenburg Republic, all of which would see their incomes rise with independence.

The regions and republics which might separate from Russia in order to promote the needs of their titular nationality include a united Altay, Adygeya, Kalmykia, Mari-El, Mordvinia, Tyva, Chuvashia, Daghestan, Chechnya, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Osetia-Alania, Karachayevo-Cherkesia, and Ingushetia.

And those who might separate because of close ties with foreign countries are the Far Eastern Republic, the Kaliningrad Republic, Karelia, and the Kurile Islands.

This scenario strikes me as unlikely, requiring a thorough collapse of the Russian Federation. What would it take for areas with Russian majorities of population to want to separate from a Russian state? There are reasons why Québec and Catalonia have stronger separatist movements than, say, Manitoba and Essex. Why would regions with non-Russian majorities necessarily want to reject links with Russia for an uncertain independence? The most likely candidates for secession from Russia are to be found in the North Caucasus, home to mostly non-Russian populations with some measure of cultural distance from Russia, but separatism is dim even in autonomist Tatarstan.

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[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

Wed, 20 Jan 2016 23:02:06 GMT

blogTO identifies five fast-changing neighbourhoods.

Crooked Timber praises Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan quartet.

The Dragon's Gaze examines the formation of supermassive stars.

A Fistful of Euros reflects on global income inequality.

Geocurrents examines Russia's demographic issues.

Joe. My. God. notes that the head of the Russian Orthodox Church has blamed ISIS on gay pride parades.

Language Log looks at how language issues influenced the outcome of Taiwan's election.

Lawyers, Guns and Money argues that First Worlders are responsible for poor conditions in Bangladeshi factories.

The Map Room examines "persuasive cartography".
Marginal Revolution notes that discrimination hurts economies.

Livejournal's pollotenchegg notes Ukraine's rapid shifts in natural gas consumption by source country.

The Power and the Money considers if the United States might be governed by people who think it a good idea to provoke a war with China.

The Russian Demographics Blog links to sources on the Circassian genocide.

Strange Maps notes Chinese cartographic propaganda.

Transit Toronto favours a partial pedestrianization of King Street.

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[URBAN NOTE] "Metrolinx Finalizes Eglinton Crosstown Station Names"

Fri, 15 Jan 2016 22:47:15 GMT

Torontoist's Sean Marshall notes that name selection for the stations on the Eglinton Crosstown light rail route is nearly done.

Getting station names right is important. Station names should, where possible, be unique, intuitive, and simple enough that you can provide directions. Short station names are helpful as they’re easier to display on maps, signs and display boards.

In 2015, Metrolinx developed a decision tree [PDF] with these considerations in mind, in which priority is given to street names, followed by neighbourhood names and local landmarks for identifying stations, and looking to avoid duplicate names where possible. For example, Metrolinx didn’t want to have a “Keele” Station on the LRT, as it duplicates an existing station name on the Bloor-Danforth Subway.

Guided by these principles, Metrolinx staff recommended several name changes. Keele became “Silverthorne,” Dufferin became “Fairbank,” Bathurst would became “Forest Hill,” Avenue became “Oriole Park,” Bayview wbecame “Leaside,” and Don Mills became “Science Centre.”

In October, Metrolinx conducted an online consultation to test these proposed station names. Lo and behold, some names were very unpopular with the public. “Silverthorne” was not very representative of the Keele & Eglinton neighbourhood, others complained that they didn’t know where Fairbank was. (It’s the historic community name for the Eglinton and Dufferin intersection and the name of a nearby park most famous for the Fairbank Park scandal that sent two politicians to prison and launched Frances Nunziata’s [Ward 11, York South-Weston] career as a whistleblower.) Neither Forest Hill nor Leaside stations are in the centre of their historic communities, which also raised some concerns.

Taking public feedback into account, further changes were recommended. “Keelesdale” replaces “Silverthorne” at Keele Street, “Cedarvale” becomes the preferred name for the interchange station at Eglinton West (though the TTC has the final say), Oriole Park was renamed back to “Avenue”, and several surface stops east of Don Mills were also renamed, including Ferrand (to “Aga Khan”, as it’s adjacent to the culutral centre and museum), Victoria Park to “O’Connor” and Warden to “Golden Mile.”

But these changes didn’t satisfy a few Metrolinx board members. At its meeting in December 3, 2015, after passing a problematic GO Transit fare increase with minimal debate, it spent four times as long debating a few station names along the LRT corridor, namely the stops at Dufferin Street, Bathurst Street, and a surface stop at Lebovic Avenue in Scarborough. Toronto Star transportation reporter Tess Kalinowski called the station name debate the liveliest the board has ever seen.

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[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

Thu, 14 Jan 2016 00:20:35 GMT

blogTO identify five neighbourhoods in downtownish Toronto with cheap rent.

The Dragon's Gaze notes one paper suggesting Earth-like worlds may need both ocean and rocky surfaces to be habitable.

The Dragon's Tales reports that Pluto's Sputnik Planum is apparently less than ten million years old.

Geocurrents begins an interesting regional schema of California.

Language Log notes a Hong Kong ad that blends Chinese and Japanese remarkably.

Lawyers, Guns and Money notes that societies with low inequality report higher levels of happiness than others.

The Map Room points to the lovely Pocket Atlas of Remote Islands.

Marginal Revolution wonders why Amazon book reviews are so dominated by American reviewers.

Savage Minds considers, after Björk, the ecopoetics of physical geology data.

Window on Eurasia commemorates the 25th anniversary of the Vilnius massacre.

The Financial Times' The World blog looks at Leo, the dog of the Cypriot president.

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[ISL] "Jamaica’s Drought Tool Could Turn the Table on Climate Change"

Wed, 13 Jan 2016 21:02:10 GMT

The Inter Press Service's Zadie Neufville notes one tool used by Jamaica to help its citizens and economy adapt to climate change.

On a very dry November 2013, Jamaica’s Meteorological Service made its first official drought forecast when the newly developed Climate Predictability Tool (CPT) was used to predict a high probability of below average rainfall in the coming three months.

By February, the agency had officially declared a drought in the eastern and central parishes of the island based on the forecasts. July’s predictions indicated that drought conditions would continue until at least September.

Said to be the island’s worst in 30 years, the 2014 drought saw Jamaica’s eastern parishes averaging rainfall of between 2 and 12 per cent, well below normal levels. Agricultural data for the period shows that production fell by more than 30 per cent over 2013 and estimates are that losses due to crop failures and wild fires amounted to one billion dollars.

Jamaica’s agricultural sector accounts for roughly seven per cent of the island’s gross domestic product (GDP) and employs about 20 per cent of its workforce.

The Met Service’s, Glenroy Brown told IPS, “The CPT was the main tool used by our Minister (of Water, Land, Environment & Climate Change) Robert Pickersgill throughout 2015 to advise the nation on the status of drought across the island .”

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[URBAN NOTE] "Unearthing the City Grid That Would Have Been in Central Park"

Tue, 12 Jan 2016 23:21:45 GMT

Marguerite Holloway's article in The New Yorker tells a fascinating story about the early mapping of Manhattan, and the recent recovery of that project.

On an overcast day in November, 2014, just before Thanksgiving, two men dug a rather large hole in a lawn in Central Park. They started at seven-thirty in the morning, and by midday the hole was big enough for them both to stand in. As they dug, they filtered excavated soil through a screen. They found eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Chinese porcelain, blue earthenware fragments, and the rim of a pearlware teacup, as well as the stem of a clay pipe and brown, olive, aqua, and purple glass shards. And they unearthed a roughly three-foot-tall, nine-inch-square white stone, two sides of which were inscribed with numbers.

The ceramic and glass remnants were unexceptional, but the white stone was anything but. It was a discovery akin to finding a marble statue submerged in a remote lake or a lamppost in the wild woods of Narnia. Hundreds of stones like this one were fastidiously implanted across the island two centuries ago, but not a single one seemed to have survived, in its original position, amid the construction and endless reconstruction of New York City. The stones were set at the intersection of every street and avenue to chart the bold nineteenth-century plan that gave Manhattan its great grid. The carved marble sign in Central Park marks an intersection that never came to be, one of many spliced out of the grand plan when city residents demanded an antidote to the grid.

Central Park has long kept its grid memory secret. But in little more than a year since that November morning, three more marble street monuments have been discovered in the curvaceous green core of the island.

In 1807 the Common Council asked the state to appoint three commissioners to plan the city’s development. (The aldermen were hoping to avoid the disagreements and political reversals that occurred at the local level; and they did maintain some say by recommending three men who should serve as the commissioners.) They hired a young Albany native named John Randel, Jr., to survey the island and draft the 1811 Commissioners’ Plan, an eight-foot-long blueprint for the grid, which was to run from North (now Houston) Street to 155th Street. After Randel handed it in, the Common Council hired the exacting surveyor to inscribe the grid in the rural landscape. Randel resurveyed the island with instruments of his own invention, placing wooden stakes or pegs at every one of the more than fifteen hundred planned intersections. Once done with that task, he and the bane of his meticulous existence—his unruly, ever-shifting, drink-loving crew—set about replacing the pegs with less easily vandalized or purloined markers. At some fifteen hundred and fifty intersections, according to Randel’s notes, the men set “monumental stones”; at nearly a hundred others, where they encountered bedrock or boulder, they placed iron bolts.

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[BLOG] Some Friday links

Fri, 08 Jan 2016 17:06:22 GMT

Anthropology.net notes the study of ice man Otzi's gut flora.

blogTO shares photos of different Toronto intersections a century ago.

The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly considers the virtues of rest.

Centauri Dreams considers how we date stars.

The Dragon's Gaze considers the fates of exoplanets in untable circumbinary orbits.

The Dragon's Tales notes China's construction of a second, indigenous, aircraft carrier.

Geocurrents maps real estate prices in California.

Kieran Healy notes an odd checkerboard of land ownership in Nevada.

Languages of the World notes a study suggesting that one never truly completely forgets one's first language.

Language Log notes the snark directed at the Oregon militiamen.

The Map Room maps thawing in the global Arctic.

Marginal Revolution suggests one way in which religion is good for the poor.

The Planetary Society Blog notes an exciting proposal for a Europa lander.

The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer does not think the 2016 American presidential election will necessarily change much, not compared to 2012.

Peter Rukavina shares the results of his family's use of a water metre.

The Russian Demographics Blog maps the distribution of Germans in Soviet Ukraine circa 1926.

Towleroad looks at syphilis in the male gay/bi community.

Window on Eurasia notes the alienation of Donbas, looks at the decline of Russia-linked churches in Ukraine and a proposal to shift the date of Christmas, and wonders about Tatarstan.

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[OBSCURA] An isochronic map of the world from London, 2016

Wed, 06 Jan 2016 04:54:11 GMT

On the 14th of December, I linked to an isochronic map of the world as seen from London in 1914. This map showed travel times from London, evoking the relative vastness of the world. Now, via Gizmodo, I've discovered a comparable map showing today's travel times.

The map, shown above and created by Rome2rio, shows how long it takes to get anywhere on the planet from London right now. It’s pretty thorough, bringing together data about 750,000 different travel routes from over 4,800 operators in 144 countries.

While the 1914 map, below, showed that it was possible to travel as far west as the Azores and as far east as the Russian city of Perm within five days from London, in 2016 the situation is a little different. For instance, Seattle and Vancouver once took more than 10 days to travel to from London; now they can be reached in under 12 hours. And the journey to the coldest city on Earth, Yakutsk, no longer takes 40 days—instead, you can get there in a mere three quarters of a day.

While travel times had been slashed in certain parts of the world by 1914 thanks to the train, in 2016 we can obviously thank the airplane. That’s perhaps most obvious in journey times to Asia—where a trip to Beijing or Tokyo took 40 days in 1914, it now takes less than a day.

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[BLOG] Some Monday links

Mon, 04 Jan 2016 18:07:55 GMT

Antipope Charlie Stross wonders how technologically advanced a civilization could become without literacy.

Crooked Timber notes paleocon Peter Hitchens' take on the history of England.

The Dragon's Gaze reports on the growth of pebble-accreting planetesimals.

Geocurrents maps Tokugawa Japan as a multi-state system, perhaps not unlike the contemporary Holy Roman Empire.

Inkfish reports on crows given cameras which track their tool use.

Language Hat notes some remarkable Gothic graffiti from Crimea.

Marginal Revolution notes the very high levels of public debt in Brazil.

The Russian Demographics Blog and Window on Eurasia wonder what will happen if Russia's future turns out not to be Belarus, but Ukraine.

Spacing Toronto notes the time the Stanley Cup got stolen.

Window on Eurasia notes that Russians now perceive Ukrainians as separate, looks at the hostile Russian reaction to pan-Turkic nationalism, and notes that the origins of Russia's Central Asian migrant workers have been changing.

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[BLOG] Some Friday links

Sat, 19 Dec 2015 01:13:24 GMT

blogTO notes that all TTC streetcars will support Presto by the end of the year.

Crooked Timber continues its examination of Piketty's thoughts on inequality and social justice.

The Dragon's Tales reports on German surveillance of Germany's allies.

Joe. My. God. notes the support of the Pope for the anti-gay marriage movement in Slovenia.

Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the fundamental economic problems with law school.

Marginal Revolution notes that genetic testing may be coming to the business floor.

The Russian Demographics Blog maps population change in Poland over 2002-2011.

Strange Maps shares a map predicting the liklelihood of white Christmases in the continental United States.

Torontoist notes the need not to forget non-heterosexual Syrian refugees.

Window on Eurasia looks at continued Russian emigration from Tuva.

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[BLOG] Some Thursday links

Thu, 17 Dec 2015 19:10:33 GMT

The Dragon's Tales reports on the Syrian war of Russia.

Geocurrents' Martin Lewis shares a video lecture of his noting misleading maps.

Language Hat notes the false Slavic etymologies of Leibniz.

Lawyers, Guns and Money reports on the human costs of living near a nuclear facility in India.

The Map Room's Jonathan Crowe reports that blog is returning.

The Planetary Society Blog reports about NASA's substantial new budget.

Window on Eurasia suggests Africa will become a major source of terrorists and notes that Russia is trying to ally with social conservatives in the Baltic States.

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[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

Tue, 15 Dec 2015 17:47:49 GMT

blogTO notes plans to revitalize Grange Park.

Centauri Dreams considers crowdsourcing of SETI.

The Dragon's Gaze links to a theoretical study of the interior of Kepler 36b.

The Dragon's Tales notes research suggesting high rates of extinction might accelerate evolution.

At The Power and the Money, guest blogger Will Baird is profoundly disappointed by Ghost Fleet's depiction of cyberwarfare.

Strange Maps shares maps indicating that all roads lead to Rome, well, one Rome or another.

Whatever's John Scalzi links to a vintage recording of K-Mart Christmas music.

Window on Eurasia considers the prospects for reform of the federal system in Russia.

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[OBSCURA] An isochronic map of the world from London, 1914

Mon, 14 Dec 2015 16:08:41 GMT

Simon Willis' post at Intelligent Life Magazine noting this remarkable map of the world has been very widely circulated on social media.

In 1914 John G. Bartholomew, the scion of an Edinburgh mapmaking family and cartographer royal to King George V, published “An Atlas of Economic Geography”. It was a book intended for schoolboys and contained everything a thrusting young entrepreneur, imperialist, trader or traveller could need. As well as the predictable charts of rainfall, temperature and topography, it had maps showing where you could find rubber, cotton or rice; maps showing the distribution of commercial languages, so that if you wanted to do business in Indonesia you knew to do so in Dutch; and maps showing the spread of climatic diseases, so that if you did find yourself in Indonesia you knew to look out for tropical dysentery. It also contained the map you see here, which told you how long it would take to get there from London: between 20 and 30 days.

This is an isochronic map – isochrones being lines joining points accessible in the same amount of time – and it tells a story about how travel was changing. You can get anywhere in the dark-pink section in the middle within five days – to the Azores in the west and the Russian city of Perm in the east. No surprises there: you’re just not going very far. Beyond that, things get a little more interesting. Within five to ten days, you can get as far as Winnipeg or the Blue Pearl of Siberia, Lake Baikal. It takes as much as 20 days to get to Tashkent, which is closer than either, or Honolulu, which is much farther away. In some places, a colour sweeps across a landmass, as pink sweeps across the eastern United States or orange across India. In others, you reach a barrier of blue not far inland, as in Africa and South America. What explains the difference? Railways.

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[BLOG] Some Monday links

Mon, 07 Dec 2015 19:27:45 GMT

Anthropology.net notes the ancient Bronze Age trade routes between Iran and Mesopotamia.

blogTO notes the impending facelift of Osgoode subway station.

James Bow overhears a conversation at the DMV started by a guy who wanted special vanity plates.

Centauri Dreams notes a proposed satellite that would be dedicated to the search for planets around Alpha Centauri.

The Dragon's Gaze notes that stellar metallicity has nothing to do with planet formation.

Far Outliers notes religious warfare in the Central African Republic.

Geocurrents notes the superb Middle Eastern maps of the Institute for the Study of War.

Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the terrible effects of gentrification.

Marginal Revolution notes Finland's introduction of a guaranteed minimum income.

pollotenchegg maps the distribution of Russian and Ukrainian populations in Ukraine.

The Russian Demographics Blog notes senior poverty around the world.

Transit Toronto notes that the last of the Orion V buses have left the service of the TTC.

Window on Eurasia notes Russia's redirection of traffic from ports in the Baltic States, observes the need for a modern Ukrainian military, and suggests Russia will annex South Ossetia.

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[BLOG] Some Thursday links

Thu, 26 Nov 2015 23:31:26 GMT

Centauri Dreams considers the likely cometary explanation for KIC 8462852.

The Dragon's Gaze notes an enigmatic dark spot on a white dwarf.

The Dragon's Tales reports on China's construction of a military base in Djibouti.

Joe. My. God. notes that the man who promised to reduce the price of an HIV/AIDS medication that his company hiked has reneged.

Lawyers, Gins and Money notes that Trump was lying about protesting Muslims in New Jersey after 9/11.

pollotenchegg maps the distribution of ethnic minorities in Ukraine, now and in 1926.

The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer looks at how the right won in Argentina.

Torontoist notes local initiatives to welcome Syrian refugees to Toronto.

Towleroad notes a Vietnamese trans right bill.

The Volokh Conspiracy observes that American states cannot ban Syrian refugees.

Window on Eurasia looks on a new Chinese railway passing from Xinjiang through Central Asia to Iran, and looks at the odd Communist-Christian-Muslim mélange being favoured by some Russians.

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[URBAN NOTE] "What the new TTC map is going to look like"

Wed, 18 Nov 2015 19:00:30 GMT

In an article by NOW Toronto's Jonathan Goldsbie, we see thanks to a TTC report (PDF format) what the Toronto subway map will look like with the Eglinton Crosstown line and the Spadina Extension in place.

The final names of new stations on Line 5 Eglinton will ultimately be decided by Metrolinx, the provincial transit agency with responsibility for the project. The above map shows only the current proposals, which'll be subject to consultation with local councillors and communities.

And see that little "TBD" over Eglinton West station? "To reduce customer confusion," TTC staff suggests that its name be changed to either Allen or Cedarvale when Line 5 goes into service. The board is being asked to pick one when the report is considered this Monday, November 23.

( The TTC, on completion )

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[BLOG] Some Monday links

Mon, 16 Nov 2015 21:12:55 GMT

The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly writes about the things important to her.

Crooked Timber's Chris Bertram shares a quietly beautiful picture of a Paris cafΘ late at night.

The Dragon's Gaze notes a paper suggesting that atmospheric haze on exoplanets might be a biosignature.

The Dragon's Tales notes that the Earth appears not to have gotten its water from comets, and examines the geology of Mars' massive Hellas crater.

Far Outliers notes initial Soviet goals in Afghanistan and looks at Soviet reluctance to get involved.

Joe. My. God. notes panic in the Republican Party establishment over a possible victory of Carson or Trump.

Language Hat notes some online resources on Beowulf and the Hittite language.

pollotenchegg maps the distribution of ethnic Germans in Ukraine in 1926.

Torontoist notes an architecturally sensitive data centre on Cabbagetown's Parliament Street.

Towleroad notes Ukraine's passage of a LGBT employment non-discrimination bill.

Window on Eurasia notes Putin's attempt at forming an anti-globalist coalition and notes Russian opinions about Western passivity.

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[LINK] "Who won Canada’s rural vote?"

Thu, 12 Nov 2015 20:42:33 GMT

At MacLean's, Nick Taylor-Vaisey notes, in detail, how many rural ridings the Liberals won. That he goes into the methodology of the analysis is a nice bonus.

Canada’s big electoral map gives the impression that rural Canada largely rejected the victorious Liberals. The splotches of blue and orange make it seem as if Conservatives and New Democrats won the hearts and minds of the sprawling hinterland where one-fifth of Canadians hang their hats. Aside from the massive northern territories—always a boon to parties who want to be put on the map—how many rural Canadian ridings do Liberals represent in Ottawa? Look at that map again and fancy a guess.

The answer: Liberals hold about one-third of rural ridings, by our count. Feel free to quibble.

How did we arrive at that conclusion? It’s complicated. When academic researchers classify ridings as urban or rural, or something in between, they often look at population density. Farmers Forum decided that any riding with fewer than 100 people per sq. km counts as rural. Louise Carbert, an associate professor of political science at Dalhousie University, divided ridings into four categories for a paper on an enduring deficit of female representatives in rural ridings. Statistics Canada used to make it easy: The agency helpfully offered density for the 308 now-defunct ridings based on the 2011 census.

Unhelpfully, StatsCan no longer provides that data at the riding level. It’s hard to come by. A Wikipedia page lists population density, but its sourcing is inconsistent. The best measure of riding density we consulted was via Google Earth, a mapping platform that allows users to measure the area of digital shape files. They generally match up with the land areas on that mysterious Wikipedia page. But even Google Earth provides an imperfect measure, as shape files don’t remove bodies of water from land-area measurements. Our own calculations of density are, therefore, flawed. But we gave it a try, anyway.

Even after those density calculations, a small subset of ridings pose a unique challenge: They dip into heavily urban or suburban areas, but also include a wide swath of populated rural land. Farmers in those places might wildly disagree with being called urban. Suburban homeowners might laugh at being called rural. Our solution: Sort riding densities listed on the Wikipedia page, and classify every riding with a density between 150 and 300 per sq. km as “rurban.” (We double-checked the densities of those particular ridings against Google Earth’s measurements.)

More, including detailed conclusions, at the site.

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[OBSCURA] On the immeasurable uncharted immensities around us

Wed, 11 Nov 2015 04:58:42 GMT

We are so small, and the galaxy so vast. This From Quarks to Quasars article had a fairly stunning map of what we know, in detail, about the neighbouring universe.

It is surprisingly easy to forget how vast our universe truly is. Since we are able to glimpse light from stars that are an astonishing distance away, it’s easy to assume that we have a pretty firm grasp on the cosmos. True, we may need to use telescopes in order to peer across the expanse and truly see distant objects; however, the mere fact that we can see this far is reassuring.

But in fact, we know surprisingly little about even our own galaxy.

It may be a little hard to believe that the Milky Way is largely unexplored, but keep in mind that there’s a lot that we don’t know about our very own planet. Indeed, According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, we have explored less than 5% of the ocean. And considering that the ocean covers some 70% of our planet. That is a lot of unexplored territory, if you ask me. Moreover, although the surface of the Earth is littered with people, researches exploring the recesses of our world discover dozens of new species each day (literally).

With this in mind, the above map, which was recently released by NASA, shows the range of the Kepler Space Telescope. This is the primary instrument that is used to discover exoplanets (worlds that reside in alien solar systems). Kepler’s field of view is the small, red cone.

That’s it. That little cone is nearly all that we have to detect other worlds.

The yellow dots show all of the planets discovered with microlensing. This method of detection is much harder. So the problem is thus: While Kepler has discovered thousands of alien worlds in its field of view, its range is limited to a short, narrow band. And while microlensing can find planets much farther out, it is a bit trickier, resulting in just a handful of discoveries.

That red, too, hardly represents solid knowledge, only what we've managed to find. We still have no idea what's at Alpha Centauri, just next door; we only this year got detailed images of Pluto and Charon for the first time. There is just so much out there, so much we do not know of now and may not ever know of. It's enough to give someone vertigo. (It does me.)

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[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

Wed, 11 Nov 2015 01:36:01 GMT

Centauri Dreams reports on the non-existence of Alpha Centauri Bb.
The Dragon's Tales notes the exciting new findings from Pluto, including news that it supports a subsurface ocean.

The Everyday Sociology Blog looks at the power of student protests at the University of Missouri.

Joe. My. God. notes the promise of anti-viral injections in treating HIV.

Lawyers, Guns and Money reacts to a historical student of slavery in the US urban south.

Marginal Revolution notes the slow pace at which US immigration records are being digitized.

The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer notes that before 1960, contrary to the current trend, African-Americans with identifiably African-American names did better than average.

The Russian Demographics Blog notes the size of Poland-Lithuania in 1635.

Towleroad notes how a photo of Justin Trudeau with the same-sex family of Scott Brison went viral.

Transit Toronto looks at the upcoming TTC open house on the 12th.

Window on Eurasia notes that North Caucasians have reason for protest apart from ethnicity and suggests Russian regionalism is not related to ethnicity.

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