A Bit More Detail

[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

Wed, 04 Jul 2018 16:18:41 GMT

Bad Astronomy notes the wonders being witnessed by the Dawn probe in orbit of Ceres.

Centauri Dreams notes the potential of effectively immortal interstellar probes.

D-Brief notes the discovery of some genetic origins of loneliness.

The Everyday Sociology Blog notes the connections and potential conflicts between concepts of race and the British royal family.

Far Outliers shares the first part of the summary of an article examining contact between African and Japanese mercenaries in early modern Asia.

Gizmodo wonders if Uranus' large axial tilt can be explained by some sort of massive collision.

Hornet Stories likes the way that Pose, a show set in queer communities in New York City in the 1980s, deals with HIV.

In the aftermath of the tumult regarding the New York Times' coverage of Batman and Catwoman, io9 offers the paper some tips on covering pop culture.

JSTOR Daily shares a paper noting how and why, in belle époque Chicago, immigrant communities often sponsored Fourth of July celebrations.

Language Hat deals with the convention of many writers in English to italicize foreign words. Why do this, again?

Jonathan Freedland at the NYR Daily considers the import of the Fourth of July for the United States in 2018.

Science and Food looks at liquid nitrogen gastronomy.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel considers if the universe might be headed for a big rip.

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[URBAN NOTE] "Why are so few Black people cycling in Toronto?"

Thu, 12 May 2016 23:26:15 GMT

D.C. Matthew writes at length in NOW Toronto about the various reasons why black people are so underrepresented in the population of cyclists. Some of the reasons are more benign than others.

People are connected to various social networks (the web of social relationships in which we are embedded), and researchers have convincingly - if not uncontroversially - argued that the behaviour of persons in our networks can affect our own in various ways. The idea is that a behaviour can spread as people pick up unconscious social signals that it's normal.

But if more people are cycling because their friends are cycling, why aren't more Black people cycling? Don't they have friends, too? Yes, but it's a well-studied fact that social networks are often less racially and ethnically diverse than we think.

Typically, when scholars study the racial homogeneity of social networks, their aim is to learn whether and how they work to disadvantage minorities by providing whites with privileged access to valuable resources such as jobs. If, for example, what matters most in getting a job is not what you know but who you know, and whites have historically dominated the most sought-after jobs, then it's easy to see why homogeneous networks might be troubling.

But racially homogenous networks can also serve as conduits for the racially differentiated spread of healthy behaviours, and one of these is cycling.

This point finds some support when we look at the neighbourhoods where cycling rates are highest. In Toronto, the areas with the highest number of utilitarian cyclists (including Parkdale, Little Portugal and nearby 'hoods) tend to be in the west end.

Although these neighbourhoods aren't among the city's whitest, they're not the Blackest either.

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[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

Wed, 24 Jun 2015 00:08:14 GMT

D-Brief reports on some highly unusual formations, including more bright spots and a pyramid (?), found on Ceres.

The Dragon's Gaze links to a paper examining the effect the activity of our own sun would have on the discovery of Earth.

Joe. My. God. quotes Jim Parsons on how he never quite came out.

Language Log reports on multilingualism in China.

Marginal Revolution suggests that the question over state debt in Greece is extending moral hazard to private debt.

Steve Munro notes how the TTC has to balance spending on infrastructure and on operations.

Personal Reflections' Jim Belshaw reflects on what the Australian equivalent to the New Zealand haka might be.

Spacing Toronto wonders why carding refuses to die.

Window on Eurasia argues Ukraine should press Russia harder on Crimea.

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