A Bit More Detail

"Things look so bad everywhere
In this whole world, what is fair
We will walk the line
And try to see
Falling behind in what could be

• New estimates suggest the costs of global warming will be in the tens of trillions of dollars, with warmer countries taking a particularly big hit. Motherboard reports.


• Indigenous bumblebee populations in Canada are fast approaching extinction, with a certainty of major negative environmental effects. CBC reports.


• MacLean's reports on the return to prominence of Jim Balsillie, this time not so much as a tech mogul as a sort off tech skeptic.


• This Motherboard article makes a somewhat far-fetched argument that Game of Thrones demonstrates the need for human civilization to have backups.


• The Conversation reports on the recent discovery, in Serbia by a joint Serbian-Canadian team, of a Neanderthal tooth, and what this discovery means for our understanding of the deep past of humanity.

• Centauri Dreams celebrates the arrival, and successful data collection, of New Horizons at Ultima Thule, as does Joe. My. God., as does
  Emily Lakdawalla at the Planetary Society Blog. Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explained, before the New Horizons flyby of Ultima Thule, why that Kuiper Belt object was so important for planetary science.


• In advance of the New Year's, Charlie Stross at Antipope asked his readers to let him know what good came in 2018.


• Chris Bertram at Crooked Timber makes the argument that, in the event of a Brexit bitterly resented by many Labour supporters, the odds that they will support a post-Brexit redistributionist program that would aid predominantly pro-Brexit voters are low.


• Bruce Dorminey notes that many Earth-like worlds might be made uninhabitable over eons by the steady warming of their stars, perhaps dooming any hypothetical extraterrestrial civilizations on these planets.


• Far Outliers looks at the patterns of early Meiji Japan relations with Korea, noting an 1873 invasion scare.


• L.M. Sacasas writes at The Frailest Thing, inspired by the skepticism of Jacques Ellul, about a book published in 1968 containing predictions about the technological world of 2018. Motives matter.


• Imageo looks at the evidence from probes and confirms that, yes, it does in fact snow (water) on Mars.


• The Island Review interviews author Adam Nicolson about his family's ownership of the Hebridean Shiant Isles. What do they mean for him, as an author and as someone experience with the sea?


• JSTOR Daily looks at the long history of the human relationship with leather, as a pliable material for clothing of all kinds.


• Language Hat considers the possibility that the New Year's greeting "bistraynte", used in Lebanon and by Christians in neighbouring countries, might come from the Latin "strenae".


• Language Log notes the pressure being applied against the use of Cantonese as a medium of instruction in Hong Kong.


• Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at the many reasons why a considerable number of Latinos support Donald Trump.


• Bernard Porter at the LRB Blog comes up with an explanation as to Corbyn's refusal to oppose Brexit.


• Marginal Revolution notes the many problems involved with the formation of supply chains in Africa, including sheer distance.


• The NYR Daily has a much-needed reevaluation of the Jonestown horror as not simply a mass suicide.


• Author Peter Watts writes about a recent trip to Tel Aviv.


• At Out There, Corey Powell writes about how planetary scientists over the decades have approached their discipline, expecting to be surprised.


• Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel shared some top images collected by Hubble in 2018.


• Strange Company looks at the strange 1953 death of young Roman woman Wilma Montesi. How did she die, leaving her body to be found on a beach?


• Window on Eurasia notes how Circassian refugees in Syria are asking for the same expedited status that Ukrainian refugees have received.


• Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell takes an extended look at the politics of 4G and Huawei and the United Kingdom and transatlantic relations over the past decade.


• Arnold Zwicky takes a look, in language and cartoons, at "Jesus fuck".

• Architectuul shares the latest issue of the journal Archifutures, reporting on strategies for adapting to apocalyptic enviroments.


• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait breaks down for readers the import of the sighting of material on the fringes of the event horizon of Sagittarius A*.


• The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly talks about zhush, the act of renewing one's home as winter approaches.


• Centauri Dreams notes the fine-tuning of hypothetical mechanisms for delivering water to the Earth (and other inner worlds) during the Late Heavy Bombardment period.


• D-Brief notes the identification in many ancient human skeletons of deformities likely product of inbreeding.


• Dangerous Minds links to a fascinating documentary looking at the culture of tribute bands.


• Drew Ex Machina reports on the earliest stages of the space race, in both the Soviet Union and the United States.


• Hornet Stories notes that Sasha Velour is off to the Smithsonian to give a speech on the importance of drag in culture.


• JSTOR Daily reports on the parlous environment of the Mediterranean Sea, with sea level rise and pollution promising to make a mess.


• Language Hat notes how, in France, the concept of being "excited" that exists in the Anglophone world and in French Canada may not be represented in the local French.


• Language Log considers, in the context of the recent Sokal Squared hoax, the ethnographic peculiarities of academia.

• James Bow makes the case for inexpensive regional bus transit in southern Ontario, beyond and between the major cities.


• D-Brief explains why Pluto's Gate, a poisonous cave of classical Anatolia believed to be a portal to the netherworld, is the way it is.


• The Dragon's Tales takes a look at the plethora of initiatives for self-driving cars and the consequences of these for the world.


• Far Outliers takes a look at how Persia, despite enormous devastation, managed to eventual thrive under the Mongols, even assimilating them.


• JSTOR Daily notes the connections between North American nuclear tests and the rise of modern environmentalism.


• Language Hat looks at Linda Watson, a woman on the Isle of Man who has became the hub of a global network of researchers devoted to deciphering unreadable handwriting.


• Lawyers, Guns and Money makes the argument that the Russian hacks were only as effective as they were because of terrible journalism in the United States.


• The NYR Daily takes a look at an often-overlooked collaboration in the 1960s between New York poet Frank O'Hara and Italian artist Mario Schifano.


• Towleroad takes a look at out gay pop music star Troye Sivan.


• Window on Eurasia makes the believable contention that Putin believes in his propaganda, or at least acts as if he does, in Ukraine for instance.

• David Shane Lowry at anthro{dendum} considers the extent to which implicit policies of eugenics, determining whose survival matters and whose do not, exist in the 21st century in an era of climate change.


• Kambiz Kamrani at Anthropology.net takes issue with the contention of Richard Goss that Neanderthals became extinct because they lacked the physical coordination necessary to be good hunters or good artists.


• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes that the Chixculub asteroid impactor 66 million years ago created a tectonic shock worldwide that made things worse, the effects of the impact winter being worsened by massive induced volcanic activity.


• D-Brief shares the story of a British man whose chronic pain was relieved by a swim in icy-cold winter waters.


• The Dragon's Tales reports that China may well be on track to building the first exoscale computer, first in the world.


• Hornet Stories notes that out Olympic athlete Eric Radford is the first to win a gold medal.


• JSTOR Daily engages with an old conundrum of economists: why are diamonds more expensive than water?


• Lawyers, Guns and Money examines how urban Native Americans tend to have insecure housing, being on the margins of the real estate market in cities and without options in their home reserves. This surely also is the case in Canada, too.


• Lucy McKeon at the NYR Daily writes about all the photographs she has never seen, images that she has only heard descriptions of.


• Drew Rowsome notes the reappearance of queer theatre festival Rhubarb at Buddies in Bad Times, with shows starting tomorrow.


• Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes that the Trump administration's proposed budget for NASA in FY2019 will gut basic science programs.


• Window on Eurasia notes the emergence of a survivalist subculture in Russia, following somewhat the pattern of the United States.


• Arnold Zwicky starts from noting a sample of a rap song in a Mountain Dew commercial and goes interesting places in his latest meditations.

• Anthrodendum takes a look at the way community knowledge is now being subject to a privatization.


• The Broadside Blog's Caitlyn Kelly starts a discussion about what makes home.


• Bruce Dorminey suggests a pre-Theia, Moon-sized impactor gave the Earth its metal crust.


• The Dragon's Gaze looks at the current state of knowledge about Proxima b.


• The Dragon's Tales notes that Russia is apparently testing advanced nuclear weapons.


• The Frailest Thing's Michael Sacasas considers the religious impulse in so many technophiles' view of the world.


• Language Hat considers the dynamics associated with learning minority languages in Europe.


• Lawyers, Guns and Money shares a classic traffic safety clip from 1913.


• The LRB Blog mourns the loss of Glen Newey, long-time contributor.


• Lovesick Cyborg notes a NASA study into the economics of a viable space-based solar power project.


• Roads and Kingdoms takes a look at the açorda of Portugal, a bread-based broth that was a long-time food of the poor.


• Cheri Lucas Rowlands celebrates the passage of summer into fall through photos of her vegetable garden.


• Drew Rowsome takes a look at the representation of LGBTQ people on television, and sees much reason for cheer.


• Science Sushi notes that different dolphin groups seem to have different dialects.


• Understanding Society takes a look at Robert Merton's refinement of social functionalism.


• Window on Eurasia notes that many ethnic Russians in Belarus, as in Ukraine, have shifted identity to that of the titular nation.


• Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell notes one mistake made about artificial intelligence: it is not automatically more accurate.

• Crooked Timber responds to The Intercept's release of data regarding Russian interference with American elections.
  
• Dangerous Minds reports on how Melanie Gaydos overcame a rare genetic disorder to become a model.


• Dead Things seems unduly happy that it does see as if Tyrannosaurus rex had feathers. (I like the idea.)


• The Dragon's Gaze reports on our ability to detect the effects of a planet-shattering Nicoll-Dyson beam.


• The Frailest Thing considers being a parent in the digital age.


• Language Hat notes the African writing systems of nsibidi and bamum.


• Marginal Revolution notes that Trump-supporting states are moving to green energy quite quickly.


• Window on Eurasia notes how Russian guarantees of traditional rights to the peoples of the Russian North do not take their current identities into account.

When Hong Kong-based financier Michael Nock wanted a place to escape in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, he looked beyond the traditional havens of the rich to a land at the edge of the world, where cows outnumber people two-to-one.

Nock, the founder of hedge fund firm Doric Capital Corp., bought a retreat 5,800 miles away in New Zealand’s picturesque Queenstown. In the seven years since, terror threats in Europe and political uncertainty from Britain to the U.S. have helped make the South Pacific nation -- a day by air away from New York or London -- a popular bolthole for the mega wealthy.

Isolation has long been considered New Zealand’s Achilles heel. That remoteness is turning into an advantage, however, with hedge-fund pioneer Julian Robertson to Russian steel titan Alexander Abramov and Hollywood director James Cameron establishing multi-million dollar hideaways in the New Zealand countryside.

“The thing that was always working against New Zealand -- the tyranny of distance -- is the very thing that becomes its strength as the world becomes more uncertain,” Nock, 60, said by phone from Los Angeles during a recent business trip.

Nock’s 2-hectare (5-acre) estate is named “Giverny” after artist Claude Monet’s iconic home and garden in northern France, and the “funny old farmhouse” is surrounded by ponds and mature plants, he said. Nock is converting a barn into an art studio on the property, which overlooks Queenstown’s Shotover River -- a fast-flowing, turquoise stretch of water that tourists speed down on jet boats and whitewater rafts.