A Bit More Detail

• Crooked Timber's John Quiggin considers imaginable ways to get carbon dioxide in the atmosphere down to 350 ppm by 2100.


• Karen Sternheimer at the Everyday Sociology Blog considers the tenuous nature of the upper-middle class in America. How is downwards mobility to be avoided, even here?


• Imageo shows the growth of a sunspot larger than the Earth.


• Language Hat shares the story of how Manchu script came to be.


• Lawyers, Guns and Money notes that the working poor need protection from arbitrary and always-changing work schedules.


• The LRB Blog notes the geopolitical scramble at the Horn of Africa, starting with bases in Djibouti.


• The NYR Daily engages with an intriguing exhibition about the relationship between Henry James and paintings, and painting.


• Personal Reflections' Jim Belshaw engages with the classic 1937 Australian film, Lovers and Luggers.


• Noel Maurer at The Power and the Money notes that one benefit of the trend towards greater informality in fashion is that time has been freed up, especially for women.


• Peter Rukavina writes about his new Instagram account, hosting his various sketches.


• Unicorn Booty notes the continuing problems with Germany's adoption laws for same-sex couples.


• The Volokh Conspiracy looks at how the Polish president saved the independence of Poland's courts with his veto.


• Window on Eurasia suggests Russia is trying to mobilize the ethnic Russians of Lithuania, finally.

• Beyond the Beyond notes an image of a wooden model of Babbage's difference engine.


• James Bow talks about the soundtrack he has made for his new book.


• Centauri Dreams considers ways astronomers can detect photosynthesis on exoplanets and shares images of Fomalhaut's debris disk.


• Crooked Timber looks at fidget spinners in the context of discrimination against people with disabilities.


• D-Brief notes that Boyajian's Star began dimming over the weekend.


• Far Outliers reports on a 1917 trip by zeppelin to German East Africa.


• Lawyers, Guns and Money argues that there is good reason to be concerned about health issues for older presidential candidates.


• The NYRB Daily reports on Hungary's official war against Central European University.


• The Russian Demographics Blog notes the origins of modern immigration to Russia in internal Soviet migration.


• Savage Minds shares an ethnographer's account of what it is like to look to see her people (the Sherpas of Nepal) described.


• Strange Maps shares a map speculating as to what the world will look like when it is 4 degrees warmer.


• The Volokh Conspiracy argues that the US Congress does not have authority over immigration.


• Window on Eurasia suggests Russia's population will be concentrated around Moscow, compares Chechnya's position vis-à-vis Russia to Puerto Rico's versus the United States, and looks at new Ukrainian legislation against Russian churches and Russian social networks.


• Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell notes how Evelyn Waugh's writings on the Horn of Africa anticipate the "Friedman unit", the "a measurement of time defined as how long it will take until things are OK in Iraq".

• blogTO notes that a Vancouver nerd bar is opening up shop in Toronto.


• Dangerous Minds provides its readers with a take on an upcoming Tom of Finland biopic.


• The Dragon's Tales notes that Enceladus seems altogether too hot and notes that dwarf planet Makemake seems to have a surprisingly uniform surface.


• Far Outliers looks at Afghanistan and Poland at the end of the 1970s.

Joe. My. God. and Towleroad each respond to the untimely death of George Michael.

• Language Log explores the evolution of the term "dongle".


• Marginal Revolution wonders if Donald Trump is guided by his thinking in the 1980s about a Soviet-American condominium.


• Torontoist looks at the Toronto's century house plaques come to be.


• Window on Eurasia suggests Russian media outside of Russia are gaining in influence and talks about modern Russia as a new sort of "evil empire".

In this way, the October visit of the Dalai Lama – who was the main star of the 20th edition of the Forum 2000 conference, founded by late President Vaclav Havel – was also a test of Havel’s legacy in the former Czechoslovakia. That humanitarian approach is today confined to almost hidden corners of the local political scene, only revived from time to time by small groups, usually consisting of NGO activists, and lately by Kiska. In mainstream politics, it gets almost completely forgotten.

Lastly, the episode illustrates in broader strokes the emerging relationship between Central Europe and China. For the last couple of years, China has crafted its policy toward Europe, and the weak and often Eurosceptic Central European governments have seemed an ideal gateway for Chinese money and political influence. China could thereby reach the wider European Union, which, due to the refugee crisis and Brexit, looks weaker than ever in the last 20 years.

The job, however, isn’t easy for Chinese diplomats in Prague, Bratislava, or Warsaw (the Dalai Lama also briefly visited Wroclaw, without meeting any government official there). They have to exert maximum effort, show off their supposed powers to influence investment, and gain leverage over local politicians. But the real work in leaning on the locals is done by the businessmen who have cultivated business and political ties in China as relations have warmed. That’s not so tough when the United States, a traditional ally, seems so far off, the EU looks to be in disarray, and Russia plays old, familiar Soviet power games.

• blogTO shares photos of the new Yonge-Eglinton Centre.


• Beyond the Beyond's Bruce Sterling makes the comparison of the Middle East now to central Europe in the Thirty Years War.


• The Dragon's Gaze notes the discovery of a hot Jupiter orbiting a T Tauri star just two million years old.


• Joe. My. God. reports on the conviction of a man who had been accused of involvement in kidnapping the child of same-sex parents.


• Language Hat reports on the American Jewish accent.


• Lawyers, Guns and Money notes that Republicans are coming to accept Donald Trump.


• The Map Room Blog reports on a Boston exhibition of Hy-Brasil.


• The Planetary Society Blog reports on the 9th anniversary of the Dawn probe's launch.


• The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer points out that Erik Loomis is wrong, that Ford is not moving jobs to Mexico.


• Window on Eurasia suggests an isolated Russia might lash out against Belarus, and looks at Putin's support in non-Russian republics.

• 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.

• Bloomberg notes political despair in Japan's industrial heartland and looks at Argentina's statistical issues.


• The Globe and Mail reports on Morocco's continued industrialization and describes the fear of a Vancouver-based pop singer for the life of her mother in China.


• The Inter Press Service notes the recent terror attack in Dhaka, Bangladesh's capital.


• MacLean's notes the good relations of Israel and Egypt.


• The National Post reports on recent discoveries of quiet black holes.


• Open Democracy looks at the connections between migration and housing policy in the United Kingdom.


• Transitions Online notes how Brexit has wrecked central Europe's relationships with the United Kingdom.

When they were last on Canadian soil, the Pusuma family took sanctuary in a Toronto church as they fought to avoid being sent back to their native Hungary.

On Thursday, 18 months after leaving Canada, Jozsef Pusuma, his wife, Timea Daroczi, and their daughter Viktoria (Lulu) were welcomed back by their loyal supporters who battled for the Roma family’s return.

“I’m happy to be here, back for a free life. I feel home,” said an exhausted Pusuma, as he and his family walked out from the Pearson Internation Airport customs area to the applause of more than a dozen supporters from the Windermere United Church and Romero House.

“Thank you, Canada for giving my family a new life. We have fought for so long and today I’m free.”

Barbara Sheffield, a member of the church, said she was thrilled to see the family back and justice having persevered.

• The Atlantic notes the import of the assassination of the head of the Taliban.


• The BBC observes Spotify has more revenues, but is still not making money.


• Bloomberg suggests Brexit would embolden central European populists and slow down growth, and looks at Coca Cola's end of production in Venezuela.


• Bloomberg View suggests a new class of educated Chinese professionals will hurt middle-class wages.


• The CBC notes the lifting of the mandatory evacuation order for northern Alberta oil sands camps.


• Daily Xtra looks at the importance of Facebook in spreading knowledge to PrEP.


• Gizmodo notes the proliferation of cephalopods in the world's oceans.


• The Miami Herald describes how desperate Venezuelans are turning to urban gardening.


• The National Post looks at Kevin O'Leary's interest in Canadian politics.


• The Toronto Star reports on the lifting of the American arms sales embargo against Vietnam.


• Wired notes Grindr can still be hacked to identify users' locations.

• Bloomberg looks at the futurology of Huawei, looks at problems in the Ukrainian peace talks, notes progress towards same-sex civil unions in Italy, and notes slowing economic growth in the east of the European Union.


• Bloomberg View considers the difference between sex and gender in anti-discrimination law in the United States.


• The Inter Press Service looks at the role of biomass in Africa's economy.


• Open Democracy notes that Donald Trump appeals to "losers" who want to win.