Entries tagged with china

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[BLOG] Some Thursday links

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes that Betelgeuse is very likely not on the verge of a supernova, here.

Centauri Dreams looks at the mapping of asteroid Bennu.

Chris Bertram at Crooked Timber reposted, after the election, a 2013 essay looking at the changes in British society from the 1970s on.

The Dragon's Tales shares a collection of links about the Precambrian Earth, here.

Karen Sternheimer at the Everyday Sociology Blog writes about fear in the context of natural disasters, here.

Far Outliers reports on the problems of privateers versus regular naval units.

Gizmodo looks at galaxy MAMBO-9, which formed a billion years after the Big Bang.

io9 writes about the alternate history space race show For All Mankind.

JSTOR Daily looks at the posters used in Ghana in the 1980s to help promote Hollywood movies.

Language Hat links to a new book that examines obscenity and gender in 1920s Britain.

Language Log looks at the terms used for the national language in Xinjiang.

Paul Campos at Lawyers, Guns and Money takes issue with Jeff Jacoby's lack of sympathy towards people who suffer from growing inequality.

Marginal Revolution suggests that urbanists should have an appreciation for Robert Moses.

Sean Marshall writes, with photos, about his experiences riding a new Bolton bus.

Caryl Philips at the NYR Daily writes about Rachmanism, a term wrongly applied to the idea of avaricious landlords like Peter Rachman, an immigrant who was a victim of the Profumo scandal.

The Russian Demographics Blog shares a paper looking at the experience of aging among people without families.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains why the empty space in an atom can never be removed.

Strange Maps shares a festive map of London, a reindeer, biked by a cyclist.

Window on Eurasia notes how Mongolia twice tried to become a Soviet republic.

Arnold Zwicky considers different birds with names starting with x.

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[NEWS] Twenty news links

NOW Toronto looks at the Pickering nuclear plant and its role in providing fuel for space travel.

In some places like California, traffic is so bad that airlines actually play a role for high-end commuters. CBC reports.

Goldfish released into the wild are a major issue for the environment in Québec, too. CTV News reports.

China's investments in Jamaica have good sides and bad sides. CBC reports.

A potato museum in Peru might help solve world hunger. The Guardian reports.

Is the Alberta-Saskatchewan alliance going to be a lasting one? Maclean's considers.

Is the fossil fuel industry collapsing? The Tyee makes the case.

Should Japan and Europe co-finance a EUrasia trade initiative to rival China's? Bloomberg argues.

Should websites receive protection as historically significant? VICE reports.

Food tourism in the Maritimes is a very good idea. Global News reports.

Atlantic Canada lobster exports to China thrive as New England gets hit by the trade war. CBC reports.

The Bloc Québécois experienced its revival by drawing on the same demographics as the provincial CAQ. Maclean's reports.

Population density is a factor that, in Canada, determines political issues, splitting urban and rural voters. The National Observer observes.

US border policies aimed against migration from Mexico have been harming businesses on the border with Canada. The National Post reports.

The warming of the ocean is changing the relationship of coastal communities with their seas. The Conversation looks.

Archival research in the digital age differs from what occurred in previous eras. The Conversation explains.

The Persian-language Wikipedia is an actively contested space. Open Democracy reports.

Vox notes how the US labour shortage has been driven partly by workers quitting the labour force, here.

Laurie Penny at WIRED has a stirring essay about hope, about the belief in some sort of future.

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[BLOG] Some Monday links

Anthropology.net notes a remarkably thorough genetic analysis of a piece of chewing gum 5700 years old that reveals volumes of data about the girl who chew it.

'Nathan Burgoine at Apostrophen writes an amazing review of Cats that actually does make me want to see it.

Bad Astronomy reports on galaxy NGC 6240, a galaxy produced by a collision with three supermassive black holes.

Caitlin Kelly at the Broadside Blog writes about the mechanics of journalism.

Centauri Dreams argues that the question of whether humans will walk on exoplanets is ultimately distracting to the study of these worlds.

Crooked Timber shares a Sunday morning photo of Bristol.

The Dragon's Tales notes that India has a launch date of December 2021 for its first mission in its Gaganyaan crewed space program.

Andrew LePage at Drew Ex Machina looks at the Saturn C-1 rocket.

Karen Sternheimer at the Everyday Sociology Blog considers if the vogue for minimalism meets the criteria to be considered a social movement.

Far Outliers ?notes how, in the War of 1812, some in New England considered the possibility of seceding from the Union.

Gizmodo looks at evidence of the last populations known of Homo erectus, on Java just over a hundred thousand years ago.

Mark Graham links to a new paper co-authored by him looking at how African workers deal with the gig economy.

io9 announces that the Michael Chabon novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, is set to become a television series.

Joe. My. God. shares a report that Putin gave Trump anti-Ukrainian conspiracy theories.

JSTOR Daily considers what a world with an economy no longer structured around oil could look like.

Language Hat takes issue with the latest talk of the Icelandic language facing extinction.

Language Log shares a multilingual sign photographed in Philadelphia's Chinatown.

Paul Campos at Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the document release revealing the futility of the war in Afghanistan.

The LRB Blog looks at class identity and mass movements and social democracy.

Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution suggests that, even if the economy of China is larger than the United States, Chinese per capita poverty means China does not have the leading economy.

Diane Duane at Out of Ambit writes about how she is writing a gay sex scene.

Jim Belshaw at Personal Reflections reflects on "OK Boomer".

Roads and Kingdoms interviews Mexican chef Ruffo Ibarra.

Peter Rukavina shares his list of levees for New Year's Day 2020 on PEI.

The Russian Demographics Blog shares a map indicating fertility rates in the different regions of the European Union.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains how quantum physics are responsible for vast cosmic structures.

Charles Soule at Whatever explains his reasoning behind his new body-swap novel.

Window on Eurasia notes how the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in Paris show the lack of meaningful pro-Russian sentiment there.

Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell talks about his lessons from working in the recent British election.

Arnold Zwicky looks at a syncretic, Jewish-Jedi, holiday poster.

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[BLOG] Some Friday links

Charlie Stross at Antipope shares an essay he recently presented on artificial intelligence and its challenges for us.

P. Kerim Friedman writes at {anthro}dendum about the birth of the tea ceremony in the Taiwan of the 1970s.

Anthropology net reports on a cave painting nearly 44 thousand years old in Indonesia depicting a hunting story.

Architectuul looks at some temporary community gardens in London.

Bad Astronomy reports on the weird history of asteroid Ryugu.

The Buzz talks about the most popular titles borrowed from the Toronto Public Library in 2019.

Caitlin Kelly talks at the Broadside Blog about her particular love of radio.

Centauri Dreams talks about the role of amateur astronomers in searching for exoplanets, starting with LHS 1140 b.

John Quiggin at Crooked Timber looks at what is behind the rhetoric of "virtue signalling".

Dangerous Minds shares concert performance from Nirvana filmed the night before the release of Nevermind.

Bruce Dorminey notes new evidence that, even before the Chixculub impact, the late Cretaceous Earth was staggering under environmental pressures.

Myron Strong at the Everyday Sociology Blog writes about how people of African descent in the US deal with the legacies of slavery in higher education.

Far Outliers reports on the plans in 1945 for an invasion of Japan by the US.

L.M. Sacasas at The Frailest Thing gathers together a collection of the author's best writings there.

Gizmodo notes the immensity of the supermassive black hole, some 40 billion solar masses, at the heart of galaxy Holm 15A 700 million light-years away.

Russell Arben Fox at In Media Res writes about the issue of how Wichita is to organize its civic politics.

io9 argues that the 2010s were a decade where the culture of the spoiler became key.

The Island Review points readers to the podcast Mother's Blood, Sister's Songs, an exploration of the links between Ireland and Iceland.

Joe. My. God. reports on the claim of the lawyer of the killer of a mob boss that the QAnon conspiracy inspired his actions. This strikes me as terribly dangerous.

JSTOR Daily looks at a study examining scholarly retractions.

Language Hat shares an amusing cartoon illustrating the relationships of the dialects of Arabic.

Language Log lists ten top new words in the Japanese language.

Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at the dissipation of American diplomacy by Trump.

The LRB Blog looks at the many problems in Sparta, Greece, with accommodating refugees, for everyone concerned.

Marginal Revolution links to a paper suggesting the decline of the one-child policy in China has diminished child trafficking, among other crimes.

Sean Marshall, looking at transit in Brampton, argues that transit users need more protection from road traffic.

Russell Darnley shares excerpts from essays he wrote about the involvement of Australia in the Vietnam War.

Peter Watts talks about his recent visit to a con in Sofia, Bulgaria, and about the apocalypse, here.

The NYR Daily looks at the corporatization of the funeral industry, here.

Diane Duane writes, from her own personal history with Star Trek, about how one can be a writer who ends up writing for a media franchise.

Jim Belshaw at Personal Reflections considers the job of tasting, and rating, different cuts of lamb.

The Planetary Society Blog looks at a nondescript observatory in the Mojave desert of California that maps the asteroids of the solar system.

Roads and Kingdoms interviews Eduardo Chavarin about, among other things, Tijuana.

Drew Rowsome loves the SpongeBob musical.

Peter Rukavina announces that Charlottetown has its first public fast charger for electric vehicles.

The Russian Demographics Blog considers the impact of space medicine, here.

The Signal reports on how the Library of Congress is making its internet archives more readily available, here.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel considers how the incredibly isolated galaxy MCG+01-02-015 will decay almost to nothing over almost uncountable eons.

Strange Company reports on the trial and execution of Christopher Slaughterford for murder. Was there even a crime?

Strange Maps shares a Coudenhove-Kalergi map imagining the division of the world into five superstates.

Understanding Society considers entertainment as a valuable thing, here.

Denis Colombi at Une heure de peine announces his new book, Où va l'argent des pauvres?

John Scalzi at Whatever looks at how some mailed bread triggered a security alert, here.

Window on Eurasia reports on the massive amount of remittances sent to Tajikistan by migrant workers, here.

Arnold Zwicky notes a bizarre no-penguins sign for sale on Amazon.

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[URBAN NOTE] Fifteen Niagara Falls, Ontario links (#niagarafalls, #niagarafallscanada)

A new storyboard in Niagara Falls displays the importance of railways to the city. The Niagara Falls Review reports.

Niagara Falls city council is considering the idea of linking casinos by aerial car. The Niagara Falls Review reports.

Global News reports on a drug bust that saw two people arrested in Niagara Falls.

The Niagara Falls Review reports the number of reported homicides in Niagara Region tripled in 2019, to six.

The immersive live nativity hosted by a Niagara Falls church sounds interesting. More is here.

A recent discussion at Niagara Falls city council was dominated by discussion of housing issues and of homelessness. The Niagara Falls Review reports.

Most revenues from the casinos of Niagara Falls have been directed to the infrastructure of the city. The Niagara Falls Review reports.

City council in Niagara Falls has approved the construction of a 72-storey hotel. Construct Connect reports.

In November, the mayor announced the old city hall and courthouse in the downtown of Niagara Falls was scheduled to be demolished. The Niagara Falls Review reports.

The Bath House Hotel once was intended to be a centrepiece of local tourism. The Niagara Falls Review reports.

Carrie Bosco writes about the experience of a customer service associate working at the Niagara Falls Public Library, over at the Niagara Falls Review.

The Niagara Falls Public Library in winter is a happening place for locals. The Niagara Falls Review reports.

A Chinese developer hopes that a proposed $C 1.5 billion dollar project in south Niagara Falls will still go forward. The Niagara Falls Review reports.

Niagara Falls is going to have a hard time replacing city historian Sherman Zavitz. The Niagaa Falls Review reports.

Niagara News reports on the Winter Festival of Lights in Niagara Falls.

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[URBAN NOTE] Seven city links: Innisfil, Buffalo, Ottawa, Montréal, Winnipeg, Amsterdam, Singapore

The town of Innisfil is looking forward to some very futuristic developments. Global News reports.

Jeremy Deaton at CityLab reports on how, buffered by the Great Lakes, Buffalo NY may end gaining from climate change.

The Ottawa chain Bridgehead Coffee has been sold to national chain Second Cup. Global News reports.

Many of the more eye-raising installations in the Gay Village of Montréal have since been removed. CTV News reports.

Warming huts for homeless people in Winnipeg were torn down because the builders did not follow procedures. Global News reports.

Open Democracy looks at innovative new public governance of the city budget in Amsterdam, here.

Singapore, located in a well-positioned Southeast Asia and with working government, may take over from Hong Kong. Bloomberg View makes the case.

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[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

Bad Astronomer considers how a stellar-mass black hole of 70 solar masses got so unaccountably huge.

Alex Tolley at Centauri Dreams considers the colours of photosynthesis, and how they might reveal the existence of life on exoplanets.

The Dragon's Tales shares some links on humans in the Paleolithic.

Jonathan Wynn at the Everyday Sociology Blog considers the scripts of jokes.

Gizmodo reports on the repurposed China-Netherlands radio telescope operating from an orbit above the far side of the Moon.

JSTOR Daily considers the political rhetoric of declinism.

Language Log considers the controversy over the future of the apostrophe.

James Butler at the LRB Blog notes a YouGov prediction of a Conservative majority in the UK and how this prediction is not value-neutral.

Marginal Revolution shares a paper from India noting how caste identities do affect the labour supply.

Ursula Lindsay at the NYR Daily considers if the political crisis in Lebanon, a product of economic pressures and sectarianism, might lead to a revolutionary transformation of the country away from sectarian politics.

Jim Belshaw at Personal Reflections looks at some of the many complicated and intermingled issues of contemporary Australia.

The Planetary Society Blog reports on the latest projects funded by the ESA.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel shares ten beautiful photos taken in 2019 by the Hubble.

Strange Company reports on the strange unsolved disappearance of Lillian Richey from her Idaho home in 1964.

Window on Eurasia shares a Russian criticism of the Ukrainian autocephalous church as a sort of papal Protestantism.

Arnold Zwicky considers the positive potential of homoeros.

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[BLOG] Some Thursday links

Bad Astronomy notes the very odd structure of galaxy NGC 2775.

Dangerous Minds reports on the 1987 riot by punks that wrecked a Seattle ferry.

Bruce Dorminey reports on a new suggestion from NASA that the massive dust towers of Mars have helped dry out that world over eons.

The Everyday Sociology Blog looks at how changing technologies have led to younger people spending more social capital on maintaining relationships with friends over family.

This forum hosted at Gizmodo considers the likely future causes of death of people in coming decades.

In Media Res' Russell Arben Fox reports on the debate in Wichita on what to do with the Century II performance space.

Joe. My. God. reports on the decision of Hungary to drop out of Eurovision, apparently because of its leaders' homophobia.

JSTOR Daily reports on the debunking of the odd theory that the animals and people of the Americas were degenerate dwarfs.

Language Hat reports on how the classics can be served by different sorts of translation.

Robert Farley at Lawyers, Guns and Money considers how Trump's liberation of war criminals relates to folk theories about just wars.

The LRB Blog reports from the ground in the Scotland riding of East Dunbartonshire.

Marginal Revolution shares a paper suggesting that, contrary to much opinion, social media might actually hinder the spread of right-wing populism.

The NYR Daily looks at the nature of the proxy fighters in Syria of Turkey. Who are they?

Drew Rowsome interviews Sensational Sugarbum, star of--among other things--the latest Ross Petty holiday farce.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains why we still need to be able to conduct astronomy from the Earth.

Strange Maps explains the odd division of Europe between east and west, as defined by different subspecies of mice.

Window on Eurasia notes how Chinese apparently group Uighurs in together with other Central Asians of similar language and religion.

Arnold Zwicky explores the concept of onomatomania.

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[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait shares a stunning photo taken by a friend of the Pleiades star cluster.

The Buzz, at the Toronto Public Library, shares a collection of books suitable for World Vegan Month, here.

Henry Farrell at Crooked Timber considers, with an eye towards China and the Uighurs, how panopticon attempts can stray badly on account of--among other things--false assumptions.

Gizmodo considers how antimatter could end up providing interesting information about the unseen universe.

Joe. My. God. reports from New York City, where new HIV cases are dropping sharply on account of PrEP.

JSTOR Daily shares a vintage early review of Darwin's Origin of Species.

Language Hat examines the origins of the semicolon, in Venice in 1494.

Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money shares a critical report of the new Jill Lepore book These Truths.

The LRB Blog reports from the Museum of Corruption in Kyiv, devoted to the corruption of the ancient regime in Ukraine.

Marginal Revolution shares a new history of the Lakota.

The NYR Daily looks at the photography of Duane Michals.

The Russian Demographics Blog looks at population trends in Russia, still below 1991 totals in current frontiers.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains why some of the lightest elements, like lithium, are so rare.

Window on Eurasia shares the opinion of a Russian historian that Eastern Europe is back as a geopolitical zone.

Arnold Zwicky considers Jacques Transue in the light of other pop culture figures and trends.

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[BLOG] Some Sunday links

Architectuul visits the studio of Barbas Lopes Arquitectos in Lisbon, here.

Bad Astronomer takes a look at a new paper examining the effectiveness of different asteroid detection technologies, including nuclear weapons.

Centauri Dreams reports on a new study suggesting potentially habitable planets orbiting Alpha Centauri B, smaller of the two stars, could suffer from rapid shifts of their axes.

John Quiggin at Crooked Timber argues some polls suggest some American conservatives really would prefer Russia as a model to California.

Bruce Dorminey notes the discovery, by the Murchison Widefield Array in Australia, of 27 supernova remnants in our galaxy.

The Dragon's Tales shares a collection of links about stealth aircraft, here.

Gizmodo notes a new study suggesting that DNA is but one of very very many potential genetic molecules.

Language Hat shares a reevaluation of the Richard Stanyhurst translation of the Aeneid, with its manufactured words. Why mightn't this have been not mockable but rather creative?

Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money celebrated the 50th anniversary of the takeover of Alcatraz Island by Native American activists.

Chris Bertram writes at the LRB Blog, after the catastrophe of the Essex van filled with dozens of dead migrants, about the architecture of exclusion that keeps out migrants.

Marginal Revolution shares a comment looking at the fentanyl crisis from a new angle.

Jenny Uglow writes at the NYR Daily about a Science Museum exhibit highlighting the dynamic joys of science and its progress over the centuries.

Personal Reflections' Jim Belshaw takes a look at the question of how to prevent the wildfires currently raging in Australia. What could have been done, what should be done?

The Planetary Society Blog reports on proposals from China for two long-range probe missions to interstellar space, including a Neptune flyby.

Drew Rowsome reviews the wonderfully innocent Pinocchio currently playing at the Young People's Theatre.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel looks at the evidence for the universe, maybe, being closed.

Window on Eurasia notes that the Alexandria Patriarchate is the next Orthodox body to recognize the Ukrainian church.

Arnold Zwicky looks at irregular versus regular, as a queer word too.

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[BLOG] Some Friday links

(A day late, I know; I crashed after work yesterday.)

Antipope's Charlie Stross has a thought experiment: If you were superwealthy and guaranteed to live a long health life, how would you try to deal with the consequence of economic inequality?

Vikas Charma at Architectuul takes a look at the different factors that go into height in buildings.

Bad Astronomy notes S5-HVS1, a star flung out of the Milky Way Galaxy by Sagittarius A* at 1755 kilometres per second.

The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly shares photos from two Manhattan walks of hers, taken in non-famous areas.

Centauri Dreams looks at habitability for red dwarf exoplanets. Stellar activity matters.

Maria Farrell at Crooked Timber shares words from a manifesto about data protection in the EU.

Dangerous Minds shares photos from Los Angeles punks and mods and others in the 1980s.

Bruce Dorminey notes a ESA report suggesting crew hibernation could make trips to Mars easier.

Gizmodo notes that the Hayabusa2 probe of Japan is returning from asteroid Ryugu with a sample.

Imageo shares photos of the disastrous fires in Australia from space.

Information is Beautiful reports on winners of the Information is Beautiful Awards for 2019, for good infographics.

JSTOR Daily explains how local television stations made the ironic viewing of bad movies a thing.

Kotaku reports on the last days of Kawasaki Warehouse, an arcade in Japan patterned on the demolished Walled City of Kowloon.

Language Hat notes how translation mistakes led to the star Beta Cygni gaining the Arabic name Albireo.

Language Log reports on a unique Cantonese name of a restaurant in Hong Kong.

Robert Farley at Lawyers, Guns and Money links to an analysis of his suggesting the military of India is increasingly hard-pressed to counterbalance China.

The LRB Blog notes the catastrophe of Venice.

Marginal Revolution notes a paper suggesting states would do well not to place their capitals too far away from major population centres.

Justin Petrone at North! remarks on a set of old apple preserves.

The NYR Daily looks at how the west and the east of the European Union are divided by different conceptions of national identity.

Jim Belshaw at Personal Reflections reports from his town of Armidale as the smoke from the Australian wildfires surrounds all. The photos are shocking.

Emily Lakdawalla at the Planetary Society Blog lists some books about space suitable for children.

Drew Rowsome reviews the Canadian film music stand, inspired by the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike.

The Russian Demographics Blog shares a paper noting that, in Switzerland, parenthood does not make people happy.

The Signal notes that 1.7 million phone book pages have been scanned into the records of the Library of Congress.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains the concept of multi-messenger astronomy and why it points the way forward for studies of astrophysics.

Strange Maps looks at how a majority of students in the United States attend diverse schools, and where.

Strange Company explores the mysterious death of Marc-Antoine Calas, whose death triggered the persecution of Huguenots and resulted in the mobilization of Enlightenment figures like Voltaire against the state. What happened?

Towleroad hosts a critical, perhaps disappointed, review of the major gay play The Inheritance.

Understanding Society's Daniel Little looks at the power of individual people in political hierarchies.

Window on Eurasia shares an opinion piece noting how many threats to the Russian language have come from its association with unpopular actions by Russia.

Arnold Zwicky explores queens as various as Elizabeth I and Adore Delano.

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[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

Bad Astronomer notes the circumstances of the discovery of a low-mass black hole, only 3.3 solar masses.

Crooked Timber shares a photo of the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul.

The Crux looks at Monte Verde, the site in Chile that has the evidence of the oldest human population known to have lived in South America.

The Dragon's Tales notes that Russia may provide India with help in the design of its Gaganyaan manned capsule.

L.M. Sacasas at The Frailest Thing talks of his work, including his upcoming conference and his newsletter, The Convivial Society. (Subscribe at the website.)

Gizmodo shares the Voyager 2 report from the edges of interstellar space.

JSTOR Daily looks at the East India Company and its corporate lobbying.

Language Hat shares an account from Ken Liu of the challenges in translating The Three Body Problem, linguistic and otherwise.

Language Log looks at the problems faced by the word "liberation" in Hong Kong.

Dan Nexon at Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at the implications of the surprising new relationship between Russia and the Philippines.

Marginal Revolution seems to like Terminator: Dark Fate, as a revisiting of the series' origins, with a Mesoamerican twist.

Sean Marshall announces his attendance at a transit summit in Guelph on Saturday the 9th.

Garry Wills writes at the NYR Daily about his experience as a man in the mid-20th century American higher education looking at the rise of women.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel looks at the strangely faint distant young galaxy MACS2129-1.

Window on Eurasia considers the possibility of Latvia developing a national Eastern Orthodox church of its own.

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[NEWS] Six technology links

Carl Newport at WIRED argues that past generations have never been as suspicious of technology as we now think, here.

Anthropologist Darren Byler at The Conversation argues, based on his fieldwork in Xinjiang, how Uighurs became accustomed to the opportunities of new technologies until they were suddenly caught in a trap.

James Verini at WIRED notes how the fighting around Mosul in the fall of ISIS could be called the first smartphone war.

National Observer looks at how Québec is so far leading Canada in the development of clean technologies, including vehicles.

VICE reports on how a Christian rock LP from the 1980s also hosted a Commodore 64 computer program.

Megan Molteni at WIRED looks at a new, more precise, CRISPR technique that could be used to fix perhaps most genetic diseases.

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[BLOG] Some Sunday links

Adam Fish at anthro{dendum} shares a new take on the atmosphere, as a common good.

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait shares a photo of Earth taken from a hundred million kilometres away by the OSIRIS-REx probe.

The Crux tells the story of how the first exoplanets were found.

D-Brief notes that life could be possible on a planet orbiting a supermassive black hole, assuming it could deal with the blueshifting.

io9 looks at the latest bold move of Archie Comics.

JSTOR Daily explores cleaning stations, where small fish clean larger ones.

Dan Nexon at Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at the role China seeks to play in a remade international order.

The Map Room Blog looks at the new upcoming national atlas of Estonia.

Marginal Revolution touches on the great ambition of Louis XIV for a global empire.

Steve Baker of The Numerati shares photos from his recent trip to Spain.

Anya Schiffrin at the NRY Daily explains how American journalist Varian Fry helped her family, and others, escape the Nazis.

Drew Rowsome reviews the classic movie The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

Frank Jacobs at Strange Maps shares a map looking at the barriers put up by the high-income world to people moving from outside.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel answers the complex question of how, exactly, the density of a black hole can be measured.

John Scalzi at Whatever reviews Gemini Man. Was the high frame rate worth it?

Window on Eurasia notes the deep hostility of Tuvins towards a large Russian population in Tuva.

Arnold Zwicky considers the existential question of self-aware cartoon characters.

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[BLOG] Some Saturday links

Adam Fish at anthro{dendum} compares different sorts of public bathing around the world, from Native America to Norden to Japan.

Charlie Stross at Antipope is unimpressed by the person writing the script for our timeline.

Architectuul reports on an architectural conference in Lisbon.

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait shares stunning photos of the eruption of the Raikoke volcano in Kamchatka.

Centauri Dreams looks at what the Voyager spacecraft have returned about the edge of the solar system.

John Quiggin at Crooked Timber takes issue with the idea of bipartisanship if it means compromising on reality, allegorically.

The Crux counts the number of people who have died in outer space.

D-Brief notes that the Andromeda Galaxy has swallowed up multiple dwarf galaxies over the eons.

Dead Things notes the identification of the first raptor species from Southeast Asia, Siamraptor suwati.

The Dragon's Tales notes a paper tracing the origins of interstellar comet 2/Borisov from the general area of Kruger 60.

Karen Sternheimer at the Everyday Sociology Blog writes about the privilege allowing people access to affordable dental care.

Gizmodo tells how Alexei Leonov survived the first spacewalk.

io9 looks at the remarkable new status quo for the X-Men created by Jonathan Hickman.

Selma Franssen at the Island Review writes about the threats facing the seabirds of the Shetlands.

JSTOR Daily looks at what led Richard Nixon to make so many breaks from the American consensus on China in the Cold War.

Language Log notes an undergraduate course at Yale using the Voynich Manuscript as an aid in the study of language.

Abigail Nussbaum at Lawyers, Guns and Money explains her recent experience of the socialized health care system of Israel for Americans.

The LRB Blog looks at how badly the Fukuyama prediction of an end to history has aged.

The Map Room Blog shares a few maps of the new Ottawa LRT route.

Marginal Revolution notes a paper establishing a link between Chinese industries undermining their counterparts in Mexico and Mexican social ills including crime.

Sean Marshall reports from Ottawa about what the Confederation Line looks like.

Adam Shatz at the NYR Daily looks at the power of improvisation in music.

Roads and Kingdoms looks at South Williamsburg Jewish deli Gottlieb's.

Drew Rowsome reviews the new Patti Smith book, Year of the Monkey.

The Russian Demographics Blog shares a paper looking as the factors leading into transnational movements.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel considers the question of the direction(s) in which order in the universe was generated.

Window on Eurasia shares a report noting the very minor flows of migration from China to Russia.

Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell looks at the politics in the British riding of Keighley.

Arnold Zwicky looks at some penguin socks.

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[BLOG] Some Friday links

Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait notes new research on where the sun is located within the Milky Way Galaxy.

The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly considers the value of slow fashion.

Centauri Dreams notes the different gas giants that our early methods have yet to pick up.

Crooked Timber shares a lovely photo looking back at Venice from across its lagoon.

D-Brief notes that upcoming space telescopes might find hundreds of rogue planets thanks to microlensing.

io9 notes that Marvel will soon be producing Warhammer40K comics.

The Island Review shares some poetry and photography by Ken Cockburn inspired by the Isle of Jura.

JSTOR Daily notes that different humpback whale groups have different songs, different cultures.

Language Hat tries to find the meaning of the odd Soviet Yiddish word "kolvirt".

Paul Campos at Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at the history of Elizabeth Warren as a law teacher.

Map Room Blog shares information from Google Maps about its use of data.

Marginal Revolution notes that in 2016, not a single child born in the United Kingdom was given the name Nigel.

Peter Watts talks about AI and what else he is doing.

The NYR Daily marked the centennial of a horrible massacre of African-Americans centered on the Arkansas community of Elaine.

Emily Margolis at the Planetary Society Blog looks at how the Apollo moon missions helped galvanize tourism in Florida.

Noel Maurer at The Power and the Money looks at the constitutional crisis in Peru.

Drew Rowsome takes a look at A Streetcar Named Desire.

Peter Rukavina looks at a spreadsheet revealing the distribution of PEI public servants.

Spacing reviews a book imagining how small communities can rebuild themselves in neoliberalism.

Towleroad shares the criticism of Christine and the Queens of the allegedly opportunistic use of queer culture by Taylor Swift.

Understanding Society considers, sociologically, the way artifacts work.

The Volokh Conspiracy argues that the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the People's Republic of China should be a day of mourning, on account of the high human toll of the PRC.

Window on Eurasia suggests the Russian generation of the 1970s was too small to create lasting change.

Arnold Zwicky looks at how underwear ads can be quite sexualized.

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[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Montréal, New Orleans, Berlin, Hasankeyf, Hong Kong

Why not build a public beach in the Montréal neighbourhood of Lachine? Global News considers.

The Vietnamese cuisine of New Orleans does look good. VICE reports.

CityLab describes an effort to build a smart city in Berlin, in Siemensstadt. I wish Berliners better outcomes than what Toronto seems to be getting in the Port Lands.

Guardian Cities reports on what seems to me to be a terrible plan to flood the ancient settlement of Hasankeyf in Turkey for dams.

Saša Petricic at CBC looks at how the political consensus in Hong Kong has broken down, perhaps irretrievably.

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[BLOG] Some Thursday links

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait reports suggestions the bizarre happenings at Boyajian's Star could be explained by an evaporating exomoon.

Centauri Dreams looks at how the crowdsourced evScope telescope is being used to support the Lucy mission to the Jupiter Trojans.

The Crux explains the phenomenon of misophobia.

D-Brief shares suggestions that an asteroid collision a half-billion years ago released clouds of dust that, reaching Earth, triggered the mid-Ordovician ice age.

Dangerous Minds shares video of a perhaps underwhelming meeting of William Burroughs with Francis Bacon.

io9 makes the case for more near-future space exploration movies like Ad Astra.

Joe. My. God. notes a Trump retweeting of the lie that Ilham Omar celebrated on 9/11.

JSTOR Daily notes how fire could destroy the stressed rainforest of the Amazon.

Scott Lemieux at Lawyers, Guns and Money notes how few judges in the US have been impeached.

The LRB Blog looks at how the already tenuous position of Haitians in the Bahamas has been worsened by Dorian.

The Map Room Blog looks at the importance of the integrity of official maps in the era of Trump.

Marginal Revolution looks at the political importance of marriage ceremonies in Lebanon and Gaza.

Drew Rowsome interviews the Zakar Twins on the occasion of their new play Pray the Gay Away, playing in Toronto in October.

The Russian Demographic Blog shares statistics on birthrates in the different provinces of the Russian Empire circa 1906.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel reports on the first experiment done on the photoelectric effect, revealing quantum mechanics.

Window on Eurasia looks at growing anti-Chinese sentiments in Central Asia.

Arnold Zwicky looks at "The Hurtful Dog", a Cyanide and Happiness cartoon.

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[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes that mysterious Boyajian's Star has nearly two dozen identified analogues, like HD 139139.

James Bow reports from his con trip to Portland.

Caitlin Kelly at the Broadside Blog notes the particular pleasure of having old friends, people with long baselines on us.

Centauri Dreams describes a proposed mission to interstellar comet C/2019 Q4 (Borisov).

The Crux notes how feeding cows seaweed could sharply reduce their methane production.

D-Brief notes that comet C/2019 Q4 is decidedly red.

Bruce Dorminey notes a claim that water-rich exoplanet K2-18b might well have more water than Earth.

Gizmodo reports on a claim that Loki, biggest volcano on Io, is set to explode in a massive eruption.

io9 notes that Warner Brothers is planning a Funko Pop movie.

Joe. My. God. notes the claim of Donald Trump that he is ready for war with Iran.

JSTOR Daily looks at how people in early modern Europe thought they could treat wounds with magic.

Language Hat considers how "I tip my hat" might, translated, sound funny to a speaker of Canadian French.

Language Log considers how speakers of Korean, and other languages, can find word spacing a challenge.

Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at the partisan politics of the US Supreme Court.

At the NYR Daily, Naomi Klein makes a case for the political and environmental necessity of a Green New Deal.

Peter Watts takes apart a recent argument proclaiming the existence of free will.

Peter Rukavina tells how travelling by rail or air from Prince Edward Island to points of the mainland can not only be terribly inconvenient, but environmentally worse than car travel. PEI does need better rail connections.

The Russian Demographics Blog examines how different countries in Europe will conduct their census in 2020.

Window on Eurasia shares the arguments of a geographer who makes the point that China has a larger effective territory than Russia (or Canada).

Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell looks at a 1971 prediction by J.G. Ballard about demagoguery and guilt, something that now looks reasonably accurate.

Arnold Zwicky considers models of segregation of cartoon characters from normal ones in comics.

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[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

Ryan Anderson at anthro{dendum} looks at the unnatural history of the beach in California, here.

Architectuul looks at the architectural imaginings of Iraqi Shero Bahradar, here.

Bad Astronomy looks at gas-rich galaxy NGC 3242.

James Bow announces his new novel The Night Girl, an urban fantasy set in an alternate Toronto with an author panel discussion scheduled for the Lillian H. Smith Library on the 28th.

Centauri Dreams looks at the indirect evidence for an exomoon orbiting WASP-49b, a possible Io analogue detected through its ejected sodium.

Crooked Timber considers the plight of holders of foreign passports in the UK after Brexit.

The Crux notes that astronomers are still debating the nature of galaxy GC1052-DF2, oddly lacking in dark matter.

D-Brief notes how, in different scientific fields, the deaths of prominent scientists can help progress.

Bruce Dorminey notes how NASA and the ESA are considering sample-return missions to Ceres.

Andrew LePage at Drew Ex Machina looks at the first test flights of the NASA Mercury program.

The Dragon's Tales looks at how Japan is considering building ASAT weapons.

Andrew LePage at Drew Ex Machina looks at the first test flights of the NASA Mercury program.

Far Outliers looks how the anti-malarial drug quinine played a key role in allowing Europeans to survive Africa.

At In Media Res, Russell Arben Fox considers grace and climate change.

io9 reports on how Jonathan Frakes had anxiety attacks over his return as Riker on Star Trek: Picard.

JSTOR Daily reports on the threatened banana.

Language Log looks at the language of Hong Kong protesters.

Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money notes how a new version of The Last of the Mohicans perpetuates Native American erasure.

Marginal Revolution notes how East Germany remains alienated.

Neuroskeptic looks at the participant-observer effect in fMRI subjects.

The NYR Daily reports on a documentary looking at the India of Modi.

Corey S. Powell writes at Out There about Neptune.

The Planetary Society Blog examines the atmosphere of Venus, something almost literally oceanic in its nature.

Noel Maurer at The Power and the Money considers how Greenland might be incorporated into the United States.

Rocky Planet notes how Earth is unique down to the level of its component minerals.

The Russian Demographics Blog considers biopolitical conservatism in Poland and Russia.

Starts With a Bang's Ethan Siegel considers if LIGO has made a detection that might reveal the nonexistence of the theorized mass gap between neutron stars and black holes.

Frank Jacobs at Strange Maps looks at Marchetti's constant: People in cities, it seems, simply do not want to commute for a time longer than half an hour.

Understanding Society's Daniel Little looks at how the US Chemical Safety Board works.

Window on Eurasia reports on how Muslims in the Russian Far North fare.

Arnold Zwicky looks at cannons and canons.