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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.

Victor Mair at Language Log takes a look at the many and varied colloquialisms in the different varieties of Chinese.

Robert Hymes writes a guest post at Language Log examining the word "mare" and its relatives across language families.

Mark Liberman at Language Log considers how the name of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, is to be pronounced.

Victor Mair at Language Log takes a look at the English dialect of Yorkshire.

Bad Astronomer notes a new study explaining how climate change makes hurricanes more destructive.

Centauri Dreams shares a mosaic photo of the sky with Alpha Centauri highlighted.

The Crux shares a paper explaining why the bubonic plague rarely becomes mass epidemics like the Black Death of the 14th century.

D-Brief notes the new ESA satellite ARIEL, which will be capable of determining of exoplanet skies are clear or not.

Gizmodo consults different experts on the subject of smart drugs. Do they work?

JSTOR Daily explains why Native Americans are so prominent in firefighting in the US Southwest.

Language Log looks at evidence for the diffusion of "horse master" between speakers of ancient Indo-European and Sinitic languages.

Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the election of Chesa Boudin as San Francisco District Attorney.

The LRB Blog considers the apparent pact between Farage and Johnson on Brexit.

Marginal Revolution looks at a paper examining longer-run effects of the integration of the US military on racial lines in the Korean War.

The NYR Daily looks at how Big Pharma in the US is trying to deal with the opioid epidemic.

The Signal explains how the Library of Congress is expanding its collections of digital material.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains how future generations of telescopes will be able to directly measure the expansion of the universe.

The Volokh Conspiracy explains why DACA, giving succor to Dreamers, is legal.

Window on Eurasia notes that, after a century of tumult, the economy of Russia is back at the same relative ranking that it enjoyed a century ago.

Arnold Zwicky reports on an old butch cookbook.

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.

Bad Astronomer notes the latest news on interstellar comet 2/Borisov.

The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly emphasizes how every writer does need an editor.

Centauri Dreams notes how the gas giant GJ 3512 b, half the mass of Jupiter orbiting a red dwarf star closely, is an oddly massive exoplanet.

Gina Schouten at Crooked Timber looks at inter-generational clashes on parenting styles.

D-Brief looks at the methods of agriculture that could conceivably sustain a populous human colony on Mars.

Bruce Dorminey argues that we on Earth need something like Starfleet Academy, to help us advance into space.

Colby King at the Everyday Sociology Blog looks at how the socio-spatial perspective helps us understand the development of cities.

io9 looks at Proxima, a contemporary spaceflight film starring Eva Green.

JSTOR Daily looks at how the intense relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia began in, and reflected, the era of Jim Crow.

Language Hat notes a report suggesting that multilingualism helps ward off dementia.

Language Log takes issue with the names of the mascots of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the emergence of a ninth woman complaining about being harassed by Al Franken.

Marginal Revolution links to a new paper arguing that the Washington Consensus worked.

The NYR Daily shares an Aubrey Nolan cartoon illustrating the evacuation of war children in the United Kingdom during the Second World War.

At Out of Ambit, Diane Duane shares a nice collection of links for digital mapmakers.

The Planetary Society Blog looks at how the European Space Agency supports the cause of planetary defense.

Roads and Kingdoms interviews Kenyan writer Kevin Mwachiro at length.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel reports on how a mysterious fast radio burst helped illuminate an equally mysterious galactic halo.

Strange Company reports on the mysterious and unsolved death in 1936 of Canadian student Thomas Moss in an Oxfordshire hayrick.

Frank Jacobs at Strange Maps notes how Mount Etna is a surpassingly rare decipoint.

Understanding Society considers the thought of Kojève, after Hegel, on freedom.

Window on Eurasia looks at the falling numbers of Russians, and of state support for Russian language and culture, in independent Central Asia.

Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell looks at how individual consumer responses are much less effective than concerted collective action in triggering change.

Arnold Zwicky reports on some transgender fashion models.

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.

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.

The Buzz shares a TIFF reading list, here.

Centauri Dreams notes the growing sensitivity of radial velocity techniques in finding weird exoplanet HR 5183 b, here.

The Crux reports on circumgalactic gas and the death of galaxies.

Dead Things notes the import of the discovery of the oldest known Australopithecine skull.

Dangerous Minds reports on pioneering 1930s queer artist Hannah Gluckstein, also known as Gluck.

Gizmodo notes that, for an unnamed reason, DARPA needs a large secure underground testing facility for tomorrow.

JSTOR Daily looks at how Jim Crow laws affected Mexican immigrants in the early 20th century US.

Language Hat looks at a new project to study Irish texts and language over centuries.

Language Log shares some Chinglish signs from a top university in China.

Lawyers, Guns and Money shares an interview with Jeffrey Melnick suggesting Charles Manson was substantially a convenient boogeyman.

Marginal Revolution shares a paper suggesting marijuana legalization is linked to declining crime rates.

Susan Neiman at the NYR Daily tells how she began her life as a white woman in Atlanta and is ending it as a Jewish woman in Berlin.

The Planetary Society Blog looks at Hayabusa2 at Ryugu.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel celebrated the 230th anniversary of Enceladus, the Saturn moon that might harbour life.

Window on Eurasia notes how global warming is harming the rivers of Siberia, causing many to run short.

Anthro{dendum} features an essay examining trauma and resiliency as encountered in ethnographic fieldwork.

Architectuul highlights a new project seeking to promote historic churches built in the United Kingdom in the 20th century.

Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait examines Ahuna Mons, a muddy and icy volcano on Ceres, and looks at the nebula Westerhout 40.

Centauri Dreams notes the recent mass release of data from a SETI project, and notes the discovery of two vaguely Earth-like worlds orbiting the very dim Teegarden's Star, just 12 light-years away.

Chris Bertram at Crooked Timber notes that having universities as a safe space for trans people does not infringe upon academic freedom.

The Crux looks at the phenomenon of microsleep.

D-Brief notes evidence that the Milky Way Galaxy was warped a billion years ago by a collision with dark matter-heavy dwarf galaxy Antlia 2, and notes a robotic fish powered by a blood analogue.

The Dragon's Tales notes that India plans on building its own space station.

Earther notes the recording of the song of the endangered North Pacific right whale.

The Everyday Sociology Blog looks at the role of emotional labour in leisure activities.

Far Outliers looks at how Japan prepared for the Battle of the Leyte Gulf in 1944.

Gizmodo looks at astronomers' analysis of B14-65666, an ancient galactic collision thirteen billion light-years away, and notes that the European Space Agency has a planned comet interception mission.

io9 notes how the plan for Star Trek in the near future is to not only have more Star Trek, but to have many different kinds of Star Trek for different audiences.

Joe. My. God. notes the observation of Pete Buttigieg that the US has probably already had a gay president.

JSTOR Daily looks at the many ways in which the rhetoric of Celtic identity has been used, and notes that the archerfish uses water ejected from its eyes to hunt.

Language Hat looks at why Chinese is such a hard language to learn for second-language learners, and looks at the Suso monastery in Spain, which played a key role in the coalescence of the Spanish language.

Language Log looks at the complexities of katakana.

Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the death of deposed Egypt president Mohammed Morsi looks like a slow-motion assassination, and notes collapse of industrial jobs in the Ohio town of Lordstown, as indicative of broader trends.

The LRB Blog looks at the death of Mohamed Morsi.

The Map Rom Blog shares a new British Antarctic Survey map of Greenland and the European Arctic.

Marginal Revolution notes how non-religious people are becoming much more common in the Middle East, and makes the point that the laying of cable for the transatlantic telegraph is noteworthy technologically.

Noah Smith at Noahpionion takes the idea of the Middle East going through its own version of the Thirty Years War seriously. What does this imply?

The NYR Daily takes a look at a Lebanon balanced somehow on the edge, and looks at the concentration camp system of the United States.

The Planetary Society Blog explains what people should expect from LightSail 2, noting that the LightSail 2 has launched.

Personal Reflections' Jim Belshaw points readers to his stories on Australian spy Harry Freame.

Rocky Planet explains, in the year of the Apollo 50th anniversary, why the Moon matters.

Drew Rowsome reviews, and praises, South African film Kanarie, a gay romp in the apartheid era.

The Russian Demographics Blog links to a paper examining the relationship between childcare and fertility in Belgium, and looks at the nature of statistical data from Turkmenistan.

The Strange Maps Blog shares a map highlighting different famous people in the United States.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains why different galaxies have different amounts of dark matter, and shares proof that the Apollo moon landings actually did happen.

Towleroad notes the new evidence that poppers, in fact, are not addictive.

Window on Eurasia warns about the parlous state of the Volga River.

Arnold Zwicky takes an extended look at the mid-20th century gay poet Frank O'Hara.

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.

Matt Thompson at anthro{dendum} writes about the complex, often anthropological, satire in the comics of Charles Addams.

Architectuul looks at the photography of Roberto Conte.

Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait notes a new computer model suggesting a supernova can be triggered by throwing a white dwarf into close orbit of a black hole.

D-Brief notes how ammonia on the surface of Pluto hints at the existence of a subsurface ocean.

Bruce Dorminey notes how the bombardment of Earth by debris from a nearby supernova might have prompted early hominids to become bipedal.

The Dragon's Tales notes that NASA has awarded its first contract for its plans in lunar space.

Far Outliers notes the reactions, within and without the Soviet Union, to the 1991 Soviet coup attempt.

Matt Novak at Gizmodo's Paleofuture notes how, in 1995, Terry Pratchett predicted the rise of online Nazis.

io9 notes the impending physical release this summer of DVDs of the Deep Space Nine documentary What We Left Behind.

JSTOR Daily suggests some ways to start gardening in your apartment.

Victor Mair at Language Log claims that learning Literary Chinese is a uniquely difficult experience. Thoughts?

The NYR Daily features a wide-ranging interview with EU official Michel Barnier focused particularly, but not exclusively, on Brexit.

The Planetary Society Blog notes that an Internet vote has produced a majority in favour of naming outer system body 2007 OR10 Gonggang.

The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer considers the possibility that foreign investors in Mexico might be at risk, at least feel themselves at risk, from the government of AMLO.

The Signal looks at how the Library of Congress archives spreadsheets.

Van Waffle at the Speed River Journal looks at magenta spreen, a colourful green that he grows in his garden.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes how we on Earth are carelessly wasting irreplaceable helium.

Window on Eurasia refers to reports claiming that a third of the population of Turkmenistan has fled that Central Asian state. Could this be accurate?

Architectuul takes a look at "infrastructural scars", at geopolitically-inspired constructions like border fences and fortifications.

Centauri Dreams notes what we can learn from 99942 Apophis during its 2029 close approach to Earth, just tens of thousands of kilometres away.

D-Brief reports on the reactions of space artists to the photograph of the black hole at the heart of M87.

Dangerous Minds shares the first recording of Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart.

The Dragon's Tales notes that Germany has begun work on drafting laws to cover space mining.

Gizmodo reports on what scientists have learned from the imaging of a very recent impact of an asteroid on the near side of the Moon.

io9 makes the case that Star Trek: Discovery should try to tackle climate change.

Joe. My. God. notes that Verizon is seeking a buyer for Tumblr. (Wouldn't it be funny if it was bought, as other reports suggest might be possible, by Pornhub?)

JSTOR Daily reports on a 1910 examination of medical schools that, among other things, shut down all but two African-American medical schools with lasting consequences for African-American health.

Language Log asks why "Beijing" is commonly pronounced as "Beizhing".

Simon Balto asks at Lawyers, Guns and Money why the murder of Justine Ruszczyk by a Minneapolis policeman is treated more seriously than other police killings, just because she was white and the cop was black. All victims deserve the same attention.

Russell Darnley at Maximos62 shares a video of the frieze of the Parthenon.

The NYR Daily responds to the 1979 television adaptation of the Primo Levi novel Christ Stopped at Eboli, an examination of (among other things) the problems of development.

Peter Rukavina is entirely right about the practical uselessness of QR codes.

Daniel Little at Understanding Society points readers towards the study of organizations, concentrating on Charles Perrow.

Window on Eurasia notes the argument of one Russian commentator that Russia should offer to extend citizenship en masse not only to Ukrainians but to Belarusians, the better to undermine independent Belarus.

Arnold Zwicky shares photos of some of his flourishing flowers, as his home of Palo Alto enters a California summer.

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes the many galaxies in the night sky caught mid-collision.

Centauri Dreams reports on the plan of China to send a probe to explore near-Earth co-orbital asteroid 2016 HO3 and comet 133P.

Gizmodo reports, with photos, on the progress of the Chang'e 4 and the Yutu 2 rover, on the far side of the Moon.

Joe. My. God. notes that Bill de Blasio hopes to ban new steel-and-glass skyscrapers in New York City, part of his plan to make the metropolis carbon-neutral.

JSTOR Daily notes a critique of the BBC documentary Planet Earth, arguing the series was less concerned with representing the environment and more with displaying HD television technology.

Language Hat notes the oddities of the name of St. Marx Cemetery in Vienna. How did "Mark" get so amusingly changed?

Language Log looks at how terms for horse-riding might be shared among Indo-European languages and in ancient Chinese.

Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the grounds for the workers of New York's Tenement Museum to unionize.

The NYR Daily notes the efforts of Barnard College Ancient Drama, at Columbia University, to revive Greek drama in its full with music and dance, starting with a Euripedes performance.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel shares some iconic images of the Earth from space for Earth Day.

Architectuul features a photo essay made by Evan Panagopoulos in the course of a hurried three-hour visit to the Socialist Modernist and modern highlights of 20th century Kiev architecture.

Bad Astrronomer Phil Plait notes how the latest planet found in the Kepler-47 circumbinary system evokes Tatooine.

Centauri Dreams looks at tide and radiation, and their impacts on potential habitability, in the TRAPPIST-1 system.

Citizen Science Salon looks at how the TV show Cyberchase can help get young people interested in science and math.

Crooked Timber mourns historian David Brion Davis.

The Crux looks at how the HMS Challenger pioneered the study of the deeps of the oceans, with that ship's survey of the Mariana Trench.

D-Brief looks at how a snowball chamber using supercooled water can be used to hunt for dark matter.

Earther shares photos of the heartbreaking and artificial devastation of the Amazonian rainforest of Brazil.

Gizmodo shares a beautiful Hubble photograph of the southern Crab Nebula.

Information is Beautiful shares a reworked version of the Julia Galef illustration of the San Francisco area meme space.

io9 notes that, fresh from being Thor, Jane Foster is set to become a Valkyrie in a new comic.

JSTOR Daily explains the Victorian fondness for leeches, in medicine and in popular culture.

Language Hat links to an interview with linguist Amina Mettouchi, a specialist in Berber languages.

Language Log shares the report of a one-time Jewish refugee on changing language use in Shanghai, in the 1940s and now.

Lawyers, Guns and Money reports on the horror of self-appointed militias capturing supposed undocumented migrants in the southwestern US.

Marginal Revolution reports on the circumstances in which volunteer militaries can outperform conscript militaries.

At the NYR Daily, Christopher Benfey reports on the surprisingly intense connection between bees and mourning.

Personal Reflections' Jim Belshaw, responding to Israel Folau, considers free expression and employment.

The Planetary Society Blog shares a guest post from Barney Magrath on the surprisingly cheap adaptations needed to make an iPhone suitable for astrophotography.

Peter Rukavina reports on the hotly-contested PEI provincial election of 1966.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains what the discovery of helium hydride actually means.

Understanding Society's Daniel Little praises the Jill Lepore US history These Truths for its comprehensiveness.

Window on Eurasia reports on the growing divergences in demographics between different post-Soviet countries.

Arnold Zwicky starts with another Peeps creation and moves on from there.

Centauri Dreams notes the discovery of rocky debris indicative of destroyed planets in orbit of the white dwarf SDSS J122859.93+104032.9, 400 light-years away.

JSTOR Daily shows how the Columbine massacre led to a resurgence of evangelical Christianity in the US.

Language Log notes an example of digraphia, two scripts, in use in Taiwan.

Lawyers, Guns and Money identifies the presidential run of Howard Schultz in ways unflattering to him yet accurate.

The LRB Blog takes a look at the current, unsettling, stage of artificial intelligence research.

At the NYR Daily, Boyd Tonkin writes about an exhibition of the works of Van Gogh at the Tate Britain highlighting his ties with England and with his Europeanness.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel reports on the ultimate fate of the Earth, a cinder orbiting a black dwarf.

Strange Company tells the strange, sad story of 19th century California writer Yda Hillis Addis.

At Vintage Space, Amy Shira Teitel explains why the Apollo missions made use of a dangerous pure-oxygen environment.

Window on Eurasia notes how, 41 years ago, protests in Georgia forced the Soviet Union to let the Georgian republic keep Georgian as its official language.

Arnold Zwicky starts with peeps and goes on to look at dragons.

Bad Astronomy notes a push by astronomers to enlist help for giving trans-Neptunian object 2007-OR10 a name.

Centauri Dreams reflects on M87*, the supermassive black hole at the heart of M87 recently imaged, with its implications for galactic habitability.

Crooked Timber is right to note that Kirstjen Nielsen, architect of the cruel border policies of Trump, should not be allowed to resume a normal professional life.

The Crux looks at the Event Horizon Telescope Project that imaged M87*.

D-Brief notes that one-quarter of Japanese in their 20s and 30s have remained virgins, and explains why this might be the case.

Far Outliers notes the process of the writing of U.S. Grant's acclaimed memoirs.

Mark Graham highlights a BBC documentary, one he contributed to, asking if artificial intelligence will kill global development.

Gizmodo explains why the image of black hole M87* does not look exactly like the fictional one from the scientifically-grounded Interstellar.

Hornet Stories explains the joys of Hawai'i in fall.

io9 notes that the new Deep Space Nine anniversary documentary is scheduled for a one-day theatrical release. (Will it be in Toronto?)

JSTOR Daily makes the point that mass enfranchisement is the best way to ensure security for all.

Language Hat looks at the kitabs, the books written in Afrikaans using its original Arabic script kept by Cape Malays.

Language Log notes, with examples, some of the uses of the words "black" and "evil" in contemporary China.

Lawyers, Guns and Money makes the point that having a non-octogenarian president is a good idea.

Marginal Revolution shares the thoughts of Samir Varma on the new technologies--better computers, faster travel, artificial life--that may change the world in the near future.

The NYR Daily explores the subversive fairy tales of 19th century Frenchman Édouard Laboulaye.

The Planetary Society Blog notes the sad crash of the Beresheet probe on the surface of the Moon.

Drew Rowsome engages with the body of work of out horror writer John Saul.

Peter Rukavina maps out where Islanders will be voting, and the distances they will travel, in this month's election.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel engages with the possibility that we might be alone. What next? (Myself, I think the idea of humanity as an elder race is fascinating.)

Arnold Zwicky looks at the sort of humour that involves ambiguous adverbs.

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait shows four different images of nearby stellar nursery NGC 1333.

Centauri Dreams looks at the hot Saturn TOI-197, and the way it was detected.

D-Brief notes how galaxy NGC-1052 DF2 has been confirmed as the second galaxy apparently lacking in dark matter.

Gizmodo notes new confirmation, from an orbiting probe, that Curiosity detected methane emanating from Mars back in 2013.

Hornet Stories tries to correct some misconceptions about the Burning Man festival.

The Island Review links to a New York Times profile of post-Maria Puerto Rico.

Joe. My. God. notes that Martin Shkreli has been tossed into solitary confinement.

JSTOR Daily notes the work of psychologists in the 1930s US who profiled individuals who did not fit the gender binary. Would these people have identified themselves as trans or non-binary now?

The LRB Blog notes the fondness of Jacob Rees-Mogg for extreme-right German politicians from the AfD.

Language Log shares a written ad in Cantonese from Hong Kong.

Lawyers, Guns and Money compares China now to the Untied States of the past, and finds interesting correspondences.

Marginal Revolution notes the deep and significant commitment of China under Mao to providing foreign aid.

The NYR Daily looks at the complex, once-overlooked, life and career of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, writer of "The Yellow Wallpaper".

Out There notes that, while dark matter is certainly real, "dark matter" is a poor name for this mysterious substance.

Jason Davis at the Planetary Society Blog considers the challenges to be faced by Hayabusa 2 when it fires a sampling probe into asteroid Ryugu.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel considers how into the universe a spaceship could travel if it accelerated consistently at one gravity.

Strange Company examines the life and adventures of Jeffrey Hudson, a royal dwarf in 17th century England.

Daniel Little at Understanding Society builds on the work of V.K. Ramachandran in considering the ethics of development ethnography.

Window on Eurasia notes the new identification of Azerbaijanis as victims of genocide by neighbours, and what this means for the relations of Azerbaijan.

Arnold Zwicky has fun, in a NSFW fanfic way, with figures from comics contemporary and old.

At Antipope, Charlie Stross announces (among other things) that his series The Laundry Files has been options for television development.

D-Brief notes more evidence for the idea that regular exercise can help psychologically, this study suggesting help to long-term memory.

At the Everyday Sociology Blog, Karen Sternheimer writes about sociologists who study subjects that matter to them, subjects that might personally involve them, even.

Gizmodo notes that astronomers have detected the formation of dark spots on Neptune, akin to those seen by Voyager 2 in its flyby in 1989, for the first time.

JSTOR Daily considers how humans can live alongside crocodiles in peace.

Language Log considers gāngjīng 杠精, a new Chinese word that may well denote "troll".

Erik Loomis writes at Lawyers, Guns and Money about beers that can serve industrial purposes like film development.

The Map Room Blog notes new maps of a modern Westeros created by designer Jamie Shadrach.

Marginal Revolution notes regulatory controversy in Alexandria, Virginia, regarding a potential halal butchery facility for chickens.

Roads and Kingdoms interviews writer L. Kasimu Harris about the inequalities of New Orleans.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel shows readers what the galaxy would look like in electromagnetic frequencies other than those of visible light.

Arnold Zwicky writes about progress in education.

Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait shares Johannes Kroeger's image of the median Earth.

The Crux considers when human societies began to accumulate large numbers of aged people. Would there have been octogenarians in any Stone Age cultures, for instance?

The Dragon's Tales considers Russia's strategy in Southeast Asia.

Alexandra Samuel at JSTOR Daily notes that one way to fight against fake news is for people to broaden their friends networks beyond their ideological sympathizers.

Language Log, noting a television clip from Algeria in which a person defend their native dialect versus standard Arabic, compares the language situation in the Arab world to that of China.

Marginal Revolution's Tyler Cowen explains how the Tervuren Central African museum in Brussels has not been decolonized.

The Planetary Society Blog explores the ice giants, Uranus and Neptune.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains why, in current physics, the multiverse must exist.

Strange Company explores the strange disappearance, in the Arizona desert in 1952, of a young couple. Their plane was found and in perfect condition, but what happened to them?

Strange Maps reports on the tragic migration of six Californian raptors, only one of which managed to make it to its destination.

Towleroad reports on the appearance of actor and singer Ben Platt on The Ellen Show, talking about his career and coming out.

Window on Eurasia notes the apparently widespread mutual dislike of Chechens and Muscovites.

Arnold Zwicky considers the French Impressionist artists Pierre Puvis de Chavannes and Suzanne Valadon, with images of their art.

The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly writes about the importance of seeing the world from new angles.

John Quiggin at Crooked Timber suggests that, worldwide, coal is becoming increasingly closely associated with corruption.

D-Brief looks at a study drawing on Twitter that suggests people will quickly get used to changing weather in the era of climate change.

Jonathan Wynn at the Everyday Sociology Blog writes about a family trip during which he spent time listening to sociology-related podcasts.

Far Outliers notes the life-determining intensity of exam time for young people in Calcutta.

io9 notes that, finally, the classic Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Once More, With Feeling" is being released on vinyl.

JSTOR Daily looks at how medieval Europe regulated the sex trade.

Language Hat looks at how anthropologists have stopped using "hominid" and started using "hominin", and why.

Language Log considers the difficulty of talking about "Sinophone" given the unrepresented linguistic diversity included in the umbrella of "Chinese".

Marginal Revolution suggests there are conflicts between NIMBYism and supporting open immigration policies.

At Out There, Corey S. Powell interviews astronomer Slava Turyshev about the possibility not only of interstellar travel but of exploiting the Solar Gravity Lens, 550 AU away.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 9 mission.

Towleroad notes that Marvel Comics is planning to make its lead character in the Eternals gay.

Daniel Little at Understanding Society examines how the human body and its physical capacities are represented in sociology.

Window on Eurasia notes the growth of the Volga Tatar population of Moscow, something hidden by the high degree of assimilation of many of its members.

Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell notes, in connection to Huawei, the broad powers allotted to the British government under existing security and communications laws.

Arnold Zwicky looks at anteaters and antedaters.

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