rfmcdonald | Entries tagged with former soviet union

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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.

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.

Window on Eurasia notes the post-Soviet collapse of the numbers of learners of the Russian language, here.

Window on Eurasia reports the claim of a Russian politician that in 1991, securing the nuclear arsenal of Ukraine was a bigger priority than trying for borders changes, here.

Window on Eurasia notes how Belarus cannot protect itself from Russia, here.

Window on Eurasia explains why the Soviet Union let the Armenians and Georgians keep their alphabets, here.

Window on Eurasia explains how Russia's naval and marine power is not doing well, here.

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.

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.

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.

Anthrodendum features a guest post from editors introducing a series on fieldwork and trauma.

Crooked Timber's John Quiggin takes a stab at trying to define neoliberalism as an ideology, not just a catch-all phrase.

The Crux looks at desalination, a difficult process that we may need to use regardless of its difficulty.

D-Brief notes that narcissism is linked to lower levels of stress and depression.

Jezebel notes the return and legacy of Bratz dolls.

Joe. My. God. shares the Sam Smith cover of the Donna Summer classic "I Feel Love", along with other versions of that song.

JSTOR Daily considers if graphene will ever become commercially usable.

Dan Nexon at Lawyers, Guns and Money links to an analysis warning about commercial debt. Another 2008?

Marginal Revolution points to some papers suggesting that cannabis usage does not harm cognition, that the relationship is if anything reversed.

Daphne Merkin at the NYR Daily looks back at her literary life, noting people now gone.

Drew Rowsome reviews the new Daniel MacIvor play Let's Run Away.

The Volokh Conspiracy looks at how the Trump Administration lost two cases against sanctuary cities.

Window on Eurasia considers, briefly, the idea of Gorbachev giving to Germany Kaliningrad, last remnant of East Prussia.

Worthwhile Canadian Initiative looks at the rises in health spending directed towards young people. Is this a warning sign of poor health?

Arnold Zwicky looks at Gaysper, and then at other queer ghosts.

Bad Astronomy notes the mystery of distant active galaxy SDSS J163909+282447.1, with a supermassive black hole but few stars.

Centauri Dreams shares a proposal from Robert Buckalew for craft to engage in planned panspermia, seeding life across the galaxy.

The Crux looks at the theremin and the life of its creator, Leon Theremin.

D-Brief notes that termites cannibalize their dead, for the good of the community.

Dangerous Minds looks at William Burroughs' Blade Runner, an adaptation of a 1979 science fiction novel by Alan Nourse.

Bruce Dorminey notes a new study explaining how the Milky Way Galaxy, and the rest of the Local Group, was heavily influenced by its birth environment.

JSTOR Daily looks at why the Chernobyl control room is now open for tourists.

Dale Campos at Lawyers. Guns and Money looks at the effects of inequality on support for right-wing politics.

James Butler at the LRB Blog looks at the decay and transformation of British politics, with Keith Vaz and Brexit.

Marginal Revolution shares a paper explaining why queens are more warlike than kings.

Omar G. Encarnación at the NYR Daily looks at how Spain has made reparations to LGBTQ people for past homophobia. Why should the United States not do the same?

Corey S. Powell at Out There shares his interview with physicist Sean Carroll on the reality of the Many Worlds Theory. There may be endless copies of each of us out there. (Where?)

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains why 5G is almost certainly safe for humans.

Strange Company shares a newspaper clipping reporting on a haunting in Wales' Plas Mawr castle.

Frank Jacobs at Strange Maps looks at all the different names for Africa throughout the years.

The Volokh Conspiracy considers, in the case of the disposal of eastern Oklahoma, whether federal Indian law should be textualist. (They argue against.)

Window on Eurasia notes the interest of the government of Ukraine in supporting Ukrainians and other minorities in Russia.

Arnold Zwicky looks at syntax on signs for Sloppy Joe's.

Bad Astronomy looks at ALMA's observations of the birth of binary star system, here.

The Buzz, at the Toronto Public Library, announces the Governor-General's Literary Awards from 2019, here.

Centauri Dreams notes how we might be able to find a wormhole at the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy.

The Crux commemorates the enormously successful and long-lasting Voyager missions.

D-Brief notes a self-tending swarm search and rescue drones.

Bruce Dorminey notes how the first discoveries of exoplanets were a consequence of innovative technology and thinking.

Steve Attewell at Lawyers, Guns and Money notes that he is talking about the new idea in X-Men of a mutant nation-state over at Graphic Policy Radio.

The LRB Blog notes Manif pour Tous mobilizing against new human reproduction laws in France.

Marginal Revolution looks at how the drug war in Mexico has been getting worse.

Neuroskeptic considers: What traits would a human population adapted to contemporary environmental pressures exhibit?

The NYR Daily looks at a new exhibition of critical Internet-related art by Meriam Bennani.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel looks at a remarkable double gravitational lens, and what it reveals about the universe.

Window on Eurasia notes that although half of working-age people in Uzbekistan have been educated in the Latin script, many remain fluent in Cyrillic.

Arnold Zwicky considers the many implications of fried pickles with ranch dressing.

Bad Astronomy notes a new detailed study suggesting that asteroid Hygeia is round. Does this mean it is a dwarf planet?

The Buzz notes that the Toronto Public Library has a free booklet on the birds of Toronto available at its branches.

Crooked Timber looks forward to a future, thanks to Trump, without the World Trade Organization.

D-Brief notes how the kelp forests off California were hurt by unseasonal heat and disease.

Bruce Dorminey notes an impending collision of supergalactic clusters.

Karen Sternheimer at the Everyday Sociology Blog looks at how judgement can complicate collective action.

Language Hat looks at the different definitions of the word "mobile".

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=44807

Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money notes how, if anything, climate scientists make conservative claims about their predictions.

Marginal Revolution wonders if planned power outages are a good way to deal with the threat of wildfires in California.

The NYR Daily looks at the ethnic cleansing being enabled by Turkey in Kurdish Syria.

Corey S. Powell at Out There interviews archeologist Arthur Lin about his use of space-based technologies to discovery traces of the past.

The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer looks at the staggering inequality in Chile, driver of the recent protests.

At Roads and Kingdoms, Anthony Elghossain reports from the scene of the mass protests in Lebanon.

Drew Rowsome tells how his balcony garden fared this year.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel looks at stellar generations in the universe. (Our sun is a third-generation star.)

Strange Company looks at the murder of a girl five years old in Indiana in 1898. Was the neighbor boy twelve years old accused of the crime the culprit?

Denis Colombi at Une heure de peine takes a look at social mobility in France.

Understanding Society's Daniel Little considers economic historians and their study of capitalism.

Window on Eurasia looks at the pro-Russian policies of the Moldova enclave of Gagauzia, and draws recommendations for Ukraine re: the Donbas.

What will become of the Azerbaijani language in education in Iran? More here.

Is a Russia-Belarus state union feasible? More here.

Is Estonia, as some would have it, a viable model for the Finnic Mordvin peoples of the Russian interior? More here.

Will Russia be happy with its alliance with China if this makes it a secondary partner, a relatively weaker exporter of resources? More here.

How many Muslims are there in Moscow, and what import does the controversy over their numbers carry? More here.

Is the Russian fertility rate set to stagnate, leading to long-term sharp decline? More here.

If 10% of the Russian working-age population has emigrated, this has serious consequences for the future of Russia. More here.

Irredentism in Kazakhstan, inspired by the example of Crimea, is just starting to be a thing. More here.

The decline of Russian populations in the north of Kazakhstan, and the growth of Uzbeks, is noteworthy. More here.

The different Russian proposals for the future of the Donbas, an analyst notes, are built to keep Ukraine a neutral country. More here.

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes how a photo of the Large Magellanic Cloud makes him recognize it as an irregular spiral, not a blob.

Centauri Dreams celebrates the life of cosmonaut Alexei Leonov.

John Quiggin at Crooked Timber takes issue with one particular claim about the benefits of war and empire.

The Crux looks at fatal familial insomnia, a genetic disease that kills through inflicting sleeplessness on its victims.

D-Brief looks at suggestions that magnetars are formed by the collisions of stars.

Dangerous Minds introduces readers to the fantasy art of Arthur Rackham.

Cody Delistraty considers some evidence suggesting that plants have a particular kind of intelligence.

The Dragon's Tales notes the expansion by Russia of its airbase in Hneymim, Syria.

Karen Sternheimer writes at the Everyday Sociology Blog about the critical and changing position of libraries as public spaces in our cities.

Gizmodo looks at one marvelous way scientists have found to cheat quantum mechanics.

Information is Beautiful outlines a sensible proposal to state to cultivate seaweed a as source of food and fuel.

io9 notes that, in the exciting new X-Men relaunch, immortal Moira MacTaggart is getting her own solo book.

JSTOR Daily notes how the now-defunct Thomas Cook travel agency played a role in supporting British imperialism, back in the day.

Language Log notes that the Oxford English Dictionary is citing the blog on the use of "their" as a singular.

Scott Lemieux at Lawyers, Guns and Money considers the grounds for impeaching Donald Trump.

The LRB Blog looks at the politics of Mozambique at the country approaches dangerous times.

Sean Marshall notes the southern Ontario roads that run to Paris and to London.

Neuroskeptic notes a problematic scientific study that tried to use rabbits to study the female human orgasm.

Steve Baker at The Numerati looks at a new book on journalism by veteran Peter Copeland.

The NYR Daily makes the point that depending on biomass as a green energy solution is foolish.

The Planetary Science Blog notes a 1983 letter by then-president Carl Sagan calling for a NASA mission to Saturn and Titan.

Roads and Kingdoms interviews photojournalist Eduardo Leal on his home city of Porto, particularly as transformed by tourism.

Drew Rowsome notes the book Dreamland, an examination of the early amusement park.

The Russian Demographics Blog shares a paper considering, in broad detail, how the consequence of population aging could be mitigated in the labour market of the European Union.

Strange Company reports on a bizarre poltergeist in a British garden shed.

Window on Eurasia notes the new strength of a civic national identity in Kazakhstan, based on extensive polling.

Arnold Zwicky, surely as qualified a linguist as any, examines current verb of the American moment, "depose".

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.

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.

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.

Citizen Science Salon highlights Australian Michelle Neil, here.

Ingrid Robeyns argues at Crooked Timber that the idea of punitive taxation of the superrich is hardly blasphemous.

The Crux looks at the ongoing debate over the age of the rings of Saturn.

io9 notes the sad death of Aron Eisenberg, the actor who brought the character of Nog to life on DS9.

JSTOR Daily shares a debate on the ego and the id, eighty years later.

Lawyers, Guns and Money notes how Mitch McConnell may have started the movement of Elizabeth Warren towards the US presidency.

The Map Room Blog takes a look at the credible and consistent mapping of Star Wars' galaxy.

The NYR Daily looks at Springsteen at 70 as a performer.

Peter Rukavina shares a photo of a New England forest in fall.

The Volokh Conspiracy notes a sticker that straddles the line between anti-Muslim sentiment and misogyny, trying to force people to choose.

Window on Eurasia notes the strong anti-Russian sentiment prevailing in once-independent Tuva.

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.

Bad Astronomy notes the remarkably eccentric orbit of gas giant HR 5138b.

Centauri Dreams notes the impact that large-scale collisions have on the evolution of planets.

Chris Bertram at Crooked Timber noted yesterday that babies born on September 11th in 2001 are now 18 years old, adults.

The Crux notes that some of the hominins in the Sima de los Huesos site in Spain, ancestors to Neanderthals, may have been murdered.

D-Brief reports on the cryodrakon, a pterosaur that roamed the skies above what is now Canada 77 million years ago.

Dangerous Minds looks at the political artwork of Jan Pötter.

Gizmodo notes a poll suggesting a majority of Britons would support actively seeking to communicate with extraterrestrial civilizations.

io9 has a loving critical review of the first Star Trek movie.

JSTOR Daily shares, from April 1939, an essay by the anonymous head of British intelligence looking at the international context on the eve of the Second World War.

Language Log notes a recent essay on the mysterious Voynich manuscript, one concluding that it is almost certainly a hoax of some kind.

Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money considers the future of the labour movement in the United States.

Marginal Revolution considers what sort of industrial policy would work for the United States.

Yardena Schwartz writes at NYR Daily about the potential power of Arab voters in Israel.

Jim Belshaw at Personal Reflections explains why, despite interest, Australia did not launch a space program in the 1980s.

Drew Rowsome provides a queer review of It: Chapter Two.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes how government censorship of science doomed the Soviet Union and could hurt the United States next.

Window on Eurasia notes how, in the Volga republics, recent educational policy changes have marginalized non-Russian languages.

Arnold Zwicky shares a glossy, fashion photography-style, reimagining of the central relationship in the James Baldwin classic Giovanni's Room, arranged by Hilton Als.

The Crux looks at the australopiths, not-so-distant ancestors of modern humans.

Bruce Dorminey notes the interest of NASA in exploring the lunar subsurface, including lava tubes.

Far Outliers looks at the politicking of mid-19th century European explorers in the Sahel.

io9 notes that the new Joker film is getting stellar reviews, aided by the performance of Joaquin Phoenix.

JSTOR Daily explores how, to meet censors' demands, Betty Boop was remade in the 1930s from sex symbol into housewife.

Language Log reports on an utter failure in bilingual Irish/English signage.

Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money shows that a history of slavery in the US (Canada too, I would add) must not neglect the enslavement of indigenous peoples.

Marginal Revolution notes a paper studying San Francisco looking at how rent control did not work.

The NYR Daily considers growing protest against air travel for its impact on global climate.

Drew Rowsome reviews the queer romance film Bathroom Stalls & Parking Lots.

Window on Eurasia notes how the influence of Russia in the former Soviet Union is undone by Russian imperialism.

Arnold Zwicky considers the striking imagery--originally religious--of "carnal weapons".

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.

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