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Church and Wellesley bar Woody's has taken advantage of the CaféTO program, setting up tables on sidewalks and parking areas to make up for the inaccessibility of its interior spaces. The barriers protecting the street spaces of Woody's were painted with images of the bar's rhinoceros, each one with different colours and patterns.

Painted rhinoceri of Woody's (1) #toronto #churchandwellesley #churchandwellesley #woodys #woodystoronto #streetart #gaybar #lgbtq #nightclubbing #rhinoceros

Painted rhinoceri of Woody's (2) #toronto #churchandwellesley #churchandwellesley #woodys #woodystoronto #streetart #gaybar #lgbtq #nightclubbing #rhinoceros #canada #red #white

Painted rhinoceri of Woody's (3) #toronto #churchandwellesley #churchandwellesley #woodys #woodystoronto #streetart #gaybar #lgbtq #nightclubbing #rhinoceros #rainbow #progressprideflag

Painted rhinoceri of Woody's (4) #toronto #churchandwellesley #churchandwellesley #woodys #woodystoronto #streetart #gaybar #lgbtq #nightclubbing #rhinoceros #camo

Painted rhinoceri of Woody's (5) #toronto #churchandwellesley #churchandwellesley #woodys #woodystoronto #streetart #gaybar #lgbtq #nightclubbing #rhinoceros #rainbow

Painted rhinoceri of Woody's (6) #toronto #churchandwellesley #churchandwellesley #woodys #woodystoronto #streetart #gaybar #lgbtq #nightclubbing #rhinoceros #canada #red #white

Timely selfie #toronto #dovercourtvillage #me #selfie #plaguedoctor #latex #mask

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.

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 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.

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes the findings that the LISA Pathfinder satellite was impacted by hypervelocity comet fragments.

Centauri Dreams reports on what we have learned about interstellar comet Borisov.

Bruce Dorminey notes the ESA's Matisse instrument, capable of detecting nanodiamonds orbiting distant stars.

Gizmodo reports a new study of the great auk, now extinct, suggesting that humans were wholly responsible for this extinction with their hunting.

The Island Review links to articles noting the existential vulnerability of islands like Venice and Orkney to climate change.

Joe. My. God. reports on the claim of Tucker Carlson--perhaps not believably retracted by him--to be supporting Russia versus Ukraine.

Language Hat reports on the new Indigemoji, emoji created to reflect the culture and knowledge of Aboriginal groups in Australia.

Lawyers, Guns and Money notes one of the sad consequences of the American president being a liar.

James Butler at the LRB Blog writes about the optimism of the spending plans of Labour in the UK, a revived Keynesianism.

Marginal Revolution notes the exceptional cost of apartments built for homeless people in San Francisco.

Strange Maps looks at some remarkable gravity anomalies in parts of the US Midwest.

Towleroad notes the support of Jamie Lee Curtis for outing LGBTQ people who are homophobic politicians.

Understanding Society looks at organizations from the perspective of them as open systems.

Whatever's John Scalzi gives a generally positive review of the Pixel 4.

Arnold Zwicky notes the irony of sex pills at an outpost of British discount chain Poundland.

Architectuul profiles architectural photographer Lorenzo Zandri, here.

Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait notes a new study suggesting red dwarf stars, by far the most common stars in the universe, have plenty of planets.

The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly shares 11 tips for interviewers, reminding me of what I did for anthropology fieldwork.

Centauri Dreams notes how water ice ejected from Enceladus makes the inner moons of Saturn brilliant.

The Crux looks at the increasingly complicated question of when the first humans reached North America.

D-Brief notes a new discovery suggesting the hearts of humans, unlike the hearts of other closely related primates, evolved to require endurance activities to remain healthy.

Dangerous Minds shares with its readers the overlooked 1969 satire Putney Swope.

The Dragon's Tales notes that the WFIRST infrared telescope has passed its first design review.

Gizmodo notes how drought in Spain has revealed the megalithic Dolmen of Guadalperal for the first time in six decades.

io9 looks at the amazing Jonathan Hickman run on the X-Men so far, one that has established the mutants as eye-catching and deeply alien.

Joe. My. God. notes that the Pentagon has admitted that 2017 UFO videos do, in fact, depict some unidentified objects in the air.

JSTOR Daily looks at the origin of the equestrian horseback statue in ancient Rome.

Language Log shares a bilingual English/German pun from Berlin.

Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money reflects on the legacy of Thomas Jefferson at Jefferson's grave.

Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution looks at a new book arguing, contra Pinker perhaps, that the modern era is one of heightened violence.

The New APPS Blog seeks to reconcile the philosophy of Hobbes with that of Foucault on biopower.

Strange Company shares news clippings from 1970s Ohio about a pesky UFO.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains why the idea of shooting garbage from Earth into the sun does not work.

Frank Jacobs at Strange Maps explains the appearance of Brasilia on a 1920s German map: It turns out the capital was nearly realized then.

Towleroad notes that Pete Buttigieg has taken to avoiding reading LGBTQ media because he dislikes their criticism of his gayness.

Arnold Zwicky looks at diners and changing menus and slavery.

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 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.

The federal and provincial governments on PEI are investing millions in Charlottetown transit, substantially in vehicles. Global News reports.
Kevin Yarr at CBC PEI reports on how housing prices in Charlottetown are rising to worryingly high levels, here.

The Founders' Hall food market in Charlottetown looks interesting. CBC PEI reports.

Establishing a national park reserve on the Hog Island Sandhills off northwestern PEI sounds like a good idea to me. CBC PEI reports.

CBC PEI reports on how what was intended to be a light-hearted joke on the chalkboard of Terre Rouge in Charlottetown ended up striking a media frenzy.

Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait considers the question of where, exactly, the dwarf galaxy Segue-1 came from.

Centauri Dreams considers the import of sodium chloride for the water oceans of Europa, and for what they might hold.

D-Brief wonders if dark matter punched a holy in the Milky Way Galaxy.

JSTOR Daily warns that the increasing number of satellites in orbit of Earth might hinder our appreciation of the night sky.

The LRB Blog looks at the complications of democracy and politics in Mauritania.

Marginal Revolution wonders about the nature of an apparently very decentralized city of Haifa.

Corey S. Powell at Out There notes that, while our knowledge of the Big Bang is certainly imperfect, the odds of it being wrong are quite, quite low.

The Planetary Society Blog looks at the Hayabusa 2 exploration of asteroid Ryugu.

Vintage Space examines how Apollo astronauts successfully navigated their way to the Moon.

Window on Eurasia looks at press discussion in Russia around the decriminalization of soft drugs like marijuana.

Arnold Zwicky looks at a comic depicting a "mememobile."

Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait notes the first time that an exoplanet, HR 8799e, has been directly observed using optical interferometry.

Centauri Dreams notes the possibility, demonstrated by the glimpsing of a circumplanetary disc around exoplanet PDS 70b, that we might be seeing a moon system in formation.

The Citizen Science Salon looks what observers in Antarctica are contributing to our wealth of scientific knowledge.

The Dragon's Tales shares links to articles looking at the latest findings on the Precambrian Earth.

The Frailest Thing's L.M. Sacasas writes about his ambivalent response to a Twitter that, by its popularity, undermines the open web.

Gizmodo notes that NASA is going to open up the International Space Station to tourists.

JSTOR Daily looks at how croquet, upon its introduction in the 19th century United States, was seen as scandalous for the way it allowed men and women to mix freely.

Shakezula at Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the unaccountable fondness of at least two Maine Republican legislators for the Confederacy.

Marginal Revolution suggests that the economic success of Israel in recent decades is a triumph of neoliberalism.

Stephen Ellis at the NYR Daily writes about the gymnastics of Willem de Kooning.

Drew Rowsome profiles out comic Brendan D'Souza.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel looks at the still strange galaxy NGC 1052-DF2, apparently devoid of dark matter.

John Scalzi at Whatever shares his theory about a fixed quantity of flavor in strawberries of different sizes.

Window on Eurasia looks at a contentious plan for a territorial swap between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait takes a look at the German city of Nordlingen, formed in a crater created by the impact of a binary asteroid with Earth.

Centauri Dreams reports on the possibility that the farside of the Moon might bear the imprint of an ancient collision with a dwarf planet the size of Ceres.

D-Brief notes that dredging for the expansion of the port of Miami has caused terrible damage to corals there.

Dangerous Minds looks at the last appearances of David Bowie and Iggy Pop together on stage.

The Dragon's Tales notes that China is on track to launch an ambitious robotic mission to Mars in 2020.

Karen Sternheimer at the Everyday Sociology Blog talks about what sociological research actually is.

Gizmodo reports on the discovery of a torus of cool gas circling Sagittarius A* at a distance of a hundredth of a light-year.

io9 reports about Angola Janga, an independent graphic novel by Marcelo D'Salete showing how slaves from Africa in Brazil fought for their freedom and independence.

The Island Review shares some poems of Matthew Landrum, inspired by the Faroe Islands.

Joe. My. God. looks at how creationists are mocking flat-earthers for their lack of scientific knowledge.

Language Hat looks at the observations of Mary Beard that full fluency in ancient Latin is rare even for experts, for reason I think understandable.

Melissa Byrnes wrote at Lawyers, Guns and Money about the meaning of 4 June 1989 in the political transitions of China and Poland.

Marginal Revolution notes how the New York Times has become much more aware of cutting-edge social justice in recent years.

The NYR Daily looks at how the memories and relics of the Sugar Land prison complex outside of Houston, Texas, are being preserved.

Jason C Davis at the Planetary Society Blog looks at the differences between LightSail 1 and the soon-to-be-launched LightSail 2.

The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer looks in detail at the high electricity prices in Argentina.

Peter Rukavina looks at the problems with electric vehicle promotion on PEI.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel looks at when the universe will have its first black dwarf. (Not in a while.)

Window on Eurasia suggests that Belarusians are not as interested in becoming citizens of Russia as an Internet poll suggests.

Arnold Zwicky highlights a Pride Month cartoon set in Antarctica featuring the same-sex marriage of two penguins.

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.

Centauri Dreams notes the remarkable imaging of the atmosphere of HR 8799 e.

Crooked Timber starts a discussion about books that, once picked up, turned out to be as good as promised.

The Crux considers obsidian, known in the Game of Thrones world as dragonglass.

Bruce Dorminey notes that NASA is considering a proposal for a floating Venus probe that would be recharged by microwaves from orbit.The Dragon's Tales shares a report that Russia has developed a new satellite to work with a new anti-satellite weapons system.

Far Outliers notes what U.S. Grant learned from the Mexican-American War, as a strategist and as a politician.

L.M. Sacasas at The Frailest Thing suggests, drawing from the image of M87*, that we have had a world disenchanted by the digital technology used to produce the image.

JSTOR Daily shares what critical theory has to say about the binge-watching of television.

Language Hat notes the Cherokee-language inscriptions on the wall of Manitou Cave.

Language Log considers when the first conversing automaton was built.

Lawyers, Guns and Money takes a look at a corner of 1970s feminism forgotten despite its innovative ideas.

Marginal Revolution considers the idea of restricting some new migrants to particular regions of the United States.

The NYR Daily explores the important new work by Igiaba Scego, Beyond Babylon.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel answers a surprisingly complex question: What is an electron?

Window on Eurasia explains why the cost of a professional military means Russia will not abandon the draft.

Arnold Zwicky explores "johnson" as a euphemism for penis.

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 reports on the massive cloud of material detected around the active galaxy Cygnus A.

The Crux suggests our contemporary problems with wisdom teeth represent not a failure of evolution but rather a failure on our post-Neolithic parts to eat hard foods which stimulate the jaw growth capable of supporting wisdom teeth.

D-Brief notes how the astronomers involved in a planetary effort to image a black hole are preparing to make an announcement next week.

Gizmodo notes how the debris field created in orbit by India testing an anti-satellite weapon threatens the ISS.

Joe. My. God. notes that at least some hotels owned by the Sultan of Brunei are deleting their social media profiles following protests over Brunei's violent anti-gay laws.

JSTOR Daily considers if, between the drop in fertility that developing China was likely to undergo anyway and the continuing resentments of the Chinese, the one-child policy was worth it.

Scott Lemieux at Lawyers, Guns and Money uses a recent New York Times profile to note the sheer influence of Rupert Murdoch worldwide.

The Map Room Blog notes a new exhibition, at the shop of a Manhattan rare book dealer, of a collection of vintage maps of New York City from its foundation, sharing some photos, even.

Marginal Revolution remarks on the rapid growth of Native American numbers in the United States over the past century.

The NYR Daily shares a report from Debbie Bookchin in North Syria arguing that the West needs to help Rojava.

Roads and Kingdoms provides some tips for first-time visitors to the capital of Uruguay, Montevideo.

The Russian Demographics Blog notes the continuing growth in numbers of dead from HIV infection in Russia, with Siberia being a new hotspot.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains how the Event Horizon Telescope project will image a black hole's event horizon, and what questions exist around the project.

Frank Jacobs at Strange Maps shares an Anish Kapoor map demonstrating the Brexit divides in the United Kingdom.

Daniel Little at Understanding Society considers the study of ethical disasters in capitalism, looking at OxyContin as an example.

Window on Eurasia notes continued threats, and continued protests to these threats, surrounding Lake Baikal in Siberia.

Arnold Zwicky has fun with a cartoon that plays on a pun between the words chants and chance.

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait argues that the new American plan to put people on the Moon in 2024 is unlikely to succeed in that timeframe.

The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly considers whether or not women should travel alone, for safety reasons. (That choice is one I've not had to make myself, thanks to my male privilege; I'm very sorry others have to consider this.)

Centauri Dreams shares the thinking of Gregory Benford on Lurkers, self-replicating probes produced by another civilization not signaling their existence to Earth.

Maria Farrell at Crooked Timber argues that policy-making these days is often fundamentally ill-conceived, closing off possibilities for the future.

The Crux notes the remarkable powers of beet juice, as a tonic for athletes for instance.

D-Brief looks at the slot canyons of Titan, bearing similarities in structure and perhaps origin to like structures in Utah.

Andrew LePage at Drew Ex Machina, celebrating five years of blogging, links to his ten most popular posts.

Gizmodo notes the creation for a list of nearly two thousand nearby stars that the TESS planet-hunter might target for a search for Earth-like worlds.

Joe. My. God. notes that the Austrian president has confirmed the New Zealand shooter has made a financial donation to a far-right group in Austria.

JSTOR Daily looks at Inge Lehmann, the scientist who determined the nature of the inner core of the Earth.

Language Hat reports on a new scholarly publication, hundreds of pages long, gathering together the curses and profanities of the Middle East and North Africa.

Scott Lemieux at Lawyers, Guns and Money does not seem impressed by the argument of Mike Lee that pronatalism is a good response to global warming.

The Map Room Blog notes the impressive maps of Priscilla Spencer, created for fantasy books.

Marginal Revolution links to a paper that examines the positions of Jews in the economies of eastern Europe, as a "rural service minority".

The Russian Demographics Blog links to a paper noting the ways in which increased human development has, and has not, led to convergence in family structures around the world.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains how, despite the expanding universe, we can still see very distant points.

Frank Jacobs at Strange Maps reports on the recent mistakes made by Google Maps in Japan.

Yorkshire Ranter Alexander Harrowell explains why the United Kingdom, after Brexit, does not automatically become a member of the European Economic Area.

Arnold Zwicky takes a look at the different factors, often unrecognized, going onto the formation of nonsense names, like those of the characters from Lilo and Stitch.

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