[BLOG] Some Friday links
Dec. 22nd, 2019 05:41 am- Charlie Stross at Antipope shares an essay he recently presented on artificial intelligence and its challenges for us.
- P. Kerim Friedman writes at {anthro}dendum about the birth of the tea ceremony in the Taiwan of the 1970s.
- Anthropology net reports on a cave painting nearly 44 thousand years old in Indonesia depicting a hunting story.
- Architectuul looks at some temporary community gardens in London.
- Bad Astronomy reports on the weird history of asteroid Ryugu.
- The Buzz talks about the most popular titles borrowed from the Toronto Public Library in 2019.
- Caitlin Kelly talks at the Broadside Blog about her particular love of radio.
- Centauri Dreams talks about the role of amateur astronomers in searching for exoplanets, starting with LHS 1140 b.
- John Quiggin at Crooked Timber looks at what is behind the rhetoric of "virtue signalling".
- Dangerous Minds shares concert performance from Nirvana filmed the night before the release of Nevermind.
- Bruce Dorminey notes new evidence that, even before the Chixculub impact, the late Cretaceous Earth was staggering under environmental pressures.
- Myron Strong at the Everyday Sociology Blog writes about how people of African descent in the US deal with the legacies of slavery in higher education.
- Far Outliers reports on the plans in 1945 for an invasion of Japan by the US.
- L.M. Sacasas at The Frailest Thing gathers together a collection of the author's best writings there.
- Gizmodo notes the immensity of the supermassive black hole, some 40 billion solar masses, at the heart of galaxy Holm 15A 700 million light-years away.
- Russell Arben Fox at In Media Res writes about the issue of how Wichita is to organize its civic politics.
- io9 argues that the 2010s were a decade where the culture of the spoiler became key.
- The Island Review points readers to the podcast Mother's Blood, Sister's Songs, an exploration of the links between Ireland and Iceland.
- Joe. My. God. reports on the claim of the lawyer of the killer of a mob boss that the QAnon conspiracy inspired his actions. This strikes me as terribly dangerous.
- JSTOR Daily looks at a study examining scholarly retractions.
- Language Hat shares an amusing cartoon illustrating the relationships of the dialects of Arabic.
- Language Log lists ten top new words in the Japanese language.
- Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at the dissipation of American diplomacy by Trump.
- The LRB Blog looks at the many problems in Sparta, Greece, with accommodating refugees, for everyone concerned.
- Marginal Revolution links to a paper suggesting the decline of the one-child policy in China has diminished child trafficking, among other crimes.
- Sean Marshall, looking at transit in Brampton, argues that transit users need more protection from road traffic.
- Russell Darnley shares excerpts from essays he wrote about the involvement of Australia in the Vietnam War.
- Peter Watts talks about his recent visit to a con in Sofia, Bulgaria, and about the apocalypse, here.
- The NYR Daily looks at the corporatization of the funeral industry, here.
- Diane Duane writes, from her own personal history with Star Trek, about how one can be a writer who ends up writing for a media franchise.
- Jim Belshaw at Personal Reflections considers the job of tasting, and rating, different cuts of lamb.
- The Planetary Society Blog looks at a nondescript observatory in the Mojave desert of California that maps the asteroids of the solar system.
- Roads and Kingdoms interviews Eduardo Chavarin about, among other things, Tijuana.
- Drew Rowsome loves the SpongeBob musical.
- Peter Rukavina announces that Charlottetown has its first public fast charger for electric vehicles.
- The Russian Demographics Blog considers the impact of space medicine, here.
- The Signal reports on how the Library of Congress is making its internet archives more readily available, here.
- Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel considers how the incredibly isolated galaxy MCG+01-02-015 will decay almost to nothing over almost uncountable eons.
- Strange Company reports on the trial and execution of Christopher Slaughterford for murder. Was there even a crime?
- Strange Maps shares a Coudenhove-Kalergi map imagining the division of the world into five superstates.
- Understanding Society considers entertainment as a valuable thing, here.
- Denis Colombi at Une heure de peine announces his new book, Où va l'argent des pauvres?
- John Scalzi at Whatever looks at how some mailed bread triggered a security alert, here.
- Window on Eurasia reports on the massive amount of remittances sent to Tajikistan by migrant workers, here.
- Arnold Zwicky notes a bizarre no-penguins sign for sale on Amazon.
- La Presse carries the concern of a Québec journalist that the decline of daily papers could have a catastrophic impact on the province's culture.
- The Québec government would like financially-stressed newspaper group to form a coop. CTV News reports.
- That the Toronto Star shut down its free Metro affiliates across Canada made the news in Halifax. CBC reports.
- The closure of the Transcontinental Media printing plant in Borden-Carleton means that PEI no longer has a local printer for its media. CBC reports.
- Sabrina Wilkinson writes at The Conversation about the increasingly tenuous nature of journalism in Canada, not least as an employer.
- This Alex Migdal piece looks at how Guelph, Ontario, has fared since the closure of the Guelph Mercury daily.
[URBAN NOTE] Ten Montréal links
Dec. 4th, 2019 12:26 pm- The Map Room Blog links to some old maps of Montréal.
- Major English-language newspapers in Montréal, including the Montreal Gazette, are no longer being distributed to Québec City clients. CBC reports.
- Radio-Canada employees' union is concerned over cost overruns in the construction of a new headquarters for the French-language chain. CTV NEws reports.
- La Presse notes how the to-be-demolished Champlain Bridge is a home for, among others, falcons.
- The Bibliothèque Saint-Sulpice, after the latest delay, will have been closed for nearly two decades. La Presse reports.
- The Montreal Children's Library is celebrating its 90th anniversary with a fundraiser. CBC reports.
- CBC Montreal looks at how, even without a stadium, legendary mayor Jean Drapeau brought major league baseball to his city.
- The anti-gentrification University of the Streets group has some interesting ideas. CBC reports.
- The city government of Montréal is looking into the issue of the high retail vacancy rates in parts of the city. CBC reports.
- At CBC Montreal, Ontario-born Jessica Brown writes about her struggles with employment in her adopted city.
[URBAN NOTE] Six Toronto links
Dec. 3rd, 2019 03:12 pm- NOW Toronto reports on the long-time independent weekly's sale to a venture capital firm, here.
- The Yonge-Eglinton Centre now hosts a venue where people can nap in peace. Toronto Life has photos, here.
- The family of North York van attack victim Anne-Marie D'Amico hopes to raise one million dollars for a women's shelter. The National Post reports.
- Toronto Community Housing, after a terrible accident, has banned its tenants from having window air conditioners. Global News reports.
- blogTO reports on the ridiculous heights to which surge pricing took ride fares on Uber and Lyft during yesterday morning's shutdown.
- blogTO notes that the Ontario government has provided funding to study the idea of extension of the Eglinton Crosstown west to Pearson Airport.
[URBAN NOTE] Eight Toronto links
Dec. 2nd, 2019 07:51 pm- blogTO notes the strange house, a fantasia inspired by Greece, at 1016 Shaw Street.
- blogTO shares photos from inside Paradise Theatre on Bloor, reopened after 13 years.
- blogTO notes that GO Transit will now be offering customers unlimited rides on Sundays for just $C 10.
- Photos of infamous Toronto chair girl Marcella Zoia celebrating her 20th birthday are up at blogTO, here.
- Many residents displaced by the Gosford fire in North York have been moved to hotels. Global News reports.
- A TTC worker has launched a court case against the TTC and city of Toronto over issues of air quality. Global News reports.
- Jamie Bradburn reports on how the Toronto press covered the opening of the Suez Canal, here.
- Transit Toronto explains what, exactly, workers are building at Eglinton station and Yonge and Eglinton more generally.
[BLOG] Some Friday links
Sep. 20th, 2019 12:13 pm- 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.
[BLOG] Some Monday links
Jun. 10th, 2019 02:43 pm- Centauri Dreams considers the recent study of near-Earth asteroid 1999 KW4, looking at it from the perspective of defending the Earth and building a civilization in space.
- Ingrid Robeyns at Crooked Timber continues a debate on universal basic income.
- The Dragon's Tales considers if India does need its own military space force.
- JSTOR Daily looks at how foster care in the United States (Canada, too, I'd add) was also synonymous with sending children off as unpaid farm labourers.
- Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money shares a proposal, linking immigration to high-income countries to the idea of immigration as reparation for colonialism.
- The LRB Blog considers the ever-growing presence of the dead on networks like Facebook.
- Muhammad Idrees Ahmad at the NYR Daily looks at how Bellingcat and other online agencies have transformed investigative journalism.
- The Russian Demographics Blog shares a speech by the head of the Bank of Japan talking about the interactions of demographic change and economic growth.
- Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes the mystery behind the great mass of early black hole J1342+0928.
- Strange Company looks at the unsolved Christmas 1928 disappearance of young Melvin Horst from Orrville, Ohio. What happened?
- Window on Eurasia notes that Uzbekistan is moving the Latin script for Uzbek into closer conformity with its Turkish model.
[BLOG] Some Thursday links
Jun. 6th, 2019 02:05 pm- 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.
- Jamie Bradburn looks back at vintage coverage in the Toronto press from 1952 about some fortunate raccoons.
- blogTO notes that this weekend will seek peak bloom in the cherry blossoms of High Park.
- Edward Brown at Spacing writes about the decades-long struggle to get dog parks accepted in Toronto.
- CBC Toronto notes controversy in Etobicoke surrounding a local brewery's decision to process medical marijuana on site.
- This National Post article by Sadaf Ahsan looks at how now-defunct Queen Video contributed hugely to pop culture in Toronto.
- That Microsoft's E-Book store is closing, depriving book owners of the their titles, is bad news for the online world. Global News reports.
- Motherboard notes how the decline of local news sources is hurting smaller communities and their residents.
- The Discourse explains how it, and other independent media, will be harmed by new government funding proposals.
- Marginal Revolution looks at a new book reviewing how providing global news in the early 20th century was a major and competitive industry.
- The Conversation sees some productive future approaches for science journalism, and perhaps journalism more generally.
[BLOG] Some Thursday links
May. 2nd, 2019 03:16 pm- Centauri Dreams notes a strange corridor of ice beneath the surface of Titan, a possible legacy of an active cryovolcanic past.
- D-Brief notes one study suggesting that, properly designed, air conditioners could convert carbon dioxide in the air into carbon fuels.
- Dead Things reports on the discovery of an unusual human skull three hundred thousand years old in China, at Hualongdong in the southeast.
- Gizmodo notes the identification of a jawbone 160 thousand years old, found in Tibet, with the Denisovans. That neatly explains why the Denisovans were adapted to Tibet-like environments.
- JSTOR Daily examines Ruth Page, a ballerina who integrated dance with poetry.
- Language Hat shares a critique of a John McWhorter comment about kidspeak.
- Victor Mair at Language Log shares a well-researched video on the Mongolian language of Genghis Khan.
- Paul Campos at Lawyers, Guns and Money notes how Donald Trump, in his defiance of investigative findings, is worse than Richard Nixon.
- James Butler at the LRB Blog writes about the bombing of London gay bar Admiral Duncan two decades ago, relating it movingly to wider alt-right movements and to his own early coming out.
- Marginal Revolution's Tyler Cowen notes a recent review article making the case for open borders, disproving many of the claims made by opponents.
- Paul Mason at the NYR Daily explains why the critique by Hannah Arendt of totalitarianism and fascism can fall short, not least in explaining our times.
- Corey S. Powell at Out There explains how, and why, the Moon is starting to get serious attention as a place for long-term settlement, even.
- Emily Lakdawalla at the Planetary Society Blog explores the fund that she had in helping design a set of scientifically-accurate building blocks inspired by the worlds of our solar system.
- Drew Rowsome reports on the new restaging of the classic queer drama Lilies at Buddies in Bad Times by Walter Borden, this one with a new racially sensitive casting.
- Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel considers the massive boom of diversity at the time of the Cambrian Explosion.
- Towleroad features the remarkable front cover of the new issue of Time, featuring Pete Buttigieg together with his husband Chasten.
- Window on Eurasia considers if the new Russian policy of handing out passports to residents of the Donbas republics is related to a policy of trying to bolster the population of Russia, whether fictively or actually.
- Arnold Zwicky considers the various flowers of May Day.
- The City of Mississauga is encouraging residents to take part in a postal campaign to push for independence from Peel Region. Global News reports.
- A Montréal city councillor wants the city to try to get a world's fair in 2030. CTV reports.
- April Lindgren at The Conversation considersthe important role that local media in Thunder Bay can play in dealing, with, among other issues, Indigenous concerns.
- Amy Wilentz considers at The Atlantic whether France, after the devastation of Notre-Dame in Paris, should perhaps contribute to the reconstruction of the cathedral of Port-au-Prince, a decade after its destruction in the earthquake that devastated an already poor ex-French Haiti.
- Ben Rogers at Open Democracy makes the case for seeing London, despite its position as a global city, as also a metropolis inextricably at the heart of England, too.
- JSTOR Daily notes a study examining how we can be nostalgic for the music of our parents.
- Hornet Stories notes the new album and tour of Carly Rae Jepsen.
- This Crack Magazine interview with Grimes has been getting a lot of attention, not necessarily positively mind.
- Hornet Stories highlights the innovative and queer-fronted Lebanese band Mashrou' Leila.
- Adam Wallis at Global News has an extended feature interviewing the surviving members of the Cranberries about their career and their final album, In The End.
- That Archive Of Our Own has won a Hugo nomination is surprising, but deserved, news. Motherboard reports.
- CityLab notes that people interested in opposite-sex dating, when they make use of apps, look for people near them geographically.
- NOW Toronto looks at the extent to which anti-Muslim sentiment has made it into mainstream journalistic discourse in Canada.
- Adam Rogers writes movingly at Wired about the extent to which Notre Dame, for all of its age, is also constantly changing.
- Vox suggests that Pete Buttigieg, with his rhetoric full of hope, is trying to mobilize the same coalition of voters that saw Obama elected.
[BLOG] Some Thursday links
Apr. 4th, 2019 01:23 pm- 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.
[BLOG] Some Monday links
Mar. 18th, 2019 01:21 pm- 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.
- Them writes about the importance of queer spaces like coffee shops where people can gather while being sober.
- Folio links to a fascinating study examining why professional hockey players have not come out, and what might make them do so.
- JSTOR Daily reports on the fascinating process of recovering black queer history through researching articles in sensationalist magazines.
- Hornet Stories describes the fascinating, disastrous history of closeted New York City mayor Ed Koch.
- A controversy over the headlining of Ariana Grande at 2019 Manchester Pride led to a debate to questions of queer representation on Pride stages. Global News reports.
[BLOG] Some Friday links
Feb. 22nd, 2019 11:38 am- Bad Astronomer Phil Plait looks at the newly-named Neptune moon of Hippocamp, and how it came about as product of a massive collision with the larger moon of Proteus.
- Centauri Dreams also reports on the discovery of the Neptune moon of Hippocamp.
- Chris Bertram at Crooked Timber notes how the attempt to revoke the citizenship of Shamima Begum sets a terribly dangerous precedent for the United Kingdom.
- D-Brief notes new evidence suggesting the role of the Deccan Traps volcanic eruptions in triggering the Cretaceous extinction event, alongside the Chixculub asteroid impact.
- Far Outliers notes the problems of Lawrence of Arabia with Indian soldiers and with Turks.
- L.M. Sacasas at The Frailest Thing takes issue with the state of philosophical contemplation about technology, at least in part a structural consequence of society.
- Hornet Stories shares this feature examining the future of gay porn, in an environment where amateur porn undermines the existing studios.
- JSTOR Daily considers the spotty history of casting African-American dancers in ballet.
- Language Hat suggests that the Académie française will soon accept for French feminized nouns of nouns links to professionals ("écrivaine" for a female writer, for instance).
- The LRB Blog considers the implications of the stripping of citizenship from Shamima Begum. Who is next? How badly is citizenship weakened in the United Kingdom?
- Marginal Revolution notes the upset of Haiti over its banning by Expedia.
- The NYR Daily notes the tension in Turkey between the country's liberal laws on divorce and marriage and rising Islamization.
- Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel looks at the moment, in the history of the universe, when dark energy became the dominant factors in the universe's evolution.
- Towleroad remembers Roy Cohn, the lawyer who was the collaborator of Trump up to the moment of Cohn's death from AIDS.
- Understanding Society's Daniel Little takes a look at Marx's theories of how governments worked.
- Window on Eurasia looks at the existential pressures facing many minority languages in Russia.
[BLOG] Some Tuesday links
Feb. 19th, 2019 10:47 am- Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait considers the possibility that the remarkably low-density 'Oumuamua might be a cosmic snowflake.
- The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly writes about the challenges of free-lance writing, including clients who disappear before they pay their writers for their work.
- Centauri Dreams notes that observations of cosmic collisions by gravitational wave astronomy are becoming numerous enough to determine basic features of the universe like Hubble's constant.
- D-Brief notes that the Hayabusa2 probe is set to start mining samples from asteroid Ryugu.
- Dangerous Minds remembers radical priest and protester Philip Berrigan.
- At the Everyday Sociology Blog, Irina Seceleanu explains why state defunding of public education in the United States is making things worse for students.
- Far Outliers notes how many of the communities in South Asia that saw soldiers go off to fight for the British Empire opposed this imperial war.
- JSTOR Daily looks at the decidedly NSFW love letters of James Joyce to Nora Barnacle. Wasn't Kate Bush inspired by them?
- Scott Lemieux at Lawyers, Guns and Money notes how the failure of the California high-speed rail route reveals many underlying problems with funding for infrastructure programs in the United States.
- Marginal Revolution notes the creepy intrusiveness of a new app in China encouraging people to study up on Xi Jinping thought.
- The Planetary Society Blog looks at what is to be expected come the launch of the Beresheet Moon lander by Israeli group SpaceIL.
- Daniel Little at Understanding Society considers the philosophical nature of the Xerox Corporation.
- Window on Eurasia notes that the Russian Orthodox Church seems not to be allowing the mass return of its priests who lost congregations to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to Russia.
- Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell considers the astute ways in which El Chapo is shown to have run his business networks.
- Arnold Zwicky looks at two recent British films centering on displays of same-sex male attraction, The Pass and God's Own Country.