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  • Anthropology.net shares in the debunking of the Toba catastrophe theory.

  • Architectuul features Mirena Dunu's exploration of the architecture of the Black Sea coastal resorts of Romania, built under Communism.

  • The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly writes about the importance of sleep hygiene and of being well-rested.

  • Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes the filaments of Orion, indicators of starbirth.

  • Centauri Dreams notes how solar sails and the Falcon Heavy can be used to expedite the exploration of the solar system.

  • D-Brief notes the discovery of debris marking the massive flood that most recently refilled the Mediterranean on the seafloor near Malta.

  • Lucy Ferriss at Lingua Franca uses a recent sickbed experience in Paris to explore the genesis of Bemelmans' Madeline.

  • Lawyers, Guns and Money noted recently the 15th anniversary of the American invasion of Iraq, trigger of a world-historical catastrophe.

  • The LRB Blog hosts Sara Roy's defense of UNRWA and of the definition of the Palestinians under its case as refugees.

  • The NYR Daily notes how the regnant conservative government in Israel has been limiting funding to cultural creators who dissent from the nationalist line.

  • Roads and Kingdoms uses seven food dishes to explore the history of Malta.

  • Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains why, even though dark matter is likely present in our solar system, we have not detected signs of it.

  • Daniel Little at Understanding Society examines the field of machine learning, and notes the ways in which its basic epistemology might be flawed.

  • Window on Eurasia notes how the dropping of the ethnonym "Mongol" from the title of the former Buryat-Mongol autonomous republic sixty years ago still makes some Buryats unhappy.

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  • Bloomberg notes a report of Egypt's discovery of the wreckage of the crashed EgyptAir jet, reports on the visit of a IMF team to Mozambique, and looks at Vietnam's success in capturing Southeast Asian trade with the European Union.

  • Bloomberg View notes that Donald Trump's candidacy can mean bad things for the Republican Party.

  • CBC looks at how a top export from Tibet is a parasitic fungus, and looks at controversy over a CSIS evaluation of diaspora communities and terrorism.

  • MacLean's looks at the wife of the Orlando shooting.

  • The National Post notes the retraction of an ASEAN statement about maritime borders with China.

  • Open Democracy carries an ill-judged radical Brexiteer's statement. All I can say is that socialism in one country is not likely, certainly not with the Tories in charge.

  • The Toronto Star notes the fears of tax authorities that Conrad Black might abscond without paying his taxes.

  • Universe Today notes the discovery, in a Swedish quarry, of a type of meteorite no longer present in the solar system.

  • Wired reports on the second LIGO discovery and notes the import of The Onion in times of trouble.

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  • The Cranky Sociologists consider a series of controversial videos examining issues of racism and discrimination in Auckland.

  • Crooked Timber's Chris Bertram argues that European countries are responsible for migrant deaths in the Mediterranean.

  • The Everyday Sociology Blog considers the international market in surrogate mothers.

  • The Frailest Thing considers desire in the world of things, and examines the connections between machine work and the value of people.

  • Kieran Healy notes the often wild guesses made by Americans at the population size of the United States.

  • Language Hat notes the dislike of Russian aristocrats for the Russian language, and maps London's different languages.

  • Language Log takes issue with a map of the languages of the world in regards to China, and looks at Cantonese usage in Hong Kong.

  • Languages of the World considers Google Translate.

  • Marginal Revolution examines China's ideological spectrum and notes a New Zealand database that can predict outcomes for young people.

  • The New APPS Blog argues in favour of citing unpublished papers and praises the bravery of migrants.

  • pollotenchegg maps the distribution of refugees in the Ukrainian government-controlled Donbas.

  • The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer looks at recent fertility increases in post-graduate American women.

  • The Russian Demographics Blog examined the changing nature of migration to and from Russia, looks at the demographic experiences over Belarus, considers the Russian HIV epidemic, and examines the link between fertility and economic shocks in the United States.

  • Savage Minds examines a new book on the Bougainville conflict, looks at racism in Baltimore, and reacts to the earthquake in Nepal.

  • Towleroad and the Volokh Conspiracy note that, properly analyzed, the data of Regnerus actually contradicts his claims about same-sex parents.

  • Zero Geography looks at the hidden biases of geodata.

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Noah Feldman of Bloomberg View notes the geopolitical and economic rationale behind China's naval exercises in the Mediterranean.

[T]he Chinese-Russian exercises also look like a symbolic response to U.S. efforts to strengthen security relationships with China’s Asian neighbors. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s recent visit to Washington is a case in point. Abe has begun a genuine discussion within Japan about whether to amend the pacifist constitution, transforming the country’s self-defense force into something more like a standard military.

The impetus for this change is China’s increasing security threat to its Asian neighbors -- and a nagging uncertainty on the part of Japanese about whether the U.S. would go to war to defend Japan in a pinch. Abe’s visit is part of an attempt by the Barack Obama administration to reassure the Japanese, but also to implicitly to lend credibility to Abe’s defense initiatives.

[. . .]

Yet this geopolitical angle doesn’t necessarily explain why the Mediterranean. Naval exercises almost anywhere could’ve expressed the same thing, perhaps even more strongly, because China’s naval assets in the Mediterranean aren’t particularly significant.

The better explanation for why the Mediterranean is much more local. China has twice in recent years had to send its ships to rescue and evacuate significant numbers of Chinese workers who fell into danger as a result of regional instability. The first time was in Libya, where 35,800 Chinese workers had to be evacuated after the 2011 uprising and subsequent bombing campaign to bring down Muammar Qaddafi. The second time was in late March and early April, when Chinese ships helped offload several hundred Chinese workers from Yemen as the situation there further deteriorated and Saudi airstrikes escalated.

These episodes brought home China’s evolving role in the Middle East and North Africa. So far, Chinese policy makers have shown no interest in inheriting the traditional U.S. role of maintaining hegemony in the Middle East to create stability and facilitate the flow of oil. However, China has to some degree included the Middle East in its strategy of building infrastructure projects in less-developed countries and establishing substantial settlements of Chinese workers there.
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  • Richard at 1948 takes a look at Sarkozy's recent successful entente with Libya, which may both indicate the relative weakness of Germany and French interest in Sarkozy's Mediterranean Union project.

  • [livejournal.com profile] angel80 has an series of stunning photo posts (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) produced during a vacation in the area of Lake Mungo in what I think counts as the Australian Outback.

  • Bert Archer points to a New Yorker article that traces the origins of celebrity culture in art all the way back to Gustave Courbet.

  • Edward Hugh at Bonoboland looks at what might be the beginning of an Italian economic meltdown, precipitated (he argues) by a wildly unsustainable public pension system that no one seems able to reform.

  • Centauri Dreams highlights the implications of the discovery of a planet in orbit of a red giant star for the future of our solar system's worlds.

  • [livejournal.com profile] creases' short story "Revelation of the Lamb in Four Parts" in unheimlich, as good as anything by Shirley Jackson.

  • Henry Farrell at Crooked Timber starts off a discussion about the alleged links of the pre-natal testing of fetuses for congenital defects and illnesses with eugenics, and goes on to social democracy, and Progressivism. It gets bogged down in a flamewar, of course.

  • Razib at GNXP wonders whether Confucianism is set for a revival in China.

  • Joe.My.God reports that Victor Willis, founder, songwriter, and original lead singer of the Village People, is going to be writing a tell-all biography wherein he claims that the Village People and their songs never had a gay subtext. (His commenters have their say.)

  • Jeff at the Tin Man remarks on the acceleration of information flow over the past two centuries.
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