- The rescue of cats from the Newfoundland outport of Little Bay Islands, now abandoned, was a success. Global News reports.
- Cats in Australia may be in a position to ravage vulnerable survivors of the wildfires. Wired reports.
- The Purrsong Pendant is a new fitness tracker for cats. CNET reports.
- Humans do need to be able to read the body language of cats, and not only to figure out when they are in pain. CP24 reports.
- Is anyone surprised cats might eat human corpses? Newsweek reports.
[BLOG] Some Thursday links
Dec. 26th, 2019 11:51 am- 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.
[BLOG] Five NYR Daily links (@nyrdaily)
Dec. 22nd, 2019 01:25 pm- Claire Messud writes at the NYR Daily about two art exhibits concerned with borders.
- Caitlin Chandler writes at the NYR Daily about the state of the experiment of Germany with mass reception and integration of refugees.
- The NYR Daily explores the modern Russian history of state-sponsored murder outside of its frontiers.
- Moroccan writer Hisham Aldi writes at NYR Daily about his relationship with Paul Bowles.
- The NYR Daily reports on a remarkable exhibit at the Barbican in London of notable nightclubs in 20th century culture.
[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.
[BLOG] Five NYR Daily links (@nyr_daily)
Dec. 19th, 2019 07:55 pm- Garry Wills writes at the NYR Daily about the history of impeachment, here.
- David Rieff writes at the NYR about Peronism and the new president, in Argentina, here.
- The NYR Daily looks at the disaster soon to be visited by Brexit on Northern Ireland, here.
- Matt Seaton writes at the NYR Daily about what the recent British election reveals about the failing health of social democracy in England.
- The NYR Daily looks at the new movie Atlantics, which looks at migration and Africa.
[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.
- Guelph will be holding an open house to see what development will replace the Dolime Quarry. Global News reports.
- The town of Innisfil has extended its Uber subsidy program for people in need of transit. Global News reports
- Archeologists in Montréal have found a mass grave of Irish famine victims. CTV reports.
- The Québec town of Asbestos is changing its name so as to avoid the link, in English, with the toxic mineral. CTV reports.
- A subway, alas, would be too big for Québec City. Streetcars would work better. Le Devoir reports.
- Can a hyperloop be built to plug Edmonton together with Calgary? Global News considers.
- Richmond, British Columbia, has unveiled a cultural harmony strategy to help its diverse population get along. The National Post reports.
- Ending free coffee for municipal employees in the Québec community of Pierrefonds created massive controversy. CBC reports.
- The mayor of the Francophone city of Edmundston in New Brunswick has encouraged immigrant Québec students hurt by immigration changes to come to his community. CTV News reports.
- The price of crystal meth in Saskatoon is apparently as low as $3 a bag. Global News reports.
- Guardian Cities notes how Louisville, low on trees, is trying to regreen the city as a way to deal with rising temperatures.
- Open Democracy considers if the DUP is about to lose its strongholds in Belfast.
- Guardian Cities looks at the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Kafr Aqab, a place where Palestinians can access their metropolis (and their partners).
- CityLab shares photos of the wonderful new public library of Helsinki.
[URBAN NOTE] Six Toronto links
Nov. 13th, 2019 01:51 pm- The Pilot, in Yorkville, celebrates its 75th anniversary as a venue. Global News reports.
- Some immigrant businesspeople recently bought an old Toronto Hydro building in the north of the city as a shelter for immigrants. Global News reports.
- The backlash against the proposed condo tower at Yonge and Eglinton branded by Pharrell Williams has been swift. blogTO reports.
- Urban Toronto notes that a 13-story mixed-use building has been proposed for 888 Dupont Street, at the corner of Dupont and Ossington.
- A TV crew in North York last week cancelled its shoot in North York, near the site of last year's ramming attack on Yonge Street. CTV News reports.
- A poster on r/Toronto noted last week the six-year anniversary of the admission of then-mayor Rob Ford that he smoked crack.
[BLOG] Some Wednesday links
Nov. 13th, 2019 01:35 pm- Bad Astronomer notes a new study explaining how climate change makes hurricanes more destructive.
- Centauri Dreams shares a mosaic photo of the sky with Alpha Centauri highlighted.
- The Crux shares a paper explaining why the bubonic plague rarely becomes mass epidemics like the Black Death of the 14th century.
- D-Brief notes the new ESA satellite ARIEL, which will be capable of determining of exoplanet skies are clear or not.
- Gizmodo consults different experts on the subject of smart drugs. Do they work?
- JSTOR Daily explains why Native Americans are so prominent in firefighting in the US Southwest.
- Language Log looks at evidence for the diffusion of "horse master" between speakers of ancient Indo-European and Sinitic languages.
- Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the election of Chesa Boudin as San Francisco District Attorney.
- The LRB Blog considers the apparent pact between Farage and Johnson on Brexit.
- Marginal Revolution looks at a paper examining longer-run effects of the integration of the US military on racial lines in the Korean War.
- The NYR Daily looks at how Big Pharma in the US is trying to deal with the opioid epidemic.
- The Signal explains how the Library of Congress is expanding its collections of digital material.
- Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains how future generations of telescopes will be able to directly measure the expansion of the universe.
- The Volokh Conspiracy explains why DACA, giving succor to Dreamers, is legal.
- Window on Eurasia notes that, after a century of tumult, the economy of Russia is back at the same relative ranking that it enjoyed a century ago.
- Arnold Zwicky reports on an old butch cookbook.
- The mayor of Ottawa is suggesting freezing Confederation Line fare increases in light of the system's problems. Global News reports.
- La Presse looks at the problems faced by the Marché Jean-Talon, here.
- Greater Moncton, arguably the leading metropolis of New Brunswick, wants to double its intake of immigrants. Global News reports.
- Jamie Bradburn looks at Lafayette Park in Detroit, designed by Mies van der Rohe.
- Will Vancouver be connected to Washington State by a high-speed train route? Global News reports.
[BLOG] Some Sunday links
Nov. 3rd, 2019 12:50 pm- 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.
[NEWS] Ten Window on Eurasia links
Oct. 24th, 2019 01:49 pm- 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.
[BLOG] Some Sunday links
Oct. 13th, 2019 04:17 pm- Adam Fish at anthro{dendum} shares a new take on the atmosphere, as a common good.
- Bad Astronomer Phil Plait shares a photo of Earth taken from a hundred million kilometres away by the OSIRIS-REx probe.
- The Crux tells the story of how the first exoplanets were found.
- D-Brief notes that life could be possible on a planet orbiting a supermassive black hole, assuming it could deal with the blueshifting.
- io9 looks at the latest bold move of Archie Comics.
- JSTOR Daily explores cleaning stations, where small fish clean larger ones.
- Dan Nexon at Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at the role China seeks to play in a remade international order.
- The Map Room Blog looks at the new upcoming national atlas of Estonia.
- Marginal Revolution touches on the great ambition of Louis XIV for a global empire.
- Steve Baker of The Numerati shares photos from his recent trip to Spain.
- Anya Schiffrin at the NRY Daily explains how American journalist Varian Fry helped her family, and others, escape the Nazis.
- Drew Rowsome reviews the classic movie The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
- Frank Jacobs at Strange Maps shares a map looking at the barriers put up by the high-income world to people moving from outside.
- Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel answers the complex question of how, exactly, the density of a black hole can be measured.
- John Scalzi at Whatever reviews Gemini Man. Was the high frame rate worth it?
- Window on Eurasia notes the deep hostility of Tuvins towards a large Russian population in Tuva.
- Arnold Zwicky considers the existential question of self-aware cartoon characters.
[BLOG] Some Saturday links
Oct. 12th, 2019 04:59 pm- 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.
- Hamilton, Ontario, now has a wall open to public street art. Global News reports.
- An early immigrant to Kingston, Ontario, explains what it was like to move to this eastern Ontario hub. Global News reports.
- MTL Blog notes that Montréal mayor has cancelled the construction of a condo tower because it was not including social housing.
- A museum exhibit in Saskatoon is offering free HIV testing and blood donation services in the fight against stigma. Global News reports.
- Ellen Mauro at CBC explains to readers the movement to make Washington D.C. into the 51st American state.
- The Ottawa Citizen reports on the first week of the Confederation Line LRT.
- The New Brunswick city of Moncton now has new affordable housing--20 units--for vulnerable people. Global News reports.
- CityLab looks at one photographer's perspective of the New York City skyline, changed by the 9/11 attacks.
- An alleyway in Calgary is being transformed by art. Global News reports.
- Birth tourism might become an election issue in the British Columbia city of Richmond. Global News reports.
[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 Thursday links
Sep. 19th, 2019 10:56 am- 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.
[BLOG] Some Sunday links
Sep. 15th, 2019 10:10 am- Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes how variable gravity is on irregular asteroid Bennu.
- Bruce Dorminey reports on how the European Southern Observatory has charted the Magellanic Clouds in unprecedented detail.
- The Dragon's Tales shares a collection of links looking at the Precambrian Earth.
- Andrew LePage at Drew Ex Machina reports on the late 1950s race to send probes to the Moon.
- Gizmodo shares some stunning astronomy photos.
- JSTOR Daily reports on the saltwater roads, the routes that slaves in Florida used to escape to the free Bahamas.
- Language Log looks at some examples of bad English from Japan. How did they come about?
- Paul Campos at Lawyers, Guns and Money rejects the idea of honouring people like Condoleezza Rice.
- Marginal Revolution considers the idea of free will in light of neurology.
- Corey S Powell at Out There interviews James Lovelock on his new book Novacene, in which Lovelock imagines the future world and Gaia taken over by AI.
- Window on Eurasia notes the water shortages faced by downstream countries in Central Asia.