rfmcdonald | Entries tagged with star trek

The current coronavirus pandemic in Canada and the wider world has made me think of a few things. One of these is the apparently overlooked story "So Near the Touch", the story in the first annual of the second DC Comics run of Star Trek comics published in July 1990.

Co-written by George Takei and Peter David (different sources suggest that Takei provided the story), "So Near the Touch" is centered on the world of Datugan, a Federation trading partner that was so eager to export an energy-generating ore that it irremediably polluted its environment. The very people of Datugan have been so contaminated by pollution that two individuals cannot risk bodily contact, else they self-combust. They are doomed.

The Federation, feeling some responsibility for this catastrophe, has initiated a grand project of rebirth, to use in vitro techniques to let the Datugan species continue on a clean new world. The Enterprise-A is assigned to escort a medical team lead by one Corazon Kohwangko to Datugan to help start off this project. Sulu, who has a romantic history with Kohwangko, is pleased to be reunited with her. On arrival at Datugan, the mission encounters unexpected trouble from Datugans opposed to this program.

"So Near the Touch" is an effective short story, setting a credible romance for Sulu with an interesting partner against the backdrop of a dying world with people desperate for help. (Reading this now gives me some insight into Takei's upset with the movies' portrayal of Sulu as gay; here, Takei literally wrote Sulu as straight.) I find that it resonates particularly with me now, living under conditions of COVID-19 quarantine, deprived of direct contact with anyone for fear of infection. Takei and David got the corrosive impacts of isolation quite nicely.

The physical issue is available on eBay, while electronic copies can be acquired from the usual places.

This brings me joy. #startrek #startrekpicard #jeriryan #sevenofnine #screenshot

My original comment was here, at Michael Chabon's Instagram account.

A historic bridge over the Credit River in Mississauga, happily, will not be demolished but instead will be repaired. CBC reports.

Now that automobile production has stopped at the Oshawa General Motors plant, what will become of that city? CBC reports.

The auditor-general of Ontario will investigate the claimed costs that led to the cancellation of the Hamilton LRT. Global News reports.

A new bus route now connects London, Ontario, to Sarnia. Global News reports.

Kingstonist reports that filming for the season finale of Star Trek: Discovery has just finished up in Kingston, at the pen.

Joe Buongiorno writes at CBC Montreal at his, specifically Italian Canadian, experiences with the Jean Talon Market in Montréal.

Le Devoir notes that many radio stations in Québec City are leading opposition to the proposed streetcar system.

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.

Architectuul looks at the Portuguese architectural cooperative Ateliermob, here.

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait looks at how white dwarf WD J091405.30+191412.25 is literally vapourizing a planet in close orbit.

Caitlin Kelly at the Broadside Blog explains
Centauri Dreams looks at the slowing of the solar wind far from the Sun.

John Holbo at Crooked Timber considers the gap between ideals and actuals in the context of conspiracies and politics.

The Dragon's Tales reports on how the ESA is trying to solve a problem with the parachutes of the ExoMars probe.

Far Outliers reports on what Harry Truman thought about politicians.

Gizmodo reports on a new method for identifying potential Earth-like worlds.

io9 pays tribute to legendary writer, of Star Trek and much else, D.C. Fontana.

The Island Review reports on the football team of the Chagos Islands.

Joe. My. God. reports that gay Olympian Gus Kenworthy will compete for the United Kingdom in 2020.

JSTOR Daily looks at how early English imperialists saw America and empire through the lens of Ireland.

Paul Campos at Lawyers, Guns and Money does not like Pete Buttigieg.

The LRB Blog looks at the London Bridge terrorist attack.

The Map Room Blog shares a map of Prince William Sound, in Alaska, that is already out of date because of global warming.

Marginal Revolution questions if Cuba, in the Philippines, is the most typical city in the world.

The NYR Daily looks at gun violence among Arab Israelis.

The Planetary Society Blog considers what needs to be researched next on Mars.

Roads and Kingdoms tells the story of Sister Gracy, a Salesian nun at work in South Sudan.

The Russian Demographics Blog shares a paper noting continued population growth expected in much of Europe, and the impact of this growth on the environment.

Strange Maps shares a map of fried chicken restaurants in London.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains why a 70 solar mass black hole is not unexpected.

John Scalzi at Whatever gives his further thoughts on the Pixel 4.

Window on Eurasia notes that, last year, 37 thousand Russians died of HIV/AIDS.

Arnold Zwicky starts from a consideration of the 1948 film Kind Hearts and Coronets.

The novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture is available on bookshelves again, this time as a handsome trade paperback.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture, 49th Anniversary Edition #toronto #books #sciencefiction #startrek #sttmp #startreki #generoddenberry #alandeanfoster

Citizen Science Salon highlights Australian Michelle Neil, here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Architectuul shares photos from a bike tour of Berlin.

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait reports on new evidence that exocomets are raining on star Beta Pictoris.

Larry Klaes at Centauri Dreams reviews the two late 1970s SF films Alien and Star Trek I, products of the same era.

D-Brief reports on Hubble studies of the star clusters of the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Bruce Dorminey shares Gemini telescope images of interstellar comet C/2019 Q4 (Borisov).

The Dragon's Tales shares video of Space X's Starhopper test flight.

Far Outliers notes the import of the 13th century Norman king of England calling himself Edward after an Anglo-Saxon king.

Gizmodo notes that not only can rats learn to play hide and seek, they seem to enjoy it.

io9 notes the fantastic high camp of Mister Sinister in the new Jonathan Hickman X-Men run, borrowing a note from Kieron Gillen's portrayal of the character.

Joe. My. God. notes that Guiliani's soon-to-be ex-wife says he has descended from 911 hero to a liar.

Language Log looks at the recent ridiculous suggestion that English, among other languages, descends from Chinese.

The LRB Blog looks at the brief history of commemorating the V2 attacks on London.

Scott Lemieux at Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at the practice in Saskatchewan of sterilizing First Nations women against their consent.

Marginal Revolution suggests that farmers in Brazil might be getting a partly unfair treatment. (Partly.)

The Planetary Society Blog explains why C/2019 Q4 (Borisov) matters.

Window on Eurasia notes that, for the first time, immigrants from Turkmenistan in Belarus outnumber immigrants from Ukraine.

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

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

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

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

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

Dangerous Minds looks at the political artwork of Jan Pötter.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ryan Anderson at anthro{dendum} looks at the unnatural history of the beach in California, here.

Architectuul looks at the architectural imaginings of Iraqi Shero Bahradar, here.

Bad Astronomy looks at gas-rich galaxy NGC 3242.

James Bow announces his new novel The Night Girl, an urban fantasy set in an alternate Toronto with an author panel discussion scheduled for the Lillian H. Smith Library on the 28th.

Centauri Dreams looks at the indirect evidence for an exomoon orbiting WASP-49b, a possible Io analogue detected through its ejected sodium.

Crooked Timber considers the plight of holders of foreign passports in the UK after Brexit.

The Crux notes that astronomers are still debating the nature of galaxy GC1052-DF2, oddly lacking in dark matter.

D-Brief notes how, in different scientific fields, the deaths of prominent scientists can help progress.

Bruce Dorminey notes how NASA and the ESA are considering sample-return missions to Ceres.

Andrew LePage at Drew Ex Machina looks at the first test flights of the NASA Mercury program.

The Dragon's Tales looks at how Japan is considering building ASAT weapons.

Andrew LePage at Drew Ex Machina looks at the first test flights of the NASA Mercury program.

Far Outliers looks how the anti-malarial drug quinine played a key role in allowing Europeans to survive Africa.

At In Media Res, Russell Arben Fox considers grace and climate change.

io9 reports on how Jonathan Frakes had anxiety attacks over his return as Riker on Star Trek: Picard.

JSTOR Daily reports on the threatened banana.

Language Log looks at the language of Hong Kong protesters.

Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money notes how a new version of The Last of the Mohicans perpetuates Native American erasure.

Marginal Revolution notes how East Germany remains alienated.

Neuroskeptic looks at the participant-observer effect in fMRI subjects.

The NYR Daily reports on a documentary looking at the India of Modi.

Corey S. Powell writes at Out There about Neptune.

The Planetary Society Blog examines the atmosphere of Venus, something almost literally oceanic in its nature.

Noel Maurer at The Power and the Money considers how Greenland might be incorporated into the United States.

Rocky Planet notes how Earth is unique down to the level of its component minerals.

The Russian Demographics Blog considers biopolitical conservatism in Poland and Russia.

Starts With a Bang's Ethan Siegel considers if LIGO has made a detection that might reveal the nonexistence of the theorized mass gap between neutron stars and black holes.

Frank Jacobs at Strange Maps looks at Marchetti's constant: People in cities, it seems, simply do not want to commute for a time longer than half an hour.

Understanding Society's Daniel Little looks at how the US Chemical Safety Board works.

Window on Eurasia reports on how Muslims in the Russian Far North fare.

Arnold Zwicky looks at cannons and canons.

Anthro{dendum} features an essay examining trauma and resiliency as encountered in ethnographic fieldwork.

Architectuul highlights a new project seeking to promote historic churches built in the United Kingdom in the 20th century.

Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait examines Ahuna Mons, a muddy and icy volcano on Ceres, and looks at the nebula Westerhout 40.

Centauri Dreams notes the recent mass release of data from a SETI project, and notes the discovery of two vaguely Earth-like worlds orbiting the very dim Teegarden's Star, just 12 light-years away.

Chris Bertram at Crooked Timber notes that having universities as a safe space for trans people does not infringe upon academic freedom.

The Crux looks at the phenomenon of microsleep.

D-Brief notes evidence that the Milky Way Galaxy was warped a billion years ago by a collision with dark matter-heavy dwarf galaxy Antlia 2, and notes a robotic fish powered by a blood analogue.

The Dragon's Tales notes that India plans on building its own space station.

Earther notes the recording of the song of the endangered North Pacific right whale.

The Everyday Sociology Blog looks at the role of emotional labour in leisure activities.

Far Outliers looks at how Japan prepared for the Battle of the Leyte Gulf in 1944.

Gizmodo looks at astronomers' analysis of B14-65666, an ancient galactic collision thirteen billion light-years away, and notes that the European Space Agency has a planned comet interception mission.

io9 notes how the plan for Star Trek in the near future is to not only have more Star Trek, but to have many different kinds of Star Trek for different audiences.

Joe. My. God. notes the observation of Pete Buttigieg that the US has probably already had a gay president.

JSTOR Daily looks at the many ways in which the rhetoric of Celtic identity has been used, and notes that the archerfish uses water ejected from its eyes to hunt.

Language Hat looks at why Chinese is such a hard language to learn for second-language learners, and looks at the Suso monastery in Spain, which played a key role in the coalescence of the Spanish language.

Language Log looks at the complexities of katakana.

Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the death of deposed Egypt president Mohammed Morsi looks like a slow-motion assassination, and notes collapse of industrial jobs in the Ohio town of Lordstown, as indicative of broader trends.

The LRB Blog looks at the death of Mohamed Morsi.

The Map Rom Blog shares a new British Antarctic Survey map of Greenland and the European Arctic.

Marginal Revolution notes how non-religious people are becoming much more common in the Middle East, and makes the point that the laying of cable for the transatlantic telegraph is noteworthy technologically.

Noah Smith at Noahpionion takes the idea of the Middle East going through its own version of the Thirty Years War seriously. What does this imply?

The NYR Daily takes a look at a Lebanon balanced somehow on the edge, and looks at the concentration camp system of the United States.

The Planetary Society Blog explains what people should expect from LightSail 2, noting that the LightSail 2 has launched.

Personal Reflections' Jim Belshaw points readers to his stories on Australian spy Harry Freame.

Rocky Planet explains, in the year of the Apollo 50th anniversary, why the Moon matters.

Drew Rowsome reviews, and praises, South African film Kanarie, a gay romp in the apartheid era.

The Russian Demographics Blog links to a paper examining the relationship between childcare and fertility in Belgium, and looks at the nature of statistical data from Turkmenistan.

The Strange Maps Blog shares a map highlighting different famous people in the United States.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains why different galaxies have different amounts of dark matter, and shares proof that the Apollo moon landings actually did happen.

Towleroad notes the new evidence that poppers, in fact, are not addictive.

Window on Eurasia warns about the parlous state of the Volga River.

Arnold Zwicky takes an extended look at the mid-20th century gay poet Frank O'Hara.

Architectuul looks at some architecturally innovative pools.

Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait looks at Wolf 359, a star made famous in Star Trek for the Starfleet battle there against the Borg but also a noteworthy red dwarf star in its own right.

Centauri Dreams looks at how the NASA Deep Space Atomic Clock will play a vital role in interplanetary navigation.

The Crux considers the "drunken monkey" thesis, the idea that drinking alcohol might have been an evolutionary asset for early hominids.

D-Brief reports on what may be the next step for genetic engineering beyond CRISPR.

Bruce Dorminey looks at how artificial intelligence may play a key role in searching for threat asteroids.

The Island Review shares some poetry from Roseanne Watt, inspired by the Shetlands and using its dialect.

Livia Gershon writes at JSTOR Daily about how YouTube, by promising to make work fun, actually also makes fun work in psychologically problematic ways.

Marginal Revolution notes how the relatively small Taiwan has become a financial superpower.

Janine di Giovanni at the NYR Daily looks back at the 2000 intervention in Sierra Leone. Why did it work?

Jamais Cascio at Open the Future looks back at a 2004 futurological exercise, the rather accurate Participatory Panopticon. What did he anticipate correctly? How? What does it suggest for us now to our world?

The Planetary Society Blog notes that LightSail 2 will launch before the end of June.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel looks at how the discovery of gas between galaxies helps solve a dark matter question.

Strange Company shares a broad collection of links.

Window on Eurasia makes the obvious observation that the West prefers a North Caucasus controlled by Russia to one controlled by Islamists.

Arnold Zwicky takes a look at American diner culture, including American Chinese food.

Matt Thompson at anthro{dendum} writes about the complex, often anthropological, satire in the comics of Charles Addams.

Architectuul looks at the photography of Roberto Conte.

Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait notes a new computer model suggesting a supernova can be triggered by throwing a white dwarf into close orbit of a black hole.

D-Brief notes how ammonia on the surface of Pluto hints at the existence of a subsurface ocean.

Bruce Dorminey notes how the bombardment of Earth by debris from a nearby supernova might have prompted early hominids to become bipedal.

The Dragon's Tales notes that NASA has awarded its first contract for its plans in lunar space.

Far Outliers notes the reactions, within and without the Soviet Union, to the 1991 Soviet coup attempt.

Matt Novak at Gizmodo's Paleofuture notes how, in 1995, Terry Pratchett predicted the rise of online Nazis.

io9 notes the impending physical release this summer of DVDs of the Deep Space Nine documentary What We Left Behind.

JSTOR Daily suggests some ways to start gardening in your apartment.

Victor Mair at Language Log claims that learning Literary Chinese is a uniquely difficult experience. Thoughts?

The NYR Daily features a wide-ranging interview with EU official Michel Barnier focused particularly, but not exclusively, on Brexit.

The Planetary Society Blog notes that an Internet vote has produced a majority in favour of naming outer system body 2007 OR10 Gonggang.

The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer considers the possibility that foreign investors in Mexico might be at risk, at least feel themselves at risk, from the government of AMLO.

The Signal looks at how the Library of Congress archives spreadsheets.

Van Waffle at the Speed River Journal looks at magenta spreen, a colourful green that he grows in his garden.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes how we on Earth are carelessly wasting irreplaceable helium.

Window on Eurasia refers to reports claiming that a third of the population of Turkmenistan has fled that Central Asian state. Could this be accurate?

In an extended meditation, Antipope's Charlie Stross considers what the domestic architecture of the future will look like. What different technologies, with different uses of space, will come into play?

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait looks at the new SPECULOOS exoplanet hunting telescope, specializing in the search for planets around the coolest stars.

The Crux looks at the evolutionary origins of hominins and chimpanzees in an upright walking ape several million years ago.

D-Brief notes the multiple detections of gravitational waves made by LIGO.

The Dragon's Tales looks at the development of laser weapons by China.

Karen Sternheimer at the Everyday Sociology Blog looks at the gap between social theory and field research.

Gizmodo shares an interesting discussion with paleontologists and other dinosaur experts: What would the dinosaurs have become if not for the Chixculub impact?

Hornet Stories notes the ways in which the policies of the Satanic Temple would be good for queer students.

io9 notes how the Deep Space 9 documentary What We Leave Behind imagines what a Season 8 would have looked like.

Joe. My. God. reports that activist Jacob Wohl is apparently behind allegations of a sexual assault by Pete Buttigieg against a subordinate.

JSTOR Daily takes a look at the uses of the yellow ribbon in American popular culture.
Language Hat shares an account of the life experiences of an Israeli taxi driver, spread across languages and borders.

Scott Lemieux at Lawyers, Guns and Money makes deserved fun of Bret Easton Ellis for his claims to having been marginalized.

Marginal Revolution considers, briefly, the idea that artificial intelligence might not be harmful to humans. (Why would it necessarily have to be?)

The NYR Daily considers a British exhibition of artworks by artists from the former Czechoslovakia.

Peter Rukavina looks at gender representation in party caucuses in PEI from the early 1990s on, noting the huge surge in female representation in the Greens now.

The Signal looks at how the Library of Congress is preserving Latin American monographs.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains how Einstein knew that gravity must bend light.

Window on Eurasia explains the sharp drop in the ethnic Russian population of Tuva in the 1990s.

Last night, I came across these two toy sets, survivors of 2016's Star Trek Beyond, for sale at $C 4 each in the Dollarama at 425 Parliament Street in the heart of Cabbagetown. Should I have gotten them? Star Trek Beyond was a fun film, though it felt more like a 1990s Trek two-part episode than a fully-fledged feature film in its own right.

Star Trek Beyond fighter pods @ $C 4 (1) #toronto #dollarama #parliamentstreet #cabbagetown #startrek #startrekbeyond #toys

Star Trek Beyond fighter pods @ $C 4 (2) #toronto #dollarama #parliamentstreet #cabbagetown #startrek #startrekbeyond #toys

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.

The Conversation hosts an article looking at the evolution of Jewish identity in Canada from something religious to something cultural.

The state of the American mafia, so thoroughly Americanized, is remarkable in a lot of ways. VICE reports.

There is definitely something to be said for the idea that Star Trek's Chief Miles O'Brien is one of the best representations of someone Irish and of Irish culture in popular culture. entertainment.ie has it.

This Wired article takes a look at the online interactions, positive and malign both, that have complicated so many fandoms like that of Harry Potter.

Monopoly, this article reminds us at The Conversation, was a board game invented to remind people about the pitfalls of capitalism.

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes how the dinosaurs seem to have been killed off 65 million years ago by a combination of geological and astronomical catastrophes.

Centauri Dreams examines Kepler 1658b, a hot Jupiter in a close orbit around an old star.

The Crux reports on the continuing search for Planet Nine in the orbits of distant solar system objects.

D-Brief notes how researchers have begun to study the archaeological records of otters.

Cody Delistraty profiles author and journalist John Lanchester.

Far Outliers reports on the terrible violence between Hindus and Muslims preceding partition in Calcutta.

L.M. Sacasas at The Frailest Thing suggests the carnival of the online world, full of hidden work, is actually an unsatisfying false carnival.

Hornet Stories reports that São Paulo LGBTQ cultural centre and homeless shelter Casa 1 is facing closure thanks to cuts by the homophobic new government.

io9 reports on one fan's attempt to use machine learning to produce a HD version of Deep Space Nine.

JSTOR Daily takes a look at the increasing trend, at least in the United States and the United Kingdom, to deport long-term residents lacking sufficiently secure residency rights.

Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at the literally medieval epidemics raging among the homeless of California.

Marginal Revolution considers how the Book of Genesis can be read as a story of increasing technology driving improved living standards and economic growth.

The NYR Daily interviews Lénaïg Bredoux about #MeToo in France.

The Planetary Society Blog considers the subtle differences in colour between ice giants Uranus and Neptune, one greenish and the other a blue, and the causes of this difference.

The Speed River Journal's Van Waffle shares beautiful photos of ice on a stream as he talks about his creative process.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel considers what the universe was like back when the Earth was forming.

Window on Eurasia reports on a statement made by the government of Belarus that the survival of the Belarusian language is a guarantor of national security.

Arnold Zwicky was kind enough to share his handout for the semiotics gathering SemFest20.

D-Brief considers the possibility that human food when eaten by bears, by shortening their hibernation periods, might contribute to their premature aging.

The Everyday Sociology Blog considers the political power of sports and of music.

Far Outliers notes the rising bourgeoisie of Calcutta in the 1990s.

Steve Roby at The Fifteenth makes the case for Discovery as worthy of being considered Star Trek, not least because it is doing something new.

L.M. Sacasas at The Frailest Thing notes how our tendency to track our lives through data can become dystopian.

JSTOR Daily notes that Illinois is starting to become home to resident populations of bald eagles.

Language Log takes a look at Ubykh.

Lawyers, Guns and Money notes a Trumpist Canadian border guard.

The New APPS Blog notes how helicopter parenting is linked to rising levels of inequality.

The NYR Daily considers Jasper Johns.

At Out of Ambit, Diane Duane considers the rhythms and cycles of life generally and of being a writer specifically.

Otto Pohl looks at how people from the different German communities of southeast Europe were, at the end of the Second World War, taken to the Soviet Union as forced labourers.

Steve Maynard writes at Spacing, in the aftermath of the death of Jackie Shane, about the erasure and recovery of non-white queer history in Toronto.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains what would happen if someone fell into a blackhole.

Window on Eurasia notes that the number of immigrants to Russia are falling, with Ukrainians diminishing particularly in number while Central Asian numbers remain more resistant to the trend.

Arnold Zwicky notes the telling omission of sexual orientation as a protected category re: hate crimes.

The Conversation considers what Star Trek has to say about sustainable urban development.

This New York Times article looks at how, in the United States, it is the cities of the West that are leading the country in developing effective mass transit now.

CityLab looks at the retreat of California from its full vision of a high-speed rail connection.

CityLab considers what a Green new Deal could do to help suburbia.

The Atlantic thinks that the rejection of Amazon HQ2 by New York City is good if it leads to an end in competitive subsidies by different jurisdictions to attract businesses.

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[BRIEF NOTE] "So Near the Touch", a #StarTrek story about #socialdistancing (@GeorgeTakei)
[PHOTO] This brings me joy. #startrek #startrekpicard #jeriryan #sevenofnine #screenshot
[URBAN NOTE] Seven city links: Mississauga, Oshawa, Hamilton, London, Kingston, Montréal, Québec
[BLOG] Some Friday links
[BLOG] Some Friday links
[PHOTO] Star Trek: The Motion Picture, 40th Anniversary Edition
[BLOG] Some Sunday links
[BLOG] Some Saturday links
[BLOG] Some Thursday links
[BLOG] Some Tuesday links
[BLOG] Some Tuesday links
[BLOG] Some Saturday links
[BLOG] Some Friday links
[BLOG] Some Tuesday links
[PHOTO] Star Trek Beyond fighter pods @ $C 4, Cabbagetown
[BLOG] Some Saturday links
[NEWS] Five social science links: Canadian Jews, US mafia, Miles O'Brien, online fandoms, Monopoly
[BLOG] Some Friday links
[BLOG] Some Wednesday links
[URBAN NOTE] Five links on cities: Star Trek, mass transit, California rail, Green New Deal, HQ2

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A Bit More Detail

Assorted Personal Notations, Essays, and Other Jottings

Entries tagged with star trek

[BRIEF NOTE] "So Near the Touch", a #StarTrek story about #socialdistancing (@GeorgeTakei)

[PHOTO] This brings me joy. #startrek #startrekpicard #jeriryan #sevenofnine #screenshot

[URBAN NOTE] Seven city links: Mississauga, Oshawa, Hamilton, London, Kingston, Montréal, Québec

[BLOG] Some Friday links

[BLOG] Some Friday links

[PHOTO] Star Trek: The Motion Picture, 40th Anniversary Edition

[BLOG] Some Sunday links

[BLOG] Some Saturday links

[BLOG] Some Thursday links

[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

[BLOG] Some Saturday links

[BLOG] Some Friday links

[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

[PHOTO] Star Trek Beyond fighter pods @ $C 4, Cabbagetown

[BLOG] Some Saturday links

[NEWS] Five social science links: Canadian Jews, US mafia, Miles O'Brien, online fandoms, Monopoly

[BLOG] Some Friday links

[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

[URBAN NOTE] Five links on cities: Star Trek, mass transit, California rail, Green New Deal, HQ2

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February 2021

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