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- Catrine Jarman notes how Easter Island's history has been badly misread. The island was sustainably run, after all.
- Dead Things notes how DNA studies of ancient Rapa Nui suggest there was no South American immigration. No contact?
- Will the new airport at St. Helena open up new potential for tourism for the South Atlantic island? Global News reports.
- Iceland is enthusiastically trying to restore its ancient forests, downed by Vikings, so far with not much success. The New York Times reports.
- Ottawa has been urged to give farm workers from Dominica, ravaged by hurricanes, extended work permits. The Toronto Star reports.
- The island of Vieques, already hit by American military testing, has been prostrated by Maria. VICE reports.
[BLOG] Some Saturday links
Oct. 21st, 2017 11:16 am- Bad Astronomer Phil Plait looks at enormous, explosive Wolf-Rayet stars, and at WR 124 in particular.
- The Big Picture shares heart-rending photos of Rohingya refugees fleeing Burma.
- Centauri Dreams considers the potential of near-future robotic asteroid mining.
- D-Brief notes the discovery of vast cave systems on the Moon, potential homes for settlers.
- Hornet Stories exposes young children to Madonna's hit songs and videos of the 1980s. She still has it.
- Inkfish notes that a beluga raised in captivity among dolphins has picked up elements of their speech.
- Language Hat notes a dubious claim that a stelae containing Luwian hieroglyphic script, from ancient Anatolia, has been translated.
- Lawyers, Guns and Money considers the question of preserving brutalist buildings.
- The LRB Blog considers how Brexit, intended to enhance British sovereignty and power, will weaken both.
- The Map Room Blog notes that the moons and planets of the solar system have been added to Google Maps.
- The NYR Daily considers how the Burmese government is carefully creating a case for Rohingya genocide.
- The Power and Money's Noel Maurer concludes, regretfully, that the market for suborbital travel is just not there.
- Visiting a shrimp festival in Louisiana, Roads and Kingdoms considers how the fisheries work with the oil industry (or not).
- Towleroad reports on the apparent abduction in Chechnya of singer Zelimkhan Bakayev, part of the anti-gay pogrom there.
- Window on Eurasia notes that rebuilding Kaliningrad as a Russian military outpost will be expensive.
Tags:
- animal intelligence,
- archeology,
- asteroids,
- astronomy,
- blogs,
- burma,
- cetaceans,
- chechnya,
- ethnic cleansing,
- fisheries,
- genocide,
- glbt issues,
- google,
- kaliningrad,
- language,
- links,
- louisiana,
- madonna,
- middle east,
- military,
- moon,
- music videos,
- oil,
- popular music,
- russia,
- solar system,
- southeast asia,
- space colonies,
- space science,
- technology,
- travel,
- united states
- Hornet Stories looks at the long history of the explicitly LGBTQ-friendly Metropolitan Community Church.
- Jeff Rock will be the new pastor of Toronto's Metropolitan Community Church congregation, after Brent Hawkes. The Toronto Star reports.
- Quartz reports on a PFLAG China cruise, featuring queer people and their parents.
- Little India reports on the emerging field of gay literature in India, prose and poetry, fiction and non-fiction.
- The Satanic Temple of Seattle is commissioning anti-gay bakers to bake them pro-Satanism cakes. Religious freedom, right? Bustle tells the story.
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- Having visited Friday, I liked the blogTO report on the early days of Toronto's love affair with Niagara Falls.
- blogTO shares photos of Kensington Market in the raw 1970s.
- The exterior of 450 Pape Avenue was used for the movie It, and the place is seeing Stephen King pilgrims already.
- The Toronto Book Garden, a lovely mini-park at Harbourfront keyed to literary Toronto, opened yesterday.
[BLOG] Some Tuesday links
Sep. 19th, 2017 02:31 pm- Anthrodendum offers resources for understanding race in the US post-Charlottesville.
- D-Brief notes that exoplanet WASP-12b is a hot Jupiter that is both super-hot and pitch-black.
- The Dragon's Gaze links to a paper examining various models of ice-covered worlds and their oceans' habitability.
- The Everyday Sociology Blog takes a look at the value placed by society on different methods of transport.
- Far Outliers looks at how Chinese migrants were recruited in the 19th century.
- Hornet Stories notes that the authorship of famously bad fanfic, "My Immortal", has been claimed, by one Rose Christo.
- Marginal Revolution notes one explanation for why men are not earning more. (Bad beginnings matter.)
- Peter Watts has it with facile (and statistically ill-grounded) rhetoric about punching Nazis.
- At the NYR Daily, Masha Gessen is worried by signs of degeneration in the American body politic.
- Livejournal's pollotenchegg maps the strength of Ukrainian political divisions in 2006 and 2010.
- The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer is afraid what AI-enabled propaganda might do to American democracy in the foreseeable future.
- Roads and Kingdoms notes an enjoyable bagel breakfast at Pondichéry's Auroville Café.
- Drew Rowsome celebrates the introduction of ultra-low-cost carriers for flyers in Canada.
- Strange Company notes the 19th century haunting of an English mill.
- Window on Eurasia notes that Crimean Tatars, and Muslims in Crimea, are facing more repression.
Tags:
- anthropology,
- astronomy,
- blogs,
- callisto,
- china,
- clash of ideologies,
- crimean tatars,
- democracy,
- economics,
- europa,
- extraterrestrial life,
- fan fiction,
- food,
- ganymede,
- gender,
- imperialism,
- india,
- islam,
- links,
- migration,
- naziism,
- oceans,
- oddities,
- politics,
- popular culture,
- racism,
- russia,
- social sciences,
- sociology,
- space science,
- titan,
- tourism,
- travel,
- ukraine,
- united kingdom,
- united states
[BLOG] Some Friday links
Sep. 15th, 2017 12:09 pm- Anthrodendum considers the difficulties of the anthropologist in the context of a world where their knowledges are monetized.
- The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly talks about two days she spent in Montréal, with photos.
- Crooked Timber starts a discussion about the justice, or lack thereof, in Harvard denying convicted murderer Michelle Jones entry into their doctoral program now that her sentence is over.
- D-Brief looks at the changing nature of the global disease burden, and its economic consequences.
- Lawyers, Guns and Money notes that Equifax's terribly lax data protection should mark the endgame for them.
- The Map Room Blog considers the use of earth-observer satellites to predict future disease outbreaks (malaria, here, in Peru).
- Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes how quantum mechanics helps explain nuclear fusion in our sun.
- Window on Eurasia notes a report that Muscovites live on average 12 years longer than non-Muscovite Russians.
- At CBC, Don Pittis notes--in this time of a refugee crisis--Canada is economically able to handle more newcomers.
- I really do want to see this origami diorama tomorrow at the CNE.
- In this year of free national park admissions, Lauren Krugel notes how Parks Canada prepared for the surge.
- Atlas Obscura notes that, after almost three decades, the Trans-Canada Trail is finally complete, from coast to coast.
[BLOG] Some Wednesday links
Aug. 30th, 2017 01:05 pm- Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes how data mining of stellar surveys led to the discovery of a new star type, the BLAP.
- The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly tells about her enjoyable recent stay at Fire Island.
- Centauri Dreams notes the latest maneuvers of asteroid probe OSIRIS-REx.
- The Dragon's Gaze links to a paper considering oxygen in exoplanet atmospheres as a biomarker.
- Joe. My. God. notes how racist Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio is upset at being called a racist.
- Language Log notes how China censored images of the Tibetan-language tattoo of MMA fighter Dan Hardy.
- Lawyers, Guns and Money notes how deportees to Mexico are beset by that country's crime syndicates.
- Marginal Revolution links to a paper considering how many sellers a market needs to be competitive.
- The New APPS Blog considers the racism of Donald Trump in the light of Agamben's concept of the homo sacer.
- Personal Reflections' Jim Belshaw considers the issue of monuments in Australia in the context of Aborigines' sufferings by the subjects memorialized.
- The Planetary Society Blog shows the Jupiter approach videos taken by the Voyager probes.
- Towleroad explains why Diana, with her embrace of (among other things) fashion and AIDS victims, is a gay icon.
- Arnold Zwicky notes the official registration in Scotland of a tartan for LGBT people.
Tags:
- asteroids,
- astronomy,
- australia,
- blogs,
- china,
- clash of ideologies,
- crime,
- economics,
- extraterrestrial life,
- first nations,
- glbt issues,
- in memoriam,
- islands,
- jupiter,
- links,
- mexico,
- migration,
- new york,
- public art,
- racism,
- scotland,
- space science,
- space travel,
- tibet,
- tourism,
- travel,
- united kingdom,
- united states,
- video
- Scott Wheeler writes about past eminences of Toronto, people like Conn Smythe and Raymond Massey.
- Joanna Slater writes in The Globe and Mail about the symbolism of Confederate--and other--statuary in Richmond, former capital of the South.
- Reuters reports on a Vietnamese businessman abducted by his country from the streets of Berlin. Germany is unhappy.
- Jeremiah Ross argues at VICE that very high levels of tourism in New York City are displacing native-born residents.
- Looking to protests most recently in Barcelona, Elle Hunt in The Guardian looks at ways to make mass tourism more affordable for destinations.
- Spacing hosts Cheryl Thompson's article examining Toronto's Caribbean festival as a Bakhtinian organized chaos.
- VICE examines how social housing in Canada will be hard-hit by climate change, including rising temperatures.
- Torontoist shares a sponsored guide to attractions in the Ontario Greenbelt.
- Laura Howells at the Toronto Star notes that if garlic mustard has to be an invasive plant in the forests of Ontario, at least it helps that it is a tasty invader.
- Julien Gignac reports on the mystery of who the artist building shrines at Leslie Spit actually is.
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- CBC reports on the recent commemoration of Captain John MacDonald of Glenaladale, pioneer of Scottish Catholic settlers on PEI.
- CBC reports on the growth of the shoulder, non-summer, tourist seasons in Prince Edward Island.
- Mitch MacDonald's article in The Guardian looking at the invasion of Nova Scotia by PEI businesspeople is interesting.
- After a recent period of convergence, CBC notes PEI wages have declined to about 85% of the Canadian average.
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- The Inter Press Service observes the quest of the Maldives for a seat on the United Nations Security Council in this time of sea level rise.
- The NYR Daily reports on a new take on the revolutionary hope and failure of early 1980s Grenada.
- Bloomberg notes how Singapore is becoming a major destination for Indian tourists, in its own right and as a regional centre.
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- In The Globe and Mail, Ian Brown and Nam Phi Dang's photo essay tracking the adventures of a bus of Chinese tourists who went from Toronto to the Island and back is insightful and amusing.
- Alex Ballingall's account in the Toronto Star of his week-long trek along the Trans-Canada Trail from Niagara to Toronto is enlightening. Would I could do this ...
- Mark Milke in MacLean's argues that, regrettable excesses aside, Canadians should be proud of our British heritage.
- The Montreal Gazette's Brendan Kelly wonders why a supposedly Canadian music compilation does not include any French-language songs.
- In the Toronto Star, Emma Teitel points out that visibility, including corporate visibility, is hugely important in Pride.
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[BLOG] Some Monday links
Jul. 10th, 2017 10:22 am- Anthropology.net notes on how a fossil tooth led eventually to the identification of the fourth Denisovan individual known.
- The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly writes about reasons for people to travel solo.
- The Dragon's Tales' Will Baird notes that the INF Treaty is on the verge of collapse.
- Mathew Ingram uses a recent GIF of Trump with the Polish president's wife to show how these lie and mislead.
- Joe. My. God. notes a sharp collapse in London's LGBT venues--more than half in the past decade!
- Marginal Revolution reports on British actors who take up tutoring as a second job to support their careers.
- The NYR Daily takes a look at the latest concerns of South Koreans regarding their northern neighbour.
- Personal Reflections' Jim Belshaw takes issue with proposed Australian government surveillance of the local Internet.
- Progressive Download's John Farrell dissects the origins of the false claim that Copernicus was a Catholic priest.
- Unicorn Booty has a fantastic interview with a scholar, Jamie Bernthal, who makes a case for queer content in Agatha Christie.
- Window on Eurasia notes that methane bubble explosions in Siberia could wreck Russian pipelines.
Tags:
- anthropology,
- blogs,
- disasters,
- economics,
- environment,
- geopolitics,
- glbt issues,
- history,
- human beings,
- internet,
- journalism,
- korea,
- links,
- london,
- mass media,
- nightclubbing,
- nuclear weapons,
- oil,
- popular literature,
- russia,
- science,
- siberia,
- social sciences,
- south korea,
- theatre,
- travel,
- united kingdom,
- united states
[BLOG] Some Wednesday links
Jul. 5th, 2017 10:44 am- James Bow shares his story of how he met famed Canadian kid's author Gordon Korman.
- Paul Drye has sales on this month for his two books, space race WI book False Steps and his first, Passing Strangeness.
- Far Outliers' Joel notes two overlooked episodes of migration in Canada, of Hawaiians in British Columbia and Canadian exiles in Australia.
- The Great Grey Bridge's Philip Turner shared, again, his personal photo essay about his links to and love of Canada.
- Language Hat looks at the potentially Australian slang phrase "good on you" (pronounced "good onya", apparently).
- Language Hat looks at claims that translation and grammar complicate the meaning of the text authorizing the handover of Hong Kong to China.
- The LRB Blog announces that their #readeverywhere photo contest is up and running for July!
- Cheri Lucas Rowlands shares a gorgeous photo essay of her trip to Chania, on Crete.
- Unicorn Booty has an interesting essay looking at the barriers to membership imposed by gay culture on newly-out members of the community.
- Window on Eurasia looks at the cost of the Russian war in Ukraine and argues that the consequences of a crash now would be worse than in 1998.
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[BLOG] Some Tuesday links
Jul. 4th, 2017 12:18 pm- Bad Astronomer Phil Plait is skeptical that the Trump-era EPA will deal well with global warming.
- Discover's The Crux considers the challenge of developing safer explosives for fireworkers.
- The Dragon's Gaze links to a paper considering the (real) possibility of Earth-like worlds orbiting neutron stars.
- Language Log notes an odd use of katakana in Australia.
- The LRB Blog considers the possibly overrated import of George Osborne's move into the newspaper business.
- Marginal Revolution notes one observer's suggestion that China could sustain high-speed growth much longer than Japan.
- The NYR Daily shares Eleanor Davis' cartoon journal of her bike trip across America.
- Peter Rukavina does not like the odd way Prince Edward Island made its library card into a museum pass.
- Starts with a Bang's Ethan Siegel notes the odd galaxy MACS2129-1, young yet apparently no longer star-forming.
- Strange Company explores the strange death of 17th century New England woman Rebecca Cornell.
- Unicorn Booty looks at how early Playgirl tried to handle, quietly, its substantially gay readership.
- Window on Eurasia looks at one Russian proclaiming Russia needs to stop an imminent takeover by Muslims.
Tags:
- astronomy,
- blogs,
- books,
- cartoons,
- china,
- economics,
- environment,
- eurabia,
- extraterrestrial life,
- futurology,
- glbt issues,
- global warming,
- holidays,
- libraries,
- links,
- mass media,
- museums,
- new england,
- newspapers,
- oddities,
- politics,
- prince edward island,
- russia,
- sexuality,
- space science,
- technology,
- travel,
- united kingdom,
- united states
[BLOG] Some Saturday links
Jun. 24th, 2017 01:56 pm- The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly photoblogs about her trip to Berlin.
- Dead Things reports on a recent study that unraveled the evolutionary history of the domestic cat.
- James Nicoll notes that his niece and nephew will each be performing theatre in Toronto.
- Language Hat has an interesting link to interviews of coders as if they were translators.
- Marginal Revolution looks at Chinese video game competitions and Chinese tours to Soviet revolutionary sites.
- Steve Munro shares photos of the old Kitchener trolleybus.
- Roads and Kingdoms shares the story of the Ramadan drummer of Coney Island.
- Savage Minds shares an essay arguing that photographers should get their subjects' consent and receive renumeration.
- Torontoist shares photos of the Trans March.
- Towleroad
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[BLOG] Some Tuesday links
Jun. 13th, 2017 11:09 am- blogTO reported that York University plans on opening a satellite campus in York Region's Markham. This is a first.
- Dangerous Minds notes a new, posthumous release from Suidide's Alan Vega.
- The Dragon's Gaze links to a paper considering the detectability of Niven ringworlds around pulsars. (Maybe.)
- The Everyday Sociology Blog considers burnout among sociology students, and suggests that engagement with issues is key to overcoming it.
- The Great Grey Bridge's Philip Turner photoblogs his recent Rhode Island vacation.
- Joe. My. God. reports on the arrest of a Christian activist protesting outside of the Pulse memorial in Orlando.
- The LRB Blog shares considerable concern that the Democratic Unionists of Northern Ireland are now national powermakers.
- Spacing Toronto shares the ambitious plan of Buenos Aires to make the city better for cyclists, pedestrians, and mass transit
- Transit Toronto notes that starting Friday, Metrolinx will co-sponsor $C25 return tickets to Niagara from Toronto.
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[BLOG] Some Saturday links
Jun. 10th, 2017 01:45 pm- blogTO notes that the old HMV store in the Dufferin Mall is now a fidget spinner store. This has gone viral.
- The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly talks about her week in Paris.
- Centauri Dreams notes one paper examining the complex formation of the dense TRAPPIST-1 system.
- Far Outliers reports from early 20th century Albania, about how tribal and language and ethnic identities overlap, and not.
- Language Log notes efforts to promote Cantonese in the face of Mandarin.
- The LRB Blog wonders if May's electoral defeat might lead to the United Kingdom changing its Brexit trajectory.
- Marginal Revolution notes that cars have more complex computer programming these days than fighter jets.
- The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer notes that the counter-cyclical Brazilian fiscal cap still makes no sense.
- Window on Eurasia argues that Russia is edging towards an acknowledgement of its involvement in the Ukrainian war.
Tags:
- albania,
- anthropology,
- astronomy,
- blogs,
- brazil,
- cantonese,
- chinese language,
- computers,
- economics,
- european union,
- former soviet union,
- france,
- latin america,
- links,
- national identity,
- popular culture,
- russia,
- separatism,
- shopping,
- south america,
- space science,
- technology,
- toronto,
- travel,
- ukraine,
- united kingdom,
- war,
- western balkans
[NEWS] Eight links from around the world
Jun. 3rd, 2017 06:05 pm- Yahoo News shares the story of a cat that visited every national park in the United States, with photos.
- CBC's Mike Crawley takes a look at the impact of the Ontario $15 minimum wage, finding it should have little effect on the economy at large.
- In The Globe and Mail, Tony Keller suggests that Donald Trump's actions do a great job of promoting China as a responsible superpower.
- CBC notes research suggesting that global warming will make the heat island effect in cities much worse.
- It is easy, editor David Shribman of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes in The Globe and Mail, to mistake Pittsburgh for Paris.
- The Toronto Star notes Ariana Grande's surprise visit to her fans in hospital before tomorrow benefit concert.
- The Atlantic reports on the problems of post-Communist gentrification in Moscow.
- The Georgia Straight shares one Vancouver artist's goodbye to her adopted city, beloved but now too expensive.
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