[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

• Crooked Timber’s Jon Mandle reflects on his experiences of a visit to Auschwitz.
• The Dragon’s Tales’ Will Baird notes the development of a robot that can walk like a cat.
• Eastern Approaches suggests that Croatia, set to enter the European Union, should pick up economic tips from Finland’s experience in the 1990s.
• Marginal Revolution’s Tyler Cowen argues convincingly that the lack of payment for sperm donors in Canada means that domestic sperm–from paid domestic sperm donors, at least–is short.
• Savage Minds considers language revival among tribal peoples in Taiwan by looking to the mixed experience of Southern Maori revivalists in New Zealand.
• The Search offers guidelines as to the digital archiving of images. (Keep them in TIFF but don’t worry if they’re JPEG.)
• Torontoist’s Desmond Cole notes a recent protest in Toronto to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the federal government’s limiting of access to healthcare to refugees.
• Towleroad reports on the GLBT components of the anti-government protests in Turkey.

[BLOG] Some Sunday links

• Acts of Minor Treason’s Andrew Barton shares a photograph of a San Francisco streetcar
• Eastern Approaches describes how the Serbian ambassador to Turkey was cut off by the protests.
• Geocurrents’ Asya Pereltsvaig traces the etymology of book in different world languages.
• GNXP’s Razib Khan notes that imagined far futures where humans are recognizably the same despite huge changes otherwise, or where the only changes are superficial or ridiculous, are lacking.
• Marginal Revolution discusses the question of whether the city of Detroit should sell off the works in its collection, leaning towards the sale.
• Progressive Download’s John Farrell notes that scientists may have found pluripotent adult stem cells.
• Steve Munro finds it ludicrous the extent to which Metrolinx has exaggerated the job benefits of mass transit system construction.
• Torontoist examines the birth of the Toronto neighbourhood (once municipality) of Leaside as a planned suburb.
• Van Waffle takes his readers on a garden tour of Toronto, with photographs.
• Window on Eurasia notes how Karelians, facing assimilation in their Russian republic, are looking towards Finland for help.

[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

• Acts of Minor Treason’s Andrew Barton photographs the Gibraltar Point lighthouse and wonders about the Toronto Islands.
• Bag News Notes visits Iraqi Kurdistan and the survivors of Saddam Hussein’s gassing of the Kurdish city of Halabja.
• At Behind the Numbers, Mark Mather notes that the projected size of the American population in decades hence has decreased owing to the recession-related fall in the birth rate.
• Eastern Approaches notes the church-sponsored attack on a gay pride protestin Georgia, its implications for law and order in Georgia, and the impact on Georgia’s reputation abroad.
• Geocurrents’ Asya Perelstvaig goes over the fluctuating Russo-Finnish border regions.
• GNXP’s Razib Khan argues that devoting ten thousand hours to practising a particular skill, as described by Gladwell, won’t do anything if one doesn’t have the requisite talent.
• Language Hat notes an article on the life of Alice Kober, one of the linguists who helped decrypy the Minoan script Linear B.
• Open the Future’s Jamais Cascio wonders how astronomers would recognize artifacts of a supercivilization–Dyson spheres, FTL warp bubbles, et cetera–as artifacts.
• Window on Eurasia’s Paul Goble notes that many Russian nationalists are opposed to integrating with post-Soviet countries, particularly in Central Asia, that are currently de-Russifying.

[BLOG] Some Monday links

• Burgh Diaspora notes the migration of Spanish professionals to Morocco. (It’s close and the cost of living is low.)
• Daniel Drezner, in contrast to other writers, has become somewhat more dovish since the Iraq War, but not that much more.
• At the Everyday Sociology Blog, Jonathan Wynn examines the sociological settings of the coverage of the Steubenville rape trials. Among other things, he suggests that the search for novelty, more than an insensitivity to the victim, played a role in CNN’s infamous coverage.
• At A Fistful of Euros, Alex Harrowell argues that the British government’s diagnosis of the problems with the British economy is fundamentally flawed, with obvious implications for the recovery of the British economy.
• Geocurrents’ Asya Pereltsvaig examines the fascinating birch bark documents from the medieval Russian state of Novgorod.
• GNXP’s Razib Khan notes the evidence of substantial non-European ancestry among South Africa’s Afrikaners.
• Language Hat notes the influence of the Polish language and Roman Catholicism in early modern Ukraine.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money’s Erik Loomis starts an interesting discussion of ethnonational identity, history, and social class in culture from a book on Mexican food.
• Supernova Condensate considers the possibility of life evolving on worlds orbiting bright, massive stars. Planets, at least, seem able to form even around the brightest …
• Technosociology’s Zeynap Tufekci discusses the right of children to privacy.

[BLOG] Some Monday links

• Centauri Dreams features a guest post by anthropologist Cameron M. Smith speculating on the kinds of evolutionary change that could occur among humans via long-distance, long-duration interstellar flights and later pplanetary colonizations.
• Geocurrents notes that politics in Kenya, as evidenced by the recent election, are still strongly marked by the polarization of different ethnic groups behind different candidates.
• John Moyer is bored by the over-the-top superhero genre.
• Marginal Revolution’s Tyler Cowen seems appalled by the weekend decision to impose a haircut on depositors in Cypriot banks.
• Noel Maurer, writing at The Power and the Money, notes the division of Japan on east-west lines by incompatible national electricity grids. Eastern Japan including Tokyo, hit hard by the aftermath of the tsunami and nuclear plant closures, stayed afloat thanks to rolling blackouts.
• Strange Maps charts the frontiers, exclaves, and territorial disputes of the Vatican City.
• Torontoist notes the growing popularity of Gaelic footballs in Toronto. It’s useful for networking for new immigrants from Ireland, too.
• Towleroad reports on a Turkish campaign, led by the prime minister, against the two lesbian foster mothers of a Turkish child taken into custody at six months of age. (He’s now 9.)
• The Volokh Conspiracy’s Eugene Volokh notes that the Catholic cardinal of Durban in South Africa, Wilfrid Fox Napier, has said that pedophile priests who in turn raped children shouldn’t be considered criminally responsible.
• At Window on Eurasia, Paul Goble reports that Vladimir Putin defended the Winter Wage waged against Finland.

[BLOG] Some Monday links

• Dan Hirschman, at A (Budding) Sociologist’s Commonplace Blog, wonders about sociological studies of dying fields and institutions. He raises the example of the card game bridge.
• Far Outliers has a variety of links–1, 2, 3–describing how the Black Sea city of Odessa, in southern Ukraine, was in the 19th century a booming metropolis comparable in many ways to America’s Chicago.
• Language Hat tackles the possible impending breakthroughs surrounding the decryption of proto-Elamite cuneiform.
• At Lawyers, Guns and Money, Robert Farley has no truck with The Nation‘s argument that Middle Eastern dictatorships depended critically on American support. Many didn’t; many of the ones being threatened opposed the United States strongly. Cf Libya.
• Not Rocket Science’s Ed Yong reflects on newly-published studies of old recordings demonstrating that a beluga whale held in captivity was actively trying to mimic human speech.
• Itching for Eestimaa’s Guistino reflects on the Estonian-Finnish relationship, close but with undercurrents of conflict.
• Marginal Revolution’s Alex Tabarrok links to a Slate article noting how an unlikely mutation to let humans metabolize milk became wide-spread. The commenters suggest that mutations which allow people to metabolize milk helps maximize the caloric value of cows, at least compared to slaughtering them outright.
• Normblog links to an article by Iranian expatriate Roya Hoyakian noting how Iran’s revolution quickly led to institutionalized misogyny, and warning that there are signs of this also occurring in the countries changed by the Arab Spring’s revolution.
• Torontoist’s Steve Kupferman wonders about the effectiveness and utility of The Globe and Mail‘s new paywall, soon to be adopted by the other major Toronto dailies.
• The Volokh Conspiracy’s David Kopel makes a fair point in pointing out that Syria is Iran’s access to the sea–the Mediterranean Sea, at least.
• Zero Geography determines the dominant language used for Wikipedia articles for different countries. English is globally dominant, unsurprisingly, but French, Russian, and surprisingly German also do above-average.

[BLOG] Some Monday links

• Dan Hirschman, at A (Budding) Sociologist’s Commonplace Blog, wonders about sociological studies of dying fields and institutions. He raises the example of the card game bridge.
• Far Outliers has a variety of links–1, 2, 3–describing how the Black Sea city of Odessa, in southern Ukraine, was in the 19th century a booming metropolis comparable in many ways to America’s Chicago.
• Language Hat tackles the possible impending breakthroughs surrounding the decryption of proto-Elamite cuneiform.
• At Lawyers, Guns and Money, Robert Farley has no truck with The Nation‘s argument that Middle Eastern dictatorships depended critically on American support. Many didn’t; many of the ones being threatened opposed the United States strongly. Cf Libya.
• Not Rocket Science’s Ed Yong reflects on newly-published studies of old recordings demonstrating that a beluga whale held in captivity was actively trying to mimic human speech.
• Itching for Eestimaa’s Guistino reflects on the Estonian-Finnish relationship, close but with undercurrents of conflict.
• Marginal Revolution’s Alex Tabarrok links to a Slate article noting how an unlikely mutation to let humans metabolize milk became wide-spread. The commenters suggest that mutations which allow people to metabolize milk helps maximize the caloric value of cows, at least compared to slaughtering them outright.
• Normblog links to an article by Iranian expatriate Roya Hoyakian noting how Iran’s revolution quickly led to institutionalized misogyny, and warning that there are signs of this also occurring in the countries changed by the Arab Spring’s revolution.
• Torontoist’s Steve Kupferman wonders about the effectiveness and utility of The Globe and Mail‘s new paywall, soon to be adopted by the other major Toronto dailies.
• The Volokh Conspiracy’s David Kopel makes a fair point in pointing out that Syria is Iran’s access to the sea–the Mediterranean Sea, at least.
• Zero Geography determines the dominant language used for Wikipedia articles for different countries. English is globally dominant, unsurprisingly, but French, Russian, and surprisingly German also do above-average.

[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

• 80 Beats has more about the newly-sanctioned use of anti-retroviral drug Truvada to prevent HIV infection. Apparently it’s quite effective–75% efficacy in heterosexual couples which use it consistently, 90% among homosexual couples which do the same.
• Centauri Dreams considers how the next generation of space telescopes will be able to pick up the signature of water oceans on distant worlds.
• Eastern Approaches notes the exceptionally controversial (and possibly doomed) plan by the Czech government to compensate religious organizations for property expropriated under Communism.
• Geocurrents notes the substantial evidence of influence of Finnic groups on the culture of the Eastern Slavs–Russians particularly, but also Ukrainians and Belarusians.
• Language Hat remarks on a religious song of the Ainu making use of nonsense words.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money wonders why people who watch China’s development of an aircraft carrier aren’t paying attention to the much larger and longer-established naval aviation programs–including aircraft carriers–of India.
• Registan’s Nathan Hamm comments on how Uzbekistan’s departure from a Russian-led security alliance signals Russian weakness in its immediate neighbourhood.
• Could elements like lithium be manufactured by black holes? Supernova Condensate speculates.
• Towleroad reports on the shameful decision of the Boy Scouts of America to continue keep non-heterosexuals out of its ranks.

[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

• 80 Beats has more about the newly-sanctioned use of anti-retroviral drug Truvada to prevent HIV infection. Apparently it’s quite effective–75% efficacy in heterosexual couples which use it consistently, 90% among homosexual couples which do the same.
• Centauri Dreams considers how the next generation of space telescopes will be able to pick up the signature of water oceans on distant worlds.
• Eastern Approaches notes the exceptionally controversial (and possibly doomed) plan by the Czech government to compensate religious organizations for property expropriated under Communism.
• Geocurrents notes the substantial evidence of influence of Finnic groups on the culture of the Eastern Slavs–Russians particularly, but also Ukrainians and Belarusians.
• Language Hat remarks on a religious song of the Ainu making use of nonsense words.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money wonders why people who watch China’s development of an aircraft carrier aren’t paying attention to the much larger and longer-established naval aviation programs–including aircraft carriers–of India.
• Registan’s Nathan Hamm comments on how Uzbekistan’s departure from a Russian-led security alliance signals Russian weakness in its immediate neighbourhood.
• Could elements like lithium be manufactured by black holes? Supernova Condensate speculates.
• Towleroad reports on the shameful decision of the Boy Scouts of America to continue keep non-heterosexuals out of its ranks.

[BRIEF NOTE] On the last of the Ingrians

Helsingin Sanomat‘s Heli Saavalainen has an English-language article examining the elderly Ingrian populations of Kingisepp, a community in Russia just outside of St. Petersburg and not very far at all from the Estonian border.

The Ingrians are a Finnic population living in the hinterland of St. Petersburg, descended equally from indigenous and immigrant Finns, who suffered atrociously in the course of the 20th century. After the end of the Soviet Union, Ingrian Finns–then living mainly in Russia or in adjacent, Finnic Estonia–were offered Finnish citizenship, and very many accepted. Today, notwithstanding interest from Finland and Estonia in promoting Finnic languages and cultures among Russia’s different Finnic populations–I blogged about this in January 2006 and July 2007–Ingrian ethnic identity seems on the verge of vanishing, as the old remain in their historic communities while the young emigrate to Finland (or Estonia) or assimilate into the Russian community.

The river flows swiftly through the town of Jaama, or Kingisepp in Northwest Russia. Young people spend their summer day on the shore, drinking beer and enjoying each other’s company. Here and there anglers try to catch fish.

The river is the Luga River. The area has strongly Finnish roots. At the Nivo cemetery on the Kurkola Peninsula there are plenty of Finnish names – Koi¬vu¬nen, Sep¬pä¬nen, Jalonen, Sippo, Harakka, Saunanen, Suomalainen.

The Ingrian culture is alive in the villages where a group of tenacious grandmothers who have gone through many tribulations in their lives still hang on.

One of the women is 83-year-old Tyyne Yllö. She was born in Hakaja, raised three children, buried her husband, mother-in-law, and her son and his family.

In 1943 at the age of 13 the girl was brought to Finland to escape the war. “The Germans drove us to Finland. They did it by force, although they said later that we wanted to go there ourselves”, Yllä says.

She ended up in a farm in Orimattila.

“Then in 1944 they said that we can go home.”

But there was no going back home – the new address was found in Siberia. “We had no food or money”, Yllö says, recalling her youth.

Her family fled to Estonia, and from there to Soviet Karelia. “There was work and bread there. They let us live.”

In 1958 they got permission to return to Hakaja. “I immediately had a great need to get back.”

However, their home was no longer the same. “Everything had been ravaged. There was no roof and no doors. Fish helped us through the poverty, and we had to work hard.”

[. . .]

The villages are also gradually dying out. “A few years ago all villages had life, even children”, says Father Grigori, a priest of the Ingrian Church.

The young people move out to find work, and the area becomes increasingly dominated by ethnic Russians.

“Many have moved to Finland, and many more are dead”, says Aleksander Ruotsi, the chairman of the local chapter of the Ingrian League.

When the association was set up in 1989 there were more than 2,000 active members. Now there are less than 100.

The congregation holds a memorial service at the Nivo cemetery each year. “Many times we take flowers to those who were there the previous year”, Father Grigori says.