[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

• blogTO notes a new union for Toronto freelancers.
• Dangerous Minds notes a Chinese ban on live streams of women eating bananas seductively.
• The Dragon’s Gaze notes a paper purporting to provide ways for telescopes to distinguish between exo-Venuses and exo-Earths.
• The Dragon’s Tales links to a study modelling the collision between Theia and the proto-Earth that created the moon.
• Language Log notes Chinese colloquialisms.
• The LRB Blog reflects on the environmental and political implications of the Fort McMurray fire.
• Marginal Revolution recommends postponing tourism to some exotic destinations until they build up the needed infrastructure.
• The NYRB Daily introduces readers to the Weimar-era novel Grand Hotel.
• I disagree with Peter Watts’ argument that things need to get worse before they get better.
• North!’s Justin Petrone reflects on his experience of the esoteric in Estonia.
• Window on Eurasia notes the importance of the Soviet victory in the Second World War as a way of justifying Russian hegemony.