[BLOG] Some Sunday links

• 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.

[NEWS] Five D-Brief links: deaf babies, schizophrenia, ocean worlds, planetary systems, quasars

• The brains of deaf babies process information differently from the brains of their hearing counterparts. D-Brief reports.
• Do the bacteria inhabiting the human gut have a connection to the likelihood of an individual developing schizophrenia? D-Brief reports.
• The abundance, or otherwise, of a particular radioactive isotope of aluminum might be necessary for the formation of ocean worlds. D-Brief reports.
• The existence of the phenomenon of magnetiorotational instability has been proven to exist with regards to planetary system formation. D-Brief reports.
• Gravitational lensing can be used to discover the earliest quasars. D-Brief reports.

[BLOG] Some Saturday links

• Anthrodendum recommends design researcher Jan Chipchase’s Field Study Handbook for anthropologists interested in field practice.
• Architectuul investigates strange similarities between buildings built in far-removed parts of the world.
• Centauri Dreams takes a look at TESS, the next generation of exoplanet-hunting satellite.
• Crooked Timber investigates the connections between the spiritualism of the 19th century and the fiction of the uncanny.
• D-Brief notes the many names, often delightful, that newly-discovered locations on Mercury and Charon have received.
• Cody Delistraty investigates two exhibitions of French satirists, including Charlie Hedo’s Georges Wolinski, to examine the nature of satire.
• The Dragon’s Tales considers the possibility of cryomagna leaving marks on the surface of Europa.
• Drew Ex Machina takes a look at the strangely alien skies of TRAPPIST-1e. What would its sun look like? How would the other planets appear?
• The Everyday Sociology Blog takes a look at the new prominence of multigenerational households in the United States. While a response to economic strains, it also looks back to past traditions.
• Hornet Stories notes how, on RuPaul’s Drag Race, Monet X Change gave a decent explanation behind the surprisingly recent birth of the modern British accent.
• Imageo notes how a massive blob of warm water is rising to the surface of the Pacific.
• At In A State of Migration, Lyman Stone explores the unique population history of Maine, to my eyes easily the most Atlantic Canadian of the fifty American states.
• JSTOR Daily links to a paper exploring why modern video games can produce such rewarding experiences for players. (We can get meaning from many places.)
• Language Log takes a look at the complexity of Chinese language classifications with a song by Yishi Band. What exactly is Yibin Sichuanese?
• Lawyers, Guns and Money takes a look at an interesting question: When did Jews in the United States become white?
• The LRB Blog takes a look at the baffling reasons behind the poisoning of the Skribins with Novichok, and the science behind it.
• Marginal Revolution notes that this year, GDP per capita measured at PPP in Spain is higher than in Italy. (This probably says more about the disarray in Italy.)
• The NYR Daily shares an interesting interview with cartoonist Art Spiegelman.
• Personal Reflections’ Jim Belshaw tells of his experiences on a trip to the small Australian city of Armidale, in the region of New England.
• Justin Petrone reflects on the tidy and clean, minimalist even, rural landscape of Estonia.
• Progressive Download’s John Farrell notes brain scans that provide evidence of consciousness even in very young infants.
• Drew Rowsome praises the Toronto production of the musical Fun Home, based on the Alison Bechdel graphic novel. I, for one, can’t wait to see it.
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel notes that, although Proxima Centauri is far too active a star for Proxima Centauri b to be Earth-like, that world could still plausibly host life-supporting environments.
• Ilya Somin at the Volokh Conspiracy suggests a recent deal at the federal level in the US between Trump and Cory Gardner has created space for states to legalize marijuana without fear of federal intervention.

[BLOG] Some Thursday links

• Centauri Dreams shares a proposal for unmanned probe missions to future incoming extrasolar asteroids like ‘Oumuamua.
• The Crux considers, in the context of recent (perhaps surprising) context, how scientists will one day record dreams.
• Hornet Stories shares the report on a poll of younger gay people about the idea of monogamous relations versus open ones, suggesting there are signs a strong preference for monogamy isn’t well thought out.
• Imageo notes that global warming, by leading to the breakup of icecaps, will worsen the sea ice hazard to maritime shipping.
• JSTOR Daily notes how social workers are called to support serious social reform.
• Language Hat notes a monument to the Cyrillic alphabet erected in Antarctica by Bulgarians.
• In the era of Trump, Lingua Franca takes a look at the origin of the phrase “useful idiots”.
• Marginal Revolution notes a recent article observing the decline of German cuisine in the United States. Who, or what, will save it?
• At the Planetary Society Blog, Emily Lakdawalla talks about the latest exciting discoveries from Titan, including the odd distribution of nitrogen in its atmosphere and surface.
• Towleroad notes how the discomfort of Ben Carson with transgender people leads him to consider the needs of homeless transgender people as secondary to this discomfort.
• Window on Eurasia suggests that Cossacks in Russia are close to gaining recognition as a separate people.
• Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell suggests–jokes?–that intellectual history from 1900 can be explained substantially in terms of the uncritical adoption of a nomad science, starting from race science and continuing to today with Harry Potter.
• Arnold Zwicky shares a post reporting on a PhD student’s thesis, studying features of Chicano English.

[BLOG] Some Friday links

• First, a new blog. The Buzz…About Books, official blog of the Toronto Public Library’s Book Buzz, has interesting book-related posts. I liked this one from last December, noting the most popular books in dozens of neighbourhoods according to TPL stats.
• Centauri Dreams celebrates the life and achievements, as a writer and as a dreamer, of Ursula K Le Guin.
• D-Brief notes that yesterday was NASA’s Day of Remembrance for lost astronauts, and takes a close look at the Columbia disaster 15 years ago.
• Hornet Stories notes a recent interview with Tonya Harding, famous again thanks to I, Tonya, that takes a look at some of her more controversial opinions. (Is the pro-Trump enough to prevent her from being some sort of camp icon, I wonder?)
• JSTOR Daily links to a paper examining the import of artificial intelligence victories in board games, like Go, over human players. Of course simple iterations are able to overcome human-style intelligence, so long as you go through enough iterations at least.
• Language Hat notes how many languages, and dialects of languages, can survive in far-removed immigrant enclaves. Greek in Ohio is used as one example.
• Marginal Revolution imagines, through the person of an athlete, what it would be like for someone to know all the data that is to be known about them. (I think it could be empowering.)
• Personal Reflections’ Jim Belshaw shares his sad thoughts about how, in an age of instant and potentially overwhelming digital outrage in a polarizing era, he resorts to self-censorship.
• The Planetary Society Blog explores the work of scientists who are assembling a guidebook indicating what the spectra of Earth-like worlds, at different stages of their history and orbiting different stars, will look like.
• Drew Rowsome takes a look at how #metoo is revealing sexual harassment and assault everywhere, among gay and straight, in Ontario and abroad.
• Ilya Somin at the Volokh Conspiracy demonstrates that the anti-immigration policies of Trump show the man is uninterested, as some would have it, in deregulation.
• Understanding Society examines the question of how organizations can ensure that their members will act in compliance with stated organizational values.
• Window on Eurasia s the ongoing emigration of ethnic Russians from the North Caucasus, a massive and–I suspect–irreversible migration.

[BLOG] Some Thursday links

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait shares a stunning photo of two galaxies colliding in the eternal night and considers the implications of the Milky Way’s future encounter with Andromeda.
• Centauri Dreams looks at the latest discoveries regarding FRB 121102 and fast radio bursts generally.
• Hornet Stories suggests that a recent ruling by the Inter American Court of Human Rights sets the stage for marriage equality across Latin America.
• Inkfish notes that the biomass of dead squid mothers plays a major role in the environments and ecologies of seafloors.
• JSTOR Daily suggests retirees can actually learn a lot from the lifestyles of members of the RV–recreational vehicle–community.
• Language Hat reports on wordplay, and its translations, in the works of Homer.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the turn to anti-intellectualism among American conservatives.
• At Lingua Franca, William Germano talks about telling numbers.
• The LRB Blog notes the story of the English village of Imber, intentionally depopulated by the British military during the Second World War and never allowed to be restored.
• The NYR Daily talks about a London exhibition on the art of our era of terrorism and terror.
• The Planetary Society Blog reports on the latest Juno discoveries from Jupiter.
• Progressive Download’s John Farrell reports on a debate as to whether the origin of life is a more difficult question than the origin of consciousness.
• Roads and Kingdoms reports on the simple pleasures of an iced coffee enjoyed in the Australian Outback.
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel U>considers an interesting question: is ours the only advanced civilization in the universe?
• Understanding Society’s Daniel Little tackles the concept of organizational cultures.
• Window on Eurasia suggests that post-1991 immigrants from the former Soviet Union form a tenth of the Russian labour force.

[NEWS] Five links about technology and culture: Android, Firefox Quantum, dark web, music, brain

• This Techcrunch report noting the collection of location data by Android, even if location services are disabled, is alarming. (I’m mostly joking when I say I want the drones to be able to find me.) More here.
• This Wired report on Firefox Quantum makes this browser sound interesting, here.
• News of a dark web version of Wikipedia is good for those who are concerned about Internet freedoms. More here.
• Transcranial magnetic stimulation sounds very much like one of those experiences I would like to experience first-hand. More here.
• The destructive impact of streaming not just on the income of musicians, but on their creative projects–often transcending single songs–is something raised in this Noisey article, here.

[NEWS] Six notes about science: birds, Julie Payette, agriculture, wood in space, Enceladus, minds

• Can parrots, capable of speech, be witnesses in criminal cases? Maybe. Atlas Obscura reports.
• Julie Payette’s speech in defense of science, regarding climate change and the like, might well have been a bit more politic. (Maybe.) MacLean’s looks at the controversy.
• Was sedentary agricultural civilization a mistake, as some suggest? The New Republic reports on the state of the debate.
• Scientific American reports on the United States’ 1960s probes Ranger 3 through 5, built partly of wood.
• Universe Today notes a new model suggesting that a porous rocky core could help Enceladus keep a liquid water ocean for billions of years.
• The Walrus reports on how two conjoined twins, who seem to have access to each other’s consciousness, are proving very interesting theories of mind.

[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

• Acts of Minor Treason’s Andrew Barton reacts to the series premiere of Orville, finding it oddly retrograde and unoriginal.
• Centauri Dreams shares Larry Klaes’ article considering the impact of the 1956 classic Forbidden Planet on science and science fiction alike.
• The Dragon’s Gaze links to a paper wondering if it is by chance that Earth orbits a yellow dwarf, not a dimmer star.
• Drone360 shares a stunning video of a drone flying into Hurricane Irma.
• Hornet Stories celebrates the 10th anniversary of Chris Crocker’s “Leave Britney Alone!” video. (It was important.)
• Lawyers, Guns and Money wonders if 16 years are long enough to let people move beyond taboo images, like those of the jumpers.
• The LRB Blog takes a look at the young Dreamers, students, who have been left scrambling by the repeal of DACA.
• The Map Room Blog notes how a Québec plan to name islands in the north created by hydro flooding after literature got complicated by issues of ethnicity and language.
• Marginal Revolution notes the rise of internal tourism in China, and soon, of Chinese tourists in the wider world.
• The NYR Daily has an interview arguing that the tendency to make consciousness aphysical or inexplicable is harmful to proper study.
• Roads and Kingdoms has a brief account of a good experience with Indonesian wine.
• Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell links to five reports about Syria. They are grim reading.

[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

• Apostrophen’s ‘Nathan Smith talks about “cis”, “trans”, and the non-obvious meaning of this classification.
• The Big Picture shares photos of a recent sailing festival in Boston.
• blogTO reports on the trendy charcoal-black ice cream of a store across from Trinity Bellwoods.
• Centauri Dreams considers the idea of a “runaway fusion” drive.</li.
• Crooked Timber wonders how a bad Brexit agreement could possibly be worse than no Brexit agreement for the United Kingdom.
• D-Brief warns of the possibility of sustained life-threatening heat waves in the tropics with global warming.
• The Everyday Sociology Blog considers how sociology majors are prepared, or not, for the workforce.
• Language Hat links to a wonderful examination of the textual complexities of James Joyce’s Ulysses.
• The LRB Blog looks at how British big business is indebted to the Conservatives.
• Marginal Revolution reports on China’s emergent pop music machine.
• Steve Munro reports on the latest on noise from the 514 Cherry streetcar.
• The NYRB Daily has a fascinating exchange on consciousness and free will and where it all lies.
• The Planetary Society Blog reports on a successful expedition to Argentina to examine Kuiper Belt object MU69 via occultation.
• Peter Rukavina celebrates Charlottetown school crossing guard Dana Doyle.