[BLOG] Some Friday links

• Centauri Dreams looks at the genesis of ocean worlds. Having a nearly massive star producing lots of radioactive aluminum when it supernovas might be surprisingly important.
• The Crux takes a look at languages newly forming in the world around us, starting with the Australian language of Light Warlpiri. What does this say about humans and language?
• D-Brief notes that researchers have managed to create cyborg rats whose motions are controlled directly by human thought.
• Gizmodo reports on the abandonment by Amazon of its plan for a HQ2 campus in Queens.
• JSTOR Daily shares the perfectly believable argument that people with autism should not be viewed as people incapable of love.
• At Lawyers, Guns and Money, Simon Balto writes about how the Ryan Adams scandal demonstrates the male gatekeeper effect in popular music.
• Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution comes up with a list of winners and losers of the Amazon decision not to set up HQ2 in Queens. (Myself, I am unconvinced New York City is a loser here.)
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel explains how, despite not interacting directly with normal matter, dark matter can still be heated up by the matter and energy we see around us.
• Window on Eurasia notes how, in many post-Soviet countries including the Baltic States and Ukraine, ethnic Russians are assimilating into local majority ethnic groups.

[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

• blogTO notes that a Toronto family known for its Christmas lights display may be forced to ratchet back by city inspectors.
• Centauri Dreams notes the apparent discovery of Kuiper Belt objects around white dwarf WD 1425+540.
• The Dragon’s Gaze links to one paper examining the possible orbital inclination of Proxima Centauri b, and points to another one speculating about upper limits to the masses of other exoplanets orbiting P_roxima Centauri.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money links to interviews with different historians noting how close the United States is to a scenario from 1930s Germany.
• The LRB Blog notes that the actions of the American deep state to undermine elements of the Trump Administration seen as potentially threatening will certainly also undermine American democracy.
• Personal Reflections’ Jim Belshaw looks at reasons for the continuing gap in life outcomes between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.
• The Power and the Money’s Noel Maurer links to a paper looking at the effect of Huey Long’s populism on Louisiana’s economy, noting that he had little effect on the markets. This suggests that counting on the markets to reign in populists before the crash may be a mistake.
• Strange Maps links to a map and history of the Gagauz of Moldova.
• Torontoist looks at the continuing decline of live music venues in Toronto.
• Towleroad notes the origins of Der Spiegel‘s cover art showing Trump with the severed head of lady liberty in a Cuban exile’s work.
• Window on Eurasia notes differences between how Russians and Americans think about ethnicity and citizenship in their diverse societies.

[DM] “On the ineffective and immoral proposal of David Frum”

At Demography Matters, I note how fundamentally wrong, on multiple levels, David Frum’s plan to fight terrorism in the European Union by engaging in mass deportations is.

[BLOG] Some Thursday links

• James Bow, in the Kitchener-Waterloo area in southwestern Ontario, reports on what the recession looks like in his part of the world. So far things aren’t too bad.
• The Dragon’s Gaze links to a study on exoplanets looking for binary star companions.
• The Frailest Thing’s Michael Sacasas bids farewell to his blog for now.
• Personal Reflections’ Jim Belshaw describes the competitive portrait scene in Australia.
• pollotenchegg looks to the 1926 Soviet census to see what it has to say on ethnicity in Ukraine’s mixed Donbas region.
• Torontoist looks at the city’s floating houseboats.
• The Volokh Conspiracy analyzes to death the false allegations of a positive link between immigration and crime.
• Window on Eurasia notes nationality policy in Russia’s regions.

[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

• The Big Picture looks at the uses of oil barrels around the world.
• blogTO wonders if the Annex is ready for a condo boom.
• Centauri Dreams features a guest post from Andrew Lepage noting how odd spectra on Mars were misidentified as proof of life.
• Crooked Timber notes a student occupation of the University of Amsterdam’s headquarters.
• Discover‘s The Crux makes a poor argument that space probe visits to Pluto and Ceres will lead to the redefinition of these worlds as planets.
• The Dragon’s Gaze looks at an odd pulsating hot subdwarf B star with a brown dwarf.
• The Dragon’s Tales suggests chemical mechanisms for life on Titan, and explains the differences in water plumes between Europa and Enceladus.
• A Fistful of Euros notes political conflict in Germany.
• Discover‘s Inkfist notes that birds from harsher climates are smarters.
• Joe. My. God. shares Madonna’s critique of ageism.
• Languages of the World examines the genesis of the English language.
• Marginal Revolution notes Japanese funerals for robots, suggests Facebook usage makes people less happy, and notes family formation in Europe.
• John Moyer examines punctuation.
• Steve Munro maps out routes for a Scarborough subway.
• The Planetary Society Blog looks at science on Pluto.
• pollotenchegg maps the distribution of ethnically mixed households in Ukraine.
• The Power and the Money’s Noel Maurer looks at how Panama successfully made use of price controls, and why.
• Progressive Download’s John Farrell wonders what is the rush for three-parent IVF therapy.
• Transit Toronto explains how old TTC tickets can be exchanged.
• Window on Eurasia notes the importance of Belarus for the Baltic States, notes the newly-debatable borders of the former Soviet Union, suggests Tatarstan is unhappy with Russian federalism, and looks at the small grounds for Russian-Ukrainian hostilities.

[DM] “Some thematic links: France, Ukraine, Russia, Japan, China, South Pacific”

I’ve an extended Demography Matters link post examining in brief situations in the six countries/regions mentioned above. Original content to come tomorrow evening.

[DM] “On multicultural Cyprus”

I’ve a post up at Demography Matters taking a look at the case of Cyprus. An ethnically-riven island, demographic figures and trends are quite important. Right now, the important ones aren’t the traditional ones associated with the Greco-Turkish rivalry, but rather with more recent links with Britain and Russia.

[BLOG] Some Monday links

• blogTO’s Chris Bateman notes a proposal to put a 39-story condo at Yonge and Dundas.
• The Burgh Diaspora’s Jim Russell is strongly supportive of developing Pennsylvania’s shale gas resources.
• Centauri Dreams’ Paul Gilster, reacting to the Chelyabinsk meteor incident, points to a collection of resources on dealing with asteroid impacts.
• Eastern Approaches notes the protests in Bulgaria over sharp rises in electricity prices.
• At A Fistful of Euros, Edward Hugh notes the decidedly negative trajectory of the Hungarian economy.
• Greenland, ImaGeo’s Tom Yulsman notes, is melting. In January.
• Language Hat notes the imprecise connection between language and ethnicity in the 19th century North Caucasus.
• Towleroad notes that the appeal of the Republican Party to economic libertarians is hamstrung by its position on cultural issues, including gay rights and same-sex marriage.
• Understanding Society’s Daniel Little takes a look at James Scott’s writings on anarchism, arguing that many of the small-scale collective social endeavours he talks about fit not with stateless environments but rather citizen engagement in a liberal democracy.
• Zero Geography’s Mark Graham maps geotagged Twitter posts in Francophone African cities.

[BLOG] Some Friday links

• Beyond the Beyond’s Bruce Sterling links to an interesting analysis of the apparently jumbled and occasionally anachronistic elements of futurism in the Persian Gulf states.
• Crooked Timber’s John Quiggin wonders whether Southern whites should be treated as an ethnic group, in some dimensions at least. (One implication in his analysis is that a Democratic Party outreach to Southern whites is doomed, on tribal grounds.)
• Far Outliers’ Joel examines how the Spanish word biombo (“folding screen”) came from the Japanese byōbu via the Tokugawa Shogunate’s early 17th century exchanges with New Spain.
• Geocurrents notes that some organizations advocating for indigenous peoples in the Russian Far North have been subjected to what seems to be a measure of state persecution.
• Language Log takes a look at an interesting use of negation in language.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money’s Erik Loomis observes that the Republican Party stands out in not recognizing contraception as a human right.
• Steve Munro and Torontoist both review the TTC’s new streetcars.
• Torontoist’s Chris Riddell notes that efforts by the owner to sell the decrepit and commercially unattractive Captain John’s Harbourfront Restaurant aren’t going so well.
• Elsewhere on Torontoist, Chris Riddell is rightly skeptical of the fuss over GE’s nuclear fuel plant on Lansdowne Avenue.
• Towleroad notes that Uruguay’s parliament has begun to debate full marriage equality for same-sex couples. This would make Uruguay the second Latin American country to achieve marriage equality, after neighbouring Argentina.