[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

• Bad Astronomer notes the latest news on interstellar comet 2/Borisov.
• The Broadside Blog’s Caitlin Kelly emphasizes how every writer does need an editor.
• Centauri Dreams notes how the gas giant GJ 3512 b, half the mass of Jupiter orbiting a red dwarf star closely, is an oddly massive exoplanet.
• Gina Schouten at Crooked Timber looks at inter-generational clashes on parenting styles.
• D-Brief looks at the methods of agriculture that could conceivably sustain a populous human colony on Mars.
• Bruce Dorminey argues that we on Earth need something like Starfleet Academy, to help us advance into space.
• Colby King at the Everyday Sociology Blog looks at how the socio-spatial perspective helps us understand the development of cities.
• Russell Arben Fox at In Media Res listens to the Paul McCartney album Flaming Pie.
• io9 looks at Proxima, a contemporary spaceflight film starring Eva Green.
• JSTOR Daily looks at how the intense relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia began in, and reflected, the era of Jim Crow.
• Language Hat notes a report suggesting that multilingualism helps ward off dementia.
• Language Log takes issue with the names of the mascots of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the emergence of a ninth woman complaining about being harassed by Al Franken.
• Marginal Revolution links to a new paper arguing that the Washington Consensus worked.
• The NYR Daily shares an Aubrey Nolan cartoon illustrating the evacuation of war children in the United Kingdom during the Second World War.
• At Out of Ambit, Diane Duane shares a nice collection of links for digital mapmakers.
• The Planetary Society Blog looks at how the European Space Agency supports the cause of planetary defense.
• Roads and Kingdoms interviews Kenyan writer Kevin Mwachiro at length.
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel reports on how a mysterious fast radio burst helped illuminate an equally mysterious galactic halo.
• Strange Company reports on the mysterious and unsolved death in 1936 of Canadian student Thomas Moss in an Oxfordshire hayrick.
• Frank Jacobs at Strange Maps notes how Mount Etna is a surpassingly rare decipoint.
• Understanding Society considers the thought of Kojève, after Hegel, on freedom.
• Window on Eurasia looks at the falling numbers of Russians, and of state support for Russian language and culture, in independent Central Asia.
• Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell looks at how individual consumer responses are much less effective than concerted collective action in triggering change.
• Arnold Zwicky reports on some transgender fashion models.

[BLOG] Some Saturday links

• Architectuul shares photos from a bike tour of Berlin.
• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait reports on new evidence that exocomets are raining on star Beta Pictoris.
• Larry Klaes at Centauri Dreams reviews the two late 1970s SF films Alien and Star Trek I, products of the same era.
• D-Brief reports on Hubble studies of the star clusters of the Large Magellanic Cloud.
• Bruce Dorminey shares Gemini telescope images of interstellar comet C/2019 Q4 (Borisov).
• The Dragon’s Tales shares video of Space X’s Starhopper test flight.
• Far Outliers notes the import of the 13th century Norman king of England calling himself Edward after an Anglo-Saxon king.
• Gizmodo notes that not only can rats learn to play hide and seek, they seem to enjoy it.
• io9 notes the fantastic high camp of Mister Sinister in the new Jonathan Hickman X-Men run, borrowing a note from Kieron Gillen’s portrayal of the character.
• Joe. My. God. notes that Guiliani’s soon-to-be ex-wife says he has descended from 911 hero to a liar.
• Language Log looks at the recent ridiculous suggestion that English, among other languages, descends from Chinese.
• The LRB Blog looks at the brief history of commemorating the V2 attacks on London.
• Scott Lemieux at Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at the practice in Saskatchewan of sterilizing First Nations women against their consent.
• Marginal Revolution suggests that farmers in Brazil might be getting a partly unfair treatment. (Partly.)
• The Planetary Society Blog explains why C/2019 Q4 (Borisov) matters.
• Window on Eurasia notes that, for the first time, immigrants from Turkmenistan in Belarus outnumber immigrants from Ukraine.

[BLOG] Some Friday links

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait urges caution in identifying K2-18b, a mini-Neptune with water vapour in its atmosphere, as Earth-like.
• Centauri Dreams reports on the discovery of C/2019 Q4 (Borisov), a likely interstellar comet like ‘Oumuamua.
• The Crux reports on the orange roughy, a fish commonly caught as byproduct that can live up to 250 years.
• D-Brief looks at the harm that may be caused by some insecticides to songbirds, including anorexia and delayed migrations.
• Dangerous Minds considers if David Bowie actually did burn his 360-ton Glass Spider stage prop.
• Gizmodo notes the formidable, fanged marsupials once existing in Australia.
• Imageo notes signs that a dreaded blob of hot water, auguring climate change, might now be lurking in the Pacific Ocean.
• io9 notes that Ryan Murphy has shared the official title sequence for the 1984 season of American Horror Story.
• JSTOR Daily looks at the history, in popular culture and actual technology, of the artificial womb.
• Scott Lemieux at Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at how lightly the Sackler family got off for their involvement in triggering the opioid crisis with OxyContin.
• Marginal Revolution notes many companies are now seeking insurance to protect themselves in the US-China trade war.
• Tim Parks writes at the NYR Daily about how every era tends to have translations which fit its ethos.
• The Russian Demographics Blog shares a paper suggesting that immigration and immigrants do not have major effects on the overall fertility of highly-developed countries.
• Frank Jacobs notes a mysterious 1920s German map of South America that shows Brasilia, the Brazilian capital built only from 1956. What is up with this?
• Window on Eurasia reports on the negative effects of massive migration of workers from Tajikistan on the country’s women.

[BLOG] Some Thursday links

• Centauri Dreams considers the possibility of carbon dioxide being a biosignature in the atmospheres of exoplanets.
• D-Brief notes the discoveries of Hayabusa2 at asteroid Ryugu, including the possibility it was part of a larger body.
• Gizmodo links to a new analysis suggesting the behaviour of ‘Oumuamua was not so unprecedented after all, that it was a simple exocomet.
• JSTOR Daily looks at Agnes Chase, an early 20th century biologist who did remarkable things, both with science and with getting women into her field.
• Robert Farley at Lawyers, Guns and Money links to a new article of his analyzing the new aircraft carriers of Japan, noting not just their power but the effective lack of limits on Japanese military strength.
• Marginal Revolution notes the substantial demographic shifts occurring in Kazakhstan since independence, with Kazakh majorities appearing throughout the country.
• Neuroskeptic considers if independent discussion sections for online papers would make sense.
• The NYR Daily shares a photo essay by Louis Witter reporting on Moroccan boys seeking to migrate to Europe through Ceuta.
• Roads and Kingdoms has an interview with photographer Brett Gundlock about his images of Latin American migrants in Mexico seeking the US.
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel explores the mass extinction and extended ice age following the development of photosynthesis and appearance of atmospheric oxygen on Earth two billion years ago.
• Window on Eurasia notes that, in Karabakh, Jehovah’s Witnesses now constitute the biggest religious minority.

[NEWS] Five science links: BC fires, urban animal intelligence, Oort clouds, stars, dark energy

• The fires of British Columbia are so vast that their smoke is reaching the west of France. Ici Radio-Canada reports.
• Are the unique challenges posed by modern cities making the animals who live in them smarter? The Atlantic examines the issue.
• Universe Today notes that the Oort clouds of other stars may well be visible on microwave frequencies.
• Universe Today reports on the very recent finding that star formation in the Milky Way Galaxy shut down for billions of years, that we are in the middle of a second wave of star formation.
• Do not fear: There is at least one hypothetical strategy that an arbitrarily advanced future civilization could adopt to minimize the effect of dark energy on its exploration of the universe. Universe Today reports.

[BLOG] Some Monday links

• At Antipope, Charlie Stross imagines what might become possible with cheap heavy spacelift.
• blogTO notes the vandalization of the iconic Toronto sign during Nuit Blanche.
• The Dragon’s Gaze links to a paper considering the detectability of interstellar comets.
• Language Log looks at Chinese language transcriptions for Obama, Hillary, and Trump.
• Marginal Revolution looks at impending hard Brexit and notes how the economy of Thailand is dominated by Bangkok.
• The NYRB Daily writes at length about its apparent discovery of the identity of Elena Ferrante.
• Savage Minds shares a Bolivian perspective on Donald Trump.
• Strange Maps shares a list of ten potential Jewish homelands outside of Palestine.
• Window on Eurasia looks at quiet Chechen dissidence and warns about the consequences of Putin’s repressions.
• Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell worries about the people soon to be in charge of the United Kingdom’s Brexit negotiations.

[BLOG] Some Monday links

• Beyond the Beyond notes some anti-drone activists’ efforts to get drones controlled.
• blogTO reports on the history of the strip mall in Toronto, looks at the abandoned Whitney Block Tower by Queen’s Park, and reports from the attic of Queen’s Park.
• Discover‘s Body Horrors notes the possibility that global warming might lead to the reemergence of anthrax from the Siberian wastes.
• The Dragon’s Gaze notes the discovery of exocometary gas in the debris ring of HD 181327.
• Far Outliers notes the brutality in the Japanese naval academy and reassesses Admiral Yamamoto.
• Noel Power at The Power and the Money looks at inequality in American history, after Piketty’s arguments.
• Peter Rukavina reports on an interesting art installation in Charlottetown, of floating tents.
• Savage Minds describes the “silo effect” besetting organizations.
• Torontoist reports on the first game of cricket in Toronto.

[BLOG] Some Monday links

• A BCer in Toronto Jeff Jedras describes a culinary event put on in Ottawa by Nova Scotia.
• James Bow examines Minneapolis-St. Paul’s light rail network.
• The Broadside Blog’s Caitlin Kelly writes about friendship.
• The Dragon’s Gaze notes the discovery of comets around HD 181327.
• The Dragon’s Tales notes reports of Russian nuclear missiles to be launched from rail cars.
• Language Hat describes how the Texan Republican Party said most Texans were gay.
• Language Log notes the rediscovery of five languages of pre-colonial Massachusetts, reflecting a high language density.
• Window on Eurasia reports an economics-associated downturn in Russian haj participation.