[BLOG] Some Friday links

• Shir Lerman Ginzburg at anthro{dendum} writes about kintsugi in her own life.
• Bad Astronomy’s Phil Plait looks at the massive black hole, massing two billion suns, measured in the heart of NGC 3258.
• The Broadside Blog’s Caitlin Kelly shares some photos from her Hudson River life.
• D-Brief notes how astronomers may be able to detect the radio signals emitted from the cores of planets orbiting dead stars.
• The Everyday Sociology Blog looks at the sociology of religion.
• JSTOR Daily looks at how Ferdinand Magellan acted in many ways like a pirate.
• Language Hat reports on the remarkable differences between the two dubbed French versions of The Simpsons, one in France and one in Québec.
• Language Log reports on the Chinese placename “Xinjiang Uygur.”
• Lawyers, Guns and Money makes the point that Joe Biden is too old, too set in his ways, to be president.
• Molly Crabapple writes at the NYR Daily about the nature and goals of the massive protest movement in Puerto Rico.
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel looks even-handedly at the controversy surrounding the idea of building the Thirty Metre Telescope on top of sacred Mauna Kea.
• Window on Eurasia looks at controversy in Russia over the representation of different Tatar populations on the Russian 2020 census.
• Stephen Gordon at Worthwhile Canadian Initiative wonders why it was 1953 that, in Canada, saw the growth in women on the job market.

[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

• Centauri Dreams reports on how dataset mining of K2 data revealed 18 more Earth-sized planets.
• Crooked Timber speculates on how Clarence Thomas might rule on abortion given his public rulings.
• D-Brief observes that some corals in Hawaii appear to thrive in acidic waters. Is there hope yet for coral reefs?
• Karen Sternheimer writes at the Everyday Sociology Blog about how sociology and history overlap, in their subjects and in their methods.
• Far Outliers examines how the last remnants of Soviet power faded quickly around the world in 1991.
• Gizmodo looks at how an image of a rare albino panda has just been captured.
• Joe. My. God. notes how Christian fundamentalists want to make the east of Washington State into a 51st state run by Biblical law.
• JSTOR Daily notes how trees can minimize algae blooms in nearby water systems.
• Victor Mair at Language Log takes issue with problematic pop psychology regarding bilingualism in Singapore.
• Lawyers, Guns, and Money takes issue with trying to minimize court decisions like (for instance) a hypothetical overthrow of Miranda v. Arizona. (Roe v. Wade is what they are concerned with.)
• The NYR Daily looks at the short storied life of avant-garde filmmaker Barbara Rubin.
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel explains why we can never learn everything about our universe.
• Towleroad notes that downloads of the relationship app Hinge have surged after Pete Buttigieg said he met his now-husband there.
• Window on Eurasia notes that Ukraine is seeking to have the Kerch Strait separating Crimea from adjacent Russia declared an international body of water.
• Arnold Zwicky takes a look at what famed gay writer John Rechy is doing these days.

[BLOG] Some Saturday links

• Bad Astronomy notes a push by astronomers to enlist help for giving trans-Neptunian object 2007-OR10 a name.
• Centauri Dreams reflects on M87*, the supermassive black hole at the heart of M87 recently imaged, with its implications for galactic habitability.
• Crooked Timber is right to note that Kirstjen Nielsen, architect of the cruel border policies of Trump, should not be allowed to resume a normal professional life.
• The Crux looks at the Event Horizon Telescope Project that imaged M87*.
• D-Brief notes that one-quarter of Japanese in their 20s and 30s have remained virgins, and explains why this might be the case.
• Far Outliers notes the process of the writing of U.S. Grant’s acclaimed memoirs.
• Mark Graham highlights a BBC documentary, one he contributed to, asking if artificial intelligence will kill global development.
• Gizmodo explains why the image of black hole M87* does not look exactly like the fictional one from the scientifically-grounded Interstellar.
• Hornet Stories explains the joys of Hawai’i in fall.
• io9 notes that the new Deep Space Nine anniversary documentary is scheduled for a one-day theatrical release. (Will it be in Toronto?)
• JSTOR Daily makes the point that mass enfranchisement is the best way to ensure security for all.
• Language Hat looks at the kitabs, the books written in Afrikaans using its original Arabic script kept by Cape Malays.
• Language Log notes, with examples, some of the uses of the words “black” and “evil” in contemporary China.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money makes the point that having a non-octogenarian president is a good idea.
• Marginal Revolution shares the thoughts of Samir Varma on the new technologies–better computers, faster travel, artificial life–that may change the world in the near future.
• The NYR Daily explores the subversive fairy tales of 19th century Frenchman Édouard Laboulaye.
• The Planetary Society Blog notes the sad crash of the Beresheet probe on the surface of the Moon.
• Drew Rowsome engages with the body of work of out horror writer John Saul.
• Peter Rukavina maps out where Islanders will be voting, and the distances they will travel, in this month’s election.
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel engages with the possibility that we might be alone. What next? (Myself, I think the idea of humanity as an elder race is fascinating.)
• Arnold Zwicky looks at the sort of humour that involves ambiguous adverbs.

[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes new evidence that the Pathfinder probe landed, on Mars, on the shores of an ancient sea.
• The Crux reports on tholins, the organic chemicals that are possible predecessors to life, now found in abundance throughout the outer Solar System.
• D-Brief reports on the hard work that has demonstrated some meteorites which recently fell in Turkey trace their origins to Vesta.
• Colby King at the Everyday Sociology Blog explores sociologist Eric Klinenberg’s concept of social infrastructure, the public spaces we use.
• Far Outliers reports on a Honolulu bus announcement in Yapese, a Micronesian language spoken by immigrants in Hawai’i.
• JSTOR Daily considers the import of the autobiography of Catherine the Great.
• Language Hat reports, with skepticism, on the idea of “f” and “v” as sounds being products of the post-Neolithic technological revolution.
• Marginal Revolution’s Tyler Cowen is critical of the idea of limiting the number of children one has in a time of climate change.
• Jim Belshaw at Personal Reflections reflects on death, close at hand and in New Zealand.
• Strange Company reports on the mysterious disappearance, somewhere in Anatolia, of American cyclist Frank Lenz in 1892, and its wider consequences.
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel identifies five types of cosmic events capable of triggering mass extinctions on Earth.
• Towleroad reports on the frustration of many J.K. Rowling fans with the author’s continuing identification of queer histories for characters that are never made explicit in books or movies.
• Window on Eurasia has a skeptical report about a Russian government plan to recruit Russophones in neighbouring countries as immigrants.
• Arnold Zwicky explores themes of shipwrecks and of being shipwrecked.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Montréal, New York City, Tijuana, Mexico City, Honolulu

• CityLab notes that talk about the rent in Montréal being uniquely affordable is somewhat exaggerated.
• CityLab notes that, in New York City, the growing numbers of electric bikes are posing a major problem for traffic planners.
• Despite high levels of crime, tourism in Tijuana is thriving, VICE reports.
• CityLab has a nice photo essay looking at a “market on wheels” in Mexico City.
• Honolulu and wider Oahu are trying to regulate the construction of “monster homes” on the island, houses that occupy much too much of their lots and might not be a good response to the island’s housing crisis. CityLab reports.

[NEWS] Five space links: Hawaii, BepiColombo, Mars, GW170817

• A habitat high in the mountains of Hawaii that once housed simulated Mars missions is now going to be home to a Moon base simulation, following a controversial recent run-through. The Atlantic reports.
• D-Brief examines the electric thrusters of the BepiColombo probe.
• Universe Today offers viewing tips for giant asteroid 3 Juno, here.
• The neutron star collision producing GW170817 seems to have produced not a black hole, but a single hyper-massive neutron star. Science Daily reports.
• Universe Today explores the prospects of the Mars InSight probe, set to land on the 26th, here.

[BLOG] Some Saturday links

• Centauri Dreams notes the hope of the controllers of Hayabusa2 to collect samples from asteroid Ryugu.
• D-Brief takes a look at how ecologists in Hawaii are using bird song to encourage invasive species of birds to eat local plants.
• Bruce Dorminey notes preliminary findings of astronomers suggesting that stars with relatively low amounts of metals might be more likely to produce potentially habitable Earth-size worlds.
• The Frailest Thing’s L.M. Sacasas considers what, exactly, it means for a technology to be considered “neutral”.
• At JSTOR Daily, Hope Reese interviews historian Jill Lepore about the crisis facing American institutions in the 21st century. Is there a way forward?
• Lawyers, Guns and Money considers the ongoing catastrophe in Yemen, aggravated terribly by Saudi intervention and supported by the West.
• Andrew Brownie at the LRB Blog notes how soccer in Brazil, producing stars against dictatorship like Sócrates in the early 1980s, now produces pro-Bolsonario figures.
• The NYR Daily notes the resistance of the Bedouin of al-Khan al-Ahmar to resist their displacement by Israeli bulldozers.
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel notes how, among other things, extreme temperature swings make the Moon an unsuitable host for most observatories apart from radio telescopes.
• Window on Eurasia notes the sheer scale of Russian immigration to Crimea after 2014, the number of migrants amounting to a fifth of the peninsula’s population.

[ISL] Five #islands notes: Caribbean, Anticosti, Greece, Hawai’i, Micronesia

• The Inter Press Service notes that the vulnerable islands of the Caribbean can survive only a modest increase in temperatures.
• La Presse reports that the new premier of Québec, François Legault, says he has no plans to open up Anticosti island, in the Guilf of St. Lawrence, to exploration for oil.
• VICE interviews some workers on a Greek party island to see what their lives are like. (Rarely does it feel like a vacation.)
• The recent Hurricane Walaka has done terrible damage to some of the most remote islands of Hawai’i, destroying low-lying East Island entirely. Global News reports.
• CNN notes that although the more remote islands of the Federated States of Micronesia might seem idyllic to tourists, local populations are emigrating from these isolated locations in large numbers.

[ISL] Five islands links: Dufferin Islands, Antillia, Orkneys, Hawai’i, Stewart Island

• blogTO reports on the lovely Dufferin Islands of Niagara Falls, green creations in the river.
• Language Hat reports on the mythical island of Antillia, a phantom island reputed in late medieval Europe to lie far to the west of Iberia.
• Archeologists are racing to excavate and record and even protect hundreds, if not thousands, of archeological sites in the Orkney Islands ahead of rising sea levels. The National Post reports.
• JSTOR Daily takes a look at the factors that drew the 19th century kings of Hawai’i so strongly towards freemasonry.
• Janet Wainscott writes at The Island Review about her visit to New Zealand’s Stewart Island, searching for the remnants of her family’s homes and businesses there.

[BLOG] Some Friday links

• Architectuul has an extended long interview with architect Dragoljub Bakić, talking about the innovative architecture of Tito’s Yugoslavia and his experiences abroad.
• Centauri Dreams remarks on how the new maps of Pluto can evoke the worlds of Ray Bradbury.
• The Crux answers an interesting question: What, exactly, is a blazar?
• D-Brief links to a study suggesting that conditions on Ross 128 b, the second-nearest potentially habitable planet, are potentially (very broadly) Earth-like.
• Dangerous Minds shows how John Mellencamp was, in the 1970s, once a glam rocker.
• The Finger Post shares photos from a recent visit to Naypyidaw, the very new capital of Myanmar.
• Gizmodo explains how the detection of an energetic neutrino led to the detection of a distant blazar, marking yet another step forward for multi-messenger astronomy.
• JSTOR Daily reports on the now-overlooked writer of supernatural fiction Vernon Lee.
• Language Log makes an argument that acquiring fluency in Chinese language, including Chinese writing, is difficult, so difficult perhaps as to displace other cultures. Thoughts?
• Lawyers, Guns and Money suggests that the decline of the neo-liberal world order is needed. My main concern is that neo-liberalism may well be the least bad of the potential world orders out there.
• Lingua Franca takes a look at how Hindi and Urdu, technically separate languages, actually form two poles of a Hindustani language continuum.
• The Map Room Blog links to a unique map of the London Underground that shows the elevation of each station.
• Rocky Planet notes that the continuing eruption of Kilauea is going to permanently shape the lives of the people of the Big Island of Hawai’i.
• Window on Eurasia notes that the Buddhists of Kalmykia want the Russian government to permit a visit by the Dalai Lama to their republic.
• Writing at Worthwhile Canadian Initiative, Livio Di Matteo notes that the Trump demand NATO governments spend 4% of their GDP on defense would involve unprecedented levels of spending in Canada.