Posts Tagged ‘ireland’
[BLOG] Some Friday links
- Charlie Stross at Antipope shares an essay he recently presented on artificial intelligence and its challenges for us.
- P. Kerim Friedman writes at {anthro}dendum about the birth of the tea ceremony in the Taiwan of the 1970s.
- Anthropology net reports on a cave painting nearly 44 thousand years old in Indonesia depicting a hunting story.
- Architectuul looks at some temporary community gardens in London.
- Bad Astronomy reports on the weird history of asteroid Ryugu.
- The Buzz talks about the most popular titles borrowed from the Toronto Public Library in 2019.
- Caitlin Kelly talks at the Broadside Blog about her particular love of radio.
- Centauri Dreams talks about the role of amateur astronomers in searching for exoplanets, starting with LHS 1140 b.
- John Quiggin at Crooked Timber looks at what is behind the rhetoric of “virtue signalling”.
- Dangerous Minds shares concert performance from Nirvana filmed the night before the release of Nevermind.
- Bruce Dorminey notes new evidence that, even before the Chixculub impact, the late Cretaceous Earth was staggering under environmental pressures.
- Myron Strong at the Everyday Sociology Blog writes about how people of African descent in the US deal with the legacies of slavery in higher education.
- Far Outliers reports on the plans in 1945 for an invasion of Japan by the US.
- L.M. Sacasas at The Frailest Thing gathers together a collection of the author’s best writings there.
- Gizmodo notes the immensity of the supermassive black hole, some 40 billion solar masses, at the heart of galaxy Holm 15A 700 million light-years away.
- Russell Arben Fox at In Media Res writes about the issue of how Wichita is to organize its civic politics.
- io9 argues that the 2010s were a decade where the culture of the spoiler became key.
- The Island Review points readers to the podcast Mother’s Blood, Sister’s Songs, an exploration of the links between Ireland and Iceland.
- Joe. My. God. reports on the claim of the lawyer of the killer of a mob boss that the QAnon conspiracy inspired his actions. This strikes me as terribly dangerous.
- JSTOR Daily looks at a study examining scholarly retractions.
- Language Hat shares an amusing cartoon illustrating the relationships of the dialects of Arabic.
- Language Log lists ten top new words in the Japanese language.
- Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at the dissipation of American diplomacy by Trump.
- The LRB Blog looks at the many problems in Sparta, Greece, with accommodating refugees, for everyone concerned.
- Marginal Revolution links to a paper suggesting the decline of the one-child policy in China has diminished child trafficking, among other crimes.
- Sean Marshall, looking at transit in Brampton, argues that transit users need more protection from road traffic.
- Russell Darnley shares excerpts from essays he wrote about the involvement of Australia in the Vietnam War.
- Peter Watts talks about his recent visit to a con in Sofia, Bulgaria, and about the apocalypse, here.
- The NYR Daily looks at the corporatization of the funeral industry, here.
- Diane Duane writes, from her own personal history with Star Trek, about how one can be a writer who ends up writing for a media franchise.
- Jim Belshaw at Personal Reflections considers the job of tasting, and rating, different cuts of lamb.
- The Planetary Society Blog looks at a nondescript observatory in the Mojave desert of California that maps the asteroids of the solar system.
- Roads and Kingdoms interviews Eduardo Chavarin about, among other things, Tijuana.
- Drew Rowsome loves the SpongeBob musical.
- Peter Rukavina announces that Charlottetown has its first public fast charger for electric vehicles.
- The Russian Demographics Blog considers the impact of space medicine, here.
- The Signal reports on how the Library of Congress is making its internet archives more readily available, here.
- Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel considers how the incredibly isolated galaxy MCG+01-02-015 will decay almost to nothing over almost uncountable eons.
- Strange Company reports on the trial and execution of Christopher Slaughterford for murder. Was there even a crime?
- Strange Maps shares a Coudenhove-Kalergi map imagining the division of the world into five superstates.
- Understanding Society considers entertainment as a valuable thing, here.
- Denis Colombi at Une heure de peine announces his new book, Où va l’argent des pauvres?
- John Scalzi at Whatever looks at how some mailed bread triggered a security alert, here.
- Window on Eurasia reports on the massive amount of remittances sent to Tajikistan by migrant workers, here.
- Arnold Zwicky notes a bizarre no-penguins sign for sale on Amazon.
Written by Randy McDonald
December 22, 2019 at 8:00 am
Posted in Assorted, Demographics, Economics, History, Politics, Popular Culture, Science, Social Sciences, Urban Note
Tagged with agriculture, anthropology, arab language, archeology, asteroids, australia, birds, black holes, blogging, blogs, brampton, california, central asia, charlottetown, china, chixculub, clash of ideologies, conspiracies, crime, demographic, disasters, earth, economics, education, environment, futurology, gardens, geopolitics, greece, holm 15a, iceland, indonesia, internet, ireland, kansas, libraries, links, london, mass media, mass transit, MCG+01-02-015, mexico, migration, nirvana, oddities, philosophy, physics, politics, popular literature, popular music, prince edward island, qanon, refugees, science fiction, sociology, southeast asia, space science, space travel, star trek, supranationalism, taiwan, tajikistan, tea, theatre, tijuana, toronto, united kingdom, united states, vietnam, war, west norden, wichita, writing
[BLOG] Five NYR Daily links (@nyr_daily)
- Garry Wills writes at the NYR Daily about the history of impeachment, here.
- David Rieff writes at the NYR about Peronism and the new president, in Argentina, here.
- The NYR Daily looks at the disaster soon to be visited by Brexit on Northern Ireland, here.
- Matt Seaton writes at the NYR Daily about what the recent British election reveals about the failing health of social democracy in England.
- The NYR Daily looks at the new movie Atlantics, which looks at migration and Africa.
Written by Randy McDonald
December 19, 2019 at 8:45 pm
Posted in Assorted, Demographics, Economics, Politics, Popular Culture, Social Sciences
Tagged with africa, argentina, atlantics, blogs, brexit, democracy, Demographics, european union, ireland, latin america, links, migration, northern ireland, politics, separatism, south america, united kingdom, united states
[BLOG] Some Friday links
- Architectuul looks at the Portuguese architectural cooperative Ateliermob, here.
- Bad Astronomer Phil Plait looks at how white dwarf WD J091405.30+191412.25 is literally vapourizing a planet in close orbit.
- Caitlin Kelly at the Broadside Blog explains</a< to readers why you really do not want to have to look for parking in New York City.
- Centauri Dreams looks at the slowing of the solar wind far from the Sun.
- John Holbo at Crooked Timber considers the gap between ideals and actuals in the context of conspiracies and politics.
- The Dragon’s Tales reports on how the ESA is trying to solve a problem with the parachutes of the ExoMars probe.
- Far Outliers reports on what Harry Truman thought about politicians.
- Gizmodo reports on a new method for identifying potential Earth-like worlds.
- io9 pays tribute to legendary writer, of Star Trek and much else, D.C. Fontana.
- The Island Review reports on the football team of the Chagos Islands.
- Joe. My. God. reports that gay Olympian Gus Kenworthy will compete for the United Kingdom in 2020.
- JSTOR Daily looks at how early English imperialists saw America and empire through the lens of Ireland.
- Paul Campos at Lawyers, Guns and Money does not like Pete Buttigieg.
- The LRB Blog looks at the London Bridge terrorist attack.
- The Map Room Blog shares a map of Prince William Sound, in Alaska, that is already out of date because of global warming.
- Marginal Revolution questions if Cebu, in the Philippines, is the most typical city in the world.
- The NYR Daily looks at gun violence among Arab Israelis.
- The Planetary Society Blog considers what needs to be researched next on Mars.
- Roads and Kingdoms tells the story of Sister Gracy, a Salesian nun at work in South Sudan.
- The Russian Demographics Blog shares a paper noting continued population growth expected in much of Europe, and the impact of this growth on the environment.
- Strange Maps shares a map of fried chicken restaurants in London.
- Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel explains why a 70 solar mass black hole is not unexpected.
- John Scalzi at Whatever gives</a his further thoughts on the Pixel 4.
- Window on Eurasia notes that, last year, 37 thousand Russians died of HIV/AIDS.
- Arnold Zwicky starts from a consideration of the 1948 film Kind Hearts and Coronets.
Written by Randy McDonald
December 6, 2019 at 6:30 pm
Posted in Assorted, Canada, Economics, History, Politics, Popular Culture, Science, Social Sciences
Tagged with africa, alaska, architecture, astronomy, blogs, british empire, cebu, chagos, clash of ideologies, conspiracies, crime, d.c. fontana, Demographics, environment, european union, exoplanets, futurology, google, hiv/aids, in memoriam, ireland, islands, israel, links, london, mars, middle east, new york, new york city, north america, palestinians, parking lot, pete buttigieg, philippines, politics, popular culture, portugal, religion, restaurants, russia, science fiction, solar system, south sudan, southeast asia, space science, space travel, sports, star trek, technology, television, terrorism, united states, WD J091405.30+191412.25, white dwarfs
[URBAN NOTE] Seven city links: Guelph, Innisfil, Montréal, Asbestos, Québec City, Alberta, Richmond
- Guelph will be holding an open house to see what development will replace the Dolime Quarry. Global News reports.
- The town of Innisfil has extended its Uber subsidy program for people in need of transit. Global News reports</u.
- Archeologists in Montréal have found a mass grave of Irish famine victims. CTV reports.
- The Québec town of Asbestos is changing its name so as to avoid the link, in English, with the toxic mineral. CTV reports.
- A subway, alas, would be too big for Québec City. Streetcars would work better. Le Devoir reports.
- Can a hyperloop be built to plug Edmonton together with Calgary? Global News considers.
- Richmond, British Columbia, has unveiled a cultural harmony strategy to help its diverse population get along. The National Post reports.
Written by Randy McDonald
November 28, 2019 at 8:00 pm
Posted in Assorted, Canada, Economics, History, Politics, Popular Culture, Social Sciences, Urban Note
Tagged with alberta, asbestos, british columbia, calgary, canada, cemetaries, cities, Demographics, diaspora, edmonton, environment, guelph, innisfil, ireland, mass transit, migration, montréal, neighbourhoods, ontario, québec, québec city, richmond, technology, Urban Note
[URBAN NOTE] Seven city links: Gatineau, Montréal, Halifax, wild turkeys and monk parakeets, Venice, Kamza
- The city of Gatineau is going to take land with constructions devastated by flooding and make it into a buffer zone. CBC reports.
- There is controversy around the idea of naming a REM station in Montréal’s Griffintown neighbourhood after Bernard Landry. Global News reports.
- Halifax has a third heritage district. Global News reports.
- The wild turkey is now thriving in many American cities, in New Jersey’s Toms River and even in Washington D.C. CityLab reports.
- The monk parakeet is thriving in European cities like Madrid and London. CityLab reports.
- The Conversation suggests that Venice may yet benefit from the attention brought to its problems by the recent flooding.
- Guardian Cities looks at the remarkably rapid construction of the city in Albania of Kamza, driven by (among other factors) remittances from emigrants.
Written by Randy McDonald
November 27, 2019 at 8:30 pm
Posted in Assorted, Demographics, Economics, History, Politics, Popular Culture, Urban Note
Tagged with albania, atlantic canada, birds, canada, cities, diaspora, disasters, european union, gatineau, griffintown, halifax, ireland, italy, kamza, mass transit, migration, monk parakeet, montréal, neighbourhoods, nova scotia, québec, united states, Urban Note, venice, wild turkey
[URBAN NOTE] Seven city links: Pierrefonds, Edmundston, Saskatoon, Louisville, Belfast, Jerusalem …
- Ending free coffee for municipal employees in the Québec community of Pierrefonds created massive controversy. CBC reports.
- The mayor of the Francophone city of Edmundston in New Brunswick has encouraged immigrant Québec students hurt by immigration changes to come to his community. CTV News reports.
- The price of crystal meth in Saskatoon is apparently as low as $3 a bag. Global News reports.
- Guardian Cities notes how Louisville, low on trees, is trying to regreen the city as a way to deal with rising temperatures.
- Open Democracy considers if the DUP is about to lose its strongholds in Belfast.
- Guardian Cities looks at the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Kafr Aqab, a place where Palestinians can access their metropolis (and their partners).
- CityLab shares photos of the wonderful new public library of Helsinki.
Written by Randy McDonald
November 26, 2019 at 11:30 pm
Posted in Assorted, Canada, Economics, Politics, Popular Culture, Social Sciences, Urban Note
Tagged with architecture, belfast, canada, cities, coffee, drugs, edmundston, education, environment, finland, health, helsinki, ireland, israel, kentucky, libraries, louisville, migration, neighbourhoods, new brunswick, norden, northern ireland, palestinians, pierrefonds, québec, saskatchewan, saskatoon, tree, united kingdom, united states, Urban Note
[BLOG] Some Tuesday links
- Centauri Dreams notes how gas giants on eccentric orbits can easily disrupt bodies on orbits inwards.
- Maria Farrell at Crooked Timber suggests that the political culture of England has been deformed by the trauma experienced by young children of the elites at boarding schools.
- Dangerous Minds looks at the haunting art of Paul Delvaux.
- The Everyday Sociology Blog looks at the work of Tressie McMillan Cottom in investigating for-profit higher education.
- Far Outliers looks at Tripoli in 1801.
- Gizmodo shares the Boeing design for the moon lander it proposes for NASA in 2024.
- io9 shares words from cast of Terminator: Dark Fate about the importance of the Mexican-American frontier.
- JSTOR Daily makes a case against killing spiders trapped in one’s home.
- Language Hat notes a recovered 17th century translation of a Dutch bible into the Austronesian language of Siraya, spoken in Taiwan.
- Language Log looks at the origin of the word “brogue”.
- Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at the payday lender industry.
- Marginal Revolution notes a new biography of Walter Raleigh, a maker of empire indeed.
- The NYR Daily looks at a new dance show using the rhythms of the words of writer Robert Walser.
- Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel looks at how, in a quantum universe, time and space could still be continuous not discrete.
- Strange Company looks at a court case from 1910s Brooklyn, about a parrot that swore.
- The Volokh Conspiracy notes an affirmative action court case in which it was ruled that someone from Gibraltar did not count as Hispanic.
- Window on Eurasia notes rhetoric claiming that Russians are the largest divided people on the Earth.
- Arnold Zwicky looks at lizards and at California’s legendary Highway 101.
Written by Randy McDonald
November 12, 2019 at 6:30 pm
Posted in Assorted, Canada, Demographics, Economics, History, Politics, Popular Culture, Science, Social Sciences
Tagged with animal intelligence, astronomy, austronesian languages, birds, blogs, borders, brooklyn, california, dance, economics, education, england, english language, environment, exoplanets, gibraltar, history, imperialism, ireland, language, libya, links, lizards, mexico, moon, netherlands, parrots, paul delvaux, physics, politics, popular culture, popular literature, public art, reptiles, russia, science fiction, siraya, social sciences, sociology, space science, space travel, spiders, taiwan, tripoli, united kingdom
[AH] Six #alternatehistory maps from Reddit: Irish, Canada, Alaska, Russia, Prairies, South Africa
- This r/mapporn map shows the scale of the collapse of Irish as a spoken language across most of Ireland. Was this avoidable?
- This r/imaginarymaps map shows a Canada where the 1837 rebellions were successful, with an autonomous Upper Canada and a Lower Canada with a Patriote state. Doable?
- This r/imaginarymaps map depicts a common alternate history trope, that of an independent but culturally Russian Alaska. What would it take for this to happen?
- This r/imaginarymaps map depicts a world where Eurasia, from Germany to Korea, was dominated by a successfully industrializing Russian Empire. Was this common fear of the belle époque actually achievable?
- This r/mapporn map shows the different proposals for different territorial configurations of the Canadian Prairies. (I like the ones with north-south divisions.)
- Was a single South Africa covering most of British Southern Africa with relatively liberal racial policies, as Jan Smuts wanted, actually achievable? r/imaginarymaps hosts the map.
Written by Randy McDonald
October 29, 2019 at 11:45 pm
Posted in Assorted, Canada, Demographics, Economics, History, Politics, Popular Culture, Social Sciences
Tagged with africa, alaska, alberta, alternate history, borders, botswana, british empire, canada, eswatini, geopolitics, imperialism, ireland, irish language, language, lesotho, links, maps, namibia, news, ontario, québec, russia, russian empire, saskatchewan, south africa
[BLOG] Some Sunday links
- Architectuul looks at the Porto architectural project Critical Concrete, here.
- Bad Astronomer Phil Plait shares the evidence for our galaxy having experienced a phase as a quasar a quarter-million years long some 3.5 million years ago.
- Author James Bow celebrates the end of his publicity tour for The Night Girl, including a controversy over cover art featuring the CN Tower.
- Robert Zubrin at Centauri Dreams considers how we could detect energy from artificial singularities used for power and propulsion. (Is this how we find the Romulans?)
- The Crux considers whether or not the new proposals for more powerful supercolliders in China and Europe are likely to produce new discoveries.
- D-Brief explains why older generations so often look down on the young: The elders idealize their younger selves too much.
- Dead Things notes new evidence, in the tracks of trilobites moving in line 480 million years ago, for early life being able to engage in collective behaviour.
- io9 interviews Kami Garcia about her new YA book featuring venerable DC character Raven, remaking her for new readers.
- The Island Review interviews David Gange about The Frayed Atlantic Edge, his book account of his kayak trip down the western coasts of Britain and Ireland.
- JSTOR Daily explains why Martin Luther King Jr. thought so highly of jazz.
- Eleanor Penny argues at the LRB Blog against taking Malthus, with his pessimism trending towards a murderous misanthropy, as a prophet for our times.
- The NYR Daily looks at the play American Moor, which touches on the efforts of black actors to engage with Shakespeare.
- Drew Rowsome reviews the new film The Flick, an old to old-style movies and theatres.
- The Russian Demographics Blog shares a map depicting Hutterite migrations across early modern Europe.
- Starts With A Bang shares new speculation that some evidence for dark matter might actually be a mistake in measurement.
- Strange Maps notes the now mostly submerged continent of Greater Adria.
- Window on Eurasia shares a suggestion that the deep Russophilia of many ordinary people in Belarus might support union with Russia.
- Arnold Zwicky looks at the different meanings of “unaccompanied”.
Written by Randy McDonald
October 20, 2019 at 7:15 pm
Posted in Assorted, Demographics, Economics, History, Politics, Popular Culture, Science, Social Sciences
Tagged with african-americans, architecture, astronomy, belarus, black holes, britain, china, dc comics, Demographics, earth, english language, european union, evolution, extraterrestrial intelligence, ireland, islands, jazz, links, malthus. hutterites, maps, migration, national identity, physics, popular culture, popular literature, popular music, portugal, quasars, russia, Sagittarius A*, singularity, social sciences, sociology, space science, technology, theatre, travel, trilobites, united states, william shakespeare
[BLOG] Some Sunday links
- The Crux looks at the australopiths, not-so-distant ancestors of modern humans.
- Bruce Dorminey notes the interest of NASA in exploring the lunar subsurface, including lava tubes.
- Far Outliers looks at the politicking of mid-19th century European explorers in the Sahel.
- io9 notes that the new Joker film is getting stellar reviews, aided by the performance of Joaquin Phoenix.
- JSTOR Daily explores how, to meet censors’ demands, Betty Boop was remade in the 1930s from sex symbol into housewife.
- Language Log reports on an utter failure in bilingual Irish/English signage.
- Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money shows that a history of slavery in the US (Canada too, I would add) must not neglect the enslavement of indigenous peoples.
- Marginal Revolution notes a paper studying San Francisco looking at how rent control did not work.
- The NYR Daily considers growing protest against air travel for its impact on global climate.
- Drew Rowsome reviews the queer romance film Bathroom Stalls & Parking Lots.
- Window on Eurasia notes how the influence of Russia in the former Soviet Union is undone by Russian imperialism.
- Arnold Zwicky considers the striking imagery–originally religious–of “carnal weapons”.
Written by Randy McDonald
September 1, 2019 at 1:00 pm
Posted in Assorted, Demographics, Economics, History, Politics, Popular Culture, Science, Social Sciences
Tagged with africa, astronomy, australopithecus africanus, betty boop, blogs, california, canada, cartoons, economics, english language, environment, evolution, first nations, former soviet union, geopolitics, glbt issues, global warming, globalization, homo sapiens, human beings, ireland, irish language, joker, language, links, moon, movie reviews, popular culture, real estate, russia, sahel, san francisco, Science, sexuality, slavery, space science, space travel, technology, united states, west africa