A Bit More Detail

Assorted Personal Notations, Essays, and Other Jottings

Posts Tagged ‘israel

[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  • The Map Room Blog shares a map of Prince William Sound, in Alaska, that is already out of date because of global warming.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.

[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.

[BLOG] Some Saturday links

  • Adam Fish at anthro{dendum} compares different sorts of public bathing around the world, from Native America to Norden to Japan.
  • Charlie Stross at Antipope is unimpressed by the person writing the script for our timeline.
  • Architectuul reports on an architectural conference in Lisbon.
  • Bad Astronomer Phil Plait shares stunning photos of the eruption of the Raikoke volcano in Kamchatka.
  • Centauri Dreams looks at what the Voyager spacecraft have returned about the edge of the solar system.
  • John Quiggin at Crooked Timber takes issue with the idea of bipartisanship if it means compromising on reality, allegorically.
  • The Crux counts the number of people who have died in outer space.
  • D-Brief notes that the Andromeda Galaxy has swallowed up multiple dwarf galaxies over the eons.
  • Dead Things notes the identification of the first raptor species from Southeast Asia, Siamraptor suwati.
  • The Dragon’s Tales notes a paper tracing the origins of interstellar comet 2/Borisov from the general area of Kruger 60.
  • Karen Sternheimer at the Everyday Sociology Blog writes about the privilege allowing people access to affordable dental care.
  • Gizmodo tells how Alexei Leonov survived the first spacewalk.
  • io9 looks at the remarkable new status quo for the X-Men created by Jonathan Hickman.
  • Selma Franssen at the Island Review writes about the threats facing the seabirds of the Shetlands.
  • JSTOR Daily looks at what led Richard Nixon to make so many breaks from the American consensus on China in the Cold War.
  • Language Log notes an undergraduate course at Yale using the Voynich Manuscript as an aid in the study of language.
  • Abigail Nussbaum at Lawyers, Guns and Money explains her recent experience of the socialized health care system of Israel for Americans.
  • The LRB Blog looks at how badly the Fukuyama prediction of an end to history has aged.
  • The Map Room Blog shares a few maps of the new Ottawa LRT route.
  • Marginal Revolution notes a paper establishing a link between Chinese industries undermining their counterparts in Mexico and Mexican social ills including crime.
  • Sean Marshall reports from Ottawa about what the Confederation Line looks like.
  • Adam Shatz at the NYR Daily looks at the power of improvisation in music.
  • Roads and Kingdoms looks at South Williamsburg Jewish deli Gottlieb’s.
  • Drew Rowsome reviews</a the new Patti Smith book, Year of the Monkey.
  • The Russian Demographics Blog shares a paper looking as the factors leading into transnational movements.
  • Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel considers the question of the direction(s) in which order in the universe was generated.
  • Window on Eurasia shares a report noting the very minor flows of migration from China to Russia.
  • Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell looks at the politics in the British riding of Keighley.
  • Arnold Zwicky looks at some penguin socks.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Milton, Hamilton, New York City, Mexico City, Tel Aviv

  • MacLean’s reports from the GTA suburban city of Milton, a key battleground in the federal election.
  • Hamilton police continues to be caught up in controversy over its handling of Pride. Global News reports.
  • CityLab profiles new murals being created in New York City’s Harlem, on 125th street, here.
  • Guardian Cities considers some ambitious plans for remodeling Mexico City, with vast new neighbourhoods and airports, which never came off.
  • Atlas Obscura looks at a notable library of books and other documents in the Yiddish language, housed out of a decrepit bus terminal in Tel Aviv.

[BLOG] Some Thursday links

  • Bad Astronomy notes the remarkably eccentric orbit of gas giant HR 5138b.
  • Centauri Dreams notes the impact that large-scale collisions have on the evolution of planets.
  • Chris Bertram at Crooked Timber noted yesterday that babies born on September 11th in 2001 are now 18 years old, adults.
  • The Crux notes that some of the hominins in the Sima de los Huesos site in Spain, ancestors to Neanderthals, may have been murdered.
  • D-Brief reports on the cryodrakon, a pterosaur that roamed the skies above what is now Canada 77 million years ago.
  • Dangerous Minds looks at the political artwork of Jan Pötter.
  • Gizmodo notes a poll suggesting a majority of Britons would support actively seeking to communicate with extraterrestrial civilizations.
  • io9 has a loving critical review of the first Star Trek movie.
  • JSTOR Daily shares, from April 1939, an essay by the anonymous head of British intelligence looking at the international context on the eve of the Second World War.
  • Language Log notes a recent essay on the mysterious Voynich manuscript, one concluding that it is almost certainly a hoax of some kind.
  • Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money considers the future of the labour movement in the United States.
  • Marginal Revolution considers what sort of industrial policy would work for the United States.
  • Yardena Schwartz writes at NYR Daily about the potential power of Arab voters in Israel.
  • Jim Belshaw at Personal Reflections explains why, despite interest, Australia did not launch a space program in the 1980s.
  • Drew Rowsome provides a queer review of It: Chapter Two.
  • Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel notes how government censorship of science doomed the Soviet Union and could hurt the United States next.
  • Window on Eurasia notes how, in the Volga republics, recent educational policy changes have marginalized non-Russian languages.
  • Arnold Zwicky shares a glossy, fashion photography-style, reimagining of the central relationship in the James Baldwin classic Giovanni’s Room, arranged by Hilton Als.

[BLOG] Some Sunday links

  • Bad Astronomy’s Phil Plait considers the question of where, exactly, the dwarf galaxy Segue-1 came from.
  • Centauri Dreams considers the import of sodium chloride for the water oceans of Europa, and for what they might hold.
  • D-Brief wonders if dark matter punched a hole in the Milky Way Galaxy.
  • JSTOR Daily warns that the increasing number of satellites in orbit of Earth might hinder our appreciation of the night sky.
  • The LRB Blog looks at the complications of democracy and politics in Mauritania.
  • Marginal Revolution wonders about the nature of an apparently very decentralized city of Haifa.
  • Corey S. Powell at Out There notes that, while our knowledge of the Big Bang is certainly imperfect, the odds of it being wrong are quite, quite low.
  • The Planetary Society Blog looks at the Hayabusa 2 exploration of asteroid Ryugu.
  • Vintage Space examines how Apollo astronauts successfully navigated their way to the Moon.
  • Window on Eurasia looks at press discussion in Russia around the decriminalization of soft drugs like marijuana.
  • Arnold Zwicky looks at a comic depicting a “mememobile.”

[BLOG] Some Thursday links

  • Bad Astronomy’s Phil Plait looks at Abell 30, a star that has been reborn in the long process of dying.
  • Centauri Dreams uses the impending launch of LightSail 2 to discuss solar sails in science fiction.
  • John Quiggin at Crooked Timber, as part of a series of the fragility of globalization, considers if migration flows can be reversed. (He concludes it unlikely.)
  • The Crux considers if the record rain in the Midwest (Ontario, too, I would add) is a consequence of climate change.
  • D-Brief notes that the failure of people around the world to eat enough fruits and vegetables may be responsible for millions of premature dead.
  • Dangerous Minds introduces readers to gender-bending Italian music superstar Renato Zero.
  • Dead Things notes how genetic examinations have revealed the antiquity of many grapevines still used for wine.
  • Gizmodo notes that the ocean beneath the icy crust of Europa may contain simple salt.
  • io9 tries to determine the nature of the many twisted timelines of the X-Men movie universe of Fox.
  • JSTOR Daily observes that the Stonewall Riots were hardly the beginning of the gay rights movement in the US.
  • Language Log looks at the mixed scripts on a bookstore sign in Beijing.
  • Dave Brockington at Lawyers, Guns, and Money argues that Jeremy Corbyn has a very strong hold on his loyal followers, perhaps even to the point of irrationality.
  • Marginal Revolution observes that people who create public genetic profiles for themselves also undo privacy for their entire biological family.
  • Sean Marshall at Marshall’s Musings shares a photo of a very high-numbered street address, 986039 Oxford-Perth Road in Punkeydoodle’s Corners.
  • The NYR Daily examines the origins of the wealth of Lehman Brothers in the exploitation of slavery.
  • The Planetary Society Blog shares a panorama-style photo of the Apollo 11 Little West Crater on the Moon.
  • Drew Rowsome notes that classic documentary Paris Is Burning has gotten a makeover and is now playing at TIFF.
  • Peter Rukavina, writing from a trip to Halifax, notes the convenience of the Eduroam procedures allowing users of one Maritime university computer network to log onto another member university’s network.
  • Dylan Reid at Spacing considers how municipal self-government might be best embedded in the constitution of Canada.
  • The Speed River Journal’s Van Waffle pays tribute to the wildflower Speedwell, a name he remembers from Watership Down.
  • Strange Maps shares a crowdsourced map depicting which areas of Europe are best (and worst) for hitchhikers.
  • Window on Eurasia notes the distribution of native speakers of Russian, with Israel emerging as more Russophone than some post-Soviet states.

[BLOG] Some Sunday links

  • Bad Astronomy’s Phil Plait notes the first time that an exoplanet, HR 8799e, has been directly observed using optical interferometry.
  • Centauri Dreams notes the possibility, demonstrated by the glimpsing of a circumplanetary disc around exoplanet PDS 70b, that we might be seeing a moon system in formation.
  • The Citizen Science Salon looks what observers in Antarctica are contributing to our wealth of scientific knowledge.
  • The Dragon’s Tales shares links to articles looking at the latest findings on the Precambrian Earth.
  • The Frailest Thing’s L.M. Sacasas writes about his ambivalent response to a Twitter that, by its popularity, undermines the open web.
  • Gizmodo notes that NASA is going to open up the International Space Station to tourists.
  • JSTOR Daily looks at how croquet, upon its introduction in the 19th century United States, was seen as scandalous for the way it allowed men and women to mix freely.
  • Shakezula at Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the unaccountable fondness of at least two Maine Republican legislators for the Confederacy.
  • Marginal Revolution suggests that the economic success of Israel in recent decades is a triumph of neoliberalism.
  • Stephen Ellis at the NYR Daily writes about the gymnastics of Willem de Kooning.
  • Drew Rowsome profiles out comic Brendan D’Souza.
  • Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel looks at the still strange galaxy NGC 1052-DF2, apparently devoid of dark matter.
  • John Scalzi at Whatever shares his theory about a fixed quantity of flavor in strawberries of different sizes.
  • Window on Eurasia looks at a contentious plan for a territorial swap between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

  • Bad Astronomy notes how, in galaxy 3XMM J150052.0+015452 1.8 billion light-years away, a black hole has been busily eating a star for a decade.
  • Centauri Dreams considers how relativistic probes might conduct astronomy. How would their measurements be changed by these high speeds?
  • The Crux reports on how scientists are trying to save the platypus in its native rivers of Australia.
  • D-Brief reports on the quiet past of Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule.
  • The Dragon’s Tales reports on UAV news from around the world.
  • Joe. My. God. reports a statement by a Trump biography suggesting that the American president believes in not following laws because of his belief in his own “genetic superiority”.
  • JSTOR Daily reports on the importance of the longleaf pine in the history of the United States.
  • Language Hat considers, in the case of Australia, the benefits of reviving indigenous languages.
  • Abigail Nussbaum at Lawyers, Guns and Money considers how the success of Israel in hosting Eurovision is a blow against the Netanyahu government.
  • James Butler at the LRB Blog looks at the peculiar position of private schools in the UK, and their intersection with public life.
  • Marginal Revolution looks at a paper analyzing two centuries of British writers noting that productivity was boosted for the least productive if they lived in London.
  • The NYR Daily notes the end of famed French periodical Les temps modernes.
  • Emily Lakdawalla at the Planetary Society Blog notes the expected crash of Chinese smallsat Longjiang-2 from its lunar orbit at the end of July.
  • Noel Maurer at The Power and the Money notes how ex-president of Argentina Cristina Fernández, running for election this year, was lucky in having the economic crash occur after the end of her presidency.
  • Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel explains the different reasons behind the blues of the sky and the ocean.
  • Window on Eurasia notes that three hundred thousand Russians have died of HIV/AIDS since the virus manifested on Soviet territory in the late 1980s, with more deaths to come thanks to mismanagement of the epidemic.

[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

  • Bad Astronomy Phil Plait notes that the location of the Apollo 12 Ascent Module on the Moon may have been found.
  • Kieran Healy writes about how he uses scripts to produce animated graphics illustrating charging patterns of baby names over the 20th century in the United States.
  • JSTOR Daily looks at how Japan has been cleaning up Tohoku after the Fukushima disaster.
  • Language Hat looks at an upcoming book project taking a look at how different languages written in the Arabic script interact with each other.
  • Abigail Nussbaum at Lawyers, Guns and Money, looking at “The Bells”, makes the case that this episode’s solution to the issues of Daenerys was probably the best one that could be devised within Game of Thrones’ self-imposed limitations.
  • The NYR Daily looks at the trial in Israeli military courts of Palestinian activist Issa Amro.
  • Jason C. Davis notes at the Planetary Society Blog that the Lightsail 2 spacecraft is scheduled for a June launch.
  • Peter Rukavina reacts, with eventual cool printings, to the Fluxus movement in mid-20th century art.
  • Strange Company shares the story of pioneering Edwardian parachustist Dolly Shepherd.
  • Daniel Little at Understanding Society shares his 1970s proposal for a Marxist philosophy of the social sciences.
  • Window on Eurasia notes that the GULAG system was a net loss for the Soviet economy, costly and employing workers at low productivity levels. (Bringing it back would be a mistake, then.)
  • Arnold Zwicky shares some wonderful photos of some remarkable lilies.