[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

• Bad Astronomy’s Phil Plait looks at the extreme millisecond pulsar IGR J17062−6143.
• Centauri Dreams looks at a proposal to intercept objects of extrasolar origin like ‘Oumuamua.
• The Crux looks at how researchers are discovering traces of lost hominid populations in the DNA of contemporary humans.
• D-Brief notes a crowdsourcing of a search for intermediate-mass black holes.
• Gizmodo notes the impending production of a new working Commodore 64 clone.
• The Island Review notes people of the Norway island of Sommarøy wish to make their island, home to the midnight sun, a #TimeFreeZone.
• JSTOR Daily looks at the art that has been produced in the era of digital addiction.
• Language Log looks at how, in Iran, the word “Eastoxification” has entered into usage alongside the older “Westoxification.”
• Dave Brockington at Lawyers, Guns, and Money looks at the many likely failings of a Corbyn foreign policy for the United Kingdom.
• The LRB Blog notes that opposition candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu has been re-elected as mayor of Istanbul.
• The Map Room Blog links to various maps of the Moon.
• Marginal Revolution links to a paper looking at markets in Lagos, suggesting they are self-regulating to some degree.
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel explains when the earliest sunrise and latest sunset of the year is, and why.
• Towleroad shares an interview with Jack Baker and Mike McConnell, a same-sex couple married for nearly a half-century.
• Window on Eurasia notes how the open approach of the Russian Federation to Russian diasporids is not extended to diasporas of its minority groups, particularly to Muslim ones like Circassians and Tatars.
• Arnold Zwicky considers some Pride fashion, with and without rainbows.

[BLOG] Some Saturday links

• Bad Astronomy’s Phil Plait reports on a dwarf galaxy collision with galaxy NGC 1232, producing waves of X-rays.
• The Toronto Library’s The Buzz highlights a collection of books on LGBTQ themes for Pride month.
• Centauri Dreams looks at studies of the circumstellar disk of HD 163296.
• D-Brief reports that plastic debris may have contributed to a die-off of puffins by the Bering Sea.
• Bruce Dorminey shares an image of a rich star-forming region in Cepheus taken by the Spitzer telescope.
• Imageo reports how smoke from wildfires in Canada have covered literally millions of square kilometres of North America in smoke.
• io9 notes how, in the limited series Doomsday Clock, Doctor Manhattan has come to a new realization about Superman and the DC multiverse.
• JSTOR Daily looks at how Luddites are now fashionable again, with their critiques of technology.
• Language Log reports on a unique whistled version of the Turkish language.
• Lawyers Guns and Money takes a look its different writers’ production over its 15 years.
• Emannuel Iduma writes at the NRY Daily about the young people, lives filled with promise, killed in the Biafran War.
• Corey S. Powell at Out There has an interesting idea: What items of food do the different planets of the solar system resemble?
• The Power and the Money’s Noel Maurer looks at the many stupidities of the new Trump tariffs against Mexico.
• Peter Rukavina celebrates the 20th anniversary of his blog.
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel reports on the exceptionally isolated galaxy MCG+01-02-015, in a void a hundred million light-years away from any other.
• Window on Eurasia looks at the changing politics and scholarship surrounding mass deaths in Soviet Kazakhstan in the 1930s. https://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2019/05/debate-on-mass-deaths-in-kazakhstan.html
• Arnold Zwicky looks at flowers coloured magenta in his California.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: New York City, Lisbon, Lagos, Donetsk and Luhansk, Hong Kong

• CityLab looks at the sheer density of the Marvel universe in New York City.
• CityLab reports on how the Portuguese capital of Lisbon is suffering a rash of thefts of its iconic tiles.
• A series of private movie screenings in Lagos are explored in CityLab, as a way of building community.
• Open Democracy takes a look at how the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk, in the occupied Donbas, are now being run.
• Guardian Cities reports on how urban explorers and photographers in Hong Kong are trying to archive images of their changing city.

[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes the good news: The Andromeda Galaxy will collide with the Milky Way in 4.5 billion years, not 3.9 billion!
• The Dragon’s Tales notes that a new Chinese ground station built in Argentina has not made the promised outreach to locals, with no visitors’ centre and rumours aplenty.
• Karen Sternheimer at the Everyday Sociology Blog explains the importance of doing literature reviews.
• Far Outliers notes the Pakhtuns, a Muslim ethnicity of the British Raj in what is now Pakistan noteworthy for being a major source of recruits in the Indian Army.
• L.M. Sacasas at The Frailest Thing notes Iris Murdoch, particularly her emphasis on learning as a process of engaging with something greater on its terms.
• Gizmodo reports on how space sciences appreciate the work done by the noble rover Opportunity on Mars.
• JSTOR Daily looks at how early 20th century African-American artists have represented Haiti in the works.
• Language Hat takes note of some of the mechanisms by which linguistics can neglect the study of indigenous languages.
• Language Log takes a look at the Latin motto of the University of Pennsylvania, a source still of unintentional humour.
• Marginal Revolution takes a look at the high levels of dysfunction in Nigeria, from fighting between herders and farmers to the incapacity of the national government.
• The NYR Daily takes a look at the concept of internal exile, starting with Russia and spiraling out into the wider world.
• Peter Rukavina shares a photo of a payphone that is one of the few remaining used artifacts of old Island Tel.
• The Russian Demographics Blog links to a paper considering the demographic peculiarities of the societies of the semi-periphery as contrasted to those of the core.
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel notes the surprisingly large amount of information astronomers will be able to extract from the first image of an Earth-like exoplanet.
• Window on Eurasia notes that North Caucasians in Russia no longer stand out as having higher-than-average birth rates in Russia.

[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

• Kambiz at Anthropology.net notes evidence that Neanderthals in Italy used fire to shape digging sticks 170 thousand years ago.
• Missing persons blog Charley Ross reminds online commentators to be careful and reasonable in their speculations online, if only because these last forever.
• D-Brief notes a new study of the TRAPPIST-1 system suggesting that its outermost planets, in the circumstellar habitable zone, are so low density that they must have abundant volatiles. Water is the most likely candidate.
• Hornet Stories introduces readers to the impressive photography of New York City’s Peter Hujar.
• At In Media Res, Russell Arben Fox meditates on the issues of friendship in the contemporary world.
• Joe. My. God. shares representative Tammy Duckworth’s mockery of the authoritarian Donald Trump, aka “Cadet Bone Spurs”.
• JSTOR Daily notes the continuing importance of the films of Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
• The Map Room Blog notes that someone has made cute maps of seven solar system worlds for children.
• Marginal Revolution links to an article looking at how some of the schoolgirls abducted in Nigeria by Boko Haram are doing.
• The NYR Daily engages with “Soul of a Nation”, a touring exhibit of African-American art in the era of Black Power.
• The Planetary Society Blog reports from the scene of the impending Falcon Heavy launch, sharing photos.
• Towleroad notes a South African church that not only beats its queer parishoners but fines them, too.
• Window on Eurasia suggests</u. Western sanctions could hinder the Russian development of its Arctic presence.

[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

• Charlie Stross at Antipope tells us how bizarre he finds reality, in its content and in its delivery. Certainly, it undermines for him the utility of the storytelling methods he first used.
• Centauri Dreams notes a new effort to separate superjovian planets from brown dwarfs, suggesting the dividing line between planetary and stellar formation is drawn at 10 Jupiter masses.
• Dangerous Minds praises St. Vincent, aka Annie Clark, as a brilliant musician and live performer who should be seen on her most recent tour.
• Hornet Stories talks about the way out queer male pop musicians, like Casey Spooner and Frank Ocean, are becoming more out about their sexuality and their forthright self-presentation in ways traditionally limited to use by women.
• JSTOR Daily suggests that, in Indonesia, post-Suharto trade liberalization has led to a direct surge in men smoking cigarettes.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money links to an article suggesting how the 19th century American perception of China as a trade partner was driven by a romanticism.
• Washington D.C., Marginal Revolution reports, stands out as a city where economists far outnumber clerics.
• Roads and Kingdoms considers the difficulty of being a vegetarian or vegan in the Nigerian metropolis of Lagos.
• Drew Rowsome praises Liminal, the new biography by Toronto playwright and general creator Jordan Tannahill.
• At Strange Maps, Frank Jacobs shares an infographic illustrating the various investments and projects of Elon Musk.
• Towleroad links to a trailer for the new version of classic gay play Boys in the Band, starring out stars. This is going to be an interesting show, I think, especially as it is updated (and as it might not need updating).
• Window on Eurasia notes the deep hostility of some Russians to the permanent settlement of immigrants–Central Asians here, also Chinese–in rural Russia, in the iconic village. I have to saying, knowing what I know about PEI, this sounds a bit familiar.

[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

• blogTO reports that Honest Ed’s will have its final sign sale this weekend.
• D-Brief looks at the New Horizons probe’s next target after Pluto, and reports that Venus is tectonically active.
• Centauri Dreams reports on the mechanics of the antimatter sail.
• Dangerous Minds features a video of France Gall singing about computer dating in 1968.
• The Dragon’s Gaze considers biological fluorescence as a marker for life on red dwarf exoplanets.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money reports on a wall of taco trucks set to face Donald Trump in Las Vegas.
• The LRB Blog notes the flailings of the Nigerian president.
• The NYRB Blog reports on how Brexit will wreck a British economy dependent on single market access.
• Transit Toronto notes that preliminary work has begun on the Scarborough subway.
• The Volokh Conspiracy’s Orin Kerr links to an editorial of his arguing that it should be made easier for Americans to migrate.
• Window on Eurasia notes that Russia is losing a third world war over brainpower and looks at the problems of sleeping districts in Moscow, a legacy of Soviet misplanning.

[NEWS] Some Friday links

• Bloomberg notes growth in Nigeria’s telecommunications industry and looks about Huawei’s plans to compete with Apple.
• Bloomberg View looks at India’s advantages over China and considers narrow European definitions of religious liberty.
• CBC reports that a Japanese boy abandoned in the forests of the north by his parents has been found, and describes plans to restore Kingston’s prison farm.
• CNBC notes economic desperation among oil-exporting states like Venezuela and Angola.
• The Inter Press Service looks at the exclusion of LGBT communities from HIV reduction efforts and considers Sri Lankan efforts at food security.
• The National Post reports on Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s enlistment as conductor of the Metropolitan Opera.
• Open Democracy considers prospects for a coup in Saudi Arabia.
• The Toronto Star notes the durability of Kathleen Wynne.
• Universe Today looks at Tutankhamen’s blade of meteoritic iron.

[NEWS] Some Thursday links

• The BBC hosts an article by an Igbo journalist talking about his native language.
• Bloomberg notes Brexiters’ hostility to the OECD’s prediction of British economic woe outside of the European Union, and looks at Venezuela’s physical shortage of bills.
• CBC looks at how tourist operators in North Carolina are afraid the anti-trans bill might hurt their business in the long term.
• MacLean’s and the Toronto Star look at the aftermath of two Alberta parents’ conviction for not getting their son adequate medical care.
• The National Post looks at the idea of Hitler’s relative normalcy being problematic.
• The New Yorker looks at how, increasingly and with good reason, people are identifying mental capabilities they have in common with animals.
• Open Democracy describes official Belarus’ repression of anything to do with Chernobyl.
• Politico looks at the popularity of Donald Trump with official Russia.
• Quartz notes that so much technology is designed to default to the requirements of men exclusive of women.
• Wired looks at Nokia’s venture into the realm of smart tech.

[BLOG] Some Thursday links

• The Big Picture shares photos of life around the world this month.
• blogTO notes that a vacant lot on Sherbourne Street will become an urban farm, for a time.
• Centauri Dreams explores the strange oceans of Titan.
• Dangerous Minds shares some astoundingly open ads for cocaine paraphrenalia from the 1980s.
• The Dragon’s Tales links to a study suggesting that it was the Chicxulub impact, not the Deccan Traps volcanic eruptions, which were extinction-triggering.
• Joe. My. God. notes the governor of South Carolina’s statement that his political opponents orchestrated the reaction to anti-trans legislation to ensure he would not get re-elected.
• Language Hat reports on an Igbo journalist explaining why he, and many of his people, do not speak their ancestral language.
• The Map Room Blog maps patterns of rail travel in Europe.
• Michael Steeleworthy is critical, and rightly so, of the massive announced cutbacks to Newfoundland and Labrador’s library service.
• Torontoist notes the Toronto Hard Candy gym’s cutting of its links with Madonna.
• Transit Toronto notes the TTC is looking for volunteer ambassadors.
• Window on Eurasia notes that population growth in Russia is concentrated in largely non-Russian regions.