[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 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.

[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

• Bad Astronomy’s Phil Plait considers the possibility that the remarkably low-density ‘Oumuamua might be a cosmic snowflake.
• The Broadside Blog’s Caitlin Kelly writes about the challenges of free-lance writing, including clients who disappear before they pay their writers for their work.
• Centauri Dreams notes that observations of cosmic collisions by gravitational wave astronomy are becoming numerous enough to determine basic features of the universe like Hubble’s constant.
• D-Brief notes that the Hayabusa2 probe is set to start mining samples from asteroid Ryugu.
• Dangerous Minds remembers radical priest and protester Philip Berrigan.
• At the Everyday Sociology Blog, Irina Seceleanu explains why state defunding of public education in the United States is making things worse for students.
• Far Outliers notes how many of the communities in South Asia that saw soldiers go off to fight for the British Empire opposed this imperial war.
• JSTOR Daily looks at the decidedly NSFW love letters of James Joyce to Nora Barnacle. Wasn’t Kate Bush inspired by them?
• Scott Lemieux at Lawyers, Guns and Money notes how the failure of the California high-speed rail route reveals many underlying problems with funding for infrastructure programs in the United States.
• Marginal Revolution notes the creepy intrusiveness of a new app in China encouraging people to study up on Xi Jinping thought.
• The Planetary Society Blog looks at what is to be expected come the launch of the Beresheet Moon lander by Israeli group SpaceIL.
• Daniel Little at Understanding Society considers the philosophical nature of the Xerox Corporation.
• Window on Eurasia notes that the Russian Orthodox Church seems not to be allowing the mass return of its priests who lost congregations to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to Russia.
• Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell considers the astute ways in which El Chapo is shown to have run his business networks.
• Arnold Zwicky looks at two recent British films centering on displays of same-sex male attraction, The Pass and God’s Own Country.

[NEWS] Five space science links: Moon, Mars, Planet Nine, ‘Oumuamua, dark matter

• This Universe Today article takes a look at the idea of building basic installations, the most ambitious like the McMurdo Station in Antarctica, on the Moon.
• Scientific American reports that NASA is preparing to declare the mission of the Mars Opportunity rover, active for 15 years, at an end.
• Popular Science looks at the likely procedures by which Planet Nine, if found, would be given a name.
• Universe Today considers the possibility that ‘Oumuamua might be part of the debris cloud of a disintegrated interstellar comet.
• Scientific American notes the important discovery of two nearby galaxies apparently lacking in dark matter.

[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait writes about the ephemeral nature and historically recent formation of the rings of Saturn.
• Centauri Dreams hosts an essay looking at the controversies surrounding the arguments of Avi Loeb around SETI and ‘Oumuamua.
• D-Brief links to a new analysis of hot Jupiters suggesting that they form close to their stars, suggesting further that they are a separate population from outer-system worlds like our Jupiter and Saturn.
• Colby King at the Everyday Sociology Blog takes a look at the sociology of the online world, using the critical work of Zeynep Tufekci as a lens.
• L.M. Sacasas at The Frailest Thing makes a great point about the seemingly transparent online world: We might, like a protagonist in a Hawthorne story, confine ourselves falsely that we know everything, so becoming jaded.
• JSTOR Daily notes how, in the early 20th century, US Park Rangers were actually quite rough and tumble, an irregular police force.
• Language Hat looks at the overlooked modernist fiction of Dorothy Richardson.
• Language Log examines the origins of the phrase “Listen up”.
• The LRB Blog visits a Berlin cemetery to note the annual commemoration there of the lives of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg.
• Marginal Revolution considers the proportion of centenarians on Okinawa, and considers if a carbohydrate-heavy diet featuring sweet potatoes is key.</li<
• Tim Parks at the NYR Daily engages with the idea of a translation being an accomplishment of its own.
• Roads and Kingdoms has a fascinating interview with Tanja Fox about the history and development of the Copenhagen enclave of Christiania.
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel notes that early returns from New Horizons suggest Ultima Thule is a typical “future comet”.
• Strange Company shares the story of the haunting of 18th century Gael Donald Bán.
• Towleroad shares the account by Nichelle Nichols of how her chance encounter with Martin Luther King helped save Star Trek.
• Window on Eurasia notes the different quasi-embassies of different Russian republics in Moscow, and their potential import.
• Arnold Zwicky, looking at penguins around the world, notices the CIBC mascot Percy the Penguin.

[BLOG] Some Saturday links

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait explains the astounding brilliance of distant quasar J043947.08+163415.7, as bright as ten trillion suns.
• The Broadside Blog’s Caitlin Kelly considers elements of her personal style. (It makes me wonder about revising my own, to be perhaps more flamboyant.)
• John Quiggin at Crooked Timber links to a Guardian article of his, imagining a democratic socialist Australia in 2050.
• The Dragon’s Tales links to Project Lyra, a proposal for a rendezvous mission to ‘Oumuamua.
• Far Outliers places the Three Gorges Dam construction, and the mass population displacements involved, in the context of a long Chinese history of like relocations.
• Gizmodo examines a paper suggesting, based in part on lunar impact rates, an increase in the numbers of asteroids colliding with Earth in the era 300 million years ago.
• JSTOR Daily looks at the watchers, the now-forgotten profession of women who would attend to the dying.
• The NYR Daily looks at the problems that women encounter in getting their medical concerns taken seriously.
• Towleroad writes about sex advisor Alexander Cheves.
• Window on Eurasia notes a report that the inhabitants of the Belarus village of Oslyanka, transferred from Russia in 1964, have no wish to be transferred back.
• Arnold Zwicky notes the publication of a study of the English auxiliary system begun by his late colleague Ivan Sag.

[URBAN NOTE] Some Sunday links

• Broadside Blog’s Caitlin Kelly looks at a new movie and book celebrating the life of brave journalist Marie Colvin.
• Centauri Dreams looks at how the Spitzer telescope was able to constrain the size of ‘Oumuamua.
• Crooked Timber asks a question about referenda. What are they good for? How can they be made to work effectively? The Brexit precedent is uncheering.
• The Dragon’s Tales notes the delivery, by Europe, of the first service module for the Orion spacecraft.
• The Island Review shares Sylvia Warren’s account of her visit to the Frioul archipelago, off the coast of Provence.
• JSTOR Daily reports on the perhaps surprisingly thriving culture of fandom that prevailed in the 19th century, with fans around the world devoting their energies to stars.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money suggests that the Democratic Party is grooming Beto O’Rourke to be a presidential candidate in 2020. Why not?
• Marginal Revolution links to a report suggesting that the pace of scientific advancement is slowing down, with greater investments in scientific research producing increasingly fewer fundamental breakthroughs.
• Carole Cadwalladr argues at the NYR Daily that the United Kingdom needs its own Mueller to get to the bottom of the scandals and mysteries surrounding Brexit.
• Casey Dreier at the Planetary Society Blog notes how the support of Texan Republican Congressman John Culberson for the exploration of Europa was used by his opponents as part of a successful attack.
• Drew Rowsome loves the movie Who Will Save The Roses?, with its story about the love of two older gay men for each other in hard times.
• Ilya Somin at the Volokh Conspiracy argues that the Spiderman Rule–“With great power comes great responsibility”–should be remembered by practitioners of constitutional law.
• Window on Eurasia considers what a proposed Russian sale of some of the Kuril Islands to Japan might imply about official attitudes towards territorial claims.
• Starting from Calvin and Hobbes, Arnold Zwicky considers rattles, death rattles and otherwise.

[BLOG] Some Thursday links

• In a guest post at Antipope, researcher and novelist Heather Child writes about the extent to which Big Data has moved from science fiction to reality.
• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes the very recent discovery of a massive crater buried under the ice of Greenland, one that may have impacted in the human era and altered world climate. Are there others like it?
• Crooked Timber responds to the Brexit proposal being presented to the British parliament. Is this it?
• D-Brief notes the discovery of the unusually large and dim, potentially unexplainable, dwarf galaxy Antlia 2 near the Milky Way Galaxy.
• Gizmodo notes that the size of mysterious ‘Oumuamua was overestimated.
• JSTOR Daily looks at the life and achievements of Polish-born scholar Jósef Czapski, a man who miraculously survived the Soviet massacre of Polish officers at Katyn.
• At the LRB Blog, Ken Kalfus writes about his father’s experience owning a drycleaner in a 1960s complex run by the Trump family.
• Marginal Revolution starts a discussion over a recent article in The Atlantic claiming that there has been a sharp drop-off in the sex enjoyed by younger people in the United States (and elsewhere?).
• At Roads and Kingdoms, T.M. Brown shares a story of the crazy last night of his bartending days in Manhattan’s Alphabet City.
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel imagines what the universe would have been like during its youth, during peak star formation.
• Strange Maps’ Frank Jacobs takes a look at different partition plans for the United States, aiming to split the country into liberal and conservative successor states.
• Window on Eurasia notes that some Ingush, after noting the loss of some border territories to neighbouring Chechnya, fear they might get swallowed up by their larger, culturally related, neighbours.
• Yorkshire Ranter Alexander Harrowell predicts that there will not be enough Tory MPs in the United Kingdom willing to topple Theresa May over the Brexit deal.

[NEWS] Five D-Brief links about space: LandSpace in China, Mars, ‘Oumuamua. Sagittarius A*, SN 1987A

• D-Brief notes that China’s first privately-funded rocket launch, organized by company LandSpace, failed to reach orbit.
• As Mars dried out, D-Brief notes, ephemeral lakes formed on the relatively deep and warm surface of the Hellas basin when circumstances permitted.
• ‘Oumuamua, D-Brief observes, is much more likely a natural object, exhibiting some sort of cometary behaviour, than it is to be an alien spacecraft.
• D-Brief goes into detail about the detection of infrared radiation flares around Sagittarius A*, at the heart of our galaxy, that reveal that ultra-compact object to be a black hole.
• This time-lapse image of the expanding debris from Supernova 1987A, provided by D-Brief, is beautiful.

[NEWS] Five space links: extraterrestrial life, CK Vulpeculae, extraterrestrial intelligence

• Matt Williams at Universe Today notes a paper suggesting that, to have adequate amounts of biomass for a complex biosphere, Earth-like exoplanets would need a good balance between continents and oceans.
• Matt Williams at Universe Today notes a proposal that, when searching for living worlds, astronomers should search for purple worlds, marked by the pigments of the retinal-based photosynthesis that may have predominated on the early Earth.
• This Universe Today report on the mysterious collision producing the strange stellar object CK Vulpeculae does a great job of outlining a galactic mystery.
• This report about a proposal by scientists at MIT to create a laser beacon that would signal our existence to extraterrestrial civilizations looking at our sun intrigues, and alarms, me.
• James Nicoll at Tor notes speculation that strange extrasolar object ‘Oumuamua might be an errant alien artifact. What would that indicate about the galaxy?