Posts Tagged ‘rohingya’
[NEWS] Five futurish links: Quadriga, Brexit, Facebook and Rohingya, basic income, friendship
- This CBC feature on the apparent loss of a quarter-billion dollars via the Quadriga cryptocurrency makes the whole business look incredibly sketchy to me. Why would anyone rational take such risks?
- At Open Democracy, Christine Berry suggests that after the Grenfell Tower catastrophe the idea of using Brexit to deregulate has become impossible. Is this a wedge issue?
- Vox notes the effort of Facebook to try to hold itself accountable for providing a platform for the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya.
- Inverse has a positive account of the guaranteed minimum income experiment in Finland, emphasizing the improved psychological state of recipients.
- The Atlantic notes that one major impact of Facebook is that, through its medium, friendships can never quite completely die.
Written by Randy McDonald
February 13, 2019 at 11:00 pm
Posted in Assorted, Economics, Politics, Popular Culture, Social Sciences
Tagged with burma, crime, disasters, economics, ethnic cleansing, european union, facebook, finland, friends, futurology, grenfell tower, guaranteed minimum income, links, london, myanmar, news, politics, rohingya, separatism, social networking, southeast asia, united kingdom
[URBAN NOTE] Six city links: Detroit, Oslo, Cox’s Bazar, Ho Chi Minh City, Shenzhen, Tokyo
- CityLab notes a new black-owned food coop in Detroit.
- CityLab notes the cool new designs of a new Oslo subway station.
- Al Jazeera notes the vulnerability of Cox’s Bazar, the Bangladesh city that is the heart of the Rohingya refugee settlements, to climate change.
- Guardian Cities notes how rapid redevelopment is devastating the architectural heritage of Ho Chi Minh City.
- This Culture Trip article looks at how, among other things, copying foreign technology helped make Shenzhen a global tech hub.
- Tokyo is offering subway users free food if they opt to travel on the subway outside of peak times, CityLab notes.
Written by Randy McDonald
January 22, 2019 at 6:30 pm
Posted in Demographics, Economics, History, Popular Culture, Science, Social Sciences, Urban Note
Tagged with agriculture, architecture, bangladesh, burma, china, cities, cox's bazar, detroit, economics, food, global warming, ho chi minh city, japan, mass transit, michigan, myanmar, norden, norway, oslo, refugees, rohingya, shenzhen, south asia, southeast asia, subway, technology, tokyo, united states, Urban Note, vietnam
[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Raccoon City, Hamilton, Chicago, Milwaukee, Paris
- Mark Clapham at CityMetric takes</u. an insightful look at the terrifying, dehumanizing, ways in which the fictional Raccoon City was designed.
- Alex Bozikovic writes in The Globe and Mail about the goals of the new chief planner of Hamilton, Jason Thorne, to help grow a dynamic and livable city.
- Guardian Cities looks at how many of the major streets of Chicago trace their ancestry to the trails of indigenous peoples.
- WUWM notes how Milwaukee has the largest concentration of Rohingya refugees in the United States.
- Mira Kamdar at the NYR Daily looks at the agricultural past–and potential future–of the Paris periphery, particularly but not only Seine-Saint-Denis.
Written by Randy McDonald
January 18, 2019 at 9:00 pm
Posted in Assorted, Canada, Economics, History, Politics, Popular Culture, Social Sciences, Urban Note
Tagged with agriculture, canada, chicago, cities, computers, first nations, france, games, hamilton, illinois, migration, milwaukee, myanmar, ontario, paris, popular culture, raccoon city, refugees, rohingya, seine-saint-denis, southeast asia, united states, Urban Note, wisconsin
[NEWS] Five divides: New Brunswick, Rohingya Hindus, Chinese censors, Iranian internet, Brexit
- The Conversation notes how New Brunswick, with its economic challenges and its language divide, represents in microcosm the problems of wider Canada.
- This Los Angeles Times article notes how Rohingya Hindus see themselves, rightly, as sharing a different fate from their Muslim coethnics.
- This New York Times article looks at how the Internet censors of China are trained, by letting them know about the actual history of their country first.
- Bloomberg reports how on the Iranian government tries to engage selectively with the social networking platforms, like Instagram and Telegram, used by the outside world.
- Bloomberg notes that the concern of Japan that the United Kingdom, Japanese companies’ chosen platform for export to the EU, might engage in a hard Brexit is pressing.
Written by Randy McDonald
January 10, 2019 at 10:00 pm
Posted in Assorted, Canada, Economics, Politics, Popular Culture, Social Sciences
Tagged with acadians, atlantic canada, bangladesh, borders, brexit, canada, censorship, china, economics, european union, francophonie, hinduism, internet, iran, islam, japan, links, myanmar, new brunswick, news, politics, refugees, rohingya, separatism, south asia, united kingdom
[BLOG] Some Wednesday links
- Anthro{dendum} links to a roundup of anthropology-relevant posts and news items.
- Bad Astronomer Phil Plait shows how the impending collision of galaxies NGC 4490 and NGC 4485 has created spectacular scenes of starbirth.
- Centauri Dreams notes the upcoming stream of new observatories and satellites that will enable better charting of exoplanets.
- Kieran Healy shares a cool infographic depicting the scope of the British baby boom.
- Hornet Stories shares the amazing video for the fantastic new song by Janelle Monáe, “Pynk.”
- JSTOR Daily notes what happens when you send Frog and Toad to a philosophy class.
- Lawyers, Guns and Money makes the obvious point that abandoning civil rights of minorities is a foolish strategy for American liberals.
- The LRB Blog shares a reflection on Winnie Mandela, and the forces she led and represents.
- The Map Room Blog links to detailed maps of the Rohingya refugee camps.
- Marginal Revolution takes issue with a proposal by Zeynep Tufekci for a thorough regulation of Facebook.
- The NYR Daily notes how Israel is making full use of the law to enable its colonization of the West Bank.
- The Planetary Society Blog’s Emily Lakdawalla reports from inside a NASA clean room where the new InSight Mars rover is being prepared.
- The Power and the Money’s Noel Maurer talks about what is really wrong with a Trump Organization letter to the president of Panama regarding a real estate development there.
- Strange Company looks at the life of 19th century fraudster and murdering John Birchall.
Written by Randy McDonald
April 11, 2018 at 3:15 pm
Posted in Assorted, Demographics, Economics, History, Politics, Popular Culture, Science, Social Sciences
Tagged with anthropology, astornomy, bangladesh, blogs, burma, central america, clash of ideologies, crime, Demographics, facebook, galaxies, glbt issues, history, human rights, in memoriam, israel, Janelle Monáe, links, mars, middle east, ngc 4485, ngc 4490, palestine, panama, philosophy, photos, politics, popular literature, popular music, refugees, rohingya, social networking, social sciences, south africa, southeast asia, space science, space travel, united kingdom, united states, winnie mandela
[BLOG] Some Monday links
- ‘Nathan Burgoine at Apostrophen links to a giveaway of paranormal LGBT fiction.
- Bad Astronomer Phil Plait shares some stunning photos of Jupiter provided by Juno.
- The Broadside Blog’s Caitlin Kelly looks at the desperate, multi-state strike of teachers in the United States. American education deserves to have its needs, and its practitioners’ needs, met.
- Centauri Dreams looks at PROCSIMA, a strategy for improving beamed propulsion techniques.
- Crooked Timber looks at the history of the concept of the uncanny valley. How did the concept get translated in the 1970s from Japan to the wider world?
- Dangerous Minds shares a 1980s BBC interview with William Burroughs.
- The Dragon’s Tales links to a paper tracing the origin of the Dravidian language family to a point in time 4500 years ago.
- JSTOR Daily notes Phyllis Wheatley, a freed slave who became the first African-American author in the 18th century but who died in poverty.
- Language Hat notes the exceptional importance of the Persian language in early modern South Asia.
- Language Log looks at the forms used by Chinese to express the concepts of NIMBY and NIMBYism.
- Language Hat notes the exceptional importance of the Persian language in early modern South Asia.
- The NYR Daily notes that, if the United States junks the nuclear deal with Iran, nothing external to Iran could realistically prevent the country’s nuclearization.
- The Planetary Society Blog looks at the latest findings from the Jupiter system, from that planet’s planet-sized moons.
- Roads and Kingdoms notes that many Rohingya, driven from their homeland, have been forced to work as mules in the illegal drug trade.
- Starts With A Bang considers how early, based on elemental abundances, life could have arisen after the Big Bang. A date only 1 to 1.5 billion years after the formation of the universe is surprisingly early.
- Strange Maps’ Frank Jacobs notes how the centre of population of different tree populations in the United States has been shifting west as the climate has changed.
- Understanding Society’s Daniel Little takes a look at mechanisms and causal explanations.
- Worthwhile Canadian Initiative’s Frances Woolley takes a look at an ECON 1000 test from the 1950s. What biases, what gaps in knowledge, are revealed by it?
Written by Randy McDonald
April 9, 2018 at 5:00 pm
Posted in Assorted, Demographics, Economics, History, Politics, Popular Culture, Science, Social Sciences
Tagged with african-americans, astronomy, blogs, callisto, chinese language, diaspora, economics, education, environment, europa, extraterrestrial life, ganymede, glbt issues, history, india, io, iran, jupiter, language, links, middle east, myanmar, nuclear weapons, oddities, photos, phyllis wheatley, popular literature, refugees, rohingya, social sciences, sociology, south asia, southeast asia, space science, space travel, uncanny valley, united states, writing
[ISL] Five notes about islands: Greenland, South China Sea, Bangladesh, Caribbean, Puerto Rico
- The slow melt of the Greenland icecap will eventually release a Cold War American military base into the open air. VICE reports.
- Robert Farley suggests at The National Interest that China’s artificial islands in the South China Sea would not be of much use in an actual conflict.
- Reuters notes that a mud island in the Bay of Bengal lucky not to be overwhelmed by high tides is being expanded into a compound to hold Rohingya refugees.
- A new study suggests that there was some genetic continuing between pre- and post-Columbian populations in the Caribbean, that as family and local histories suggest at least some Taino did survive the catastrophes of colonialism. National Geographic reports.
- This account from NACLA of Puerto Rico’s perennial problems with the American mainland and the history of migration, culminating in an ongoing disastrous mass emigration after Maria, is pro-independence. Might this viewpoint become more common among Puerto Ricans?
Written by Randy McDonald
February 24, 2018 at 9:45 pm
Posted in Assorted, Demographics, Economics, History, Politics, Science
Tagged with bangladesh, caribbean, china, cold war, disasters, first nations, genetics, genocide, greenland, imperialism, islands, links, migration, military, puerto rico, refugees, rohingya, south china sea, southeast asia, taino, united states
[BLOG] Some Saturday links
- Centauri Dreams considers, in the context of ‘Oumuamua, the import of shads and axis ratios. What does it suggest about the processes by which planetary systems form?
- The Dragon’s Tales notes a report suggesting that Russia is not at all likely to legalize bitcoins.
- At A Fistful of Euros, Alex Harrowell takes a look at Article 63, the German constitutional article that governs the selection of the Chancellor.
- The Frailest Thing quotes a passage from Jacques Ellul about the adaptation of humans to a mechanized world.
- Hornet Stories notes that out actor Russell Tovey is set to play the (also out) Ray in the Arrowverse, an anti-Nazi superhero from an alternate Earth.
- Language Hat tells the story of Lin Shu, an early 20th century translator of European fiction into Chinese whose works were remarkably influential.
- Lawyers, Guns and Money is amused by the story of a young university student who has used basic knowledge of Foucault to play with his family’s household rules.
- The LRB Blog notes the very awkward, and potentially fatal, position of the Rohingya, caught between Burma and Bangladesh.
- The Map Room Blog links to a talk recently given on fake maps, on maps used to lie and misrepresent and propagandize.
- The NYR Daily meditates on the precocity and the homoeroticism inherent in the Hart Crane poem “The Bridge.”
- Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel notes that we can see, so far, only a surprisingly small fraction of the observable universe. (So far.)
- The Volokh Conspiracy celebrates the many defeats of Trump as he fights against sanctuary cities as a victory for federalism and against executive power.
- Window on Eurasia notes a poll suggesting that, after 2014, while Crimeans may feel less Ukrainian they do not necessarily feel more Russian.
- Arnold Zwicky takes a look, linguistically, at an Ian Frazier phrase: “That is aliens for you.”
Written by Randy McDonald
November 25, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted in Assorted, Demographics, Economics, History, Politics, Popular Culture, Science, Social Sciences
Tagged with astronomy, bangladesh, blogs, burma, china, chinese language, cities, clash of ideologies, comics, crimea, dc comics, democracy, economics, elections, english language, federalism, former soviet union, germany, glbt issues, hart crane, human beings, humour, jacques ellul, links, michel foucault, migration, national identity, new york city, philosophy, popular culture, popular literature, refugees, rohingya, russell tovey, russia, science, south asia, southeast asia, space science, technology, television, translation, ukraine, united states
[BLOG] Some Wednesday links
- Bad Astronomer Phil Plait looks at the bizarre extrasolar visitor ‘Oumuamua, as does Centauri Dreams, as does Bruce Dorminey. Yes, this long cylindrical extrasolar visitor swinging around the sun on a hyperbolic orbit does evoke classic SF.
- The Boston Globe’s The Big Picture shares some photos of autumn from around the world.
- D-Brief examines how artificial intelligences are making their own videos, albeit strange and unsettling ones.
- Dangerous Minds shares some Alfred Stieglitz photos of Georgia O’Keefe.
- Daily JSTOR takes a look at the mulberry tree craze in the United States.
- The Dragon’s Gaze links to a paper examining at water delivery to terrestrial planets in other solar systems. Worlds with as little water as Earth are apparently difficult to produce in this model.
- Hornet Stories profiles the gay destination of Puerto Vallarta, in Mexico.
- Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the new vulnerability of Haitian migrants in the United States.
- The LRB Blog notes the end of the Mugabe era in Zimbabwe.
- The NYR Daily features a stellar Elaine Showalter review of a Sylvia Plath exhibition at the Smithsonian National Picture Gallery.
- Personal Reflections’ Jim Belshaw reports on how the production of New England Cheese reflects the modernization of Australian agriculture.
- Roads and Kingdoms reports on the awkward position of Rohingya refugees in India, in Jammu, at a time when they are facing existential pressures from all sides.
- Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel shares twenty beautiful photos of Mars.
- Towleroad shares a fun video from Pink, “Beautiful Trauma”, featuring Channing Tatum.
- The Volokh Conspiracy notes that a Trump executive order threatening sanctuary cities has been overturned in court.
- Window on Eurasia notes one study claiming that the children of immigrant workers in Russia tend to do better than children of native-born Russians.
Written by Randy McDonald
November 22, 2017 at 4:30 pm
Posted in Assorted, Canada, Demographics, Economics, History, Politics, Popular Culture, Science, Social Sciences
Tagged with 'oumuamua, africa, agriculture, alfred stieglitz, artificial intelligence, astronomy, australia, blogs, burma, channing tatum, environment, exoplanets, federalism, georgia o'keefe, glbt issues, haiti, india, jammu, links, mars, mexico, migration, mulberry tree, music videos, photos, pink, politics, popular literature, refugees, rohingya, russia, science fiction, south asia, southeast asia, space science, sylvia plath, tourism, travel, trees, united states, video, youtube, zimbabwe
[BLOG] Some Saturday links
- Bad Astronomer Phil Plait looks at enormous, explosive Wolf-Rayet stars, and at WR 124 in particular.
- The Big Picture shares heart-rending photos of Rohingya refugees fleeing Burma.
- Centauri Dreams considers the potential of near-future robotic asteroid mining.
- D-Brief notes the discovery of vast cave systems on the Moon, potential homes for settlers.
- Hornet Stories exposes young children to Madonna’s hit songs and videos of the 1980s. She still has it.
- Inkfish notes that a beluga raised in captivity among dolphins has picked up elements of their speech.
- Language Hat notes a dubious claim that a stelae containing Luwian hieroglyphic script, from ancient Anatolia, has been translated.
- Lawyers, Guns and Money considers the question of preserving brutalist buildings.
- The LRB Blog considers how Brexit, intended to enhance British sovereignty and power, will weaken both.
- The Map Room Blog notes that the moons and planets of the solar system have been added to Google Maps.
- The NYR Daily considers how the Burmese government is carefully creating a case for Rohingya genocide.
- The Power and Money’s Noel Maurer concludes, regretfully, that the market for suborbital travel is just not there.
- Visiting a shrimp festival in Louisiana, Roads and Kingdoms considers how the fisheries work with the oil industry (or not).
- Towleroad reports on the apparent abduction in Chechnya of singer Zelimkhan Bakayev, part of the anti-gay pogrom there.
- Window on Eurasia notes that rebuilding Kaliningrad as a Russian military outpost will be expensive.
Written by Randy McDonald
October 21, 2017 at 12:15 pm
Posted in Assorted, Economics, History, Politics, Popular Culture, Science, Social Sciences
Tagged with animal intelligence, archeology, asteroids, astronomy, blogs, burma, cetaceans, chechnya, ethnic cleansing, fisheries, genocide, glbt issues, google, google maps, kaliningrad, language, links, louisiana, madonna, middle east, military, moon, music videos, oil, popular music, rohingya, russia, solar system, southeast asia, space colonies, space science, technology, travel, united states