Why I Will Not Cast My Electoral Vote for Donald Trump - NYTimes.com
A Republican elector writes.
(tags: uspolitics )

Russia's Top 5 Myths about NATO (PDF)
Just in case you weren't aware.
(tags: Russia nato politics )

Share of households owning at least one cat in the EU in 2014, by country
Romania top, Slovakia bottom.
(tags: cats statistics eu )
( Read more... )

How Trump Could Be Blocked at a Contested Republican Convention Not pretty. Could it work? #fb
(tags: uspolitics ) The Paradox Of European Defence Strategy Talking the talk without walking the walk. #fb
(tags: eu ) Openness can pay off: the economic impact of migrants Actual facts. #fb
(tags: eu migration ) Mapped: The world's nuclear power plants ( Read more... )

• I am Big Bird
  "I'm still playing a 6-year-old, although I'm 81." Aww!
  (tags: tv )
• Come to the Clarke Award ceremony, and get 20% off the shortlisted books!
  On 6 May.
  (tags: sf )
• Britney Spears, Beyonce & Pink - We Will Rock You (Pepsi)
  This is one of the best advertisements of all time.
  (tags: music videos )

This was a brilliant Worldcon talk (one of only two single-speaker events I was able to attend, the speaker at the other one being me). It was the keynote speech for the academic track of programming, and basically involved Karen Hellekson talking us through a theory of fanvids - comparing and contrasting (as I had never thought to do) the various ( Read more... )

• 'The Hunger Games' Explains Political Protests in Egypt, Russia
  Ivan Krastev on the global question.
  (tags: politics egypt russia )
• The new European Commission: which president, and what priorities?
  Charles Grant against the Spitzenkandidaten
  (tags: eu )
• Democratising the EU in post democratic times
  Jon Worth supports the Spitzenkandidaten.
  (tags: eu ( Read more... )

• Re-examining Somaliland’s relations with neighboring states
  A former foreign minister writes.
  (tags: somaliland )
• Statistical detection of systemic election irregularities
  ...especially in Russia and Uganda.
  (tags: elections mathematics )
• What the 1960s Got Right-and Wrong-about Today's Tech
  Arthur C. Clarke scores best.
  (tags: sf history videos )
• ( Read more... )

• The Best of BBC One's Walk On The Wild Side
  From 2010. Hilarious.
  (tags: videos funny )
• Car-to-car talk: Hey, look out for that collision!
  What my brother is working on.
  (tags: technology )
• Letters on women in science fiction
  The young Isaac Asimov wanted to keep women out.
  (tags: sf sexandgenderandsexuality )
• The Illustrated Guide to a Ph.D.
  A bit ( Read more... )

• Buy-to-let property supremo shuts door on housing benefit tenants
  Britain's war on the poor continues.
  (tags: ukpolitics )
• Interactive geospatial map of the Roman Empire
  Wow!
  (tags: maps history )
• The Fatal Floor
  30 seconds of terror, narrated by Patrick Troughton.
  (tags: doctorwho videos )
• What Do Y'All, Yinz, and Yix Call Stretchy Office Supplies?
  ( Read more... )

• "Ugly and stupid"
  @TimFarron hits out at Tories on immigration pandering.
  (tags: ukpolitics migration libdems )
• Immigrants are not the problem
  Unemployment and benefit cuts *are* the problem.
  (tags: ukpolitics migration )
• The Geopolitics of the Gregorian Calendar
  Unusually good article from @Stratfor about the length of the year.
  (tags: timekeeping ) ( Read more... )

• Russian Officer: We Would Intervene In Karabakh Against Azerbaijan
  The frozen conflict heating up another notch.
  (tags: nagornokarabakh )
• 1912 eighth grade exam: Could you make it to high school in 1912?
  I got 86%. One round was particularly good for me.
  (tags: history )
• The Straight Dope: What did Alice B. Toklas have to do with Alice B. Toklas ( Read more... )