• blogTO recommends some Toronto-related Vine clips.
• Centauri Dreams notes a SETI study of Boyajian's Star.
• Crooked Timber criticizes one author's take in the politics of science fiction.
• The Dragon's Gaze links to a paper examining the auroras of hot Jupiters.
• The Dragon's Tales links to a paper finding that atmospheric methane did not warm the early ( Read more... )

• Centauri Dreams considers the oceans of Pluto and Enceladus.
• The Dragon's Gaze notes a disintegrating exoplanet.
• The Dragon's Tales notes that the American military can't afford Iron Man suits.
• Language Hat notes a study of fragmented language.
• Language Log looks at multilingual signage in Manhattan.

• Antipope's Charlie Stross considers the question of how to build durable space colonies.
• blogTO notes that the musical Hamilton might be coming to Toronto.
• The Dragon's Tales notes that European populations are descended from Anatolian farmers, not local hunter0-gatherers.
• Far Outliers notes the plight of Czech and Slovak migrants in Russia following ( Read more... )

• The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer is concerned with Trump: what would happen if a terrorist attack occurred under his rule, would he actually be able to save money from changing foreign basing, do terrorist attacks help him in the polls?
• Towleroad notes the advent of marriage equality in Greenland.
• Window on Eurasia notes legal challenges to ( Read more... )

• D-Brief looks at a study of the Jomon of prehistoric Japan, noting low levels of violence.
• The Everyday Sociology Blog considers the sociological complexities of effective policing and crime.
• The Frailest Thing's Michael Sacasas reports on the many good things in his life, personal and professional.
• Language Hat considers the origins of the Chinese ( Read more... )

• D-Brief reports on Ceres' bright spots.
• Dangerous Minds celebrates the video game arcades of the 1980s.
• The Dragon's Gaze links to a paper speculating that tightly-packed globular clusters might be good cradles for life.
• The Dragon's Tales examines the processes by which gravel is formed on Mars and Titan.
• The Everyday Sociology Blog wonders about the ( Read more... )

The National Post shared Andrew Higgins and Kimiko De Freytas-Tamura's article in The New York Times noting how the family of a Paris terrorist wished him dead. That must be so hard.

When the family of Abdelhamid Abaaoud received word from Syria last fall that he had been killed fighting for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant it rejoiced at ( Read more... )

• The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly talks about breaking habits.
• Centauri Dreams notes the detection of geological features on Pluto, shares the flyby schedule, and examines Charon.
• The Dragon's Gaze reports on a brown dwarf found to have a Venus-sized world in orbit.
• The Dragon's Tales notes the atmospheric polymers of Titan, argues that worlds like ( Read more... )

Lisa De Bode's Al Jazeera article about a young Belgian man who joined ISIL and returned is very compelling reading.

If the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant preaches the truth, why do most Muslims oppose it? “Because most Muslims go to hell,” answered the young man wearing a black hoodie adorned with a Kalashnikov and ISIL’s logo. “The hadith ( Read more... )

• Caitlin Kelly at the Broadside Blog lists five reasons to become a free-lancer and five reasons not to do so.
• Centauri Dreams' Paul Gilster looks at the oddly misaligned planetary system of Kepler-56, possessing three known planets orbiting at different inclinations to their aging and expanding star's equator, two of which will fall into their star ( Read more... )