CBC News' Kim Brunhuber tells a heartbreaking story of Haitian migrants stranded on the US-Mexican frontier.

Every day, more Haitians arrive, famished. They've been on the road for three months to get here ( Read more... )

• Apostrophen's 'Nathan Smith notes that his husky loves the winter that has descended on Ottawa.
• blogTO notes Toronto's continuing housing price spikes.
• D-Brief notes that chimpanzees apparently are built to recognize butts.
• Dead Things reports on discoveries of the first land vertebrates.
• The Dragon's Gaze notes the weird patterns of KIC 8462852.

• blogTO notes that Green Day will be headlining a festival in the Distillery District.
• Centauri Dreams looks at research into an interstellar solar sail.
• The Dragon's Gaze notes a study of brown dwarf populations.
• The Dragon's Tales looks at ancient Martian rivers and flood plains.
• The Everyday Sociology Blog looks at the protest of Colin Kaepernick.

The Miami Herald's Jacqueline Charles notes how Haiti is trying to relaunch its tourism industry. In a kinder world, one without the precocious introduction of HIV/AIDS to Hispaniola, Haiti would be a tourism hotspot.

Lucio Garcia-Mansilla had long heard about the former Club Med property tucked along the Haitian Riviera, 123 acres lined with lush ( Read more... )

• blogTO notes Uber competition could mean lower taxi rates.
• Centauri Dreams notes the New Horizons data is starting to come in.
• The Dragon's Gaze links to some papers suggesting that the solar system is not exceptional.
• The Dragon's Tales reports on the linkage between Enceladus' surface features and its geysers.
• Far Outliers' Joel writes about efforts ( Read more... )

Nicola Frith and Kate Hodgson write at Open Democracy about race and slavery and historical memory in France, and their complications.

Race was central to constructing and maintaining slavery in France’s colonies, as it was across the colonial plantation world more generally. Key distinctions between subjects racialised as ‘white’ and ‘black’ ( Read more... )

I blog at Demography Matters about the upcoming ethnic cleansing of people of Haitian ancestry from the Dominican Republic.

Barry Stocket at New APPS Blog has an interesting piece noting how the decadence of the republics known to late 18th century Europeans discouraged them from considering the republic as a suitable form of political organization for those interested in implementing Enlightenment thought.

The idea of democracy was even more anachronistic looking ( Read more... )

• blogTO notes an upcoming group photo of prominent Toronto musicians.
• Centauri Dreams speculates about the sort of starship a Kardashev II civilization would build.
• The Dragon's Gaze has a couple of papers noting the interactions between hot Jupiters and their parent suns.
• The Dragon's Tales reports on Russian nuclear submarine advances.
• Joe. My. God. ( Read more... )

I was pleased to come across, at Savage Minds, Ståle Wig's two-part interview (1, 2) with anthropologist and doctor Paul Farmer. Known for his commitment to public health in Haiti, Farmer is someone I've liked for a while, as my (2006 review of his book AIDS and Accusation suggests. Unsurprisingly, Farmer's anthropology is very socially engaged.

( Read more... )