The Guardian's Dave Stewart notes the impact of Middle Eastern immigration, from Lebanon and Syria, on the bread scene of Charlottetown.

A Syrian immigrant walks into Royal Pita Bakery in Charlottetown, takes a breath and said the scent of fresh bread reminds him of home ( Read more... )

• Beyond the Beyond's Bruce Sterling notes the early Soviet science fiction genre of the "Red Pinkerton".
• blogTO notes higher passenger densities on Toronto ferries.
• Centauri Dreams considers gravitational wave astronomy.
• Crooked Timber argues that personality emulations will not take over.
• The Crux looks at the perchlorate salts covering the Martian ( Read more... )

• Astronomy Now notes a white dwarf star that is consuming what looks to be limestone debris from one of its planets. Is this a sign of marine life?
• Bloomberg notes Rolls-Royce's opposition to Brexit, notes how international sanctions are hurting Hezbollah, looks at China's massive spending on infrastructure, notes how Donald Trump has barred the ( Read more... )

• The Australian Financial Review warns that Brazil should try to avoid the trajectory of Italy from the 1990s on in falling prey to Berlusconi-like populism.
• Bookforum looks at the very early history of word processing for writers.
• Bloomberg View suggests that an inflexible China is on its way towards a Japan-style slump.
• CTV News reports on despair ( Read more... )

• Keiran Healy suggests much of Apple's opposition to the FBI's demand it decrypt a terrorist's phone has to do with its need to establish itself as a reliable and trustworthy source of hardware.
• Joe. My. God. notes that WWE wrestler Dave Bautista takes Manny Pacquiao's homophobia poorly.
• Language Hat links to this 2008 map showing lexical différences ( Read more... )

Michael Friscolanti of MacLean's has a great article looking at one Syrian family, once consigned to a shack in Lebanon now settled in the greater Toronto area.

Even after he boarded the plane in Lebanon, his seatbelt buckled, Mostafa Rajab didn’t quite believe what was happening. He was certain someone was going to barge down the aisle and order ( Read more... )

Al Jazeera's India Stoughton notes provocative graffiti of an abandoned hotel in Beirut. I think it good provocative, myself, but others' mileage may vary.

In the early hours of the morning, Lebanese artist Jad El Khoury, who goes by the name Potato Nose, entered the carcass of Beirut's abandoned Holiday Inn through the military base that now ( Read more... )

Elie Fares' despairing Open Democracy essay, contrasting the international reactions to the Paris and Beirut attacks of Daesh, notes that even Arabs do not seem to care about Arab lives.

Expect the next few days to have Europe try and cope with a growing popular backlash against the refugees flowing into its lands, pointing its fingers and ( 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... )

Writing for Bloomberg View, Daniel Gordis explains coherently the concern of Israelis over the Iran nuclear deal. They feel beseiged on all fronts, it seems.

Our ability to defend ourselves, our knowledge that we are thus different from the Jews who died in those forests -- while the world looked on and the U.S. sealed its shores -- has been a ( Read more... )