• Centauri Dreams reports on asteroid P/2016 G1, a world that, after splitting, is now showing signs of a cometary tail.
• The Everyday Sociology Blog considers outrage as a sociological phenomenon. What, exactly, does it do? What does it change?
• Joe. My. God. reports on a new push for same-sex marriage in Germany, coming from the SPD.
• Lawyers, Guns and ( Read more... )

• Antipope's Charlie Stross wonders if the politics of Trump might mean an end to the British nuclear deterrent.
• Centauri Dreams shares Andrew LePage's evaluation of the TRAPPIST-1 system, where he concludes that there are in fact three plausible candidates for habitable status there.
• Dangerous Minds shares the gender-bending photographs of Norwegian ( Read more... )

The Globe and Mail's Robert Fife reports on the problems facing North American integration, Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland promising not to desert Mexico, at least not on multilateral issues whatever these might be.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland assured Mexico on Tuesday that Canada will not strike a bilateral ( Read more... )

I share in the relief of Canadians generally that, as reported by CBC News, Trudeau's meeting with Trump apparently went without incident, with no warnings of threats to Canadian economic interests. (Yet?)

The much-anticipated meeting between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday did much to assuage fears of ( Read more... )

• blogTO reports on the history of Toronto's Wellington Street.
• Dangerous Minds introduces me to the grim American gothic that is Wisconsin Death Trip. What happened to Black River Falls in the 1890s?
• The Dragon's Gaze links to hypotheses about KIC 8462852, one suggesting KIC 8462852 has four exoplanets, another talking about a planet's disintegration.
• ( Read more... )

MacLean's shares Kevin Carmichael's argument that there are sound reasons for Canadian negotiators to not sacrifice Mexico out of the desire to stabilize trade relationships with the United States of Donald Trump. Ignoring the ethical concerns of dropping a partner and the question of whether this tactic could actually work, the considerable and ( Read more... )

Business Insider's Christopher Woody reports on what sounds like a disastrous first phone call between Trump and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, filled with insults and threats up to and including a threat to invade Mexico. I would hope that someone around Trump would prevent him from going nearly so far, but I fear that some people around ( Read more... )

• blogTO notes concerns in Church and Wellesley about a spike of reported anti-gay violence.
• Crooked Timber looks at the shambolic mess that is the Republican healthcare plan.
• Language Hat links to an article concerned with the question of how to try cracking the Indus Valley script.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money notes that the malevolence and incompetence of ( Read more... )

• blogTO notes the rapid expansion of A&Ws across Toronto's neighbourhoods.
• Centauri Dreams reports that none of the exoplanets of nearby Wolf 1061 are likely to support Earth-like environments, owing to their eccentric and occasionally overclose orbits.
• The Dragon's Gaze links to a paper looking at high-temperature condensate clouds in hot Jupiter ( Read more... )

CBC News' Katharine Starr and Tyler Buist report on the warnings of former Mexican congressman that Trump is bound to turn on Canada, and that Canada and Mexico should not allow themselves to be divided in maintaining a common front. His rationale makes sense, but I fear the ensuing trade war.

A former Mexican congressman and founding member of ( Read more... )