• The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly makes the case that people need rest.
• The Dragon's Gaze wonders if a lithium-rich giant star KIC 9821622 ate its exoplanets.
• The Dragon's Tales writes about the Russian war in Syria.
• The Everyday Sociology Blog considers the sociology of holidays.
• A Geocurrents guest post looks at one mapping of ISIS.

• blogTO notes that all TTC streetcars will support Presto by the end of the year.
• Crooked Timber continues its examination of Piketty's thoughts on inequality and social justice.
• The Dragon's Tales reports on German surveillance of Germany's allies.
• Joe. My. God. notes the support of the Pope for the anti-gay marriage movement in Slovenia.
• Lawyers, Guns ( Read more... )

• The Big Picture shares photos from the commemoration in France of the terrorist attacks.
• Centauri Dreams looks, literally, at the atmosphères of hot Jupiters.
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• The Dragon's Gaze links to a report on a model of solar system evolution suggesting the terrestrial planets had to form after Jupiter and Saturn.
• The Dragon's Tales notes one report suggesting ( Read more... )

Bloomberg's Jasmina Kuzmanovic and Gordana Filipovic report on the renewed push in the western Balkans for European Union membership. Certainly it's not as if the western Balkans have any other future.

Former Yugoslav republics and neighboring Albania vowed to resuscitate their drive for European Union integration after the migrant crisis rocked ( Read more... )

In a photo essay at National Geographic, writer Meghan Collins Sullivan and photographer Ciril Jazbec look at the impact of the Syrian refugee crisis on a small unprepared border town in Slovenia.

Rigonce, Slovenia was a quiet, bucolic town on the border with Croatia where farmers tended crops and neighbors greeted each other warmly in the street ( Read more... )

• The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly describes what it takes to be a professional writer.
• The Dragon's Gaze links to a paper considering dust in atmospheres.
• The Dragon's Tales notes the study of a medieval Korean star catalogue.
• Language Hat notes a program to translate Mexican writers who write in indigenous languages.
• Steve Munro offers advice on what ( Read more... )

Bloomberg's Lenka Ponikelska writes about the continued appeal to some in non-Eurozone central Europe of membership in the single currency.

In the Czech Republic, the prime minister said on Wednesday that joining the euro soon would help the economy after the president challenged the central bank’s long-standing resistance with a vow to appoint ( 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... )

• blogTO and Torontoist both report on the remarkable Honest Ed's plan. (More than a thousand residential units, all rental? That's rare.)
• The Dragon's Gaze notes the confirmation of a hard-to-find hot Jupiter orbiting BD-20 1790.
• The Dragon's Tales reports on the mysterious explosion of an American military satellite.
• The Everyday Sociology Blog ( Read more... )

• The Big Picture has photos of the winter snowtowns in New England.
• blogTO has old photos of various Toronto intersections.
• Centauri Dreams notes how atmospheres can break the tidal locks of close-orbiting planets.
• The Dragon's Gaze suggests Fomalhaut b is a false positive, speculates on the evaporation time of hot Jupiters, and wonders if planetoids ( Read more... )