The New Yorker's Sean Williams reports about the potentially existential problems facing Dynamo Moscow, problems possibly part of Russian soccer generally. The teams' economic bases are too narrow, it seems.

The Russian soccer team Dynamo Moscow has its roots in a factory club that was founded in 1887, at the Morozov mill, on the city’s outskirts ( Read more... )

Jack Kerr of Vice reports on something that actually does look quite sketchy.

FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation may be turning a blind eye to the illegal movement of players into Asia ( Read more... )

• blogTO recommends things to do on the Danforth.
• Centauri Dreams notes the importance of the discovery of water in the atmosphere of exoplanet HAT-P-11b.
• Crooked Timber goes on at length about Kevin Williamson's statement as noted by Joe. My. God. that women who have abortions should be executed.
• The Dragon's Tales notes plans for futuristic ( Read more... )

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Writing for Torontoist's Historicist feature, David Wencer traces the history of World Cup and soccer fandom in Toronto. Not surprisingly, it took off only in the 1970s, largely among populations of immigrant origin. (The English seem singled out for less hostile attention than the Italians.)

Every four years, Torontonians congregate around bars ( Read more... )

• blogTO comes up with a shortlist of some of the most noteworthy Giorgio Mammoliti controversies.
• Centauri Dreams has a couple of posts (1, 2) talking about how nice it would be to have space probes orbiting the ice giants of Uranus and Neptune.
• The Dragon's Tales links to an analysis suggesting that Russia is going to annex Abkhazia and South Ossetia ( Read more... )

• Antipope Charlie Stross announces his support of Scottish independence on political grounds. Marginal Revolution's Tyler Cowen takes issue with him.
• The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly writes movingly about self-critical voices.
• The Cranky Sociologists' SocProf shares sociology-related World Cup infographics.
• The Dragon's Gaze links to a paper ( Read more... )

• The Dragon's Gaze examines the very complicated history of the formation of the trinary system of Fomalhaut.
• The Dragon's Tales links to a report on the study claiming to find chemical evidence of the impact that created the Moon out of moon rocks.
• Robert Farley at Lawyers, Guns and Money notes that no plausible American intervention could have ( Read more... )

Wikipedia's quite correct in concluding in its detailed assessment of Turkish-Armenian relations that they're quite tense, notwithstanding the actual lack of direct relations, with issues like the Armenian genocide and the conflicts around Nagorno Karabakh. But now, it seems that the two countries are quite close to opening up official bilateral ( Read more... )