• 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 Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly describes a week in her life as a freelance writer.
• The Dragon's Tales notes how the Indus Valley Civilization did, and did not, adapt to climate change.
• Language Log reshares Benjamin Franklin's writings against German immigration.
• The NYRB Daily follows one family's quest for justice after the shooting by police of ( 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... )

• The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly writes about the need for opponents of Trump to fight, not just the man but the root causes.
• Centauri Dreams notes a study suggesting Proxima Centauri is gravitationally bound to Alpha Centauri A and B.
• Dangerous Minds shares photos depicting the devastation of Gatlinburg by fire.
• The Dragon's Gaze notes that stars ( Read more... )

My thanks to Facebook's Conrad for linking to Adrija Roychowdhury's fantastic article in Indian Express looking at an overlooked element of African history in India, of Africans in positions of sovereign power.

“When your family has been ruling for hundreds of years, people still call you by the title of Nawab,” says Nawab Reza Khan, tenth Nawab ( Read more... )

• Apostrophen's 'Natha Smith talks about his tradition of the stuffed Christmas stocking.
• Beyond the Beyond's Bruce Sterling talks about the decline of the Pebble wearables.
• blogTO lists some of the hot new bookstores in Toronto.
  
• The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly talks about some of her family's traditions.
• The Dragon's Tales looks at the ancient ( Read more... )

• Beyond the Beyond shares an early 17th century Catholic Church communication doubting the Earth went around the sun.
• blogTO notes the sympathy cards placed outside the American consulate in Toronto.
• Crooked Timber argues that liberal progressivism hasn't been tried in recent years and so can't have failed.
• The Dragon's Tales shares one model ( Read more... )

Patty Winsa's Toronto Star article makes me think of my own experience living in a Toronto I've deeply inscribed with my routines. Breaking out of these routines can take effort.

The stream of parents and children moving through R.V. Burgess Park on this Friday afternoon is like a kaleidoscope of shifting colour and scenes. It’s one of few public ( Read more... )

• Centauri Dreams describes an unusually old circumstellar disk orbiting a red dwarf.
• The Dragon's Gaze links to a paper analyzing the possible internal structure of Proxima Centauri b and looks at how common water worlds are.
• The Everyday Sociology Blog looks at how poverty can complicate aging in the United States.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at the ( Read more... )

• Centauri Dreams and The Map Room each report on the ESA's Gaia satellite mapping project of the galaxy.
• The Dragon's Gaze reports on the hunt for hot Jupiters.
• Marginal Revolution suggests that the Mexican peso has weakened because of Trump.
• The Planetary Society Blog notes China's successful launch of its Tiangong-2 space station.
• Savage Minds ( Read more... )