• At Apostrophen, 'Nathan Smith writes about the status of his various writing projects.
• Beyond the Beyond's Bruce Sterling links to an article examining pieces of software that have shaped modern music.
• blogTO notes the expansion of the Drake Hotel to a new Junction site. Clearly the Drake is becoming a brand.
• Citizen Science Salon looks at how ( Read more... )

My Feedly feed pointed me to a provoactive article by Gizmodo's Paleofuture blog written by one Matt Novak, "New Zealand Could Have Been Part of the United States". The title sounds sensationalistic, but Novak does make the good point that the young British colony of New Zealand in the mid-19th century did have very close ties with the United ( Read more... )

• The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly writes about the importance of showing up for major events.
• Crooked Timber looks at e-publishing for academia.
• Dead Things notes that the evolution of the human brain and human teeth were not linked.
• The Dragon's Gaze links to two papers about ocean worlds and greenhouse effects.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at the ( Read more... )

• blogTO notes that after the Berlin attack, the Toronto Christmas Market has upped its security.
• D-Brief looks at how roads divide ecosystems.
• The Dragon's Gaze notes that WD 1536+520 apparently has solar levels of rock-forming elements.
• Language Log examines central European metaphors for indecipherable languages.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money is diffident ( Read more... )

In "Native Soil", Brittany Lyte at The Atlantic describes how definitions of indigenous Hawaiian which require a certain percentage of indigenous ancestry threaten future generations with losing their ability to pass on their property. This definition has to change.

Natasha Boteilho lives in Oahu’s arid Waianae Valley on a jot of land held in ( Read more... )

• Discover introduces its new blog Astrobeat.
Centauri Dreams looks at our operations throughout our solar system.
• Dangerous Minds shares recordings from Prince's Sign o' The Times tour rehearsals.
• The Dragon's Gaze links to a study of gas giant HD 95086b.
• The Dragon's Tales notes evidence for pre-European trade in eastern Polynesia.
• Gizmodo notes that a ( Read more... )

• The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly notes the import of journalism, even now.
• Centauri Dreams looks at the bright spots of Ceres.
• D-Brief looks at gravitational wave astronomy in space and notes that fish can recognize faces.
• Dangerous Minds looks at some groovy French playing cards from the 1960s.
• The Dragon's Tales notes the permanent deployment of ( Read more... )

• Bad Astronomy notes the literally cosmic homophobia of Louie Gohmert.
• The Big Picture notes a Chinese factory set to make a fortune off of making masks of the American presidential candidates.
• blogTO notes the raising of the Trans and Pride flags at Toronto City Hall, marking the beginning of Pride month.
• Crooked Timber notes the racism that erased ( Read more... )

Easter Island, easternmost outpost of Polynesia, has long been of at least passing interest to me. Even before Jared Diamond had presented a story of the island culture's eventual decine through environmental exploitation as a warning for our times in the mid-1990s, I had been interested in the island for its cultural achievements. There were the ( Read more... )

The National Post carries Ben Guarino's Washington Post article. It looks bad.

As the ocean rose, they had to flee ( Read more... )