• The Atlantic's James Parker explains the unique power of the lyrics of David Bowie.
• Asia Times notes how the Korean Wave is an issue among some Vietnamese, who remember South Korean military atrocities during the Vietnam War.
• The Toronto Star looks at the legacy of Toronto's Hammy the Hamster.
• Northeasternontario.com explores the legacy of northern ( Read more... )

• blogTO notes that Conrad Black's mansion is up for sale, and looks inside the climbing gym that replaced Koreatown's Metro Theatre.
• Centauri Dreams notes a new telescope optimized for detecting, among other things, Kuiper Belt objects.
• Dangerous Minds shares a video of South African cyclists chased by an ostrich.
• Far Outliers notes the existence of a ( Read more... )

• The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly asks what readers are reading.
• Centauri Dreams looks at the miraculous way gravitational lensing can refract supernovas.
• The Dragon's Gaze notes the compplex HD 100546 system.
• The Dragon's Tales looks at the dinosaurs of ancient South Africa.
• Geocurrents looks back on the past year.

The Globe and Mail's Geoffrey York notes China's new outreach to Africa, aid-wise.

Even as its economy slows, China has wowed its African allies with an impressive display of political promises and a staggering $60-billion (U.S.) in new financial support ( Read more... )

Kevin Davie's 2011 article in the Mail & Guardian describing the survival of a Bushman group in eastern South Africa is fascinating.

We have many languages in South Africa, but what about /Xegwi? The word looks so alien, you’d be forgiven for not knowing that /Xegwi was a language in use in South Africa as recently as 100 years ago ( Read more... )

Homo naledi has just been discovered in South Africa, and as IFL Science notes this is hugely important.

textbook-worthy accident, H. naledi was first stumbled upon two years ago by amateur cavers during an exploration of a cave system known as Rising Star, located within South Africa’s famous Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site. From this, ( Read more... )

Geoffrey York of The Globe and Mail reported about how the Cecil the Lion scandal reverberates in South Africa.

With their $650-million hunting industry now jeopardized by a global uproar over the killing of Cecil the lion, South African politicians are staunchly defending the industry, but hunters themselves are calling for major reforms to ( Read more... )

Al Jazeera's Azad Essa describes controversy in South Africa over the introduction of the Chinese language into school curriculums. Part of this controversy seems to come from the introduction of a foreign language into a multilingual education system, while more comes from concern over the role of the Confucius Institute.

China is helping to fund ( Read more... )

• The Big Picture shares photos relating to the restoration of Cuban-American relations.
• The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly talks about why she uses Twitter.
• The Dragon's Gaze links to a study noting the sulfur-rich environment of protostar HH 212.
• The Dragon's Tales reports a Chinese plan to develop a mixed fission/fusion reactor.
• Language Log notes an ( Read more... )

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I have absolutely no doubt that the cultural grandees of late apartheid South Africa would be appalled--probably are appalled--that South African group Die Antwoord is not only massively successful at home but is quite possibly the most successful Afrikaans-language pop music group in world history. I'm sure this is exactly what Die Antwoord ( Read more... )