[LINK] Some Friday links

[rfmcdonald]

• Bert Archer reviews Cluck, Grunt and Low, a new meat-specializing restaurant on Bloor Street in the Annex. Chalk up yet another scathing review for this young restaurant.


• Charlie Stross questions why outsiders are up in arms about China's appropriation of the right to name the next Dalai Lama given the unreality of reincarnation in the first place. Reincarnation almost certainly is balderdash, but I think that the direct intrusion into a religion's internal affairs is worth noting.


• John Mandle at Crooked Timber writes about the British Museum's appropriation, through purchase or conquest, of so many foreign artifacts. The debate in the comments on the exact nature of this appropriation--wholly bad, or perhaps with some good points?--is worth reading.


• Ian Irving at False Positives has a roundup of links to various documents on Japan and its futurism.


• Joe.My.God reports a conversation overheard at first-hand that suggests that, once same-sex marriage becomes legal in a particular jurisdicton, same-sex relationships which don't involve marriage become devalued. Surprise?


• The Marmot's Hole informs us that, for the first time, more than one million foreigners live in Korea. Chinese form two-fifths of this population, with the more prominent of the smaller minorities including Americans, Vietnamese, and Bangladeshis.


• Alex Tabarrok at Marginal Revolution argues that the cost and risks involved in space travel will deter space tourism for a good while yet. (Mount Everest is as risky, but it's also cheaper and closer.)


• Jason Kuznicki at Positive Liberty points out, again that people who talk about how Islam must have a Protestant Reformation in order to be tolerant don't know what they're talking about.