[LINK] Some Friday links

[rfmcdonald]

• Edward Hugh examines the specifics of Russia's threatened Dutch disease (the shrinkage of the workforce doesn't help matters).


• Centauri Dreams wonders about the lifespan of technological species, including us.


• Over at his blog, Charlie Stross suggests that what makes near-term science fiction isn't so much the shiny new objects the future but rather in the mechanisms and assumptions behind those shiny new objects.


• Hunting Monsters takes a look at Belarus' attempts to get closer to the European Union so as to counterbalance Russia. He's not hopeful.


• Language Loggers debate the question of what, exactly, Sara Palin's accent is.