[LINK] Some Friday links

[rfmcdonald]

• Acts of Minor Treason's Andrew Barton breaks down the minutiae of recent Toronto city politics.


• Centauri Dreams examines the possibility of planets evolving in a distant binary star system, something with obvious relevance for the Alpha Centauri A/B pair.


• Crooked Timber reports on the shameful news that the Washington Post was promoting its web of contacts to people who wanted in on the Washington scene.


• The Dragon's Tales reports on a recent study claiming that climate change on Earth isn't linked to the Sun's position in the galaxy.


• Far Outliers introduces the reader to the corruption of the Japanese Buddhist clergy by nobles towards the end of the first millennium CE.


• Douglas Muir at A Fistful of Euros describes the pointless show surrounding Bulgaqria's recent arrest of a controversial Kosovar leader, Hashim Thaci.


• Gideon Rachman takes a look at the culture of Britain-bashing in Iran.


• The Invisible College celebrates 400 years of Netherlands-American relations.
  
• Lawyers, Guns and Money critiques Spain's former conservative leader Aznar.
  
• Noel Maurer points out that the Honduran coup was botched.


• Remember that odd little triangle of unclaimed land between Egypt and Sudan by the Red Sea? Strange Maps introduces us to the fine details.


• The Volokh Conspiracy links to an interesting article describing how France became McDonald's biggest market.


• Window on Eurasia points out that Russia is increasingly following the American pattern of appointing non-diplomats as ambassadors.