[LINK] Some Friday links

[rfmcdonald]

• Acts of Minor Treason reports on Japan's interest in orbital solar arrays for domestic power purposes.


• Bad Astronomy suggests that the space observatory Fermi may have found traces of dark matter.


• Centauri Dreams follows up on the RuBisCo transmission to the stars.


• Daniel Drezner observes how predictions of BRICish futures tend to become repetitive.


• Edward Lucas wonders whether China, in whatever way, is interested in expanding its influence in post-Communist central and eastern Europe.


• Extraordinary Observations' Rob Pitingolo argues that liberal commentators should ignore Palin if they don't want her to feed off of their attention and become more important.


• GNXP's Razib Khan points out that, contrary to myth, the United States' population is becoming more secular over time.


• The Grumpy Sociologist doubts that, without changes, the development of women's sports leagues in Iran will do anything to undermine patriarchy.


• Language Hat reflects on the remarkable career of a Central Asian expatriate how became a major figure in 19th century Hungary on the strength of supposed linguistic connections.


• Murdering Mouth speculates that negative interest rates could be used to avert sustained deflation in the United States.


• Slap Upside the Head reports on how France now allows half of a same-sex couple to adopt.


• The Volokh Conspiracy's David Kopel also observes that promoting Palin as a threat has the effect of making her all the more prominent.


• Window on Eurasia reports on the growth of provincial Russian cities like Kazan' and Volgograd and their implications for Russia's governmental and economic structures.