[BLOG] Some Friday links

[rfmcdonald]

• 80 Beats has two interesting reports on marine life, one noting that generations of sushi-eating has given Japanese an intestinal flora that's been strongly influenced by marine bacteria, the other reporting the first discovery of animals (in the sea, naturally) that don't make use of oxygen.


• Bad Astronomy shows the immediate aftermath of a Martian earthquake, and examines the Cassini probes study of the small moons Janus and Epimetheus, which periodically switch in their orbit.


• At Border Thinking, Laura Agustín writes about lapdancing in Britain and the negative effects that its stricter regulation might have on its employees.


• Beyond the Beyond's Bruce Sterling reports on impending exhibitions in Slovenia celebrating the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Neue Slowenische Kunst movement and its famous associated music group, Laibach.


• James Bow writes about the way in which Toronto south of Union Station, by the waterfront, has become intensely developed.


• At Centauri Dreams, the question of what distinguishes a star-like brown dwarf from a planet, particularly their methods of formation, is examined, as is the warming atmosphere of Neptune's dwarf planet-type moon Triton.


• Crooked Timber angrily takes on Ross Douthat's suggestion that sexual liberation in Ireland enabled sex crimes by Roman Catholic clerics against children on the grounds that sexual liberation came late, after the commission of many of the crimes.


• demographer links to a study noting that violence against women often peaks when gender roles are in flux.


• Daniel Drezner speculates as to why China seems to be finally preparing to let its currency float. Did foreign pressure finally work?


• Reproducing an article of his from the Economist, Edward Lucas takes a look on the ongoing slew of elections in central Europe, particularly in the Czech Republic and Hungary.


• At Geocurrents, insurgencies in Indonesia's West Papua province and the McDonald's-related controversies surrounding Morocco's occupation of the Western Sahara are both tackled.


• Joe. My. God points out that net recipients of federal funds in the Untied States tend to be the so-called "red states," Texas being the major exception, notwithstanding the stereotypical "red state" rhetoric against government largesse.


• When Marginal Revolution starts up a discussion debating the suggestion that American conservatism is becoming more closed-minded, the expected fireworks in the comments occur, sometimes even illuminating the subject.


• At The Search, Douglas Todd notes that despite its obvious flaws Canada's Roman Catholic Church has responded in a much more competent fashion to the sex abuse scandal than its European counterparts.


• The Yorkshire Ranter's Alex Harrowell takes an interesting perspective on the news of cyberespionage from China aimed against India, suggesting that the Chinese hackers' interest in India Naxalite Maoist rebels might be intended for wartime or might itself be source material for their potential Chinese counterparts.