[BLOG] Some Friday links

• 80 Beats notes that the discovery the asteroid 24 Themis has substantial amounts of water ice gives credence to the idea that Earth's oceans come from meteoritic and cometary bombardments.


• At Border Thinking, Laura Agustín writes how about female street prostitution thrives openly in Karachi, even outside the tomb of Pakistan's founder Jinnah.


• Geocurrents takes note of the various nation-states of the world--Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Mongolia, Laos, et cetera--where more members of the titular nationality live outside their supposed homeland than inside.


• The Global Sociology Blog makes the point that despite the rise of countries like Indonesia, Brazil, and China, global inequities and problems will persist even in the globalized system.


• Language Hat blogs about the exceptional linguistic diversity of New York City.
  
• Lawyers, Guns and Money's Robert Farley observes that South Korea is asking Russia and China for support after North Korea's attack, seeking help from North Korea's main partners and multilateralizing the affair.


• Mark Simpson argues that regional parties of note--other parties with some representation, too--like the Scottish National Party should be represented in election debates.


• Savage Minds' Kerim approves of the iPad, seeing in it a great e-reader.


• Understanding Society's Daniel Little notes that different age cohorts of a population can behave quite differently, based on their own experiences in a particular time.


• At Wasatch Economics, Scott Peterson suggests that Mexico's fertility rate may drop to the lowest-low levels of Spain and Italy.


• Window on Eurasia reports on a Russian journalist's experience when she donned a hijab for the day in Moscow.