[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

[rfmcdonald]

• Acts of Minor Treason's Andrew Barton writes about how science fiction's technologies need limits.


• Bruce Sterling, at Beyond the Beyond, reports skeptically but interestedly about purported Chinese plans to land astronauts on the Moon by 2025.


• Centauri Dreams' Paul Gilster considers searches for extraterrestrial intelligence concentrated on the plane of the ecliptic of our galaxy, and the possibility of seeing oceans on extrasolar planets by their reflections.


• Eastern Approaches comments on how the Latvian press is being taken over by political parties and media tycoons.


• Far Outliers' Joel notes the interest of the 19th century Japanese of the late Shogunate in Chinese and Dutch culture.


• The linguistic and genetic origins of Central Asia's population are examined, in fascinating detail, both by GNXP and Anthropology.net.


• Registan doesn't think much of the international community's toleration of corruption in Afghanistan. It certainly hasn't made governance better, or aided in the fight against the Taliban.


• Slap Upside the Head notes that a large majority of Americans now consider same-sex couples with children to constitute families.


• At The Search, Douglas Todd worries that immigrant enclaves might discourage immigrants' assimilation of Canadian identity.


• Frederik Pohl, at The Way the Future Blogs, recounts his bizarre relationship with science-fiction fan Newt Gingrich. Apparently he seemed normal once upon a time.


• Window on Eurasia suggests that the Russian Far East is receiving large numbers of immigrants, only these immigrants come not from China but from Central Asia.