[BLOG] Some Monday links

[rfmcdonald]

• 80 Beats reports how the study of ice cores by climate scientists suggests that in their peak, the Roman Empire and Han China both engaged in enough large-scale activity to contribute to some measure of climate change.


• Centauri Dreams takes note of astronomical research that is now determining the sort of debris to be found in the disk of the emerrgent planetary system of Beta Pictoris.


• Eastern Approaches writes about the protests in Poland led by that country's conservative Law and Justice Party, aimed at unseating the current government.


• The Global Sociology Blog links to a Guardian commentary arguing that an Earth with an older, declining population would be a good thing.


• Language Hat has an amusing post and nioe comments thread regarding the presence of Britishisms in American English.


• Language Log's Victor Mair blogs about the use of seals as opposed to signatures in Sinic cultures, commenters pointing out that seals are actually common in many other areas of the world.


• Marginal Revolution blogs about how, after the imposition of strict sanctions on Iran two years ago, the Iranian rial first collapsed and is now starting to undergo hyperinflation.


• Maximos blogs about Aboriginal culture in Australia, first noting a recent study pointing out that Aborigines altered the landscape of their continent significantly contra received opinion.


• Torontoist examines the plight of the chimney swift in Toronto, undergoing population collapse as the shift from brick to metal smokestacks destroys their preferred urban habitat.