[BLOG] Some Friday links

[rfmcdonald]

• Centauri Dreams' recounts the story of the discovery of Proxima Centauri, the dim red dwarf star C of Alpha Centauri that happens to be the closest star beyond our solar system.


• Charlie Stross comes out in favour of the United Kingdom's unilateral nuclear disarmament, on the grounds that there is literally no need for them in an era of smart munitions.


• The Dragon's Tales links to new findings on the origins of Mayan civilization.


• Eastern Approaches reports on the unfortunate Boston-related confusion between the Czech Republic and Chechnya.


• Geocurrents describes the terrible history of Chechnya.


• Lawyers, Guns and Money's Erik Loomis finds rhetoric that makes the health and safety of workers anywhere a secondary concern, or grants them unrealistic degrees of autonomy versus employers, ridiculous.


• The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer describes how a new Brazilian law giving local governments the right to tax nuclear energy may, at least judging by Japan's experience with a similar tax, encourage nuclear reactor construction.


• The Volokh Conspiracy's Stewart Baker wonders why the elder Tsarnaev brothers wasn't searched on his return from Russia.


• Window on Eurasia describes one writer's arguments in favour of a civic, explicitly non-ethnic, state nationalism in Russia.