[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

[rfmcdonald]

• Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait picks up on the news that the Canadian federal government is only going to fund research that leads directly to economic gain.


• The Burgh Diaspora's Jim Russell wonders about the ethics of Cuba's export of trained doctors as contract workers.


• Could a "Nebula Winter" explain Earth's greatest glaciations? The Dragon's Tales reports.


• Eastern Approaches reports on the indecisive election in crisis-ridden Bulgaria.


• Geocurrents examines the reasons for Bhutan's surprisingly high level of development for a Himalayan polity.


• GNXP's Razib Khan wonders about the ethics of certain kinds of eugenics, arguably already in practice today (pre-natal tests for Down's syndrome, say).


• Lawyers, Guns and Money reports on the prospects that the disastrous building collapse in a clothing manufacturing plant in Bangladesh might lead to new global standards.


• Strange Maps has fun with the unusual placenames of the Shetland and Orkney islands, off the northeastern coast of Scotland.


• The Volokh Conspiracy notes that a German family claiming asylum in the United States on the grounds that homeschooling is not permitted in Germany has been turned down.


• Window on Eurasia reports on a conspiracy theory in Russia that Siberia is going to be stolen by Muslim guest workers.