[BLOG] Some Monday links

[rfmcdonald]

• Charlie Stross mourns fellow and recently passed Scottish writer Iain (M.) Banks.


• Crooked Timber, Lawyers, Guns and Money, and New APPS all take a look at the disgusting self-justifying behaviour of philosopher Colin McGinn towards a female grad student of his.


• Daniel Drezner wonders about the extent to which ideology will become important in upcoming seasons of Game of Thrones.


• Language Hat wonders if Dutch spelling reforms have cut off contemporary speakers of Dutch from easy access to Dutch literature predating the mid-19th century.


• Marginal Revolution wonders if European Union Internet privacy and security regulations will make things worse for American firms.


• Personal Reflections' Jim Belshaw writes about the continuing mystique of the monarchy in Australia.


• Registan's Reid Standish talks about the marginal improvements in law and order in Kyrgyzstan.


• Strange Maps' Frank Jacobs talks about the recent map reimagining the countries of the world on a reunified Pangaea as a rhetorical ploy.


• Understanding Society's Daniel Little charts the ways in which life for Chinese has improved over the past four decades, asnd the ways in which things are still lacking.


• Window on Eurasia quotes from alarmists worrying about the "de-Russification" of Tatarstan, demographically and otherwise.