[BLOG] Some Friday links (2)

[rfmcdonald]

• Centauri Dreams reports on a model for atmospheres of Earth-like planets orbiting red dwarfs that, as pointed out in comments, doesn't take their tidal locking into account.


• The Dragon's Tales describes how the New Horizons probe will approach the Pluto system during its flyby.


• Eastern Approaches notes continuing tensions in Georgia about how "European" the country's political system is.


• Geocurrents notes how the formation of a new Indonesian province bordering Malaysia on the island of Borneo (North Kalimantan) reflects Malaysian-Indonesian tensions.


• Itching for Eestimaa's Guistino notes that levels of economic and technological development in Estonia vary greatly between Tallinn and the rest of the country.


• A post at Lawyers, Guns and Money argues that the proposed Dream Act that would enable illegal migrants in the United States to regularize their status is necessary from the point of justice alone.


• The Map Room's Jonathan Crowe links to fantasy-style maps of real countries, Australia and Great Britain.
  
• The Planetary Society Blog's Emily Lakdawalla notes a minor problem in the exploration of Pluto: what are the lines of latitude and longitude?


• A Registan post observes that a weakening of China wouldn't do good things for Pakistan's status in the world.


• Peter Rukavina contrasts old photos of Charlottetown with contemporary pictures of the same locations.


• Strange Maps' Frank Jacobs describes the quixotic French plan to flood areas of the North African Sahara.