[BLOG] Some Sunday links

[rfmcdonald]

• Caitlin Kelly at the Broadside Blog lists five reasons to become a free-lancer and five reasons not to do so.


• Centauri Dreams' Paul Gilster looks at the oddly misaligned planetary system of Kepler-56, possessing three known planets orbiting at different inclinations to their aging and expanding star's equator, two of which will fall into their star shortly.


• The Cranky Sociologists' SocProf quite likes sociologist Saskia Sassen's new book Expulsions, which examines the way people and regions and things are and aren't included in a globalizing economy.


• The Dragon's Gaze links to a paper on planetary formation in binary systems that seems to suggest it might be easier for planets to form in some binaries, owing to lower impact velocities of planetesimals.


• The Dragon's Tales notes that Canada is set to purchase 65 F-35 fighters, notwithstanding political controversy.


• The Frailest Thing's Michael Sacasas wonders about the potential anxieties associated with having a smart, on-line, home.


• Language Log shares an interesting study suggesting that the phenomenon of "vocal fry" doesn't hurt the credibility of speakers, so long as the speakers aren't trying to hide it.


• The Planetary Society Blog's Jason Davis explores the so-far promising crowdsourced attempt to reactivate the decades-silent ISEE-3 probe.


• Registan's Casey Michel argues that the new Eurasian Economic Union isn't that significant, given the reluctance of its member-states to accept transferring sovereignty to the centre and the growing influence of external powers including China.


• Towleroad notes the late great gay icon Freddie Mercury.


• The Volokh Conspiracy's Stewart Baker suggests that France and Belgium may well have direct wiretap access to telecommunications.


• Window on Eurasia links to a Russian writer who argues that the net effect of Russian policies has been to shrink the Russian sphere of influence, by alienating first Georgians then Ukrainians.