[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

[rfmcdonald]

• Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait notes a new study suggesting that the star Betelgeuse will go supernova not imminently, but rather in a hundred thousand years.


• blogTO profiles midtown Toronto's Merton Street.


• Discover's Crux examines the most suitable potential locations for offworld colonies (Venus, the Moon, Mars).


• The Dragon's Gaze links to one paper suggesting that binary star systems might actually be better-suited to Earth-like worlds that solitary star systems like our our and links to another speculating about the patterns of light emitted by Earth-like worlds.


• The Dragon's Tales notes an archeological study suggesting that chocolate was eaten in the Mississippian civilization of Cahokia, and looks at an ongoing dispute over rocket development between France and Germany in the European Space Agency.


• Languages of the World's Asya Pereltsvaig looks at the ongoing disappearance of the Belarusian language.


• Marginal Revolution notes the exceptional vulnerability of Scotland's economy to its banking sector.


• Personal Reflection's Jim Belshaw reflects on the movement for statehood in the Australian region of New England in the light of the imminent Scottish referendum.


• Torontoist notes a survey examining the issues of LGBT people in the Ontario police services.


• Towleroad notes the lesbian couple married in Iowa after seventy years together.


• The Volokh Conspiracy notes that the Northern Marianas are the only jurisdiction with a total handgun ban.


• Window on Eurasia notes the progress of fascism in Russia, considers the consequences of the war for both Ukraine and Russia, and looks at growing concern elsewhere in the former Soviet space about Russia.