[BLOG] Some Thursday links

[rfmcdonald]

• Broadside's Caitlin Kelly blogs about the joys of being a woman alone travelling and exploring.


• Centauri Dreams talks about the importance of Interstellar as inspiration for future scientists.


• The Dragon's Gaze links to a paper looking at the circumstellar habitable zones of pre-main-sequence stars, often surprisingly large if we're talking about red dwarfs.


• The Dragon's Tales notes Russia's admission that it has a military mission in eastern Ukraine.


• Geocurrents' Martin Lewis looks for evidence that Islam played much of a role in the recent Indonesian election.


• Joe. My. God. notes that in the United Kingdom, people in civil partnerships can now convert those legal arrangements to marriages.


• Marginal Revoltion wonders about the future of Japanese interest rates.


• More Words, Deeper Hole's James Nicoll points out that, if you're interested in space science at all, you should read The Dragon's Gaze.


• Livejournaler pollotenchegg shares a cartogram mapping Ukrainian population change over the past decade.


• The Russian Demographics Blog maps the outcome of the Ukrainian elections.


• Bruce Sterling notes that Microsoft is now accepting payment in bitcoins.


• Towleroad notes a sit-in at Seoul city hall by gay rights activists.


• Transit Toronto notes that on King Street, to expedite streetcars people will soon be able to enter merely with proof of payment.