[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

[rfmcdonald]

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait shares a stunning amateur astronomer's photograph of a gravitationally-lensed galaxy billions of light-years away.


• Centauri Dreams reports on the successful imaging from Argentina of Kuiper belt object MU69, a possible binary.


• Dangerous Minds traces the origin of the garden gnome to a time when the rich had people in their gardens.


• The Dragon's Gaze links to a paper suggesting TRAPPIST-1's inner planets have had their atmospheres burned off.


• Language Hat notes the struggle to rid Appalachian dialects of English of their stigma.


• Language Log compares Chinese, Greek, and Latin, as classical languages of philologists.


• Marginal Revolution reports that a new job is that of intimacy director, guiding actors and others in intimate scenes.


• Neuroskeptic reports on an apparently solid paper suggesting female brains are more active than male ones.


• Noel Maurer notes that, although Venezuela's system of government was alert to fraud, its leaders responded by not caring and moving ahead.


• Roads and Kingdoms reports on a visit to post-Jammeh Gambia.


• Strange Maps reports on a bizarre 1920 proposal to unite Europe and divide it into regions shape like pie slices.


• Towleroad notes that Karl Stefanovic thinks Australian politicians' treatment of same-sex marriage is disrespectful.


• Window on Eurasia notes a study saying Tajik immigrants in Moscow adapt better than migrants from provincial Russia.