[BLOG] Some Friday links

[rfmcdonald]

• Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait notes that the most plausible explanation for Tabitha's Star, KIC 8462852, exists in partial eclipses of the star by dust clouds.


• D-Brief notes that the giant stick insects of Lord Howe Island did survive in their forced diaspora.


• The Dragon's Gaze takes a look at Kelt-9b, a planet so close to its star that it is literally melting away.


• Language Hat looks at a website set up by inhabitants of the Faroe Islands to translate Faroese.


• The LRB Blog shares some of the past appearances of Nobel-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro in the pages of the LRB.


• Neal Ascherson at the NYR Daily looks at the mechanism of the referendum, in Scotland and Catalonia and elsewhere.


• The Planetary Society Blog looks at the import of Mike Pence's promise to send Americans to the Moon again.


• Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel looks at how the cosmic phenomenon of inflation explains the entire modern universe.


• Window on Eurasia suggests Chechnya's Ramzan Kadyrov is trying to establish himself as a Russian political figure.