[BLOG] Some Saturday links

[rfmcdonald]

• Anthro{dendum] considers drifting on roads as an indicator of social dynamism, of creative reuse of road infrastructures by the young.


• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait shares photos of the Christmas Tree Cluster, a portion of NGC 2264.


• Centauri Dreams notes how the strange polar orbit of GJ 436b indicates the presence of a neighbouring exoplanet so far not detected directly.


• Crooked Timber considers the import of perhaps racist codings in children's literature.


• D-Brief examines how NASA is trying to quietly break the sound barrier.


• Bruce Dorminey suggests building a Mars-orbit space station makes sense for us as our next major move in space.


• Hornet Stories shares the story of queer male Lebanese belly dancer Moe Khansa and his art.


• Language Hat notes how one student made substantial progress of decoding the ancient khipus, knotted string records, of the Incan civilization.


• Lawyers, Guns and Money makes the obvious point that opioids actually do help people manage chronic pain effectively, that they have legitimate uses.


• Allan Metcalf at Lingua Franca talks about some of the peculiarities of English as spoken in Utah.


• Noah Smith at Noahpinion argues the disappearance of the positive impact of college on the wages who drop out before completing their program shows the importance of higher education as a generator of human capital, not as a simple sort of signal.


• The NYR Daily looks at some particularly egregious instances of gerrymandering in the United States.


• The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer examines the origins of street violence as a political force in modern Argentina.


• Roads and Kingdoms looks at the Seoul neighbourhood of Haebangchon, "Little Pyongyang," a district once populated by North Korean and Vietnamese refugees now becoming a cosmopolitan district for people from around the world.


• Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes the origins of the atoms of our body in stellar catastrophes detectable from across the universe.


• Strange Company notes the case of Catherine Packard, reported dead in 1929 but then found alive. Whose body wasit?


• Towleroad reports a study suggesting same-sex relationships tend to be more satisfying for their participants than opposite-sex relationships are for theirs.


• Window on Eurasia notes how a Russian Orthodox group is joining the fight against Tatarstan's autonomy.