[BLOG] Some Friday links

[rfmcdonald]

• Architectuul has an extended long interview with architect Dragoljub Bakić, talking about the innovative architecture of Tito's Yugoslavia and his experiences abroad.


• Centauri Dreams remarks on how the new maps of Pluto can evoke the worlds of Ray Bradbury.


• The Crux answers an interesting question: What, exactly, is a blazar?


• D-Brief links to a study suggesting that conditions on Ross 128 b, the second-nearest potentially habitable planet, are potentially (very broadly) Earth-like.


• Dangerous Minds shows how John Mellencamp was, in the 1970s, once a glam rocker.


• The Finger Post shares photos from a recent visit to Naypyidaw, the very new capital of Myanmar.


• Gizmodo explains how the detection of an energetic neutrino led to the detection of a distant blazar, marking yet another step forward for multi-messenger astronomy.


• JSTOR Daily reports on the now-overlooked writer of supernatural fiction Vernon Lee.


• Language Log makes an argument that acquiring fluency in Chinese language, including Chinese writing, is difficult, so difficult perhaps as to displace other cultures. Thoughts?


• Lawyers, Guns and Money suggests that the decline of the neo-liberal world order is needed. My main concern is that neo-liberalism may well be the least bad of the potential world orders out there.


• Lingua Franca takes a look at how Hindi and Urdu, technically separate languages, actually form two poles of a Hindustani language continuum.


• The Map Room Blog links to a unique map of the London Underground that shows the elevation of each station.


• Rocky Planet notes that the continuing eruption of Kilauea is going to permanently shape the lives of the people of the Big Island of Hawai'i.


• Window on Eurasia notes that the Buddhists of Kalmykia want the Russian government to permit a visit by the Dalai Lama to their republic.


• Writing at Worthwhile Canadian Initiative, Livio Di Matteo notes that the Trump demand NATO governments spend 4% of their GDP on defense would involve unprecedented levels of spending in Canada.