[BLOG] Some Saturday links

[rfmcdonald]

• Bad Astronomy shares an image of Hyperion, a proto-supercluster of galaxies literally jawdropping in scope.


• The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly asks an interesting question: Who is your rock, your support? Who is your gravel?


• Centauri Dreams notes a new paper suggesting a way to determine the size of undetected planets from the sorts of dust that they create.


• Crooked Timber notes the obvious, that neither China nor the United States would win in a war in the South China Sea.


• D-Brief ,a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2018/10/16/ganymede-moon-jupiter-world-tectonic-faults/">notes that Ganymede, the largest moon of Jupiter and in the solar system, has tectonic faults in its icy crust.


• The Dragon's Tales notes that Russia is interested in cooperating with India in space travel.


• David Finger at The Finger Post reports on his search for a Philly cheese steak sandwich in Philadelphia.


• L.M. Sacasas at The Frailest Thing considers the way in which modern social networking creates a totalitarianism, enlisting people through games into supporting its edifice.


• Joe. My. God. notes that Thailand is preparing to legalize civil unions for same-sex couples.


• JSTOR Daily notes the 19th century heyday of "mummy brown", a paint pigment used by artists made of ground-up Egyptian mummies.


• Language Log notes that the expression "add oil", originally from Chinese slang, is now in the OED.


• Lawyers, Guns and Money notes how the lies of Facebook about the popularity on online video dealt a terrible blow to journalism.


• Lingua Franca examines how the word "smarmy" came about and spread.


• Marginal Revolution notes the exceptional generosity of actor Chow Yun Fat, who is giving away his vast estate.


• Hugh Eakin at the NYR Daily takes a look at the role of the United States in mounting repression in Saudi Arabia, symbolized by the Khashoggi killing.


• Marc Rayman at the Planetary Society Blog looks at the achievements of the Dawn probe, at Ceres and Vesta and the points in between, on this its 11th anniversary.


• Roads and Kingdoms shares a photo essay looking at the difficult treks of the Rohingya as they are forced to scavenge firewood from a local forest.


• Drew Rowsome takes a look at the homoerotic photography of James Critchley.


• Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel looks at what it was likely, in the early universe, when starlight became visible for the first time.


• Frank Jacobs at Strange Maps debunks a map purporting to show post-Fukushima contamination of the entire Pacific, and has it with false and discouraging apocalyptic maps generally.


• Window on Eurasia takes a look at the deep divide between the Russian and Ukrainian nations.