[BLOG] Some Thursday links

[rfmcdonald]

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait shares a lovely photo of the Earth peeking out from behind the far side of the Moon.


• At the Broadside Blog, Caitlin Kelly shares lovely photos of delicate ice and water taken on a winter's walk.


• Centauri Dreams looks</> at the study by Chinese astronomers who, looking at the distribution of Cepheids, figured out that our galaxy's disk is an S-shaped warp.


• D-Brief notes new evidence that melting of the Greenland ice sheet will disrupt the Gulf Stream.


• L.M. Sacasas at The Frailest Thing takes issue with the uncritical idealization of the present, as opposed to the critical examination of whatever time period we are engaging with.


• Gizmodo notes that an intensive series of brain scans is coming closer to highlighting the areas of the human brain responsible for consciousness.


• Mark Graham links to new work of his, done in collaboration, looking at ways to make the sharing economy work more fairly in low- and middle-income countries.


• JSTOR Daily notes how the mystic Catholicism of the African kingdom of Kongo may have gone on to inspire slave-led revolutions in 18th century North America and Haiti.


• Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at an exhibition examining the ambitious architecture of Yugoslavia.


• The Map Room Blog links to a cartographer's argument about the continuing importance of paper maps.


• Marginal Revolution shares one commenter's perception of causes or the real estate boom in New Zealand.


• Neuroskeptic considers the role of the mysterious silent neurons in the human brain.


• At NYR Daily, Guadeloupe writer Maryse Condé talks about her career as a writer and the challenges of identity for her native island.


• Roads and Kingdoms shares a list of ten dishes reflecting the history of the city of Lisbon.


• Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel takes a look at the promise of likely mini-Neptune Barnard's Star b as a target for observation, perhaps even life.


• Window on Eurasia shares the perfectly plausible argument that, just as the shift of the Irish to the English language did not end Irish identity and nationalism, so might a shift to Russian among Tatars not end Tatar identity.