[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

[rfmcdonald]

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes the good news: The Andromeda Galaxy will collide with the Milky Way in 4.5 billion years, not 3.9 billion!


• The Dragon's Tales notes that a new Chinese ground station built in Argentina has not made the promised outreach to locals, with no visitors' centre and rumours aplenty.


• Karen Sternheimer at the Everyday Sociology Blog explains the importance of doing literature reviews.


• Far Outliers notes the Pakhtuns, a Muslim ethnicity of the British Raj in what is now Pakistan noteworthy for being a major source of recruits in the Indian Army.


• L.M. Sacasas at The Frailest Thing notes Iris Murdoch, particularly her emphasis on learning as a process of engaging with something greater on its terms.


• Gizmodo reports on how space sciences appreciate the work done by the noble rover Opportunity on Mars.


• JSTOR Daily looks at how early 20th century African-American artists have represented Haiti in the works.


• Language Hat takes note of some of the mechanisms by which linguistics can neglect the study of indigenous languages.


• Language Log takes a look at the Latin motto of the University of Pennsylvania, a source still of unintentional humour.


• Marginal Revolution takes a look at the high levels of dysfunction in Nigeria, from fighting between herders and farmers to the incapacity of the national government.


• The NYR Daily takes a look at the concept of internal exile, starting with Russia and spiraling out into the wider world.


• Peter Rukavina shares a photo of a payphone that is one of the few remaining used artifacts of old Island Tel.


• The Russian Demographics Blog links to a paper considering the demographic peculiarities of the societies of the semi-periphery as contrasted to those of the core.


• Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes</> the surprisingly large amount of information astronomers will be able to extract from the first image of an Earth-like exoplanet.


• Window on Eurasia notes that North Caucasians in Russia no longer stand out as having higher-than-average birth rates in Russia.