[BLOG] Some Thursday links

[rfmcdonald]

• At Anthro{dendum}, Travis Cooper shares thoughts o what should be kept in mind in studying new media.


• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes a new plan to catalogue a hundred thousand stellar nurseries in nearby galaxies.


• Centauri Dreams notes the very unusual lightcurve of the star VVV-WIT-07.


• D-Brief considers the possible role of climate change in undermining Byzantium.


• Gizmodo reports on how astronomers managed to directly image exoplanet HR8799e, a young hot Jupiter some 130 light-years away.


• JSTOR Daily examines the lynchings inflicted on people of Mexican background in the conquered American West after the Mexican-American War.


• Marginal Revolution considers the possibility that homo sapiens might trace its ancestry to hominid populations in southern Africa.


• Noahpinion features a guest post from Roy Bahat arguing that Uber and Lyft need to change their treatment of their workers for their own good.


• The NYR Daily features an article by Zia Haider Rahman talking about the many ways in which British identity has mutated after Brexit.


• The Planetary Society Blog features some photos taken by the Beresheet probe on its way to the Moon.


• Drew Rowsome reviews the Greg Scarnici book Dungeons & Drag Queens, a funny take on Fire Island.


• Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes the early Solar System, when a still energetic Mars existed alongside Earth as a life-supporting planet. (Venus, not so much. Perhaps?)


• Daniel Little writes at Understanding Society about his new book project, a social ontology of government.


• Window on Eurasia notes how Russia is dropping off sharply in importance as a trading partner for most post-Soviet states.