[BLOG] Some Saturday links

[rfmcdonald]

• Bad Astronomy notes the new X-ray telescope eROSITA.


• Centauri Dreams notes evidence of a recent collision between planets in the system of BD +20 307.


• D-Brief notes the appearance of a strange new sort of storm on Saturn.


• Bruce Dorminey notes the discovery by astronomers of a set of orbits that can direct comets into the inner solar system.


• Drew Ex Machina's Andrew LePage shares some vintage Skylab photos of his native Massachusetts.


• Far Outliers notes how, in 1786, the United states was uninclined to pay tribute to the Barbary States.


• Gizmodo's George Dvorsky reports on a new fossil discovery showing how quickly mammals took over after the Cretaceous.


• The Island Review shares an essay by photographer Alex Boyd about his new book Isles of Rust, drawing from Lewis & Harris.


• JSTOR Daily looks at sustainable butchery.


• Language Hat notes that Sumerian cuneiform is now in Unicode.


• Victor Mair at Language Log notes how the Indo-Iranian "don" so commonly forms part of the hydronyms for major European rivers.


• Scott Lemieux at Lawyers, Guns and Money calls for an in-depth investigation of Donald Trump, not necessarily an impeachment.


• The LRB Blog examines the background of the mass protests in Santiago and wider Chile.


• The Map Room Blog shares an illuminating cartogram depicting the #elxn43 results in Canada.


• Marginal Revolution looks at how the government of China has been using the NBA to buy social peace.


• The NYR Daily interviews Naomi Oreskes about her campaign to have the science behind global warming, and the actions of the scientists involved, understood.


• The Russian Demographics Blog links to a paper concluding that traditional gender specializations in British families no longer provide a reproductive advantage.


• Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains why the speed of gravity must equal the speed of light, if general relativity is to work.


• Window on Eurasia examines the rapid and uncontrolled growth of urban populations in Kazakhstan.