[BLOG] Some Friday links

[rfmcdpei]

• Centauri Dreams reacts to yesterday's announcement that Kepler had found another 715 planets. What an embarrassment of riches!
• Crooked Timber's Chris Bertram mourns the freer blogging culture of old, before things because set and professionalized.
• A Fistful of Euros' Edward Hugh argues that, with a shrinking population and stagnant incomes, Japan-style deflation is inevitable in Spain.
• At Geocurrents, Claire Negiar summarizes the simmering separatism of the southern Senegalese region of Casamance.
• Marginal Revolution's Tyler Cowen starts a discussion about the impact of bringing extinct species like the passenger pigeon back to life.
• The New APPS Blog's Mohan Matthen argues that an independent Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom should maintain a currency union. (I've made arguments against.)
• The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer maps the declining power of Chavista politics at the polls in Venezuela.
• Savage Minds has a neat interview with an ethnographer who is also a designer.
• The Speed River Journal's Van Waffle celebrates the avocado, with photos and recipes.
• Torontoist links to a cool video showing the exploration of some hidden nooks of the Toronto transit system.
• Window on Eurasia notes that, at least in terms of declared ethnic identity, Ukraine is as Ukrainian as Russia is Russians.
• Wonkman points out that mores in cities take a while to get used to, just like the mores of non-urban areas.