[BLOG] Some Monday links

[rfmcdpei]

• Acts of Minor Treason's Andrew Barton describes how, playing the new Elite game, he visited the HD 28185 planetary system that features in his written science fiction.
• The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly describes her recent visit to London.
• The Dragon's Gaze notes ways in which close binary stars like Alpha Centauri or Gamma Cephei can develop planets of their own.
• The Dragon's Tales notes a Japanese proposal to jointly build a submarine fleet with Australia.
• Joe. My. God. and Towleroad note how evangelical Christians who somehow are gatekeepers for civil marriage in Mexicali have been trying to block a same-sex marriage by claiming that the grooms are insane.
• Language Hat notes how early Christians, like post-revolutionary Russians, had a very complex relationship with their pagan past. Should they keep it, or not?
• Language Log's Mark Liberman looks at the continued shift from definite to indefinite articles in English.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the people who are continuing to defend David Petraeus.
• Marginal Revolution notes that the recent Gambian coup attempt seems to have cost less than a quarter-million dollars.
• Livejournaler Nicholas Whyte looks at the strange story of Marie Louise Kwiatkowski, a German expatriate who splattered Edward Heath with ink in 1972. Why did she do so? Who was she?
• Otto Pohl criticizes American president Lyndon Johnson for his role in the anti-Nkrumah coup in Ghana.
• Personal Reflections' Jim Belshaw looks at architecture in Australia.
• The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer explains why the Saudis are pushing the global price of oil so low.
• Understanding Society's Daniel Little looks at hip hop's impact on African-American thinking.
• Window on Eurasia looks at Central Asian countries' policies towards Afghanistan, the complexities of Central Asian migration to Russia, looks at Russia's distinction between nations with and without history, and notes Ukrainian support for a Russian-language television channel independent of Russia.
• Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell finds reflections of the British economy in call centre employment records.