[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

• Centauri Dreams considers interesting implications for planets very closely orbiting their parent stars.
• The Dragon’s Gaze notes exoplanet KOI-1299b, a gas giant very closely orbiting its red giant parent star.
• The Dragon’s Tales is bearish about the potential for artificial intelligence, The Numerati is bullish.
• Joe. My. God. notes that one of the two people murdered in the Sydney hostage taking, the store manager who tried to hold off the hostage-taker, was gay and partnered.
• Transit Toronto notes that in the new year, debit and credit card payments can be made for TTC tokens.
• The Volokh Conspiracy notes the bad sense of a petitioner suing an employer on religious discrimination grounds launching racist rants at the judges, and observes a faked anti-Bosnian hate crime in St. Louis.
• Window on Eurasia observes that Internet usage in Russia does not change minds so much as confirm them, shares the observations of a Russian visitor to Ukraine that Ukrainians now see Russia as an enemy, and argues that the current Orthodox-Muslim peace in Russia is ephemeral and based on shared short-term concerns.