[BLOG] Some Saturday links

• Centauri Dreams notes the exobiological potential of Titamn after the detection of acrylonitrile. Cryogenic life?
• This guest essay at Lawyers, Guns and Money on the existential problems of Brazil, with politics depending on people not institutions, is a must-read.
• The LRB Blog considers, in the context of Brexit, what exactly might count for some as a marker of dictatorship.
• Did the 15th century construction of the Grand Canal in China lead the Ming away from oceanic travel? Marginal Revolution speculates.
• The NYR Daily considers</a. the disconcertingly thorough and apparently effective of Kagame's Rwanda.
• Out There explores the reasons why the most massive planets all have the same size.
• The Planetary Society Blog notes the 5th anniversary of the arrival of Curiosity on Mars.
• The Power and the Money’s Noel Maurer notes that, with regards to Venezuela, the United States has no good options.
• Roads and Kingdoms considers the febrile political mood of Kenya.
• Window on Eurasia argues that Putin is making the mistake of seeing the United States through the prism of Russia.
• Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell notes a proposal for British mayors to have representation at Brexit talks makes no sense.