[BLOG] Some Thursday links

• At Anthro{dendum}, Travis Cooper shares thoughts o what should be kept in mind in studying new media.
• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes a new plan to catalogue a hundred thousand stellar nurseries in nearby galaxies.
• Centauri Dreams notes the very unusual lightcurve of the star VVV-WIT-07.
• D-Brief considers the possible role of climate change in undermining Byzantium.
• Gizmodo reports on how astronomers managed to directly image exoplanet HR8799e, a young hot Jupiter some 130 light-years away.
• JSTOR Daily examines the lynchings inflicted on people of Mexican background in the conquered American West after the Mexican-American War.
• Marginal Revolution considers the possibility that homo sapiens might trace its ancestry to hominid populations in southern Africa.
• Noahpinion features a guest post from Roy Bahat arguing that Uber and Lyft need to change their treatment of their workers for their own good.
• The NYR Daily features an article by Zia Haider Rahman talking about the many ways in which British identity has mutated after Brexit.
• The Planetary Society Blog features some photos taken by the Beresheet probe on its way to the Moon.
• Drew Rowsome reviews the Greg Scarnici book Dungeons & Drag Queens, a funny take on Fire Island.
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel notes the early Solar System, when a still energetic Mars existed alongside Earth as a life-supporting planet. (Venus, not so much. Perhaps?)
• Daniel Little writes at Understanding Society about his new book project, a social ontology of government.
• Window on Eurasia notes how Russia is dropping off sharply in importance as a trading partner for most post-Soviet states.