links

Mesoamerican eschatology
http://squid314.livejournal.com/346913.html
badly needed by Russia
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/17/mayan-apocalypse-mania-grips-russia

NYC, where languages go to die
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20716344

Fermi Paradox solution: Earth is light and most habitable planets you can't get off with chemical rockets
http://james-nicoll.livejournal.com/4110898.html

gun ownership demographics
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/18/in-gun-ownership-statistics-partisan-divide-is-sharp/

Chicago bike wars
http://seattlebikeblog.com/2012/12/17/chicago-mayor-i-want-seattles-bikers-and-the-jobs-that-come-with-them/

Chinese characters vs. pinyin
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=4367

Hobbit movie reviews
http://james-nicoll.livejournal.com/4106480.html
http://whswhs.livejournal.com/198021.html
http://glvalentine.livejournal.com/357415.html

Texas lawmakers discover cutting birth control means more expensive
babies
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/07/us/likely-increase-in-births-has-some-lawmakers-revisiting-cuts.html?_r=0