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The Lillian H. Smith branch of the Toronto Public Library is located on 239 College Street just east of Spadina. A beautiful, large and airy building, done extensively in tiles and rich polished wood, named after an early 20th century Toronto children's librarian, the Lillian H. Smith branch hosts numerous special collections including the Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books and the Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation and Fantasy, the latter having its own fan group.
May. 22nd, 2009
[LINK] Some Friday links
May. 22nd, 2009 09:07 am- Acts of Minor Treason features a vintage 1989 photo from the streets of the far northern Ontario community of Moosonee.
- blogTO's Rick McGinnish blogs about how the corner of Queen Street West and Roncesvalles has remained so astonishingly the same for decades.
- Centauri Dreams suggests that very soon, we'll be able to see if there are any Earth-like worlds, broadly speaking and otherwise, next door at Alpha Centauri. In addition, it seems as if even during the very heavy bombardment of Earth by various asteroids and comets and whatnot in the period 4.1 to 3.8 billion years ago, life could have persisted beneath the surface.
- The Dragon's Tales reports that, in select portions of the Martian surface, rivers may have recently flowed, i.e. less than a billion years ago.
- Daniel Drezner, Far Outliers, and Lawyers, Guns and Money have all reacted to the publication of the memoirs of Zhao Ziyang, a liberal Chinese leader dismissed after the Tiananmen Square massacre.
- Far Outliers blogs about how the British government was so much readier to support the Sudetenland's separation from Czechoslovakia than Ireland's from the United Kingdom, and compares and contrasts the evolution and the fates of the Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires as seen by contemporaries.
- A Fistful of Euros reports that, characteristically, the Soviet Union missed the importance entirely of European integration after the failure of the European Defense Community.
- Hunting Monsters blogs about the numerous reasons for low voter turn-out in European Parliament elections.
- Paul Wells reports that Canada's fiscal record for the past decade may well make it a better exemplar of fiscal small-c conservatism than the United States, this news leaving some American heads spinning.
- Joe. My. God reports how some Americans are demanding that the U.S. Census Bureau include questions about same-sex couples in time for 2010.
- Towleroad documents how Mariela Castro, daughter of Fidel, continued to promote gay rights by taking part in a gay conga line in Havana, and reports on the recent arrest of dozens of gay rights protesters in Moscow during Eurovision.
- The Volokh Conspiracy's posters are justly critical of the idea of Somali pirates as forces for social justice and cover the decline of universal jurisdiction statutes.
- Window on Eurasia reports that many Crimean Tatars are unhappy with their continued marginalization in their homeland, regarding education and language issues, land rights, and similar issues.
Yesterday, Marginal Revolution's Tyler Cowen had a post up of obvious relevance to today's first text posting, regarding the phenomenon of assorted links posts by notable bloggers who have apparently picked up the idea from me.
At present, Cowen's post has 132 comments.
My questions to you here are Cowen's: What do you think about my assorted links posts?
Brad DeLong and Matt Yglesias, trendsetters of the blogosphere if there were any, are assembling "assorted links" once a day or so. As do I and Yves Smith, not to mention the Herculean efforts of Mark Thoma.
Does anyone click on these things or do you simply wish to feel you have experienced a more comprehensive menu of what you have refused to learn?
A second-order question is whether or not I should care about the answer to the first query.
At present, Cowen's post has 132 comments.
My questions to you here are Cowen's: What do you think about my assorted links posts?
[META] What's all this about Dreamwidth?
May. 22nd, 2009 11:19 amOf late, various people on my Livejournal friends list have posted about their interest in Dreamwidth, "an online journal service based on LiveJournal. It is a code fork of the original service, set up by ex-LiveJournal staff Denise Paolucci and Mark Smith, born out of a desire for a new community based on open access, transparency, freedom and respect. Their diversity statement has been widely praised for its inclusivity." So says this decidedly NPOV Wikipedia-hosted article, at least.
Those of you who have shifted, or are going to shift, what have your experiences with Dreamwidth been like? Should I consider a move? Your thoughts, as always, are eagerly anticipated.
Those of you who have shifted, or are going to shift, what have your experiences with Dreamwidth been like? Should I consider a move? Your thoughts, as always, are eagerly anticipated.
[URBAN NOTE] False alarm
May. 22nd, 2009 02:47 pmWhen I was leaving my home yesterday morning, returning downtown after I picked up litter that Shakespeare would actually deign to use at the neighbourhood Pet Valu, the cheerful blonde school crossing guard that I chat with in passing every Thursday morning had some shocking news.
"Did you here that there's someone with a gun," she said, "at the school by Bloor and Christie? (The Bickford Centre, actually.) We agreed that it was shocking news, and I said that I was happy that I wasn't planning on being in the neighbourhood.
What actually happened? Oops.
Torontoist has more, including photos.
"Did you here that there's someone with a gun," she said, "at the school by Bloor and Christie? (The Bickford Centre, actually.) We agreed that it was shocking news, and I said that I was happy that I wasn't planning on being in the neighbourhood.
What actually happened? Oops.
A false alarm triggered a school lockdown in downtown Toronto this morning.
At about 10:30 a.m., Bickford Centre on Bloor St. W. near Christie St. held an emergency lockdown drill. A student was unaware it was a drill and contacted someone on the outside reporting a gunmen was in the school. That friend contacted police and a real lockdown was put in place.
"I've just received word that the situation has been resolved. The school was having an emergency drill earlier on in the day," said Const. Wendy Drummond, adding that there were no injuries and the lockdown had been lifted.
Torontoist has more, including photos.
I'd like to thank reader Errol Cavit for letting me know that, according to New Zealand census-takers, the old divisions in the country between Pākehā/New Zealand European ancestry and those of Māori background, never mind more recent immigrants from the Pacific Islands, Asia, and elsewhere, seem to be fading, as Brian Rudman wrote in the New Zealand Herald.
This is an unpopular decision among statisticians, it seems.
More fairly, perhaps, these statisticians are concerned that without accurate statistics it will be difficult to target programs towards relatively disadvantaged ethnic minorities.
One blogger suggests that these responses mark the birth of a distinct New Zealand ethnicity. While this may well be true, it shouldn't be overblown--in Canada's 2001 census, "22.77% of respondents gave a single response of 'Canadian', while a further 16.65% identified with both 'Canadian', and one or more other ancestries." English Canada was settled a half-century before New Zealand, French Canada more than two centuries, so it makes sense to me that a distinctive New Zealanderness would take some time to form. Barring unforeseen changes like ethnic conflict, the steady New Zealandization of New Zealand's population produced by increased intermingling of population will probably be a durable trend.
At the 2006 Census, 429,429 (11.12 per cent) of us refused to play their ethnic game and called ourselves "New Zealander".
[. . .]
It seems that the 78,000 (2.4 per cent) troublemakers who entered "Kiwi" or "New Zealander" in the 2001 Census were an irritant that could be tolerated.
This is an unpopular decision among statisticians, it seems.
Statistics New Zealand issued a discussion paper on the issue and called for public feedback. But the paper makes it plain that the "experts" consulted want no change in the system. Specifically, the paper is against adding a new ethnicity tick box, "New Zealander".
Until now, most self-identifying "New Zealanders" have been Pakeha who don't regard themselves as European and have said so by registering in the "other" category. The experts fear that if this is simplified by adding a tick box in the next census, the flood gates will be opened as people of all sort of ethnicities join the rebellion.
More fairly, perhaps, these statisticians are concerned that without accurate statistics it will be difficult to target programs towards relatively disadvantaged ethnic minorities.
One blogger suggests that these responses mark the birth of a distinct New Zealand ethnicity. While this may well be true, it shouldn't be overblown--in Canada's 2001 census, "22.77% of respondents gave a single response of 'Canadian', while a further 16.65% identified with both 'Canadian', and one or more other ancestries." English Canada was settled a half-century before New Zealand, French Canada more than two centuries, so it makes sense to me that a distinctive New Zealanderness would take some time to form. Barring unforeseen changes like ethnic conflict, the steady New Zealandization of New Zealand's population produced by increased intermingling of population will probably be a durable trend.
The announced Tamil protest scheduled for this evening on the front lawn of Queen's Park did happen, with crowds filling almost all of the front lawn. In fact, I took video of it.
The protest seemed to live up to its promise
And there weren't any traffic disruptions. There was, however, at least one person waving a banner of late Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, and there was definitely a heavy police presence.
After I left the scene of the protest, a man and his daughter, both apparently Tamils, accosted me.
"Where is the protest?" he asked me.
I told him to go east and then south. "You can't miss it."
The protest seemed to live up to its promise
The GTA's Tamil community returned to Queen's Park on Friday, but unlike previous gatherings, this one had a distinctly different tone. Gone were the flags, the banners and the chanting that had marked previous protests against the carnage taking place in their Sri Lankan homeland.
It was replaced by a quiet desperation, a feeling of hopeless grief that will culminate in a candlelight vigil after sundown.
For most of the black-clad mourners gathered at the scene, it's about remembering what was lost. The United Nations estimates more than 100,000 people died in the 25-year long war.
Many were relatives of those gathered at the Legislature.
"This one is about the fallen soldiers and civilians that came to fight for our freedom ... and people back home," explains Hamzny Krish. "It's not a good idea to be celebrating. And so, that's why we're here. No one's going to be in a good mood today because ... our own flesh and blood has passed way ... Half your body is taken away."
Several hundred people showed up as the gathering began at 4pm, and so many arrived after that, many were forced to watch the proceedings from across the street.
The sombre mood likely means there won't be the kind of marches and traffic disruptions that have marked the demonstrations in the past.
And there weren't any traffic disruptions. There was, however, at least one person waving a banner of late Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, and there was definitely a heavy police presence.
After I left the scene of the protest, a man and his daughter, both apparently Tamils, accosted me.
"Where is the protest?" he asked me.
I told him to go east and then south. "You can't miss it."