[PHOTO] Cannons of Louisbourg, Hart House Circle, Toronto

To quote from Wikimedia: "During the 1758 siege of the fortress of Louisbourg (in what is today Nova Scotia), five French ships were sunk in the harbour by the British. Twenty cannons from the sunken ships were raised in 1899. Two of these cannons were purchased by students at the University of Toronto for use as historic monuments: one cannon was purchased by the Arts Class of 1901 and the other by the Students' Engineering Society. Both cannons were restored in 1993-4." See also John Warkentin's Creating Memory, and see Wikimedia for a photo of the two cannons together taken from the front.

[LINK] "Amid refugee crisis, Hungary prime minister says Muslims not welcome"

Al Jazeera reports on the official stance of the Hungarian prime minister. I would note that Orban is apparently rejecting the basic thesis of pan-Turanism, a movement popular in Hungary that talked of that country's historic ties with--among others--the mainly Muslim Turkic nations of Eurasia.

[Viktor] Orban spoke in Brussels at meetings between European Union leaders and Hungary's prime minister after images of a drowned Syrian child on a Turkish beach grabbed world attention this week and said that it was not a moral argument for opening Europe's doors.

"If we would create ... an impression that 'just come because we are ready to accept everybody,' that would be a moral failure. The moral, human thing is to make clear: 'Please don't come,'" Orban told reporters.

In a later news conference, Orban said the history of Ottoman rule meant Hungarians would not accept large-scale Muslim immigration, a point made recently by neighboring Slovakia.

"We don't want to, and I think we have a right to decide that we do not want a large number of Muslim people in our country," Orban said. "We do not like the consequences of having a large number of Muslim communities that we see in other countries, and I do not see any reason for anyone else to force us to create ways of living together in Hungary that we do not want to see. That is a historical experience for us."

[LINK] Dale Carpenter on the dishonourable disobedience of Kim Davis

In his Volokh Conspiracy post "Dishonorable Disobedience", Dale Carpenter criticizes clerk Kim Davis for her interest in cheap glory.

Let’s be clear: Davis was not jailed for being a Christian or for believing that marriage should be restricted to opposite-sex unions. She was jailed for refusing to do her job and for flouting court orders while insisting on keeping that job at public expense and obstructing the path of others to marriage.

If clerks or other government officials are to be excused from their duties based on their individual religious beliefs, that policy should be decided democratically. The costs and benefits should be openly weighed. Any accommodation of individual conscience should at a minimum ensure that members of the public will be served and that their rights will be protected. North Carolina and Utah have approved a marriage-license exemption for clerks. The other 48 states, including Kentucky, have not.

In the meantime, Davis had an honorable path out of her personal moral dilemma. She chose not to take it.

[URBAN NOTE] On how the GM smokestack was demolished in Windsor

Postmedia News' Chris Thompson describes what happened when GM decided to bring down a smokestack in Windsor without notifying anyone, including the city.

Windsor officials are promising a thorough investigation and possible bylaw violation charges after the GM smokestack came down unannounced with a loud thud Tuesday afternoon.

Emergency crews were called to the former GM transmission plant between Kildare and Walker roads shortly after 3 p.m. when a crew with Jones Group Inc. completed the demolition, which had failed three times on Aug. 10.

“They did not give us the required notice,” said City of Windsor chief building official John Revell.

“So it was done without any public notice. They didn’t notify the city, it’s … I don’t know what to say about it, other than we are doing an investigation. And more information will be forthcoming.”

A woman who answered the phone at Jones Group who would only identify herself as Tracy said the company would have a statement about the demolition sometime on Wednesday.

[LINK] "Scientists reveal New Zealand's prehistoric wildlife sanctuaries"

The Dragon's Tales linked to a report from the University of Otago, in New Zealand, looking at the historic impact of hunting on that country's unique bird life.

An international research team led by University of Otago scientists has documented prehistoric "sanctuary" regions where New Zealand seabirds survived early human hunting.

The researchers used ancient-DNA analysis, radiocarbon dating and computational modelling to reconstruct population histories for prehistoric seabirds around coastal New Zealand.

Dr Nic Rawlence, who carried out the genetic study, says the team found a very distinctive pattern, where shag/mapua (Leucocarbo chalconotus) populations from the Stewart Island region were little affected by human hunting, but mainland populations were rapidly decimated.

"There was a loss of more than 99% of their population size within 100 years of human arrival. These once heavily-hunted mainland populations now occupy only a fraction of their prehistoric range, having never really recovered," Dr Rawlence says.

The study suggests that the mainland populations survived on just a few rocky islands off the South Island's east coast.

[LINK] "Clues from ancient Maya reveal lasting impact on environment"

The Dragon's Tales also linked to this report on the historic impact of the Maya on their environment.

Evidence from the tropical lowlands of Central America reveals how Maya activity more than 2,000 years ago not only contributed to the decline of their environment but continues to influence today's environmental conditions, according to researchers at The University of Texas at Austin.

Synthesizing old and new data, researchers were the first to show the full extent of the "Mayacene" as a microcosm of the early anthropocene -- a period when human activity began greatly affecting environmental conditions.

"Most popular sources talk about the anthropocene and human impacts on climate since the industrial revolution, but we are looking at a deeper history," said lead author Tim Beach, the C.B. Smith Sr. Centennial Professor of Geography and the Environment. "Though it has no doubt accelerated in the last century, humans' impact on the environment has been going on a lot longer."

By looking at Maya impacts on climate, vegetation, hydrology and lithosphere from 3,000 to 1,000 years ago, researchers propose that the Maya's advanced urban and rural infrastructure altered ecosystems within globally important tropical forests.

The researchers identified six stratigraphic markers -- or "golden spikes" -- that indicate a time of large-scale change, including: "Maya clay" rocks; unique soil sequences; carbon isotope ratios; widespread chemical enrichment; building remains and landscape modifications; and signs of Maya-induced climate change.

[URBAN NOTE] Joe O'Connor of the National Post on change in The Junction, Toronto

Joe O'Connor had a nice post about a Maltese-Canadian couple who are set to move from their old home in The Junction. O'Connor describes their changing lives and neighbourhoods quite nicely.

Joe Scerri used to tease Mary Borg about her boyfriend, a handsome young buck with a motorcycle. But what, Joe would ask, was a motorcycle in comparison to what he and Mary could be as a couple if she would just do what her heart was truly telling her to do and pick him instead?

Then, one day, she did.

“I picked a good one,” says Mary, patting Joe’s arm.

They were married in September 1958 near their family homes in Rabat, Malta. Two months later, they were on a boat to Canada. Joe’s older brother, Paul, was living in Toronto, three blocks from where Joe and Mary live now on Clendenan Avenue, in the neighbourhood around Dundas Street West known as The Junction.

[. . . Their house, bought in 1963,] cost $17,000, a sum the couple recently recouped many times over when they sold the four-bedroom property for $870,000. Moving day is Aug. 27.

[LINK] "A warrior, a soldier and a photographer — remembering the Oka Crisis"

[LINK] "A warrior, a soldier and a photographer — remembering the Oka Crisis"

Jennifer Wells of the Toronto Star has a nice feature looking at the Oka Crisis of 1990 and the photo of confrontation that defines that.

"Are you nervous perhaps? Do you think? Are you nervous? You should be."

The words are uttered sotto voce. They crawl across the skin, like menacing earwigs, issued threats of bullet hitting bone.

The face of the Ojibwa warrior moves in close — sunglasses, bandana, anonymity. The youthful private — field helmet, bare face — shifts. Looks over the shoulder of the warrior, to the left, to the right. Then locks: nose to nose; toe to toe. A straight-ahead, dead-eye stare.

The shutter clicks. An inextinguishable instant.

Twenty-five years ago Shaney Komulainen was working freelance for The Canadian Press, covering the Oka Crisis. Young, eager, a little bit goofy, the 27-year-old photojournalist can be seen fleetingly in video clips as the army advanced on the Kanesatake barricades toward the ancestral Mohawk lands targeted for golf course expansion.

On Sept. 1, 1990, Komulainen wasn’t supposed to be in the area known as the Pines. She had been assigned to the South Shore where the Mohawks had blockaded access to the Mercier Bridge. It was day 52 of a long, hot summer siege when she heard the news on the radio that the army was on the move and her first thought was “Oh, s---. Here I am (away from the action), and something’s finally happening at Oka.”

[BLOG] Some Friday links

• The Big Picture shares photos from the European migrant crisis.


• Crooked Timber takes issue with the writing of numbers on the arms of refugees.


• The Dragon's Tales updates readers on the war front and on the domestic mood.


• Joe. My. God. notes a Tennessee judge who denied a straight couple's divorce because of marriage equality.


• Language Hat notes the perils of translating Alice in Wonderland with its rich wordplay.


• Languages of the World considers the question of the identity of the Black Jews.


• Marginal Revolution suggests the United Kingdom and Latin America should take on more Syrian refugees.


• Spacing Toronto suggests Toronto can stand to learn from Philadelphia about preserving art in public spaces.


• Torontoist maps the rooming houses of Toronto.


• Towleroad follows the Kim Davis saga.


• The Volokh Conspiracy warns of restrictive copyright law lurking in the Trans-Pacific Partnership.


• Window on Eurasia notes the high male mortality in Russia and refers to a writer who compares Putin positively to Alexander Nevsky.