[PHOTO] Frosted couch, Dupont Street, Toronto

[URBAN NOTE] Some charts showing rising TTC fares over time

Imgur's shane201 recently assembled a gallery of charts showing the escalation of TTC fares over time. I was particular caught by the rising cost of the monthly Metropass.



We need more direct funding for the TTC.

[BLOG] Some Friday links

• blogTO notes a big retail shift in the Junction and looks at new expensive condos on Dupont Street.


• The Dragon's Gaze links to one paper suggesting the light curve of KIC 8462852 can be plausibly explained by a large comet family, notes another simulating what Saturn would look like as an exoplanet, and found a third suggesting that the Fomalhaut system's configuration is likely temporary.


• The Dragon's Tales links to a report on silicon chips for supercomputers.


• Joe. My. God. notes that Ireland has passed legislation protecting all teachers, including those employed by Catholic schools, from discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.


• Language Log notes an odd Chinese typo for the name of Obama.


• Marginal Revolution starts a discussion on the fragility of complex civilizations.


• Torontoist features an essay by a lesbian Ontarian who talks about how the current sex ed curriculum would have helped her.


• From Tumblr, vagarh notes medieval texts and laws on abortion.


• Window on Eurasia looks at the impact of the Russia-Turkey crisis on the Orthodox Church, suggests Russian project their own shortcomings on the west, and looks at patriotism among Ukrainian Muslims.

[LINK] On the tremendous economic costs of destroying the Death Star

The National Post's Victor Ferreira reported on a recent study by an American economist suggesting that, while blowing up Death Stars saved entire planets from destruction, the financial cost could have been crippling.

The Star Wars galaxy celebrated the end of the Empire when the Rebel Alliance blew up the second Death Star, but a new study says the battle station’s destruction would have sent the galaxy into economic despair — with a $500 quintillion shortfall.

Zachary Feinstein, a financial engineering professor at Washington University in St. Louis, published a 10-page study where he calculated the Empire’s Gross Galactic Product and compared it to the costs of building both Death Stars in Star Wars: A New Hope and Return of the Jedi.

The U.S. government once wrote that the cost of the steel needed to build the original Death Star was $852 quadrillion. Feinstein used the the steel to total cost ratio of the recently completed USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier and came to the final number of $193 quintillion. The costs include both research and development, Feinstein wrote.

With its 900 km diameter, the second Death Star would have cost the Galactic Empire $419 quintillion.

Feinstein then calculated the Gross Galactic Product by comparing it to the costs of the Manhattan Project in the U.S. To create the atomic bomb, the U.S. spent 0.21 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product. Assuming the Empire did the same, its Gross Domestic Product would have equalled $92 sextillion during the 20 years it controlled the galaxy.

[URBAN NOTE] On controversy in Vancouver around sex parties and public art

The National Post's Brian Hutchinson reports on odd happenings at a sex party in Vancouver, involving a business competitor's photographing of the activities. That, certainly, is a massive violation of privacy.

The manager of a prominent Vancouver gay nightclub admits he hired private investigators to infiltrate a crowded sex party organized by a rival and leaked their findings — including shadowy images of participants — to a local newspaper, in an attempt to publicize what he says is an “inconsistent enforcement of liquor regulations and capacity laws in the city.”

Bijan Ahmadian runs the Odyssey nightclub, which is bankrolled by media-shy entrepreneur Peter Allard, son of the late, legendary media magnate Charles “Doc” Allard. The pair reopened the Odyssey this year, after the club’s original premises were torn down.

Business at their new location was good, until the Vancouver Arts and Leisure Society (VAL) began hosting “no-holes-barred” sex parties at informal venues, under the auspices of a new city of Vancouver “arts events licence” program.

[. . .]

Ahmadian, a young lawyer, took his concerns to the city, arguing the “arts events licence” program was being exploited and as a result, legitimate, fully licensed gay nightclubs were losing business.

The arguments failed to sway city authorities, so he hired private sleuths to infiltrate a VAL party held on Oct. 30. Three weeks later, images the investigators recorded at the event were published in The Province newspaper, under the headline “Did Party Go Too Far?”

The private investigators claimed they “observed smoking, drug use, a variety of sexual acts and alcoholic drinks being over-served,” according to the newspaper, which agreed not to identify the person who hired the investigators.

[LINK] "Russian Border Anxiety Grows as Finland Beefs Up Military Budget

Finland's strained relations with Russia is the subject of Raine Tiessalo's Bloomberg article.

The western nation that shares the longest border with Russia is building up its military arsenal, just in case.

Having already moved as close as politically possible to NATO, Finland now wants to spend more on its own war ships, fighter planes and army personnel. Defense Minister Jussi Niinisto says his government has little choice under the circumstances.

“The crisis in Ukraine and increased global tensions have led Finnish policy makers to think that we must take care of our own defenses," Niinisto said in an interview in his office in Helsinki this week.

A lawmaker for the Finns Party -- the nationalist junior partner in Prime Minister Juha Sipila’s ruling coalition -- Niinisto has already pushed through Finland’s first increase in military spending in three years. That followed repeated incursions by Russian fighter planes into Finnish airspace in the aftermath of President Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea.

The added cost of beefing up Finland’s military is putting pressure on an economy that has contracted for the past three years and that was stripped of its top credit grade at Standard & Poor’s in October 2014.

“Even though Finland is going through hard times, defense and internal security are the only sectors that will get more funding,” Niinisto said.

According to the Finnish Defense Ministry, spending is set to rise 9 percent next year to 2.89 billion euros ($3.1 billion), equivalent to 1.4 percent of gross domestic product. The government has agreed to raise the defense budget by 150 million euros from its current level by 2020.

[LINK] "Nigeria's Buhari to Ask China's Xi to Restart Stalled Rail Work"

Bloomberg's Chris Key reports on Nigerian official interest in getting Chinese investment on rail.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari will meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week to discuss restarting stalled rail projects in Africa’s biggest oil producer under new agreements that would see China provide the bulk of at least $20.3 billion in funding.

Buhari is scheduled to hold talks with Xi on the sidelines of the Dec. 4-5 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Johannesburg to follow up on previous discussions the two had over Nigeria’s dilapidated rail network, Garba Shehu, a Nigerian presidential spokesman, said in an e-mailed statement on Wednesday.

“Of particular interest is the coastal railway project stretching for 1,402 kilometers (871 miles) linking Lagos in the west with Calabar in the east; a project that is expected to be financed with a $12 billion Chinese loan and which will create about 200,000 jobs,” Shehu said. “Another rail project that will be up for renegotiation is the $8.3 billion Lagos-Kano standard gauge modernization project, of which only a segment, Kaduna-Abuja has reached completion stage.”

[LINK] "Royal Bank has record annual profit of $10B"

In this time of uncertainty, it's nice that the CBC has let us know that the Royal Bank of Canada is doing well.

Royal Bank of Canada reports that its 2015 profit was $10.03 billion, an 11 per cent increase from last year.

That included $2.59 billion in the fourth quarter ended Oct. 31, which was also up 11 per cent.

RBC's profit amounted to $1.74 per common share for the quarter — above analyst estimates — and $6.73 for the full year. Its dividend remains at 79 cents per share, payable Feb. 24.

"We had record earnings of $10 billion in 2015, reflecting the strength of our diversified business model and our ability to execute our growth strategy in a changing environment," Dave McKay, RBC president and CEO, said in a statement.

[LINK] "Coke's 'outrageous' ad shows white hipsters bringing drinks to indigenous Mexicans"

The Toronto Star hosted Justin Moyer's article in The Washington Post noting a remarkable tone-deaf Coke commercial.

With sparkling eyes and bad dance moves, the whites came. They drove an El Camino. They wielded saws unconvincingly. They shouted “Woo!”

And, while drinking Coca-Cola and sharing bottles of the black bubbly stuff with unfortunate natives, they built just what a small Mexican community where many speak an indigenous language needed: A giant Christmas tree made out of red lights that look like bottle tops.

This was an ad recently unleashed by the world’s largest beverage company upon Mexico — until it was pulled after protests by health and indigenous rights’ advocates.

[. . .]

The ad, it seemed, attempted to address prejudice against those who speak indigenous languages in Mexico. The brown community Coca-Cola’s pale angels visited includes many speakers of Mixe, a language spoken in the Mexican state of Oaxaca’s eastern mountains.

“This Christmas a group of young people decided to give something very special to the indigenous community of Totontepec [Villa] de Morelos in Oaxaca,” as The Associated Press translated. “You, too, open your heart.” Claiming that 81.6 per cent of Mexicans speak an indigenous tongue, the ad concludes with the words “We will stay united” emblazoned on the tree in Mixe. Hashtag: “#AbreTuCorazon,” or “open your heart.”

More, including the ad itself, at the Toronto Star.

[URBAN NOTE] "Bike Lanes on Bloor Street’s Horizon"

Torontoist's Stephanie DePetrillo reports, at length and with charts and maps, about the push for a bike lane on Bloor Street.

The long-awaited plan for bike lanes on Bloor is slowly pedaling itself into reality. Last night was the first public drop-in event for Bloor Street bike lanes pilot project, where the plans were visually displayed for attendees to evaluate, comment on, and discuss with any of the other 200 people in attendance including local councillors and the planners themselves.

“What we’re seeking input on today is on our process. What we present is sort of the existing conditions, our opportunities, we want to make sure we’ve got that part of it right,” said Jacquelyn Hayward Gulati, Manager of Cycling Infrastructure and Programs, Transportation Service. “Most importantly we want to get people’s feedback on the design options.”

Poster-sized print outs were set up of the pilot project’s plans [PDF] along the edges of the gym at Trinity-St.Paul’s United Church in the Annex. Initially the plan started with three options, but Plan A would require no on-street parking, something business owners were concerned with. On the print-out, it was marked with a red “FAIL” stamp.

So people followed the two remaining plans—Plan B, which would offer curbside parking, and Plan C, which would put cyclists beside the curb—in the centre of the room. Two diagrams of each separate plan were printed out and laid across a long table, inviting people to walk along path from its westernmost start point, Shaw Street, to its end, Avenue Road. Than plan outlined the impact on the whole community—vehicular traffic, cycling traffic, pedestrians, and businesses.

[ISL] "Climate Change Will Increase Damage, Losses in Coastal Communities"

Reporting from Jamaica, the Inter Press Service's Zadie Neufville notes the increased flooding caused by climate change and sea level rise in the Caribbean.

Residents of Rocky Point, a sleepy fishing village on Jamaica’s south coast, woke up one July morning this year to flooded streets and yards. The sea had washed some 200 metres inland, flooding drains and leaving knee-deep water on the streets and inside people’s home, a result of high tides and windy conditions.

“I’ve been here for 43 years and I have never seen it like this,” Sydney Thomas told the Jamaica Observer newspaper.

Over at the Hellshire Fishing Beach, a community several miles outside the capital city Kingston, fishermen watched as their beach disappeared over a matter of weeks. The sea now lapped at the sides of buildings. Boats that once sat on the sand were bobbing in the surf along the edge of what remained of the white sand beach.

An the far end of the Hunts Bay basin, the inner-city community of Seaview Gardens sat at the edge of the mangrove swamp. For decades, residents there lived with overflowing sewage systems, the result of a backflow that is caused when seawater enters outflow pipes, flooding the network and pushing waste water back into homes and into the streets.

Flooding in coastal communities around Jamaica is nothing new but in recent years, what used to be unusual has become a frequent occurrence.

[LINK] "Utopian and Dystopian Visions of Afrofuturism"

Slate's Future Tense features an essay by Deji Bryce Olukotun noting the uncertain potential for Afrofuturism--the representation of black people in the future--to take off.

Afrofuturism pioneers such as jazz musician Sun Ra—who walked around the streets of Chicago with custom-made electric space suits in the 1950s—and science fiction author Octavia Butler wouldn’t have used the label Afrofuturism during their lifetimes, because it hadn’t been invented yet. It wasn’t in common parlance even a decade ago. As World Fantasy Award winner Nnedi Okorafor put it: “My first novel was published in 2005 when I'd never heard the word. Now it’s being retroactively labeled. Why?”

In the early ’90s, academic Mark Dery coined the term Afrofuturism to encompass a wide variety of creative explorations across numerous fields—music, art, film, and literature—over nearly a half-century in black culture. Afrofuturism is loosely marked by a passion for technology and innovation, as well as mysticism rooted in African-American and African culture. Narratives often feature black protagonists, and the aesthetic can draw upon design elements sourced from the rich traditions of the diaspora. Authors may reach back into the tribal histories of the Igbo, while mingling myths with spaceships or alien invasions.

Afrofuturism—the idea, if not the word—appears to be bubbling up into the mainstream. National Book Award winner Ta-Nehisi Coates, for example, is writing an update of the Marvel comic book Black Panther, which was originally created by Stan Lee. Jaden Smith starred alongside his father Will Smith in 2013’s After Earth. Neil de Grasse Tyson is the most popular astrophysicist on the planet today. While I write this, I’m drinking an IPA with a black superhero on the label and the fourth Lagos Comicon just wrapped in Nigeria.

But it’s unclear whether Afrofuturism is taking permanent hold or whether science fiction is merely featuring a few additional cast members of color. If, like me, you grew up believing that characters like Lando Calrissian and Princess Leia would soon become commonplace in popular entertainment, you’ve learned that empowerment across racial, gender, and ethnic lines isn’t guaranteed. (For instance, Will Smith was already a bankable star when he made After Earth—which wasn’t exactly a roaring success.) There is a bright utopian vision of Afrofuturism, and a much bleaker dystopian possibility of exclusion from mainstream culture once again.