[PHOTO] Birch tree tricked out for Pride, The Annex

This birch tree, anchoring the patio of the Annex location of Aroma, was so amusingly tricked out for Pride that I had to photograph it.

[BLOG] Some Thursday links

• D-Brief notes that astronomers have witnessed a distant black hole eat a star.


• Dangerous Minds looks at 1980s VHS cover art from Germany.


• The Dragon's Gaze looks at TYC 3667-1280-1b, a warm Jupiter orbiting a red giant.


• The Dragon's Tales looks at how an electric wind helped render Venus uninhabitable.


• A Fistful of Euros' Alex Harrowell notes that the dependence of Brexit proponents on outrage over immigration limits their appeal.


• The LRB Blog notes the severe internal divisions within the Labour Party.


• The Map Room Blog links to a map of North America drawn in the style of fantasy maps.


• The Planetary Society Blog notes Chinese plans for the Chang'e 4 probe to explore the far side of the Moon.

[NEWS] Some Thursday links

• Bloomberg notes concern in Northern Ireland's border towns over Brexit, reports that Morgan may shift its offices from London to Dublin or Frankfurt, and looks at the hostile reaction Donald Trump is likely to receive in Scotland.


• Bloomberg View looks at the vexed issues of American funding for Israel's defense industry.


• The CBC notes the discovery of a transmissible cancer affecting shellfish.


• MacLean's takes a sanguine view of millennials in Canada who stay with their parents.


• The National Post interviews a Muslim woman attacked in London, Ontario, and notes odd institutional issues raised against the Pride parade in Steinbach.


• The New Republic looks at the impact the collapse of Barnes & Noble would have on American publishing and literature.


• Open Democracy fears the effect of Brexit on central and eastern Europe.


• Transitions Online notes the lack of reciprocation for Bulgarian Russophilia.


• Wired notes that the Brexit referendum is a major inflection point in the European Union's history.

[URBAN NOTE] "Make Toronto a nuke-free zone"

I strongly disagree with the sentiments of Angela Bischoff's article in NOW Toronto. Among other things, it is hardly as if hydroelectricity does not itself have significant costs, in drowned lands and carbon dioxide emissions.

Just to the east of Toronto on the Pickering waterfront sits one of the world's largest and oldest nuclear plants. Living in the shadow of its eight reactors are more people - 2.2 million within 30 kilometres - than live near any other nuclear plant in North America. Way more.

[. . .]

In the 45 years since the Pickering station was built (it was designed to last 30), it has been completely surrounded by homes, schools and shopping malls. But rather than feeling a sense of urgency to remove what is clearly a less than desirable neighbour, Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is seeking permission to operate the plant until 2028. Its current licence expires in 2018.

Pickering is essentially the Atari of nuclear plants. Its "first-generation" design features weak safety systems and has been prone to breakdowns and serious safety infractions characterized as "incidents." An OPG study found that Pickering has the highest operating costs of any nuclear plant on the continent, in part because it ranks at the bottom of the pack in performance.

Even more to the point, we have no need for the power that Pickering produces, partly because our demand has decreased 17 per cent in the past decade, thanks to conservation efforts, and partly because of other power sources. Last year, Ontario exported more power than Pickering generated, then sold it on the spot market at a massive loss.

Meanwhile, the costs of renewable sources like solar and wind continue to drop. By 2018, the price of wind power in Ontario will officially be less than Pickering's fuel and operating costs - and that's not counting the massive debt rung up for reactor repairs over the past 20 years or the cost of storing deadly radioactive waste for a few hundred thousand years.

[URBAN NOTE] "How the Greenbelt is Growing Into Toronto’s Ravines"

Torontoist hosts an article looking at Toronto's Greenbelt, its past and its future.

A group of 20 or so residents, mostly women, mostly newcomers, scribble down notes in between examining tiny white and purple flowers along the Betty Sutherland trail. “Dame’s Rocket,” they note, identifying the flower. “Invasive. Weed. Attracts the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly.”

Folks from the Fairview Residents Action Group (FRAG) are here along the East Don River where they’re training to become nature walk leaders themselves. “When I first came to Toronto from California and Colorado, I felt very disconnected from this new landscape,” says Anna Hill who coordinates the nature walk program. “Once I discovered the ravines and started appreciating the unique features of Toronto’s ecosystems, I started to feel very connected to my new home,” she adds. “Understanding that basic concept of the landscape—that you’re in a landscape of water and these watersheds are always running into Lake Ontario—that offers the big picture of where you are. That has been so meaningful to me, and I wanted to share that experience by helping other people connect with urban nature.”

Nearly 20 per cent of Toronto’s land area is covered by urban river valleys, many of which, as Hill points out, have been damaged by the wrong kind of human use. And while nature walk groups like this one help create a sense of stewardship for the ravines, residents need government support when it comes to valuing and protecting these lands.

On May 10, the Ontario government made strides towards that much-needed protection by proposing updates to the Greenbelt Plan, along with three other provincial growth plans. The Greenbelt, a nearly two million acre swath of land encompassing the GTHA, offers the highest protection available for the remaining agricultural land and natural heritage systems in the region. Widely supported by residents, with nine out of 10 Ontarians recognizing the Greenbelt as essential for supporting smart growth, the Ontario’s Greenbelt is the largest in the world and serves as a model in curbing a bygone era of unmitigated sprawl.

[URBAN NOTE] "Torontonians not sold on Expo bid, poll says"

Well, yes. Who wants a catastrophic whtie elephant? This article from the Toronto Star's David Rider looks at the numbers.

Torontonians are not convinced it’s a good idea to bid for the 2025 Expo world’s fair, says a Forum Research poll.

The interactive phone survey of 882 Torontonians on June 14 revealed that 42 per cent support making a bid, being promoted by Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, unions and business groups, while 43 per cent oppose bidding.

Support was greatest among those aged 35 to 44, the least wealthy, and Torontonians with children.

However, when asked how they would feel about a publicly funded bid, support plunged to 22 per cent.

The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

[URBAN NOTE] "Toronto’s ‘newcomer high’ moving to Danforth Tech after TDSB vote"

This is sad news, from the Toronto Star's Kristin Rushowy.

Toronto's unique “newcomer high” will lose its home and be moved into nearby Danforth Tech after a unanimous vote by trustees late Wednesday night.

The decision was made despite concerns by Greenwood Secondary students, all newly arrived immigrants and refugees, that the process was unfair and their school targeted from the start.

Two student leaders say they plan to file a human rights complaint after they finish exams this week because translators were not made available to them at all meetings of the area review committee. They also note that unlike students at other schools, involved their parents were left out because of language barriers as well as their work schedules.

At Wednesday night's meeting of the Toronto District School Board, trustee Jennifer Story said when the process began she was worried that because of lagging enrolment, three schools might be closed in her area.

She said Greenwood — which unlike other schools reviewed actually has a healthy enrolment — will remain a separate entity at Danforth, which is just steps away.

[URBAN NOTE] "Toronto Police Apology for Bathhouse Raids is Too Little, Too Late"

I agree with Michael Lyons' Torontoist article. (The apology would have been more meaningful if it was not 35 years late.)

When you need a good photo-op, some palatable sound bites, and a little bit of cheap social currency, apologize to the gay community.

Apologizing to the gays is the hottest look this season. Wrapping your institution in a rainbow flag is in. You’ll look progressive, and it’ll help you slim down some of the more contentious aspects of your institution’s systemic problems.

Following hot on the heels of the smiling, sunny Trudeau Liberal government’s apology for a decades-old case of a man who was deemed a sex offender for consensual gay sex—the same government, let it not be forgotten, who has turned Canada into the second biggest arms exporter to the Middle East, including a $15-billion sale to the anti-gay, anti-women, anti-human rights regime of Saudi Arabia—Toronto Police Services are now apologizing for two bathhouse raids.

The apology, which will consider both the 1981 gay bathhouse raids and the 2000 Pussy Palace raids, will force TPS to confront the unfortunate reality that officers treated LGBTQ communities with malice and disrespect only some 16 years ago. In the ’81 raid, men wearing nothing but towels were forced out in humiliation by 200 police officers, threatened for their sexualities. Cops went well above the line of duty, abusing and terrorizing patrons. (One officer in the bathhouse showers infamously said, “I wish these pipes were hooked up to gas so I could annihilate you all.”) Nineteen years later, male officers stormed an all-female event under the guise of a liquor inspection. Female patrons were harassed and intimidated, leaving nude and semi-naked women forced to cover up and leave in fear.

Yes, LGBTQ Torontonians deserve an apology. But TPS’s move today feels more like PR than a genuine “sorry.”

[URBAN NOTE] "What TTC Rapid Transit Could Look Like in 2035"

blogTO shared Rantwiki's post in r/Toronto imagining the mass transit map of Torono in just under two decades, if all works well.

It may not feel like it right now, but Toronto's rapid transit infrastructure is in the midst of major expansion. For all the fantasy maps we love to drool over, a look at the projects currently on the books, reveals a significantly different transit system by 2025.

But what if we looked forward another decade? If we fantasize just a little about projects that have been tabled (though not necessarily funded), the map gets rather dense with transit lines. If the city could get its act together and prioritize expansion, the Eglinton Crosstown might be extended in either direction and the Relief Line might finally become a reality.

TTC map 2035Add the already funded Finch West LRT and the Sheppard East LRT, and you have yourselves a TTC map that befits a city with a rapidly growing population. And bear in mind that this vision for 2035 doesn't include the East Bayfront LRT or SmartTrack, both of which have been considered serious candidates for expansion planning.

[MUSIC] Eurythmics, "English Summer"

"Eurythmics - English Summer" (Watch on YouTube)

This song, the first track on the Eurythmics' debut album In the Garden, has been rattling around in my head for what I sure are Brexit-related reasons.

Child in the distance
A memory untamed
Family connections
There's a mess in the kitchen
All messages received
Always a quick reply
The mood the afternoon
Another change of light

There's nothing like an English summer

The telephone is good
So wonderful and true
We need the time to think
Everyone's listening
Another change of light
The underlying truth
Request to pack it in
No solutions

What now?