[PHOTO] Boarding the plane, Charlottetown Airport

[PHOTO] Osterhout Log Cabin, Scarborough

The Osterhout Log Cabin, located on the land of the Guild Inn, is the oldest building in Scarborough, dating from 1795. The long history of the building and its lots is described by M. Jane Fairburn in her 2013 Along the Shore. The building looks good: The repairs to the roof described as needed last year in the Toronto Star seem to have been made.

[BLOG] Some Thursday links

• blogTO notes that 1975 was a formative year for Toronto.


• Centauri Dreams speculates about the oceans of Pluto and Saturn's Dione.


• Crooked Timber talks about Hannah Arendt's arguments about the importance of bearing testament.


• D-Brief looks at the cnyodont, an extinct reptile ancestral to mammals.


• Dangerous Minds shares photos of Patti Smith.


• The Dragon's Gaze suggests that K-class dwarf stars are best for life.


• Language Log looks at a merging of Wu and Mandarin Chinese on signage.


• Lawyers, Guns and Money reports on how supply chains can hide corporations from responsibility.


• The Volokh Conspiracy notes an American court ruling to the effect that barring Syrian refugees is unconstitutional discrimination.


• Window on Eurasia reports on collapsing life expectancy in many Russian regions, looks at Russia's withdrawal from the plutonium agreement with the United States, and criticizes American policy towards Belarus and Lukashenka.

[BRIEF NOTE] On the Star Trek statement against Donald Trump

Eighty-odd actors, writers and other luminaries in Star Trek recently issued a statement against Donald Trump's candidacy. It is strongly against the man and what he represents.

Star Trek has always offered a positive vision of the future, a vision of hope and optimism, and most importantly, a vision of inclusion, where people of all races are accorded equal respect and dignity, where individual beliefs and lifestyles are respected so long as they pose no threat to others. We cannot turn our backs on what is happening in the upcoming election. Never has there been a presidential candidate who stands in such complete opposition to the ideals of the Star Trek universe as Donald Trump. His election would take this country backward, perhaps disastrously. We need to elect a president who will move this country forward into the kind of future we all dream of: where personal differences are understood and accepted, where science overrules superstition, where people work together instead of against each other.

The resolution of conflicts on Star Trek was never easy. Don’t remain aloof –vote! We have heard people say they will vote Green or Libertarian or not at all because the two major candidates are equally flawed. That is both illogical and inaccurate. Either Secretary Clinton or Mr. Trump will occupy the White House. One is an amateur with a contemptuous ignorance of national laws and international realities, while the other has devoted her life to public service, and has deep and valuable experience with the proven ability to work with Congress to pass desperately needed legislation. If, as some say, the government is broken, a protest vote will not fix it.

Have you just turned 18? Have you moved? Have you never voted before? Some states have early registration (early October) and/or absentee ballots. You can’t vote if you are not registered. So make it so. Go to https://www.rockthevote.com , a non-profit, non-partisan organization, and fulfill your civic duty. Because, damn it, you are a citizen of the USA, with an obligation to take part in our democracy! Do this not merely for yourself but for all the generations that follow. Vote for a future of enlightenment and inclusion, a future that will someday lead us to the stars.

Star Trek is all about hope and optimism, about the desire we can learn about our universe and each other, about the belief that we can recover from the traumas of the past and move on into a better future together. The only thing about this that surprises me about this statement, honestly, is that it did not appear before now.

(Yes, I am sure there are some people who are fans who do not get this. I am reminded of the man who wrote DC Comics to complain about a moment of near-romantic tenderness between Scotty and Uhura. As the comic's editor noted, this man clearly did not understand what kind of show he was watching.)

Armin Shimerman's defense of this statement is worth noting.

Shimerman tracked the origins of the statement to the Star Trek Mission: New York convention (where Shimerman joined other members of the DS9 cast on-stage to offer advice to Star Trek: Discovery actors and defend the Ferengi against accusations of antisemitism). “I was thinking about it for a while. In fact, there was a lot of political talk amongst us while we were in the Javits Center,” Shimerman said. “I thought it would be a very good idea to speak to millennials and to fans of the show about our feelings… it’s not about one person, it’s really about everybody working together as a community.”

Shimerman describes the statement as aligned with Star Trek values. “The show has always aspired to the common good, of all people. And we aspire to universal inclusion. And when someone like Trump represents the opposite of that, I think all of us say ‘it’s time to speak up,’” Shimerman said.

For the signatories (and presumably anyone who understands Star Trek at all), Donald Trump’s candidacy is antithetical to the humanist values espoused by Gene Roddenberry (though his politics and ethics were far from perfect) and the shows that followed his example.

“He said things about immigrants that are impossible to accept. He said things about minority groups that are impossible to accept. We look at his background and we see he’s less than qualified to be the President of the United States. He’s not qualified,” Shimerman said. “To me, he’s primarily an amateur.”

Shimerman was particularly revolted by Trump’s numerous statements demonizing Muslims and Muslim-Americans. “My family was decimated by the Holocaust. I am a first-generation American. My father was born in Europe. He lost all of his family… yes, that puts a particular fear in me.”

All I'll add is that Louise Fletcher is one of the eighty-odd. If the person who plays Kai Winn thinks this is a bad idea ...

Thanks, guys, for reaffirming my fandom.

[URBAN NOTE] "Toronto house prices soared again in September"

MacLean's carries David Paddon's Canadian Press article looking at the latest in the Toronto housing market.

Housing sales in the Toronto area continued to soar last month, with the average price rising 20.4 per cent from September last year to $755,755, the Toronto Real Estate Board reported Wednesday.

The price increases came as the number of transactions in the Greater Toronto Area rose 21.5 per cent, a stark contrast to a big drop in the number of transactions last month in Vancouver’s residential real estate market.

The real estate board said Wednesday there was strong growth in sales transactions for all major home types in the area but a lack of supply limited growth in the City of Toronto itself.

[. . .]

There’s also been anecdotal evidence that some foreign buyers have shifted their focus from Vancouver to other cities, including Toronto. On Monday, the federal government unveiled measures to tighten rules for prospective buyers and lenders.

“The Toronto Real Estate Board will be closely monitoring how the recent changes to federal mortgage lending guidelines and capital gains tax exemption rules impact the housing market in the Greater Toronto Area,” Jason Mercer, the board’s director of market analysis, said in a statement Wednesday.

[URBAN NOTE] "Vancouver’s new chief planner says city is ripe for change"

The Globe and Mail carries Frances Bula's article interviewing Vancouver's new chief planner, who says that it is time for Vancouver to change its trajectory. Is it too late, I wonder?

Vancouver, which is beset by high anxiety over homelessness, growth, development and the soaring price of housing, is in a prime position to reset itself, says the city’s new chief planner.

“There’s a moment of ripeness to ask the big questions and make some big moves,” said Gil Kelley, who was recruited from San Francisco to head up the city’s beleaguered planning department. “It’s a time to look at where is the city heading in the long term.”

He said Vancouver is suffering from a bewildering dilemma that has become common among attractive 21st-century cities: The better it becomes, the worse it is for some residents.

“Like most global cities now, we’re dealing in Vancouver with this conundrum of being highly liveable and prosperous but also dealing with that other piece, which is everybody wants to be there. It’s our obligation to try to reconcile these twin forces and deal with the social effects of gentrification and displacement.”

[. . .]

Vancouver’s planning department, once admired in North America for its ability to shape development sensitively, with benefits for residents, has gone through a rocky few years. The Vision Vancouver council elected in 2008 hired a new city manager and new planner to carry out ambitious ideas about encouraging development near transit or with dedicated rental units. At the same time, developers started moving into established neighbourhoods after having built out much of the downtown peninsula. That led to a rise in friction between the city and resident groups.

[ISL] On the apocalyptic cult that held De Courcy Island Farm, British Columbia

The National Post's Tristan Hopper describes how De Courcy Island, one of British Columbia's Gulf Islands, hosted an apocalyptic cult back in the 1920s.

The real estate ad cheerfully describes the De Courcy Island Farm as a virtual paradise of forest, beach, fertile soil and a “historic workshop and barn.”

“This is an exceedingly rare opportunity to acquire a property of this size and nature within the Gulf Islands,” reads a description for the $2.2 million parcel, which occupies a significant portion of De Courcy Island, a small Gulf Island exactly due west of Richmond, B.C.

Omitted, however, is that this charming 42 hectare property was once a heavily armed “Ark of Refuge” where the several dozen followers of a self-proclaimed prophet named Brother XII would survive the destruction of the world.

[. . .]

“California and B.C. are hotbeds of off-beat religions,” wrote the historian Pierre Berton in the late 1970s. “Of these, there are none so kooky, none so bizarre, none so preposterous — none so downright evil — as the Aquarian Foundation.”

Brother XII had brought his Aquarian Foundation to coastal B.C. in the mid-1920s to sow the seeds of what he dreamed would become a superior new race of humanity. Once civilization was in tatters, their commune would “serve as a training ground for those selected for work of ‘Restoration,’ that is, the coming New Age.”

[URBAN NOTE] On the problems with the College Street beautification project

CBC News' Lisa Naccarato reports on how delays and obstacles related to an upgrading of the streetscape are harming the businesses on a street of College Street.

A beautification project that began this summer on a stretch of College Street has some business owners seeing red, saying the construction is making it difficult for customers to get into their stores.

The work began in July to replace sidewalks along College between Havelock and Shaw with interlocking bricks.

Metal fencing went up along the street and in front of businesses. The project has also been hampered by delays and it could be several months before it's completed.

"It's going to be beautiful, it's going to be wonderful, but it's impacting us much too harshly. How do we survive?" said Jill Rochon, the co-owner of Jill and the Beanstalk, a children's health food store and play space.

"There are so many stores including us that may not stay open after this. We could be closed within three months."

[URBAN NOTE] "Scarborough subway might already be off track"

The Toronto Star's Ben Spurr reports on the latest problems with the Scarborough subway extension. We all knew going in this was a terrible idea as a transit project, right?

The head of the TTC is warning that the Scarborough subway project that council voted for less than three months ago is already at risk for delays and cost increases.

In an exclusive interview with the Star, Andy Byford said it’s still possible to complete the one-stop extension by 2025 and at a cost of $3.2 billion, “but we’re flagging it’s a red, as in danger.”

“I’m still confident that we’ll meet the deadline,” Byford said, stressing that the transit commission is working daily with city planners to hit the project’s targets. But he added that “the window of opportunity is closing. We have to pin down the exact alignment and stick to it.”

The latest edition of the TTC CEO’s report listed the Scarborough extension’s 2025 in-service date as at-risk, and deadlines for completing an environmental assessment and having council OK the final routing were “tracking behind schedule.” The report says geotechnical, survey, and some design work has been halted pending approval of the final route.

Mayor John Tory has backed the subway extension despite increasing costs and questions about whether it’s the right technology to serve Scarborough. Asked whether Tory believed the project would be built by 2025 for $3.2 billion, his office stated via email: “We are confident that city staff and the TTC are working together to deliver this project on the timetable presented.”

[DM] "On the new official xenophobia in the United Kingdom"

At Demography Matters, I mourn the new official xenophobia of the United Kingdom under Brexit. The losses are terrible, and so avoidable.

[MUSIC] P.J. Harvey, "Down by the Water"

"PJ Harvey - Down By The Water" (Watch on YouTube)

The video for P.J. Harvey's 1995 song "Down by the Water" entranced me the first time that I saw it on MuchMusic. Harvey's raw voice set against the crude synthesized organ told such a compelling story that I could not look away from it.