[PHOTO] Looking west along Wellesley, evening

[BLOG] Some Friday links

• Apostrophen's 'Nathan Smith has a two part review of some of the fiction that he has recently read.


• blogTO looks at Casa Loma lit up for the holidays.


• Dangerous Minds notes The London Nobody Knows, a documentary of the grim areas of late Victorian London.


• Language Hat looks at how 16th century Spanish linguists represented Nahuatl spelling.


• Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the iatrogenic transmission of syphilis via unsterile instruments during the Civil War.


• The LRB Blog notes the many conflicting contracts signed by the KGB with different television groups at the end of the Cold War.


• Marginal Revolution notes Rio de Janeiro's attempts to deal with tourism-targeted crime by compensating victims with a tourist-directed tax.


• Maximos62 looks at the geological reasons for Indonesia's volcanism.


• Progressive Download looks at the all-woman Homeward Bound expedition to Antarctica.


• Peter Rukavina looks at the backstory behind the creation of the village of Crapaud.


• Spacing Toronto looks at how signs asking people to go slow in children-inhabited zones.


• Torontoist looks at where Suicide Squad was filmed in Toronto.


• The Understanding Society Blog looks at the specific experiences which molded the French tradition of sociology.

[LINK] "Still don't own a smartwatch? You're not alone"

CBC News' Matthew Braga reports on the slow uptake of smartwatch technology. What is the point of owning one, coming to think of it?

This time last year, tech companies were busy hyping what they hoped to be the next big thing in consumer tech.

Apple had just unveiled the Apple Watch. Samsung was promoting the Gear S2. LG, Lenovo and Huawei, amongst others, had partnered with Google to launch new smartwatches of their own, powered by software called Android Wear.

But today, it's clear that smartwatches haven't caught on with consumers quite as fast as tech companies had hoped.

So far, "there's not a great use case for a smartwatch," said Jitesh Ubrani, a senior research analyst with market intelligence firm IDC, who studies mobile technology. "A lot of what these devices can do, they're essentially just mimicking the phone."

The challenges have taken a toll on some of the competitors. Pebble, an early entrant to the smartwatch game, announced this week the sale of its software assets to the fitness tech company Fitbit, which has been working on a smartwatch of its own. Pebble said the company would be dissolved.

[LINK] "The Gadget Apocalypse Is Upon Us"

Yesterday's issue of The New York Times featured an article by Farhad Manjoo prophesying the end of the "gadget", non-smartphone devices capable of doing anything from tracking fitness to filming underwater scenes. Smartphone technology has displaced it.

What happened to gadgets? It’s a fascinating story about tech progress, international manufacturing and shifting consumer preferences, and it all ends in a sad punch line: Great gadget companies are now having a harder time than ever getting off the ground. The gadget age is over — and even if that’s a kind of progress, because software now fills many of our needs, the great gadget apocalypse is bound to make the tech world, and your life, a little less fun.

Things were never easy for gadgets. The lives of gadgets have always been nasty, brutish and short. One year a gadget would be the Must Have of the Year, and the next year it would be old news. But that was the cycle, and it was fine, because there would always be another gadget.

Then things got even worse. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the Thing That Does Everything emerged from Cupertino, Calif. That was almost 10 years ago now. You know what I’m talking about: the iPhone. We knew the Thing was going to be big, but we didn’t know it would be this big. When the Thing threatened to eat up all the gadgets, nobody thought it would really happen. We still had hope that some gadgets would stick around.

And for a while, they did. For a while, it even looked as if we would have a gadget renaissance. “Gadgets are back,” said The Verge. People created websites where customers would pay to get gadgets that hadn’t even been made yet. They called it Kickstarter. You want a gadget? Pay for someone to make it! What a world.

People started making gadgets that you could wear. They started making gadgets for your house, gadgets to control your heating and cooling, gadgets to help you sleep. Imagine that! A gadget, for when you weren’t even awake. What a world. There were even gadgets that would make other gadgets. And that’s not even getting to the gadgets that could fly!

But now the companies making flying gadgets are crashing back to earth. Look at 3D Robotics, the company founded by Chris Anderson, the former editor of Wired, which ripped through $100 million to start a consumer drone company that ended up not selling many drones.

[URBAN NOTE] "TTC to complete Presto switch by 2018"

The Toronto Star's Ben Spurr reports on the hot mess that is Presto implementation for the TTC. I see a long nightmare ahead.

The TTC’s full conversion to the Presto fare card system will take longer than the transit agency had previously told the public.

At a meeting of the Metrolinx board of directors on Thursday, Robert Hollis, Metrolinx vice-president for Presto, said he expected that it could be “well into 2018” before Toronto’s transit agency will be able to phase out all other forms of payment in favour of the fare card.

The TTC had previously told the media and said in public documents that tickets, tokens, and passes would be phased out in 2017. A TTC spokesperson told the Star that the mixed messaging was the result of confusion about when the agency would stop selling older forms of payment, as opposed to when it would stop accepting them.

Exactly when in 2018 the switch will be completed isn’t clear.

“There will be a point I would say sometime later next year when we’re in a position where we start thinking about withdrawing certain fare media, but we haven’t had that discussion or landed any particular dates yet,” Hollis said.

“I’d say somewhere later next year that that starts to begin. And then well into 2018 could be a point where much of the legacy fare media has been retired.”

[URBAN NOTE] "Toronto Community Housing moves funding to address budget gap"

The Toronto Star's Jennifer Pagliaro writes about the latest problems with Toronto Community Housing finding money to do the long-needed repairs to its stock.

The Toronto Community Housing board voted Thursday to amend its 2017 budget, taking $19 million in recently identified surplus funds in order to reduce a $35.2-million shortfall.

That change takes some pressure off Mayor John Tory and the budget committee, who are looking to close a $91-million gap in the city’s overall operating budget.

Having used most of the surplus to cut the shortfall, TCHC will likely use money from a different source to boost its spending to fix crumbling buildings. It's expected that the board will draw $22 million from special reserve funds specifically for capital repairs — further burdening the city's finances in 2018. But it helps TCHC to fund a total of $250 million in repairs next year.

Choosing to use the surplus in this way, which is ultimately up to the board, contradicts advice from interim CEO Greg Spearn that the priority for any additional funds should be capital repairs and residents' homes.

“Toronto Community Housing does not have the money to maintain our residents’ units at a proper state of repair today and we certainly don’t have the money to improve them properly for the future,” Councillor Joe Cressy, who sits on the board, told the Star. “The City of Toronto should take a stand in repair of good, decent housing for residents of TCHC and unfortunately we let the city off the hook today.”

[URBAN NOTE] "Savouring the city with each step"

Josh O'Kane writes about how his walks throughout Toronto have helped him, originally from New Brunswick, get to know his adopted city. I can testify that this works.

For more than four years, I have walked to and from work. But that’s about to change.

It’s about three kilometres each way, which is more than I used to walk in a week. I grew up in Saint John, N.B., in a car culture so ingrained that I’d drive to the cinemas a block from my parents’ house. In undergrad, I never lived more than two minutes from campus. Walking always seemed like a waste of time.

Now, I’m in Toronto. I hated the pedestrian commute at first, despite the city’s sheer walk-ability. There was little joy in those first few months of sore legs, or on those days spent trudging more than an hour through a blizzard or rain storm. But here’s the thing: It’s still better than standing for 15 minutes in a blizzard or monsoon, waiting for a streetcar that never comes.

I’m a reporter here at The Globe and Mail, trained to dispassionately report the news, and a millennial culturally moulded to express any personal feelings through sarcasm; I am not used to earnestness. But I would be lying if I didn’t acknowledge that walking to work everyday has made me both physically and mentally healthier. It wakes me up in the morning and winds me down at night. And walking has shown me what Toronto is, shown me how Toronto is changing and made Toronto feel like home.

After throwing out the flyers in my mailbox each morning, I start zig-zagging through the West End then cut through Trinity Bellwoods Park. As I pass by Gore Vale Avenue, I glance up at my old apartment, a basement palace on the park, torn from my clutches four years ago. It was here that I first decided to walk to work – an easy 20 minute stroll.

Moving west forced me further away from The Globe, though it only made the walk more interesting. I grew up a music fan far from Toronto and learning who I share my community with has been a pleasant surprise. Sometimes, I’ll see Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew holding court outside a coffee shop or the Barenaked Ladies’ Jim Creeggan running with his dog. Or, after cutting through Bellwoods, I might notice Ron Sexsmith, eyes glazed, walking to the store.

[ISL] "Nuns not giving up on Summerside convent: priest"

CBC News' Shane Ross reports that some nuns hoping set up in Summerside are hoping to still continue on despite the rejection of their convent's location by the city.

Nuns from Ontario still have faith they can establish a convent and daycare in Summerside, according to a local priest who has been helping them.

The nuns' request to rezone a property on South Drive was rejected this week by Summerside city council.

"Obviously they're disappointed in the decision but they're still committed to coming to Summerside so would like to try something else," said Father Chris Sherren of St. Paul's Church in Summerside.

Some neighbours opposed the rezoning because they were concerned about traffic from the daycare.

[LINK] "Bottling the Bay: How Nova Scotia wineries are coming into their own"

The Globe and Mail's Christine Sismondo looks at the emergent wine scene along Nova Scotia's Bay of Fundy shore, where vineyards are forming in suitable microclimates.

Despite the relative successes of the “Free My Grapes” movement – a consumers’ rights organization that was spearheaded by frustrated wine fan Shirley-Ann George a little over five years ago and works to remove barriers to inter-provincial wine trade – we still can’t find much Okanagan wine in Ontario (George’s particular grievance) nor expressions from Niagara in British Columbia. But you can find Nova Scotia’s Benjamin Bridge everywhere, even in the Yukon. The fresh, rosy-golden, peachy sparkler, called Nova 7, is more or less the headliner for Benjamin Bridge and one of the few Canadian labels you might find anywhere from sea to shining sea.

Why? Well, to hear the winemaker tell it, it’s just that good; it has practically addictive “drinkability.” Nova is no one-hit wonder, either. Benjamin Bridge’s other expressions, particularly the Brut Sparkling (a little less fruity and, arguably, more elegant), are featured on restaurant wine lists across the country, including those at the famous Hawksworth in Vancouver, Calgary’s Bar Von der Fels and Byblos in Toronto.

“There is a natural selection within the wine industry,” says Jean-Benoit Deslauriers, head winemaker at Benjamin Bridge, adding that he has spent very little time campaigning provincial liquor retailers. “Our responsibility is to make the most transparent wines in terms of sharing the story of the growing environment surrounding the Bay of Fundy. And we feel that if we succeed at that, the rest will come naturally.”

And it has. The enthusiasm for the operation’s wines is palpable, but as Deslauriers points out, it’s bigger than just his bottles or one winery. He’s working in a remarkable micro-climate and there are other wineries telling the same story he is. In response, wine lovers are eagerly listening and wine from the Annapolis Valley is trendy, possibly on the cusp of becoming Canada’s next big thing.

“It’s a little bit punny, but people here often say that the rising tide lifts small boats,” says Jenner Cormier, an award-winning Halifax bartender who recently returned to his hometown after three years in Toronto, where he was part of the opening team at Bar Raval. “For us to begin to be considered as a place that’s producing really good wine is huge for us.”

When Cormier left his home for Ontario three-plus years ago, Nova Scotia wines were mainly known for being passable seafood-friendly whites from an underdeveloped region. Upon his return, he was delighted to discover black cabs, pinot noirs and sparkling wines, many of which he describes as “unbelievably complex.” Halifax bars such as Little Oak, the city’s new wine destination, as well as the well-established locavore hotpot, Lot Six, are plucking the best of the best from wineries like Luckett, Avondale Sky and L’Acadie and offering as many as a half-dozen local options on their wine lists.

[URBAN NOTE] "Trump’s Doomed Black Sea Tower Might Happen After All"

For Bloomberg, Stephanie Baker and Helena Bedwell report from the Georgian port city of Batumi about how a mothballed Trump Organization project there is set to take off. The next four years will be interesting, won't they?

Donald Trump flew to the Black Sea resort town of Batumi in 2012 and, standing alongside then Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, announced a deal licensing his name to a $250-million 47-story residential Trump Tower to be built by a local developer called Silk Road Group.

Six months later, Saakashvili’s party lost parliamentary elections and later his term ended. He left Georgia, afraid his newly empowered opponents might jail him. Batumi’s Trump Tower seemed doomed -- until now.

“The project will go ahead, talks are on,” Giorgi Ramishvili, Silk Road’s founder, told Georgian television Tuesday. “As soon as the transition period is over some time in January, we can talk.”

Reached by phone, Ramishvili declined to elaborate. “I cannot say anything else without the green light of partners,’’ he said.

The Georgian development is one of many Trump deals suddenly in a new light now that they are associated with the incoming U.S. president. Experts say some may find financing or approval more easily, raising concerns over conflict of interest. Trump has said he will outline his plan to remove himself from his business Thursday, but deals he’s signed with business partners around the world are unlikely to be torn up.

[LINK] "With Syrian families in limbo, delays test refugees’ and sponsors’ faith, hope and charity"

Writing for The Globe and Mail, Wendy Stueck and Jill Mahoney write about the problems facing Syrian refugees in Canada. Among other things, backlogs are a problem.

When Justin Trudeau was elected on the promise of bringing 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada last year, scores of private sponsorship groups – co-workers, church members, neighbours and friends – rose to the challenge.

They raised thousands of dollars, rented and furnished apartments and lined up volunteers to drive, tutor and support refugees.

But now, many have nothing to do but wait. While the government has resettled more than 35,000 Syrian refugees in the past 13 months – 26,000 by the end of February – thousands more are caught in a bureaucratic backlog and have waited months in difficult conditions.

That total includes privately and government-sponsored refugees. This past March, under pressure from private sponsorship groups, Ottawa said it would do its best to process privately sponsored refugee applications received before March 31, 2016, by the end of this year or early 2017.

That commitment refers to about 12,000 PSR applications.

[DM] ""Census still vulnerable to political meddling, says former chief""

At Demography Matters, I linked to Canadian newsmagazine MacLean's, which hosts Jordan Press' Canadian Press article "Census still vulnerable to political meddling, says former chief". Wayne Smith warns that the Canadian census is still vulnerable to political interference, even with new legislation.

The federal government’s bid to protect Statistics Canada from political interference has a significant oversight that exposes the census to the possibility of government meddling, says Canada’s former chief statistician.

Wayne Smith, who resigned abruptly from the agency in September, said newly introduced legislation doesn’t change the parts of the Statistics Act that give cabinet control over the content of the questionnaire.

That leaves the census – used by governments to plan infrastructure and services – vulnerable to the sorts of changes the Conservatives imposed in 2011 by turning the long-form census into a voluntary survey, Smith said.

“That’s a major flaw in this bill,” he said. “The government brought this bill in because of the census, but it’s failing to deal with the census.”

Smith described the bill as a first step towards broadening the agency’s authority over how information on all types of subjects is collected, analyzed and disseminated, shifting that authority away from the minister.

Freedom, including access to public data both accurate and meaningful, is a constant struggle now, as it always has been.

[BRIEF NOTE] On how the irreligiosity of 24th century humans, and of others, is to be expected

I originally posted this essay at r/daystrominstitute, drawing it from a post I made on Tumblr.

Lots of fans of Star Trek have expressed disbelief, or concern, at the suggest that religion is mostly a dead letter among humans (and perhaps other species) in the 24th century. Isn't this just a presumption stemming ultimately from the doctrinaire atheism of Gene Roddenberry? Why, they ask fairly, would a type of belief system that has been enormously common throughout human history vanish in the space of a few centuries?

Roddenberry's prejudices on the subject of religion did bias him. I'm not unconvinced that the future of religion in Star Trek is inaccurately depicted, despite this depiction's origins. One influential recent study of religion in society, Norris and Inglehart’s 2004 sociology study Sacred and Secular, took a look at patterns of religious belief in developed Western societies. They made the compelling argument that religious belief is most popular in societies marked by insecurity, that the subjective psychological comforts of religion were most popular in insecure societies. They suggested that much of the gap in religiosity between the United States and western Europe, for instance, could be explained by the fact that the United States does not have a comprehensive welfare state. In a very real sense, religion focused as a coping tool for people faced with severe stresses, whether as a morale-booster or as some sort of institutional support via charity and the like. Nothing in the model suggests that this model would not work with other, non-Western societies.

We know that by the 22nd century, the Earth is stable, at peace and unified and verging on the utopian. What happens to religion when the entire world has a comprehensive welfare state, something more complete than what a given western European country has now? What about the future of this world? What role does religion play when no one has been terribly insecure for decades, generations, even centuries? Can religion attract anything but a niche audience in this sort of environment? I think there's a real argument to be made that no sizable number of 24th century people on Earth or any other stable human world would feel particularly compelled by religious perspectives, not with materialism that has been so consistently successful for centuries.

For humans, there's also the question of how religion ended up. Some of the most secularized societies nowadays are those which had the most thorough-going religious regimes beforehand, and which saw a counter-reaction against religious institutions. Sometimes, as in Québec in the 1960s, this was triggered by the simple incapacity of religious institutions to offer a way forward in an increasingly cosmopolitan world. Sometimes, this was triggered by the revelation of crimes committed by religious figures of note. Clerical sex abuse scandals come to mind as exactly the sorts of things which have led people to lose faith in established religions. Worse can happen than mere sexual assault, of course: genocide, say, or general dictatorship. What happens to a religion when the actions and values of its hierarchy conflict with what followers think is right? We know the answer: The best-case scenario from the perspective of the religion is that people stop paying attention to it, and the worst-case scenario is that people become actively hostile to it.

Is there any reason to think that, in the terrible 21st century of the Star Trek universe, religions would have acquitted themselves well, would have proven their value? Or is there reason to think, based on what we have seen in our own world, that religion might become another thing to be tossed out for the future's sake?

Would other species have undergone similar experiences? Maybe, if their histories were at all similar to humanity's, with religion as a belief system that served its purpose in its day before negative consequences became too unignorable. I wonder if Vulcan might have undergone this sort of secularization in the aftermath of the conflicts leading up to Surak, for instance. (Were the Romulans religious dissenters?)

It's worth looking at the experience of the Bajorans, who are generally depicted as being religious and being fine with that. How are they different? Most notably, they have a religion that does demonstrably describes reality, complete with god-like entities whose existences have been confirmed by multiple external observers. Before the confirmation of the Prophets' existence, Bajoran religion seems to have been helped by what may be a lack of religious oppression: Women seem to have just as many rights as men, for instance, as evidenced by the two female kais we see, Kira’s confusion in “Rejoined” over why Jadzia Dax cannot get back together with Lenara Kahn suggests to me that homophobia is not an issue on Bajor, and the ease with which the d'jarra caste system was dropped suggests it also was not an integral component of the religion. I suppose this is not a surprise: If anyone could design a workable religion for a culture that has been enormously stable and successful for tens of thousands of years, the Prophets who see beyond linear time could.

There almost certainly are minorities of humans who continue to cling to the old faiths, minorities in the main human worlds and perhaps relatively more substantial populations on different colony worlds. Other civilizations with their own histories may follow the path of humanity, or do otherwise. Perhaps if there's a sufficiently convincing religion, one that seems true and that seems to offer convincing gains, it might actually gain converts. (The Bajorans may soon be making lots of new followers outside their species.) By and large, though, I would argue that the highly secularized future of Star Trek is a perfectly plausible future. How many people need a god to offer them comfort in a near-utopia?