[PHOTO] Seventeen photos from Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto

Last Thursday, together with Facebook's Mark I wandered around Toronto's Mount Pleasant Cemetery. A vast park-like expanse now surrounded by the midtown, when it was created in the 1880s it was outside of the city's northern boundaries. Under the heavy first layer of snow this winter, Mount Pleasant was quiet and at peace.

These seventeen are only a small fraction of all the photos I took here that day. A Facebook album hosts all 115 of the photos I took around Mount Pleasant.

[BLOG] Some Monday links

• Apostrophen's 'Nathan Smith announces some of his plans for the forthcoming year.


• C.J. Cherryh talks about her experience of early winter in Oklahoma.


• The Map Room Blog links to a collection of electoral map what-ifs.


• Marginal Revolution looks at the worrying connection between Rogue One and fake news.


• The NYRB Daily shares Tim Parks' reflections on Machiavelli's The Prince.


• The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer reports on the ongoing constitutional crisis in the Congo.


• Peter Rukavina shares a photo of Charlottetown's Province House.


• Strange Maps shares Radio Garden, a map of the globe that lets people pick up thousands of radio stations around the world.


• Transit Toronto notes a new boarding area for GO Transit users at Union Station.


• Window on Eurasia shares criticism of Russia's Syria policy that calls it Orwellian.

[DM] Nature's Amy MaxMen on the achievements of Gapminder's Hans Rosling

Over at Demograhy Matters, I talk about Hans Rosling, a Swedish statistician who has become something of a celebrity.

***

In January 2011 and June 2013, I linked to two videos by Swedish statistician and popularizer Hans Rosling demonstrating different demographic trends. Today, via 3 Quarks Daily, I came across Amy Maxmen's excellent long-format article on Rosling and his accomplishments, "Three minutes with Hans Rosling will change your mind about the world". It does a great job of explaining just what Rosling, and his Gapminder Foundatin, are trying to achieve, and why.

Back in Sweden, Rosling continued to teach global health, moving to the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm in 1996. But he came to realize that neither his students nor his colleagues grasped extreme poverty. They pictured the poor as almost everyone in the ‘developing world’: an arbitrarily defined territory that includes nations as economically diverse as Sierra Leone, Argentina, China and Afghanistan. They thought it was all large family sizes and low life expectancies: only the poorest and most conflict-ridden countries served as their reference point. “They just make it about us and them; the West and the rest,” Rosling says. How could anyone hope to solve problems if they didn’t understand the different challenges faced, for example, by Congolese subsistence farmers far from paved roads and Brazilian street vendors in urban favelas? “Scientists want to do good, but the problem is that they don’t understand the world,” Rosling says.

Ola, his son, offered to help explain the world with graphics, and built his father software that animated data compiled by the UN and the World Bank. Visual aids in hand, the elder Rosling began to script the provocative presentations that have made him famous. In one, a graph shows the distribution of incomes in 1975 — a camel’s back, with rich countries and poor countries forming two humps. Then he presses ‘go’ and China, India, Latin America and the Middle East drift forward over time. Africa moves ahead too, but not nearly as much as the others. Rosling says, “The camel dies and we have a dromedary world with one hump only!” He adds, “The per cent in poverty has decreased — still it’s appalling that so many remain in extreme poverty.”

Rosling’s online presentations grew popular, and the investment bank Goldman Sachs invited him to speak at client events. His message seemed to support advice from the firm’s chief economist, Jim O’Neill. In 2001, O’Neill had coined the acronym BRIC for the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China, often considered part of the developing world. He warned that financial experts ignored these rising powers at their peril. “I used to tease my colleagues who thought in a traditional framework,” O’Neill says. “Why are we talking about China as the developing world? Based on the rate of economic growth, China creates another Greece every three months; another UK every two years.”

Rosling welcomed the new audience. “They request my lectures because they want to know the world as it is,” he says. The private sector needs to understand the economic and political conditions of current and potential markets. “To me it was horrific to realize that business leaders had a more fact-based world view than activists and university professors.”

[. . .]

Rosling’s charm appeals to those frustrated by the persistence of myths about the world. Looming large is an idea popularized by Paul Ehrlich, an entomologist at Stanford University in California, who warned in 1968 that the world was heading towards mass starvation owing to overpopulation. Melinda Gates says that after a drink or two, people often tell her that they think the Gates Foundation may be contributing to overpopulation and environmental collapse by saving children’s lives with interventions such as vaccines. She is thrilled when Rosling smoothly uses data to show how the reverse is true: as rates of child survival have increased over time, family size has shrunk. She has joined him as a speaker at several high-level events. “I’ve watched people have this ‘aha’ moment when Hans speaks,” she says. “He breaks these myths in such a gentle way. I adore him.”

Here's another clip, a video taken last year where Rosling explains the reality of a strong convergence of Mexico with the United States.

Watch on YouTube

[URBAN NOTE] "As home prices soar, some first-time buyers reconsider home ownership dreams"

CBC carries this Canadian Press article noting the increasing unaffordability of home ownership in major Canadian centres like Toronto. It's either the suburbs or renting, it seems.

Earlier this year, Meghan Morrison and her fiance made the difficult decision to add two hours of commuting onto their day in order to pursue their dream of owning a house.

The couple could have purchased a condo in the Toronto area, where they both work, but Morrison says they wanted more space to be able to engage in their hobbies and, eventually, start a family.

"We looked at new builds in Toronto and it's just like, oh my gosh, $400,000 for 600 square feet," says Morrison, 26.

In January, the couple will be moving into their newly purchased, two-storey brick home in Barrie, Ont., complete with a two-car garage and a large, fenced-in yard for their French bulldog to play in.

"It was a really tough decision," Morrison says. "We struggled with it for a long time. But we just couldn't see ourselves living in a condo forever."

[URBAN NOTE] On the Santas of mid-town Toronto's Inglewood Drive

blogTO reports on how midtown Toronto's Inglewood Drive has gotten a reputation in the past few years as home of dozens of inflatable Santas.

There are plenty of festive streets in Toronto decked out with Christmas lights and holiday displays, but there's one in particular that stands out above the rest: Inglewood Dr., or as it's known at this time of the year, Kringlewood.

It all started in 2013 when Amy Westin put up a 14 foot inflatable Santa on her lawn, which inspired her neighbour to follow suit. It was mostly a joke, but somehow the ostentatious lawn ornament caught on with the rest of the street and a host of other home owners tried to get their hands on the giant Santas.

In fact, they purchased so many that Canadian Tire ran out of stock. Some deft PR on the part of the company resulted not just in the replinishment of the stock, but a delivery of 23 more Santas to the street. A few days later a holiday street party was held and donations were collected for the food bank. With that, the tradition was born.

[URBAN NOTE] "Activists pushing to open Toronto's armouries for emergency shelter"

CBC News' Lauren Pelley reports on one proposed solution to the emergency situation of homelessness in winter that, frankly, Toronto should have embraced earlier.

Freezing temperatures and over-capacity shelters have led to a push from housing advocates to open Toronto's two armouries for emergency use by the city's homeless community.

So far, more than 1,300 people have signed a petition launched by street nurse and activist Cathy Crowe, calling on Mayor John Tory to request use of the two armouries at Fort York and Moss Park from the Minister of National Defence,

"I am shocked by the level of crowding in both the shelter system, the Out of the Cold program...The warming centres are no longer enough to meet the need," Crowe wrote in a letter to Tory.

Speaking to CBC Toronto on Sunday, she also said dozens of beds have been lost at Seaton House, Toronto's largest homeless shelter, due to a serious Strep A outbreak.

"We do not have the shelter spaces or capacity to support the people who need them right now," echoed Joe Cressy, city councilor for Ward 20.

[URBAN NOTE] "Andy Byford: TTC budget ‘not sustainable’"

In question-and-answer format, Ben Spurr at the Toronto Star looks at the inevitable budget catastrophe looming in the near future for the TTC.

Has the TTC met Mayor John Tory and city council’s request to cut its net operating budget by 2.6 per cent?

No. Although this summer Tory threatened to call in a task force to comb the TTC’s books for savings, officials at the transit agency and in mayor’s office privately conceded months ago that the TTC wouldn’t be able to meet the 2.6-per-cent target without politically unpalatable service cuts.

That’s because reducing its operating budget would have required the TTC to absorb more than $200 million in additional costs it’s facing next year, including mandatory expenditures, labour outlays written into the agency’s collective agreement, and the opening of the Spadina subway extension in late 2017.

To reduce its financial pressure the transit agency found about $137 million in savings and new revenue next year, including savings on items like overtime and employee health benefits, and a 10-cent fare increase that will raise an estimated $28.7 million.

In addition, the TTC employed one-time “bridging” strategies like exhausting a $14.4-million reserve fund, saving on the delayed implementation of the Presto system, and a $5-million unallocated cut the source of which has yet to be identified.

In an interview, Byford said that the agency had “preformed a minor miracle” to reduce its shortfall, but warned that the one-time strategies “are not sustainable.”

“We have turned over every stone. Just about all discretionary spending has been eliminated. We’re scraping the barrel,” he said.

[URBAN NOTE] "How construction barriers are bringing downtown's gritty past to life"

CBC News' Lorenda Reddekopp looks at how archeologists are uncovering the history of Toronto's infamous Ward, a neighbourhood that was an early center for immigration.

Mavis Garland clearly remembers the sign stuck in the window of her stepdad's barbershop: "No Discrimination."

That was back in the early 1950s. Garland's mother, a white woman and British immigrant, made the sign. Her Chinese stepfather wanted clients of all races to know they were welcome.

Garland says it worked.

Her family's story is one of six depicted in an art project — called Picturing The Ward — on the wooden construction hoardings surrounding what will eventually be a new courthouse in downtown Toronto, at 11 Centre Ave., northwest of city hall.

The street art covers two blocks, recounting life stories from the gritty, impoverished area that used to be known as "The Ward." It was a first home for new immigrants to the city dating back to the 1800s.

[URBAN NOTE] Spacing with Adrian Benepe on the changing nature of parks

Spacing's Jake Tobin Garrett interviews one Adrian Benepe on how parks work in the 21st century city.

JTG: Your work at the Trust for Public Land really takes you across the United States. What are some of the inspiring actions you’ve come across that may not get as much media attention as the High Line and other high-profile park projects?

AB: What I’m seeing is a lot of community-based, small-scale, often even pop-up, interventions. Particularly in crowded cities where real estate acquisition costs are high. Maximizing the use of public spaces by creating multiple benefit public spaces.

In many cities, you’re seeing people converting part-time schoolyards into fulltime community playgrounds. And that’s particularly important in cities that are very densely developed, where you don’t have any more open land to develop into parks. In the conventional model, schoolyards were only used by students during the school day and were locked up in the afternoons, weekends, and holidays. In the new model—something the Trust for Public Land has been doing in a number of cities—you upgrade the schoolyard with the proviso that it must be open to the public anytime it’s not used by the school. So that gives you a very quick and inexpensive ability to create more and better public space.

The other thing you’re seeing is the adapted reuse of marginal lands, of brownfields, former factories, abandoned rail lines, abandoned piers. That’s something that’s common across America. And, in fact, as you know, is common in Canada as well.

[LINK] "The big chill on eco charities"

NOW Toronto's Adria Vasil writes about how environmentally-concerned charities are still facing tax audits.

The political harassment of environmental groups was slated to end when Justin Trudeau was elected, according to the Liberal Party platform.

But a year into the Liberal government’s mandate, roughly a dozen of the 60 environmental charities that were swept up in Harper-era “political activity” audits continue to face government scrutiny.

Some, like the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, are still under audit. A handful, including Environmental Defence, that are threatened with having their charitable status revoked, are mid-appeal.

Any charity that spends more than 10 per cent of its resources on “political activity” – which could include telling its members to contact their MPs about a troubling new change to environmental regs – continues to be at risk of losing its charitable status.

The Trudeau government says a “new legislative framework” is in the works, promising to modernize the vague and arcane tax laws that haven’t changed since the late 1800s and restrict the amount of political activity charities can undertake.

[LINK] "Newfound Footprints Stir Debate Over Our Ancestors’ Sex Lives"

Michael Greshko writes in National Geographic about new findigns about the possibile social structures of our hominid ancestors.

Adding to an electrifying discovery made almost 40 years ago, researchers have uncovered a new set of footprints made by an early human ancestor that roamed Africa more than 3.6 million years ago.

Found in Laetoli, a renowned archaeological site in northeastern Tanzania, the 14 newfound footprints add to a set of 70 tracks uncovered in 1978 by paleontologist Mary Leakey. In all, the tracks are the oldest prints of their kind ever found, providing crucial evidence that walking on two legs was picked up early in the human lineage.

Spread out over an area three times bigger than an average parking space, the prints most likely belong to two individuals of Australopithecus afarensis, the hominin species most famously represented by the fossil known as “Lucy.” (Read more about how Lucy might have died.)

The footprints are among the many cultural treasures found in Tanzania, a country rich in ancient paleontological sites. Olduvai Gorge, some 20 miles to the northeast of Laetoli, famously harbored some of the earliest known human fossils.

Celebrating that heritage was the only reason the new prints were found at all: In 2015, Tanzanian archaeologists Fidelis Masao and Elgidius Ichumbaki, both of the University of Dar es Salaam, found the new footprints while evaluating the potential impacts of building a museum on the Laetoli site.

[LINK] "Ceres holding onto water and really doesn’t want to let it go"

Astronomy's Shannon Stirone describes how Ceres has been confirmed as being a water-rich world, if not a world with actual oceans.

Ceres is best known for being the biggest rocky body in the entire asteroid belt, now considered a dwarf planet. The sister to the likes of Pluto, Eris and Makemake, Ceres is turning out to be more complex than scientists initially thought.

When the Dawn spacecraft entered orbit around Ceres in 2015, its mission was to study the planet since it can provide clues about the formation of our solar system and what that environment was like billions of years ago. The team thought they had a chance of finding ice on Ceres, since many asteroids are icy clumps of rock, but they never had evidence of it until now.

In an announcement yesterday at the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco, researchers say they’ve found frozen water ice on the surface of Ceres, stored in its persistently shadowed craters in something called a cold trap.

Ceres, like our moon and Mercury, has a mild axial tilt, so the foot of the craters at their northern regions never see the sun, making sure that whatever water is there, stays put, and it's likely stayed that way for the last few billion years. The temperature of these craters can get below -260 Fahrenheit, just cold enough that it can take a billion years for the water to turn to vapor.

“These studies support the idea that ice separated from rock early in Ceres’ history,” says Dawn Project Scientist Carol Raymond. “ This separation formed an ice-rich crustal layer, and that ice has remained near the surface over the history of the solar system.”