[PHOTO] Five photos from the rooftop patio of the Yonge Eglinton Centre

Yesterday morning before work, I ventured over to the rooftop patio of the Yonge Eglinton Centre. The views that it offers of midtown Toronto from three stories up are lovely, but I like the park itself, a green space surrounded by the towers of the YEC.

[BLOG] Some Friday links

• The Big Picture shares shocking photos of the Portuguese forest fires.


• blogTO notes that, happily, Seaton Village's Fiesta Farms is apparently not at risk of being turned into a condo development site.


• Centauri Dreams notes a new starship discussion group in Delft. Shades of the British Interplanetary Society and the Daedalus?


• D-Brief considers a new theory explaining why different birds' eggs have different shapes.


• The Frailest Thing's Michael Sacasas commits himself to a new regimen of blogging about technology and its imports. (There is a Patreon.)


• Language Hat notes the current Turkish government's interest in purging Turkish of Western loanwords.


• Language Log's Victor Mair sums up the evidence for the diffusion of Indo-European languages, and their speakers, into India.


• The LRB Blog notes the Theresa May government's inability post-Grenfell to communicate with any sense of emotion.


• Marginal Revolution's Tyler Cowen wonders if the alt-right more prominent in the Anglophone world because it is more prone to the appeal of the new.


• Personal Reflections' Jim Belshaw wonders if Brexit will result in a stronger European Union and a weaker United Kingdom.


• Seriously Science reports a study suggesting that shiny new headphones are not better than less flashy brands.


• Torontoist reports on the anti-Muslim hate groups set to march in Toronto Pride.


• Understanding Society considers the subject of critical realism in sociological analyses.


• Window on Eurasia notes how Russia's call to promote Cyrillic across the former Soviet Union has gone badly in Armenia, with its own script.

[LINK] Four links on First Nations and their issues in Canada

• MacLean's features D.W. Langford's article questions what happened to the famous Métis church bell of Batoche. Where is it?
  
  
  
  • The National Post's Maura Forrest reports/a> on NDP MP Romeo Saganash's question why First Nations were not consulted in renaming the Langevin Block.
  
  
  • CBC News features Regan Burden's article talking about the issues others impose on her for being Aboriginal while looking stereotypically white.
  
  
  • The Toronto Star's David Rider writes about four interns of First Nations background at Toronto City Hall.
  
  

[URBAN NOTE] Four links on Toronto transit, from buses and streetcars to Union Station and Niagara

• Steve Munro reports on the many problems associated with implementing new express buses, in Toronto and elsewhere.


• Global News was one of many sources reporting on the high rate of failure of the new Bombardier streetcars.


• Ben Spurr notes the astounding failure of the City of Toronto to do basic things at Union Station, like collect rent.


• Transit Toronto notes that GO Transit's seasonal routes to Niagara have started today and will go until 4 September.