[PHOTO] Northbound incoming to Eglinton station, as seen from the Manor Road bridge

On Tuesday, I took this photo of one of the new subway trains making its way north to Eglinton station.

[BLOG] Some Thursday links

• The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly considers the various challenges of being an independent person.


• Centauri Dreams considers the possibility of a Mars-mass planet in the Kuiper belt.


• Dangerous Minds notes how the 5Pointz warehouse of NYC, once a graffiti hotspot, has been turned into a condo complex that at best evokes that artistic past.


• Language Log explores the etymology of "sang", a descriptor of a Chinese subculture of dispirited youths.


• The LRB Blog reports on a Border Patrol raid on the No More Deaths encampment in Arizona, a camp that helps save migrant lives in the desert.


• The Strange Company blogs about the mysterious 1829 disappearance of Judge John Ten Eyck Lansing from New York City.


• Unicorn Booty describes three gay Muslim immigrants terrified of the implications of President Trump.


• The Volokh Conspiracy considers pros and cons to the idea of religious arbitration.


• Window on Eurasia suggests that the Qatar crisis is worsening Sunni/Shia tensions among the Muslims of Russia.

[URBAN NOTE] Six Toronto links, from mass transit issues to flood risks to the plight of homeless

• blogTO notes the ridiculous costs associated with Presto installation on TTC vehicles. Why are we using it?


• The Toronto Star's Ben Spurr notes that the Ontario government is subsidizing the Union-Pearson Express to the tune of $C 11 per passenger. (This is an improvement.)


• Steve Munro reports on the causes of and dynamics of noise generation on the 514 Cherry streetcar route.


• CP24 notes that the City of Toronto has lost $C 5 million so far thanks to the flooding on the Toronto Islands, mostly from lost ferry revenue.


• Alex Bozikovic notes in The Globe and Mail that the Toronto waterfront is going to receive more than a billion dollars in funding for flood protection.


• Andrea Houston at Torontoist argues that anger is a perfectly appropriate response to the suffering and death of the homeless of Toronto.

[MUSIC] Four pop music links

• Vice's Noisey celebrates the life and music of Israel Kamakawiwoʻole, whose medley of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World" outlived him.


• The AP describes how Britain's pop music charts have changed to stop future bouts of Ed Sheeran-style domination.
  
• Hannah Ellis-Peterson reports for The Guardian about how (and why) Sony has opened a new vinyl pressing plant in Japan.


• Carla Gillis reported for NOW Toronto about David McPherson's forthcoming book on the famed Horseshoe Tavern.

[MUSIC] Bruce Cockburn, "Lovers In A Dangerous Time"

Possibly Canadian folksinger Bruce Cockburn's signature song, his 1984 single "Lovers In A Dangerous Time" amply deserves its fame. It's a strong song, deserving its top ranking on any number of lists of top Canadian love songs, the poetry of Cockburn's lyrics carried by the urgency of his vocals.

Watch on YouTube

This song arguably achieved greater fame outside of Canada by virtue of the Barenaked Ladies' later cover. That cover is decent, I grant, but it lacks Cockburn's signature urgency. Cockburn wrote this song, like other songs at this time, in the context of the Cold War, in his concern for refugees from Latin America. (I read somewhere that he was thinking of couples caught up in Argentina's then recently-concluded dirty war.) Other critics linked this song to the emergence HIV/AIDS crisis. The Barenaked Ladies' cover is light, too light--their Scarborough might have been boring, but it was not that bad. Cockburn understood perfectly that love matters, even especially when times were difficult, and his performance gets this across wonderfully.

These fragile bodies of touch and taste
This vibrant skin, this hair like lace
Spirits open to the thrust of grace
Never a breath you can afford to waste

When you're lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time

When you're lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time

When you're lovers in a dangerous time
Sometimes you're made to feel as if your love's a crime
But nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight
Got to kick at the darkness 'til it bleeds daylight