[PHOTO] Fourteen photos of the new Grange Park in Toronto

I was alerted earlier this week by the likes of blogTO to the fact that renovations in Toronto's Grange Park had been completed. Walking over there with a friend after catching the Monday night performance of The Seat Next To The King, we concluded that the work was a success. This marvelous green space in the heart of Toronto, with the Art Gallery of Ontario and its Georgian Grange Manor and Frank Gehry wing of glass blue titanium to the north and OCAD University with its simple stunning Sharp Centre for Design to the east, the refurbished Grange is a relaxing friendly place for people to walk and recharge. The Henry Moore sculptures, Two Large Forms, relocated here from their former location at Dundas and McCaul amid some controversy last year, belong here--indeed, surrounded by organic forms of all sizes and scales, they arguably look better than they did directly on the street.

[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

• Centauri Dreams notes evidence that pitted terrain, as found on Ceres and Vesta, indicates subsurface ice.


• Dead Things links to evidence suggesting insomnia and poor sleep are not disorders, but rather evolutionary inheritances that were useful in the past.


• Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the critical human role in the ongoing sixth extinction.


• Language Hat links to speculation that the Afroasiatic language family has its origins in the Natufian Levant.


• The LRB Blog reports on a fascinating French show about espionage, Le Bureau des légendes.


• Personal Reflections' Jim Belshaw reports on an important speech by Malcolm Turnbull on politics and Australia's Liberal Party.


• The Planetary Society Blog shares Marc Rayman's report on the latest discoveries of Dawn at Ceres.


• Spacing' Sean Ruthven has a review of a beautiful book on the Sea Ranch, a northern California estate.


• Back in May, Septembre Anderson argued at Torontoist that rather than embracing diversity, Canadian media was more willing to wither.


• Window on Eurasia shares an argument suggesting Baltic Russians would not follow the Donbas into revolt because the Baltics are much better off economically.

[NEWS] Five links in Canada, from NAFTA corn syrup to Amazon Prime in Iqaluit and abortion

• Could NAFTA, as one article suggests, have contributed to obesity in Canada by boosting consumption of high-fructose corn syrup?


• VICE reports on a new Canadian federal program to extend high-speed Internet throughout rural Canada.


• CBC notes the scary extent to which Iqaluit depends on Amazon Prime to afford even basic things, including food.


• VICE notes the overrepresentation of indigenous children in the child welfare system in Canada.


• VICE tells the story of a Maritime women who helps Maritimers navigate the health care system to get abortions.

[NEWS] Four science links, from coffee to cloning mammoths to space colonies to EBLM J0555-57Ab

• Global News notes one study suggesting coffee can extend human lives. My morning pot is worthwhile, then!


• National Geographic features an interview with Ben Mezrich talking about how cloning and genetic engineering can bring back the mammoth.


• CBC News reports on the discovery of ultra-cool dwarf star EBLM J0555-57Ab, smaller than TRAPPIST-1, even.


• Jacobin Magazine has a stirring essay by Nick Levine calling space colonization and space resources to be shared equitably.

[URBAN NOTE] Four Toronto links, from marijuana laws to the AGO to Wattpad to laneway suites

• What will happen to the legal records of those convicted of marijuana-related charges once legalization comes? The Toronto Star considers.


• NOW Toronto reviews a new exhibit of First Nations-oriented work at the AGO.


• NOW Toronto features an article showing how Toronto startup Wattpad is making celebrity fanfic (among other things) economically lucrative for writers.


• Torontoist considers the idea of laneway suites as a way to deal with the city's housing crisis.