[PHOTO] Mother Mary in the front garden, Lansdowne Avenue

This blue-and-white statue of the Virgin Mary standing in the front garden of a home on Lansdowne Avenue, in the heavily Portuguese-Canadian (and even more heavily Roman Catholic) west-end neighbourhood of Wallace Emerson, caught my eye when I was walking down the street on the Saturday before my flight.

[PHOTO] Looking out and in, Charlottetown Airport

Standing by the window at the departures terminal of Charlottetown Airport very early Wednesday morning, looking out and two the east, the glass mirror reflected the scene behind me as it let me look forward at the plane taking me back to Toronto.

[BLOG] Some Friday links

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait shares stunning photos of Jupiter and its moons taken from the Earth.


• The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly talks about the life lessons she has taken from her recent extended trip in Europe.


• Centauri Dreams notes the testing, by a European team, of the InflateSail intended to remove debris from Earth orbit.


• Crooked Timber takes a look at the historically messy interactions between democratic governance and economic policy.


• Dangerous Minds notes that Trump is making use of LGBT people as pawns. I wish the conclusion was less frighteningly convincing.


• The Dragon's Gaze links to a paper on a recent search for exomoons, including the possible detection of Kepler 1625b I.


• The Frailest Thing's Michael Sacasas considers what it means for a parent to look at their child in an era of technologically mediated vision.


• In Medias Res' Russell Arben Fox notes, from his personal experience, how Donald Trump just does not get scouting.


• Language Log shares a report of how a Chinese man with synesthesia sees written language.


• The LRB Blog notes how Isaiah Berlin predicted the Saudi-American alliance back in 1945.


• Marginal Revolution notes a recent decline in regional income convergence in the United States. Causes?


• The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer notes the politics that went into costly subway design changes in Mexico City. (Line 12 does look nice.)


• Strange Company notes the romance of the grave of the Mysterious Stranger in Alexandria, Virginia. Who was she?


• Unicorn Booty notes that Jinks Monsoon will be voicing a Steven Universe character and is out as non-gendered.


• Window on Eurasia notes growing controversy in Kyrgyzstan over a switch in Kyrgyz alphabets from Cyrillic to Latin.

[URBAN NOTE] Six Toronto links, from Rage and Rapture to lakeshore property to ESL and property

• Liisa Ladouceur's NOW Toronto review of the Rage and Rapture tour's stop in Toronto get it entire. Brilliant concert.


• Emma Teitel in the Toronto Star is quite right to note that residents of the Beach complaining about unsightly commerce are so missing the point.


• Global News reports that mosquitos which test positive for West Nile virus have been found on the flooded Toronto Islands.


• The Toronto Islands will reopen Monday, on the first of the month, the City of Toronto announced.


• Canada Post promises that its drivers will stop blocking bike lanes with their vehicles.


• Metro Toronto describes how ESL learners in west-end Toronto are learning English via their concerns with affordable housing.

[ISL] Three notes: the sinking Maldives, revolutionary Grenada, tourist-heavy Singapore

• The Inter Press Service observes the quest of the Maldives for a seat on the United Nations Security Council in this time of sea level rise.


• The NYR Daily reports on a new take on the revolutionary hope and failure of early 1980s Grenada.


• Bloomberg notes how Singapore is becoming a major destination for Indian tourists, in its own right and as a regional centre.

[ISL] Four links on the Island, from LGBTQ pride to Syrian refugees to a possible U-Boat off Tignish

• CBC reports on a straight Summerside couple who are painting rainbows around the Island's second city against hate.


• Maureen Coulter writes in The Guardian about Pride week in Charlottetown, the start coinciding with my visit. I can scarcely imagine.


• Katerina Georgieva notes the coming one-year anniversary of the arrival of the Abdulhey family from Syria on PEI.


• Was a U-Boat sunk off the Island coast, by Tignish, in 1943? Millicent McKay reports on the latest search.