[PHOTO] Emu of High Park Zoo

Yesterday, I went on a great walk southwest of Keele station, through High Park and west along the shore of Humber Bay. I was particularly impressed by this emu I saw, safely contained behind a fence, in the High Park Zoo. This is surely a bird that would be recognized by the dinosaurs of the pre-Cretaceous era as kin.

[PHOTO] United Church of Canada, Cavendish, PEI

This church, belonging to the United Church of Canada, apparently caters heavily to the tourist trade.

[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

• At Antipope, Charlie Stross bets that barring catastrophe, the US under Trump will dispatch crewed circumlunar flights.


• D-Brief takes a look at the evolution of birds, through speculation on how the beak formed.


• Language Log looks at the ways Trump is represented, and mocked, in the languages of East Asia.


• Noting the death toll in a Mexico City sweatshop, Lawyers, Guns and Money reiterates that sweatshops are dangerous places to work.


• The NYR Daily notes the many structural issues likely to prevent foreign-imposed fixes in Afghanistan.


• Roads and Kingdoms reports from a seemingly unlikely date festival held in the depths of the Saudi desert.


• Rocky Planet reports that Mount Agung, a volcano in Indonesia, is at risk of imminent eruption.


• Drew Rowsome notes a new stage adaptation in Toronto of the Hitchcock classic, North by Northwest.


• Strange Company reports on how the Lonergans disappeared in 1998 in a dive off the Great Barrier Reef. What happened to them?


• Towleroad notes how Chelsea Manning was just banned from entering Canada.


• Window on Eurasia claims that the Russian language is disappearing from Armenia.


• Arnold Zwicky maps the usage of "faggot" as an obscenity in the United States.

[URBAN NOTE] Four Ontario links: minimum wage, Toronto, Petersborough, Prince Edward County

• A new TD report suggests the introduction of a $15 minimum wage could cost up to 90 thousand jobs by 2020, especially if the shift is too quick. Global News reports.


• Torontoist notes the ongoing debate over what to do with the land suggested for Rail Deck Park. (I prefer the park.)


• blogTO notes the Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough is set to expand and move to a new location.


• Opposition--ill-grounded opposition, I would say--to a new wind energy project in Prince Edward County is growing. Global News reports.

[ISL] Four Hawai'i links: Molokai, nuclear attack, doctor shortages, coffee leaf tea

• Up to a third of the island of Molokai, in Hawaii, is for sale, but the land comes with strings attached. Bloomberg reports.


• Threats from North Korea are encouraging people in Hawaii to consider how to minimize risks of nuclear attack. The National Post reports.


• Most Hawaiian islands, save Kauai, are apparently facing a growing shortage of doctors. U.S. News and World Report looks at the issue.


• I strongly approve of the idea of coffee leaf tea becoming the next big thing for agriculture in Hawaii. This press release hints at encouraging potential.

[NEWS] Seven science and tech links: GW170814, birds and dinosaurs, asteroid belts, oceans, energy

• GW170814, detected by VIRGO and LIGO, marks the collision of two black holes, 31 and 25 solar masses, 1.8 billion light-years away. Ars Technica reports.


• The American Museum of Natural History in New York has a new exhibition linking birds and dinosaurs. National Geographic notes.


• This new asteroid belt model suggesting it began empty, then filled from the inner and outer system, is interesting. Universe Today goes into more detail.


• New studies are suggesting that the oceans are starting to warm up. The Guardian reports.


• Offshore wind farms are apparently serving as platforms for flourishing marine ecologies, starting with mussels. Technology Review examines preliminary findings here.


• Hydroelectric development in the highlands of Georgia is disrupting already fragile human communities there. Open Democracy reports.


• Australian scientists may have found the genes causing the small wings of emus. Could they get bigger wings now? The Herald-Sun describes the finding and its import.