[BLOG] Some Thursday links

• Centauri Dreams looks at the design of Japan for a laser-fueled ion engine for deep space probe IKAROS, destined for the Trojans of Jupiter.


• The Crux notes the achievements of Jane Goodall, not least for recognizing non-human animals have personalities.


• The Dragon's Gaze reports on a model detailing the accretion of massive planets from icy pebbles.


• Hornet Stories shares Tori Amos talking about her late gay friend, makeup artist Kevyn Aucoin.


• Language Log reports on a powerful essay regarding the writing of the first Navajo-English dictionary.


• The NYR Daily notes how the Russian government of Putin is trying to deal with the Russian Revolution by not recognizing it.


• Roads and Kingdoms reports on the efforts of a visitor to drink the signature ikigage beer of Rwanda, brewed from sorghum.


• Drew Rowsome quite likes the Guillermo del Toro exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario. (I should go, too.)


• Towleroad notes early supports suggesting the Australian postal vote on same-sex marriage will be a crushing victory for the good guys.


• Window on Eurasia notes the pressure of new education changes on smaller minority languages in Russia.

[PHOTO] Three photos from a fall day in the Toronto Zoo

Yesterday, I visited the Toronto Zoo for the first time in years, coming with my parents. The world-famous pandas were an early highlight, and indeed there will be pictures. Walking through the wooded grounds in the far northeast of Toronto, the quiet beauty of the wooded hills also impressed itself upon me. It was a beautiful day to be out walking yesterday.

[NEWS] Six notes about science: birds, Julie Payette, agriculture, wood in space, Enceladus, minds

• Can parrots, capable of speech, be witnesses in criminal cases? Maybe. Atlas Obscura reports.


• Julie Payette's speech in defense of science, regarding climate change and the like, might well have been a bit more politic. (Maybe.) MacLean's looks at the controversy.


• Was sedentary agricultural civilization a mistake, as some suggest? The New Republic reports on the state of the debate.


• Scientific American reports on the United States' 1960s probes Ranger 3 through 5, built partly of wood.


• Universe Today notes a new model suggesting that a porous rocky core could help Enceladus keep a liquid water ocean for billions of years.


• The Walrus reports on how two conjoined twins, who seem to have access to each other's consciousness, are proving very interesting theories of mind.

[URBAN NOTE] Four Toronto links: photographs, John Scott, condos for families, repurposed spaces

• blogTO shares some of the earliest surviving photographs of Toronto.


• Emma McIntosh interviews John Scott, the man who resets the clock towers of Toronto when daylight saving time comes and goes, over at the Toronto Star.


• CBC notes that many of the new condo units of Toronto are not sized appropriately for families.


• Erin Davis notes at Torontoist that repurposed spaces lend themselves to reuse by everyone from artists to developers.

[NEWS] Four queer links: trans IDs in Weimar Germany, Pride, Kevin Spacey, queer history

• Atlas Obscura notes that remarkably forward-thinking IDs for trans people produced in Germany during the late Second Reich and the Weimar Republic.


• Daily Xtra notes how Pride, in different Canadian cities, has (or has not been) corporatized in different ways.


• This powerful essay by Alexander Chee at them.us asking what role Kevin Spacey can play, despite everything, in the gay community is a must-read.


• VICE takes a look at some of the reasons queer history is finally getting mainstream attention, in pop culture and elsewhere.

[URBAN NOTE] Four notes on changing cities: Kingston, Calgary, Vancouver, Los Angeles

• The Princess Street corridor of Kingston is booming, but too much? I really must get out there to see. Global News reports.


• That Calgary has seen the introduction of basement suites blocked is a problem for that city. MacLean's examines.


• Gary Mason dislikes the increasing unaffordability of Vancouver for young people, over at The Globe and Mail.


• CBC shows how a new indie coffee shop in Los Angeles relates to gentrification in Hispanic and black neighbourhoods.