[PHOTO] Seven photos of Prince Edward Island from the air (#pei)

Aerial flight is as close as I'll likely get to spaceflight in my life. Ascending over Prince Edward Island this July, this flight travelling north of Charlottetown and flying along the north shore past Malpeque Bay to Toronto, the Island was laid out below me as if it was a map, recognizable shapes distorted by height and angles. If some of these shots are not as sharp as we might like, forgive me; I could not ask the pilot to stop, or to go back.

[PHOTO] Five photos of Canada and southern Ontario from the air, including Lake Simcoe

The flight back to Ontario was happily uneventful, calm blue skies filled with light white clouds. The plane spent some time above Lake Simcoe, the deep blue surrounded by its checkerboard of farms and the unrulier dense green of forests.

[BLOG] Some Monday links

• James Bow notes, by way of explaining new fiction he is writing, why a Mercury colony makes sense.


• JSTOR Daily notes the life of Anita Brenner, a Mexican-born American Jewish writer who helped connect the two North American neighbours.


• Far Outliers' Joel notes the cautious approach of the United States towards famine relief in the young Soviet Union in 1922.


• The Frailest Thing's Michael Sacasas shares a brief Lewis Mumford quote, talking about how men became mechanical in spirit before they invented complex machines.


• Hornet Stories celebrates the many ways in which the movie Addams Family Values is queer.


• Lawyers, Guns and Money considers the idea of what "thoughtfulness" means in relation to Senator Al Franken.


• The Map Room Blog shares a few more fantasy map generators.


• The NYR Daily considers the thoughtful stamp art of Vincent Sardon.


• Progressive Download's John Farrell recommends Adam Rutherford's new book, A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived, on genomics and history.


• Towleroad notes that Demi Levato took trans Virginian politician Danica Roem her to the American Music Awards.


• Window on Eurasia shares a Tatar cleric's speculation that Russia's undermining of the Tatar language in education might push Tatars away from Russia.

[NEWS] Three notes about genetics and history and the future: Georgia, Beothuk, Amish

• Archeological work has revealed evidence of vineyards in the Republic of Georgia dating back eight thousand years. National Geographic reports.


• This extended article looks at the ways in which modern genetics are revealing the ancient history of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, using the Beothuk as an example. The Guardian has it.


• Joe O'Connor describes how an obscure mutation among the Amish governing blood clotting may offer guides for people interested in extending human longevity, over at the National Post.

[URBAN NOTE] Four Toronto links: NOW Toronto, ghost signs, The Ward, Southey on Peterson

• Alice Klein of NOW Toronto asks her publication's readers for more support. This is worrisome: I hope NOW Toronto will be OK.


• blogTO talks about the "ghost signs" of Toronto, legacies of businesses and products long since past, with photos.


• Toronto Life shares, from the website of the Toronto Ward Museum, a selection of photos depicting The Ward, the downtown Toronto neighbourhood erased by the construction of City Hall.


• In a brilliant column at MacLean's employing her trademark smart humour, Tabatha Southey wonders if Jordan Peterson is, in fact, "a stupid person's smart man".

[NEWS] Five assorted links: turkey, Mojave phone booth, LGBT apology, Anne Murray, Morrissey

• National Geographic takes a look at the natural history of the surprisingly stunning turkey, dispersed across North America and with an underrated beauty.


• Urban Ghosts Media tells the strange story of a working phone booth stranded in the Mojave Desert, and the tissue of myths and culture that grew up around it.


• CBC notes that Justin Trudeau is set to issue an official apology to the LGBTQ people purged from government service by past generations' homophobia.


• Anne Murray just made a massive donation of archival material from her long life and career to the University of Toronto's library system. Respect.


• Morrissey's statements for sexual abusers and against multiculturalism and ethnic minorities are almost more upsetting for the fact that they were so freely offered. However good the man's music is, should we music fans still support it, and him?