[PHOTO] Looking up from the Market Level at The Three Watchmen

777 Bay Street, a thirty-story tower attached to the main building of College Park in 1984, may be architecturally unadventurous. Its atrium does serve as a wonderful display area for Haida artist Robert Davidson's The Three Watchmen, the glass and mirrors of the atrium interior contrasting nicely with the carved wood.

[BLOG] Some Thursday links

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait shares beautiful images of nebula Sharpless 2-29, brilliant and beautiful from the heart of our galaxy.


• Centauri Dreams notes how New Horizons is maneuvering for its rendezvous with KBO MU69 on 1 January 2019.


• Daily JSTOR notes how Indian schools were at once vehicles for the assimilation of American indigenous peoples and also sites for potential resistance.


• Dangerous Minds shares the vintage Vampirella art of Enrique Torres-Prat.


• From Tumblr, Explain It Like I'm Not From Lawrence looks at a very unusual tower in the downtown of that Kansas community.


• Hornet Stories notes that PrEP is becoming available in Brazil, but only for a small subset of potential users.


• Imageo notes a recent American study observing that the degree of Arctic heating is in at least two millennia.


• Joe. My. God. notes that Bermuda has repealed marriage equality. I can't help but think this will not help the island's tourism.


• Language Hat links to a new encyclopedia article examining the origins of the Japanese language. I'm surprised the article suggests there are no verifiable links to Korean, Paekche aside.


• Lawyers, Guns and Money has an after-action report on the Alabama senate election. I agree with most of the conclusions--certainly it shows a need to contest every election!


• Allan Metcalf at Lingua Franca quite likes the term "fake news" for its specific power, claiming it as his word of 2017.


• The NYR Daily reflects on an exhibition of the powerful works of Modigliani.


• The Planetary Society Blog reports on some infrared images taken by Juno of Jupiter and volcanic Io.


• Roads and Kingdoms shares 21 pieces of advice for people interested in visiting Iran as tourists.


• Towleroad's list of the Top 10 albums of 2017 is worth paying attention to.


• If this Window on Eurasia report is correct and HIV seroprevalence in Russia is twice the proportion officially claimed, 1.5% of the population ...

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: Doug Ford, Parkdale development, TTC cell, Kaboom Chicken, 7/11

• Aaron Hutchins reports on the potential of the upcoming Doug Ford campaign in Toronto to reveal the strength, or not, of populism in Canada.


• Jesse Winter reports at The Globe and Mail on how the redevelopment of a warehouse at Queen and Dufferin, in Parkdale, is set to displace the artists and creators now based there.


• Ben Spurr notes that, although the entire TTC now has cell service, only Freedom Mobile--not any of the big three--has signed a contract to let users take advantage of this, over at the Toronto Star.


• blogTO notes that the decision of restaurant Kaboom Chicken to blame price increases on the minimum wage increase has met with a negative reaction.


• Narcity notes that some east-end 7/11 stores have shut down suddenly, apparently because of minimum wage increases.

[NEWS] Four notes about journalism: local news, education, LA weekly, predictions

• April Lindgren at The Conversation makes the obvious point that, if Canadians want local news coverage, they are going to have to get used to paying for it.
  
• The Western Gazette, student paper of the University of Western Ontario, looks at how that university's journalism programs are changing in the face of journalism's plight.


• Jennifer Swann at VICE notes how journalists once employed by LA Weekly are trying to lead a boycott of that paper, with the hope of eventually rebooting it.


• The predictions on the future of journalism shared by the Nieman Journalism Lab are worth noting, because of their realism and lack of illusion.

[MUSIC] Five notes about music: Sam the Record Man, Berlin techno, Morrissey, Björk, Canada

• Max Mertens at NOW Toronto takes a look at the storied history of the Sam the Record Man sign.


• The Local Germany Kreports on how the fate of Berlin's techno nightclubs is a matter of general concern across the political spectrum.


• Der Spiegel has released audiotapes of that paper's interview with Morrissey, revealing his denials of racism and victim-blaming to be false.


• Bjork's new album Utopia, that artist's reaction to the Anthropocene, sounds like it will be fantastic.


• Carl Wilson's examination of the stylistic and musical evolution of the indie scene in Canada over the past decade, from the collective towards Soundcloud, is fascinating. The Globe and Mail has it.