[PHOTO] Guess who is going to New York City in January?

This will be fun.

[PHOTO] Twenty photos of Vikings: The Exphibition (#vikingsto)

Vikings: The Exhibition, currently at the Royal Ontario Museum, provides a great overview of the civilization of the Norse. The Vikings' military history is deemphasized in favour of a perspective focused on their material artifacts and their experiences as a trading civilization. I strongly recommend it.

[BLOG] Some Friday links

• Architetuul considers the architectural potential offered by temporary constructions.


• Centauri Dreams examines how the latest artificial intelligence routines were used to pick up the faint signal of Kepler-90i.


• JSTOR Daily examines the sign language used by the deaf servants popular at the Ottoman imperial court.


• Gizmodo notes that preliminary studies of 'Oumuamua suggest that body is not a technological artifact.


• Hornet Stories notes the bizarre friendship of Floyd Mayweather with Chechnya's Ramzan Kadyrov.


• Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the negative effects of NAFTA and globalization on the food eaten by Mexicans.


• Geoffrey Pullum at Lingua Franca notes the fine line between dialectal differences and language errors.


• The LRB Blog takes a quick look at corruption in the Russian bid for the World Cup in 2018.


• The NYR Daily looks at Russian influence behind the Brexit referendum, noting the long-term need of the American and British democracies to adapt.


• Jake Shears talks with Towleroad about the role that the city of New Orleans has been playing in his life and his creative work.

[PHOTO] Four photography links: Sharbat Gula, Christine Estima, Stephen Wilkes, Saskatchewan

• Sharbat Gula, the Afghan refugee made famous as a girl by a Steve McCurry photo for National Geographic three decades ago, now has a home in her homeland. National Geographic reports.


• These photos by Christine Estima, taken with a disposable camera while swimming among the cenotes of Yucatán, are beautiful.


• Photographer Stephen Wilkes' remarkable photo of Parliament Hill on 1 July 2017, blending multiple photos taken over a decade, is eye-catching. CBC has it.


• I personally think that organizing a photography club for at-risk youth in northern Saskatchewan is a great idea. Global News reports.

[NEWS] Four links: post-strike education in Ontario, mummers of Newfounland, Vancouver, Mary Edelman

• News that one-tenth of Ontario college students dropped out during the recent strike is not surprising. The National Post reports.


• Atlas Obscura shares photos of the mummers of Newfoundland and the backstory of this cultural phenomenon.


• Making abandoned housing in the Vancouver neighbourhood of West Point Grey into student housing sounds great to me. Global News reports.


• This obituary for Mary Edelman, long-time Toronto resident and repairer of the typewriters of famed authors, offers insight into a fascinating literary past. The Toronto Star has it.

[NEWS] Three links on Ontario transit: GO Transit. Kitchener-Waterloo, intercity buses, Northlander

• Making a much stronger commitment to GO Transit links connecting Kitchener-Waterloo with Toronto is essential. The GTA hardly stops at Hamilton, after all. CBC has it.


• The weakness of intercity bus transit in Ontario, at least outside of the GTA, is a real problem. It magnifies the effect of distance in the vast stretches of this province. TVO reports.


• The case for the return of the Northlander, the passenger rail service northern Ontario had until recently, seems strong to me. TVO looks at the issue.

[NEWS] Cannabis shopping, saving right whales, forests during climate cha

• I have to say that I like the new retail landscape for cannabis being imagined, as much of a break with the old highly personalized network of buyers though it may be. (Non-smoker, here.) CBC reports.


• This account of the complex paperwork required of people trying to save right whales entangled in fishing nets is almost humourous in its tragedy. CBC reports.
  
• Many forests destroyed in recent wildfires are not recovering, on account of ongoing climate shifts making the regrowth of old ecologies impossible. CBC reports.