[PHOTO] Three photos of my walk to Wellesley station last night in the snow

The last photo of this set that of three that I took last night on my walk to the Wellesley subway station is my favourite.

[PHOTO] East 33rd and Madison in the rain

It was starting to come down heavily on the afternoon of the 13th of January in Midtown Manhattan.

[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

• Bruce Dorminey notes that a Brazilian startup hopes to send a Brazilian probe to lunar orbit, for astrobiological research.


• Far Outliers notes the scale of the Western aid funneled to the Soviet Union through Murmansk in the Second World War.


• Hornet Stories notes that Tarell Alvin McCraney, author of the play adapted into the stunning Moonlight, now has a new play set to premier on Brodway for the 2018-2019 season, Choir Boy.


• JSTOR Daily notes the conspiracy behind the sabotage that led to the destruction in 1916 of a munitions stockpile on Black Tom Island, of German spies with Irish and Indian nationalists.


• Lawyers, Guns and Money is critical of the false equivalence in journalism that, in 2016, placed Trump on a level with Hillary.


• The Map Room Blog notes that fitness app Strava can be used to detect the movements of soldiers (and others) around classified installations.
  
• Marginal Revolution links to a New York Times profile of World Bank president Jim Young Kim.


• Roads and Kingdoms talks about the joys of stuffed bread, paan, in Sri Lanka.


• Towleroad notes that a Russian gay couple whose marriage in Denmark was briefly recognized in Russia are now being persecuted.


• At Whatever, John Scalzi tells the story of his favourite teacher, Keith Johnson, and a man who happened to be gay. Would that all students could have been as lucky as Scalzi.


• Window on Eurasia notes that the pronatalist policies of the Putin regime, which have basically cash subsidies to parents, have not reversed underlying trends towards population decline.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: Metrolinx stops, Dean Lisowick, Toronto vigil, barbering, sales tax

• Transit Toronto notes that Metrolinx is actively soliciting ideas for stop names on the two light rail lines, Finch West in Toronto and Hurontario in Brampton and Missisauga.


• This look at the life of Dean Lisowick, an apparent victim whose life revolved around the Scott Mission, is terribly informative and terribly sad. The Toronto Star has it.


• The CBC reports on a Toronto vigil on the one-year anniversary of the Québec City mosque shooting.


• CBC reports on barber Dwight Murray's argument that the Ontario requirement for barbers to learn hairdressing styles not directly relevant to their craft should be changed.


• At the Toronto Star, Christopher Hume makes an argument for a Toronto sales tax. (I would make it a GTA sales tax, myself.)

[NEWS] Five poltiics links: Doug Ford and Ontario, Tijuana-San Diego, Brexit, EU-Mercosur, Scotland

• CBC looks at how the Doug Ford bid for Ontario PC leadership is potentially transformative of the race, potentially destabilizing the party at a time when it is vulnerable.


• The tightly-integrated and hugely-profitable economy uniting San Diego with Tijuana, across the US-Mexican border, continues despite Trump. Bloomberg View reports.


• A French minister has warned a Japanese audience that the United Kingdom is not going to be part of Europe any more. (France, he notes, remains open to business.) Bloomberg has it.


• Efforts are redoubling to sign a trade deal between the EU and South American bloc Mercosur. Bloomberg reports.


• Gerry Hassan is critical of the SNP and Scottish separatism, partly because of its lack of successful radicalism in power. The essay is at Open Democracy.

[NEWS] Five culture links: animals, Ferox of Mars, Blockbuster, Please Stand By, Higher Brothers

• This argument in favour of recognizing the inherent rights of animals as moral persons, to not be property, seems compelling to me. Open Democracy has it.


• This documentary project by Nicolas Polli about Ferox, an imagined third moon of Mars, sounds amazing. Wired reports.


• Blockbuster in McAllen, Texas, is closing up shop. A once-mighty retail chain is going under. Global News reports.


• This Slate review of the new Dakota Fanning Trekkie film, Please Stand By, makes it sound amazing.


• VICE profiles Higher Brothers, a Chinese hip-hop band from Sichuan making it big in Shenzhen.