[PHOTO] Icon, Yonge and Wellesley

This poster glued to a TD placard on the northeast corner of Yonge and Eglinton, advertising other locations of the bank while E Condos finishes construction, confuses me. What is it? What does it represent? Who put it up?

[PHOTO] From birds to dinosaurs at the AMNH (@amnh)

One thing that the American Museum of Natural History did quite well was have a whole room dedicated to explaining the profound links between dinosaurs and contemporary birds. If you look around at the fossils they had on display, of giant birds like Diatryma gigantea and dinosaur-era birds like Hesperornis regalis and beautiful impressions of Archaeopteryx, and then you look up to see towering over you the skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex that clearly is built along the same lines as the fossils you have just seen, it's almost impossible to imagine there was a time when people did not understand that birds were modern-day dinosaurs.

[BLOG] Some Friday links

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait takes a look at how contemporary lunar probes are prospecting for ice deposits on the dry Moon.


• Centauri Dreams notes new models for the evolution of the orbit of the early Moon, and how this could well have influence the environment of the young Earth.


• Crooked Timber takes issue with the idea that sponsoring women's entrepreneurship, rooted in the belief that women are limited by their income, is enough to deal with deeper gender inequity.


• D-Brief notes that a brain implant--specifically, one making use of deep brain stimulation--actually can significantly improve memory in implantees.


• Gizmodo notes that extrasolar objects like 'Oumuamua may well have played a significant role in interstellar panspermia, introducing life from one system to another.


• At In A State of Migration, Lyman Stone does the work and finds out that the Amish are not, in fact, destined to eventually repopulate the US, that despite high fertility rates Amish fertility rates have consistently fell over time, influenced by external issues like the economy.


• JSTOR Daily has a thought-provoking essay taking a look at the feedback loops between envy and social media. Does social media encourage too narrow a realm of human achievements to be valued?


• Language Hat notes a new book, Giorgio Van Straten's In Search of Lost Books, noting all those texts which once existed but have since gone missing.


• Lawyers, Guns and Money, noting the strongly negative reaction to Katie Roiphe's essay in Harper's against feminism, takes care to note that "disagreement" is not at all the same thing as "silencing".


• The NYR Daily looks at the many ways in which Sweden has been taken as a symbol for progressivism, and the reasons why some on the right look so obsessively for signs that it is failing.


• At the Planetary Society Blog, Casey Dreier writes about the ways in which the Falcon Heavy, if it proves to be as inexpensive as promised, could revolutionize the exploration of (for instance) outer system ocean worlds like Europa and Enceladus.


• Drew Rowsome quite likes Rumours, a performance of the famous Fleetwood Mac album of that name, at Toronto's Coal Mine Theatre.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: Hodo Kwaja, King Street, HQ2, TDSB school trips, Ontario Place

• This CBC article highlighting Hodo Kwaja bakery in Koreatown and the delicious walnut cakes it makes is superb.


• VICE shares the story of a man who went nightclubbing on King Street to gauge the effects of the transit experiment. (His judgement? There's change, but this change is natural.)


• Trudeau is going to play up Canadian diversity to Amazon as part of the Toronto bid for HQ2, reports The Globe and Mail.


• The TDSB has loosened restrictions on school trips to the United States, with some qualifications. (If any one student is blocked at the border, for instance, the entire trip is off.) The Toronto Star examines the issue.


• The further expansion of parkland at Ontario Place, as announced by the provincial government, is inspiring. The Toronto Star reports.

[NEWS] Four links on the Ontario PC leadership race: Christine Elliott, Caroline Mulroney, Doug Ford

• So far in the Ontario PC leadership race, Christine Elliott seems to have the most support from caucus, the Toronto Star notes.


• The MacLean's interview with Caroline Mulroney, talking about her perspective on politics in Canada and in Ontario and on her family history, does a good job positioning her.


• Doug Ford may yet manage an upset with his populist appeal, CBC notes.


• At NOW Toronto, Enzo DiMatteo has an insightful analysis of what seems to be a three-way race between Elliott, Mulroney, and Ford. Who will triumph?

[NEWS] Five notes on migration: Asians in the US, Ghana to Libya, Indian women, Brazil, Canada

• Noah Smith notes at Bloomberg View that Trump's bizarre opposition to chain migration would hit (for instance) Asian immigrant communities in the United States quite badly.


• The Inter Press Service shares one man's nearly fatal attempt to migrate from his native Ghana through Libya.


• The Inter Press Service notes a hugely underestimated system of migration within India, that of women moving to their new husbands' homes.


• In an extended piece, the Inter Press Service examines how wars and disasters are driving much immigration to Brazil, looking particularly at Haiti and Venezuela as new notable sources.


• Canada is a noteworthy destination for many immigrants who move here to take part in Canadian sports, including the Olympics. The Mational Post reports.

[DM] "On the unreality of imagining chain migration to be a bad thing"

I've a post up at Demography Matters taking issue with the idea that chain migration is supposed to be a bad thing. What are these people talking about?