[PHOTO] Night sky to the west, Dovercourt Village

I am fond of the faint glow of the Toronto sky at night, clouds glowing softly from the light of the metropolis below.

[PHOTO] Geode with amethyst, AMNH (@amnh)

The size of this geode, bigger than a human being, is impressive.

[BLOG] Some Friday links

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait shares photos of rings around a distant galaxy's central black hole.


• Inspired by Finland's Olympic team, the Toronto Public Library's The Buzz shares some interesting books on knitting and for knitters.


• Centauri Dreams notes the surprising news that the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies actually have the same mass. This changes everything about what was thought about the future of the Local Group. D-Brief also reports on this news.


• JSTOR Daily notes how the conversion of tobacco fields into solar farms is not just potentially life-saving but economically viable, too.


• Language Hat rounds up links relevant to the discovery, by field linguists, of the Malaysian language of Jedek.


• Lingua Franca, at the Chronicle of Higher Education, shares a story from Lucy Ferris of Paris of old and the bookstore Shakespeare and Company.


• The LRB Blog notes that the privatization of military officers' housing in the United Kingdom was another disaster.


• Marginal Revolution considers if Los Angeles is the most right-wing major American city, and what that actually means.


• The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer notes that, even in the face of subsidence in Groningen around gas fields and cheap wind energy, even the Netherlands is not moving away from oil and gas.


• Drew Rowsome reports on porn star/actor Chris Harder and his new show, Porn To Be A Star. (NSFW.)


• Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel examines the factors which distinguish a good scientific theory from a bad one.


• The Volokh Conspiracy makes a decent argument that the politicized pop culture fandom around supreme court judge Ruth Bader Ginsberg is not good for the future of jurisprudence.


• John Scalzi, at Whatever, reviews the new Pixel Buds from Google.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: ghost ads of Honest Ed's, King Street, TTC, crowding

• The demolition of Honest Ed's revealed ghost ads on the walls of the buildings amalgamated into that storied complex. blogTO reports.


• Support for the King Street pilot project is down, polls suggest. blogTO reports.


• That the TTC and Metrolinx are disputing the costs associated with Presto makes the whole thing ridiculous. The Toronto Star covers it.


• This summary of the TTC errors and passenger issues that made the commute of the 30th of January so challenging is disturbing. The Toronto Star reports.


• Steve Munro writes about the capacity crisis on the TTC, especially the subway lines.

[NEWS] Five sci-tech links: cryptocurrency in Hamilton and Québec, Alberta, fish, libraires

• Hamilton, Ontario, is apparently becoming a major centre for cryptocurrency mining. CBC reports.


• Hydro-Québec is considering higher electricity rates for bitcoin miners. Global News reports.


• The rate at which Alberta's natural environments are disappearing in the face of development is alarming. Global News reports.


• Fish habitats in Canada, happily, will receive extra protection under a new federal law. The Toronto Star reports.


• Public libraries are successfully reinventing themselves as places where users can access technology generally. MacLean's reports.

[NEWS] Five politics links on the Ontario PCs

• Patrick Brown, recently fired, has registered as a candidate in the Ontario PC leadership race. CBC reports.


• Martin Regg Cohn notes how the leadership race, wholly unexpected, reveals the PC' weakness, rival leaders tearing each other and their party alike, over at the Toronto Star.


• Robert Benzie notes that getting rid of Patrick Brown has actually helped the PCs versus the Liberals, by giving the main opposition party in Ontario a chance at a more appealing leader. His article is available at the Toronto Star.


• Doug Ford and Christine Elliott have promised, if elected, to revisit the controversial sex-ed curriculum introduced by Wynne and the Liberals. CBC reports.


• Rob Salerno at Daily Xtra suggests that Christine Elliott's LGBT-friendly policies in previous years could be a good sign to her preferred policies if selected as party leader.

[NEWS] Three links on Black Panther (@theblackpanther)

• Brian Lowry at CNN suggests that the success of Black Panther, like Wonder Woman, can create new opportunities for minority and female talent.


• VICE suggests that Black Panther is probably the biggest Afrofuturist story out there.


• Radheyan Simonpillai at NOW Toronto argues the biggest problem with Black Panther is its rooting in the imaginary Wakanda, away from the actual black world. "[C]an Oakland and Wakanda ever share the same space?"