[PHOTO] Thirty photos from the Toronto Light Festival, 25 February 2018 (@tolightfest, #tolightfest)

The second Toronto Light Festival, being held again in the Distillery District, is approaching its end. I'm happy that I took the opportunity to go see it Sunday evening. I had quite a good time, hanging out in this district of old stone warehouse and new postmodern towers among the many artworks of light, ever changing in an evening that was actually quite warm out.

[PHOTO] One57 in the distance, Central Park

This supertall tower, one that I believe--thanks to this map from Curbed is One 57, is easily visible from Central Park near Belvedere Castle.

[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes that the measured rate of the expansion of the universe depends on the method used to track this rate, and that this is a problem.


• On Sunday, Caitlin Kelly celebrated receiving her annual cheque from Canada's Public Lending Program, which gives authors royalties based on how often their book has been borrowed in our public libraries.


• In The Buzz, the Toronto Public Library identified five books in its collection particularly prone to be challenged by would-be censors.


• D-Brief suggests that, if bacteria managed to survive and adapt in the Atacama desert as it became hostile to life, like life might have done the same on Mars.


• Far Outliers notes the crushing defeat, and extensive looting of, the Moghul empire by the Persia of Nader Shah.


• Hornet Stories looks at the medal hauls of out Olympic athletes this year in Pyeongchang.

Imageo notes satellite imagery indicating that fisheries occupy four times the footprint of agriculture. Aquaculture is starting to look like a necessary idea, I think.

• At In Media Res, Russell Arben Fox praises Porch Fires, a new biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser, for its insights on Wilder and on the moment of the settlement of the American West.


• JSTOR Daily notes how, in the 19th century after the development of anesthesia, the ability to relieve people of pain was a political controversy. Shouldn't it be felt, wasn't it natural?


• Language Hat links to an article taking a look behind the scenes at the Oxford English Dictionary. How does it work? What are its challenges?


• At Lingua Franca, Roger Shuy distinguishes between different kinds of speech events and explains why they are so important in the context of bribery trials.


• The LRB Blog shares some advice on ethics in statecraft from the 2nd century CE Chinese writer Liu An.


• J. Hoberman at the NYR Daily reviews an exhibit of the work of Bauhaus artist Jozef Albers at the Guggenheim.


• Roads and Kingdoms shares an anecdote of travellers drinking homemade wine in Montenegro.


• Drew Rowsome interviews Native American drag queen and up-and-coming music star Vizin.


• Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains how star S0-2, orbiting so close to the black hole at the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy, will help prove Einsteinian relativity.


• Vintage Space explains, for the record, how rockets can work in a vacuum. (This did baffle some people this time last century.)


• Window on Eurasia suggests that, on its 100th anniversary, Estonia has succeeded in integrating most of its Russophones.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: Vimy Ridge Avenu, Community Housing, GO Transit, Toronto police

• The midtown Toronto street formerly known as Vimy Ridge Ave was renamed in 1928 because that First World War battle simply had not penetrated the Canadian consciousness. The Toronto Star reports.


• Toronto Community Housing is going to sell off high-value real estate it owns while apparently not inconveniencing its tenants. The Globe and Mail reports.


• Metrolinx is still going to approve two new GO Transit stations, Kirby and Lawrence East, despite apparent political interference. The Toronto Star reports.


• It did take the murder of well-connected, out, white Andrew Kinsman to get police to take the idea of a serial killer seriously. What police told the family of Abdulbasir Faizi is unforgiveable. Global News reports.


• Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders is lying about the lack of active community concern about the possibility of a serial killer at work in Church and Wellesley, and is underplaying the incompetence of Toronto police and his own role. What else can we say? The Globe and Mail covers this.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: New York City, Montréal, Hong Kong, Paris, Narva

• Hornet Stories has a list of some of the key LGBTQ destinations in New York City. This is something for my next trip, I think.


• Robert Everett-Green writes about the transformation of Montréal's Viauville, once a model neighbourhood funded by 19th century cookie magnate Charles-Théodore Viau, over at The Globe and Mail.


• Hong Kong is exceptionally pressed for space for housing, making land for commerce all the more difficult to come by. Bloomberg reports.


• France is planning to make a suburban wasteland in the northeast of the conurbation of Paris over into a vast forest. CityLab reports.


• DW reports on how, one hundred years after Estonia first became independent, the country's Russophones, particularly concentrated in the northeastern city of Narva, are now engaging with (and being engaged by) the wider country.

[NEWS] Five language links: Inuktitut, Icelandic, Ladino, Spanish, isiXhosa

• I entirely agree with the argument of Aluki Kotierk, writing at MacLean's, who thinks the Inuit of Nunavut have been entirely too passive, too nice, in letting Inuktitut get marginalized. Making it a central feature in education is the least that can be done. (Québec-style language policies work.)


• Although ostensibly a thriving language in many domains of life, the marginalization of the Icelandic language in the online world could be an existential threat. The Guardian reports.


• As part of a bid to keep alive Ladino, traditional language of the Sephardic Jews, Spain has extended to the language official status including support and funding. Ha'aretz reports.


• A new set of policies of Spain aiming at promoting the Spanish language have been criticized by some in Hispanic American states, who call the Spanish moves excessively unilateral. El Pais reports.


• isiXhosa, the language of the Xhosa people of South Africa, is getting huge international attention thanks to its inclusion in Black Panther. The Toronto Star reports.