[PHOTO] Looking south on Yonge Street at Wellesley

[PHOTO] Five Pre-Columbian artifacts, four in gold and one in silver (@metmuseum)

The skill of the metalworkers of pre-Columbian Colombia and Peru, capable of making gold and silver into such intricate and diverse shapes, really impressed me when we were walking through this gallery at the Met.

[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

• At Anthropology.net, Kambiz Kamrani notes the Qesem caves of Israel, where four hundred thousand years ago hominids learned to make tools.


• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes that star S2 is about to plunge to its closest approach to Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the heart of our galaxy, and what this means for science.


• Centauri Dreams takes a look at research done on Earth about the atmospheres of super-Earths.


• D-Brief takes a look at the recent research done on the regions on the edges of supermassive black holes.


• Bruce Dorminey notes that the Juno science team thinks that Jupiter probe has exceeded expectations.


• The Dragon's Tales notes the evidence for a massive migration from the steppes into Europe circa 3300 BCE.


• The Frailest Thing's Michael Sacasas makes the argument that the idea of humane technology is something of an oxymoron.


• Imageo notes evidence that permafrost will melt more quickly than previous predicted under the impact of global warming.


• JSTOR Daily looks at explanations for the unusually strong activism among high school students in East Los Angeles in the 1960s.


• Language Hat looks at evidence for the close relationship, in vocabulary and even in grammar, between the Turkish and Western Armenian languages now separated by bad blood.


• Lingua Franca notes how easy it is to change conventions on language use--like pronouns, say--at a well-functioning institution.


• Marginal Revolution looks at the economic progress made, after a recent lull, by Ghana.


• The NYR Daily looks at the growing involvement of the United States in small wars in Africa, starting with Niger and Cameroon.


• Justin Petrone at north! reports on a family visit to his ancestral home of Bari, seeing what little remains of the past there.


• Peter Rukavina wonders, apropos of a very successful experience shopping online at Amazon, how anyone else will be able to compete.


• Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel considers the difference between mathematics and physics. Where is the line to be drawn?


• Strange Maps' Frank Jacobs maps obesity in the United States and in Europe.


• Towleroad reports on the apparent interest of actor Cynthia Nixon in becoming governor of New York.


• John Scalzi at Whatever is a big fan of A Wrinkle in Time, a movie that is not perfect but is still quite good. I'm curious to see it myself.


• Window on Eurasia reports on food riots in isolated Turkmenistan.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: Yonge-Dundas Square, mass transit, book sales

• Some criticism of Yonge-Dundas Square may be merited, but I think it might be a bit too harsh. What we need is more seating on the square itself. Metronews carries it.


• Humber Bay Shores is a lovely booming neighbourhood, but it really does need much better public transit options. For starters. The Toronto Star examines the neighbourhood.


• Steve Munro has some more questions about Metrolinx planning in the GTA.


• The Smarttrack solution proposed by Mayor John Tory may not be popular among some people in Scarborough. The Toronto Star reports.


• The upcoming massive book sale at the Toronto Reference Library is one I will be paying attention to. blogTO reports.

[NEWS] Five Canada politics links: Ontario, Canada, Doug Ford, Alberta

• Despite being relatively unpopular himself, the Ontario PCs under Doug Ford could conceivably form a majority government. Global News reports.


• Could Doug Ford become a populist hero for Canadians within and without Ontario? One wonders. MacLean's considers.


• Chris Selley notes that taking on Doug Ford represents a big risk for the Ontario PCs, over at the National Post.


• Doug Ford as premier of Ontario, Chantal Hébert notes at the Toronto Star, would destabilize politics Canada-wide.


• The NDP government of Rachel Notley is running increasingly long odds of being re-elected, it seems. MacLean's reports.