[PHOTO] Wall of glass at Hamilton Gears, looking east on Dovercourt

[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

• Anthro{dendum} links to a roundup of anthropology-relevant posts and news items.


• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait shows how the impending collision of galaxies NGC 4490 and NGC 4485 has created spectacular scenes of starbirth.


• Centauri Dreams notes the upcoming stream of new observatories and satellites that will enable better charting of exoplanets.


• Kieran Healy shares a cool infographic depicting the scope of the British baby boom.


• Hornet Stories shares the amazing video for the fantastic new song by Janelle Monáe, "Pynk."


• JSTOR Daily notes what happens when you send Frog and Toad to a philosophy class.


• Lawyers, Guns and Money makes the obvious point that abandoning civil rights of minorities is a foolish strategy for American liberals.


• The LRB Blog shares a reflection on Winnie Mandela, and the forces she led and represents.


• The Map Room Blog links to detailed maps of the Rohingya refugee camps.


• Marginal Revolution takes issue with a proposal by Zeynep Tufekci for a thorough regulation of Facebook.


• The NYR Daily notes how Israel is making full use of the law to enable its colonization of the West Bank.


• The Planetary Society Blog's Emily Lakdawalla reports from inside a NASA clean room where the new InSight Mars rover is being prepared.


• The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer talks about what is really wrong with a Trump Organization letter to the president of Panama regarding a real estate development there.


• Strange Company looks at the life of 19th century fraudster and murdering John Birchall.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: Doug Ford, Labyrinth, SmartTrack, night planning, Toronto Islands

• NOW Toronto notes how Doug Ford positions himself as an ally to the black community of Toronto, and how this has hardly been non-problematic, here>.


• Annex comic store Labyrinth is set to close, alas. NOW Toronto reports.


• The SmartTrack plan for more commuter rail put forth by the mayor could cost an extra quarter-billion dollars. The Toronto Star reports.


• Edward Keenan makes the point that, like other cities such as Amsterdam and Berlin, Toronto needs to do a better job of planning for the night. The Toronto Star has it.


• Toronto Guardian shares some lovely vintage photos of the Toronto Islands, here.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Vaughan, Markham, Hamilton, Vancouver and Seattle, Melbourne

• The cancellation of some condos being built at the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre has left their buyers unhappy, and justifiably so. The Toronto Star reports.


• The rapid growth of Vaughan and Markham, to the north of Toronto, is of international note. The Conversation has it.


• Kathleen Wynne is promising to protect (what's left of) the Hamilton steel industry. CBC reports.


• A direct air shuttle between Vancouver and Seattle is a good thing, but I think that cross-border area would be even better served by some sort of mass transit link. Global News has it.


• Melbourne, that city of Australia, is facing familiar issue of growth and livability. The Guardian has it.

[ISL] Five islands links: Malta, East Timor, Choctaw, Ireland, April Fool's Day

• Malta, it seems from this New Statesman take, is facing serious problems of corruption through its role in international finance.
  
• The establishment of a new maritime border between Australia and East Timor threatens Australia's borders with adjacent Indonesia. ABC reports.


• Ireland has established a scholarship program for Choctaw students as a sign of thanks for Choctaw aid during the Irish Potato Famine. The Irish Post reports.


• This Slugger O'Toole article suggests that the disparity in living standards and income between the Republic and Northern Ireland is not nearly so vast as GDP would suggest.


• The Map Room Blog shared this Ordinance Survey's April Fool's Day joke, of a fake but realistic island.