[PHOTO] Three photos of back vistas and one selfie

[BLOG] Some Monday links

• The Dragon's Tales notes that Raytheon has been awarded a contract to deliver a 100 kilowatt laser weapon system.


• Hornet Stories offers a guide to LGBTQ sites in Manila.


• JSTOR Daily explores the writing career of mid-20th century SF writer "James Tiptree Jr", the pseudonym of Alice Bradley Sheldon.


• Dan Nexon at Lawyers, Guns and Money explores the idea of a liberal world order, particularly as a manifestation of American policy post-1945.


• Ben Yagoda at Lingua Franca takes a look at how Big Data--specifically, large archives of the written word--can illuminate lots about patterns of language usage, noting some examples.


• The Map Room Blog looks at the way that maps of population density are being used in the United States to legitimate or delegitimate specific groups of voters.


• Marginal Revolution's Tyler Cowen considers the concept of "reciprocity anxiety", of owing people.


• The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer reports on some swear words in Argentine Spanish as well as a case of government expropriation of Mapuche lands.


• Drew Rowsome takes an extended look at Scotty and the Secret Life of Hollywood, an extended documentary looking at the life of scotty Bowers in closeted 20th century Hollywood.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: Jennifer Keesmaat, David Miller, Presto, Toronto Sun, Chick-Fil-A

• The entry of Jennifer Keesmaat into the Toronto mayoral race, Matt Elliott notes at CBC Toronto, is already disrupting the contest in ways of interest to progressives. CBC reports.


• I certainly agree with the suggestion of former mayor David Miller that Toronto should take Ford to court on the city council issue, not only because this is an important issue but because a line needs to be drawn. The Toronto Star reports.


• If, as Ben Spurr notes at the Toronto Star, malfunctioning Presto cards and readers enabled 1.4 million free riders, all I can say is that I am surprised there were not more. I, for one, am going to keep buying the Metropass for as long as I can.


• Jamie Bradburn has reposted an old 2009 Torontoist column of his looking at the role played by the Toronto Sun and its media personalities in city politics.


• Natalia Manzocco at NOW Toronto reports on how institutionally homophobic American chicken sandwich chain Chick-Fil-A is hoping to set up a restaurant in Canada.

[WRITING] Five writing links: Wangersky, Kelly, Wrede, Harris, McKean

• This Russell Wangersky column, published (among other places) at the Charlottetown Guardian, makes the perfectly valid point that journalism is much more than stringing together some tweets. It's a craft.


• The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly talks about her experience enjoying the camaraderie of journalism, faced with shared challenges and menaces.


• Patricia Wrede writes about how perfectionism can be the enemy of good writing.


• Malcolm Harris writes at his Medium blog about the history of changing pay rates for writers.


• Literary agent Kate McKean writes at The Outline about how a good story is, by itself, not nearly enough for a book. More is required.

[PHOTO] Five photography links: Distracted Boyfriend, anthropology. Edward Curtis, fake news

• Did you know that the famous Distracted Boyfriend meme is actually part of a long melodramatic storyline, involving broken marriages, dead babies, and murder? Imgur has it all.


• Dick Powis, writing at Anthro{dendum} in the #Ror2018 series, examines the theory and the power behind visual ethnography.


• JSTOR Daily considers how some of the portraits of Edward Curtis depicting indigenous cultures underplayed their members' engagement with the modern world, and why.


• Lazia Kretzel, writing at the Guardian's Comment is Free, looks at how Nigel Farage's uncritical sharing of a crudely morphed photo of a Canadian supporter of refugees that she herself took is dangerous.


• Mark Gollom takes a look at the uncontested power of a contested photo taken to illustrate the Trump Administration's separation of children from parents at the United States' border. What can a photo be taken to mean?