[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

• In a long and frighteningly compelling article, Charlie Stross at Autopope warns that a Britain that heads for a hard Brexit might be lucky only to go through the worst of the 1970s.


• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait explores the fact that an asteroid the size of a car burned up in the atmosphere above Greenland on the 25th of July, 2018.


• Centauri Dreams shares an essay by Ramses Ramirez looking at efforts to redefine the classical "habitable zone" in more useful ways, keeping different planetary and stellar environments in mind.


• Crooked Timber's John Quiggin takes a look at the failures of a journalism relying on anonymous interview given the prospects of a hard Brexit.


• The Crux considers how the decision of flight-controllers to direct Voyager 1 towards a close flyby of Titan closed off the possibility of that spacecraft visiting Pluto in 1986.


• D-Brief looks at the exchange of microbes among subway passengers.


• JSTOR Daily takes a look at just how codified societies of the pirates of the early modern North Atlantic could be, of necessity.


• Language Log takes a look at why Matti, a character from the Finnish Nightmares webcomic, has become so massively popular in China.


• At Lawyers, Guns and Money, Dan Nexon continues his analysis of American hegemony, looking at instances of past hegemonies undermined not by foreign opposition but by non-state actors and by domestic opponents.


• Neuroskeptic notes a study suggesting the data sets collected by psychologists are actually not broadly accessible at all.


• Francis Wade a href="https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/08/06/ngugi-wa-thiongo-and-the-tyranny-of-language/">writes for the NYR Daily about Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, a Kenyan writer whose work--first writing in English, then shifting to Gikuyu--reflects a deep awareness of the intimate links between language and colonization, even in a post-colonial world.


• Corey S. Powell at Out There asks an important question: What is a habitable planet? Can we even speculate given how little we know?


• Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel looks at the prospect of sending orbiters like Galileo and Cassini, to Uranus and Neptune. The technology is there, the ODINUS mission has been sketched out, and there is a tempting launch window in 2034.


• Towleroad shares an excerpt from Omarosa Manigault's new book on Donald Trump and his administration, talking about the cognitive decline she witnessed.


• Window on Eurasia notes that Russia is strengthening its Interior Ministry forces opposing the Donbas republics in eastern Ukraine, ostensibly to prevent smuggling.


• Arnold Zwicky takes a look at some homoerotic art from Brazil with an accompanying Marilyn Frye text confusingly translated to Portuguese and back again.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: amalgamation, gun violence, Lego, 416 vs 905, Church and Carlton

• May Warren reports on the consensus opinion of pre-megacity mayors of Toronto that the last deep unwanted intervention of the Ontario provincial government into Toronto affairs, amalgamation, was a mess. The Toronto Star has it.


• Alok Mukherjee at NOW Toronto looks at how recent changes, including the new Ontario government, will impact John Tory's policies on gun violence and carding.


• Raju Mudhar profiles the goal of teacher Nathan Beyerle to get Lego to adopt and sell a Toronto Architecture Kit, reproducing in Lego iconic Toronto buildings for consumers. Can he get more supporters? The Toronto Star has it.


• Emma Teitel is quite right to point out that the split between 416ers and 905ers, between people in Toronto proper and people in the suburbs, is ridiculous and needs to stop. The Toronto Star has it
• 
  
• Less than two years separates these photos taken at Church and Carlton. Urban Toronto shares them.

[URBAN NOTE] Five #Parkdale links: Kalsang Dolmo, Designer Fabrics, #Vegandale

• Despite profound uncertainty as to the fate of the election, Kalsang Dolma is continuing to run for her Parkdale ward. The Toronto Star reports.


• Designer Fabrics, a costumer catering to theatre and film for 64 years, is set to close in Parkdale after 64 years. The Toronto Star reports.


• "Vegandale", a district dense in vegan retail and restaurants on Queen west of Dufferin, has created a lot of controversy among people in Parkdale. The Toronto Star reports.


• A community forum has been called to deal with the "Vegandale" marketing. NOW Toronto has more.


• Global News reports on the dispute between the long-settled residents of Parkdale and the newer incomers, brought out by "Vegandale".