[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

• Architectuul reports on how architects, at a time of new environmental pressures on water, how some architects are integrating water into their works.


• The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly talks about what books she is (and is not) reading these days.


• D-Brief notes a new study suggesting that the prospects of planet-based life at globular cluster Omega Centauri are low, simply because the tightly-packed stars disrupt each others' planets too often.


• Hornet Stories notes how some American conservatives wish to prohibit states from mandating adoption agencies not bar same-sex couples as applicants.


• JSTOR Daily notes how the tattooed heads of Maori first became international trade items in the 19th century, then were returned to New Zealand in more recent years.


• Language Log's Victor Mair writes about his favourite Nepali expression, "Bāphre bāph!".


• The Map Room Blog notes the release of a revised vision of Star Trek: Stellar Cartography, including material from season 1 of Discovery.


• Personal Reflections' Jim Belshaw explains how, in 1976, he appeared on Australian television talking about the Yowie, the Australian equivalent to a Yeti.


• Drew Rowsome reviews Folsom Street Blues, Jim Stewart's memoirs of the leather/SoMA scene in San Francisco in the 1970s.


• Peter Rukavina writes about the newly liberal liquor laws of Prince Edward Island, allowing children to be present in environments where liquor is being served.


• Window on Eurasia shares suggestions that the government of Ukraine needs to take a much more visible, and active, approach towards protecting its international tourists, for their sake and for the country's.


• Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell talks about the redefinition, at least in the United Kingdom, of Euroskepticism into a movement of extreme suburban nationalists, away from rational critiques of the European Union.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: TTC and transit, neighbourhood councils, Yonge and Bloor, houseboat

• Steve Munro examines the underlying factors behind crowding on the TTC's bus routes.


• NOW Toronto takes a look at the apparent Doug Ford plans to have the Ontario provincial government take over the TTC. Potentially fine in theory, given the scope of GTA transit, but not as it is likely to come about.


• The suggestion reported on by Samantha Beattie at the Toronto Star that the City of Toronto could compensate for a smaller city council with expanded neighbourhood councils does sound attractive, but it needs leadership to be pulled off.


• Making Yonge and Bloor a grassy pedestrian intersection for a few hours on the 19th sounds like fun. The Toronto Star reports.


• In the current real estate climate, the cost of living on house boats is less--and their attractiveness greater--than one might think. CBC reports.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Ontario real estate, Montréal, global warming, immigrant businesses

• Smaller Ontario cities far from the GTA, like Kingston and London, are starting to see rising prices spilling over from the GTA real estate boom. The Toronto Star reports.


• Montréal is starting to see a strong rise in real estate prices, thanks to political stability, a strong economy. international interest, and limited supply. Global News reports.


• Guardian Cities notes that, with temperatures of 50 degrees Celsius likely to come about in many world cities as climate change progresses, many cities will become dangerous to inhabit.


• Looking for reasons for the high death toll in the recent Québec heat wave, Malcolm Araos at The Conversation suggests that people living isolated, by themselves without strong connections, are most at risk.


• At The Conversation, Caroline Shenaz Hossein and Semhar Asres explore the central role played by immigrant businesses in overcoming issues of unemployment and marginalization.

[ISL] Five islands links: Indonesia and Bali, Abba Vis, Iles-de-la-Madeleine, Scalpay, music

• The Economist reports, with skepticism, on the proposal of the government of Indonesia to diffuse tourism beyond Bali to up to a dozen similar insular destinations.


• Srećko Horvat at The Guardian fears that the latest Mamma Mia! film might make life impossible for the inhabitants of the Croatian island of Vis, where this movie was filmed.


• André Lavoie at Le Devoir takes a look at the recent appearances of the Iles-de-la-Madeleine in Québec film.


• Marg Greenwood at The Island Review writes, with photos, about a walk she took on the Scottish island of Scalpay.


• Atlas Obscura writes about the sound map created by Andrew Pekler as a soundtrack for a tour of islands once mistakenly charted as existing.

[NEWS] Five SF links: the novella, Kubrick on 2001, Supergirl vs Superman, TV fans, past writers

• Jason Kehe at Wired suggests that now is the time of the science-fiction novella, not least because of their compact size.


• Esquire links to a video in which Stanley Kubrick gives his definitive interpretation of the ending of the movie version of 2001.


• Alex Cranz at io9 makes the argument that Supergirl, as an adult immigrant to Earth trying to find her way in an unknown world with great recent shows, resonates more deeply with the Super mythos than a more confused Superman.


• Jessica Wong at CBC reports on how campaigns by devoted fans can save cult SF television shows like the Toronto-filmed Shadowhunters.


• James Nicoll at Tor, looking back to the 1970s, uses a Judy-Lynn Del Rey anthology series of the era to highlight some noteworthy authors.