[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait tells the story of how the Andromeda Galaxy ate most of its Local Group partner two billion years ago, M32p.


• Centauri Dreams looks at what the preponderance of water worlds--worlds with vast amounts of water--mean for life.


• Corey Robin at Crooked Timber links to an essay of his noting that the Avital Ronell scandal reveals deep problems inside academia.


• D-Brief notes reactions involving protons that play a major role in powering neutron stars.


• Bruce Dorminey shares five questions about the universe that bug--productively, I think--astrobiologists.


• The Dragon's Tales examines the challenges facing the proposal by Modi for the creation of a manned Indian space program within a decade.


• Colby King writes at the Everyday Sociology Blog about challenges facing students building social networks. How broad and diverse can they be?


• David Finger at the Finger Post writes, and shows, a one-day trip to Cuzco.


• Hornet Stories starts a fun discussion on heroic monsters. I'm pleased to say that the Addams Family ranked highly.


• Information is Beautiful shares a new infographic exploring what, exactly, a trillion dollars is.


• JSTOR Daily looks at how, not just the concept of the Mediterranean as a unified region, but of the Mediterranean as uniquely attractive, came about.


• The LRB Blog reports from the Edinburgh Fringe, where the Brexit-themed play Leave. To Remain is playing.


• Ryan Holmberg at the NYR Daily looks at how manga in Japan have dealt with nuclear danger before and after Fukushima, looking particular at the work of Susumu Katsumata.


• Strange Company tells the story of the strange hauntings that beset, in mid-19th century Normandy, the Château des Noyers.


• Towleroad shares a video of older gay men reacting to the definitely out videos of queer pop singer Troye Sivan.


• At Understanding Society, Daniel Little takes a look at the arguments of Andrew Hopkins regarding safety culture in an enterprise versus safety behaviour.


• Window on Eurasia notes a continued Russian threat, post-Crimea, to Ukrainian sovereignty in its territorial waters on the Sea of Azov and elsewhere.


• Arnold Zwicky notes the impending end of summer, between flowers and sex and more.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: #letsgototheex, Yonge and Eglinton, rents, Toronto vs Ontario

• Toronto Guardian recommends three activities that erstwhile CNE visitors can engage in to support the workers' strike.


• Urban Toronto highlights some of the new features being added to E Condos at Yonge and Eglinton as construction there finishes.


• NOW Toronto notes the extension of bike share programs up to Yonge and Eglinton, further north from the downtown.


• Nowhere in Toronto, May Warren reports at the Toronto Star, are rents particularly affordable, not even in the suburbs.


• CBC Toronto reports that, according to the secret city solicitor's report, there are only a limited number of ways Toronto can fight the Ontario government in court over the reduction in city council's size, with little hope of an easy victory.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Montréal, London, Moscow, Cape Town, Tokyo and Kawaguchi

• Ici Radio-Canada notes the stiff competition that the port of Montréal is facing from its American competitors.


• JSTOR Daily reports on the solidarities created among diverse groups in London by the effects of the Blitz.


• Window on Eurasia notes the paranoia of some commentators and power figures about the emergence of ethnic neighbourhoods in Moscow, Central Asians featuring particularly.


• Guardian Cities notes that Bo Kaap, a traditionally Muslim Coloured enclave in Cape Town, is facing severe pressure from gentrification.


• The South Chima Morning Post notes the fact of the emergence of a thriving Chinatown in the Tokyo suburb of Kawaguchi, and the controversy that this new neighbourhood has created.

[PHOTO] Rainstorm under early evening's light, Yonge and Eglinton

The strength of this early evening's rain in the ambient environment of bright light lent a weird hyperrealism to the scene as I left work today, a certain quality to the light that I have usually seen only in photoshopped images.