[PHOTO] Ceramics for October, Hockridge China

[BLOG] Some Thursday links

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait takes a look at the unusual object BST1047+1156, possibly a gas cloud or a faint galaxy.


• Keith Kintigh at The Crux takes a look at the poor preservation of critical archeological data, the sort of basic information that would allow much to be reconstructed by future generations.


• D-Brief notes that, with global warming, tropical cyclones are moving poleward.


• Dead Things notes how the diversity of some styles of ancient tools found in Texas hint at possible pre-Clovis migrations to the Americas.


• JSTOR Daily makes the case for lowering the voting age in the United States to 16, on the grounds of the reality of the many 16- and 17-year-olds who prove they can engage with the political process.


• At Lawyers, Guns and Money, Erik Loomis takes a look at the importance of fire as an element of the environment in the western United States, something at once feared and appreciated.


• The Map Room Blog highlights Navigating New York, an exhibition of ephemera (maps, tools, and others) relating to the New York City transit system running at the excellent New York Transit Museum.


• Scientist Conor Nixon writes at the Planetary Society Blog about a recent expedition to the glaciers of Iceland, looking for environments analogous to Europa's.


• Drew Rowsome reviews, and praises, the new LGBTQ anthology, Dark Rainbow: Queer Erotic Horror.


• Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel considers the early universe, where supermassive stars led to the formation of supermassive black holes.


• Window on Eurasia shares an argument that, after about 2000, the lived experience of millions of Russians with life elsewhere in Europe made it impossible to continue to imagine "Europe" as separate from Russia, even contrasting with Russia.


• Nick Rowe at Worthwhile Canadian Initiative considers the extent to which a job seeming to be useful would have greater appeal than a less useful but higher-paying job.


• Arnold Zwicky considers the origins of the Turkish taffy of his youth.

[URBAN NOTE] Five #topoli Toronto links: Faith Goldy, progressives, city council

• Brian Budd at The Conversation argues that the strong showing of Faith Goldy shows not only her particular threat, but that her expertise in social media and mobilizing support is something other alt-right people can learn from.


• Michael Coren at NOW Toronto argues that the attempt of Conrad Black to soft-pedal the racism and fascism of Faith Goldy is part of a broader effort by some people on the right to make Goldy and her views more acceptable.


• Anastasia Pitcher at The Varsity takes a look at Faith Goldy from her perspective of a U of T student, someone sharing in the traditions that Goldy has taken for her own in her alt-right career.


• Rob Salerno at Daily Xtra suggests that the confusion about progressives in Toronto about the sort of city they want, about the material ways they would make the lives of Torotonians better, will contribute to their continued defeats.


• Could rookie members on Toronto City Council hold the balance of power? The Toronto Star reports.