[PHOTO] Paul Kane House in the night

The historic Paul Kane House, on Wellesley Street east just west of Church, stands in the night against the background of the ever-increasing number of towers illuminating the night sky beyond it to the north.

[BLOG] Some Thursday links

• In a guest post at Antipope, researcher and novelist Heather Child writes about the extent to which Big Data has moved from science fiction to reality.


• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes the very recent discovery of a massive crater buried under the ice of Greenland, one that may have impacted in the human era and altered world climate. Are there others like it?


• Crooked Timber responds to the Brexit proposal being presented to the British parliament. Is this it?


• D-Brief notes the discovery of the unusually large and dim, potentially unexplainable, dwarf galaxy Antlia 2 near the Milky Way Galaxy.


• Gizmodo notes that the size of mysterious 'Oumuamua was overestimated.


• JSTOR Daily looks at the life and achievements of Polish-born scholar Jósef Czapski, a man who miraculously survived the Soviet massacre of Polish officers at Katyn.


• At the LRB Blog, Ken Kalfus writes about his father's experience owning a drycleaner in a 1960s complex run by the Trump family.


• Marginal Revolution starts a discussion over a recent article in The Atlantic claiming that there has been a sharp drop-off in the sex enjoyed by younger people in the United States (and elsewhere?).


• At Roads and Kingdoms, T.M. Brown shares a story of the crazy last night of his bartending days in Manhattan's Alphabet City.


• Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel imagines what the universe would have been like during its youth, during peak star formation.


• Strange Maps' Frank Jacobs takes a look at different partition plans for the United States, aiming to split the country into liberal and conservative successor states.


• Window on Eurasia notes that some Ingush, after noting the loss of some border territories to neighbouring Chechnya, fear they might get swallowed up by their larger, culturally related, neighbours.


• Yorkshire Ranter Alexander Harrowell predicts that there will not be enough Tory MPs in the United Kingdom willing to topple Theresa May over the Brexit deal.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: retro maps, Sherbourne, ward councils, Anthropocene, Faith Goldy

• The Map Room Blog shares this fantastic 1950s-style travel map for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, created by Warren Davidson.


• blogTO notes the installation of some new mural panels at Sherbourne Station.


• Dylan Ward at Spacing Toronto considers how ward councils, elected or otherwise, might work in Toronto.


• Fatima Syed at the National Observer takes a look at the stunning new exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Anthropocene, and its import for the human relationship to the environment.


• This profile by Anna Silman at The Cut of Faith Goldy, her former schoolmate and friend, is compelling reading. What happened?

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Windsor, Québec City, Calgary, Tokyo, Tijuana

• Low-lying Windsor, Ontario, faces the prospect of serious flooding that might be alleviated if old features of the natural landscape like trees and wetlands were restored. CBC reports.


• Robert Vandewinkel at Huffington Post Québec makes an argument for a subway system for Québec City.


• Jason Markusoff at MacLean's, noting the referendum vote in Calgary against hosting the 2026 Olympics, suggests this vote can be best sign as a sign of this city's maturity and confidence, that Calgary does not need the Olympics to be successful.


• The Diplomat notes how costs for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics have ballooned, despite promises of an affordable Olympics.


• VICE notes the plight of the Central American refugees gathering at Tijuana, unlikely to gain asylum in the United States.

[NEWS] Five culture links: maroons and pirates, witchcraft, Jane Austen, Korea/India, baybayin

• This Joseph Kelly extract at Longreads looks at how maroons and pirates made common cause in the Caribbean in fighting for their freedom.


• The Atlantic reports on how witchcraft is becoming popular among many African-Americans, especially African-American women, who reject Christianity.


• The Conversation looks at the feminist critiques of the novels of Jane Austen, only barely hidden.


• The BBC notes how an ancient myth of a Korean queen's origins in India is being used to build a new relationship between South Korea and India.


• Ozy takes a look at a Filipino man who is trying to save the ancient baybayin script of the Philippines.

[MUSIC] Five music links: Joni Mitchell, "Le Freak", Janet Jackson, Robyn, fade-out

• Noisey shares this great playlist introducing listeners to the music of Joni Mitchell.


• Russell Arben Fox at In Media Res celebrates "Le Freak".


• Noisey does a great job sharing this Janet Jackson playlist.


• The NPR review of the new Robyn album, Honey, makes me want to go see her when she comes to Toronto in March.


• Alan Cross at Global News looks at how the fade-out in the modern song came to be and seems to be disappearing.