[CAT] Shakespeare, paused

[PHOTO] Fifteen photos from Discounted History, Myseum of Toronto (#myseumoftoronto)

In the month of November, the Toronto Media Arts Centre hosted the Myseum of Toronto exhibit Discounted Histories, looking at the retail past of the Toronto area. Artifacts from First Nations trade routes were displayed alongside contemporary cartoons of the 1990s retail wars and early 20th century department store offerings.

[BLOG] Some Saturday links

• Bad Astronomer notes the grooves of Phobos, and describes the latest theory behind the formation of this strange feature on the largest Martian moon.


• Centauri Dreams notes the first detection of helium in an exoplanet atmosphere, from hot Neptune HAT-P-11b.


• D-Brief notes how new dating technologies, drawing on artifacts from Toronto sites, reveal that European contact with the Iroquois came at a much later date than previously thought.


• The Dragon's Tales notes that Russia has pushed its plans for a crewed Moon landing back a decade, to 2040.


• Gizmodo notes that the Large Hadron Collider is going to be shut down for a couple of years, for repairs and upgrading.


• JSTOR Daily took a look at how forest fires work in Finland, particularly in contrast to those of California.


• Roger Shuy at Lingua Franca notes, looking at a famous American legal case, how the way we ask questions really does matter.


• Marginal Revolution notes, in passing, the economic stagnation of Portugal in the past two decades, with very little growth over this time.


• The NYR Daily shares an interview with the late sociologist Zygmunt Bauman in which he talks about how our era has trivialized evil.


• Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes how disagreements between different scientists using different methods to measure the expansion of the universe reveal that, somewhere, something is incorrect. But what?


• Daniel Little at Understanding Society looks at corruption as a sociological phenomenon.


• Arnold Zwicky considers the idea of the ongoing insect apocalypse.

[URBAN NOTE] Six Toronto links: Light tunnels, waterfront, Ossington graffiti, Dufferin Mall, police

• blogTO notes a few of the holiday light tunnels up, from Yonge and St. Clair south to the waterfront.


• Rabble asks a useful question: How much does the Toronto public know about plans for the waterfront?


• John Lorinc at Spacing fears much may go wrong in the development of the Toronto waterfront, between a flawed auditor-general's report and the new Ford government of Ontario.


• I must go to this graffiti-lined alley paralleling Ossington starting north of Queen. blogTO reports.


• There may yet emerge a substantial condo development on what is now the parking lot of the Dufferin Mall, to the northeast of the mall proper. blogTO reports.


• Happily, the Supreme Court of Canada will not hear an appeal by the former policeman convicted of killing Sammy Yatim. VICE reports.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Montréal, Saint John, Sydney, New York City, Katowice

• La Presse notes that reconstruction work planned for Montréal's Saint-Sulpice library has been delayed by a shortage of workers, given the wider city's construction boom.


• CBC notes how the Halifax Explosion led to the Oland family building the Moosehead Brewery in Saint John.


• The closure of Sydney-based call centre Servicom has left six hundred people unemployed just before Christmas. CBC reports.


• Gothamist warns people in New York City which bars to avoid during this weekend's Santacon.


• Politico Europe notes how, in the Polish city of Katowice at the heart of Upper Silesia, even there coal is falling out of the mix as a major employer.

[NEWS] Five LGBTQ links: #ScienceDaddy, Tumblr, Pride Toronto, Canadian Pride Citation, SF leather

• them interviews Troy Lee Hudson, the engineer working on NASA's InSight Mars who has gone viral as #ScienceDaddy, letting him talk about Mars and about being an out scientist.


• Stefanie Duguay at The Conversation writes about how the new Tumblr ban on NSFW content will harm young LGBTQ people, by depriving them of community and information.


• Rinaldo Walcott at Daily Xtra makes the case for downsizing Pride Toronto to better fit community needs and desires.


• The Canadian federal government has created a new Canada Pride Citation, available to present and past LGBTQ employees of the federal government, including many who were persecuted for their sexual orientation. Global News reports.


• them reports on how gentrification in the leather community in San Francisco impacts the wider city.