[PHOTO] Snow and slush, Dovercourt and Hallam

The sleet yesterday did at least help to make the streetscape of Toronto white again, at the cost of making it wet, too.

[BLOG] Some Thursday links

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait shares a lovely photo of the Earth peeking out from behind the far side of the Moon.


• At the Broadside Blog, Caitlin Kelly shares lovely photos of delicate ice and water taken on a winter's walk.


• Centauri Dreams looks</> at the study by Chinese astronomers who, looking at the distribution of Cepheids, figured out that our galaxy's disk is an S-shaped warp.


• D-Brief notes new evidence that melting of the Greenland ice sheet will disrupt the Gulf Stream.


• L.M. Sacasas at The Frailest Thing takes issue with the uncritical idealization of the present, as opposed to the critical examination of whatever time period we are engaging with.


• Gizmodo notes that an intensive series of brain scans is coming closer to highlighting the areas of the human brain responsible for consciousness.


• Mark Graham links to new work of his, done in collaboration, looking at ways to make the sharing economy work more fairly in low- and middle-income countries.


• JSTOR Daily notes how the mystic Catholicism of the African kingdom of Kongo may have gone on to inspire slave-led revolutions in 18th century North America and Haiti.


• Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at an exhibition examining the ambitious architecture of Yugoslavia.


• The Map Room Blog links to a cartographer's argument about the continuing importance of paper maps.


• Marginal Revolution shares one commenter's perception of causes or the real estate boom in New Zealand.


• Neuroskeptic considers the role of the mysterious silent neurons in the human brain.


• At NYR Daily, Guadeloupe writer Maryse Condé talks about her career as a writer and the challenges of identity for her native island.


• Roads and Kingdoms shares a list of ten dishes reflecting the history of the city of Lisbon.


• Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel takes a look at the promise of likely mini-Neptune Barnard's Star b as a target for observation, perhaps even life.


• Window on Eurasia shares the perfectly plausible argument that, just as the shift of the Irish to the English language did not end Irish identity and nationalism, so might a shift to Russian among Tatars not end Tatar identity.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: Torontoist, Dundas West/Bloor, McArthur, schools, TTC

• Veteran Toronto online news hub Torontoist, silent for the past few months, has been acquired by Canadian combine Daily Hive. I wish Torontoist will; I miss it.


• A tunnel connecting the Dundas West TTC station with the Bloor UP station, a few hundred metres apart, is in the works but is still some years away. Toronto.com reports.


• A police officer who has been charged with negligence with regards to a 2016 claim of an assault by Bruce McArthur claims he is being made a fall guy. The Toronto Star has it.


• CBC Toronto looks at the low attendance at the Africentric Alternative School, despite the high praise it receives.


• At The Globe and Mail, former mayor John Sewell notes that the lack of consent of the City of Toronto to the takeover of the TTC by Ontario has some legal import.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Vaughan, Kingston, Youngstown, Washington D.C, Almaty

• Urban Toronto notes the rising towers of the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre, at the western end of Line 1.


• People in the city of Kingston are concerned by the implications of new Ontario government bills. Global News reports.


• This CityLab article takes look at the potential, actual and lost and potential, of immigration to save the declining Ohio city of Youngstown.


• Washington D.C, CityLab notes, is the latest city to be consumed by a debate over whether or not mass transit should be free.


• Guardian Cities reports on the remarkable discovery of long-hidden public art in the former Kazakhstan capital of Almaty.

[NEWS] Five Canadian politics links: marijuana, NDP, Québec, Green Party, ISIS, Brexit and film

• There is a shortlist of likely marijuana store locations in Ontario that includes Yorkville in Toronto. Global News reports.


• Éric Grenier at CBC reports that the NDP in Québec risks falling to pre-Orange Wave levels of support.


• Former NDP leader Thomas Mulcair warns that the weakening of the NDP stance on environmental issues might led to mass defections to the Green Party. CTV has it.


• Given the lack of any legal obligation to expedite the return of ISIS fighters holding Canadian citizenship, the Canadian government seems inclined to let them remain in detention in former ISIS territories. Global News reports.


• Brexit is boosting the Canadian film industry, given our numerous advantages as described by the Hollywood Reporter.

[MUSIC] Five music links: Seventeen, HMV and Sunrise, lo-fi hip-hop, Aretha Franklin, Matthew Lien

• Noisey looks at the deep interest of pop music with the age 17.


• HMV stores have been saved in Britain, as they have been in Canada, by the purchase of many remaining stores by Sunrise Records. The Guardian reports.


• JSTOR Daily looks at how lo-fi hip-hop became such a popular genre for students to listen to as they studied.


• Joshua Jelly-Schapiro at the NYR Daily writes about the grace drawn from religion that marks Aretha Franklin the musician.


• MacLean's introduces its readers to Yukon-based musician Matthew Lien, a huge star in Taiwan but still unknown in Canada.