[CAT] Shakespeare, at the end of the bed

[CAT] Five cat links: AI, psychology, Captain Marvel, Ancient Egypt, New York City

• Fast Company reports on NVIDIA's StyleGAN AI, an engine that cannot generate convincing images of cats.


• PsyPost reports on a PLOS One study suggesting that the cats of owners experiencing psychological stress are influenced negatively by this.


• In the new Captain Marvel movie, the titular character's pet cat Goose is played by a team of four cats.


• David Anderson looks at the representation of the cat in the art of ancient Egypt, in scenes both divine and domestic.


• The Guardian reports on a new book by Peggy Gavan, looking at evidence of how the men of New York City in the late 19th and early 20th centuries loved their cats.

[PHOTO] Looking along Eglinton Avenue East, Yonge-Eglinton Centre

The rooftop patio at the Yonge-Eglinton Centre offers fantastic views of the entire neighbourhood of Yonge and Eglinton as it continues its transformation.

[BLOG] Some Saturday links

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait looks at planetary nebulas, beautiful byproducts of the ends of stars.


• Centauri Dreams shares an essay by Mark Millis looking at how NASA evaluates proposed new propulsion methods.


• Bruce Dorminey takes a look at some interesting facts about the development of the Boeing 747.


• L.M. Sacasas at The Frailest Thing considers the ways in which deepfakes, allowing for alternate personalities online, evoke the Bunburying of Oscar Wilde.


• Gizmodo notes that neutron star collisions might well reveal mysterious quark matter, if only they occurred within sight of us.


• JSTOR Daily considers the sensuous nature of the Jane Austen novel Persuasion.


• Language Log considers a potential case for Sinitic origins in the Balto-Slavic word for "iron".


• Scott Lemieux at Lawyers, Guns and Money considers the weakness of the centre as a major pull for American voters.


• Marginal Revolution links to a paper concluding that Chinese workers are not being exploited by the manufacturing companies that may employ them.


• Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel considers how the curvature of space-time under gravity can be measured.


• Window on Eurasia considers two Kazakhstan observers who argue the country should switch from Kazakh-Russian bilingualism to Kazakh-English bilingualism.


• Arnold Zwicky considers, after the Gay & Lesbian Review, the representation of different communities in the LGBT+ acronym, the utility of simple symbols, like "&" or "+".

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: Google and the Portlands, TTC, Westside Mall, Sahil Jagil

• Steve Munro examines the complexity of the issues raised by Google's leaked plans for the Port Lands, and the possibility that it overplayed its hand.


• The Toronto Star, incidentally, notes that the Ontario government has reacted strongly and negatively to the Google proposal re: the Port Lands.


• Urban Toronto considers the language of "terms of reference" used in the discussion of uploading the TTC from Toronto to Ontario. What does it all mean?


• Urban Toronto reports on plans to redevelop the Westside Mall driven by the nearby Caledonia Station on the Eglinton Crosstown line.


• Toronto Life tells the story of Sahil Jagil, a man who came to Ontario as a student at Wilfrid Laurier University at 18 and in the next decade and a half managed to create a small property empire in Toronto.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Detroit, Québec City, Boston, Queens, Colonia del Sacramento

• CityLab shares newly unearthed photos of the destroyed Detroit neighbourhood of Black Bottom.


• The National Post reports that apparently the latest iteration of the Winter Carnival in Québec City has not met with popular approval.


• CityLab explored for Valentine's Day the notable history of Boston as a centre for the manufacture of candy.


• CityLab notes how the nascent condo boom in Queens' Long Island City, set to capitalize on the Amazon HQ2 there, has been undermined abruptly by Amazon's withdrawal.


• Ozy looks at the historic Uruguay town of Colonia del Sacramento.

[NEWS] Five LGBTQ links: Polari, CIA, Los Angeles, The Gay Cookbook, love on film

• Hornet Stories takes a look at Polari, the old slang of gays in London.


• Hornet Stories shares extracts of a CIA study from 1980 aiming to identify homosexuals.


• The Los Angeles Times tells the story of an elderly couple, now retiring, who ran a gay bookstore for decades.


• Hornet Stories reports on The Gay Cookbook, a very early gay-marketed book dating from 1966.


• Them shares some queer love stories on film for Valentine's Day.

[NEWS] Five Indigenous links: Ainu, Mayan cards, food culture, hip-hop, translation

• Japan Today notes that the Ainu, the indigenous people of the northern island of Hokkaido, are set to be recognized by the Japanese government as indigenous.


• Atlas Obscura looks at the decks of Mayan playing cards created by the Soviet Union.


• The Conversation reports on how Indigenous food cultures in Canada can be used to better understand the environment and its changes.


• Brielle Morgan at The Discourse reports on the Indigenous, political hip-hop of Diana Hellson.


• CBC reports on the experiences of Priscilla Bosun, official Cree-language translator in the House of Commons.