[PHOTO] Blue at the 519

Last night outside the 519 on Church Street, the blue lights streetside in Barbara Hall Park worked exquisitely with the clean white snow that night.

[PHOTO] Looking west towards Lansdowne, crossing the tracks at Bartlett

[BLOG] Some Monday links

• The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly writes about the importance of seeing the world from new angles.


• John Quiggin at Crooked Timber suggests that, worldwide, coal is becoming increasingly closely associated with corruption.


• D-Brief looks at a study drawing on Twitter that suggests people will quickly get used to changing weather in the era of climate change.


• Jonathan Wynn at the Everyday Sociology Blog writes about a family trip during which he spent time listening to sociology-related podcasts.


• Far Outliers notes the life-determining intensity of exam time for young people in Calcutta.


• io9 notes that, finally, the classic Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Once More, With Feeling" is being released on vinyl.


• JSTOR Daily looks at how medieval Europe regulated the sex trade.


• Language Hat looks at how anthropologists have stopped using "hominid" and started using "hominin", and why.


• Language Log considers the difficulty of talking about "Sinophone" given the unrepresented linguistic diversity included in the umbrella of "Chinese".


• Marginal Revolution suggests there are conflicts between NIMBYism and supporting open immigration policies.


• At Out There, Corey S. Powell interviews astronomer Slava Turyshev about the possibility not only of interstellar travel but of exploiting the Solar Gravity Lens, 550 AU away.


• Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 9 mission.


• Towleroad notes that Marvel Comics is planning to make its lead character in the Eternals gay.


• Daniel Little at Understanding Society examines how the human body and its physical capacities are represented in sociology.


• Window on Eurasia notes the growth of the Volga Tatar population of Moscow, something hidden by the high degree of assimilation of many of its members.


• Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell notes, in connection to Huawei, the broad powers allotted to the British government under existing security and communications laws.


• Arnold Zwicky looks at anteaters and antedaters.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: housing & ODSP, Crystal Papineau, Y&E Brooke Lynn Hites, loneliness

• Justin Haynes writes at NOW Toronto about the exceptional difficulty of finding affordable housing in Toronto for people on ODSP.


• CBC Toronto reports on the life of Crystal Papineau, a homeless woman who died in a tragic accident in Bloorcourt.


• Transit Toronto notes that Yonge and Eglinton is going to be disrupted for the next two months by Eglinton Crosstown construction.


• Toronto Life looks at Brooke Lynn Hites, the first Canadian contestant on RuPaul's Drag Race.


• Samantha Edwards writes at NOW Toronto about the concern that our city's boom in condo construction might also lead to loneliness. What is to be done?

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Montréal, Tromsø, Marseilles, Brampton, Harbin

• The different proposals for the future of McGill College Avenue in Montréal sound very interesting. Global News reports.


• Ozy reports on how Tromsø, largest city in Arctic Norway, has found new energy thanks to tourism.


• Roads and Kingdoms has some tips for visitors to the French Mediterranean city of Marseilles.


• Sean Marshall examines the question of why property taxes in the Ontario city of Brampton are so high. Can anything be done about them?


• Guardian Cities notes how the northeastern Chinese city of Harbin, like much of China's old rest belt, is facing stagnant economic growth.

[ISL] Five #PEI links: Biovectra, Syrian refugees, Crapaud vs Kinkora, telehealth, Jed Mackay

• The nearly forty million dollars of federal government investment promised for PEI biotech firm Biovectra is a substantial investment indeed. The Guardian reports.


• The Guardian reports the reunification of a family of Syrian refugees on the Island.


• Peter Rukavina notes and explains the significant differences, cultural and religious, between the neighbouring PEI communities of Crapaud and Kinkora.


• The western PEI community of Alberton, faced with doctor shortages, has been experimenting with telehealth. The National Post explains.


• CBC Prince Edward Island reports on Jed Mackay, an Islander currently writing for Marvel's Daredevil.

[ISL] Five #islands links: Newfoundland, Ireland, Novaya Zemlya, Pacific Islands, Diego Garcia

• CBC reports on a Toronto couple who found a better life in a small town in Newfoundland, Twillingate.


• The Irish Times reports on the difficulties, perceived and otherwise, surrounding the first application of Ireland to join the EEC in 1963.


• The Guardian reports on how the Russian Arctic islands of Novaya Zemlya have been facing an influx of hungry polar bears.


• This account at the NYR Daily of Oceania, an exhibit of art from the Pacific islands at the Royal Academy, makes me wish I could have seen it.


• The Inter Press Service reports on the victory of Mauritius over the United Kingdom at the International Court of Justice, ordering Britain to retreat from Diego Garcia and to allow the Chagossians to return to their archipelagic home.

[NEWS] Five LGBTQ links: queercore, lesbian pulp novels, drag, Church closeted, #MeToo

• Hornet Stories looks at the history of the queercore punk movement.


• Sarah Fonseca at them examines the subgenre of the lesbian pulp novel.


• CBC carries the argument of drag queen Halal Bae that, after RuPaul made drag mainstream, it's up to new artists like her to broaden the scope of the genre.


• I am strongly inclined to agree with Andrew Sullivan that the closeted corruption documented by Frédéric Martel in the Roman Catholic Church is morally repugnant. His New York blog has it.


• Kai Cheng Thom writes at Daily Xtra about the #MeToo movement in the context of queer communities, and the extra burdens it--and we--face.