[PHOTO] Looking south from Richmond Street at the CN Tower in red

[BLOG] Some Friday links

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes how the dinosaurs seem to have been killed off 65 million years ago by a combination of geological and astronomical catastrophes.


• Centauri Dreams examines Kepler 1658b, a hot Jupiter in a close orbit around an old star.


• The Crux reports on the continuing search for Planet Nine in the orbits of distant solar system objects.


• D-Brief notes how researchers have begun to study the archaeological records of otters.


• Cody Delistraty profiles author and journalist John Lanchester.


• Far Outliers reports on the terrible violence between Hindus and Muslims preceding partition in Calcutta.


• L.M. Sacasas at The Frailest Thing suggests the carnival of the online world, full of hidden work, is actually an unsatisfying false carnival.


• Hornet Stories reports that São Paulo LGBTQ cultural centre and homeless shelter Casa 1 is facing closure thanks to cuts by the homophobic new government.


• io9 reports on one fan's attempt to use machine learning to produce a HD version of Deep Space Nine.


• JSTOR Daily takes a look at the increasing trend, at least in the United States and the United Kingdom, to deport long-term residents lacking sufficiently secure residency rights.


• Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at the literally medieval epidemics raging among the homeless of California.


• Marginal Revolution considers how the Book of Genesis can be read as a story of increasing technology driving improved living standards and economic growth.


• The NYR Daily interviews Lénaïg Bredoux about #MeToo in France.


• The Planetary Society Blog considers the subtle differences in colour between ice giants Uranus and Neptune, one greenish and the other a blue, and the causes of this difference.


• The Speed River Journal's Van Waffle shares beautiful photos of ice on a stream as he talks about his creative process.


• Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel considers what the universe was like back when the Earth was forming.


• Window on Eurasia reports on a statement made by the government of Belarus that the survival of the Belarusian language is a guarantor of national security.


• Arnold Zwicky was kind enough to share his handout for the semiotics gathering SemFest20.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: Yonge and Eglinton, TD Centre, TTC, budget, Cantonese opera

• Urban Toronto notes that Yonge and Eglinton is now being torn apart, again, for Eglinton Crosstown construction.


• Chris Bateman writes at CityLab about the singular achievement of Mies Van der Rohe in designing the TD Centre.


• blogTO reports that the TTC has abandoned the policy of collecting personal information from passengers accused of misconduct, an echo of police carding.


• John Lorinc writes at Spacing about ways to reframe the language used in debating the budget of the City of Toronto.


• Arlene Chan at Spacing tells the century-long history of Cantonese opera in Toronto.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: New York City, Lisbon, Lagos, Donetsk and Luhansk, Hong Kong

• CityLab looks at the sheer density of the Marvel universe in New York City.


• CityLab reports on how the Portuguese capital of Lisbon is suffering a rash of thefts of its iconic tiles.


• A series of private movie screenings in Lagos are explored in CityLab, as a way of building community.


• Open Democracy takes a look at how the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk, in the occupied Donbas, are now being run.


• Guardian Cities reports on how urban explorers and photographers in Hong Kong are trying to archive images of their changing city.

[NEWS] Five D-Brief links: geology and orbits, global climate, ice ages, Apollo moons, Stonehenge

• Core samples from the Earth contain the history of our planet's orbital machinations. D-Brief reports.


• Global action on climate, D-Brief notes, is needed now if we are to save the Earth for future generations.


• Certain kinds of tectonic collisions, by exposing fresh rock, may well cause ice ages. D-Brief reports.
  
• Some Apollo moon rocks as yet untouched by science have been given over for analysis. D-Brief reports.


• An analysis of pig bones at Stonehenge reveals the cosmopolitanism of the visitors to that site. D-Brief reports.

][NEWS] Five JSTOR Daily links: opium, butter, William Bourgereau, Alice Guy-Blaché, witches' marks

• JSTOR Daily considers how using opium ending up becoming a moral issue.


• JSTOR Daily notes how the enterprise of women helped make butter a major industry in the 19th century.


• JSTOR Daily examines how the public display, in New York City in 1873, of the painting Nymphs and Satyrs by William Bourgereau challenged the city's culture.


• JSTOR Daily explains how, and why, pioneering French director Alice Guy-Blaché was denied a career in Hollywood.


• JSTOR Daily explains the uses of witches' marks, to protect spaces from the malign.