[PHOTO] A slice of blue evening sky south down Yonge

Yesterday was a glorious evening, bright until late and full of blue sky.

[PHOTO] The sky last evening from Geary Avenue

The sky that surrounded me walking home along Geary Avenue last night was sublime.

[BLOG] Some Monday links

• Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait shares Johannes Kroeger's image of the median Earth.


• The Crux considers when human societies began to accumulate large numbers of aged people. Would there have been octogenarians in any Stone Age cultures, for instance?


• The Dragon's Tales considers Russia's strategy in Southeast Asia.


• Alexandra Samuel at JSTOR Daily notes that one way to fight against fake news is for people to broaden their friends networks beyond their ideological sympathizers.


• Language Log, noting a television clip from Algeria in which a person defend their native dialect versus standard Arabic, compares the language situation in the Arab world to that of China.


• Marginal Revolution's Tyler Cowen explains how the Tervuren Central African museum in Brussels has not been decolonized.


• The Planetary Society Blog explores the ice giants, Uranus and Neptune.


• Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains why, in current physics, the multiverse must exist.


• Strange Company explores the strange disappearance, in the Arizona desert in 1952, of a young couple. Their plane was found and in perfect condition, but what happened to them?


• Strange Maps reports on the tragic migration of six Californian raptors, only one of which managed to make it to its destination.


• Towleroad reports on the appearance of actor and singer Ben Platt on The Ellen Show, talking about his career and coming out.


• Window on Eurasia notes the apparently widespread mutual dislike of Chechens and Muscovites.


• Arnold Zwicky considers the French Impressionist artists Pierre Puvis de Chavannes and Suzanne Valadon, with images of their art.

[URBAN NOTE] Seven Toronto links: transit, Yorkdale, Sully's, buried, David Silber, Justin Haynes

• Steve Munro takes a look at future transit connections for the waterfront centered on Union Station.


• The location of the vast parking lot of Yorkdale Mall is under consideration for transformation into a new high-rise neighbourhood. CBC reports.


• Sully's Boxing Gym, on Dupont in Dovercourt Village, is fighting to--if not remain in its current location--survive somewhere. The Toronto Star reports.


• Metrolinx has offered to restore direct bus service to York University if that university, in turn, paid students nearly one million dollars to compensate them for their added transit costs. The Toronto Star reports.


• blogTO identifies five particularly odd objects found underground in Toronto, here.


• Toronto Life reports on David Silber, a Scarborough-born man who has become one of the world's most remarkable and innovative chefs.


• The Ottawa Citizen reports on the tragic death of musician Justin Haynes, who came to my attention with his moving writings in NOW Toronto on the affordable housing crisis.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Montréal, Lethbridge, Tuktoyaktuk, Hong Kong, Berlin

• MTLBlog reports from each borough of Montréal to see what a monthly rent of $C 1000 can get a hopeful tenant. The results will shock you, especially if you are used to Toronto rents (or higher!).


• The Alberta city of Lethbridge hopes, coming the 2020 census, its population will finally reach the mark of one hundred thousand residents. Global News reports.


• The northern Canadian town of Tuktoyaktuk is literally falling into the Arctic Ocean, as the ground crumbles while the sea rises. The National Post reports.


• The aging of the population of taxi drivers of Hong Kong leaves open the question of who, or what, will take their place. Bloomberg reports.


• CityLab reports on the remarkable ambition of the new transit plan of Berlin.

[NEWS] Sox tech links: Venezuela power, Argentina agriculture, AI writing, Google, Buttegieg, HIV

• Wired reports on the daunting scale of the Venezuela power failure, and the sheer difficulty of restoring the network.


• The Inter Press Service looks at the possibility for Argentina to enjoy improved agricultural circumstances come climate change.


• CBC reports on how artificial intelligences can be used to create frightfully plausible fake news.


• Axios notes the sheer density of information that Google has on its users.


• CityLab reports on the policies hopeful presidential candidate Pete Buttegieg would bring in relating to the automation of work.


• Wired takes a look at the second reported HIV cure and what it means.