[PHOTO] Looking west, Eglinton Station

[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

• Charlie Stross at Antipope has an open thread regarding Brexit.


• Centauri Dreams considers the dust lanes of the solar system.


• D-Brief reports on the discovery of the first confirmed skull piece of a Denisovan.


• Dangerous Minds considers the filmic history of Baron Munchausen.


• JSTOR Daily considers the past of the Monroe Doctrine, as a marker of American power over the Western Hemisphere.


• Language Log notes that "frequency illusion", a 2005 coinage of Arnold Zwicky on that blog, has made it to the Oxford English Dictionary. Congratulations!


• Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the talents of Pete Buttigieg, someone who (among other things) is fluent in the Norwegian language. Could he be a serious challenger?


• Oliver Miles at the LRB Blog notes the threat of new locust swarms across the Sahara and into the Middle East.


• Alex Tabarrok at Marginal Revolution highlights a new paper aiming to predict the future, one that argues that the greatest economic gains will eventually accrue to the densest populations.


• The NYR Daily reports from the scene in a fragmented Libya.


• The Planetary Society Blog reports that the OSIRIS-REx probe has detected asteroid Bennu ejecting material into space.


• Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains the import of having a supermoon occur on the Equinox this year.


• Strange Maps' Frank Jacobs reports a new finding that Mercury actually tends to be the closest planet in the Solar System to Earth.


• Window on Eurasia notes that fewer Russians than before think highly of the annexation of Crimea.

[DM] Some links: longevity, real estate, migrations, the future

I have a links post up at Demography Matters.

• Old age popped up as a topic in my feed. The Crux considered when human societies began to accumulate large numbers of aged people. Would there have been octogenarians in any Stone Age cultures, for instance? Information is Beautiful, meanwhile, shares an informative infographic analyzing the factors that go into extending one’s life expectancy.


• Growing populations in cities, and real estate markets hostile even to established residents, are a concern of mine in Toronto. They are shared globally: The Malta Independent examined some months ago how strong growth in the labour supply and tourism, along with capital inflows, have driven up property prices in Malta. Marginal Revolution noted there are conflicts between NIMBYism, between opposing development in established neighbourhoods, and supporting open immigration policies.


• Ethnic migrations also appeared. The Cape Breton Post shared a fascinating report about the history of the Jewish community of industrial Cape Breton, in Nova Scotia, while the Guardian of Charlottetown reports the reunification of a family of Syrian refugees on Prince Edward Island. In Eurasia, meanwhile, Window on Eurasia noted the growth of the Volga Tatar population of Moscow, something hidden by the high degree of assimilation of many of its members.
  
• Looking towards the future, Marginal Revolution’s Tyler Cowen was critical of the idea of limiting the number of children one has in a time of climate change. On a related theme, his co-blogger Alex Tabarrok highlights a new paper aiming to predict the future, one that argues that the greatest economic gains will eventually accrue to the densest populations. Established high-income regions, it warns, could lose out if they keep out migrants.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: HMV dispensary, U of T suicide, GoT, real estate, Scarborough

• r/toronto notes, via blogTO, that the old HMV at Yonge and Dundas is set to become a cannabis dispensary.


• The University of Toronto is being criticized by students for its handling of recent suicides and its mental health policies generally. CBC reports.


• blogTO notes that the Ralph Thornton Community Centre in Riverside will be throwing a Game of Thrones-themed festival in May.


• New changes to the regulation of secondary suites may make things easier in the Toronto rental market. CBC reports.


• Urban Toronto reports on two ambitious plans to densify Scarborough Centre.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Kingston, Montréal, Wichita, Vancouver, New York City

• After years of renovations, the Kingston Frontenac Public Library is set to reopen to the public this weekend. Global News reports.


• McGill is taking care of the tens of thousands of ants in a colony displaced from the Insectarium in Montréal during renovations there. CBC reports.


• Russell Arben Fox writes about the politics and economics of funding a new baseball stadium in the Kansas city of Wichita.


• Where will the 4/20 marijuana celebration be held in Vancouver in 2020? Global News reports.


• This article at Slate explains how lower Manhattan can only be protected from rising sea levels by land reclamation.

[PHOTO] Five photo links: dysmorphia, D Niko Holmes, Joseph Wright, Ioana Cîrlig, Yıldız Moran

• The Guardian reports on how selfie dysmorphia is prompting some people to seek plastic surgery.


• The Island Review shares D Niko Holmes' beautiful photos of Brtish Columbia's Salt Spring Island.


• The Island Review notes the volcanic photography of Joseph Wright on Lanzarote.


• Wired shares the work of photographer Ioana Cîrlig in the factory towns of Romania.


• The NYR Daily looks at the work of pioneering Turkish photographer Yıldız Moran.

[NEWS] Five Indigenous links: Cree NHL, Mi'kmaq, US-Mexico border, Australia, reconciliation

• APTN is broadcasting NHL hockey games with Cree-language commentary, a first. Global News reports.


• New funding and authority has been given to Nova Scotia's Mi'kmaq educational authority. Global News reports.


• The National Observer notes the significant damage that the Trump border wall could cause indigenous peoples bisected by the US-Mexico frontier.

A school in Melbourne, Australia, is doing interesting work trying to help Aborigine children bridge the cultural divide in their lives. The Toronto Star reports.

• Natan Obed writes in MacLean's about how the press following Trudeau in Iqaluit failing to deal with his apology to the Inuit reflects a failed implementation of reconciliation.