[CAT] Shakespeare, 5:23 am

[PHOTO] Evening at Yonge and Eglinton, blue to pink

The sky at Yonge and Eglinton last night was gorgeous, blue fading to pink on the southern and western horizons through the towers.

[CAT] Five cat links: coyotes, big cat sanctuary, Cat Video Fest, allergies, Assange

• Urban coyotes have been proven to prey in roaming domestic pets, including cats. The Guardian reports.


• The idea of a big cat sanctuary in the Ontario community of Grand Bend does appeal to me, but then it would. CBC reports.


• The Vancity Theatre in Vancouver will be hosting the 2019 Cat Video Fest. The Vancouver Sun reports.


• Lifehacker offers advice for cat-lovers with cat allergies.


• The cat of Julian Assange deserved better treatment; hopefully its new home will be much better. The Independent reports.

[BLOG] Some Saturday links

• Bad Astronomy notes a push by astronomers to enlist help for giving trans-Neptunian object 2007-OR10 a name.


• Centauri Dreams reflects on M87*, the supermassive black hole at the heart of M87 recently imaged, with its implications for galactic habitability.


• Crooked Timber is right to note that Kirstjen Nielsen, architect of the cruel border policies of Trump, should not be allowed to resume a normal professional life.


• The Crux looks at the Event Horizon Telescope Project that imaged M87*.


• D-Brief notes that one-quarter of Japanese in their 20s and 30s have remained virgins, and explains why this might be the case.


• Far Outliers notes the process of the writing of U.S. Grant's acclaimed memoirs.


• Mark Graham highlights a BBC documentary, one he contributed to, asking if artificial intelligence will kill global development.


• Gizmodo explains why the image of black hole M87* does not look exactly like the fictional one from the scientifically-grounded Interstellar.


• Hornet Stories explains the joys of Hawai'i in fall.


• io9 notes that the new Deep Space Nine anniversary documentary is scheduled for a one-day theatrical release. (Will it be in Toronto?)


• JSTOR Daily makes the point that mass enfranchisement is the best way to ensure security for all.


• Language Hat looks at the kitabs, the books written in Afrikaans using its original Arabic script kept by Cape Malays.


• Language Log notes, with examples, some of the uses of the words "black" and "evil" in contemporary China.


• Lawyers, Guns and Money makes the point that having a non-octogenarian president is a good idea.


• Marginal Revolution shares the thoughts of Samir Varma on the new technologies--better computers, faster travel, artificial life--that may change the world in the near future.


• The NYR Daily explores the subversive fairy tales of 19th century Frenchman Édouard Laboulaye.


• The Planetary Society Blog notes the sad crash of the Beresheet probe on the surface of the Moon.


• Drew Rowsome engages with the body of work of out horror writer John Saul.


• Peter Rukavina maps out where Islanders will be voting, and the distances they will travel, in this month's election.


• Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel engages with the possibility that we might be alone. What next? (Myself, I think the idea of humanity as an elder race is fascinating.)


• Arnold Zwicky looks at the sort of humour that involves ambiguous adverbs.

[URBAN NOTE] Seven Toronto links: TTC and mass transit

• Urban Toronto notes the remarkable new plan proposed by Ontario for Toronto subways, including a line running from Ontario Place on the water up through to the Ontario Science Centre on Eglinton.


• blogTO shares some of the criticism the new Ontario plans for the subway have gotten.


• Steve Munro reacts to the new Ontario plan for Toronto subways, here.


• blogTO notes the new proposed names for stations on the Finch LRT line.


• The Discourse notes a community meeting in Scarborough where locals express concern for the fate of the Eglinton East LRT.


• The conversion of the TTC entirely from tokens towards Presto has been delayed, blogTO notes.


• The modernization of signals on existing subway lines has been delayed and is becoming much more expensive, the Toronto Star notes.

[NEWS] Five @badastronomer links: Moon, Saturn, AS 209, M2, WINE

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait highlights Hawke crater, located inside the larger Grotrian crater on the far side of the Moon.


• Bad Astronomy shares a photo taken by Hubble of the auroras of Saturn.


• Bad Astronomy reports on AS 209, a very young star with a planet less massive than Saturn that must have formed in a very short period of time.


• Bad Astronomy notes the remarkable density of stars in globular cluster Messier 2.


• Bad Astronomy looks at the exciting proposal for the steam-fueled robot probe WINE.

[NEWS] Five D-Brief links: whales, bacteria, offshore platforms, Falcon Heavy, Denisovans

• D-Brief notes the discovery of a fossil of a four-limbed whale in Peru, dating 42.5 million years.


• D-Brief looks at how the bacterium Enterococcus faecalis morphed from normal gut bacteria to potentially fatal hospital-borne infection.


• D-Brief notes a proposal to build offshore platforms as habitat for fish and for birds.


• D-Brief notes how the Falcon Heavy is proving itself a vanguard of progress in spaceflight.


• D-Brief notes new evidence of there having been multiple regional populations of Denisovans, drawing from work in Indonesia.

[NEWS] Five JSTOR Daily links: doctors & drugs, horses & war, JFK, raisin wine, Irish & Ireland

• JSTOR Daily notes how early doctors used to party with drugs as a matter of course.


• JSTOR Daily notes the experiences of horses and donkeys in the US Civil War.


• JSTOR Daily notes how the disaster of the Bay of Pigs changed the decision-making of JFK.


• JSTOR Daily notes how early 19th century American Jews made use of raisin wine in Passover, and how this changed.


• JSTOR Daily <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/when-language-started-a-political-revolution/><U>notes</u></a> how the revival of the Irish language, connecting Ireland to the rest of Europe, played a key role in leading to independence for Ireland.</li> </ul>