[PHOTO] Seven photos of the underside of the Spadina Road bridge, and more

Passing underneath the Spadina Road bridge over the Nordheimer Ravine reveals, on the concrete underpinnings, surfaces dense with graffiti dating back perhaps two years. The ending of the trail to the southeast of this location, in Royston Park, is much more sedate and green in the foreground.

[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

• Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait looks at the strange galaxy NGC 5866.


• The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly looks at some of her prep work when she covers a news story.


• Centauri Dreams considers the idea of using the Earth itself for gravitational lensing.


• D-Brief notes a newly-discovered fossil parrot from New Zealand, a bird nearly one metre in size.


• Far Outliers looks at the values of cowrie shells in 19th century central Africa. What could they buy?


• Gizmodo notes the limited circumstances in which IMDb will allow transgender people to remove their birth names from their records.


• JSTOR Daily looks at the abortive American state of Franklin.


• Language Hat notes a 19th century Russian exile's experience with the differences between Norwegian and Swedish.


• Lawyers, Guns and Money notes, after Epstein, the incompetence that too often characterizes American prisons.


• Marginal Revolution notes the importance of slavery in the history of Venice.


• The NYR Daily notes how W.H. Auden was decidedly unimpressed by the Apollo moon landing, and why.


• Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel notes the import of astronomers' discovery of an ancient early black hole.


• Strange Maps' Frank Jacobs shares a vertical world map from China.


• Understanding Society's Daniel Little considers how competent the Nuclear Regulatory Commission actually is.


• Window on Eurasia looks at the internal divides of Russia.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: Zellers, Dufferin Mall, Toronto Islands, Japan, Guild Park

• Narcity notes the sad news that the last Zellers stores in Canada, including the one in Etobicoke, will be closed by January 2020.


• Tanya Mok at blogTO looks at the successes of the Dufferin Mall.


• blogTO looks at the William Meany Maze on the Toronto Islands.


• Jamie Bradburn writes of the early history of Japanese restaurants in Toronto.


• Melanie Zettler at Global News writes about the history of the Guild Park and Gardens, in Scarborough.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Montréal, Hillsborough, Derry, Paris, Mecca

• La Presse looks at the challenges facing changing Lachine-Est, here.


• The small New Brunswick town of Hillsborough may lose its only grocery store. Global News reports.


• Guardian Cities looks at the vexed question of how, or if, the Northern Ireland city of Derry should celebrate its political murals.


• Guardian Cities notes that Paris will soon host a substantial rooftop farm.


• Tom van Laer and Elif Izberk-Bilgin at The Conversation explain why reviews of facilities in holy cities, like Mecca, tend to be so inflated.

[ISL] Five #PEI links: transit, housing, Founders' Hall, Hog Island Sandhills, Terre Rouge

• The federal and provincial governments on PEI are investing millions in Charlottetown transit, substantially in vehicles. Global News reports.
  
• Kevin Yarr at CBC PEI reports on how housing prices in Charlottetown are rising to worryingly high levels, here.


• The Founders' Hall food market in Charlottetown looks interesting. CBC PEI reports.


• Establishing a national park reserve on the Hog Island Sandhills off northwestern PEI sounds like a good idea to me. CBC PEI reports.


• CBC PEI reports on how what was intended to be a light-hearted joke on the chalkboard of Terre Rouge in Charlottetown ended up striking a media frenzy.

[ISL] Five #islands links: Shoal Lake 40, Martha's Vineyard, Fogo, Ramea, Barbados

• Maclean's reports on how, a century after Shoal Lake 40 First Nation was made an island to provide drinking water for Winnipeg, it finally was connected to the mainland by a road.


• CityLab reports on how the pressures of the tourist season make it difficult for many permanent residents of Martha's Vineyard to maintain homes.


• Fogo Island, Newfoundland, recently celebrated its first Pride Walk. CBC reports.


• Yvette D'Entremont writes at the Toronto Star about how the diaspora of the Newfoundland fishing island of Ramea have gathered together for regular reunions.


• J.M. Opal writes at The Conversation about the origins of white Anglo-American racism in 17th century Barbados.