A Bit More Detail

[PHOTO] Valencia on my screen in Toronto

Fri, 08 May 2020 20:26:14 GMT

comments

[PHOTO] Exuma on my screen in Toronto

Fri, 08 May 2020 20:23:26 GMT

comments

[PHOTO] Port Elizabeth on my screen in Toronto

Fri, 08 May 2020 20:22:12 GMT

comments

[PHOTO] Panama on my screen in Toronto

Fri, 08 May 2020 20:20:54 GMT

comments

[PHOTO] Fez on my screen in Toronto

Fri, 08 May 2020 20:14:03 GMT

comments

[PHOTO] Miami Beach on my screen in Toronto

Fri, 08 May 2020 20:12:57 GMT

comments

[PHOTO] Niagara Falls on my screen in Toronto

Fri, 08 May 2020 20:11:22 GMT

comments

[PHOTO] Nice on my screen in Toronto

Wed, 06 May 2020 03:56:30 GMT

comments

[PHOTO] Brasilia on my screen in Toronto

Wed, 06 May 2020 03:55:32 GMT

comments

[PHOTO] Chicago on my screen in Toronto

Tue, 05 May 2020 19:49:01 GMT

comments

[URBAN NOTE] Ten Montréal links

Thu, 19 Dec 2019 18:40:24 GMT

MTL Blog shares this map of the Greater Montréal mass transit network, with a uniform design for all its networks, here.

Exo commuters in Montréal are decidedly unhappy with the Exo chairperson for the unhelpful tips they gave. CTV News reports.

Montréal has bought 140 acres of land in the West Island for its planned great park there. CTV News reports.

Notre Dame East is set to be revamped as an urban boulevard. CTV News reports.

Controversy over the Royalmount shopping complex grows. CBC reports.

Montréal is reckoned by a Google team to be a major centre for game development. CTV News reports.

A new fund seeks to increase the diversity of artists whose works are displayed in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. CTV News reports.

Montréal mayor Valérie Plante promises to help out record stores fined for being opened past 5 on a weekend. CTV News reports.

Royal LePage suggests that home values in Montréal will grow sharply in 2020, more than in any other major Canadian city. CTV News reports.

comments

[PHOTO] Looking south

Sun, 08 Dec 2019 04:24:47 GMT

comments

[PHOTO] East along Eglinton

Sun, 08 Dec 2019 04:22:52 GMT

comments

[BLOG] Some Friday links

Fri, 06 Dec 2019 21:55:45 GMT

Architectuul looks at the Portuguese architectural cooperative Ateliermob, here.

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait looks at how white dwarf WD J091405.30+191412.25 is literally vapourizing a planet in close orbit.

Caitlin Kelly at the Broadside Blog explains
Centauri Dreams looks at the slowing of the solar wind far from the Sun.

John Holbo at Crooked Timber considers the gap between ideals and actuals in the context of conspiracies and politics.

The Dragon's Tales reports on how the ESA is trying to solve a problem with the parachutes of the ExoMars probe.

Far Outliers reports on what Harry Truman thought about politicians.

Gizmodo reports on a new method for identifying potential Earth-like worlds.

io9 pays tribute to legendary writer, of Star Trek and much else, D.C. Fontana.

The Island Review reports on the football team of the Chagos Islands.

Joe. My. God. reports that gay Olympian Gus Kenworthy will compete for the United Kingdom in 2020.

JSTOR Daily looks at how early English imperialists saw America and empire through the lens of Ireland.

Paul Campos at Lawyers, Guns and Money does not like Pete Buttigieg.

The LRB Blog looks at the London Bridge terrorist attack.

The Map Room Blog shares a map of Prince William Sound, in Alaska, that is already out of date because of global warming.

Marginal Revolution questions if Cuba, in the Philippines, is the most typical city in the world.

The NYR Daily looks at gun violence among Arab Israelis.

The Planetary Society Blog considers what needs to be researched next on Mars.

Roads and Kingdoms tells the story of Sister Gracy, a Salesian nun at work in South Sudan.

The Russian Demographics Blog shares a paper noting continued population growth expected in much of Europe, and the impact of this growth on the environment.

Strange Maps shares a map of fried chicken restaurants in London.

Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains why a 70 solar mass black hole is not unexpected.

John Scalzi at Whatever gives his further thoughts on the Pixel 4.

Window on Eurasia notes that, last year, 37 thousand Russians died of HIV/AIDS.

Arnold Zwicky starts from a consideration of the 1948 film Kind Hearts and Coronets.

comments

[URBAN NOTE] Six Toronto links

Thu, 28 Nov 2019 20:06:25 GMT

Google has apologized for the negative shade its image search cast on Scarborough with a Twitter thread. Global News reports.

The National Post looks at the story of the architecturally remarkable Integral House, on sale for $C 21.5 million.

South Indian Dosa Mahal, a beloved Bloordale restaurant apparently displaced by landlords, has found a new home. blogTO reports.

The infamous Parkdale McDonald, at King and Dufferin, has officially been closed down, relocated. blogTO reports.

The Ontario Cannabis Store is experimenting with a same-day delivery program. NOW Toronto reports.

Lia Grainger writes at NOW Toronto about how poor city planning has resulted in multiple dangerous intersections. (I know of two in my broader neighbourhood.)

comments

[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

Wed, 27 Nov 2019 19:16:29 GMT

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes the findings that the LISA Pathfinder satellite was impacted by hypervelocity comet fragments.

Centauri Dreams reports on what we have learned about interstellar comet Borisov.

Bruce Dorminey notes the ESA's Matisse instrument, capable of detecting nanodiamonds orbiting distant stars.

Gizmodo reports a new study of the great auk, now extinct, suggesting that humans were wholly responsible for this extinction with their hunting.

The Island Review links to articles noting the existential vulnerability of islands like Venice and Orkney to climate change.

Joe. My. God. reports on the claim of Tucker Carlson--perhaps not believably retracted by him--to be supporting Russia versus Ukraine.

Language Hat reports on the new Indigemoji, emoji created to reflect the culture and knowledge of Aboriginal groups in Australia.

Lawyers, Guns and Money notes one of the sad consequences of the American president being a liar.

James Butler at the LRB Blog writes about the optimism of the spending plans of Labour in the UK, a revived Keynesianism.

Marginal Revolution notes the exceptional cost of apartments built for homeless people in San Francisco.

Strange Maps looks at some remarkable gravity anomalies in parts of the US Midwest.

Towleroad notes the support of Jamie Lee Curtis for outing LGBTQ people who are homophobic politicians.

Understanding Society looks at organizations from the perspective of them as open systems.

Whatever's John Scalzi gives a generally positive review of the Pixel 4.

Arnold Zwicky notes the irony of sex pills at an outpost of British discount chain Poundland.

comments

[PHOTO] Detail, panorama, Yonge and Bloor

Thu, 21 Nov 2019 04:16:28 GMT

comments

[PHOTO] Panorama photo, looking up, Yonge and Bloor

Thu, 21 Nov 2019 04:14:04 GMT

comments

[PHOTO] Panorama photo, forest of cranes, southwest at Bathurst and Bloor

Tue, 19 Nov 2019 04:36:46 GMT

comments

[URBAN NOTE] Seven Toronto links

Sat, 02 Nov 2019 22:35:18 GMT

Jamie Bradburn shares photos from his neighbourhood's East Lynn Pumpkin Parade, here.

Sidewalk Labs is going to release details of all the data it wants to collect. The Toronto Star reports.

NOW Toronto reports on the controversy in the NDP riding association for Parkdale-High Park over the nomination, here.

There is a napping studio in Toronto, offering people the chance to nap for 25 minutes at $10 per nap. The National Post reports.

CBC reports on a film about Little Jamaica, a neighbourhood along Eglinton Avenue West that might be transformed out of existence, here
Daily Xtra looks at the legacy of the Meghan Murphy visit to Toronto.

Spacing notes that the Toronto Reference Library has a large collection of Communist newspapers available for visitors.

The idea of Metrolinx paying for the repair of damaged Eglinton Avenue does make a lot of intuitive sense. CBC reports.

comments

[URBAN NOTE] Eight Toronto links

Thu, 24 Oct 2019 17:48:16 GMT

Samantha Edwards writes</> at NOW Toronto about the controversy surrounding the visit of transphobe author Meghan Murphy to give a speech at the Palmerston library, with authors even threatening a boycott of the network.

Natasha Tusikov writes at The Conversation about how Sidewalk Labs' proposals for the Port Lands would give it great and unaccountable political power.

blogTO looks at the 1945 proposal for a subway in Toronto, one with a west-east axis not on Bloor but further south on Queen.

blogTO looks at Sparkles, the nightclub at the top of the CN Tower that reigned over the Toronto scene in the 1980s.

Will the Scarborough neighbourhood of Brichcliffe-Cliffside by changed for the worse by new dense construction? The Toronto Star reports.

People who, in illegally climbing the Scarborough Bluffs, get trapped on said feature might soon be charged with the costs of their own rescue. blogTO reports.

The growth of popularity of specifically Toronto slang is fascinating. Global News reports.

Jamie Bradburn shares an old article on St. John's Norway cemetery, here.

comments

[BLOG] Some Friday links

Sat, 12 Oct 2019 01:11:46 GMT

Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait notes new research on where the sun is located within the Milky Way Galaxy.

The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly considers the value of slow fashion.

Centauri Dreams notes the different gas giants that our early methods have yet to pick up.

Crooked Timber shares a lovely photo looking back at Venice from across its lagoon.

D-Brief notes that upcoming space telescopes might find hundreds of rogue planets thanks to microlensing.

io9 notes that Marvel will soon be producing Warhammer40K comics.

The Island Review shares some poetry and photography by Ken Cockburn inspired by the Isle of Jura.

JSTOR Daily notes that different humpback whale groups have different songs, different cultures.

Language Hat tries to find the meaning of the odd Soviet Yiddish word "kolvirt".

Paul Campos at Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at the history of Elizabeth Warren as a law teacher.

Map Room Blog shares information from Google Maps about its use of data.

Marginal Revolution notes that in 2016, not a single child born in the United Kingdom was given the name Nigel.

Peter Watts talks about AI and what else he is doing.

The NYR Daily marked the centennial of a horrible massacre of African-Americans centered on the Arkansas community of Elaine.

Emily Margolis at the Planetary Society Blog looks at how the Apollo moon missions helped galvanize tourism in Florida.

Noel Maurer at The Power and the Money looks at the constitutional crisis in Peru.

Drew Rowsome takes a look at A Streetcar Named Desire.

Peter Rukavina looks at a spreadsheet revealing the distribution of PEI public servants.

Spacing reviews a book imagining how small communities can rebuild themselves in neoliberalism.

Towleroad shares the criticism of Christine and the Queens of the allegedly opportunistic use of queer culture by Taylor Swift.

Understanding Society considers, sociologically, the way artifacts work.

The Volokh Conspiracy argues that the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the People's Republic of China should be a day of mourning, on account of the high human toll of the PRC.

Window on Eurasia suggests the Russian generation of the 1970s was too small to create lasting change.

Arnold Zwicky looks at how underwear ads can be quite sexualized.

comments

[PHOTO] Towers of Yorkville (1), Google Photos' take

Fri, 20 Sep 2019 10:16:03 GMT

My Google Photos app yesterday offered up an interesting edit of the first photo in my Yorkville series, intensifying the blue sky into surreality and bringing out the sunlight that much more.

comments

[URBAN NOTE] Six Toronto links: Y&E, shuttle, 1929 Labour Day, Liberty V, Port Lands, Chick-fil-A

Sat, 14 Sep 2019 00:00:43 GMT

Will a pedestrian death at Yonge and Eglinton lead to an easing of the nightmare for people faced with Eglinton Crosstown construction? blogTO ,a href="https://www.blogto.com/city/2019/09/yonge-eglinton-construction-pedestrian-nightmare/">reports.

An automated shuttle is set to pilot in 2020 in east-end Toronto. Global News reports.

Jamie Bradburn writes about the Labour Day celebrations in Toronto in 1929, here.

blogTO notes the construction of a much-needed pedestrian bridge in Liberty Village, here.

Guardian Cities notes official skepticism in Toronto over the Sidewalk Labs proposal in the Port Lands, here.

Andrew Wheeler, writing in the Toronto Star, notes that the appearance of institutionally homophobic Chick-fil-A just a few minutes walk from Church and Wellesley, poses a threat that needs to be fought.

comments

[URBAN NOTE] Ten city links: Montréal, Lac-Mégantic, Halifax, Calgary, Edmonton ...

Sun, 01 Sep 2019 16:25:11 GMT

Tracey Lindeman writes at CityLab about how Montréal is trying to keep the redevelopment of the Molson-Coors Brewery site from killing the Centre-Sud.

In the Montréal neighbourhood of Park-Extension, evictions--renovictions, even--are on the rise. Global News reports.

Lac-Mégantic now has a train depot that bypasses the heart of this traumatized community. CBC Montreal reports.

Halifax is now celebrating the Mosaic Festival, celebrating its diversity. Global News reports.

Jill Croteau reports for Global News about Club Carousel, an underground club in Calgary that played a vital role in that city's LGBTQ history.

This business plan, aiming to bypass long lineups at the Edmonton outpost of the Jollibee chain, is ingenious. Global News reports.

The Iowa town of Pacific Junction, already staggering, may never recover from a recent bout of devastating flooding. VICE reports.

Avery Gregurich writes for CityLab about the Illinois town of Atlas, a crossroads seemingly on the verge of disappearing from Google Maps.

The proposal for Metropica, a new sort of suburb in Florida, certainly looks interesting. VICE reports.

Guardian Cities shares a cartoon looking affectionately at Lisbon.

comments