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  • By at least one metric, New Brunswick now lags economically behind a more dynamic Prince Edward Island. CBC reports.

  • NOW Toronto looks at toxic fandoms. ("Stanning" sounds really creepy to me.)

  • This CityLab article looks at how the particular characteristics of Japan, including its high population density, helps keep alive there retail chains that have failed in the US.

  • MacLean's looks at Kent Monkman, enjoying a new level of success with his diptych Mistikôsiwak at the Met in NYC.

  • Can there be something that can be said for the idea of an Internet more strongly pillarized? Wired argues.

  • I reject utterly the idea of meaningful similarities between Drake and Leonard Cohen. CBC did it.

  • Toronto Life looks at the life of a Hamilton woman hurt badly by the cancellation of the basic income pilot, here.

  • Inspired by the death of Gord Downie, Ontario now has the office of poet-laureate. CBC reports.

  • Is Canada at risk, like Ireland, of experiencing two-tier health care? CBC considers.

  • A French immigrant couple has brought the art of artisanal vinegar to ile d'Orléans. CBC reports.

  • Shore erosion is complicating the lives of people along Lake Erie. CBC reports.

  • MacLean's notes how Via Rail making it difficult for people without credit cards to buy anything on their trains, hurting many.

  • Michelle Legro notes at Gen that the 2010s is the decade where conspiracy culture became mainstream.

  • This essay by Robert Greene at his blog talking about what history, and historians, can do in our era is thought-provoking.

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  • 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.

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  • Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait shares a stunning photo taken by a friend of the Pleiades star cluster.

  • The Buzz, at the Toronto Public Library, shares a collection of books suitable for World Vegan Month, here.

  • Henry Farrell at Crooked Timber considers, with an eye towards China and the Uighurs, how panopticon attempts can stray badly on account of--among other things--false assumptions.

  • Gizmodo considers how antimatter could end up providing interesting information about the unseen universe.

  • Joe. My. God. reports from New York City, where new HIV cases are dropping sharply on account of PrEP.

  • JSTOR Daily shares a vintage early review of Darwin's Origin of Species.

  • Language Hat examines the origins of the semicolon, in Venice in 1494.

  • Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money shares a critical report of the new Jill Lepore book These Truths.

  • The LRB Blog reports from the Museum of Corruption in Kyiv, devoted to the corruption of the ancient regime in Ukraine.

  • Marginal Revolution shares a new history of the Lakota.

  • The NYR Daily looks at the photography of Duane Michals.

  • The Russian Demographics Blog looks at population trends in Russia, still below 1991 totals in current frontiers.

  • Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains why some of the lightest elements, like lithium, are so rare.

  • Window on Eurasia shares the opinion of a Russian historian that Eastern Europe is back as a geopolitical zone.

  • Arnold Zwicky considers Jacques Transue in the light of other pop culture figures and trends.

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  • Bad Astronomer notes a new study explaining how climate change makes hurricanes more destructive.

  • Centauri Dreams shares a mosaic photo of the sky with Alpha Centauri highlighted.

  • The Crux shares a paper explaining why the bubonic plague rarely becomes mass epidemics like the Black Death of the 14th century.

  • D-Brief notes the new ESA satellite ARIEL, which will be capable of determining of exoplanet skies are clear or not.

  • Gizmodo consults different experts on the subject of smart drugs. Do they work?

  • JSTOR Daily explains why Native Americans are so prominent in firefighting in the US Southwest.

  • Language Log looks at evidence for the diffusion of "horse master" between speakers of ancient Indo-European and Sinitic languages.

  • Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the election of Chesa Boudin as San Francisco District Attorney.

  • The LRB Blog considers the apparent pact between Farage and Johnson on Brexit.

  • Marginal Revolution looks at a paper examining longer-run effects of the integration of the US military on racial lines in the Korean War.

  • The NYR Daily looks at how Big Pharma in the US is trying to deal with the opioid epidemic.

  • The Signal explains how the Library of Congress is expanding its collections of digital material.

  • Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains how future generations of telescopes will be able to directly measure the expansion of the universe.

  • The Volokh Conspiracy explains why DACA, giving succor to Dreamers, is legal.

  • Window on Eurasia notes that, after a century of tumult, the economy of Russia is back at the same relative ranking that it enjoyed a century ago.

  • Arnold Zwicky reports on an old butch cookbook.

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  • CBC looks at the internal splits within British Columbia, between the Liberal-leaning coast and the Alberta-leaning interior, here.

  • The legal departure of oil company EnCana from its Alberta headquarters is the cause of great upset. CBC reports.

  • Will Andrew Scheer survive as leader of the Conservative Party, with challengers like Peter MacKay? The National Observer reports.

  • People in Lloydminister, on the Alberta-Saskatchewan border, reflect the frustrations of the populations of the two provinces. CBC reports.

  • Philippe Fournier at MacLean's writes about the sharp rural-urban political split in Canada.

  • Green Party Fredericton MP Jenica Atwin is interviewed by the National Observer about her goals, here.

  • The Treaty 8 chiefs have united in opposition to the separation of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Global News reports.

  • CBC reported on the multiple MP candidates who, genealogist Darryl Leroux found, falsely claimed indigenous ancestry.

  • Jessica Deer reported for CBC about the near-universal boycott by the Haudenosaunee of #elxn43, and the reasons for this boycott.

  • Scott Gilmore recently a href="https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/the-u-s-is-sinking-maybe-its-time-for-canada-to-jump-ship/">suggested at MacLean's that, noting American instability, Canada might do well to secure itself and promote its multilateralism by seeking to join the EU.

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  • {anthro}dendum features a post by Kimberly J. Lewis about stategies for anthropologists to write, and be human, after trauma.

  • Bad Astronomer Phil Plait reports on exoplanet LHC 3844b, a world that had its atmosphere burned away by its parent star.

  • Centauri Dreams looks at Neptune from the perspective of exoplanets discovered near snow lines.

  • D-Brief reports on the new Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, installed at Kitt Peak to help map galaxies and dark energy.

  • Gizmodo
  • looks at how Airbnb is dealing with party houses after a fatal mass shooting.

  • The Island Review shares some drawings by Charlotte Watson, inspired by the subantarctic Auckland Islands.

  • JSTOR Daily looks at the late 19th century hit novel Ramona, written by Helen Hunt Jackson to try to change American policy towards indigenous peoples.

  • Language Hat looks at how, until recently, the Faroese language had taboos requiring certain words not to be used at sea.

  • Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at a proposal to partially privatize American national parks.

  • The LRB Blog looks at what Nigel Farage will be doing next.

  • Marginal Revolution looks at a speculative theory on the origins of American individualism in agrarian diversity.

  • The NYR Daily looks at an exhibition of the artwork of John Ruskin.

  • Personal Reflections' Jim Belshaw remarks on a connection between Arthur Ransome and his region of New England.

  • Drew Rowsome shares an interview with folk musician Michelle Shocked.

  • Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel emphasizes the importance of the dark energy mystery.

  • Towleroad notes a posthumous single release by George Michael.

  • Daniel Little at Understanding Society celebrates the 12th anniversary of his blog, and looks back at its history.

  • Window on Eurasia looks at Ingushetia after 1991.

  • Arnold Zwicky looks at All Saints Day.

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  • Bad Astronomer notes the circumstances of the discovery of a low-mass black hole, only 3.3 solar masses.

  • Crooked Timber shares a photo of the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul.

  • The Crux looks at Monte Verde, the site in Chile that has the evidence of the oldest human population known to have lived in South America.

  • The Dragon's Tales notes that Russia may provide India with help in the design of its Gaganyaan manned capsule.

  • L.M. Sacasas at The Frailest Thing talks of his work, including his upcoming conference and his newsletter, The Convivial Society. (Subscribe at the website.)

  • Gizmodo shares the Voyager 2 report from the edges of interstellar space.

  • JSTOR Daily looks at the East India Company and its corporate lobbying.

  • Language Hat shares an account from Ken Liu of the challenges in translating The Three Body Problem, linguistic and otherwise.

  • Language Log looks at the problems faced by the word "liberation" in Hong Kong.

  • Dan Nexon at Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at the implications of the surprising new relationship between Russia and the Philippines.

  • Marginal Revolution seems to like Terminator: Dark Fate, as a revisiting of the series' origins, with a Mesoamerican twist.

  • Sean Marshall announces his attendance at a transit summit in Guelph on Saturday the 9th.

  • Garry Wills writes at the NYR Daily about his experience as a man in the mid-20th century American higher education looking at the rise of women.

  • Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel looks at the strangely faint distant young galaxy MACS2129-1.

  • Window on Eurasia considers the possibility of Latvia developing a national Eastern Orthodox church of its own.

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  • Bad Astronomy notes the mystery of distant active galaxy SDSS J163909+282447.1, with a supermassive black hole but few stars.

  • Centauri Dreams shares a proposal from Robert Buckalew for craft to engage in planned panspermia, seeding life across the galaxy.

  • The Crux looks at the theremin and the life of its creator, Leon Theremin.

  • D-Brief notes that termites cannibalize their dead, for the good of the community.

  • Dangerous Minds looks at William Burroughs' Blade Runner, an adaptation of a 1979 science fiction novel by Alan Nourse.

  • Bruce Dorminey notes a new study explaining how the Milky Way Galaxy, and the rest of the Local Group, was heavily influenced by its birth environment.

  • JSTOR Daily looks at why the Chernobyl control room is now open for tourists.

  • Dale Campos at Lawyers. Guns and Money looks at the effects of inequality on support for right-wing politics.

  • James Butler at the LRB Blog looks at the decay and transformation of British politics, with Keith Vaz and Brexit.

  • Marginal Revolution shares a paper explaining why queens are more warlike than kings.

  • Omar G. Encarnación at the NYR Daily looks at how Spain has made reparations to LGBTQ people for past homophobia. Why should the United States not do the same?

  • Corey S. Powell at Out There shares his interview with physicist Sean Carroll on the reality of the Many Worlds Theory. There may be endless copies of each of us out there. (Where?)

  • Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains why 5G is almost certainly safe for humans.

  • Strange Company shares a newspaper clipping reporting on a haunting in Wales' Plas Mawr castle.

  • Frank Jacobs at Strange Maps looks at all the different names for Africa throughout the years.

  • The Volokh Conspiracy considers, in the case of the disposal of eastern Oklahoma, whether federal Indian law should be textualist. (They argue against.)

  • Window on Eurasia notes the interest of the government of Ukraine in supporting Ukrainians and other minorities in Russia.

  • Arnold Zwicky looks at syntax on signs for Sloppy Joe's.

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  • The 9th floor restaurant at the Montréal Eaton's looks like an architectural delight. CBC reports.

  • This bike repair shop in Greenfield Park looks cool. CBC repors.

  • I quite like the idea behind this rooftop garden in Saint-Henri. CBC reports.

  • Is building a baseball stadium for Montréal after the Expos went going to be as much of an issue, and in the same ways, as building a hockey stadium after the Nordiques was for Québec City? CTV News reports.

  • Renovictions are almost always a bad thing. CTV News reports.

  • A cooperative of artisans has banded together to operate a storefront location in Saint-Henri that none could afford individually. CTV News reports.

  • Amherst Street has been renamed Atateken, as part of reconciliation with indigenous peoples. CBC reports.

  • The plight of homeless indigenous people around Cabot Square is desperate. CBC reports.

  • La Presse notes a sharp fall in attendance at the Grande Bibliothèque over the past decade, a consequence of cutbacks.

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  • MacLean's looks at how Justin Trudeau and the Liberals survived #elxn43, here.

  • Ajay Parasram at The Conversation looks at the new complications faced by Justin Trudeau.

  • Daily Xtra looks at the record of the Liberals on LGBTQ2 issues, here.

  • Daily Xtra looks at the four out LGBTQ2 MPs elected to Parliament, here.

  • Philippe Fournier at MacLean's argues that 338Canada stands vindicated in its predictions, with some 90% of the people it predicted would be elected being elected.

  • What will become of Conservative leader Andrew Scheer? The National Post considers.

  • Strategic voting and Doug Ford, Mark Gollom notes, kept the Conservatives from making a breakthrough in Ontario.

  • Robyn Urback at CBC notes that the narrow conservatism of Scheer kept the Conservatives from victory in a wary Canada.

  • Stephen Maher at MacLean's questions if the Bloc Québécois victory has much to do with separatism, per se.

  • Voters in Québec seem to be fine with election results, with a strong Bloc presence to keep the Liberals on notice. CBC has it.

  • Talk of separatism has taken off in Alberta following the #elxn43 results. Global News has it.

  • The premier of Saskatchewan has also talked of his province's alienation after #elxn43, here in the National Post.

  • CBC's As It Happens carries an interview with former Conservative MP Jay Hill, now an advocate for western Canadian separatism.

  • Atlantic Canada may provide new members for the cabinet of Justin Trudeau. The Toronto Star reports.

  • Jaime Battiste, Liberal, has been elected as the first Mi'kmaq MP from Nova Scotia. Global News has it.

  • The Green Party did not make its hoped-for breakthrough on Vancouver Island, but it will struggle on. Global News has it.

  • Did, as Politico suggested, Canada sleepwalk into the future with #elxn43?

  • We should be glad, Scott Gilmore argues in MacLean's, that given the global challenges to democracy #elxn43 in Canada was relatively boring.

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  • Adam Fish at anthro{dendum} compares different sorts of public bathing around the world, from Native America to Norden to Japan.

  • Charlie Stross at Antipope is unimpressed by the person writing the script for our timeline.

  • Architectuul reports on an architectural conference in Lisbon.

  • Bad Astronomer Phil Plait shares stunning photos of the eruption of the Raikoke volcano in Kamchatka.

  • Centauri Dreams looks at what the Voyager spacecraft have returned about the edge of the solar system.

  • John Quiggin at Crooked Timber takes issue with the idea of bipartisanship if it means compromising on reality, allegorically.

  • The Crux counts the number of people who have died in outer space.

  • D-Brief notes that the Andromeda Galaxy has swallowed up multiple dwarf galaxies over the eons.

  • Dead Things notes the identification of the first raptor species from Southeast Asia, Siamraptor suwati.

  • The Dragon's Tales notes a paper tracing the origins of interstellar comet 2/Borisov from the general area of Kruger 60.

  • Karen Sternheimer at the Everyday Sociology Blog writes about the privilege allowing people access to affordable dental care.

  • Gizmodo tells how Alexei Leonov survived the first spacewalk.

  • io9 looks at the remarkable new status quo for the X-Men created by Jonathan Hickman.

  • Selma Franssen at the Island Review writes about the threats facing the seabirds of the Shetlands.

  • JSTOR Daily looks at what led Richard Nixon to make so many breaks from the American consensus on China in the Cold War.

  • Language Log notes an undergraduate course at Yale using the Voynich Manuscript as an aid in the study of language.

  • Abigail Nussbaum at Lawyers, Guns and Money explains her recent experience of the socialized health care system of Israel for Americans.

  • The LRB Blog looks at how badly the Fukuyama prediction of an end to history has aged.

  • The Map Room Blog shares a few maps of the new Ottawa LRT route.

  • Marginal Revolution notes a paper establishing a link between Chinese industries undermining their counterparts in Mexico and Mexican social ills including crime.

  • Sean Marshall reports from Ottawa about what the Confederation Line looks like.

  • Adam Shatz at the NYR Daily looks at the power of improvisation in music.

  • Roads and Kingdoms looks at South Williamsburg Jewish deli Gottlieb's.

  • Drew Rowsome reviews the new Patti Smith book, Year of the Monkey.

  • The Russian Demographics Blog shares a paper looking as the factors leading into transnational movements.

  • Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel considers the question of the direction(s) in which order in the universe was generated.

  • Window on Eurasia shares a report noting the very minor flows of migration from China to Russia.

  • Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell looks at the politics in the British riding of Keighley.

  • Arnold Zwicky looks at some penguin socks.

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  • Architectuul profiles architectural photographer Lorenzo Zandri, here.

  • Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait notes a new study suggesting red dwarf stars, by far the most common stars in the universe, have plenty of planets.

  • The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly shares 11 tips for interviewers, reminding me of what I did for anthropology fieldwork.

  • Centauri Dreams notes how water ice ejected from Enceladus makes the inner moons of Saturn brilliant.

  • The Crux looks at the increasingly complicated question of when the first humans reached North America.

  • D-Brief notes a new discovery suggesting the hearts of humans, unlike the hearts of other closely related primates, evolved to require endurance activities to remain healthy.

  • Dangerous Minds shares with its readers the overlooked 1969 satire Putney Swope.

  • The Dragon's Tales notes that the WFIRST infrared telescope has passed its first design review.

  • Gizmodo notes how drought in Spain has revealed the megalithic Dolmen of Guadalperal for the first time in six decades.

  • io9 looks at the amazing Jonathan Hickman run on the X-Men so far, one that has established the mutants as eye-catching and deeply alien.

  • Joe. My. God. notes that the Pentagon has admitted that 2017 UFO videos do, in fact, depict some unidentified objects in the air.

  • JSTOR Daily looks at the origin of the equestrian horseback statue in ancient Rome.

  • Language Log shares a bilingual English/German pun from Berlin.

  • Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money reflects on the legacy of Thomas Jefferson at Jefferson's grave.

  • Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution looks at a new book arguing, contra Pinker perhaps, that the modern era is one of heightened violence.

  • The New APPS Blog seeks to reconcile the philosophy of Hobbes with that of Foucault on biopower.

  • Strange Company shares news clippings from 1970s Ohio about a pesky UFO.

  • Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains why the idea of shooting garbage from Earth into the sun does not work.

  • Frank Jacobs at Strange Maps explains the appearance of Brasilia on a 1920s German map: It turns out the capital was nearly realized then.

  • Towleroad notes that Pete Buttigieg has taken to avoiding reading LGBTQ media because he dislikes their criticism of his gayness.

  • Arnold Zwicky looks at diners and changing menus and slavery.

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  • Ryan Anderson at anthro{dendum} looks at the unnatural history of the beach in California, here.

  • Architectuul looks at the architectural imaginings of Iraqi Shero Bahradar, here.

  • Bad Astronomy looks at gas-rich galaxy NGC 3242.

  • James Bow announces his new novel The Night Girl, an urban fantasy set in an alternate Toronto with an author panel discussion scheduled for the Lillian H. Smith Library on the 28th.

  • Centauri Dreams looks at the indirect evidence for an exomoon orbiting WASP-49b, a possible Io analogue detected through its ejected sodium.

  • Crooked Timber considers the plight of holders of foreign passports in the UK after Brexit.

  • The Crux notes that astronomers are still debating the nature of galaxy GC1052-DF2, oddly lacking in dark matter.

  • D-Brief notes how, in different scientific fields, the deaths of prominent scientists can help progress.

  • Bruce Dorminey notes how NASA and the ESA are considering sample-return missions to Ceres.

  • Andrew LePage at Drew Ex Machina looks at the first test flights of the NASA Mercury program.

  • The Dragon's Tales looks at how Japan is considering building ASAT weapons.

  • Andrew LePage at Drew Ex Machina looks at the first test flights of the NASA Mercury program.

  • Far Outliers looks how the anti-malarial drug quinine played a key role in allowing Europeans to survive Africa.

  • At In Media Res, Russell Arben Fox considers grace and climate change.

  • io9 reports on how Jonathan Frakes had anxiety attacks over his return as Riker on Star Trek: Picard.

  • JSTOR Daily reports on the threatened banana.

  • Language Log looks at the language of Hong Kong protesters.

  • Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money notes how a new version of The Last of the Mohicans perpetuates Native American erasure.

  • Marginal Revolution notes how East Germany remains alienated.

  • Neuroskeptic looks at the participant-observer effect in fMRI subjects.

  • The NYR Daily reports on a documentary looking at the India of Modi.

  • Corey S. Powell writes at Out There about Neptune.

  • The Planetary Society Blog examines the atmosphere of Venus, something almost literally oceanic in its nature.

  • Noel Maurer at The Power and the Money considers how Greenland might be incorporated into the United States.

  • Rocky Planet notes how Earth is unique down to the level of its component minerals.

  • The Russian Demographics Blog considers biopolitical conservatism in Poland and Russia.

  • Starts With a Bang's Ethan Siegel considers if LIGO has made a detection that might reveal the nonexistence of the theorized mass gap between neutron stars and black holes.

  • Frank Jacobs at Strange Maps looks at Marchetti's constant: People in cities, it seems, simply do not want to commute for a time longer than half an hour.

  • Understanding Society's Daniel Little looks at how the US Chemical Safety Board works.

  • Window on Eurasia reports on how Muslims in the Russian Far North fare.

  • Arnold Zwicky looks at cannons and canons.

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  • The Crux looks at the australopiths, not-so-distant ancestors of modern humans.

  • Bruce Dorminey notes the interest of NASA in exploring the lunar subsurface, including lava tubes.

  • Far Outliers looks at the politicking of mid-19th century European explorers in the Sahel.

  • io9 notes that the new Joker film is getting stellar reviews, aided by the performance of Joaquin Phoenix.

  • JSTOR Daily explores how, to meet censors' demands, Betty Boop was remade in the 1930s from sex symbol into housewife.

  • Language Log reports on an utter failure in bilingual Irish/English signage.

  • Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money shows that a history of slavery in the US (Canada too, I would add) must not neglect the enslavement of indigenous peoples.

  • Marginal Revolution notes a paper studying San Francisco looking at how rent control did not work.

  • The NYR Daily considers growing protest against air travel for its impact on global climate.

  • Drew Rowsome reviews the queer romance film Bathroom Stalls & Parking Lots.

  • Window on Eurasia notes how the influence of Russia in the former Soviet Union is undone by Russian imperialism.

  • Arnold Zwicky considers the striking imagery--originally religious--of "carnal weapons".

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  • Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait shares a video of the expansion of supernova remnant Cas A.

  • James Bow shares an alternate history Toronto transit map from his new novel The Night Girl.

  • Chris Bertram at Crooked Timber notes the Boris Johnson coup.

  • The Crux notes a flawed study claiming that some plants had a recognizable intelligence.

  • D-Brief notes the mysterious absorbers in the clouds of Venus. Are they life?

  • Dangerous Minds shares, apropos of nothing, the Jah Wabbles song "A Very British Coup."

  • Cody Delistraty looks at bullfighting.

  • Dead Things notes the discovery of stone tools sixteen thousand years old in Idaho which are evidence of the first humans in the Americas.

  • io9 features an interview with authors Charlie Jane Anders and Annalee Newitz on worldbuilding.

  • Joe. My. God. notes that a bill in Thailand to establish civil unions is nearing approval.

  • JSTOR Daily looks at how using plastic in road construction can reduce pollution in oceans.

  • Language Log looks to see if some police in Hong Kong are speaking Cantonese or Putonghua.

  • Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the perplexing ramblings and--generously--inaccuracy of Joe Biden.

  • The LRB Blog asks why the United Kingdom is involved in the Yemen war, with Saudi Arabia.

  • The Map Room Blog looks at the different efforts aiming to map the fires of Amazonia.

  • Marginal Revolution reports on how some southern US communities, perhaps because they lack other sources of income, depend heavily on fines.

  • The NYR Daily looks at the complex literary career of Louisa May Alcott, writing for all sorts of markets.

  • Window on Eurasia reports on the apparently sincere belief of Stalin, based on new documents, that in 1934 he faced a threat from the Soviet army.

  • Arnold Zwicky takes a look at fixings, or fixins, as the case may be.

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  • 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.

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  • CBC Prince Edward Island looks at the famous lupins of Prince Edward Island, here.

  • There were mixed emotions, CBC Prince Edward Island reports, as non-residents of the Abegweit First Nation at Scotchfort were allowed to vote in band elections for the first time.

  • Politicians report that, notwithstanding the lack of a formal agreement, right now it looks as if the minority Conservative government could last until 2023. CBC PEI has it.

  • The raising of the pride flag in Charlottetown follows reports of homophobia outside of the capital, as small towns like Alberton refused requests. The Guardian reports.

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  • Bad Astronomy notes how, in galaxy 3XMM J150052.0+015452 1.8 billion light-years away, a black hole has been busily eating a star for a decade.

  • Centauri Dreams considers how relativistic probes might conduct astronomy. How would their measurements be changed by these high speeds?

  • The Crux reports on how scientists are trying to save the platypus in its native rivers of Australia.

  • D-Brief reports on the quiet past of Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule.

  • The Dragon's Tales reports on UAV news from around the world.

  • Joe. My. God. reports a statement by a Trump biography suggesting that the American president believes in not following laws because of his belief in his own "genetic superiority".

  • JSTOR Daily reports on the importance of the longleaf pine in the history of the United States.

  • Language Hat considers, in the case of Australia, the benefits of reviving indigenous languages.
  • Abigail Nussbaum at Lawyers, Guns and Money considers how the success of Israel in hosting Eurovision is a blow against the Netanyahu government.

  • James Butler at the LRB Blog looks at the peculiar position of private schools in the UK, and their intersection with public life.

  • Marginal Revolution looks at a paper analyzing two centuries of British writers noting that productivity was boosted for the least productive if they lived in London.

  • The NYR Daily notes the end of famed French periodical Les temps modernes.

  • Emily Lakdawalla at the Planetary Society Blog notes the expected crash of Chinese smallsat Longjiang-2 from its lunar orbit at the end of July.

  • Noel Maurer at The Power and the Money notes how ex-president of Argentina Cristina Fernández, running for election this year, was lucky in having the economic crash occur after the end of her presidency.

  • Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains the different reasons behind the blues of the sky and the ocean.

  • Window on Eurasia notes that three hundred thousand Russians have died of HIV/AIDS since the virus manifested on Soviet territory in the late 1980s, with more deaths to come thanks to mismanagement of the epidemic.

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This casting of Bird of Spring by Inuit sculptor Abraham Etungat, known for his sculptures of birds with wings upswept, is a casting made in bronze from his original carving. Blogger Bill Andersen noted in 2016 that this particular casting is one of several made of the original "Bird of Spring", produced by a foundation that wanted to spread Canadian art across the country. Ryerson University's casting has at least two siblings, one bronze in Halifax and another bronze in Vancouver, with still another fibreglass copy in Calgary's Connaught Park. NeaTO has a 2016 post going into more detail about the history of this particular casting.

Abraham Etungat, Bird of Spring #toronto #ryersonuniversity #ryersonquad #spring #green #inuit #abrahametungat #birdofspring #bronze #sculpture
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  • The City of Mississauga is encouraging residents to take part in a postal campaign to push for independence from Peel Region. Global News reports.

  • A Montréal city councillor wants the city to try to get a world's fair in 2030. CTV reports.

  • April Lindgren at The Conversation considersthe important role that local media in Thunder Bay can play in dealing, with, among other issues, Indigenous concerns.

  • Amy Wilentz considers at The Atlantic whether France, after the devastation of Notre-Dame in Paris, should perhaps contribute to the reconstruction of the cathedral of Port-au-Prince, a decade after its destruction in the earthquake that devastated an already poor ex-French Haiti.

  • Ben Rogers at Open Democracy makes the case for seeing London, despite its position as a global city, as also a metropolis inextricably at the heart of England, too.

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February 2021

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