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  • NOW Toronto looks at the Pickering nuclear plant and its role in providing fuel for space travel.

  • In some places like California, traffic is so bad that airlines actually play a role for high-end commuters. CBC reports.

  • Goldfish released into the wild are a major issue for the environment in Québec, too. CTV News reports.

  • China's investments in Jamaica have good sides and bad sides. CBC reports.

  • A potato museum in Peru might help solve world hunger. The Guardian reports.

  • Is the Alberta-Saskatchewan alliance going to be a lasting one? Maclean's considers.

  • Is the fossil fuel industry collapsing? The Tyee makes the case.

  • Should Japan and Europe co-finance a EUrasia trade initiative to rival China's? Bloomberg argues.

  • Should websites receive protection as historically significant? VICE reports.

  • Food tourism in the Maritimes is a very good idea. Global News reports.

  • Atlantic Canada lobster exports to China thrive as New England gets hit by the trade war. CBC reports.

  • The Bloc Québécois experienced its revival by drawing on the same demographics as the provincial CAQ. Maclean's reports.

  • Population density is a factor that, in Canada, determines political issues, splitting urban and rural voters. The National Observer observes.

  • US border policies aimed against migration from Mexico have been harming businesses on the border with Canada. The National Post reports.

  • The warming of the ocean is changing the relationship of coastal communities with their seas. The Conversation looks.

  • Archival research in the digital age differs from what occurred in previous eras. The Conversation explains.

  • The Persian-language Wikipedia is an actively contested space. Open Democracy reports.

  • Vox notes how the US labour shortage has been driven partly by workers quitting the labour force, here.

  • Laurie Penny at WIRED has a stirring essay about hope, about the belief in some sort of future.

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  • Anthropology.net notes a remarkably thorough genetic analysis of a piece of chewing gum 5700 years old that reveals volumes of data about the girl who chew it.

  • 'Nathan Burgoine at Apostrophen writes an amazing review of Cats that actually does make me want to see it.

  • Bad Astronomy reports on galaxy NGC 6240, a galaxy produced by a collision with three supermassive black holes.

  • Caitlin Kelly at the Broadside Blog writes about the mechanics of journalism.

  • Centauri Dreams argues that the question of whether humans will walk on exoplanets is ultimately distracting to the study of these worlds.

  • Crooked Timber shares a Sunday morning photo of Bristol.

  • The Dragon's Tales notes that India has a launch date of December 2021 for its first mission in its Gaganyaan crewed space program.

  • Andrew LePage at Drew Ex Machina looks at the Saturn C-1 rocket.

  • Karen Sternheimer at the Everyday Sociology Blog considers if the vogue for minimalism meets the criteria to be considered a social movement.

  • Far Outliers ?notes how, in the War of 1812, some in New England considered the possibility of seceding from the Union.

  • Gizmodo looks at evidence of the last populations known of Homo erectus, on Java just over a hundred thousand years ago.

  • Mark Graham links to a new paper co-authored by him looking at how African workers deal with the gig economy.

  • io9 announces that the Michael Chabon novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, is set to become a television series.

  • Joe. My. God. shares a report that Putin gave Trump anti-Ukrainian conspiracy theories.

  • JSTOR Daily considers what a world with an economy no longer structured around oil could look like.

  • Language Hat takes issue with the latest talk of the Icelandic language facing extinction.

  • Language Log shares a multilingual sign photographed in Philadelphia's Chinatown.

  • Paul Campos at Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the document release revealing the futility of the war in Afghanistan.

  • The LRB Blog looks at class identity and mass movements and social democracy.

  • Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution suggests that, even if the economy of China is larger than the United States, Chinese per capita poverty means China does not have the leading economy.

  • Diane Duane at Out of Ambit writes about how she is writing a gay sex scene.

  • Jim Belshaw at Personal Reflections reflects on "OK Boomer".

  • Roads and Kingdoms interviews Mexican chef Ruffo Ibarra.

  • Peter Rukavina shares his list of levees for New Year's Day 2020 on PEI.

  • The Russian Demographics Blog shares a map indicating fertility rates in the different regions of the European Union.

  • Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel explains how quantum physics are responsible for vast cosmic structures.

  • Charles Soule at Whatever explains his reasoning behind his new body-swap novel.

  • Window on Eurasia notes how the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in Paris show the lack of meaningful pro-Russian sentiment there.

  • Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell talks about his lessons from working in the recent British election.

  • Arnold Zwicky looks at a syncretic, Jewish-Jedi, holiday poster.

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  • Citizen Science Salon highlights Australian Michelle Neil, here.

  • Ingrid Robeyns argues at Crooked Timber that the idea of punitive taxation of the superrich is hardly blasphemous.

  • The Crux looks at the ongoing debate over the age of the rings of Saturn.

  • io9 notes the sad death of Aron Eisenberg, the actor who brought the character of Nog to life on DS9.

  • JSTOR Daily shares a debate on the ego and the id, eighty years later.

  • Lawyers, Guns and Money notes how Mitch McConnell may have started the movement of Elizabeth Warren towards the US presidency.

  • The Map Room Blog takes a look at the credible and consistent mapping of Star Wars' galaxy.

  • The NYR Daily looks at Springsteen at 70 as a performer.

  • Peter Rukavina shares a photo of a New England forest in fall.

  • The Volokh Conspiracy notes a sticker that straddles the line between anti-Muslim sentiment and misogyny, trying to force people to choose.

  • Window on Eurasia notes the strong anti-Russian sentiment prevailing in once-independent Tuva.

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  • The Crux takes a look at how those people who actually are short sleepers work.

  • D-Brief looks at a study noting how the moods of people are determined by the strengths of their phones' batteries.

  • Dan Lainer-Vos at the Everyday Sociology Blog looks at statistical certainty at a time of climate change.

  • JSTOR Daily looks at how, and why, the New England Puritans believed human bone might have medical power.

  • Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at the press coverage that created the alleged Clinton uranium scandal.

  • The Map Room Blog shares maps noting that, already, since the late 19th century much of the world has warmed more than 2 degrees Celsius.

  • Strange Company shares a diverse collection of links.

  • Daniel Pfau at Towleroad writes about possible deep evolutionary roots of homosexuality.

  • Window on Eurasia notes how the Russian republic of Karelia, despite its border with Finland, suffers from repression.

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  • That, as a new study suggests, there is no single gay gene, but rather multiple different originals for non-heterosexual sexual orientations and behaviours, makes intuitive sense to me. The Washington Post has one take.

  • Atlas Obscura looks at the history behind the stone walls of New England.
  • Justin Fox at Bloomberg examines how the once-commanding lead in incomes of the middle class of the United States over the middle classes of other countries is starting to fade.

  • CityLab looks at how, too often by design, beaches in the United States are inaccessible to mass transit. (Toronto is lucky.)

  • La Presse shares a proposal by Radio-Canada to move away from a media model of competing with other outlets towards one based on collaboration.

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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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  • Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait notes the first time that an exoplanet, HR 8799e, has been directly observed using optical interferometry.

  • Centauri Dreams notes the possibility, demonstrated by the glimpsing of a circumplanetary disc around exoplanet PDS 70b, that we might be seeing a moon system in formation.

  • The Citizen Science Salon looks what observers in Antarctica are contributing to our wealth of scientific knowledge.

  • The Dragon's Tales shares links to articles looking at the latest findings on the Precambrian Earth.

  • The Frailest Thing's L.M. Sacasas writes about his ambivalent response to a Twitter that, by its popularity, undermines the open web.

  • Gizmodo notes that NASA is going to open up the International Space Station to tourists.

  • JSTOR Daily looks at how croquet, upon its introduction in the 19th century United States, was seen as scandalous for the way it allowed men and women to mix freely.

  • Shakezula at Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the unaccountable fondness of at least two Maine Republican legislators for the Confederacy.

  • Marginal Revolution suggests that the economic success of Israel in recent decades is a triumph of neoliberalism.

  • Stephen Ellis at the NYR Daily writes about the gymnastics of Willem de Kooning.

  • Drew Rowsome profiles out comic Brendan D'Souza.

  • Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel looks at the still strange galaxy NGC 1052-DF2, apparently devoid of dark matter.

  • John Scalzi at Whatever shares his theory about a fixed quantity of flavor in strawberries of different sizes.

  • Window on Eurasia looks at a contentious plan for a territorial swap between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

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  • Sean Marshall at TVO notes the limited, if real, potential of a new ride-sharing app to bridge the transit gap between Kitchener-Waterloo, Guelph, and Hamilton in the west of the Golden Horseshoe.

  • CBC Montreal notes delays in the renovation of the Biodôme.

  • CityLab notes that in Portland, Maine, volunteering can help one get access to affordable housing, literally.

  • CityLab notes how the government of Berlin is set to intervene directly in the housing market to ensure affordability.

  • Guardian Cities looks at how Seoul is set to redevelop the districts once at the heart of the South Korean economic miracle.

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  • CityLab shares newly unearthed photos of the destroyed Detroit neighbourhood of Black Bottom.

  • The National Post reports that apparently the latest iteration of the Winter Carnival in Québec City has not met with popular approval.

  • CityLab explored for Valentine's Day the notable history of Boston as a centre for the manufacture of candy.

  • CityLab notes how the nascent condo boom in Queens' Long Island City, set to capitalize on the Amazon HQ2 there, has been undermined abruptly by Amazon's withdrawal.

  • Ozy looks at the historic Uruguay town of Colonia del Sacramento.

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  • This feature in The Guardian examines the sufferings of the people who have been made victims of conspiracy theories.

  • Global News takes a look at the strong support of New Brunswickers for the New England Patriots, rooted in a historical community that surely extends to the rest of Atlantic Canada.

  • Atlas Obscura examines the communities being knitted together across the world by North American immigrants from the Caribbean of at least partial Hakka descent.

  • The Guardian notes how, for many property-owners and residents, having Banksy graffiti on one of their walls might not be a blessing at all.

  • The Japan Times looks at how a gatekeeper in the infamous Aokigahara forest in Japan, a favoured destination of people planning suicide, is trying to inspire them to live.

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  • Curbed takes a look at the innovative ways in which the city government of Hamilton has helped boost the city's strengths.

  • Commonwealth Magazine shares a revived plan from the 1980s to protect Boston from sea level rise by building a great crescent-shaped dike in Boston Harbor.

  • CityLab takes a look at New York City's seemingly-inexplicable decision to back down on a years-long closure of the L Train subway line for repair work.

  • Guardian Cities notes the controversy in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, about the construction of a Turkish-funded mosque there. Is this but an element of a new Turkish sphere of influence in the western Balkans?

  • This fascinating CNN report takes a look at the sheer scale of Chinese influence in Addis Ababa, the booming capital of Ethiopia, on its own terms and as an example of Chinese influence in Africa at large. (The locals, incidentally, find its models quite relevant and wanted.)

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  • Transitions Online reports on how Syrian refugees are increasingly finding new homes in Turkey.

  • Iranian families divided by the Trump visa ban now meet in a library on the Québec-Vermont border. Reuters reports.

  • Poland, this Le Devoir report observes, now attracts more immigrants in absolute numbers--many more in relative terms--than Germany.

  • What, this Open Democracy essay asks, will the Honduran refugees in Tijuana do next?

  • This Reihan Salam suggestion at The Atlantic that Mexico should start to encourage American retirees to settle, with the hope of diminishing the political weight of Latin American migration to the United States, actually makes a lot of sense.

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  • Le Devoir features an article pointing its readers to the many and verifiable attractions of the Ontario city of Hamilton.

  • The closure of the GM plant in Oshawa hits employment across a frighteningly large chunk of the Canadian automotive sector. Global News reports.

  • In Metro Vancouver, legislation aiming at preventing "monster home" construction on farmland is encountering opposition among farmers. Global News reports.

  • Alex Carp at the NYR Daily takes a look at the new role of Ariel Palitz, effective mayor of nightlife in New York City.

  • Le Devoir notes the impending closure of Saint Anne's Church, Église Sainte-Anne, in the New England town of Fall River, no longer a centerpiece of Franco-American community life.

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  • Karim Doumar at CityLab looks at how artist Clarissa Tossin used video and dance to engage with the Frank Lloyd Wright Hollyhock House, inspired by Mayan models.

  • JSTOR Daily takes a look at the historical background of the Mesoamerican ball game Ulama, currently undergoing a revival.

  • Trans Cree writer Arielle Twist talks about the dangers of love over at CBC Arts.

  • VICE reports on how the Mashpee Wampanoag, the tribe that welcomed the Pilgrims to New England, is at risk of losing what remains of their land.

  • Jennifer Yang writes at the Toronto Star about vicious anti-native rumours on Ontario's Manitoulin Island that pitted white students against indigenous ones.

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  • Some tour guides in Montréal think they should receive more training about their city's indigenous history. CBC reports.

  • After an arson that destroyed their warehouse, the Northmart grocery store in Iqaluit has reopened. CBC reports.

  • Nova Scotia is preparing to send a Christmas tree to Boston, a seasonal tradition that started as a thank-you to New England for help to Halifax after the Halifax Explosion. Global News reports.

  • Orange County, the Los Angeles Times has noted, has ended its history as a Republican stronghold. Demographic change has resulted in irreversible political change.

  • Guardian Cities reports on the catastrophic state of public transit in Rome. Perhaps privatization might be a solution for this system.

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  • Atlas Obscura takes a look at Malaga Island in Maine, an island brutally depopulated by state authorities a century ago because of its non-white population.

  • Gizmodo notes the discovery of some of the oldest soil ever found, paleosoil, 3.7 billion years old, in Greenland.

  • A fringe political candidate in British Columbia wants his Vancouver Island to become a separate province. The Province reports.

  • The Gibraltar Chronicle has a feature on a journalist with a book exploring the historical connection between Gibraltar and the Balearic island of Menorca, at one time a British possession.

  • The Guardian reports on how Palau dealt with a freeze on tourism from China over its continued recognition of Taiwan.

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  • Bad Astronomer Phil Plait goes into more detail about the Milky Way Galaxy's ancient collision with and absorption of dwarf galaxy Gaia-Enceladus.

  • Centauri Dreams considers SETI in the infrared, looking at the proposal to use a laser to signal our existence to observers of our sun.

  • D-Brief notes a study of Neanderthal children's teeth that documents their hazardous environment, faced with cold winters and lead contamination.

  • The Island Review shares three lovely islands-related poems by writer Naila Moreira.

  • JSTOR Daily asks an important question: Can the United States and China avoid the Thucydides trap, a war of the rising power with the falling one? Things seems uncertain at this point.

  • Mark Liberman at Language Log looks at the continuing lack of progress of machine translation.

  • Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at a recent discussion on the Roman Republic, noting how imperialism and inequality led to that polity's transformation into an empire. Lessons for us now?

  • The Map Room Blog shares a Canadian Geographic map describing the different, declining, populations of caribou in the north of Canada.

  • Marginal Revolution notes a paper suggesting that global pandemics will not necessarily kill us all off, that high-virulence infections might be outcompeted and, even, controllable.

  • The NYR Daily takes a look at historical reasons for the prominence of Rembrandt in the British artistic imagination.

  • Towleroad notes that Massachusetts voted to keep transgender rights protected.

  • Window on Eurasia suggests that the quality of Russian taught in schools in Uzbekistan is declining. I wonder: Is this a matter of a Central Asian variety emerging, perhaps?

  • Livio di Matteo at Worthwhile Canadian Initiative takes a look at the long-run economic growth of Australia, contrasting it with the past and with other countries. In some ways, Canada (among others) is a stronger performer.

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  • Hornet Stories tells of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, lover to King James I.

  • The Daily Beast reports on the remarkable films showing ordinary LGBT lives as far back as the 1940s, recovered by filmmaker Stu Maddux.

  • Radio Canada International reports on exciting plans to fundraise for a new museum to LGBTQ history in Canada based in Ottawa.

  • Hornet Stories shares photos from Carnival in gay mecca Provincetown.

  • Ashleigh Rae-Thomas writes at Daily Xtra about the importance of creating and maintaining queer spaces at Toronto's Carnival.

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  • Has anyone heard anything new about the future of retail cannabis products in Ontario under Ford? CBC reports.

  • The professionalization of cannabis agriculture, such as is being currently undertaken at the University of Guelph, is a great idea. The Toronto Star reports.

  • Why not, as NOW Toronto describes, a virtual marijuana dispensary? More is here.

  • The Manitoba town of Gimli hopes to maintain a local ban on the sale of marijuana within its borders. MacLean's reports.

  • The Boston neighbourhood of Dorchester is apparently caught up in deep controversy over the mechanics and future of legalized marijuana sales. VICE reports.

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