[URBAN NOTE] Two mass transit links, from awkwardly rising London to Robert Moses in New York City

• In The New York Times, Michael Kimmelman reports on the Crossrail mass transit line in London. It sounds promising, even in the era of Brexit.
• Emily Nonko at Curbed argues that the underfunding of mass transit in NYC by Robert Moses is the cause of the current crisis.

[ISL] Four links from the Island, from Summerside to changing vulnerable environments

• As described in The Guardian, this Summerside project to make the old train station into a restoration evokes Toronto’s Summerhill station to me.
• CBC notes how Prince Edward Island’s dry summer might lead to a drought.
• The Guardian reports on a community effort to preserve Covehead Bay. I only hope that Covehead Bay, like the other vulnerable estuaries of the Island, will be protected.
• News that coyotes are in Charlottetown’s East Royalty not more than a couple hundred metres from home is unshocking.

[NEWS] Seven French Canada links, from Louisbourg to Québec islands to politics to economics

• The Globe and Mail describes a salvage archaeology operation in Cape Breton, on the receding shores of Louisbourg at Rochefort Point.
• Katie Ingram at MacLean’s notes the hostile reaction in Atlantic Canada to the consolidation of artifacts in a Québec facility.
• The National Observer reports on how Québec has effectively banned the oil and gas industry from operating on Anticosti Island.
• This La Presse article talks about letting, or not, the distant Iles-de-la-Madeleine keep their own Québec electoral riding notwithstanding their small population.
• Will the Bloc Québécois go the way of the Créditistes and other Québec regional protest movements? Éric Grenier considers at CBC.
• The National Post describes the remarkable improvement of the Québec economy in recent years, in absolute and relative terms. Québec a have?
• Francine Pelletier argues Québec fears for the future have to do with a sense of particular vulnerability.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links, from strange disappearances to the Toronto Islands to odd suburbs

• James Dubro highlights at Torontoist the disappearing queer men of Toronto. Is a serial killer at work?
• At the Toronto Star, Paul Hunter reports on how the Toronto Islands have been reopened starting today.
• John Lorinc’s investigation of high-rise safety in Toronto is alarming, and ends here and here.
• Scott Wheeler looks at the controversial mounted cow sculpture of Cathedraltown, in Markham.
• Victoria Gibson reports on the $150 million a year spent by the federal government at Pickering on property never used to build an airport.

[BLOG] Some Monday links

• Charley Ross reports on an unexpected personal involvement in the disappearance of Kori Gossett. Did an informant know?
• Citizen Science Salon reports, in the time of #sharkweek, on the sevengill sharks.
• The Dragon’s Tales links to an article on the Chinese base in Sudan.
• Inkfish has a fascinating article describing how New Zealand’s giant black swans went extinct, and were replaced.
• Language Hat notes two obscure words of Senegalese French, “laptot” and “signare”. What do they mean? Go see.
• Language Log argues that the influx of English loanwords in Chinese is remarkable. Does it signal future changes in language?
• Lawyers, Guns Money notes how Los Angeles and southern California were, during the American Civil War, a stronghold of secessionist sentiment, and runs down some of the problems of Mexico, including the militarization of crime.
• Marginal Revolution reports on what books by which authors tend to get stolen from British bookstores.
• The Power and the Money’s Noel Maurer suggests that Donald Trump is not likely to be able to substantially reshape NAFTA.
• Roads and Kingdoms reports from the recent protests in Poland against changes to the Supreme Court.
• Understanding Society takes a look at the structure of the cities of medieval Europe, which apparently were dynamic and flexible.
• Unicorn Booty shares some classic gay board games.
• Window on Eurasia argues that Russia is going to try to wage a repeat of the Winter War on Ukraine.

[PHOTO] Inside the new Giant Tiger store, 449 University Avenue, Charlottetown

One of the first places I visited in Charlottetown after waking up was that city’s new Giant Tiger store, located in a strip mall–courtyard, really–at 449 University Avenue. I was curious to see this new discount retailer, not least because there are no Giant Tigers in downtown Toronto. (The closest the store locator lists to me is on Kipling Avenue in Etobicoke.)

This Giant Tiger had only been open for a week by the time I saw it, so the Charlottetown location still had the new-store sheen to it. This location did seem well-designed, funneling shopping through women’s clothing through foodstuffs down through men’s clothing and sundries, with reasonable merchandise. It looks like a useful addition to the retail landscape, a decided step up from Dollarama with its higher-end items like clothes, perhaps even a first approximation towards a replacement for departed chain stores like Zellers. I’m only surprised that there is not a Giant Tiger yet in downtown Toronto: Giant Tiger could do well, I am sure, if only it had the right location.

<center><a data-flickr-embed=” true”=”true"” href=”http://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/giant-tiger-roars-into-charlottetown-pei-634462183.htmlopen for a week</u></a> by the time I saw it, so the Charlottetown location still had the new-store sheen to it. It looks like a useful addition to the retail landscape, a decided step up from Dollarama with its higher-end items like clothes, perhaps even a first approximation towards a replacement for departed chain stores like Zellers. I'm only surprised that there is not a Giant Tiger yet in downtown Toronto: it could do well, I am sure, if only it had the right location.

<center><a data-flickr-embed=” title=”Giant Tiger, grocery section”>

[PHOTO] A meeting for Toronto’s missing 2LGBTQA*, 1 August 2017

I saw this placard advertising a meeting, to be held tomorrow the 1st of August at 5:30 pm at the 519 Community Centre, discussing Toronto’s missing queer men on a building at Church and Wellesley. The community is paying attention to this alarming mystery.

[PHOTO] Nine photos from the Geary Ave. Flea (#gearyaveflea)

Some likes I received on year-old photos on Instagram tagged with Toronto’s Geary Avenue, a west-east street that lies literally on the other side of the tracks from my home on Dupont, alerted me to the Geary Ave. Flea. This flea market event, held at and around the corner of Geary and Westmoreland Avenue, is a monthly event, today’s being the second of four scheduled for the summmer, on the last Sunday of each month.

What did I think of the Geary Ave. Flea? I enjoyed it. There’s a nice mix of local businesspeople and shopkeepers advertising their goods, people trying to sell bricabrac in good shape, and even a mix of food and drink vendors. It’s a nice addition to the neighbourhood. I just wish there were more iterations scheduled for this summer.

[NEWS] Four links about science and the future: Caananites, iPod, birding, e-residency

• The New York Times is but one news source to observe the findings of archeologists and geneticists that the Canaanites were not slaughtered. Was the claimed Biblical genocide a matter of thwarted wish-fulfillment?
• At Wired, David Pierce mourns the standalone iPod, an innovative music-changing technology in its time now being phased out.
• Catherine McIntyre at MacLean’s describes how birding is becoming hip among young urbanites, in Toronto and across Canada.
• Open Democracy looks at how Estonia is pioneering e-residency and virtual citizenship schemes.

[ISL] Four links from Prince Edward Island, of economics and tourism and past migration

• CBC reports on the recent commemoration of Captain John MacDonald of Glenaladale, pioneer of Scottish Catholic settlers on PEI.
• CBC reports on the growth of the shoulder, non-summer, tourist seasons in Prince Edward Island.
• Mitch MacDonald’s article in The Guardian looking at the invasion of Nova Scotia by PEI businesspeople is interesting.
• After a recent period of convergence, CBC notes PEI wages have declined to about 85% of the Canadian average.