[NEWS] Five language links: Macedonian, Inuktitut, Afrikaans, Slavic languages, Catalan

• The Conversation takes a look at the fierce repression faced by the Macedonian language in early 20th century Greece.
• Creating an Inuktitut word for marijuana is a surprisingly controversial task. The Toronto Star reports.
• The representation of non-whites in the Afrikaans language community–the majority population of Afrikaans speakers, actually, despite racism–is a continuing issue. The Christian Science Monitor reports.
• Far Outliers considers the question of just how many different Slavic languages there actually are. Where are boundaries drawn?
• The Catalan language remains widely spoken by ten million people in Europe, but outside of Catalonia proper–especially in French Roussillon–usage is declining.

[NEWS] FIve LGBTQ links: Pride in Antarctica, Marvel, Edmonton, movies, HIV/AIDS

• National Geographic let us know that, this year, Pride was celebrated around the world, even in Antarctica.
• What was the gayest Marvel movie to date? I do think Thor: Ragnarok has a good claim, myself. Vulture ranks them.
• Daily Xtra notes how queer rights–specifically, the rights of students–became a big political issue in Edmonton.
• The stories of the first movies to come out in the 1980s dealing with the AIDS crisis do need to be told. The Guardian reports.
• I entirely agree with the opinion of this Advocate writer that we need to think smartly about HIV/AIDS, especially in light of continuing technologies and new safer-sex techniques like PrEP.

[ISL] Five islands links: Kerguelens, Faroes, Hainan, Kuril Islands, Qatar

• The albatross of France’s sub-Antarctic Kerguelen Islands are facing pressure, alas. CNRS reports.
• The New Yorker takes a look at Koks, a Michelin-starred restaurant in the Faroes that takes rare advantage of local food.
• The Chinese island-province of Hainan might be trying to position itself as an international tourism destination, but restrictions on the Internet continue. Quartz reports.
• Is a bare majority of the Kuril Islands’ population is of Ukrainian background? Window on Eurasia suggests it may be so.
• The intensity of the desire of Saudi Arabia’s government to literally make Qatar an island through canal construction worries me, frankly. VOX reports.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Richmond Hill, Kingston, Hamilton, Québec City, Lunenburg

• I really have to get up to Richmond Hill soon, if only to see the reopened David Dunlap Observatory. The Toronto Star reports.
• The City of Kingston and Queen’s University, Global News reports, are going to collaborate to try to prevent street parties. (Student ghetto issues continue, I see.)
• blogTO provides an ambitious, if perhaps expensive, itinerary for a visit 48 hours long to Hamilton, Ontario, here.
• Gentrification is starting to place pressure on residents of some neighbourhoods in Québec City. (I am somewhat surprised by this, given that city’s relative insulation from North American trends.) CBC reports.
• National Observer notes how Lunenburg, in Nova Scotia, is taking a stand against unregulated offshore drilling.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: HQ2, Geary Avenue, Yonge and Eglinton, Port Lands, Pickering subway

• Ben Fox Rubin at CNET reports on the perhaps surprisingly successful bid of Toronto to host Amazon’s HQ2.
• blogTO reports on how Geary Avenue, just one street away from me, is becoming one of the most interesting streets in Toronto for nightclubbing and more.
• Many residents of Yonge and Eglinton are unhappy with the pace of condo construction in the neighbourhood. Local resources–like utilities, and local schools–are coming under pressure. blogTO reports.
• Part of Lake Ontario in the Port Lands, off Cherry Street, is being filled in for condo development. CityNews reports.
• John Lorinc at Spacing looks at the many ways in which Premier Doug Ford’s proposal of extending the subway to Pickering simply does not work.

[CAT] Five cat links: Toronto cat parks, cat longevity, Australia, California cougars, fishing cats

• Toronto, finally, will be getting not one but two cat-themed parks in the downtown core, including one of the site of the Addisons Residence nightclub to be built by 2022. blogTO reports.
• At Atlas Obscura, Christina Couch tells the story of Texan Jake Perry, a man who claims to have found a way to give cats very extended lifespans.
• Jason Daley at Smithsonian notesthe exceptional death toll inflicted by cats on native wildlife, including reptiles, after their introduction into Australia.
• Four cougar kittens were recently found, miraculously, in a patch of California hills surrounded by roads. Annie Roth at National Geographic reports.
• Oishimaya Sen Mag at World Atlas reports/u> on the fishing cat of South Asia, a feline population facing significant enviromental pressure.

[CAT] Shakespeare, on his cardboard scratching post

[META] Four new blogroll links

• Writer Jamie Bradburn, a person known for excellent essays exploring the history of Toronto at Torontoist and elsewhere, writes about his goals for new content at his WordPress blog. (Bringing old material from the missed The Grid would be great.)
• The Island Review is a blog that brings together interesting links about islands. This post, a map depicting the forms of the different minor islands around Great Britain, is fun, is a good start.
• TVO journalist Steve Paikin’s blog is a great source for information on politics in Ontario. This post takes a look at the first meeting of the new NDP provincial caucus.
• Author Patricia C. Wrede has a nice blog focusing on writing fiction, as with this post concentrating on well-intended advice that can wreck stories.

[META] Eight new news sources

It’s time to add new links and news sources to my blogroll, ones reflecting my interests.

• CityLab is a great news source looking at different urban phenomena within individual cities and uniting cities. CityLab hosts Sam Weber’s article looking at the many problems facing North Korean defectors as they try to assimilate into ultra-sophisticated Seoul.
• The Conversation CA hosts Stephen Scherer’s article explaining the importance of sequencing the genomes of Canadian animals.
• The Discourse is a new Canadian media start-up promising in-depth coverage on Canadian issues. Before the recent Ontario election, they started a hashtag, #GTADiscourse, to see what people in the GTA underserved by the media were concerned about.
• The Guardian Cities takes a look at urban issues around the world. I liked this Mireille Silcoff article explaining the import of 1 July to the inhabitants of Montréal: It’s moving day!
• Steve Benjamins hosts Village, a new subscriber-only newsletter focusing on Toronto. I liked this article about a Seaton Village beekeeper, here.
• The venerable hard-left Canadian news site Rabble has plenty of thought-provoking articles, like Barâa Arar’s essay explaining their fear of what a Doug Ford government in Ontario might do.
• American queer magazine Them has plenty of great articles. I liked this one confirming that Tessa Thompson, Valkyrie in Thor and Janelle Monáe’s rumoured girlfriend, is out as bi.
• Toronto website and discussion forum Urban Toronto reports on a massive mural set to grace the Parkside Student Residences at Jarvis and Carlton.

Last night, I took a leisurely walk home on a warm summer evening, west on St. Clair from St. Clair West station and then south through Regal Heights, down to the northwesternmost corner of Dovercourt Village.