[URBAN NOTE] Four Toronto architecture notes: Forest Hill, pastiches, Beaches, Lawren Harris

• These Forest Hill homeowners’ claim that renovating neighbours stole their intellectual property seem silly to me. The Toronto Star reports.
• Shawn Micallef notes that the traditional architecture style of Toronto is of one pastiche or another. Maybe modernism especially?
• Toronto Life shares photos of a beautiful waterfront home in the Beaches, one I have passed by frequently. Only $6 million!
• Ellen Scheinberg of Spacing tells how detective work tracked down the house that was subject of Lawren Harris’ “Toronto House”.

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[BLOG] Some Sunday links

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait looks at the discovery of rings around Kuiper belt dwarf planet Haumea, as does the Planetary Society Blog’s Jason Davis.
• The Big Picture, from the Boston Globe, shares photos of the devastation of Puerto Rico by Maria.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the strong support of many–most?–on the American right for apartheid.
• The LRB Blog shares an article by Mike Davis looking at the vulnerability of California, especially Napa, to wildfires.
• The Map Room Blog links to a beautiful detailed map of the French railway network.
• The NYR Daily reports from Catalonia on the edge of a meltdown.
• North’s Justin Petrone writes about going hunting for mushroooms in Estonia.
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel shares five especially noteworthy photos provided by NASA. (What, no Pale Blue Dot?)
• Window on Eurasia suggests Russians in Tatarstan, unlike other groups, are unique in not wanting to learn Tatar.

[NEWS] Four infrastructure links: Churchill, Hydro-Quebec, Mr. Christie condos in Mimico, Port Lands

• The failure to repair the railway linking Churchill to the rest of Canada is going to have huge consequences. CBC reports.
• With relatively green hydro energy, Hydro-Quebec is set to become a major exporter of power to the US. The Globe and Mail reports.
• The old lands of Mr. Christie to Mimico, in south Etobicoke, is set to become a new condo-heavy Liberty Village. Torontoist reports.
• Christopher Hume does not at all like the idea of just giving a bit chunk of the Port Lands to the movie industry. He writes in the Toronto Star.

[NEWS] Four science and technology links: LIGO, Neanderthal genes, Kazuo Ishiguro, AI gods

• I bet that, as numerous reports have indicated, LIGO picked up a neutron star collision, with EM traces. D-Brief reports.
• Neanderthal genes seem to have had a big influence on modern human health. I would be surprised not to have some. National Geographic describes.
• Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go may evoke crises of bioethics, but I’m not sure it relates to genetic engineering. VICE reports.
• These apocalyptic visions of technophiles who want to create an artificial intelligence to become god are notable. The Guardian takes a look.

[NEWS] Four links on relationships,sexuality: Brooklyn drag, Tom of Finland, bromance, online dating

• VICE suggests that drag in Brooklyn is having a big creative moment.
• This interview with the director of the Tom of Finland biopic sounds like he has grasped the issues.
• LiveScience tells of a formal study suggesting heterosexual guys prefer bromances to straight relationships … huh.
• Does online dating have the ability to transform society, by making all kinds of unexpected links across boundaries? Technology Review reports.

[BLOG] Some Saturday links

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait talks about the discovery that the early Moon had a notable atmosphere. http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/air-de-lune

The Big Picture, from the Boston Globe, shares terrifying pictures from the California wildfires. https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/bigpicture/2017/10/10/raging-wildfires-california/GtkTUeIILcZeqp5jlsLTMI/story.html

The Broadside Blog’s Caitlin Kelly talks about how writers need editing, and editors. https://broadsideblog.wordpress.com/2017/10/14/why-editors-matter-more-than-ever/

D-Brief notes that forming coal beds sucked so much carbon dioxide out of the air that it triggered an ice age.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2017/10/10/coal-earth-ice/

Dangerous Minds looks at Michael’s Thing, a vintage guide to gay New York dating from the 1970s. http://dangerousminds.net/comments/michaels_thing_new_york_citys_once_essential_queer_city_guide

Cody Delistraty looks at a new Paris exhibition of the works of Paul Gauguin that tries to deal with his moral sketchiness, inspiration of much his work. https://delistraty.com/2017/10/09/paul-gauguins-insurmountable-immorality/

Hornet Stories notes that same same-sex-attracted guys opt to be called not gay but androphiles. (Less baggage, they say.) https://hornetapp.com/stories/men-who-love-men-androphile/

Language Hat notes a claim that the Spanish of Christopher Columbus was marked by Catalan. http://languagehat.com/columbuss-catalan/

Language Log notes that the languages of southern China like Cantonese are actually fully-fledged languages. http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=34933

Lawyers, Guns and Money notes an argument that Chinese companies do not abide by the terms of tech transfer agreements.
http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2017/10/tech-transfer

The LRB Blog notes an old Mike Davis article noting how California, at a time of climate change, risks catastrophic wildfires. https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2017/10/10/the-editors/california-burning/

The Map Room Blog is unimpressed by the new book, A History of Canada in Ten Maps. (It needs more maps. Seriously.) https://buff.ly/2gcdLKG

The NYR Daily takes another look at the nature of consciousness.
http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2017/10/09/consciousness-an-object-lesson/

The Planetary Society Blog shares a scientist’s story about how he stitched together the last mosaic photo of Saturn by Cassini. http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/2017/cassinis-last-dance-with-saturn-farewell-mosaic.html

The Power and the Money’s Noel Maurer notes that an unnegotiated secession of Catalonia from Spain would be a catastrophe for the new country. http://noelmaurer.typepad.com/aab/2017/10/la-econom%C3%ADa-de-la-secesi%C3%B3n-en-la-madre-patria.html

Roads and Kingdoms considers what is next for Kurdistan after its independence referendum. http://roadsandkingdoms.com/2017/whats-next-for-kurdistan/

Science Sushi considers the sketchy science of studying cetacean sex. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/science-sushi/2017/10/10/dolphin-penis-vagina-simulated-marine-mammal-sex/

Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel notes that exceptionally strong evidence that we do, in fact, exist in a real multiverse. https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2017/10/12/the-multiverse-is-inevitable-and-were-living-in-it/

Strange Maps looks at rates of reported corruption across Latin America, finding that Mexico fares badly. http://bigthink.com/strange-maps/half-of-all-mexicans-paid-a-bribe-in-the-previous-12-months

Window on Eurasia notes new inflows of migrants to Russia include fewer Europeans and many more Central Asians. http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.ca/2017/10/gastarbeiters-in-russia-from-central.html

[ISL] Four islands links: Beothuk, Newfoundland outports, seasteading, Shetlands

• DNA tests of Beothuk remains reveal that the extinct group was related to neither Mi’kmaq nor Inuit. The Globe and Mail reports.
• Some Newfoundland outports are seeing many young professionals move in, to make homes and businesses. CBC reports.
• Marginal Revolution claims a group wanting to mount a seasteading effort off French Polynesia are getting close to their goals.
• Politico.eu notes that, in the Shetlands, while fishers hope Brexit will lead to the revival of the fisheries others fear a labour shortage without EU-27 migrants.