[URBAN NOTE] Ten city links: Laval, Calgary, Vancouver, Cleveland, Machu Picchu, London, Görlitz …

• The Québec city of Laval now has a cemetery where pets can be buried alongside their owners. CBC reports.
• Talk of Alberta separatism has already cost Calgary at least one high-profile non-oil investment, it seems. Global News reports.
• A new piece of public art in Vancouver, a spinning chandelier, has proven to be a lightning rod for controversy. CBC reports.
• Guardian Cities looks at the continuing fight against lead contamination in Cleveland.
• Machu Picchu was built in a high remote corner of the Andes for good reasons, it is being argued. The National Post reports.
• Wired looks at how rivals to Uber are currently fighting for dominance in London, here.
• Guardian Cities shares a cartoon history of the birth of Nairobi, here.
• The east German city of Gorlitz offered interested people one month’s free residence. The Guardian reports.
• JSTOR Daily notes that Hong Kong was born as a city from refugee migrations.
• Is Tokyo, despite tis size and wealth, too detached from Asia to take over from Hong Kong as a regional financial centre? Bloomberg View is not encouraging.

[NEWS] Five science links: ancient humans, animal minds, green Asia, generation starships, SN1987A

• Quanta Magazine notes that the deep learning offered by new artificial intelligences can help pick out traces of non-homo sapiens ancestry in our current gene pool.
• This sensitive article in The Atlantic examines the extent to which consciousness and emotion are ubiquitous in the world of animals.
• NASA notes evidence of the great greening of China and India, associated not only with agriculture in both countries but with the commitment of China to reforestation projects.
• Mashable examines the fundamental brittleness of closed systems that will likely limit the classical generation starship.
• SciTechDaily notes new observations of SN 1987A revealing a much greater prediction of dust than previously believed.

[BLOG] Some Monday links

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait considers nearby galaxy NGC 6744, a relatively nearby spiral galaxy that may look like the Milky Way.
• D-Brief notes the remarkable ceramic spring that gives the mantis shrimp its remarkably powerful punch.
• Far Outliers notes how the north Korean port of Hamhung was modernized in the 1930s, but also Japanized, with few legacies of its Korean past remaining.
• Joe. My. God. notes how the Trump administration plans to define being transgender out of existence. Appalling.
• Alexandra Samuel at JSTOR Daily notes the ways in which the Internet has undermined the traditions which support American political institutions. Can new traditions be made?
• Lawyers, Guns, and Money notes how the Trump’s withdrawal from the INF treaty with Russia on nuclear weapons harms American security.
• Rose Jacobs at Lingua Franca writes about ways in which derision, specifically of other nationalities, enters into English slang.
• Marginal Revolution notes that, in an article surveying the Icelandic language, a report that sales of books in Iceland have fallen by nearly half since 2010.
• The NYR Daily looks at two recent movies, one autobiographical and one fictional, looking at dads in space.
• Jason Perry at the Planetary Society Blog reports on the latest imagery of the volcanoes of Io.
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel considers the possibility that time travel might not destroy the universe via paradoxes.
• Window on Eurasia suggests that the experience of post-Soviet Estonia with its two Orthodox churches might be a model for Ukraine.

[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes how the recently-charted orbit of S2 around Sagittarius A* in the heart of our galaxy proves Einstein’s theory of relativity right.
• D-Brief notes a recent NASA study of Mars concluding that, because of the planet’s shortfalls in conceivably extractable carbon dioxide, terraforming Mars is impossible with current technology.
• Dead Things suggests that one key to the rise of Homo sapiens may be the fact that we are such good generalists, capable of adapting to different environments and challenges with speed even if we are not optimized for them. (Poor Neanderthals.)
• At the Everyday Sociology Blog, Karen Sternheimer examines how individuals’ identities shift as they engage, encountering new problems.
• Hornet Stories notes that Thailand may well beat Taiwan in creating civil unions for same-sex couples.
• JSTOR Daily examines the famed, nay iconic, baobab tree of Africa.
• Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money wonders about how, as the centennial of the introduction of women’s suffrage approaches, the white racism of many suffragettes will be dealt with.
• The Map Room Blog reports on Michael Plichta’s very impressed hand-crafted globe of the Moon.
• Russell Darnley at Maximos’ Blog reports on the massive forest fires in Indonesia’s Jambi Province.

[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes a new image showing the sheer density of events in the core of our galaxy.
• Centauri Dreams notes the discovery of 2MASS 0249 c, a planet-like object that distantly orbits a pair of low-mass brown dwarfs.
• D-Brief notes the discovery of many new moons of Jupiter, bringing the total up to 79.
• Far Outliers looks at the appeasement practiced by the Times of London in the 1930s.
• The Frailest Thing’s L.M. Sacasas contrasts roots with anchors.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the controversy surrounding surviving honours paid to Franco in Spain.
• The LRB Blog looks at how the question of Macedonia continues to be a threatening issue in the politics of Greece.
• The Power and the Money’s Noel Maurer suggests the new Mexican president is trying to create a new political machine, one that can only echo the more far-reaching and unrestrained one of PRI.
• Frank Jacobs at Strange Maps looks at the shifting alliances of different Asian countries with China and the United States.
• Window on Eurasia reports on the Russian reactions to a recent Politico Europe report describing Estonia’s strategies for resisting a Russian invasion in depth.

[ISL] Five Island links: John Smith, Buddhism, Easter Monday FIlipino tour, Province House, Greens

• The death late last month of poet laureate John Smith has left the Island bereft. He was a wonderful man, and is much missed. The Guardian reports.
• 47 acres of land have been bought near Brudenell, PEI, for a Buddhist nuns’ monastery. Buddhism is getting deep roots on the Island, I see. The Guardian reports.
• The Filipino tradition of touring churches on Easter Monday has been transplanted to the Island. CBC reports.
• Kevin Yarr reports on the extensive upgrades that Charlottetown’s Province House will need, even after the current emergency repairs are finished, over at CBC.
• The Green Party is strengthening its growing roots in Atlantic Canada by appointing Island-born Jo-Ann Roberts as a deputy leader. CBC reports.

[NEWS] Five notes on migration: Asians in the US, Ghana to Libya, Indian women, Brazil, Canada

• Noah Smith notes at Bloomberg View that Trump’s bizarre opposition to chain migration would hit (for instance) Asian immigrant communities in the United States quite badly.
• The Inter Press Service shares one man’s nearly fatal attempt to migrate from his native Ghana through Libya.
• The Inter Press Service notes a hugely underestimated system of migration within India, that of women moving to their new husbands’ homes.
• In an extended piece, the Inter Press Service examines how wars and disasters are driving much immigration to Brazil, looking particularly at Haiti and Venezuela as new notable sources.
• Canada is a noteworthy destination for many immigrants who move here to take part in Canadian sports, including the Olympics. The Mational Post reports.

[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait answers the question of why asteroids tend to explode high in atmosphere.
• Centauri Dreams carries Keith Cooper’s suggestion that METI activists should wait until the first generation of detailed exoplanet investigations give an idea as to what is out there before they begin transmitting.
• The Crux notes how indigenous peoples in Guyana use drones to defend their land claims.
• JSTOR Daily summarizes an article on the sexually radical and politically progressive Kansas freethinkers, subject even to death threats.
• The Everyday Sociology Blog considers the question of who benefits from automotion in early 21st century society.
• Far Outliers notes how, in the Second World War, American missionaries also became interrogators thanks to their knowledge.
• The Frailest Thing’s Michael Sacasas, linking to an article on #elsagate, notes how many video creators were making content not for human audiences but rather to please YouTube algorithms.
• Language Log deals with one manifestation of the controversy over the use of “they” as a gender-neutral first-person singular pronoun.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the terribly suspicious denial of anti-Semitism from Roy Moore’s wife. Alabamans, vote against this man.
• The LRB Blog shares Gill Partington’s examination of some modern art exhibits dealing with the mechanics of reading.
• Russell Darnley of maximos62 examines how Human Rights Day, celebrating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights signed on 10 December 1948, is not the only important date in international human rights history.
• The NYR Daily notes how Donald Trump’s actions have only worsened the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
• Cheri Lucas Rowlands shares beautiful photos from a visit to England.
• Spacing shares an article by Sean Ruthen examining the dynamic difference of the different cities of Italy, based on the author’s recent trip there.
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel looks at how young massive black hole J1342+0928 poses a challenge.
• Window on Eurasia notes how the main demographic challenges for the Baltic States these days are not so much ethnic conflicts but rather population aging and emigration.
• Arnold Zwicky takes a look at timeless similarities between classics of homoerotic art and modern-day gay photography. NSFW, obviously.

[NEWS] Three link about transnational economic integration: Eurozone, TPP, NAFTA

• Paul Taylor at politico.eu describes the sort of integration that the Eurozone needs to function better, integration that may actually now come about after the French election.
• Bloomberg View’s editors wish the Trans-Pacific Partnership continued success, even after Trump’s United States withdrew.
• Aaron Hutchins at MacLean’s explores the huge, and largely negative, consequences for Canada if Trump ends NAFTA (and US-Canada free trade, too).

[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

• At Antipope, Charlie Stross bets that barring catastrophe, the US under Trump will dispatch crewed circumlunar flights.
• D-Brief takes a look at the evolution of birds, through speculation on how the beak formed.
• Language Log looks at the ways Trump is represented, and mocked, in the languages of East Asia.
• Noting the death toll in a Mexico City sweatshop, Lawyers, Guns and Money reiterates that sweatshops are dangerous places to work.
• The NYR Daily notes the many structural issues likely to prevent foreign-imposed fixes in Afghanistan.
• Roads and Kingdoms reports from a seemingly unlikely date festival held in the depths of the Saudi desert.
• Rocky Planet reports that Mount Agung, a volcano in Indonesia, is at risk of imminent eruption.
• Drew Rowsome notes a new stage adaptation in Toronto of the Hitchcock classic, North by Northwest.
• Strange Company reports on how the Lonergans disappeared in 1998 in a dive off the Great Barrier Reef. What happened to them?
• Towleroad notes how Chelsea Manning was just banned from entering Canada.
• Window on Eurasia claims that the Russian language is disappearing from Armenia.
• Arnold Zwicky maps the usage of “faggot” as an obscenity in the United States.