[NEWS] Twenty news links

• 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.

[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

• Bad Astronomy notes a new detailed study suggesting that asteroid Hygeia is round. Does this mean it is a dwarf planet?
• The Buzz notes that the Toronto Public Library has a free booklet on the birds of Toronto available at its branches.
• Crooked Timber looks forward to a future, thanks to Trump, without the World Trade Organization.
• D-Brief notes how the kelp forests off California were hurt by unseasonal heat and disease.
• Bruce Dorminey notes an impending collision of supergalactic clusters.
• Karen Sternheimer at the Everyday Sociology Blog looks at how judgement can complicate collective action.
• Language Hat looks at the different definitions of the word “mobile”.

Language Log looks at the deep influence of the Persian language upon Marathi.

Marathi and Persian

• Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money notes how, if anything, climate scientists make conservative claims about their predictions.
• Marginal Revolution wonders if planned power outages are a good way to deal with the threat of wildfires in California.
• The NYR Daily looks at the ethnic cleansing being enabled by Turkey in Kurdish Syria.
• Corey S. Powell at Out There interviews archeologist Arthur Lin about his use of space-based technologies to discovery traces of the past.
• The Power and the Money’s Noel Maurer looks at the staggering inequality in Chile, driver of the recent protests.
• At Roads and Kingdoms, Anthony Elghossain reports from the scene of the mass protests in Lebanon.
• Drew Rowsome tells how his balcony garden fared this year.
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel looks at stellar generations in the universe. (Our sun is a third-generation star.)
• Strange Company looks at the murder of a girl five years old in Indiana in 1898. Was the neighbor boy twelve years old accused of the crime the culprit?
• Denis Colombi at Une heure de peine takes a look at social mobility in France.
• Understanding Society’s Daniel Little considers economic historians and their study of capitalism.
• Window on Eurasia looks at the pro-Russian policies of the Moldova enclave of Gagauzia, and draws recommendations for Ukraine re: the Donbas.

[NEWS] Eighteen #cdnpoli and #exln43 links

• MacLean’s looks at how Justin Trudeau and the Liberals survived #elxn43, here.
• Ajay Parasram at The Conversation looks at the new complications faced by Justin Trudeau.
• Daily Xtra looks at the record of the Liberals on LGBTQ2 issues, here.
• Daily Xtra looks at the four out LGBTQ2 MPs elected to Parliament, here.
• Philippe Fournier at MacLean’s argues that 338Canada stands vindicated in its predictions, with some 90% of the people it predicted would be elected being elected.
• What will become of Conservative leader Andrew Scheer? The National Post considers.
• Strategic voting and Doug Ford, Mark Gollom notes, kept the Conservatives from making a breakthrough in Ontario.
• Robyn Urback at CBC notes that the narrow conservatism of Scheer kept the Conservatives from victory in a wary Canada.
• Stephen Maher at MacLean’s questions if the Bloc Québécois victory has much to do with separatism, per se.
• Voters in Québec seem to be fine with election results, with a strong Bloc presence to keep the Liberals on notice. CBC has it.
• Talk of separatism has taken off in Alberta following the #elxn43 results. Global News has it.
• The premier of Saskatchewan has also talked of his province’s alienation after #elxn43, here in the National Post.
• CBC’s As It Happens carries an interview with former Conservative MP Jay Hill, now an advocate for western Canadian separatism.
• Atlantic Canada may provide new members for the cabinet of Justin Trudeau. The Toronto Star reports.
• Jaime Battiste, Liberal, has been elected as the first Mi’kmaq MP from Nova Scotia. Global News has it.
• The Green Party did not make its hoped-for breakthrough on Vancouver Island, but it will struggle on. Global News has it.
• Did, as Politico suggested, Canada sleepwalk into the future with #elxn43?
• We should be glad, Scott Gilmore argues in MacLean’s, that given the global challenges to democracy #elxn43 in Canada was relatively boring.

[NEWS] #cdnpoli and #elxn41 items from across Canada: BC, Alberta, Québec, PEI

• The affordability of rent was an election issue in British Columbia. CBC reports.
• Philippe Fournier notes at Maclean’s that the sheer solidity of the Conservative vote in Alberta means that province will not get that much attention.
• The Bloc Québécois has good reason to be exacerbating the clash between Québec and Alberta in the federal campaign. The National Post reports.
• CBC reports on the growing unpopularity of the Liberals in Québec outside of Montréal, here.
• That the Liberals had a campaign song that was initially translated very badly into French is a big gaffe. CTV News reports.
• Philippe Fournier at Maclean’s noted the legendary volatility of Québec politics, here.
• Will the Orange Line extension in Montréal be guaranteed funding, no matter who gets elected? CBC reports.
• The fate of NDP Berthier-Maskonge MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau, elected in the 2011 Orange Wave, may determine the fate of the NDP in Québec. CTV News reports.
• Atlantic Canada is likely to see substantial losses for the Liberals, as reported here.
• Stu Neatby reports that advance poll turnout on PEI rose by 13% compared to 2015.
• Will the PEI riding of Egmont go Conservative? CBC considers.

[NEWS] Five politics links: Ontario, Québec, NDP, Prince Andrew, Alberta

• Enzo DiMatteo suggests at NOW Toronto that Ford wants Scheer to lose, so Ford will have a chance with the federal Conservatives, here.
• Jonathan Montpetit writes at CBC Montreal about the conservative nationalism that has become mainstream in Québec under the CAQ, here.
• Robyn Urback writes at the CBC about the failure of the NDP under Jagmeet Singh to capitalize on the weakness of the two dominant parties, here.
• I do think that the rumoured connections of Prince Andrew to the Epstein network could easily become a huge unexpected crisis for the British royal family. VICE reports.
• Max Fawcett at MacLean’s is probably right to note that, to be taken seriously, Alberta should stop voting Conservative. His arguments are here.

[NEWS] Ten links about politics and culture and the future

• The Conversation looks at how the past religious homogeneity of Québec influences contemporary secularism.
• Scott Gilmore at MacLean’s writes, correctly, about how Canadians in different provinces are deeply disconnected from each other.
• Shannon Proudfoot writes at MacLean’s about how physicist Philippe J. Fournier ended up developing a second career as a predictor of Canadian elections.
• Are legal battles between different levels of Canadian government the new normal? CBC considers.
• The Conversation notes that most rural areas in the United States are bound to decline for structural reasons.
• This Guardian article looks at how a high-profile gang rape in Spain helped drive the growth of the far-right Vox Party via anti-feminism and misogyny.
• Jezebel looks at the foolish and shortsighted alliance between transphobic feminists and right-wing groups.
• Buzzfeed shares the story of how former alt-right activist Katie McHugh is trying to rebuild her life, and her plea to her fellows to leave before they get sucked in.
• Paul Salvatori writes at NOW Toronto about how the algorithms of major social networking platforms suck people into becoming consumers of inflammatory content.
• Maggie Hennefeld at Open Democracy considers if “clownish outsiders” are going to be the leaders of the democracies of the future.

[BLOG] Some Monday links

• Larry Claes at Centauri Dreams considers the issues of the alien featuring in the title of the classic The Thing, facing human persecution.
• John Quiggin at Crooked Timber starts a debate about past blogging and conventional wisdom.
• The Crux reports on a mass rescue of orphaned flamingo chicks in South Africa.
• D-Brief notes new evidence that asteroids provided perhaps half of the Earth’s current supply of water.
• Cody Delistraty looks at how the far-right in Germany is appropriating artworks to support its view of history.
• The Dragon’s Tales notes that China may be hoping to build a base at the Moon’s south pole by 2029.
• Far Outliers reports on the 1865 collapse of the Confederacy.
• Gizmodo reports on how astronomers have identified the approximate location of a kilonova that seeded the nascent solar system with heavy elements.
• Joe. My. God. shares the news from yet another study demonstrating that HIV cannot be transmitted by HIV-undetectable people. U=U.
• JSTOR Daily notes how, via Herb Caen, the Beat Generation became known as Beatniks.
• Language Hat shares and comments upon a passage from Dostoevsky noting how an obscenity can be stretched out into an entire conversation.
• Language Log considers a peculiarity of the Beijing dialect.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money notes how statehood has been used to game the American political system.
• Marginal Revolution links to a paper suggesting that countries with greater levels of gender inequality are more likely to produce female chess grandmasters.
• Justin Petrone at North!, considering the history of writers in Estonia, considers what the mission of the writer should be.
• The NYR Daily examines the black people once miners in the Kentucky town of Lynch, remembering and sharing their experiences.
• Personal Reflections’ Jim Belshaw considers what he has learned from a recent research and writing contract.
• Jason C. Davis at the Planetary Society Blog reports in greater detail on the crater Hayabusa 2 made in asteroid Ryugu.
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel explains how the Event Horizon Telescope acts like a mirror.
• Strange Company shares an impressively diverse collection of links.
• Towleroad talks with writer Tim Murphy about his new novel, Correspondents.
• Window on Eurasia considers future directions for Ukrainian language policy.
• Arnold Zwicky takes a look at the artistic riches horded by the Nazis in the Bavarian castle of Neuschwanstein.

[BLOG] Some Sunday links

• Architectuul looks at a new architecture project intent on the interface between land and sea.
• Bad Astronomy reports on the impact of a meteorite with a house in Uruguay.
• Caitlin Kelly at the Broadside Blog writes about the importance of lightening the loads of others when one can.
• Centauri Dreams writes about how OSIRIS-REx is responding to unexpected conditions at Bennu like its relative rockiness. https://www.centauri-dreams.org/2019/03/21/working-with-the-unexpected-at-asteroid-bennu/
• The Crux considers the remarkable versatility of ketamine, as anesthetic and anti-depressant among other things.
• D-Brief notes a report that reveals universal patterns of app usage on cell phones by different people.
• Dangerous Minds shares some vintage R.E.M. performances from 1981.
• Earther notes that temperatures in parts of Alaska have just briefly peaked at 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Gizmodo notes the new accurate guide for walkers provided by a new Google Maps system making use of landmarks.
• Kieran Healy breaks down some data from the 2018 General Social Survey.
• Joe. My. God. notes that the Sylvester classic “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” has been selected for preservation by the National Registry of the Library of Congress.
• JSTOR Daily makes a case for treating the art of children not as mere scribblings but rather as art worthy of serious consideration.
• Language Hat notes the sensitive translation by one man of the Bible into the 20th century vernacular Arabic of Egypt.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money considers the Mueller report, what is and is not likely to be in it, and how one should react to it.
• Marginal Revolution notes the extent to which the employment rates of women has been a driving factor in recent American economic history.
• Personal Reflections’ Jim Belshaw celebrates his 13th anniversary of blogging.
• Roads and Kingdoms interviews Shannon Mustipher on Caribbean rum culture.
• Drew Rowsome takes a look at the new interactive theatre piece Amorous Playlist.
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel explains why quantum tunneling does not violate the speed of light.
• Towleroad notes that the André Aciman sequel to Call Me By Your Name, Find Me, is scheduled for an October release.
• The Volokh Conspiracy notes how the denaturalization by Italy of a man who committed terrible criminal acts sets a bad precedent for citizenship generally.
• Window on Eurasia lists five tactics that non-Russian republics in Russia could adopt to resist their abolition.
• Arnold Zwicky begins a meditation that starts with the sight of a vegetarian reuben sandwich.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Ottawa, Kingston, Winnipeg, Bristol, Dessau

• The LeBreton Flats in Ottawa are now planned to experience a phased development. Global News reports.
• Kingston has recently celebrated the 175th anniversary of its brief history as capital of Canada (the Province of Canada, to be precise). Global News reports.
• The Independent reports on the comeback story of Winnipeg.
• Guardian Cities shares some of the different unfulfilled proposals for the development of the English city of Bristol.
• CityLab reports from Dessau, the eastern German city literally made by the Bauhaus school.

[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait shares a photo taken by the Lunar Reconnaissane Observer looking straight down on Chang’e-4.
• The Crux shares an argument for preserving the Apollo landing areas as part of the common heritage of humanity.
• D-Brief, looking at ancient evidence from Sri Lanka, suggests human beings evolved as hunters of smaller primates like monkeys.
• JSTOR Daily notes the evidence suggesting the limited potential of wildlife to adapt to heat waves.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the racial tonedeafness of Bernie Sanders.
• The LRB Blog takes a look at qanats, the ingenious Persian underground irritation system that has spread worldwide.
• Marginal Revolution considers what Singapore will do with its sovereign investment fund, estimated to be worth at least a half-trillion US dollars.
• Window on Eurasia considers the effects that a merger of Belarus with Russia might have on Russia’s own federal units.
• Arnold Zwicky notes the fun that others have had with puns on Vladimir and Estragon.