[ISL] Four links from islands, from dividing Ireland, to the Chamorro and Haida, to the Caribbean

• Peter Geoghegan writes at Open Democracy about the mess that Brexit has made of Ireland, two decades after the Troubles’ end.
• Anthrodendum’s Alex Golub notes that a North Korean attack on Guam, among other things, would threaten the Chamorro natives of the island.
• The Toronto Star carries an excerpt from a book by Mark Dowie looking at how the Haida, of Haida Gwaii, managed to win government recognition of their existence.
• CBC’s Sameer Chhabra explores how Canadian students at Caribbean medical schools find it very difficult to get jobs back home.

[NEWS] Seven Toronto links, from queer and Irish history to new infrastructure to a serial killer

• Lisa Coxon of Toronto Life shares eleven photos tracking Toronto’s queer history back more than a century.
• Michelle McQuigge reports for the Toronto Star that the Luminous Veil does save lives. I would add that it is also beautiful.
• In The Globe and Mail, Marcus Gee thinks it makes perfect sense for there to be a dedicated streetcar corridor on King Street.
• Ben Spurr describes a new plan for a new GO Transit bus station across from Union Station.
• Emily Mathieu reported in the Toronto Star on how some Kensington Market tenants seem to have been pushed out for an Airbnb hostel.
• In The Globe and Mail, Irish-born John Doyle explores the new Robert Grassett Park, built in honour of the doctor who died trying to save Irish refugees in 1847.

Justin Ling in VICE tells the story of three gay men who went missing without a trace in Toronto just a few years ago. What happened?

[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

• Antipope’s Charlie Stross wonders if the politics of Trump might mean an end to the British nuclear deterrent.
• Centauri Dreams shares Andrew LePage’s evaluation of the TRAPPIST-1 system, where he concludes that there are in fact three plausible candidates for habitable status there.
• Dangerous Minds shares the gender-bending photographs of Norwegian photographers Marie Høeg and Bolette Berg.
• The Everyday Sociology Blog takes a look at the 1980s HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States.
• The Extremo Files looks at the human microbiome.
• Language Hat links to an article on Dakhani, a south Indian Urdu dialect.
• The LRB Blog looks at policing in London.
• The Map Room Blog notes that 90% of the hundred thousand lakes of Manitoba are officially unnamed.
• Marginal Revolution looks at the remarkable Akshardham Temple of New Delhi.
• The Planetary Society Blog notes how citizen scientists detected changes in Rosetta’s comet.
• The Power and the Money’s Noel Maurer provides a visual guide for New Yorkers at the size of the proposed border wall.
• The Russian Demographics Blog links to a paper taking a look at the history of abortion in 20th century France.
• Torontoist looks at the 1840s influx of Irish refugees to Toronto.
• Understanding Society takes a look at the research that went into the discovery of the nucleus of the atom.
• Window on Eurasia reports on Belarus.
• Arnold Zwicky shares photos and commentary on the stars and plot of Oscar-winning film Midnight.

[LINK] “Lloyds of London are leaving London”

New Europe’s Andy King reports on how iconic British insurance firm Lloyd’s of London, in an effort to ensure that it can offer continuity of services to its European Union clients post-Brexit, has begun to shift jobs out of London to EU destinations. Ireland and Malta are apparently fronrunners.

After three centuries, the Lloyds of London will no longer be “of London.” The company is moving its headquarters, its CEO Inga Beale confirmed on Friday.

Talking to Bloomberg TV on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Beale confirmed that following Prime Minister May’s announcement last Tuesday, Lloyds was going ahead with its contingency plan.

Many insurance companies will be moving a big part of their operations, since passporting rights and licensing are key to the sectors’ business in Europe. Lloyds stands to lose as much as 11% of its premiums that come from Europe or little under 1bn Euros.

Lloyd’s was founded three centuries ago in London and is moving ahead because a licensing process could take more than a year. What Lloyd’s want to avoid is what the industry calls “cliff’s edge trap,” in which the service provider cannot move soon enough to ensure continuity of service.

[BLOG] Some Monday links

• Centauri Dreams shares a proposal for the relatively rapid industrialization of space in a few short years using smart robots with 3d printign technology.
• To what extent, as Crooked Timber speculates, the Arthurian myth complex science fictional?
• Dangerous Minds shares a lovely middle-finger-raised candle.
• The Dragon’s Gaze looks at the interactions between atmospheres and rotation for super-Earths and Venus-like worlds.
• Joe. My. God. notes Wikileaks’ call for Trump’s tax returns.
• Language Hat shares some words peculiar to Irish English.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money notes that the words of Trump are meaningless.
• Marginal Revolution’s Tyler Cown considers some scenarios where nuclear weapons may end up being used.
• The Russian Demographics Blog looks at births and deaths in Russia between 2000 and 2015.
• Savage Minds considers, inspired by the recent Michel Foucault read-in protest to Trump, the relationships between Foucault’s thinking and racism.
• Window on Eurasia calls for a post-imperial Russian national identity, argues that Trump’s assault on globalization will badly hurt a Russia dependent on foreign trade and investment, and wonders what Putin’s Russia can actually offer Trump’s United States.
• Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell offers a unique strategy for journalists interested at penetrating Trump’s shell: trick them into over-answering.

[BLOG] Some Monday links

• Beyond the Beyond notes how astronomers are now collecting dust from space in their gutters, without needing to go to Antarctica.
• blogTO notes the many lost dairies of mid-20th century Toronto.
• The Dragon’s Gaze looks at how volatiles freeze out in protoplanetary disks.
• The Dragon’s Tales links to a paper considering the exploration of ocean worlds.
• Far Outliers links to a report of a Cossack mercenary working in North America for the British in the War of American Independence.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money considers the grave and the life of Homer Plessy.
• Steve Munro looks at some possibly worrisome service changes for the TTC.
• pollotenchegg notes trends in urbanization in post-1970 Ukraine.
• Strange Maps looks at a scone map of the British Isles.

[BLOG] Some Sunday links

• Beyond the Beyond’s Bruce Sterling looks at the art scene in Istanbul.
• Crooked Timber takes issue with Tyler Cowen’s support for school vouchers.
• The Dragon’s Tales notes signs that the ephemeral Martian lakes were temporary creations of methane outbursts, and considers how to use WISE to hunt for Planet Nine.
• Far Outliers looks at Britain’s contracts with petty German states for soldiers.
• The Frailest Thing’s Michael Sacasas looks at Trump in the context of the conflict between orality and literacy.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money notes Donald Trump’s complication of the United States’ China policy and reports that Seattle’s new minimum wage has apparently not led to job loss.
• The LRB Blog reports on The Gambia on the eve of the elections.
• Marginal Revolution notes that truth is essential for liberty and freedom.
• From the Heart of Europe’s Nicholas Whyte looks at the strange history of an enclave on the border of Belfast.
• pollotenchegg maps language in Ukraine.
• Savage Minds announces that the blog will seek a new name, and that they are looking for suggestions.
• Window on Eurasia notes that Russia’s fertility uptick will not alter the dynamics of population loss, and reports on a Russian radical’s astonishing suggestion that Russia is now in the same position versus Ukraine as Nazi Germany was versus Poland.