[BLOG] Some Monday links

• At anthro{dendum}, Amarilys Estrella writes about the aftermath of a car accident she experienced while doing fieldwork.
• Architectuul notes at a tour of Berlin looking at highlights from an innovative year for architecture in West Berlin back in 1987.
• Bad Astronomer notes that interstellar comet 2/Borisov is behaving surprisingly normally.
• The Broadside Blog’s Caitlin Kelly writes briefly about the difficulty, and the importance, of being authentic.
• Centauri Dreams shares some of the recent findings of Voyager 2 from the edge of interstellar space.
• Crooked Timber shares a photo of a courtyard in Montpellier.
• D-Brief notes a study of the genetics of ancient Rome revealing that the city once was quite cosmopolitan, but that this cosmopolitanism passed, too.
• Dangerous Minds notes a 1972 single where Marvin Gaye played the Moog.
• Cody Delistraty looks at Degas and the opera.
• Bruce Dorminey makes a case, scientific and otherwise, against sending animals into space.
• Far Outliers looks at a 1801 clash between the American navy and Tripoli pirates.
• Gizmodo notes a theory that ancient primates learned to walk upright in trees.
• Joe. My. God. notes that the Cayman Islands overturned a court ruling calling for marriage equality.
• JSTOR Daily looks at the experience of women under Reconstruction.
• Language Hat notes the exceptional multilingualism of the Qing empire.
• Language Log looks at circumstances where the Roman alphabet is used in contemporary China.
• Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money notes the forced resignation of Evo Morales in Bolivia, and calls for readers to take care with their readings on the crisis and the country.
• Marginal Revolution considers a new sociological theory suggesting that the medieval Christian church enacted policy which made the nuclear family, not the extended family, the main structure in Europe and its offshoots.
• Sean Marshall takes a look at GO Transit fare structures, noting how users of the Kitchener line may pay more than their share.
• Neuroskeptic takes a look at the contradictions between self-reported brain activity and what brain scanners record.
• Alex Hutchinson writes at the NYR Daily about human beings and their relationship with wilderness.
• Jim Belshaw at Personal Reflections considers the impact of drought in Australia’s New England, and about the need for balances.
• The Planetary Society Blog offers advice for people interested in seeing today’s transit of Mercury across the Sun.
• The Power and the Money’s Noel Maurer suggests Argentines may not have cared about their national elections as much as polls suggested.
• Peter Rukavina shares an image of an ancient Charlottetown traffic light, at Prince and King.
• The Russian Demographics Blog notes the significant convergence, and remaining differences, between East and West Germany.
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel looks at some of the backstory to the Big Bang.
• The Volokh Conspiracy suggests the Paris Accords were never a good way to deal with climate change.
• Window on Eurasia shares someone arguing the policies of Putin are simple unoriginal Bonapartism.
• Worthwhile Canadian Economy makes the case that slow economic recoveries are deep economic recoveries.
• Yorkshire Ranter Alex Harrowell looks at how the failure of the media to serve as effective critics of politics has helped lead, in the UK of Brexit, to substantial political change.
• Arnold Zwicky considers the idea, first expressed in comics, of Russian sardines.

[PHOTO] 504 King crossing at York Street

[PHOTO] Looking northwest, Yonge and King

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: TIFF and transit, 311 Mildenhall Road, Galleria, 7 Labatt, NDP

• Sean Marshall takes issue with how TIFF monopolizes much of the downtown, including key arteries like King Street.
• blogTO reports on the luxurious estate of 311 Mildenhall Road, recently off the market at a price of well over $C 10 million.
• Urban Toronto shares renderings of the first phase of Galleria on the Park. Wow.
• Dozens of artists are working out of 7 Labatt Avenue, a warehouse set to be demolished. The Toronto Star reports.
• NOW Toronto reports on the mess involving the NDP in the riding of Parkdale-High Park, here.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: politics, real estate, transit, rainbow tunnel

• John Lorinc at Spacing looks at how the idea of municipal autonomy for Toronto should not be seen as a final solution.
• blogTO notes the contracting number of neighbourhoods open for first-time buyers, here.
• Airbnb, blogTO notes, is definitely impacting the wider real estate network.
• King Street’s transit operations should be taken as a model for wider Toronto. Spacing has it.
• The story of the rainbow tunnel visible on the northbound DVP is a sad one worth knowing. Global News has it.

[PHOTO] Four photos from an approach to the Cathedral Church of St. James

Tuesday night, I had approached the Cathedral Church of St. James from the south, through the mixed commercial/residential maze at Front and Church. City planners did well by making sure that it would still be possible to approach the cathedral from the south.

[URBAN NOTE] Seven Toronto links: transit, Christie Pits, Bathurst, Jollibee, King, Galleria Mall

• At Spacing, John Lorinc notes that mayor John Tory is allowing waterfront transit plans to get delayed.
• blogTO notes that there is apparently controversy over the correct spelling of Christie Pits.
• CBC Toronto profiles the humble apartment at Bathurst and St. Clair that was home to Ernest Hemingway.
• These photos of stackt, at Bathurst and Front, look amazing. Retail Insider has them.
• blogTO notes that three new Jollibee locations are scheduled to open in 2020, including one downtown at Yonge and Gould.
• Making the King Street pilot project permanent is at least a small victory for Toronto. CBC reports.
• Urban Toronto shares the remarkable plans for the transformation of the Galleria Mall.

[PHOTO] Concrete barrier gone arty, Yonge and King

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: #AGOInfinity, 2 Queen Street East, TTC, ROM

• The Art Gallery of Ontario has gotten its Infinity Room! Global News reports.
• The rehabilitation and renovation of 2 Queen Street East will be a high-profile project. The Globe and Mail reports.
• Steve Munro continues to examine the relative speeds of the 504 King and 501 Queen streetcars, here.
• This warning from the TTC union that Presto cards are too failure-prone to be able to properly take over from the Metropass in January makes me, a TTC user, worry. The Toronto Star reports.
• Toronto doctors can now issue their patients prescriptions to visit the ROM. blogTO reports.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: streetcars, the Well, TTC, noise, Quayside

• Steve Munro contrasts and compares time on the King and Queen streetcar routes, here.
• Urban Toronto shares a photo of the massive Well, a giant construction pit downtown.
• John Tory certainly should, as mayor, be informed by the province of Ontario as to what it intends to do with the TTC. The Toronto Star reports.
• Is a neighbourhood in southwest Scarborough the noisiest neighbourhood in Toronto? The Toronto Star investigates.
• Sidewalk Labs’ plans for Quayside have gotten the attention of CityLab, here.