[AH] On the 1914 Europe map of Diplomacy as an alternate history (#alternatehistory)

One of the things that I am doing now, in the early days of my quarantine, is playing an online game of Diplomacy with some old friends. Looking at the standard European map, an elaboration on the map of Europe and adjoining areas, makes me think of the way that this map might better represent different alternate history scenarios than our own history.

1914 map of Diplomacy

The distribution of supply centres, the starred regions capable of supporting military units, comes to mind. Each region is capable of supporting military units of very comparable power. This suggests to me a relatively even level of development across the map, that (say) Belgium and Bulgaria are at similar levels.

One thing that particularly jumps out at me as the relative power of southeastern Europe, including the Ottoman Empire. Anatolian Turkey apparently does have the economic power and military heft necessary to support Great Power status, to a level comparable to Italy or Austria-Hungary. Is Diplomacy set in a timeline where Ottoman modernization succeeded? (But then, how can the loss of the Balkans be explained?) On a smaller scale, Tunis being a supply centre might also suggest successful modernization there.

(Another thing that pops out as me is the space on the map for other Great Powers. A Scandinavia that encompasses three power centres could surely be a great power. A United Netherlands with only two supply centres would be more vulnerable, while it seems that the main problem with a Balkan conglomeration would be a backstory.)

An idea: WI there is an earlier separation of the European Balkans from the Ottomans, the shock of this separation triggering more successful modernization not just of the Ottoman Empire but of other Muslim states in the Mediterranean? Perhaps the Ottoman Balkans managed to split off as a unified state–a broader Orthodox conspiracy–and even managed to become a separate power themselves?

Another thing that pops out to me is the distribution of supply centres on the map in specific regions. A world where western France industrializes before eastern France, where Bavaria beats the Ruhr, where Trieste outstrips Bohemia (an Illyrian unit in the Hapsburg empire?), would be a very different world.

[URBAN NOTE] Seven Toronto links

• Some of the apartments hit by the Gosford apartment fire have been repaired and opened to their tenants again. Global News reports.
• Steve Munro maps the 70 O’Connor bus route in action as a case study, here.
• Condo developers have created the new neighbourhood of “West St. Clair West” out of, among other established neighbourhoods, Carleton Village. blogTO reports.
• The plans for the controversial new Pharrell Williams condo development at Yonge and Eglinton look interesting. blogTO shares.
• Should Toronto have free public mass transit? NOW Toronto makes the case.
• Brian Doucet at Spacing Toronto takes a look at the Toronto CLRV streetcars in their North American context, here.
• The repeated flooding of the Toronto Islands, as NOW Toronto points out, surely demonstrates the reality of climate change for Toronto.

[URBAN NOTE] Ten Montréal links

• MTL Blog shares this map of the Greater Montréal mass transit network, with a uniform design for all its networks, here.
• Exo commuters in Montréal are decidedly unhappy with the Exo chairperson for the unhelpful tips they gave. CTV News reports.
• Montréal has bought 140 acres of land in the West Island for its planned great park there. CTV News reports.
• Notre Dame East is set to be revamped as an urban boulevard. CTV News reports.
• Controversy over the Royalmount shopping complex grows. CBC reports.
• Montréal is reckoned by a Google team to be a major centre for game development. CTV News reports.
• A new fund seeks to increase the diversity of artists whose works are displayed in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. CTV News reports.
• Montréal mayor Valérie Plante promises to help out record stores fined for being opened past 5 on a weekend. CTV News reports.
• Royal LePage suggests that home values in Montréal will grow sharply in 2020, more than in any other major Canadian city. CTV News reports.

[BLOG] Fifteen Toronto links

• blogTO reports that Toronto has been testing Eglinton Crosstown trains, here.
• What TTC routes might be changed by the Eglinton Crosstown? A map illustrates, over at blogTO.
• The new tower proposed for 888 Dupont, at Ossington, will even include a vertical farm. blogTO reports.
• Venerable Agincourt Mall is going to be a new condo development. blogTO reports.
• Is co-ownership actually the only way most people in Toronto will end up owning a home? blogTO considers.
• Residential tenants in a Leslieville building who complained about their landlord may end up getting evicted from a building never zoned for residents. CBC reports.
• The City of Toronto has taken over the deserted shopping arcade at Queen Street West and John. CBC reports.
• Katrina Onstad at Toronto Life tells the story of Katharine Mulherin, the Queen Street West gallery owner who changed her neighbourhood but was broken by gentrification.
• The bar Tequila Bookworm is closing, displaced by rising rents. NOW Toronto reports.
• NOW Toronto interviews night mayor Michael Thompson, here.
• Steve Munro considers the TTC’s express bus services, here.
• Terra Lumina, the nighttime cultural event at the Toronto Zoo, looks fantastic in these photos over at Toronto Life.
• Oh, what the map of Toronto subways could have been if only we planned! blogTO shares one.
• Steve Munro examines the TTC’s plan for 2020-2024, here.
• The TTC may not act to decrease overcrowding on some routes. blogTO reports on why.

[PHOTO] Me against a Toronto map

[URBAN NOTE] Ten Montréal links

• The Map Room Blog links to some old maps of Montréal.
• Major English-language newspapers in Montréal, including the Montreal Gazette, are no longer being distributed to Québec City clients. CBC reports.
• Radio-Canada employees’ union is concerned over cost overruns in the construction of a new headquarters for the French-language chain. CTV NEws reports.
• La Presse notes how the to-be-demolished Champlain Bridge is a home for, among others, falcons.
• The Bibliothèque Saint-Sulpice, after the latest delay, will have been closed for nearly two decades. La Presse reports.
• The Montreal Children’s Library is celebrating its 90th anniversary with a fundraiser. CBC reports.
• CBC Montreal looks at how, even without a stadium, legendary mayor Jean Drapeau brought major league baseball to his city.
• The anti-gentrification University of the Streets group has some interesting ideas. CBC reports.
• The city government of Montréal is looking into the issue of the high retail vacancy rates in parts of the city. CBC reports.
• At CBC Montreal, Ontario-born Jessica Brown writes about her struggles with employment in her adopted city.

[BLOG] Some Thursday links

• Bad Astronomy notes the very odd structure of galaxy NGC 2775.
• Dangerous Minds reports on the 1987 riot by punks that wrecked a Seattle ferry.
• Bruce Dorminey reports on a new suggestion from NASA that the massive dust towers of Mars have helped dry out that world over eons.
• The Everyday Sociology Blog looks at how changing technologies have led to younger people spending more social capital on maintaining relationships with friends over family.
• This forum hosted at Gizmodo considers the likely future causes of death of people in coming decades.
• In Media Res’ Russell Arben Fox reports on the debate in Wichita on what to do with the Century II performance space.
• Joe. My. God. reports on the decision of Hungary to drop out of Eurovision, apparently because of its leaders’ homophobia.
• JSTOR Daily reports on the debunking of the odd theory that the animals and people of the Americas were degenerate dwarfs.
• Language Hat reports on how the classics can be served by different sorts of translation.
• Robert Farley at Lawyers, Guns and Money considers how Trump’s liberation of war criminals relates to folk theories about just wars.
• The LRB Blog reports from the ground in the Scotland riding of East Dunbartonshire.
• Marginal Revolution shares a paper suggesting that, contrary to much opinion, social media might actually hinder the spread of right-wing populism.
• The NYR Daily looks at the nature of the proxy fighters in Syria of Turkey. Who are they?
• Drew Rowsome interviews Sensational Sugarbum, star of–among other things–the latest Ross Petty holiday farce.
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel explains why we still need to be able to conduct astronomy from the Earth.
• Strange Maps explains the odd division of Europe between east and west, as defined by different subspecies of mice.
• Window on Eurasia notes how Chinese apparently group Uighurs in together with other Central Asians of similar language and religion.
• Arnold Zwicky explores the concept of onomatomania.

[URBAN NOTE] Seven Toronto links

• A beautiful Toronto would be nice, but this goal will take planning. The Toronto Star reports.
• Sean Marshall writes about the sad ironies of suburban neighbourhoods in Toronto unsafe for pedestrians.
• Jamie Bradburn takes a look at Davenport Road in the past, here.
• Transit Toronto notes the arrival tomorrow in the GTA of the Holiday Trains of the CPR, part of a fundraising campaign for food banks.
• Spacing shares an essay considering the idea of a map of Toronto according to runnability.
• Sidekick West, a new comic shop in the Junction Triangle, has unfortunately closed down. blogTO reports.
• Toronto Life breaks down the references in the massive 10-story mural painted by BirdO at Yonge and St. Clair.

[BLOG] Some Monday links

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait observes that a team may have discovered the elusive neutron star produced by Supernova 1987A, hidden behind a cloud of dust.
• Chris Bertram at Crooked Timber shares a photo he made via the time-consuming 19th century wet-plate collodion method.
• Drew Ex Machina’s Andrew LePage looks at the Apollo 12 visit to the Surveyor 3 site to, among other things, see what it might suggest about future space archeology.
• Karen Sternheimer at the Everyday Sociology Blog looks at the story of rural poverty facing a family in Waverly, Ohio, observing how it is a systemic issue.
• George Dvorsky at Gizmodo looks at how Mars’ Jezero crater seems to have had a past relatively friendly to life, good for the next NASA rover.
• Joe. My. God. reports on the latest ignorance displayed by Donald Trump Jr. on Twitter, this time regarding HIV.
• JSTOR Daily looks at how Climategate was used to undermine popular opinion on climate change.
• Language Hat links to an article explaining why so many works of classical literature were lost, among other things not making it onto school curricula.
• Language Log shares a photo of a Muji eraser with an odd English label.
• Scott Lemieux at Lawyers, Guns and Money suggests Pete Buttigieg faces a campaign-limiting ceiling to his support among Democrats.
• The LRB Blog argues that Macron’s blocking of EU membership possibilities for the western Balkans is a terrible mistake.
• The Map Room Blog shares a map depicting regional variations in Canada towards anthropogenic climate change. Despite data issues, the overall trend of oil-producing regions being skeptical is clear.
• Marginal Revolution links to a paper examining the slowing pace of labour mobility in the US, suggesting that home attachment is a key factor.
• Frederic Wehrey at the NYR Daily tells the story of Knud Holmboe, a Danish journalist who came to learn about the Arab world working against Italy in Libya.
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel explains why thermodynamics does not explain our perception of time.
• Understanding Society’s Dan Little looks at Electronic Health Records and how they can lead to medical mistakes.
• Whatever’s John Scalzi shares a remarkable photo of the night sky he took using the astrophotography mode on his Pixel 4 phone.
• Window on Eurasia shares an opinion that the Intermarium countries, between Germany and Russia, can no longer count on the US and need to organize in their self-defense.
• Arnold Zwicky shares a photo of his handsome late partner Jacques Transue, taken as a college student.

[NEWS] Five Centauri Dreams links: ARIEL Ryugu, Titan, electric sail, exoplanets (@centauri_dreams)

• Centauri Dreams reports on the emergent ARIEL telescope, here.
• Centauri Dreams reports on the return of Hayabusa2 from Ryugu, here.
• Centauri Dreams shares a new map showing all of the landforms of Titan.
• Centauri Dreams looks at the propulsion technology of the electric sail.
• Centauri Dreams looks at the once-surprising number of planets found in multiple star systems.