[CAT] Five #caturday links: Newfoundland, Australia, tracking, body language, bodies

• The rescue of cats from the Newfoundland outport of Little Bay Islands, now abandoned, was a success. Global News reports.
• Cats in Australia may be in a position to ravage vulnerable survivors of the wildfires. Wired reports.
• The Purrsong Pendant is a new fitness tracker for cats. CNET reports.
• Humans do need to be able to read the body language of cats, and not only to figure out when they are in pain. CP24 reports.
• Is anyone surprised cats might eat human corpses? Newsweek reports.

[ISL] Five #islands links: Newfoundland, Komodo, South China Sea, Kiribati, Faroe Islands

• This story about a genealogical mystery newly-found in the genetics of Newfoundland is fascinating. The National Post reports.
• The island of Komodo has been closed to tourists to save the Komodo dragons from poachers. VICE reports.
• China plans to build a city under its control among the islets of the South China Sea. Business Insider reports.
• The Inter Press Service notes the spread of leprosy in Kiribati.
• JSTOR Daily explains why, for one week, the Faroe Islands are closed to tourists to better enable cleaning and repairs.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Indigenous links: film and TV, Mohawk, Iroquois food, Gaspésie, Beothuk

• NOW Toronto reports on the potential of Indigenous films and television shows to gain international markets, so long as they get needed funding.
• Activists seeking to promote the Mohawk language and culture have received needed government funding, Global News reports.
• CBC Montreal notes the visit of a chef from the Six Nations of the Grand River to Montréal to share Iroquois cuisine there, and more.
• A Mi’kMaq community in Gaspésie does not want to preserve the Maison Busteed, a historic house belonging to an early settler who reportedly cheated them of their land, to the dismay of some local history activists. CBC reports.
• The remains of Nonosabasut and Demasduit, two of the last of the Beothuk of Newfoundland, are going to be transfer from Scotland to a new home in Canada, at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau. CBC reports.

[NEWS] Five indigenous links: Innu, Kahnawake, Cree, genetics, Andes

• CTV News reports on how Kahnawake, a Mohawk reserve near Montréal, is trying to learn from mistakes with tobacco in legalizing marijuana sales.
• La Presse reports on a case lodged before the Surpeme Court of Canada by an Innu group regarding their homeland on the Québec-Labrador border.
• CBC reports on efforts to preserve the Cree language as a vibrant community language in northern Québec.
• Enlisting indigenous groups in studies of their genetic history is becoming imperative for scientists active in the field. CBC reports.
• Scienceblog reports on a study of DNA from indigenous populations in the Andes that reveals not only how they adapted to the extreme environments of the area but resisted Eurasian diseases better than other groups in South America.

[NEWS] Thirteen more links about the First World War (#ww1)

• The Buzz shared a list of recommended books, from the Toronto Public Library, looking back at the First World War.
• CBC Montreal describes how the Belgian city of Mons greeted the inheritors of their Canadian liberators.
• CBC reports on how the grief of one Newfoundland family at the loss of a son in the First World War spelled the doom of the entire community of Three Arms.
• CBC Montreal describes how the city of Montréal greeted news of the armistice back in 1918.
• Crooked Timber notes the centenary of the armistice that ended the First World War. Have we forgotten the lessons, or did we ever learn them?
• L.M. Sacasas at The Frailest Thing notes how the mechanization of the First World War set it apart from other conflicts, inspiring (for instance) Tolkien.
• Global News reports on the nearly one million Muslims who served as soldiers in the First World War.
• The Guardian reports on how Islander Leo Cheverie went to France to pay respects to his two great-uncles, killed in the First World War.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money reports on Henry Gunther, the American who was the very last casualty of the First World War.
• The Russian Demographics Blog shares a map showing the casualty rates of different European combatants in the First World War.
• Adrian Phillips at Spacing Toronto uses Remembrance Day as a frame to examine monuments both permanent and temporary in Toronto.
• Katie Daubs at the Toronto Star reports on the fake news that caused Toronto to prematurely celebrate the end of the First World War.
• Window on Eurasia notes how many key elements of the modern world, from borders to ideologies, were created by the First World War.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: Metropass, Dial-a-Story, Brickworks, South Etobicoke, NEWFOUNDLAND

• Transit Toronto notes that, sadly, at the end of 2018, the TTC’s venerable Metropass will be no more, subsumed into Presto. I bid this card a dear farewell: I will miss it!
• Emerald Bensadoun at the Toronto Star writes about how the Toronto Public Library’s Dial-a-Story program has been helping children learn English for decades.
• Christopher Hume at the Toronto Star writes about the renovation of the Evergreen Brickworks’ kiln building. I’m excited to see this place again.
• This paid advertisement highlighting the attractions of South Etobicoke actually does seem to do a decent job of explaining the attractions of this part of Toronto. I’d buy a condo by the Humber.
• blogTO notes that 1537 Queen Street West, in Parkdale, is set to host a new store, NEWFOUNDLAND, catering to Newfoundlander expats.

[NEWS] Five First Nations links: NunatuKavut, Spadina, Arctic education, Gwich’in food, Haida manga

• The Canadian federal government is moving to recognize the Inuit of NunatuKavut, in southern Labrador. Global News reports.
• I wish I had seen this billboard downtown on Spadina Avenue. CBC reports on this indigenous anti-racism initiative.
• Creating Arctic universities with services catering to each of the three northern territories would have positive implications for education, not least among native groups. Global News reports.
• The Discourse reports on how, for the Gwich’in of the Northwest Territories, turning to native foodstuffs is not only key to cultural revival but also the only economically viably way they have to eat.
• At The Conversation, Marie Mauzé takes a look at the innovative Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas and his creation of the new artform of “Haida manga”.

[ISL] Five islands links: Machias Seal, Newfoundland and Labrador, Orkneys, Haiti

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• Global News outlines the state of the Machias Seal island territorial dispute between Canada and the United States.
• Faced with mounting costs owing to an aging and dispersed population, is Newfoundland and Labrador headed for bankruptcy? What would happen then? The National Post reports.
• The selection of names of beers from the new brewery of Dildo, NL, has been undertaken with great care. Global News reports.
• The Island Review shares an extract from the new book by Robin Noble about the Orkneys, Sagas of Salt and Stone. http://theislandreview.com/content/sagas-of-salt-and-stone-orkney-unwrapped-robin-noble-extract
• Ayanna Legros makes a compelling argument for the recognition of Haiti and Haitians as not being somehow foreign to their region, but rather for including them in Latin America.

[URBAN NOTE] William’s Harbour, Kingston (Ontario and New York), Halifax, New York City

• Lindsay Jones and Darren Calabrese explore the last days of Williams Harbour, a now-abandoned Labrador outpost, over at MacLean’s.
• The massive success of mass transit in Kingston, Ontario, pleases me. Global News reports.
• This VICE feature shows how the people of Kingston, New York, celebrate their town’s destruction by the British in the War of American Independence, here.
• Brett Bundale explores how Haligonians only began engaging with the painful memories of the Halifax Explosion a half-century after its occurrence, over at Global News.
• The case that New York City’s subway should not be a 24-hour service, to allow for basic maintenance (among other things), seems a strong one. VICE reports.

[ISL] Four islands links: Beothuk, Newfoundland outports, seasteading, Shetlands

• DNA tests of Beothuk remains reveal that the extinct group was related to neither Mi’kmaq nor Inuit. The Globe and Mail reports.
• Some Newfoundland outports are seeing many young professionals move in, to make homes and businesses. CBC reports.
• Marginal Revolution claims a group wanting to mount a seasteading effort off French Polynesia are getting close to their goals.
• Politico.eu notes that, in the Shetlands, while fishers hope Brexit will lead to the revival of the fisheries others fear a labour shortage without EU-27 migrants.