[PHOTO] Our Mother Mary in blue, Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Church (1515 Queen Street West)

I was walking last weekend west past Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Church, in the west of the neighbourhood of Parkdale, when I saw this statue of the Virgin Mary. I had wanted to take a photo of the tatue, framed so nicely by the window behind it and with a coat painted in an earnest sky blue, for aesthetic reasons. I also recalled the old tradition of asking the Virgin Mary to intercede with Christ for mercy in–for instance–times of plague.

This image has turned out to become one of my most popular photos on Instagram, largely because of apparently Lebanese users finding the image via hashtags.

[PHOTO] In memory of the fallen, LiUNA Local 506 (@LiunaCanada)

[PHOTO] Virgin Mary, St. Vincent de Paul

This statue of the Virgin Mary outside St. Vincent de Paul Roman Catholic Church on lower Roncesvalles was serene.

[BLOG] Some Friday links

• Architectuul profiles architectural photographer Lorenzo Zandri, here.
• Bad Astronomy’s Phil Plait notes a new study suggesting red dwarf stars, by far the most common stars in the universe, have plenty of planets.
• The Broadside Blog’s Caitlin Kelly shares 11 tips for interviewers, reminding me of what I did for anthropology fieldwork.
• Centauri Dreams notes how water ice ejected from Enceladus makes the inner moons of Saturn brilliant.
• The Crux looks at the increasingly complicated question of when the first humans reached North America.
• D-Brief notes a new discovery suggesting the hearts of humans, unlike the hearts of other closely related primates, evolved to require endurance activities to remain healthy.
• Dangerous Minds shares with its readers the overlooked 1969 satire Putney Swope.
• The Dragon’s Tales notes that the WFIRST infrared telescope has passed its first design review.
• Gizmodo notes how drought in Spain has revealed the megalithic Dolmen of Guadalperal for the first time in six decades.
• io9 looks at the amazing Jonathan Hickman run on the X-Men so far, one that has established the mutants as eye-catching and deeply alien.
• Joe. My. God. notes that the Pentagon has admitted that 2017 UFO videos do, in fact, depict some unidentified objects in the air.
• JSTOR Daily looks at the origin of the equestrian horseback statue in ancient Rome.
• Language Log shares a bilingual English/German pun from Berlin.
• Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money reflects on the legacy of Thomas Jefferson at Jefferson’s grave.
• Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution looks at a new book arguing, contra Pinker perhaps, that the modern era is one of heightened violence.
• The New APPS Blog seeks to reconcile the philosophy of Hobbes with that of Foucault on biopower.
• Strange Company shares news clippings from 1970s Ohio about a pesky UFO.
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel explains why the idea of shooting garbage from Earth into the sun does not work.
• Frank Jacobs at Strange Maps explains the appearance of Brasilia on a 1920s German map: It turns out the capital was nearly realized then.
• Towleroad notes that Pete Buttigieg has taken to avoiding reading LGBTQ media because he dislikes their criticism of his gayness.
• Arnold Zwicky looks at diners and changing menus and slavery.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: Toronto Monopoly, signs, public art, Portlands, Union Station

• blogTO notes that there is, for a short while, a Toronto-themed version of Monopoly available for sale.
• The iconic Toronto sign in front of City Hall is set to be replaced with a more cost-effective one. The Toronto Star reports.
• I like the controversial statue of a man 25 feet tall placed in front of a new condo development on St. Clair Avenue West. The Toronto Star reports.
• The National Post reports in depth of the plans of Google’s Sidewalk Labs to transform the Portlands.
• Sean Marshall looks at how the concrete barriers put up in front of Union Station disrupt, particularly, non-car traffic there.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Montréal, New York City, Seattle, Amsterdam, Istanbul

• A statue of Queen Victoria has been vandalized in Montréal, the act claimed by an anti-colonialist coalition. Global News reports.
• Guardian Cities profiled an Instagram account, thedoorsofnyc, concentrating on the unique doors of New York City.
• Billionaire urbanism is identified by this article at The Stranger as the downfall of the waterfront of Seattle.
• CityLab notes that the government of Amsterdam is now requiring owners of new homes to live in their property, limiting the ability to rent them out.
• The Atlantic notes the criticisms of many urbanists in Istanbul that restorations of the city’s ancient heritage are actually destroying them, at least as survivals from the past.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Montréal, Cleveland, Osaka and San Francisco, Port City, Sihanoukville

• CityLab wonders how the new CAQ government of Québec will come into conflict with Valérie Laplante in Montréal, a city that wants mass transit not highways and that voted against the CAQ.
• CityLab considers what could become of The Mall, the neglected central park of Cleveland.
• Osaka just cut its ties with San Francisco over that city’s erection of a monument honouring the comfort women of Second World War Japan. VICE reports.
• This article in Guardian Cities examining the Chinese creation of a virtually new and highly autonomous city, Port City, on Sri Lanka to support China’s aspirations in the Indian Ocean is revealing.
• Kris Janssens at the Inter Press Service looks at how the Cambodian port of Sihanoukville is being transformed by Chinese investment and trade into a regional metropolis.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: governance, housing bubbles, monuments, fiction, Brooklyn

• Wayne Roberts at NOW Toronto makes the point that, in the wake of the Doug Ford government, cities in Canada need to get solid grounds for autonomy.
• Toronto and Vancouver rank alongside world cities including Hong Kong, London, Amsterdam, and Munich as being at risk of housing bubbles. CBC reports.
• Guardian Cities takes a look at what cities around the world are doing with regards to contentious public monuments, here.
• CityLab has an interesting roundup of recent online fiction about cities, here.
• Justin Fox at Bloomberg View makes the case that Brooklyn is setting a general good standard for the atmosphere of American cities generally, notwithstanding issues. (I’d add that the influence of the Brooklyn model is not limited to the United States.)

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Mississauga, Kahnawake, Madrid, Helsinki, Mumbai

• Croatian-Canadian fans in Mississauga were definitely organized and ready to celebrate the Croatian team playing in the World Cup finals. Global News reports.
• People in Kahnawake are looking forward to an upcoming powwow, as a celebration of indigenous culture and a vehicle for reconciliation. Global News reports.
• CityLab notes the progress that environmental initiatives in Madrid have had in bringing wildlife back to the Spanish capital.
• Politico Europe reports on the mood in Helsinki on the eve of the Trump-Putin summit there. Avoiding a repetition of Munich was prominent in locals’ minds.
• Namrata Kolachalam at Roads and Kingdoms reports from Mumbai on the negative environmental impact of a controversial statue of Marathi conqueror Shivaji on local fishing communities.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links: TTC, Bombardier, Lightspell, Harbord war memorials, Water Nymphs

• blogTO reports on the desire of the TTC to take over transit issues generally in the City of Toronto, down to the level of Toronto Islands ferries.
• The apology from Bombardier’s president for the streetcar faults is, to my mind, not nearly enough. What will come of the TTC? What will come of Bombardier, too? The Toronto Star reports.
• If the TTC finally gets the Lightspell public art installation going at the Pioneer Village station, I will be pleased. blogTO reports.
• Richard Longley at NOW Toronto reports on the world war memorials at Harbord Collegiate Institute, speaking of alumni lost in these two conflicts.
• Jamie Bradburn wrote about the Water Nymphs Club, a swim team sponsored by the Toronto Evening Telegram back in the 1920s.