• blogTO notes an Instagram user from Toronto, @brxson, who takes stunning photos of the city from on high.
• The Dragon's Gaze links to a paper examining the limits of exoplanet J1407b's massive ring system.
• The Dragon's Tales notes evidence that the primordial Martian atmosphere apparently did not have carbon dioxide.
• Imageo notes that the California ( Read more... )

• 'Apostrophen's 'Nathan Smith describes his writing projects for this year.
• The Dragon's Gaze links to a paper examining exomoon formation.
• The LRB Blog worries about Trump's hold on the button.
• The NYRB Daily looks at Rex Tillerson, an oil company diplomat to autocrats.
• Personal Reflections' Jim Belshaw shares the rediscovered mid-19th century painting ( Read more... )

Spacing Ottawa's Dwight Williams notes an odd, and reparable, lacuna in the list of figures commemorated on Ottawa's streets.

If you’ll permit some historical stage-setting: around the time frame of 1990-‘91, the former city of Gloucester began the process of building City Park Drive, a side street looping southwards off of Ogilvie Road near the ( Read more... )

• Bloomberg notes Petrobras' dismissal of rumours it is threatened by the impeachment, observes that many Europeans expect a chain reaction of departures if the United Kingdom leaves, notes that a return to high economic growth in Israel will require including the Palestinian minority, and
  looks at Panamanian efforts to convince the world that the ( Read more... )

• Bloomberg notes two former British intelligence chiefs saying that the United Kingdom is safer within the European Union than without, wonders if Saudi Arabia will be able to accept the economic shocks involved in transitioning away from oil, suggests South Australia could profit hugely from storing nuclear waste, and shares one journalist's ( Read more... )

Leah McLaren in MacLean's notes how the recent British inquest into the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, which revealed Russian state involvement, has worsened bilateral relations.

“You may succeed in silencing one man but the howl of protest from around the world, Mr. Putin, will reverberate in your ears for the rest of your life.” These words, ( Read more... )

Adam Entous and Danny Yadron's Wall Street Journal article takes a look at how the National Security Agency's surveillance of foreign leaders ended up catching Netanyahu inserting himself quite fully in American domestic politics. This can have serious conséquences.

Stepped-up NSA eavesdropping revealed to the White House how Mr. Netanyahu and his ( Read more... )

• blogTO notes that all TTC streetcars will support Presto by the end of the year.
• Crooked Timber continues its examination of Piketty's thoughts on inequality and social justice.
• The Dragon's Tales reports on German surveillance of Germany's allies.
• Joe. My. God. notes the support of the Pope for the anti-gay marriage movement in Slovenia.
• Lawyers, Guns ( Read more... )

• blogTO notes that a TTC driver has been caught on video ... doing pushups.
• Centauri Dreams looks at the discovery of distant dwarf planet V774104.
• The Dragon's Gaze reports that white dwarf SDSS1228+1040 is surrounded by a ring of shattered planets.
• The Dragon's Tales notes widespread German espionage on allies, undermining somewhat German official ( Read more... )

CBC News' Janet Davison reports on the latest revisiting of the famous Igor Gouzenko espionage case.

It is an intriguing slip-up in the annals of international intelligence - did Igor Gouzenko's crying baby help make it easier for the Soviet cipher clerk to defect with a bunch of secrets stuffed under his shirt in Ottawa 70 years ago ( Read more... )