• Centauri Dreams reports on asteroid P/2016 G1, a world that, after splitting, is now showing signs of a cometary tail.
• The Everyday Sociology Blog considers outrage as a sociological phenomenon. What, exactly, does it do? What does it change?
• Joe. My. God. reports on a new push for same-sex marriage in Germany, coming from the SPD.
• Lawyers, Guns and ( Read more... )

Marie-Danielle Smith's Canadian Press report carried in the National Post is subtly alarming. That some people who claim about "religious freedom" are not concerned with that concept in general so much as with maximizing their favourite religion's standing is sad.

Canada’s former ambassador for religious freedom is warning conservatives about the ( Read more... )

• blogTO notes that the redevelopment of Toronto's Port Lands is continuing.
• Crooked Timber argues that climate denialism exposes the socially constructed nature of property rights.
• D-Brief notes the reburial of Kennewick Man.
• The Dragon's Gaze notes there is no sign of a second planet around Proxima Centauri.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money looks at life in ( Read more... )

• blogTO looks at deserted Mirvish Village.
• Crooked Timber reenages with the Rachel Carson and DDT myth.
• The Crux looks at the Mandela Effect, exploring false memories.
• Dangerous Minds makes the case for the musical genius of Bobbie Gentry.
• From the Heart of Europe's Nicholas Whyte recounts his visit to Albania's bunker museum.

The Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel is dominated, figuratively and to some extent literally, by the figure of Marguerite Bourgeoys, the 17th century migrant from France who came to the island of Montréal with her Grey Sisters to tend to the needs of the locals.


( Read more... )

The Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel is a linchpin of Vieux-Montréal, the building proper dating back to 1771, European inhabitation going back another century, and millennia of history of First Nations inhabitation before this.


( Read more... )

• At Apostrophen, 'Nathan Smith writes about the status of his various writing projects.
• Beyond the Beyond's Bruce Sterling links to an article examining pieces of software that have shaped modern music.
• blogTO notes the expansion of the Drake Hotel to a new Junction site. Clearly the Drake is becoming a brand.
• Citizen Science Salon looks at how ( Read more... )

Toronto Life shared First Nations educator Eddy Robinson's account of how his experiences of First Nations spirituality changed his life. There's definitely something to this, I think, about the transformative effect of the processes and procedures involved. My memory of the time spent in a Mi'kmaq sweat lodge while during field research for an ( Read more... )

CBC News' Nicole Williams reports on the struggle of Island churches to have parishoners who attend holiday services attend non-holiday services, too.

For many Christians, attending church is a biannual tradition on two major holidays: Christmas and Easter - but many churches would like to see people in pews for the other Sundays of the year ( Read more... )

The National Post shared Ruth Sherlock's article, originally from The Telegraph, noting the rising popularity of the cult of Santa Muerte in Mexico. This can be seen as a reflection of grim times, but I also choose to see it as a fascinating case study for sociologists of religion.

Holding a scythe in one hand and a globe in the other, the Santa ( Read more... )