The Toronto Star's Ben Spurr notes upset among Toronto's Tibetan-Canadian community at the ads from the China National Tourist Office encouraging visitors to come to "Tibet, China". I myself did see one of these ads, and was not impressed at the heavy-handedness.


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At Transitions Online, Martin Ehl writes about how central European disinterest in the Dalai Lama maps onto an increasingly pragmatic pursuit of Chinese investment.

In this way, the October visit of the Dalai Lama - who was the main star of the 20th edition of the Forum 2000 conference, founded by late President Vaclav Havel - was also a test of ( Read more... )

• Beyond the Beyond notes that electronic newspapers just don't work.
• blogTO notes that the Eaton Centre's HMV is closing.
• Crooked Timber notes that it will be shifting to moderated commenting.
• D-Brief notes a new sharp image of Eta Carinae.
• Dead Things notes that some monkeys are apparently making stone tools.

• Bloomberg notes a report of Egypt's discovery of the wreckage of the crashed EgyptAir jet, reports on the visit of a IMF team to Mozambique, and looks at Vietnam's success in capturing Southeast Asian trade with the European Union.
• Bloomberg View notes that Donald Trump's candidacy can mean bad things for the Republican Party.
• CBC looks at how a top ( Read more... )

Writing at Torontoist, Rignam Wangkhang celebrates the successful unionization of some Tibetan-Canadian workers at the Ontario Food Terminals, on its own terms and as a sign of hope for workers more generally.

Working at produce wholesaler Fresh Taste, situated away from the public eye on the Gardiner Expressway, Thupten Nyendak faced racism, ( Read more... )

The Ontario Food Terminal, Toronto's main produce distribution centre, was the subject of two articles coming up on my Feedly RSS feed recently.

The first, Torontoist's "How the Ontario Food Terminal Works", written by Conrad Smyth with photos by Robert Ewart, takes a look at the bargaining that goes on here as buyers contend with sellers.

The ( Read more... )

• Bad Astronomy reports on the discovery of a repeating fast radio burst.
• blogTO lists the five most exciting neighbourhoods in Toronto, my Dupont Street rating there.
• Centauri Dreams studies the ecology of space colony agriculture.
• Crooked Timber notes the contrast between progress on climate change internationally and bizarre rhetoric in the United ( Read more... )

CBC reports on some suggestions that ancient Martian basins might have housed lakes perhaps as hospitable as ones on the Tibetan Highlands right now.

Deep water basins formed on Mars more than three billion years ago may have once been habitable, according to a new research paper which its authors say lends credibility to the theory that there was ( Read more... )

Nick Kozak's Toronto Star article profiles a Tibetan refugee who has now found a home in Toronto.

Somewhere, the Dalai Lama is smiling ( Read more... )

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