CBC News' Ali Chiasson reports on Toronto's trade in stolen books.

Japanese author Haruki Murakami may be known worldwide for novels that straddle the border between the dreamworld and reality ( Read more... )

• Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait shares a video showing how tacos are made in space.
• blogTO shares some classic photos of the TTC in the 1960s and 1970s.
• The Crux goes into more detail about the mesentery.
• D-Brief notes how the binary star KIC 9832227 is projected to experience a stellar merger in 2022.
• The Dragon's Gaze links to one paper suggesting that ( Read more... )

At Daily Xtra, Michael Lyons writes about some astonishingly popular homoerotic published for the masses in 17th century Japan, looking at the plot and looking at the import of these stories' popularity.

Funny that same-sex love, at least male homosexuality, was once not only celebrated, but a cultural pastime. Published in 1687, Nanshoku ōkagami ( Read more... )

• Anthropology.net looks at the genetics of how the Inuit have adapted to cold weather.
• 'Nathan Smith's Apostrophen shares the author's plans for the coming year.
• Beyond the Beyond's Bruce Sterling shares Margaret Atwood's commitment to fighting for freedom of expression.
• Crooked Timber asks its readers for recommendations in Anglophone science fiction.
• ( Read more... )

• Apostrophen's 'Nathan Smith announces some of his plans for the forthcoming year.
• C.J. Cherryh talks about her experience of early winter in Oklahoma.
• The Map Room Blog links to a collection of electoral map what-ifs.
• Marginal Revolution looks at the worrying connection between Rogue One and fake news.
• The NYRB Daily shares Tim Parks' reflections on ( Read more... )

• Bad Astronomy reports on the astounding scientific illiteracy of Trump advisor Anthony Scaramucci.
• blogTO compiles a list of the best tobagganing hills in Toronto.
• Citizen Science Salon looks at what we can do in the redwood forests.
• The Dragon's Gaze notes a gap in the disk of TW Hydrae.
• Imageo notes that 2016 is the warmest year in the records.

• Centauri Dreams looks at the advanced microelectronics that might last a space probe the two decades it would take to get to Proxima Centauri.
• Dangerous Minds links to a 1980 filmed concert performance by Queen.
• The Dragon's Gaze reports on the discovery of potassium in the atmosphere of WASP-17b.
• Language Hat looks at the Carmina of Optatianus, an ( Read more... )

• Apostrophen's 'Natha Smith talks about his tradition of the stuffed Christmas stocking.
• Beyond the Beyond's Bruce Sterling talks about the decline of the Pebble wearables.
• blogTO lists some of the hot new bookstores in Toronto.
  
• The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly talks about some of her family's traditions.
• The Dragon's Tales looks at the ancient ( Read more... )

Thinking about last night's post on the position of religion in Star Trek, I realized not for the first time that I think way too much about the way that fictional universe plausibly works ( Read more... )

• Apostrophen's 'Nathan Smith has a two part review of some of the fiction that he has recently read.
• blogTO looks at Casa Loma lit up for the holidays.
• Dangerous Minds notes The London Nobody Knows, a documentary of the grim areas of late Victorian London.
• Language Hat looks at how 16th century Spanish linguists represented Nahuatl spelling.
• Lawyers, ( Read more... )