A no messing around guide to the coolest things to eat, drink and do in Vancouver and beyond. Community. Not clickbait.

On Flipping Trump Tower and Waving Your Orcas in the Air Like You Just Don’t Care

Frame this. Put it on the wall of human history and gaze with forlorn detachment: This orca mother has been holding her dead calf afloat for days. ‘It may be some sort of ritual. She’s reluctant to leave her baby”. Yeah, it might be that. Or she might be holding it up for us, evoking Ozymandias, saying “look at what you’ve done here”. Or like the prophet Joel: “How the cattle moan! The herds mill about because they have no pasture, even the flocks of sheep are suffering. To you, Lord, I call, for fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness and flames have burned up all the trees of the field. Even the wild animals pant for you; the streams of water have dried up and fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness. Blow the trumpet in Zion! Sound the alarm on my holy hill!”

But fuck that. We’ll just ignore it. “Save the whales” sounds so prosaic anyway. It should devastate every single person in British Columbia, but it won’t. Because it’s old news that’s won’t get many likes. And we’ll continue to debate the causes of the Chinook collapse. We’ll continue to call for more lanes on our highways and for cheaper gas. We’ll continue to debate fracking and LNG. We’ll continue buying cheap, fast fashion. And we’ll continue to guilt ourselves, just like I’m doing right now, despite the fact that just 100 companies are responsible for 71% of global emissions.

Via New York Magazine: How Did the End of the World Become Old News?

These are not the kinds of findings it is easy to ignore, or dismiss, or compartmentalize, even though we have all become exquisitely skilled lately in compartmentalizing the threat. Neither is it easy to forget the stories of the Greek wildfires, or the Japanese heat wave. Which is why it is perhaps important to remember that the media did not ignore these stories, or the month of global climate horrors that gave rise to them. Television networks covered those heat waves 127 times. That is, actually, a very lot! They just utterly failed to “connect the dots,” as Emily Atkin put it incisively at The New Republic —broadcasters told the story of the historic temperatures, but chose not to touch the question of why we were seeing so many of them, all at once, with the atmosphere more full of carbon, and the planet hotter, than it has ever been at any point in human history.

But hey, on the bright side at least we don’t have to go to Mexico to see tropical dolphins! An Exotic Dolphin Died After Being Stranded Near Tofino On Vancouver Island. As usual, The Simpsons predicted this years ago.

Achtung, baby: Study says Alberta oilsands could eventually acidify area size of Germany. Don’t worry. Germany isn’t really that big. And Terry Abel of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers says “actual field data pointing to rising acid levels in waterways and soils remains inconclusive” so I trust him over some scientist who clearly has some sort of agenda. /sarcasm

Event: Fill the courts & support defendants facing jail time!

“A building with a name synonymous with scandal, I suppose it was only a matter of time”: CRA probe into pre-sale condo flippers expands to include Vancouver’s Trump Tower. Paging Robert Mueller.

Meanwhile, Illegal AirBnB’s: No problem. Guy with birds: bad.

B.C. government proclaims July 27 Ginger Goodwin Day. Great move by the provincial government to honour this legendary B.C labour martyr. Now let’s rename Dunsmuir Street after Goodwin!

Now, on how not to organize: Grimes Says She Tried To Instigate A Tesla Union Vote, Defends Elon Musk’s GOP Donations. “I can only imagine the workers at Tesla were wanting to hear that the girlfriend of their billionaire boss wants them to take a union vote that will have massive ramifications on their lives and workplace because she needs to prove her “progressive” credentials to the Twittersphere”. – Lee Arlen

Taxi industry’s plan to take over ride-hailing in Vancouver, keep Uber out Actually, “there are no restrictions on the apps. Uber and Lyft are free to operate here in BC – their drivers and vehicles would simply have to adhere to the current rules that exist here. Unfortunately, they have chosen not to apply because they don’t like the laws and framework that exist in BC”. – Bowinn Ma.

“The day everything became nothing, I was sitting on a bus. Seth Rogen started providing transit etiquette tips over the PA. I knew this was the end”. – Garth Mullins: Seth Rogen on his Vancouver transit voice: ‘It’s more a friendly, instructive tone’.

Bonus: How an Ex-Cop Rigged McDonald’s Monopoly Game and Stole Millions. And how the game being rigged against Canadians provided the moral backdrop to his scheme.

On Ken Sim’s So-Called “Swagger” and ABC’S Class War

Sean Orr is back from his hiatus with a rundown of the local headlines that have been running on a ticker tape through his mind over the past six months...

On Post-Election Recuperation, Platform Paradoxes and Refund Communities

In his latest read of the local news headlines, Sean Orr finds irony in "safety, affordability, and sustainability", and shouts out a bunch of amazing local organizations working on the frontlines.

On Running for City Council, Playing Whack-a-Mole with Homelessness, and the Public Washroom Deficit

In his latest read of the local news headlines, Sean Orr finds a park ranger with a grudge, a gross misuse of air quotes and Tripadvisor slander.

On Living in a City Preoccupied with Street Cleaning, Chandeliers, and Campaigns Against the Homeless

In his latest read of the local news headlines, Sean Orr hones in on the recent Langley shootings, and the ongoing criminalizing and dehumanizing of the homeless population.