I just thought to myself, “wow, we’re really living out the last 4 episodes of the second season of Dollhouse here, esp how they crammed 3 seasons worth of plot into 4h because they got notice they were getting cancelled” We thought it was for wish fulfillment but it was always about control.

The answer is, “any and all the early Michel Gondry videos for their clever practical effects” But for the forever-mood, it always comes back to A Long December by Counting Crows (which cleverly brings a Vancouver winter colour palette to LA) www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D5P...

One of my favourite singers, Greta Morgan, published her memoir this year called The Lost Voice. It's an important story of reinvention, relating to creative practice and grief -- Greta lost her ability to sing as a result of complications of a COVID infection in March 2020.

Steller’s Jay in the park #birdsky #birds #vancouver 🪶

(daft punk One More Time voice) Auld Lang Syne

I wish we could explain to small children that some day, getting in bed and going to sleep will become the highlight of their lives.

A CBC article making the rounds about our new venture 🗞️ FreshetNews.ca>>Support Us #coquitlam #newwestminster #burnaby #democracy #portmoody #portcoquitlam #news #newspaper #notcorporatemedia #nonprofit #journalism #anmore #belcarra #localnewsmatters #thisislodestarlayoffs #newwest #reporter

Your regular reminder that the ghosts of Christmas visited upon Scrooge not some sort of transcendent universal enlightening ethic; they're hauntological corrective policing agents that epouse a long dead morality from previous eras onto the present to eviscerate radical futures.

Enjoyed a lovely al fresco meal of Mexican food in Victoria’s Chinatown at the patio of Maiiz. Lamb birria really took the edge off the chill!

Geometry still be geometry-ing.

Pro-tip: if you have to send sensitive confidential personal information by email, don’t attach a file that will linger in your outbox and is vulnerable if your email gets hacked. Do it how lawyers do: generate a link in an online file hosting service and make the link expire in 1, 2, 10 days.

Cyclists’ climate adaptation: the gear does not dry out between rides, may need two sets of (some) rain gear now

to clarify, you do not have to be a canadian citizen to sign federal petitions, you must simply be a resident of canada. and if you care about trans canadians then you should sign this one here!

“The so-called job crisis, the automation of work and human tasks, is on the most profound level a war against people.” Ursula Franklin, 1996 peacemagazine.org/archive/v12n...

I would encourage people to petition for the USA to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. AND for Canada to promote it more. In it, the convention highlights very strongly that children have multiple individual rights and parents have responsibilities.

MAKE ETHICS A THING AGAIN

Today’s Connections did Mariah Carey fans SO dirty.

It’s a stretch because of the swearing but *what I would give* to have more folks hear and enjoy Marian Call’s Christmas in LA song - especially those who make Die Hard a Christmas movie tradition. And I’d dedicate it to any feeling grumpy.

Imagine the dignity of having a publicly-run bus company offering service like this on Vancouver-Kamloops-Prince George-Prince Rupert (on the Highway of Tears) and Vancouver-Kelowna-Nelson? It is far cheaper than you think and it could be up and running in a year. www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXyv...

The corollary to Steff’s point: being disconnected / blasé about weather is literally the privilege (that’s what it is!) of living in an age of stable climate. That time is gone. Insurance industry knows it.

Learned today that “Galápagos” comes from a Spanish word for tortoise, meaning that “Galápagos Tortoise” is, in fact, a tortology

For each of these "autonomous" innovations, there's always at least a 50% chance it's a Mechanical Turk situation.

Saw Jully Black sing with the Good Noise Vancouver Gospel Choir tonight, unexpectedly. I wish I wasn’t so tired as to not being able to fully enjoy it.

@brandonyan.com this seems relevant to one of the struggles you’ve been describing.

I first stumbled on the work of Bent Flyvbjerg in grad school in 2010 and see he’s now doing MegaProject consulting/training. His next conference shares his term ‘the Iron Law of Megaprojects’ which he defines as: “Over budget, over time, under benefits, over and over again.” 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼

Seeing folks lament the late start to the ski season. I’m nowhere near as big on snow sports (my partner is rather disappointed he won’t get to wring more visits out of his season pass) but there’s a little climate doomer in me that can’t help be a bit of a snit about it…

An astonishing percentage of Americans are open to car-free living. The problem isn't attitudes. The problem is the failure to invest in viable options. humantransit.org/2025/12/many...

One of my personal milestones in becoming a systems thinker was understanding how we are all individually simultaneously part of the problem and can choose to be part of the solution. Stop de Kindermoord. We know exactly how. usa.streetsblog.org/2013/02/20/t...

5 people have been killed on the roads in Metro Vancouver in the last week, including a driver, a cyclist, and 3 pedestrians, one of whom was a young child. Each of them had lives, families and friends, aspirations and potential that will not be realized. Each of them could have been me, or you.

Tried a new recipe for mujudara which since been cooking since 2008 and it came out with completely different texture than any other time I’ve made it. Just goes to show that cooking can be of constantly full of nice surprises.

One of the ways the internet is Very Good is the preservation of craft knowledge at a time private equity says we don’t need craft stores.

Trying a homemade ice cream mochi recipe. But I got too impatient and just eating the mochi now because it’s delish.

Some folks here might enjoy seeing some pictures and reading a recollection of encountering Frank Gehry with his sailboat, as we reflect on his legacy in architecture and design. www.instagram.com/p/DR5oM8FkhZ...

I hate how similar this sounds to a collision in Vancouver just in October. (On the same block where my high school best friend lived, and near where I still have close longtime friends.) vancouver.citynews.ca/2025/10/15/r...

Pair this 👇🏼 with the recent proposal for Vancouver’s civic agencies and the view that a record turnout of speakers talking about the impacts of service cuts as “a waste of time.” This is the story that chills me.

Framing GenAI as a battle between teachers and students is a red herring. Students and educators are on the same side. The real opposition are the data extraction firms and brokerages and their allies among the managerial class.

Rising job insecurity is pervasive (no duh) The tariff war has taken a toll on sectors exposed to U.S. trade; but the greatest rise in the sense of job insecurity is in .... public administration! Followed by educational services And professional, scientific and technical services

Just to put a number on it: about 1M jobs were created in 2024. About 605K were full time, 340 part time (everything rounded) From Jan to November this year: just over 370K jobs were created About 130K were full time, just over 140K were part time Yes, lower unemployment, more jobs. But not good.

"I need 128 GB of RAM" this is the computer version of urban sprawl, sorry

Today, the City of Vancouver released a staff report recommending the dissolution of 10 of 11 Type A Civic Committees because, and I'm paraphrasing, staff are too busy to deal with them. council.vancouver.ca/20251209/doc... Disclosure: I'm co-chair of the Transportation Advisory Committee (TRAC)

A few years ago, I took a late lunch, walked back to work and altered the direction of key events at my then-workplace. And now I think of it every time I walk this stretch (which is very seldomly, because the street is a giant hole in the middle of subway construction). Happenstance in my favour.

The kids are doing six seven but in Cantonese as an effort to preserve their culture

Vancouver, let’s steal this idea. (The underside of my bike is *nasty*.)

Listened to Kathleen Edwards’ latest and, well, I guess we won’t be welcoming her to the war on cars anytime soon. Some interesting things to reflect on…

Having an explanation of this image should be a part of the civics package to support people prepping for the voting booth for local government elections. It’s that good.

Ouch. The sense of entitlement to storing cars on public property is on full display in the neighbourhood FB group and it is ~vicious~.

I think listening to this song for the 10th time a few years back made me realize I’m a fan, even though sacrilegiously I only really know the film that I know a bunch of folks loathe.

We (the “developed” nations) need to either choose bikes, transit, and infill development — or cataclysmic change to habitability on the planet. Change our lifestyle, or it will be changed for us. Those are the only two choices.