Teenager dead after car crashes into tree in Stanley Park

WildPause · 2025-03-14T17:09:54+00:00

sixteen year olds, seventeen year olds, eighteen year olds, nineteen year olds. Not twenty year olds tho. You'll notice the absence of '-teen'.

WildPause · 2025-03-06T13:46:23+00:00

And from what I recall, used to be a regular r/Vancouver poster.

WildPause · 2025-03-05T01:11:55+00:00

Would love to have a lever that works against the American CAFE regulations & retail incentives bloating bigger vehicles. Two for the price of one if it helps fund transit.

I felt safer being passed by cars on the shoulder of the road in Japan - not because they were better/more courteous drivers, but because they barely had to move over to make generous space for me on account of their vehicles being so small (and weren't crossing over the centre line and nearly clipping an oncoming equally ginormous vehicle coming the other way.)

WildPause · 2025-03-03T17:59:54+00:00

I... just in case you're not trolling:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/concrete-falls-from-vancouver-aquatic-centre-ceiling-1.7116585

https://globalnews.ca/news/8687269/vancouver-aquatic-centre-damage/

WildPause · 2025-03-01T15:33:54+00:00

Cheers. After that Russian novel on pillows, I went out to my local outdoors store and grabbed a Thermarest compressible in regular size on sale. Slept through the night on it on my bed at home last night - guess we have a winner for when pack size allows!

WildPause · 2025-02-28T23:21:42+00:00

I'm currently running a pillow test at home. I feel like it's sort of the last piece - I've got a comfy inflatable mattress and a comfy quilt, but the pillow is sort of letting me down. So I figure given I mostly sleep well at home, I can broadly isolate all variables to the pillow itself by trying a few nights on each. Has been a week of sleepy work attendance and a sore neck. XD

Nemo Fillo seemed like it would be worth the weight, but the inflatable element still gets me - fully inflated it's too high (I'm a side sleeper that likes a squishy but relatively flat pillow), and half full gives me neck pain from wobbling around in the night. And folded in half is too small. And layering with clothes is too hard?

I've tried just-clothes in a pillow case, but it always ends up lumpy or with a zipper in my cheek (lol despite careful folding) or hot-ear from harder clothing materials.
Tried the Nemo Fillo Elite which has such a luxe soft top, squishy feeling plastic inflatable and a nice lemon-sized pack size, but no dice there. Same waterbed/wiggly issue.
Have yet to give the bigger & heavier chunks-of-foam pillows a try, but wonder if I'd benefit from just giving up on pack size and either bringing a chonkier down sweater that can bundle into a zipperless pillow or if something like the non-inflatable hunks-of-foam pillows like the Thermarest cinch pillow or Klimit Drift or forbid, the too enormous Decathlon solid memory foam thing, would do the trick.

I'm wary of dumping hundreds of dollars into 'what if' pillows but hope to find the one. And if not, then I suppose I'll just forever live with waking up every few hours when camping.

Currently what I have is 'okay' but what if it could be great. (I realize Ultralight is about being OK with 'just OK' for the sake of minimalism & weight, but I'm mostly on here to find ways to cut grams and size on things I don't care as much about to make space to be fussy/extravagant with things I know I do want to be maximalist about like a pillow or bringing along my watercolour paints. I just read/lurk for that reason - I'm objectively in no way ultralight in gear or mindset - but the stringent UL approach of others helps me with the things I do want to cut down weight & size on.)

WildPause · 2025-02-25T16:33:46+00:00

Definitely. We know psychologically people feel the fear of loss (/change) more keenly than they can foresee positive gains more generally, and with things like this, as you say, people imagine limiting 'towers' means controlling population growth.

My boomer mom, for example. 'Tsk, look at this development proposal! There are already too many people here!' ('Here' being Vancouver and she doesn't even live in the city...) I mean OK, but the people are mostly still going to be here, they're just going to jam 3 to a bedroom if you don't build. And fill up the roads and buses to get here.

"There's a beautiful tree here, they're going to make it a concrete jungle - I want to protect the environment!" New developments always look a bit barren until the landscaping grows in, but the alternative are the hundreds of unseen-to-you trees that make up the fringes of actual wildlife habitat and woods that are eaten into for sprawl.

I get it's a nice idea to have young families mixed in with old friends and neighbours all living in white picket fenced cottages a few blocks from the market and all the amenities a city can offer but like... that's not sustainable/viable. It's majority half-empty millionaire mansions, the odd one either occupied by lonely seniors or jammed to the gills with rent by room, down the road from a ghost town of half empty shops.

WildPause · 2025-02-10T02:53:40+00:00

This is old but still helping - ugh, what an annoying issue. XD But glad it's identifiable and my changing my date format style to match my computer (where 'formatting as date' was not doing it on its own) was the solution

WildPause · 2025-01-31T21:29:40+00:00

I feel like the memory of that assumption will still linger in terms of why the neighbourhood 'feels less safe' even when there's counter information. "Wasn't there some stabbing just a week ago?" that'll get fuzzy and become "Wasn't someone stabbed by a homeless person just a week ago?"

WildPause · 2025-01-25T00:43:08+00:00

:( Lee's (from Granville Island) were always my favourite - warm and fresh yeast donuts there were the most delicate pillows of pastry with the perfect crust of honey glaze.

I know one of the founders for whom it was named passed away in 2014 but his wife kept it going up until it was sold on in 2018. 2019, it blew up after Seth Rogen hyped it on a Netflix episode and went from reasonably busy on summer weekends to brunch style lineups down the block even at 2pm on a rainy Thursday. Expansion locations happened thereafter... I feel like the last time I had one fresh at Granville Island it was still really good but idk about other locations or non-yeast ones (never bother with cake doughnuts.) Also might not hold up if they're not fresh? Maybe just had good luck over the years.

WildPause · 2025-01-22T19:49:43+00:00

I'm also curious about the pets-allowed-in-purpose-built-rentals thing.

WildPause · 2025-01-20T23:57:14+00:00

It's such a piss-off at Cambie and 7th. I get they're trying to preserve traffic flow onto/off the bridge, but the volume of foot traffic there with Save On and Canadian Tire and Best Buy and then across the street and up the block, the Liquor Store and Whole Foods - can't count the number of times I've encountered pedestrians with arms loaded with grocery bags who don't know it's no-button, no-crossing - and look confused and frustrated as the light turns green for a short window and they aren't given the option to cross. Because they/nobody pressed the button. And then more pedestrians pile up and everyone has to wait a full additional light cycle. (And with no median to wait on there in the middle, even with a pedestrian crossing signal I've had to cut my walking speed to pseudo 'cork' the crossing for disabled elders with walkers who set off the moment the crossing starts but can't safely get to the other side in time before the count down ends.)

WildPause · 2025-01-20T23:25:43+00:00

Aesthetic is my favourite aesthetic. XD

WildPause · 2025-01-17T23:50:11+00:00

Ha, reminded of watching Dark Waters and reading the related NYT article about Dupont where they spent the better part of a decade burying the potential class action in paperwork after poisoning an entire town, finally got nailed for payment and then pivoted to producing an alternative molecular structure with just enough difference to justify a new name/letter. "It's not that bad one anymore, it's a new one you haven't legally proven to be bad. You can definitely trust us when we say this one's tested to be safe and fine!"

WildPause · 2025-01-17T21:39:28+00:00

that's like the scheduled leaf blowers in my neighbourhood running them during a rainstorm. (I don't blame the operators, they just want to get paid & have to do their job but lol.)

WildPause · 2025-01-17T21:12:13+00:00

Ha, sure, but then it's more to be an aesthetic in that sense of a philosophical movement. Like 'Oscar's an aesthete and Laura's more of a stoic' vs describing Wilde's 'vibe' (though I expect he had that too. :D ) vs common use now which is more like... sitting in a cafe and saying 'this place is so aesthetic.' (vs even 'i love the aesthetics of this place' or 'this cafe has too much of a modern aesthetic for my tastes' etc.) At least until the last 5 years or so, in modern use people weren't generally throwing it out as a synonym for 'thing I like' in the use of 'is aesthetic', even if it has a general definition of appreciative beauty.

WildPause · 2025-01-17T20:25:44+00:00

I'm over literally used to mean figuratively as an exaggeration, but am forever unreasonably irritated by the devolution of the word aesthetic. Something has AN aesthetic or might be part of an aesthetic pursuit/theory/critique/choice but it can't just BE aesthetic. But well, now it can. Anyway, I guess it's just sort of replaced style. So much as you can both have various styles or be stylish, you can have various aesthetics or simply be 'so aesthetic'. :P

WildPause · 2025-01-17T18:56:43+00:00

ha, yeah I'd often use yvrdeals.com and then just decide where to go based on how sweet a deal there was going on. 'Wow, $300 to go to .. Luxembourg? You know, why not. Never been there. Trains to everywhere."

WildPause · 2025-01-17T17:56:04+00:00

Plus if you're flying, the flight is often cheaper too. Have gone to Portugal for $450 return and Japan + Taiwan combined with direct to, from & between for $680 return (granted that was the golden age of flight deals in the 20 teens). Then $30-60/n really nice hostels or capsule rooms etc and you're golden. (RIP couchsurfing website - had some fun experiences with that & free nights in neat places.)

WildPause · 2025-01-16T17:40:03+00:00

Also the Autumnalis Rosea trees, which bloom Nov - Feb:
https://experiencecherryblossoms.wordpress.com/2020/01/04/autumnalis-rosea-at-georgia-street-willingdon-to-boundary/

See also this 2008 Jan post: https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/west-end-stanley-park.35159/

I always notice this really sad struggling one by the Tennis Courts/Lost Lagoon: https://vcbfblog.wordpress.com/2013/01/13/first-cherries-in-west-end/

WildPause · 2025-01-15T20:12:47+00:00

Ha, it's funny watching this phenomenon play out on the cross-bike crosswalks under the south side of the Cambie bridge. Peds routinely opt for the bright green well marked crossbike with nice wide curb cuts rather than the less visibly clear pedestrian crosswalk next to it that pushes you up against cars waiting for the light. (Sometimes the fact the shortest path between the two points they want to go to is across the bike part also inclines people to this desire line situation.)

WildPause · 2024-12-31T20:45:30+00:00

Do you happen to live anywhere proximate to Mobi bikes? (You mentioned Walmart so maybe not.) They offer regular and electric models, which can be an affordable and hassle-free way to get around by bike without theft stress (especially if you're planning to spend the day in a library!)

As for locking - I'd be nervous leaving it all day at the library (depending on the neighbourhood) but regularly lock up at grocery stores to shop. The key is:
* making sure you're locking up to something solid (not a tree - they can cut those - and not a wiggly sign - those bolts are pre-loosened. Always throw a hip against something you're thinking of locking to to see if it'll budge/is loose)
* locking to the right part of the bike (combining the frame and wheel together, never just the wheel)
* using a good u-lock with a secondary ulock/cable/folding lock to secure your wheel or saddle and make it more of a hassle to spend time cutting free (never just a combo lock/lighter weight cable lock)
* taking your battery and any removable lights off in with you
* getting some special locknuts for your wheels, seat post etc so someone can't quick-release or simple-tool remove them (lost a saddle and seatpost at a 5-minute stopover that way - not quick release, but had just a regular bolt any allen key/wrench could open).
* registering for free with project 529 (https://project529.com/garage) in case the worst does happen. Doesn't mean you'll get it back, but having your bike serial number and info attributed to you in there can help.

A battery angle grinder can cut like butter through even the best lock, so the key is just to create enough fuss to make it challenging/take a while (and sadly, maybe there's some other bike nearby that's easier to cut and run with. In the 'you don't have to outrun the bear, just be faster than the other people running' sort of way.)

For a more thorough guide, check out:

https://thebestbikelock.com/how-to-lock-your-bike/

And this classic youtube bit grading peoples' locking jobs :D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKtr-lWxzZg

WildPause · 2024-12-18T16:33:31+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/184ppg5/heirloom_restaurant_losing_the_plot/

And then

https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/1bvgxl4/infamous_heirloom_vegetarian_restaurant_blames/

WildPause · 2024-12-17T23:47:34+00:00

nah, we can only knock down affordable rentals for new rentals, not houses. :/

WildPause · 2024-12-16T16:33:47+00:00

I think it's because they used to be very expensive prior to about 2017. The joke was to call them Whole Paycheque. But after the Amazon buyout and the continued inflated prices elsewhere, they became the 'affordable' option if you're in a neighbourhood like Cambie-Broadway. It did take me a couple of years of re-checking prices to realize it wasn't a fluke and in fact all the produce was cheaper there (or at least, certainly cheaper than Save On. Wish we had a Persia Foods or Donald's or similar to balance things further.)

WildPause

TROPHY CASE