Formerly an artist (commercial sort); not much of a dog lover; always an avid reader. Currently a homeless binner in Vancouver, BC Canada. He/him. sqwabb@gmail.com http://sqwabb.wordpress.com
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I obsessively drew from a young age. My parent set me many repetetive drawing exercises. As a teen I constantly drew from life & I was disected the styles of all major & minor comic book pencillers & inkers. The latter taught me lots but in my own commercial career I never drew like anyone else.
No. 99.9% of human artists legally view and study art by looking at art in galleries, in books and online. Human artists who slavishly copy other peoples' art to palm off as their own are stealing.
Wake me up when they rename them Overdose Action Days (like Vancouver finally did with Homeless Awareness Days). On second thought, let me sleep. Awareness/Action Days are pointless empty gestures.
Donald Trump or Xi Jinping: Who will fall first? (Long article written by Ng Weng Hoong). @pancouver.bsky.social pancouver.ca/donald-trump...
Sounds like the "Hieronymus effect" - where a physical measurement relies on the wishful impression of a person, rather than objectivity of equipment. I'm paraphrasing James Mahaffey, who starts his book "Atomic Adventures" (2017) with the story of Thomas Galen Hieronymus' Eloptic Energy quackery.
During his first term Trump at least once asked British PM Theresa May for assistance traversing a ramp.
Mark Carney is like Paul Martin with personality. I don't expect a lot but I'm disappointed Carney backed away from the 2022 pharmacare promise. But recent real gains under Libs incl. modest (long overdue) CDCP & cannabis legalization - two things Cons would never have done & will undo if they can.
Waiting on corner of Aberta and West Broadway my social media friend Crystal, who arranged to drop me some canned goodies, veggies & fruit. Look how she beams! She ❤️ the sunshine. #Vancouver
Turned a corner off Manitoba St into the alley on the north side of West Broadway & there was my friend Jordan! With his two bags of cans over his shoulders he evoked some kind of black-winged #homeless angel (or crow). By the time he agreed to a photo tho the bags had drooped some. 😅 #Vancouver
Please. Had a partner born and raised in Ontario who pronounced it "New-found-land". Based on 50 years of interactions with fellow Canadians from across the country I have believed that to be a common pronunciation in Anglophone Central Canada.
Often pronounced with the "et" silent.
Finally read words on the 2023 handwashing instructions sign in the Broadway & Spruce Waves Coffee shop washroom. "Right palm over left dorsum" stymied me. Turns out "Dorsum" is medspeak for back of the hand. For whatever reason the sign eschewed medspeak for "palm", which is "palmar". #Vancouver
FIVE (5) paragraphs to find out the province is New Brunswick! Waa! I want my fupping datelines back!
I agree but European treaty "negotiators" in the Americas and generations of their settler descendants seem to think otherwise. Descendents seem to cling to a sort of statute of limitations defence for past land theft.
Sauble Beach should wholeheartedly get behind the Saugeen Beach renaming - it's a fresh marketing opportunity & morally & legally the right thing to do. WRONG thing to do is to keep whining like weasels that their white ancestors cheated the Saugeen First Nation and stole the land fair and square.
I prefer to think we need to reform the culture and methodology of policing so that we get police veterans who would be great, community-minded additions to elected office.
Enforcement of laws against cannabis possession - like by-laws around bike helmets, bike bells, jaywalking & peeing in public - all seem(ed) to fall mostly (often exclusively) on marginalized groups. They all serve(d) the VPD as stealth anti-vagrancy laws or non-lethal weapons of harrassment.
Kareem Allam — the veteran political strategist who came up with the 100 cops, 100 nurses pledge that helped get Mayor Ken Sim elected — has become one of the mayor’s most outspoken critics. Now, he’s out to unseat him. @harrisonmooney.bsky.social writes.
I will butt in to attest that a mere three months before cannabis legalization in Canada #Vancouver police were still going out of their way to confiscate personal quantities of weed from homeless people! 🙄
“The Tyee is just learning about this now because it took 16 months for the Vancouver Police Department to release requested data about how many of its officers were trained on decriminalization.” thetyee.ca/News/2025/08...
Extra interesting fact about the huge number of publicly-exposed Teslamate instances found by cybersecurity researcher Seyfullah Kiliç is that exactly zero of them appear to be in Vancouver (home to many thousand Teslas), or anywhere in British Columbia. Appears to be 3 in Alberta tho.
APCP sounds like a new street drug.
This road to Hell isn't even paved with good intentions.
Please make a tiny effort! Is the Trump troops photo real or fake generative AI slop? I ask cuz you've paired it with two images that are obviously fake generative AI slop. Casts doubt on your whole point. If you can't be bothered to find real images & will lazily palm off fakes I can't trust you.
How many Canadian Indie bookstores can survive this?
A.) This works out to hardware & install cost of somewhere between 3,500 & 7,000 home-style charging stations. That doesn't include land cost or leasing. B.) Did 1920s Ottawa provide taxpayer dollars to build gas stations.
i bet someone's going to buy this vending machine for me it'll be a surprise! cool
Can we get a word from "Unconditional Surrender" Grant, or Ferdinand Foch?
Please read this important story from Bethany
Jean Chrétien knew better than to commit to buying any. Harper govt's 2010 decision to buy 65 of them for 16 billion was a typically bad Conservative decision. Cost has since risen to $27B I believe.
Wonder if Trump understands that the distortion of Mercator projection maps makes Greenland LOOK as big as Africa when it's actually about 14 times smaller. Greenland's actual size is on a par with Algeria or the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
I've tried hard to read this Melville book and I will doggedly try again. I get the impression it may have some timely lessons. Sadly I find Melville's (interminably mannered) style quite the hurdle.
Google plans to effectively end ability to install non-Play Store apps onto Android devices via sideloading. Uses "straw man" of malware as an excuse. Rooting needs to become a thing again! www.extremetech.com/mobile/by-20...
Here's a piece about using needle off syringe as improvised straight suture needle.
Sadly, I appear to be down to my last of 5-or-so, pre-threaded straight needle suture kits I dumpster-dived 2-yrs ago. They should be sold in convenience stores! Reading how an improvised straight suture needle can be made from a syringe I see I should've tried re-crimping them with thead!
Quebec corn will taste that much sweeter now!
opioid-related deaths: 7,146 stimulant-related deaths: 3,931 note: "Data on apparent opioid and stimulant toxicity deaths are not mutually exclusive." how many Canadians died from drug policy in 2024? @gordjohns.bsky.social @picardonhealth.bsky.social health-infobase.canada.ca/substance-re...
This is a Hyundai Kona EV. #Vancouver police officer explained that most carshare thefts are opportunity-based, with prev customers not fully closing doors, etc. Some Konas (but not this one) come equipped with driver-facing camera on steering column, so car can detect incapacitated drivers.
The Modo Coop car as seen from the passenger side:
Had a midnight visitor at my parkade sleeping spot. Kind of a drive 'n' dash actually, as the driver left most of the (Modo) car running in the parkade, while they hurriedly left on foot. I say "most of car" cuz they left all of one tire & much of another on Granville according to #Vancouver police.
#art Currently have 5 issues of my lesbian vampire #comic, "DEATH BECOMES HER" available for sale digitally and physically. Its a story about a depressed, lonely entomologist, Marianna Valverde stumbling on the secret to immortality, thrusting her into a world of vampires, murder and mystery. 1/3
Not to interrupt but I find marble cheese just mild enough to enjoy (versus strong, barfy cheeses which make me nauseous) and its never plugged me up, so far's I know.
It's not like that. It's just that Trump eventually turns on all his people - unless they are actual family.
Modified deer cart 1.0 survived #homeless use for 81 days! "L" & "R" highlighted many design flaws & exceeded the 500lbs capacity! Photo 1 shows Tim Orr with salvaged towbar assembly. Photo 2 shows damaged $20 connector on towbar. Photo 3 shows "R" holding cart's shredded rubber wheels! #Vancouver
Sexy pen! 😚 "enhance every writing moment" "pull the magnetic cap off with a satisfying click … like a brief pause before creativity flows" "ready to deliver a soft, effortless writing experience" "smooth, low-friction writing feel" "satisfying sensory experience" Almost like condom ad copy!
Kamloops police ran over a 15 year old on a bike, kicked him in the head while he was on the ground and then denied him medical care until he bled through his clothes. In a case of mistaken identity. BC Prosecution Service of course declined to approve charges. www.thebind.ca/p/kamloops-r...
Back end of a diesel transit bus on #Vancouver's West Broadway ave. wearing a bright pink Pride wrap, featuring rainbows, unicorns and hearts, all rendered in vintage 8-bit video game style.
Sorry for the Hellsite post capture from 2020 but it is directly to the point.
Whatever #Vancouver *thought* it was doing enacting by-law fines for jaywalking, public urination, not wearing bike helmets, not having bike lights & not having a bike bell, the VPD has principally used these bylaws as deniable anti-vagrancy laws to harrass homeless & street-embedded residents!
Huge kudos to Andrew and Lisa for sticking with this story for months and showing how the VPD slow-walked FOI requests and requests for updated data. www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/ar...
Senior friend in Vancouver Fairview had day surgery on hand tendons a few years ago. Took my 2nd-ever Canada Line ride to be his escort home from Richmond. He was given a bottle of 100 40mg(?) morphine tablets. He only took one but jealously guards remaining 99 against future exigencies!
Palestinian families in Canada say they are watching their family members lose weight and sustain more injuries and displacement in Gaza while refugee applications sit with IRCC. They and advocates say the Canadian government's inaction on the file amounts to racism. thetyee.ca/News/2025/08...
‘Fear and anxiety’: What our police FOI requests uncovered about Vancouver’s stranger assaults scare
FOI docs obtained by CTV News regarding the #Vancouver Police department's refusal to release data showing big drop in 2022 stranger attacks supports ‘speculation police had been politically motivated to “fear-monger” the public into supporting Sim,’ who promised to raise VPD budget.
VPD's motto: "To self-serve and protect our budget - fu*k the public!"
oh my god in whom i don't believe THIS IS HUGE WOW
Wielding a sharpie thus, can any of these people doctor the path of a hurricane?
Not stencils?
You may want to also check out the Karrot online marketplace. I keep the Karrot app on my phone and am impressed by how active it is. Personally I wouldn't go near FB Marketplace! www.karrotmarket.com/ca/?in=vanco...
2/2 I'm not aware Lincoln EVER questioned the right of Europeans to forcibly take land from Indigenous occupants of Americas. He publicly expressed his belief in the superiority of whites. As a young man he fought in the "Indian Wars" & as a politician he argued blacks should be sent back to Africa.
1/2 Yes. Emancipation Proclamation only freed slaves in states rebelling against the U.S. That's as much as Lincoln construed was legal under his authority as Commander in Chief. And slavery was already illegal in northern free states. Lincoln also mandated measures to abolish all slavery after CW.
“This is bigger than the flight attendants,” said Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour. “It’s really an attack on worker bargaining power, which has the potential to undermine the Canadian working class.” thetyee.ca/News/2025/08...
HAL, open the pod bay door. HAL!
I’ll be attending this press conference later today. The organizers are hoping other Vancouver media will also cover. This is about problems with Canada’s family reunification program for Gaza refugees. Previous coverage: thetyee.ca/News/2025/08...
My dumpster drain hole cap will be a temporary fix. Building has today arranged to get a brand new dumpster with drain hole properly plugged among other improvements. No word if there will be a ribbon cutting and cake for the neighbours. #Vancouver
Vancouver binners and dumpster divers think of such things every time Vancouver tells residents that bylaws requiring dumpsters to be locked are there to keep rodents out of the garbage. Sure, sure. 🙄
To paraphrase from notes for a speech Abraham Lincoln jotted down in 1858: "Slavery is morally wrong and those who defend it as a good thing rarely, if ever, volunteer to be enslaved themselves."
Dumpster drainage holes on dumpsters vary in size but I think all are threaded to accept a screw-in, solid plug. Some dumpsters in Fairview have their drainage holes plugged but most don't. I do not unterstand why all #Vancouver dumpster drain holes are not wire-screened by default.
Installed the anti-rat, stainless steel dumpster drain sieve cap. May need to replace springy plastic retainer with stronger piece of spring steel. Hope it's firm enough so rats can't pop it out! #Vancouver #homeless
Remember the last time the United States gave Ukraine security guarantees, back in 1994? What would Ukraine give to have the nukes it traded for those empty security guarantees?
Chalked on sidewalk corners at 11th Ave. and Oak St.: "END GENOCIDE" & "Feed the Starving Children". Some people in #Vancouver still care about #Gaza.
Taking break from frantic binning (my funds are down to $9! 😂) for coffee & doo-dad making. Doo-dad I've hopefully made (from found nuts & bolt, container plastic & piece cut off trashed strainer thing is a rat-proof cap for drain hole on dumpster by my parkade sleeping spot. #Vancouver #homeless
Today in @thetyee.ca, I speak with J.B. MacKinnon about suing the AI giants training their LLMs on #CanLit. "“I have yet to meet a Canadian author whose work wasn’t used in that way." thetyee.ca/News/2025/08...
Very telling that Donald Trump had to pause his meeting with Zelenskyy & other European leaders in order to call Putin. Trump is President of the United States the way Dmitry Medvedev was President of Russia from 2008 to 2012.
Hope the scan leads to effective treatment options!
Raw material was blue drawstring bag silkscreened with white Sketchers logo. Had to keep some logo to exploit part of pre-made drawstring construction & one vertical seam. Red cord & spring buckle re-used from original bag. White logo is dynamic & pairs with reinforcing white dental floss thread. 😅
Zippered fleece sleeping bag liner I bought last November is still going strong & is all ready to keep me cozy during the coming fall & winter. But it's red & black stuff sack was cheaply made & had to go! Almost finished a sturdier replacement. #Vancouver #homeless
As far as Vlad is concerned he's meeting Trump in Аляска, which is likely on his bucket list, behind Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
Know your WMDs: Russian hypersonic missile vs. U.S. subsonic missile.
AKA: a sub-sonic missile.
Trump is on his way to meet Putin in (checks notes) Munich, Alaska.
Want to catch Tyee reporter @jenstden.bsky.social as a speaker at PechaKucha Night Vol.60? Buy tickets here. They sell out fast! 🎙🎟
I'd take it a *bit* more seriously if longtime crypto-fancier Ken Sim had already done a proof-of-concept on his own dime and time, such as using #Bitcoin mining to heat his family home in Kitsilano, #Vancouver.
Two kids crossed W. Broadway, travelling south on Spruce St - together on the same @CityofVancouver.bsky.social Lime e-scooter. Ride got jerky on south side of intersection so one kid rode it on 1100 block sidewalk for a bit. Then pair remounted & continued south up the road! #Vancouver
Theoma brought her iPad to McD's this morning so I turned off her iPhone's Bluetooth & paired headphones to iPad, then had her practice turning headphones on/off. Also enabled voice activation of Siri. She's having much fun listening to CKNW wirelessly & having Siri set up calls & emails!
Binned & cashed in. Now at out-of-service bus shelter on Oak. Day 3 turning size 10 Columbia hiking pants into over-the-knees cargo shorts. Have to: * Finish 2nd inseam stitch. * Finish right leg hem. * Add 2 more belt loops. * Maybe back pocket. * Maybe bigger left leg pocket. #Vancouver #homeless
I agree 100% with every word in your skeet! And it's important to stress that accessible public washrooms are NOT a niche homeless issue. They are part of a healthy public realm - for ALL residents - all ages & all walks of life - bus drivers, posties, cabbies, construction workers - everyone!
Before I pi**ed off the #Vancouver Fairview resident I was in McD's, where elder friend Theoma asked about my wireless earbuds - she said speakers on her old iPad are futzy. Trained her to use the "Turtles" headphones. She's since emailed from home she wants to keep 'em! 😄 bsky.app/profile/sqwa...
Yes we need more public washrooms but I'm okay with the dog tag.
Over on the Hellsite™ a reply suggests that a pet dog would've been allowed to pee anywhere without comment or complaint. Well, I have a #Vancouver dog tag. Perhaps I should wear it on a collar? #woof
2/2 - it's waste ground where people can't walk. Where we shouldn't pee is on concrete or asphalt (stinks!) or plants (which die). Plain soil takes urine in stride without smell. This against a backdrop of businesses locking washrooms to non-customers & only 2 public washrooms in all Fairview!
1/2 - After #homeless me stopped in #Vancouver Fairview alley to discreetly pee on waste ground off an alley IN a big hollow hedge, a fellow walking on sidewalk about 10m behind me loudly berated me, saying that I should find a better place. Well that spot IS one of the "better places" ...
To put Trump's lies of a Washington DC crime & homelessness crisis in some context: With Jan. 2025 count of 5,138, DC had maybe 3.3 more homeless people per 1000 than Vancouver BC, which counted 2,715 unhoused in Mar. All but 700 DC homeless sleep in shelters. More Vancouver homeless sleep rough.
Support a great cause, zajacranch.com It's PIRATE PAK DAY at White Spot today, August 13, 2025.
Shocked at how warm it was in my open-ended parkade at 1 a.m. this morning. Hope you have some cross-ventilation and that temperatures drop a bit for all of us.
Battle River Crowfoot needs proper local representation and they’ll get that with independent candidate #BonnieCritchley. #Poilievre having no connect or understanding of rural living will leave this community in the dust #CDNpoli youtube.com/watch?v=6N4b...
When Donald Trump says crime is out of control in Washington D.C. I think he means the White House - which is in Washington D.C.
Mere hours left to become a member if you want to vote Emily Lowan for leader of the BC Green Party. She’s a whip smart, articulate eco-socialist, who has unequivocally denounced the genocide in Gaza. She inspired me to join a political party for the first time in 52 years.
instead of this, which is just watching thousands of people suffer needlessly and die preventable deaths. this is British Columbia's approach to the unregulated drug toxicity emergency, and this is a post about where we're at.
