Morning Brew: July 30, 2008

Drugs are a good business to avoid. But you gotta do what you can to support the the number one city in Canada. Here's more info on Monday's murder from CBC, as well as their interactive map of Metro Van murders in 2008, so you can keep track of how much we rule.

Wanna avoid bike theft? 10 ways to uglify your wheels. Could also double as a guide to increasing your hipster cachet (or cache, even). I so see that fake rust shit catching on around here.

Canadian flight attendants rally to save their jobs. If they start dressing like this again, I'll definitely lend my support. And, needlessly, here's 19,000 airline meals.

One guerrilla gardening Vancouverite has won the 'Greenest Canadian' award. What is guerrilla gardening, exactly? That last link was just an excuse to point out Heavy Petal, a local eco-blog with an irresistible double-pun of a title and lots more info on illicit seeding.

B.Cers prefer to drink... well... ummm... lets just say we like to get drunk and leave it at that. Regardless, we still got nothin' on those Malaysian pen-tailed tree shrews.

American-style helmet law enforcement? Watch one critical mass bicyclist get assaulted by the NYPD. Here's a nice Discover Vancouver thread from the last couple days as well: CRITICAL MASSHOLES. That'll learn ya, you spandex wearing homos. Yep, everyone is online now.

As populations dwindle, B.C has been urged to stop the Grizzly hunt. I'll do what I can by linking to this brand new song by the great NY band Grizzly Bear, as seen on Letterman.

Vinyl just keeps getting hipper, but it's an industry that depends on petroleum a lot more than most. How sustainable is your record addiction, tightpants? Biggest surprise from that article: somebody bought R.E.M's new album on vinyl? Must've just woken up from a coma in '88... Only kinda related, but did you know that the American cassette industry is thriving thanks to prisoners, who aren't allowed CDs. Among the current bestsellers: Nickleback's "All the Right Reasons".

Kid Rock offers a Mcnugget of wisdom on music pirate hypocrisy. Tangentially related: can we make sure that Vancouver Riots 'part 6: Olympic blackout' starts outside of the Apple store so I can get my laptop and then get the hell outta' there?

Port Coquitlam mayor and recent assault convict Scott Young skipped City Council on Monday and nobody seemed to care. What, no baskets of overripe strawberries left unhurled?

Man in Maple Ridge keeps his $3.6M lottery ticket locked away for a year before cashing it. Huh? Since when did we allow our intelligent citizens to play the lottery?

Aren't telephone books just about the most in-your-face example of gratuitous modern waste? It's pretty damn embarrassing (and telling) that our society hasn't gotten rid of 'em yet...

Local rockers Bison change their name to Bison B.C. and somehow get tougher in the process. It ain't the home province they're referring to, but rather the biblical/historical time designation; "BISON before christ." Kneel?

Like I said before, Wall-E is skippable, but the short "Presto" that plays beforehand is wonderful. You can now watch it online for free.

I'm likely going back to UBC to get an Education degree, but articles on our myopic approach to education don't do much to waylay my reservations. I'm bad at jumping through hoops.

Or, maybe... yeah, I wish.

Creepy local craigslist post of the month? I'm guessing that guy might beat me on the asperger test. (thanks Quinn)

image lifted from the aforementioned CBC map.