Morning Brew: August 8 - Born to Be Kings

The second black bear was shot by police in Coquitlam this week, while the... shit, I'm losing count... one more is dead as another BC flight goes down.

Now a breastfeeding mom complains of harassment from Westjet. On that note, Bitches Are Back.

So those Chinese attempts to play God with the weather didn't quite work. My anti-Beijing '08 sentiments are pretty hardened (though maybe not quite cemented - ch-ching!)... so in the slight chance you're interested in sports or shiny things - sorry. I'll give you this Long History of Olympic Politics photo-essay instead. Ok, and a dash of sports: the Olympic five-ringed bicycle; chasing the Olympic dream 'like a deer running from a panther'.

Vancouver will have its turn under the bad-press spotlights soon enough.

"Not far from here, an Olympic drug lab is in place to test athletes for performance-enhancing drugs, but in the mean streets of Vancouver, you can buy and inject heroin, crack or cocaine without fear of arrest."

Way to get the ball rolling, Mr. Hume... but we smoke our crack, thank you very much. And Canada's aboriginal people used to "roam freely"? Did we send our laziest reporters to China just in case their government decided to summarily execute all foreign media? How bout y'all go find something in Beijing to report about, I heard there's a lot going on this time of year.

The I Am Rich iPhone application. Only $999 for the world's best metaphor.

Vancouver man tells his own Greyhound horror story, proves spleen stabbing ain't meme-worthy like a good ol' fashioned beheading. And am I the only one who hasn't been able to get freakin' Princes of the Universe out of my head for the last five days?

GM Place will get a new title for the Olympics. The proposed name? Canada Hockey Place. Finally, an Olympic decision that truly captures the Canadian spirit; has that nice 'named by a couple of overly-concussed ex-goaltenders' ring to it.

The most important ten Canadian photos have been chosen by... 'Beaver Magazine'? Sorry, it's not what you think... the top 5 includes that silhouette of Terry Fox. You'll have to buy the magazine to see the winning photos, but here's a slideshow of the ten honorable mentions.

Things are looking good for the UBC Farm, the last working farm in the City of Vancouver. You can also watch a video from City Farmer to get an insider's look at this unique 'agricultural oasis'.

The Courier has a piece on the Catholic Worker house on East Pender, who help shelter the community's homeless and have been supporting American war deserters since the beginning of the Iraq war.

Ideal munchie for your war deserter turned Eastside 'health-conscious' stoner? How about smoked salmon? I went to the store after reading that story but got lost in the cracker aisle, came out with three boxes of mini-ritz sandwiches, and totally spaced on the fish. Gleaned: 2-1= ideal cheese to peanut butter ratio. Protein, right? Just so I'm not totally wasting your time, I do remember reading this interesting little piece on aging and memory loss; it's not that your mind's getting any weaker, it's that you need a weaker memory to cultivate wisdom.

New game, make up your own sarcastic comment: a bunch of geeks at the Future Shop Park Royal opening.

Stuff like this makes me wanna bite the tumblr bullet: yesterday I picked up an old copy of Paul Auster's dystopian novel In the Country of Last Things with this blurb on the back: "as heartfelt as Anne Frank's diary." Really?

79% of Canadian employees have either stolen from their employer or have contemplated doing it. I clicked on that story because I thought it was about cookies. So people don't stop hating corporations even once they start working for them... or perhaps... could the hate grow? Gasp. Though it'd sure be a different world if the majority of people actually cared about their jobs. Anyone have any good
stories about ripping off their boss?

With governmental advisory groups recommending we expand our provincial carbon tax... I say enough with the debates and investigations, our police just need to get rid of the damn tasers and focus their energies on some epic bike promotion modeled after this. 2010 Opening ceremonies? Someone get to work on the celebratory helmets designed like these.

photo by carsonting in the Beyond Robson flickr pool