Steve Tornes
@stevetornes.bsky.social
CNV Resident. Graduate of Urban Studies, focused on Transportation. Hosted & produced The Trip Diary through SFU's VOCE. On the Board of Directors for Vancouver Writers Fest. Opinions my own.
Wow
Reading "Last and First Men," by Olaf Stapledon and the foreword, by Gregory Benford, recommends skipping the first four chapters, because it is critical of the capitalism of the US, which, by the 1987 when the foreword was written, means the book is "startling off base" and "antique."
Reading "Last and First Men," by Olaf Stapledon and the foreword, by Gregory Benford, recommends skipping the first four chapters, because it is critical of the capitalism of the US, which, by the 1987 when the foreword was written, means the book is "startling off base" and "antique."
December 6, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Wow
Reading "Last and First Men," by Olaf Stapledon and the foreword, by Gregory Benford, recommends skipping the first four chapters, because it is critical of the capitalism of the US, which, by the 1987 when the foreword was written, means the book is "startling off base" and "antique."
Reading "Last and First Men," by Olaf Stapledon and the foreword, by Gregory Benford, recommends skipping the first four chapters, because it is critical of the capitalism of the US, which, by the 1987 when the foreword was written, means the book is "startling off base" and "antique."
Reposted by Steve Tornes
The RCMP has shared a useful visual, reminder to help keep everyone safe when using an E-Scooter. Remember, unsafe behaviour like riding on sidewalks, doubling up, going too fast, or not wearing a helmet can lead to fines and serious injuries.
December 6, 2025 at 6:00 PM
The RCMP has shared a useful visual, reminder to help keep everyone safe when using an E-Scooter. Remember, unsafe behaviour like riding on sidewalks, doubling up, going too fast, or not wearing a helmet can lead to fines and serious injuries.
Sometimes you just got to admire a really good book title
"Death: The End of Self-Improvement" by Joan Tollifson
app.thestorygraph.com/books/c73431...
"Death: The End of Self-Improvement" by Joan Tollifson
app.thestorygraph.com/books/c73431...
Death: The End of Self-Improvement by Joan Tollifson
This book celebrates the great stripping process of aging, dying and spiritual awakening. Beautif...
app.thestorygraph.com
December 6, 2025 at 6:26 AM
Sometimes you just got to admire a really good book title
"Death: The End of Self-Improvement" by Joan Tollifson
app.thestorygraph.com/books/c73431...
"Death: The End of Self-Improvement" by Joan Tollifson
app.thestorygraph.com/books/c73431...
Map of the Road Network of Kelowna
Made using R Studio
Made using R Studio
November 30, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Map of the Road Network of Kelowna
Made using R Studio
Made using R Studio
Cleaned up my code a bit for this map of the Road Network in North Vancouver
November 30, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Cleaned up my code a bit for this map of the Road Network in North Vancouver
Reposted by Steve Tornes
IMO, it raises the question of how useful are executives?
A study by Dayforce shows 87% of executives use AI for work, compared to 57% of managers and just 27% of employees.
I think this explains the massive disconnect we see in how CEOs talk about AI versus everyone else. It also raises the question of how useful it truly is for frontline work?
I think this explains the massive disconnect we see in how CEOs talk about AI versus everyone else. It also raises the question of how useful it truly is for frontline work?
Execs are embracing AI more than their employees are, new research suggests
Research from HR software company Dayforce suggests that executives are leaning into AI far more than their employees.
www.businessinsider.com
November 29, 2025 at 4:23 PM
IMO, it raises the question of how useful are executives?
Reposted by Steve Tornes
Oof. He was truly a master, from Rosenkrantz & Guildenstern to Arcadia to Leopoldstadt—just a lifetime of tremendous, thought-provoking, hilarious work. RIP. www.bbc.com/news/article...
Playwright Sir Tom Stoppard dies at 88
www.bbc.com
November 29, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Oof. He was truly a master, from Rosenkrantz & Guildenstern to Arcadia to Leopoldstadt—just a lifetime of tremendous, thought-provoking, hilarious work. RIP. www.bbc.com/news/article...
Doing politics well is also about doing communications well
You need to be a spokesperson for a grand, new vision
And you need to build political trust from your coalition by showing you care about their issues
I think this MOU hurts the environmental part of the coalition
You need to be a spokesperson for a grand, new vision
And you need to build political trust from your coalition by showing you care about their issues
I think this MOU hurts the environmental part of the coalition
November 28, 2025 at 12:17 AM
Doing politics well is also about doing communications well
You need to be a spokesperson for a grand, new vision
And you need to build political trust from your coalition by showing you care about their issues
I think this MOU hurts the environmental part of the coalition
You need to be a spokesperson for a grand, new vision
And you need to build political trust from your coalition by showing you care about their issues
I think this MOU hurts the environmental part of the coalition
Vancouver Writers Fest ( @writersfest.bc.ca ) just opened up the Digital Festival Line-Up
Super excited, lots of great authors I want to check out (I have my eye on The Feminine Grotesque with Awad, Sookfong Lee, and Moreno-Garcia)
Also, really like that there is a sliding price
#booksky
Super excited, lots of great authors I want to check out (I have my eye on The Feminine Grotesque with Awad, Sookfong Lee, and Moreno-Garcia)
Also, really like that there is a sliding price
#booksky
2025 Digital Festival | Vancouver Writers Fest
Presented in partnership with BCIT School of Business + Media and Libro.fm, and with the generous support of Hotfusion Communications Inc. Binge-watching worthy of book lovers — get front-row, online...
writersfest.bc.ca
November 27, 2025 at 1:29 AM
Vancouver Writers Fest ( @writersfest.bc.ca ) just opened up the Digital Festival Line-Up
Super excited, lots of great authors I want to check out (I have my eye on The Feminine Grotesque with Awad, Sookfong Lee, and Moreno-Garcia)
Also, really like that there is a sliding price
#booksky
Super excited, lots of great authors I want to check out (I have my eye on The Feminine Grotesque with Awad, Sookfong Lee, and Moreno-Garcia)
Also, really like that there is a sliding price
#booksky
Congrats to Beiser!
Was a great book, I really enjoyed
And was pleasantly surprised about how local it was as well, speaking as someone from Vancouver
Really gets at the heart of the question of how environmentally friendly are electric vehicles
Was a great book, I really enjoyed
And was pleasantly surprised about how local it was as well, speaking as someone from Vancouver
Really gets at the heart of the question of how environmentally friendly are electric vehicles
Congratulations to #VWF2025 author @vincebeiser.bsky.social who has won the Writers' Trust of Canada Balsillie Prize for Public Policy for his book, Power Metal: The Race for the Resources That Will Shape the Future.
Book on the future of metal extraction wins $70K Canadian prize for public policy writing | CBC Books
Vancouver writer Vince Beiser's Power Metal is the 2025 Balsillie Prize for Public Policy winner.
www.cbc.ca
November 27, 2025 at 1:24 AM
Congrats to Beiser!
Was a great book, I really enjoyed
And was pleasantly surprised about how local it was as well, speaking as someone from Vancouver
Really gets at the heart of the question of how environmentally friendly are electric vehicles
Was a great book, I really enjoyed
And was pleasantly surprised about how local it was as well, speaking as someone from Vancouver
Really gets at the heart of the question of how environmentally friendly are electric vehicles
Reposted by Steve Tornes
Vancouver's 2026 draft budget has PASSED.
Approved on a 7-4 vote on party lines, with ABC in favour and councillors Fry/Bligh/Orr/Maloney opposed.
Property tax freeze, $50 million more for VPD, and cuts to Arts, Culture, Planning and Sustainability departments, among others.
Full story to come.
Approved on a 7-4 vote on party lines, with ABC in favour and councillors Fry/Bligh/Orr/Maloney opposed.
Property tax freeze, $50 million more for VPD, and cuts to Arts, Culture, Planning and Sustainability departments, among others.
Full story to come.
November 25, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Vancouver's 2026 draft budget has PASSED.
Approved on a 7-4 vote on party lines, with ABC in favour and councillors Fry/Bligh/Orr/Maloney opposed.
Property tax freeze, $50 million more for VPD, and cuts to Arts, Culture, Planning and Sustainability departments, among others.
Full story to come.
Approved on a 7-4 vote on party lines, with ABC in favour and councillors Fry/Bligh/Orr/Maloney opposed.
Property tax freeze, $50 million more for VPD, and cuts to Arts, Culture, Planning and Sustainability departments, among others.
Full story to come.
My reading theme for the year is the environment, which I chose so I could understanding why we commit to fossil fuel extraction in the face of climate change
Here is one of the best arguments I've heard, from Wim Carton and Andreas Malm
Here is one of the best arguments I've heard, from Wim Carton and Andreas Malm
November 22, 2025 at 6:37 PM
My reading theme for the year is the environment, which I chose so I could understanding why we commit to fossil fuel extraction in the face of climate change
Here is one of the best arguments I've heard, from Wim Carton and Andreas Malm
Here is one of the best arguments I've heard, from Wim Carton and Andreas Malm
If Homer was a group of poets, spread out over generations, slowly building upon an oral tradition
Then why shouldn't modern translators of The Odyssey and The Iliad also be able able to call themselves Homer?
Then why shouldn't modern translators of The Odyssey and The Iliad also be able able to call themselves Homer?
November 16, 2025 at 11:33 PM
If Homer was a group of poets, spread out over generations, slowly building upon an oral tradition
Then why shouldn't modern translators of The Odyssey and The Iliad also be able able to call themselves Homer?
Then why shouldn't modern translators of The Odyssey and The Iliad also be able able to call themselves Homer?
Really enjoyed "Spent: A Comic Novel" by Alison Bechdel
It was a lot of fun to read and the art is beautiful
It was very self-aware as it deals with feeling overwhelmed from politics
Worth checking out, especially if you like graphic novels and/or are feeling politically insecure
It was a lot of fun to read and the art is beautiful
It was very self-aware as it deals with feeling overwhelmed from politics
Worth checking out, especially if you like graphic novels and/or are feeling politically insecure
Spent: A Comic Novel by Alison Bechdel
The celebrated and beloved New York Times bestselling author of the modern classic Fun Home prese...
app.thestorygraph.com
November 16, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Really enjoyed "Spent: A Comic Novel" by Alison Bechdel
It was a lot of fun to read and the art is beautiful
It was very self-aware as it deals with feeling overwhelmed from politics
Worth checking out, especially if you like graphic novels and/or are feeling politically insecure
It was a lot of fun to read and the art is beautiful
It was very self-aware as it deals with feeling overwhelmed from politics
Worth checking out, especially if you like graphic novels and/or are feeling politically insecure
I wonder how much electrical energy is lost just from ai chat bots responding to other ai chat bots online
November 15, 2025 at 1:38 AM
I wonder how much electrical energy is lost just from ai chat bots responding to other ai chat bots online
Not sure a random system is less than ideal
Ancient Greece used a lottery system, and as Astra Taylor notes, it was "on the grounds that elections were not democratic enough, as the well born and well spoken tended to win," and randomness meant "that no one individual or group could dominate."
Ancient Greece used a lottery system, and as Astra Taylor notes, it was "on the grounds that elections were not democratic enough, as the well born and well spoken tended to win," and randomness meant "that no one individual or group could dominate."
In an ideal society the leaders would be the wisest and most virtuous of people.
In a less than ideal society they would be chosen more or less at random, as by chance.
In our actual society, they are... well I'm not sure exactly how to describe it, but let's just say we are "totally fucked".
In a less than ideal society they would be chosen more or less at random, as by chance.
In our actual society, they are... well I'm not sure exactly how to describe it, but let's just say we are "totally fucked".
November 14, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Not sure a random system is less than ideal
Ancient Greece used a lottery system, and as Astra Taylor notes, it was "on the grounds that elections were not democratic enough, as the well born and well spoken tended to win," and randomness meant "that no one individual or group could dominate."
Ancient Greece used a lottery system, and as Astra Taylor notes, it was "on the grounds that elections were not democratic enough, as the well born and well spoken tended to win," and randomness meant "that no one individual or group could dominate."
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
Before reading this book in my early twenties, I didn't know it was possible for this kind of book to exist, it changed my conception of reading and writing forever
Like, the structure is actively tying to break the form of a novel at every step
Before reading this book in my early twenties, I didn't know it was possible for this kind of book to exist, it changed my conception of reading and writing forever
Like, the structure is actively tying to break the form of a novel at every step
November 12, 2025 at 5:46 AM
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
Before reading this book in my early twenties, I didn't know it was possible for this kind of book to exist, it changed my conception of reading and writing forever
Like, the structure is actively tying to break the form of a novel at every step
Before reading this book in my early twenties, I didn't know it was possible for this kind of book to exist, it changed my conception of reading and writing forever
Like, the structure is actively tying to break the form of a novel at every step
It's just so weird to be living in a place and time when a nation-building project includes liquid national gas expansion and open-pit mining, and the news article doesn't even mention 'climate change' or the 'environment'
A total lack of imagination for economic growth, which will doom us all
A total lack of imagination for economic growth, which will doom us all
New nation-building projects list to include mines, LNG and Iqaluit hydro: sources | CBC News
Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to announce a second set of “nation-building projects,” including at least two focused on critical mineral extraction, one for exporting natural gas and at least one ...
www.cbc.ca
November 12, 2025 at 3:55 AM
It's just so weird to be living in a place and time when a nation-building project includes liquid national gas expansion and open-pit mining, and the news article doesn't even mention 'climate change' or the 'environment'
A total lack of imagination for economic growth, which will doom us all
A total lack of imagination for economic growth, which will doom us all
When I listened to their podcast about this story, it was so depressing, learning about how a generation of children were taught such a destructive way of reading
features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/
features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/
November 11, 2025 at 10:32 PM
When I listened to their podcast about this story, it was so depressing, learning about how a generation of children were taught such a destructive way of reading
features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/
features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/
"If approved, the proposed budget could eliminate nearly 400 full-time jobs and reduce funding to community services, arts and culture, real estate, ... The document lumps planning, urban design and sustainability together as a line item and collectively cuts their funding by 14 per cent."
SCOOP: Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim is planning to eliminate the city's sustainability and climate department under the guise of a push to prevent increases to property taxes in his proposed 2026 budget.
Great source work by Marc Fawcett-Atkinson to uncover this
www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/11/n...
Great source work by Marc Fawcett-Atkinson to uncover this
www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/11/n...
Vancouver mayor plans to eliminate city's climate and sustainability department
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim is planning to eliminate the city's sustainability and climate department under the guise of a push to prevent increases to property taxes. Canada's National Observer learned a...
www.nationalobserver.com
November 11, 2025 at 3:06 AM
"If approved, the proposed budget could eliminate nearly 400 full-time jobs and reduce funding to community services, arts and culture, real estate, ... The document lumps planning, urban design and sustainability together as a line item and collectively cuts their funding by 14 per cent."
After winning by huge margins last Tuesday, I can't wait to see how Democrats use their leverage to really force the policy agenda on their terms, especially as a cohesive block
It's nice to finally feel some hope
...
wait, what
It's nice to finally feel some hope
...
wait, what
November 10, 2025 at 3:02 AM
After winning by huge margins last Tuesday, I can't wait to see how Democrats use their leverage to really force the policy agenda on their terms, especially as a cohesive block
It's nice to finally feel some hope
...
wait, what
It's nice to finally feel some hope
...
wait, what
"There are, in the genealogical tree, traumatized, unprocessed places that are eternally seeking relief. From these places, arrows are launched toward future generations. Anything that has not been resolved must be repeated and will affect someone else, ... one or more generations in the future."
November 8, 2025 at 10:11 PM
"There are, in the genealogical tree, traumatized, unprocessed places that are eternally seeking relief. From these places, arrows are launched toward future generations. Anything that has not been resolved must be repeated and will affect someone else, ... one or more generations in the future."
"DULF produced a peer-reviewed study that showed after about one year none of its compassion club members had died. Members reported having fewer overdoses and engaging in less crime"
Breaking: the founders of DULF have been found guilty of three counts of drug trafficking. @michellegamage.bsky.social will have the full story later today thetyee.ca/News/2025/10...
Safe Drugs on Trial: DULF’s Trafficking Case Begins | The Tyee
The founders are charged with trafficking. Their lawyers argue they had a legal exemption from drug laws.
thetyee.ca
November 7, 2025 at 6:27 PM
"DULF produced a peer-reviewed study that showed after about one year none of its compassion club members had died. Members reported having fewer overdoses and engaging in less crime"
Had a bit of fun making a new map of the False Creek area
Still a work in progress, but I like the direction
#rstudio #rayshader #vancouver
Still a work in progress, but I like the direction
#rstudio #rayshader #vancouver
November 7, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Had a bit of fun making a new map of the False Creek area
Still a work in progress, but I like the direction
#rstudio #rayshader #vancouver
Still a work in progress, but I like the direction
#rstudio #rayshader #vancouver
Reposted by Steve Tornes
BREAKING: The BC Labour Relations Board has ruled that all research assistants at Simon Fraser University are workers and members of the Teaching Support Staff Union (TSSU).
TSSU successfully organized research assistants twice over the last six years.
www.tssu.ca/grad-student...
TSSU successfully organized research assistants twice over the last six years.
www.tssu.ca/grad-student...
GRAD STUDENT RAs ARE WORKERS AND TSSU MEMBERS! - TSSU
www.tssu.ca
November 6, 2025 at 11:47 PM
BREAKING: The BC Labour Relations Board has ruled that all research assistants at Simon Fraser University are workers and members of the Teaching Support Staff Union (TSSU).
TSSU successfully organized research assistants twice over the last six years.
www.tssu.ca/grad-student...
TSSU successfully organized research assistants twice over the last six years.
www.tssu.ca/grad-student...