Rainy day randoms

The wind and rain has swung east again and it’s stormy and very dark out, and so I’m out of the house and spending the day at the library which is such a nice bright and warm place to be. As I walked in I see that my friends Erica Olson and Marysia McGilvray have announced a S?wx?wú7mesh History Book Club for 2026 and I’m excited by that. It picks up on an initiative my friend Pauline Le Bel and I are doing to raise money for a Welcome Figure on Bowen.

Back in the day on the blogs we used to issue hat tips to other bloggers who steered us onto some good stuff. Hat tip to Cory Doctorow for this hefty article by John Lanchester on financialization published in the London Review of Books. And a hat tip to Patti Digh for this truly great list of book recommendations.

Happy 25th anniversary to Coastal First Nations, an incredible organization that has worked hard to protect the central and north coast of BC including Haida Gwaii and northern Vancouver Island. When people ask me what reconciliation really looks like I point to that organization, rooted in First Nations jurisdiction and governance, working in partnership with community, western and Indigenous scientists, knowledge keepers and experts. It’s a remarkable organization and long may it continue to represent the best of what can be in this country.

Managing tankers in the central coast is a key challenge for Coastal First Nations and everyone else who lives in the region. In Strong Coast yesterday, Kashmir Falconbridge, the deputy mayor of the community of Port Clemence on Haida Gwaii, writes about why diluted bitumen tankers should never be allowed on the north coast, specifically the Hecate Strait:

The strait is shallow, which makes the waves steep and violent. Winter storms regularly produce seas of eight to ten metres. Historical accounts describe waves reaching ten to twenty metres during exceptional storms. Short interval waves slam vessels from unpredictable angles. Currents tear through channels at speeds that can overpower even modern ships. Even our seasoned mariners will tell you that the strait demands respect at all times.

The Wall Street Journal installed a vending machine powered by AI and it ran a business for a while until it sunk it into the ground. Which, if you read the Wall Street Journal, is what much of their core market does every day. Even the way it signs off is so typical of how CEOs wrap up operations with their staff.