Showing posts with label Downtown Eastside. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Downtown Eastside. Show all posts
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Neither Daniel nor the camera can focus properly at the moment, but at least Daniel can make a crab net, which is more than I can say for the camera.[/caption]
The South-East corner of Broadway and Granville is a people place: two major bus stops, a busy McDonalds restaurant, and it's right on the edge of the high-end, seven-block-long, shopping experience that is South Granville. So, it's also a focal point for panhanders. There are a four or so currently, who take turns sitting on the East side of the McDonalds entrance. If they're not aggressive, and don't make a mess, the McManagement lets them be.
The pair sitting in the panhandler's preferred spot this evening, are not panhandling. They definitely are making a mess, and they are making something else besides: Crab nets.
Daniel says he and his "brother" are making the crab nets to sell to Chinese fisherman down at the waterfront, for about $15.00 CDN each. I've seen Daniel on the street for years, though I don't often talk to him. This is the first time I've seen him doing something besides binning, or drinking, though to give him credit, he's extremely drunk right now -- the smell of what he's drinking: Listerine mouthwash, is overpowering -- it's impressive he can make crab nets, because he can barely talk. He manages to say he's from Nova Scotia, so the fishery is in his blood, and he can likely make a crab net in his sleep. Not his "brother" though. Daniel is part aboriginal, and so is his friend which is why he calls him a brother. Well by now, Daniel has left with the crab nets, and left his bro' passed out in front of the McDonalds. The staff seems to be deliberately ignoring the unconscious guy by the door. Though I calculate that at least every 100th passerby makes some sign of concern at the sight of the prone rubby. A few of us of us have checked -- he's sleeping peacefully, and breathing normally.
Fairview is usually a world away from the slummy, druggy, Downtown Eastside, all the way on the other side of False Creek. But sometimes you don't have to go downtown to see what it's like. Sometimes the Downtown Eastside delivers. Click the images to enlarge them.
Neither Daniel nor the camera can focus properly at the moment, but at least Daniel can make a crab net, which is more than I can say for the camera.[/caption]The South-East corner of Broadway and Granville is a people place: two major bus stops, a busy McDonalds restaurant, and it's right on the edge of the high-end, seven-block-long, shopping experience that is South Granville. So, it's also a focal point for panhanders. There are a four or so currently, who take turns sitting on the East side of the McDonalds entrance. If they're not aggressive, and don't make a mess, the McManagement lets them be.
A little East Coast fishery, a little Downtown Eastside, and a lot of Sister Lister
The pair sitting in the panhandler's preferred spot this evening, are not panhandling. They definitely are making a mess, and they are making something else besides: Crab nets.
Daniel says he and his "brother" are making the crab nets to sell to Chinese fisherman down at the waterfront, for about $15.00 CDN each. I've seen Daniel on the street for years, though I don't often talk to him. This is the first time I've seen him doing something besides binning, or drinking, though to give him credit, he's extremely drunk right now -- the smell of what he's drinking: Listerine mouthwash, is overpowering -- it's impressive he can make crab nets, because he can barely talk. He manages to say he's from Nova Scotia, so the fishery is in his blood, and he can likely make a crab net in his sleep. Not his "brother" though. Daniel is part aboriginal, and so is his friend which is why he calls him a brother. Well by now, Daniel has left with the crab nets, and left his bro' passed out in front of the McDonalds. The staff seems to be deliberately ignoring the unconscious guy by the door. Though I calculate that at least every 100th passerby makes some sign of concern at the sight of the prone rubby. A few of us of us have checked -- he's sleeping peacefully, and breathing normally.
Fairview is usually a world away from the slummy, druggy, Downtown Eastside, all the way on the other side of False Creek. But sometimes you don't have to go downtown to see what it's like. Sometimes the Downtown Eastside delivers. Click the images to enlarge them.
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Hot, hot, hot! I did steal this graphic though. Click the image to go to the original source.[/caption]
I wonder if a laptop is stolen every half-hour in Vancouver, or once every five minutes, or maybe one-per-minute -- I have no idea. But I know all-too-well they get stolen, along with iPads, cell phones, and everything else that isn't nailed down, and people naturally look for culprits among the poorest people they see -- the homeless. Understandable, but a bit ironic, as the homeless are frequently themselves victims of theft: Their loaded shopping carts are walked-off with while they cash in bottles at supermarkets; their bikes are stolen for lack of a good lock; their sleeping gear is taken from a stash spot in bushes. I've had a loaded backpack stolen at a library while I dozed off, while other patrons watched ("your friend came and took your bag"). I've had bags of bottles yanked off my trailer while I was in McDonalds getting a coffee, and I've even had people steal the empty garbage bags.
So, speaking of stolen laptops -- in the Waves coffee shop on West Broadway at Spruce, day before yesterday -- I overheard a man at the counter asking an employee to keep a lookout for any homeless person with a MacBook Pro computer, or, any rubby who didn't look like they should have anything that nice -- boy. That got my undivided attention! He went on to say that someone had broken in to his office through a security-barred window, and made off with a "plate full of change, two X-boxes, and a MacBook Pro."
Being the outgoing, friendly person I am, I waited till he took his drip coffee to the condiment station -- which was happily near where I was sitting -- leaned towards him, and caught his attention: "Excuse me. I heard what you said at the counter. I'm homeless, and this is my laptop," I said, waving his gaze towards my satisfyingly glossy black HP tanktop, which lumbered quietly on the little marble table in front of me.
His reply started something like "Bhu, bhu ...," but we settled into a chat ranging from homeless folk I know, who all have laptops they didn't steal, to the sad fact I'd had my MacBook Pro stolen in the very coffee shop we were sitting in. "Then you know how I feel," he said. Sure I did. Though it turned out it hadn't been his MacBook, but his friend's -- he had his with him.
I mentioned his friend might consider getting a webcam security app for his next MacBook. He thought Macs had that built in. I mentioned MacKeeper off the top of my head, but I see it is quite controversial.
I thought about how some of us let our Web browser "remember" our passwords, so I also suggested his friend consider changing passwords to any Web-based services, like Gmail. He called his friend, and asked him if he'd kept any lists of passwords on his laptop. He went on to tell me his office was in the Downtown Eastside, and he'd gone to all the places where you might find a stolen laptop in that area, with no luck -- I found this statement curious to say the least -- Was the theft there, or here, in Fairview? How would he know all the places?. And not once did he say anything about reporting the theft to the police. Whatever. theft is wrong, unless it's food to feed your family.
My laptop runs the Ubuntu version of the Linux operating system. When I install Ubuntu, I choose the option to encrypt my Home folder. So, assuming a thief can't crack my password ("pudding" -- all lowercase) then, if they boot my laptop using, say an Ubuntu live DVD, and they don't have the long encryption key, they should only see gobbledy-gook in the place of my personal content. And I think, in a future install, that I should look at password-protecting the boot loader itself, which should stop thieves from being able to boot from a live image.
Hot, hot, hot! I did steal this graphic though. Click the image to go to the original source.[/caption]I wonder if a laptop is stolen every half-hour in Vancouver, or once every five minutes, or maybe one-per-minute -- I have no idea. But I know all-too-well they get stolen, along with iPads, cell phones, and everything else that isn't nailed down, and people naturally look for culprits among the poorest people they see -- the homeless. Understandable, but a bit ironic, as the homeless are frequently themselves victims of theft: Their loaded shopping carts are walked-off with while they cash in bottles at supermarkets; their bikes are stolen for lack of a good lock; their sleeping gear is taken from a stash spot in bushes. I've had a loaded backpack stolen at a library while I dozed off, while other patrons watched ("your friend came and took your bag"). I've had bags of bottles yanked off my trailer while I was in McDonalds getting a coffee, and I've even had people steal the empty garbage bags.
So, speaking of stolen laptops -- in the Waves coffee shop on West Broadway at Spruce, day before yesterday -- I overheard a man at the counter asking an employee to keep a lookout for any homeless person with a MacBook Pro computer, or, any rubby who didn't look like they should have anything that nice -- boy. That got my undivided attention! He went on to say that someone had broken in to his office through a security-barred window, and made off with a "plate full of change, two X-boxes, and a MacBook Pro."
Being the outgoing, friendly person I am, I waited till he took his drip coffee to the condiment station -- which was happily near where I was sitting -- leaned towards him, and caught his attention: "Excuse me. I heard what you said at the counter. I'm homeless, and this is my laptop," I said, waving his gaze towards my satisfyingly glossy black HP tanktop, which lumbered quietly on the little marble table in front of me.
His reply started something like "Bhu, bhu ...," but we settled into a chat ranging from homeless folk I know, who all have laptops they didn't steal, to the sad fact I'd had my MacBook Pro stolen in the very coffee shop we were sitting in. "Then you know how I feel," he said. Sure I did. Though it turned out it hadn't been his MacBook, but his friend's -- he had his with him.
I mentioned his friend might consider getting a webcam security app for his next MacBook. He thought Macs had that built in. I mentioned MacKeeper off the top of my head, but I see it is quite controversial.
I thought about how some of us let our Web browser "remember" our passwords, so I also suggested his friend consider changing passwords to any Web-based services, like Gmail. He called his friend, and asked him if he'd kept any lists of passwords on his laptop. He went on to tell me his office was in the Downtown Eastside, and he'd gone to all the places where you might find a stolen laptop in that area, with no luck -- I found this statement curious to say the least -- Was the theft there, or here, in Fairview? How would he know all the places?. And not once did he say anything about reporting the theft to the police. Whatever. theft is wrong, unless it's food to feed your family.
My laptop runs the Ubuntu version of the Linux operating system. When I install Ubuntu, I choose the option to encrypt my Home folder. So, assuming a thief can't crack my password ("pudding" -- all lowercase) then, if they boot my laptop using, say an Ubuntu live DVD, and they don't have the long encryption key, they should only see gobbledy-gook in the place of my personal content. And I think, in a future install, that I should look at password-protecting the boot loader itself, which should stop thieves from being able to boot from a live image.
Prey is an impressive looking opensource anti-theft application for Linux, Apple, Windows, Android, and iOS. Here's Lifehacker's review and feature walk-through.
Password protecting Ubuntu's boot loader ►
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Memorial in Vancouver. Photo by REUTERS. Click the image to go to the original Telegraph item.[/caption]
The bull-headedness of Albertans in general, and Calgarians in particular, cuts both ways; praiseworthy when Calgary Stampede organizers didn't let the recent severe flooding of their fair city stand in the way of holding their world-famous rodeo on time, "come hell, or high water.". And downright blameworthy the way Calgary Herald writer, Licia Corbella didn't let facts stand in the way of of her assertion, in a recent newspaper column, that Vancouver's permissive drug culture helped kill Glee actor, and singer, Cory Monteith. On July 13, 2013, the 31-year-old Calgary-born actor was found dead in his hotel room at the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel in downtown Vancouver. On July 15, the B.C. Coroner’s autopsy report stated Monteith died from "a mixed drug toxicity" consisting of heroin and alcohol. Monteith had reportedly struggled with addiction for a decade.
In a Friday, July 19 column in the Calgary Herald -- widely syndicated --, Licia Corbella bluntly asserted the actor got the drugs from Insite, the supervised, safe injection site, located in the Downtown Eastside, about 1.4 km from Monteith's hotel, as the crow flies.
Memorial in Vancouver. Photo by REUTERS. Click the image to go to the original Telegraph item.[/caption]The bull-headedness of Albertans in general, and Calgarians in particular, cuts both ways; praiseworthy when Calgary Stampede organizers didn't let the recent severe flooding of their fair city stand in the way of holding their world-famous rodeo on time, "come hell, or high water.". And downright blameworthy the way Calgary Herald writer, Licia Corbella didn't let facts stand in the way of of her assertion, in a recent newspaper column, that Vancouver's permissive drug culture helped kill Glee actor, and singer, Cory Monteith. On July 13, 2013, the 31-year-old Calgary-born actor was found dead in his hotel room at the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel in downtown Vancouver. On July 15, the B.C. Coroner’s autopsy report stated Monteith died from "a mixed drug toxicity" consisting of heroin and alcohol. Monteith had reportedly struggled with addiction for a decade.
In a Friday, July 19 column in the Calgary Herald -- widely syndicated --, Licia Corbella bluntly asserted the actor got the drugs from Insite, the supervised, safe injection site, located in the Downtown Eastside, about 1.4 km from Monteith's hotel, as the crow flies.
It finally looks like Vancouver's oldest bottle depot, United We Can, will be moving to a new location -- reportedly in an industrial area, far from it's present location on Hastings Street, in the heart of the Downtown Eastside.
According to a recent article in The Vancouver Sun newspaper, The not-for-profit depot, which has been a fixture on East Hastings for more than a decade, is expected to move to a 21,000 sq. ft. warehouse at 455 Industrial Ave. The property is owned by the City of Vancouver.
After cashing in bottles, I rode back Westward, my trailer flaunting it's Creamsicle-orange butt in the bright spring sunshine, to the Waves coffee house at West Broadway and Spruce. My coffee order is too predictable: Large dark mocha, extra-hot, with a slice of banana loaf. The owner punches it in, then laughs, "Ha ha! It came out as 'extra-hoot.'"
That is funny. It's Welfare cheque day in the big city, and a lot of my binning brethren get said government cheese, and will be downtown today getting just that -- an extra hoot. Enjoy yourselves boys and girls. Don't hurry back.
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