Eugene McCann
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ejmccann.bsky.social
Eugene McCann
@ejmccann.bsky.social

Geographer at Simon Fraser University. Policy mobilities; urban politics; harm reduction; social movements. Managing editor, EPC: Politics & Space (journals.sagepub.com/home/epc). Host, 'Minor Revisions' podcast (http://bit.ly/3suN9ur). Views my own. .. more

Political science 43%
Public Health 19%
Pinned
Didn't introduce myself here. Maybe should since the Nov 24 follower influx. I'm a critical urban political geographer, studying how #socialmovement activists use space & place, locally & globally. I also study the politics of urban development & public space. Some things published in 23 & 24 🧵👇

Nice!
Truth Before Reconciliation: How to Identify and Confront Residential School Denialism. An online presentation by @seancarleton.bsky.social , Thurs, Jan 29 11:30 am PST. To register: sfu.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Sponsored by the SFU Depts of Archaeology, English, History, and Indigenous Studies
PhD here, built a website with other PhDs devoted to organizing PhDs and future well respected people to criticize and comprehend kleptomaniac grifter plagiarist incapacitating machine

against-a-i.com

Reposted by Eugene McCann

It's kinda amazing the depth and breadth of the positive reaction to the Carney Davos speech. I get it - Canadians like when int'l people laud us. But Carney said similar things during the election campaign and we've seen how he's governed since. I'm almost stupefied by how naive everyone is being.

Nice area. Hasn't changed much (unlike lots of the city) but a fancy new London Drugs is getting built on the same site :)

Oh yeah? This is close by - near Hastings/Commercial

In honour of the fog still hanging around ...
Living close to a port on a foggy winter’s night #vancouver #eastvan #yvr

Reposted by Eugene McCann

B.C. health authorities tried for four years to create a heroin compassion club whose members could purchase a regulated version of the drug without a prescription, an effort to reduce toxic-drug deaths that was ultimately derailed by political blowback
www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/e0c398c...
@vienna_official
today we welcome his imperial highness archduke franz ferdinand to sarajevo. unity, stability, progress.

@pan_slav_posting
wild that austria thinks this is a good idea but ok
as a black comedy, someone should write a version of WWI leadup that has social media. Don't bother about incongruity of fitting 21st century social media tech into early 1900s. Just imagine what it would have been like
as a black comedy, someone should write a version of WWI leadup that has social media. Don't bother about incongruity of fitting 21st century social media tech into early 1900s. Just imagine what it would have been like

Reposted by Eugene McCann

Chasing the fog today. #vancouver #fog

If a bit loud sometimes 🙂

Living close to a port on a foggy winter’s night #vancouver #eastvan #yvr

The Fraser River in the fog. Steveston, Richmond, BC.

Have seen very little coverage of this (probably a function of my own blinders), but it seems massively significant, geopolitically, economically, environmentally, symbolically. "Map Shows Chinese Cargo Ship in New Arctic Sea Route."
www.newsweek.com/map-shows-ch...
Map shows Chinese cargo ship in new Arctic sea route
Despite adverse weather, the Istanbul Bridge completed its historic voyage in just 26 days.
www.newsweek.com

🤣😳

none of this applies to cycling tho
youtu.be/GV2OFK0D9Zo?...
this is why everyone’s running now 🏃🏼‍♂️🏃‍♀️™️
YouTube video by Meditations for the anxious mind
youtu.be

These rankings are deeply political. They echo/legitimize priorities of business & political elites. Their aura of rigour & objectivity (esp distilled in headlines) is hard to effectively question. See my @thetyee.ca analysis of a this. This BS doesn't have to be covered!
thetyee.ca/Analysis/202...
Vancouver a ‘Most Livable’ City? Not for Most of Us | The Tyee
Calgary also is high in the Economist’s global rankings. A look behind the numbers reveals why.
thetyee.ca

Compare the BC coverage to how the Ottawa mayor's happy talk about his city's high rank was covered by @pressprogress.ca's @lukelebrun.ca -- critiquing his desperation to take such a BS 'survey' seriously: pressprogress.ca/quality-of-l...

But, why do I care about this?? Well ... 🧵👇
‘Quality of Life Study’ Celebrated by Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe is Actually Sourced From a Dubious Eastern European Website
Sutcliffe claims a new 'study' proves Ottawa is the ‘most liveable’ city in North America, but experts say the website’s data is unreliable
pressprogress.ca

Only after that does the article allude to the fact that this is one of the worst, lease believable, of all of these rankings. But the critiques are too vague. This ranking has no quality control (basically any internet loudmouth can contribute). In a world of bullshit, it's the bullshittiest. 🧵👇

which is: "The results are in" (classic trope of media reporting on these things, implying definitiveness, externality, & thus objectivity, while naturalizing the boosterist neoliberal idea that cities are competitive entities). Our lil' Nanaimo is ranked 2nd in Canada for quality of life. Fun! 🧵👇

and its youtube version and the other version I just heard on the local morning radio news show (apologies, didn't catch the journalist who narrated that one) does suggest that the 'data' used in this one are partial at best (like all of these rankings), it positions that caveat after the lede 🧵👇

Who created the ranking? What're their interests in doing so? What data/analysis did they use (specifically)? For whom do they claim places are 'livable'? What pol & econ interests benefit? (If they imply everyone benefits, that's a huge red flag). While the CBC article by @jmcelroy.bsky.social 🧵👇

Can't believe local CBC in BC is reporting this quality of life ranking seriously (as have other sources - but I'd expect better from CBC). All of these rankings should be contextualized & treated critically if they're to be reported on at all. Ask the following: 🧵👇
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
ANALYSIS | Nanaimo the best city for quality of life in B.C. — or so says a new global ranking | CBC News
The results are in: Nanaimo has the best quality of life in British Columbia. Assuming you believe a website based on user surveys, at least.
www.cbc.ca

Lost it with the "Rankings Team" (I kid you not ...) of a well-known English university who wanted to give my info to QS World Rankings. I have no connection with the uni apart from occasionally doing tenure reviews. Sigh ... the game, as they might say in England, has gone. #academicsky

lol again ... Desperate local boosters being desperate
bsky.app/profile/luke...
Just received the following response from the Director of Communications for the Office of Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe to my questions about the credibility of this website:

"I was not able to do further looking into the company. I don't have a quote for you”

Reposted by Eugene McCann

Just received the following response from the Director of Communications for the Office of Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe to my questions about the credibility of this website:

"I was not able to do further looking into the company. I don't have a quote for you”

lol
Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe is promoting a “study” that is actually a user-generated Serbian website

The website includes a disclaimer that its data is unvetted and cannot guarantee its information is “accurate or reliable”

The website’s data claims Sudbury, Ontario is more dangerous than Baghdad
FACT-CHECK: A new ‘quality of life study’ celebrated by Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe is actually sourced from a dubious eastern European website

While Sutcliffe claims the new 'study' proves Ottawa is the ‘most liveable’ city in North America, experts say the Serbian website’s data is unreliable

Reposted by Eugene McCann

Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe is promoting a “study” that is actually a user-generated Serbian website

The website includes a disclaimer that its data is unvetted and cannot guarantee its information is “accurate or reliable”

The website’s data claims Sudbury, Ontario is more dangerous than Baghdad
FACT-CHECK: A new ‘quality of life study’ celebrated by Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe is actually sourced from a dubious eastern European website

While Sutcliffe claims the new 'study' proves Ottawa is the ‘most liveable’ city in North America, experts say the Serbian website’s data is unreliable
‘Quality of Life Study’ Celebrated by Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe is Actually Sourced From a Dubious Eastern European Website
Sutcliffe claims a new 'study' proves Ottawa is the ‘most liveable’ city in North America, but experts say the website’s data is unreliable
pressprogress.ca