Explaining This Year's 50 Best Bars Ranking

Sleight has worked at 50 Best since 2023

After digesting the 2026 rankings of North America's 50 Best Bars, I still found it hard to believe that two new entries from New York, Bar Snack and Schmuck landed No. 3 and No. 4 respectively. What happened to climbing up the ranks?

I had to ask Emma Sleight, head of content for 50 Best Bars and Hotels at the after party, an afternoon session at The Botanist in the Fairmont Pacific Rim.

Sitting in the private room of the restaurant with three other PR representatives sitting in, Sleight at first said there are always new entries in every list they do.

The awards were held on Wednesday night

But is 15 considered high?

She didn't exactly give a clear answer. 

"It's about the same. It's quite a lot. I would say it's quite high, but it's not outrageously high. It's the nature of the game. The bars industry is so dynamic and it moves so quickly that new openings happen so frequently. And we always encourage people to think about the awards. It's a snapshot of that particular time where people are traveling, what people are identifying with and the way the voting works," Sleight says.

The voting. According to the 50 Best website, 300 voters are "trusted and well-traveled experts" who are bartenders, bar aficionados and drinks media.

"You can never predict the list. It is really just where those people are finding their very best cocktail experiences. Makes it exciting," she says.

But that still doesn't explain Bar Snack and Schmuck's literal meteoric rise out of nowhere.

Circled in red are Vancouver bars

"There's no one thing that we can ever say that would explain why a bar has moved because everyone loves to think that they know who our voters are, and they don't. Voters are completely anonymous," Sleight adds.

Really? The academy chairs are listed on the 50 Best website. If an academy chair walks into a bar with a group of people, surely some of them are voters... and if someone makes a reservation, they will be researched to see who they are. In today's intensive social media landscape and the internet, there are ways to figure out who people are.

However Sleight begs to differ.

"Often if people are saying they're voters, they're not. And I appreciate that sounds like a trite response, but the thing we do is always encourage any bars where anyone has ever said they are a voter. We ask them to tell us, and we check and we do independent investigations, and we frequently contact that voter and we say, 'Hey, you're no longer a voter, and you never will be ever again, because you've reached your anonymity.'" 

She later added that 25 percent of the voting academy are "refreshed", and apparently "historic voters" are changed as well. "It's never a guarantee that you're a voter, which also helps disrupt that people knowing people are voters, we're trying to do everything we can."

At this point I should have asked if bars have ever called out so-called voters, and how about imposing term limits on academy chairs? They seem to keep these positions for years and years.

Sleight is a cocktail aficionado

Nevertheless, there seems to be a pattern of how bars get on the list, or better yet, leapfrog up the rankings, even though Sleight says there's no recipe, and that bars should just focus on giving customers the best experience.

By appearances it looks like a popularity contest, to which she said "possibly". 

Social media is a big way to get exposure, as well as collaborations with other bars in different cities and countries. The Keefer Bar owners Keenan Hood and Amber Bruce hinted this when they said they traveled a lot this year and would do so again this year, and give their staff more opportunities to travel as well. Perhaps that partially explains their massive jump from No. 28 to No. 7 to be Canada's Best Bar?

For the record Sleight went to The Keefer Bar last year and this year.

In 2025 she also went to Laowai, June on Cambie (it had just opened), Botanist Bar and Prophecy.

This year Sleight visited Lala (basement of June on Cambie), Meo, Bao Bei.

She doesn't have a vote, but there are people following her on Instagram, seeing where she's traveling, and what she's eating and drinking...

Maria Ressa Warns Democracy is Fragile

Ressa (left) shared the stage with CBC anchor Arsenault

Last night I had to opportunity to listen to journalist and Nobel Laureate Maria Ressa speak at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

Held at the Chan Centre for Performing Arts, the almost sold-out audience gave her a standing ovation as she walked on stage, and she was so excited by the warm reception.

It's not easy to have Ressa come half way around the world, when she still has charges in court to fight; Ressa explained to CBC host Adrienne Arsenault that every time she wants to travel, she has to ask the courts for permission.

The talk was held at UBC in Vancouver

She didn't explain whether all her travel requests are granted or not, but we were thrilled to have the democracy activist and tech geek on stage.

The first time I heard Ressa speak was in 2018 at the SOPA or The Society of Publishers in Asia, where I received an Honourable Mention for my story. As the keynote speaker, she talked about her media company Rappler and how they use Facebook to disseminate their stories.

However, they found there were opposition voices on the social media site, proxies that would spread disinformation about their stories on Facebook, and those posts got more attention, thanks to algorithms. This created distrust in Rappler, and media in general. It was frightening to hear.

While Ressa and her Rappler team have been able to systematically analyse how this all happened, things have gotten substantially worse in the virtual world, as she outlined in last night's lecture.

Through her powerpoint presentation, Ressa showed how the opposition created horrible memes of her -- putting her face on top of a scrotum -- and showed us the image -- though she joked that her skin wasn't that dry.

The intensity of the personal attacks have gotten worse, and her team has found that it is particularly bad for female journalists, and even worse for female journalists of colour.

Ressa's 2022 book

She also talked about how seeds of disinformation are planted years in advance in social media, and then constantly repeated; once a real event happens, those bogus seeds quickly sprout and spread online like wildfire and it's near impossible to rectify the situation.

Why is this all important? Ressa believes facts, truth and justice are crucial in a democracy. When you have the facts you have the truth, and when you have the truth, you can pursue justice.

However, why is it that over 70 percent of countries today have authoritarian governments? And just south of us, Ressa noted that Donald Trump has turned the United States into a dictatorship within his first 100 days in office. She said former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte did it in six months.

Sounds chillingly familiar to Hong Kong after the national security law was enacted in 2020.

In the case of Trump, he has managed to sideline the media, senate and judiciary, and use social media to promote his policies without any checks and balances. He signed 142 executive orders in 100 days; in his first term he signed 220 EOs.

Already in the first term Trump discredited the media, saying they were fake news. Now he just disseminates his thoughts on his own social media platform, Truth Social.

Ressa asks why Canada has not built its own social media platform! Why rely on tech bros like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk to spread journalistic stories online? They had prime time seats during the inauguration! 

Zuckerberg removed fact checkers from Facebook too, and refuses to allow people to post legitimate media stories online. What we are left with are opinions of people that are without integrity.

More people joining No Kings protests

But there is some optimism. Ressa says the No Kings protests are getting bigger each time. she cited Harvard political scientist Erica Chenoweth's research that it takes around 3.5 percent of the population actively participating in protests to ensure serious political change.

Last week some 8 million Americans took part in the latest No Kings protests in all 50 states; perhaps the next one will galvanise 12 million people, or 3.5 percent of the US population...

Ressa says we are lucky in Canada to still have democracy... do we? She warns us to be vigilant and to stand up to things we believe are wrong, otherwise it will be normalised.

Many in the audience bought a copy of her 2022 book, How to Stand Up to a Dictator, and they quickly lined up after the talk, waiting for her to sign their copies.

Review: The Sirens' Call

Hayes says attention has become a scarce commodity

On CBC Radio's The Current, I heard an interview with Chris Hayes, the author of The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource. He is an American commentator, news anchor, and hosts a weekly podcast on MSNBC.

He gives the perspective of someone who works in the media of how it's so crucial to have the attention of the audience all the time, and how reporters and editors try to sustain that attention through breaking news, a ticker tape running at the bottom of the screen, or the stories they choose to cover.

While a few decades ago TV viewers were pretty much rapt with attention, these days people -- like himself -- are watching television but also scrolling on their phone and watching a video on their laptops.

How did we get this way?

Hayes is a commentator and podcaster

This is what Hayes tries to explain in his book, and believes attention is fast becoming a scarce commodity thanks to technology. Because of smartphones, the internet and social media, our attention spans have become shorter and shorter; conversely there is so much information out there thanks to the internet, we are overwhelmed and can't learn or absorb as much, or there is so much choice, we don't know where to begin and flail. 

He points out the biggest companies in the world are tech firms: Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet (Google's parent company), Meta and Amazon. They are all making money from us -- from monopolising our attention. But it started further back with slot machines, and then video games and now the limitless scroll on our phones.

Meanwhile the media try to grab attention with horrific news like plane crashes, or wars, and if that's not happening then salacious content called clickbait. Yes the media is guilty of trying to get our undivided attention too.

Not only are companies vying for our attention, but we ourselves want attention too, called social attention. Hayes says humans need to interact with each other and explains that prisoners in solitary confinement can't stand being alone

However the other extreme is social media like Facebook is selling users' attention to advertisers. Instead of seeing posts of what their friends are doing, they see a lot of advertisements, and that is a waste of time and energy. But that's how social media monetises our attention and makes a lot of money from it.

The same goes with Google. It became really good at finding information we needed, but now when you search for something, the top four entries are advertisements that are somewhat related to what you were looking for. Hayes cites in 2004, 99 percent of Google's US$3.2 billion in revenue came from advertising.

Then there are people who crave or demand attention and here Hayes apologises in advance for discussing Donald Trump (the book was written before he was elected a second time), and Elon Musk.

Hayes says back in 1858 there was a political debate on slavery by Democratic senator Stephen A Douglas and Republican Abraham Lincoln. They debated seven times in seven towns. The format? The first speaker talked for an hour, then the second one rebutted for 90 minutes and finally the first speaker gave a 30-minute rebuttal.

How did people in the 19th century have the attention to listen to a three-hour debate? Today the presidential TV debate is less than an hour. Hayes adds Trump either avoids debates and when he does, he shows no debating skills and can't even string a proper sentence together. 

Finally towards the end of The Sirens' Call, Hayes explains three negative things that are happening today: trolling, where people behind screens can provoke online; whataboutism, where those being attacked deflect criticism and turn the tables; and conspiracism, which is total disinformation, but appeals to many because they neatly explain things (incorrectly). 

So what can we do to retain our attention? Hayes harks back to the time when we made trips to the video store to rent a movie, we made a commitment to focus on the task at hand. And he gives the example of how vinyl records have made a big comeback, as not only is the sound quality better, but also makes the choice of music for us. 

Other examples are print newspapers, where editors have carefully curated the news according to its importance in terms of length and pictures, and group chats which have zero advertising and people can keep up with others in real time.

Will people actually follow through with his suggestions? Not really. His book has a lot of examples and points, but are already preaching to the choir who are looking for more concrete ways to safeguard and focus our attention. Maybe that's his next book?

All About Love

What would you type on a Smith Corona typewriter?

I saw something poignant on social media today that ironically made me think about life before social media.

Literati Bookstore is an independent book shop in Ann Arbor, Michigan, that was founded in 2013 by a couple who are book lovers.

Literati Bookstore in Ann Arbor, MI

They posted a thought-provoking video with these words:

When we first opened Literati Bookstore, we put out a typewriter anyone could use, had a blank piece of paper, and that's it.

No internet, no social media, no delete key.

And I was curious -- when forced with a blank page, what would people type? 

Nonsense? Mean, biting comments? Vitriolic attacks?

But what happened over the past 12 years has been amazing, most of the time.

More often than any other topic, people write about love.

Love gained, love lost, love missed, love yearned for.

Love for parents, love for kids, love for someone else, love for lost love.

Love wanted, love needed.

Typing out some lovely advice

And I learned something when we are left alone with our thoughts and just a blank page, we take away social media and followers and comments and the cruel cough in this megaphone that is the internet.

When we have a quiet moment in a bookstore to simply leave something anonymous and permanent about anything we want.

More times than not, we write about love, and while there is so much wrong in this world, in the end, after pouring through tens of thousands of anonymous notes, I truly believe we are more alike than we think.

💕

Vancouver Sign to be Permanent

Looking forward to having a sign like this in this spot?

Vancouver is going to get... a Vancouver sign placed at Coal Harbour in a bid to get visitors to take selfies and post them on social media.

Earlier this week city council voted 10 to one for the giant sign that could cost a total of C$1 million to produce and install, and then around $50,000 in operating costs. The sign would be placed in between the convention centre and Canada Place... a scenic space featuring mountains and the water that already screams "Vancouver" without spelling it out.

"This is a no-brainer," said Mayor Ken Sim, in that the sign will be a vehicle in promoting the city. "It plays a huge role in making Vancouver even cooler... there will be a buzz."

Mayor Sim says the sign is a "no-brainer"

In the winter of 2023 to early 2024 there was a temporary "Vancouver" sign in that spot that was red and lit up with light bulbs and attracted a lot of attention. The sign was part of a campaign called "Liven UP Coal Harbour" and was paid for by the Vancouver Hotel Destination Association in partnership with the Vancouver Convention Centre and the Port of Vancouver.

At the time the media reported on the sign, asking people how they felt about it, with mostly positive comments, which probably led city council to think about installing a permanent one.

"People will flock to this sign for photos, for video," said Councillor Peter Meiszner. "Tourists... sharing those photos and videos on social media around the world helps promote Vancouver as well as it really being a point of civic pride for locals."

The sign will be around 13.5 metres in length, 1.8 metres high and 1 metre wide, according to the city report.

Not everyone enthused by the sign downtown

Destination Vancouver has already promised C$200,000 to the project, as has the Vancouver Hotel Destination Association.

Where did the old sign go? Was it turned into scrap already?

But not everyone is onboard with the sign.

Councillor Sean Orr said that with many Vancouver residents struggling with the cost of living, spending money on a giant sign should not be a priority, and could even be seen as excessive.

"I am just unfortunately concerned about the optics, the cost also," he said. "Some of the talk about the safety issues, as well as where it's located in front of the mountains, to me, kind of seems like Paris putting up a sign that says, 'Paris' in front of the Eiffel tower.

"It maybe cheapens the view a little bit."

Some online commenters agree, saying it's not the best way to spend taxpayer money, and would rather use the money to clean up the streets instead.

Now that could be an attraction.

Fact of the Day: Fewer Canadians Going to the US

There's less traffic at the Canada-US border these days

Ever since Donald Trump became President of the United States and taunted Canada about becoming the 51st state, there's a lot of anecdotes of people saying they are not traveling to the United States anytime soon.

And now there are numbers to back it up.

According to Statistics Canada, the number of return trips among Canadians traveling to the US in March plummeted compared to the previous year. When it comes to air travel, it was down by 13.5 percent, and for land travel a whopping 32 percent.

Canadians are also concerned about the possibility of being detained, after reports of people being detained, including Canadian actress Jasmine Mooney, who was detained for 11 days last month when her work visa application was denied at the US-Mexico border.

"I got put into real jail. So it's just like the movies, two levels, cells on each side," she said in an interview with CBC News. "I didn't leave my cell for, I think, 24 hours, to be honest I was so distraught."

US Customs and Border Protection says the Trump administration is cracking down on people who try to enter the US under fraudulent pretenses or with malicious intent.

"Lawful travellers have nothing to fear from these measures, which are designed to protect our nation's security," wrote Hilton Beckham, CBP's assistant commissioner.

Last week the Canadian government quietly updated its online travel advice to the US. Ottawa now reminds travellers to "expect scrutiny" at the US border, including smartphone searches.

Around the same time someone I met over dinner told me they had gone through her emails and social media and deleted any negative mention of Trump just to be safe...

TeamLab's Immersive Art Experience

Golden-coloured fish swim around the room

Yesterday morning we woke up relatively early to get to teamLab Borderless in Azabudai Hills, located in a swanky undulating building designed by Heatherwick Studios.

One could tell they were in the right vicinity with so many foreigners trying to figure out where teamLab Borderless was, as the signage only said "Digital art museum". But take the escalator down into the basement and around the corner painted on the ceiling was "teamLab Borderless".

Art is projected around the walls and floors

All visitors had to place all their belongings (except their phones) into lockers, including umbrellas, as it's quite dark inside and would be near impossible to find things. 

That's because teamLab is a collective that brings together art and technology that goes beyond a frame or wall. Images are projected on walls and floors, while mirrors are used extensively to give the impression of going on and on, or maximising special effects.

Visitors are told there is no specific route, and are encouraged to revisit rooms over and over as they will change completely over time. It's a completely immersive visual and audio experience that can overwhelm the senses and one can't but help try to record videos of everything. 

At the start there is a fun procession of mostly frogs on their hind legs, walking, with the odd rabbit. The frogs bring blessings and protect travellers, ensuring their safe return. Frogs are also related to prosperity. They were a recurring motif in some of the rooms.

Spheres give a feeling of limitlessness

Not all the projections were interactive, but fun nonetheless. One fun room had amateur drawings of sea life and it turned out to be contributions from visitors themselves. They were scanned and then projected on the walls moving around and if you "touched" them, they would move away. People were lining up to have a chance to draw something. Some put their names on the fish or whatever sea creature they drew so that they could easily identify them.

Another room was completely immersive, like being in a fantasy underwater scene, with a school of golden carp swimming in and around sea plants. My friend felt a bit dizzy, while I was transfixed by how fantastic it felt to be inside this other world.

We stopped for a tea break... one of the rooms is a tea house and so we ordered two cups of barley tea. We were ushered into a dark room where we sat in chairs that we easily slipped into sideways and then waited for the staff to prepare our drinks. She first came out with a glass bowl and then returned later to fill it with the tea that had an oat taste. But wait -- flowers were projected into the bowl and the petals began spreading behind the bowl and onto the table. Again more content you had to commemorate on video and post on social media.

Sea creatures drawn by visitors projected on walls

It's quite amazing that teamLab has several projects in Japan, like Tokyo, Osaka, and Fukuoka, as well as in Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Macau, and Miami. It probably get more fun to create as technology improves, though a lot of accurate set-up and production needs to be made to ensure a flawless execution.

A lot of manpower is needed just to control crowds or ensure visitors are OK, and all the staff speak English.

It's probably become a prestige thing to be able to say you have visited specific teamLab projects, though if you have had the chance to see one, then you can see what all the fuss is about. It's not what art purists may think is art, but it is certainly art for the masses that is extremely popular, beautiful and fun.

teamLab Borderless

Mori Building Digital Art Museum

Azabudai Hills Garden Plaza B1

5-9 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo

A Woman Claims She has No Friends

Ho is trying to make new friends in Vancouver

A woman in Vancouver starts her videos by saying, "I live in Vancouver and I have no friends."

Anna Ho is 23 years old and after graduating from university she finds it hard to meet people, making it sound like a chore.

"Meeting new people is very draining and it's very tiring because it's kind of like a job interview or you're going on dates," she told the CBC.

She is currently challenging herself to do 30 activities to make friends and to document it on social media. So far she's gone to an electronic music festival with people she didn't know, attended a painting class alone and tried to meet people through the app Bumble BFF.

Ho is trying to do these activities once a week but finds she is investing a lot of time and money into it.

But some experts say Ho shouldn't be trying different activities and instead stick to one so that she keeps seeing the same people regularly.

At the same time experts admit Vancouver's rainy weather also makes it harder to meet people because it takes more effort to get out. 

What's interesting is that Ho was born and raised in Vancouver but claims to not have friends... it is even harder for people who are new to the city. They say that people here have their own social circles so it's hard to break in.

Others say it's not too hard, saying they meet people wherever they go. 

The main thing is to be open to others and have casual conversations with people that could possibly lead to other get-togethers down the road. Many say taking classes to learn something increases chances of meeting others, or joining clubs where you have the same interests as others.

So far Ho is one-third of the way through her activities and says she has made one friend so far and feels her efforts aren't for nothing.

"I would hope this whole series that I'm doing just gives people a positive light and comfort," she says.

TikTok Influencers Migrate to Xiaohongshu

Xiaohongshu seeing a surge in "TikTok refugees"

TikTok influencers who use the video platform to make short videos in the hopes of going viral are terrified the US government will force the social media app to shut down due to fears that it gives the Chinese government access to users' data.

That's because these influencers make money from their videos, and for some, that's their full-time gig.

However as a result of the impending January 19 deadline, TikTokers or content creators on TikTok are calling themselves #tiktokrefugees and "fleeing" to... another Chinese platform called Xiaohongshu.

There are fears TikTok will shut down Jan 19

Little do these influencers know that Xiaohongshu -- originally translated as "Little Red Book" -- in a satirical nod to Chairman Mao Zedong's book of quotations, is a Chinese company promoted as "RedNote" or "Red" in North America these days.

Xiaohongshu is like Instagram, where users can post pictures and videos. Initially it was called "Hong Kong Shopping Guide" to give tips to Chinese visitors to the city of where to eat, stay, and take pictures. For example they would give detailed instructions on where to have their "Instagram-worthy" shot with say a cup of Arabica coffee along the waterfront in Kennedy Town.

It was great for the cafe having lots of customers, but terrible for traffic in the area, as people blocked roads to get the perfect shot.

Started by Miranda Qu and Charlwin Mao in 2013, Xiaohongshu caught the attention of several Chinese tech giants, like Alibaba and Tencent, and last July the app was worth a staggering US$17 billion. The users are predominantly women, and as a result many beauty and cosmetic brands advertise on the app. Xiaohongshu does not have an e-commerce aspect so users need to turn to Taobao or TMall to purchase things.

Chew is invited to the inauguration

But now with so many TikTok influencers, especially those from the US trying to set up accounts on Xiaohongshu, Chinese cyber regulators may not be so keen on the flood of people, particularly those not from or in China.

Already Chinese officials have told the company it "needs to ensure China-based users cannot see posts from US users", which signals the government may see the influx of Americans to RedNote as a political security threat.

What's interesting is that already there are unfiltered interactions between Chinese and US users, sharing homework questions for example, or asking what life is like in China and getting real depictions instead of rosy pictures from government sources.

So how will Xiaohongshu get around this? Create a special area only US users can access? That might be too hard to manage, and not really beneficial to US influencers who might be providing content to a limited audience.

Or this is all moot after Donald Trump gets into office on January 20. He has already shown support for TikTok, even inviting CEO Shou Zi Chew to the inauguration on Monday. Maybe those TikTok "refugees" won't have to flee the video platform after all...

Trudeau's Days are Numbered

Trudeau doesn't have much time to ponder his future

The federal Liberals are in complete disarray after the shock resignation of finance minster and deputy leader Chrystia Freeland this morning.

This evening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau held a caucus meeting in Ottawa where 15 MPs spoke up and many of them advised him to resign.

He said he would consider their concerns and reflect on them in the next few days.

Freeland quit before the economic statement

But Trudeau may not have days as the calls for him to step down are getting louder and louder.

Freeland announced she was quitting this morning in a public letter to Trudeau that she posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

At that time reporters were about to go into a lock-up to read over her much anticipated economic statement when they found out she had resigned.

No one in the party knew who was the next finance minister and for hours radio and TV shows were scrambling to find any information they could about this political bombshell that exploded in Trudeau's face.

He did this to himself -- according to Freeland's letter, Trudeau had told her she would be shuffled out of the finance minister position, but could you present the economic statement anyway?

She also claimed that she disagreed with his "political gimmicks", such as scrapping the GST for two months on certain items, and C$250 rebate cheques for specific income groups. 

Trudeau in the closed caucus meeting tonight

There's also the fact that the economic statement revealed Canada is C$61.9 billion in the hole, not the C$40 billion she had promised before.

Nevertheless, Freeland has still left the door open to jump into a leadership race because she is still sitting as an MP.

Political pundits think that while Freeland is trying to distance herself from Trudeau, she has been in his cabinet for so long that she will still have to take the blame for what happened, and she doesn't have much integrity left.

Some felt she didn't communicate policies well, while others thought she was very hard working and personable.

Regardless, the main question now is when Trudeau is going to step down and let the Liberal Party choose its next leader. He thinks he performs better when his back is against the wall, but voters are tired of having a prime minister who is out of touch with people and want someone else to take the reins.

However, the alternatives aren't that appealing either, though the Conservatives under Pierre Poilieve are poised to win the next election which could be called soon.

Already President-elect Donald Trump has weighed in on today's flurry of events.

On his social media platform he wrote: "The Great State of Canada is stunned as the Finance Minister resigns, or was fired, from her position by Governor Justin Trudeau. Her behavior was totally toxic, and not at all conducive to making deals which are good for the very unhappy citizens of Canada. She will not be missed!!!"

A Strange Fluffy Find Behind a Wall

Imagine finding 115 stuffed animals stuffed in your wall

A man in Victoria, BC was renovating his garage and removed some drywall.

Instead of finding insulation, Connor Nijsse discovered stuffed animals.

Lots of stuffed animals.

Do any of these remind you of your childhood?

"You can't wrap your head around it," Nijsse told CTV. "This is weird."

He took pictures and showed them to his wife Brianne Hinkkuri and when she got home, she took a video of him removing another panel.

"[More] stuffed animals! Hinkkuri says off camera. "You can't make this up!"

In total they found 115 stuffed animals, the entire wall stuffed with stuffies.

They bought the house over a year ago and that was when they were in contact with the owners who had three children who grew up there, which led Nijsse to think that perhaps when the kids became adults and left, the stuffed animals were used to fill the drywall; he's seen sofa cushions stuffed in the wall before.

The couple posted the video online and it immediately got 5 million views. They followed up with videos showing the stuffed animals freed from the wall and asked people if they recognised them from their childhood.

Some stuffies have found new homes

One woman in Ontario immediately recognised a fluffy yellow duck that she loved as a child. Nijsse mailed not one, but two of the fluffy ducks to her so that her two young children could have them. A few others have found new homes as well in the United States and United Kingdom.

"Honestly it feels like the Canadian spirit to me," she says, reporting that she received the two ducks. "It's spreading joy to so many families. It's wonderful."

"If you can make a difference, why not?" says Nijsse.

Indeed.

Hong Kong Deluged by Flooding

A bus submerged in the torrential rains that flooded HK

A few hours ago pictures and videos of the epic flooding in Hong Kong were posted all over social media -- the muddy waterfall pouring into Wong Tai Sin MTR station, vehicles plowing through water in the Cross Harbour Tunnel, a woman still holding onto her umbrella as she slid about 50 metres along a street, trying to grab onto the railing.

The city is still under a black rainstorm warning 14 hours after it was posted, with rain falling 158.1mm deep between 11pm and midnight last night, an unprecedented amount since records were kept in 1884. In total over 400mm of rain has fallen.

Needless to say today schools are closed, and most people are working from home as the black rainstorm warning is expected to continue until midnight this evening.

Wong Tai Sin MTR station deluged by water

Chai Wan seems to have received the brunt of the intense rain left over from Typhoon Haikui. The New Territories also suffered with the Shenzhen government giving very little notice to its Hong Kong counterpart that it would discharge water from the reservoir -- that knock-down effect left 15 minutes for residents in the area to prepare to evacuate.

So far there are no reports of fatalities, but residents are not impressed by the government's response, with the Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki holding a press conference right now (2.30pm HK time) to report on what the authorities are doing together with the Security Bureau some 12 hours later.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu didn't make any public statements and instead published two social media posts urging people to stay safe. Hongkongers bombarded the comments section questioning why the government's response was so behind, compared to the preparations made when Typhoon Saola was approaching the city.

One commenter by the name of Veronica Law wrote: "Not everyone was on Facebook. Why wasn't even an SMS sent to residents in this kind of situation?" Another user named Emi An said: "Is the chief executive sleeping? Are you aware of the severe flooding out there?"

A shopping mall in Chai Wan flooded

At the press conference going on now, acting director of drainage services Chui Si-kay said Hong Kong's drainage system could not cope with the torrential rainfall, and denied that Shenzhen releasing water from the reservoir did not cause flooding in the New Territories, that it was all from the rainfall. 

One may never be quite sure what the situation was there, but for sure the city will have a lot of water and sludge to get rid of in the streets, in shopping malls, MTR stations, and people's flats. 

There are still questions on how the city's authorities and the Hong Kong Observatory did not prepare residents with the possibility of a deluge of rain...

Air Canada Flies to Singapore 2024

Flights to Singapore on Air Canada start in April 2024

A Singaporean friend posted on social media she was excited to discover Air Canada will be offering direct flights to Vancouver from April 2024.

The route will operate four times a week between Vancouver International Airport and Changi International Airport, marking Air Canada's return to Singapore after three decades.

Business class will have comfy seats for the flight

It will take almost 16 hours to get there (like flying Toronto to Hong Kong), and this flight will replace Singapore Airlines, as it will stop flying this route in October. 

That means there will be an almost six-month gap between services.

Nevertheless, surely this will be a popular (and profitable) route.

With Singapore emerging as the winner with its rivalry with Hong Kong post-Covid, the Lion City is fast becoming the Asian destination people want to travel to and do business in. 

Vice versa, Singaporeans don't have to fly to Hong Kong before transferring to another flight to their hometown. Win win.

Hopefully the ticket prices won't be as exorbitant as going to Hong Kong at the moment?

One-Man Protest in Beijing

Smoke could be seen with protest banners on Sitong Bridge

Days before the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and a brazen protest was held on a bridge on the fourth ring road near Haidian in northwest Beijing.

Around 1pm on Thursday a white banner with red Chinese characters had the words:

The protester and his banners were taken down

"Depose the Traitorous Dictator Xi Jinping"

"We don't want nucleic acid tests, we want food"

"We want freedom, not lockdowns"

"We want votes, not leaders"

"We want dignity, not lies"

"We are citizens, not slaves"

There was something burning on the bridge with black smoke, apparently a bid to attract attention.

Soon after the banners were unfurled, the police arrived and someone -- a man? -- was put into a vehicle and taken away.

That person had the guts to say what a lot of people have been thinking since the pandemic, if not longer. He also does not want Xi to continue his rule for a third term -- or even longer.

Banner calls for "dictator" Xi to be deposed

Now on social media people are asking "Is Sitong man safe?" with a reference to the intersection where the incident happened. 

What will happen to this person is anyone's guess, and managing to pull off this stunt in Beijing just before a big political event is impressive to say the least. But the punishment may be tough. He knew the consequences but did it anyway, to great effect.

Did Xi get the message?

We will find out in a few days' time.

Abe's Grave Situation Celebrated in China

Just as we were finishing dinner at a restaurant this evening, I received a news notification that former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe had collapsed after being shot.

This was just horrific news, as shootings are an extremely rare occurrence in Japan -- typically involving the yakuza -- and the last time someone attempted an assassination on a prime minister was back in the 1930s.

While the rest of the world is watching anxiously, die-hard Chinese nationalists are already celebrating on Chinese social media.

The Chinese artist @Badiucao based in Australia translated a few of the comments on Twitter. They include:

Calling the attacker a "hero" and sending a death wish to Abe;

"Congratulations from the people of Shanxi"

"I am waiting for Abes death"

"Who is the attacker? I want to donate money"

The hashtag  #安倍无生命体征” or "Abe has no vital signs" went viral in China. 

And it continues...

Interesting the Chinese censors have not made an effort to shut down the comments at all. But since Beijing loves bashing the Japanese for political ends, it is probably allowing it for now, but it's outrageous and completely insensitive.