Brandon DonnellyCanada must become a global superpower
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency. Indeed, I'm hard pressed to remember a time, at least in my lifetime, when patriotism and nationalism has united so much of Canada. According to a recent survey by Angus Reid, the percentage of Canadians expressing a "deep emotional attachment" to the country jumped from 49% in December 2024 to 59% in February 2025. And as further evidence of...
Brandon DonnellyThe bank robbery capital of the world
Between 1985 and 1995, Los Angeles' retail bank branches were robbed some 17,106 times. In 1992, which was the the city's worst year for robberies, the number was 2,641. This roughly translated into about one bank robbery every 45 minutes of each banking day. All of this, according to this CrimeReads piece by Peter Houlahan, gave Los Angeles the dubious title of "The Bank Robbery Capital of the World" during this time period. So what caused this? Well according to Peter it was facil...
Brandon DonnellyThe story behind those pixelated video game mosaics in Paris
If you've ever been to Paris, you've probably noticed the small pixelated art pieces that are scattered all around the city on buildings and various other hard surfaces. Or maybe you haven't seen or noticed them in Paris, but you've seen similarly pixelated mosaics in one of the other 79 cities around the world where they can be found. Or maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about right now. Huh? Here's an example from Bolivia (click here if you can't see...
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Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly.
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Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly.
Brandon DonnellyCanada must become a global superpower
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency. Indeed, I'm hard pressed to remember a time, at least in my lifetime, when patriotism and nationalism has united so much of Canada. According to a recent survey by Angus Reid, the percentage of Canadians expressing a "deep emotional attachment" to the country jumped from 49% in December 2024 to 59% in February 2025. And as further evidence of...
Brandon DonnellyThe bank robbery capital of the world
Between 1985 and 1995, Los Angeles' retail bank branches were robbed some 17,106 times. In 1992, which was the the city's worst year for robberies, the number was 2,641. This roughly translated into about one bank robbery every 45 minutes of each banking day. All of this, according to this CrimeReads piece by Peter Houlahan, gave Los Angeles the dubious title of "The Bank Robbery Capital of the World" during this time period. So what caused this? Well according to Peter it was facil...
Brandon DonnellyThe story behind those pixelated video game mosaics in Paris
If you've ever been to Paris, you've probably noticed the small pixelated art pieces that are scattered all around the city on buildings and various other hard surfaces. Or maybe you haven't seen or noticed them in Paris, but you've seen similarly pixelated mosaics in one of the other 79 cities around the world where they can be found. Or maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about right now. Huh? Here's an example from Bolivia (click here if you can't see...
My workspace at Parkview Mountain House.
Neat B and I were in Park City this past weekend for our last runs of the season. (Now it's time to pull out the impossibly tight spandex for road biking!) This is a trip we do often, but given the current geopolitical situation, we weren't exactly sure what to expect. https://brandondonnelly.com/season-finale
Neat B and I were in Park City this past weekend for our last runs of the season. (Now it's time to pull out the impossibly tight spandex for road biking!) This is a trip we do often, but given the current geopolitical situation, we weren't exactly sure what to expect. But I will say that we were pleasantly surprised. When we picked up our rental car at SLC, the attendant, who was from Texas, immediately said that he was trying to figure out how to become the next Canadian province. He then proceeded to inquire about the quality of our brisket in a way that made it sound like a firm prerequisite. And virtually everyone we met on the mountain was extremely apologetic once they learned we were Canadians from Toronto. Frankly, they came across embarrassed, and they made it clear that they do not approve of what their government is doing right now. This made us happy to hear.
I still love you, Park City.
Cover photo by Alex Moliski on Unsplash
Neat B and I were in Park City this past weekend for our last runs of the season. (Now it's time to pull out the impossibly tight spandex for road biking!) This is a trip we do often, but given the current geopolitical situation, we weren't exactly sure what to expect. But I will say that we were pleasantly surprised. When we picked up our rental car at SLC, the attendant, who was from Texas, immediately said that he was trying to figure out how to become the next Canadian province. He then proceeded to inquire about the quality of our brisket in a way that made it sound like a firm prerequisite. And virtually everyone we met on the mountain was extremely apologetic once they learned we were Canadians from Toronto. Frankly, they came across embarrassed, and they made it clear that they do not approve of what their government is doing right now. This made us happy to hear.
I still love you, Park City.
Cover photo by Alex Moliski on Unsplash
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My workspace at Parkview Mountain House.
Neat B and I were in Park City this past weekend for our last runs of the season. (Now it's time to pull out the impossibly tight spandex for road biking!) This is a trip we do often, but given the current geopolitical situation, we weren't exactly sure what to expect. https://brandondonnelly.com/season-finale