Author Archives: Ian Wilson

Twitter is dead… PSYCHE!

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Is it safe to come out yet…? Yesterday was an absolute gongshow in the world of Twitter. Reckoning hour came yesterday for Twitter employees after Elon Musk sent out an outlandish email highlighting an impending culture rest within the company. People could either stay or be promptly shown the door. As a result of this, and the closure of the Twitter HQ temporarily, people were calling for the end of times on Twitter. Some of the tweets were absolute comedy as people were ready to jump ship with Twitter sinking into the great blue deep.

I’m here to argue that we played right into Elon’s trap. Musk is definitely one of the people that subscribes to the school of thought “all press is good press”. This catastrophic sinking of the ship drove Twitter to some of its highest relevancy and usage the app has ever seen. Much to the surprise of no one, the app is still standing today. Heck I’ve got tweets to schedule so I even found myself rooting for the app to go into a deep slumber for a while just to complete the entire cacophony. This entire saga of Twitter being bought by Elon Musk just continues to remind me of why we can’t have nice things. First off, what on Earth was the “being able to pay for a check mark”? That went about as well as the original bull walking into a china shop. That early chapter was incredible how impactful it was. Companies were impersonated left right and centre and in a few cases there was even stock prices involved in the fallout. The morale of this story is if you want the problem to go away we have to stop giving it attention. We, in the end, have all played right into the grasp of Elon by participating in the grand fall of the old regime of Twitter. Aren’t I a hypocrite in all this though as I write an article about it. Appreciate what you have before it’s gone, a multi billionaire might purchase it and change it for good.

The last true Ironman

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Few things in life are certain in life. Death, Taxes, and Phil Kessel playing hockey games. Phil the thrill is about to become the first player in the history of the NHL to play his 1000th consecutive game. The streak began way back in 2009, as the last game he missed was Halloween of that year as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs. He has suited up for every single game since and continues to defy the analytics of load management that have sprouted up over the years. The preparation and luck that goes into not getting an injury in over a decade of playing in the world’s top hockey league is unheard of and will likely never happen again.

There has however been a head scratching change we’ve seen over the years. As the minds of hockey change more and more to analytics and predictions over traditional ways of thinking it’s a give and take. We do see improvements in the way players can perform but the opportunities to see the players perform decrease over time. This spills over into other sports as well. In basketball there was a rash of teams fined over the last few seasons for resting players too often. Fans pay good money to come and see their favorite players on any given night only to be met with a game time decision that they need “a maintenance day”. To be fair, athletes are humans too, not some robots to be put out there for our viewing experience. There has to be a better way forward to allow the star players to do what they do best while also giving fans a heads up when they need time off. In the meantime, congratulations to the man defying it all and continuing to do what he loves. All with a smile on his face and a hot dog as his pregame meal. We must protect Phil at all costs. The last true Ironman.

A very electric future

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Technology is a fantastic thing all things considered. It evolves at a rapid rate. And with a radio station name like this we are all for change around here. Recently, I was driving through Vancouver and I got stuck behind a relic of vehicle technology in traffic. It was a first generation Toyota Prius. Now I was floored when I first saw the name plate cause I have only seen newer Prius models before. Everyone wants to be green and with the way gas prices have been lately I don’t blame people for driving something older, especially a hybrid at that. But when I say this thing smelled like a 2 stroke lawnmower cutting an overgrown yard, my goodness. Now we have electric cars that can take us hundreds of kilometers on a single charge.

The evolution of technology, especially when it comes to these green vehicles is incredible, but there’s still a ways to go. We’ve seen the invention of electric semi-trucks as well but they are not ready for the necessary long trips that many big rigs must take. People also seem to think that these cars are going to be an instant fix to the issues we have caused Mother Earth. Don’t even get me started on how much these electric cars cost. I’m of the variety that thinks we still need to embrace oil for a bit longer to aid the transition. I’m all for continuing on until we have electric cars that can fly me over the traffic jams on Highway 1, but that is still a long ways in the future. Imagine if today’s world actually looked like what Marty saw in Back to the Future. Oh, and don’t forget George Jetson was born this year, so we gotta hurry things up. All kidding aside, this is an important piece of our technological advancement that one day we will remember fossil fuels as being a silly ideal of the past. What will it take for you to give up your dinosaur burner for an electric vehicle? Or have you already taken the leap?

BC Basketball Culture is stronger than ever

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Basketball is a growing and thriving culture here in the Lower Mainland. There is no greater evidence of that than the recent success of the Vancouver Bandits (Formerly Fraser Valley Bandits). Once upon a time there actually was an NBA franchise here known as the Vancouver Grizzlies. The Grizzlies had some notable names on the roster such as Mike Bibby, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf and Bryant “Big Country” Reeves. The culture seemed to be poppin’ but the team just never performed to a level that drew the necessary crowds. Many folks have tried to explain the phenomena and perhaps none have done a better job than Kathleen S. Jayme, who created two documentaries about the team called “Finding Big Country” and “The Grizzly Truth“. If you’re a sports fan or a fan of documentaries in general I would highly recommend you check them out.

That was then however, and this is now. The Toronto Raptors winning the title in 2019 just further expedited the evolution of basketball culture here in Canada and the forward momentum will keep on going no matter what the future of the NBA looks like. I have had the privilege to work at several basketball related events including the UFV Cascades varsity games, BC Highschool basketball championships and the aforementioned Vancouver Bandits. What I can safely tell you is that the culture is here to stay. No matter whether the NBA decides to return or not, the players, coaches fans and families will still be here, working to continue the legacy of basketball in British Columbia. If you are like me and enjoy the game of basketball then you should definitely come down to the Langley Events Centre next summer to take in what the Vancouver Bandits will be up to.

Nothing I’ve been a part of has encapsulated the beating heart of the basketball culture here in the Lower Mainland quite like a Bandits game day. Maybe the NBA will come by too and learn what BC basketball culture is all about once and for all.

BC’s Bermuda Triangle

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It’s no secret that our local highway infrastructure is well… questionable. The piece I have the most issue with is our highways, and in particular Highway 1. Highway 1 is woefully unprepared for the amount of people that travel it day by day and this was made evident by the transition between pandemic traffic and post pandemic traffic. During the pandemic it was less than an hour to get from all the way out in my humble abode in Agassiz to the city. People were staying home and the roads were clear. The life of a commuter was the best it had ever been. Now that we are slowly returning to normal walks of life, the roads are back to their characteristically bad selves. 264th to 200th street is basically the Bermuda triangle of North America. You go in one end on a light traffic day and come out the other end having just endured the worst accidents and mix-ups of your commuting career. It never ceases to amaze me how many issues can arise on a straight stretch of road. To be fair I know that mechanical failure can happen and medical emergencies, etc. can be unpredictable.

Previously completed Highway 1 project in 2020: 202nd Street to 216th Street (purple); Current project under construction: 216th Street to 264th Street (yellow); and future project: 264th Street to Whatcom Road. (Government of BC)

The province had an answer to this though. They decided that the Highway would now be three-laned both directions. Oh thank goodness. This is going to be the big ticket, this could actually work!… Is what I would say if that actually was going to fix anything. Knowing the masterminds behind our highway infrastructure, even with three lanes they are going to somehow, someway screw up the merge lanes that cause us so many problems. 200th street eastbound was plagued by the highway choking from 4 lanes down to 2 as the merge lane and HOV ended in the same place. The solution? They moved it a kilometer down the road… The exact same issue, 1000m further down the highway. I pray that this highway widening project includes the merge lanes having their own lane for a significant distance if not just being their own permanent lane. It would solve just about every issue the highway currently has. Then again maybe I don’t know anything. Maybe I’m just a disgruntled east valley commuter who’s tired of the big city. Or maybe, just maybe, I’m onto something. What is your biggest gripe with our highways in the Lower Mainland?

Remembering the river

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Mother Nature is all powerful. Every once in a while we get too comfortable and forget that there is only so much we can do to keep her at bay. One year ago we faced an atmospheric river like none before and it tore through the land, changing it forever. Flooding, landslides, washouts, destruction, chaos, just a few words to describe what happened on that fateful weekend.

Living in Agassiz I had a front line exposure to the sheer force the rain had. Highway 1 had already been closed due to a massive slide, this caused traffic returning from the interior to reroute onto the Lougheed between Hope and Agassiz. Bumper to bumper the travelers worked their way back to the city only to have the mountainside give way on the Seabird bluffs. 7 cars and 11 people were swept from the road and another slide further back would trap hundreds more on the raised section of highway along the mountainside. Agassiz Fire responded that night, including my best friend and my dad, who are both long time firefighters. They made the incredibly dangerous decision to enter the debris flow and try to rescue the people trapped by the slide. As luck would have it, they saved everyone and suffered no casualties of their own, wading through chest deep muck and debris to bring people out. That was just the beginning of the problems we would face as a collective. Lake Sumas threatened to return and permanently change the geography of the upper Fraser Valley, until a crew of 200 volunteers and city crews were able to save the Barrowtown pump station from going underwater. Hopefully as time goes on the warning signs are noticed sooner and people can be given proper time to prepare. The pieces are still being picked up from last year and I have no doubt the repairs will continue for a long time. The mountain along Lougheed highway still bears the scars to this day, a reminder of how we are at Mother Nature’s mercy.

Sometimes variety can be too much, especially when buying video games

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Are you a gamer? Cause I am. And one of the most intriguing things to me has been watching the way the video game industry has both tried to bring us together and tear us apart through various ways to gate keep how games are acquired. Now in the case of Xbox and PlayStation gamers this is mostly a simple means of going to the local Best Buy or Wal-Mart and grabbing a physical copy of whatever game you want to play. Heck maybe you even go onto the respective in console online stores and purchase the games that way. Where things start to get complicated is when you step into the realm of PC gaming. I myself am of the PC gamer variety, having evolved during the pandemic to build a gaming PC after my humble beginnings as a console gamer. Originally there was the Steam platform for purchasing games and downloading them to your computer. That was the way things were for a long time. Fast forward to today and much like the barrage of streaming services diluting where we can get our content from, many companies have created their own online stores to source their PC games from.

This can create a plethora of problems. Most notably is the issue of crossplay. Often when you purchase a game on one platform you will be locked to playing with other people that also bought that game from that particular store. The console equivalent of this was when PlayStation and Xbox gamers could not play with each other but only members of their same console. Nothing irks me more than sitting down to play a new game and finding out that someone bought it on the wrong store because it was available at a cheaper price and thus our planned time of experiencing the brand new world of said game is ruined. This is no different than streaming services. Once upon a time we had Netflix. The stalwart of the streaming community and the be all end all death call to cable. Then what happened? Every company said “wow we should copy this” and voila, we are back to the exact same problem we started with. So fellow gamers, we may see some relief on the horizon as more games get crossplay. But until then, which store do you most often buy your games from?

The great holiday philosophical debate

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The weeks between November 11th and December feel like a twilight zone. It signals the return of a great conflict year after year that we must all face with harrowed resolve. This is a philosophical debate that weathers even the most strong of mind and constitution. Connections are made and bridges are burned. I’m talking about… holiday decorations. How early is too early? One of the burning questions that each generation faces as the holiday season bears down on us all. There are many different schools of thought on this one.

There’s the crew that stalk the closet the decorations are hidden in and open the door as soon as November rears its head. Then there are those that say it’s respectful to wait until after Remembrance Day. I myself find myself in this second pool of individuals. I’m all for people taking as much time as they want to light up the dreary months but perhaps November 12th is the day to start. There’s the crew that waits for December to roll around and then there’s the Grinch’s, the Ebenezer Scrooges who don’t like anything to do with them at all. Maybe Poppy the Raven is of that group. Personally, being of the November 12th variety, I love to see the decorations lighting up homes and community spaces. I’d be curious to interview some of the Bah Humbug variety to see what it is about seeing the décor that grinds their gears. The holidays are a season filled with opportunity to celebrate connections we make and the decorations take on a physical version of our own creativity and passionate expression. Especially in the time of year when the weather is bleak and days get shorter, something ought to light up the nights. At the end of the day, as much as I say November 12th is a good day to start, start whenever you want to. It shouldn’t be as divisive an issue as it is. Let people enjoy the things they want to, especially when it doesn’t harm anyone in the process. Light up the night! Don’t be a Poppy and enjoy the holiday season.

Did you know there’s a Hall of Fame… for toys?

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Throughout history there have been some incredible toys. Toys that have helped bring laughter and smiles to even the most beleaguered of us. Toys that we find collecting dust in the back closet after they have been put down for the last time. Toys passed down for generations to continue that legacy of excellence and bring joy to kids for years to come. Recently the 2022 inductees to the National Toy Hall of Fame at the Strong Museum of Play were announced. This year they welcomed the Top, Lite Brite and the Masters of the Universe into the hallowed halls.

This has sparked some debate as people wonder if the merits of the toys deserve such a grand offer. I remember fondly spinning tops as a child and entering in heated competitions with my friends to see who could spin their top the longest without it falling over. Lite Brite was also a key fixture, I never owned my own as a child but I had friends who had it passed down to them and the creativity would overtake us. Many, many, many mornings were spent sitting in front of a television watching cartoons until it was time to go and play outside or carry on with the days festivities. The Masters of the Universe were one of those incredible shows that stood out and watching He-man and the crew foil Skeletor again and again was always a moment met with cheer from my younger self. Looking back at previous inductees into the hall of fame we find members such as the teddy bear, rubber duck, playing cards and chess! I heavily suggest you go and head over to the official age and peruse the inductees yourself so that you know exactly which of your toys to pay some much needed thanks and respect to.

Inducted Toys

Today, and every day, We Remember

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Remembrance Day. November 11th. Lest we forget. A day filled with emotions all around. Veterans from all walks of life coming together with those of us who benefit from the freedoms they fought for. This day holds special importance to me through the history my family has had in the military and a connection I made through the local legion that will last with me for the rest of my life.

My Great Great Uncle Cpt. Hugh Russel Wilson was killed in the First World War while serving in the Durham Light Infantry. We still keep his medals and picture to this day to safeguard the history of his sacrifice. My father is a longtime member of the RCMP and continues to sacrificie every day to ensure that we are safe and our freedoms are maintained. But perhaps the connection I hold with this day that sticks with me the most is the one I made with a former Canadian Peacekeeper, Neil Knolten. As a member of my local Scout troop, we would volunteer with several local organizations including the Royal Canadian Legion. Every remembrance day they needed someone to push Neil in the town parade as he was in a wheelchair. I happily stepped up to perform this task and the way he lit up every time the drums hit and the bagpipes sounded changed my life. The stories he would tell at the Legion whenever I would visit really opened my eyes to the world that exists out there, the issues it faces and what really goes into the sacrifices soldiers and peacekeepers alike make every single day. Unfortunately, Neil passed away a few years ago. One last time I would push a wheelchair in the parade adorned with his medals, hat and gloves to signify the man we lost. His wife, Virginia is still a member of the Legion and I have such an appreciation for still being able to talk to her. The morale of the story? Even the smallest acts of kindest can have the most profound impacts. As well, the veterans we honor on Remembrance Day will always live on, and never be forgotten. Lest we forget.