iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

These are all on the site now. Thanks again!

Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

That's great, thank you for sharing! I will add their shows in the next few days. Had a hunch I was going to overlook some venues. If you ever notice anything else I'm missing, feel free to reach out here or via the contact form on the site.

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

KW followers who like music: I've created a website that lists upcoming concerts in Waterloo Region! Check it out at unwrapped.online

Screengrab of the homepage of https://unwrapped.online

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Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

It's municipal election season and one of the most common inquiries I hear is "Who does what in Waterloo Region?" This week's Citified tries to add some clarity to that question. citified.substack.com/p/who-does-w...

citified.substack.com

Who does what? (Updated for 2026)

Trying to figure out who provides which services locally

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Mild counterpoint: "too much good stuff" makes it hard to pick just one dish. Agree that there's a lot of food happening here that's worth celebrating but maybe the path is more about diversity -- "20 cuisines within 20 minutes" or something?

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

It's not an exact parallel but the yellow alerts are a lot like the old Special Weather Statements, which I always thought EC issued basically for weather that was mildly interesting.

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Weirdly, the Victoria Park stage also has more poles directly in front of the stage than I seem to remember from past years.

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

All this PLUS it makes following sports less fun! I want to enjoy athletic drama on its merits or be won over by an outstanding performance or grudgingly accept that the Jays just don't have it tonight. Gambling steals all of that in favour of obsessively rooting for the outcome I bet on earlier.

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Here are some of the first words broadcast on CKGL after they became NewsTalk 570 in 1997 (ft. Jeff Hutcheson and, at 8:55, Lisa LaFlamme) youtu.be/SwexbsOMpQE?...

youtu.be

CKGL 570 News Premiere

YouTube video by Danny Bailey

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Sounds like someone in Toronto wrote a script that could (sort of) work for all the closed stations with minimal edits. Would have been nice to give local voices the opportunity to say goodbye.

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Well, this sucks. For everyone who's losing their jobs and for Waterloo Region losing 570's long legacy as a trusted voice in our community.

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Happy Canada Day! What Canadians like to do on July 1 hasn't changed much in 30 years, based on this @theglobeandmail.com reporting from 1996. #CanadaDay

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

I can't quite wrap my head around the idea that 17% of surveyed Canadians consider @thebeaverton.com trustworthy. Are they just saying "I like this thing"? And if so, is that all we should read into the other results?

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Though I am also in vigorous agreement with this take.

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Raw tomatoes. I will take them out of my salad or off my sandwich in absolutely any setting. Possibly related to an incident when I was a toddler and got a bad rash after eating too many tomatoes.

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Dayne St. Clair spent 2016 and 2017 playing for Kitchener-Waterloo United FC. He's since gone onto bigger things, like winning MLS Goalkeeper of the Year and being named to #CanMNT for two World Cups.

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

They're ghost kitchens; by definition weren't they always dead?

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

There are many but "Sunshine Superman" by Donovan is a standout entry in this genre for me. (Food Basics in the mid-2000s. Roughly equivalent to stores today playing 80s hits, so, kinda tracks?)

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

You'd think the creator of Rambo must have been an American but it was actually David Morrell, who was born and raised in Kitchener. He snuck in a hometown reference: two deputies who oppose Rambo are named Galt and Preston. (This is a Waterloo Region trivia account now.)

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

No bears sighted here before or since, thankfully. Our pic-a-nic baskets are most likely safe.

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Oh hey speaking of things that were happening around here 20 years ago

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Waterloo Region: A few days away from marking 20 years bear-free!

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Evidence that Waterloo Region is bear country: A black bear hung out in Woolwich and Kitchener for a few days in 2006. Evidence that Waterloo Region is not bear country: The Ontario government's official definition of bear country ends somewhere around Mount Forest.

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Hopefully the Kitchener Rangers' upcoming trip to the Memorial Cup is less damaging to them than the Memorial Cup's last trip to Kitchener was to it. youtu.be/g2cT5J0gxeU?...

youtu.be

Memorial cup breaks in half spokane vs kitchener 2008

YouTube video by hockeystreams

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

Oh I know this one! The largest parking lots at The Aud are on the Stirling side and for most spaces, the closest exit is near Melrose. My grandmother lived on Melrose for 50+ years and would plan her comings and goings around the timing of big events at The Aud.

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

My favourite part of this is the photo they chose for the sign. The man is serious about his quesadillas.

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

One of those names brings back memories of the year when the Jays and Leafs somehow each had a depth call-up guy named Jeff Ware.

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

Recognize that Lance Parrish is washed, Randy Knorr will never be the answer and he's our best remaining option?

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

Waterloo Region has directly elected its regional chair eight times. In the *closest* of those elections, the winner received 59% of the vote and the runner-up 23%. People here seem to be very clear-minded about who they want in that position. Odd thing for a populist premier to oppose.

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

C'est merveilleux! C'est magnifique!

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

PSA: Transport Canada has launched a survey for Canadians to detail their experiences with headlight glare at nighttime. In other words, you're not the only one who's noticed brighter headlights on vehicles and this could be a very small way to do something about it! tc.canada.ca/en/corporate...

tc.canada.ca

Canadian experience with vehicle headlights and glare at night

Transport Canada wants to learn how headlight glare affects road users and what vehicle or lighting features may influence how people experience it at night.

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

HiWay Market (if movie is set pre-1987). St. Jacobs Farmers Market (if movie is set in present). Prime Ministers' Path (if movie is set in alternate future in which this project is completed and popular).

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

It's really quite something to look at this @macleans.bsky.social article from 2012 through 2026 eyes. #cdnpoli

Article stating that Liberals who don't want to coronate Justin Trudeau as their party's leader have their eyes on Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney.

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

I don't think there's a true right or wrong, which is what makes it such a perfect topic for arguments. There should be entire chapters of novels debating the relative merits of Port Stanley vs. Kincardine.

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

'Lake Erie beach towns vs. Lake Huron beach towns' is grossly underrepresented in the discourse. In all discourse, really.

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Reposted by Ryan Flanagan

James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

My apologies to everyone who has heard this story before. Back in the 1970s, two things were true about UWaterloo: * UW never, ever closed. * Many faculty members owned farms. Cue the Great Storm of 1978.

A plow making its way though a vast landscape of snowdrifts.

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

Apparently there is a lot more ad money to be had for video podcasts. Or at least that's the industry wisdom this year.

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

This was one of the most surprising (to me) lessons I learned when I moved from newspapers to digital news. Nobody clicks on the clever headline. Our eyes scan right past it to the headline that makes it more obvious what's on the other side.

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

Happy 255th birthday to Ludwig van Beethoven! Or as everyone who grew up in Canada in the ‘90s knows him, that guy who wrote the ‘Drink Milk, Love Life’ song.

youtube.com

Milk Energy Commercial 1997

YouTube video by Betamax King

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

Tent was definitely not there last year.

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Reposted by Ryan Flanagan

Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

We've got so many great grassroots orgs and non-profits in #WatReg and I need your help to highlight them! For an upcoming Citified post, I'm wanting to share short blurbs (3-5 sentences) about your favourite local organization or non-profit. Feel free to share it on this thread or DM me. Thanks!

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 28/11/2025

Any must-see, must-do Vietnam recommendations? I'm going next year (staying in Hanoi / Hoi An / Da Nang).

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Solarina Ho @solarina.ca · 19/11/2025

This is an absolute *must read* by @nickhunebrown.bsky.social on the impact of AI slop in an era where journalism trust is already depressingly low, and why fact-checkers are more important than ever. As a freelancer who agonizes over accuracy and getting quotes right, this was a mind boggling read.

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

A Marshalls in every suburban big-box complex?

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Ryan Flanagan @ryanflanagan.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

Wow. This'll be the first #CanPL highlight to go around the world.

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