Notices by Chris Trottier (atomicpoet@atomicpoet.org)

Many people are surprised by Ryan Wedding.

Specifically, they’re surprised that a white, upper-class former Canadian Olympian would be compared to Pablo Escobar. But I’m not.

Ryan Wedding is from Vancouver. And the thing about organized crime in Vancouver is that so much of it is run by white upper-class people.

There isn’t much of an Italian mafia here. And I don’t know much about Crips or Bloods here either. But Vancouver, being a port city, still attracts organized crime.

We’ve got biker gangs, Triads, Indian gangs.

But also—in a very Canadian way—multicultural gangs. For example, the UN Gang, which prides itself on including people from multiple ethnicities: whites, Vietnamese, Indians, Arabs, etc.

And who started the UN Gang? Clayton Roeche. A rich white dude with an Asian obsession.

And who are the UN Gang’s main rivals? The Wolfpack Alliance, which is another multi-ethnic gang. And the people who helped start that were the Bacon Brothers of the Red Scorpions and Larry Amero of the Hells Angels. Once again, well-to-do white dudes.

Ryan Wedding is linked to the Wolfpack Alliance, who in turn are allied with the Sinaloa Cartel.

So the real story here isn’t that Ryan Wedding is some wild exception. It’s that rich white Canadian men involved in street gangs are working in tandem with Mexican cartels.

Fediverse, I need your help! This is a real mystery and it’s going cold.

Three months ago, someone uploaded a track to r/cantopop.

It’s a shoegaze song in both English and Cantonese about my hometown of Richmond, BC, Canada.

We only know three things. It’s called “兜多一圈.” It was made by Chloe Chan. It was recorded in 2022.

That’s it. No trace. No other credits. No trail.

If anyone knows anything, now’s the time.

https://www.reddit.com/r/cantopop/comments/1q4uwdx/chloe_chan_兜多一圈_2022/

This is the funniest Steam Deck accessory I’ve ever seen!

Don’t get me wrong. I understand why this keyboard/stand exists. It has a practical function.

But imagine sitting down at Starbucks. The room is full of normal laptops. Clean lines. Thin aluminum. Civilized.

You unzip a case that looks like it contains military hardware. Out comes a handheld gaming console.

Then a keyboard.

Then a clamp.

You assemble it in stages like you’re preparing to launch a small satellite.

Click. Lock. Adjust angle. Tighten mount.

The joysticks loom over your Word document like twin anti-aircraft turrets. The ABXY buttons shimmer with the promise of violence.

You begin typing your gentle coming-of-age novel.

Every paragraph is written beneath a D-pad.

Someone glances over, expecting Elden Ring. Instead they see you carefully crafting a metaphor about autumn leaves.

You nod solemnly and continue Chapter 3.

When the barista calls your name, you detach the entire contraption in reverse order like a NASA rollback procedure.

You pack away the clamp. You holster the console. You slide the keyboard into its sheath.

You leave behind only confusion.

No one knows if you were coding, gaming, or coordinating a drone strike.

You were writing poetry.

Physical media is making a comeback.

I’ve never stopped buying physical media. I still have all my CDs, DVDs, vinyl, cassette tapes, and cartridges. So I guess I’m ahead of the curve.

But I have a love/hate relationship with it.

On one hand, I have tremendous value looking at my shelf full of media. It says something about me and a little bit about my life. Not just my taste, but also what I aspire towards.

And there is something nice about using all of this on vintage electronics. Yesterday, I bought a VHS. I popped it into my VCR and watched it on my tube TV.

On the other hand, all this stuff takes up space. As time goes on, I find myself having to be more and more choosey about what I bring home. Sometimes I look at my stuff and go, “Do I really need this?”

Which is why I gave away five of my physical games to my local video game shop yesterday. I figured it was time for someone else to get joy out of it.

So as the younger generations think about acquiring more physical stuff, I keep thinking, “How do I keep only the stuff that truly means something to me?”

https://fstoppers.com/film/why-physical-media-making-comeback-among-younger-generations-722024

AI companies said we’d reach artificial general intelligence (AGI) by now.

That clearly hasn’t happened and we’re far away.

RE: https://atomicpoet.org/objects/32c419aa-6010-42b9-9880-479c55fd69ed

USA is blatantly working to break-up Canada.

Not only is the Trump administration in talks with Alberta separatists, they’re actively working to destabilize my country.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-teams-secret-meetings-with-group-plotting-to-break-up-canada-exposed/

David Rosen, co-founder of SEGA, just died. He was 95 years old.

Wait. He wasn’t Japanese?

That’s right. SEGA started as an American company. The reason SEGA is capitalized is because the original name was Service Games. And the “Service” in that name refers to the American military—its first customer base.

SEGA remained largely American until the 1980s, when David Rosen—along with Japanese business partners—bought the company from its parent, Gulf+Western, which also owned Paramount Pictures.

This initiated one of the most innovative and creative periods in video game history. SEGA produced classics like Space Harrier, OutRun, Sonic the Hedgehog, Streets of Rage, and Virtua Fighter.

For nearly two decades, SEGA was the primary rival to Nintendo, separating itself through speed and attitude.

Along with Atari, it was one of the companies that defined my childhood.

R.I.P., David Rosen. May you enjoy that great arcade in the sky.

https://www.theguardian.com/games/2026/jan/05/sega-co-founder-david-rosen-dies