“If you need anything, just whistle!” is Ron Foxcroft’s signature signoff. He is the grandfather of the professional referee whistle. His story is a journey of the determination to survive. As a teen, his dream of being the quarterback for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats was shattered due to a sporting injury.

Imagine standing on a mountain in Tibet only to see a monk pull a mobile phone from their pocket. If you’re like Amanda Hall, the founder of Summit Nanotech, you’d be thinking, “What the heck is that person going to do with a mobile phone? They’ve taken a vow of silence.” To her amazement, the monk started typing a text.

There are moments you measure your life by, as in before and after. For Danny Sitnam, that day was late August in 1977. He was working as a line cook at the Owl and Oarsman up on a hill overlooking Vancouver.