It bugs me when you’re in a command-line application and you want to exit it, so you type Ctrl-C, and it gives a message like:

(interrupt) use quit to exit.

I understand why they catch it and don’t quit, but I disagree with the reasoning. I’m using a command line tool, I’m not using a fancy GUI that has things I want to copy/paste, or interact with in a fancy way.

If you’re clever enough to trap the signal, and you understand I want to quit, then just quit. Worst case, I’ll learn to stop hitting Ctrl-C when I’m using command line tools. Thanks.

Powered by ScribeFire.

A Classic!

Powered by ScribeFire.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Flash photography can very very difficult.  I hope this helps.

Looks like Calgary City Council is preparing to argue over stickers again. They’ve already been through this once, but the recent death of another solider has prompted Alderman Andre Chabot (from the SE) to bring it up again. How stupid can this get?

First of all, whether the city puts these stupid stickers on their cars or not has nothing to do with supporting troops or not. Simply wearing a colour or a wristband or a sticker does not make you a “supporter”. During the Stampede this year, the “Real Men Where Pink” campaign to fight breast cancer was introduced, and it was quite successful. I came to work one day, and a co-worker was wearing a pink shirt and berated me for not “supporting the cause”. When I asked her how she was “supporting the cause”, simply by wearing a pink shirt she already owned, she had nothing to say. You see, unless you BUY an official shirt, the proceeds of which go to the CAUSE, you are not a supporter, you are a poser.

And so if the city decides to put these stickers on the cars, I am afraid we are just posers too. What does putting a sticker on a car do to “support the troops” exactly? One plan was proposed to sell the decals and have the proceeds go to the families of the fallen soldiers. Now there is an idea!

The idea that “Calgary doesn’t support the troops” has no merit anyways. I don’t know a single person who isn’t proud of the job the Armed Forces does. Perhaps the idea of the war in Afghanistan is getting old, perhaps there is political dissent on the issue, but that has nothing at all to do with whether we support our troops or not. I can’t think of a more unpopular idea than to not support the troops. The idea of a redundant sticker on the back of a police car, right next to “We’re Hiring” seems insulting to the troops, the families of the troops and Calgarians, as if we need a sticker to say thank you.

But how is ANY of this related to the business at hand for the council? I think for everyday they spend discussing this “issue”, we should demand they are penalized a day of their vacation time. Wake up council! There are many more important things to be discussing other than stickers? Wouldn’t this issue best be handled by a private organization? I don’t know if council is aware or not, but there were several murders on the August long weekend….any chance you guys discuss crime in Calgary, or homelessness, transit, the EMT strike/dispute, the horrific traffic, sustainable growth and infrastructure for this over-stuffed city? These are just some ideas.

Apparently the planets aligned oddly yesterday.

Event The First

About 4 years ago, I picked up my car. This car was my first car, and I loved it like no other. I bought it off the lot, brand new. Within two weeks, I had dented the back of the car. After then, I didn’t really care if things happened to it - which is good, ’cause quite a bit did.

A few months after I bought it, I was driving down a nearly empty road, and a car passed me, going the other direction. We were the only two on the road. Somehow, that car picked up a rock, which hit my windshield. It immediately cracked the windshield, from one side to the other. Within a few more weeks, I had another one. After about 2 years, I had some decent cracks in the windshield. But I didn’t fix it, ’cause I kept getting hit, and that seemed like a waste of money.

But the last 2 years have been nice and rock-attack free. Perhaps I could fix the annoying cracked windshield? So, last Thursday, my parents replaced my windshield for me, in return for using the car for the week. Not a bad score - I was quite happy about it.

So, it was bloody annoying last night, when I was driving home and a car picked up a rock and it hit my windshield. It didn’t crack it, but it put a chip in it. And, of course, the rock hit right at eye level, on the drivers side - right in my field of vision. I can’t not see it. What are the odds?!

Event the Second

As of a few months ago, I decided to sell off my two aquariums (33g marine and 120g freshwater), and buy one super tank. I decided to put into the hobby all that I have learnt. This new tank is 90g, and is much cooler than my last one. My goal here was to setup a great tank that I could just leave alone - except for some feeding and water changes.

I bought a tank, with a real stand (as opposed to the conglomeration of 2×4s that made up my last stand.) I bought some nice lights. I added a huge sump with the best protein skimmer I could find. I have 2 power heads and excellent water movement. I have a backup filter big enough to easily filter the whole aquarium should anything in the sump ever fail, which I run every few days just to make sure it’s happy. I even re-enforced the stand, and enhanced the whole system with lots of neat plumbing. I have timers, flow valves, and everything is nicely labelled and organized. The system is measured so that if the power goes off, nothing overflows - everything is okay - and when power comes back, everything starts beautifully.

The tank has been fantastic so far - no real problems. So, you can imagine my surprise when I walked through my living room this morning and stepped in a huge puddle of water. I do mean a huge one - surrounding my tank for about 5 feet. I wasn’t happy to see that, as I just put down new wood flooring. Anyway - after an hour of mopping, searching, cleaning, testing and debunking theories, I found out the problem.

It turns out that last night, one of the seals on my backup filter broke. Water was slowly coming from the tank, down the water return tube, leaking out the top of the filter, down the power cable to where it touched the sump, and then the water was dripping down off the sump on to the floor. It’s a cannister filter; I’ve had it for some time. I’ve had ones like it running for over 5 years. For some reason, last night, that one decided to start leaking. It leaked, one drop at a time, all night. Apparently, that’s a decent amount of water. I found it funny that the backup filter, which wasn’t even on, was the cause of a massive leak.

Stupideverything.

Dear facebook app writers:

Stop trying to be the next “poke”. It was only funny once.

—Jeff

Brent:  “If i wasn’t already me, i would definately want to know me”