Thank God they are because politicians who don't fear the public unfortunately often hold them in contempt. In a perfect world there would be a constant level of mutual respect but that world if it ever was, no longer is. Our local papers here include the Woolwich Observer and the Waterloo Region Record (K-W Record).  I think Cambridge still have a weekly newspaper (Cambridge Times?) and Waterloo (the Chronicle). Certainly the papers here in Elmira have been all over the Region for their missteps from kicking homeless people out of their tents, to amassing a 700 acre industrial site from agricultural lands in Wilmot to screwing up assessing our water supply.  There are lots more including too much money to local police and too little to social agencies and mental health supports for the population. 

According to Luisa D'Amato's Opinion piece in today's Record there will be further answers provided at this Wednesday's Regional council meeting. Luisa is also advising that an Open Town Hall meeting is needed to regain and restore public trust. It would certainly help if it is done properly versus otherwise. A couple of points I must raise from Terry Pender's article in last Saturday's Record: Why is the Greenbrook wellfield still shut down after the ammonia/chlorine explosion there a few years back? If it is simple failure to purchase or repair damaged equipment then shame on the Region. On the other hand if it is due to the long known contamination plume being drawn from the Ottawa St. Landfill to the west, contaminating the wellfield, then fess up. Both Uniroyal and Varnicolor and God knows how many other industries dumped their toxic wastes into that landfill whether legally or illegally. Varnicolor got caught at least once illegally dumping liquid solvents  in drums into that landfill. Secondly we are advised that the aquifer that the Region found last summer to have low water levels was AFB2. Now if that is accurate that is a huge problem. Just look at the conceptual drawing included in Mr. Pender's article.  If AFB2 water levels are low then according to that drawing probably so are AFB1 located above it with only a partial aquitard between them.  This makes AFB2 a semi-confined aquifer versus a fully confined aquifer. Having two aquifers with a direct hydraulic connection would indicate that low water levels in the lower one probably also means the same with the one above. Unless... the Region are back playing games just like CRA did here in Elmira for decades picking and choosing inappropriate monitoring locations in order to fudge groundwater elevations.

A skeptic might also suggest that giving answers to most regional politicians is a waste of time based upon their past useage of data and information supplied to them by staff. Perhaps in the current critical climate they might focus their attention a little better. 

A vulnerability scanner for container images and filesystems

Go 11.4k Updated Jan 26

CLI tool and library for generating a Software Bill of Materials from container images and filesystems

Go 8.3k Updated Jan 26

Agent Skills to help developers using AI agents with Supabase

TypeScript 708 Updated Jan 26

A drop-in, 5-20x faster, experimental Homebrew alternative

Rust 1.1k Updated Jan 26

♦

KITCHENER - The Kitchener Panthers are proud to announce the signing of pitcher Evan Elliott.

Elliott was a key piece to the Kitchener rotation in 2025, making 12 starts on the season.

The former Texas Rangers and Toronto Blue Jays farmhand had a 6.86 ERA in 60.1 innings of work. He had 68 strikeouts to 35 walks, and finished with a 2-4 record.

He was a 15th round pick to Texas in 2021 and spent four seasons in the Arizona and Florida Complex leagues with the Rangers and Jays.

"I am excited to have Evan returning to our pitching staff," said general manager Shanif Hirani.

"Evan's high powered fastball and plus breaking ball make him an uncomfortable at bat for opposing hitters. His versatility to be able to start or come out of the bullpen will also be extremely valuable."

============

EVAN ELLIOTT

• Bats/Pitches: R/R
• Hometown: Toronto, ON
• Birthdate: January 10, 2001
• Pronunciation: EV-in ELL-ee-uht

It’s a reality that millions of professionals face in Corporate.

It was 2015. The summer night was heavy, and the office air was stagnant. I was nursing my 10th cup of coffee, staring at a vending machine that seemed to judge me for how often I pressed the button. It was 10 PM.

The next morning, the clients arrived. I sat there, heart racing, data ready. But they didn’t even look at it. They detoured to a completely different topic.

Later at lunch, I asked my manager about the data I’d sacrificed my sleep for. She shrugged. “I didn’t think they’d ask for it, but I wanted us to be prepared just in case.”

My jaw dropped. I thought about the 10 PM cab I almost missed. I thought about the 10 other times when this had happened in the last 6 months. I realized that while I was busy being “available” for these “just-in-case” tasks, my actual KRAs (Key Responsibility Areas) were gathering dust.

A train of thoughts engulfed me, “Is my career growth getting a massive hit because of this Fake Urgency ?”

Years went by, and here I am.

Through years of experience and mentoring from senior leaders, I developed a 4-step framework to protect my time and my career.

1. The art of saying No
2. Verify the deadline
3. Protect your deep work
4. Fear of Layoff

Don’t say ‘No’ immediately. Instead, ask for the trade-off. When a new ‘urgent’ task hits your desk, use this script:

‘I understand this is a priority. To ensure I give this the focus it needs, which of my current high-priority tasks should I move to the back burner to make room for this?”

This forces your manager to acknowledge your workload and take responsibility for the prioritization.

Often, “urgent” is just a default setting for a manager.

“Ask them: ‘What is the impact if this is delivered tomorrow morning instead of tonight?’”

You will be surprised how your manager can relieve you from the stress.

Your value as an engineer is the quality of the systems that you build, not how fast you reply to Slack messages.
Block two hours a day where your status is ‘Away.’ Use that for the heavy lifting work.

This is a bitter truth. Layoffs hardly depend on how good or bad you were. It’s a strategic decision taken by the company. Do not let fear of layoff overshadow your growth as a professional.

If you find yourself in the cycle of fake urgency, remember: Availability is not a skill; understanding when to say NO is. The most respected professionals aren’t the ones who do everything — they are the ones who know exactly what not to do.

Thank you for joining my journey

If you enjoy corporate stories and want me to help you grow in the industry, then click ‘Follow’ to get my latest deep dives delivered to your feed.

Is “Fake Urgency” Sabotaging Your Career Growth? was originally published in Code Like A Girl on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

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When: Saturday May 2nd, 3:00 – 4:30 pm

Meeting Point: St.Andrews Park, Cambridge (Lansdowne Rd S,)

Walk Leader: Michael Krupp

Florence Dickson, granddaughter of the Honorable William Dickson, created the neighborhood of Dickson Hill. Many of Galt’s elites built and owned homes in this neighborhood. This will be a look at those homes and some history of the people who owned them.

When: Friday May 1st, 7:00 – 8:30pm

Meeting Point: Queen’s Square, Cambridge

Walk Leader: Michael Krupp

This walk will look at locations in downtown Galt and surrounding area where Hollywood and Streaming Production have been filmed. A description and discussion of how Cambridge was used as a backdrop will be included.

When: Sunday May 3rd, 3:00 – 4:30 pm

Meeting Point: Queen’s Square, Cambridge

Walk Leader: Michael Krupp

As we walk around the many old buildings of downtown Galt, you will hear tales of William Dickson and his family. Stories such as the duel William had with William Weekes and the interesting war stories of William and his two brothers Robert and Thomas during the War of 1812 are just a few of the exciting tales that will be told

When: Friday May 1st, 6:30 – 8:00 pm

Meeting Point: Centre in the Square, 101 Queen St. N.

Walk Leader: Fiona McAlister

A stroll down musical memory lane. We will start at Centre in the Square where we’ll talk about the Kitchener Symphony, Gilbert and Sullivan society, and the popular artists who have played there and end at the former site of The Lyric which hosted everyone and everything from the first performance of the K-W Symphony to Rush. In between, we will learn about everything from early German choral music to blues festivals.

When: Saturday May 2nd, 10 – 11:15 am

Meeting Point: 175 Moore Ave

Walk Leader: Fiona McAlister

We would visit graves of some of the founders and builders of Kitchener such as Johann Peter Schneider, Emil Volgelsang, and Louis Jacob Breithaupt along with the graves of Catherine Ubel (who has the earliest date of birth in the cemetary), Peter Susand – who was the first black writer to publish a book of poetry in Canada, Morris Wahanskky with his hammer and sickle grave stone. We will talk about the history of the cemetery (including that it used to be segregated by religion) and the move to its current location and what is entailed in moving a cemetery. We’ll talk about the flu pandemic that ripped through Kitchener and the young men who died in WW1

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MCP Server and CLI for accessing Work IQ

356 Updated Jan 26

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v6.0.0 What's Changed Breaking Changes

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Firstly water table (i.e. shallow aquifer) aquifers are far more likely to exhibit dramatic changes in elevation in shorter time frames than deeper aquifers. They are also generally more susceptible to contamination as they generally have so much less ability to filter out contaminants if they are only a metre or two below the ground's surface. Much deeper aquifers 25 feet to 90 feet not only have much more sand and gravel to filter out surface contaminants but they also often or usually have less permeable clay/silt aquitards between themselves and the ground surface which dramatically slow down contaminant downward flow. It is also very possible that the shallow aquifer (water table aquifer) could be dry due to  lower than usual rainfall with only a small lessening of water levels in the deeper aquifers.

Now of course  a long drought combined with for example high pumping of drilled wells will certainly decrease even the deeper aquifers water level. If as the Region state they know that they pumped their wells during 2023-2024 as well as in 2025 at unsustainable levels then it's obvious that they know what the sustainable pumping levels are and they must NOT exceed them. Ever again for ANY reason whatsoever. This is also known as "mining" your water supply and is a recipe for long term disaster.

Hence drilling more wells into the same aquifer certainly appears like a stupid decision. Other than the Region's long ago decision to artificially recharge aquifers using treated Grand River water; you generally can not increase aquifer capacity. It turns out that for whatever reason the Region's attempts to do so through artificial recharge have not been successful. I don't know the reason why but if they know then get at it and get it working. If the subsurface or other conditions make it unlikely or impossible then move on to other options and solutions. 

There is some good news. For example my house sump pump water levels (shallow aquifer again) has been much lower over the last few years.  Lower to bone dry. Well guess what? We had a serious 1 1/2  day thaw up to 12 degrees Celsius a couple of weeks ago and my sump has been full since. Plus with the increased rain we had in October combined with tons of snow since early November I can see the shallow aquifer levels being very high from here through to maybe May or June. Yes that water does slowly move both horizontally as well as vertically . This vertical flow eventually does hit those deeper aquifers and recharges them. That is good news although I don't know yet if increased rainfall will be a further regular phenomenon of Climate Change or not.

There was an excellent conceptual model/picture of the Waterloo and Wellesley Moraines along with today's K-W Record article titled "Drying wells and Dying wetlands". Kudos again to the Record and their reporter for keeping citizens informed. Now if only that would rub off onto the Region of Waterloo. 

To prepare for the season, please ensure to check out key dates for the 2026 house league season.

Registration for the 2026 season will open Jan 25th at 8am!  See our registration page here for more info!