Blog

  • Docker Compose Set Timezone

    I’m going to assume you have SSH and/or ftp access to modify the ‘compose.yaml’ file that you intend to modify.

    All we need to do is add the ‘TZ’ variable to the environment section with your timezone name that you can get from Wikipedia here, like so.

    services:
  service_name:
    environment:
      - TZ=America/Edmonton
    YAML

    Portainer

    All you have to do for portainer is create a new environment variable called TZ with the value of your timezone, like so:

    Click Deploy just above the advanced section, then your container will be recreated with the new environment variable!

    Compose More Detailed Version

    Let’s edit the compose file:

    nano compose.yaml
    Bash

    or…

    sudo nano compose.yaml
    Bash

    Depending on what your permission for your file is.

    Edit your compose file:

    sudo nano compose.yaml

    Go to the Wikipedia page here and look up your Timezone in the table.

    Wikipedia Timezone Table - Timezone Identifier
    Nano Docker Compose edit file

    Copy/Paste the ‘TZ Identifier’ and add it to your Docker Compose file like so. If you don’t have the ‘environment’ section, you can copy and paste this.

        environment:
      - TZ=
    YAML

    Make sure you have 4 spaces from the start of the line and 2 spaces from the start of the ‘environment’ section on the next line for the ‘- TZ=’ section(6 from the beginning of the line). YAML is space-sensitive, so it will fail to compile if the spaces are wrong.

    You should validate the file to make sure you don’t get any errors. All you need to do is type.

    sudo docker compose -f compose.yaml config
    Bash

    In this command, we use ‘sudo docker compose -f’, which, in this case, the ‘-f’ tells Docker Compose that we are dealing with Compose configuration files. ‘compose.yaml’ is the name of the compose file in my case. Replace it with the name of your file. Finally, ‘config’ is the command that tells it that we will parse, resolve and render the compose file.

    You should get the output of the file if it validated correctly:

    Docker Compose validate config

    Now you can bring the container up with:

    Replace the ‘compose.yaml’ with your file name.

    sudo docker compose -f compose.yaml up -d
    Bash

  • Sir Flop’s Collection of Sloths

    Sir Flop laying in his bed with his collection of Holmes Alive stuffed toys

    If there is one type of stuffed toy that Sir Flop can’t get enough of, it would be his Sloths from Holmes Alive.

    He has managed to collect nearly every single one so far and has formed a small family, as shown above.

    From left to right, he has Valorie, Charlie, Christinem, Gena, Syd, and Syd #2. When we first got him Syd, he had to have another one in the car, which is why we have two of them. There’s no arguing with a Flop and his wishes for his comfort items.

    Sir Flop laying, wrapped in his blanket with his Syd
    Sir Flop laying on his bed with his two Syds and his Dog on top of him

    As you can tell, he quite enjoys lying with his Syds.

    Sir Flop lying on the bed with stuffies on him while surrounded by toys

    Even though we mess with him, in this case, he is unsure of the rocking cat toy, but he still loves them.

    Sir Flop lying on the bed in his PJs on his dog with his Syd

    Even surrounded by comfort in his PJs, he still needs his Dog and his Syd.

    Sir Flop playing with Christine
    Sir Flop super sleepy lying on the bed with his blanket on top, his head lifted, eyes closed, his dog underneath his chin, and Christine / Gina in front

    He does play with them because they squeak and/or crinkle, but that doesn’t mean he won’t sleep with them after.

    Sir Flop lying with Charlie, wrapped in his blanked in his bed on the couch
    Sir Flop lying in his bed, on our bed, with Christina and Gina
    Sir Flop lying on the couch, in his PJs with Christine

    It doesn’t matter where he’s always lying with his sloths.

    Sir Flop wrapped in his blanket and Valorie

    Even if he is wrapped in comfort, he must have a sloth toy.

    Syd the Sloth product packaging
    Syd the Sloth Personality Description

    They come with their own fun description that describes their own personality and traits.

    You can take a look at Syd on the Homes Alive product page if you wish.

    Hope you have a great day everyone!

  • Twitch Moderation

    There’s this handy feature on Twitch that helps you catch spam / bot messages and puts them into a place for you to review in your Stream Manager.

    First we’re gonna open up your stream dashboard. Then we’re gonna go to Settings -> Moderation.

    Here you can set the Chatter Permissions, AutoMod & Message Filtering and Channel Protection.

    You can see at glance as to what your settings are, as shown by the sheilds for each section. The more sheilds are filled the more restrictive that section is for that specific catagory.

    If you click on ‘Show All Advanced Settings’ it will expand all three of them so that you may go through each of them to adjust their settings.

    If you want to know more about a specific section use these links to jump around.

    Chatter Permissions

    From the top down were going to start on the ‘Chatter Permissions’ section which controls who can chat and what hoops they have to go though before they can chat.

    Chat Verification

    Here we have Chat Verification which requires chatters to have a verified email and/or phone number older than X amount of days before they can chat. It’s a string deterrent against mass bot accounts and persistent harassers who create throwaway accounts. The only gotchya with this one is that it could raise friction for genuine viewers, especially in regions where SMS verification is unreliable.

    Follower-only Mode

    Next up is the Followers only mode which only allows accounts that follow your channel, anywhere from 0 minutes – 10 days to be allowed to send messages. This one helps with drive-by bots and raid spam from newly-created accounts, which is great for small communities or during growth phases. You can use a short follower wait early in a stream or longer when under spam/raid attack if that happens to you.

    Subscribers-only Chat

    Subscribers-only mode makes it so that only people who have subscribed to you channel are able to chat. Toggling this on is perfect for private/Q&A segments or when you want a quieter, reward-based chat. It’s also a blunt but effective anti-spam tool. Just don’t use it as default unless you want very exclusive chat.

    Non-mod Chat Delay

    Non-mod chat delay introduces a short delay in seconds, for non-mod messages before they appear. Mods can see messages immediately while others see them after the delay. Enabling this one could help as it gives the mods or you, time to act on problematic content before it spreads.

    Block Hyperlinks

    Block hyperlinks prevents messages containing links from appearing unless allowed. It stops link spam / malicious redirects and reduces low-quality bot posts. You can allow links for trusted users or via moderator approval if you want to keep functionality but reduce spam.

    Chat Rules

    The Chat rules shows rules and may require viewers to acknowledge rules before chatting. This helps set community expectations and gives moderators a stronger basis for enforcement.

    AutoMod & Message Filtering

    Here we have AutoMod which analyzes messages and holds potential policy-violations for review.

    We have five major sections here:

    Smart Detection

    Messages that are highly likely to be deleted by Moderators or lead to timeouts and bans will be held for review. The more actions your Moderators take, the more accurate Smart Detection will get.

    AutoMod

    Machine learning checks messages across multiple categories (Aggression, Bullying, Sexual Harassment, Disability, [Sexuality, Sex, or Gender], Mysogyny, [Race, Ethnicity or Religion], Sex-Based Terms, Swearing) and either blocks, holds for review, or lets them through depending on settings.

    Start conservative (slightly stricter) and loosen for your community’s tone. Mods can approve held messages so good chat isn’t permanently silenced.

    Text Setting

    Here you can test your AutoMod settings. Go ahead and type the worst and not so worse of terms and phrases to see if they automatically get blocked or not

    Permitted Terms and Phrases

    Here you can add terms or phrases that will always be let through. Add to this as messages get blocked that you actually want to let through.

    Blocked Terms and Phrases

    Here you can add to this list, words that will always get blocked. Add to this one as messages don’t get blocked that you actually want blocked.

    If a lot of messages from a specific catagory are getting through consider increasing one of the catagories from above.

    Channel Protection

    Here we have six different catagories to look through:

You can use this section to manage how others can engage with your channel to prevent trolls and harmful users.

Follower Verification

Here you can set if your viewers must have a verified Email or Phone Number in order to follow your stream. It’s not recommended to set to ‘All users must have a verified phone number’, because not everyone may have the ability to attach a phone number to their account.

Harmful Chatter Detection

This is tunable detection for harassment/hate/sexual harassment categories; messages classified here can be automatically restricted or monitored. it adds another automated layer to stop abusive messages before they hit chat. Combine this with AutoMod for good coverage.

Stop Banned Users from Viewing Your Stream

Here is a simple toggle that when enabled, users banned from your channel will not be able to watch your live broadcasts.

Unbad Requests

This lets banned users submit an unban request; mods/creators see the request for review. Moderators can also view held messages and mod logs. It streamlines appeals so people who were accidentally banned have a route to be re-admitted without cluttering mod workload.

Banned Users

You can view the list of users who have been banned from your chat here. You can also add someone by their username if needed.

Shared Ban Info

You can enable this to allow information about users who have been banned for serious policy violations to be used across a group of creators (yourself included) who you choose to share with to help protect you and the other creators. It helps protect creators from known repeat offenders; not a substitute for reporting to Twitch Safety when legal threats appear.

If you enabled AutoMod you can view the currently held messages from your Stream Manager by editing your Layout here:

Then add it your your Stream Layout:

Now you should see the AutoMod section wherever you added it in:

Now you should be all set to start streaming, assuming this was all that was needed.

Just keep an eye on what’s being missed in chat, maybe write down what gets blocked / allowed that you didn’t mean to each stream and double check your settings. Maybe a catagorie could be adjusted slightly higher. Maybe you have to add a couple of words to the block/allow lists.

I hope you all have a great time streaming!

  • Crumps Sample Package

    We just received a sample package from Crumps, delivered to us today(Oct 30, 2025), and we would like to share our and Sir Flop’s thoughts on it with you all!

    From Crump’s website:

    FAMILY-OWNED BUSINESS & FEMALE-LED TEAM

    Thoughtfully formulated and produced in Canada since 2006

    At Crumps’ Naturals, we believe that feeding your pup should be as simple and pure as their love for you. That’s why, since 2006, the Crump family has been dedicated to making all-natural dog treats from purposeful ingredients. We are on a mission to support your pup’s overall health and wellness by nourishing the whole dog – mind, body and soul.

    Proudly Canadian-made, our treats are crafted in our own state-of-the-art facility in Mississauga, Ontario. And as our community of pet parents grows, so have we! To better serve our U.S. pups, we’ve expanded by adding a second facility in North Carolina, bringing the same trusted quality. 

    From day one, we have stayed true to our standards. Ensuring all of our ingredients are 100% traceable, and we take just as much pride in what we leave out as what we put in. Our simple, all-natural treats make it easy to nourish the whole dog, letting them reach their full potential, and helping them live their best life! From day one, we have stayed true to our standards. Ensuring all of our ingredients are 100% traceable, and we take just as much pride in what we leave out as what we put in. Our simple, all-natural treats make it easy to nourish the whole dog, letting them reach their full potential, and helping them live their best life!

    From that, they sound like they are aligning themselves more with natural-based products instead of something mass-produced with a long list of ingredients, most of which are hard to pronounce, you have no idea what they are, have to look them up to figure it all out what it is and it turns into this whole rabbit hole you have to jump down, just to figure out if it is good for your pet or not.

    From their website, they have a wide range of pet treats as well as some additional goodies. They have Single Ingredient Treats, Sweet Potato Treats, Training Treats, Cat Treats, Jerky with Function, Dental Care, Meal Toppers, and Gutsy Prebiotic Bites.

    I’m quite interested in seeing how Sir Flop enjoys these samples that we got from Crumps.

    Venison Jerky Bites

    First, we have the Venison Jerky Bites with Chia Seeds.

    The ingredients of the Jerky Bites are as follows: Venison, Sweet Potato, Chickpea Flour, Vegetable Glycerin, Chia Seeds, Guar Gum, and Rosemary Extract.

    That is a fairly small list, and depending on your knowledge of dog treats, maybe a few ingredients that you may or may not know about. Venison, Sweet Potato, Chickpea Flour, Chia Seeds and Rosemary Extract should be pretty straightforward for you.

    Vegetable Glycerin can be used for moisturizing, as a sweetener or a preservative.

    Guar Gum is a thickening agent primarily used to improve texture and stability.

    You can view Crump’s Blog, where they talk about some misconceptions about common treat ingredients.

    They even list the Calorie content of the Venison Bites at 3156 kcal/ kg, or 30 kcal per treat.

    The Guaranteed Analysis of the Venison Bites are:

    Crude ProteinMin14%
    Crude FatMin6%
    Crude FibreMax3%
    MoistureMax16%

    Based on that data, they seem like a good choice if you have limitations with something like allergies or if your dog is a picky treater.

    It contains limited natural ingredients, venison, which is a novel protein, chia seeds that add omega-3s, antioxidants, & fibre. It’s hypoallergenic (no chicken/beef/grains), and no artificial colours/flavours/preservatives.

    Even though Sir Flop has allergies to grains, this one has it listed far enough down for it not to be much of a problem for him, if any at all.

    Plaque Buster

    Next up that we got is a Plaque Buster, which is a Bacon Flavoured Dental Stick.

    This one contains Sweet Potato, Coconut Glycerin, Citrus Fibre, Natural Flavour, Ground Oyster Shells, Liquid Smoke, and Bacon Flavour. It also contains Molluscs, but that’s not actually in the ingredients list so one of those in there has that in it.

    Those two links in the ingredients go to Crump’s Blog, where they talk about the myths of them, just in case you didn’t read it from the Venison Jerky Bites section above.

    Another interesting combination of ingredients. I know Sir Flop enjoys his sweet potato and Bacon, but I’m not too sure about the Ground Oyster Shells. I look forward to seeing what his reaction will be to this one.

    For the calorie content on this one, we have 2268 kcal / kg or 80 kcal per treat.

    The Guaranteed Analysis of the Plaque Buster is:

    Crude ProtienMin5%
    Crude FatMin0.5%
    Crude FibreMax10%
    MoistureMax19%
    CalciumMin1.5%

    This one seems great as the #1 daily plaque fighter — 1 stick/day (size by weight: small <25lb=½, med 25-50lb=1, large >50lb=1-1½). It would replace brushing by about 80%. It’s for all ages/breeds, allergies, and overweight dogs. Limit how many they have, as it only contains <10% of your dog’s daily calories. You want to make sure to monitor their stools (fibre can firm) at least if they have a larger amount for the first time or two. As a tip, you could freeze them for a longer chew and or combine with jerky for balance.

    Sir Flop’s Thoughts

    Now on to what we’ve all been waiting for, Sir Flop’s thoughts on these.

    We’ll start with the Venison Jerky Bites, as that ended up being what he trialled first. He probably smelled the venison in the bag and said he must have it.

    Sir Flop is enjoying his first taste of the Crump’s Venison Jerky

    Sir Flop seemed to quite enjoy those treats. Not like his Freeze Dried Beef Liver, but pretty close. He would not leave us alone for his walk right after because all he wanted was one of them.

    I will add the dental sticks tomorrow, as it is Halloween tonight and we’re a bit busy handing out candy.

  • All About a Sir Flop

    A photo of a Baby Flop with his litter family.

    Sir Baby Flop that we got from his litter family. He is the one in middle with the white / black dot on the top.

    Sir Flop aka Harley, is a Coonhound cross that @kiki_sparks and I both got just before COVID started on January 18th 2020.

    We are his fourth family after he went through being kept in a crate for 90% of the time with his first two and they couldn’t handle the barking. The third one he was abused and chased around by the husband of the family when the wife was away on a work trip.

    After which they contacted my spouces(@kiki_sparks) mother to see if we could re-home him. Obviously that never happened though because he stole our hearts.

    The first photo we got of Sir Flop

    This is the first photo we got of Sir Flop when we were asked if we wanted to take him to re-home.

    Sir Flop laying on the bed, surrounded by his first comfort blanket.

    When we first got him, he was scared of nearly everything because of his past abuse, but he sure liked to be wrapped in blankets for extra comforts.

    Sir Flop sitting on the outside stairs with a muzzle and his vibration collar on.

    We had quite a time trying to help him through all of that he was scared of. We had to use a soft muzzle and even a shock collar, but with the shock collar, we didn’t use the shock part and instead kept it to the vibration and beep, which worked well for us.

    Sir Flop laying on his bed chewing on a bottle.

    We found that he quite enjoyed choomping on bottles and bones so that was one way we could use to entertain him.

    It was quite a learning process for the both of us. We’ve both had dogs in the past, but not one that was neglected to this point and that had so many ‘issues’ that we had to help correct.

    It was a little more difficult because we got him just around the one year mark which makes it more difficult to train.

    Sir Flop laying in the shower while I am in the bathroom.

    He had to even follow us both to the bathroom because of his seperation anxiety.

    Sir curled up sleeping Flop

    We knew from the beggining that he was quite the quirky dog though.

    We found out a six months or so into owning him that he has allergies because he was constantly having blood poops, an upset tummy and skin issues.

    We had to then go through so many different foods, trialling each to find out which one was better.

    We ended up finding what turned out to be a great vet in our area called Coulee Veterinary Clinic and getting him in to see what was going on.

    Sir Flop's first visit to the vet. Standing in the waiting room.

    Sir Flop was quite unsure about going to the vet at the time, but he sure warmed up to everyone quickly.

    Hill's Science D/D Food

    The food that we were recommeded by the vet to help with his allergies.

    We managed to go through with the appointment and found out that he was allergic to grass, grains, poultry, pollen and wasps.

    The vet recommended that we go on Hill’s Science D/D food to help.

    After that it was a whole learning process to make sure he didn’t get into anything that would upset his tummy or his skin.

    We ended up finding some shampoo/conditioner, wipes, eye drops, ear cleaner, ear lotion, paw wax. All of which help him with his allergies.

    We also have Ear Pros and Rex Specs to help with him getting wind blasted with things blowing around as the winds can exceed 100 km/hr (62 mi/hr), so many things could get into a Sir Huntings eyes / ears.