Oohh, is that peppered bacon?
When people start stuffing animals in animals, there really can be no end to the madness. I don't think it's kosher either. Maybe it's a “Palin turkey” too.
How to Solder Correctly and Why
I found this video on a Hack A Day post in the comments. It's a wonderful visual guide of how to solder correctly but also why you should do it this way.
Making Green Tomato Pickles
We grow a modest amount of tomatoes here at home, they're so much better than what you can buy in the store. But they certainly don't last that long. When the frost came recently, I decided rather than let the green tomatoes still on the vine go to waste outside, I'd try to pickle them. I remember my mother telling me that my grandmother used to make them. I found an old recipe online (1904) and decided to make that.
The first thing I had to do was translate what a “peck” was and Google was nice enough to tell me it is a little over 9 quarts. I only had 1 quart so the math was easy from there out.
The result were still firm with just enough bite and terrifically spiced. I'd maybe cut back on the salt I used (the recipe didn't specify how much) but other than that they were great.
Yep, I bought it: Bloom
I first heard about Bloom from some co-workers when we were exchanging App ideas. I heard Brian Eno was involved with it and became very interested. I like some of his early work, especially Ambient 1: Music for Airports.
The program doesn't take any musical talent to play (although it might help some). You just pluck the screen where-ever and whenever and hear some ambient tones. The tones are almost like wind chimes, not quite piano, rather synth-y. There's an ever-present underlying Eno-esque score of light synth playing which is nice. The notes evolve over time if you leave them alone.
At $4 it's not going to break the bank but it might be on the pricey end of the scale for what it does. Overall I'm pleased I have it and play it every once in a while to zone out.
New iPhone/iPod Touch Apps, Pricedrops
This site is great because it two RSS/Twitter feeds that you can follow. One to alert you when there are new apps in the App Store (read: possibly free or low cost to drum up interest). The other alerts when an existing app drops the price on sale (“This weekend only!” ploy). Why “148Apps”? That's the maximum number of apps you can store at the moment on the device.
A Geek’s Christmas Buying Guide, Part 1
Meet the Danger Shield. It was created by Zach Smith and demoed first at NYC Resistor.
What is it for? Whatever you want to do with it!
No, but seriously, it's a shield (meaning it fits on top of the Arduino, connecting to every pin) and provides a multitude of input and output options for writing code against. The biggest portion are the three slide potentiometers with built in LEDs in them. They are handy for relaying analog data back to the Arduino which can then be sent to the computer for further processing (say, Ableton live for performing music live or to a MIDI device).
See Zach tell you for himself.
MINI vs. Tahoe
This picture of a MINI and a Tahoe (on it's side!) are just amazing. The physics of the accident seem to have been in the MINI's favor, but still. I enjoy the first comment, “Is this some kind of metaphor for the domestic auto industry?” After the not-so-big three's performance in front of Congress, maybe it is.
Longest. Lapse. EVAR.
Yikes, last post was in August. Didn't think anyone still was reading (is this thing on?) but apparently you are. I'll try to dig up some more stuff and post it here.
Fantasmagoria: 100 year old animation
View PDF Documents Inline in Firefox 3
I've been waiting for this one a long time. Now you can view PDF documents inside the Firefox 3 window. The old solution, Schubert's PDF plugin, works with PowerPC machines only.