tim merritt [dot] net

ongoing ? Mac Mini for Mom

I have to think about this for my own mom.

TextDrive
I’m thinking of moving all my hosting here. TextDrive was co-founded by Dean Allen, proprietor of Textism, and creator of TextPatter, a popular blogging too.

Sci.Electronics FAQ: Surplus: USA is a listing, by city and state, of places selling surplused electronic and computer equipment. Possible to get really cheap (apparently really cheap) stuff… there are a couple in reach here in Atlanta.

the hungry tiger is just a very nice food blog. Can’t recall how I came across it; I created the draft of this post weeks ago. Worth a periodic visit to read how someone loves to cook and eat not great food, but very good food, with attentiveness and care.

What book can’t you put down? | Ask MetaFilter
“I’m looking for a really good story—I feel like I’m drowning in books but there’s nothing I really want to read. I’m tired of all these ‘literary’ novels where nothing really happens, or the big best-sellers that are all action and no substance. I don’t really care what genre, fiction, nonfiction, anything is fine as long as it really sucks you in.”

After reading this thread, I picked up Alan Furst’s 1991 novel Dark Star, about a Pravda journalist becoming mired in Western and Central European intrigue as World War II looms. An engaging read.

AlterNet: Confessions of a Listener
“When the iPod steals the last of Clear Channel’s audience, the crazy, quirky and beautiful will return to radio—and Garrison Keillor will welcome them.” This is just juicy good.

Learning PHP, Part 1
“This tutorial is Part 1 of a three-part series that takes you from the most basic PHP script to working with databases and streaming from the file system by documenting the building of a document workflow system. In this part, we look at the basics of building a PHP script, including syntax, HTML forms, and database connections.”

In hopes of learning more about what’s under the hood of this site and others.

World Sunlight Map: How it works – die.net

The World Sunlight Map provides a computer-generated approximation of what the earth currently looks like. While less impressive than actually being into orbit, this is much more accessible to most of us.

I start with cloudless images of the earth during the day (from a pair of NASA satellites) and night (from a DoD program to map city lights). Every 3 hours, I download a composite cloud image based on data from weather satellites all over the world. And every half hour, these images are composited and mapped onto a sphere by xplanet according to the relative position of the sun. The flat maps are post-processed by ImageMagick to cut off the 15 degrees nearest the north and south poles where cloud data is unavailable.

Digital Imaging Accessories Review: The Great Battery Shootout

Good geeky techie pr0n: which rechargeables are the best. Via Kevin Kelly’s “Review of Review Sites” at his invaluable Cool Tools blog.

Scripting News: 8/12/2005
Well, it’s my sister Janine’s birthday and we’re looking forward to having dinner with her and Bryan tonight to celebrate (Eclipse di Luna – ooh, yes). Jack is at Ellen’s parents’ house, and Will is with us today – at cross country practice, as I write. I hope to edit some of the photos from the Taido Tournament 2 weeks ago, get a haircut, and finish some chores.

This was a draft I noted almost three years ago: Boing Boing: Laughing and Crying Records. It’s a great idea. Reminds me of Drivin’ ‘n’ Cryin’ from the 80s and 90s: rock is for driving and country is for crying.

TUTORIAL: The 8 Steps of Image Editing

Found at the very nice MEMAP site.

MacDevCenter.com: What Is Flickr (and Hot Tips for Using It)

I need this – I’ve never had time to investigate and understand Flickr, so this will help. I’ve waited because I’m leery about putting my photos on someone else’s server. We’ll see.