http://www.ideacruncher.com/randomideas Stream of semi-consciousness including project planning advice, adventures with technology, favorite recipes and other assorted ramblings. en-us Sure, you can press a few buttons on your phone and get a box of pizza to your door within a half-hour, but you would be missing out on the unbelievable aroma that your kitchen would acquire from your own pizza creation getting to a state of delicious, bubbly, crispy goodness in your very own oven. And sure, you can get a precision-manufactured frozen pizza for a few bucks at the grocery store that will leave your belly full, but will it leave your soul content? Didn't think so. http://www.ideacruncher.com/pizza Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:00:00 -0500 I have an old friend who would sometimes tell me, tongue-in-cheek, "It's easy to be successful. Just lower your standards." It's a good joke, but lurking just beneath is the Pink-Floydian implication that all your potential for a meaningful life (however you personally define that) could slip away from you if you're not careful... http://www.ideacruncher.com/goals Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:00:00 -0500 It has been a long time since I've done any work with dedicated or embedded microprocessors of any kind. I thought it was high time I corrected that -- I can remember getting a lot of satisfaction out of building simple computers from scratch and programming them to do simple jobs... http://www.ideacruncher.com/ucresources Sun, 15 Nov 2009 15:00:00 -0500 You know that uncomfortable feeling that you sometimes get in the middle of a project -- the one that feels like you're walking a tightrope without a net? ... I've had this feeling before, and when I get it, it's usually because I didn't take the time to plan out the project before diving in. I've come to learn that I can make project planning a lot simpler and even fun if I start the process by drawing pictures of what I'm trying to accomplish and how I see the different pieces of the project fitting together.... http://www.ideacruncher.com/drawing Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:00:00 -0500 In the vast universe of comfort food, perogies have an entire rich galaxy all to themselves. This delicious area of space, known as the sour-cream-way, is densely populated with subtle variations on a basic theme... http://www.ideacruncher.com/perogies Sun, 27 Sep 2009 15:00:00 -0400 Mollie Katzen (of Enchanted Broccoli Forest fame) says that it's difficult to not get wistful when talking about breadmaking. The warm, yeasty smells conjure up memories of home and holidays... http://www.ideacruncher.com/buns Sat, 19 Sep 2009 15:00:00 -0400 PHP is a powerful yet simple scripting language that typically runs on your website's server to produce HTML dynamically. This means that you can embed scripts directly in your HTML that process information in much the same way that standard programming languages like C do... http://www.ideacruncher.com/phpintro Sat, 12 Sep 2009 15:00:00 -0400 One of the benefits of living in a big city is easy access to Chinatown. In my case there are two, and one of them is a fifteen-minute walk from my house, through a big park and a quiet neighbourhood. A couple of times each year... http://www.ideacruncher.com/rice Sat, 05 Sep 2009 15:00:00 -0400