In general the recipes are short and to the point. Each provides a code example and a reasonably detailed explanation for what is going on.  This isn’t the kind of book you’d read cover to cover, but it is an excellent reference to have on the shelf after you’ve walked through a few basic Arduino tutorials.  Whenever you run into a “how do I?” question or just run out of ideas you should be able to get some guidance and maybe inspiration.

I found Chapter 6, Getting Input From Sensors, particularly interesting. With a separate example for each of the most common sensors it provides a good starting point for gathering and reacting to real-world conditions.

Full disclosure: I received a free PDF version of this book for free in exchange for writing this review. I’ve followed the review guidelines set by O’Reilly. Especially (and always) “First and foremost, we want nothing but complete honesty in your reviews”.

 

If you are new to Python you definitely want to start with Learning Python or some other introductory book. Once you are familiar with the basics Programming Python should be your next step.  While the author repeatedly mentions that this is not a reference book I think you’ll find yourself referring to it frequently. The tutorial programs are not only excellent examples how to do something in Python, but also how to do it well.

This version of the book covers Python 3, the latest version of the language.  Since Python 3 and Python 2 are not fully compatible this is a big change.  If you are new, start with Python 3 and then only reach for Python 2 if the need arises (say a module or library that isn’t yet ported to v3).  The examples in the book can, for the most part, be used with Python 2 with relatively minor changes.

At more than 1600 pages even the PDF is heavy. But it is well enough written that, as far as programming books go, this is a real page turner.

Full disclosure: If it wasn’t obvious I received a free PDF version of this book for free in exchange for writing this review. I’ve followed the review guidelines set by O’Reilly. Especially (and always) “First and foremost, we want nothing but complete honesty in your reviews”.

 

SQL Pocket Guide is exactly that, a small guide to most things SQL. You won’t find a lot of background or extraneous content. Instead you’ll get good examples of SQL syntax for nearly every SQL command supported by PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, DB2 and Microsoft SQL Server.

I’ve been using this book daily at work, and while it doesn’t officially support the SQL database engine we use, I’ve found it to be most helpful. This isn’t the type of book you’d sit down and read. It is meant to be a reference, but I find the content to be interesting enough that I often read about an extra command or two after the command I was looking for.

Don’t buy this book (at least not first) if you are new to SQL. You need a working knowledge of SQL and relational databases to make the most of this. But if you do work with SQL on even a semi-regular basis I really recommend it.

The only thing I’d like to see changed is adding support for SQLite. It is, after all, by numbers of installations, the most popular SQL engine in the world. Plus it is the one I prefer to use for most of my projects. Still much of the content is applicable, but it may take some trial-and-error to find the precise syntax.

Full disclosure: If it wasn’t obvious I received a free PDF version of this book for free in exchange for writing this review. I’ve followed the review guidelines set by O’Reilly. Especially (and always) “First and foremost, we want nothing but complete honesty in your reviews”.

 

Javascript Step-By-Step is an introductory Javascript book. It covers the very basics from Javascript syntax and usage to more advanced topics such as AJAX and JQuery. Unfortunately by covering so much it delivers little of use.  One of the key refrains is “however, learning how to do that is beyond the scope of this book”.

Full disclosure: If it wasn’t obvious I received a free PDF version of this book for free in exchange for writing this review. I’ve followed the review guidelines set by O’Reilly. Especially (and always) “First and foremost, we want nothing but complete honesty in your reviews”.

 

We went to Great Harvest Bread Co.  A national franchise that I’ve heard is pretty good.  All I wanted was some fresh whole wheat flour.  You see, one of their big selling points is that they grind their own wheat everyday in the bakery.  I wanted to start a sourdough starter and fresh whole wheat flour is more likely to contain the natural yeasts and bacterias I’m looking for.  I’d called a Great Harvest in Seattle (before we moved) and they said they’d be happy to sell me some flour.  They weren’t at all taken aback by my question and it seemed like something they did on a regular basis and so I figured it was just something they all did.  I guess not.  The lady at the Great Harvest we visited just gave me a blank stare when I asked.  I asked again and then went into a bit of an explanation.  She finally got it.  She said “No. We don’t”.  Curt and unapologetic.

So I bought a loaf of sourdough instead.  I was planning to buy one anyway as it will take up to a few weeks for my starter to be ready.  $4.45.  Not cheap, but not bad for a hand made loaf of bread.  Oh how terrible does bread get?  Let me count the ways.  I wrote a review for Yelp.com.  The full review is below.  Boy it was bad, bad, bad, bad!

Review on Yelp:

My first visit to Great Harvest and definitely my last.  I can only imagine that this franchise is not up to standards or I have no idea why there would be so many around.  The lady wasn’t friendly, the place is kind of a dive (and not in the good local hole in the wall kind of way), and the bread was soooo bad.The worst bread I have ever eaten (and I’ve eaten some lousy bread).

I picked up a loaf of “sourdough” (notice the quotes I don’t want to sully the name of sourdough in general).  The loaf was almost $5, but tasted worse than those we buy at the super market (and frankly supermarket bread around here is pretty mediocre).  I was expecting more.  The bread had the taste and texture of an untoasted English muffin.  My 2 year old even said “it looks doughy” and then proceeded to poke it.  The flavor was only mildly acidic and the crust, the key to any good loaf of bread was nonexistent.  They clearly brushed something on top to give it the look of being well browned (you could see it ran down the sides) but it was just a doughy lump of nothing.

The crumb was extremely even (not a good thing in sourdough).  All the bubbles were small and the exact same size.  This is a sign of quick rises with commercial yeasts.  Sourdough should be made with a natural yeasted culture and slow cool rises.

The crust as I mentioned was just not there.  For a good loaf of bread you should see a nice thick crust. The crust would be both crunchy and chewy and darkened by the heat of the oven. The darkening helps add a nutty flavor and gives a nice sweetness.  With this loaf, aside from the slimy texture of the top, you’d be hard pressed to find the crust at all.

The loaf was slashed, but the slashes didn’t open.  That means it was overproofed before going into the oven or that the oven wasn’t hot enough.

Now I know something about bread.  I bake a fair bit myself.  But even still I’m not being picky here.  We’ll be feeding this bread to the ducks at the local pond and finding a real neighborhood bakery.  Save yourself the trip.  Try another Great Harvest or better yet bake your own.  Even if you’ve never baked before your bread will taste better than this (and look better too!)

 

Now Amber and I have been looking at this Frog Pod thing by Boon, Inc for a while. It is cute, but not cutesie and we both like it. Basically it is a plastic frog that hangs on your bathroom wall. It holds your kids’ bath toys. Lots of painful plastic toys in the bottom of a tub is a problem all of the time. But when you work really early in the morning like I do it is worse. Wesley and I share a tub so that I don’t wake Amber and Jillian in the morning. I’ve spent the last couple of months at the new house and the last couple of years at the old houses stepping on and kicking out of my a ton of toys that “float or sink”. The Frog Pod is just a beautifully designed, well executed, relatively affordable and practical piece of equipment.

It sticks to your wall in one of three ways. Using either the included suction cups, the included double sided tape, or optional screw mount. The frog is made of three pieces. A mount for the wall, a frog body that slides onto the wall mount and a basket that you use to scoop up the toys. and forms the frog’s back. The mounting is easy and they even include an alcohol wipe to clean the area first. I started with the suction cups assuming that it would fall off, but wanting to give it a shot before using the tape which would have been a ton of work to remove. I assumed it would come crashing down in the middle of the first night sending me flying out of bed like this fellow. Instead it has been on for better than a week even with Wesley’s help picking up the toys.

Once you have the your mounting bracket in place, you just slide the frog’s body on. Nothing but gravity holds them together, but it seems to work pretty well. The body has never fallen down. The frog’s head is away from the wall making a hidden shelf you could use for shampoo or cups or whatever. Very nice. The toes also stick away from the wall. We use it to hang wet wash clothes so they get dry and not smelly. Also very nice. See what I mean? This thing is very well designed.

Finally you have the basket. It doesn’t seem that large, but actually holds all of the standard toys Wesley plays with. If he had any more toys in the tub we wouldn’t need water it would just be a ball pit like they have at Chuck E. Cheese. The basket has some nice large holes in it to quickly drain the water out and a good sturdy handle. You can actually scoop up most of the toys in one go by herding them around the tub a little. The only problem that I’ve encountered is that the basket is a little difficult to slide onto the body. If the scoop is full it usually takes me an extra try or two, but it always go.

We bought the Frog Pod for about $25. Worth every penny.

Boon, Inc: http://www.booninc.com/frog.html

Amazon.com: Boon Frog Pod

 

There are lots of reasons to shop at REI. The great product selection, the knowledgeable and friendly staff, their environmentalism, their community activism, their general corporate policies. But here is another. We bought a child carrier for Wesley sometime last summer. Its the kind you can actually do some hiking in and it wasn’t cheap. So I was a little distressed to see it starting to tear in one place. So, here we are in Seattle and we dropped into REI. Without a receipt they looked me up in their system (I’m a member, quite worth the small fee) and gave me a refund of the price I paid. No questions, no problems. I went upstairs to grab a replacement and realized that it was about $80 more than I had paid last year. I admit I had some concerns. Are we about to be out $80? Nope. Without any conjoling or “can I talk to a manager” the guy just says, we’ll just charge you the same price we just refunded so it will all work out. This is a great store. They treat their customers with respect and as importantly give their employees the power to do the right thing without asking for permission. Can you imagine this going at Wal Mart? I might have saved $10 on the initial purchase, but I probably couldn’t have gotten my money back in the first place and if I had I most certainly would have been screwed when I went to buy the new one. So go out their and support good retailers. Shop local, shop friendly, shop responsible places that act the way they should.