The Hydroponics Experiment (Part 8 – Pruning)

I made a few snips to my plants, but I certainly wasn’t cutting at it like a bonsai tree. Honestly, I prefer to leave it alone. Isn’t that the point of an AeroGarden? If I’m supposed to be the barber of botanicals, I might as well have an outdoor garden or a larger hydroponics setup.

AeroGarden Tomatoes - Day 36

Not only is the AeroGarden bright, it’s a little noisy too. Once the machine kicked into “High Growth” mode, the water pump started running a lot. It sounds like a fish tank, but with more water splashing. By keeping the AeroGarden filled with water, it’s not as noisy. The AeroGarden gives alerts for low water, or when to add nutrients, but it’s not really something that requires a lot of thought.

I find myself checking on the tomatoes every day. I usually look at them once in the morning and again at night. I don’t need a computer to remind me to add nutrients. Every other Friday is pretty simple to remember. I don’t wait for an alert to add water. If I hear water sloshing around, I simply add more to the tank.

I like the AeroGarden, but I don’t feel satisfied with the purchase. It seems like a cute gift idea, but it’s basically a chore. While people might appreciate fresh tomatoes and herbs, they might not like the higher electric bill, bright lights, splashing sounds, plant pruning and other maintenance. (This thing needs to be cleaned out when it’s done. I’m not looking forward to that.)

But I suppose the real issue is this – I DON’T HAVE ANY TOMATOES YET! This project requires a lot of patience. Maybe I’ll feel better when I actually see red tomatoes growing in the dead of winter. Despite a few minor issues, the project is still on schedule.

Free Template Tuesday #9 – Tumult Hype “Lock”

Lock Emoji ThumbnailRunning a popular website can be very expensive. Hotlinking is one of the ways hosting can become unnecessarily expensive for webmasters. Unauthorized websites might be driving up the costs of bandwidth, CPU usage, and even storage. (Yes, hotlinking even affects server storage. Each time a visitor visits a website, the server log file can grow.) What are you to do? There are lots of ways to prevent hotlinking, but this Free Hype Template shows how to add JavaScript to deter hotlinking.

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The Hydroponics Experiment (Part 7 – Day Zero)

AeroGarden - Tomatoes GerminatingFrom October 24 to November 13, Costco Wholesales is having a sale on the Miracle-Gro AeroGarden Ultra LED. At $159.99 – with the cherry tomato kit – it’s $40 off the usual price. Still feeling badly from my failed hydroponics experiment, I decided to try yet again. After squishy lettuce and slimy tomatoes, picking a different hobby seems like a reasonable decision. Yet, I can be relentlessly stubborn. With all the time I spend in front of the computer, the idea of growing vegetables seems relaxing.

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New DuckDuckGo Bang – !photics

DuckDuckGo LogoYou’re not seeing double. This is another DuckDuckGo article. In the previous post, it was announced that the “!pho” bang was available. While “pho” is short for “Photics”, it’s also a vietnamese noodle soup. That might get confusing. Fortunately, this site now has more than one DuckDuckGo bang. Now you can use “!photics” or “!pho” to quickly search Photics.com from the DuckDuckGo website or from a DuckDuckGo powered search bar.

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Hurricane Hermine Inspired Game Development

Hurricane Hermine - Labor Day Weekend ForecastLabor Day weekend is when people across the United States enjoy the last few days of Summer. While Fall doesn’t start until September 22, most people go back to work or school after the holiday weekend. Celebrations usually involve backyard barbecues or long days at the beach. But with Hurricane Hermine looming up the East Coast, it’s looking like a wet and windy mess for much of the break. So, I decided to turn it into a super-nerdy weekend. I decided this was the perfect moment to work on B.R.O.O.M.

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