Just posted a series of php tutorials about how to draw text on photos with ImageMagick and PHP over at my new coding blog.

Here's an example of a photo created with the code...

The image was obtained from Wikimedia Commons. It's author is ltshears, and it is licensed under a Creative Commons 3.0 Share Alike license.

Be careful of Restaurant.com. I bought a $10 gift certificate for Mongolian Grill in Mukilteo for $4. The place only does counter service, but insisted on the 18% gratuity in the fine print, basically eating up the entire savings.

The restaurant justified it as they needed to make back the loss they were taking on the gift certificate. I had to make 4 trips to get the food and drinks for my wife and kids to the table, and they couldn't even be bothered to offer a tray, but they felt they were entitled to an 18% tip because they gave me a discount that the tip eliminated.

And Restaurant.com basically said "well, we state that they can charge the tip" and if I didn't like it, I could scan through their listings to find the 6% of restaurants in my area that do have offers with them, but don't have the fine print about a gratuity. I say "scan through" because, of course, they don't actually let you sort or search by that criteria. If I want a restaurant that doesn't have a mandatory tip, the selection of deals in my area goes from 76 to 4.

I don't mind the 18% at a sit-down restaurant where I'd tip around that much anyway. Maybe I'd be out an extra $2 if I felt the service didn't rate a full 18%. But letting a self-serve place, where there's NO service to speak of, tack on the 18% and telling the customer it's "buyer beware" is bull. I'm never going back to that restaurant and Restaurant.com is never getting another penny from me.

[I posted this to Facebook, but I felt it deserved posting to my blog too.]

Today is Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day. This attempt to exterminate an entire people didn't happen in an ancient biblical kingdom where a king went mad or was influenced by evil advisors. This happened in a modern European democracy in the middle of the 20th century.

We need to remember the Holocaust, because it is not an ancient parable, and not only Jews are at risk. "Cleansings" based on ethnicity or religion are still an ever-present threat to everyone, everywhere.

Somewhere in the world, someone who isn't like you doesn't like you and thinks the world would be a better place if people like you were forcibly changed or removed. Remembering the Holocaust means staying vigilant and making sure that those people do not rise to positions of enough power and influence to start another Holocaust against *anyone* ever again.

Costco had a special this weekend on Bill Bailey's corned beef, a heat-and-eat unsliced chunk of corned beef brisket. I was planning to heat it up when I realized I had a 1 lb bag of shredded cabbage (for coleslaw) that I needed to use.

It's actually very simple. Pour the bag of slaw mix into a large covered casserole dish. Cut the corner off the bag containing the chunk of corned beef and pour the liquid in with the cabbage. Cover the casserole and nuke the cabbage and corned beef juices for 5 minutes on high.

When it comes out, the cabbage will have wilted enough to let you put the chunk of corned beef in, fatty side up. Nestle it in the cabbage and return the dish to the microwave (covered) for 12 minutes per the cooking instructions.

Let it sit for 3 minutes as recommended, then take the corned beef out and slice it against the grain. Nestle the slices back in the cabbage and cover until you're ready to serve.

The cabbage wilts enough so it's not hard, but has a small bit of crunch, and it absorbs lots of flavor from cooking in the juices and with the meat.

My wife and kids gobbled it up, and I had a tasty Sunday dinner that was great for my low-sugar diet.