Don's Patch Issue #2005-08-01 from http://www.don-guitar.com Greetings new subscribers. Welcome to the smallest really interesting ezine on the web *grin*. For the benefit of those who don't know the history of this publication, I wrote a very similar ezine for Maxpatch Ink Supplies from February of 2002 until June of 2004 until the company phased out my job. By that time I was used to writing the darn thing and didn't know how to quit so I signed up with freelists.org and a small but dedicated core of subscribers came with me. My subscriber base is down by about eighty five percent but subscriber quality is at an all-time high. It was a good trade, and that's enough geek-babble, let's get started. Remember, your input is always welcome. I value your suggestions and comments, and I'm always willing to help you find answers to your computer and Internet questions. My feedback form: http://www.don-guitar.com/contactme.html ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª The acronym ICE stands for In Case of Emergency and is also the name coined for the campaign begun in May this year by paramedic Bob Brotchie, who works for the East Anglian Ambulance Service, to encourage mobile phone users to add a number of someone to contact in an emergency, under the entry ICE, to their mobile phone directory. http://www.eastanglianambulance.com/content/ice/default.asp http://www.cnhw.co.uk/ice.cfm A mini-feature on abbreviations and acronyms. http://www.acronymfinder.com/ http://www.ucc.ie/cgi-bin/acronym/acro.html http://www.stands4.com/ http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/EART/abbrev.html http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/subjectareas/gov/docs_abbrev.html http://www.pharma-lexicon.com/ http://www.gaarde.org/acronyms/ http://acronyms.co.nz/ http://www.netlingo.com/emailsh.cfm http://www.numa.com/ref/acronym.htm http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/doddict/acronym_index.html http://www.cms.hhs.gov/acronyms/ http://www.freewarehof.org/acronyms.html http://www.scirpus.ca/cgi-bin/dictqaa.cgi http://www.muller-godschalk.com/acronyms.html http://www.cknow.com/ckinfo/ http://www.pb.org/emoticon.html http://www.gendocs.demon.co.uk/abbr.html http://www.astro.umd.edu/~marshall/abbrev.html http://tla.surly.org/ http://www.usps.com/ncsc/lookups/usps_abbreviations.html http://www.fnal.gov/pub/ferminews/ahep.html http://www.tla.tvheaven.com/ http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/acron.html http://www.thejakartapost.com/resources/acronyms.asp http://www.magicpub.com/netprimer/acronyms.html http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/acronym.shtml Followed by a brief excursion into jargon. http://www.jargon.net/ http://www.johnsmurf.com/jargon.htm http://www.jonstorm.com/glossary/ http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/ http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/jargonbuster/ Of interest to plate collectors. http://www.fiestacollector.com/colors.htm http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/lockside_antiques/page6.html A mini feature on pizza. http://www.dairycouncilofca.org/activities/pizza_hist.htm http://www.averanapoli.it/ingstoria.htm http://www.inmamaskitchen.com/FOOD_IS_ART/pizzahistory.html http://www.ultradave.com/pizza.htm http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/Pizza/PizzaHistory.htm http://www.lombardispizza.com/pages/1/index.htm http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Flats/5353/pizza/history.html http://www.brooklyn-pizza-works.com/pizza's_history.htm http://www.stud.u-szeged.hu/Szucs.Tunde.1/4.1.htm http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112790/ http://www.verapizzanapoletana.org/vpn/history_pizza.html http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/archive/index.php?t-2911.html http://www.forbes.com/2002/08/21/0821feat.html Remembering Arthur Fletcher. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/bawnews/fletcher714 http://press.arrivenet.com/pol/article.php/668082.html http://www.tri-cityherald.com/tch/opinions/story/6709832p-6596912c.html Lisa and I enjoy hot tea, brewed in our coffee pot, after work every day. We've tried most of the teas sold by sfherb.com and have yet to try one we didn't like. Here are a few links which relate to tea. http://www.netcharles.com/orwell/articles/col-tea1.htm http://www.electricscotland.com/lifestyle/teandx.htm http://www.tealand.com/AllAboutTea.htm http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/mostof_tea.shtml ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª This publication is only mailed to verified double opt-in subscribers, and is brought to you by me, Don Crowder, my wife, Lisa Miller, and http://www.freelists.org ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª Alternative Nation. http://www.alternativenation.net/index.php? International Fund for Animal Welfare. http://www.ifaw.org/ifaw/general/default.aspx Copyleft Attitude (the free art license). http://artlibre.org/licence.php/lalgb.html Baseball America. http://www.baseballamerica.com/ Black America web. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/ If you're learning another language, you might find some useful help on this site from the BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/ Birmingham Words is an online writers' and readers' community. http://www.birminghamwords.co.uk/ An interesting site about photoblogs http://www.photoblogs.org/ and an equally interesting photo-a-day resource. http://wvs.topleftpixel.com/ Whenever a new media form is born, soon there will be critics. http://blogcritics.org/ The blue earth alliance supports photographic projects that educate the public about endangered cultures, threatened environments and social concerns. http://www.blueearth.org/ The Blue Macaws. http://www.bluemacaws.org/ Blue Sfear is a digital art community. http://www.bluesfear.com/ This site may tie you up for a while. http://brmrg.med.virginia.edu/knots/knots.html A Country & Western resource. http://www.countrystandardtime.com/ Math is an attitude. http://www.curiousmath.com/ Dedicated to deceased major league ball players. http://www.thedeadballera.com/ An Official U.S. Navy Web site, Sponsored by LIFELines Services Network. http://anyservicemember.navy.mil/ Information on depression. http://bluepages.anu.edu.au/ Disclaimer stickers for science textbooks. http://www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/cpurrin1/textbookdisclaimers/ Doctor Leon's Psychology with Attitude. http://www.drleons.com/ CogWeb is a research tool for exploring the relevance of the study of human cognition to communication and the arts. http://cogweb.ucla.edu/ A portal devoted to Nonsense literature. http://www.nonsenselit.org/ Much to explore on Rey Barry's site. http://www.freewarehof.org/ A UK based gardening forum. http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/index.php An archive of device drivers for devices no longer supported by their manufacturers maintained by Jarno "Jargon" Niemelä. http://www.drivermuseum.com/ I couldn't determine the point of this site but, in general, it seems to be about temperament. http://keirsey.com/ The lyrics to Lisa's favorite Lyle Lovett song http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/lovett-lyle/thats-right-1056.html and some interesting information about Lyle. http://weeklywire.com/ww/09-14-98/austin_music_feature1.html http://www.answers.com/topic/lyle-lovett http://www.ascap.com/legislation/lovettbio.html as well as a rather official looking unofficial website. http://www.lylelovett.net/index.html ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª At the time this issue was posted, the current subscriber count for this publication was 287. ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª This issue's collection of news/magazine/informational sites (these are chosen for maximum diversity regardless of "spin" ). http://www.aluminum.org/ http://www.aaanet.org/aa/ http://arrivenet.com/ http://aldaily.com/ http://www.capitolhillblue.com/ http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage http://www.chicagotribune.com/ http://chronicle.com/ http://www.eschoolnews.com/ http://digital-lifestyles.info/default.asp http://www.langlab.wayne.edu/MarvelsHome/Marvels_Tales.html http://www.frontpagemag.com/index.asp http://www.hexham-courant.co.uk/default.asp http://www.hpj.com/ http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage http://www.theglobeandmail.com/ http://www.irinnews.org/Homepage.asp http://www.euronews.net/ http://www.iwight.com/default.asp http://www.thejakartapost.com/headlines.asp http://www.libertysoft.com/liberty/ http://www.neath-porttalbot.gov.uk/index.cfm http://www.latimes.com/ http://www.vociferoussam.com/ ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª McRae's Bluebook is a sort of industrial directory. http://www.macraesbluebook.com/ Answering machine greetings. Useful? I don't know but they are amusing at any rate. http://www.jeffsounds.com/free_answering_machine_greetings.html An interactive math dictionary with enough math words, math terms, math formulas, pictures, diagrams, tables, and examples to satisfy your inner math geek. http://www.mathwords.com/ Humor and help for all varieties of moms. http://www.motherswithattitude.com/ A powerful resource for anyone with Multiple Sclerosis. http://www.mswithattitude.ca/ An online teen hangout. http://www.niceattitude.com/ Nonsense as a lifestyle. http://www.nonsensesoftware.com/ Nonsense poetry for children. http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/nonsense.htm Nonsense generates random (and sometimes humorous) text from datafiles and templates using a very simple, recursive grammar. http://nonsense.sourceforge.net/ Serious scholars might enjoy exploring Peter Suber's site. http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/hometoc.htm Photos by Richard A. "Red" Lawhern. http://www.lawhern.org/Photos/ Steve Booth-Butterfield's Primer of Practical Persuasion and Influence. http://www.as.wvu.edu/~sbb/comm221/primer.htm An eclectic assortment of midi files. http://romaaeterna.web.infoseek.co.jp/ http://www.massmedia.com/~mikeb/midi/ http://www.cledut.net/midi/ http://www.erikaweb.com/midi/ http://www.students.sonoma.edu/users/w/walz/ffmidi.htm http://www.autrey.org/midi/ http://www.jeannepasero.com/patmidis.html http://www.electricscotland.com/music/mmusiccol.htm http://www.vietmedia.com/midi/?L=vietmidi1.html ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª If you'd like to help promote this non-commercial publication, please forward this ezine to anyone you know who might appreciate it. To spare them the forwarding carets (>>>>these things) I suggest you copy/paste the ezine to a new email window, or save the ezine as a text file to be inserted, or copy/pasted to a new email. If you've received this publication as a forward and wish to subscribe you may easily do so from online forms in these two locations: http://www.don-guitar.com/subsmanager.html http://www.freelists.org/list/donspatch ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª A brief study of disclaimers. http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~susan/joke/survey.htm#disclaim http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~susan/joke/disclaim.htm http://www.wap.org/disclaimer.html A few sites that relate, in one way or another, to Bushido, literally translated "Way of the Warrior," . http://mcel.pacificu.edu/as/students/bushido/bindex.html http://www.bushido.ch/ http://www.users.yourvillage.com/bricker3/ http://www.sacred-texts.com/shi/bsd/ http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/7543/ http://www.newyorker.com/shouts/content/?040607sh_shouts Anyone who enjoys history will find this BBC resource to be a real treat. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ A harvest of postings from the Neil Young Internet Rusted Highway community. http://www.thrasherswheat.org/ Surreal fantasy art and illustration of Laura Pelick. http://fallenlights.net/gallery.html Learn about the state of Maine. http://imaginemaine.com/ Remembering the Holocaust. http://www.remember.org/ Online arcade games. http://www.gamevial.com/ This site, from a woman named Andie, has a great deal of religious (Christian inspirational) content. http://www.andiesisle.com/ The artwork of Leanne Wildermuth. http://www.intricateart.com/gallery/ An interesting quotations site. http://www.brainyquote.com/ Clearly someone's blog. http://exquisitezero.com/ The life and work of Dylan Thomas. http://www.undermilkwood.net/index2.html A thumbnail gallery of nicely decorated eggs. http://www.info23.free-online.co.uk/ie/Gallery.htm Artists with disabilities. A commercial site but there's a nice gallery. http://www.imagineart.net/ Endangered earth. http://endangeredearth.com/ The Imagine America scholarship program. http://www.imagine-america.org/ This one's a little "out there" but interesting. http://www.makethemaccountable.com/ A highly worthy "rerun". http://www.quackwatch.org/ Representative poetry online. http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/index.cfm A nice collection of DOS games with some support info for running them on Windows XP. http://marge.uvm.edu/sdempse/games.htm Doc Searls is a colorful character who's website is worth exploring. http://www.searls.com/ (I suggest starting with his bio page) I've worked my way "up" to being the night cook in the Town & Country convenience store. I say "up" in quotes because it amounted to a very modern sort of "promotion" in that I wind up working a lot harder for the same wages but that's another story entirely. One thing a cook always needs, and seems to seldom possess, is a sharp knife. I found a tool (in the local Walmart) that solved my problem. It looks like this: http://snipurl.com/glpd The quest for a sharper knife also lead to this brief mini-series. http://gpvec.unl.edu/filesdatabase/files/feedlot/sharp1.htm http://www.i4at.org/lib2/knife.htm http://www.ehow.com/how_2282_sharpen-kitchen-knives.html http://www.ehow.com/how_118240_sharpen-power-mower.html ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª My feedback form: http://www.don-guitar.com/contactme.html I welcome all comments, suggestions, or criticism. The form doesn't access your email client (it's a CGI form), so your privacy is assured. If you know of a website that would be a good candidate for this ezine, please pass it on via our online feedback form (link above). ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª Star Wars behind the scenes. http://www.blueharvest.net/ Paul Graham's site gets a little deep in places but contains some interesting essays. http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html A couple of interesting blogs. http://www.they.com/ http://timesandseasons.org/ More political thought from the fringes. http://www.tompaine.com/ Things some of us believed when we were kids. http://iusedtobelieve.com/ Images and descriptions of vintage baseball and 19th-century non-sport cards. http://www.t207.com/intro.shtml I'm not fond of Windows XP. That's why I'm using Windows 2000 PRO but If I wasn't such a "fraidy cat" I'd already have switched to Linux. I hope to do that eventually. Meanwhile, here's an interesting article about XP. http://www.hevanet.com/peace/microsoft.htm A mini-feature on Mehndi. http://puja.com/mehndi/ http://www.ncf.ca/~ev900/mehndi/pictures.htm http://www.bdancer.com/med-guide/suppl/henna.html http://www.indianest.com/women/02007.htm http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/cos-tatt.html An interesting hair removal technique. http://consumerbeware.com/kcbarchive/Forum5/000237.html ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª Archives for this ezine are available online here: http://www.freelists.org/archives/donspatch/ The current issue is also available on my website. http://www.don-guitar.com/currentissue.html ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª The Highland Lakes Computer Club is a Yahoo group I belong to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hlcc-tx/ and I've often included links in this publication that came from their list but I've gotten way behind in reading my email. I take the digest version which usually amounts to one medium sized email per day. I got ambitious this week and caught up with reading their posts so here are a lot of interesting links that came from the HLCC list. Most HLCC members strongly recommend Ad-Aware SE Personal. http://www.majorgeeks.com/download506.html Here's another tool that's positively endorsed by many group members. http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner.html A few group members have enjoyed this utility. http://earth.google.com/ Before installing an AV application you should assure that your system is free of "infection". That can be done online in a couple of places. http://housecall.antivirus.com/housecall/start_frame.asp http://snipurl.com/e8eo After installing Netscape 8 the XML rendering capabilities of Internet Explorer no longer work. http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2005/05/25/421763.aspx A CD and DVD data recovery tool. http://www.isobuster.com/ Another. http://www.majorgeeks.com/download2623.html How to back up and recover Outlook Express data. http://www.kbalertz.com/Feedback.aspx?kbNumber=270670 The last full measure of devotion. http://www.sptimes.com/2004/webspecials04/medalofhonor/story.shtml Several group members have expressed appreciation for the latest version of Windows Media Player. I have to mention that I'm not one of those appreciative members but my distrust could be due to my own cynical disposition so, in fairness, here's the link. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/mp10/default.aspx A game that some members enjoyed. http://www.planarity.net/ A very good resource for Win98 users. http://www.microsoft.com/windows98/usingwindows/default.asp Useful reading if you're using any version of Windows. http://www.pcdon.com/page82.html http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=faqs http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.aspx?displaylang=en Costless apps listed by Microsoft. http://snipurl.com/glqi Here's a few pages that could be of interest to XP users. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/default.mspx http://snipurl.com/e0cx http://tv.msn.com/tv/RR/RRInfo.aspx http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2/default.mspx http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/newsgroups.mspx http://www.duxcw.com/faq/win/xp/scandisk.htm Thanks HLCC. My friend Paul, who's a subscriber and HLCC member, is a big fan of the Firefox browser. I've downloaded it and tried it out but I still prefer Slimbrowser http://www.flashpeak.com/sbrowser/ so I don't use Firefox very often. Paul posted a list of Firefox add-ons, called "extensions" by the folks at Mozilla (who developed Firefox). He's prepared a list of his favorite Firefox extensions, with reviews. http://remsset.com/firefox.html Thanks Paul. ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª Websites Everyone Should Know About. These aren't sponsors, they're the best of Internet publications and I highly recommend them all. http://askTCL.com http://www.langa.com http://www.tourbus.com http://www.lockergnome.com http://www.neatnettricks.com http://www.scotsnewsletter.com http://www.tricksandtrinkets.com http://marylaine.com/neatnew.html ============== Humor ============= Why isn't phonetic spelled the way it sounds? Why are there interstate highways in Alaska and Hawaii? Why are there flotation devices under plane seats instead of parachutes? Do you need a silencer to shoot a mime? Have you ever imagined a world with no hypothetical situations? How does the guy who drives the snowplow get to work in the morning? If the 7-11 Store is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, why are there locks on the doors? If a cow laughed, would milk come out of her nose? If nothing ever sticks to teflon, how do they make teflon stick to the pan? If you tied buttered toast to the back of a cat and dropped it from a height, what would happen? If you're in a vehicle going the speed of light, what happens when you turn on the headlights? Y'know how packages are often marked, "Open Here." What is the protocol if the package is marked, "Open Somewhere Else"? Why do they put Braille dots on the keypad of the drive-up ATM? Why do we drive on parkways and park on driveways? Why is that when you transport something by car, it's called a shipment; but, when you transport something by ship, it's called cargo? Y'know that little indestructible 'black box' that is used on airplanes? Why can't they make the whole airplane out of that substance? Why is that when you're driving and looking for an address, you turn the volume down on the radio? More humorous stuff. http://www.usfca.edu/~trembath/joke/misc.jokes.html ======== Reader Contributions ========= A couple of sites for history buffs, from reader John Lepse. http://www.americanrhetoric.com/ http://www.greatquestionsofhistory.com/ This one, from reader Kevin, looks interesting. http://www.techsupportalert.com/ Here's a pair of apps for virtual travelers, sent in by reader Randy Ombo. http://www.shatters.net/celestia/ http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/index.html Thanks John, Kevin and Randy. ================================= Since I quit smoking, about ten months ago, I've had one cold that lasted for less than a week but I've been getting bronchitis every year for over forty years now so I guess it couldn't be avoided. At any rate I've got a marginal case now. Granted, it's not as bad as it's been in previous years but the doctor prescribed antibiotics. I don't know how anyone else feels about antibiotics, but for my part, the cure is only slightly less trouble than the disease but I won't "go there" *sigh* I just hope it's over soon. See you next time. Don Crowder - Sunday, July 31, 2005 12:30 AM CST - Tow, TX, USA ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª Privacy: I will never share, sell, or otherwise compromise your email address. Privacy Policy on my website. http://www.don-guitar.com/privacy.html Freelists.org Privacy Policy. http://www.freelists.org/privacy.html ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª The most important people on the Internet, for you and I as computer users, are software developers. The world's coolest computer, without software, is like a car without fuel. It might look great, but what can it do? It doesn't matter who produces the software you love and use regularly, the developers of that software need your support. A bit of advice from Internet veteran Bayard J. Fox: New computer users are often in awe of the things you can get without cost on the Internet. There can be hidden costs for the unwary. Use a "throw away" email address to register, and be constantly on guard against giving away personal information. Use a firewall, and provide only the barest minimum of information on questionnaires. ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª You can show your support for this publication by making a contribution in any amount you choose: http://www.don-guitar.com/donations.html ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª ___________________________________________________________ Subscription management for this publication is available online here: http://www.don-guitar.com/subsmanager.html or here: http://www.freelists.org/list/donspatch