[donspatch] 2006-03-15

Don's Patch #66 from http://www.don-guitar.com  March 15, 2007

First word, from Don:

My friend Mark Donaldson has been making some changes in the format
of his ezine and I was one of the readers he asked for input.  Boy, did I
ever let him have it with both barrels.  I'm a hard-line purist about
keeping
the ezine in a plain text format, keeping line lengths short, which
sometimes means using a link-shortening service like snipurl.com, and
keeping the completed ezine's file size below 30 KB in size.  In the past
I've used a maximum line length of 69 characters and have, just lately,
been keeping them below 60 characters.  In contrast, Mark's ezine is
an HTML document, he doesn't use fixed line lengths, doesn't shorten
links and seems largely unconcerned about his file size.

I'll freely admit to being a little narrow-minded about this topic.  I was a
paid-up Langalist Plus subscriber so I'm now receiving the premium
version of Windows Secrets (because Fred Langa teamed up with the
Windows Secrets people and they've consolidated both ezines into
one issue named Windows Secrets.  There's no more Langalist) and
I dislike their HTML format so much that I've all but stopped reading
the darn thing.  If they kick me over to the (costless) version when my
paid subscription runs out I'll go to the trouble of unsubscribing.  Over
the years I've learned a lot from the Langalist and I will always feel
indebted to Fred but now that he's moved on, it's time for me to move
on as well.

Anyway, while I was researching everything I didn't like about Mark's
ezine, trying to find credible references instead of just complaining,
I found some things wrong with our own ezine.  Accessibility matters
to me and the characters I was using to create spacers between
sections represent a potential problem to vision impaired persons
who use screen readers, so they're history beginning with this issue.

Don

Don's feedback form:  http://www.don-guitar.com/contactme.html
Lisa's feedback form:  http://www.don-guitar.com/lfefo.html

Our personal news page.
http://www.don-guitar.com/babbleon.html

Don at myspace.com http://www.myspace.com/donguitar
Don's blog.  http://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/eldergeek/

Lisa at myspace.com.  http://www.myspace.com/81825549
Lisa's blog.  http://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/dirtgoddess

Beginning of Section One, Prepared by Don.

If you've ever fantasized about hosting your own talk show, this is your
chance.   http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-11293_7-6246557-1.html

Doug Engelbart's 1968 demo of the first mouse and more as well.
http://sloan.stanford.edu/mousesite/1968Demo.html

3-D stereography.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/sets/1571779

The Merlin Show (a Mac resource).   http://www.themerlinshow.com/

Paul Lutus is headstrong, outspoken, very sure of himself, sometimes
annoying, and one of the movers and shakers who had a great deal to
do with what the web is and how it got that way.  Begin here, read,
enjoy, then explore.   http://www.arachnoid.com/freeware/index.html

Here's the information responsible for the changes in format we've made
in this issue.   http://snipurl.com/1cznj
http://www.e-zinez.com/handbook/template.html

C.C.Chapman's AccidentHash (contemporary music podcast).
http://www.accidenthash.com/

Ad supported online games.   http://www.addictinggames.com/

AllPeers is a file sharing Firefox extension.   http://www.allpeers.com/

Amazing art.   http://members.lycos.nl/AmazingArt/E/index.html

Andrew Lipson's home page.   http://www.andrewlipson.com/

Interesting and educational animations.
http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/Animation/animation.html

Animutation is a style of animation invented by Neil Cicierega
at age 13.   http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/animutation/

I enjoyed viewing the art of Leanne Wildermuth.
http://intricateart.com/portfolio/

Ascii art generators.
http://www.glassgiant.com/ascii/
http://www.network-science.de/ascii/

The fingers of your left hand.   http://asdf.com/index.html

Help me solve a mystery.   http://www.don-guitar.com/whodidthis.html

End of Section One.


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


Beginning of Section Two, Prepared By Lisa.

Software testing knowledge and information.
http://www.testingreflections.com/?q=node/view/2

Maori Poi and fire twirling.  http://www.homeofpoi.com/

Anxiety self-help treatment.
http://sidereus.org/main/article.php?sid=172

Hey, I remember that!  http://www.retrojunk.com/

The online home for duct tape addicts.
http://www.ducttapeguys.com/

Travel newsletter for photographers.  Helpful calendar
shows photo ops by month.  http://www.photographamerica.com/

Program-launcher command tool.
http://www.idiogensoftware.com/runfast/index.htm

W3C Markup Validation Tool.  http://validator.w3.org/

US Customs and Border Protection.
http://www.customs.ustreas.gov/

Reuters health and medical news.
http://www.reutershealth.com/en/index.html

A vast amount of information on PBS.  http://www.pbs.org/

Software testing knowledge and information.
http://www.testingreflections.com/?q=node/view/2

Federal Citizen Information Center in Pueblo, CO.
http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/

National Parks Service.
http://www.nps.gov/archive/parks.html

Natural Perspective, lots of information about the
natural world, exquisite photography.
http://www.perspective.com/nature/index.html

Issues relating to technology and society.
http://www.vortex.com/lauren

Ask Dave about anything computer!
http://www.askdavetaylor.com/ask.html

Lots of Photoshop tutorials.  http://snipurl.com/1cxmr

A comprehensive web development site.
http://www.webreference.com/

A multi-author blog devoted to illustration, art,
cartooning and drawing.  http://drawn.ca/

End of Section Two.


At the time this issue was posted,
the current subscriber count for
this publication was 390.


This issue's collection of news,
magazine, and/or informational
sites (chosen for maximum
diversity regardless of "spin" ).
http://towerofbabel.com/
http://www.backwoodshome.com/
http://www.boulderweekly.com/
http://www.chicagoreader.com/
http://www.csmonitor.com/
http://www.corante.com/
http://www.news.cornell.edu/
http://www.current.org/
http://www.earthstation9.com/
http://www.fair.org/index.php
http://www.forewordmagazine.com/
http://www.makeyougohmm.com/
http://www.mediagiraffe.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page


Beginning of Section Three, Prepared by Don.

OpenLaszlo is an open source platform for creating zero-install web
applications with the user interface capabilities of desktop client
software.   http://www.openlaszlo.org/

For readers and authors.   http://www.authorsden.com/

The Geneva auto show in images.
http://news.com.com/2300-11389_3-6164610-1.html?tag=ne.gall.pg

The quest for Autumn: Windows XP's elusive backdrop.
http://snipurl.com/1d03o
More to explore from the same source.   http://www.engadget.com/

AV for Windows 9x.   http://snipurl.com/1c85b

The BBC's weekly world news quiz.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/6409527.stm

Box doodles.   http://www.neu-e.de/

The British Antarctic Survey.   http://www.bas.ac.uk/index.php

This is a musical soap box.   http://bumrushthecharts.blogspot.com/

An incredible archive of classical music in guitar tablature.
http://www.classtab.org/

Christoph Hormann's site.   http://www.imagico.de/index.html

Want a clock on your website?
http://www.clocklink.com/
http://www.livewebclocks.com/
http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/howclock.html

This is geeky and I'm not at all sure exactly what it is but the bits
I understood, on the pages I read, were interesting.
http://www.cognitive-edge.com/

Court TV's crime library.   http://www.crimelibrary.com/

DeliPlayer is a multi format, (costless) audio player for
Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000 and XP.   http://www.deliplayer.com/

Jill Britton's Escher gallery.
http://britton.disted.camosun.bc.ca/escher/jbescher.htm

End of Section Three.


If you'd like to help promote this
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If you've received this publication
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Beginning of Section Four, Prepared By Lisa.

Interactive facial anatomy learning tool.
http://www.artnatomia.net/uk/

19th Century shipping cards.  http://snipurl.com/1cxo9

Cell phone etiquette.  Read and learn.
http://www.roadandtravel.com/yougogirl/cellphone2.htm

Managing techno-stress.  http://snipurl.com/1cxoh

Adopt a virtual pet.  http://snipurl.com/1cxok

Excellent tutorials and graphics from
Arizona Kate.   http://arizonakate.com/

Free online hosting of public petitions.
http://www.petitiononline.com/petition.html

A guide to clinical psychology and some useful
self-help techniques.  http://www.guidetopsychology.com/

Choose his adventure!  http://www.jpony.com/

Take care of yourself.
http://www.stayinginshape.com/3osfcorp/libv/p15.shtml

THE hottest blogger, Robert Scoble.
http://www.podtech.net/scobleshow/

How to download movies from YouTube.
http://snipurl.com/1cxr1

Molly E. Holzschlag is an interesting
person.   http://molly.com/

A great web development site.  Check out the graphics
tutorials pages.  http://www.webreference.com/

An interesting page and some goodies from
Miha Psenica.   http://www.mihov.com/english/

TeX implementation for the Windows operating system.
http://www.miktex.org/Default.aspx

Organize all your movies.  http://www.movieorganizer.com/

End of Section Four.


Our feedback form: http://www.don-guitar.com/contactme.html

We welcome all comments,
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The form doesn't access
your email client (it's a CGI
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If you know of a website that
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it on via our online
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Beginning of Section Five, Prepared by Don.

[Costless apps] for burning DVDs and/or CDs.
http://protectedsoft.com/
http://www.imgburn.com/
http://www.avsmedia.com/DiscCreator/index.aspx
http://www.nch.com.au/burn/
http://www.burrrn.net/?page_id=4
http://www.deepburner.com/?r=products&pr=provsfree
http://cdr.dpaehl.de/
http://www.cdburnerxp.se/

Imagine not owning a computer but being able to find and gain access to
one in almost any public place you happened to be.  That's the scenario
being predicted by many industry pundits and that assumption is the
main inspirational force behind the development of online desktops.
http://desktoptwo.com/
http://eyeos.org/
http://www.goowy.com/
http://www.xindesk.com/
https://www.youos.com/

Art by George Vlosich.   http://www.gvetchedintime.com/

A handy closer look?   http://www.darkfiber.com/eyeinhand/

The Eye of the Wind is a brigantine sailing vessel.
http://www.tallshipstales.de/index.php

Facebook is a multifaceted social networking tool.
http://www.facebook.com/

A compact, costless and fast Firefox plugin which reads
PDF documents.   http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php

A portal site for online gaming.   http://www.freeonlinegameslist.com/

A batch capable image resizing tool.   http://www.fotosizer.com/

This page isn't in English but the titles are and these files are awesome
videos of classical guitar music.  They may not be worth the wait if you
have a dial up connection.
http://board4.cgiworld.dreamwiz.com/list.cgi?id=koh0130&now=1
The classical music files on this site are mostly all midi files (boring)
but not too far down the page is a collection of 13 zipped video files
by the amazing Li Jie.   http://www.classtab.org/tabadd.htm

A few portal sites for (costless apps)
http://www.freewarehome.com/index.html
http://www.freebyte.com/
http://www.pricelessware.org/thelist/index.htm
http://www.tinyapps.org/
http://freeware.filehungry.com/english/relates/portal
http://www.aumha.org/freeware/freeware.htm
a good program author's site  http://www.freewarehits.de/
and the "mother lode" of Open Source.  http://sourceforge.net/

End of Section Five.


Archives for this ezine
are available online here:
http://www.freelists.org/archives/donspatch/

The current issue is also
available on our website.
http://www.don-guitar.com/currentissue.html

RSS feed is available via this link.
http://www.freelists.org/archives/donspatch/feed.rss


Beginning of Section Six, Prepared By Lisa.

In 2003, John Walker published this work on how big brother and big
media could curtail the freedoms of the Internet. How successful they
are will depend on us.
http://www.fourmilab.ch/documents/digital-imprimatur/

Get your own Mouse Odometer.   http://www.modometer.com/About.htm

Auto volume adjustment for MP3s.   http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/

A fun little customizing app.   http://www.edensoft.com/mylogo/

Infomagic personal memory aid.  http://www.factsfacts.com/IMagic/

Simple image cataloger and slideshow.
http://pmeindre.free.fr/MyAlbum.html

A Notepad-like app with extras.   http://snipurl.com/1ff1

Outta hides application windows in several ways.
http://www.rosafamily.org/software/oos/index.htm

Naomi is an internet filtering program for families.
http://www.naomifilter.org/

The Family Online Safety Institute.   http://www.fosi.org/icra/

Institute for Learning and Research Technology.  Lots
of cool stuff here.  http://www.ilrt.bris.ac.uk/

Get a job!  http://www.jobsearch.org/

Looking for work? Looking for workers?  http://www.workaholics4hire.com

Change the world.   http://snipurl.com/1cxzu

Map librarian's toolbox.  http://www.waml.org/maptools.html

Education beyond schooling.  http://www.wannalearn.com/

A very nice craft site.  Check out the tribute to
dumb crafters.  http://www.geocities.com/kraftproject/

Legal Research on the Web.  http://www.washlaw.edu/

End of Section Six.


Websites everyone should know
about.  These aren't sponsors,
they're the best of Internet
publications and we highly
recommend them all.

http://askTCL.com
http://luem42.com
http://www.langa.com
http://windowssecrets.com/
http://www.lockergnome.com
http://www.scotsnewsletter.com
http://www.tricksandtrinkets.com
http://marylaine.com/neatnew.html


The Linux Corner.

Dell set up an online survey to find out what consumers most wanted in
new computers.   http://www.dellideastorm.com/
They received an enormous number of requests for pre-installed Linux
and, in response, have set up another survey to help them select a
Linux distribution.  http://snipurl.com/1d0dk  (closes 3-23-07).
More reading.   http://direct2dell.com/one2one/default.aspx

Linux Installation & Getting Started.  http://www.tldp.org/LDP/gs/gs.html

Linux tips and tutorials.   http://www.codecoffee.com/tipsforlinux/

Linux Newbie FAQ.  http://home.nyc.rr.com/computertaijutsu/linfaq.html

BeleniX is an OpenSolaris Distribution with a Live CD.
http://www.genunix.org/distributions/belenix_site/

Breaking Barriers is an informative PDF document.
http://www.apdip.net/publications/ict4d/BreakingBarriers.pdf

Bringing Linux to the rednecked, perplexed and low techs.
http://www.bubbasgeek.com/

Jeff Waugh's passionate blog.   http://perkypants.org/blog/

This is a pro-Linux portal with lots of news and useful links but you can
also play Frozen Bubbles on the site.   http://www.linxos.com/

A Linux live-CD for primary school.   http://www.ofset.org/freeduc-cd

"Freespire is a community-driven, Linux-based operating system that
combines the best that free, open source software has to offer  but also
provides users the choice of including  proprietary codecs, drivers and
applications as they see fit."  I really wish I had suitable machine so that
I could give Freespire a "test drive".  I'm working on that, and meanwhile
recent arrangements/deals/collaborations have made many of Freespire's
options for proprietary software available to the Ubuntu family and
other Debian-based  distros.   http://www.freespire.org/


A Little Humor:

Hello, is this the Sheriff's Office?

Yes. What can I do for you?

I'm calling to report 'bout my neighbor Virgil Smith.

He's hidin' marijuana inside his firewood! Don't quite know how he gets
it inside them logs, but he's hiddin' it there.

Thank you very much for the call, sir.

The next day, the Sheriff's Deputies descend on Virgil's home. They
search the shed where the firewood is kept. Using axes, they bust
open every piece of wood, but find no marijuana. They sneer at
Virgil and leave.

Shortly, the phone rings at Virgil's house.

Hey, Virgil! This here's Floyd. Did the Sheriff come?

Yeah!

Did they chop your firewood?

Yep!

Happy Birthday, buddy!


Tips for This Issue.

Assorted learning resources:
http://www.ulead.com/learning/learning.htm
http://www.webteacher.org/windows.html
http://www.wincustomize.com/
More Win98 resources still offered by MS.
For beginners.   http://snipurl.com/4m9t
For advanced users.   http://snipurl.com/1d166


Contributions From Our Readers.
Links from readers are always
welcome and you can even write
your own link descriptions if you
like.  Guidelines are available here:
http://www.don-guitar.com/descriptivetext.html

From our web sibling Jo-Ann (Jo) Burton:
( Jo's site: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sharinglinks2/ )

Operation Love Our Troops.   http://operationloveourtroops.org/

Elevator Etiquette.   http://www.elevatorrules.com/

Here's a little Concentration game that seems easy (yeah, right).
http://milescooley.com/html/ecards.php?card=2
More stuff from Miles.   http://milescooley.com/html/ecards.php

It doesn't matter who you are, something on this page is liable
to get a knee-jerk from you.   http://www.procon.org/

Consumer product testing from KBRC in Abilene, Texas (Yahoo?).
http://www.krbctv.com/does_it_work.htm

Worst case scenarios.   http://www.worstcasescenarios.com/

Riddle me this.   http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/riddles/


From our web sibling Vinette (Vi) DePhillipe:
( Vi's site: http://360.yahoo.com/vinette1 )

Coupons and other stuff.
http://www.boodle.com/
http://www.coupons.com
http://www.pilsbury.com/
http://www.eversave.com/

Seasonal greetings from Vi (nosir, I had nothing to do with it).
http://egg.d21c.com/holidays/egg.swf


From our web sibling Jerry Fox.

Cut a huge image into manageable segments, print them, and put them
together to make a huge poster.   http://www.blockposters.com/

Time-line Jukebox; select a year, from 1950 to 1984.
http://www.tropicalglen.com/


From our web sibling Bill Lanoue.
( Bill's blog [Warning!: Strong content!] http://ncvietvet.blogspot.com/ )

Joan Stark's ASCII art gallery.
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/7373/indexjava.htm

Create digital music.   http://createdigitalmusic.com/

Police chief and police dog have same college degree.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/dog_s_degree

You'll have to tell them the year of your birth, your zip code, and gender
to see this interesting flash presentation on the Rise and Disappearance
of Southeast Louisiana.  I felt it was worth it.  You must decide for
yourself.   http://snipurl.com/1d18n


From our web sibling John Lepse.

There are some interesting and challenging online games here even
though the MC uses some strong language in a place or two.
http://www.youdontknowjack.com/

A search engine for help with Windows.
http://www.windowssecrets.com/winfind/


Reader Jon Reed sent us a link to this online Punctuation Game where
I did rather poorly even though I call myself an editor :-(
http://eatsshootsandleaves.com/ESLquiz.html


From our friend Irving Stein.

This young lady is an impressive artist.   http://www.akiane.com/

Help with daylight savings time on supported Windows systems.
http://support.microsoft.com/gp/cp_dst

National Drivers Test from GMAC.
http://www.gmacinsurance.com/SafeDriving/2006/test.asp

An atlas of plucked musical instruments.
http://www.atlasofpluckedinstruments.com/

If you were a sports car, which one would you be?
http://www.tomorrowland.us/sportscar/


Thank you Jo, Vi, Jerry, Bill, John, Jon and Irv.

Last word, from Lisa:

Spring has definitely sprung!  The irises I planted last year are blooming,
all the trees but one have budded.  The local wisdom here in Texas is;
don't plant annuals or vegetables until the mesquite decides to put out its
leaves.  When that happens there will be no more freezes, mesquite
doesn't commit until it's perfectly safe to do so.  Rather than be content
with the yard as it was, of course I've started a couple of new projects
just so I'll have too much to do.  Yesterday I started class (one day a
week) to become a Texas Master Gardener.

So much to learn,

so little time!

Happy Trails,

Lisa

Lisa's feedback form:  http://www.don-guitar.com/lfefo.html
Don's feedback form:  http://www.don-guitar.com/contactme.html

Lisa at myspace.com.  http://www.myspace.com/81825549
http://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/dirtgoddess

Don at myspace.com http://www.myspace.com/donguitar
Don's blog.  http://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/eldergeek/

Our personal news page.
http://www.don-guitar.com/babbleon.html

Don Crowder and Lisa Miller
Thursday, March 15, 2006
12:15 AM CST - Buchanan Lake Village, Texas, USA
Served by the U.S. Post Office in Tow (rhymes-with-cow), Texas


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