Don's Patch #57 from http://www.don-guitar.com November 1, 2006 First word, from Don: Do you ever have one of those weeks when you're sure you've done every imaginable thing wrong and things still manage to come out ok somehow? I'm not sure but that may just be the real story of my life. I've heard it said that life is what happens while you're making other plans but, ever the editor, I'd have to change that to "life is what happens while you're trying to figure out what you did wrong" but even when you're just muddling along life is really a tremendous lot of fun. We've heard from several of you lately and we really appreciate it. Questions, comments, criticism and/or interesting links you've discovered are always welcome. 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://blog.myspace.com/donguitar Lisa at myspace.com. http://www.myspace.com/81825549 Lisa's blog. http://blog.myspace.com/81825549 ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª Here's a comical way to jazz up a photograph. http://www.bubblesnaps.com/index.php An alternative grain that's good for more than just pancakes. http://snipurl.com/109cl http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/afcm/buckwheat.html http://snipurl.com/109cm I stumbled on this site when I was researching buckwheat. If you've a fast connection, scroll down and listen to the music. The second piece is great. http://snipurl.com/109cw Internet clocks, counters, and countdowns. http://www.panaga.com/clocks/clocks.htm Get'cher Mac goodies. http://www.download.com/1200-20_4-5151771.html What's for dinner? Um, what's in the fridge. http://www.cookingbynumbers.com/frames.html Geeky goodies. http://www.devguy.com/fp/index.html A couple of apps for getting rid of duplicate files. http://www.bigbangenterprises.de/en/doublekiller/ http://www.dupkiller.net/index_en.html Harvest of History. http://www.harvestofhistory.org/ A little exploration of this site might turn up a useful goody or two. http://www.iconico.com/ Some stuff for kids. http://www.imagiverse.org/ Markus Jansson's privacy and security page. http://www.markusjansson.net/erecent.html Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia. http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/ Lots of programs which aren't costless, used to be. http://www.321download.com/LastFreeware/index.html 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 Look carefully at the name of this dangerous substance. http://www.dhmo.org/ World statistics updated in real time. http://www.worldometers.info/ A thought for the holiday season. http://www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn55/christmas_evidence.htm Whether you're looking for a shape that exists inside of itself or just want to view a cool site, start here. http://www.kleinbottle.com/ Been ripped off? Want some satisfaction? The Bad Business Bureau. http://www.badbusinessbureau.com/ Bird info and costless birdhouse plans. http://www.50birds.com/Default.htm Fascinating polished mud balls. http://www.dorodango.com/about.html Carl Friedrich Gauss, a brilliant visionary scientist. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Frederich_Gauss A very different look at addiction and its cure. http://www.rational.org/ Having been an observer of the famous Winter Park Sinkhole in Florida, I enjoyed this site. http://www.earlham.edu/~scheuer/sinkholes.htm Explanation of a leap second. http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/leapsec.html Basic and advanced superstring theory. http://superstringtheory.com/ Caltech particle theory group. http://www.theory.caltech.edu/ If you're over 50 like me, this is your Third Age. http://www.thirdage.com/ Tips for bringing teachers and parents together. http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/curr200.shtml Doncha just love 'em? http://stupidcriminalfile.blogspot.com/ How to cook rice perfectly. http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/pages/c00009.asp Just in time for Thanksgiving, this page even tells you what to do if you cook the giblets in the turkey. http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/HGIC3560.htm ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª At the time this issue was posted, the current subscriber count for this publication was 344. ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª This issue's collection of news/magazine/informational sites (these are chosen for maximum diversity regardless of "spin" ). http://www.sciencenews.org/ http://www.sciencemag.org/ http://www.sciencedaily.com/ http://www.sciam.com/ http://www.scientific-computing.com/index.html http://www.sci-tech-today.com/ http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/ http://www.seattleweekly.com/ http://www.shotsmag.co.uk/ http://www.shropshirestar.co.uk/ http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/ http://www.slate.com/ http://www.smalltimes.com/home.cfm ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª Seriously geeky stuff. http://www.metadot.com/ Be annoyed and insulted while you have trouble searching. http://www.msdewey.com/ The museum of hoaxes. http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/ Nilesh Chaudhari's photoblog. http://nilesh.org/ High end cameras capture images in what is called the RAW format. That would be great if manufacturers could all agree on standards for the format. http://www.openraw.org/ Windows tips and some goodies for recording audiophiles. http://www.personalcopy.com/home.htm Check your webpages in different resolutions. http://www.tarma.com/index.htm#/products/winsizer/index.htm The bad business bureau. http://www.badbusinessbureau.com/ This is a horrible game. I hated all thirty or forty minutes I spent playing it, honest. http://tohato.jp/products/habanero/game/ My first, knee-jerk, reaction to this fellow's concept of 'sisterware' was very negative but, after reading some of the comments on his sisterware page, I decided to give him a break. May be worth a visit. http://spazioinwind.libero.it/unforgiven/frameset.htm A wiki for walkers. http://www.wikiwalki.com/ Windows 2000. Security. http://www.tames.net/security/win2ksettings.htm Tips and tweaks. http://fox2k.net/2ktweaks/ A celebration of women writers. http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/writers.html Put an end to Word attachments. http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html Much more information from the same source. http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/ Will Thalheimer's blog. http://www.willatworklearning.com/ An interesting article on Will's business site. http://www.work-learning.com/chigraph.htm Maybe we should all think about opening an account here. http://www.worldbank.org/ Tastelessness. http://www.lileks.com/institute/interiors/ Virtual stickynotes. http://www.zhornsoftware.co.uk/stickies/ 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 What do you know about your water well? http://www.wellowner.org/ Prevent and recover from identity theft. http://www.idtheftcenter.org/index.shtml What is identity? Here's a start. http://plato.stanford.edu/search/searcher.py?query=personal+identity Wine is a compatibility layer to allow the use of Windows programs on Unix and X systems, letting us "have it all". http://www.winehq.com/ If you're a woman, you could be a techrochromat. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06256/721190-114.stm Some valuable tips on scanning. /www.scantips.com/ Speaking of speaking. http://www.factmonster.com/homework/speaklisten.html http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/comm/pubspeak/ http://www.westegg.com/etymology/ The most influential and innovative fashion designer, period. http://www.coololdstuff.com/coco.html Everything you need to know about model railroading. http://www.modelrailroads.net/ The intriguing Maori culture. http://www.maori.org.nz/ Facts, sounds and pictures of whales. http://dkd.net/whales/ There's always room for Jello. http://www.jellomuseum.com/ Here's a cool thing, material property data. http://www.matweb.com/index.asp?ckck=1 Letters written by Florence Nightingale. http://clendening.kumc.edu/dc/fn/ Astronaut selection and training. http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/reference/factsheets/asseltrn.html The history of mirrors and glass. http://vision2form.nl/mirror_history.html ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª Our feedback form: http://www.don-guitar.com/contactme.html We 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 Our friend John Lepse injured his Achilles tendon and wasn't happy with the websites he found on the subject so he asked me if I'd take a shot at it. I don't know that I did any better than he did, he hasn't gotten back to me about it yet, but here's what I found. http://www.achillestendon.com/ http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/back/achilles/tendinitis.htm http://www.arthroscopy.com/sp09009.htm http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/aha/aha_achilles_sma.htm http://home.sprynet.com/~holtrun/calf.htm http://clearlyadjustable.com/achilles-tendonitis.html http://www.webmd.com/hw/foot_problems/tr1829.asp An odd little test. http://www.shanemcdonald.com/laughs/l-dr-phils-test.html I think this is a blog and while it's strongly opinionated, the author may have a point. http://ideologyoftruth.wordpress.com/tag/health-critics/ More from the same source. http://ideologyoftruth.wordpress.com/ Here's an updated and easy to use Linux distro chooser. http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/index.php I got a package in the mail and, because I'm a voracious reader, I read the newspaper that was used for packing material (I always do) and I discovered a beautiful human being so I went looking for him on the web. This is what I found. http://snipurl.com/10w4s http://snipurl.com/10w4t http://snipurl.com/10w4y This is a search engine for that finds things in libraries. http://worldcatlibraries.org/ Interesting things related to Social Security (U.S.). http://www.snopes.com/business/taxes/woolworth.asp http://snipurl.com/10w6w http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0513,york,62456,2.html http://snipurl.com/10w6z http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/04/news/id.php http://snipurl.com/10w7i http://www.vdare.com/malkin/loans.htm Some nice sites for computer wallpaper. http://www.jonathanpoh.com/wallpaper/ http://snipurl.com/10w83 http://www.shatters.net/photos/ Images of our beautiful planet. http://www.earthscienceworld.org/images/ ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª 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 ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª Mazes. http://web.kyoto-inet.or.jp/people/eisaku/e_maze/ How submarines work. http://science.howstuffworks.com/submarine.htm Costless bat house plans. http://habitat.ms11.net//bat/bathome.htm The magazine of the Scientific Research Society. http://www.americanscientist.org/ There are people who dive in underwater caves. This is a bad idea. http://www.caves.org/pub/aca/ The Nature Conservancy. http://www.nature.org/ Stop aquatic hitchhikers. http://www.protectyourwaters.net/ English is a difficult language to learn, go here if you know someone who could use some help. http://www.englishmaze.com/ What to do when there's trouble at work. http://www.troubleatwork.org.uk/ Culinary entertainment. http://www.pmichaud.com/grape/ I wish this was a joke, but apparently it's not. http://www.savekaryn.com/AboutSaveKaryn.htm Suicide Awareness Voices of Education--SAVE. http://www.save.org/ Edamame--fresh soybeans--are very good! http://www.evergreenseeds.com/edsoyed.html All about fishing. http://www.fishing.com/ College planning guide. http://mapping-your-future.org/ Site to help nurse-practitioners. http://www.npcentral.net/ Consumer Reports online. http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/index.htm How will nanotechnology help us? http://snipurl.com/1099w ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª 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://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 ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª A high tech transportation 'thingy'. http://www.automorrow.com/ddbase/automorrow_index.t Um. just some young people with a technical bent but there are a few interesting things on the site. http://www.betaversion.org/ Parental guidance strongly recommended, um, regardless of your age. http://www.xkcd.com/c1.html Totally geeky stuff. http://www.xml.com/ Who want's to learn assamese? http://www.xobdo.org/ This is hearsay, because I haven't confirmed it for myself but I'm told that pop3 access to yahoo is still costless in the UK. http://uk.yahoo.com/ 'Ancient' computers. http://www.yesterpc.com/index.htm Learn about your genome. http://www.yourgenome.org/ Our ezine template has seven sections reserved for links. Four are marked (Don), three are marked (Lisa). We try to put eighteen links in each section. That's how we control the size of each issue, because we get a lot of bounces if the final email size goes over 30 KB in size. This is the seventh section, normally put together by me (Don) and it's got eight links in it but I just ran out of links in my working folder. Oh sure, I could google up some more pretty quick but we've been awfully busy for the last few days and it looks like we'll continue to be busy for some time to come so I'm just going to move on to the Humor, Tips, and reader contributions. Call me lazy. *grin* ============== Humor ============= ============== Tips =============== Bob Rankin's tips for speeding up XP. http://askbobrankin.com/make_windows_xp_run_faster.html ======== Reader Contributions ========= 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 web sibling Jerry Fox. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Do you write like a boy or like a girl? http://www.bookblog.net/gender/genie.html Great music two artists you'd never in your wildest dreams expect to find working together. http://snipurl.com/106ha (fast connection required) A really cool hand-cranked music box, or you can select one that's automatic. http://www.coverpop.com/whitney/index.php?var=v17 An eclectic blog-like sort of site. http://www.polarinertia.com/index.htm ================================= From reader and friend, Irving Stein. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Christmas at Arlington Cemetery. http://www.snopes.com/photos/military/wreaths.asp This site says there are 20 people out there named 'Don Crowder'. How about that? I am ubiquitous. http://ww2.howmanyofme.com/search/ Awesome aerial photography. http://silvairehair2.home.comcast.net/072806/ Interesting video media (fast connection required). http://www.pioneertv.com/ ================================= From my web sibling Jo-Ann Burton. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sharinglinks2/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Search the full texts of books and discover new ones. http://books.google.com/ You decide if the fact is real or fake. http://fakefacts.net/index.php 20,000x magnification power on everyday items. http://ion.eas.asu.edu/arch_cool.htm More: http://ion.eas.asu.edu/archives.htm Samuel A. Alito - Law Library Reading Room, Library of Congress. http://www.loc.gov/rr/law/alito.html Unbiased, authoritative pet health and wellness information written specifically for pet owners on the Internet. http://www.petplace.com/ A great coloring book website with some interesting categories. http://www.thecrayonhouse.com/ High School Study Skills. http://www.childresearch.net/ Weather Classroom (site contains imbedded video and sound). http://www.weatherclassroom.com/ 3D-Papercraft projects. http://cp.c-ij.com/english/3D-papercraft/index.html Design a house, walk through it in 3D, and then share it with the world. http://www.architectstudio3d.org/AS3d/home.html A nice long list of education related (goodies) and much, much more. http://www.nobleednews.com/ ================================= From web sibling John Lepse. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Popular Science online. http://www.popsci.com/popsci/ ================================= From reader and friend Ken Thomson ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Would you like to sell your photographs? http://www.publiceye.com/ A security news site for systems administrators and hackers. http://rootsecure.net/ More on security. http://www.securityfocus.com/ Economical web space. http://www.onetontomato.com/ Editor's note: This looks good and I've personally had good luck with registerfly. http://www.registerfly.com/ Thank you Jerry, Irving, Jo, John and Ken. ================================= Last word, from Lisa: OK, time to break out the boxing gloves. I found the Quick and Dirty IQ test. http://www.blogthings.com/quickanddirtyiqtest/ and Don laughed at me because my score was; 115 Logical Intelligence-Below average Verbal Intelligence-Genius Mathematical Intelligence-Genius General Knowledge-Average He carefully explained that this was the reason for my inability to quickly grasp logical problems when he explained them to me. I countered with the opinion that his verbal skills were somewhat below par. He took the test and this was his score; 125 Logical Intelligence-Below average Verbal Intelligence-Genius Mathematical Intelligence-Genius General Knowledge-Above Average Ha! Then we accused each other of being fiercely competitive. 'Til next time, 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 Lisa's blog. http://blog.myspace.com/81825549 Don at myspace.com http://www.myspace.com/donguitar Don's blog. http://blog.myspace.com/donguitar Our personal news page. http://www.don-guitar.com/babbleon.html Don Crowder and Lisa Miller Wednesday, November 1, 2006 12:58 PM CST - Buchanan Lake Village, Texas, USA Served by the U.S. Post Office in Tow (rhymes-with-cow), Texas ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª Privacy: We will never share, sell, or otherwise compromise your email address. Privacy Policy on our 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. ___________________________________________________________ Subscription management for this publication is available online here: http://www.don-guitar.com/subsmanager.html or here: http://www.freelists.org/list/donspatch