[donspatch] 2006-12-15

Don's Patch #60 from http://www.don-guitar.com  December 15, 2006

First word, from Don:

Lisa's decided that she wants to learn Debian so that she can take
a more active role in our "great computer adventure".  Her PCLinuxOS
is a great deal more user friendly (nearly everything "just works") but
it won't run on most of the older computers I've been refurbishing
whereas Debian Sarge not only runs on them, it runs very nicely.
Anyone familiar with Windows will be checking email and surfing the
web, with Firefox, in a matter of minutes but will also have a few
problems "unlearning" things that don't work the same in Debian as
they do in Windows.  New users, who've never owned a computer,
will have a much easier time of it overall.

We're still unable to update or edit our website and I can't seem to
keep all my ducks in a row for long enough to get our site transferred
to a new host.  If we had a commercial site and were loosing revenue
I'm sure I'd be hopping mad and prepared to take "drastic action" by
now but, as it is, I feel a little like Winnie the Poo; I feel like saying
"Oh, bother" and having a little snack.  This is a very bad time of
year to be in any sort of hurry.  If you've been rushing about just
lately, all I can tell you is "cut that out".  It's bad for your digestion.

Happy holidays everyone; may you enjoy the best of love, luck
and happiness.  See you next time.

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://blog.myspace.com/donguitar

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

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Here's a way to get a temporary email address for those
occasions when you need one to register for something
but don't wish to permanently surrender your address.
http://10minutemail.com/10MinuteMail/index.html

Benny Pedersen's English isn't the best and he's a fairly geeky
sort of fellow but his site was interesting to explore.
http://users.cybercity.dk/~bse26236/home.html

Helping children acquire some of the insanity of older, wiser
adults.   http://www.amazing-kids.org/

Do you have an American accent?
http://www.gotoquiz.com/what_american_accent_do_you_have

Always worthy of another mention because the contents
continue to grow.  American Memory from the Library of
Congress.   http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html

Ancient Greek technology.
http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=1337165

The Art Institute of Chicago.   http://www.artic.edu/aic/

This video is a simulation of a catastrophic battery failure in
a laptop computer.   http://www.pcpitstop.com/pcsafety/video.asp

The Beethoven-House Bonn.
http://www.beethoven-haus-bonn.de/sixcms/detail.php//portal_en

Big Bands Database.   http://www.nfo.net/

More amazing than the fact that there are artists who make music
on "ancient" video gaming consoles is the fact that there are
enough of them out there for them to have a festival of their own.
http://www.blipfestival.org/

Boxing.   http://www.maxboxing.com/

Butterflies.   http://www.thebutterflysite.com/

Weirdness by telephone.   http://callthefuture.org/

Celebrating Wildflowers.   http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/

The Central Florida Heritage Foundation.   http://www.cfhf.net/

Rock and Roll Artists Of The '50s, '60s and '70s.
http://www.classicbands.com/

Light music of the 1930s, - mid 1960s, classic U.S. TV themes,
and old-time radio themes.  http://www.classicthemes.com/

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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

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All of these have to do with the smallest and most
easily played of all fretted musical instruments.
http://www.ukeschool.com/
http://www.ukulelestrummers.com/
http://snipurl.com/qoet
http://snipurl.com/14wg4
http://snipurl.com/14wg9
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukulele
http://www.alligatorboogaloo.com/uke/tabs.html
http://www.ukulele.ca/
http://www.sheep-entertainment.nl/ukulele/
http://www.gootar.com/folder/ukulele.html
http://ukediner.ukulele.org/
http://www.ukuleleguild.org/
http://www.ukulele.org/
http://www.geocities.com/~ukulele/index.html
http://nfo.net/usa/ukehist.html
http://www.ukulelehut.com/
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/ukulelemadness/
http://www.brookadams.com/jumping-flea/index.html
http://www.redhotjazz.com/cliffedwards.html
http://www.ukemag.com/
http://www.ukuleleorchestra.com/main/home.aspx
http://www.st.rim.or.jp/~kunisige/eukulele.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oIWkIHv4zU&eurl=
http://www.ukulelia.com/

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At the time this issue was posted, the current
subscriber count for this publication was 340.

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This issue's collection of news/magazine/informational sites
(these are chosen for maximum diversity regardless of "spin" ).
http://www.artsci.washington.edu/newsletter/autumn06/
http://baytownsun.com/
http://www.entrepreneur.com/hotcenter
http://www.capitaleye.org/
http://www.careerjournal.com/
http://craftzine.com/
http://www.diplomacymonitor.com/
http://familyfun.go.com/
http://goldsea.com/
http://www.ithaca.edu/icq/
http://www.jazzhouse.org/
http://www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/index
http://www.mosmandaily.com.au/index.html

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Just think, in a few days you could be talking like a mondo
geek.   http://jargon.net/

There are several quizzes in this issue, like this one,
http://snipurl.com/14vrs
and I'm sure that several of you will enjoy taking them but,
even more interesting, perhaps one or more of you will
enjoy creating your own quiz.
http://www.gotoquiz.com/create.html
If you do, I hope you'll pass it on to me so I can pass it
on to the rest of our readers.

Find out if a specific celebrity is dead or alive.
http://www.deadoraliveinfo.com/

I have a small page on this topic and I hope to eventually turn
it into a large page, but meanwhile, Andreas Janssen's tips
on installing Debian Sarge is a good resource.
http://www.andreas-janssen.de/debian-tipps-sarge.html

This is funny.   http://www.andyrutledge.com/web-wars.php

From the University of Colorado at Boulder, a very cool digital
sheet music collection.   http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/music/smp/

Seriously, stop sitting up straight, it isn't good for you.
http://snipurl.com/14vsd

Games and interesting game-related information.
http://www.eatmygames.com/

A great resource for educators or crossword addicts.
http://www.greeneclipsesoftware.com/eclipsecrossword/

They like Elvis in Oz.   http://www.elvis.com.au/

Lots of practical, useful info.   http://www.energystar.gov/

Everything you every wanted to know about EPIRBs.
http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/marcomms/gmdss/epirb.htm

Yet another ezine indexing site.  I suppose I should get listed with
them too.   http://new-list.com/

Scroll down, type in your name, and you too can be a star.
http://www.famousstar.de/

A fifties site.   http://www.fiftiesweb.com/

Gruesome, but interesting.
http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-1149/

Flying saucers in popular culture.
http://www.ufopop.org/

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Jazz monthly magazine.   http://jazzmonthly.com/index.html

Sometimes, you don't even want to know.
http://www.gotoquiz.com/what_mental_disorder_do_you_have

Inspiration and motivation.  http://getmotivation.com/

Odd and unusual musical instruments.
http://www.oddmusic.com/gallery/

Howtos, explanations and geeky fun.
http://www.newlinuxuser.com/

For those interested in the Linux gaming world.
http://linuxgamingworld.com/

Here's a nice change; a dictionary that's really
fast, like a ninja.   http://www.ninjawords.com/

A rare find, test preparation courses that
are totally costless.   http://number2.com/

Gallery of admission tickets to old TV shows.
http://www.oldtvtickets.com/

Australia's e-journal of social and political debate.
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/

Harry Truman's presidential museum and library.
http://www.trumanlibrary.org/index.php

These people want your opinion.
http://www.rateitall.com/

Nifty, costless little tool that does one thing very
well, resizing.  http://resizr.lord-lance.com/default.asp

Another kind of dictionary, yet another
great tool.  http://www.onelook.com/

South Carolina African-American History Online.
http://www.scafricanamericanhistory.com/

A blog on one of our favorite subjects.  Work to live
or live to work?   http://www.slowleadership.org/

A tiny image-capture app called Snippy.
http://www.bhelpuri.net/Snippy/default.htm

Let your voice be heard.
http://www.speakout.com/index.html

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Don't ask me how they do it, maybe it's ad supported, but you can
set up a conference call and there's no charge.
http://www.freeconference.com/

I don't know what "mind mapping" is but it does look interesting.
http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

I've mentioned Frozen Bubbles before.  It's quite possibly the
most popular Linux game of all time; so popular, in fact, that
there are a couple of online versions and it's been ported for
both Windows and Mac OS-X.  Here's the wiki on the game.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frozen_Bubble
The home page:   http://www.frozen-bubble.org/
A Java version online.   http://glenn.sanson.free.fr/fb/play.html
A Flash version online.
http://www.ventoline.com/frozenbubble/
Windows version.   http://fb-win32.sourceforge.net/
Mac OS-X version.   http://redivi.com/~bob/frozenbubble.html
There's even one for Series 60 cellphones.
http://fb-s60.sourceforge.net/?opt=2

This site represents a compendium of information on the
general topic of security.  http://www.globalsecurity.org/

What is Google Suggest?  Well, as you type, Google will offer
suggestions.  http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en

Greg Lindahl, young scientist.   http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/

It's pronounced like the color "green" and if it isn't the oldest
dance hall in Texas, it's certainly one of the most popular.
http://www.gruenehall.com/

 A brief history of life.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/origins/life.html

The history of Rock and Roll.   http://www.history-of-rock.com/

Interactive, geeky-type, educational stuff, Very cool.
http://snipurl.com/14wge

IZArc is an impressive looking file compression/archive utility
that's also costless (which can be confirmed on the "donate"
page).   http://www.izarc.org/
For the last several years now I've used 7-zip and been very
happy with it.  It too is without cost.   http://www.7-zip.org/

Japanese Literary and Cultural Studies at the University of
Washington.   http://courses.washington.edu/jpnlit/

Chip Rosenthal's website.   http://www.unicom.com/

Educational Facts & Opinions.   http://www.debv.com/

An architectural blog.   http://unusuallife.com/

Used cars can be a real bargain but it pays to research.
http://www.edmunds.com/reviews/bestbet/articles/

The Utah History Research Center.
http://history.utah.gov/utah_history_research_center/

Create your very own cool and useful warning labels.
http://www.warninglabelgenerator.com/

Webmuseum, Paris.   http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/

Windows update for Firefox users.
http://windowsupdate.62nds.com/

Forums for Windows users.
http://forums.winxpcentral.com/

More Windows goodies.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/

One last Windows utility.
http://www.palma.com.au/winroll/

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http://www.don-guitar.com/currentissue.html

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One of the best singers ever in this NPR Special;
three full-length standards by Gladys Knight.
http://snipurl.com/14wqp

Check your spelling online.   http://www.spellify.com/

The Southern Poverty Law Center.
http://www.splcenter.org/index.jsp

Correspondence chess in the Internet Age.
http://www.stansco.com/netchess/index.html

Staph Superbug is becoming a concern.
http://snipurl.com/14wnd

Costing approximately 1/10 of what Micro$oft's Vista
will in 2007, SUSE Linux may well be the top desktop OS
of the near future.   http://snipurl.com/14wny

A Windows Web Browser that looks interesting.
http://try.swift.ws/index.php/Main_Page

Learn how to set a proper table.   http://snipurl.com/14wnz

Teachers on the Web in Australia.
http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/

Teaching with historic places.
http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/

The story of Mel, a moral lesson.
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/mel.html

Remember the Original Amateur Hour?  We do.
http://www.originalamateurhour.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Mack_(television_host)
http://snipurl.com/14wou

I think I like this woman rather a lot.
http://snipurl.com/14wpg

Anglican-Episcopal news.   http://www.thewitness.org/

Website design, promotion, programming.
http://www.thesitewizard.com/

Friends of Tony Orlando and Dawn.
http://www.friends-of-toad.com/

An interesting man, an intriguing commitment.
http://www.tribeofheart.org/

What is your tribe?   http://texas.tribe.net/welcome

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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

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An extensive database on food.
http://www.wise2food.com/

An online soccer game.   http://www.worldcupballsup.com/

A few sources of wallpaper images.
http://datafox.org/wallpapers/wallpapers_greece.php
http://www.freeimages.co.uk/galleries/wallpaper/
http://snipurl.com/14wnq

I wanted to draw a schematic of a circuit I designed for a
friend of mine the other day and I've never been able to
find a decent costless schematic drawing app for Windows.
On a lark, I googled to see if one existed for Linux and was
surprised to find what looks like a good one.  I checked and
found it in the Debian repository so I didn't even have to
figure out how to install it from source; two clicks and a few
seconds later it was installed on my computer.
http://opencircuitdesign.com/xcircuit/index.html
Of course learning to use it involves ascending yet another
learning curve.  *sigh*

This young man, who's surname is, I think, Gray, is a
very good photographer.   http://www.xgray.org/

Build yourself an online desktop.   http://www.protopage.com/

Here are three funny videos from Chris Pirello that are supposed
to run simultaneously.  http://snipurl.com/14wo2

yubnub calls itself a "social command line for the web".
http://yubnub.org/
Here's a list of the most used commands.
http://yubnub.org/kernel/most_used_commands

============== Humor =============

As a new bride, Edna moved into the small home on her husband's
ranch near Snowflake, Arizona. She put a shoe box on a shelf in
her closet and asked her husband never to touch it.  For fifty years
Jack left the box alone, until Edna was old and dying. One day
when he was putting their affairs in order, he found the box again and
thought it might hold something important. Opening it, he found two
doilies and $82,500 in cash. He took the box to her and asked about
the contents.
"My mother gave me that box the day we married.  She told me to
make a doily to help ease my frustrations every time I got mad at you."

Jack was very touched that in 50 years she'd only been mad at him
twice. "What's the $82,500 for?" he asked.

"Oh, that's the money I made selling the doilies."

============== Tips ===============

Useful information for almost all versions of Windows and other data
as well.   http://www.mdgx.com/

Windows 9x data from Scot Finnie.
http://www.scotsnewsletter.com/best_of/95tipfix.htm#fixes

A wealth of Windows info from Scot Gilmore.
http://members.cox.net/scotterpops/index.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 our web sibling Jerry Fox.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ukulele Ray is an odd person.   http://www.boxaleleco.com/

"off the mark" is strange but funny.
http://www.offthemark.com/xmas/xmas.htm

This is not funny.  This is gruesome.  This is also reality but
don't, Do Not, look at this site if human cruelty offends you.
This site may make you cry.  It may even make you throw
up.   http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/no-darker-heart.htm

=================================
From reader and friend Foggy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A good site for electronics hobbyists.
http://www.redrok.com/electron.htm

A good site for "gadgeteers".
http://www.grynx.com/category/projects/

Make your own model airplane, from paper.
http://www.papercreate.com/FreeKit.html

Printable graph paper.
http://www.incompetech.com/beta/plainGraphPaper/

Irish language, culture and customs.
http://www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/3Focloir/1Home.html

=================================
From reader and friend, Irving Stein.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An interesting combination of billiards and dominoes (video).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuxxxZPOs9s

Windows tips & tricks, answers to computer questions and
more from cloudeight.   http://thundercloud.net/infoave/

Don't just ignore that EULA, analyze it.
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/eulalyzer.html

What's a military family worth?
http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/deathpay.asp

=================================
From our web sibling Jo-Ann Burton.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sharinglinks2/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An extensive educational resource.
http://www.educationplanet.com/

Celebrate every day.   http://www.earthcalendar.net/

Sports Illustrated photo galleries.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/

Forbes.com's picks for Best of the Web.
http://www.forbes.com/bow/

What would you love to know?  http://www.lovetoknow.com/

Science Fiction dot Com.   http://www.scifi.com/

The sites which have received this award are likely to be
worth exploring.   http://www.linksgiving.com/award/

Political site of the day.   http://www.aboutpolitics.com/

One website's opinion about who you should know.
http://www.whoyoushouldknow.com/

=================================
From our web sibling John Lepse.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cartoonist Gahan Wilson is slightly bizarre
but humorous and never obscene.
http://www.gahanwilson.com/

Security on the cheap.   http://tinyurl.com/srdaa

=================================
From reader and friend Ken Thomson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SEC Center for Complaints and Enforcement Tips.
http://www.sec.gov/complaint.shtml

Have you been hearing about Polonium in the news?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polonium

=================================
From our web sibling Tony Bromeland.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Everybody pretty much knows that some of the
first Americans came from England.  Not everyone
is aware that people are still regularly leaving
England.  No doubt many of them wind up in
America.   http://www.telegraph.co.uk/global/


Thank you Jerry, Foggy, Irv, Jo, John, Ken and Tony

=================================
Last word, from Lisa:

Once again, I'm learning a new OS and it's amusing to
find that my brain feels like it's exploding.

As many of you know from our personal news pages, Don
is learning to build computers.  There is a world of
information on the internet for him to learn from, and
our friends, new and old, have helped him immensely.
One reason we love Linux is that it is costless, provided
one is willing to put in the time to do the research.  For
those who cannot, in the near future any of several
mature and user-friendly versions of Linux (called "distros")
will come installed on new computers.  The Linux OSs cost
a tiny fraction of comparable Microsoft products, so
computers will become more affordable to the average person,
proving once again that competition is a very good thing.


A side benefit to this learning experience is that he will
be able to make a contribution to the world of computing,
a world that has given us so much.  He'll be donating
computers to those who need them.  We'll both be learning
the Operating System that will be installed on them--
usually Debian Sarge (the stable version of Debian)--
so that we can better teach the recipients how to use them.
When our friends and acquaintances learn what we're doing,
they offer their knowledge, support, extra parts and gadgets
at low or no cost, or want to know what they can do to
help.  To me this exemplifies the spirit of those who
love knowledge, and the spirit of the season as well.

May you and your loved ones have a joyous holiday season.

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
Friday, December 15, 2006
4:40 AM CST - Buchanan Lake Village, Texas, USA
Served by the U.S. Post Office in Tow (rhymes-with-cow), Texas

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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.

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