[donspatch] 2008-03-01

Don's Patch #89,  March 1, 2008  from http://www.don-guitar.com

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

Archives:  http://www.freelists.org/archives/donspatch/ 
 
First word, from Don: 

This is the first thing most of you read but it's usually the last
thing I write.  There's no particular reason for that, it's just a
habit I've fallen into but it does enable me to comment on last
minute events like, for example, there are no reader contributions
in this issue because I'm out of time and energy.  It's 3:00 AM as
I type this and and I'm tired.  So far I haven't had much sleep this
week but I'm having fun.  I fixed computers for several of my neighbors,
played in a couple of beer joints, did some cooking, washed a few dishes,
did some laundry, changed a few adult diapers (let's not go there),
did some fair to middlin' carpentry... there's more but my brain isn't
functioning especially well.  I've discovered that it's tough getting a day
off when one doesn't have an official job.  Today Lisa asked me if I was
getting tired of writing the ezine; I answered that I'm tired of having 
trouble finding time to work on the ezine.  I remember when I had
several thousand links in the working folder I use to build the ezine;
that folder is empty at this moment, for the first time in six years.
Oh sure, I'll get busy and fill it up before the next issue is due but I
still feel bad about it.  If I didn't have such a wonderful life, I might
even be depressed.

If you sent me any links in the last couple of weeks, don't worry, they'll
be in the next issue.  Heck, send me some more, bring it on, I'm ready
for you.

Don 
 
Our feedback form (goes to both of us):
http://www.don-guitar.com/contactme.html 
 
Our personal news page. 
http://www.don-guitar.com/babbleon.html 
 
Don at myspace.com http://www.myspace.com/donguitar
Don's blogs.
http://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/eldergeek/
http://don-guitar.blogspot.com/

Lisa at myspace.com.  http://www.myspace.com/81825549
Lisa's blogs.
http://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/dirtgoddess
http://thedirtgoddess.blogspot.com/ 
 
 
Section One by Don. 
 
A resource for those who are growing old in the UK.
http://www.ageconcern.org.uk/
Power to the people.   http://power2thePeople.notlong.com

A place where authors & readers come together.
http://www.authorsden.com/

This site, from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, is aimed at
Americans but good advise isn't dependent upon geographic
boundaries.   http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/

Board of Governors of the U.S. Federal Reserve System.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/

The U.S. Federal Reserve System online.
http://federalreserveonline.org/

A portal to instructional materials and tools that can increase
your understanding of the U.S. Federal Reserve, economics
and financial education.   http://fed-reserve-ed.notlong.com

FedWorld, from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
http://www.fedworld.gov/

A nifty website addition if you're into news.
http://www.feeddigest.com/

Feed icons.   http://www.feedicons.com/

Here's another nice tool for news junkies.
http://www.feedreader.com/

Is your news feed composed of valid code?
http://feedvalidator.org/

Um, I don't get this one; what say Patrick, can you figure it
out (almost every time I mention that I don't understand
something Patrick Barden figures it out and explains it to me).
http://feedshark.brainbliss.com/

Feed the children.   http://www.feedthechildren.org/

Who's in charge, you or your money?
http://www.feedthepig.org/

The Forest Ecosystem Dynamics (FED) Project is concerned with
modeling and monitoring ecosystem processes and patterns in
 response to natural and anthropogenic effects.
http://fedwww.gsfc.nasa.gov/

I used to get a catalog from this company every so often.  I never
bought anything but I sure enjoyed checking out the catalog.
http://www.harborfreight.com/

In a sense, this site is about investing in the future of our planet,
albeit in a small way.   http://www.kiva.org/
Friends of Kiva.   http://www.kivafriends.org/

Do you need a teleconferencing solution at work?
http://openh323.org/

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 
 
 
Section Two by Lisa 
 
Open Source is better.  We know this. 
http://costless.notlong.com 
 
The National Sustainable Agriculture 
Information Service.  http://www.attra.org/ 
 
One man starts from scratch. 
http://www.scratchbeginnings.com/ 
 
Clarence Curtiss is still driving his first car. 
Big deal?  Maybe.   http://clarencecar.notlong.com 
 
A commercial concern which offers bison meat 
also has some interesting information. 
http://www.thunderheartbison.com/ 
 
I've been in a thrifty mood lately and came upon 
these treasures. 
http://dollarsaved.notlong.com 
http://www.thethriftshopper.com/ 
http://www.yardsalequeen.com/ 
 
A garden and landscape guide with useful information 
about the best gardens to visit and lots of 
horticultural facts.   http://www.gardenvisit.com/ 
 
A very good Image Search service. 
http://www.picsearch.com/ 
 
I've just started to play Sudoku, but not too sure 
I like it.  I'm used to winning... 
http://www.websudoku.com/ 
 
Lots of cool stuff at the U.S. Bureau of 
Engraving and Printing.   http://www.bep.treas.gov/ 
 
Tired of going out AND packing lunch?  What else is 
there?  Try Bento! 
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Bento 
http://www.cookingcute.com/ 
http://community.livejournal.com/bentolunch 
 
Printmaking and some wonderful artists. 
http://www.artspan.com/prints 
 
Celebrate the unusual life. 
http://unusuallife.com/ 
 
End of Section Two. 
 
 
At the time this issue was posted, 
the current subscriber count for 
this publication was 393. 
 
 
This issue's collection of news, 
magazine, and/or informational 
sites (chosen for maximum 
diversity regardless of "spin" ). 
http://apcmag.com/
http://www.downloadsquad.com/
http://www.drbilllong.com/index.html
http://www.mfeldstein.com/
http://www.exploratorium.edu/exploring/back.html
http://explorerstreet.blogspot.com/
http://www.feedhere.com/
http://en.hakin9.org/
http://www.thecrimson.com/
http://www.heartland.org/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ 
http://oedb.org/blogs/ilibrarian/2007/18-different-kinds-of-blog-posts/
http://www.incommunion.org/

 
Section Three by Don. 
 Dogs and cats.
http://ihasahotdog.com/
http://icanhascheezburger.com/

I was looking for this Maxine...
http://www.maxine.com
but I also found this one.
http://www.maxine.net/

Did you see the lunar eclipse a few days ago?  It
was so cloudy here that I wasn't able to see it but
there'll be another chance eventually.
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/eclipse.html

Oooh, this is geeky stuff for network admin persons.
http://www.subnetmask.info/

If you don't have a site identity, some blog sites put you
down as "anonymous" when you leave a comment but a
few blog sites have started offering another alternative.
http://openid.net/

A rather large archive of poetry.
http://www.sanjeev.net/poetry/index.html

Pop-up and movable books.
http://www.library.unt.edu/rarebooks/exhibits/popup2/

Are you pregnant?  (a quiz)
http://www.askdramy.com/quiz.html

Randy Johnson's Japan pages.
http://ease.com/~randyj/japan.htm

I love these guys; click on "music" in the
menu and you can hear some of their work.
http://www.ridersinthesky.com/

XP users, unite.   http://weblog.infoworld.com/save-xp/

SETI@home is still going strong.  You can help.
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/

Are we alone in the universe?
http://www.setileague.org/index.html

Song meanings, lyrics and trivia.   http://www.songfacts.com/

Spice advice.   http://www.spiceadvice.com/

End of Section Three. 
 
 
If you'd like to help promote this 
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Section Four by Lisa. 
 
A good thrifty-wise cooking site. 
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/ 
 
An enhanced version of OpenOffice, OxygenOffice 
Professional comes with new templates , sample 
documents, cliparts, extensions, tools, macros, 
and other add-ons.  Here's a helpful blog post 
to walk you through the finer points of downloading, 
installation and use.  Check out the author's 
other posts, too, they're very good. 
http://O2OP.notlong.com 
http://opennotes.notlong.com 
 
The study of plants probably began with the first 
humans, and it's been a long, exciting road. 
http://www.plantexplorers.com/explorers/index.html 
 
What if I die?  http://whatifidie.notlong.com 
 
Alfred Sisley, an important but under-recognized 
Impressionist painter.  Great slideshows. 
http://www.geocities.com/sisleyweb/index.htm 
 
Costless scrapbooking supplies and clipart. 
http://www.scrapbookscrapbook.com/ 
 
Nice calendars, including one for the next 
10,000 years.   http://www.calendarhome.com/tyc/ 
 
Sister Wendy Beckett, a remarkable woman, reminds us 
that our lives are remarkable, every day. 
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/sisterwendy/ 
 
A head CT atlas, mapping the regions of the human 
head.  Mouse over to see regions and explanations, 
then move on to the next slice. 
http://jakemandell.com/headct/ 
 
You'd be surprised how many ways John Irving 
has influenced our lives. 
http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/irv0pro-1 
 
Coffee and Tea. 
http://www.2basnob.com/coffee-home.html 
http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/HighTeaHistory.htm 
 
A virtual tour of CalPolyTech's Plant Conservatory. 
http://plantconservatory.calpoly.edu/Tour/ 
 
NASA pages for younger and older children. 
http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/StarChild.html 
http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 
 
All about Mt. Rushmore.   http://fahhit.notlong.com 
 
A brief history of Simon and Schuster. 
http://simonsays.notlong.com 
 
End of Section Four. 
 
 
Our feedback form: http://www.don-guitar.com/contactme.html 
 
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Section Five by Don. 
 
Who'd have thought shaving one's head could have so much
positive impact?   http://www.stbaldricks.org/

The website of London based animation director and illustrator
Steve Scott.   http://www.stevescott.com.au/

Here's another of my many heroes who's gone but not forgotten.
http://Suzanne-Pleshette.notlong.com

This looks like a pretty cool social networking site.
http://www.theculturalconnect.com/home

A good read for animal lovers.
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1102116671.shtml

Get a gig with the U.S. government.
http://www.usajobs.gov/

The U.S. Forest Service website.   http://www.fs.fed.us/

On the topic of violins and the making thereof.
http://www.bartruff.com/howto/
http://www.theviolinsite.com/violin_making/index.html
http://www.centrum.is/hansi/construction/
http://www.violins.demon.co.uk/making/index.htm
http://home.att.net/~PeteSchug/

I think that, by now, everyone has heard of Skype...
http://www.skype.com/
...Lisa and her mom have been using it for extended (toll free)
conversations between Texas and Florida but Skype isn't the
only such service available...
http://www.jaxtr.com/user/index.jsp 
...and a great deal more information can be found via a google
search on the words:   voip+directory

Here's a nice directory/portal for internet based communications
in general.   http://www.fecg.net/index.asp

A couple of resources for Vista users.
http://www.vistaheads.com/index.php
http://vistarewired.com/

I went looking for low-cost dial-up internet service in order to
learn how to configure a modem on Linux systems; here's the
service I decided on.   http://www.vtisp.com/

An information source for IM users.   http://www.wackyb.co.nz/

Web Japan.   http://web-japan.org/

One of my friends (who prefers to remain anonymous) insists that
wireless routers need to be secure from unauthorized users.
http://ask-leo.com/wireless_encryption_do_i_need_it.html

This looks like a sort of extended network "thingy".
http://www.yakkle.com/

The top 50 proprietary programs that drive you crazy and their open
source alternatives.   http://50-foss.notlong.com
 
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  
 
Section Six by Lisa. 
 
A veterinary info site by a dedicated veterinarian. 
Thanks, Dr. Ken.   http://netvet.wustl.edu/vet.htm  
 
Cinnamon's photos.  http://cinnaphoto.notlong.com 
 
Resources for young adults with cancer. 
http://www.preparetolive.org/ 
 
The best Stuffed Cabbage Rolls recipe. 
http://www.stasek.com/recipes/halupki.html 
 
ZenHabits is one of my favorite sites.  ZenToDone is a 
productivity system worth taking a look at. 
http://zentodone.notlong.com 
 
Natural News; news of human interest. 
http://www.naturalnews.com/ 
 
Practical robotics. 
http://consciousrobots.notlong.com 
http://mobilityrobots.notlong.com 
http://robotsinhome.notlong.com 
 
Do-it-yourself home energy audit tool. 
http://hes.lbl.gov/ 
 
Founded by a class at the University of Michigan's 
School of Information, the Internet Public Library 
is a wealth of information.   http://www.ipl.org/ 
 
Hideously addictive simple game.  I love it! 
http://www.kongregate.com/games/SimianLogic/filler 
 
Disaster preparedness from the Red Cross. 
http://www.prepare.org/ 
 
PetSmart, a commercial site, has lots of articles, 
guides and info.  http://www.petsmart.com/home/index.jsp 
 
The West India Regiment were a valued part of 
British forces in the West Indies. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_India_Regiment 
 
The Substitute Teacher Survival Page. 
http://www.csrnet.org/csrnet/substitute/ 
 
Workrave helps you prevent and treat Repetitive Strain 
Injury (RSI).  The Windows version is available on this 
page, but if you have a Linux distro, search your OSs 
Repository for Workrave by name rather than trying to 
install from Source. 
http://www.workrave.org/download/ 
 
Job Resources from The Riley Guide. 
http://www.rileyguide.com/ 
 
End of Section Six. 
 
 
The Linux Corner. 
 
Here's another Linux-inside-Windows alternative.
http://www.andlinux.org/

Blag is an impressive, single CD, Fedora based Linux distro
from the Brixton Linux Action Group in Canada...
http://www.blagblagblag.org/
...and you can get a  Blag CD here:   http://Blag-CD.notlong.com

KateOS is a Linux distro that's intended for use on older, slower,
low resource computer systems.   http://www.kateos.org/
(I tried it on a 550 MHz P3 w/256 MB of RAM and it ran beautifully)

By now, most everyone is aware that Linux was created by Linus Torvalds
but not everyone knows that he started with a system called Minix.  This
is Linus' first post about his new system made to a Minix email list.
http://torvalds-history.notlong.com

Learn 10 good UNIX (Linux) usage habits.
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/aix/library/au-badunixhabits.html
 
 
A Little Humor. 
 
John, Joe and Jack were stranded on an island for several years.  One day
John found an old lamp on the beach so he picked it up and took it to show
the others.  As he handed it to Joe, John noticed it was dirty and he rubbed
the dirt off. Suddenly there appeared a genie, who said, "Okay, you know
the deal, i've been in that lamp for a long time so I will grant you each
one wish for releasing me."

John said he was in the oil business in Texas and had a big beautiful
ranch.   He wished he could be back on his ranch. POOF! in an
instant, John was gone.

Joe said he wished he could be a millionaire on a cruise ship.
Again, Poof!, in an instant Joe was gone too.

The Genie then turned to Jack and asked, "What is your wish?" After
thinking for several minutes, Jack just couldn't make up his mind.
"Gee", said Jack, "I wish John and Joe were here to help me decide..."

 
Tips for This Issue. 
 
Lots of Windows info.   http://www.pctipsbox.com/

More on Windows.   http://www.computerfreetips.com/

Windows and MS products.   http://www.computertips.com/

 
Last word, from Lisa: 
 
As usual our lives are "full speed ahead" and getting 
the ezine out has been hectic and fun.  I also write a 
"mini-ezine" for my Llano Master Gardener website.  It's 
a little biased toward the interests of Central Texas 
gardeners, but for those of you who like to read about 
plants and gardening, here's the link; 
 
http://llanomastergardener.org/links.html 
 
My mother and I are still having a blast giving her 
computer lessons via Skype and I'm blogging our 
experience here; 
 
http://www.lockergnome.com/dirtgoddess/ 
 
She's given herself the moniker "OldieButNewbie", so 
that's the name of the series of posts on Lockergnome. 
If you have the opportunity, please consider tutoring 
an older friend or relative in computer use, it opens 
up a world of possibilities for them.  
 
'Til next time, 
 
Lisa 
 
Our feedback form (goes to both of us):
http://www.don-guitar.com/contactme.html 
 
Lisa at myspace.com.  http://www.myspace.com/81825549
Lisa's blogs.
http://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/dirtgoddess
http://thedirtgoddess.blogspot.com/

Don at myspace.com http://www.myspace.com/donguitar
Don's blogs.
http://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/eldergeek/
http://don-guitar.blogspot.com/ 
 
Our personal news page. 
http://www.don-guitar.com/babbleon.html 
 
Don Crowder and Lisa Miller 
Saturday, March 1, 2008 
3:45 AM CST - Buchanan Lake Village, Texas, USA 
Served by the U.S. Post Office in Tow (rhymes-with-cow), Texas 
 
 
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