[donspatch] 2008-11-01

Don's Patch #104,  November 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 morning I got a call from a neighbor who said her
computer wouldn't turn on.  Under her computer desk is
a power strip where her computer, printer, monitor and  
DSL modem are plugged in.  That strip was switched off.
I turned it back on and hung around long enough to see
that her computer booted up just fine once it had power.
I told her it's 'one of those days' and not to worry
about it.
 
I spent two hours trying to copy a CD this evening but the
process kept getting hung up on track 4.  I went through
all sorts of contortions and even rebooted before I noticed
that the CD had a large dirty fingerprint on its 'shiny
side.  Wiping off the fingerprint solved the problem.

So, it really was 'one of those days' wasn't it?

Argh.

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. 
 
Tinywords, haiku daily.   http://tinywords.com/

FloppyOffice has grown into USB Office.
http://www.xtort.net/office-and-productivity/floppy-office/

Windows goodies.   http://www.donationcoder.com/

An interesting collection of business cards.
http://blog.tinybuildings.com/

Paper toys (assembly required).
http://www.thetoymaker.com/2Toys.html

Toy reviews.
http://www.toytips.com/
http://www.toy-tma.com/

Toy safety.
http://www.uspirg.org/issues/toy-safety
http://www.toysafety.org/

DIY science toys.   http://www.sciencetoymaker.org/

Toy and low fidelity photography.
http://www.toycamera.com/

Toy history.   http://www.history.com/minisites/toys/

A how-to video for an interesting 'transformer' toy.
http://metacafe-toy-xfmr.notlong.com

Kids Corner from John Deere.
http://www.deere.com/en_US/compinfo/kidscorner/

We took this IQ test out of curiosity.  They make it
seem as though you must give an email address to see
the results but that's not the case.  Just give a
bogus address if you like, they'll show you your score
on a subsequent page.  Lisa and I scored 135 and 136
respectively.   http://www.iqtester.com/

Do you know your online rights?
http://www.chillingeffects.org/index.cgi

It's been a while since I've mentioned these two sites
which we regard as having been our most valuable html
and CSS learning resources...
http://www.w3schools.com/default.asp
http://www.eskimo.com/~bloo/indexdot/
...on the other hand, when we're trying to figure out
how to accomplish a specific task in html we find it's
most often faster and easier to turn to Google.

Twelve hour nasal spray gives me sneezing fits.  The
only thing I can use is Phenylephrine HCI (1%) which
I used to buy at Walmart but, about a year ago, they
discontinued stocking it and none of the drug stores
in our area have ever stocked it.  I found it online
and have since found it practical and economical to
purchase other products from the same source.
http://www.drugstore.com/

Voice of America Website of the Week podcasts.
http://www.voanews.com/english/Science/website_week.cfm

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 
 
Have questions about the Quakers?
http://www.quaker.org/

There are four Shakers left in the world.  In
case they die out, they have a plan.
http://last4shakers.notlong.com

A child's first book; prelude to a lifetime
of learning.   http://1stbook.notlong.com

One thing that's frustrated new users of GIMP
was the lack of dynamic brushes.  The newest version
has them, but here's how to make your own.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=105466

Think you can't help save the economy?  Read this.
http://saveeconomy.notlong.com

This Firefox extension helps save you time
and money when browsing for books.
http://www.bookburro.org/

Kwabena Darko became an entrepreneur.  His story
and his life has touched many people.
http://onehen.notlong.com

Is there a dying dialect where you live?
http://texasgerman.notlong.com

Some thoughts from the Food Crusader.
http://www.foodcrusader.com/

Shakespeare play summaries.  In case you didn't see
the movie, you still don't have to read the book.
http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/play-summary.htm

Build your own Fantastic Contraption.  Very
addicting, you have been warned.
http://fantasticcontraption.com/

A bit of an obscure hobby, trainspotting is
interesting, to say the least.
http://elt.britcoun.org.pl/elt/y_trains.htm

Costless extensible personal genealogical software. 
http://www.linux.com/feature/59906

The Zero-G experience, how you can do it
and  what to expect.
http://www.gozerog.com/
http://zerog.notlong.com

Dedicated to the art of Collage.
http://www.collageart.org/

Official WD-40 site and the 2000+ uses for it.
http://www.wd40.com/
http://www.wd40.com/files/pdf/wd-40_2042538679.pdf 
 
End of Section Two. 
 
 
At the time this issue was posted, 
the current subscriber count for 
this publication was 394. 
 
 
This issue's collection of online news, blogs, 
magazines, videos  and/or other informational
sites.  These are chosen for maximum diversity
regardless of "spin" and in some cases may
have offensive or questionable content. 
http://www.irishnews.com/
http://www.therevealer.org/
http://www.hintmag.com/
http://www.popcrunch.com/
http://www.networkworld.com/index.html
http://www.culturefeast.com/
http://twit.tv/
http://www.educause.edu/
http://thenose.journalspace.com/
http://www.mefeedia.com/
http://readthisblog.net/
http://www.ojr.org/
http://www.flickr.com/groups/drops/ 
 
Section Three by Don. 
 
Explore Flickr.   http://www.flickr.com/explore/

Informative information for the uninformed
(high tech stuff).   http://www.uninformed.org/

Interesting podcasts (mp3 recordings) from U. Penn.
http://writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/singles/

More cool podcasts.   http://www.podcastdirectory.com/

Need to check your RAM?  Some Linux live CDs, like
Ubuntu, incorporate RAM testing but you can also
start with an ISO file and burn your own RAM testing
CD or, for a modest investment, purchase one that's
already burned and ready to use.
http://www.memtest86.com/

DRM free music in a choice of colors.
http://guitarati.com/

Need a creative way to relieve stress?  Try hurling
a Mangold.   http://www.mangoldhurling.co.uk/

Games, tests and quizzes (along with, in some
cases, popups and assorted advertising).
http://www.allthetests.com/
http://www.quizrocket.com/
http://www.personalityquiz.net/
http://www.nerdtests.com/ft_nq.php
http://www.funeducation.com/
http://www.mensa.org/workout2.php
http://www.ecenglish.com/Fun-Test
http://www.vocabulary.co.il/
http://www.personalitytest.net/
http://www.xrite.com/custom_page.aspx?PageID=77
http://abbys-good-stuff.com/iqtest.php
http://news-au-R-L-brain.notlong.com
http://themathlab-probable.notlong.com
 
End of Section Three. 
 
 
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Section Four by Lisa. 
 
We're considering having our genomes mapped.
How about you?   http://www.personalgenomes.org/

The art of A. Andrew Gonzalez.
http://www.sublimatrix.com/index.html

Science, physics, tech and nano news.
http://www.physorg.com/

Desert animals and wildlife.
http://www.desertusa.com/animal.html

I've become intrigued by an ancient
hair-removal technique; sugaring.  It's
fast, easy, safe and inexpensive.
http://sugaring.notlong.com
http://sugaring2.notlong.com
http://sugaring3.notlong.com
http://sugaring4.notlong.com
http://sugaring5.notlong.com

The Pitbull of personal development.
http://www.larrywinget.com/

The Best Gossip.   http://thebestgossip.com/

The best paper airplane.
http://www.zurqui.com/crinfocus/paper/airplane.html

You've been looking all over for VectorTuts!
http://vectortuts.com/

The best article every day.
http://www.bspcn.com/

Pinhole photography is an intriguing art form.
http://www.wandascott.com/index.html

Only 185 days to Free Comic Book Day!
http://www.freecomicbookday.com/

Rankings for lots of things.
http://www.ranqit.com/ 
 
End of Section Four. 
 
 
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).
Our feedback form: http://www.don-guitar.com/contactme.html 
 
Section Five by Don. 
 
Metacafe is similar to YouTube.  http://www.metacafe.com/

A travel resource.   http://www.travbuddy.com/

A technical, geeky, interesting, worrisome
article by Mary Jo Foley.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/22/anatomy_of_a_hack/

A little help?   http://www.stasek.com/alittlehelp/

An online tech magazine for PC users.
http://www.maximumpc.com/

Most new Windows computers come with a variety of demo
applications preloaded and there are those users who find
this to be an offensive practice on the part of the
manufacturers.  Fortunately, there are alternatives
available to them.   http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/

An extensive web-dev resource.   http://www.webmonkey.com/

Technology Review from MIT (very cool).
http://www.technologyreview.com/

NASA's Kepler Mission.   http://kepler.nasa.gov/johannes/

How Muslims are treated in America (a disturbing video).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqbQWxHIn4U

Do you have a wish that's big enough to change the world?
http://www.tedprize.org/

Let them eat chicken.   http://hungerrelief.tyson.com/

Are you depressed?   http://www.depression.com/

Last Monday I clicked on my Weather Underground link...
http://www.wunderground.com/   ...to get a local forecast
and their site was offline so I had to find somewhere
else to get a local forecast.
http://www.weather.gov/
http://www.accuweather.com/

How much is enough?   http://www.overindulgence.info/

Zen habits, simple productivity.   http://zenhabits.net/

His name has come up during every presidential campaign
since 1968 but, though he died in 1997, Pat Paulsen's name
has come up again and there's a good chance his son will
continue Pat's tradition.  http://www.paulsen.com/pat/
 
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. 
 
For people who love to read.
http://www.literaryreview.co.uk/index.html

Birdhouse plans.  http://www.craftybirds.com/

Work and play Lifetips.
http://www.lifetips.com/

Have you seen those cool "wordclouds"?
Make one of your own with this generator.
http://www.wordle.net/

Spinning wheels and related tools.
http://www.spwhsl.com/

Rock art holds some of the keys to understanding
human history.   http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/

Resources for web developers and designers.
http://sixrevisions.com/

Help for parents of difficult children.
http://www.conductdisorders.com/

When was the last time you saw shadow puppets?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WlbQPmXg08

Who else was born on your birthday?
http://www.famousbirthdays.com/

Everything tech.   http://www.cnet.com/?tag=hdr%3bsnav

Connie Talbot, first introduced on 'Britain's
Got Talent', is an amazing child.
http://www.connietalbot.com/

Population, housing, economic, and geographic data.
http://uscensus.notlong.com

With the upcoming holiday season, sewers and
crafters feel the urge to get to work.  Here are
some sites with plenty of tutorials and costless
ideas and patterns.
http://www.sewingworldmagazine.com/
http://lovetosew.com/
http://thecraftersresource.googlepages.com/

In the same spirit, here are some fabulous butter
cookie recipes.   http://buttercookies.notlong.com

One of my favorite online magazines. Edge is
a little heavy reading sometimes, but it sure
bumps you out of your current comfort zone.
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge263.html 
 
End of Section Six. 
 
 
The Linux Corner. 
 
A Voice of America website of the
week podcast featuring Distrowatch.com.
http://voa-on-distrowatch.notlong.com 

Weekly podcast from Distrowatch.
http://distrowatch.com/news/podcast.xml

Linux News Log podcast.   http://linux.quicksurf.com/

Here's yet another Linux distro aimed at older hardware.
http://www.pc-os.org/

Ever wanted to clone your hard drive?
http://www.clonezilla.org/

Much to explore on the site of a defunct Linux based
comic strip.   http://hackles.org/

Linux newbie help in plain English.
http://www.tuxfiles.org/

HP wants your input.  Of course I told them they should
offer several versions of pre-installed Linux.
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/execteam/email/hurd/index.html

High tech Linux desktop goodies.
http://www.screenlets.org/index.php/Home

A nice online magazine for Linux newbs.
http://www.tuxmagazine.com/

TuxTraining is a community software documentation dump.
http://tuxtraining.com/

Dave Bechtel's Linux tips.
http://wolfrdr.tripod.com/linuxtips.html

Linux Magazine.   http://www.linux-mag.com/

 
A Little Humor. 
 
A guy walks into a bar and orders a drink. While he's
waiting, he hears little voices saying things like,
'You really look nice in that suit,' and 'what an
attractive hair cut.' He mentions this to the
bartender, who says, 'Oh, that's just the peanuts,
they're complimentary.'

Q:   What do you get when you divide the
circumference of a pumpkin by its diameter?
A:   Pumpkin pi!

A trucker is driving a group of penguins to the zoo.
Suddenly, his truck breaks down and he is forced to
pull over to the side of the road. He flags down a
farmer driving by in his van and says, 'I'll give
you $100 to take these penguins to the zoo.' The
farmer accepts, loads the penguins in the van, and
drives off. A few hours later, while the trucker
is repairing his truck, he sees the farmer drive
by with the penguins still in the back of his van.
The trucker shouts out, 'Hey, I thought you were
going to take those penguins to the zoo!' The farmer
replies, 'Well, I took them to the zoo, but then I
had some money left over, so now I'm taking them
to the movies.'

Patient: Doctor, I can't get this song out of my
head and it's driving me crazy. I keep hearing,
'It's Good to Touch the Green Green Grass of Home.'
Doctor: Hmm...that sounds like Tom Jones Syndrome.
Patient: I've never heard of it.
Doctor: Well, it's not unusual....

Q:   What do Mack the Knife, Winnie the Pooh,
and Attila the Hun have in common?
A:   Their middle names.

Did you hear about the guy they found face down
in the bathtub covered in Cheerios and milk?
The police said it was the work of a cereal killer.

Two muffins are in the oven. The first muffin says,
'Hey, isn't it getting kind of hot in here?' The
second muffin replies, 'Oh my goodness, it's a
talking muffin!'

'While driving I had an accident with a
magician.  It wasn't my fault, the guy
came out of nowhere.' (Auggie Cook)

Two hydrogen atoms are walking together. One says,
'I've lost my electron.' The other one says,
'Are you sure?' The first one replies,
'Yes, I'm positive.'

After a long and happy life, Angus MacDonald died.
His widow called the local paper, requesting that
a death notice be published. Ever frugal, she
asked that the notice simply state, 'Angus is
dead.' The newspaper editor told her that death
notices had to be a minimum of six words. 'Fine,'
she replied. 'Make it, 'Angus is dead;
Volvo for sale.'

 
Tips for This Issue. 

One cool tip.   http://www.onecooltip.com/

Windows tip of the day.
http://windowstipoftheday.blogspot.com/

Kim Komando.   http://www.komando.com/tips/

National Geographic's Green Guide, tip of the
week.   http://www.thegreenguide.com/blog/tow
 
 
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 Patrick Barden. 
( http://rrwbushangel.blogspot.com/ )

This is sand.   http://thisissand.com/
Sand gallery.   http://thisissand.com/gallery/

The old telephone (a good old story).
http://eonsdotcom-oldphone.notlong.com

Beware of little girls (cute video).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orajIgACxbs

Drawing with water (another video).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIMdBK8yr_g


Tony Bromeland sent me some cool photos of
Husky sculptures that are popping up all
over his home town.  For some reason it took
me a while to find them on a website.
http://www.huskiesonparade.com/


From our web sibling Jo-Ann (Jo) Burton: 
[ Her cool Yahoo group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sharinglinks2/ ]

Pop culture's hip and hidden treasures. 
http://blogs.usatoday.com/popcandy/ 
 
Weather guys blog.   http://blogs.usatoday.com/weather/ 
 
Tornado pictures.   http://www.extremeinstability.com/ 
 
A 'fringy' sort of news/information blog. 
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/Welcome.html 
 
Participational poetry reading. 
http://www.coudal.com/verse.php 
 
Which celebrity is seen where (In NYC). 
http://gawker.com/stalker/ 
 
A widely traveled, pirate rubber ducky. 
http://www.flickr.com/groups/piraterubberduckie/ 
 
A to Z kids stuff.   http://www.atozkidsstuff.com/ 
 
All cupcakes, all the time. 
http://cupcakestakethecake.blogspot.com/ 
 
A weblog by Tom Coates.   http://www.plasticbag.org 
 
The 1869 analog of today's Trivial Pursuit or cultural 
 literacy books.   http://www.thebookofdays.com/ 
 
What do you get if you cross a search engine with 
an encyclopedia?   http://www.factbites.com/


From our web sibling John Lepse. 
( John's blog: http://hucknjim.blogspot.com/ )

Dr. Maya Angelou, former Poet Laureate of the United
States, pens a poem honoring AARP's 50th anniversary.
http://aarp-DrAngelou.notlong.com

An Interview With E.O. Wilson, the
father of the Encyclopedia of Life.
http://nytimes-eowilson.notlong.com

The Encyclopedia of Life.   http://www.eol.org/

Johnny Cash somber (video)...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AO9dbmJ_2zU
...and a little more flippant.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELpk3NfqIg4

 
Our web-sibling Terri Martin-Goin sent this link to a
site for the coming season.   http://www.northpole.com/


From our web sibling Foggy.

Rules to Period games.
http://jducoeur.org/game-hist/game-rules.html

Kewl tech, and more.
http://www.slipperybrick.com/

79 optical illusions & visual phenomena.
http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/

'Lost in Space' B9 robot builders club.
http://www.b9robotbuildersclub.com/

ThriftyFun
http://www.thriftyfun.com/

Simple survival (buncha articles)
http://www.simplesurvival.net/articles.htm

Cool science.
http://www.arborsci.com/CoolStuff/cool18.htm

How to make a simple Van de Graaff generator.
http://web.singnet.com.sg/~sengam/construction.htm

NDSU Miscellaneous agri-plans.
http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/abeng/miscplans.htm

Handy Kitchen conversion tables.
http://ile-maurice.tripod.com/conversion.htm

Metric conversion calculators and charts.
http://www.metric-conversions.org/

Travelers currency cheat sheet.
http://www.oanda.com/convert/cheatsheet

Quick math tables, conversion charts and math formulas
for children and adults.  http://tinyurl.com/6xje5h

Conversion tools.
http://desktoppub.about.com/library/weekly/blmeastools.htm

Wallet size printable temperature conversion table.
http://www.temperatureworld.com/stable.htm

US to metric conversion table.
http://snipurl.com/4vw5q

Birdhouse dimensions.
http://baltimorebirdclub.org/by/dimen.html

Birds of the continental United States and Canada.
http://baltimorebirdclub.org/nabirds.html

Homebrew WiFi antennae.
http://www.lincomatic.com/wireless/homebrewant.html

The science hobbyist.
http://www.amasci.com/

Aternative energy information and experiments.
http://www.otherpower.com/

Matchstick marvels.
http://www.matchstickmarvels.com/Comingin2005-2006.htm

Seafood Watch.
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/seafoodwatch.aspx

The Herbal Advisor pharmacopoeia.
http://www.theherbaladvisor.com/pharmacopoeia.html


Thank you Patrick, Tony, Jo, John, Terri and Foggy.

 
Last word, from Lisa: 
 
Our lives are winding down a little and we're finding
that we appreciate life a little more each day.
The stress of 'brushfire' living we experienced as
full-time caretakers of an Alzheimer's patient has
finally dissipated and we're in a 'pocket of peace',
for now.

We enjoy cooking, eating, playing on the computers,
working at part-time jobs we enjoy.  Of course, change
is the only constant in life, so this phase, too, will
pass.  But until then, isn't it a lovely day?

'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, November 1, 2008 
12:10 AM CST - Buchanan Lake Village, Texas, USA 
Served by the U.S. Post Office in Tow (rhymes-with-cow), Texas 
 
 
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