[donspatch] 2008-12-01

#106,  December 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: 
 
Isn't it great living in interesting times?  I've managed
to enroll myself with the Veteran's Administration so the
quality of my health care is as good as ever but the cost
has gone down by a phenomenal amount.  I'm pleased to
announce that I can afford to keep breathing!  Wait, that's
not all!  A couple of days ago I reluctantly pulled into
a gas station and the car would only hold $9.00 worth of
gas!  Then, when I went through the drive in window of
a burger joint and ordered a small burger.  They gave me
the bag, I paid them and drove off.  When I opened the bag
there was a full sized hamburger in it, made exactly the
way I like it!  On top of all that I've had numerous calls
from people who want to pay me to play my guitar.

Now I'm not superstitious and I know there are people on
the planet who've had good luck.  Heck, some of my best
friends have occasionally had good luck but I never
expected to become a recipient and I'll be honest; it
takes some getting used to.  Oh, I'm not complaining
but please, don't wake me up and if you see Rod Serling
hanging around, don't tell me about it.

Note: A link for those of you who never heard of
Rod Serling.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Serling

We have a great deal to be thankful for and we're truly
grateful for all of it.  We have far more blessings than
we could possibly count and you, dear reader, are among
those many blessings.  We're pleased and honored to have
you aboard.  Don't forget to drop us a line and let us
know what's going on in your world.

Happy holidays and may your life be filled with health,
happiness, love, luck and laughter.

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. 
 
Halls of Fame.
Baseball.   http://web.baseballhalloffame.org/index.jsp
Pro football.   http://www.profootballhof.com/
College football.   http://www.collegefootball.org/
Rock and roll.   http://www.rockhall.com/
Dance challenge.   http://www.halloffamedance.com/
Basketball.   http://hoophall.com/
Tennis.   http://www.tennisfame.com/
Country music.   http://www.countrymusichalloffame.com/site/
POV-ray (cool).   http://hof.povray.org/
Vollyball.   http://www.volleyhall.org/
Soccer.   http://soccer.convio.net/site/PageServer
International swimming.   http://www.ishof.org/
Motorsports.   http://www.mshf.com/
International motorsports.
http://www.motorsportshalloffame.com/
(to be continued next issue)

Music, with or without cost, from online sources.
http://www.boostindependentmusic.com/
http://beemp3.com/index.php
http://www.musicianmp3.com/
http://www.imeem.com/
http://www.mcband.org/
http://www.yourmp3.net/
http://www.kohit.net/
http://www.mp3.com/
http://www.airmp3.net/
http://music.download.com/
http://www.narcopop.com/musicians/
http://www.rhapsody.com/
http://mp3.walmart.com
http://www.mtv.com/music/downloads/
http://www.amazon.com/
http://www.spinner.com/
http://music.aol.com/
http://www.artistdirect.com/
http://www.apple.com/itunes/
http://www.altnet.com/
 
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 
 
The esoteric art of A. Andrew Gonzalez.
http://www.sublimatrix.com/index.html

Ever wonder what to do with shrimp?
Here's something different.
http://shrimpsoup.notlong.com

One of my favorite personal finance sites.
http://www.stretcher.com/index.cfm

Lisa-and Don-tested recipes this Thanksgiving.
I made the frosting for the Red Velvet Cake in Chocolate
(adding 4 Tbls.cocoa) to go on a chocolate cake, the
result was divine.  The pie crust recipe makes two
single or one double crust and was a great success.
It's a tad salty, 'tho.  Reduce salt to one scant tsp. 
http://classicstuffing.notlong.com
http://redvelvetcake.notlong.com
http://piecrust.notlong.com

Don's daughter makes this favorite every
Thanksgiving at the request of the whole family.
http://pumpkinroll.notlong.com

Scott Wade is an artist in the most simple
medium; dirt.   http://www.dirtycarart.com/

November 28 was the National Day of Listening,
a tradition which would be appropriate all year long.
http://www.nationaldayoflistening.org/

Graphic art and more from Duncan Long.
http://duncanlong.com/

Business and personal finance advice.
http://mainstreet.com/

Reader's Digest has 'always been there'.
Now online, let's hope they always will be.
http://www.rd.com/

Giving ugly animals their place in
the sun.   http://uglyanimals.notlong.com

Knowledge junkie?  Get your fix here.
http://www.mentalfloss.com/

Hitler's last surviving relatives.
http://hitlerrelatives.notlong.com

A few thoughts about the Digital Divide.
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/digital-divide.html 
 
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 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://blog.prometheanplanet.com/
http://coolmyplanet.blogspot.com/
http://www.planetarymovement.org/
http://www.uslaw.com/
http://www.communityplanet.org/index.php
http://www.counterpunch.org/
http://www.godandscience.org/
http://www.atheistrev.com/
http://www.subversiveelement.com/SubversiveElement.html
http://on-being-open.blogspot.com/
http://www.asylum.com/
http://www.stylelist.com/
http://www.arthurmag.com/
 
 
Section Three by Don. 
 
Vintage gadgets and technology.
http://www.retrothing.com/

People search.   http://www.whowhere.com/

Share your knowledge or acquire more.
http://www.answerbag.com/

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
kids pages.   http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/home.htm

How do you feel?  What's up with you?  Want to talk
about it?   http://www.gather.com/

I don't know about elsewhere in the world but here
in Texas there are towns where, for seven days in June
each year, everybody wants to be African-American so
they can attend this party.   http://www.juneteenth.com/

Ewwww, tacky.   http://www.youtube.com/user/advwench
The blog that goes with it.
http://www.adventurouswench.com/blog/

A nice education related site from New Zealand.
http://www.newzealandeducated.com/us/en/

A very cool film from 1946.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KLg1DTGT-I

A cartoon based on a story by Dr. Seuss, from 1950.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlegmI8g_As

A cute, whimsical cartoon from 1959.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTgma3KJuSw

Whimsical theater where the actors are sock puppets.
http://www.youtube.com/user/SockTubePresents

Independent, very low budget videos.
http://www.chadmattandrob.com/

The University of Arizona's College of Optical Sciences
online collection of antique and historical optics.
http://www.optics.arizona.edu/antiques/Gallery-Index.htm

How to Convert VHS to DVD.
http://www.signvideo.com/conv-v-to-d.htm

The Obama-Biden transition team.   http://change.gov/

Yes, but is it worth a trip to Santa Monica, California?
http://www.dosomethingsaturday.org/index.html

Yeesh, next they'll want cellphones.
http://www.squidoo.com/skateboarding-dogs
 
End of Section Three. 
 
 
If you'd like to help promote this 
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please forward this ezine to 
anyone you know who might 
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Section Four by Lisa. 
 
Joanne Casey, internet caretaker.
http://joannecasey.blogspot.com/

People share their mistakes in life
and offer advice to others.
http://www.weareonlyhuman.com/

Psych Central offers help in general and has some
coping strategies for the holiday season.
http://psychcentral.com/

Add-Art is a FireFox add-on which replaces advertising
on websites with curated art images.  Download and
how to install.  I love it.
http://add-art.org/
http://www.vimeo.com/1075987?pg=embed&sec=1075987

How to dress like a man (for men).
http://www.lewrockwell.com/tucker/tucker38.html

Dress for any occasion.
http://anyoccasion.notlong.com

Classical liberalism, libertarian political theory,
and the Austrian School of economics, in Alabama.
http://mises.org/

Fountain pens are very retro cool.
http://www.billspens.com/

Handy programs to put on a USB stick.
http://www.snapfiles.com/features/ed_usb_software.html

If you need more Jane Austin, start here.
http://www.austen.com/

20 things everyone needs to know.
http://needstoknow.notlong.com 

Currier & Ives produced some of the most iconic and
popular American art of the 19th century.
http://currierandives.net/

History, military, culture and arts of the
Ottoman Empire.   http://www.theottomans.org/

A couple's cooking blog.
http://whiteonricecouple.com/blog/

The Small Business Administration assists small
business owners.   http://www.sba.gov/index.html 
 
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. 
 Who wants to make their own YouTube videos?
http://www.videomaker.com/youtube/
http://www.squidoo.com/youtuberight
http://www.youtube.com/t/howto_makevideo

I've been playing in beer joints throughout central
Texas since 1990 but, to my abiding regret, somehow
I never met these folks (I hope to amend that).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZVTgT06FKY
 
I don't remember what I was looking for when I found this
but the Visitor's Bureau of Muncie Indiana has a really
nice website.   http://www.munciecvb.org/mvb/

Famous TV/movie locations.   http://www.famouslocations.com/

A useful site if you plan to travel in Japan.
http://www.japan-guide.com/

For world travelers.   http://www.infohub.com/

World info.   http://www.worldinfozone.com/

Another site where you can share or acquire knowledge.
http://www.blurtit.com/

Music, fun and games for kids from the Dallas Symphony
Orchestra.   http://www.dsokids.com/

Who's your hero?   http://myhero.com/myhero/home.asp

How many puppies have their own blog?
http://augustusthebulldog.wordpress.com/

There's a serious deficit in instructions for this online
tool where you can add some interesting animated bells and
whistles to photographs.   http://www.hypah.com/?a

Of course if you want to do some serious
online image editing you have many options.
http://www.online-image-editor.com/
http://www.picnik.com/
http://www.imageeditor.net/
http://www.splashup.com/
http://fotoflexer.com/
http://www.pixlr.com/
http://www.onlineimageeditor.info/
http://www.gifworks.com/
http://www.sumopaint.com/app/
http://www.phixr.com/
http://pixenate.com/
http://www.onlinephototool.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. 
 
AARP has help and resources for all of us.
http://www.aarp.org/

You can make an art car.
http://www.avam.org/artcar/index.html

Museum of Himalyan art.
http://www.rmanyc.org/index.xml?context=/

Andy Warhol was a force in our shared culture.
http://www.warholstars.org/index.html

The importance of candles in our lives
and history is often overlooked.
http://www.candles.org/about_history.html
http://www.craftcave.com/candle/history.shtml
http://www.bartleby.com/30/7.html

Countries and their cultures.
http://www.everyculture.com/

A Star Wars vs. Star Trek mashup, pretty cool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4ijDlbvAxw

Corn-free cooking, because of sensitivities, can
be a trial, but there's a lot of help out there.
http://www.cornallergens.com/

Healing through art.
http://www.survivorsartfoundation.org/

For hunters, sharpshooters and plinkers,
sites that help the handloading enthusiast.
http://www.reloadbench.com/
http://www.accuratereloading.com/
http://www.reloadammo.com/

What is Creative Commons?
http://creativecommons.org/ 
 
End of Section Six. 
 
 
The Linux Corner. 
 
Linux Desktop 101 (online course).

This fan site offers excellent forum support for nVidia
graphics cards used with Linux.   http://www.nvnews.net/

A wealth of Linux information and help.
http://www.tuxfiles.org/
More of the same.   http://www.justlinux.com/
Still more.   http://www.rpmfind.com/

Linux Tips For new users from the Cal Poly LUG.
http://www.cplug.org/guides/post-install.html

Linux.com is always a great place to find out what's new
and cool.   http://www.linux.com/feature

My two favorite Linux sites, which I visit at least
once a week, and often more frequently, are
distrowatch.com and tuxmachines.org.
http://distrowatch.com/
http://www.tuxmachines.org/
 
 
A Little Humor. 
 
'A band of 937 yodelers in Germany set a new world record
for the largest simultaneous yodel by holding their melody
for a full minute. The yodelers inadvertently set another
world record, for Worst Minute.'

'I'm against picketing, but I don't know how to show it.'

'Sincerity is everything. If you can fake that, you've got
it made.' (George Burns)

A few dumb laws on the books in Texas:
(from http://www.dumblaws.com )
It is illegal to sell one's eye.
When two trains meet each other at a railroad
crossing, each shall come to a full stop, and
neither shall proceed until the other has gone.
It is illegal to take more than three sips of beer
at a time while standing.  

Q:   How many paranoids does it take to change a light bulb?
A:   Who wants to know?!

If at first you don't succeed, stay away from skydiving.

Q:   What do you call a camel without a hump?
A:   Humphrey.

The very existence of flamethrowers proves that some time,
somewhere, someone said to themselves, 'You know, I want
to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not
close enough to get the job done.' (George Carlin)

'Do you really appreciate igneous rock?
Or do you just take it for granite?'

Q:   What did Hamlet say when he found the liniment?
A:   Aye, there's the rub!

Jean-Paul Sartre is sitting at a French cafe revising
his draft of Being and Nothingness. He says to a waiter,
'I'd like a cup of coffee please, with no cream.' The
waiter replies, 'I'm sorry, monsieur, but we're out
of cream. How about with no milk?'

Q:   What do you call a fish with no eyes?
A:   A fsh.

 
Tips for This Issue. 
 Kids and shopping.   http://www.albanymommy.com/

Household notes, scribbles and clippings of tips, crafts,
recipes, DIY projects and neat-o hints.   http://tipnut.com/

3000 pages of multi-platform computer lore.
http://www.internetfixes.com/

 
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/ )

An online word processor, web page creator and more.
http://www.j2e.com/

The 2008 Angel Card Project.
http://www.countrychurchcrafts.com/2008angelcardproject

Traveling wheat free.   http://www.glutenfreeglobe.com/


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

The Canadian snow sculpture team. 
http://www.snowsculpture.com/ 
 
A Snow-fighting photo gallery. 
http://www.hazegray.org/rail/snow/ 
 
Jo says "I don't advocate the killing of cute little bunnies 
but hey it's just  a game. 
http://www.themaninblue.com/experiment/BunnyHunt/ 
 
New York City in LEGO. 
http://www.seankenney.com/portfolio/new_york_city_models/ 
 
A social map.  http://www.frappr.com/ 
 
The lost gospel of Judas. 
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lostgospel/ 
 
Where can you get America's best grilled cheese sandwich? 
http://www.grilledcheese-contest.com/ 
 
Poem-a-day. 
http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/poetry/poemaday/ 
 
Who's up for a little sacred reading? 
http://www.sacred-texts.com/index.htm 
 
Alice's Adventures Underground (precursor to Alice in 
Wonderland) by Rev. Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll). 
http://www.the-office.com/bedtime-story/aliceunderground.htm


Our web sibling Jerry Fox sent this link to an interesting
wedding dance.   http://www.snotr.com/video/1299


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

Coupons and savings in your neighborhood.
http://www.valpak.com/coupons/home

Impressionist Rich Little (a video).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78sSn3E_Vvc

The Life magazine photo archive (hosted by google).
http://images.google.com/hosted/life

Lincoln @ Loyola.
http://www.luc.edu/orgs/lincolnatloyola/

Civil War Memory (a teacher's blog).
http://cwmemory.com/

Any big software vender worth its salt will offer
a good assortment of costless items and this one
is no exception.   http://www.filehippo.com/
Hey John, it's been a while since I listed or ran
across file hippo but it reminded me or two other
of my personal favorites.  http://www.jumbo.com/
and. http://www.majorgeeks.com/


From our friend and fellow Highland Lakes
Linux User Group member, Cranz Nichols.

An online hearing test.   http://www.ucihs.uci.edu/hesp/

New life for an old computer.
http://Minimal-Ubuntu-Part-One.notlong.com
http://Minimal-Ubuntu-Part-Two.notlong.com
Another page on Minimal Ubuntu.
http://Minimal-Ubuntu-Another-Take.notlong.com


From our Highland Lakes Linux Users Group's fearless
leader and great friend Lee Parmeter, here's a link
to '50 amazing Ubuntu time-saving tips'.
http://techradar-ubuntutips.notlong.com


From our friend, neighbor and
fellow Linux user Steven Scott.

How stuff works.   http://www.howstuffworks.com/

Do NOT take (or publish) photos of your key ring.
http://no-key-photos.notlong.com

Our web sibling and dear friend Randi Simon-Serey
sent this link to stuff you should know about
Tonsiloliths (eww, yuck!).
http://on-tolsiloliths.notlong.com


Thank you Patrick, Jo, Jerry, John,
Cranz, Lee, Steven and Randi.


Last word, from Lisa: 
 
We keep waiting for our lives to slow down and mellow
out, but seem to be busy all the time.  This is a very
good thing, I think.

We had an early Thanksgiving dinner the Sunday before
the actual holiday and invited our special friends,
especially those without family in the area.  We ate
like proverbial pigs, laughed and visited.  A week later,
Don and I just cooked dinner for the first time.
Planned leftovers are a valued part of the big
holiday meal.

Once again, we experienced appreciation of the best
things in life; family, friends and the time spent with
them.  In the end, that's all we really have, isn't it?
We appreciate the friendship and loyalty of our
readers.  Your comments and kindness over the years
have been a source of strength and satisfaction to us.

Thank you, and Happy Thanksgiving,

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 
Monday, December 1, 2008 
12:30 AM CST - Buchanan Lake Village, Texas, USA 
Served by the U.S. Post Office in Tow (rhymes-with-cow), Texas 
 
 
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