[donspatch] 2009-01-01

#108,  January 1, 2009  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: 

 Well, I'll be relieved to see the backside of 2008 but
I can't help feeling like the times will become even
more interesting in 2009.  I just hope there's some
good to go with the bad.

Forget resolutions I want to hear your predictions.
What do you think our crazy old world is going to
throw at us next?  Me, I'm afraid to speculate.

Don 
 
 
Our feedback form and contact info:
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Our (badly out of date) personal news page.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 librarian approved search engine.  http://www.hakia.com

Would you like to learn another language?  Do you have
a minute?   http://oneminutelanguages.com/

I don't normally like to visit about.com because truly
useful information is normally spread across several
ad-filled pages and navigation is a bad joke, however,
here's a good one-page definition of twitter for those
of you who don't yet 'get it'.   http://linkasa.com/821

Who wants to get into the publishing 'bidnez'?
http://beta.yudu.com/

This site is for the birds.   http://ebird.org/

From the BBC, the (video) Story of the Guitar (cool!).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/musictv/guitars/video/

Her name is Xue-fei Yang and I've no idea how to pronounce
it but wow!  This girl can flat-out play a guitar (youtube
videos).   http://linkasa.com/921

It's called the 'Give One Get One' program.  If you buy
two XO laptops (of 'One Laptop Per Child' fame), you get
one and the other goes to a child in a third world
country.  Bear in mind that if you're not a kid, you'll
have a tough time typing on its tiny little keyboard.
http://linkasa.com/a21

A fairly cool Johnny Cash video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e0EQlQXoEo

Lisa is something of a Paint Shop Pro wizard.  She uses
PSP 8.2 and has often complained because her copy will
only run on Windows whereas she prefers to use PCLinuxOS
(Linux) as her primary Operating System.  It may be a
roundabout way of getting there but Windows can be run
inside a Linux machine on a product called Win4Lin.
http://win4lin.net/content/
Is it going to work?  I don't know but I intend to give
it a try.  I'll let you know how it comes out.

Netscape, which has been a very popular alternative to
Internet Explorer for a very long time, is no more.
http://linkasa.com/b21

Have you always wanted your own radio station?  Well,
here's a virtual opportunity for you.   http://blip.fm/

Quite an interesting site but it's a bit geographically
challenged.   http://www.findandgoseek.net/

It's all baby talk to me.   http://www.babiestoday.com/

If you're patient music needn't be costly.
http://payplay.fm/

Looks like a musical, blogging, social networking sort
of site.   http://mog.com/

Um, well, it's somehow connected to music *shrug*
(don't you hate sites that don't have an 'about' page?).
http://musicremedy.com/

I really dislike horror flicks but not everyone agrees
with me.   http://www.fearnet.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 wild animals of Egypt are fascinating.
http://www.touregypt.net/wildegypt/

Beautiful vintage fruit and vegetable labels.
http://www.labelcollector.com/

The magic ingredient.
http://www.westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/broth.html

Everything you ever wanted to know about fish.
http://beyondsalmon.blogspot.com/

Very funny ads. Check back often, these change all
the time.   http://www.veryfunnyads.com/

Hershey Company has an interesting history.
http://www.thehersheycompany.com/about/history.asp

Once again, the home of the IgNobel Awards, strives
to outdo last years honorees.
http://improbable.com/

Play, games and virtual worlds.
http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/

A clear voice for science.   http://www.earthsky.org/

The internet has changed lives.  A woman
who lost 500 pounds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pg7vSGy_xA0&feature=related

Good legal advice.  Great price.
http://www.freeadvice.com/all_topics.php

A trio of unusual places.
http://wrybread.com/misc/gumwall/
http://projectabsurd.byethost6.com/pezmuseum.htm
http://www.exploratorium.edu/visit/wave_organ.html

A museum of curiosities.
http://www.slightlywarped.com/crapfactory/curiosities/

Sailing gear and boat reviews.
http://www.practical-sailor.com/
 
End of Section Two. 
 
 
At the time this issue was posted, 
the current subscriber count for 
this publication was 389. 
 
 
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.istl.org/
http://www.mcgarviemorrisonmedia.co.uk/
http://openhumanitiespress.org/
http://www.techxtra.ac.uk/
http://www.scienceagogo.com/
http://sciencehack.com/
http://www.laptopmag.com/default.aspx
http://www.clonepod.org/
http://aardvark.co.nz/
http://php-princess.net/blog/
http://politicalwire.com/
http://www.akinoluna.com/
http://uncleeddiestheorycorner.blogspot.com/
 
 
Section Three by Don. 
 
This makes it fairly easy to donate some of
your time.   http://www.volunteermatch.org/

Need a virtual road sign?
http://www.customroadsign.com/

Susan Sabo is an interesting character...
http://www.productivitycafe.com/
...but I don't care for her photography site.
Why do otherwise sane, normal people feel that
it's perfectly OK to waste my time with a flash
presentation that could be easily done in a
fraction of the bandwidth using any of several
cost-free alternatives?
http://www.susansabophotography.com/index2.php?v=v1

Daniel Biddy's artwork has a certain Pythonesque
(Pythonic?) quality, don't you think?
http://www.danielbiddy.com/index.php

When I saw this a little voice in my head yelled
'Dood, just go to Wendy's' but I ignored it.
http://onedollardietproject.wordpress.com/

Despite the negative reference to its content this
is an odd and cute little comic strip.
http://www.questionablecontent.net/

I should have put in the media section but this is
a cool science news site.   http://sciencemode.com/

Geeky stuff.   http://www.geekologie.com/

'Bidnez' info from the World Bank.
http://www.doingbusiness.org/

Here's your chance to bone up on your vocabulary of legal
abbreviations.   http://www.legalabbrevs.cardiff.ac.uk/

University of Michigan Architecture, Engineering and
Construction.   http://linkasa.com/c21

All about the Terminator TV series (sorta makes me glad
I don't watch TV you know?)
http://www.terminatorchronicles.com/

I don't have an preconceptions about the roles of women.
I like assertive women who make their own choices, like
these ladies.   http://www.beingjane.com/

The well-being index.   http://www.well-beingindex.com/

The (U.S.) National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association.
http://www.nhcaa.org/eweb/StartPage.aspx

The (U.S.) National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign.
http://www.mediacampaign.org/

The Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group.
http://www.maawg.org/home
 
End of Section Three. 
 
 
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Section Four by Lisa. 
 
From firstworldwar.com, a great site, the true
story of a time when the world was a bit different,
but people were the same.
http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/christmastruce.htm
Editor's Note:  Patrick Barden also sent a link about
this event, but from another source.  (great minds I
guess)

Naval History and Heritage Command.
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/

7000 grains of knowledge-and counting.
http://www.allsands.com/

You must start the New Year off right.  Always
be prepared with the right dessert.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/Desserts/Main.aspx

All about the weather for the young
and young at heart.
http://www.wildwildweather.com/

Puerto Rico, an American Protectorate, is one
of the most beautiful places on earth.
http://welcome.topuertorico.org/index.shtml

History through the eyes of those who lived it.
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/

A good subject for the New Year;
five symptoms men shouldn't ignore.
http://dontignore.notlong.com

This commercial interest provides some good
advice on business blogging.
http://www.businessblogconsulting.com/

Sometimes the best way to deal with TMI
is to just ignore it.
http://ignoreit.notlong.com

The Creating Passionate Users blog,
hard to describe, hard to stop reading.
http://passionateusers.notlong.com

There are good alternative browsers
out there besides 'The Big Three'.
http://altbrowsers.notlong.com

High school and college students' communicate
their views on intelligent design and evolution.
http://www.overwhelmingevidence.com/oe/

Lots of great info on pets.
http://www.petplace.com/

How-and for how long-should you store food?
http://lancaster.unl.edu/food/storeitchart.pdf

Commercial site with info and advice for
small businesses.
http://www.startrungrow.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 and contact info:
http://www.don-guitar.com/contactme.html 
 
Section Five by Don. 
 
Halls of Fame (continued, part 3).
Photoshop.   http://www.photoshophalloffame.com/
Pro Rodeo.   http://www.prorodeohalloffame.com/website/
Freshwater Fishing.
http://www.freshwater-fishing.org/index.php
Snowmobile.   http://www.snowmobilehalloffame.com/
Science Fiction.   http://www.empsfm.org/
Great Americans.   http://www.bcc.cuny.edu/hallofFame/
National (U.S.) radio.   http://www.radiohof.org/
NASCAR.   http://www.nascarhall.com/
Scenery.   http://www.scenery.org/
Cowboy and Western Heritage.
http://www.nationalcowboymuseum.org/
Vocal group.   http://www.vocalhalloffame.com/
World Golf.   http://www.wgv.com/hof/hof.php
National (U.S.) Womens.
http://www.greatwomen.org/home.php
(to be continued)

Interesting music videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxmNFebT8Q4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJYqqA1U0mc&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfV7q3NIkQo

The Anti-Saloon League.
http://www.wpl.lib.oh.us/AntiSaloon/

Customer Service (online).   http://getsatisfaction.com/

A good site for photography.   http://www.popphoto.com/

A political video with animal overtones *grin*.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUrECjsNd1s

Ok t-shirt junkies, remember, I only listed this for
the artwork.   http://www.tenbills.com/

Lester passed away before I discovered him.  This is a
sadness I've never felt.  I'm mourning the loss of a
friend who I never met or got to know.
http://www.paperbackswap.com/forum/topic.php?t=123819 
 
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. 
 
I enjoyed taking this Life Expectancy Test.  Barring
accidents ( _and_the_flu_ ) I should live to be 100+.
http://www.peterrussell.com/Odds/VirtualAge.php

Tips and tricks for avoiding or treating
colds and flu.  Guess why I was researching?  Yeah.
http://www.truestarhealth.com/Notes/2236006.html
http://www.earthclinic.com/CURES/colds3.html

When I was 10, I got a Hess Toy Truck for Christmas.
Man, I loved that thing, wish I still had it.
http://www.hesstoytruck.com/

The original PDA, in a way.
http://www.pocketmod.com/

Cool cheap stuff really worth your time.
http://www.mrcheapstuff.com/

A blog about gardening-and life.
http://www.heronswoodvoice.com/

Bob Dylan is still kickin'.
http://www.bobdylan.com/

The meanings and origins of English sayings
and phrases.   http://www.phrases.org.uk/

A guide to all the tech stuff you really
need to know.    http://needtoknow.notlong.com

Free minds and free markets.
http://www.reason.com/

The magic of papercutting.
http://elsita.typepad.com/allaboutpapercutting/

An appeal from Wikipedia, a service we use
everyday.   http://wikidonate.notlong.com

Practical Horseman magazine.
http://www.equisearch.com/practicalhorseman/

Make a presentation, or your own time capsule.
http://www.capzles.com/

The new version of an ancient practice.
http://sinusrinsereview.notlong.com 
 
End of Section Six. 
 
 
The Linux Corner. 
 
Adobe Air for Linux.
http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/AIR_for_Linux

A compendium of Linux and other lore.   http://www.die.net/

Linux Freedom (I dislike the media intensity).
http://linuxfreedom.com/

Wine (Windows emulator, more or less) is how one runs
Windows applications on Linux computers.
http://www.winehq.org/

The Difference between Vista, XP, Linux and Mac OS
explained (PC World article).   http://linkasa.com/g21

Once you start exploring Linux you will see numerous direct
and oblique references to this historically significant
article written by Eric S. Raymond.   http://linkasa.com/h21

Shawn is an Associate Editor for Linux Journal; this is his
blog...   http://www.brainofshawn.com/
...and this is the live Thursday night podcast he does for
Linux Journal (which Lisa and I love but somehow always
miss).   http://www.linuxjournal.com/live
 
 
A Little Humor. 
 
'When I was a kid we made money by going to the houses
of people who hadn't shoveled their snow, slipping, and
suing them.' (Bill Braudis) 


 A job interview is in progress, a bright and experienced
accountant is interviewing for a position of a CFO. He is
being interviewed by the members of board of directors and
a CEO. During the interview the CEO suddenly asks: 'Tell
me, what is seven multiplied by three?' The accountan
 thinks fast and tells '22.' Once the interview is over
the accountant goes out, takes out the calculator and
finds the answer, 21, disappointed, he goes home. Next
morning he gets a call from the CEO, 'Hey, you got a
job.' The accountant is pleasantly surprised. He cannot
but ask, 'Thank you very much for the job but what about
seven multiplied by three?' The CEO tells him,'of all
the candidates we interviewed, you came the closest.'

On a sunny afternoon three accountants are standing near
a tall pole and wondering about the height of the pole.
First accountant, a CPA says, I do not think there is
any authoritative guidance on how measure the height of
a pole, that is not the job of accountants.
Second accountant, a professor at a state university
says, well, if we take a survey of similar locations
and asked people about the height of poles, then we
may be able to deduce height of this pole, it will
be a good enough estimate.
The third accountant is a professor at an Ivy league
university. He confidently claims, if we measure the
shadow of the pole under different conditions, then I
can run a multivariate regression model and can give
a very good estimate of the height.
As this conservation is going on, an engineer is passing
by, he stops and asks about their discussion. The
accountants tell him, you probably can not understand
this complex problem. The engineer persists and hears
about the problem. He smiles, lifts the pole from the
base, measures it, and says, 'twelve feet and three
inches', and walks off. The accountants look at him,
laugh contemptuously and say in unison;'hell, we wanted
to know the height of the pole and he tells us the length.'

A very successful partner is a big six firm had a
peculiar habit. Each morning he opened a locked
drawer in his desk, look inside, locked the drawer
again, and started his work. His subordinates knew
that he hid the secret of his success in the drawer,
they waited for the opportunity. One day when the
partner had gone out of the city, the juniors decided
to go for it. They broke into the drawer, breathlessly,
and looked inside. There was one small piece of paper
inside.  It said, 'left is debit and right is credit.'

 
Tips for This Issue. 
 
Computer tutorials.   http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/

Tips, tricks, advice, and hints on categorized
subjects.   http://www.tipstrs.com/

Staying (computer) parasite-free.
http://www.doxdesk.com/parasite/prevention.html

 
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/ )

The Courtesy Rules Of Blindness.
http://www.blind.net/g0000001.htm
Other cool stuff from the same source.
http://www.blind.net/blindind.htm

WWI Christmas Truce.
http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/truce.asp
Editor's Note:  This link reminded me of stories
my grandfather Crowder told me.  He fought in
trenches along a river bank in France during
WWI.  There were German soldiers in trenches on
the other side of the river.  Every Sunday
there was a real but unofficial cease-fire while
unarmed men, from either side, walked down to the
river and washed their socks in plain site of
armed enemies.  When an aircraft was shot down
in the course of an aerial dogfight and the pilot
was able to land his aircraft without a fatal crash,
both sides held their fire while the pilot got out
of his aircraft and into the trenches of whichever
side he belonged to.  If the pilot was alive but
wounded and unable to walk, soldiers from his side
were permitted to go get him, if they first disarmed
themselves.

Very cool, customizable, printable music staff
paper.   http://www.blanksheetmusic.net/


From our web sibling Jo-Ann (Jo) Burton: 
( Jo's site: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sharinglinks2/ ) 
 
A social network for cat owners.   http://www.catster.com/ 
 
A portal for coloring books offered by the various entities 
of the U.S. Government. 
http://govdocs.evergreen.edu/coloringbooks.html 
 
A lifetime of color. 
http://www.alifetimeofcolor.com/play/leonardo/index.html 
 
Odd pseudo-news videos from The Onion. 
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/ 
 
ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive. 
http://www.animationarchive.org/ 
 
The 1902 Sears Roebuck catalog. 
http://1902sears.blogspot.com/ 
 
The voice of women.   http://www.bellaonline.com/ 
 
According to the site, it's a cross between an encyclopedia 
and a search engine.   http://www.factbites.com/ 
 
Ben and Jerry's contribution to a greener planet... 
http://www.benjerry.com/features/08_hc_freezer/index.cfm 
...and other fun stuff.   http://www.benjerry.com/fun_stuff/ 
 
What appears on this site is parody: a humorous form of 
social commentary and literary criticism in which one 
work imitates another.   http://www.ilovecartoons.com/ 
 
Really weird, but some of them are funny. 
http://youdied.blogspot.com/ 


From our web sibling Peter Ekkerman.

This year we didn't call Peter for Christmas, he called
us and it didn't cost him much either.
http://labs.jaduka.com/dukadial/
http://labs.jaduka.com/earthcaller
http://labs.jaduka.com/

This site contains a great deal of useful information.
http://www.makeuseof.com/


From our web sibling Jerry Fox.

Wow Jerry!  I'm going to hire this guy to drive the
next time I have to go to Austin.  *grin*
http://linkasa.com/j21


From our 'other brother' Bill (Beeyil) Lanoue. 
( Bill's blog http://ncvietvet.blogspot.com/ )
Her's a cool site where old geezers like me
can relive the music of our childhood.
http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/


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

Not-So-Lonely Planet (New York Times article).
http://linkasa.com/k21

Did you know? [a video]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL9Wu2kWwSY


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

This writer maintains that our roads
are unsafe because of all the signs.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/traffic
 

Thank you Patrick, Jo, Peter, Jerry, Bill, John
and Cranz.

 
Last word, from Lisa: 
 
We're having a slow, quiet holiday-just our speed.
I've had the flu, as you may have deduced from some
of the links I posted in this issue.  Today I finally
decided that living is preferable to the alternative
but, at this point, it still mainly an unsupported
conjecture.

My only New Year's Resolution is to have more fun,
though I can't imagine how I'll manage it.  Oh, yes,
and to take off the side effects of all that home
made ice cream, chocolate cake and gingersnaps.  Yum...

The very best to you and yours, Happy New Year.

'Til next time,

Lisa 
 
Our feedback form and contact info:
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 
Thursday, January 1, 2009 
11:05 AM CST - Buchanan Lake Village, Texas, USA 
Served by the U.S. Post Office in Tow (rhymes-with-cow), Texas 
 
 
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