Don's Patch #50 from http://www.don-guitar.com July 15, 2006 First word, from Don: I visited a website recently which uses a script to detect Internet Explorer and divert people using it to a page that begins "We see you're using Internet Explorer. We strongly suggest downloading Firefox" and offers you a choice between continuing to the website or downloading Firefox. I don't dispute that Microsoft's monopoly has been a bad thing and I am very much in favor of having more choices but anyone who attempts to limit or define my choices is wrong. When I was a small child I learned that two wrongs don't make a right. Nuff said. Don Moving right along... 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 ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª A dictionary of words unique to Australia. http://www.anu.edu.au/andc/res/aewords/index.php Interesting programs, reading, and music. http://www.agnula.org/ Words without vowels. http://www.oneletterwords.com/consonant/ Privacy has become a major issue on the web and sometimes privacy equates with anonymity. Here's a mini-feature on anonymity. Defined. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymity More specific. http://www.anonymitychecker.com/ An application. http://anon.inf.tu-dresden.de/index_en.html Anonymous search. http://www.ixquick.com/ Anonymous surfing. http://www.anonymization.net/ http://www.w00tage.com/ http://www.virtual-browser.com/ http://www.proxy7.com/ http://proxify.com/ the Anti-Digital Millennium Copyright Act site. http://www.anti-dmca.org/ Bernard Ellis manufactured replicas of vintage musical instruments. http://www.ellisium.cwc.net/ I like Chris Pirello, he's a nice young man, but his cartoons are mostly a little too dry for me. http://blaugh.com/ An IM resource. http://www.blockstatus.com/ All big corporations want you to think they're "nice guys" but the very nature of corporations insures that they can't be, have never been, will never be. The video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIVZ9b0RgmY the text: http://insignificantthoughts.com/2006/06/13/cancelling-aol A wealth of information on the subject of horse-drawn transportation. http://www.carriagemuseumlibrary.org/index.html A cat diary. http://www.totalobscurity.com/smile/catdiary/catdiary.html ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª 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 ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª Our long-time reader and friend, Mark L. Donaldson's new, pop-up-less, interesting site. http://luem42.com/default.aspx A disquieting and informational piece of literature. http://www.ep.tc/howtospotajap/index.html Thinking about pet insurance? Get some quotes. http://www.petinsurancereview.com/ The link we found interesting on this page was; "Learn UNIX in 10 minutes". Let me know. http://freeengineer.org/ How long do you have left? http://www.deathclock.com/index.cfm Jog your creativity with this game. http://cfcl.com/vlb/Memes/inotherwords.shtml Art and artists, galleries and exhibitions. http://www.artresources.com/ This site has something for almost everyone. http://www.iworkwithfools.com/ All kinds of cool costless stuff. http://jansfreeware.com/ If you have a fast connection, this is a fascinating look at the lyrebird. http://www.devilducky.com/media/46386/ Text editor for a variety of OSs. http://www.jedsoft.org/jed/ Karen's Power Tools and Newsletter. http://www.karenware.com/powertools/powertools.asp Think you've seen stupid? Think again. http://www.kibo.com/photos/ I'm sorry, I've lost...a...word.... http://phrontistery.info/clwdef.html Online books about magic. http://www.blueray.com/magic/ Photographing yourself. http://www.mirrorproject.com/ Digital paintings like Monet might have painted. http://monetxtreme4.blogspot.com/ Scripts of the original Monty Python's Flying Circus. http://www.ibras.dk/montypython/justthewords.htm ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª At the time this issue was posted, the current subscriber count for this publication was 307. ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª This issue's collection of news/magazine/informational sites (these are chosen for maximum diversity regardless of "spin" ). http://www.dailylobo.com/ http://www.digg.com/ http://www.kmworld.com/ http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/ http://www.mirror.co.uk/ http://www.news10.net/default.htm http://www.newsday.com/ http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage http://newsmine.org/ http://customwire.ap.org/specials/bluepage.html http://www.magazine.noaa.gov/ http://www.nuts4chic.com/ http://www.observer.com/homepage.asp ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª A word app for serious scholars. http://www.oeaw.ac.at/kvk/cte/ Christian Relief Network. http://www.crn.no/ Math learning resources from Alex Bogomolny. http://www.cut-the-knot.org/ctk/index.shtml Dave's ESL cafe is a wonderful site for anyone who's teaching or learning English as a second, or foreign, language. http://www.eslcafe.com/ A surfing, community and sharing resource. http://del.icio.us/ This isn't a soap opera. http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/ Fairy Tale Physics (myths and legends explained). http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/12/1229_051230_fairytales.html Fairy Tales - University of Maryland. http://www.lib.umd.edu/ETC/ReadingRoom/Fiction/FairyTales/ Federal Highway Administration (U.S.). http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ Is Patti Santangelo a serious criminal? http://www.p2pnet.net/goliath/ Mostly about pixilated, tiny artwork. http://www.flipflopflyin.com/index.html Here's a filter-sensitive topic I don't dare type. http://notebook.ifas.ufl.edu/free/Intro.htm http://freewarewiki.pbwiki.com/ The Freedom Forum. http://www.freedomforum.org/ Some online games. http://www.gamehouse.com/onlinegames/ A technical, geeky, interesting blog. http://www.gogglemarks.net/ The Habitat JAM is about adding your ideas into the global conversation about the future of our cities. It's about having your say on important issues that affect you. It's about building new global networks of people who wouldn't have connected before. It's about working together across the globe to find solutions to critical urban problems. http://www.habitatjam.com/index.php Historical resources. http://www.ushistory.org/ http://www.ahsgr.org/ http://www.hsd.org/ http://www.princetonhistory.org/ http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/histsoc/ http://www.umsystem.edu/shs/ http://members.aol.com/HistoricTacony/ http://www.jewishgen.org/jhscj/ http://www.historicstillwater.org/site/ ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª If you'd like to help promote this non-commercial publication, please forward this ezine to anyone you know who might appreciate it. To spare them the forwarding carets (>>>>these things) I suggest you copy/paste the ezine to a new email window, or save the ezine as a text file to be inserted, or copy/pasted to a new email. If you've received this publication as a forward and wish to subscribe you may easily do so from online forms in these two locations: http://www.don-guitar.com/subsmanager.html http://www.freelists.org/list/donspatch ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª A horrible thought, indeed. Nudist trampolining. This one has sound. http://www.nudisttrampolining.com/ Neuroscience for kids, cool for us big kids, too. http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html Contemporary character design and art. http://www.pictoplasma.com/ OpenOffice training, tips and tutorials. http://openoffice.blogs.com/openoffice/ Independent website on global current affairs. http://www.opendemocracy.net/home/index.jsp Multimedia site on the Normandy Invasion. http://www.britannica.com/dday Lots of cool, costless apps. http://www.nirsoft.net/ Bart PE gives you a Windows OS in a live CD. Useful for data recovery and in some cases restoration. http://www.bootcd.us/index.php Online image editing service. http://www.myimager.com/ POVLAB is a full 3D graphic modeller. http://pdelagrange.free.fr/povlab/ Games and fun for kids. http://www.primarygames.com/ Beautiful slideshow of primates. Check out all the slideshows. http://www.stevebloom.com/pages/slide_primates.html Prime number research, records and resources. http://primes.utm.edu/index.html A skill nearly as old as mankind. http://www.rope-maker.com/ropehistory.html How to shave correctly. http://www.health24.com/Man/Great_man_guides/748-3270-2890.asp Social bookmarking service, a great idea. http://www.simpy.com/ An exceptional photographer, Kerry Skarbakka. http://www.skarbakka.com/menuframe.html Your first Linux experiment; Linux.com training videos. http://tips.linux.com/article.pl?sid=06/06/23/133239&from=rss ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª Our feedback form: http://www.don-guitar.com/contactme.html 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). ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª Ben Eden's fine-art documentary photography. http://www.beneden.com/ Gaming by email. http://www.dynamicsims.com/ Ok, I'll take mine scrambled (cuz I'm an American). http://www.renewfertility.com/index.htm This site would normally have wound up in the media section as another little gem of diversity but I felt it merited mentioning in it's own right. Very interesting content. http://www.littleindia.com/index.htm If you're prepared to cope with two or three pop-ups and do a great deal of squinting to read the text, this is an interesting site. Otherwise, skip it. http://members.tripod.com/~MarxLennon/dean.html Museum of London. http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/English Museum of New London. http://www.westrusk.esc7.net/lmuseum/main.html Zora Neale Hurston. http://faculty.evc.edu/steven.mentor/nancy.htm New Civilization Network. Sounds like an internet thing eh? http://www.newciv.org/ Who's up for some unfair and biased news? http://www.thetunafish.com/ Very worthwhile, but disquieting. http://www.polarisproject.org/polarisproject/ Sad Geezer's SF reviews. http://www.sadgeezer.com/html/index.php Need a blog on your website? http://www.simplephpblog.com/static.php?page=static040502-230734 Parts of this site might not work but the subject matter is interesting. http://www.subliminalworld.org/ The blog of a fellow who knits. http://sweaterproject.org/ A blog with extreme political views. http://tonguetied.us/ This is a poorly designed site with awkward navigation and some content that's not particularly family-friendly but it contains a wealth of viewable vintage photography. http://www.vernacularphotography.com/ A real-time strategy (RTS) game. http://www.warriorkingsbattles.com/ The islands of Zanzibar. http://home.globalfrontiers.com/Zanzibar/ A blog search engine. http://www.readablog.com/default.aspx It's about open source and related things. http://lwn.net/ ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª 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 ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª Digital Photography; what it is and what to do with it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_photography Contest; http://www.dpchallenge.com/ Reviews; http://www.digital-photography.org/ Tips; http://snipurl.com/t7al Weblog; http://digitalphotography.weblogsinc.com/ Courses; http://www.shortcourses.com/ Exhibit; http://www.bradley.edu/exhibit95/ Gallery; http://photography-on-the.net/gallerydatabase/ Help; http://dpfwiw.com/ Really sweet baby animal pics. http://www.v2k.jp/baby-zoo/wall_back.html Great collection of wallpapers by Reader's Digest. http://www.readersdigest.ca/wallpaper.html Teach kids about the weather. http://www.weatherwizkids.com/index.htm Wildlife pictures from Africa. http://www.wildlife-pictures-online.com/index.html A site for and about women. http://www.womeniworld.com/ A lexical database for the English language. http://wordnet.princeton.edu/ The world's healthiest foods. http://www.whfoods.com/index.html Some nice wallpapers from Merri-Mac. http://www.merri-mac.com/camp-friends/desktop-backgrounds.shtml Weird and wonderful wallpapers from Vincent Stahl. http://stahlforce.com/desktop/wallpapers.php Costless XML editor with a liberal license. http://www.xmlmind.com/xmleditor/stdedition.html ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª Websites everyone should know about. These aren't sponsors, they're the best of Internet publications and I 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 ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª Small time agricultural life in America. http://www.albc-usa.org/ http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/AFSIC_pubs/altlist.htm http://www.lpes.org/Small_Farms.html http://www.naturalfamilyhome.com/livestock.html http://msucares.com/livestock/small_animal/index.html http://www.farminfo.org/ What do you know about IRC? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRC Learning resources for IRC. http://www.irchelp.org/ http://www.irc.org/ http://www.ircbeginner.com/ http://www.irc-junkie.org/ IRC clients (applications). http://www.xchat.org/ http://www.hydrairc.com/ http://www.visualirc.net/ http://webchat.xs4all.nl/ http://www.bitchx.com/ http://www.icechat.net/site/ http://www.kvirc.net/ http://chatzilla.hacksrus.com/ Popular IRC networks. http://freenode.net/ http://www.efnet.org/ http://www.dal.net/ http://www.slashnet.org/ http://www.starlink-irc.org/ Peripherally related to IRC. http://www.irc.net/ A few PSP9 resources. http://www.loadboy.com/psptuts/ http://www.wallek.com/monica/PSP9links.shtml http://maegg.com/tuts/ http://moonsdesigns.com/tutorials/psp9/ http://users.adelphia.net/~suzshook/9tips.htm ============== Humor ============= A little humor courtesy of my web sibling, Vinette Dephillipe. A Woman's Perfect Breakfast: She's sitting at the table with her gourmet coffee. Her son is on the cover of the Wheaties box. Her daughter is on the cover of Business Week. Her boyfriend is on the cover of Playgirl. And her husband is on the back of the milk carton. Vi asked me to mention that she has several ink cartridges for Canon BCI-3 series printers, as follows: black: 1 unopened, 1 open but full (total 3) red: 1 opened but full (total 1) blue: 2 unopened, 1 open but full (total 3) yellow: 2 unopened, 1 open but full (total 3) She bought these by mistake and can't use them. If you can use them and are willing to cover the postage, please get in touch with me via our contact form. http://www.don-guitar.com/contactme.html ============== Tips =============== Tips. http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_index.htm Tutorials. http://www.techtutorials.net/ Help forums. http://forums.thatcomputerguy.us/index.php ======== 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 reader and friend H. Davis. ================================= Would you like to clone your hard drive? http://www.xxclone.com/ ================================= From reader and friend, Irving Stein. http://www.irvings-info-page.cityslide.com ================================= Bird Technology. http://snipurl.com/snqu A password generator. http://www.hashapass.com/ A list of potentially useful apps. http://www.econsultant.com/i-want-freeware-utilities/ Photos of India. http://www.passingthroughindia.com/photos.html ================================= From reader, and web sibling Jo-Ann Burton. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sharinglinks2/ ================================= Noah Webster was born on October 16th 1758 in Hartford, Connecticut and died on May 28, 1843 in New Haven, Connecticut. He entered Yale College at the tender age of 15. He became a teacher and then a lawyer. He was always striving to make things better; first for teachers with better textbooks and other teaching materials and later for the country by advocating a National Constitution. He made his arguments known to the world by establishing a newspaper in New York. His greatest achievement, and the one for which he is best known was his American Dictionary of the English Language, first published in 1828. His Life. http://www.netstate.com/states/peop/people/ct_nw.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Webster http://noahwebsterhouse.org/ http://snipurl.com/t6hf http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Noah_Webster His Dictionary http://www.m-w.com/dictionary.htm http://snipurl.com/t6hh http://www.websters-dictionary-online.org/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webster's_Dictionary From History House: The Dictionary Wars http://www.historyhouse.com/in_history/webster/ His Bibliography http://www.answers.com/topic/noah-webster ================================= From reader and friend John Lepse. ================================= I have no sound on my computer right now because the last time I was at Windows Update, they offered me a driver for my sound card and, like a complete idiot, I clicked on it, even though my sound was just fine and now, of course, I have no sound at all thank-you-for-business-as-usual-Microsoft, so, I didn't watch this video (I hate silent films) but John liked it (he, of course, has sound). Maybe you will too. http://www.barackobama.com/main.php John thinks this site is foxy. http://www.ozfoxes.com/ What do these guys say about your town? http://www.epodunk.com/ Here's what they say about mine. http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=54885 Not long ago I mentioned Johns Battle of the Bulge site http://home.att.net/~j.lepse/wsb and mentioned that his father was a Battle of the Bulge veteran. I was mistaken in that comment. John's father, like my own, was a veteran of the Pacific war and I knew that too, so I have no excuse for the Lepse lapse. *shrug* ================================= From reader and friend Patrick Barden ================================= Is there anything cooler than a Fire Rainbow? http://www.snopes.com/photos/natural/firerainbow.asp Lisa and I don't watch television. I know that some people find that hard to comprehend but we really don't, not ever, so we sometimes miss things in the news, like the recent death of Jim Baen. Knowing that I wouldn't have seen it on the TV Patrick emailed me about it. http://www.david-drake.com/baen.html http://www.baens-universe.com/ I am, and have always been, a voracious reader of Fantasy and Science Fiction. There's never been a way I could "feed my habit" with new books, it would be too costly, so I haunt garage sales, flea markets and used book stores but when I can't make it to a bookstore, or am too broke to bother, Jim Baen's Free Library has kept me from having to go "cold turkey" without books. http://www.baen.com/library/ ================================= From reader and friend Peter Ekkerman. ================================= What if you didn't need to wag around your own computer? http://www.cosmopod.com/ In a recent email, Peter mentioned that he'd thought about getting a gmail account so I sent him an invitation. I don't normally remember it, but that's how gmail works. Anyone who has a gmail account can send you an invitation. Once you have a gmail account you too can send invitations. Curious about gmail? http://www.don-guitar.com/whygmail.html Or, if you just want an invitation, let me know. http://www.don-guitar.com/contactme.html ================================= From web sibling Vinette DePhillipe. ================================= Have you ever forgotten how to thread your sewing machine? http://www.sewusa.com/Sewing_Machine_Threading_Diagrams.htm Thank you H. Davis, Irv, Jo, John, Patrick, Peter and Vi. ================================= Last word, from Lisa: These past two weeks have been highlighted by an icky cold, which got me wondering; Why are humans the only creatures who catch colds? In my never-to-be-humble opinion, because if animals got them, they would assume they were going to die, and they would. Only our ability to hope keeps us alive. This one started out with an incredible sore throat, which had me out in the garden at 5:00am with a flashlight, digging up fresh garlic for garlic tea. It occurred to me later that it must have been a mystifying sight. Got the cold anyway, but at least I was able to breathe that day. Here's a good site on natural herbal remedies, with lots of free recipes to treat your own illnesses. http://www.create.org/elchai/ 'Til next time, 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, July 14, 2006 3:47 PM CST - Buchanan Lake Village, Texas, USA Served by the U.S. Post Office in Tow (rhymes-with-cow), Texas ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª Privacy: We will never share, sell, or otherwise compromise your email address. Privacy Policy on our website. http://www.don-guitar.com/privacy.html Freelists.org Privacy Policy. http://www.freelists.org/privacy.html ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª The most important people on the Internet, for you and I as computer users, are software developers. The world's coolest computer, without software, is like a car without fuel. It might look great, but what can it do? It doesn't matter who produces the software you love and use regularly, the developers of that software need your support. 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. ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª ___________________________________________________________ Subscription management for this publication is available online here: http://www.don-guitar.com/subsmanager.html or here: http://www.freelists.org/list/donspatch