Don's Patch Issue #2005-01-15 from http://www.don-guitar.com Howdy y'all. Here's hopin' everthang is fine-n-dandy with each `n evruh one of yuh (that was an "authentic" Texas-style greeting). Everything's pretty-much ok here in Tow and 2005 might just be a good year before it's over. I can't say just yet, check back with me after I've coped with the Internal Revenue Service. A couple of issues back I mentioned San Francisco Herb, my favorite place to buy spices: http://www.sfherb.com My friend Mark L. Donaldson http://www.geocities.com/luem42/index.html emailed to tell me that Atlantic Spice is the best place to buy spices: http://www.atlanticspice.com/ A closer look revealed that Atlantic Spice is the east coast branch of Neil Hanscomb's San Francisco Herb Company. What it means to consumers is that we can save a little on freight by ordering from whichever is closest to us. Thanks Mark. Remember, your input is always welcome. I value your suggestions and comments, and I'm always willing to help you find answers to your computer and Internet questions. My feedback form: http://www.don-guitar.com/contactme.html ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª I suspect that my friend Tim Skyrme might be the Australian version of an "old hippie". At any rate he's certainly a colorful and interesting character. The story of his travels around "Oz" in his 1982 Toyota Corona station wagon is interesting reading. http://www.artzend.com/Newsletter.htm (scroll down a bit) This artist community is dedicated to people with something to say or something to show. http://www.foundmyself.com/ From China, the online Journal of Integrative Plant Biology (in English). http://www.chineseplantscience.com/ The African National Congress. http://www.anc.org.za/ Alabama Archaeology. http://bama.ua.edu/~alaarch/ PhysicsFinder, from the American Institute of Physics (AIP), is designed to help researchers find information published in AIP and MAIK journals. http://physicsfinder.org AlgaeBase is a database on algae that includes terrestrial, marine and freshwater organisms. http://www.algaebase.org/ Celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Smithsonian Institution. http://www.150.si.edu/150trav/150exhib.htm Extensive topical forums. http://www.americasdebate.com/ Archaeology magazine. http://www.archaeology.org/ Documents in law, history and diplomacy from Yale Law School. http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/ American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta. http://www.aabga.org/ Betty Crocker's main site contains recipes and other useful information. http://www.bettycrocker.com/ Some product specific information on the Old El Paso site. http://www.oldelpaso.com Box Tops for Education. http://www.boxtops4education.com Information on more constructive approaches to difficult and intractable conflicts. http://www.beyondintractability.org Bill McClain offers some public domain books and an assortment of book reviews. http://home.salamander.com/~wmcclain/ A history tutorial on Canada's Calgary & Southern Alberta. http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/calgary/ Additional topics are also available. http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor Botanic Gardens Conservation International. http://www.bgci.org.uk/ Bricks is a costless logic game with blocks. http://www.bricks-game.de Costless web calendar hosting. http://www.calendars.net/ An Exhibition of photographs and illustrations of the international history of Calypso music from 1930 to 1970. http://www.calypsoworld.org/ A forum site that covers, in their own words, "government conspiracies, cover-ups, UFO's, and other alternative topics". http://www.abovetopsecret.com/ Cool Jargon of the Day. http://www.jargon.net/ Bob Dylan is still cool. http://bobdylan.com/ An English language news site from Lebanon. http://www.dailystar.com.lb/home.asp EurekAlert science news. http://www.eurekalert.org/ Eric S. Raymond's site is worth exploring. http://www.catb.org/~esr/ Flower gardening. http://www.flower-gardening-made-easy.com/ This site is named for, and dedicated to, a cat named Fly. http://flythecat.com/ The Marshmallow Peanut Circus. http://www.circus.com/ HyperDictionary.com http://www.hyperdictionary.com/ Human Nature Review is a significant source of analysis and commentary for readers at leading universities and research institutes in over one hundred and sixty countries. http://human-nature.com/ The Hamilton (Ontario) Naturalists' Club. http://www.hamiltonnature.org/ Africa's most magnetic Internet destination. http://iafrica.com/ I Can Garden, from Canadian and Master Gardener, Donna Dawson. http://www.icangarden.com/ Illinois state Museum sites. http://www.museum.state.il.us/exhibits IT (Internet Technology) news sites. http://www.infoworld.com/ http://www.internetnews.com/ Josh Woodward's MP3 music collection. http://cd.joshw.org/allsongs.php The Manitoba Heritage Network has been established as a project of the Manitoba Archaeological Society to provide Internet based information and services related to Manitoba's rich cultural heritage. http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/anthropology/manarchnet/ The Marvel Chronology Project is an effort to catalog every actual appearance by every significant character in the Marvel Universe. http://www.chronologyproject.com The Internet Medieval Sourcebook. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook.html John Burkardt's site has some interesting and explorable content. http://www.csit.fsu.edu/~burkardt/ ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª This publication is only mailed to verified double opt-in subscribers, and is brought to you by me, Don Crowder, and //www.freelists.org ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª The ratbag family of sites explore the human permutations of information and logic. Proceed with caution, there's some extreme content here. http://www.ratbags.com/ eNature is owned by, and acquires some content from, the National Wildlife Federation. http://www.enature.com/ Bird Studies (of) Canada. http://www.bsc-eoc.org/ Citizen science program in the Adirondacks of northern New York State. http://www.adkscience.org Web pages for students by Josie Giannetta. http://www.saskschools.ca/~gregory/ A variety of topics relating to the Canadian Arctic. http://collections.ic.gc.ca/arctic/english.htm Creatures and Places, from the Gulf of Maine Aquarium. http://www.gma.org/Tidings/ Magazine of the National Audubon Society. http://magazine.audubon.org The Chicago Sun-Times online. http://www.suntimes.com/ AlterNet is an interesting information source. http://www.alternet.org resources on intermarriage for interfaith couples. http://www.dovetailinstitute.org/ American Indigenous People's Literature. http://www.indians.org/Resource/natlit/natlit.html David Geyer's quest for the perfect dovetail saw. http://www.mv.com/ipusers/geyer/dtsaw.htm ESR is a Seattle-based, nonprofit, scientific institute specializing in oceanographic research. http://www.esr.org/ An amateur looking website for amateur woodworkers. http://www.am-wood.com/index.html Puzzle World contains information about handcrafted mechanical puzzles. http://www.johnrausch.com/PuzzleWorld/ Motorcycle consumer news. http://www.mcnews.com/ Native American Technology. http://snipurl.com/byjd National Geographic News. http://news.nationalgeographic.com The New England Gilbert and Sullivan Society. http://negass.org/ International news and ideas from New Scientist. http://www.newscientist.com/home.ns An eclectic and interesting collection of recipes. http://www.hoboes.com/html/Diner/ The New York Observer. http://www.observer.com/ Scoop news (New Zealand). http://www.scoop.co.nz/ News Hounds is a collective news blog. http://www.newshounds.us/ Ontario's Niagara Escarpment. http://www.escarpment.org/ You'll enjoy exploring John Haller's site if you have a technical propensity. http://johnhaller.com/ Online books. http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/ "open i" claims to be "an independent source of opinion and analysis copy for farm editors". http://www.openi.co.uk/ A source for both technical and non-technical information, with the emphasis placed on technical info. http://www.outfo.org/ Computer OS (Operating System) news. http://www.osnews.com/ Tony Baker's Paleoindian and other archaeological stuff. http://www.ele.net/ News and information on the Texas panhandle. http://www.panhandlenation.com/ An archive and guide to American and Russian publications in physics. http://physicsfinder.org Catalogue of Comet Discoveries. http://www.comethunter.de/ ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª At the time this issue was posted, the current subscriber count for this publication was 273. ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª A fan site for author Piers Anthony. http://www.piers-anthony.com/ and his official website. http://www.hipiers.com Printable calendars that are formatted for MS Word. http://www.printablecalendar.ca/ Information on wilderness survival skills, tracking, and harmony with nature. http://www.trackertrail.com/index.html A UK online legal resource. http://www.rpc.co.uk/main/default.asp?p=1 An online, weekly science magazine. http://www.sciencenews.org/ ScienceDaily magazine. http://www.sciencedaily.com/ Travel guide for scuba diving around the world. http://www.diveatlas.com/ Dan Washburn's Shanghai Diaries. http://www.shanghaidiaries.com/ Space.com offers "Something Amazing Every Day". http://www.space.com/ Daily news from Sri Lanka. http://www.dailynews.lk/ The political cartoons of Steve Greenberg. http://www.reuben.org/greenberg/.Toons/politics.asp The National Cartoonists Society. http://www.reuben.org/ Strange Horizons is a weekly speculative fiction magazine. http://www.strangehorizons.com A help site for teenagers. http://www.teenhelp.org/ A news satire site. http://www.dailyprobe.com All about watches. http://www.timezone.com/ Professor John Burkardt's fun pages. http://www.csit.fsu.edu/~burkardt/fun/fun.html Wordplay is an irresistible pastime. http://www.csit.fsu.edu/~burkardt/fun/wordplay/wordplay.html A collection of top-ten lists. http://www.topfive.com The University of British Columbia Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research. http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/ The official student newspaper of the University of California, San Diego. http://www.ucsdguardian.org/ A Monty Python fan site. http://www.mwscomp.com/python.html United Press International. http://about.upi.com/ U.S. History dot org. http://www.ushistory.org Staplers real and virtual. http://www.virtualstapler.com/ "Teamouse" is the web identity of an individual who enjoys writing on controversial topics, invents languages, and is interested in art, music, and fantasy. http://www.io.com/~hmiller/ 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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 //www.freelists.org/list/donspatch ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª Wholeo is the ongoing search for the whole self. http://www.wholeo.net/index1.htm Wikipedia is a costless encyclopedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/ A guide to the world of light opera and operetta. http://www.musicaltheatreguide.com/mainmenu.htm A site where you can connect with folks who're interested in sharing both the joys and the insanity of writing. http://fmwriters.com Science fiction writers love to share ideas and/or collaborate. It's common to see a group of writers producing a collection of stories which all share the same general environment (like all the wonderful stories based on Robert Asprin's Thieve's World). Here's a group of writers who've agreed on a set of mundane parameters wherein to place their stories. http://www.mundanesf.com/ A collection of sites that relate to the topic of "flint knapping" which is the art of making stone tools and weapons. http://snipurl.com/c16t http://www.vortac.net/traditionalflintknappingcom/ http://snipurl.com/c16u http://www.creeksideartifacts.com/ http://snipurl.com/c16y http://www.onagocag.com/knapping.html http://www.eskimo.com/~knapper/index.html http://www.geocities.com/undyrm/ http://www.geocities.com/tlmayeux/ http://www.pbmwebdesign.com/worldflint/main.htm http://www.uiowa.edu/~osa/learn/ancient/flint.htm This site is dedicated to the history of Apple Computer, Inc. http://www.theapplemuseum.com/ B-movie fans, here's a safe place to indulge your more unsavory cinematic tastes. http://www.badmovies.org/ G4TechTV. http://www.g4techtv.com/ A simple little application which removes the unused colors from GIF image pallets reducing the image size. http://www.flashfxp.com/freeware.php?Program=GifOptimizer A few costless apps. http://www.ppsoft.dk/Programs.htm A file renamer (click on "FlexRena/") and a simple calendar tool (click on "SkeleCal/"). http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA014830/english/ A popular email client (especially in China). http://fox.foxmail.com.cn/english.htm A couple of apps which produce fractal images. http://www.fractovia.org/uberto/ http://www.saunalahti.fi/korkeka/ A few apps from Frank Brower. http://fbrower4.home.att.net Travis & Erika East are teachers. http://homepage.mac.com/teast/main.html ImageForge provides you with a set of tools for painting and editing images, photos or other graphics. http://www.cursorarts.com/ca_imffw.html Free Lunch Design is an independent game developer. http://www.freelunchdesign.com/about.shtml A few costless apps. http://members.aol.com/brandyware/free.htm ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª My feedback form: http://www.don-guitar.com/contactme.html I 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 A look at the world of 007 via the artwork which has promoted the character since the early 1950's. http://www.artofjamesbond.com/ A potential resource for flower gardeners. http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/floriculture/ Forums and other resources for teachers. http://www.teacherfocus.com/ TeachersFirst is a rich collection of lessons and web resources for K-12 classroom teachers, their students, and even students' families. http://www.teachersfirst.com/ CNET's technology news and business reports. http://news.com.com/ Articles, reviews, essays and advice on computers, software and consumer technology. http://www.twcny.rr.com/technofile/ How about some Texas-style cooking? http://www.texascook.com/ A couple of texture/tile tools. http://private.homepages.intershop.de/rene/povray/tex_mag.html http://texturegarden.com/ The America Project is a radio documentary series produced by Alix Spiegel. http://www.theamericaproject.org/ "The Amplifier" is a music magazine produced by the Gibson guitar corporation. http://www.gibson.com/magazines/amplifier/ Hiking in California. http://www.thecaliforniahikingpage.com Welcome to the Chronicles of George, the worst helpdesk technician ever. http://chroniclesofgeorge.nanc.com/ A circus portal. http://www.circustuff.com/ A collection of vegetable recipes. http://www.webartntech.com/colorfulplate/ The Condiment Packet Museum. http://www.clearfour.com/condiment/ Calculating The Cost Of "unsolicited commercial" Email. http://81832.com/strads/spam/costcalc.html The Covers Project is positive proof that Christopher Heschong, it's creator, has too much time on his hands. http://covers.wiw.org/ A site for Basset hounds, and their people. http://www.dailydrool.com/index.html The Darwin Awards. http://www.darwinawards.com/ ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª Archives for this ezine are available online here: //www.freelists.org/archives/donspatch/ ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª The Democracy Center works globally to advance human rights through a unique combination of investigation and reporting, training citizens in the art of public advocacy, and organizing international citizen campaigns. http://www.democracyctr.org/ This comprehensive directory of Teaching Tools is a product of years of research by Rona Martin, classroom teacher and community volunteer. http://www.myteachertools.com The Emperor's New Clothes (investigative journalism). http://www.tenc.net The Engines of Our Ingenuity is a radio program that tells the story of how our culture is formed by human creativity. http://www.uh.edu/engines/ A plain and simple, zip-only, utility. http://website.lineone.net/~chris_m/ The four word film review. http://www.fwfr.com/main.asp A few costless utilities. http://www.prismaticsoftware.com/Utility/Utility.html http://www.sailcat.com/utilities.htm http://www.funduc.com/otsoft.htm 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 ============== Humor ============= The CAT user's manual. http://www.andreas.com/catman.html The DOG User's Manual. http://www.andreas.com/dogmanual.html ============== Tips =============== A couple of computer tips portals. http://www.springfieldlibrary.org/liblinks/compute.html http://www.geocities.com/lclane2/computer.html ================================= After four months as a stocker in the "Super S" supermarket in Llano, Texas, I decided I was ready to move up in the world so I found myself a slightly better job at the Town and Country convenience store (also in Llano, Texas). My wages will be slightly better and the company offers an excellent medical insurance program. Having been without any sort of medical insurance for the last fifteen years or so, I'm really pleased with the new job. I've given notice at Super S and will be getting training for the new job on whatever days I'm not working at Super S for the next couple of weeks. Eventually I'll sit down and write a detailed account of recent events and put it on my website. For now, suffice to say that the adventure continues, and life is incredibly good. Don Crowder - Saturday, January 15, 2005 3:55 PM CST - Tow, TX, USA ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª Privacy: I will never share, sell, or otherwise compromise your email address. Privacy Policy on my website. http://www.don-guitar.com/privacy.html Freelists.org Privacy Policy. //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 You can show your support for this publication by making a contribution in any amount you choose: http://www.don-guitar.com/donations.html ªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªªª ___________________________________________________________ Subscription management for this publication is available online here: http://www.don-guitar/subsmanager.html