[donspatch] 2006-03-15

  • From: "Don Guitar" <don@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "Don's Patch" <donspatch@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2006 22:43:13 -0600

Don's Patch Issue #2006-03-15 from http://www.don-guitar.com

First words, from Don:

Q:  How do you keep a geek happily busy for days on end?

A:  Give him a Kubuntu Linux computer to play with.

Goodness, where has the time gone?  I had plenty of time for
the ezine a few days ago, I'm sure I did.  *grin*  Well, maybe
I've been a little distracted, I admit it, but I've certainly had a
lot of fun.  I think Lisa's gotten interested enough to start
thinking about equal time so I've been on the lookout for
one more computer we can load up with Linux.  I'm excited
about learning the "works" of a different Operating System
but Lisa's more into end results.  She wants to begin exploring
all the interesting graphics apps that are available for Linux.
We actually have complementary ambitions when you think
about it.  She wants to do cool stuff on the computer while I
want to keep it running smoothly.

Enough babble...  Here we go.

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

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Bart Martin's Five Golden Computer Rules.
http://www.5starpcservices.com/goldenrules.htm

Image galleries from Paul Blackburn and Konrad Lötter.
http://www.dumetier.com/photography/galleries/index.html

Puzzles.   http://www.allstarpuzzles.com/home.html

These lecture transcripts might appear to be dated, but the
subject is, after all, history.
http://us.history.wisc.edu/hist102/weblect/default.asp

Open Content technical reading.  http://www.andamooka.org/

My Win2k computer came with a Sony DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive.
The drive came with NTI software which has never worked right.
Every time I wanted to burn a CD I had to reinstall the software.
I finally got fed up the hassles and found an alternative.
http://www.cdburnerxp.se/
CDBurnerXP Pro has worked really well for me so far but I had
some alternatives to try in case it didn't.
http://www.paehl-info.de/cdr/

Ray Bradbury is an American SF icon.
http://home.earthlink.net/~hiflyer/APbradbury/main.htm

Crazy for money.   http://www.banknotes.com/

A blog from the editors of Scientific American.
http://blog.sciam.com/

Art critics, movie critics, book critics and theater critics are
just the beginning.  The world is filled with critics.  Now.....
http://blogcritics.org/

Wallpaper from artist Brandi Jasmine.
http://www.brandijasmine.com/wallpaper/index.html

Canadian bloggers.   http://www.canpost.org/

Constitution Society (sounds "fringey" to me *shrug*).
http://www.constitution.org/

Stupid, stupid, stupid (but cute).  http://www.cowabduction.com/

I enjoy making my own simple little button images but for
those who wish to get "fancy" here's a good choice.
http://home.hccnet.nl/s.j.francke/deknop/deknop.htm

Curious about Linux?  Here's some reading matter.
http://www.desktoplinux.com/
http://www.guilinux.com/
http://www.kernelnewbies.org/
http://happypenguin.org/
http://www.linux-tutorial.info/index.php
http://www.linuxnewbieguide.org/
http://www.tux.org/

If you do a lot of downloading, a manager is a good tool.
I'm still using DLExpert.  http://www.yanew.com/
or   http://www.majorgeeks.com/download447.html
but there are also Open Source alternatives.
http://snipurl.com/nkiq

Here's a useful tool for persons using dual boot Windows/Linux
systems.   http://www.fs-driver.org/

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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 //www.freelists.org

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This week I became a bit enchanted with bubble games. Here
are a couple of games and other bubble-related links.
http://flasharcade.com/bubbletrouble_game.html
http://www.bubblegame.ch/deutsch/default.asp
http://bubbles.org/html/professor/professor.htm
http://www.typingmaster.com/individuals/bubbles.asp

Multimedia gallery. Non-restricted images, sounds,
and video.   http://gallery.hd.org/index.jsp

The Center for History and New Media.
http://chnm.gmu.edu/

What is a Fallacy?
http://www.fallacyfiles.org/

Wonderful glass art by Mats Jonasson Maleras.
http://www.matsjonasson.com/engindexhtml.htm

Resources for worldwide indigenous cultures.
http://www.nativeweb.org/

Photojournal of Nixon's historic visit to China.
http://www.gmu.edu/library/specialcollections/nixon_in_china.html

Don bought Note Tab Pro to support the company because he loved
their products, but has gone back to the costless NoteTab Light,
preferring its features. Look at all the goodies and support!
http://www.notetab.com/index.php
http://www.notetab.com/ntl.php
http://www.notetab.net/

For fans of weird signs.
http://notquite.net/photos/do_jump_signs/

The New York Stock Exchange.
http://www.nyse.com/

The New York Academy of Sciences.
http://www.nyas.org/

The New York Historical Society.
http://www.nyhistory.org/

The official New York City web site.
http://www.nyc.gov/portal/index.jsp?front_door=true

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At the time this issue was posted, the current
subscriber count for this publication was 294.

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This issue's collection of news/magazine/informational sites
(these are chosen for maximum diversity regardless of "spin" ).
http://abcnews.go.com/
http://www.abc.net.au/
http://www.abqjournal.com/default.htm
http://www.ananova.com/news/
http://hosted.ap.org/specials/bluepage.html
http://www.blufftontoday.com/
http://people.ku.edu/~jbrown/bugs.html
http://www.cp.org/
http://canyon-news.com/artman/publish/index.php
http://www.cato.org/index.html
http://www.bongonews.com/
http://www.ciij.org/
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/

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A family oriented portal site.   http://www.familyfirst.com/

Costless utilities.   http://www.faststone.org/

Audiophiles with a DIY urge should like these sites.
http://www.pvconsultants.com/audio/frdgroup.htm
http://www.linearteam.dk/default.aspx?pageid=winisd
http://www.speakerworkshop.com/
http://www.audiogrid.com/audio/

For frugal persons.  http://www.frugalfinesse.com/index.htm

Paul Tomblin's image gallery.   http://xcski.com/gallery/main.php

He calls himself the Guitar Guy and he has his own ideas about
classic songs.   http://www.theguitarguy.com/home.htm

Games and fun for kids from UK museums, galleries, heritage
and science centres.   http://www.show.me.uk/

Online games offered by a commercial site.
http://www.absolutist.com/online/

Quite literally pointless, useless, in fact, false, news.
http://www.newzoid.com/

Disquieting images.
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/holocaust/photoessay.htm

Informal science education resources from the home of NASA's
Hubble space telescope.   http://hubblesource.stsci.edu/

Javascript resources.   http://jsmadeeasy.com/about.htm

J.A.I.L. claims to be a single-issue national grassroots organization
designed to end the rampant and pervasive judicial corruption in the
legal system of the United States.   http://www.jail4judges.org/

A lot of interesting applications were once costless.
http://www.321download.com/LastFreeware/

Catalog your books online, keep a reading list, or more.
http://www.librarything.com/index.php

Music, art, and more from Manu Cornet.
http://www.manucornet.net/

Mark J. Jordan's Windows utilities.  http://snipurl.com/nkmp

Terrific images of Melbourne, Australia.
http://educationdownunder.com.au/melbourne_photos.htm

A piece of American maritime history.
http://www.monitorcenter.org/

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Little-known facts of Nova Scotia history.
http://www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625/histindx.html

Association for the development of e-business standards.
http://www.oasis-open.org/home/index.php

Resource for understanding major oilfield activities.
http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/

Very nice site for Outlook Express stationery and more.
http://www.okiedee.com/

Old versions. Because newer is not always better.
http://www.oldversion.com/

The Oneida Indian Nation.
http://www.oneida-nation.net/

Information for the pro-wrestling fan.
http://www.otherarena.com/

Purdue University's online writing lab.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

Paint.net, similar to premium image editing programs.
http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/paint.net/

The Online Parallel Bible.
http://bible.cc/

A stand-alone RSS newsreader.
http://www.wildgrape.net/

An interesting, multi-talented person.
http://www.nicholasjohnson.org/

David Eppstein, photographer and much more.
http://www.ics.uci.edu/~eppstein/pix/chron.html

Harvard Center for Health Communication.
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/chc/

Reinventing aging. What a good idea!
http://snipurl.com/nlki

Learn more about reverse mortgages.
http://www.reversemortgage.org/

Sterling Ball: Rockin' on without Microsoft.
http://news.com.com/2008-1082_3-5065859.html

Central point for GNU software.
http://savannah.gnu.org/

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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).

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Thrift store art.   http://www.thriftstoreart.com/

The artwork of Tim Williams.  http://www.twillustration.com/

I decided that this page is too interesting to list as just another media
site.  Check out half a thousand newspaper front pages.
http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/

Raising livestock in a small way.
http://www.ifad.org/lrkm/region/pa/tg_431.htm

Interesting reading from the early 1980s.
http://www.rheingold.com/texts/tft/

Touched by an angel.  http://www.touched.com/

Mainly about muppets.   http://www.toughpigs.com/

I think Lisa listed a lot of parodies a famous American painting
called "American Gothic" in our last issue.  Here's another
take on the subject which I enjoyed.   http://snipurl.com/nkpc

Translate "web lingo" to and from English.
http://www.transl8it.com/cgi-win/index.pl

A resource for persons travelling to, or from, the U.S.
http://www.travel.state.gov/

World images.   http://www.trekearth.com/

Humorous teaching resources from the English Teachers
Network.  http://www.etni.org.il/farside/

Desert photos from Arie Bar Lev.
http://mydesert.co.il/slideshow_eng.html
I found the site above "hidden" on this site
http://www.boker.org.il/english/
and there's much more there if you wish to explore.

Open-source disk encryption for Windows XP/2000/2003
and Linux.   http://www.truecrypt.org/

"Tux" is the name of the Linux penguin so it's obvious that
these apps didn't come from the Windows community but
they are available for Windows and my grandkids like them
both.   http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/tuxpaint/
http://tuxracer.sourceforge.net/

A TV resource.   http://www.tvacres.com/

This is just an image that made me laugh.
http://www.flexbeta.net/forums/uploads/av-11411.jpg

An image site from the UK.
http://www.ukexpert.co.uk/photopost/index.php

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Archives for this ezine are available online here:
//www.freelists.org/archives/donspatch/

The current issue is also available on my website.
http://www.don-guitar.com/currentissue.html

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Another talented, multifaceted person, Simon Ho.
http://www.simonho.org/

Spaceship radio.
http://spaceshipradio.com/

Organization for the reform of drug laws.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/index.shtml

Image management tool with editing goodies.
http://snipurl.com/nllq

Teachtime encyclopedia.
http://www.teachtime.com/en/wikipedia/m/ma/

Technology-related information for everybody.
http://technology-sleuth.com/index.php

Telephone enthusiasts rejoice!
http://www.telephonecollectors.org/
http://www.museumphones.com/
http://www.tones.plus.com/
http://www.thg.org.uk/
http://atcaonline.com/index.html

The newest stuff on the Web.
http://www.technorati.com/

Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
http://www.emmys.tv/foundation/archive/

The first 75 years in television.
http://www.tvhistory.tv/index.html

The British Museum's top 10 treasures.
http://snipurl.com/nln2

All kinds of personality tests.
http://similarminds.com/index.html

Internet Archive of Texts and Documents.
http://history.hanover.edu/texts.html

This site makes companies more aware of their image.
http://www.thisisbroken.com/

Thoughtcrime, or is it?
http://deoxy.org/tcrime.htm

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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

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Maybe I'm just too skeptical, but this site makes me
think "yeah, right".   http://www.unclaimed.org/

A short jog through a long memory.  http://www.utahphillips.org/

If your computer Operating System is Windows 95 or
soon-to-be-obsolete Windows 98/98SE/ME and a new
computer is simply out of the question, Vector Linux
might offer you a viable alternative.
http://www.vectorlinux.com/

The Virtual Vietnam Archive.
http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/index.htm

Visual Math Learning.   http://www.visualmathlearning.com/

Hi-res 3D desktop wallpaper and background screens.
http://www.visualparadox.com/

Vnc2swf is a cross-platform screen recording tool.
http://www.unixuser.org/~euske/vnc2swf/

A semi-commercial exploration of generations.
http://www.wgeneration.com/

CSS, HTML, and XHTML tutorials, graphics tutorials, articles,
tips, information and resources to build or improve your Web
site presence.   http://www.websitetips.com/

What about cats.   http://www.whataboutcats.com/index.html

An oddity and mystery.   http://www.toynbee.net/

I think this is a game.  Is this little guy ugly or what?
http://www.wikgame.com/

The Lockergnome File of the Day.
http://windows.fileoftheday.com/

A collection of goodies from someone named Woolham.
http://www.sjwfreeware.flyer.co.uk/

Michael Quinion's site is always worth another mention.
http://www.worldwidewords.org/index.htm

Study the world.   http://www.worldstudy.gov/

A blogging resource.    http://www.xanga.com/

Xiaoyu Wang is a second year math PhD. student at the Courant
Institute of Mathematical Sciences.  These are his photos.
http://www.math.nyu.edu/phd_students/xiaoyu/album/album.html
Here's a math site he recommends.   http://www.ams.org/mathscinet/

Another Linux desktop.   http://www.xpde.com/index.php

Some online games.
http://www.freecell.com/f/c/cinco.html
http://www.freecell.com/f/c/play.html
http://www.jezzball.net/

Some games you can play online, or take with you.
http://www.linearteam.dk/default.aspx?pageid=dicegames

============== Humor =============

Musician's Humor, Final

A jazz pianist dies and finds himself in heaven. He runs into an old
friend and says "Bob, you made it too, that's great."

 "Yeah, turns out God's a big jazz fan. All of the cats are here, and
every day is a non-stop jam session with a never-ending supply of
wine, women and food. There's just one drawback."

"What's that?"

"Well, God has a girlfriend, and she's a singer."

============== Tips ===============

http://www.danheller.com/techfaq.html
http://pclt.cis.yale.edu/pclt/
http://www.pcstats.com/
http://haug.hrdy.net/tip/lookgb.php?changeval=0
http://www.scantips.com/

======== Reader Contributions =========

Australian Barry Thompson sent this link to Crocodile
Hunters, Steve and Terri Irwin's site.
http://www.crocodilehunter.com.au/


Jo-Ann Burton is a wonderful friend.  We didn't grow up together,
and we've never met in person but she's my sister.  I harvest
links that she posts to her Yahoo group (to which I belong).
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sharinglinks2/
Here's a few, from Jo-Ann:
Baby stuff.
http://www.babynamesworld.com/
http://ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/
http://www.thinkbabynames.com/
http://new.babynameindex.com/
http://babynamewizard.com/
http://www.babynames.com/
http://www.baby-names-plus.com/
http://www.celebrity-babies.com/
http://www.babycenter.com/
http://www.babyzone.com/
http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2005-09-25-babynames-side_x.htm

Eternity travel.   http://www.mos.org/quest/et/

Haunted travel in America.   http://www.ghostinmysuitcase.com/

Classic film pages.   http://www.moderntimes.com/

The 46 Best-ever (costless) Utilities.
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best_46_free_utilities.htm

Ugly money.  http://www.johnnyburrito.com/uglymoney_drawn.htm


          This issue's contributions from
           reader and friend John Lepse.

American WWII Orphans Network.  http://www.awon.org/

Common-place.  http://www.common-place.org/

Wild mood swings.   http://www.wildmoodswings.co.uk/

Words can heal.   http://www.wordscanheal.org/

Mp3 files of his latest album tracks are available on Neal
Young's website.  http://neilyoung.com/prairiewind.html


              This issue's contributions from
            reader and friend Patrick Barden

Abilon is an RSS aggregator and blog tool.
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/abilon.html

Role Playing Games.
http://www.battleon.com/
http://lotgd.net/home.php
http://www.shalkith.com/index.php

Identify those mysterious file extensions.  http://filext.com/

A nice guide to (costless apps).  http://www.freeware-guide.com/

Mix and match email stationary/website decor.
http://www.jumbo-psp.com/Mix-n-Match.htm

a movie review site.   http://www.smart-popcorn.com/

Patrick, Lisa has had a simply wonderful time reading this
woman's blog.   http://holymama.typepad.com/holymama/

Irving Stein is a subscriber and regular contributor to our ezine,
a friend when he's not driving me nuts, and he's one of the online
computer experts at http://www.allexperts.com  where his
identity is "Irving S".
You might also enjoy his thought provoking website:
http://www.irvings-info-page.cityslide.com
Here are a few sites that Irving sent me:

Cloudeight, the email stationary people, have a nice start
page.   http://www.thundercloud.net/start/

This multimedia presentation is called "The Good Earth".
(it will take a while to load if you're on a dial up connection)
http://www.frontiermultimedia.com/the-good-earth.htm

The 18th Edition of The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy
(online).   http://www.merck.com/mrkshared/mmanual/home.jsp

Optical Illusions, ambiguous images, hidden pictures,
upside downs.   http://www.planetperplex.com/

These folks are perhaps the web's leading authorities on (costless
apps).   http://www.pricelesswarehome.org/

A place to store all sorts of media files.   http://www.putfile.com/

Barry, Jo, John, Patrick and Irv, thank you all very much.

=================================

Last words, from Lisa:

Once again, it's been an interesting couple of weeks.  We try to spend
some time tooling around the net looking for links every day.  I've
decided if we read every site in detail and remembered everything,
we'd be geniuses.  Fortunately, this hasn't happened yet. Fortunately,
you ask?  Well, remember the legend that Albert Einstein had to be
checked every morning before he left the house to make sure he was
wearing the requisite amount of clothing. There is apparently only so
much you can think about at one time.  And most of us look much
better clothed.

Adios

Lisa's feedback form:  http://www.don-guitar.com/lfefo.html
Don's feedback form:  http://www.don-guitar.com/contactme.html

Our personal news page.
http://www.don-guitar.com/babbleon.html

Don Crowder and Lisa Miller
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
10:42 PM CST - Buchanan Lake Village, Texas, USA
Served by the U.S. Post Office in Tow (rhymes-with-cow), Texas

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Privacy:  We will never share, sell, or
otherwise compromise your email address.

Privacy Policy on our website.
http://www.don-guitar.com/privacy.html

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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.

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You can show your support by making
a contribution in any amount you choose.
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