[donspatch] 2007-11-01
- From: "Don Crowder" <don@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Don's Patch" <donspatch@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 01 Nov 2007 00:27:08 -0500
Don's Patch #81 from http://www.don-guitar.com November 1, 2007
First word, from Don:
For months I've been trying to decide whether on not to quit using
Windows and switch to using Linux full-time. Lisa pointed out
that most of our readers are still using Windows and we need
to stay in-touch with our readers. She's right but my Windows
2000 Pro is going to be obsolete before too much longer and
there's no way I'm going to buy into Vista. I finally decided that
purchasing a used machine that's using XP would solve my
problem so I spent a week searching through eBay auctions
before bidding on, and winning, what I thought would be the
ideal machine for me and for a price I can afford (total delivered
cost was right about $100) but the darn thing doesn't work.
After communicating with the seller we're pretty sure it's got
a defective power supply but I don't have one like it and I'm not
sure when I'll have an occasion to go shopping. If I can resolve
the problem fairly quickly the vender will probably give me a
modest rebate for my trouble but it's already been a couple of
weeks and I've simply had no chance to go to town. *gloom*
Must every-darn-thing be an adventure? Oh well, at least I'm
never bored.
Quite a few of you took the time to wish me a happy birthday
for which, thank you very much.
Happy Halloween everybody.
See you next time.
Don
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 blogs.
http://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/eldergeek/
http://don-guitar.blogspot.com/
Lisa at myspace.com. http://www.myspace.com/81825549
Lisa's blog. http://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/dirtgoddess
Section One by Don.
Patrick Barden wrote:
"This might sound dumb, but what is a download manager?"
[Editor's note: This is a Windows-specific answer]
I don't think that's the least but dumb Patrick, this is a fairly geeky
subject. Some servers have the ability to break downloadable files
into little packets, called threads. A download manager has the ability
to keep up with these little threads and resume a download that's been
interrupted (for whatever reason). Breaking up a download into threads
makes it run just a little faster too. The one I use is called DLExpert.
http://www.yanew.com/
There are a fair number of download managers out there and it's a good
idea to use one for large files, or just about any files you download with
a dial-up connection. DLExpert will monitor for a download click in IE
and pop open when it sees one but I won't let it do that (just uncheck
the IE button on it's toolbar). anything under 20 MB or so downloads
quickly enough on our connection that it isn't worth bothering with
DLExpert but I definitely use it when I'm downloading an ISO file (for a
Linux distro) or something big like OpenOffice.org or The Gimp. If you
copy a URL to your clipboard, turn on DLExpert then click on "Job" and
"New" it will grab the URL from the clipboard and you can navigate to
wherever you want to save the file.
The implication is that his parents were never married.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BOFH
http://www.leo.org/information/freizeit/fun/bofh/bofhtop.html
http://members.iinet.net.au/~bofh/
http://bofh.ntk.net/Bastard_Indexes.html
Terry Jeanson's Courthouse Gallery.
http://courthouse-gallery.notlong.com
Geocaching is sort-of a game you play with a portable GPS device.
http://www.geocaching.com/
CafePress is a commercial site but it's also a good place to get T-shirts
and other goodies for your club, organization, or just for yourself.
http://www.cafepress.com/
A combination link shortening/search site. http://memurl.com/
Don's Patch salutes Jefferson County Texas, SaaaLoot!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_County,_Texas
http://JeffersonCourthouse.notlong.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 //www.freelists.org
Section Two by Lisa
I really enjoyed this quote;
"Diplomacy is the art of saying "Nice doggie" until you can find a rock."
Elizabeth Kenny revolutionized the care of polio victims and saved many
people from the crippling effects of this dreaded and once-common
disease. This strong and persistent woman changed history and lives.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Kenny
Once again, I highly recommend Jack Trimpey's approach to addictive
behavior and Rational Recovery. http://www.rational.org/
Costless CGI scripts and more, Matt's Script Archive is a wealth
of web information. http://www.scriptarchive.com/
A great site with loads of information, advice and strategy; presumably
for business but more about a balanced life.
http://www.management-issues.com/default.asp
Welcome to The Splendid Table. http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/
How do you take a dog away from meat? Empty your hands and do
not eat or drink anything while you read this forum post.
http://tabletalk.salon.com/webx?14@@.ee90352/1317
Physical Therapy Magazine.
http://www.apta.org//AM/Template.cfm?Section=Current_Issue1
Techno-Impressionism is the last art movement of the 20th Century
And the first art movement of the 21st. Good stuff.
http://www.techno-impressionist.com/
Art and the Zen of computer design. Well done.
http://www.tlc-systems.com/
Internet marketing resources, tutorials and more from this site
based in Australia. http://www.tamingthebeast.net/
A vast repository of toonological knowledge.
http://www.toonopedia.com/
Paper toys for kids and grownups. http://www.papertoys.com/
Border farm workers and their contribution to our society.
http://www.farmworkers.org/benglish.html
There are many kinds of snobs; do you fit any one of these?
http://www.bagsnob.com/
http://www.2basnob.com/
http://www.toolsnob.com/
http://www.culturesnob.com/
End of Section Two.
At the time this issue was posted,
the current subscriber count for
this publication was 386.
This issue's collection of news,
magazine, and/or informational
sites (chosen for maximum
diversity regardless of "spin" ).
http://wunderland.com/WTS/Kristin/Kristin.html
http://miss-information.net/blog/archives/000375.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/
http://www.emilychang.com/
http://www.springwise.com/
http://www.oxygen.com/
http://mashable.com/
http://www.happynews.com/index.htm
http://www.thespoof.com/
http://www.technologyinvestor.com/
http://www.forbes.com/
http://ehrenreich.blogs.com/barbaras_blog/
http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/wel.html
Section Three by Don.
It all started when I met someone named "Mindy" and was
reminded of Mork and Mindy...
http://www.sitcomsonline.com/morkandmindy.html
...but then I thought "How unfair is that, there's got to
be a more interesting person I can associate the name with"
so I went looking for interesting people named "Mindy".
http://www.mindysbooks.com/mindysbio.html
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/2003mindy.shtml
http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Development/MDTools/mindy/
http://mindymcadams.com/
http://mindywithrow.com/
http://www.mindymac.com/
http://www.mindy.org/
http://sweetmindy.blogspot.com/
http://mindyfriddle.com/
http://www.mindypollack.com/index.htm
http://princessandthebeads.blogspot.com/
Did you know that September 15th was Software Freedom Day?
What's that? Um, yeah, that was over a month ago but they
have this really cool ISO file you can download and use to
burn a CD full of software and you can get it anytime you
like; you don't have to wait until next September :)
http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/
The ISO file is here (shortened sourceforge link):
http://snipurl.com/1suhg
Of course there's no index to tell you what's on the CD
but they do say that all the applications are for Windows.
Todd Frye's pop culture encyclopedia.
http://www.pop-cult.com/
I got in a "brass band" mood and went googling.
http://exploitsystems.com/hot8/media.htm
http://www.lwbb.org/
http://www.4barsrest.com/default.asp
http://www.brasscast.com/main.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/listentotheband/
http://www.brassbandworld.com/
Have you ever wondered whatever happened to Van Cliburn?
http://www.cliburn.org/
We're members of Central Texas Electric Co-op and they send
out a monthly magazine which often contains some very interesting
articles. http://www.texas-ec.org/texascooppower/ Here are some
cute images from that magazine. The last one, at the bottom of
the page, is my favorite. http://co-op-mag-images.notlong.com
FreePOPs an be used to download webmail to your favorite
email client, as an aggregator for RSS feeds and more.
http://www.freepops.org/en/
Need a multi-format IM client? Try Pidgin: http://www.pidgin.im/
Need the same capability in an online-tool? Try SamePlace:
http://sameplace.cc/
Where do you stand on the Internet Radio question?
http://www.savenetradio.org/
End of Section Three.
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
//www.freelists.org/list/donspatch
Section Four by Lisa.
Online marketing news for professionals.
http://www.e-marketing-news.co.uk/
The Great Comic Book Database Project.
http://www.comics.org/index.lasso
Peter Landry, this issue's Renaissance man. http://www.blupete.com/
SeniorNet's new, updated site. http://seniornet.notlong.com
Search tools for web sites and intranets. http://www.searchtools.com/
A costless Windows GUI version of HTML Tidy.
http://perso.orange.fr/ablavier/TidyGUI/
Don't forget, Baen Free Library regularly adds new books to
its shelves, stop by often to see what they've got.
http://www.baen.com/library/
An attractive and interesting real cowboy site.
http://www.truecowboy.com/
Resources for programmers and aspiring programmers.
http://www.devzoo.com/
David Byrne is much more than a Talking Head, and he has a stellar
web designer. http://www.davidbyrne.com/
Costless meta-tag generator and tools for search engine optimization,
this site also has easy-to-understand explanations and tutorials on
how web sites are made. http://tools.seobook.com/meta-medic/
A fascinating look at a legendary American, Bob Wills.
http://www.famoustexans.com/bobwills.htm
Some cool software from Steffen Gerlach.
http://www.steffengerlach.de/freeware/index.html
A public directory that lists relevant and useful business sites.
http://www.executivelibrary.com/
Convert text to HTML and RTF tables. Recommended by
Lockergnome. http://www.jafsoft.com/asctotab/
An amazing collection of info about the R.M.S. Titanic.
http://www.pottsoft.com/titanic/titanic.html
The terms "Food Science" applies to everything from better food
safety practices to making snack food more enticing.
http://www.foodsci.purdue.edu/
Talented artist Alec Longstreth. http://alec-longstreth.com/
End of Section Four.
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).
Section Five by Don.
The internet audio archive.
http://www.archive.org/details/audio
Podcasts from the BBC.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/podcasts/directory/
Online photo editing. http://www.flauntr.com/
One Laptop Per Child is pretty cool.
http://laptop.org/
Here be Commodores. http://zimmers.net/cbmpics/
This I Believe is just wonderful.
http://Robin-Baudier.notlong.com
http://Mary-Chapin-Carpenter.notlong.com
What do you believe? http://thisibelieve.org/agree.html
Wanna see how your website loads for folks on a dial-up
connection? http://www.dallaway.com/sloppy/
HTML resources. http://www.anneke.net/computers/html/
A few PHP resources.
http://us2.php.net/tut.php
http://www.w3schools.com/php/default.asp
http://www.tizag.com/phpT/
http://www.freewebmasterhelp.com/tutorials/php
http://devzone.zend.com/node/view/id/627
Anyone who's into people-watching has had occasion to
ask "What's wrong with these people?". Here's some clues.
http://endeavor.med.nyu.edu/~strone01/matingmodel.html
This might be one way to beat the traffic (2 pop-ups).
http://www.coolbuzz.org/entry/the-amazing-flying-bike/
If you have a fast connection and haven't yet discovered
internet radio, here's a good place to start. http://www.sky.fm/
Do you have an interest in medicine and history? (Yes, John Lepse,
that means you) http://www.springgrove.com/history.html
Documenting the evolution of fair tests in medical care.
http://www.jameslindlibrary.org/index.html
To me, a leader is a piece of fishing line, how about you?
http://www.leader-values.com/default.asp
September 11 news. http://www.september11news.com/
Photography as art. http://www.beautiful-landscape.com/
I'm not sure how to describe this one, it looks to be a virtual public
radio/television (internet media?) station. http://www.rain.org/
The food and agriculture organization of the United Nations.
http://www.fao.org/
The Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum.
http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/
Garden rant. http://www.gardenrant.com/my_weblog/
Photos by John Crosley. http://photo.net/photos/johncrosley
Much more photography. http://photo.net/
End of Section Five.
Archives for this ezine
are available online here:
//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.
//www.freelists.org/archives/donspatch/feed.rss
Section Six by Lisa.
I agreed with this article well enough to comment, and the author
approved it. Thanks, Max. http://manage-issues.notlong.com
Here's a rerun that's well worth it. Topix delivers on the topics of
the day. http://www.topix.com/
What is Virtual Reality? http://www-vrl.umich.edu/intro/
A resource for journalists that has a lot of
great information. http://powerreporting.com/
Cooperative Linux is a method for optimally running Linux on Microsoft
Windows natively. Great logo, too. http://www.colinux.org/
Bert Christensen's Truth & Humour Collection.
http://bertc.com/truth.htm
On this rare occasion I'll recommend this George Benson site. Rare
occasion because it has unasked-for music (which you can Mute),
but it's the good site of a great musician.
http://www.georgebenson.com/
In case you ever want some cactus recipes.
http://www.rivenrock.com/recipes.html
Resources for educators and parents, lots of fun learning stuff.
http://www.learningpage.com/free_pages/home.html
It was difficult to stop reading this and get the ezine done.
http://www.rinkworks.com/
A wonderful artist, Jim Nelson.
http://www.jnelsonstudio.com/originals.aspx
The home page of Van Vives. http://www.okprairie.com/
Check out the Lego Digital Designer.
Lego has come of age. http://ldd.lego.com/
Have a taste for real Jamaican food? Mmm...me too!
http://www.jamaicacooking.com/index.html
We've recently been playing with qdig, a gallery script, and are quite
pleased with it. http://qdig.sourceforge.net/
Here's another gallery software that looks interesting. If anyone tries
it, please let us know how you like it. http://jalbum.net/
The beautiful and dynamic personal web page of watercolorist
Alison Annesley. http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/alisonma/index.html
Everything about maps. Really. http://www.waml.org/maptools.html
I heard this yesterday on the radio. "As Death Approaches"
by Susan Deborah King. It's hard to laugh, cry and drive.
http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/programs/2007/10/29/#tuesday
End of Section Six.
The Linux Corner.
Linux reviews and info. http://linuxreviews.org/
Linux help and info. http://www.tuxfiles.org/
A Command Line Interface (CLI) resource.
http://www.linuxcommand.org/
Shortly after Windows XP was introduced so was a fee-not-free
version of Linux called Linux XP. http://www.linux-xp.com/
Well, there's a new free-not-fee version of Linux called Vixta.
http://tuxenclave.wordpress.com/2007/10/03/vixtaforget-vista/
Neither Linux XP nor Linux Vixta have been all that well
received by Linux converts (like me) who just want to get away
from Windows but one of the great things about Linux is that
there's a version for just about everyone.
Linux Basics dot org. http://linuxbasics.org/
Information on Windows Managers, Desktops, and their differences.
http://xwinman.org/index.php
Mike Petersen, network admin, programmer, technical writer, SuSE
Linux fan, etc. http://www.pcc-services.com/
Dustin Wielenga's Slax Guide.
http://www.geocities.com/slaxfansite/
My Linux multimedia workstation, which I've yet to begin learning how
to use, is 64studio. http://64studio.com/ I may switch to Ubuntu
Studio before I start learning. http://ubuntustudio.org/
A Little Humor.
http://www.sparkherd.com/humor/Affirmations.txt
http://www.sparkherd.com/humor/AirlineOS.txt
http://www.sparkherd.com/humor/DumbKid.txt
Tips for This Issue.
Andy McFadden's CD-Recordable FAQ.
http://www.cdrfaq.org/
Tutorial: Windows for Small Business.
http://website101.com/Microsoft/Windows/index.html
Tips for Linux explorers (helpful info for those learning Linux)
http://www.brunolinux.com/
How to perform a Windows XP repair install.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm
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/ )
Wallpaper from Patrick.
http://www.don-guitar.com/romanrw.html
Build your wild self. http://www.buildyourwildself.com/
Don't know if it's worth it but this could be a good deal for parents.
http://sears-kidvantage.notlong.com
Vocabulary junkies can make a useful contribution here. Patrick, I
made it to 45 but wasn't able to stay there for long.
http://www.freerice.com/index.php
Patrick has a new obsession. Scrapbooking.
http://www.scrapbookflair.com/
http://www.scrapbookflair.com/Roman_Roadwalker
Patrick explained this to me but I just don't get it. What's it
do? Anybody? http://www.urlsplit.com/
From our web sibling Jo-Ann (Jo) Burton:
( Jo's site: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sharinglinks2/ )
Happy hunting sports fans (flash game).
http://www.quailhuntingschool.com/flash.php
Fit TV. http://fittv.discovery.com/
Go fly a kite.
http://www.aloha.net/~bigwind/20kidskites.html
http://www.skratch-pad.com/kites/
http://www.nationalkitemonth.org/kids/
http://www.medienkonzepte.de/KITE/FRAME/MYKITE/KiteCin1.html
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/fractions/printable/4229.html
http://www.people.ex.ac.uk/jastaple/kites/story/ktgs0.html
Some entertaining reading. http://MarthaBrockenbrough.notlong.com
It's not exactly the Guinness book. http://www.aneki.com/
Live Science top ten. http://www.livescience.com/readerfavorites/
What is Peak Oil? http://www.energybulletin.net/primer.php
sidewalk art. http://gprime.net/images/sidewalkchalkguy/
http://users.skynet.be/J.Beever/pave.htm
Hay in art. http://www.hayinart.com/
Photography and sculpture by Harri Kallio.
http://www.harrikallio.com/
Apples. http://www.allaboutapples.com/
Balloon hats.
http://www.balloonhat.com/
http://balloonhatmovie.com/
From our friend Herb Cees, "The Song That Is Irresistible".
http://www.mises.org/story/2749
Our web sibling Vi DePhillipe ( http://360.yahoo.com/vinette1 )
sent us this commentary from Ben Stein.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/benstein2.asp
My brother "Beeyil" Lanoue ( http://ncvietvet.blogspot.com/ ) sent this
link entitled "Speaking of Faith". http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/
From our web sibling John Lepse.
( John's blog: http://hucknjim.blogspot.com/ )
Lots of good medical info. http://www.merck.com/
Fun with words. http://wordsmith.org/
Doonsbury, the blog. http://gocomics.typepad.com/the_sandbox/
The Last Supper, in detail. http://www.haltadefinizione.com/en/
Who will rule us after the next 9/11? (an article)
http://www.slate.com/id/2176185/
Maternal wisdom, to the tune of the William Tell Overture.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXT6Hs113ZA
Our friend Cranz Nichols is a ham radio operator and
quite the computer geek. Here are some links he
posted to our local Highland Lakes Linux Users Group.
The Enigma Simulator is a software app that runs under
Windows 98/ME/2000/XP, or with WINE under Linux.
http://users.telenet.be/d.rijmenants/en/enigmasim.htm
A handbook of hardware pinouts, cable schemes
and connectors layouts. http://pinouts.ru/
Sky and Telescope magazine. http://www.skyandtelescope.com/
A reader who identified himself only as "Rick" sent a link to this cool
and costless clock for Windows. http://www.alfaclock.com/default.html
Thank you Patrick, Jo, Herb, Vi, "Beeyil", John, Cranz, and Rick
Last word, from Lisa:
I've been having a blast these last two weeks, putting together a couple
of web sites and feeling way out of my league. I think perhaps pressure
is a good thing. It makes you scramble to do better than you thought you
could.
A new and interesting project has been designing a logo and starting
a CafePress store to outfit our computer club in fab tee's and cool
accoutrements. Read all about it in this issue's Personal News page.
'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://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/dirtgoddess
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, November 1, 2007
12:15 AM CST - Buchanan Lake Village, Texas, USA
Served by the U.S. Post Office in Tow (rhymes-with-cow), Texas
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.
//www.freelists.org/privacy.html
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.
___________________________________________________________
Subscription management for this publication is available
online here: http://www.don-guitar.com/subsmanager.html
or here: //www.freelists.org/list/donspatch
Other related posts:
