[donspatch] 2010-05-15
- From: "Don (& Lisa)" <dondashguitar@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: Donspatch <Donspatch@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 15 May 2010 04:09:09 -0500
#141 May 15, 2010 from http://www.don-guitar.com
Online version: http://www.don-guitar.com/currentissue.html
Archives: //www.freelists.org/archives/donspatch/
First word, from Don:
First of all, our big mystery is partially solved. We know
what the brooch pin is, but we still don't know if it has
any other special significance. Check it out.
http://www.don-guitar.com/mysterypin.html
I had some expensive sound equipment fail Wednesday evening
and spent most of Thursday scrounging spare gear to use
this evening, or, since it's after 3 AM Saturday morning
I guess should have said yesterday evening but the gig was
from 9:00 PM Friday evening to 1:00 AM Saturday morning
so it still feels like 'this evening' to me. Anyway, my
scrounging failed me and I wasn't able to get started
before 9:20 due to equipment problems but there's good
news. I discovered that my 'equipment failure' was a
loose AC power cord rather than a component failure.
Seems like the our lives have been 'good news/bad news'
for weeks now but the good news has mostly been real
good while the bad news wasn't so bad after all.
I'm still working on my home recording studio but
decided to try a Linux distribution which comes on
a DVD but I can't seem to download a clean copy of
the ISO file for a DVD. Every time I try to download
a file larger than the ISO file for a CD (about 700 MB
whereas the ISO file for a DVD is twice that size or
larger) I get a corrupt, unusable copy so I bought a
guaranteed copy from osdisk.com and am 'treading water'
waiting for it to arrive in the mail. A few readers
have asked to hear me perform. All I can say is,
I'm working on it, honest. Bear with me a little
longer. See you next time,
Don
Our feedback form and contact info:
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Don on...
myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/donguitar
facebook:
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twitter:
http://twitter.com/eldergeek
blogger:
http://don-guitar.blogspot.com/
google buzz.
http://www.google.com/profiles/dondashguitar
Lisa on...
myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/81825549
facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/people/Lisa-Miller/100000537499890
blogger:
http://thedirtgoddess.blogspot.com/
google buzz.
http://www.google.com/profiles/101326359135790262301
Section One by Don.
I read an article yesterday which made much of the fact
that Windows 7, for all of its vast improvements over
Vista, is still subject to becoming slow and erratic over
time if the user isn't willing to invest the time required
to learn a few simple procedures and follow through on them.
http://www.microsoft.com/atwork/maintenance/speed.aspx
Ever want to use your expensive computer as an inexpensive
alarm clock? http://bluefive.pair.com/alarm.htm
How about a search engine for bargains? http://allth.at/
Babble is a word game. http://www.playbabble.com/
Need a To-Do list?
http://todoist.com/
http://doominow.com/
http://hiveminder.com/splash/
http://diary.com/
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/
http://tadalist.com/
http://www.toodledo.com/
Personal budget software from Wyatt Olson.
http://buddi.digitalcave.ca/
Someone on ardvark (vark.com) asked how to put mp3 music
files on a CD that could be used in an ordinary CD player.
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question434.htm
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=999
Got a minute for some awesome guitar playing? Try one of
these Jerry Reed and Chet Atkins videos.
http://tinyurl.com/2eavwl2 [youtube dot com]
A collection of photographic projects from a talented
photographer. http://www.chookooloonks.com/projects/
Cliche finder. http://cliche.theinfo.org/
A collection of high-quality public domain images
specifically tailored for use in word processors.
http://www.wpclipart.com/
Coccinella is an open-source cross-platform communication
tool with a built-in whiteboard for improved collaboration
with other people. http://coccinella.im/
Any of you UK readers want your own website?
http://www.multimania.co.uk/
This certainly kept me busy clicking for a few moments.
http://www.purveslab.net/main/
Ok, so what's using up all your hard drive space?
http://www.malte-weiss.de/software/DiscSpaceReporter/index.php
Turn your Windows clipboard into yet another cluttered
data trap :P http://ditto-cp.sourceforge.net/
For a hard working musician who has to contend with a small
budget, like me for example, the more I know and can fix,
build or figure out for myself the better. Here's a nice
page of DIY info for working musicians.
http://www.colomar.com/Shavano/construction.html
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.
How much sugar is in that?
http://www.sugarstacks.com/
Rather a lot of info on fire ants.
http://bit.ly/adJtgQ
Recycling for different types of businesses.
http://bit.ly/coIgLk
http://bit.ly/cA3Cuk
http://bit.ly/53S4Uj
The encyclopedia for the ADD generation.
http://www.tenwordwiki.com/
Free-and free-to-use photos.
http://morguefile.com/
104 things to do with Skin-So-Soft.
http://bit.ly/ciaCTp
80% Google, 20% random weirdness.
http://blogoscoped.com/
See better by believing you can?
http://bit.ly/bwYKK4
Deleting my Facebook account for good.
http://bit.ly/bjizb3
Why? http://bit.ly/6pviBi
http://bit.ly/ayMpwC
They changed the contract, guys.
Without asking. I don't think so.
Tools and resources for living a
location independent life.
http://locationindependent.com/
Say what? http://overheardincourt.com/
Polyglot Benny Lewis shows you how
to learn languages in 3 months.
http://www.fluentin3months.com/
Simple, sensible dieting. Really.
http://caloriecount.about.com/
A different take on boring work.
http://bit.ly/cQSh06
What to and what not to buy at Wal-Mart.
http://bit.ly/a6IKDj
http://bit.ly/7c3mM1
It's Spring, time to seal that
concrete driveway. http://bit.ly/a0DA6j
End of Section Two.
At the time this issue was posted,
the current subscriber count for
this publication was 377.
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.vtoreality.com/
http://makeshiftmusician.blogspot.com/
http://www.citypaper.com/
http://www.sneakpeekatme.com/
http://750words.com/
http://teachpaperless.blogspot.com/
http://www.ificandream.com/
http://www.clusterflock.org/
http://techcrunch.com/
http://tinyurl.com/232tt96 [discoveryeducation dot com]
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/
http://www.janetswisher.com/
http://consumerist.com/
http://chosetec.darkclan.net/origami/
http://www.yankodesign.com/
http://tinyurl.com/5rn8mw [interfacelift dot com]
http://www.yankodesign.com/
http://www.cruel.com/
http://www.ohmygoodness.com/
http://www.imnyc.com/
http://www.cowtowninfo.com/
http://www.inmate.com/
Section Three by Don.
Our Verizon DSL service is pretty much the slowest of fast
connections and I turn my computer off every night so I'm
not interested in investing the time required to download
movies. Maybe you feel differently. http://www.zml.com/
I'm not interested in video mail for the same reason I'm not
interested in downloading movies. I'm jealous of my speed
challenged bandwidth but, again, maybe you feel differently.
http://www.eyejot.com/
Aspiring writers, never say die. Check out these book
rejections. http://tinyurl.com/28vmwje [neatorama dot com]
Got enough sheet music?
http://www.free-scores.com/free-sheet-music.php
Would you like some free web space on an exotic sounding
domain? http://www.gawab.com/webfront3/pkgs.php
Want another online email account?
http://www.gmx.co.uk/
http://www.lpemail.com/
...or, would you rather have pop3 access?
http://www.hotpop.com/index.jsp
http://lavabit.com/
http://www.safe-mail.net/
http://www.vfemail.net/vfemailaccts.php
Yahoo users who don't wish to pay the extra fee
for pop3 access have another option in ypops.
http://ypopsemail.com/
Avoid the grammar trap.
http://tinyurl.com/25le7ql [writetodone dot com]
More where that came from. http://writetodone.com/
Captain Caveman's Firefox extension.
http://www.captaincaveman.nl/firefox-extensions.aspx
Incredimail is one of the most controversial applications on
the web with most of the controversy revolving around one
question, namely 'Is it spyware or not?'. Most of the
controversy skips over the fact that incredimail can't
write plain text email, it strictly creates HTML mail. That
should be reason enough to avoid the app. HTML mail is evil.
http://www.georgedillon.com/web/html_email_is_evil.shtml
This 80 year old American icon is still going strong.
http://davebrubeck.com/live/
If your gmail account has been hijacked, is being used to
send junk mail to your friends and you find that you can't
log in because your password and secret question have been
changed, don't give up hope. for some reason this page is
tricky to get to but I'll walk you through it. First, click
on this link: http://snipurl.com/w8xc4 [www_google_com]
...next, click on the link on the page labeled "Visit this
page". Now click the back arrow on your browser to return
to the first page. This should take you to a form which
will enable you to initiate the process of recovering your
google account.
An icon tool for Win2K, XP and Vista.
http://www.sillysot.com/
You don't have to be bored with your life, you can be bored
with someone else's life or you can even enable other folks
to be bored with your life right along with you.
http://www.justin.tv/
Much to explore on Konrad Papala's site.
http://www.konradp.com/
When I was sixteen I spent part of the summer making nifty
little clipboard which we sold a couple of bucks each. It
was a Junior Achievement project. http://www.ja.org/
Here's something that's roughly similar but it's not just
for kids, it's for people who want to make a difference
in their lives. http://www.kiva.org/
I'm monolingual so I couldn't test this if I wanted to so
I can't actually recommend it but it might be useful if
you're bilingual. http://www.langover.com/
End of Section Three.
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Section Four by Lisa.
How we change what others think, believe,
feel and do. http://changingminds.org/index.htm
Berthe Morisot, one of the original
French Impressionist painters.
http://bit.ly/ciTrpu
http://bit.ly/c1vH9B
A different way of managing your money.
http://www.pocketsmith.com/
I don't usually 'do' commercial links,
but custom stickers are just cool.
http://uk.moo.com/en/products/stickers.php
A great resource about world time.
http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/
Sculptor Guon Osang.
http://bit.ly/e99j7
An Art Attack at Rosenthalerplatz, Berlin.
http://bit.ly/e99j7
Ever launder a lipstick? What fun!
http://bit.ly/avgNYt
10 reasons you'll never leave Facebook.
http://bit.ly/ckmCVD
Herman Leonard, photographer.
http://www.hermanleonard.com/default_home.htm
Know your Internet meme; Keyboard Cat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_Cat
http://keyboardcat.com/
http://playhimoffkeyboardcat.com/
Resources for low-vision and blind people.
http://www.afb.org/
http://www.visionaware.org/
A quick, fun site from my
Wave buddy, Jeremy Naegel.
http://instantsfun.es/
Skip Bolen photography.
http://www.skipbolenstudio.com/c/skipbolen
Tired of crappy software?
There's always an Alternative To.
http://alternativeto.net/
Resources for web designers.
http://annanta.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.
http://www.don-guitar.com/contactme.html
Section Five by Don.
Health resources.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/hp.asp
A windows wallpaper tool http://muralpix.learsy.com/
This UK site purports to be for animals, what facebook is
for humans. http://www.mypetbook.co.uk/
One way to keep Windows running smoothly is to regularly
use the various system and registry cleaning tools
offered by EasyCleaner.
http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/ecleane.htm
But if your computer has enormous temp files which haven't
been cleaned in years, Easy Cleaner will literally freeze
up leaving the job incomplete, possibly even forcing you
to manually turn off your computer (hard crash) to recover.
So, if you've never cleaned your temp files, don't use
EasyCleaner before you've ascended the learning curve and
cleaned it manually.
XP:
http://tinyurl.com/23vgh47 (about dot com)
http://www.personal-computer-tutor.com/deletingtempfiles.htm
Win98/Win2K/XP:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/260897
It's a real good idea to empty the trash (right click on
the wastebasket icon on the desktop and read the menu) and
run both defrag and scandisk after having cleaned out the
temp and temporary internet files. Here's defrag
instructions for XP...
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314848
...and here's how to run scandisk in XP...
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315265/EN-US/
If you're using an older version of Windows, google can
help you find version specific info. If you're using a
newer version of Windows, Microsoft has best up an entire
website, just for you :)
Vista: http://support.microsoft.com/ph/11732
Windows 7:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/help
Oral care info from Colgate.
http://www.colgate.com/app/Colgate/US/OC/Information.cvsp
White papers are the print media analog of infomercials
though they're generally somewhat less commercial.
There's much to be learned from reading them at any rate.
http://whitepapers.techrepublic.com.com/
http://www.findwhitepapers.com/
http://www.bitpipe.com/
http://www.webbuyersguide.com/
Assorted online media conversion tools.
http://www.zamzar.com/conversionTypes.php
http://www.youconvertit.com/
http://www.apn.gr/convert_any_file.php
These may or may not be on the level.
http://tinyurl.com/3bjc86 [dvdvideosoft dot com]
http://www.avi-swf-convert.com/
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.
Louis Gray and Steven Hodson discuss
Google Buzz and Facebook.
http://bit.ly/9tHzJI
http://bit.ly/ctt5kj
Jimmy Katz photograpy.
http://www.jimmykatz.com/index02.htm
Free apps for Mac.
http://bit.ly/leabd
http://mac.softpedia.com/
http://www.opensourcemac.org/
Just in case you're bored...
http://www.blifaloo.com/index.php
Free vector images.
http://www.pinkmoustache.net/
All about fabric. http://www.trueup.net/
Display and/or sell your artwork online.
bit.ly/cLInqi
Inspiring and motivational quotes.
http://www.motivationalquotes.com/
Hang gliding has an interesting history.
http://bit.ly/bYRmb4
The world is about to change and
Google is an integral part of it.
http://bit.ly/ocRQU
No arms, no legs, no worries!
http://bit.ly/9NCcJn
http://www.attitudeisaltitude.com/
Take control of your files and folders.
http://bit.ly/d45QES
Back up and restore:
Windows- http://bit.ly/cBwnVO
Linux- http://bit.ly/92DAcx
Let Rhett and Link make your
local commercial!
http://www.ilovelocalcommercials.com/
Where should you chat?
http://bit.ly/cqjILW
Ever heard of a 'body farm'? Yuck.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_farm
Never hurts to re-read the definition
of Open Software.
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
End of Section Six.
The Linux Corner.
Attention Win2k or XP users who're curious about Linux.
The best way to try Linux is via a live CD and, if there's
not a Linux Users Group in your area from whom you can
borrow live CD's, you can burn your own if your Windows
machine has a CD burner but you'll need software (Win2k
doesn't come with any and the CD burning software built
into XP can't burn ISO files). Here are some options.
http://www.cdburnerxp.se/
http://dpaehl.dd6338.kasserver.com/cdr/isoburn.php
If you don't have a drive which can burn CDs or your
connection speed makes it impractical to download the
ISO files, live CD's can be purchased quite reasonably
from osdisk. http://www.osdisc.com/
If you can't afford to buy a CD you still have two options.
https://shipit.kubuntu.com/
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Distribution/FreeMedia
Why would anyone want to use a Linux
liveCD as a basic day to day desktop?
http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT8963693541.html
Netbooks are becoming a hot item and Linux is ready for
them. http://tinyurl.com/268tz89 [linux dot com]
Linux learning resources. http://beginlinux.com/
I've been trying to learn how to set up an Open Source
home recording studio. This sure looks interesting.
http://www.artistx.org/site2/
A Little Humor.
This came from a old issue of
Jo-Ann Burton's ezine. Thanks Jo.
A cab driver reaches the Pearly Gates and announces his
presence to St. Peter, who looks him up in his Big Book.
Upon reading the entry for the cabbie, St. Peter invites
him to pick up a silk robe and a golden staff and to
proceed into Heaven. A preacher is next in line behind
the cabby and has been watchingthese proceedings with
interest. He announces himself to St. Peter. Upon scanning
the preacher’s entry in the Big Book, St. Peter furrows
his brow and says, 'Okay, we’ll let you in, but take that
cloth robe and wooden staff.' The preacher is astonished
and replies, 'But I am a man of the cloth. You gave that
cab driver a gold staff and a silk robe. Surely I rate
higher than a cabbie.' St. Peter responded matter-of
factly, 'This is heaven and, up here, we are interested
in results. When you preached, people slept. When that
cabbie drove his taxi, people prayed.
Tips for This Issue.
Alfred Michael is a 27 year old mega-geek from Bangalore,
India. This is his blog. http://alfred.co.in/
Positive information for troubled computer users.
http://www.pchell.com/
Pass this one on to all the musicians you know.
1/4" phone jacks and plugs.
http://tinyurl.com/2dcxcoh [gaussmarkov dot net]
Contributions From Our Readers.
Links from readers are always
welcome and you can even write
your own link descriptions if you
like (just tell me when you send
them if that's what you intended).
Guidelines are available here:
http://www.don-guitar.com/descriptivetext.html
From our web-sibling Patrick Barden.
( http://romanroadwalker.posterous.com/ )
Patrick is excited about his new blog at posterous
where you email your posts and needn't register.
http://posterous.com/
Ninite is a Windows tool for software junkies.
http://ninite.com/
What if you could sync your IE, Firefox, Google Chrome and
Safari bookmarks on your Windows, Mac and Linux computers?
http://www.xmarks.com/
Web-sibling Tony Bromeland was fascinated by these
printables. http://www.freeprintable.net/
From our web-sibling Jo-Ann (Jo) Burton:
( Jo's site: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sharinglinks2/ )
Artist Andrew Rae. http://www.andrewrae.org.uk/
The Mainichi Daily News is an English language, Japanese
news site. http://mdn.mainichi.jp/
The edge of knowledge. http://www.edge.org/
Some words don't deserve to live.
http://www.lssu.edu/banished/current.php
Exploring humanity, five minutes per episode.
http://www.5min.com/
Laurie Mann's one woman portal. http://dpsinfo.com/
A very artistic way to chill out.
http://web.mac.com/icecarvingsecrets/ics/ics_home.html
For those who love nature photography (or just want some
awesome wallpaper). http://pixdaus.com/
Sesame Street videos are anything but hokey or childish.
http://www.sesamestreet.org/videos/
Inventions. http://inventorspot.com/
Life in the (Canadian) fast lane.
http://www.lifeinthefastlane.ca/
Syfy dot com. http://www.syfy.com/
Addicting games. http://www.addictinggames.com/index.html
Forbes travel. http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/travel/
History magazine. http://www.history-magazine.com/
Holistic living. http://1stholistic.com/
From our web-sibling Jerry Fox, Viet Nam 35 years later.
http://tinyurl.com/23sjdhu [boston dot com]
From our 'other brother' Bill (Beeyil) Lanoue.
( Bill's blog http://ncvietvet.blogspot.com/ )
Bill has discovered a video site he likes.
http://www.wimp.com/
Here are a couple of good examples why he likes it.
http://www.wimp.com/classicbloopers/
http://www.wimp.com/mobilehome/ (I'd buy a home from
this guy, wouldn't you?)
Bill is a Linux user and PCLinuxOS is his favorite distro.
http://tinyurl.com/2g4vor8 [linuxjournal dot com]
From our web-sibling John Lepse.
( John's blog: http://hucknjim.blogspot.com/ )
Retired racehorce adoptions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIqV6NyP1Is
Ted talks really rock.
http://tinyurl.com/22p4e98 [ted dot com]
Chandi the ballet dog.
http://www.flixxy.com/canine-freestyle-ballet-dog.htm
Copy machines are a security risk.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC38D5am7go
The last year on the farm.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9j1N1yZkpZ8
From our friend Lee Parmeter who is also the
mind-behind our local Highland Lakes Linux
Users Group. ( http://www.hllug.org/ )
Linus Torvalds had this to say about naming his pet
project Linux. http://freax.org/
Peppermint is being touted as a terrific new Ubuntu-based
cloud computing platform. http://peppermintos.com/
From our web-Dutch-Uncle Roy (Grandpa Thorny) Thorn.
A soldier's funeral.
http://www.snopes.com/photos/military/kiehl.asp
Thank you Patrick, Tony, Jo-Ann,
Jerry, Bill, John, Lee and Roy.
Last word, from Lisa:
Here's to a busy life! We've been having lots of
work opportunities and fun, and no particular
problems that can't be addressed.
I decided that most of my old clothes simply
'won't do' as they've been sitting in my over-stuffed
closets for years without being worn. We went
on a Thrift Store Expedition and it seemed as
though all the clothes that fit me and looked
fabulous had been sitting there waiting for me.
We found a nice shirt and a couple of pairs of
new-looking jeans for Don, too. His haul for
the day was a used JBL Powered Subwoofer (worth
almost $200 on eBay) for $15 (and it really works
too!). He had insisted we go shopping for me
and I admired his fortitude, but that really
made it up to him for his patience.
Life is good, Love is wonderful.
'Til next time,
Lisa
Our feedback form and contact info:
http://www.don-guitar.com/contactme.html
Lisa on...
myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/81825549
facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/people/Lisa-Miller/100000537499890
blogger:
http://thedirtgoddess.blogspot.com/
google buzz.
http://www.google.com/profiles/101326359135790262301
Don on...
myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/donguitar
facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/people/Don-Crowder/1321324044
twitter:
http://twitter.com/eldergeek
blogger:
http://don-guitar.blogspot.com/
google buzz.
http://www.google.com/profiles/dondashguitar
Don Crowder and Lisa Miller
Saturday, May 15, 2010
4:10 AM CST - Buchanan Lake Village, Texas, USA
Served by the U.S. Post Office
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personal information. Use a firewall, and provide only
the barest minimum of information on questionnaires.
The Internet: A Weapon of Mass Construction.
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