[donspatch] 2011-12-01
- From: "Don (& Lisa)" <dondashguitar@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: Donspatch <Donspatch@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 1 Dec 2011 00:21:18 -0600
#167 December 1, 2011 from http://www.don-guitar.com
Online version: http://www.don-guitar.com/currentissue.html
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First word, from Don:
For musicians the holiday season means you get to play more
and sometimes even get paid a little better than usual.
Of course live music venues are pale reflections of what
they were a quarter century ago but there are still a few
left and, while the economy hasn't exactly recovered, I'm
getting a few more gigs this year than I got last year.
Progress on the house is slow but steady though I'm less
and less inclined to work on it as temperatures dive to
to low end of the thermometer (I really hate cold weather).
I hope that this season brings you closer to your friends
and family and may the new year bring you growing joy and
prosperity. May you love and be loved now and always.
Happy holidays,
Don
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Section One by Don.
An online photo editor with a massive list of effects.
http://www.photofunia.com/
Web savvy cartoons written on sticky notes.
http://www.savagechickens.com/
Wanna exercise your brain?
http://www.freebrainagegames.com/
Create a custom short link to your google plus page.
http://gplus.to/
If you ever encounter a situation in Windows where you need
a spellchecker and there's not one available, here's the
perfect retrofit. http://tinyspell.numerit.com/
To capture and hold their worldwide market McDonalds
often must tailor their menu to the market.
http://tinyurl.com/nycr3v [foodnetworkhumor dot com]
http://tinyurl.com/lpbhdx [wikipedia dot org]
An online collection of text manipulation tools. I found
this real handy for alphabetizing a list of song titles.
http://www.textfixer.com/
I'm fairly sure this is a twitter wannabe.
http://heello.com/
For those moments when you feel poetic but can't think of
a rhyme. http://www.rhymezone.com/
Converting whatever to whatever.
http://www.onlineconversion.com/
http://www.asknumbers.com/default.aspx
A site for Amateur Radio enthusiasts.
http://www.eham.net/
Do you need lesson on how to be a lady? I'm guessing not
but the ebook is free if you give up an email address.
http://becoming-a-lady.com/
And if you really want a copy you can snag an email address
here. http://www.mail.com/ or here. http://www.myway.com/
Have you played Angry Birds yet? Need some help with it?
http://angrybirdsguide.com/
http://www.angrybirdstips.net/
I admit, I have no use for this (I think it's silly) but
it's another social media gadget some folks enjoy playing
with. http://www.empireavenue.com/
End of Section One.
This publication is only mailed to verified
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Lisa Miller, and //www.freelists.org
Section Two by Lisa.
Oskar the Blind Kitten has a pretty good life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNpeTCEPrRk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBrHXEYUR-o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElzPZNSdd5w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_QT0G7hWsk
Any time you're feeling blue, call the
Piano Guys, they'll fix you right up.
http://goo.gl/rWg7q
Don's been talking about getting a Kindle when the
price is good enough for his wallet. Here are a few
resources that will make getting more books to read
a little easier. Suggestions are welcome!
http://kindleworld.blogspot.com/
http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/
http://www.kindle-ready.com/
http://www.klip.me/
My friend Zach said, "I was bored during first
period, so I wrote this." Wow!
http://trollwheel.appspot.com/shakespeare
A wonderful source of classical art.
http://bertc.com/cyberspacegallery/index.html
Have some fun! http://9gag.com/
So much stuff that the kid (and you) haven't
yet seen on the Web. http://thekidshouldseethis.com/
Sometimes you have to 'see it' to see it.
http://visual.ly/
Bill Buxton has been collecting things.
http://goo.gl/m0Xjz
Who are you, really? http://my.nameis.me/
The study of ephemera fills in between the
lines of a culture. http://ephemerastudies.org/
End of Section Two.
At the time this issue was posted,
the current subscriber count for
this publication was 361.
This issue's collection of online news, blogs,
magazines, videos and/or other media related
sites. These are chosen for maximum diversity
regardless of 'spin' and in some cases may
have offensive or questionable content.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/kindersurprise/
http://ebookee.org/
http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/michael/blog/
http://www.vegtalk.org/
http://xenophilius.wordpress.com/
http://mises.org/
http://www.pointsofpower.com.au/index.html
http://www.knowledgereform.com/
http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/
http://www.uia.be/
http://www.mommiesarelight.com/
http://wvs.topleftpixel.com/
http://stephenslighthouse.com/
http://www.trendwatching.com/
http://hbr.org/
http://www.eletelephant.com/
http://narniamum.blogspot.com/
http://comix.tumblr.com/
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/
http://stilettomedia.com/
http://betterbooktitles.com/archive
http://mydaughtersmum.blogspot.com/
http://www.shrinkgeek.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g05OlRa0vzE
http://nachoblog311.wordpress.com/
http://9gag.com/
http://goo.gl/Zcybf [designzzz dot com]
http://goo.gl/L84nS [theultralinx dot com]
http://crappypictures.typepad.com/crappy-pictures/
http://www.happyplace.com/
Section Three by Don.
Someone asked me what the divorce rate was in America and
I was sure google would tell me but I never expected a
dedicated website. http://www.divorcerate.org/
Wow, a food search engine! http://www.foodspotting.com/
You're probably not a Science Fiction or Fantasy writer but
if you were this would be a helpful resource.
http://deoxy.org/pkd_how2build.htm
Assorted obscure, eclectic, intellectual and, in some cases,
possibly even interesting reading. http://deoxy.org/
I like the concept. http://www.krochetkids.org/
Take and/or build online courses on any subject.
http://www.udemy.com/
Positive results from negative events.
http://www.ringgoldreads.com/
Diaspora is a social network which is similar in concept
to Google Plus. https://joindiaspora.com/
When you need words on paper but they don't have to say
anything at all, you need 'Lorem ipsum'.
http://www.lipsum.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorem_ipsum
Letters of note. http://www.lettersofnote.com/
Who knew shucking corn could be so easy?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnBF6bv4Oe4
The Disability Social History Project.
http://www.disabilityhistory.org/
Get into electronic publishing with Sigel.
http://tinyurl.com/6jqxmnn [chronicle dot com]
http://code.google.com/p/sigil/
Make some noise; share it with folks.
http://soundcloud.com/
End of Section Three.
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Section Four by Lisa.
The color clock. http://www.thecolourclock.co.uk/
A few links to keep for next Halloween.
http://goo.gl/tSTmz
http://goo.gl/ev8Yo
http://www.pumpkingutter.com/
Dreyer's Fruit Bars help communities.
http://www.communitiestakeroot.com/
An Open Source personal finance manager.
http://www.unklebill.altervista.org/index.php
An Open Source E-Commerce Platform.
http://spreecommerce.com/
Publishing system designed for news organizations.
http://armstrongcms.org/
Vintage-inspired child photography.
http://www.alliemariephotographysite.com/
Recommendations for movies, music, more.
http://getglue.com/
Trade what you have for what you want.
http://www.barterquest.com/
Turkey's tourism bureau.
http://www.goturkey.com/
Murmuration. Breathtaking.
http://vimeo.com/31158841
End of Section Four.
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Section Five by Don.
I think I'd like to see this film.
http://www.thebullyproject.com/
Beatbox cello player and the voice of an angel.
http://www.wimp.com/beatboxangel/
I think Vicki Abelson is an awesome lady and her Women Who
Write programs are wonderfully entertaining and informative.
http://www.vickiabelson.com/site/Home.html
PetaPixel is about the industry of photography.
http://www.petapixel.com/
Thirteen Observations made by Lemony Snicket while
watching Occupy Wall Street from a discreet distance.
http://occupywriters.com/works/by-lemony-snicket
More where that came from. http://occupywriters.com/
Yes, there are people who knit sweaters for
Penguins (Hey Vi, have you seen this?).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penguin_sweater
http://www.tct.org.au/jumper.htm
http://xoozii.notlong.com [grist dot org]
A cute little online game which I totally suck at.
http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/tigersteel/1084797
What's it gonna cost to send your Christmas packages?
[These are just for Americans. Sorry, I don't know
enough to assemble analogs for folks who live elsewhere.]
http://www.fedex.com/ratetools/RateToolsMain.do
www.theupsstore.com/ctc/pages/estimate-shipping-cost.aspx
http://postcalc.usps.gov/
It's time to switch to LIbreOffice.
http://bit.ly/ny4rHg [arstechnica dot com]
Are you prepared for disaaster? http://72hours.org/
This info comes from the UK but you don't
have to live in the UK to learn from it.
http://www.google.co.uk/goodtoknow/
What are you afraid of? http://phobialist.com/
Videos, games and activities for kids.
http://www.monsterhigh.com/
Waking From the American Dream, with Kelly Carlin.
http://www.kellycarlin.com/waking/
End of Section Five.
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Section Six by Lisa.
Test your news IQ.
http://pewresearch.org/politicalquiz/quiz/index.php
Psychologist and writer Dr. Mardy.
http://drmardy.com/
Is your email address safe?
https://pwnedlist.com/
Back to the future.
http://goo.gl/VhJ7W
Amazing artwork. http://www.amazingonly.com/
The world is full of fascinating facts.
http://didyouknowarchive.com/
I love to see a young woman 'make it' in a
musical niche mostly reserved for men.
http://goo.gl/VhJ7W
A news reader for creative minds.
http://www.feedly.com/
Great user generated pics.
http://userpics.com/
Open Source content management system.
http://typescript.org/
Need a hug? Gotcha covered.
http://thenicestplaceontheinter.net/
Really nice series on how to play spoons.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmBclKzVhkM
Abbey the Spoon Lady and Banjo Ben.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGbToeovkrg
End of Section Six.
The Linux Corner.
For the last few months Lisa and I have been using
Kubuntu Linux and we've been very happy with it.
http://www.kubuntu.org/
On my older, Pentium 3, machines I've recently been
very happy with Xubuntu 10.04 LTS.
http://www.xubuntu.org/
The 'LTS' stands for Long Term Support. The normal release
cycle for distros in the Ubuntu family is six months but
LTS releases occur every two years. This means users don't
have to upgrade their distro quite so often but you do have
to get a little 'nerdy' to keep Firefox up-to-date.
http://goo.gl/D57Cl [omgubuntu dot co dot uk]
Xubuntu 10.04 comes with the Open Office suite by default
but by getting a little more nerdy you can replace it
with the better developed LibreOffice suite.
http://goo.gl/B8nOi [ubuntugeek dot com]
Note: While the tutoral above specifically mentions Ubuntu,
the procedure it outlines is identical for Xubuntu.
This article compares the Linux desktop to Windows and Mac.
http://bit.ly/rrzUCv [linux dot com]
A Little Humor.
Twas the Day After Christmas
Twas the day after Christmas, and all through the house,
Every creature was hurtin' even the mouse.
The toys were all broken, their batteries dead;
Santa passed out, with some ice on his head.
Wrapping and ribbons just covered the floor,
while Upstairs the family continued to snore.
And I in my T-shirt, new Reeboks and jeans,
I went into the kitchen and started to clean.
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the sink to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
tore open the curtains, and threw up the sash.
When what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a little white truck, with an oversized mirror.
The driver was smiling, so lively and grand;
The patch on his jacket said 'U.S. Postman.'
With a handful of bills, he grinned like a fox.
Then quickly he stuffed them into our mailbox.
Bill after bill, after bill, they still came.
Whistling and shouting he called them by name:
'Now Dillard's, now Broadway's, now Penny's and Sears.
Here's Robinson's, Levitz's and Target's and Mervyn's.
To the tip or your limit, every store, every mall,
Now chargeaway--chargeaway--chargeaway all!'
He whooped and he whistled as he finished his work.
He filled up the box, and then turned with a jerk.
He sprang to his truck and he drove down the road,
Driving much faster with just half a load.
Then I heard him exclaim with great holiday cheer,
'Enjoy what you bought, you'll be paying all year!'
---
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit our
best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially
responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral,
celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced
within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious
persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your
choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions
and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to
practice religious or secular traditions at all,
and a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and
medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the
generally accepted calendar year 2000, but not without due
respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose
contributions to society have helped make America great,
(not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any
other country or is the only "America" in the western
hemisphere), and without regard to the race, creed, color,
age, physical ability, religious faith, choice of computer
platform, or sexual preference of the wishee.
(By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms.
This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It
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greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually
implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others, and
is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the
sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to
perform as expected within the usual application of good
tidings for a period of one year, or until the issuance of
a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and
warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance
of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.)
---
From our web sibling JoAnn Burton, a treatise on...
'Toddler Property Law'
If I like it, it's mine.
If it's in my hands, it's mine.
If I can take it from you, it's mine.
If I had it a week ago, it's mine.
If it's mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way.
If I'm doing or building something, all the pieces are mine.
If it looks just like mine, it's mine.
If I think it's mine, it's mine.
If it's near me, it's mine.
If it's broccoli, it's yours.
[Thanks Jo]
Tips for This Issue.
If you suspect your computer is infected with malware
here's a place to start looking for a solution.
http://deletemalware.blogspot.com/
A nice little collection of tutorials.
http://www.somewhere-in-time.net/tutorial/index.html
Computer repair tips. http://www.computerrepairtips.net/
Contributions from our readers and/or friends
are always welcome and you can even write
your own link descriptions if you wish (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/ )
Buy or sell small jobs. www.coffeeandpower.com/
Free or discounted meal deals for U.S. veterans.
http://goo.gl/ADHgc [themilitarywallet dot com]
Yet another link shortening service. http://ki.tl/
Alexander Tsiaras: Conception to birth -- visualized.
http://goo.gl/GMT6K [ted dot com]
From our web-sibling Jo-Ann (Jo) Burton:
(Jo's site: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sharinglinks2/ )
How symetrical is your face? http://www.pichacks.com/
[ here's mine: http://www.don-guitar.com/temp/symd.jpg ]
The object of this game is to cover the red spot completely
with five of the gray spots (it's very difficult).
http://www.smart-kit.com/games/game2/
Gravity does the work in this game.
http://onemorelevel.com/game/spin_the_black_circle
More youtube wannabes.
http://vidmax.com/
http://www.heavy.com/
College Photographer of the Year. http://www.cpoy.org/
World Press Photo. http://www.worldpressphoto.org/
An awesome collection of wallpapers from vladstudio.
http://www.vladstudio.com/wallpapers/
Oddities in the news, from Reuters.
http://blogs.reuters.com/oddly-enough/
From our craft-happy web-sibling Vinette (Vi) DePhillipe;
reasons why you should always carry a camera.
http://goo.gl/IgZTg [how-to-draw-and-paint dot com]
From our web-sibling Jerry Fox, amazing animation!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVTga6GmbGw
From the facebook page of my friend Clair Jackson,
the 25 worst passwords of 2011.
http://goo.gl/u546Q [cnet dot com dot au]
From our web-sibling John Lepse.
( John's blog: http://hucknjim.blogspot.com/ )
The living bridge of Meghalaya.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1ffu9hlOEo
Laurie Z., who died in 2006, was a wonderfully talented
pianist and composer. She was a great loss to the world.
http://www.youtube.com/user/ZebraProdMusic
English is, indeed, a crazy language (printable poster from
busyteacher dot org). http://bit.ly/qv6M6m
From our web-sibling Irving Stein.
Leo Notenboom on managing lots of passwords.
http://ask-leo.com/managing_lots_of_passwords.html
The tools he recommends.
http://lastpass.com/
http://www.roboform.com/
News from the fringe. http://www.drudgereport.com/
The U.S. do-not-call Registry.
https://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx
Pendulum waves (video).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVkdfJ9PkRQ
What happened during the year you were born.
http://whathappenedinmybirthyear.com/
A 'virtual' vending machine.
http://goo.gl/SOfu [cartoline.it]
Thank you Patrick, Jo, Vi, Jerry, Clair, John and Irv.
Last word, from Lisa:
Things have really been looking up this past month.
After a very annoying few months of having a foot
problem, Plantar Fasciitis, I tried the least
intrusive therapy first. Several sites I went to
had good things to say about training your feet to
go barefoot. That, exercise and diligent stretching
of the hamstring, calf and foot muscles have
combined to get me back on my feet and back to
a better work schedule.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwY0fzoH5cs
http://www.toesalad.com/articles/plantar-fasciitis
http://goo.gl/XYHz9
http://goo.gl/alqIW
It's been getting colder and starting to feel
downright wintery here in Central Texas. It's hard
to feel really put out when we see it's so cold in
other parts of the country. I understand some
people love winter, but I really don't get it.
Guess that's why Texas appeals to me, it just
'feels right'.
As always, the Adventure continues,
Lisa
P.S. Happy holidays!
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Don Crowder and Lisa Miller
Thursday, December 01, 2011
12:21 AM CST - Buchanan Lake Village, Texas, USA
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