#227 December 1, 2017 from http://www.don-guitar.com
I hope everyone, in the US at least, had a happy
Thanksgiving. My readers are certainly among the many things
I'm thankful for (wherever you live). Why? This little
publication doesn't make any revenue but it has brought me
many new friends and made a wonderful difference in my life.
For example, my wife was once a reader of my ezine.
We stayed home for Black Friday and the following weekend
because there really isn't anything we needed to buy and
abstinence amounts to 'voting with our wallet' for less
commercialism during the holidays. I doubt our 'vote' will
be counted but, as the old saying goes, it's the thought
that counts.
Now the real commercial holiday, Christmas, is getting
started in a big way. That's another 'crazy train' we've
decided not to ride. We hope to see and spend time with
members of our family but no gifts, only loving thoughts
because, after all, it really is the thought that counts.
Off we go...
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Don on...
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Google+.
https://plus.google.com/u/0/106370117092434105137
Lisa on...
Facebook:
https://goo.gl/MqAHwF [facebook dot com]
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/lsmiller221
Google+:
https://plus.google.com/+LisaMiller/posts
Lisa's blog:
http://thedonandlisashow.blogspot.com/
Our email group is a (very) low traffic, non-topical,
'hanging with friends' sort of email discussion
group available to our friends and subscribers.
If you'd like to join the discussion, or just
lurk and 'listen in', send us a message from
our contact page and let us know what email
address you'd like to be subscribed under.
---
My friend Claire, who is Hispanic said, in a facebook post,
that googling 'terrible white singing family' would take
you to the Holderness Family's youtube page and it worked.
https://www.youtube.com/user/VisitTheGreenroom/videos
And I enjoyed a few of their videos but the same search
query took me to another page that was kind of different.
It's not bad exactly, it's... well, it's hard to describe.
You'll have to form your own opinion if you're curious
enough to check them out (I recommend you skip the Beach
Boogie). Proceed at your own risk :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KbjXPw70LQ
I subscribe to Talks at Google on youtube but only rarely
actually listen to one because the talks are close to an
hour long and since we gave away the TV set I'm really not
interested in videos that run over about 5 minutes but the
one they notified me of today (by email) was irresistible.
I honestly never heard of Johnny O'Neal before today but
I was really blown away by him and his wonderful trio. The
really good stuff in this video begins at about ten minutes
in if you'd like to cut to the chase. :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mo8gA4z1TZE
I actually went to Amazon and spent money to download
his new album. That's a pretty big deal for me. :)
There is literally so much scientific research data, from
so many disciplines that there are now ways to positively
identify your documents (this is nerdy).
https://www.datacite.org/
https://www.doi.org/
https://www.crossref.org/
https://www.researchgate.net/
Science magazine. http://www.sciencemag.org/
It's a numbers game (the American Mathematical Society).
http://www.ams.org/home/page
It's only natural. https://www.nature.com/
An enormous scholarly archive of information made freely
available by Cornell University. https://arxiv.org/
Linux is also for the blind and visually impaired.
http://vinuxproject.org/
Backing tracks are recordings of music without vocals or
solo instrumentation. They can be useful for learning to
play instrumental solos. This fellow has a nice collection.
https://goo.gl/aP4DuM [youtube dot com]
A few months I ran across a website that gave me the
opportunity to buy an ice cream from a street vendor
for a kid only it wasn't totally free for the kid.
https://www.icecreamdude.com/ The kids actually had to
write a thank you card in exchange for the free ice cream.
I'd forgotten all about it until I got this in the mail.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/WqmFuxu8jHUOS0Kp1 [google photos]
Getting a link from my google photos reminded me of
another project I completed this year. I bought some old
rusty folding chairs from the DAV thrift store for $2.
I spent less than $10 on some weatherproof canvas (from
eBay) and a couple of cans of spray paint from Home Despot
(ok, that's just what I call the place, but you know who
I mean). I also used a couple of pieces of scrap plywood
and carpet padding. Here's the end result.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/u8t6cGJEYVVVF8zx2 [google photos]
Years ago when I was a young man with a mortgage and a
daughter who was only a few months old someone gave me
a nice console record player. I couldn't afford most of
the record albums in the store but they had a big table
they called 'cutouts' with record albums that had been
discontinued by their producers and were consequently
marked down to very low prices. I discovered all sorts
of wonderful music on that table. One of the artists I
especially liked is a Brazilian composer named Lalo Schifrin
who has scored numerous movies and written some wonderful
music but is probably best known for having written theme
music for a fair number of television series.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lalo_Schifrin
http://www.schifrin.com/main.htm
https://goo.gl/LFk12i [youtube dot com]
Yet another meta-search tool. http://www.gnosh.org/
Book search. https://scribl.com/
I love Latin music and I love intelligent, talented women
so I'm totally enthralled by Anacaona. These ladies are
amazing! https://goo.gl/aXfRmH [youtube dot com]
How to repair a Windows 10 installation without losing apps
and data. https://goo.gl/HvcJg8 [intowindows dot com]
A nerdy fix for Windows update problems.
https://goo.gl/w57Kfs [ghacks dot net]
Net Neutrality is a big deal.
https://goo.gl/zZfgXB [motherboard dot vice dot com]
Cooking With Granny (I love these videos, seriously).
https://www.youtube.com/user/feedmegranny/videos
I believe this is worth supporting.
https://internetforall.one.org/
A few years back I was involved in a 'spirited' discussion
on a web forum and someone quipped "Dude, you sound like an
autistic, you should take the AQ test". I'd never heard of
the AQ test but I tracked it down with google, took the test
and discovered in my fifties why I had so many problems
when I was kid in school. I am a high functioning autistic.
Granted, the knowledge didn't give me social skills or make
any difference in my day to day life but it was a relief
to know that yes, there was a reason why I had so many
problems, it wasn't just because I was mean or stupid.
http://aspergerstest.net/aq-test/
---
This publication is only mailed to verified
double opt-in subscribers, and is brought
to you by me, Don Crowder, and freelists.org
with occasional help from my wife, Lisa Miller.
At the time this issue was posted, the current
subscriber count for this publication was 302.
---
Ok, another issue is completed and that's a pretty cool
thing given how busy our lives have become. Thank you for
your continued support of this publication. I stopped asking
for contributions a few years back and haven't tried to
promote this publication by any means for several years now
but there are still around 300 of you who've stayed with me
and I'm grateful to you for that. I'll try to hang in there
for as long as there are still a few of you left.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to one and all and if you
aren't a Christian then may whatever holiday you celebrate
as this year draws to a close bring you joy and happiness.
Don Crowder, 1:11 AM, December 1, 2017
Buchanan Lake Village, served by the US Post Office
in Tow (rhymes with cow), Texas.
---
The Internet: A Weapon of Mass Instruction.
