Great Sound... Blues: Swiss Cheese Groove / Mikees Hammond Express

http://www.icompositions.com/music/song.php?sid=84471

I like it ... happy sound ... no tears.

jeff

The Truth About Trinity United Church of Christ

http://www.truthabouttrinity.blogspot.com/

and lots of videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/TRINITYCHGO

zefrank.com: colorwar 2008

http://www.zefrank.com/zesblog/archives/2008/03/colorwar_2008.html

Ze Frank explores creating new games for the internet....

  jeff

Education: Cringely: War of the Worlds

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2008/pulpit_20080321_004574.html

Interesting article about technology and the future of education.

 jeff

Illinois Sustainable Living and Wellness Expo

http://ecologyactioncenter.org/islwe/

Environmentally sound living comes to the midlands.

a great guide to friends: A User’s Guide to Fabulous Friendships

http://zenhabits.net/2008/03/a-users-guide-to-fabulous-friendships/

for example...

In our teens and twenties, our friendships are everything. They define who we are, what we do and even what we buy. At the time, we assume it will always be this way. Then life races forward. Careers take off. People get married, have children. Others move away. We struggle to manage our time and responsibilities, and slowly our friends get pushed down the priority list.

This is not necessarily what we want. Few people would dispute the benefits of friendship. The problem seems to be how to fit our friends into an already overcrowded life. Friendship is like a marriage. It cannot be created once. It must be created over and over again. People and priorities change. What worked yesterday may not work today. We must nurture our friendships so they may flourish with us through our changing lives, and that's where this guide comes in.

Choose friends wisely. Focus your energy on people who make you feel good.
We all know the saying, "you can't choose your family". So, make sure you're smart and choose friends who are worthy of your valuable time and attention. It sounds harsh, but you cannot keep every friend you have ever made. No one has the time and energy for that. If you don't consciously choose which relationships to focus on, you'll spread yourself too thin and you'll have less to give to those who deserve it most.

that was on ZenHabits.net, a guest post from http://www.she-power.com

Truckers are puzzled by what happens to fuel spills along highways.

This is from a discussion I had two nights ago.

They were describing how they have again and again seen back hoes
digging up fuel spills along the road, loading the dirt into dump
trucks which promptly disappear. They are puzzled about why dirt
needs to be moved somewhere else. They said "what's the point of
just moving it from one place to another?"

I have ideas as to why which I kept to myself at the time because it
would have just started a pointless argument.

However... I'm going to do some internet research to the following
questions:

1. Why do they dig up the dirt.
2. Where do they take it.
3. Why is it important to do it.

So the next time I have a chance to discuss this with them I'll have
some solid knowledge of why and why.

- Jeff -

Can Sugar Substitutes Make You Fat? - TIME

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1711763,00.html?xid=feed-cnn-topics

Short answer: Yes.

Researchers found:

When an animal eats a saccharin-flavored food with no calories, however — disrupting the sweetness and calorie link — the animal tends to eat more and gain more weight, the new study shows. The study was even able to document at the physiological level that animals given artificial sweeteners responded differently to their food than those eating high-calorie sweetened foods. The sugar-fed rats, for example, showed the expected uptick in core body temperature at mealtime, corresponding to their anticipation of a bolus of calories that they would need to start burning off — a sort of metabolic revving of the energy engines. The saccharin-fed animals, on the other hand, showed no such rise in temperature. "The animals that had the artificial sweetener appear to have a different anticipatory response," says Susan Swithers, a professor of psychological sciences at Purdue University and a co-author of the study. "They don't anticipate as many calories arriving." The net result is a more sluggish metabolism that stores, rather than burns, incoming excess calories.

Who is the woman who called Hillary Clinton a monster?

http://www.alternet.org/story/79019/

That would be a good place to start finding out.

"Labor Market Declines" -- What That Really Means

Via Atrios ( http://tinyurl.com/2lmucx ) and CNBC ( http://tinyurl.com/39l2jy ) :

Job losses were widespread. Some 52,000 jobs were lost in the manufacturing industries, the largest decline since July 2003 when 92,000 jobs were cut. Construction businesses eliminated another 39,000 jobs on top of 25,000 that were cut in January, a reflection of the housing industry's deepening woes.

The department said that since the housing boom peaked in September 2006, construction businesses have cut 331,000 jobs.

That means that 52 THOUSAND MORE PEOPLE are out of jobs just in the last month.  Where are they going to get dollars to pay the rent, buy food,  buy shoes for the kids, etc?

There are a lot (more) miserable people out there this month.

This is a human tragedy that is ongoing.  There are not enough McDonald's jobs to cover for everyone.

My long term solution at least to help is to turn every square foot of lawn into garden.  Including public right of way.  Anywhere that grass is mowed.

But that doesn't help the part of that 52,000 who have no where to turn for the next weeks.  No relatives to help.  No money stashed away.

How far can this nation be from breadlines?  I really wonder.

      jeff

Secret Pastafarian Video Exposed at Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

http://www.venganza.org/2008/03/05/secret-pastafarian-video-exposed.htm

I think this is a spoof of the famous Tom Cruise video...

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/41k-IJxPENc&rel=1&border=0"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/41k-IJxPENc&rel=1&border=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent"width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

GourmetSleuth - Fat Free Flour Tortillas

http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/fatfreeflourtortillas.htm

also have the traditional corn tortilla recipe and illustrated instructions at this site

Great Picture, Interesting recipes: 5 Simple Ways to Eat Healthier | Life Learning Today

http://lifelearningtoday.com/2008/02/28/5-simple-ways-to-eat-healthier/

Always looking for interesting recipes. Needing to lose weight.

This site has some good suggestions.

- jeff -

includes visual Illusions: Predictably / Irrational » Demonstrations

http://www.predictablyirrational.com/?page_id=7

This is an interesting site. The illusions may be pretty standard,
but they are only a small part of what this gentleman does.

The site contains his personal musings about pain, irrationality,
and more.

- jeff -

Too cute: if your cat ran CNN.... LOL: CNN.com

http://lol.ianloic.com/cnn

If you like cats, you'll like that!

At the bottom of the page are links to the fellow who created the
feed, if you are so inclined to dig into those kinds of things &/or
wanted to do it yourself.

- jeff -

My favorite SpongeBob episode: Sleepy Time

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/sleepy-time--suds/95581296

Wonderful exploration of the dream state. And funny on top of that.

Music Is Elementary

https://musiciselementary.com/

This is a great place for simple but interesting musical instruments
and books.

Lots of percussion instruments, economically priced.

jeff

good article about back pain & dance at The Hip Circle

http://www.thehipcircle.com/article/display.asp?ArticleID=160

Great explanation of the pain I have experienced and exercises to
alleviate it.

Plus a good bibliography.

And an interesting gateway into the world of bellydance! Something I've
always appreciated.

alleviating or preventing The Side Stitch

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/injuries/a/aa053100a.htm

Preventing a Side Stitch
To prevent a side stitch, take even, deep breaths while running. Shallow breathing tends to increase the risk of cramping because the diaphragm is always slightly raised and never lowers far enough to allow the ligaments to relax. When this happens the diaphragm becomes stressed and a spasm or "stitch" is more likely.

Some other ways to alleviate the pain of a side stitch include:

• Time your eating. Having food in your stomach during a workout may increase cramping by creating more force on the ligaments (avoid eating one to two hours before a workout)
• Stretching may prevent or relieve a cramp. Raise your right arm straight up and lean toward the left. Hold for 30 seconds, release, then stretch the other side.
• Slow down your pace until pain lessens.
• Breathe deep to stretch the diaphragm.
• Drink before exercise; dehydration can increase muscle cramps.
• Massage or press on the area with pain. Bend forward to stretch the diaphragm and ease the pain.
• * If you continue to experience pain, see your doctor.

Please clean your monitor screen.

click here -> http://www.chunkysalsa.net/screenclean.swf

thank you.

jeff

how to videos 5min - Life Videopedia

http://www.5min.com/

great concept... a communal "how to" video site. Based on the idea
that everyone knows something.

as they say on the site... grab your camera & make a contribution.
All videos less than five minutes.

jeff

Mailbox Crash

Hahahah!

"They got him" said Randy the Policeman. It seems he left his
license plate at one of the many places where he ran down mailboxes
and street signs.

The actual culprit hasn't been found, but they know who he is. The
culprit's mom says "we need the tools out of the truck", but the
police have the truck locked up.

I guess it must have been fun, pushing over things, but I wonder
how bad the hangover will be, if there is one.

Neighbor & I propped our mailboxes up alongside garbage cans, tied
up with straps & in my case the magic fix-all of modern times the
bungee cord.

- jeff -

live.yahoo.com ... Four Days Old And Counting: The world is watching at Y! Live Blog

http://www.yliveblog.com/blog/2008/02/06/y-live-%e2%80%93-the-world-is-watching/

That's their blog entry that explains what it is and gives you links to
the "how-to" entries...

See it in action at http://live.yahoo.com

This even works on my old old iBook! (Ok, it hiccups frequently, but
it doesn't freeze the computer)

So for the people at Whole Wheat Radio... you could put some of your
shows LIVE on the internet, or so the theory goes. Or you can take your
live internet somewhere and stream live from the audience. Might be
able to do it from the right cell phone.

Lots of potential.

And it just went public on Feb 06, 2008.

Welcome to the future.

- Jeff -

& p.s. ... looks like Yahoo is going to fight the MS takeover tooth &
nail per the WSJ.

Penn Jillette: Penn Says - Crackle

http://www.crackle.com/Members/2336040

a series of short videos on http://www.crackle.com

much more on the site... many different entertainers.

If you appreciate Penn's craziness, I think crackle is the place to be.

jeff

Crank up the volume: YES WE CAN at Dipdive.com

http://www.dipdive.com/

really nice. music.

jeff

Been trying to track this down: Japan GT Girls (Race Queens)

http://www.tvsmith.net.my/duasen/260606_japangt.html

The GT Girls or Race Queens attracted just as many spectators as the cars at the recent Japan GT Championship. Dua Sen brings you a ring-side view of the babes, cars and drivers. Enjoy!

Ok... so I imagine I will burn in Sexist Political Correctness Hell for linking to this.

BUT... it's just fabulous to see all the interesting Japanese fashions.  Kids having fun.

Think of it as "Hello Kitty" with real people!

  - jeff -

Obama SC Victory Speech: ‘Yes, We Can’

http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/20080126_yes_we_can/

If you didn't see this, go watch it at the link above. 15 minutes
well spent.

This man is going to go all the way to the top. It gives me some hope.

- jeff -

http://nocomputers.blogspot.com

If you love cats find this video... The Cat Returns

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cat_Returns

Judy & I watched this last night (rented from http://www.netflix.com).

It is a charming animated movie about cats and cat magic.

Read the review ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cat_Returns ), then
find the DVD; I think that reading the review will enrich the viewing.

- jeff -

apparently, I'm the ONE subscriber to Whole Wheat Radio RSS

http://feeds.feedburner.com/WWR2

I tried WWR1 to see if there was another feed & it gives an error.

http://wholewheatradio.org

I actually find the feed more interesting than the radio station
itself... quite a variety of people. I believe the feed is the latest
postings from the blogs of various WWR members.

An interesting fact: almost every person/organization has an RSS feed
but most of them don't seem to know it's even there!

- jeff -

fyi... Etsy :: Your place to buy and sell all things handmade

http://www.etsy.com/index.php

Found this indirectly through http://www.wholewheatradio.org !

It would be interesting to see what kind of sales people get;
perhaps in the future when my digging takes me that direction.

- jeff -

a love song, for example: A Million times by Lapotu | iCompositions - Music

http://www.icompositions.com/music/song.php?sid=82291

A Million times

by Lapotu and jalanix

I'm not really in to love song songs. But at a moment i realized that in everything i do, in who i am, there is only one person who made that happen, my wife. She is there to back me up, understands me, loves me for who i am. So i though lets try to make a real love song for her.

http://www.icompositions.com/music/uploads/931/34060A_Million_times.png

Listen to that song... then think there are probably 30,000 or so songs on http://www.icompositions.com !  All available for the listening.  AND(/OR)... if you are some kind of musician that does computers you can put up your own creations.

While these musical creations are free,  they also have a variety of restrictions.  Which hopefully keeps people from grabbing songs, creating a cd, and selling it.

The permissions are stated on the page for the work in question.

etc.

 ==   jeff

interesting free music site: iCompositions

http://www.icompositions.com/

It's a community of artists (so to speak)

People of various talent creating and tinkering with songs.

I'm still trying to figure out a way to get these to randomly
download & play through iTunes.

No problem to download... just haven't automated it yet.

===

jeff

Dear Bill Clinton - Shut Up.

http://www.shutupbill.com/billclinton.html

And Bill, you're starting to make stuff up. And this time, we're noticing. It's a new era, Bill; everything you say is recorded and broadcast.

So what we're asking, Bill, is that you just shut up.

My email to Barrack Obama re retroactive immunity & FISA

Dear Sir,

 It has been brought to my attention that the FISA bill will be an issue again starting next week.

  Why I say this is an ethics issue is that there have been attempts to give retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies for involvement in illegal wiretapping activities.  This boggles my mind... seriously, its almost an admission that someone knows they were complicit in illegal activites.

  It would be great with me if you managed to just kill FISA completely;  our spy agencies can already make all the wiretaps they need... they don't need to read all communications in the US.  I know there are arguments "for",  but there are arguments "for" torture, and I don't want to see our country become the epitome of Big Brother.

  So... please please please at a minimum STOP the retroactive immunity in any FISA bils, and better STOP the whole trend toward this place becoming a police state.

  Thank You

A Guide to Cutting Back When You Feel Overwhelmed | Zen Habits

http://zenhabits.net/2008/01/a-guide-to-cutting-back-when-you-feel-overwhelmed/

The Effects of Stress and Overload

We all know that too much stress is bad for us. Sure, you can't avoid stress completely, and without some stress we would never grow. But too much stress? It leads to problems.

Stress leads to many health problems, for example: headaches, muscle aches in your shoulders, neck, back … it ages you prematurely, leads to ulcers, heartburn, high blood pressure, heart disease, overeating and more. Not a pretty picture.

essence is to cut back, monitor activities,  and plan.

Close to our back yard: Mackinaw River Overflows Its Banks

http://www.week.com/news/local/13678852.html

also the back road to our place is closed.

Kind of exciting as long as no one gets hurt.

jeff

the camera I want: Casio EXILIM Pro EX-F1: 60fps

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0801/08010601casiof1.asp

$999

It's a camera AND a camcorder.

And best of all it's FAST... shutter speed up to 1/40,000 (yes
that's one FORTY THOUSANDTH of a second) in manual mode.

With speed like that, I'm surprised it has or needs image
stabilization. Plus, get this: when taking photos when you hold the
shutter button down it shows (and records) a slow motion series
(that's the 60 frames per second I believe); let up the button and
you can pick from the images for the one you want. Or so that's how
I think it works, but anyway, sounds really good to me.

Available in March 2008.

This is enough to drag me away from Canon.

jeff

Britney Spears meets Dr Phil – Tabloid Hell | News | NME.COM

http://www.nme.com/news/tabloid-hell/33478

If she can tell Dr. Phil to buzz off, she gets my respect.

Good luck to her, and I hope she gets her stuff together.

Most of the stories are from The Boston Herald: here, here, and here.

   Jeff

Happy New Year & My Resolutions

Hi all!

I hope you all are having a nice New Years' Day,  and that good things happen for all of you in the New Year.


Seeing that lots of people I know are doing resolutions this year,  I thought I'd add mine to the mix.

So here they are:

1. Practice THREE magical illusions I can actually present to people.
2. Engage in some activity which counts as DANCE
3. Get back to using the Get Things Done program to track tasks
4. treadmill Twice a day, if possible.
5. work on losing weight
   
6. work on (musical) keyboard skills.

AND... remind myself I'm not awful if these things only get partially done.

So that's it.  What's up with your new year????

    - jeff -

p.s.
  Cross posted to my blog http://nocomputers.blogspot.com

Search plugins for firefox...

So far I have

• worldcat (world library search) http://www.worldcat.org/toolbars/default.jsp
  
• walmart http://mycroft.mozdev.org/download.html?name=walmart&sherlock=yes&opensearch=yes&submitform=Search
• lowes http://mycroft.mozdev.org/download.html?name=lowes&sherlock=yes&opensearch=yes&submitform=Search
• wikipedia Wikipedia from https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/browse/type:4

You need firefox or seamonkey for these to work.

Free Hinduism Ecards, Hinduism Greeting Cards, Hinduism Greetings, Cards, ecards, egreetings

http://cards.123greetings.com/cgi-bin/newcards/showthumbs.pl?

q1=rsp_hindu&log=india123

note the listing of other religions down the left side.

They have many calendars on their site for other events, couldn't
find calendar of dates for Hindu celebrations, though I bet it's there.

Jeff

ISSUE of more pixels on compact digital cameras.

http://6mpixel.org/en/

May not be news to some, but the http://6mpixel.org/en/ site
explains why compact digital cameras peak out in quality around 6M
pixels.

It's the size of sensor which can fit in a compact product.

jeff

Based on novel by Steven Gould... Jumper the movie - Google Search

http://tinyurl.com/ytbmge

After seeing I Am Legend starring Will Smith,  I'm hoping this one will be an equally serious and well implemented film...

Jumper (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jumper. Promotional movie poster for the film. Directed by, Doug Liman. Produced by, Simon Kinberg Lucas Foster Jay Sanders Stacy Maes ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumper_(film) - 44k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

Jumper (2008)

Discuss this title with other users on IMDb message board for Jumper (2008) ... I wanna c this movie · kristenia-1 · the war between jumpers and etc ... www.imdb.com/title/tt0489099/ - 39k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

20th Century Fox Presents

Jumper No FLash This site requires at least version 8 of the FREE Flash Player. Click here to get it now. Get FREE Flash Player. footer. www.jumperthemovie.com/ - 5k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

Jumper (2008) - Movie Info - Yahoo! Movies

He discovers this gift has existed for centuries and finds himself in a war that has been raging for thousands of years between "Jumpers" and those who have ... movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809721624/info - 36k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

Jumper (2008) - Movie Details - Cast & Crew, Photos & Trailer ...

Based on the Steven Gould novel, Jumper follows a young man from a broken home who discovers that he has the ability to teleport. ... www.themovieinsider.com/m3157/jumper/ - 54k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

Jumper Movie Trailer | /Film

Jumper Movie Trailer. Posted on Wednesday, October 10th, 2007 at 10:39 am by: Peter Sciretta. Jumper Logo. I don’t know about you guys but I’m beginning ...
www.slashfilm.com/2007/10/10/jumper-movie-trailer/ - 34k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

Atrios' Summation of Democratic Candiates

http://tinyurl.com/3c7kr8

Sunday, December 16, 2007

 
Shorter Candidates

Obama: The system sucks, but I'm so awesome that it'll melt away before me.

Edwards: The system sucks, and we're gonna have to fight like hell to destroy it.

Clinton: The system sucks, and I know how to work within it more than anyone.
-Atrios 18:58

majority in the comments reached the same conclusion I did:  that number 2 is the choice for change.

YouTube - John Edwards - Iowa Jefferson Jackson Dinner

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4rqysXGj0o&NR=1

Now I'm convinced.

[per popular request: what I'm convinced of is that Edwards is my candidate of choice! I think he will fight for change. ]

How it all ends. A 10 minute video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF_anaVcCXg

about how we can think about "global warming"

found via http://www.zefrank.com:

How It All Ends

Greg writes: "This ten-minute home video is called "How It All Ends," and is the result of hundreds of hours of research and production, stemming from an earlier video I produced, titled "The Most Terrifying Video You'll Ever See." ::

"The Most Terrifying Video", posted on the web six months ago, made a novel argument for taking action on global climate change, and has garnered over 4 million views on various websites. Reading the 6000+ comments on that video—most of them critical—allowed me to hone my argument, so that now it is—as far as I've been able to tell—undeniable. Repackaged in "How It All Ends," the argument is backed up by over 6 hours of "expansion pack" videos, anticipating and answering every single objection that I've been able to elicit from skeptics. Sounds impossible, yes. But then, I've been maniacally thorough."

yes it's TEN minutes.  Hey... it could be two hours.  Can't we spend ten minutes addressing thought on this issue?  And it's also a moderately humorous vid.

The Bloggers of Kindness | Zen Habits

http://zenhabits.net/2007/12/the-bloggers-of-kindness/#more-573

or http://tinyurl.com/29r8r4


good words from Zen Habits....

A little over a week ago, I wrote Faith in Humanity: How to Bring People Closer, and Restore Kindness … and the response was overwhelming. As of this writing there are 168 comments on that post, making it one of my most commented posts ever.

And in that post, I promised to do a “Bloggers of Kindness” post, linking up to my fellow bloggers who talk about kindness and the concept of paying it forward. The response from the blogging world was very nice … a few dozen bloggers responded.

Thank you all, for spreading kindness this holiday season, for paying it forward, for helping make the world a better place, one act of kindness at a time.

You are all awesome people.

Get fit using a treadmill laptop holder

http://www.google.com/search?q=treadmill+laptop+holder&num=20&hl=en&safe=off&start=0&sa=N

I'm constantly figuring ways to work in some more treadmill time. Being
able to use the computer while walking would be a big help in terms of
burning more calories, and getting things done too.

I have drawn up plans for a laptop holder for the treadmill, but some
of the finds via Google cost less than $30, so that may be the way to go.

Dance Radio in iTunes

Yet again, I break my no computers rule :(

http://www.danceradio.gr

entertaining music.

Really bogs down my ancient iBook G3

"i wish god were alive to see this"

See what actual cool people do:

http://teenageteardrops.abstractdynamics.org/

Ok... I'm hoping that is a satire, but I'm thinking no.

At http://www.greatwhatsit.com/archives/1953 it was referred to as a
totally "L.A." website, and it was also referred to as "funny".

Too bad I'm stuck in drizzly old rural Illinois. Hah.

jeff

Songza - The music search engine & internet jukebox. Listen. Now.

http://www.songza.com/

interesting way to find songs... for instance I had been trying to
find "Hang on tight" and there it is... I searched on ELO ... lots of
interesting results.

jeff

AARP Fitness Resource List

http://www.aarp.org/health/fitness/leaders/a2004-06-16-fitnesslist.html

for any 50+ people who come across this site.

This is a very good list for senior fitness do it yourself programs.

jeff

I Am Legend [Will Smith Film coming in December]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Legend_(film)

This I want to see...

Goldsman rewrote the screenplay to be closer to second I Am Legend film adaptation, The Omega Man, of which he was a major fan.^[4] The rewrite was also done to distance the film from the numerous zombie films inspired by the novel.^[5] In April 2006, Will Smith signed back onto the project, with production to begin in 2007 in New York.^[22] A forty-page scene-by-scene outline of the film was developed within the next month. When delays occurred on Smith's film Hancock, it was proposed to switch the actor's films. This meant filming would have to begin in sixteen weeks: production was greenlit, using Goldsman's script and the outline.^[20] Elements from Protosevich's script were introduced, while the crew consulted with experts on infectious diseases and solitary confinement.^[4] Rewrites continued throughout filming, because of Smith's improvisational skills and Lawrence's preference to keep various scenes silent.^[20]

I always liked "The Omega Man",  and I'm tired of zombie films,  so this should be good.  If it's as good as "I, Robot",  it will be memorable.

Redeeming qualities of movie "The Last Starfighter"

It's actually a pretty good movie.

I've seen it before, and saw it was on today so I went out of my way to
see it.

But it has some extra qualities I hadn't noticed before.

First thing it starts out in a trailer park. quality 1: great womens'
hairdo's .

Second thing... it's about people trying to overcome.

Third thing... it's a great show for video gamers.

Fourth thing... it's light hearted.

Ok... so I like it.

Here's yr happy banjo music: zefrank.com: lest you forgot steve martin's banjo skills

http://www.zefrank.com/zesblog/archives/2007/11/lest_you_forgot.html

If you let the video play to the end, there appears at the bottom of
the youtube window a scrolling list of 17 Steve Martin banjo vids!

Plus, Never Ever forget that Ze Frank himself is one of the coolest
characters on the internet, so dig around his site too.

Jeff

interesting writer blog... "Write now is good.": National Novel Writing Month etc

For NaNoWriMo notes:

http://writenowisgood.typepad.com/

write_now_is_good/national_novel_writing_month/index.html

(nanowrimo: National Novel Writing Month: http://www.nanowrimo.org/ )

For General writing notes: http://writenowisgood.typepad.com

I know you don't need me to figure out the second url from the
first, but... so it goes!

I just thought we could use a source of tidbits about writing without
the depressing soul searching we see in some places.

jeff

Andersen Patio Door Latch: ACE Hardware wins again!

No kidding. They actually had the exact replacement for my Andersen
Patio Door latch. Plus they said it was covered under warrantee.

Saved me some actual dollars.

I would have thought that after all the times ACE Hardware had save
my butt with other repair jobs, that I would have gone there first,
but NO... I looked things up on google and found one reference to
someone who found what they needed at Lowes.

So I wasted a trip to Lowes. They had only ONE latch... a generic
model that was just kind of mixed in with other stuff, and it would
obviously not work.

I guess I just like whining.

Now it's fixed.

One of two fix-it jobs I got done this morning.

jeff

NutriCoach Home Page

http://www.nutricoach.net/

This is a great site with all kinds of ideas for losing weight and
getting healthy.

I found it by a reference for Low Glycemic Index foods on another website.

Do you owe someone a beer? Foamee keeps track! A twitter application

http://foamee.com/

Ok... this is hard to describe, but it's 100% fun.

Of course as in so many cases, I am doing it "In My Mind" because it
uses Twitter and while I think Twitter is the coolest thing of all
time, I can't actually stand to have a Twitter client running.

But the IDEA of giving people free beers is wonderful.

:-)

And foamee is a fun site to appreciate.

FFBB00 - SPOILER ALERT - DO NOT READ IF YOU VALUE YOUR SOUL!

My NaNoWriMo progress... NOT. Two of my adversaries are stuck in
12,000 B.C. Being fought over by Neanderthals (or whatever cousins
passed for human at that stage of their development).... trudging
through mud.

You know this is going to be a long trip from then to now,
especially at 200 words per day.

I am so antisocial. Obviously banned from most any group. I hear a
different drum beat and suddenly I'm gone.

FFBB00.... ok here's the spoiler....

FFBB00 is the hex code for the color AMBER. I bet you didn't know
that. Now your life is ruined, huh?

Why is FFBB00 important? Because in the early 1970's that was the
color of the nicest (my opinion) monitors, & I used one to build a
word processor.

It was really fun to sit in the dark watching that amber glow; it
was friendly.

So of course I have spent the last two days automating a process to
turn my old iBook into a full screen amber text editor. Anything but
actually write something, just like 1974.

Not like this is a sudden idea... I have spent a lot of time over the
last couple years finding FFBB00, and then saving it in a variety of
ways so I can find it again when I need to... like last Saturday
morning. This time it only took me five minutes to find. Another
quality Not-Writing experience.

Ok... so back to trying to get those adversaries from 12,000 B.C. up
to somewhere close to current day.

Happy Day.

Jeff

http://nocomputers.blogspot.com

Weekly World News R.I.P. :-(

SEE:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weekly_World_News for a really great entry detailing the history, story style, etc. 

On July 21st, 2007, parent company American Media announced that it would suspend publication of both the print and website version of Weekly World News, with the last issue being printed on August 3rd, after two weeks of 'reprint' issues (no new content).[1] Subsequent announcements instead gave August 27th as the last issue, and state that the online version will continue. [2] No reason was given for the decision; an editor with the paper said that "the reasons given don't make sense."[3]

----------------------------------------------------------------------

see this and more at http://nocomputer.blogspot.com

online relationship training games... from The Power of Two

How about these for non-computer uses of computer?!

http://www.po2.com/       <- they have one free game here

And the same people have several here:

http://babyfit.sparkpeople.com/healthy-relationships.asp

at first glance one would think the babyfit site is all about babies,  but the games are all about  building relationships between adults!

Jeff

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see this and more at http://nocomputer.blogspot.com

NaNoWriMo Success: How to Write a Novel in 30 Days

http://lifelearningtoday.com/2007/10/31/nanowrimo-success-how-to-

write-a-novel-in-30-days/

Of course that means one actually has to DO something, which even
into day ONE I am having difficulty with.

The above links to an interesting blog post, but... reading blog
posts just puts off DOING....

jeff

Studs Terkel: The Wiretap This Time - New York Times

I think I may have heard Terkel's show one time. I'm such a country
boy. I remember it being great.

> Terkel's article today in the NYT: http://tinyurl.com/2vvs85

It details his life history and his current lawsuit against illegal
wiretapping by the US Government.

Terkel was a winner of the Elijah P. Lovejoy Award:

>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elijah_P._Lovejoy
>
> Interesting reading all by itself. I have always wondered if the
> reputation of Alton Illinois as being a hideout for gangsters came
> from Lovejoy's assassination there. (this was common knowledge to
> my family when I was a child. Not sure why we even knew about it.)
>

Wikipedia entry on Studs Terkel:

> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studs_Terkel

Official Studs Terkel website:

> http://www.studsterkel.org/

He was born in 1912 and is still going strong

The Pinnacle Of Madness...

search YouTube for

wd6rwA7skJo

This is a REMIX of the Gwen Stefani video of "Wind It Up"

as they say "with additional music from the Sound of Music"

well... that's an understatement...

The big addition is the PUPPETS!

El bizarro!

However... it seems that playing this video crashes my firefox.
Don't know why... very irritating.

jeff

p.s.

If you find YODELING to be so awful you will leave the room,
don't watch this!

A magical theme is developing... YouTube - Steve Martin Magic

This is The Great Flydini...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJCtOz32dnw&mode=related&search=

Some others of Steve Martin doing magic are also on YouTube.

Dreams, Freud, and the Anti-Freud

All of us Dream Journalers will find this of interest...

The Believer - Hobson's Choice:

http://www.believermag.com/issues/200710/?read=article_aviv

In the early '70s, while planting microelectrodes on the brain stems of cats, he formed his widely cited Activation-Synthesis theory and broadened its implications, perhaps unduly, to disprove Freud's claim that dreams are caused by unconscious, often sinister desires. He and his Harvard colleague Robert McCarley proposed that dreams are strange and fragmented not because secret urges are being censored, as Freud claimed, but because the brain is in a naturally chaotic state.

 ------------------

I'm cataloging dream journals I've kept for more than 15 years.  They are proving to be great fodder for the writing of fiction;  more about that later.

   Jeff

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see this and more at http://nocomputer.blogspot.com

Greet the Day

From 10 benefits of rising early and how to do it:

Greet the day. I love being able to get up, and greet a wonderful new day. I suggest creating a morning ritual that includes saying thanks for your blessings. I'm inspired by the Dalai Lama, who said, " Everyday, think as you wake up, 'today I am fortunate to have woken up, I am alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others, to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings, I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others, I am going to benefit others as much as I can.' "

reformatted because I can do that....

> the Dalai Lama, > says..

>

> today I am fortunate to have woken up,
> I am alive,
> I have a precious human life,
> I am not going to waste it.
> I am going to use all my energies
>> to develop myself,
>> to expand my heart out to others,
>> to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings,
> I am going to have kind thoughts towards others,
> I am not going to get angry or think badly about others,
> I am going to benefit others as much as I can.

It's pretty hard not to like the Dalai Lama

NYT: The 'Good Germans' Among Us

http://tinyurl.com/2xlt5o

There's a pretty good argument that the US is going to Hell.

jeff

I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER?

http://icanhascheezburger.com/

Appropriately labeled cat pictures :-)

Laughter Yoga in Cape Town

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi1WPUeNDJI

An interesting and fun 10 minute video describing laughter yoga

jeff

Laughing Yoga Stress Therapy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXgdSOxaCGI

I think the basic message of the video is that it's OK to be crazy.

Found via http://tinyurl.com/2yddvl

(10 Surefire Ways to Kill Your Crabby Mood )

ADDITION: google search on "Laughter Yoga" turns up some very interesting results. Go digging.

The Blend - Coffee in Washington IL

http://www.theblend-washington.com/

Not much info on their web site.

But they had nice packages of coffee at a new store in downtown
Washington (IL).

Heres a google map:

http://tinyurl.com/yo9ogn

Annals of National Security: Shifting Targets: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/10/08/071008fa_fact_hersh

billions for protecting oil in the mideast... nothing for the poor in
USA

mollie sterling » it does my heart good…

http://duggmirror.com/apple/Look_at_them_apples/

ha ha ha.... Macintosh Macintosh Macintosh... whew! Oops... this it the
No Computers Zone... sorry.

But damn it felt good ;)

woo hoo!

TreeHugger: How to Go Green

http://www.treehugger.com/gogreen.php

A set of guides to going green. Per what they say on the site, they
are hoping to create 100 guides so check back often.

Shards of Consciousness : Exploring Pathways to Freedom

http://www.shardsofconsciousness.com/

What is interesting about this blog is that the writer has written a
series of posts on Rational Emotive Therapy.

Coffee: Organic Mayan Black Onyx Blend

https://www.millstone.com/pages/ourcoffees/ourCoffee.jsp?Section=Organics&Coffee=OrganicMayanBlackOnyx

this is a new coffee available at Malwart among other places.

Fair trade, organic, save the forest approved (I think)...

and it's great tasting... best coffee I've ever found at Malwart anyhow.

Jeff

Maroon 5: "Wake Up Call"

I go through these spells of listening to music.

Maroon 5's "Wake Up Call" got me... just listening to the ups &
downs in it.

DEVO homage: YouTube - "Weird Al" Yankovic - Dare To Be Stupid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEB0Xe2e76I

and while we're at it... here's Al Yankovic's page on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/alyankovic

he has a lot of great stuff on there... it's pretty low-bandwidth as
movies go, and of course...

IT'S ALL STUPID!

(but fun)

Jeff

Timothy Karr: Verizon Blocks Pro-Choice Text Messaging

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/timothy-karr/verizon-blocks-prochoice_b_66058.html

"The Verizon network crowd that famously shadows users wherever they go"...

glorious new world of AHMADEINEJAD? I'm skeptical.

This is a follow-up to my previous post regarding Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

I watched as much of his speech at Columbia University as I could. It
was really really boring.

And scary.

I started watching the speech because I was curious after reading the
transcript of the interview of him at

http://ezraklein.typepad.com/blog/2007/09/interviewing-ah.html

In the beginning of his speech at Columbia he pretty much re-defined
science as Discovering the Truth of Islam. There would have been a lot
of questions I would ask him, if I weren't sure that the answer would
be worthless. His glowing words of peace and tolerance in the earlier
interview would appear to be a ploy or at least a twisting of the
meaning. His tolerance is for those who accept Islam.

Just what we need is another bunch of religious people with guns telling
us what the truth is (or for that matter, any bunch of people with
guns). Another point to convince me that mixing religion with
government is poison.

Yours Skeptically,

Jeff

Now you can search Movie Reviews at The New York Times

http://movies.nytimes.com/ref/movies/reviews/index.html

> Browse or search 28,000 New York Times movie reviews. Included in
> the free review archive are all films reviewed since 1960, reviews
> of all Best Picture Academy Award winners, as well as The New York
> Times guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made.

A benefit of them making their previous "for pay" site available to
us unwashed multitudes!

What religion, please tell me, tells you as a follower of that religion to occupy another country and kill its people? Please tell me. Does Christianity tell its followers to do that?

http://ezraklein.typepad.com/blog/2007/09/interviewing-ah.html

> AHMADEINEJAD: Well, is Mr. Bush a religious man?
>
> PELLEY: Very much so. As you are.
>
> AHMADEINEJAD: What religion, please tell me, tells you as a
> follower of that religion to occupy another country and kill its
> people? Please tell me. Does Christianity tell its followers to do
> that? Judaism, for that matter? Islam, for that matter? What
> prophet tells you to send 160,000 troops to another country, kill
> men, women, and children? You just can't wear your religion on your
> sleeve or just go to church. You should be truthfully religious.
> Religion tells us all that you should respect the property, the
> life of different people. Respect human rights. Love your fellow
> man. And once you hear that a person has been killed, you should be
> saddened. You shouldn't sit in a room, a dark room, and hatch
> plots. And because of your plots, many thousands of people are
> killed. Having said that, we respect the American people. And
> because of our respect for the American people, we respectfully
> talk with President Bush. We have a respectful tone. But having
> said that, I don't think that that is a good definition of
> religion. Religion is love for your fellow man, brotherhood,
> telling the truth.
>
> PELLEY: I take it you can't think of anything you like about
> President Bush.
>
> AHMADEINEJAD: Well, I'm not familiar with the gentleman's private
> life. Maybe in his private life he is very kind or a determined
> man. I'm not aware of that. I base my judgment on what I see in his
> public life. Having said that, I think that President Bush can
> behave much better. There were golden opportunities for President
> Bush. He should have used them better.

Ok. So now I find myself in agreement with this guy I'm supposed to
hate. What a bummer.

Anything But Computers

http://nocomputers.blogspot.com/

Here's where you'll find what's on my mind at the moment. Bookmark it. I also have several other blogs, most of which you'll find if you click on the about me link.

jeff

The iPhone, The iPod Touch, and Electronic Books of the Future

For years I have been trying to find a way to read ebooks and actually enjoy reading them.

It occurred to me a couple days ago that the iPod Touch and the iPhone are hints of the future.

What started me thinking on that was seeing people flipping album covers just dragging their finger across the iPod Touch in the Cover Flow view.

The touch action was very much like the way I flip pages in a book or magazine.

So... imagine that you have a iBook Touch 12 inches wide & 9 inches tall (nothing magic about those particular numbers). Imagine it has display density of 200 dots per inch, which is what the iPod Nano has.

Further, imagine that when you turn it on you see an image of a book... possibly the one you have been reading, open to a particular page... you see a two page view. It is a psuedo 3D image. You can drag with your finger to flip pages.

Drag across the "edge" of the book to rapidly zoom back and forth through the book, just like you do with a real book.

The 200 DPI image makes it easy to read. The fast processor flips pages rapidly.

You have a catalog of all your eBooks. I imagine it being like a visit to a library.

I'm ready.

Dreams and Dashiell Hammett's "The Glass Key"

More regarding my re-reading of Dashiell Hammett...

Working my way through "Dashiell Hammett: Five Complete Novels"...

The novel "The Glass Key" is very sublty based on dreams.

The title is a key that appears in a dream to one of the characters.  This is revealed by her (the character in question) in the last scene of the novel;  her and the main character of the book had revealed to each other somewhat earlier in the book that each had a dream shortly after they met,  but she reveals in the final scene that she had left out some details and added to her earlier recount of the dream.

The Dreams Summarized:

1. Ned's dream:  he and the Senator's daughter are fishing in a mountain stream.  He catches a brightly colored trout,  but she throws it back in the water.

2. Her dream (as she first told it): They are walking in the woods.  They come to a house and knock on the door.. there is no answer... they look in the window & there's food on a table inside.  Knock again no answer. Try opening the door... no luck.
  She remembers that people typically hide a key under the doormat... she looks and there it is. They unlock the door and open it... the floor inside is covered with snakes that start coming toward the door.  Close the door.  They climb onto he roof... he leans down unlocks the door & pushes it open... the snakes come out & go into the woods.  They go inside and eat the food.  It's really good.
  (AS SHE TOLD IT ON LAST PAGE OF NOVEL): [same up to finding the key] It is a glass key.  Turning the lock is difficult... it turns and unlocks,  but the key shatters.  She opens the door... the snakes rush her... she is covered with snakes.  She wakes up screaming.

So... the story of the novel has been about gangsters pushing politicians around, about speakeasys, about gangsters beating people up.  About murders.  About lying and cheating and lowlifes of all varieties.  But the last few paragraphs reveal that the whole book is a metaphor for human existence.

Essence is that in reality, we are all besieged by snakes in life (of life?).  That we have beauty in hand and throw it away.  That dreams tell us something about our life.  That while life may be a floor of snakes, if we work at it we may overcome it. That dreams tell us what we need to work on.

New York Times to End Charges on Web Site - Including archives

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/18/business/media/18times.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

> In addition to opening the entire site to all readers, The Times will
> also make available its archives from 1987 to the present without
> charge, as well as those from 1851 to 1922, which are in the public
> domain.

Thoughts on Dashiell Hammett

I recently started re-reading Dashiell Hammett...

Dashiell Hammett - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "'[Hammett] took murder out of the Venetian vase and dropped it into the alley... [He] gave murder back to the kind of people who do it for a reason, not just to provide a corpse; and with means at hand, not with handwrought dueling pistols, curare, and tropical fish.' Raymond Chandler, in The Simple Art of Murder"

The surprise was that "The Maltese Falcon" still reads well after having read it and seen it so many times. Even in spite of Sam Spade being a sexist bum, he comes across as a sympathetic character. Now I'm ready to go back to the movie... I'm thinking the novel was used word for word in most of the movie, & I'd like to check that.

BANJO - Curtis Eller - NEW YORK - Alternative / Folk Rock / Acoustic - www.myspace.com/curtiseller

http://www.myspace.com/curtiseller

wonder if he's any relation to the Eller we know? Unlikely, but it
crossed my mind.

after I thought you might like the banjo

jeff

NASA - Mars Rovers Survive Dust Storms, Ready for Next Objectives

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/mer-20070907_prt.htm

Howstuffworks "Black Bean Burgers"

found through google search (*http://tinyurl.com/2btbjm)....*

http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/black-bean-burgers-recipe.htm

> Yield: Makes 6 burgers Ingredients: 1 can (about 15 ounces) black
> beans, rinsed and drained, divided
>
> 1/3 cup green onion tops
>
> 1/4 cup plain dry bread crumbs
>
> 1/4 cup corn
>
> 1/4 cup chopped roasted red pepper
>
> 1 egg white
>
> 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
>
> 1 teaspoon onion powder
>
> 1 teaspoon dried oregano
>
> 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
>
> 1/2 teaspoon salt
>
> 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
>
> 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, or more to taste
>
> Nonstick cooking spray
>
> 6 whole wheat hamburger buns
>
> Salsa (optional)
>
> Avocado slices (optional)

Could replace peppers with tomatoes,  maybe a little less salt & pepper, to tone it down a bit.

Chuck Hagel Reads Petraeus - Crocker the riot act

Watching the Petraeus - Crocker testimony this morning...

turned it off once... too boring watching the "statements"...

turned it back on & there is Chuck Hagel (R - Nebraska) explaining to
them why he's doubtful of what they're saying.

And now P&C are spinning. Not addressing "what happened to the south?"

We'll see how much more of this I can stand.

Ceremonial Tea on Flickr - Hyougushi

http://flickr.com/photos/hyougushi/61541094/

A nice change from all the crap in the news!

- jeff -

Tom Smith sings: WikiPirates

http://filkertom-itom.blogspot.com/2007/08/049-wikipirates.html

A song for all those who have ever had problems with "moderation" on
wikipedia (or elsewhere, e.g., dmoz).

Jeff

About 3 miles from Larry's Place in France... YouTube - extremely low level flying in fighter jets

Filmed about 3 miles from their place...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njyhTcqtmto

He was looking for info on low tide & high tide in the bay, and
found this

publishing: geneology [genealogy, as Amazon 'splained to me!], True Crime

ebook & Print On Demand publisher that Organized Writer (http://

www.organizedwriter.com) uses:

http://search.booklocker.com/search-bl.cgi?q=geneology&t=&SEARCH=Search

they do not publish fiction.

Amazon search on genealogy [I learned something NEW!... How 2 spel]:

http://tinyurl.com/2nunua

115,280 results, but at least somewhere
in there is some ranking by sales.

Amazon search on True Crime:

http://tinyurl.com/2p7j4t 15,521 results, but the number 2 result
caught my eye immediately:

http://tinyurl.com/2qcsuk

mostly because it shows what a good
publisher will publish.
We should probably get some of these through interlibrary loan.
Plus the Berry Gang book

fitPod | Fitness + iPod = fitPod

http://www.fitpod.com/

Ok... I'm going to be getting my show on the road.... soon....

Jeffy's Dance & Fitness Lab

Religious Humor

http://www.patcondell.net/

Ok. A warning... Pat Condell's home page may offend some people.

I think it's funny. I like the cute little pig....

The Secret to a Healthy Body - lifehack.org

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/the-secret-to-a-healthy-body.html

I'm having a lot of fun reading http://www.lifehack.org

http://zenhabits.org and http://lifelearningtoday.com

those 3 are good proof that there are great uses of the internet and the
computer other than just more computers.

jeff