Bruce Duncan Phillips, 73, Folk Singer - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/arts/music/27phillips.html?

_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

I was at several of Utah Phillip's shows. He was a great entertainer.

Jeff

exploring the Virtual Grocery Store - American Diabetes Association

http://vgs.diabetes.org/homepage.jsp

Today I'm looking the the American Diabetes Association's Virtual Grocery Store.  It's not a heavy duty grocery shopping center but a really good idea for guiding purchases for healthy eating.

Initial reaction to the Wii Fit

My initial reaction to the Wii Fit is that it moves very slowly.  Doesn't motivate me to come back for more,  although there is a lot of potential there.

I found the Rayman Raving Rabbids more interesting ;)

HOWEVER,  I will persist because I think it will pick up.

There are aspects of the Fit which would be nice to customize.  For example there are places where a whistle is blown....  my wife says "Nobody blows a whistle at me"  & I concur.  Any kind of sound could be used...  the "listen-up coach whistle" is not necessary.

Where were You? Tube - John Lennon - Give peace a chance 1969

YouTube - John Lennon - Give peace a chance 1969:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDFFh8ZSqV0

Like a who's who.

That's Tommy Smothers in there!

I was such a teenage brat (well... POST teenage), I remember back
then when I first saw Yoko Ono I thought she was awful. Now I love her.

Things change. Like People.

Much love to everyone.

Jeff

Trust &Tribes: My Search for Community & Personal Empowerment on the Internet.

A lot happening,  coming together in the world right now.

I have always feared that Community & Personal Empowerment were mutually exclusive.

There's Obama and Hillary making Nice with each other... hope they keep it up.  As far as I'm concerned,  Obama gives me some hope for the future of the US of A.

Ramping up for the Wii Fit at home.

There were two recent articles online which set me off collecting this batch of info;

1. Rands in Repose: We Travel in Tribes
2. Sites that trust their users (Scripting News)

The first, Rands in Repose, led me to recall recent  & older experience with tribe.net.  Years ago when they first started I was very hopeful, but when I started at that time there were almost no tribes and certainly none of interest to an over educated farmboy like me.

Now however there is much more on tribe.net.  Not too much for blurry visioned old retirees like me, but there is SOME... and that's a big improvement.  Lots of stuff on cats.  So now it's workth looking at again.  That's been in the last 4 months or so & I was therefore greatly interested in the Rands article.  One of many great quotes from Rands:

The value lies in the network of people and how they illuminate the things I don't know.

That's after he's been talking about Twitter & how he came to depend on it, even though it's crappy software.  I have found that I too am using twitter to follow, not really to post;  and that's how I've been following...

The second. Dave Winer on Scripting News, is about trusting your users by letting them keep their own data. Empowering people by letting them take control of things for themselves. To paraphrase:  "If you love them let them go".

The comments on Dave's article (yes I know these are posts,  but they're so intense I'd rather call them articles) led me to think about last.fm.  I too have found that I use last.fm because it integrates well into apps I use:  iTunes & songbird.

And music led me to my Ramping Up in anticipation of the Wii Fit.  The Wii Fit is a Mother's Day gift for my wife, Judy.  And I am way interested in it myself so we both will benefit.

We just got the Wii a couple weeks ago & curiously enough it has wifi built into it & it found  our Airport network automatically!  I never found anywhere in the advertising that wifi was built in!  The network is always there,  but if you want a web browser you have to buy it (for all of $5).  It's an adaptation of the Opera browser & works very well.

So I went on a quest to see if I could get my iTunes library to play through the Wii.  Short answer is "yes".  Long answer is "it's a battle". The upside is that there is a big Wii hacking community.

In looking for web-based music players for the Wii,  I found Orb and I found http://finetune.com.

Nothing specific to last.fm,  but I haven't given up on it (see google search below).

As for orb.com,  It would do the iTunes streaming,  but requires a Windows PC,  so count that out (We have them here, but I don't want to fool with THAT when macs are handy).

However,  finetune has a Wii player.  And much to my pleasure it allows you to build playlists to your own liking from the artists they have available, and they have a LOT.  Almost everything contemporary that I like.  What a surprise.  Actually anything that serves up a javascript based media player will work with the Wii,  but there are not a lot of them.

Also... not music, but.... there is me.dium (I keep thinking rhymes with Te.dium).   Another place where there is the idea of people experiencing the web in parallel and sharing.  But truly this tends to be a young person's thing... they're young and romance the idea and ignore the warts all over it.  I need to keep my energies focused in productive area and not go off on wild chases.

And here's a community idea:  http://carrotmob.org a way for people to bring positive change through collective action. I hope.  I can thank http://zefrank.com for that.

So there's still not my idea of community but the bits and pieces are coming about.

Next project is the HDTV & see what we can do with that.  I've been using Dave Winer's FlickrFan screen saver on my bigger mac & if that could be tied into twitter & the hdtv that would be great fun both locally at home and in whatever community may arise on the web.


ideas referenced:

digging for last.fm: http://www.google.com/search?q=playlists+on+last.fm

A not-random last.fm user: http://www.last.fm/user/MagicDrum/

My music on the Wii:  http://www.finetune.com/listen/playlist/2220591

FlickrFan screen saver:  http:/flickrfan.org

The Carrot Mob for positive change: http://carrotmob.org

and of course....

1. Rands in Repose: We Travel in Tribes
2. Sites that trust their users (Scripting News)

The King Of The Faeries /dance mix/ by NineTeenSixtyEight | iCompositions - Music

http://www.icompositions.com/music/song.php?sid=86414

If I were creating Dance Music, that's what I'd aim for..

http://www.google.com/search?q=The+King+of+the+Faeries

from the google search:

> Digital Tradition Mirror
> King of the Faeries
>
> King of the Faeries
>
> Up the airy mountain, through the rushy glen
> We daren't go a-hunting for fear of little men.
> Wee folk, good folk, trooping all together
> Green jacket, red cap and white owl's feather.
>
> By the craggy hillside, through the mosses bare
> They've planted thorn trees for pleasure here and there.
> Is any man so daring as to dig them up in spite
> He'll find the sharpest thorns in his bed at night.
>
> High up on the hill top the old king sits
> He's now so old and grey he's nearly lost his wits
> He's rising with the music on the cold starry night
> To sup with the queen of the gay north light.
>
> Trad. Irish
> CH
>
> Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!

Everything you might want to know about the mystical side of trees...

is on this site: http://www.the-tree.org.uk/A/no_frames_map.htm

The individual articles also include detailed information about
cultivation and use of the trees.

While http://www.the-tree.org.uk/A/no_frames_map.htm is concentrated
on trees native to Great Britain, any tree lover will find the site
greatly entertaining!

Have fun...

Jeff

Should YOU join the Carrot Mob???

From Zefrank...

http://www.zefrank.com/zesblog/archives/2008/05/carrot_mob.html#more

and

http://www.carrotmob.org

A new concept in consumer action to make positive environmental change!

A clever idea.

I put myself on the list.

- Jeff -

make your own corn chips

http://www.google.com/search?q=make+your+own+corn+chips

Part of our ongoing effort to simplify our food life.

We have been making tortillas from scratch,  & true to what the glowing reports are,  they do taste better than what you buy in the supermarket.  I will say that so far they aren't as pretty,  but that's just a matter of practice.

Next thing, I want to try making our own tortilla chips and corn chips.

I'll report here when the chips are "ready".

Indiana women in Music: Hoosier Rag (1907)

http://www.icompositions.com/music/song.php?sid=87509

Hoosier Rag (1907)

by georgeptingley

There were around 900 published piano rags written by women in the early 1900's. Indiana was central to this activity with Julia Lee Niebergall being one of the most gifted writers. Additionally, it was widely known that she was one of the first women in Indianapolis to own and drive her own vehicle. Apparently, the right to play and compose ragtime as well as drive led finally to women's right to vote in 1920. Ms. Niebergall's charming piece, HOOSIER RAG (1907) is played here without embellishment, or as I like to think - without makeup. Look for more women's ragtime coming soon.

"Hoosier Rag" by Julia Lee Niebergall played by George Peter Tingley 

Re: Kim Komando Cool Site of the Day - Sunday, May 4, 2008

It seems like I found Kim Komando 20 years ago... one of the first
"cool" sites on the web.

I could never figure out if she was real or someone's clever
creation. Whatever, "she" is cool!

Jeff

re http://comando.com

Short History of the Ampersand

http://www.typography.com/ask/showBlog.php?blogID=98

This is great... the ampersand is really ancient, back to 79 A.D., possibly anyhow.

Leads to an explanation that "&c." for "etc." is a "Tironian note"... part of a Latin shorthand used for centuries.

...

Last 24 hours has been productive.

Eschaton sends me on a trip to Bizarro World!

Atrios takes me on a trip with his reference to George Clooney!

The Clooney article concludes with a comment explaining how the GOP is creating Bizaro World in Iraq.

Ok I thought I'd follow their link to Bizarro World since I've seen many references to it but never explored the concept...

Ok... it's a DC Comic thing.  Hmmmm.

It mentioned that Bizarro World's only sane inhabitant was the Bizarro Ambush Bug.

So the Wikipedia link to Ambush Bug takes me into the Metafiction world of Ambush Bug where he (?) mocks the whole DC Comics universe which starts with Superman and ends.... who knows where... Bizarro World?,  and in the process mocks the whole concepts of Comic Book.

That article ends with an exernal link to an article, Ambush Bug as Metafictional Hero.

The conclusion to that article (by "Dr Fury") is that

the idea of Ambush Bug as a metafictional avatar of the apocryphal, of the weirdness being squeezed out of the DCU in preparation for and in the aftermath of multiverse-smooshing Crisis on Infinite Earths became more and more a part of his character in various Superman-bedeviling appearances in Action Comics.

What a grand phrase.... "metafictional avatar of the apocryphal"! Surely this fits into the George W. GOP universe somewhere.

Then in the comments there's a link to info about Bruce Springsteen's Seeger tour and I went to look at that,  and then I decided to write this missive.

 

World Harvest Foods: Champaign and Urbana Illinois International, Gourmet, Ethnic Foods

http://www.worldharvestfoods.com/?page=aboutourstore

Great store... online orders too. This used to be "Hop N Shop" and
had a giant kangaroo on the front of the store! They have great
stuff.. fun things. Their about page is more informative than
linking directly to their "home" page (quotes because it's not really
a home page).

Cross posted to http://nocomputers.blogspot.com

Cooking... Savory Pankeggs (of Awesomeness)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hzdqLUJzhg

Thanks to zefrank... a you tube cooking experience!

Not what you would call healthy, but an interesting approach.

Latin is a Dead Language

Is that cryptic enough? Maybe some government agency will read this
and know what I'm talking about.

I'm really tired of it.

Why would I want to study Latin? At my age? How about Spanish? How
about Japanese? How about Chinese? (Ok, I know how tough Chinese
is, so I'll pass on that). Or even how about German?

A company I deal with changed their name to a Latin word. I don't
like it. It was good enough the way it was.

I'm tired of the Roman Empire. Maybe Jesus spoke Latin. Ha.

Love,
Me

Solfege - Ear Training in the Dance Lab

Ok ...this sort of breaks the no computers rule, but....

Solfege, an open source (musical) ear training program is now available for Mac OS X.

It took TWO FULL DAYS to install and compile all the stuff needed on my creaky old Blue & White Mac G3 I have in the Dance Lab,  That's 24 hours a day... running the compiler.

When I tried to run it,  I thought it wasn't going to work but after one patch it does!  The clue was to run the "man" command from the unix command line after the install,  and at the end of that was an explanation of what to do if it didn't work.  I did what it said, and it now works.

So now, hopefully, I can quit being a geek and start working on honing my skills.

But first must do taxes.  Ick.

   -  jeff -

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

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

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

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

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!