Dictionary means - never having to say huh?

Google dictionary

"To see a definition for a word or phrase, simply type the word "define," then a space, and then the word(s) you want defined. If Google has seen a definition for the word or phrase on the Web, it will retrieve that information and display it at the top of your search results.

You can also get a list of definitions by including the special operator "define:" with no space between it and the term you want defined. For example, the search [define:World Wide Web] will show you a list of definitions for "World Wide Web" gathered from various online sources."

Also check out http://wordweb.info/

"WordWeb Pro is a quick and powerful international English thesaurus and dictionary for Windows. It can be used to lookup words from almost any Windows program, showing definitions, synonyms and related words. There are also many proper nouns and usage examples. You can search for words matching a pattern, find and solve anagrams, and optionally search a large number of extra word lists."

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Rewind DVDs

Speed the process

Sometimes one finds a solution to a problem that is not seeking an answer.

"Guaranteed Lowest Price on the Internet for DVD Rewinding
No More Embarrassing Fines or Hassles at your Video Rental Store !!!
No Fuss — No Waiting — Do It Online — Do It Now!
Rewind your DVDs

Digital Velocity



DVD Rewinder


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Graphics from the '50s

Remember it the way you want to

Original fifties clipart? Just in time for the holidays, some Ozzie and Harriet style pics.

"Most communities in the fifties had small town print shops that doubled as printers of local news and advertising papers. These printers could not afford graphic artists so they used stock clipart supplied by large companies who distributed common graphics for use in advertising sections of the papers. They were provided for the printer in lots of categories to meet any advertiser's needs."

Retrographix.com


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Sudoku

CrossNumber puzzles

I have to admit that I have not caught the fever that these puzzles seem to have generated.

Most every newspaper in the world has started publishing these brain teasers.

"Sudoku , sometimes spelled Su Doku, is a logic based placement puzzle, also known as Number Place in the United States. The aim of the canonical puzzle is to enter a numerical digit from 1 through 9 in each cell of a 9x9 grid made up of 3x3 subgrids (called "regions"), starting with various digits given in some cells (the "givens"). Each row, column, and region must contain only one instance of each numeral.
Completing the puzzle requires patience and logical ability. Its grid layout is reminiscent of other newspaper puzzles like crosswords and chess problems.
Although first published in 1979, Sudoku initially became popular in Japan in 1986 and attained international popularity in 2005."

Wikipedia — Sudoku

Here is a download that will construct as many of these puzzles as you might be Jonesing for.

Andy Pope Su Doku


Also:

Web Su Doku


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Dvorak Anyone?

Alternative Keyboard Layouts

"Free keyboard layouts - called Dvorak layouts - are available for people who type with one hand or finger. These layouts make the most frequently typed characters on a keyboard more accessible to people who have difficulty using the standard keyboard layout (called the "QWERTY" layout).

Dvorak keyboard layouts reduce the amount of motion required to type common English text. Use of these layouts may also help avoid some types of repetitive strain injuries associated with typing.

Studies have also shown an increase in typing speed and accuracy when using the Dvorak layout for two hands. The left-hand or right-hand keyboard layouts can also be useful for people who type with a wand."

You do not need to modify your hardware keyboard to use these layouts, but you will need to change your keyboard settings to use the Dvorak layouts.

(A keyboard layout is a map or a definition of how keys are laid out on your keyboard. The keyboard layout you use is determined by software in your computer. The letters on your keys indicate the standard layout for your keyboard.)

Tutorials and downloads




Introducing the Dvorak Keyboard
By Marcus Brooks

A Brief Primer
by Randy Cassingham


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Light Up Where You Live

A nation's porch light

"Ben Fry is a doctoral candidate at the MIT Media Laboratory. His research focuses on methods of visualizing large amounts of data from dynamic information sources. This work is currently directed towards "Genomic Cartography" which is a study into new methods to represent the data found in the human genome."

He has a fascinating demonstration of data display technique:



Zip Code Demonstrator.

Type in a zip code one number at a time to see how zip codes are distributed in the US.


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John Titor - 2036

The future came back

Why speculate about the future, when we've already been visited by a representative?

"A tale that disturbed me, concerned me, made me wonder if our world as we know it has less than 15 years left.

It is the tale of John Titor, a self-proclaimed time traveler from the year 2036.

Okay, it sounds crazy. It's not crazy, though . . .it's simply a hoax. It's a compelling hoax, so I decided to write my take on it. After some initial 'what if' excitement about it, the reality set in that this wasn't what it appeared to be. In this piece, I hope to prove relatively clearly that his claims are false both in theory and in fact. He seemed to know enough about physics to pass amongst laymen, but unfortunately he skipped philosophy and economics while he was reading all those physics books.

Since this story just won't seem to die and there is evidence that the same perpetrator is now claiming to be an alien on various boards across the web, I felt it was worth sitting down and analyzing."

Tackling John Titor, Time Traveler



Wikipedia:
John Titor

"John Titor was the name of a purported time traveler from the year 2036. He posted on several time travel-related Internet bulletin boards during 2000/2001, making many vague and seemingly falsifiable predictions about events in the near future and giving an explicit, detailed account of his supposed native time period. Whether or not John Titor was a hoax is a topic of controversy on web-based paranormal discussion boards."

John Ttior's Story

"Someone using the assumed name of John Titor and claiming to be a soldier on a mission from 2036 presented a considerable amount of information on the Web beginning around November 2000 about his mission and time travel machine, his perspective on our society, how our society is going wrong, and how society as we know it will end in a very short but massive global nuclear war in 2015. He's gone now, back to 2036 he said he was going in his last posting on March 24, 2001, and the threads he left across the Web in his five months with us have been slowly evaporating since then."

AboveTopSecret.com:
The John Titor Project

"Although many find it easy to dismiss all this as either science fiction or an elaborate extended hoax, there are those who still read his information and agree that there is something very troubling about John Titor and what he had to say."

Answers.com:
John Titor

" He claimed his time machine — a "C204 time displacement" machine-was created by General Electric. Supposedly, he transported it in a standard motor vehicle (a black, model-year 1966 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible shown in the photographs he provided), and the car also served as his vessel whilst traveling through time (it remained stationary throughout with the engine off). He claimed that the public is fully aware of time travel in his time period, although the extreme skeptics of his day do not believe it exists."

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An Obsession with Butterflies

Quote

"Architecture is a plant's first defense. Once a caterpillar begins to eat, compounds in its saliva can be recognized by the leaf as a form of attack. Whang, whang, whang. The entire plant goes on alert. A hormonal burst starts a second defense system, a counter attack that may include rushing newly produced toxins to the damaged leaf, as well as compounds that slow a caterpillar's ability to digest the plant as food."

About the Author

Sharman Apt Russell teaches writing at Western New Mexico University. She is also the author of Anatomy of a Rose, Kill the Cowboy and Songs of the Fluteplayer.
She has a unique voice. Inherently complex topics are made enjoyable.

Book Description

From the beastly horned caterpillar, whose blood helps it count time, to the peacock butterfly, with wings that hiss like a snake, Russell traces the butterflies through their life cycles, exploring the creatures' own obsessions with eating, mating, and migrating. In this way, she reveals the logic behind our endless fascination with butterflies as well as the driving passion of such legendary collectors as the tragic Eleanor Glanville, whose children declared her mad because of her compulsive butterfly collecting, and the brilliant Henry Walter Bates, whose collections from the Amazon in 1858 helped develop his theory of mimicry in nature. Russell also takes us inside some of the world's most prestigious natural history museums, where scientists painstakingly catalogue and categorize new species of Lepidoptera, hoping to shed light on insect genetics and evolution.

>

By Sharman Apt Russell
ISBN 0-7382-0699-7
Perseus Publishing 2003

Also see:
The North American Butterfly Association (NABA)

and,
AmazingButterflies.com:
A Talk with Sharman Apt Russell


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Test Your Typing

Practice, Practice

"With the TypingMaster Online Test you can assess your personal typing skills in minutes for free - within your web browser.

Based on the short text typing sample, this Java™ applet will estimate your typing skills including typing speed, accuracy and net speed. You can also receive test results directly to your email address."

TypingTest.com

MrKent.com
Typing and Ten-key Tests


Also:
CalculatorCat.com
Typing test


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Best of Clementine, The

Not lost and gone

Why write new words and lyrics? They're interchangeable.

" You've heard it sung around the campfires! You've lifted your voice to its haunting melody countless times! Now K-Smel records introduces an all-new collection... The Best Of Clementine! "

1. The words to Clementine can be sung easily to the tune of certain songs
   
2. By extension, the words to these songs can be sung to the tune of Clementine
   
3. By further extension, the words and tunes of any of these songs are interchangeable
   

There is an MP3 file on the site that can be downloaded to illustrate the principal. The Best Of Clementine By Carl Franklin

Original lyrics from: National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

How I missed her, how I missed her, How I missed my Clementine, Til I kissed her little sister, And forgot my Clementine.

1885 version: Ingeb.org


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Il Circo Dei Rocchetti Rotolanti

The Rolling Reels Circus

Giuseppe (Pino) Civitarese was an oceanographer from Trieste.

He has a small but fascinating collection of paper automata.

"Automata, from the Greek automatos, "acting of one's own will, self-moving" is more often used to describe non-electronic moving machines, however, especially those that have been made to resemble human or animal actions, such as the jacks on old public striking clocks, or the cuckoo and any other animated figures on a cuckoo clock. See more from Wikipedia.

Thanks to the web, paper automata represent a fascinating evolution of the mechanized toys developed during the XVIII and XIX century. The possibility to export the complete design throughout the world with a simple click of the mouse gives paper automata (and in general paper modeling) a great impact.

Despite the relative simplicity of the material, paper automata intrinsically are objects with a high degree of technology, where the principles of mechanics meet the artistic creativity. "

Most of the templates used to create the models are free.



PaperPino.net:
Rolling Reels Circus


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Crossword Puzzles

May I have a word with you?

Even if you're used to doing crosswords with a pen or a typewriter, you're sure to find something new at this site.
Your Dictionary.com

It has, of course, a selection of word sources.

Language dictionaries from Abenaki to Zulu with Mapudungun in between.

"So you like word games, do you? Well, you have come to the right place. We have the richest assortment of crossword puzzles on the planet: anagram puzzles, cryptic puzzles, Roman and Arabic numeral puzzles, study puzzles for geography, physics, astronomy, Spanish and the Bible, puzzles with holiday messages, with graphics and web links. Now we have crossword puzzles for kids. We also have encrypted word puzzles and a new invention: fill-in crossword puzzles!"

• 20 Different Kinds of Crosswords
• Word of the Day Crossword Puzzles
• Word of the Day Semantic Scramble
• Word Jungles
• Encrypted Enigma Machine Puzzles
• Fill-in Puzzles
• Crossword Puzzles in Other Languages

The Game Room




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Where on the World

Stats on a map

Various statistical findings superimposed on a world globe.

"This project started some eight years ago.

An attempt to do justice to the term 'political' and 'geo-political' globe.
Trying to tell the lie (of abstraction and visualization) that tells the truth.

By now there are more than 200 different globes."

3 Hour US Air Force Range

WorldProcessor.com


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Bathroom Appliances

One man's toilet is . . .

Bill Gates mansion bathroom tour
(a story to be read and enjoyed but not believed)

Terry Love:
Consumer toilet reports


Gizmodo.com:
Toilets

"We've all been there. Nature calls and the only answer is a toilet with more levers, switches, and buttons than Wily E. Coyote's latest invention. What to do? If you're Bob Cromwell, the answer is obvious: You take a picture. Dedicated to the man and the latrines he's dared to use, Toilets of the World features photos and captions from Bob's many encounters with the cryptic, the seatless, and the downright weird. During his travels through Russia, East Asia, and South America, Bob never met a commode he didn't want to remember. From an Ottoman-era throne of a more modest variety to a hole-in-the-ground kind enough to offer tips on feet placement, you're bound to gain a quick appreciation for Bob, the Indiana Jones (and Ansel Adams) of latrines."

Toilets of the world


Ben Franklin's toilet


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Fitness to Practice

Paracetamoxyfrusebendroneomycin

Adam Kay & Suman Biswas
Media Hut 2004

"Adam Kay & Suman Biswas practice medicine with varying degrees of success, and have made time from their busy schedules of completing Critical Incident Forms to record this CD.

They first had a goat singing back in 1998, when they started writing songs to entertain doctors, medical students and physiothe rapists, and regularly perform their songs for puerile medical and non-medical audiences. This is the first time that they have done anal bum together and they hope you enjoy the songs."

(Their word spacing is intentional, or Bob's my uncle.)

Really really not ready for the workplace parodies

1. Paracetamoxyfrusebendroneomycin
2. Nothing at All
3. Finals Countdown
4. Your Baby
5. Disney Time
6. Eternal Clerking
7. The Menstrual Rag
8. London Underground

   "Today I've got to take my bike
   Cos once again the tube's on strike
   The greedy bastards want extra pay
   For sitting on their arse all day
   Even though they earn 30k
   So I'm standing here in the pouring rain
   Where the f***'s my f***ing train?"

9. Mr Burton
10. Snippets
11. Careless Surgeon
12. Dorsal Horn Concerto
13. The Drugs Song
14. Always Look on the Bright Side
15. A Letter to the Patient's GP Please, Angela

Amateur Transplants.com

Click on the Video and/or listen to the pieces online.

The cost is £6.30 (£10.30 outside the UK). Raising money for Macmillan Cancer Relief


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All Wood, All the Time

More than everything you wanted to know about wood and wood things

"Efficient use of our nation's timber resource is a vital concern. Because a major use of wood in the United States is in construction, particularly housing construction, good practice in this endeavor can have a profound impact on the resource.

This handbook is intended as an aid to more efficient use of wood as a construction material. It provides engineers, architects, and others with a source of information on the physical and mechanical properties of wood and how these properties are affected by variations in the wood itself.

Continuing research and evaluation techniques hold promise for wider and more efficient utilization of wood and for more advanced industrial, structural, and decorative uses."

Chapter 1 -- Characteristics and Availability of Commercially Important Wood
Chapter 2 -- Structure of Wood
Chapter 3 -- Physical Properties and Moisture Relations of Wood
Chapter 4 -- Mechanical Properties of Wood
Chapter 5 -- Commercial Lumber
Chapter 6 -- Lumber Stress Grades and Design Properties
Chapter 7 -- Fastenings

"Nails in use resist withdrawal loads, lateral loads, or a combination of the two. Both withdrawal and lateral resistance are affected by the wood, the nail, and the condition of use. In general, however, any variation in these factors has a more pronounced effect on withdrawal resistance than on lateral resistance. The serviceability of joints with nails laterally loaded does not depend greatly on withdrawal resistance unless large joint distortion is tolerable."

Chapter 8 -- Structural Analysis Equations
Chapter 9 -- Adhesive Bonding of Wood Materials
Chapter 10 -- Wood-Based Composites and Panel Products
Chapter 11 -- Glued Structural Members
Chapter 12 -- Drying and Control of Moisture Content and Dimensional Changes
Chapter 13 -- Biodeterioration of Wood
Chapter 14 -- Wood Preservation
Chapter 15 -- Finishing of Wood
Chapter 16 -- Use of Wood In Building and Bridges
Chapter 17 -- Fire Safety
Chapter 18 -- Round Timbers and Ties
Chapter 19 -- Specialty Treatments


Wood Handbook
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory


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Bad Persons

Is this your neighbor?

"Three things you can count on in life: death, taxes, and screwing up. Don't feel badly, though. Everyone does it, including your favorites from the worlds of business, television, music, and film. And most likely, no one is looking up your photograph on the web to see how badly you messed up this time! You won't believe whom you'll find with one of those attractive letter boards with the name of the local lockup underneath his or her illustrious chin."

JAMES J. BULGER
Date of Birth: September 3, 1929
Hair: White/Silver
Place of Birth: Boston, Massachusetts
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5'7" to 5'9"
Complexion: Light
Weight: 150 to 160 pounds

Bulger is an avid reader with an interest in history. He is known to frequent libraries and historic sites. Bulger is currently on the heart medication Atenolol (50 mg) and maintains his physical fitness by walking on beaches and in parks with his female companion, Catherine Elizabeth Greig.

Bulger and Greig love animals and may frequent animal shelters. Bulger has been known to alter his appearance through the use of disguises. He has traveled extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, and Mexico.
Caution James J. Bulger is being sought for his role in numerous murders committed from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s in connection with his leadership of an organized crime group that allegedly controlled extortion, drug deals, and other illegal activities in the Boston, Massachusetts, area.

He has a violent temper and is known to carry a knife at all times. Considered armed and extremely dangerous if you have any information concerning this person, please contact your local FBI office or the nearest U.S. Embassy or consulate.

Reward The FBI is offering a $1,000,000 reward for information leading directly to the arrest of James J. Bulger.

Mugshots.com

Also ( in a different category):

Your worst day:



And then there's:


Charles Paul
" 14 days in an adult gaol and five years in a reformatory for allegedly stealing six pairs of his father's drawers."


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Mother's Day +

Great clips

Paul Blanchard has produced a series of video clips, mostly based on his kid's elementary school.
Kevin Freitas has pointed out this addition to the Tacoma area.




You can also subscribe to his YouTube collection.


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Lookup-Lookout

Information on everything

While the Google search engine can find almost anything (Google Search Tips), there are some other sites that have accumulated data lists on a number of subjects.

Including:
Melissa Data

ZIP-City-Phone

Lookup ZIP Codes, city names, the location of phone numbers or the cities covered by an area code.

Phone Numbers

Enter a phone number or area code and get city, state, county, time zone and more.

Street Name

Enter any street name in the U.S. and get a listing of which states and cities have the street name. Even displays local street address detail.

U.S. Place Names

Get location information on over 1,000,000 geographic places including lakes, streams, populated areas, schools, churches & more.

City, State & County Demographics

The latest data available from the 2000 census on 46,455 counties, states, cities and places in the U.S.

Nearest Mailing House

Find the nearest recommended mailing house in your area.

Business List Counts

Use free list counts to discover new markets. Find more customers like your best customers.

U.S. Addresses

Lookup any U.S. address and get the ZIP+4 code, area code, time zone, county, address type, street detail and more.

Canadian Addresses

Lookup any Canadian address and get the Postal Code, time zone and area code.

Home Sales by ZIP Code

Number of home sales and average sell price by ZIP Code.

SIC Code

Get business counts by Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Code and descriptions of SIC codes.

Campaign Contributors

Individuals who have contributed $200 or more to federal campaigns by ZIP Code.

Climate Averages

Monthly low, average and high temperatures by ZIP Code.

People Finder

Locate anyone nationwide. Search billions of public records.

Occupants by ZIP

Generate a count of occupant delivery addresses by ZIP Code. Order your Occupant list online.

ZIP Codes by County

Obtain a list of the ZIP Codes in any county in the United States.

ZIP Distance

Displays the distance between any two 5-digit ZIP Codes in the United States.

ZIPs in a Radius

Displays a listing of the ZIP Codes that fall within a radius.

Area Codes in a Radius

Displays a listing of the Area Code + Prefixes that fall within a radius.

ZIP Code Demographics

Demographics by ZIP Code. Including population, family, housing, race, age and more.

Nearest Post Office

Locate the 10 closest post offices to a ZIP Code that accept bulk mail.

Income Tax Statistics

Income tax information by ZIP Code. Includes average AGI, number of returns, average refund, filing status, age and more.

Worldwide Place Names

Location information on over 5,000,000 geographic names worldwide.

Nonprofit Organizations

Information on a nonprofit organizations by ZIP Code. Includes address, revenue, assets, type of foundation and more.

Also:
Other information sites


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The Golden Striker

By Ron Carter

ASIN 7243 5 90832 2 3
Blue Note 2003




About the Artist
Ron Carter on bass, Russell Malone on guitar, Mulgrew Miller on piano

"Ron Carter is among the most original, prolific, and influential bassists in jazz. With more than 2,500 albums to his credit, he has recorded with many of music's greats: Tommy Flanagan, Gil Evans, Lena Horne, Bill Evans, B.B. King, the Kronos Quartet, Dexter Gordon, Wes Montgomery, and Bobby Timmons. He later toured Europe with Cannonball Adderley.

From 1963 to 1968, he was a member of the classic and acclaimed Miles Davis Quintet. He was named Outstanding Bassist of the Decade by the Detroit News, Jazz Bassist of the Year by Downbeat magazine, and Most Valuable Player by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

In 1993 Ron Carter earned a Grammy award for Best Jazz Instrumental Group, the Miles Davis Tribute Band and another Grammy in 1998 for Call 'Sheet Blues', an instrumental composition from the film 'Round Midnight."

Recording Description
"Tasteful" jazz

Contents

1. The Golden Striker
2. On And On
3. N.Y. Slick
4. Concierto De Aranjuez (Adagio Theme)
5. Cedar Tree
6. A Quick Sketch
7. Parade
8. A Theme In 3/4
9. Autumn Leaves

See (and hear):
RonCarter.net
(If you want some jazz to fill in the spaces while you work, you can have continuous sounds from this site)


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