Stuff That Works

The items on this page are items which fall under the category of Stuff That Works, and live up to the Chorus of Guy Clark's "Stuff That Works" song (see About Box).

I have the items listed by date that they were added or changed from the latest to the oldest.

Hope you get a kick out of the items and sites I have posted and referenced here.....'nuff said.

Best Mike

How Fast is Your Connection?

Speedtest.net is a broadband connection analysis tool with a huge selection of geographically dispersed testing servers. Ookla provides this service free to hundreds of thousands of people every day. If you are experiencing slowness with your Internet connection or are simply interested in testing your speed, Speedtest.net is for you. If you have a web site, please feel free to link to Speedtest.net.

Speedtest.net measures the performance of your broadband connection. At the end of each test, you are presented with the download (the speed of data from the server to your computer) and upload (the speed of sending data from your computer to the server) bandwidth speeds. The tests are performed completely within your web browser over HTTP (just like normal web browsing). If you experience any problems using Speedtest.net, please visit our Questions & Answers section for help.

The technology behind Speedtest.net is identical to that of the Ookla Speed Test which is provided to a wide variety of companies and organizations on a licensed basis. Collectively, the application is used over eight million times each month by millions of individuals worldwide. If you would like to have a Speed Test to install and run on your server, please visit our licensing site. We have a variety of options from basic to highly customized.

At Ookla we are focused on building and operating cross-platform web applications that are reliable, accurate, scalable and matched with an attractive and useful user-interface. We are currently working on additional connection diagnostic tools for specialized applications such as VoIP and future network environments where the individual may have have multiple wired and wireless connections to a variety of devices. Learn more here.

To Test your speed up and down by Click Link Below :
Speedtest page

To go to the SpeedTest.net Site Click Link Below :
http://www.speedtest.net/index.php

Texas Singer / Song Writers

The First Texas Singer / Songwriter that comes to mind for most people is Willie Nelson, and he certainly is one of my favorites, but Guy Clark and Jerry Jeff Walker are not to bad either.

Although Jerry Jeff was born in upstate New York as Ronald Clyde Crosby, and did not move to Texas until 1971, after listening to his songs, he might as well have been born in Texas, and has been quoted as saying, " the first time I set foot in Texas, particularly Austin, I knew I was home."

Guy Clark on the other hand is a Native Texan as he was born in the West Texas Town of Monahans.

The first time I heard of Guy Clark was when I looked at the credits to the song, "L.A. Freeway", which was on the "Jerry Jeff Walker ", 1972 Album, by Jerry Jeff Walker.

The first Album I purchased by Guy Clark was his "Texas Cookin' ", 1976 Album. I Love the Title Song of this album, and the line ...


"Oh my Momma Ain't that Texas Cookin' Somethin',
Stop your Belly and Backbone from Bumpin'."

and

the second versus from the song "L. A. Freeway" ...

"Throw out them LA papers
And that moldy box of vanilla wafers.
Adios to all this concrete.
Gonna get me some dirt road back street "


">

Texas Cookin	L. A. Freeway
iTunes :Texas Cookin'	iTunes :Jerry Jeff Walker

Click the Song's Title above to hear the songs.
Singers Biographies at the Apple iTunes Store ( need iTunes ) by Clicking on iTunes Link below the title of the songs above,

Best Mike

Alan Watts (1915-1973)

I wonder, I wonder, what you would do if you had the power to dream at night any dream you wanted to dream. And you would of course be able to alter your time sense, and slip seventy-five years of subjective time into eight hours of sleep. You would I suppose start out by fulfilling all your wishes. You could design for yourself what would be the most ecstatic life: love affairs, banquets, dancing girls, wonderful journeys, gardens, and music beyond belief. And then after a couple of months of this sort of thing at seventy-five years a night, you’d be getting a little taste for something different, and you’d move over to an adventurous dimension, where there were certain dangers involved, and the thrill of dealing with dangers. And you could rescue princesses from dragons, and go on dangerous journeys, and eventually get into contests with enemies. And after you had done that for awhile, you’d think up a new wrinkle, to forget that you were dreaming, and think that is was all for real.

A Quote from Alan Watts .org Site.

"Alan Watts (1915-1973) was one of the most widely read and listened to philosophers of the 20th century, and is best known as an interpreter of Zen Buddhism. For more than forty years, Alan Watts earned a reputation as a foremost interpreter of Eastern philosophies for the West. Beginning at age sixteen, when he wrote essay for the journal of the Buddhist Lodge in London, he developed an audience of millions who were enriched through his books, tape recordings, radio, television, and public lectures. Alan Watts wrote more than twenty-five books and recorded hundreds of lectures and seminars, all building toward a philosophical perspective that he shared in complete candor and joy with his readers and listeners throughout the world."

"Recordings of hundreds of public lectures and seminars have been preserved in the archives of Electronic Educational Programs, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to higher education, and the producer of Alan Watts radio programs, podcasts, and multimedia projects. His life and work reflects an astonishing adventure: he was an editor, Anglican priest, graduate dean, broadcaster, author, lecturer, and entertainer. He had fascinations for archery, calligraphy, cooking, chanting, and dancing, and still was completely comfortable hiking alone in the wilderness."

"He held fellowships from Harvard University and the Bollingen Foundation, and was Episcopal Chaplain at Northwestern University during the Second World War. He became professor and dean of the American Academy of Asian Studies in San Francisco, made the television series "Eastern Wisdom and Modern Life" for National Educational Television, and served as a visiting consultant for psychiatric institutions and hospitals, and for the United States Air Force. In the mid-sixties he traveled widely with his students in Japan, and visited Burma, Ceylon, and India."

"He held a Master's Degree in Theology from Sudbury-Western Theological Seminary and an Honorary DD from the University of Vermont in recognition of his work in the field of comparative religions."


Above paragraphs are quoted from Web Sites :

Alan Watts .org, at http://www.alanwatts.org/
and Alan Watts .com at http://www.alanwatts.com/

Other Links :

C. Tucker - Inside/Outside .mac site and the Explore Page located there.

Alan Watts Podcast, designed by C. Tucker

Wikepedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Watts

Apple, Inc.

Click Here to see my "NEW Apple Page"

MediaStorm

MediaStorm is sponsered by washingtonpost.com

"MediaStorm publishes projects across a wide content spectrum and in varying mediums. Our goal is to tell the story of today's world in a truly in-depth manner:

from in-depth documentary to personal essays to purely artistic. Heartwarming to heartbreaking, these are timeless and intimate tales."

MediaStorm’s "Kingsley’s Crossing" by Olivier Jobard, is the recipient of the 2007 Emmy Award for Documentary/NonFiction for Broadband.

This information on MediaStorm is from MediaStorm's site pages.



NOTE: Adobe Flash Required. Access the page by clicking the picture or clicking below. Once the site has appeared, I suggest clicking the "Menu" and then "Projects". MediaStorm.

The True Majority

Marga and I recently watched one of the YouTube Debates and afterward were talking about the Federal Budget, and an Oreo Cartoon we saw last election came up. We wondered what happen to it, as it kinda put things in perspective and wondered if it was still around. Well Marga found it and sent me a link to it.

To understand how our government could solve some of America's Major Problems by making adjustments to OUR Federal Budget, "Click" on the Pic below to watch it. (It is linked to the page.)

You know weather you are Republican, Democrat or Independant this cartoon, should make sense to us all.

I took the liberty of copying and Pasting the following information from the True Majority's "Who We Are" page.

"TrueMajorityAction was founded by Ben Cohen, Co-founder, Ben and Jerry's. It is a grassroots education and advocacy joint project of UsAction and UsAction Education Fund.

The central objective of TrueMajorityAction is to increase America's investment in programs that benefit our children (like schools, health care, HeadStart) by cutting Cold War weapons systems and shifting the savings. That's just 15% of the Pentagon budget but would make $60 billion available every year to meet children's basic needs."

The Organization    The True Majority        Also see other    Simple Cartoons.    I Like all the BB's.

Be sure to Vote !!!
Mike

Save Internet Radio : 1 Year ...

For Information on the SaveNetRadio coalition visit www.savenetradio.org

Jake Ward (SaveNetRadio)

What is Congress Doing ???

"It has been a year since an increase in royalty fees for webcasters put the future of Internet radio at risk. In the past year your calls to Congress – more than 2 million of them – and your continued support of the SaveNetRadio campaign have kept webcasters on the air, but for how long. In spite of the public outcry and in spite of the growing Congressional support - 150 co-sponsoring the Internet Radio Equality Act – nothing has changed. Congress has not held a hearing on the IREA, they have not forced SoundExchange to honor their pledge to negotiate in good faith with commercial webcasters, and time is running out. "

To Review Congressional Action on the Internet Radio Equality Act or any Bill that is before Congress :
Click here Library of Congress THOMAS then follow these instructions:

   1. Type in Bill Number in the House "H.R. 2060" into the SEARCH Field
   OR Type in Bill Number for the Senate "S. 1353" into the SEARCH Field

   2. Click the "Bill Number" Radio Button beneath the SEARCH Field

   3. Click the "Search" Button

   4. For status click the "Bill Summary and Status"

   5. To see if your Representative has signed up click the "Cosponsors"
   Link in the Sponsor Line

   Maybe this should be on a different page, than "Stuff that Works".

Enjoy Internet Radio

If you like Music, See how enjoyable Net Radio can be with these NetRadio Stations....

At Pandora ( http://pandora.com), for example, you customize a radio station by naming an artist you like. The Oakland, Calif., site then serves up music with similar traits, which you can approve or reject by clicking thumbs-up and thumbs-down buttons. You can also skip to the next song up to six times an hour. PANDORA. (Coming to Europe SOON... )

Net Radio Stations in Europe :

Last.fm ( http://last.fm), a CBS subsidiary with headquarters in London, uses a different tactic to figure out what you like. The site asks you to download a small program that hooks into iTunes and other music software, analyzing your collection and figuring out which artists would fit. As at Pandora, you can approve or ban a track from your station.
Last.fm

Musicovery ( http://musicovery.com) of Paris, tries to offer more of that serendipity by inviting users to pick music by such criteria as genre, tempo, date and mood instead of naming specific artists, which can result in it segueing from a West Coast R&B band to a folk-rock group from Algeria.
Musicovery


Credit for the above cut and paste of text and references, from Washington Post article by Rob Pegoraro, "Jukebox With Hit Potential" dated August 16, 2007.


Please email me if you know of other NetRadio Stations that offer similar services as these do.

mvauthier@texastortillafactory.com


Thanks for Listening

Mike

Postcards from the Edge of Reality...

Postcards from the Edge of Reality... is the by line of Laura Knight Jadczyk Blog. I was doing some research on Religions and their origins and basis of their beliefs, when I came across an interview by the BBC, ( if ot available to listen to see transcript here), with her covering one of her latest books, "The Secret History of the World".

I do not know if you all remember the TV program Dragnet, but Joe Friday seemed to say it best when he said, "Just the facts, ma'am". Ms. Jadczyk works are quite long but have several referenced and linked articles on the subjects which she addresses.

I particularly like "Let's All Light Up" where she presents a History of Smoking Bans dating back to the 14th Century. Her Blog articles get down to the facts with referenced studies and articles, which not only cover smoking pros and cons, but other issues that are more serious to our health and are swept under the rug or ignored because of big money.

Here is couple of Zingers for you, Nicotine DOUBLES the efficiency of our thinking, and did you know, that although smoking is banned in Washington DC, Congress spared itself. .

There are several other articles on her Blog, which I found thought provoking, her July 15, 2007 blog "Order Out of Chaos"is a good one. These other articles can be viewed after going to her Blog Site Postcards from the Edge of Reality... then scrolling down until you see Blog Archive, in the right hand column, and then clicking the little arrow head next to a month, and then selecting an article by clicking on the Title line.

Drop me a line if you find her Blog interesting and you would like to kick around some thoughts, my email is :

mvauthier@texastortillafactory.com .

Best
Mike

Homeopathie voor iedereen

Eerst zal ik mijzelf even voorstellen. Mijn naam is Esther van Kommer, ben geboren en getogen in Hoevelaken, getrouwd en heb één dochter. Al jaren verdiep ik mij in het bijzondere vak ‘Homeopathie’ en ‘alles’ wat daarbij komt kijken. Ik zeg ‘alles’ want ik geloof in een ‘totaalaanpak’, wat voor mij inhoud dat er het beste gekeken kan worden naar wat iemand op dat moment nodig heeft. Dit kan een homeopathische behandeling zijn maar daarnaast kan een persoon ook baat hebben bij een aanvullende discipline, zoals advies in vitaminen en mineralen (orthomoleculaire geneeskunde) en/of een voedingsadvies. Immers geen mens is hetzelfde en de beleving is voor iedereen weer anders. Met homeopathie kan de eigen levenskracht die in ieder mens zit weer hersteld worden waardoor we weer in balans kunnen komen. Mensen voelen zich fysiek sterker, zitten beter in hun vel en voelen zich mentaal stabieler

Ester van Kommer - Klassiek Homeopaat

TEFAP Alliance

The purpose of the TEFAP Alliance is to promote knowledge and understanding of TEFAP and other services addressing the food, nutrition, and hunger needs of low-income Americans. This web site provides information on TEFAP and allied programs that deliver food and nutrition assistance.

I have known my Brother-In-Law Zy since before his hair and beard turned grey. He has been working spreading the word and lobbying for hunger and nutrition programs it seems like forever. He and Sister Barbara Vauthier, who assist by editing the bi-monthly newsletter, have worked with various programs at different levels from Congressional committees, to community level Distribution and Assistance Centers.

My Hat is off to them. TEFAP Alliance - Zy and Barbara

Comments Welcome

Comments Welcome by emailing me at :

mvauthier@texastortillafactory.com

Thanks
Mike