tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766Sat, 26 May 2012 00:03:07 +0000http://www.casio.com/products/Musical_Instruments/Traditional_Digital_Pianos/CDP-100/Opinions, thoughts, & recommendations.http://blog.cratchit.org/noreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)Blogger170125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-7070820817425444998Wed, 23 May 2012 14:09:00 +00002012-05-23T20:09:04.617-05:00 Jules Sherred asked the question, "Scotty or La Forge? Why?" Well, the answer is obviously, "Scotty". I started listing reasons, and it's now become something of a mini-meme for me. So here are a few, and feel free to add yours in comments. They actually did appear together, and even though 75 years out of the loop, Scotty STILL took Geordi's butt to school on transporter, impulse engine ANDhttp://blog.cratchit.org/2012/05/scotty-or-la-forge.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-4788005375229215396Fri, 23 Mar 2012 18:08:00 +00002012-03-24T15:52:23.422-05:00 I’ve written before about how wealth is created. Regardless of how you earn your living -- whether you sell products, knowledge, opportunities, or labor -- you are engaging in a trade. The labor I'm do is worth so much per hour: I give you my work, you give me the money. The opportunities I provide through investment have value. Every individual transaction, fairly traded, is a zero-sum http://blog.cratchit.org/2012/03/on-giving-back.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-4191445828886847860Mon, 23 Jan 2012 01:34:00 +00002012-01-22T21:03:46.330-05:00 Note: this is a long article. A lot of folks will just say "TL;DNR" and move on. Frankly, I don't care if you read it or not. It needed to be said, and in one place. If you like any part of it and want to pass on the thought, fine. It's licensed under Creative Commons, Non-Commercial, Attribution. Leave a comment to request any other use. The RIAA, the MPAA, and other "industry associations" http://blog.cratchit.org/2012/01/some-thoughts-on-copyright.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-2345136872716627450Sun, 25 Dec 2011 15:26:00 +00002011-12-25T10:42:00.883-05:00 This is my cat, "Cookie Dough", in the minutes leading up to Christmas. Although she posed for the shot, I have to admit that it's Omen who does most of the hunting.http://blog.cratchit.org/2011/12/cookie-dough-christmas.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-3317593164655647628Sun, 27 Nov 2011 14:27:00 +00002011-11-27T12:58:51.073-05:00I've posted a few essays on this subject, and hope to wrap it up this time 'round. Let's start by saying that I won't address the individual abuses of police or the Occupiers. So tazing, pepper spray, pissing in the bushes and violent anti-Semite hate rhetoric are all off the table. Just because someone else did something else that's wrong doesn't automatically validate your unrelated http://blog.cratchit.org/2011/11/occupy-wall-street-new-world-order.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-6993052818169143584Sat, 29 Oct 2011 05:46:00 +00002011-10-29T12:58:02.151-05:00 Why do I do this to myself?  At the beginning of the month I started watching a "documentary" miniseries on Hulu called "The Pyramid Code". IMMEDIATELY my B.S. meter started pegging and I became so frustrated at the depth of balderdash that I stopped watching, and posted something close to the following on Google+: I'm not talking about the usual "aliens did it" retardation...alien http://blog.cratchit.org/2011/10/why-do-i-do-this-to-myself-at-beginning.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-9066052054019964702Tue, 25 Oct 2011 20:51:00 +00002011-10-29T12:59:28.624-05:00A very good friend of mine is Russ Rogers, 1/2 of the awesome and clever band "Godz Poodlz", and eponymous star of "Rusty's Rocking Jamboree". Russ is one of my favorite people in the world. Russ and I are proof positive that two people do not have to agree politically to get along. We're in very different places as far as our economics go. Russ not only read through the last four or so lengthyhttp://blog.cratchit.org/2011/10/some-answers-to-criticism.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-4436282745288074086Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:45:00 +00002011-10-29T12:58:56.411-05:00 (Russ Rogers made some very cogent points in a response to my last Rumination, and I've asked him to post them in comments so I can respond to them. But before I address those points directly I want to complete a thought that I'd planned, because it's going to be very important for us to understand it in the coming discussion.) Before we get started I need to define some terms. I need to definehttp://blog.cratchit.org/2011/10/where-does-wealth-come-from.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-7082416760761317810Thu, 20 Oct 2011 22:39:00 +00002011-10-29T12:59:11.436-05:00So, I've said a couple of times now that I would post my rant about Warren Buffett with respect to the Occupy Wall Street movement. Earlier this year, Buffett stated that he disagreed with the rich paying less in Federal taxes than the middle class. I don't have a problem with that statement. Also, this year, President Obama proposed "the Buffett Rule", which is billed as introducing a higher http://blog.cratchit.org/2011/10/rambling-through-buffett-envy-and.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-4979803983847952582Mon, 17 Oct 2011 03:36:00 +00002011-10-16T23:02:23.738-05:00OK, the last time I posted it was in response to some of the sillier demands that were posted on OccupyWallSt.org. You can read my previous post here. I mentioned there that the demands read as if they were written by a child, or perhaps an Underwear Gnome. Well, a new list of demands has been circulating, and it looks as though the child has asked Dad with some help with his homework. http://http://blog.cratchit.org/2011/10/occupy-wall-street-serious-demands.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-4295292377629816078Sun, 16 Oct 2011 21:23:00 +00002011-10-16T17:34:00.753-05:00This list of demands came from OccupyWallSt.org. It was posted by someone who's obviously oblivious to how .... well, oblivious to how life works in general. These aren't just childish... I think it's clear that they were written by a child. I also think it's clear that the Occupiers already know how remarkably unrealistic these demands are, as they're no longer on the site, but just for http://blog.cratchit.org/2011/10/occupy-wall-street-silly-demands.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-8614969769221250456Thu, 06 Oct 2011 11:17:00 +00002011-10-06T06:17:33.114-05:00 Steve Jobs February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011 http://blog.cratchit.org/2011/10/isad.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-6535783475921554860Sat, 24 Sep 2011 05:06:00 +00002011-09-24T00:15:27.940-05:00 Sept 24, 2011: I wrote this on June 5, 2009, and for some reason never took it out of draft status. I don't know why it slipped past, and now it's terribly stale. So stale, in fact, that I'm not going to even attempt to do a job of final editing. So I'm publishing it as a draft, complete with half-completed thoughts, poor structure, and jarring segues. This past weekend I joined in a http://blog.cratchit.org/2011/09/does-conservatism-exist.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-1088941979313368497Fri, 23 Sep 2011 12:27:00 +00002011-09-23T16:04:47.597-05:00Note to Dan Brown: If you insist on making your heroes look like idiots at the end of the story, do NOT talk up how super-intelligent they are at the beginning. As you can tell from the note above, I didn't like this book. It's nominally about cryptography and computer security, which is something with which I have a passing familiarity. Now, if you knew nothing about either you'd probably comehttp://blog.cratchit.org/2011/09/review-digital-fortress.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-2369805143135675882Wed, 31 Aug 2011 17:55:00 +00002011-08-31T22:46:50.919-05:00I read a story a great many years ago which I wanted to recommend. However, I've long ago misplaced the book in which I thought I read it. Astonishingly, I haven't been able to find any direct references to this story on the Internet!  Not just the Web, mind you, but Usenet, IRC, and those places we dare not name. Nor did it show up in a search of Google Books. This is all the more astonishing inhttp://blog.cratchit.org/2011/08/mouse-cat.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-5593740545674701242Wed, 31 Aug 2011 00:14:00 +00002011-08-30T19:48:37.546-05:00This is the second of the two religious posts that I promised you in A Registry of Atheists? This is sort of a reply to a post of nearly the same name by Jules Sherred. I say sort of a reply because I'm responding to the title alone, and am not responding so much to the content of the post, which basically boils down to a declaration of how all-inclusive her church is. I'm glad she's found a http://blog.cratchit.org/2011/08/are-all-religions-created-equal.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-1878469500083440188Tue, 30 Aug 2011 23:02:00 +00002011-09-24T01:01:28.194-05:00I'm about to post about religion twice in a row. I promise I'll try to make them short. I'll try to make them interesting. I'll try to make you think. If you think you already think, I'm going to try to make you think harder about what you thought you thought about. (UPDATE: The second post is here.) First up, pastor Mike Stahl recently posted that he thought a registry of atheists would be a http://blog.cratchit.org/2011/08/registry-of-atheists.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-5079029751474559956Sun, 28 Aug 2011 18:59:00 +00002011-08-30T00:29:14.398-05:00 Steve Hockensmith's dog needs surgery, but vets are expensive. Not being independently wealthy, he did what any good tradesman would do... he packaged up some of his wares and started selling. Now, this being the 21st century, we're not talking about selling pots from a horsecart. Steve Hockensmith is an author; his words are his wares; and the Internet, not the sidewalk, is his marketplace. I http://blog.cratchit.org/2011/08/my-dog-needs-surgery-book-review.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-7589288584704793509Sun, 07 Aug 2011 18:49:00 +00002011-08-07T17:25:37.176-05:00There's something seriously wrong with the fact that the best SyFy channel production I've ever seen is a series of webisodes. You think MAYBE if they tried, the former SciFi channel could actually produce some decent SCIENCE FICTION that doesn't involve giant mutant animal crossbreeds. It turns out they can... it just doesn't get airtime.the Mercury Men is set in the mid-1970s, shot in http://blog.cratchit.org/2011/08/best-tv-is-on-web.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-7607673620347605074Sun, 22 May 2011 22:41:00 +00002011-06-02T12:56:34.266-05:00This is a draft. I might revise it. There is a typically acknowledged spectrum of genres that leads from "hard" science fiction to science fiction to science fantasy to fantasy. Anyone with an ounce of integrity working in these genres will admit that the dividing line between most sci-fi and fantasy is a matter of convention and labeling. From Wikipedia: "A hand-held cloaking device that http://blog.cratchit.org/2011/05/fantasy-vs-science-fiction.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-8653459044054208306Sun, 20 Feb 2011 02:51:00 +00002011-08-07T18:39:50.709-05:00I watched along with everyone else as Watson trounced Jeopardy! champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. Here is the first of a chain of YouTube videos documenting the event. Start here and link through to the others. Here's an even nicer link to an IBM website describing Watson and the Jeopardy! challenge. This was a very nice showcase for what is essentially a very sophisticated search http://blog.cratchit.org/2011/02/ibm-jeopardy-challenge.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-8637812920394975093Mon, 07 Feb 2011 19:31:00 +00002011-02-07T14:32:37.093-05:00 I've started a new project for charity, thanks to Edric Haleen. Click on the Periodic Table above to see what this is all about.http://blog.cratchit.org/2011/02/periodic-table-of-geek-musicians.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-7840357720860568710Mon, 13 Dec 2010 17:16:00 +00002010-12-13T13:37:40.287-05:00I hear that a Yale professor has compiled a list of memorable quotes of 2010. Hmm... sounds like a fun idea, even though the year's not completely over yet. Before I trundle off to read his list, I'd like to compile my own. I expect that most will be political, as this was an election year. So without further rambling, and in order of how the pop up in my head, here they are: 1. At the top of myhttp://blog.cratchit.org/2010/12/memorable-quotes-of-year.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-6909777438423691260Wed, 10 Nov 2010 16:26:00 +00002010-11-10T18:28:33.115-05:00I missed this story when it first came out, but today on FoxNews, Peter Thiel, the billionaire entrepreneur who founded PayPal and financed Facebook, has been appealing to entrepreneurial college students to put their college plans on hold to start businesses. He's offering $100K to 20 students with workable ideas to put those plans into practice, setting aside their college plans for two years. http://blog.cratchit.org/2010/11/what-boys-nba.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-249502912440540397Sat, 11 Sep 2010 15:45:00 +00002010-09-11T10:46:58.302-05:00http://blog.cratchit.org/2010/09/never-forget.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)0