tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766Mon, 18 Aug 2008 19:02:45 +0000http://www.cratchit.org/dleigh/index.htmnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)Blogger90125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-1161949015881490066Mon, 18 Aug 2008 12:00:00 +00002008-08-18T13:40:26.627-05:00Subatomic particle physicists rapping about the large hadron collider in Switzerland to explain what it does. Fortunately "Stephen Hawking" doesn't do the whole rap. If you really liked that, you're probably this guy. Please. Somebody shoot me. My ears are bleeding.http://www.cratchit.org/dleigh/2008/08/large-hadron-rap.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-5114931638666324475Sun, 03 Aug 2008 23:10:00 +00002008-08-03T18:31:43.148-05:00It's perhaps unfortunate that negative ads work, but I don't really think so, so long as you're bringing legitimate questions and not throwing muck. For that matter, I don't really think it's "negative" to call the other candidate's position into question. The one who has to fear from that is the man with a questionable position. For example, here is the latest "negative" McCain ad: Here is my http://www.cratchit.org/dleigh/2008/08/y-dnde-qued-amrica-latina-obama.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-4553280178493472975Sun, 03 Aug 2008 17:43:00 +00002008-08-03T12:45:23.494-05:00There's a "new" song on my music page, Here in Union. Actually, it was written in 2002, but it's posted now. Enjoy.http://www.cratchit.org/dleigh/2008/08/new-song-here-in-union.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-2735146634552357597Sat, 02 Aug 2008 04:09:00 +00002008-08-02T01:40:27.003-05:00I've spent several posts detailing what is wrong with Barack Obama as a candidate. But a recent comment from an anonymous poster has made me realize that I should spend some time showing why you should vote for McCain and contrast the two candidates. After all, it's possible to have problems and still be the lesser of two evils. That's not the case here. These statements are in the comments, buthttp://www.cratchit.org/dleigh/2008/08/superior-candidate.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-8733064467016673797Sat, 02 Aug 2008 00:05:00 +00002008-08-01T22:53:42.533-05:00Normally I'm not overtly political in this blog, but you may have noticed I'm making special dispensation for Obama. He's making it quite easy. Gerard Baker has hit a home run with his satire, "He ventured forth to bring light to the world." Here it is, read by Baker himself: Direct quotes from Obama: "A light will shine down... from somewhere. It will... it will light upon you. You will http://www.cratchit.org/dleigh/2008/08/he-ventured-forth-to-bring-light-to.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-887031138470164329Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:26:00 +00002008-07-31T14:36:10.452-05:00...Obama himself (not his "campaign") has decided to dive right under the muck to the bottom of the barrel by playing the race card. Without cause, I might add. “Nobody thinks that Bush and McCain have a real answer to the challenges we face. So what they’re going to try to do is make you scared of me,” Obama said. “You know, ‘he’s not patriotic enough, he’s got a funny name,’ you know, ‘he http://www.cratchit.org/dleigh/2008/07/and-if-that-aint-enough.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-2367668255508070329Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:28:00 +00002008-07-31T12:58:37.178-05:00 I'd like you to take a look at this Democratic party ad. Boston.com has headlined the story, "McCain desperate, Democrats say" with an exceedingly poor analysis of what this ad actually means. Before we discuss it, click on the embedded ad. Watch it. Or read Boston.com's summary. Note that the ad never identifies "the charge" except to say that it's very negative for Obama. Also note that thehttp://www.cratchit.org/dleigh/2008/07/obama-bends-over.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-3032765626400979397Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:30:00 +00002008-07-17T13:46:02.081-05:00I was just looking over my web statistics and found that hits on Ruminations jumped significantly sometime around the middle of May. I checked the referrers and found that it's largely because Fake Steve Jobs linked to my Iron Man expose'. Pretty cool. Thanks, FSJ!http://www.cratchit.org/dleigh/2008/07/where-did-traffic-come-from.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-924316161072582433Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:34:00 +00002008-07-16T08:39:17.489-05:00This is mostly just nonsense fun. The inspiration for it (believe it or not) was "If I Only Had a Brain" from The Wizard of Oz. In such roundabout ways are songs made. Download Ish KabibbleMore music http://www.cratchit.org/dleigh/2008/07/new-song-ish-kabibble.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-8015102336493692906Mon, 12 May 2008 00:05:00 +00002008-05-11T20:14:59.659-05:00OK, when I saw the trailers for Speed Racer (official site, IMDB) I thought this movie would completely and totally suck. However, I was surprised. Against all my better judgment, I came away from the theatre thoroughly entertained. First, set aside everything you know about movies. Set aside everything you know about cars, or racing, or the laws of physics. They don't apply. Second... if http://www.cratchit.org/dleigh/2008/05/go-speed-racer.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-4013880506715593037Wed, 07 May 2008 02:24:00 +00002008-05-06T21:28:23.212-05:00XR3 Hybrid: Personal Mobility Vehicle (PMV) Automotive Prototype Project Three wheels, 125mpg in diesel-only mode, 225mpg in hybrid mode. It's the coolest car I've seen since 1985. If Doc Brown built a time machine today, he'd want to put it in one of these. Only one problem... it's top speed is three miles per hour short of 88. http://www.cratchit.org/dleigh/2008/05/i-have-got-to-get-me-one-of-these.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-7946990575264670318Sun, 04 May 2008 21:42:00 +00002008-07-16T08:40:24.733-05:00The Sad Song This is one of those rare instances where I'm the lyricist. Listen to this and you'll see why it's rare. This was written for my kids... when they pout, stamp, have a tantrum, hold their breaths, etc., it's time to sing The Sad Song. It's pretty impossible to stay sad when you hear this.Of course the overall theme is from the old children's verse, "Nobody loves me, everybody hates http://www.cratchit.org/dleigh/2008/05/new-music-sad-song.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-8616923895446386320Sat, 03 May 2008 19:46:00 +00002008-05-03T14:46:55.047-05:00Well, I just saw the movie, and I'm doubly convinced that Larry Ellison is Iron Man!http://www.cratchit.org/dleigh/2008/05/iron-man-revealed.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-6973021841486154817Fri, 02 May 2008 20:27:00 +00002008-05-02T15:35:41.987-05:00There are a couple of new entries on my music page... First up is a parody of Billy Jean. It's been there for a while, but I didn't have a link to it. Next is a new original song, Lawrenceville Station Blues. Be kind, it's not easy to throw this sort of stuff out for public scrutiny when one is not a professional musician. Oh, and I know it's not really Blues.http://www.cratchit.org/dleigh/2008/05/new-music-lawrenceville-station-blues.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-3151510589200771315Sun, 13 Apr 2008 00:35:00 +00002008-04-13T09:49:47.138-05:00I was just yelling at the advertising idiots on the television (again). There's a product being advertised (for quite some time now) called Kinoki footpads. These things are a bit like little sanitary napkins that you place on the bottom of your feet while you sleep. They're supposed to draw the "toxins" out of your body as you sleep. The ad explains that "just like a tree" "toxins" are drawn outhttp://www.cratchit.org/dleigh/2008/04/shouting-at-tv.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-2161560644722950998Tue, 25 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +00002008-03-24T22:28:56.801-05:00My mother, Lillian Norma Rosenbluth Cribbe, died at 1:30AM on Saturday. She was, quite simply, exactly what a woman was intended to be. I was privileged to deliver the following eulogy this evening: My mother was afflicted with one form of cancer or another for most of her adult life. She set her mind to defeating that, which she did, repeatedly. She was a multiple survivor. And when she learnedhttp://www.cratchit.org/dleigh/2008/03/best-woman-in-world-is-dead.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-3197140495861210420Tue, 11 Mar 2008 19:49:00 +00002008-03-11T15:32:16.451-05:00You thought that Iron Man was actually billionaire industrialist Tony Stark, did you? Well I've uncovered evidence that that's just a poorly disguised alias for billionaire software mogul Larry Ellison. The proof: Larry Ellison: Tony Stark: Uncanny, isn't it? And just in case you don't think they capured the right attitude... Larry Ellison: Tony Stark: There you have it. Larry's face,http://www.cratchit.org/dleigh/2008/03/larry-ellison-is-iron-man.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-5220035935569137155Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:30:00 +00002008-03-10T17:48:15.557-05:00I'm sick. Terribly, horribly sick from a virus that hit me like a freight train. So naturally, I start thinking about a book about another horrifying, debilitating virus. This is from Children of the Mind, (fourth book of the Ender saga) by Orson Scott Card: Changing the world is good for those who want their names in books. But being happy, that is for those who write their names in the lives http://www.cratchit.org/dleigh/2008/03/best-quote-ive-read-in-long-time.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-8657121385689358761Tue, 26 Feb 2008 01:47:00 +00002008-02-26T08:50:14.940-05:00Senator John McCain has said that it would be fine with him if our troops maintained a presence in Iraq for 100 years. Senator Hillary Clinton has lambasted of McCain's statement, and has stated that she'd start bringing our troops home from Iraq within 60 days of her election. Likewise, Senator Barack Obama would immediately begin bring our troops home. I respectfully submit that those who are http://www.cratchit.org/dleigh/2008/02/bring-our-troops-home.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-1560264435508887127Sun, 17 Feb 2008 17:55:00 +00002008-02-17T13:04:23.774-05:00 Inventor Ray Kurzweil predicts that machines will achieve human-level artificial intelligence by 2029, reviving the same predictions made 20 years ago for the year 2000. Of course, this will be almost entirely accounted for by the dumbing down of humans rather than the improvement of machines. http://www.cratchit.org/dleigh/2008/02/artificial-intelligence-at-human-level.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-1763958358437707312Thu, 14 Feb 2008 01:49:00 +00002008-02-13T21:49:40.067-05:00The title of this blog is unabashedly stolen from Steve Salerno from his excellent piece in this week's eSkeptic magazine. I urge you to read it, read it, read it. I'll let you in on a secret. I really wanted to be a newspaper reporter. My stepfather worked at The State newspaper in Columbia, SC (he was foreman of the engraving department... back when they engraved). I was editor-in-chief of http://www.cratchit.org/dleigh/2008/02/journalist-bites-reality.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-871304898759054032Mon, 11 Feb 2008 13:24:00 +00002008-02-11T08:36:58.437-05:00Now this is just sad. 100% Geek Is there a 12-step program for this? In related news... 87%How Addicted to Blogging Are You? 82%http://www.cratchit.org/dleigh/2008/02/i-am-100-geek.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-2075098814229704272Sun, 20 Jan 2008 00:48:00 +00002008-01-19T19:55:08.950-05:00Then go straight to Adam Dawes' website (http://www.adamdawes.com) and pick up a copy of Highway Pursuit for free. And while you're at it, get three of the best screen savers you've ever used. Then head on over to the Retrospec website and pick up a slew of free and excellent remakes of 8-bit classics. That's right... manic 80s gameplay, but with modern graphics. How could you possibly say no http://www.cratchit.org/dleigh/2008/01/wanna-have-some-fun-in-windows.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-504784721098796666Sat, 12 Jan 2008 02:36:00 +00002008-01-11T22:28:29.543-05:00As I mentioned on my News & Commentary, my kids decided to produce machinima videos for their Roman & Greek history projects. In that piece I was focused on the VirtualDub software we found (it's incalculably easier than Windows Movie Maker), but I did want to comment on the process of the work itself. Tim and his friend Adam decided to do two mini-reports: one about Roman roads and another http://www.cratchit.org/dleigh/2008/01/making-films.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424766.post-2889649327197049059Wed, 02 Jan 2008 20:26:00 +00002008-01-02T15:35:52.558-05:00According to Reuters, SanDisk is now offering a USB flash drive that simultaneously backs up your data to the Internet. The drive is $59.99 the first year and $29.99 every subsequent year if you want to keep the service. Pardon me for asking the obvious, but if you can transfer your data across the Internet, why are you bothering with a flash drive at all? Do yourself a favor... skip the http://www.cratchit.org/dleigh/2008/01/more-silly-tech.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh)