tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18171783158740766282012-02-02T12:03:16.481-08:00Random thoughts on philosophy, science, war, religion, writing, medicine, woodworking, metalworking, and anything else that wanders into mind.Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.comBlogger391100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-58644823304045494102012-01-31T13:38:00.000-08:002012-01-31T21:37:03.701-08:00

This is a review of the CyberNav Mini 5" Android-powered GPS tablet.  Why am I writing this?  Well, because I just bought one even though there were no reviews out on the web.  Every page I found simply had the same sales brochure text on it, word for word.  Very annoying.  I decided to fix that for the next person.  I'm going to break this review up into 3 parts.  The first part will be my

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-63164724400047571602012-01-14T00:01:00.000-08:002012-01-14T01:53:00.176-08:00

How can artists earn a living when people can copy their work for free? That's the basic question everyone's asking.  Here's the answer.   You make a website with a forum structure.  In this structure, you have producers of content putting up their work and you have consumers of this content donating to the producers.   "Ah..." you say, "this has been done and it doesn't work very well." 

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-63569320397694537622011-12-16T23:29:00.000-08:002011-12-16T23:37:08.776-08:00

The SOPA legislation is worming its way through the US lawmakers.  Yes, I'm Canadian, but I know that if this law is passed our government, no matter which one we elect, will be bludgeoned into passing "harmonized" legislation.  It sucks, but that's just the way it is.  So, everyone needs to help the US citizens fight this thing. Short of a bidding war for US lawmakers, which I doubt anyone

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-45041889217839624152011-11-22T21:49:00.001-08:002011-11-22T22:39:58.417-08:00

Like many people these days, I'm laughing my guts out looking at the Lt Pike mashups from the UC Davis pepper spray videos.  Even the Amazon customer reviews are hilarious.  It seems a fitting rebuke to the callous nature of his actions.  People like this need to understand that "following orders" is not an excuse for immoral behaviour and, these days, there is no hiding from public view. 

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-9410535322968413662011-06-16T08:17:00.000-07:002011-06-16T08:58:32.946-07:00

As always, the news is full of religious people doing silly things. Some predict the end of the world, then say they got their sums wrong when it doesn't happen when it should. Others report imaginary crimes to police and get the media in a silly frenzy. Around and around we go.Why do people believe such nonsense, when things go right off the silly-scale? Why are people so hard to turn when

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-90519379666961041932011-06-01T23:41:00.000-07:002011-11-27T01:38:34.683-08:00

Sometimes, I just have to write things down. I really have no choice as they just spin around in my head until I flush them out on paper. Usually, it's because I'm learning about something new and writing it down is my way of figuring things out. This results in a couple of odd things. First, I don't generally write about things I'm an expert in. I write about things I'm learning. For

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-67221674989869721972011-05-30T06:58:00.000-07:002011-10-15T01:22:51.037-07:00

Scope   This file is the result of my personal note-taking while learning SketchUp.  I am not an expert in SketchUp, nor is this a complete SketchUp tutorial, nor is it intended to be for everyone.  It may, however, be useful for people like me that don’t have patience to watch video tutorials and prefer to just dive into an application, figuring things out as they go.  Also, this is

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-83565666945133645552010-12-18T23:24:00.000-08:002011-05-31T07:35:17.242-07:00

I expect most leaders of large organisations start out with good intentions. Some carry them through, many don't. I've often wondered what it's like for a leader to make that transition from feeling like they're the answer to the problem, to thinking that their followers are too stupid to realise they're the answer to the problem, to realising that if they relinquish power their followers will

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-46270741483513402942010-07-17T22:27:00.000-07:002010-07-18T00:35:17.942-07:00

I can't say I'm much of an expert in maternity. My wife, being from Japan, was rather ignorant of what having a baby in Canada involved as well. So, our first child was a bit of an adventure, and it started with our first choice, to decide between an OB/GYN or a Midwife.I, being one of those self-declared rational people, had a decided preference for the established medical route. My wife had

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-22867886086410608392010-03-29T23:31:00.000-07:002010-03-30T18:25:09.427-07:00

Let's see here... China and the USA are playing this little dance. China makes stuff and sells it to people in the USA. People in the USA can afford to buy the stuff from China because they borrowed the money, from China...We could look at it this way: China, as the world's largest emerging market and also the world's manufacturing centre is pretty well set. At any point, they can just stop

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-56126422532961857662009-12-05T22:38:00.000-08:002009-12-06T12:43:48.549-08:00

I love junk... I'm the kind of guy that just can't pass up some rusted bed-frame laying on the side of the road. I just 'gotta have it. It's metal, angle iron... I could make something from that. Of course, like all of my kind (except maybe those living out in the desert somewhere), I have more junk than space. In fact, I have so much junk that I don't have any room to do anything with it.

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-53892298712312120462009-10-25T19:27:00.000-07:002010-01-07T21:10:38.745-08:00

I was just accused of being a "Climate Change Denier." I'm not. I acknowledge that the climate is changing (how could it not?). I acknowledge that human activity is quite likely driving this change, and driving it at a very dangerous rate. In fact, I'm not denying anything, other than that changing to florescent light-bulbs will make any difference. I know we're in trouble, but unlike my

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-24863831908956086082009-03-06T01:29:00.000-08:002011-11-27T01:34:04.168-08:00

Imagine, if you will, a small tribe of hunter-gathers hole up in a winter cave in some long-ago time. The storyteller entrances his audience, sitting around the fire, with an inspiring tale of a fair maiden beset by an angry god and the hero that came to her rescue. Then, after he finishes, he tells them that he owns the story and if they want to repeat it to other people, they have to give

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-18503094197646615682009-03-06T01:25:00.000-08:002011-11-27T01:45:04.239-08:00

We need these laws to protect us, says RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) HBAA (Horse Breeders Association of America). If we allow these pirates automobiles to continue, it will destroy our industry. If that happens, how will the artists stable boys earn a living? These pirates drivers are a menace to society and we need these laws to protect us. These people flaunted our laws

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-40961053797367206292009-02-02T23:00:00.000-08:002009-12-28T01:14:48.201-08:00

I often hear people lament the "dark years" of the Canadian military, the '80s and '90s where the budgets were slashed. The budgets were actually slashed around 27% in order to eliminate the federal budget deficit and even pay down the balance. The military budgets were slashed far in excess of most other government programs. The Conservatives slashed, the Liberals slashed, and the NDP would have

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-61645758549539110022008-12-18T22:02:00.000-08:002009-01-20T17:59:56.072-08:00

Update: It appears that this argument is, in actuality, a subset of the Fermi Paradox. I just came up with it on my own from a different direction. I'll leave it here, with a few modifications, for posterity.----SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, is a neat idea, except that it's pointless. If you think about it, then it becomes pretty obvious that we're the first to actually

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-77449966936531442002008-11-18T20:24:00.000-08:002008-11-19T17:08:38.996-08:00

In basic philosophy there is a standard argument that goes like this: Every effect has a cause, and every cause is an effect of a prior cause, and so on and so on and so on. Therefore, there are two possibilities: 1) either the universe is a cycle that has always existed, or 2) if you go back far enough, you will find the original "un-caused" cause, the prime mover, God.Well, as it turns out,

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-45036809149650703722008-06-30T15:46:00.000-07:002008-06-30T19:33:39.222-07:00

The process of natural selection is central to the theory of evolution. Individuals that are somehow less fit to breed are less likely to have their genetics represented in future populations. However, as with life in general, things are not quite that simple. For example, if individuals didn't die then they could represent their own genetics in the future. Why have children at all? Well,

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-85521249684285932232008-06-19T13:01:00.000-07:002009-01-19T13:50:03.390-08:00

Philosophy categorizes several different types of arguments: one argument type is of logical necessity, arguing from experience is another, as is arguing from authority. Most arguments are pretty easy to identify. "This person is an expert in the field and she says X, so X must be true" is an argument from authority. The expert may have a different argument: "Under these circumstances, I've

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-78043441588778053212008-06-05T22:10:00.000-07:002008-06-06T10:53:51.119-07:00

People have been arguing about gods and religions for a long time. Science, when it evolved from natural philosophy, added a new wrinkle to these age-old arguments, a new possibility, no gods at all. Those early natural philosophers weren't looking to do this; they were looking to see how their gods ran the world, they were looking for God. But, if you think about the modern God, then you will

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-31851003669949946552008-05-26T14:22:00.000-07:002008-05-26T15:53:58.085-07:00

Today, 2008-05-26, the Phoenix Probe began sending pictures back from Mars. Yup, more rocks and dust. So continues the search for extraterrestrial life.You know, Mars started out as a GOD for us. An angry red god moving through the heavens. Then, we figured out it was a planet, just like ours. We saw great canals built by grand civilisations. Then, we realised that Mars didn't have canals, and

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-38846689135250952382008-05-05T23:00:00.000-07:002009-10-15T22:02:48.722-07:00

Here's a simple little steel fabrication project.I wanted some steel foot pegs for my KLR650. So, rather than paying $100 or so, I rummaged through my scrap bin and came up with this.This is iteration #2. The first design left pockets where rocky mud could collect - and that's a problem when riding in the dirt. This design was too wide. I thought the extra width would give better support, and

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-51119456185855783192008-04-20T11:23:00.000-07:002008-04-20T11:27:05.995-07:00

There is no room for God in science. In a quest for the materialistic understanding of how things work, how else could it be? If a working scientist had the results of one of her experiments incontrovertibly prove that "God did it," what should she do? Well, she should publish her results, make sure the priests know, and then go back to see if she could figure out a way where the phenomenon under

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-41736772531865046862008-04-19T10:51:00.000-07:002008-04-29T09:31:01.352-07:00

People, over the years, have wasted a great deal of effort debating the existence of God, or gods. Through most of history, this was either a "my god is stronger than your god" or a "your god doesn't exist but mine does" type of argument. Science has replaced this with a "no gods exist" argument. Well, to be correct, the argument is "no gods need exist." The distinction is important.By way of

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-81232681238852211402008-04-17T23:00:00.000-07:002010-03-17T21:05:50.067-07:00

Disclaimer: I am rather annoyed with Bosch Tools right now - take this review as you may.Quite some time ago, I bought a Bosch jigsaw. I was amazed at how good it was and I took it as an object lesson in "you get what you pay for." Up until then, my power-tool collection was a mishmash of whatever I could get cheap, and my old jigsaw was, well, crap. I almost never used it because it barely

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-77184360226860872272007-12-28T23:35:00.000-08:002007-12-28T23:37:28.986-08:00

Could you imagine what the world would be like if humanity, in all its diversity, originated and spread from some geographic location that now happens to be a place like France or Germany? Could you imagine the insufferable gloating of White Men on how all others are merely inferior copies of Pure humanity? No, the world is a better place, now, because we are descendants of Africans. Through

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-88406753725656220762007-09-30T23:00:00.000-07:002009-10-15T22:04:30.898-07:00

Labeling wood has traditionally involved burning or painting the surface; both require a certain amount of artistry and skill. However, there is a much easier way. Laser prints, from printers or photocopiers, have an interesting property: the pigment, or toner, will transfer to another surface under heat and pressure. Simply put, if you put a laser print face-down on a flat surface and iron it,

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-10054641034323705182007-04-11T11:56:00.000-07:002008-04-19T10:50:23.425-07:00

update: There's a serious flaw in this idea that didn't occur to me when writing it...balloons lose their efficiency with altitude. So, yes, permanent platforms in the sky might me possible, and even useful (I like the idea of a floating yet anchored hotel), but they aren't going to be high enough to make space elevators any more practical. However, I'll leave the rest of this post as is.

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-80869346893765043212007-04-05T13:59:00.000-07:002007-04-05T20:17:03.682-07:00

A long time ago, you were who you said you were. When societies formed, you were who the people that knew you said you were. Then, as commerce spread beyond the reach of person to person communication, you were your signature. Today you are all that plus your identification. ID, the stuff that links who you are to records in other peoples lists. Lists, databases, records, files, statements, the

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-12656716931733591892007-04-05T13:53:00.000-07:002009-03-24T01:54:56.452-07:00

Easter Island is that little speck of land, out in the Pacific, with all those massive stone statues staring out over the water. For years, it was an enigma; who carved those statues, how, and why? When the white explorers got there, the inhabitants of the island didn't carve these statues, they couldn't. And, even if they could, they would have no way of moving the statues to the shore.

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-1148029085799316672007-04-04T23:23:00.000-07:002009-02-18T19:22:28.979-08:00

When I was fourteen my identity pretty much focused on my abilities as a dirt biker; music wasn't much of a factor in my life. My older brother, on the other hand, was a hard core punk rocker. I remember visiting him in the early days of the Vancouver punk rock scene. The parties were something else. Those punk rockers were a wild looking group of people, with spiked mohawks, chains, and lots of

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-83221975396586895922007-04-04T23:00:00.000-07:002009-10-15T21:35:29.967-07:00

Afghanistan is a place in constant turmoil that often breaks out into multi-polar civil war, often aided or even promoted by an invader. The current conflict in Afghanistan is a civil war that was provoked by invaders - our Allied forces. Before our side attacked, Afghanistan was, by its standards, stable. However, the Taliban, the ruling party, had a foreign policy that was not acceptable to

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-77494529923319463122007-02-07T23:00:00.000-08:002009-10-15T21:39:03.764-07:00

Okay, I give up; I just don't know anymore.For the last five years or so, I've been thinking that this whole "Bush the idiot" routine has to be fake, there has to be some Master Plan. How could such an incredibly stupid person become the most powerful man on earth? I've tried to figure his plan out, even wrote in my blog about it HERE. Every time I think it makes sense, and I think I know what

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-90240424348206475642007-02-02T13:49:00.000-08:002009-04-10T13:51:05.231-07:00

It would seem self-evident that if it is legal for a white Christian man to marry a white Christian woman, with her consent, then, with her consent, it must follow that a black man can marry this woman, that a Muslim man can marry this woman, or that, with her consent, a woman can marry this woman. Anything less is an affront to individual freedom.If one is to believe the media reports, it

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-37362714104598784242007-02-02T00:15:00.000-08:002007-02-13T21:29:05.918-08:00

It is my opinion that the average North American has a warped sense of reality. Most seem to think that, even when bad things happen, everything will be okay. We have auto insurance, fire insurance, flood insurance, earthquake insurance, investment insurance, medical insurance, and the list goes on. If we find that, through some aspect of human error, we’re not insured for something that happens

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-36895295272788951402007-01-13T22:06:00.000-08:002009-12-06T02:07:28.597-08:00

Here's a list of things I've done wrong while getting started as an amateur machinist. If you're a professional, then enjoy the laugh. If you've already done these, then feel free to commiserate. If you've wound up at this page while doing research before starting, read carefully.I bought myself a 3 in 1 combination machine: mill, drill, and lathe. It has some fairly impressive specs, the 16"

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-57878579873621897292007-01-13T18:20:00.000-08:002007-02-08T18:39:55.547-08:00

Ask drunk or stoned people if they’re having a good time and they’ll probably answer “yes,” but are they? Being high, maybe their judgement is impaired, maybe they’re not actually having a good time, maybe they just think they are. Looking at them, being all smiles and laughs, they seem to be having a good time, but they’re not actually doing anything interesting. Does being high make boring

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-73582726222910202272007-01-01T12:01:00.000-08:002008-06-12T22:26:01.158-07:00

Philosophy can be grossly divided into two different camps: the mechanistic belief that reality is as observed and the belief that something more exists. The observable reality system requires no explanation but does leave people devoid of purpose. Is there nothing more to life than propagating genes and, possibly, the pursuit of happiness? Throughout the ages, people have created a multitude

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817178315874076628.post-83933232798315607732006-12-04T23:00:00.000-08:002009-10-15T21:41:19.071-07:00

It is easy to think of your opponents as evil, insane, or idiotic. The alternative is to consider that people, like you, have views that you do not share. This inevitably leads to the hard questions about why this is so. The current people in the American administration are not evil, insane, or idiotic. They are pursing an intelligent and highly successful foreign policy campaign that includes,

Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871828550629252076noreply@blogger.com0