Notes on the Czur scanner

A few months ago, an IndieGoGo campaign for some folks developing a new scanner designed for books came to my attention and I jumped on it. The perk was one of these scanners at what, if memory serves, would likely be half price.

It took longer than anticipated, but I just received this scanner. This is a very early release of everything, so it’s not surprising that there are some rough edges. I can see that, a couple iterations down the road, and especially if they get more help with their English translations, this could become a very cool product. Read more

On the Clintons and ‘listening’

It seems that Bill Clinton, campaigning for his wife, didn’t handle the situation well when a Black Lives Matter protester disrupted his appearance:

[Bill] Clinton sparked aggressive backlash on Thursday [April 7, 2016] for defending [his 1994 crime] bill after a group of protesters accused him and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton of playing a key role in locking up blacks for minor drug offenses.

“I don’t know how you would characterize the gang leaders who got 13-year-old kids hopped up on crack and send them out in the street to murder other African-American children,” he told the protesters. “Maybe you thought they were good citizens, she didn’t. She didn’t.”

“You are defending the people who kill the lives you say matter,” he added. “Tell the truth.”[1]

Read more

  1. [1]Allegra Kirkland, “Bill Clinton Expresses Regret Over Clash With Black Lives Matter Protesters,” Talking Points Memo, April 8, 2016, http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/bill-clinton-addresses-clash-blm-protesters

Hillary Clinton, the entitled and the corrupt

Correction, April 4, 2016: In this post, I cite a U.S. Uncut article which, among other things, suggests that Bernie Sanders has won the Nevada primary caucuses after all.[1] That conclusion appears, at best, premature. The Washington Post reports merely that Sanders narrowed the margin of Hillary Clinton’s victory, which apparently now stands at 18-17. The Post also confirms that there was considerable controversy over the delegate selection rules but does not mention police having been called or offer any detail whatsoever.[2] In the original post, I was careful to note that Cahill’s report was unconfirmed; I have added language to this version incorporating the Post account.


On Twitter, David Sirota has unleashed a barrage of tweets that deserves not to be lost. Sirota’s been tweeting about Hillary Clinton’s relationship with the oil and gas industry a lot over at least the last couple days,[3] the tweets I’ve gathered aren’t entirely consecutive, and my screenshot tool doesn’t enable me to get them all at once anyway. I’ve rather inexpertly stitched them together in figure 1: Read more

  1. [1]Tom Cahill, “Bernie Sanders Wins the Nevada Caucus After All,” U.S. Uncut, April 3, 2016, http://usuncut.com/politics/bernie-wins-nevada-democratic-caucus/
  2. [2]John Wagner, “A scrappy Sanders campaign narrows the Nevada delegate count six weeks after the caucuses,” Washington Post, April 3, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/04/03/a-scrappy-sanders-campaign-narrows-the-nevada-delegate-count-six-weeks-after-the-caucuses/
  3. [3]David Sirota, Twitter, https://twitter.com/davidsirota