For those of you who missed it, I urge you to read my earlier post:Rampant Capitalism: A Detriment to Society in the USBefore moving forward, you might notice that I changed the title of the previous post. Although I do strongly believe that rampant capitalism could lead to the death of the US as we know it, I decided that the revised title was more appropriate.Education is the single most important investment we can make in our own future. Yet, we pay teachers the same as what we pay garbage... Read Full Story

Do you remember when huge conglomerates like Clear Channel controlled the music that you heard on the radio and what venues in which bands could and could not perform? How about the days where the big 4 record label conglomerates, Sony Music Entertainment, EMI, Warner Music Group, and Universal Music Group, "manufactured" talent by hiring people who could sing and having session musicians write and play the accompanying music? Didn't you hate that these conglomerates also decided who to promo... Read Full Story

Related posts:The world's billionaires - What's wrong with this picture?The World's Billionaires - Part IIChange We Must - A Call To ActionSince President Obama is talking about this tonight, I'd like to start off with my thoughts on health care in the US. An in depth study done by the World Health Organization back in 2000 shows the US ranked at #37 in health care. Despite arguments as to methodology of the ranking system, I think WHO's findings are pretty accurate within a margin of error... Read Full Story

Remember the second famous Canadian rock trio called Triumph? They formed in 1975; about a year after Rush. Triumph reached their peak in popularity with the 1984 release of Thunder Seven. Due to artistic differences, Rik Emmett (guitarist extraordinaire) was kicked out of the band. Shortly thereafter, the two remaining members, Gil Moore and Mike Levine made sure that Triumph was quite literally none of Rik's business despite the fact that Rik was 1) the major talent in the band and 2) the m... Read Full Story

Image: Angel of Siloam by Scott McMahanEndeavour is a one man band that was born in late 1994. It's sole member is me. I had started serious work on a few compositions in the early 90's. The earliest of these songs is Chinatown Jam which, in it's earliest incarnations, dates back to the late 80's (circa 1988). Chinatown Jam began as a purely pentatonic piece. By time I recorded it in March of 1995, it was more or less in the key of B. However, the pentatonic roots are still apparent. M... Read Full Story

This is fractal mathematics at its most complex. Yes, folks, all of the images below are completely computer generated. Although some are darn near photorealistic, they were all created with Terragen 0.9x.I welcome comments on these. However, please keep in mind that not all of them were meant to look real. Some, Solem River on Mars especially, were meant to appear more as a painting than a photo.These are definitely best viewed full size!Kaliekahaer Peak (morning)There is also an "evening" v... Read Full Story

Saga is revamped and, to use a Crimso term, "highly thrakked" on their new release, The Human Condition. You can hear 4 tracks in their entirety on the Official Saga site. Great stuff! Whether you're a veteran Saga fan or just like intelligent, melodic rock, you'll love The Human Condition. As some of you know, this is Saga's first album to feature the new lead singer, Rob Moratti. While his vocals are significantly different from Mike Sadler's, I think Saga made a great choice for a new fron... Read Full Story

"Born" in 1969, King Crimson turned 40 this year!Bassist extraordinaire, Tony Levin, is back in the current incarnation of the band as is Pat Mastelotto (Drummer). King Crimson is a dual drummer beast again with the addition of new recruit, Gavin Harrison (from Porcupine Tree). An excellent (and legal) live recording of the line-up can be found here. It is a complete concert and includes a very energetic rendition of The Talking Drum leading into the classic Larks' Tongues in Aspic Pt II. Thi... Read Full Story

As I am sure many have noted, I took quite a long hiatus. This is due largely in part to my acquiring a new job back in June. Without spending too much time on the topic, let's just say that I was working a lot of overtime and then the holiday season rolled in. . . . you get the idea. Life happens.After tearing into Barack prior to him winning the primary, it probably comes as a big surprise that I voted for him. In short, after hearing the debates, I liked Barack's ideas on the economy and h... Read Full Story

With gas prices breaking $4.00 per gallon in many areas, I thought it would be helpful to bloggers and blog readers alike to offer some assistance with finding the cheapest gas in your area. You can help drive the price of gas down buy not purchasing from gas stations/companies who are charging up to $0.30 more per gallon than the cheapest ones in or near your area. Below, I have found a cool little widget with data provided by Automotive.com. You can also check prices at GasBuddy.com. From w... Read Full Story