Journal of Post-Ralphaelite Thought

My employer's stock price has fallen to 12% of what it was a year ago. I'll be working until I'm 80 - if I'm lucky !

Despite the fact that much evil stupidity pervades the web, there is a lot of good stuff out there as well. Here's a random assortment of free books (in PDF form) you may or may not find interesting. Copyright and Intellectual Property Lessig and Boyle may well prove to be some of the most important writers about the Internet Age around. Free Culture (Lawrence Lessig) The Future of Ideas (Lawrence Lessig) Code Version 2.0 (Lawrence Lessig) The Public Domain (James Boyle) Bound by Law? (James Boyle) Tech/Web books Web and computer books seem to have a shorter shelf-life than fish. Electronic books make lots of sense. Mastering Java Beans, 3rd Edition Ubuntu Pocket Guide Sitepoint books - numerous excellent sample chapters available on web technology, including CSS; occasional free offers. The Definitive Guide to Linux Network Programming Literature We all have to relax a little, right? Chess books PlanetPDF classic literature Penn State electronic classics Planet eBook Humor Pillar...

Just when I thought it was safe to start talking about computers, my cat and other harmless trivial things, I hear about stuff like this: All I can say is, Oh my f**king God! From Governor Sarah's Frequently Asked Questions: Gov. Sarah Palin believes all Americans must work together for the future, regardless of their party affiliation. Gov. Palin is the honorary chair of SarahPac, and its supporters are Republicans, Democrats, Independents, and those unaffiliated with any political party. Want to see her supporters?

The Recording Institute Association of America (RIAA), primarily four media conglomerates that control or distribute thousands of private labels, was formed in 1952 to administer several technical standards used in manufacturing vinyl records. Nowadays they sue grandmothers and teenagers, threaten universities and internet service providers with lawsuits, and argue their right to profit overrules any and all privacy concerns. In other words, generally acting like a bunch of pompous overweening pricks. Unfortunately, these thugs have found numerous friends in the halls of Washington, including California Senator Dianne Feinstein. Vice President Joe Biden has had a long history of sucking up to both the RIAA and MPAA, sponsoring legislation that would restrict people's rights to record satellite performance, and urging the Justice Department to go after alleged file sharerers. Barack Obama, once endorsed by the likes of copyright reformer Lawrence Lessig and opponents of the RIAA...

Goodbye.. Three of the sweetest words I know: "Former President Bush." Still, in the interest of saying something nice about the man, I was pleasantly surprised to see he didn't issue a last minute pardon to Scooter Libby, or much of anyone else, for that matter. Boo-yah, Scooter. ...and Hello Meanwhile, all of Washington and a large percentage of the rest of the world came to see Obama inaugurated. Popular Science magazine has an amazing satellite photo of the crowds. Chief Justice John Roberts manage to flub his lines during the oath of office. Obama paused, then repeated the flub back to Roberts. This gave Chris Wallace , smirking simulacra of a journalist, the chance to opine sonorously on Fox News as to whether the 44th President was indeed the 44th President. Memo to Chris -- he retook the oath later, so fuck you . Wednesday, Hillary Clinton was confirmed by a 94-2 vote of the Senate as Obama's secretary of state, despite John Cornyn's insistance he was n...

Andrew Sullivan, who write a blog for the Atlantic Monthly called The Daily Dish , has an excellent piece on TimeOnline entitled " Can Barack Obama fix it? Yes he can ." I was turned on to Sullivan by my defiantly Libertarian friend, the Whited Sepulchre . Quote: If you close your eyes and imagine what this combination of fiscal and foreign policy realism portends, you will come to a pretty obvious conclusion. This Democratic liberal is actually, when it comes down to it, a man almost entirely within the mainstream spectrum of the European centre right. Imagine a Cameron-style Tory becoming president of the United States and try to come up with something he would do differently. Worth a read!

Looking back, 1968 was when I stopped being a child. I was in 8th grade that year, at Hubbard Trail Junior High, in Crete, Illinois, just outside Chicago -- a clueless 13 year old. Events would take place that year -- terrible events -- that rocked our society and would force me to stop seeing the world through innocent eyes. The first of these was the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King on April 4, 1968. At the time, I still lived in a community largely uninhabited by people who were not white. In fact, despite the segregation that still gripped the south where I was born, I had much more exposure to African-Americans growing up in as a young child in Texas. On April 5th, the day after Dr. King's assassination, our usually wise-cracking U.S. Government teacher (or was it history?--memory fails me here) dropped his lesson plans and instead poured out his despair over the soul of a nation where such a heinous act could take place. As I listened, I realized this made as little sense to...

My youngest son is very, very smart -- scary smart sometimes. But he's also just like me (not that I'm scary smart). Which is a mixed blessing in so many ways. With about 2 days left before the deadline to various colleges, we are madly filling out applications and figuring out how best to get transcripts, SAT scores and the like into the hands of admission offices all across the country. Did we do it at Thanksgiving? No. Did we do it at Christmas? No. "We" waited until the last possible moment. Said he, at one point in the proceedings, "How did you ever do this before the internet?" This will all work out -- it did with oldest son -- but it's one of the reasons I have so much gray in my goatee.

Okay, call me an idiot, but I just downloaded the Windows 7 beta, which is available to the first 2.5 million interested parties. Actually, I did this twice: once for the 64-bit version (for youngest son) and once for the 32-bit version (for me). We're both planning on installing on spare hard drives - him on his faster-than-shit gaming box, and me with my old(er) Athlon 2800 box (I do have a faster machine, but it's a Linux box and shall stay that way). First thing I noticed was that you had to download with IE so you could use some Microsoft download manager ActiveX components. I was tempted to try going in with Firefox and Linux but I decided I was more interested in just getting on with it. You also need to have registered with Microsoft (which I'd already done). Once you've satisfied their insatiable curiosity (thank god there is not an ActiveX component that does anal probes) you choose whether you want the 32-bit or 64-bit version, and are taken to a page where y...

Lawrence Lessig, one of my heroes, was on Colbert Report last night, pushing his new book, Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy , about how current copyright law is hampering creativity and commercial opportunities, as well as criminalizing our youth. Lessig has written for years about copyright and intellectual property issues. His last 3 books are available for purchase as hard copy or free PDF download . The man walks the walk, not just talks the talk. Damn -- he gave as good as he got from Colbert, not an easy thing to do. Enjoy. The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Lawrence Lessig Colbert at Christmas Colbert Christmas DVD Green Screen Bill O'Reilly Interview Here's a more extended presentation by Lessig (about an hour) from November 2008 at NYU.

The right-wing's favorite aging sex kitten, Ann Coulter, has hacked up another hairball. Her latest collection of deranged scribbling (written in crayon and scheduled to be released next week) includes a slam at incoming First Lady Michelle Obama . Screeches she: " Her obvious imitation of Jackie O's style - the flipped-under hair, the sleeveless A-line dresses, the short strands of fake pearls - would have been laughable if done by anyone other than a media-designated saint. " Huh? This is interesting considering Coulter's look seems to be Baby Jane Hudson channeling Peggy Lipton . Ann Coulter: once again proving the only thing separating iconoclastic right-wing princess from bag lady is inherited wealth.

Yeah, yeah -- your 401k is a joke, the market's been in free-fall, lay-offs are all around us. But did you miss the following signs we are truly in an economic apocalypse? NetZero is running ads asking if you really need broadband after all. Use dial-up and save $300 a year! Give up broadband for dial-up? Dial-up?? Billboards are appearing in the area advertising cut-rate cremation services for only $399.95. The funeral industry never advertises on pricing. Until now. Finally, the Dallas Morning News , ran the following on their editorial page this morning: If this brutal year on Wall Street (and, in turn, on Main Street) taught us anything, it's that our economic model is seriously flawed. Among the myths that didn't survive the year: Markets can be trusted to regulate themselves. Investment banking is the goose that can be counted on to lay golden eggs. You can't lose by investing in housing. Subprime mortgages are risky, but if they fail, the damage...

While 2008 had its charms, I'm not all that sorry to see it go. A new commander-in-chief, a new congress, (and for me) a fresh start on my new novel and potentially a painting show in September. It's sort of an annual tradition to sit around New Year's Day, as well as the days leading up to it, and watch a few of our favorite New Year's movies. These are not to be confused with Christmas movies, and are distinctly different in theme and feeling. Most (but not all) have at least one scene/act that takes place on New Year's Eve, and all have something to do with giving up the old and welcoming the new. Some of our favorites: Hudsucker Proxy (1994) - Tim Robbins plays a naif elevated to the head of a company by schemers looking to take over. The film opens with Tim standing on the ledge of a giant clock on New Year's Eve, having a Moment of Truth as the old year ticks away. With Paul Newman as a nefarious board member and Jennifer Jason Leigh as a Girl Reporter wi...

This just in... Anti Terrorist and Financial Crime Division. Federal Bureau of Investigation. J.Edgar.Hoover Building Washington Dc. Attn: Beneficiary, This is to inform you that it has come to our attention that you have been dealing with a non official party and we have Investigated with the help of our Intelligence Monitoring Network, that you are engaging in an a potentially illegal transaction with persons of disrepute claiming to be Prof. Charles C. Soludo of the Central Bank Of Nigeria, Mr. Patrick Aziza, Mr Frank Nweke, Mr. Nwachukwu, none officials of Oceanic Bank, Zenith Banks, kelvin Young of HSBC, Ben of FedEx, Ibrahim Sule,Larry Christopher, Dr. Usman Shamsuddeen, Dr. Philip Mogan, they are all Scammers, impostors claiming to be the Federal Bureau Of Investigation. During our Investigation, we noticed that the reason why you have not received your payment is because you have not fulfilled your Financial Obligation given to you in respect of your Contract/Inheritance Paym...