Journal of Post-Ralphaelite Thought

The first time I ever experienced nitrous oxide was as a college junior back in the mid-70's. I went to a dentist within walking distance of the campus to have a filling made (it should be noted at the time my hair hung halfway down my back). "Do you want novocaine?" he asked. "Never use it," I replied. He glanced at my hair. "Ever tried nitrous oxide?" Without missing a beat, I said, "No, but I'm game." They laid the nose piece on me and turned on the gas. After a few minutes the nurse came to check on me. "How are we feeling?" I shrugged, not really sure what I should be feeling. She called the dentist over, who looked at some knob or valve out of my view and frowned. They turned away from me and consulted in lowered voices. "Sometimes," she smiled, "If you are a heavy drinker or smoker it takes a little more." I rolled my eyes. She patted my arm. "We can tell." The dentist turned something and ...

News flash: youngest son has just been accepted at George Mason University . Along with most of his buddies, he's a computer geek, and is planning on studying Computer Science. George Mason, located in Fairfax, Virginia (suburban Washington, DC) has an excellent Computer Science department which just opened a new 180,000 sq.ft. facility and is home to a number of active research programs which bring over $16 million a year. U.S. News & World Report ranked George Mason University #1 in its new category of Up-and-coming National Universities, 2009. They also have highly regarded history, economics and public policy departments. In addition, Virginia out-of-state tuition cost is remarkably reasonable. It was also ranked as 11th most diverse university in the nation, by the Princeton Review in 2009. As we began our college search, youngest son announced he was thinking he might want to major in history. Interestingly enough, given his interest in history, GMU is home to the Cent...

Thanks to a recent post, I've stumbled on The Japing Ape . Human sexuality, in all its absurdity, seems to be the chief interest of Gorilla Bananas (the world's leading anthropological ape). No offense to others, but it is a welcome change to Libertarian politics. Mr. Bananas has a gift for the literary turn of phrase, which is both engaging and insightful. Funny stuff - in a twisted, slightly Stiff Upper Lip sort of way.

I'd been thinking about getting an MP3 player for a while. All my family members had iPods of various shapes and fashions, but something about Apple's aura of lemming-like cool turned me off. Then one day I got an email flyer from NewEgg selling a refurb Sansa e250 2GB mp3 player for $25 -- free shipping ! How could I resist? There are a ton of these e200 series Sansa refurbs out there, almost always cheap, being sold by various discount electronic shops, including NewEgg, Buy.com, and even Sansa . Some are 2GB, some are 4GB; occasionally you'll see an even larger one. While not as sexy as the ubiquitous iPod, they have a sturdy utilitarianism about them that I find appealing Part of the appeal of these little gizmos is they have a micro SD expansion slot. Here's where it gets complicated. Older (version 1) models only recognize the SD micro card, maximum 2 GB. The newer (version 2) models recognize the SDHC microcards, which come with up to 16GB of storage. So I orde...

From: U.S. Customs and Border Protection. <info1@customs.com> Sent: Friday, February 20, 2009 2:29:25 PM Subject: Your Consignment. We hereby bring to your notice that a consignment been delivered at your residence by a diplomat had been stopped by us. This is a security measure put in place by United States of America check terrorism and money laundry through the sale of illegal drugs locally and internationally. After examination, we found out that the consignment contained the sum of US$3.7 Million, which upon further investigation revealed that the fund was your inheritance. Consequently, the diplomat will deliver your consignment at your residence after all protocols have been observed. However, in order to procced we need you to reconfirm the following information, Full Name: Residential Address: Date of Birth: Occupation: Telephone/Mobile Numbers: We await your response. Regards, W. Ralph Basham Commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

...To reader and occasional sparring partner The Browncoat Libertarian , who's been out of commission for about a month with some serious health issues. He's a regular at the Whited Sepulchre's House o' Libertarian Lunacy , and has been missed both there and here. Welcome back! Get ready to mix it up, sir!

Noted in passing: Jack Cover, the inventor of the Taser , died of pneumonia on February 7, 2009. He was 88. Most of his career was spent working in the aerospace and defense industries. He began developing the Taser in 1969 as a non-lethal alternative to conventional firearms and in 1970, formed Taser Systems, Inc. The word "Taser" was an acronym for T homas A . S wift's E lectric R ifle . Boy genius Tom Swift was the hero of a series of juvenile adventure novels first published in the early 20th century. The middle initial "A" used in Taser was added by Cover so the acronym would be pronounceable.

The Daily Show and Colbert Report don't have a monopoly on fake news. This just in courtesy of The Onion . Not recommended for the workplace (as if you couldn't tell).

At first glance, there is much to admire about California's senior senator, Dianne Feinstein: first female President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, San Francisco's first female mayor, first woman to serve in the Senate from California, first woman on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and first woman to chair the Senate Rules Committee and Senate Intelligence Committee. During the 1990's she led the fight to ban semi-automatic weapons and supported a number of environmental issues, including bills to protect the California desert. Lately she seems to have turned to the dark side. In August 2007, she voted with Republicans to modify the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) making it easier for the government to monitor phone calls and email messages of American citizens. In February 2008, she again joined Republicans in voting to grant immunity to telecommunication companies for illegal wiretapping for Government agencies. In December 2005 she stated, ...

This just in... Blackwater , America's favorite secretive private "security" (read: paramilitary) corporation has decided to change its name. Henceforth the company name is " Xe ." Officials helpfully point out this is pronounced "zee." Which is interesting since Erik Prince's little business venture already developed quite a name for itself as the Bush administration's mercenary army in Iraq. Not a particularly good name -- they've been accused of atrocities, killing innocent civilians , weapons smuggling, intimidation of US politicians , all on our nickel, and that's just for starters. The Iraq government no longer allows them in the country. Like other creatures that live on death and decay, Blackwater doesn't especially like the harsh light of publicity. So what do they do to restore their good name? They change their name. The cynic in me says this practically unpronounceable name is designed to keep the average person from t...

I have a shocking confession. I'm not who I pretend to be. Hypocrite that I am, I rail against excessive and ostentatious displays of wealth and consumption, sneer at those enjoying the fruits of their success, and yes, even suggest they ought to pay more in taxes. And yet (I can barely bring myself to say it) I have flown on a private business jet! Twice! (Once there and then back again) I feel so dirty even saying it. Never mind that the inside of this bird was not much bigger than my 12 year old Saturn station wagon, or that I was crammed in there with five other people -- it was a private business jet! Never mind the fact that 86% of those aboard business aircraft are not big wigs, but people like me: technical resources or specialists going to meetings or to solve problems in the field. That seems lost on grandstanding politicians of both parties, playing to the cameras. My business comrades flew on the company jet because it was actually cheaper to pack us into that than it ...

It's bad enough Rush Limbaugh would rather have us suffer than see Obama successful. He's just a bloated loudmouth. But Pete Sessions? He's an elected official, sent to Washington by his Dallas constituents to represent their interests. Do they really want him to play Texas Taliban ? "Insurgency, we understand perhaps a little bit more because of the Taliban," sez Pete. "We need to understand that insurgency may be required when the other side, the House leadership, does not follow the same commands, which we entered the game with." He goes on to say, "If they do not give us those options or opportunities then we will then become insurgency..." In other words, despite the fact we got our asses handed to us in the 2008 election, if we don't get our way, we're going to be as disruptive as hell . As usual, Stephen Colbert sums it up better than I ever could. The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c The Word - Loyal Opposition Colbe...

This from a recent art exhibition announcement: < Artist >'s work most often utilizes found domestic elements to create installations that suggest quixotic reference or function. In their materiality they are most often light and somewhat ephemeral, evoking an existence in a marginal space or uncompleted form. As < big shot art person >, Contemporary Curator at < Large Museum >, describes "[e]ncoded in < Artist >'s found objects is a process of repeated erasure and re-inscription of value that results in a rebounding of associations and the layering of meaning or systems, all embodied in one sign." The use of remnants from society to create these structures necessarily allows a continuum of reference from their previous function to how they exist within the sculptural space. Both formally and conceptually the work maintains a speculative or provisional sense. Huh?

Presenting a performance on ukulele of Jobim's One Note Samba by Canadian James Hill , in honor of my good friend, the Whited Sepulchre , who lately has been singing one note on the subject of stimulating the economy . Enjoy! (Watch the whole thing -- it's pretty amazing!) Seriously, I stumbled across this while looking for guitar tabs for One Note Samba. First I encountered a cover by DominatorUke , who is no slouch himself , who pointed me over to James Hill. I love the internet, don't you?