Journal of Post-Ralphaelite Thought

I like most things about my job (good co-workers, appreciative boss) except one: my daily commute takes me from south of downtown Fort Worth into Denton County. I-35W is an awful road, regardless of the direction. Best case: I can make the run to or from my office in about 25 minutes. Worst case: it has taken me over 2 hours. The official name of that system of roads known as the "Interstate" is the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways . Its construction was authorized by an act of Congress in 1956 and its passage reflected the post-war, cold war mindset of the time. These "superhighways" were seen as a means for moving heavy military equipment from one side of the country to the other quickly in time of emergency. These days that emergency better be prepared to wait, because those roads are often parking lots. After six year of slogging along at 10 mph, I finally decided to start exploring some alternative routes -- the back-r...

With all this business in Wisconsin and their union-busting governor, it's become quite popular amongst some to bitch about "the unions." For all of their faults, there are strong and compelling historic reasons for why unions exist. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911 caused the deaths of 146 garment workers , many who were trapped because the owners had locked the doors to the stairwells and exits. The fire is often cited as a catalyst in shifting the public's sympathies in favor of labor reform. PBS's American Experience series now has an excellent documentary entitled Triangle Fire that gives the background and events leading up to this tragedy. Watch it online and re-visit some of the rhetoric which is being bandied about these days by right-wing politicians (and I include Tea Partiers and self-styled libertarians in this group) and uber-rich business interests . They are making the same tired "private prope...

We are defined by our habits and god knows I'm a creature of habit. There are certain websites I go to almost daily, for information and entertainment. In no particular order, here's my daily reading list. This will go a long way to explaining why I hold the peculiar opinions that I do. Slashdot.org   "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters," is their tagline. Where else can you read about programming, intellectual property law, the latest video game or the politics of anti-terrorism?  The stories are good, but the reader comments are where the real fun is. Geek cred at Slashdot can in part be determined by how low your user ID is (indicating how long you've had an account): mine is in the low 70,000's; account numbers are now in the millions range. Comics Curmudgeon Every few days Josh Fruhlinger waxes eloquently about ... oh hell, he waxes snarkily , about the daily funny pages. He spares no one. His favorites are the "soap opera" strips like Mar...