Journal of Post-Ralphaelite Thought

Well, tomorrow is my sister's birthday. It's also supposed to be the end of the world. That being the case, I've decided to put off doing my timesheets until Monday. Just in case. To be a bit more specific, tomorrow is Judgement Day (according to those in the know), a.k.a, the Rapture, when around 3 million of the Elect will be taken up to heaven, leaving the rest of us behind...just like in those "Left Behind" novels. It's always struck me as a bit presumptuous to assume one is part of the Elect. I'm actually sort of looking forward to seeing someone with one of those " In Case of the Rapture, This Car Will Be Unmanned ," bumper stickers driving around on the day after, so I can say, "Hey, asshole, what happened? Soul Train pull out of the station without you?" Now, I'll be the first to admit I won't be on that first flight out. No doubt I'll be undergoing some torment of the damned, but at least I'll be rid of ...

Not to yet again brand myself as an ancient, but when I got my first computer (a Tandy Color Computer) the connected world was a much simpler place. I had a 300 baud modem and a CompuServe account which cost me an arm and a leg. This was around 1981. I soon discovered BBS's and saved a bunch of money. This thing called the internet ran on leased 56K phone lines and one had to be at a research or defense facility or employed by the government or military to gain access to it. The "world wide web" wouldn't appear for another 10 years. If you knew someone, you might have access to something a bit more connected than just a BBS. Around the time my oldest was born I had a sibling who worked at a local university and he gave me the dial in number for the library computer. With a little judicious poking around all sorts of interesting things could be found. Telehack.com has put together a blast from the past - a javascript based emulator for that yesteryear of comput...

First Amazon, now Blogger. What's the world coming to? I've been busy and almost missed it, but apparently Blogger has had some some "issues" over the last couple of days. For the unenlightened,  "issues" is service provider code for "major fuck-ups." I first became aware when my friend and debating partner the Whited Sepulchre posted something the other day about losing a post and noticed he'd posted something today about losing a bunch of comments (it had removed the snarky remark I made in response to the first post). I won't go into whether this is a good thing or not, but it did pique my curiosity. According to Blogger , the issue was (as with Amazon) some sort of screw up during "routine" maintenance. Result: an avalanche of lost posts and comments. After 2 days they are working to restore these as quickly as possible. Speaking as a web professional, I can vouch for the fact it's those "routine" things that...

The punditocracy seems to agree that although the recent take-down of Osama bin Laden has bumped President Obama's poll numbers, this bump is likely to be short-lived because of lingering concerns over the state of the economy. At the same time there has been, since the previously-mentioned take-down, a low rumbling from some quarters about the lack of photographic or video documentation - not all of it from the frothing-at-the-mouth classes. Even people I consider reasonable want to see pictures, dammit. While enjoying a mint julep with one of my Republican friends yesterday (we were watching the Kentucky Derby), the pair of us came up with what I consider a brilliant idea that addresses both of Obama's issues. Pay-per-view of the bin Laden raid! There have been hints that videos and photos do exist, but that they are gruesome -- too gruesome for the public at large. So why not let people pay to see the carnage? Use the profits to pay for the War on Terror. The adult US popul...

About 10:25 last night, my friend Lee called with some stunning news: President Barack Obama was about to address the nation to inform us that US forces had killed Osama bin Laden. I ran and turned on the TV to confirm. NBC had broken into normal programming with a special report and was awaiting the president's arrival. I went into the bedroom and told my wife, "They've killed bin Laden." My voice cracked as I said it. We watched Obama in silence. There was video of celebration in New York and in Washington, DC. "USA! USA!" chanted the crowds. It felt a little odd - like cheering a football victory instead of the death of a mass murderer. But I'm not going to judge anyone's reaction -- least of all people living in the epicenter of those horrific attacks almost 10 years ago. My own response was less of joy, and more of satisfaction that at least a small measure of justice had been meted out. The death of this one evil monster can never outweigh th...