Journal of Post-Ralphaelite Thought

My friend and debating partner the Whited Sepulchre helpfully offered a list of the top 12 things Libertarians wished everybody knew . In the spirit of love I figured I'd return the favor by offering up a list of the top 10 things non-Libertarians wished Libertarians knew. 1. History didn't begin ten minutes after you were born. The reason a lot of things are the way they are is to address historic issues you either never heard of or don't consider have anything to do with you. Get some context for a change. 2. Saying things like "Taxes are theft" sounds like crazy-talk to most people. Most people try and avoid people who crazy-talk. 3. You need to choose your political allies more carefully; your biggest political liability are some of your "friends." I'm thinking of Tea Party folks, gun fanatics, Birthers, Climate Change deniers. 4. One rarely wins converts by insulting people. Lecturing people or suggesting they are stupid if they disa...

I confess - even though I have an iPad, I've really been wanting a 7 inch Android tablet. And I'm sort of a cheapskate. So when earlier this spring I read about the upcoming Google tablet, I was consumed by gadget lust. Alas, when it was finally rolled out I did a double take and then said, "No thanks." I had the same experience earlier in the year when Amazon introduced their Fire tablet. The Google device has a lot going for it - fairly decently powered CPU, good screen resolution, access to lots of apps (not like the bastardized Nook Color and Nook Tablet), good battery life; even had a front facing camera. It kicks the Amazon Fire's ass, and the Fire is not too shabby a product either. The deal breaker for both? Only 8 GB of internal storage (a 16 GB Google model is now on the market) and no expansion capacity. Google and Amazon want you to use the cloud - more specifically, their clouds - to store everything. Buy music, buy movies, buy books, and ins...

"Cloud computing" has been getting a lot of buzz the last couple of years. Quite a few companies have jumped in and started offering various cloud-based services to consumers. These have included applications ( Google Docs and Microsoft Office 365) , collaboration ( Zoho ), storage/file-sharing ( Dropbox , Box and SugarSync ), music streaming ( Amazon Cloud Player and Google Play ), and video streaming (NetFlix and Blockbuster). On paper, these are great products. You can access your documents, photos, or music from anywhere, you can share stuff between devices and other people -- anywhere where you have a internet connection. Use your computer, use your smartphone: it's all the same. There's just one sticking point: your internet provider. The problem:  bandwidth capping. Once upon a time, we were told that broadband was the future - we'd all be connected, all the time. That was back in the day when your internet service provider sold you unlimited us...

By now you've surely read that Andy Griffith died yesterday at the age of 86. As a sure sign we are turning into a nation of ill-informed, culturally bankrupt morons, Salon Magazine ran a story the other day entitled " Dumb Tweets of the Day ," about people tweeting "who the heck is Andy Griffith?" when news of his death broke. Who the heck is Andy Griffith indeed? Maybe it's an age thing. While certainly best known for playing Sheriff Andy Taylor in the fictitious hamlet of Mayberry, in the Andy Griffith Show , (1960 to 1968) , my introduction to him came a little earlier. Griffith had first achieved fame in the 1950's as a monologist, and my father had a copy of his recording, What It Was, Was Football . I listened to that thing endlessly as a child. I think it must be a Southern thing. He also starred in the service comedy (this was only a decade past the end of WW II) named " No Time For Sergeants, " in which he was first teamed w...