Journal of Post-Ralphaelite Thought

Thanksgiving 2012 is remarkable for a number of reasons. Officially it falls on the 4th Thursday of November, which is usually the last Thursday as well, but because of how the calendar played out this year, we have another Thursday in November which falls after Thanksgiving. If you use Black Friday as the start of the Christmas Shopping, it means an extra week of Ho-Ho-Holiday sales for merchants, for which they are surely thankful this year. Speaking of Black Friday, I'll leave that again to the more intrepid - I have no desire to go out and mix it up with bargain-crazed shoppers. It used to be this annual Orgasm of Consumerism started at 5 AM or so, Friday morning, but it has steadily crept forward, first to Midnight, and now, in some cases to 8 PM Thanksgiving day. To which I say, shame on you Merchants. And shame on you, Shoppers, since without your enthusiastic support, this inexcusable practice would not happening. This year is also notable for the fact that Thank...

I confess, I'm ready to be done with the 2012 election. I'd feel this way regardless of the outcome. Unfortunately, conservatives can't quite let go. The recriminations and finger-pointing are in full swing - amusing but eventually tiresome. Latest members of the Sore Loser Club are restauranteurs John Schnatter, CEO of Papa John's Pizza, and Zane Tankel, who owns 40 or so Applebee's Restaurants in the metro New York City area. Both are incensed that Mitt Romney's loss means ObamaCare is no longer going to be dismantled. Tankel has announced he'll start firing employees and stop building restaurants. Of course, he's a franchisee, so it remains to be seen if parent company Applebee's will fill the gap with other franchise holders. Applebee's International president, Mike Archer, said Tankel's remarks, "were not the views or opinions of either Applebee's or other franchisees, although we respect his right to speak freely as an ...

Well, I certainly can't fault him for preparing this in the first place. Leaving it where someone can use it to ridicule and generally add insult to injury - now that's a different matter. I am, of course, referring to the premature (by several lifetimes) launch of Team Romney's Transition Website, screen-captured in all its glory by Taegan Goddard and shared on his Political Wire website. See more pages on Political Wire , including a jobs page (you too can join Team Romney!), and Mitt's plans for his inauguration. Taegan Goddard says, "The site was quickly taken down but I saved screenshots ."   I can't thank Taegan enough, no to mention the low level web tech who forgot to take down the site right after Mitt conceded. As a web pro, I don't fault him for creating a site - things like this don't happen overnight. What I do object to is the pompous, arrogant tone, which screams, "You people have had your fun - the grownups are here...

Tired of hearing relatives and old high school acquaintances that tracked you down now bitching, pissing and moaning on Facebook about the outcome this week's election? Things like " We're doomed," and " R.I.P. America, you just died," and " Another 4 years of O and the 1st Hoe with her big Ass." I don't know about you, but I'm freaking sick of it. However good Unfriending your cousin's father-in-law in a fit of righteous indignation may feel right now, it could make for awkward conversation at the next family reunion after memories of the election fade away. Take heart - there's another way to keep from having to listen to Uncle Fred's FoxNews-fueled rants on Facebook.  Just Unsubscribe. The advantage of Unsubscribing vs. Unfriending is that he'll never know you've chosen to silence him. He'll still see your posts and be able to comment, but you'll never see another of his postings about Obama's Ke...