Journal of Post-Ralphaelite Thought

I've known I was going to be writing this post for about 6 months now, and not looking forward to it. I learned yesterday evening that my old friend, debating partner, guitar playing buddy Allen Patterson - AKA, the Whited Sepulchre - has gone to that place where we all eventually go. Allen was diagnosed with a brain tumor about 6 months ago. After the initial shock, he dealt with it with his usual blend of wit and mockery. We should all face death with such an attitude. One of the things that as I get older I find I dislike about Facebook is that you learn all sorts of life-changing news there scattered among the cat videos and Candy Crush ads. So it was that I first that Allen had passed - on Facebook. He might have been delighted -  he regularly delighted in turning around people's perceptions of  the "proper" way of doing things. I knew the diagnosis was terminal, but I wasn't ready for him to leave us, dammit. I last saw him at a celebration of h...

I just learned today that my old friend and occasional debating partner, The Whited Sepulchre  has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor of some type, and is scheduled to undergo brain surgery on Friday. From what he and others have said on Facebook (I hate that Facebook is now a venue for this sort of thing) the prognosis isn't particularly rosy, but I refuse to reflect on what that could mean. I saw him last Sunday after church from across the sanctuary; I hadn't seen him there in quite some time so I pushed through the exiting throng to say hello. It struck me at the time that he didn't seem quite himself...a little more subdued than usual. He mentioned a writing project he was thinking about starting then we agreed that we needed to get together and do some pickin' and grinnin' again in the near future and then parted. Today I saw a friend post something about his upcoming surgery and I was struck dumb. We didn't always agree (read: rarely)  but we alw...

Back when I was in college, a couple of my hippie friends decided they'd vote in the Republican primary, with the intention of boosting the prospects of the Republican candidate they felt would be least electable in the general election. They pulled the lever for former California governor Ronald Reagan. Whoops. In the 2000 election, a number of "progressive" voters (my dear wife among them) turned up their collective noses at Al Gore and voted for Ralph Nader. Enough of them did in Florida to usher in 8 years of George W Bush. Whoops. Despite years of voting primarily for Democrats (with a few notable exceptions ) I found Gary Johnson, Libertarian presidential candidate intriguing - fiscal conservative, socially progressive, and to all appearances, not a bad sort. I reasoned that since Obama had a snowball's chance in hell of carrying Texas, it didn't really matter if I abandoned him to vote for Johnson. Besides, I found myself somewhat incensed at seve...

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...

Now's your chance to vote on which profile picture I should use. Classic (old) Dr Ralph New Dr Ralph A little background, for those of you who actually give a shit about any of this. I switched out my old profile picture for the new one, as part of a little experiment a little while back. I occasionally comment on the blog of my good friend, the Whited Sepulchre, and his Libertarian co-religionists usually point to my profile picture as proof of my supposed Socialist leanings. I'm actually the embodiment of moderation, at least in my mind. So, whose visage would most appeal to those of the Libertarian persuasion? Why, George Mason economics professor and paid Koch brothers shill Don Bourdreaux! I performed my Photoshop magic and - no more Commie Ralph! Now I was part of the tribe. I was amazed at how the WS's commentators now found me (occasionally) a reasonable person.  Others who remembered the old picture found the new one just...creepy. A little back...

My good friend, guitar-playing buddy and occasional debating partner The Whited Sepulchre posted the NPR Top 100 Science-Fiction and Fantasy Book list with annotations (I guess there is a lot of this going around) and challenged folks to do their version of the list. Despite his occasionally loathsome political opinions, the WS is extremely well-read (and now a published author !) so I found his list fascinating.  I used to read a lot of sci-fi when I was younger; not so much now. A lot of authors I enjoyed when younger I find tiresome now. Anyway, here's my list. 1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien I'm sorry - I've tried to read this probably 2 dozen times and never got any further than the first 30 pages. My first attempt was when I was 13, my last was when I was in my late 40's. Hugo Dyson, one of Tolkien's contemporaries is reported to have exclaimed : " Oh god! Not another fucking elf! "during a reading by Tolkien. I feel his...

It's true: of late I've taken to hanging out in a bar on Sunday afternoons. Wait, I'll explain: my friend and occasional debating partner, The Whited Sepulchre , has organized an acoustic guitar circle that meets on Sunday afternoons in The Corporate Image , a rather unpretentious watering hole over on the east side of Fort Worth. I'm not sure if the name of this place is supposed to be ironic or not, but the bartender is friendly and more than appreciative of our musical musings. We've done this about 4 Sundays now. It's great fun. There's four of us who could be called regulars and there's enough overlap in repertoire and musical taste that we all manage to play along, no matter who actually starts any given song. I borrowed a collection of harmonicas from youngest son and add a little harp when appropriate (or I can't figure out anything else to do). The Whited Sepulchre, by the way, is a natural for this -- he's quite a guitar player...

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...

Normally I don't care a fig about the Superbowl. Many's the time I don't actually know who's playing in it. Of late I'll learn just enough about the outcome to avoid appearing a complete dunce in post-game office discussions. This year is different the game will be played in Jerry Jones' new monstrosity in Arlington, Texas. By way of illustration of the afore-mentioned Mr. Jones' ego, he's charging people $200 to watch the game on monitors in the stadium parking lot, and calling it the "Superbowl Experience." He's also going to include these pathetic dupes in the headcount for attendance. This week, North Texas (as with much of the country) has been hit with crushing snow storms and low temperatures. The electric companies have dropped the ball and had to enforce rolling blackouts to households because demand exceeded capacity. Thursday night I flew in to DFW after a business trip and the pilot circled past Cowboy stadium -- all lit...

Well, hell must be freezing over, or something like that. Washington DC is currently sitting under several feet of snow, and much of the business of government has been shut down, to the delight of various political persuasions. George Mason University (Fairfax VA), where Youngest Son is a freshman, has been closed since Monday and will likely be closed tomorrow. Below is a photo from his window in the dorm (he hasn't ventured out too far). Meanwhile, we are having a bit of inclement weather here in Texas as well. Here's a view from my front porch. This of course has all the Global Warming / Climate Change doubters in a fine fettle. Expect more on this from my friend and sparing partner, the Whited Sepulchre . Me? I'll let others have the snowball fight over that issue.

Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukkah/Cozy Kwanzaa/Saturnalia/Solstice to all who put up with my nonsense and lunatic prattling. It's been an interesting year, eh? A holiday shout out to several of my blogging buddies, who, though I don't always agree with, have become good friends. This includes the Whited Sepulchre , TarrantLibertyGuy, Browncoat Libertarian and Stephen Smith . Proof you can disagree without being disagreeable. A special shout as well to my old friend Dan , who I've known since 5th grade and who writes much better than I and has led a much more interesting life as well.

My overly rabid friends and occasional drinking buddies at the Whited Sepulchre are all aghast at what they are terming the "snuff film" of some Volvo being disabled for the Cash for Clunkers program (presumably so the car can't be resold by some shifty individual after the trade. According to US News and World Report ,  here are the top ten cluckers being ditched by their owners: 1998 Ford Explorer 1997 Ford Explorer 1996 Ford Explorer 1999 Ford Explorer Jeep Grand Cherokee Jeep Cherokee 1995 Ford Explorer 1994 Ford Explorer 1997 Ford Windstar 1999 Dodge Caravan Sorry, but you won't see me shedding any tears over this lot. Actually I'd like to see the Volvo procedure performed on some of the drivers of these beasts. I have to put up with this assholes on my work commute every day. Here's what the top ten replacement purchase are (again, curtesy of USNWR): Ford Focus Honda Civic Toyota Corolla Toyota Prius Ford Escape Toyota Camry Dodge...

Every July 4 th I wander down the street and watch the Ryan Place parade in the sweltering July heat. It's a neighborhood event that has more patriotism in its pinky finger than anything you'll seen on your HD TV from the comfort of your air-conditioned house. To hell with fireworks -- this is my favorite thing about the 4 th . Neighbors and friends from near and not so near gather for the fun. Differences are put aside and we share the sense of celebration. I love the description "the American Experiment," despite attempts to co-opt the term for narrow partisan purposes. The experiment fails when we stop recognizing that no one person or group has a monopoly on wisdom, virtue , common sense or love of country. Me and my good friend the Whited Sepulchre at the Ryan Place Parade.

I met up with the Whited Sepulchre , my fellow former Southern Baptist , and drank a beer in public at a place where men and women openly smoked cigars together. We briefly discussed whether we should dance together but neither of us had a quarter for the jukebox (besides, cigar breath -- ugh). Sunday I'll be at Broadway Baptist wearing a shirt a made of mixed fibers and listening to a woman minister preach. I feel so liberated.

My friend and sometimes sparring partner the Whited Sepulchre alerted me to the fact that Broadway Baptist Church of Ft. Worth, where my heresies are tolerated, has been given the boot by the Southern Baptist Convention. The nominal reason was because we tolerated homosexuals in our midst. Well, la-dee-dah. There was great huffing and puffing from Louisville, Kentucky, the scene of the crime. "The church was in effect saying that it was OK to have members who are open homosexuals," said a member of the Executive Committee. Shocking. The truth is, the SBC has been pissed at us for quite a while. Broadway, if I may venture an opinion, stopped caring years ago. The only things keeping us in the convention at all were the desire to accommodate Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary faculty members who needed to be at a church in good standing (whoops) and the presence of a dwindling number of older members who nursed a sentimental attachment to what the SBC used to be befo...

I have several tools in my bullshit-detector toolbox, but one of the oldest is a little tome I first encountered when I was about 13 years old. I refer to the classic, " How to Lie with Statistics ," by Darrell Huff , first published in 1954. It was a real eye-opener. We assume if something has numbers on it, it must be true, especially if there are pictures with the numbers. Numbers don't lie, right? Mr. Huff shows us otherwise. "Breezy," is the word often used to describe the style of this slim volume, but don't let that fool you. Mr Huff, not a statistician, cuts to the chase and makes his points simply and with devastating effectiveness. A few sample quotes (courtesy of WikiQuotes): The secret language of statistics, so appealing in a fact-minded culture, is employed to sensationalize, inflate, confuse, and oversimplify. Statistical methods and statistical terms are necessary in reporting the mass data of social and economic trends, business conditions...

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...

...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!

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, ...

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?