Journal of Post-Ralphaelite Thought

Youngest son, Ed, has been successfully installed at George Mason University , in Fairfax, VA. I got back yesterday evening (only to be greeted by a work emergency at midnight). We flew down Wednesday, arriving in the afternoon. We managed to get everything in a large duffel bag and Ed's backpack (with a few things in my small suitcase. Travel hint : put clothing in freezer bags and squeeze the air out before packing. The decision to fly rather than drive meant getting quite a bit of stuff locally. Rather subjecting the high-priced Taylor guitar to the dangers of air travel and dorm life, I offered to get a dorm-worthy guitar in Fairfax. So first stop (after an early dinner at our favorite Indian Buffet) was the Guitar Center. After much debate, negotiation and testing, a suitable candidate - an Epiphone AJ200SR six string - was bought and paid for, along with a gig bag for it to live in. Next we hit Target and stocked up on bedding and toiletries. During all this dr...

Warning - geek alert: If you work with Windows and Linux/Unix, you need to rush out and get MobaXTerm , a free (but not open source) tool. It takes the GNU/Cygwin collection of command line Unix/Linux tools and puts them in a single Windows executable. Think of it as DOS on super steroids. Now obviously this isn't for everyone. Frankly, it's not for the many. But if you're one of the chosen few who have a feet in both the Microsoft and Linux world, you are going to love this. One of the best features of MobaXTerm is that it includes a built in Xserver, for connecting with a graphical interface to Unix/Linux environments. There are several ways of doing this. Though it requires a little setup on the front end, using Xdmcp is the easiest way to have a complete X remote session. To do this will require a preliminary bit of editing some text-based config files on the command line. It will also require you have root access through sudo. Don't worry, it's easy. H...

This will shock some of my friends, but there was a time when I had little use for Edward Kennedy. His flaws were many and it seemed readily apparent that initially he rode on the coattails of his older brothers. Mike Royko, the Chicago columnist (known generally as a liberal), regularly heaped abuse on Teddy, and (like some others) sneeringly suggested if his name had been Edward Slabotnik instead of Kennedy, he'd never been elected. There's no doubt the Chappaquiddick incident guaranteed that he'd never be president. His abortive run against the floundering Jimmy Carter in 1980 was the proof of that. Perhaps the knowledge eventually lifted a burden from him, because he ultimately became the third-longest-serving senator in U.S. History. His career had its ups and downs (some of these fueled by Kennedy's drinking habits). His marriage to his second wife is credited by many with turning his messy personal life around. He was not the smartest of the Kennedy brot...

I don't have time for a long post (trying to get out of town -- to Washington, ironically) when I learned that Edward Kennedy, a true lion of the Senate, passed away at the age of 77. Yahoo's Reuter feed has more , but I dare say you'll find tons of stories all over the 'net. I'll try to write more later.

I'll be out of pocket the next few days, journeying with Youngest Son to Fairfax, Virginia where he's about to become a freshman at George Mason University. We fly out tomorrow morning and Thursday at 8:30 AM he's scheduled to check into his dorm room. I'm not really sure how much use he'll have for me after that. We'll probably run out to K-Mart or Target and get stuff for his room, but other than that, what purpose do I serve? At least during this trip? Not that I mind being cast aside like that. He's got new roommates and friends to meet, a new life to reinvent. Still, it will be a little odd, and a little awkward, as I (representing his old self) slowly fade in the rear view mirror. But it's not a bad thing: you want your kids to be independent, free thinkers. And in this age of Instant Messaging, email, Skype, Facebook and cellphones, it's a lot easier to stay in touch, even without really thinking about it. Much more so than when I wa...

The New York MTA is now suing some blogger with an iPhone app, claiming railroad schedules are copyrighted. Uh-huh. MTA marketers and lawyers have demanded he sign a licensing agreement, claiming (among other things) without said agreement, the blogger, Chris Schoenfeld, might publish inaccurate information. This, of course, supposes the MTA is capable of publishing accurate information, something that is not immediately apparent. What is wrong with these people? Thanks to Slashdot .

A follow up to the previous post about the passing of Les Paul (June 9, 1915 – August 13, 2009), American guitar legend and recording innovator. Here's a clip of him playing one of his signature pieces, "How High the Moon." At about the 1:30 point he jams it into overdrive. My god, this brings tears to my eyes. And here's an archival clip of him and his then wife Mary Ford on Alistar Cook's Omnibus, telling how it's all done.