John Ratcliff's Weblog

I figure I might as well make a brief update this evening: I had a short business trip on Thursday and Friday which was unusual since I rarely take really 'short' trips; I much prefer to have a little bit of time to enjoy myself. On this trip I worked most of the day on Thursday at the office and then, in the afternoon, went to the airport. I boarded the plane, travelled to Dallas, had a short layover, and then flew to Houston. On the short leg of the trip I got to fly first class and was suprised to see Isaac Bruce sitting a few rows behind me. Once we got to Houston we drove to our Hotel, found a TGI Friday's for dinner, and then packed it in. In the morning we left for our meeting which went straight up until 3:30pm and we rushed out the door to get to the airport only, then, to sit in rush hour traffic. We barely made the flight and, once we arrived in Dallas realized we had a three hour layover. We spent this time in the Ambassador's Club, which was quite...

I have nothing in particular to post about today, I just decided to make a general update. I haven't uploaded any pictures in quite a while and it seems the main reason for that is that I own way too fancy of a camera. For my wife's last birthday I bought her a flashy SLR digital camera. The thing is, it is just way too fancy. We have yet to figure out how to get it to take a picture under varying light conditions. It works great if you are outdoors on a bright day or indoors with the normal flash where you do just 'point and click'. However, I can't figure out how to get it take a good picture indoors without a flash; something my old cheapo camera used to do just fine. It is also large and bulky and doesn't lend itself to taking pictures spontaneously. I used to just carry a little digital camera around in my bag before. Last weekend I bought myself a small handy-dandy digital camera called the 'Kodak Easy Share'. It is very 'point and click' a...

On this day as we think about the passing of our good friend Robert Anton Wilson it is probably relevant to also think about the topic of Conspiracy Theory. A lot of people think of Robert Anton Wilson as a person who espoused 'Conspiracy Theory' and, in a sense, they would be right. Robert Anton Wilson was a highly astute observer of the human condition and he realized that it is human nature to act in a conspiratorial way. Afterall, we are all primates out to protect our territory. If an act of conspiracy will assist us in that cause, it is simply the natural evolution of our social compact. Any time two human beings engage in a discussion to gain an advantage over another group of primates they act in a conspiratorial fashion. RAW made a brilliant observation when he acknowledged that the human condition runs rampant with conspiracy; it is the natural condition. However, where this theory falls apart is when someone conjours the notion of the 'Grand Conspiracy'. Cons...

Robert Anton Wilson has passed from this world and has been enfolded back into the implicate order from which he came. I cannot say enough how much this man has meant to me in my life. I am so gratified that he left this world knowing how deeply he was loved and how much he touched the world community at large. Recently, as I posted on this blog, a call was made for donations to help him pass from this world with dignity and within his own home. Not only did I donate but so did tens of thousands of others on the Internet. The outpouring of love that came from that simple request touched him deeply at a time when he was feeling somehwat forgotten and alone. In my personal opinion Robert Anton Wilson is the single greatest philosopher of the past century. He has done so much to bring a form of enlightenment to humanity in a time when mankind often remains trapped in all manner of fundamentalist reality tunnels. It is with deep affection that I note his passing and I hope he finds his con...

( The Grand Lodge of the State of Washington . Many of whom I was fortunate enough to meet on my last visit to Seattle) This was my first week at my new job. I spent most of the time just get myself settled in. The new office is simply amazing and the commute is such a breeze. I was able to attend a number of meetings after work during the week and it felt so great not having to rush or be worried about traffic. One interesting event that happened this past week was when this blog got linked by a number of conspiracy websites; one day drawing almost a thousand visitors to the site. I was pleased to see that my AdSense account is now up to a whole $26!! Man, that would buy a few premium beers. In fact, I have determined that any AdSense revenue I ever receive will go soley to buying myself beers. Yeah, I know I should give it to charity, but I give to charity all of the time. This is my reward for posting all of this nonsense on the Internet. As most of you know, my posts are ...