June 2007 Archives

Welcome to the Brave New iPhone World! To celebrate this semiotic change in memes and thinking, we are offering you the opportunity to opine with us -- in essay form -- on the role of technology changing the terms of our living. Are you tired of the iPhone coverage yet? Are you getting an iPhone today? If not, what's wrong with you? If yes, what is your plan to get your hands on one?

Why do we require Blood Oaths and Sacred Vows? Why isn't a person's word their bond? Why bring the body and holy into the covenant of our truth telling with others?

Why do we place more value in vows sworn on Bibles and other imbued relics than simply assuming one will tell the truth by default?

Is there an added potency to a claim when it is sworn "on my dead mother's grave?" What is the purpose of secret handshakes, candlelight ceremonies and swearing in those who seek public service? Is our punishment more severe when blood oaths and sacred vows are broken?
Is there such a thing as an original idea? Or have all inspirations already been had? Are all thoughts actually the result of cannibalization?

The New York Times reports today 43.6 million people in the United States -- more than 14 percent of our population -- do not have health insurance. Minute Clinic is a for-profit medical office staffed by nurse practitioners and they are located in malls and at places like Wal-Mart and pharmacies like CVS. There are some entities -- mainly the American Medical Association -- that thinks healthcare options like Minute Clinic are dangerous to your health.

Paris Hilton is finally due to be released from jail tomorrow after serving 23 days in the hoosegow. There's a million dollar bounty for Paris Hilton and last week I received email asking me to be a part of the hunt for Ms. Hilton before she is released from the Big House.

Flies are hunting me. Beetles -- the flying kind -- are bothering me. Every year at this time, the flies come out of hiding along with their red, flying, beetle buddies -- they all love to say hello and land on me and my computer. I am tired of shuddering and shooing. My arm is aching from all of the swatting.

Yesterday's veto of Stem Cell research -- Bush's second attempt at stopping human longevity -- creates an uncomfortable schism between "Doing the Right Thing" and a narrow religious view pressed into the heart of human suffering favoring the possibility of life over established self-sustained living. Bush once again presents to the world his indefensible selfish view of pretending to save lives while perpetuating incomprehensible, international, deaths on the battlefield.

We all know there is nothing good for you under the sun. I wholly support the idea of not getting a suntan from the sun. I am, however, confused by the idea of "sunless tanning" where orange dye is applied to the skin in order to give a full and healthy glow. There's even a "reality" TV show on the E! network called "Sunset Tan" where we get to watch feeble-minded people turn their skin orange for a thousand dollars a session.

Were you ever lost as a child and the experience shook you so much that the experience sticks with you today? When I was young, my cousin and I were playing together at a park -- a proving grounds -- during a Fourth of July city celebration and it was a night I will never forget.

The Bionic God

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Should we be required to live in the body in which we were birthed? The Bionic ear is with us in the form of the cochlear implant. We have bionic arms and legs attached to the war wounded. Now the Bionic Eye is here.
While I was dealing with the bulging battery on my Apple MacBook Pro 17-inch laptop last week, a brand-new MacBook Pro 15-inch laptop with the new LED screen was winging its way to me from Shanghai, China. Those few days arguing with Apple over a battery and tracking my new MacBook online as it wended its way through the world to me was the utter definition of a Love/Hate relationship!

Loving Judge Judy

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I am in love with Judge Judy.

She is smart, tough, funny, compassionate, and she can read a phony from a mile away and tells them she knows they're a fake right to their face.

Judge Judy has many television judge imitators but none of them have ever touched her intellect or fun factor.

One of my favorite Judge Judy events happens when someone fumbles to answer a simple question by uttering, "Um..." as a response and she immediately snaps at them and says, "'Um' is not an answer!" I am also quite fond of her philosophy, "If it doesn't make sense, it isn't true."

As we grow older and win more experience, our gut guides us to truths we know are hidden by layers of deception.

If we begin to think more like Judge Judy -- What you're telling me doesn't make sense, so it isn't true -- I think we'd be in a better place in our neighborhoods and together in our standing as a nation. 

On Being Clever

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Kathakali Chatterjee wrote this article.

I am sure the word "clever" is insulting and derogatory to some people -- they would "rather be good" than be clever. I was one of them until I read this, mostly because "being good" sounded more pleasant than "being clever" and there is no one on this earth who would like to be known as "nice" than "shrewd. It's not even possible to use the word "clever" as simple praise without being sarcastic or down right abusive. 
We have discussed why it is important to use your real name on the internet; we have also dissected the difference between Hate Mail and Spam and concluding there is no difference. Now the New York Times explains the research behind Web Rage.

One Year Master

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There is a curious phenomenon going on in Higher Education today: The One Year Master's Degree. Ten years ago a Master's degree meant something and required a two or three year commitment to be in class, on campus, in a traditional brick-and-mortar university.

"Quod me nutrit, me destruit" is a kitschy Latin phrase that generally translates into "What nourishes me, also destroys me." Young people love to spout that phrase because they relate the idea of "nourishment" to sex, drugs, alcohol and probably, at one time, Rock and Roll. Angelina Jolie has "Quod me nutrit, me destruit" tattooed on her lower abdomen along with a thick, black, cross -- making one wonder if the "destruction" is in the semiotic cross or what the bottom of the cross is pointing to while she sucks her thumb.

Captcha if You Can

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The New York Times had a great article concerning the bane of "Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart" -- "captcha" for short -- on our virtual lives. If you don't recognize the word "captcha" you will certainly recognize their semiotic power over your online life:

Die Sopranos Die!

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I have never been a big Sopranos fan. The acting on the show has been generally pretty good, but I never drank from the Sopranos well of dedicated fanaticism and I missed the first few years of the show when they originally aired. I am now caught up on all the episodes and -- after watching last night's dreadful "Final Episode" -- I am left, once again, wondering what all the fuss was about over a mediocre show.

We all have our unnecessary demons. For the past three days I have relentlessly been dealing the "pros" at AppleCare technical repair over getting a bulging battery replaced on my MacBook Pro 17-inch machine. The reputation of AppleCare is that, for around $300 USD, you are supposed to get the most incredible and kind service. I did not have that experience.

I found the experience rather rotten as I felt AppleCare were giving me the runaround on the bulging battery. It's as if they hadn't ever heard of the problem before, but doing a simple search on the problem reveals scads of complaints and images like this one:

Are we sick of Paris Hilton yet? Will we ever be rid of her now or is she now an American meme a powerful as Plymouth Rock? Have we tired of her Weeping Semiotic?

Withering Hands

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Kathakali Chatterjee wrote this article.

These hands. Strong and powerful. Soothing and gentle. As if these embody a complete character, the whole persona. A person engrossed in her life, fulfilling its duties religiously. Duties as a daughter, as a wife, as a mother, as a homemaker -- as an epitome of tolerance, patience and acceptance as life comes. Her hands do not have manicured fingers as an epitome of fashion; her hands are age ridden, filled with lines, time-worn yet experienced and comforting. You are seeing the hands of my 79 year old grandmother. Her hands are diligently working on an Indian cutting utensil.

As a cogent and mindful people we are faced, once again, with the inappropriate disparity between rich and famous and the poor and unknown. I call this disconnect: The Celebrity Semiotic.

How Secure Are You?

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We are taught, early on in our lives, to be cautious and to watch our backs and to look out for each other. We obediently lock our doors. We psychologically brand our children. We learn to buckle up. We are a nation of Safety First. Are you as safe in securing your online life?

Do we live in a world led by Heroes or cowards? There's an old proverb -- "Despair Makes Cowards Courageous" -- that has grand resonance in today's social and political climate. Clifford -- in King Henry VI Part 3 -- suggests:

So cowards fight when they can fly no further; So doves do peck the falcon's piercing talons; So desperate thieves, all hopeless of their lives, Breathe out invectives 'gainst the officers.

The sexual tension between men and women can be misunderstood, betrayed, and set on stage for public examination. Michelle Obama, Barack's wife, has been coming under fire for "emasculating" her husband -- in Nebraska we call it "castrating" -- in order to promote her own interests as "a strong black woman" who will bow down to no man... including her husband.


Over the weekend there was a tremendous moral correction of a public figure offered in public -- in jest -- but its semiotic relevance is an earth-shattering expression of contempt for the facade of stardom and its perks of temptation. New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez (A-Rod) -- the highest paid player in baseball playing on the team with the highest player payroll in the biggest media market and currently stuck in last place in the American League East -- was caught by photographers with a blonde stripper that was not his wife. Boston Red Sox fans -- perennial rivals to the Yankees and currently in first place in the same division -- jabbed A-Rod Friday in Fenway Park as he prepared to take the batter's box:

Are there any sex secrets left between the sexes? Or do we already know everything about each other? Are sexual modesty and coyness gone forever? If so, is that a good thing or not?

Hate Mail and Spam

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I have decided there is no difference between Hate Mail and Spam. Nobody wants to get either one; they each share the intent to bother and wound; Hate Mail and Spam live to burden and bother.

Do you agree Hate Mail and Spam are the same thing?

If not, what's the difference between the two?

What is the worst piece of Hate Mail you received?

What was the silliest Spam you found in your Inbox?
How do you fight an invisible danger?

 In our ongoing series of conversations about Urban Bioterrorism, -- we have been struck by several recent realities that confirm our policy of policing the Homeland is wide open to creative and pernicious exploitation of our febrile border defenses.


Our current policy for fighting terrorism on American soil isn't working. We seek to only deter and then punish the body.

We log citizens and their behaviors while completely ignoring the reality that the most dangerous threats to health, freedom and liberty are microscopic and undetectable -- and those dangers live inside people instead of being carried by people as recognizable weapons of mass destruction.


About this Archive

This page is an archive of entries from June 2007 listed from newest to oldest.

May 2007 is the previous archive.

July 2007 is the next archive.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.

Recent Comments

  • Kathakali Chatterjee: It depends David! What if they are just incapable to read more
  • David W. Boles: I guess you need to be mindless to just accumulate read more
  • Kathakali Chatterjee: That's a lot of hard work David! Most people want read more
  • David W. Boles: What is wrong with thinking hard, Katha? Why is that read more
  • Kathakali Chatterjee: Heh! Thanks David! I agree. Majority do not want to read more
  • David W. Boles: If you'd asked me two days ago, Katha, I would've read more
  • David W. Boles: I am remembering your Cityscape likes, Katha! SMILE! A true read more
  • Kathakali Chatterjee: One question about the image David, it seems very familiar...from read more
  • Kathakali Chatterjee: Hi David! Sydney did look better than Nashville - for read more
  • David W. Boles: Hi Nicola! I love your Mona Lisa story. I'm right read more