November 2007 Archives

The FDNY Firefighter Spy

By David W. Boles on November 30, 2007 8:28 AM | 21 Comments | 2 TrackBacks

We've turned a horrible new page in the War on Terror as the FDNY -- The Fire Department of the City of New York -- have joined with the Department of Homeland Security to spy on residents.

Continue reading The FDNY Firefighter Spy.

Two Crowns for the Lack of a Helmet

By Gordon Davidescu on November 29, 2007 5:59 PM | 10 Comments

Gordon Davidescu wrote this article.

Sometimes the things that happen to us that seem the most trivial end up being some of the most significant, with repercussions that last years, even decades.

Continue reading Two Crowns for the Lack of a Helmet.

Talking to Yourself

By David W. Boles on November 29, 2007 9:11 AM | 24 Comments

ME: Do you ever talk to yourself?

Continue reading Talking to Yourself.

Shedding Shared Values as Black Identity Splinters Within

By David W. Boles on November 28, 2007 8:38 AM | 17 Comments

The PewReseachCenter released a wild new report last week concerning the Growing Values Gap in the Black Community that suggests a shedding of shared community values that is leading to a splintering of traditional Black interests in the USA. You may have already heard about the disconnect between Whites and Blacks when it comes to Blacks being better off now than they were five years ago:

Continue reading Shedding Shared Values as Black Identity Splinters Within.

The Digital Age of Electronic Self-Publishing: How Long is a Book?

By David W. Boles on November 27, 2007 7:33 AM | 21 Comments | 2 TrackBacks

We recently wondered here -- How Long is a Piece of String? -- and today I'd like to take that question to the next thought to ask: "How Long is a Book?"

Continue reading The Digital Age of Electronic Self-Publishing: How Long is a Book?.

The World Was Built on the Back of Labor

By David W. Boles on November 26, 2007 7:35 AM | 22 Comments

Our world was built on the backs of laborers who toiled in the fields and created buildings that dared to touch the sky.

Continue reading The World Was Built on the Back of Labor.

Tending Polymathic Branding Tentacles

By David W. Boles on November 23, 2007 10:49 AM | 58 Comments | 3 TrackBacks

Do you brand your online life to identify the work you do in all aspects?

Continue reading Tending Polymathic Branding Tentacles.

The Continental Airlines Bereavement Fare Scam

By David W. Boles on November 22, 2007 11:54 AM | 35 Comments

It's Thanksgiving and I spent the morning helping Janna get on a Continental Airlines flight from Newark, New Jersey to Council Bluffs, Iowa via Omaha, Nebraska, so she can bury her father.

Continue reading The Continental Airlines Bereavement Fare Scam.

Defining Down Dynasties and the Everyday Empire

By David W. Boles on November 21, 2007 7:02 AM | 22 Comments | 1 TrackBack

Dynasties used to be related to heredity and the everlasting rulers of a country.

Continue reading Defining Down Dynasties and the Everyday Empire.

Naked Blogging as Semiotics Shall Rule the Word

By David W. Boles on November 20, 2007 6:57 AM | 32 Comments

We are living in the Golden Age of Text. We most effectively communicate on blogs, in email and via instant messages where The Word is King. However, in the next five years or so we will toss away our text -- along with our newly enhanced ability to cogently write to persuade others -- in favor of video: Semiotics Shall Rule the Word. There are active rumors that the next iPhone will have a touch screen that is a camera so you can do live video conferencing via iChat right on your phone. There is one proof-of-concept using the current iPhone that persuasively argues for video communication over text right now.

Continue reading Naked Blogging as Semiotics Shall Rule the Word.

23andMe and the Ticking Timebomb Within

By David W. Boles on November 19, 2007 9:22 AM | 34 Comments | 2 TrackBacks

Do you know there's a ticking timebomb within you? Do you know the code to disarm the damage? Will you allow the bits of you to explode? Are you interested, at all, in trying to diffuse the inevitable?

Continue reading 23andMe and the Ticking Timebomb Within.

Hitting a Million Readers

By David W. Boles on November 16, 2007 10:17 AM | 31 Comments | 2 TrackBacks

I need your help in accomplishing an important milestone in the four year history of this Urban Semiotic blog. As you can see on the right in the sidebar, we currently have (at the time I am writing this article), around 863,000 readers of this blog since 10/27/06 -- that's when we moved to WordPress.com from being privately hosted -- and I am asking for your assistance to help us hit the ONE MILLION READERS mark on or before January 1, 2008!

Continue reading Hitting a Million Readers.

Good News Bad News

By David W. Boles on November 15, 2007 8:47 AM | 81 Comments

Do you see a Good News/Bad News story in the image below? If so, tell us what you see.

Continue reading Good News Bad News.

Disposable Women: Slasher to Gash Her

By David W. Boles on November 14, 2007 7:27 AM | 76 Comments | 1 TrackBack

Why do all mainstream horror movies require the killing of disposable women? They are usually bare-breasted, open-mouthed and clumsily helpless and they always meet their end with blood-curdling screams.

Continue reading Disposable Women: Slasher to Gash Her.

Black Rage and the Bluest Eye

By David W. Boles on November 13, 2007 8:42 AM | 55 Comments

Are blue eyes superior to brown? Have you ever experienced or witnessed an example of Black Rage? In 1970, author Toni Morrison took on both matters in her first book and subsequent ovaric masterpiece: The Bluest Eye.

Continue reading Black Rage and the Bluest Eye.

The Uncanny and Homesick Sexual Longing

By David W. Boles on November 12, 2007 9:22 AM | 23 Comments | 3 TrackBacks

As a young man I read an essay by Sigmund Freud called "The Uncanny" that continues to ripen and haunt me year-after-year as I am continually pressed to re-examine the realm of ghosts as wish fulfillment, how unrequited love compels a longing for a return to the womb and why the psychoanalyst becomes the mediator of these aesthetic spirits that chase and terrify us in our waking lives while they visit us in dreams and nightmares.

Continue reading The Uncanny and Homesick Sexual Longing.

Predestiny and Euthanasia: Owning Your Body

By David W. Boles on November 9, 2007 9:46 AM | 68 Comments | 3 TrackBacks

Do you own your body? Can you end your life at any time you wish without penalty or provocation?

Continue reading Predestiny and Euthanasia: Owning Your Body.

Does Dark-Skinned Equal Blackness?

By David W. Boles on November 8, 2007 6:28 AM | 40 Comments | 3 TrackBacks

We have wondered here in the past about the cultural constrictions we press into skin color, and a related and deeper issue is one of darker skin -- Black skin in particular -- and how it is socially demonized by negative, historical, intellectual and emotional touchstones associated with "Blackness."

Continue reading Does Dark-Skinned Equal Blackness?.

While All The Little Googles Are Sleeping

By David W. Boles on November 7, 2007 7:21 AM | 21 Comments

Okay, it's 6:00 AM on the East Coast of the United States and I'm ready to work and win the world and, meanwhile, all The Little Googles are sleeping! I need them awake and working with me, not against me!

Continue reading While All The Little Googles Are Sleeping.

The Definition of a Bastard

By David W. Boles on November 6, 2007 8:15 AM | 20 Comments

One of my best friends and mentor was the late, great, Marshall Jamison and he, above anyone else, taught me many of my most important life lessons -- the first of which was the definition of a "bastard."

Continue reading The Definition of a Bastard.

Revealing the Toothy Vagina

By David W. Boles on November 5, 2007 8:19 AM | 43 Comments | 1 TrackBack

Here it is, in all its glory: The Toothy Vagina!

Continue reading Revealing the Toothy Vagina.

Measuring the Commodity of Human Breathing

By David W. Boles on November 2, 2007 10:05 AM | 50 Comments | 1 TrackBack

In our discussion yesterday concerning waterboarding, I began to reflect upon the greater -- and immeasurable -- value of human breathing and its punishments both invoked and self-sustained.

Continue reading Measuring the Commodity of Human Breathing.

A Brief History of Waterboarding

By David W. Boles on November 1, 2007 10:10 AM | 41 Comments | 1 TrackBack

We are having a heated political discussion in the USA this week wondering if waterboarding is torture or not as Michael Mukasey faces a Senate confirmation hearing on his attorney general nomination -- but waterboarding has a long history as part of the human core in antiquity:

Waterboarding is a technique in which prisoners are subjected to simulated drowning by binding them to an inclined board, with their feet raised and head a bit below their feet. Then cellophane or cloth is wrapped over a prisoner's face and water is poured over the person.

Vietnam 1968: In Da Nang, the U.S. military used waterboarding as an interrogation technique:

Continue reading A Brief History of Waterboarding.

« October 2007 | Main Index | Archives | December 2007 »

David W. Boles: Ha! Excellent find, Nicola! We live in one crazy world. read more
Nicola Brown: I found this on the BBC today and it reminded read more
David W. Boles: That's a right fine point, Dananjay, and I guess we read more
Dananjay Anandan: Exactly, David! With it must come the realization that it's read more
David W. Boles: How is it ingrained, Katha? Is it by genetics or read more
David W. Boles: Hi Dananjay -- There is a danger, though, in confessing read more
David W. Boles: Thanks for explaining that, Nicola. Are there cases of BDSM read more
Kathakali Chatterjee: Excellent article David! Ethics do not need any rule or read more
Dananjay Anandan: Hi David! I think confessing that we have uncivilized feelings read more
Nicola Brown: Firstly thank you for the Purple celebration - I am read more

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