August 2008 Archives

Movable Type Pro 4.21: Still Slow, Still Ugly

By David W. Boles on August 28, 2008 7:53 AM | 46 Comments | 2 TrackBacks

Yesterday, Pair Networks upgraded this Urban Semiotic blog -- and RelationShaping.com and WordPunk.com -- to the new Movable Type Pro 4.21 and yet, despite the hype from Six Apart, I am surprised to report Movable Type just as slow and ugly as it ever was. Should it really take an hour and 21 minutes to republish 1,400 blog articles and 30,000 comments?

Continue reading Movable Type Pro 4.21: Still Slow, Still Ugly.

Evaluating Child Psychics

By David W. Boles on August 27, 2008 5:38 AM | 10 Comments | 1 TrackBack

Do you believe in ghosts and spirits? Do you believe in haunted houses? Do you believe children are able to see paranormal people and communicate with them?

Continue reading Evaluating Child Psychics.

Business is Not Family

By David W. Boles on August 26, 2008 6:37 AM | 14 Comments

Historically, many businesses have started as family operations. Everyone was blood related. There was a clear chain of command and an unspoken plan for pressing down the power and handing over control of the company.

Continue reading Business is Not Family.

Obama-Biden or Buh Bye?

By David W. Boles on August 25, 2008 7:29 AM | 12 Comments

Joe Biden is Barack Obama's running mate. Forgive me for sighing -- not with relief -- but with the sad recognition that nothing changes and that Barack's whole campaign of hope was merely slogan and not a new way of breaking the current way of Washington.

Continue reading Obama-Biden or Buh Bye?.

One Bad Apple: Going App-less on the iPhone 3G

By David W. Boles on August 23, 2008 6:20 PM | 25 Comments

Apple has set forth upon us a bad iPhone 3G -- and if you dare to complain about it -- or find ways to hope to deal with the matter on the official Apple forums... you will be silenced with the deletion of your discussion thread.

Continue reading One Bad Apple: Going App-less on the iPhone 3G.

You are the Pilot of a Spaceship

By David W. Boles on August 22, 2008 6:18 AM | 48 Comments

You are the pilot of a spaceship. All systems are failing with no chance for recovery. You, and all souls aboard, are going to disintegrate in a crash and explosion. There is no hope for escape or survival. Everyone will die.

Continue reading You are the Pilot of a Spaceship.

The Gang Mentality vs. A Baby Sparrow

By Dananjay Anandan on August 21, 2008 6:30 PM | 10 Comments

Dananjay Anandan wrote this article.

This happened when I was about eight. One fine evening during a monsoon, after it had stopped raining, a bunch of us kids had stepped out clean and fresh to play. The ground was soggy and none of us really wanted to get wet again. We were getting bored, wondering what to do with an otherwise glorious evening. Then, one of us spotted a bird.

Continue reading The Gang Mentality vs. A Baby Sparrow.

Revenge of the Chinese Baby Gymnasts

By David W. Boles on August 21, 2008 8:58 AM | 11 Comments

The 2008 Beijing Olympics are fascinating and trying -- but the greatest testament against the spirit of competition is the obvious and purposeful "age faking" by the Chinese government to thwart the International Olympic Committee's requirement that female gymnasts be at least 16-years-old during the year in which they are competing.

Continue reading Revenge of the Chinese Baby Gymnasts.

Death of a Slave as the New American Dream

By David W. Boles on August 20, 2008 6:28 AM | 21 Comments

Is this beautiful rendering of a "Death of a Slave" an erotic meeting of impermanence and inevitability -- or is it more a cold, moral homily, against the wages of living a sacred life?

Continue reading Death of a Slave as the New American Dream.

Mocking the Slit-Eye: Racist or Stereotypical?

By David W. Boles on August 19, 2008 7:45 AM | 11 Comments

Some disturbing photographs have peeled the eyes off of Internet readers over the last few days as the Asian "slit-eye" gesture has made the news. The first image to hit the eye was this one of the Spanish basketball team in Beijing mocking the "slit-eyes" of their host nation:

Continue reading Mocking the Slit-Eye: Racist or Stereotypical?.

P90X Review, Part Two

By Gordon Davidescu on August 18, 2008 6:50 PM | 8 Comments

Gordon Davidescu wrote this article.

"The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry." How often I have repeated this expression, an adaptation of a couple of verses from a poem by Robert Burns : "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft a-gley." This seems quite relevant to my P90X training and it stuck out to me over and over again when I thought I had things just right, and then managed to fail in a glorious manner.

Continue reading P90X Review, Part Two.

Usain Bolt Loses While Winning Gold

By David W. Boles on August 18, 2008 10:08 AM | 13 Comments

Saturday night -- 6-foot-5-inch Usain Bolt of Jamaica -- won the 100-meter race at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and, in grabbing the gold, he lost so much more.

Continue reading Usain Bolt Loses While Winning Gold.

The Failure of Unceasing Applause

By David W. Boles on August 15, 2008 7:57 AM | 18 Comments

Can there be a deadly condition of "too much applause" that is bad for the body and damaging to the community whole? Is it more cruel to sit on your hands and withhold applause -- or is it better to applaud to show support and how well mannered you are no matter who or what or why your hands are making sound against each other?

Continue reading The Failure of Unceasing Applause.

A Drunk in China?

By David W. Boles on August 14, 2008 9:44 AM | 14 Comments

The Internets are flying with rumors American President George W. Bush was behaving strangely at the 2008 Beijing Olympics -- some believe he appeared drunk in public, and one online magazine has wondered aloud in the past if Bush is a "Dry Drunk" -- and so if an image speaks a thousand words, I'm curious what the following captures in time reveal to you.

Continue reading A Drunk in China?.

Spam that Smothers More than Your Mother

By David W. Boles on August 13, 2008 9:38 AM | 16 Comments

We know the web is filled with disingenuous sycophants and, if you have any sort of noble life on the Internets, you know all about Hate Mail. If you're busy and successful, you hold your breath while writing email and, finally, you feel the twinge of not being able to tweak when you email Inbox is empty.

Continue reading Spam that Smothers More than Your Mother.

Do We Love Pets More than People?

By David W. Boles on August 12, 2008 9:46 AM | 18 Comments

Dealing with the death of a pet is, for some people, an event from which they never recover. Where once we just buried pets in the backyard under a foot of dirt -- or dumped the carcass in the trash bin like garbage--many now honor their deceased pets with cremation, mausoleums, headstones and other burial rites that were formerly reserved in the domain of people.

Continue reading Do We Love Pets More than People?.

As Beijing Sings, the World Sighs

By David W. Boles on August 11, 2008 6:06 AM | 10 Comments

In April, I wrote -- Extinguishing the 2008 Olympic Beijing Flame -- and I wondered then about the passion and the fruitfulness of the Olympics in Red China. After watching the opening ceremonies on Friday night, I cannot think of a more effective spectacle explaining how True Art meets politics to conflate the nobleness of the human body into one giant, shared, sigh of relief.

Continue reading As Beijing Sings, the World Sighs.

The Danger of Celebrity Twinning

By David W. Boles on August 8, 2008 8:34 AM | 10 Comments

Lisa Marie Presley -- the single spawm of King Elvis -- announced this week she is pregnant with twins.

Continue reading The Danger of Celebrity Twinning.

Marrying an Ugly Girl

By David W. Boles on August 7, 2008 6:51 AM | 12 Comments

I was riding on a dollar van yesterday -- you pay a local step van driver to sweep you up and down the streets so you don't have to walk -- and I overheard a conversation between a wrinkled and crusty old man and pock-faced younger boy: "Marry an ugly girl," the old man said in a heavy Spanish accent, "and you'll be happy the rest of your life because she'll be grateful for the attention and content with the ring on her finger."

Continue reading Marrying an Ugly Girl.

Replacing Radical Caring with Dangerous Indifference

By David W. Boles on August 6, 2008 7:55 AM | 10 Comments

What happens when we replace rage with complacency and radical caring with a benign, yet dangerous, indifference?

Continue reading Replacing Radical Caring with Dangerous Indifference.

Pimping Out the iPhone with AppsJuice

By David W. Boles on August 5, 2008 8:48 AM | 14 Comments

Chelsea Clinton, Pimpjuice and Cocaine have nothing on the addictive -- and likely unhealthy -- effects the new iPhone Apps store has in helping to AppsJuice up your day. I've had my new iPhone 3G for a week today and, as you can see, I've gone a little crazy pimping out my iPhone with over a Gig of new AppsJuice experiences:

Continue reading Pimping Out the iPhone with AppsJuice.

Respect is Not Earned

By David W. Boles on August 4, 2008 6:03 AM | 14 Comments

With each breaking day, the culture of our world community is cracking into crassness and the memes of delivery for that debasing of human nature lives in the tubes of the internets. When you see the -- now infamous -- image of the boy below, do you laugh or cringe?

Continue reading Respect is Not Earned.

sosASL.com for Emergency First Responders

By David W. Boles on August 1, 2008 6:22 AM | 10 Comments

Clear and equal communication between people after an urgent event can be a matter of life-and-death -- and it is in that spirit of critical caring about the Deaf Community that Janna and I created sosASL.com: A free public website for use by the Deaf and emergency first responders.

Continue reading sosASL.com for Emergency First Responders.

« July 2008 | Main Index | Archives | September 2008 »

David W. Boles: 36 in yer eye: One safe haven case has ended read more
https://me.yahoo.com/a/_fuPGis13M0RZL2q1o.zkSmSUPDb_9nBD7s-#82b5c: I'd really love an invite as soon as you can read more
David W. Boles: There you are, Anne! You're right that the environment could read more
ANNE: I'm not so sure about killing babies because you THINK read more
David W. Boles: Right, Nicola! Knowing more about the kids is important and read more
David W. Boles: I have to confess, Nicola, that I like Blair's provocative read more
Nicola Brown: I also agree that you need a bigger sample and read more
Nicola Brown: Mr Blair got a lot of flak for those comments. read more
David W. Boles: Dananjay -- It's pretty hard to aim a gun the read more
David W. Boles: Hi Dananjay -- Yes, if we accepted the premise, then read more

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