Here are some of the rural traffic jams in Portugal. We do not get many of them — but here are some of the common causes.
First, a farmer leaving the fence with openings so the cows can cross the road from one pasture to another to get water.
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Prehistoric Portugal and the Iberian Mesopotamia
Hidden away in the cork forests and olive tree covered hills of Alentejo are some real historical gems — especially in the area around Guadaloupe near Evora which is known as the “Iberian Mesopotamia.” The most famous of these is the Cromlech of the Almendres megalithic complex — an ancient stone circle, and to the South the amazing passage mound — The “Anta Grande do Zambujeiro.”
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Sitting on a Script Professor Domain Squatter
On February 6, 2012 I wrote — David W. Boles is THE Script Professor — because some unsavory person in another country created a new domain based on my ScriptProfessor.com domain by merely adding a “the” before “ScriptProfessor.com” to create “TheScriptProfessor.com” and I was outraged:
Let there be NO DOUBT on the Internets that I, David W. Boles, am, are, and forever shall be, THE Script Professor! I have been THE Script Professor since November 28, 2005, so let there be no question to my authenticity as pale imitators and purposeful thieves step forward and try to wrangle in private and modify in public my mark to serve their selfish ends by fogging reality and futzing legal authority.
This week, I was able to reclaim that illegally registered domain and “TheScriptProfessor.com” now rightly redirects to “ScriptProfessor.com” and the world is right and good again as you can see in this partial screenshot of some of the domains I own and operate:
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MRSA Revisited: “Out, D-a-m-n-e-d Spot! Out, I Say!”
Four or five months ago when I was doing my routine self-breast check I found a small pea sized lump on my breastbone, nestled in my cleavage.
A quick check with our doctor at the time confirmed what I had first thought — a fatty lump or sebaceous cyst — nothing to be concerned about.
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The Liberator: Using 3D Printers to Kill
If you had access to a 3D printer and could create only one thing out of plastic, from scratch, what would you make? An implantable human ear replacement? A filter for pumping clean water in thirsty third-world nations? What about forming something fun and whimsical like, say, an acoustic guitar? Or, would you take the tunnel of least resistance, and the road of the lowest common human morality, and choose to print a plastic gun for killing people?
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Moving Boxes and Boxes of Kittens
Big boxes, little boxes, round boxes, wooden boxes, plastic boxes, crates, chests and of course a suitcase or four, plastic bags a plenty and of course a kitten or five — yes it is official — we are on the move. Official tenancy starts 1st June — we have until 31st May to pack up the contents of the house — that is my job — and all the agricultural equipment, a dead car or two plus all the tools and spares and their housing as well as our tractor. There is also a garage to clear — thank goodness that is his job!
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Rise of the Flat Numbers: Chase Sapphire Preferred and Discover It
I appreciate good design and aesthetic challenges to the common core. One new trend I’ve noticed in credit card design from some of the bigger, more daring, banks is to eschew using raised account numbers on their credit cards. My new Chase Sapphire Preferred card is quite beautifully designed in shape and substance, but it is a little less daring than the same card that was issued only a year ago.
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The Mentalist: Why Teresa Lisbon Must Be Red John
Season Six of “The Mentalist” ended last night and it was a terrific season finale. We were left wondering about the “seven suspects” that I suspect are no longer suspects at all since Red John has identified them all to our beloved protagonist Patrick Jane. As much as I love Australian actor Simon Baker, I am distraught that I now realize the only proper way the series can finally end is in his death at the hands of the Real Red John: His soon-to-be-lover-and-still-boss, Teresa Lisbon. Yes, Teresa Lisbon is Red John and always has been because, you see, it can be no other way and still honor the moral code of the series.
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Return of 17-Year Cicadas
As the Spring warms the air and welcomes the emergence of crawly creatures back into the light, the East Coast is beginning to buzz in anticipation of the return of periodical cicadas. From Georgia to New York, we can expect to see the winged bugs — Magicicadas — leave their underground burrows and emerge from their 17 year stay in the soil.
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When Religion tries to Become Science, Bad Things Happen
There’s a lot of righteous arguing on The Internets recently concerning the way religion and science are cleverly being mashed up by fanatical Christian fundamentalists to create a whole new anti-science, anti-reality, anti-educational rhetoric that is being fed to our children as something real and true and factual when it is not. The monsters behind this religious terrorism of the mind are the same evildoers who invented the “Creation Museum” where they argue that people walked the earth with the dinosaurs even though there is a 65 million year gap between the last dinosaur and the first human.
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Accessing the Digital Public Library of America
Today, May 4, 2013 marks the sixth anniversary of what used to be the “Boles University Blog.” That fine scholarship and research blog is now folded into this even finer, and richer, and deeper Boles Blogs Blog, and in celebration of promoting online pedagogy and in-person teaching, let’s take a look at the fascinating, and new, “Digital Public Library” of America!
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Tripping Over Times Square
Last night, Janna and I were rushing home after teaching in New York City, and in the middle of Times Square, I had a moment I hope I never get to repeat. I tripped — over my own two feet, or the curb, or a break in the sidewalk — and instantly fell long and hard on the sidewalk. I was stunned for a moment and didn’t quite know where I was. Janna was behind me somewhere and I remember one woman bending down to ask me if I was okay.
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Finding Iced Coffee in New York City
I love coffee, and when the weather gets particularly warm I make the switch over to iced coffee — never mind the fact that I have been told for years that you should drink hot drinks when it is hot outside and cool drinks when it is cool. I prefer a cold drink. For the most part I have almost always gotten both kinds of coffee from Starbucks, which is quite easy when you’re in Manhattan — there is almost always one or five within a few blocks of your location.
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Did the Supreme Court Wait too Long to Stuff the Gays Back in the Closet?
Jason Collins stepped out of the dark closet and into the pure light of day to make history as the first Gay professional athlete to “come out” in the four major USA team sports: Football, Basketball, Baseball and Ice Hockey. Some in the New York media have dismissed Jason’s bravery with indifference, “So what if he’s Gay?” they bleat. That sort of false nonchalance is an attempt to undercut Jason’s history-making move by belittling him for being something special when they think he is not.
