Days or weeks later another military doctor came to see him and signed him off to return to the fight.  He can’t hear out of one ear, he is brain damaged, and they are forcing him to go back into the war.  I thought this was horrible, but the article just got worse.  He was supposed to be done with his tour in August, but because he got hurt and had to have months of rehabilitation the government is sending him back, brain damaged and all, to make up for the time he was in the hospital.  Stop-loss is the most ridiculous policy I have ever heard of.  This is just one straw in the bale of corruption that our government lives by everyday.

But in reality, Dubai is a traffic mess, and a road system incapable of functioning under the levels of closures required during a U.S. President’s visit to a city in the Middle East. Even, Sheikh Zayed road, the main artery of the city, is being shut down; that is major and is enough to bring Dubai to a stand still. So, it’s not surprising that they had to declare a holiday, to keep cars off the streets.

This is still kind of ironic as Dubai is supposed to be this place at the forefront of building an amazing city of the future; yet, all it takes is a visit from a “not so popular on this side of the world leader of the free world“ to bring it to a grinding halt!

Photos: BBC, Streetsblog

The past year with MediaTemple was kind of bumpy in the beginning, with all the issues they had with the grid server. Even though most of the grid server issues have been resolved over the past year, it still felt like I was not getting what was promised, and the price felt steep too. So, yesterday when I got the automatic renewal email, renewing the grid server account for another year for $160 (that’s minus $40 which was given back for the grid server failure), I decided it was time to move on.

Over the year, I have been very happy with the DreamHost account, and with occasional referrals it kind of pays for itself. So, yesterday, all my sites (Counterjumper, Karmadude, India60, Blogpost), were moved to DreamHost. Since all the sites use WordPress, it was an easy process to move. Here are the steps I followed:

1. Setup domain and DNS at DreamHost
2. Zip up the root folder from MediaTemple server
3. Export the database for the site
4. Import database to DreamHost
5. Unzip site to DreamHost server
6. update WordPress wp-config.php to point to new database server

Everything went smooth, except for a couple of things on the DreamHost end like:

1. For a domain, have DreamHost tech support adjust MX records to point to gmail.
2. Since DreamHost has disabled allow_url_fopen in php for security reasons, I had to change some of the functions to use cURL for file access using url. This was quiet easy to do, and the DreamHost wiki had most of the answers.

Overall a smooth transition from MediaTemple to DreamHost, and all the sites seem to be working. However, I am not going to get too excited about this move yet, as DreamHost has their share of issues as well. So, I am going wait out a few months and then see how the sites perform. In the meanwhile if you notice any bugs, do leave a comment and let me know.

However, this post is not about that, but about one of the Federal requirements for eligibility to donate to a political campaign I came across on the donation page of ronpaul2008.com.

2. I am a United States citizen or a lawfully-admitted permanent resident. If a foreign national, I have permanent resident status and hold a green card.

Being a permanent resident, one of my favorite things to say is, “Taxation without representation”. So, I found it funny that US Federal law allows a permanent resident to donate without representation as well. If you agree to the above section, and you are a permanent resident, then basically it’s telling you, “You can’t vote, but you sure can give us all the money you want.”

One a lighter note, check out how the Japanese vacation, looks like personal space is not an issue in Tokyo’s Summerland wave pool! Must suck for the life guard. In other bizzare news from Japan, due to a plumbing error, for the last ten years students at Hiroshima University’s Higashi-Hiroshima campus have been drinking toilet water!

Font find – Komika Poster

How to think like a great graphic designer: James Victore

The unspoken part of what we do is compromise. Clients don’t just come to me and say, “James Victore, he’s the auteur, we’ll let him do what he wants.� I have very little of that.

Facebook on iPhone

In his report about the “Ghost chili”, AP writer Tim Sullivan, says eating a whole chili pepper is “something like gargling battery acid and glass shards.” I kind of know that feeling, five years back I had eaten a whole habanero, and that was fifteen minutes of extreme torture from within. At about twice the heat level of a habanero, I am sure a whole bhut jolokia can cause some serious damage!

PHOTO BY: Adam Wolf

Did you invest in Apple?
Form the rumor mill: The iCar!

via Airbag

Next, in a live interview with Wolf Blitzer, Michael Moore counters, and blasts CNN, Wolf and Dr. Sanjay Gupta for putting out lies on the behalf of HMO’s and drug companies for whom they serve. He leaves promising to put out a point by point rebuttal of CNN’s claims.

Michale Moore’s ‘SiCKO’ Truth Squad Sets CNN Straight

Now looks like Larry King wants to steal some of the limelight, and is bringing Moore and Dr. Sanjay Gupta together for a debate tonight. This should be entertaining. Well if you can’t get any real news from CNN, at least they are entertaining the masses!! Email your questions.

Great Wall of China

PHOTO BY: Eugene Wei

Petra in Jordan

PHOTO BY: Luby Lu

Brazil’s statue of Christ the Redeemer

PHOTO BY: Daryl Sng

Peru’s Machu Picchu

PHOTO BY: Michael McDonough

Mexico’s Chichen Itza pyramid

PHOTO BY: Rafael Ludwig

The Colosseum in Rome

PHOTO BY: David Doyle

India’s Taj Mahal

PHOTO BY: Prakhar Amba