Dustin Boston

• California Voters Will Get Chance to Overturn Gay Marriage

  Two months after the California Supreme Court struck down the ban on "gay marriage" on the Golden State, the same court on July 16 voted in favor of allowing a proposed constitutional marriage amendment to remain on the November ballot. This amendment will allow every citizen to speak out in favor of either gay marriage or in favor of a biblical design of marriage being the union of one man and one woman.

• Go. See. The Dark Knight. I, as a comic geek, would not change a thing! #

I think that the Town of Gilbert was trying to honor the fact that Independence Day is on the 4th by only shooting off four fireworks. After the embers from one of them fell upon the crowd they decided to move the show which resulted in a mass exodus. Maybe next year. Anyway I managed to capture all four fireworks.

So they’re not as amazing as Mary’s beautiful photographs but hey, I can try.

Update: These photos were taken with an old Pentax ME Super 35mm FILM not digital, ISO 400, fstop @ 8.5, focused on infinity, no flash. Put it on manual and hold the shutter open for 3 or 4 seconds. I think I could have done better with a) better fireworks, b) ISO 100 — less grainy, c) a remote shutter release. I think I shook the camera a little bit on a couple of the photos.

References

• How to Photograph Fireworks (for digital)
• 11 Tips for Sparkling Fireworks Photos

• @cerebralrunoff - Wubi is great. You will want to remove Windows soon… #
• Blogged: Maximize Your Sabbath by Asking These Eight Questions http://tinyurl.com/6xvdn9 #

• Michele Bachmann: Planned Parenthood is the Wal-Mart of abortion (Wizbang)

  This video is fantastic. It's a presentation by Michele Bachmann (R-MN) to an almost empty chamber, but that doesn't mean that it won't get any attention (I hope). It shows her rightfully slamming Planned Parenthood's non-profit status as a scam and a fraud, calling it both the Lenscrafters and Wal-Mart of abortion.

• Last night the car died while me and the family were at the drive-in. No it’s not a dead battery >:-@ We got home at 3am. Taxi + Tow … #
• Blogged: The Lazy Man’s Way to Avoid Burnout http://tinyurl.com/5dpllt #

• Canonical Smiley List

  This is just funny

• The Simple Dollar » The First Steps Away from Paycheck-to-Paycheck Living

  Paycheck-to-paycheck living happens when you are regularly waiting for your next paycheck before you make basic financial moves, here are Ten Tactics for Backing Away From Paycheck-to-Paycheck Living.

Here’s a question I’ve had for a while. How do you make money off of your blog if you are unwilling to use advertising? Can it ever be profitable?

I’ve thought of a few options but I’m hesitant to pull the trigger on any of them because they don’t seem viable:

Pay site

Whenever I come across a pay site I just think to myself “I’ll just find it somewhere else”

Donate button

If you don’t have a lot of passionate readers this won’t work

Sell a product

Of course the big trend these days is to write a book. That’s cool but what else?

Schwag

This mostly means selling branded t-shirts. Again we have an issue about passionate readers

I’m stumped. Suggestions?

• We Want Tap

  The bottled water industry is a triumph of marketing over common sense. Although the UK has amongst the best tap water in the world, consumers spend nearly £2bn to buy it in bottles. This isn't just silly, it's bad…

• Blogged: A Quick Way to Ruin Your Marriage and Children http://tinyurl.com/6lu8yx #
• @cerebralrunoff Goodbye gallbladder #
• I’m getting blasted over on Unclutterer this morning: http://tinyurl.com/5so3mw #

• CBMW » The Equal Parenting Movement Meets Reality

  Will dad ever do his share? That is the question asked by the cover article in Sunday's edition of The New York Times Magazine. Reporter Lisa Belkin takes a look at the movement for what is called "equal parenting." The most obvious problem with "equal parenting" is that it doesn't turn out to be very equal in reality.

• Choose Her

  Like most guys I have a hard time not criticizing the things my wife does that I consider to be wrong. I love how this post points out that criticism gets translated as a lack of value.

• F-Shaped Pattern For Reading Web Content (Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox)

  Eyetracking visualizations show that users often read Web pages in an F-shaped pattern: two horizontal stripes followed by a vertical stripe.

• Mas Classics- 714-828-1144 - vintage seats to modern motorcycle application page

  Brown Indian solo with Indian logo stamp.

• Brown Corbin Gentry Early Leather Solo Seat for Harley Vintage: 47-0529 Debrix Cycles- Parts for your Harley & Custom Motorcycles

  Brown Corbin Gentry Early Leather Solo Seat. Constructed using genuine drum dyed leather cover with padding, cobbler edge with rivet, replica.

• Footers Design Showcase | Elements of Design

  A showcase of the best designed Footers from around the web.

• 2008 Design Trends

  About a year ago, I compiled a huge list of artistic sites. It seems like the trend has carried on in 2008 and is growing stronger (thank God the glossy style is gone). So what’s hot now? Pencil sketches, handwritten notes, card stocks, watercolor effects, collage art, script fonts, grungy and splatter ink backgrounds (glossy gradients are not "in" this year). Another trend to be on the lookout for are the vintage and retro styles which I’ve posted earlier this year. Here is a list of 82 sites picked from Best Web Gallery that show the current design trends.

• The Arts and Faith Top 100 Spiritually Significant Films

  If you want to explore and wrestle with spiritual issues and questions in the wide world of international filmmaking…look no further than the …list of 100 spiritually significant films published at Arts & Faith.

• 13 Emotion-Based Headlines That Work | Copyblogger

  Last week’s post talked about why emotional benefits are critical to persuasive copy. But it’s one thing to talk about general concepts like “connection” or “fear,” and another to actually get these ideas into your writing.

• hCard Validator

  Very cool hCard validation tool.

• Blogging–It’s Good for You: Scientific American

  The therapeutic value of blogging becomes a focus of study

• Word Spy

  Each weekday, a new and insanely interesting word or phrase. We specialize in new and recently coined words.

• 7 Vital Characteristics of a Man | The Art of Manliness

  What makes a man? The question has been asked many a time through the ages with varied response.

• 13+ Fantastic Tools For Knowing How They’re Doing It

  A comprehensive list of more than 13 online tools that can help you figure out why some of your competitors are ranking better than you.

• QuickRef.org - all your docs are belong to us - PHP, Perl, CSS, HTML, Java, JavaScript, MySQL, Ruby, Python, and more

  Programmer's documentation search engine. Supercool.

• Another DIY light box, with build and test pics - Canon Digital Photography Forums

  Another DIY light box, with build and test pics Small Flash and Studio Lighting

• Tools | MySQL Performance Blog

  This page contains links to various tools we found helpful to use in practice. Some tools are written by us, others by third parties, yet another ones may be shipped with your operating system you just need to find they are there.

• Google Static Map Wizard - Create Your Own Static Maps » by solvium.de

  Create Your Own Static Map. It's easy! You won't have to hack some complicated code, but instead drag everything in the right position - your Static Map will update automatically.

• Text 2 Mind Map - An online text to mind map converter

  Text to Mind Map converter: Convert your text or list of keywords to a mind map instantly online! The text 2 mind map converter makes a mind map out of your bullet list. Also known as Text-2-mind-map converter or, shortly, Text2Mindmap.

• Google Maps Without JavaScript

  Neat way to use Google maps

• Facebook To Open Source Facebook Platform

  Sometime soon, perhaps this week, Facebook will turn the year-old Facebook Platform into an open source project, multiple sources have told us. The …

• Apartment Therapy The Kitchn | Dagger and Spoonchela: Tord Boontje’s Witches’ Kitchen

  Spork, spurk, dagger and spoonchela - here's a new set of cooking utensils from birds 'n' flowers Dutch designer Tord Boontje, perhaps best known for his romantic, emotional chandeliers and lighting. His lacy, layered style is not in evidence here, although he does draw on his fairy tale inspirations with old-fashioned conscientiousness…

• design:related - portfolio - Andy Smith

  Nice print work

• 30 Websites to follow if you’re into Web Development | Six Revisions - Useful information for Web Developers and Designers

  I’ve made it a goal to learn at least one useful thing each day so that I can stay sharp and well-versed on the topic of web development and design. To that end, here’s some of the websites I keep track of to find new techniques, resources, and news about building websites.

• Why Every Man Should Go to a Barbershop | The Art of Manliness

  During the golden age for barber shops,the barber shop was a weekly habit, not only for a haircut and a perfect shave, but also to fraternize with friends. //// I've really been wanting to take my son to get his first haircut at a local barbershop. Very cool.

• Build a Square Foot Garden - Wired How-To Wiki

  Square foot gardening is a variation on what's known as the French Intensive or Biointensive method of farming. Mel Bartholomew helped popularize the "square foot" name and even has a book on the subject. Note: The biointensive method is an organic agricultural system which focuses on maximum yields from the minimum area of land, while simultaneously improving the soil. The goal of the method is long term sustainability on a closed system basis. It has also been used successfully on small scale commercial farms.

• Smoking pipe (tobacco) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  Ooo I so want a pipe for fathers day/my birthday. This will be so great!

Ha ha! I fooled you! You thought I wasn’t going to blog here anymore. But you were wrong! I’m posting stuff here that isn’t related to my other blog, dBlogIt, which you shoudl definitely check out. Nuff said. Here’s Adam Hayes for ya.

Stickfort | NOTCOT

It is with great satisfaction that I present to you dBlogIt.com, the new home of dBlogIt! Yay! In addition to a place of it’s own I’ve moved the whole thing over to Movable Type (a professional publishing platform) in order to speed up page load time for you, my faithful readers.

But that’s not all! (That sounds so spammy)

I’ve also honed in on my topic, Manhood and Masculinity for the Christian Man. Expect my regular daily posting schedule to resume, but in a more focused and useful way.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the survey, and thank you so much for reading and participating!

I’m taking a brief hiatus from posting while I gear up for a new(ish) venture. Soon I’ll be moving the blog to it’s permanent home at dblogit.com. I’m also doing a special writing project and finishing up The Wilderness — a project that is a year in the making. Stick around, I’ll be back soon.

The Bible has so many incredible things to say regarding our identity. Here are just a few of them for you to meditate on.

1 John 3:1-2

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears,we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

John 15:15

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

Romans 8:15

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”

2 Corinthians 5:18

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:

Ephesians 2:19

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household,

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Proverbs 28:13

He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

Matthew 6:14-15

For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Psalm 32:5

Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD “–and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah

Philippians 1:5-7

because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me.

Photo by Patricia Soransso

As if I don’t already overshare enough it’s time to discuss the areas that will make this blog successful and the issues that are holding it back. It’s like I am a glutton for punishment. Yes, everybody, here are more of my shortcomings.

Issues

D. Keith Robinson, of internet fame, once said that a successful blog is

• Well written
• Frequently updated
• Consistent
• Open
• Responsive
• Well designed
• Aware of its audience
• Varied in topic
• Personal
• Thick skinned
• Honest
• Accountable
• Funny

I don’t want to reinvent the wheel so I will use those qualities as a basis for this blog. As Lorelle pointed out there are many other criteria for a successful blog. Due to the now-forming nature of this blog I’ve got to add a couple more:

• Present sound logical cases
• Be well organized and clutter-free

These could both fit into Keith’s list but I thought it would be better to split them out as they fit well with my objectives.

Present Position/SWOT Analysis

Strengths

• The arguments that I present are typically well researched and logically sound
• I’m familiar with the common logical fallacies
• I have an interesting design
• My personality type is good for this type of blog

Weaknesses

• I do not have a solid niche/brand, without which there will be no value to the articles that I post, nor prospects for monetization (if I do choose to go that route).
• I’m not very interesting and writing at a post-graduate level (sometimes) doesn’t help.
• It’s hard to find time to research
• Staying motivated. Oh how my mind wanders. I got bored with this post an hour ago. Just kidding.
• Fostering logical discussion and being nice to commenters
• Posting about relevant universal topics

Opportunities

There is an opportunity to tap a Christian-intellectual niche. If the content is written well it could develop into a book. There is a possibility to further refine the niche to “entry level Christian intellectuals” like myself–those who do not have a background in philosophy or writing.

Threats

• CARM. If I go the Christian-intellectual route CARM has pretty much already done it. And in the print world this area is already pretty saturated (AFAIK) by theologians far greater than I.
• ChangeThis. In their own words, “We’re on a mission to spread important ideas and change minds.” The manifestos on this site are created by a multitude, not one individual. They look pretty. They’re interesting to read. And the idea was conceived by Seth Godin (jeeze). It’s also got a company behind it with more money than me.

It looks like I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me.

Interesting reads

• Where are the Christian Intellectuals?
• Can an Intellectual be a Christian?
• Why blog and what makes a blog successful?
• What makes a successful blog?

Photo by G.Chris Clark

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In this podcast I address the need to select a President that is concerned about eliminating National debt. I also talk about the benefits of a recession.

Referenced links

• Romans 13:8
• Matthew 6:12
• The Debt to the Penny and Who Holds It
• The good recession
• Are recessions good for you?
• Are recessions good for the economy?
• The good news about recession

Photo by bbaltimor

This part of the My Blog Blueprint series will address my Vision and Goals for the blog. They still feel a little rough, but here’s what I came up with.

It was much easier to write the Vision and Goals than the Mission Statement and Values. So much so that if felt almost haphazard. I’m sure this will be revised in the final Blog Blueprint. I’ll at least wrack my brain thinking about it some more just to make myself feel like it’s well thought out.

Photo by G.Chris Clark