Sometimes, of course, a business lunch is a bad idea to begin with.

Joshua Allen: Behind the Retro Curve

Why do the anti-war, anti-Bush protesters have such a hard time getting anything to stick?

In my opinion, they fail because they have failed to recognize the diminishing subliminal effectiveness of 60's and 70's pop-culture messages, and the Bush team has effectively marshalled 80's pop-culture engrams to appeal to today's young adults.

First, watch any video footage of George W. Bush walking -- notice how his chest rises and his arms hang a bit away from his sides when he walks, as if he has just been pumping iron and has too much muscle for his arms to fit flush to his sides. Notice how his shoulders never move independently of one another, like a plastic action hero.  Now look at the pictures below, and tell me the resemblence is not deliberate and calculated.

Today's young adults don't see anything wrong with the fact that Saddam and Bin Laden haven't yet turned up dead. If He-Man had ever killed Skeletor for good, what would we do for the next episode? You see, a good He-Man always wins, but he doesn't need no stinkin' DNA to prove it!

This is truly the dullest blog in the World.

Mark Simonson: The Scourge of Arial

Arial is everywhere. If you don't know what it is, you don't use a modern personal computer. Arial is a font that is familiar to anyone who uses Microsoft products, whether on a PC or a Mac. It has spread like a virus through the typographic landscape and illustrates the pervasiveness of Microsoft's influence in the world.