Tortured Artist Incident #1 Zillion-and-4

By
12 October 2004
2 min read
2 Comments
In Design
997 views

I’m working on some artwork for our company’s christmas party invite. The theme is winter wonder land, we’ve hired some large fluffy polar bear cut outs (growly bears) for decoration and I though the invite should therefore feature a polar bear.

I opted for a very deceptively classy smooth Arctic background with stars, two scripty fonts, some cartoony penguins (think Japanese character stationery), dangling from and icy curly glacier with a polar bear trying to reach them so he can eat them. The polar bear is also thinking about a roast chicken as he is trying to eat the penguins.

I have received the following criticisms from my party organising colleagues before sending it out to the company.

1. The polar bear is too fierce/aggressive. Can you at least take off his claws?

How many friendly, cuddly polar bears without claws have you met?

2. I don’t get why the polar bear is thinking about chicken.

Have you been watching cartoons over the past 50 years? Man it’s a classic toon cliché!

3. But the fierce polar bear doesn’t go with the style and isn’t what the theme is about.

Obviously very new to the use of contradiction as humour.

Nothing has been said about my Santa’s sweatshop sign depicting a swoosh logo in candy stripes. I guess that one hasn’t hit the radar yet.

Maybe I’m being over protective, or these subtle things are too subtle.

GRRRRRR!!

Before:

After:

FBI Seizes Indymedia Servers

By
12 October 2004
47 second read
In Rights, Technology
681 views

The FBI has issued an order to hosting provider Rackspace in the US, ordering it to turn over two of the servers [BugMeNot] hosting the Independent Media Centre’s web sites in the UK. Rackspace complied with the FBI order, without first notifying Indymedia, and turned over Indymedia’s server in the UK. This affects over 20 Indymedia sites worldwide. The servers have since been returned, but are being treated as compromised

Giant Ape May Be New Species

By
12 October 2004
41 second read
In Science, Wildlife
617 views

An elusive giant ape [BugMeNot] has been spotted in remote forests in central Africa, sparking theories that it could be a new species of primate — a finding that would be the most astonishing wildlife discovery in decades. The mysterious creatures have been seen in forests around the towns of Bondo and Bili, in the far north of the Democratic Republic of Congo

Matter Of National Importance

By
11 October 2004
36 second read
In World
606 views

The wags at Fairfax have sent out a job ad for Prime Minister: Having previously advertised elsewhere, and after receiving only two mediocre applications, our client is now undergoing an urgent nationwide search for the position of Leader of Our Great Country. Somehow, I can’t see Murdoch’s press monkeys doing the same thing

The Trouble With Political Jokes Is That They Get Elected

By
10 October 2004
1 min read
In Politics
545 views

As if I needed any more proof that the vast number of my countrymen are deeply stupid people, John Howard was re-elected as moron in chief. Not that Latham‘s any better, but it seems Australians are far too apathetic to kick the arses of two of the country’s biggest idiots. At least there is some satire on the matter around: You have betrayed the lord our Gough and his only begotten political son, Latho. Fie, FIE! I predict there will be seven plagues of regret: the sale of Telstra, the destruction of Medicare, more damaging Americanisations, higher interest rates, further embarrassing human rights abuses against immigrants and indigenous people, Christian fundamentalists, and Tony Abbott

Presidential Candidates Arrested

By
10 October 2004
32 second read
In Politics
554 views

Two Presidential candidates — for the Green and Libertarian parties — attempted to serve papers on the Commission on Presidential Debates, demanding the right to participate. As they attempted to approach the CPD officials, they were arrested. Makes the behaviour of the Australian pollies look tame by comparison — via BoingBoing

Australians Go To The Polls

By
9 October 2004
42 second read
In Politics
562 views

Voting is under way across the country, as 13 million Australians choose their next leader. Oh joy, the time has come around again where we get to choose to keep the lying mongrel we have or swap him for an almost indistinguishable lying mongrel. I don’t see why we can’t have them both taken out the back and beaten with a stick

Yellow Irises

By
9 October 2004
22 second read
Leave a comment
In Wildlife
712 views

The tall bearded irises that I got from Kris have flowered. Their large, bright yellow flowers are quite spectacular.

Now to see what the rest of the irises look like when they flower.

Spammers Target Opt-Out Link

By
7 October 2004
31 second read
In Technology
553 views

Business e-mail security provider, MessageLabs, has issued a warning to Internet users not click on the opt-out link on spam e-mails, as the company said it had discovered yesterday a number of messages using this function to open a spam distribution point on the recipient’s computer

Hitachi, Toshiba Show Portable Fuel Cells

By
7 October 2004
36 second read
In Technology
567 views

Hitachi and Toshiba unveiled new fuel cell prototypes for a range of applications that could be commercialised as early as next year. The prototypes on display at Ceatec Japan 2004 show that fuel cells could become a widely adopted supplementary power source to conventional lithium ion batteries, and could start replacing them in some applications after 2007

Internet Body Slams Censorship Policy

By
6 October 2004
49 second read
In Rights, Technology
548 views

The Western Australian Internet Association has slammed the Internet censorship policy created by the Family First Party in the wake of Australia’s biggest ever child porn bust. The group said it shares the public’s outrage over the child pornography racket but it is concerned that the actions of a small minority could be used as a justification for unwarranted restrictions on the rights of ordinary Internet users to access material freely online

Superbug A Growing Problem Outside Hospitals

By
4 October 2004
49 second read
In Health, Science
605 views

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus — known as MRSA — an antibiotic-resistant germ is increasingly causing skin infections and pneumonia in otherwise healthy children and adults. What’s particularly worrisome is that these infections are being acquired in the community — not the hospital, as has been the usual case until now. Michael Levey’s team at Pharmaceutica in Worcestershire, UK, claims to have discovered a compound that renders the MRSA superbug vulnerable to the antibiotic it normally resists

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