High School Teachers Not Educated On Copyright Or Morality

By
10 February 2004
3 min read
3 Comments
In Art, Rights
937 views

I received an email from someone in California about some stationary they bought while in Australia a year ago, with some black and white Australian animal sketches that I did apparently. They wanted to know if there was anywhere in California they could get some more of these items.

I was dumbfounded. Huh? Then I cast my mind back to when I was in high school, there was a teacher who asked if I’d do some sketches for him to print out onto stationary and sell at the markets. I was of course going to get a fee, although undecided at the time. I did the sketches but the teacher then informed me he wasn’t going to go ahead with them after all.

At least that’s what he told ME…

This had to be what the Californians were talking about. My name must be on the pieces some where, so they’ve done a web search and come up with my website and email. I replied asking if they could remember where they got them from, “Paddy’s Markets”.

I’m not quite sure what pisses me off more, the fact that I’m being ripped of by a teacher (whose name I can’t remember), or that very shitty artwork can be traced back to me. Like I said, I did these when I was in high school, they’re crap!

If anyone else seems to have purchased any of these items with said artwork could you please email me with info on where you bought them. I’m not going to blow your head off or sue you, hey you didn’t do anything wrong. I just need more info. Maybe even a scan of the actual item so I can see where my name is or something.

Guess where I’m going this Saturday…

Mozilla Firefox

By
10 February 2004
38 second read
2 Comments
In Technology
801 views

Mozilla have released the new version of Firebird and it has been rebadged as Mozilla Firefox and gained a cute new logo. Firefox is now at version 0.8.
There’s also a new version of Mozilla Thunderbird, now at version 0.5.

Nice to have a functional, standards compliant alternative to the evil of Microsoft’s Outlook and Internet Explorer.

Nathan J Exhibit Online

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9 February 2004
1 min read
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In Art
795 views

The Nathan J exhibition, Girls and Other Scary Things, has been posted online at the Outré Gallery web site. I would link straight to the appropriate page, but the site uses frames and some annoying javascript that takes you back to the home page with frames even after you open just the content frame in a new window. GGRRRRRRRRR!!!!!
Any way, it’s accessable from the exhibitions link. There are some nice prints and with some equally nice price tags. I also reccommend the blind boxed mini tree house figures. Their cute factor is very high!

Wacom Love

By
9 February 2004
3 min read
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In Technology
760 views

I LLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE my new graphics tablet, a 9×12″ intuos 2 in deep purple (it even comes in purple!). I’ve been using it for about a week now and don’t know how I’ve handled drawing with a mouse for so long. I’ve even been coming into work earlier, (this is in part due to me needing more time to redesign and code my website which I now don’t like too much), but also to work on some drawngs for a flash quiz.

It’s captured a bit of attention at work due in part to it’s size. “OOOOO!!! Did work pay for that?” They ask in awe and sly curiosity. “No”, I flatly reply, “They didn’t”, even though I will be primarily be using it for work. Company’s insurance will cover it incase something happens to it while it’s at work, all though they weren’t sure if that was possible for a couple of days because it’s not work’s property, i’t MINE! When I go, so does the tablet.

Our operations department did try to get the company to buy said tablet for me, but company said “Na!”, so I thought, “Fuck you! I’ve been creating vector illustrations for our new website, icons for other clients and am currently working on a flash quiz, I need something to help me get this work done faster and easier. I want one for myself at home any way, so fuck it, I’m buying one!”.

Worth every penny, and the bungled address saga which made the delivery of tablet far more annoying and lengthy on my end.

Would You Warranty Your Email?

By
8 February 2004
51 second read
In Technology
593 views

A team from the University of Michigan is proposing an economic solution to spam. Instead of relying on technical solutions or government regulations, they use a sender warranty system. In some cases, they argue, it can even be superior to a perfect filter with zero cost, and no errors. With the caveat that some infrastructure is necessary, they also claim their approach restores control to the recipient, halts spam, and creates a marketplace for valuable information exchange

Smog-Busting Paint Soaks Up Noxious Gases

By
7 February 2004
44 second read
In Science
600 views

A paint that soaks up some of the most noxious gases from vehicle exhausts will goes on sale in Europe in March. Its makers hope it will give architects and town planners a new weapon in the fight against pollution. Called Ecopaint, the substance is designed to reduce levels of the nitrogen oxides, collectively known as the NOx gases, which cause respiratory problems and trigger smog production

Dreadlock Repair

By
6 February 2004
2 min read
41 Comments
In Craft
767 views

Needle Felting DreadlocksSometimes dreadlocks are contrary things and they develop weak spots, where the hair thins, to annoy you. I had one such spot, fortunately near the end of a dread, that was defying my best efforts to correct. It was getting to the point of trimming the offending dread when a solution occurred to me.
If you haven’t heard of needle felting, it’s one of those fad crafts that come and go in waves. It’s based on the process used to make industrial felt. A lot of synthetics aren’t that keen on being felted, so barbed needles are punched through, dragging the fibres into an interlocked fabric. Needle felting is the same thing on a smaller scale and is useful if you need to sculpt fibre and felt. I don’t, so had no real interest in it, until it occurred to me that it may be a viable way to repair my dread.
I grabbed a friend who is into needle felting, stuck my head on the table and let her rip. She folded the damaged section of dreadlock onto itself and needle felted the join. It only took a couple of minutes and worked like a charm. The repaired section is indistinguishable.
I wouldn’t recommend it for weak spots closer to your scalp, but it is a useful technique for combating otherwise difficult to repair ends.

Dog Rape Attempt Gone Awry

By
6 February 2004
1 min read
In Weird, Wildlife
577 views

A Thai man was mauled when he drunkenly tried to sexually attack a dog that fiercely resisted his advances. The bloodied man was questioned by police after residents notified local authorities when they saw him walking along a road. He told police he noticed a brown female stray dog wagging its tail and acting sexy and pulled it into some tall grass by the roadside. But the dog resisted, biting him on his face, chest and arms before he gave up his attempt and tried to stagger home. Under further questioning he admitted to raping three dogs previously while he was under the influence of alcohol. He told police he always became aroused when he drank heavily but did not have enough money to pay a prostitute — via Die Puny Humans

A Dossier for Every Person in Utah

By
5 February 2004
47 second read
In Rights, World
550 views

Former Utah Governor Mike Leavitt signed Utah’s 2.4 million residents up for a pilot program — MATRIX, Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange — that gathers dossiers on every single man, woman and child and didn’t bother to tell anyone. The Utah legislature is trying to figure out how to get the state out of the program but the question is how was the Governor able to enroll the whole state without anyone knowing

Mingering Mike

By
5 February 2004
58 second read
In Entertainment
673 views

A vinyl fan stumbled on an amazing find at a flea market — a collection of about 35 or 40 hand-drawn and hand-painted album covers made between 1969 and 1976, some complete with fake cardboard records inside them. Mingering Mike [BugMeNot] put together all of these albums as if he were the musician. The covers are complete with hand-drawn barcodes, track listings, lyrics, drawings of the band(s), and in some cases, liner notes. He did soul and funk albums and blaxploitation soundtracks (for movies that never existed), and even a christmas album

What’s Your Law?

By
4 February 2004
1 min read
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In Science
759 views

John Brockman has asked his Edgy band of scientists, futurists, writers, and philosophers about some bit of wisdom, some rule of nature, some law-like pattern, either grand or small, that you’ve noticed in the universe that might as well be named after you, like those of Newton, Moore, or Murphy — via kottke.org

Diffrient‘s Law: The laws of nature are more like habits.

Sheldrake‘s Principle: The improvements derived from technological advances have an equal and opposite effect on culture and the environment magnified by time and scale.

Anderson‘s Second Law: A scientist who can speak without jargon is either an idiot or a genius.

Raymond‘s Law of Software: Given a sufficiently large number of eyeballs, all bugs are shallow.

Godwin‘s Law: As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.

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