Slick Work

What a week. The latest thing is that the entire local coast is thick with vile, heavy, carcinogenic, toxic, fumy shipping oil. Jolly. Likely, the person in charge of the Pacific Adventurer was under pressure to meet deadlines, fill quotas or whatever management tripe you like, and so didn't consider avoiding the cyclone area. Nope, just carried right on through dangerous seas with dangerous cargo. So thanks, mate, for the ammonium nitrate over the side, and the hundreds of thousands of litres of oil along our coastline. Nice work.

The usual solution to this kind of disaster is to throw money at it, but I don't really think that that's going to fix it this time. While a gigantic fine is appropriate, I'd like to see more appropriate punishments handed out, to not only the captain, but also to the people further up the pecking order. Be forced to live in a house where every surface is coated in oil, including all food, for example.

It's hard not to be despondent about this kind of thing. The people responsible will not be held accountable in any meaningful way, we'll be left to deal with the pollution, life will carry on as normal. I just can't believe that this kind of thing still happens, I really can't.

Being election time, The Borg has seen this primarily as an opportunity to throw his usual tiresome array of schoolyard taunts. This does nothing but turn me away. If he were truly interested in gaining a bit of respect, he'd be meeting with Anna Bligh and asking what he and his colleagues can do to help.

Heartbreakingly, in the cyclone a school friend's brother was lost at sea. We've had a big spoonful of malevolent nature in this country over the past few weeks.

For Ms P

My dear friend, Ms P, made a post on her blog recently about how, as a pregnant woman, childcare was something she was beginning to think about. This prompted some bully boy dick to copy her picture and post to his blog, make repulsive comments about her, and get all his mates to start harrassing her on her blog. Classy. The result is that she has pretty much dissappeared from the web. I'm pretty sad about that, because Ms P is one of my favorite people to read online, particularly since we haven't lived in the same town for such a long time. So, to Ms P, I offer this cartoon in the hope that it encourages you to not take it personally.




To the sad-arses who think their time is best spent anonymously bullying a pregnant woman they have never met, well, I hope life looks up for you at some point.

Is Everyone In Your Time Retarded?

From realdanlyons via larvatus prodeo

Nerdy Needlework

I've got a tattoo that I feel needs a bit of work. I don't like it much, but don't see it so don't mind too much, either. I would like it transformed into something fabulous, though.

Browsing today I came across a few interesting ones, tattoos with a maths/science theme. Here's a couple of my favorites.

Left: Subatomic doodling. Right: Tuning in


Left: Logarithmic spiral Right: Entropy


And not so much a nice tattoo, but a hilariously practical one for some. I'm sure my chemistry exam results would have been a bit better for having had one at the time.

Happiness Via The Post

I got a parcel in the post today, which is always nice. This one was a gift from myself. I bought some prints from the very excellent Kate Banazi. I've been ogling Kate's work for some time, but was prompted to flex the plastic this time because she's generously donating all proceeds from her sale store to the Red Cross Bushfire appeal. I love the prints I unrolled today, and she even threw in another artist's proof as a bit of a bonus. What a gal.

Readers outside of Australia will not have much of a clue how big this bushfire thing is*. It's a very big deal. And I don't want to detract from that when I say this: if you are of a mind to donate some money please consider splitting it and giving half to the flood appeal. While the bottom bit is burning, the pointy bit is seeping and gushing and rotting. People are doing it tough up there, too; it must be galling to have become second-rate news.

*ABC coverage of bushfires. Note that I am avoiding this news as it's too distressing. You can make your own choice, but you've been warned.

ETA: Sorry, perhaps that should read "she even threw in another Artist's Proof". I don't mean a proof from another artist, but an "artist's proof". You know, a trial run before you start printing the edition. She just sent me an extra print, OK?

Valentine's Day is for Twitchers

And I don't mean birdwatchers. In addition to being the patron saint of lovers, St Valentine has charge of epileptics as well.



It's hardly a great surprise that epilepsy has a patron saint; it's so frightening and seemingly inexplicable that it was thought for a long time to be the work of the devil. What else could a sufferer and their family do but pray, pray, pray?

I've been reading a bit about epilepsy recently, and there's a lot about it I didn't know. I didn't know how many different types there are, for example. It's not all the dramatic thrashing about we see in the movies and on TV. An episode can take the form of just blanking out for a while, experiencing phantom sensations such a tastes or sounds, fluttering eyes, all kinds of things. And it's not genetic. I assumed it was.

So this Valentine's Day -- if you're not too amorously engaged to have the time, that is -- take the time to have a quick read of this first aid information for epilepsy.

Yay Me!

Two of my designs have been featured in the Remo General Store newsletter: Ligature Star and Remo Record. Perhaps I'll do up a Suburban Safari one to give to everyone for their birthdays this year. ;)