[OR_liff] The Perfect Sister City For Boring, Oregon?

2804Why, that would be Dull, Scotland, of course.

No, seriously. Really.

I mean, here it is. Right next to the Dull Wood, in fact.

Why would anyone bother to make this up?

(Via)

The Treachery Of Images, 2009 PDX Version

1933.The world famous Magritte painting, The Treachery of Images, painted by the Surrealist master in 1929, made a statement about mapping meanings to objects. It, in case you haven't seen it (you actually have, if you don't think you have, you're just about to realize it), it depicts an unremarkable pipe (the kind you smoke tobacco in) with the legend in cursive beneath "Cece n'est pas une pipe" – this is not a pipe.

It teaches a lesson on meaning. As Magritte himself is said to have said:

The famous pipe. How people reproached me for it! And yet, could you stuff my pipe? No, it’s just a representation, is it not? So if I had written on my picture ‘This is a pipe,’ I’d have been lying!

In the spirit I interpret coming from the great Surrealist (who also happens to be my favorite 20th Century artist) I provide what to me is a sign of the times:

Given the disucssion above, you can see this works no matter what POV you have. If you think Sam should resign, then the image explains itself. If you enjoy the play of semiotics, then you know that this is not a Mayor ... it's just an image of one, it can't vote or attend City Council meetings or fib about dating an 18-year-old when he should have known better, and it can never redeem itself or earn forgiveness, and you can make that observation whether or not you care about whether or not he resigns or continues.

And if you really like meta, the message can be that the news coverage about the situation may not be the true story of the situation at all (I wonder if we'll ever know).

So, as the master might have said about this, "The famous Mayor ... how people have reproached me for it! But can you elect it to office? No, it is just a representation, is it not? If I had written on my picture 'This is a mayor,' I'd have been lying!"

Technorati Tags: Mayor Sam Adams, Portland Mayor Sam Adams

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Photobucket Sabotage?

1926.Did this happen to anyone else?

Photobucket hosts some of the content I use as illustrations here. Eariler today, I noticed a problem  with my header image ... it wasn't loading. So I tried going to the album in PB that hosts it and found that Firefox was being redirected.

Not anything else. Tried Opera and Safari. Just Firefox.

The redirection took me to a page that swore that my hard drive was infected and that it needed a cleaning, and a download sheet that I couldn't opt out of.

But after I cleared private data, it stopped. I of course reinstalled Firefox.

Not a problem since.

BTW, Crackers? Do I have your attention? Yes, most people have WindowsXP, but not everyone, you savvy? If you're going to have a fake virus scan display take over a web browser, we OS X users can tell a WinXP interface when we see it. At least make the effort to make the infterface experience look all OS X-y, okay?

Not only did your hack not work on me, it makes you look like you're phoning it in.

C'mon, you dips ... a little artistry, yes?

Technorati Tags: photobucket, crackery, hackery, system exploits

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We Think We Know Why Johnny Can't Concentrate In School

1913.There's been a big debate in the media and amongst John Q. Public about why kids have so much ADD these days and have such trouble focussing and studying in school.

I'll admit that I'm no expert, but I think I've found at least one piece of the puzzle. From a McDonald's direct mailing circular, this bit of marketing genius not only leapt out at us, it put its hands around our necks and pinned us to the ground until we tapped out:

Yep. You read it right: Get a free espresso with the purchase of any Happy Meal® or Mighty Kids Meal® purchase.

Just the thing little Jimmy/Janie/Akeem/Sanjay/whoever needs before breaking the back of 2+2=4; a nice healthy hit of caffeine. Mighty Kids Meal? More like Mighty Jittery Kids Meal. And the Happy Meal will be just that much brighter with a hit of hi-test.

And all the time I was but a neat thing, all the adults told me it would stunt my growth. Whatever that was supposed to mean.

Memo to McDonald's: It's called juxtaposition. Gott in Himmel, look into that, will you?

Technorati Tags: marketing, marketing genius, marketing blunders, McDonalds, espresso, kids meals, ad design

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One Man's Trash ...

1892. A sign of the times: Bernard Madoff Securities, Inc logo apparel, briefcases, post-it notes, and what not ... on sale at eBay. Now.

Supplies, as they say, are limited.

Technorati Tags: Bernie Madoff, Ponzi Scheme, Weird and Funny, The New Great Depression, Financial Meltdown 2009, Ponzi

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