Entries Tagged 'graphic arts' ↓
August 28th, 2010 — 1389, Gates of Vienna, Islam, September 11, 2001, evil, graphic arts, humor, leftist-jihadist convergence, liberal
Originally posted at 2.0: The Blogmocracy
It takes a particular type of self-righteous and aggressive ignoramus to think that the real evils of this world will all go away if enough people can be shamed or bullied into denying that those evils exist.
Case in point:
Russell Simmons Unveils ‘Coexist’ Banner Near Ground Zero
Simmons’ apartment on Liberty St. overlooks Ground Zero. Each letter of the banner features different religious and spiritual symbols. Like Bloomberg, Simmons is a big supporter of the planned center: “I was trying to figure out ways I could reach people and promote a message of tolerance…The fact that it is a public discussion, that there’s so many against it is what I think is disappointing to me, that so many people don’t know that we founded our country on the First Amendment,” he told the AP.
Read the rest.
I am not the only one to complain
Recently, I have noticed that I am not the only one who despises this asinine symbolic slogan:
YouTube: Allen West Hates the Co-Exist Bumper Sticker
h/t: Kitman TV
More of Allen West’s speech here.
Coexist Reaction: The Good, The Bad, The Just Plain Silly
By Charlie Sykes
Story Created: May 15, 2009
(Story Updated: May 15, 2009)
As John McAdams sums up the story so far:
It all started with a parody from Tom McMahon, who was aggravated by the extremely smug and intellectually slovenly bumper sticker in which a variety of religious symbols spell out “COEXIST.”
McMahon produced a parody bumper sticker with Nazi and Communist symbols substituted.
His point, of course, was that some religious views are simply impossible to coexist with, and must (like Nazism and Communism) be fought.
Read the rest.
Update: Here’s another parody, courtesy of Mike C. on Blogmocracy:
‘Coexist’ in Firearm Manufacturer Logos
The underlying spiritual problem
When ‘tolerance’ proves to be nothing more than moral indifference and cowardice cloaked in self-righteousness, it is not a virtue but a vice.
Gates of Vienna: The Sin That Believes in Nothing
We Christians strongly believe in tolerance, and this is what British novelist Dorothy Sayers pointed out about “Tolerance”:
In this world it is called Tolerance, but in hell it is called indifference, the sin that believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and remains alive because there is nothing for which it will die.
If any viewpoint is equally as valid as any other, then no viewpoint has any meaning, and it matters not what any of us thinks, says, or does. This philosophy is truly satanic, and it is called nihilism.
April 7th, 2010 — Blogmocracy, Obama, U.S. Constitution, U.S. Legislature, U.S. law, blogging, conservative, counterjihad, economic collapse, graphic arts, humor, politics, social media, tyranny
Click here to visit 2.0: The Blogmocracy!
March 29th, 2010 — Gates of Vienna, Obama, U.S. Legislature, activism, corruption, economic collapse, graphic arts
February 14th, 2009 — Bible, evil, graphic arts, media issues, political correctness, sin
Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
Matthew 15:11 KJV
Dark art
As those who follow me on deviantART may have noticed, I seldom upload dark art, but there are times when I feel the need to communicate something about the dark side of life.
This is one of those times.
Perhaps it is because of the commercialization of Valentine’s Day and the desperation that some people feel as a result of past and present romantic deception. Perhaps it is merely because of my ongoing frustration at the nonsense that seems to pervade so much of the media.
Or perhaps it is because I saw the movie “Sophie’s Choice” last night before going to sleep.
The machinery of evil
There is a reason why lying is deemed to be a sin, a violation of one of the Ten Commandments. Lying is the lubricant that keeps the machinery of evil in motion, and the lubricant that allows it to start. How far would evildoers get without the opportunity to lie to themselves and to others?
A relationship in which one or both parties is a liar, is no relationship at all. If someone lies to you, how much do you really know about that person, other than the fact that they have lied to you?
But there’s more.
As Homer Simpson said, “It takes two people to lie. One to lie, and one to believe.”
After the fashion of Yogi Berra or Casey Stengel, Homer Simpson conveys a truth, seen from an unusual angle. If the rest of us would be less gullible, if we would stop being so ready to believe gossip, slander, propaganda, and politically correct cant, then the liars who bedevil this world would get far less traction.
One can only hope.
Tech notes:
- To see a full-size rendition of the above image, please click on the image once to get to the gallery page on deviantART, and then click on the thumbnail again.
- Thanks to cavia for suggestions made on my previous attempt on this theme, Pierced Lips.
- Image was rendered in Apophysis 2.08 3D Hack using GlynnSim plugin by eralex61.
- Black background and signature added in GIMP.
January 9th, 2009 — FAIL, IT profession, India, U.S. law, corruption, crime, economic collapse, government regulation, graphic arts, humor, outsourcing, tech industry
Click thumbnail to view original, then click again to view full size. The text is worth a closer look.
What a tragic irony!
In case you haven’t heard, Satyam was the fourth-largest IT outsourcing company in India, with 55,000 employees (or so they claimed). The CEO, Ramalinga Raju, recently resigned after admitting massive financial fraud. As of this writing, the company is almost out of cash.
Here we go again…
Satyam has done business with companies and governments in over 60 countries, including the U.S. This scandal appears to be even larger in scope than the Enron/Arthur Andersen scandal of late 2001. Price Waterhouse, the Indian subsidiary of PricewaterhouseCoopers, is facing close scrutiny over having signed off on Satyam’s audits.
Obviously, the much-touted Sarbanes-Oxley law enacted after the Enron/Arthur Andersen debacle did nothing to prevent the recent collapse of the U.S. real estate, stock market, and financial sector. The take-home lesson is that once any corporation becomes multinational in scope, and politically well-connected, no laws, no regulations, no bureaucratic restructuring can possibly keep it honest if its management chooses to do otherwise.
Another reason why outsourcing is wrong
Outsourcing and offshoring are always and everywhere the enemies of accountability. The further away one’s trading partners are located, the harder it is to comprehend what they are up to, and that will never change.
Why corporate cheating is contagious
Whenever one major company in an industry has been “cooking the books” to promote or exaggerate its own success, what effect do you suppose that has? Think about it! Every other executive, every other company in that industry will be pressured to match or exceed the cheater’s inflated results, by fair means or foul, or face the wrath of board members and stockholders.
Some news links and other sources:
Perhaps some of this would be funny if it were not so sad.
Note: The screen capture was taken by 1389AD from www.satyam.com, shortly after the announcement. The pixelated area was blurred in the original.
December 12th, 2008 — Christmas, graphic arts, humor
Untangle this!
Click on the above image to view the original.
When the image gallery page appears, click again on the thumbnail to see the full-size image.
A large collection of art by 1389, including photography, digital art, and some new fractal images, is available at my online gallery.
Look for free desktop wallpaper, and free tools and textures for Photoshop and GIMP!
December 9th, 2008 — 2008 US Elections, Europe, FAIL, Photoshop, economic collapse, graphic arts, humor, mainstream media, outsourcing, photos, politics
…the sun is about to set.
As you already know, I had little to say about the 2008 US presidential election because, then as now, I regarded both of the candidates, and all their pomps and all their works, as beneath comment.
Even before the election, it was obvious to me that the winning candidate would someday deeply regret having run for that office. Let me go on record that I stand by that prediction.
It has often been claimed that no one can win a thermonuclear war. Be that as it may, there is no question that it is easy enough to lose one! In similar fashion, becoming president of the US at this time is just as clearly a no-win scenario for the perpetrator and all his retinue.
Despite all the empty promises from both sides, there is simply nothing that any US president could do at this point to effect a recovery. A recovery would have to happen on its own, and every day that goes by, it seems that we have less and less to build on, in terms of civil and industrial infrastructure, a functioning civil society, and an informed citizenry.
The mass media and what we call our educational system seem to be doing everything they can to keep the citizenry from figuring out what their supposed betters are about. Oh, and by the way, everything I have just said about the plight of the US goes double for the EU.
The scope of the problem
See for yourself what already happened to a part of the US that lost its productive capacity:
With trees growing up through abandoned buildings, large parts of Detroit have already come to resemble scenes from the grim speculative documentary Life After People.
By now, the US economic decline has spread far beyond Detroit and the Rust Belt.
Think about it: When was the last time you saw the label “Made in USA” on any product, good or bad?
And no, it is not possible to sustain a “service economy” without a viable manufacturing infrastructure. Not that there is a service economy to sustain – the real estate bubble has already burst, the remains of our financial sector are being artificially propped up with money that we do not have and cannot earn, and much of our service sector employment has already been outsourced! It should surprise no one that the unemployment picture is considerably worse than the official figures would lead us to believe (see The really, really bad news about the unemployment rate). Newspapers throughout the US report that state and local tax revenues are shrinking due to declining income and property values.
What is left?
I recently heard yet another self-styled pundit of the US employment scene recommending three areas where there still seem to be some jobs for Americans. The only available jobs are in health care, education, and government work – because they cannot be outsourced.
Wow.
Will someone please explain to me who is going to pay for this health care, education, and government work? Does anyone care to predict what will happen after we go into debt to educate the next generation, knowing that there will be no jobs for them after they finish school?
Where do we go from here?
Good question.
And yes, I do have an answer! My point in posting this is that we need to understand exactly what our problems are, and the true extent of our difficulties, before we can even begin to address them.
What’s the next step? We need to stop wasting tax dollars on bailing out Wall Street. Instead, we need to bring our industrial base back to the US. We need to repeal the tax laws and ever-proliferating regulations that have been strangling US businesses or driving them overseas. We need to make it much simpler and more cost-effective for businesses, especially smaller businesses, to provide jobs for US citizens. That’s the only government “stimulus package” that will work.
No, it is not all under our control. But we can keep the faith and do our best to help each other. As Bishop Antoun of the Antiochian Orthodox Church recently told us, “The Lord will provide.”
Click on any of the above thumbnail images to view the original.
When the image gallery page appears, click again on the thumbnail to see the full-size image.
A large collection of art by 1389, including photography, digital art, and some new fractal images, is available at my online gallery.
Look for free desktop wallpaper, and free tools and textures for Photoshop and GIMP! Yes, they are completely free – public domain, no strings attached.
