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August, 2008:

Remember “go outside and play”?

There is another let children be children article in the LA Times, by Rosa Brooks:

All in all, “going out to play” worked out well for kids. As the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg testified to Congress in 2006, “Play allows children to create and explore a world they can master, conquering their fears while practicing adult roles. … Play helps children develop new competencies … and the resiliency they will need to face future challenges.” But here’s the catch: Those benefits aren’t realized when some helpful adult is hovering over kids the whole time.  Remember ‘go outside and play?’ – Los Angeles Times.

Sure there are risks, but as Rosa points out, what about the risk of heart attacks and other obesity related health problems in these house-bound children.  The other thing that spring to mind is we have very vocal people in our society upset about cage-bound, battery farm chickens – but there is only a small a relatively unheard group speaking up for children! 

Is this a sign that there is something wrong in society?

No Ball Games

No Ball Games

Sydney & Old Photos

Have you ever wanted to make your photos look old.  There are plenty of guides out there on the web for doing this in Photoshop and other high-power and high-cost photo editing applications.  But there is a one-stop website offering the same service in seconds – all Wanokoto does is create antique photos [^] – and it does it well.

CannibalRabbit Sydney old Queen Victoria Old

This aged photo of the Queen Victoria in Circular Quay has a much better impact.  I like how the modern lines of the Queen Victoria seem so out of place in the otherwise mid-20th Century setting. 

Over at CannibalRabbit we have some more present day photos of the Queen Victoria, the Queen Elizabeth 2, and their crossing.

Grow Your Own Cow

Chris Gourlay at the TimesOnline has an story about people raising cows [^]in their back garden.  This apparently is all down to an Irish breed of dwarf cow, the Dexter, that can product 16 pints of milk a day and a calf each year.  Now that is one way of beating increasing food costs.  Apparently the Dexter comes in around the about the same size as a large German shepherd and are billed as being “the world’s most efficient, cutest and tastiest cows”.

Brown Calf - Are You Looking at Me?

Brown Calf - Are You Looking at Me?

What more can anyone ask for pet and food factory all rolled into one!  And there is another benefit, life all cows they eat grass so they can mow the lawn as well.  Not to be outdone there are also Mini Hereford [^], and Lowline Angus [^]cows coming in as backyard cows.   The Lowline Angus was developed by the Australian Government and are just over a metre tall, and weighs in at around 300kgs – that’s a whole lot of steaks, and schntzel, and sausages . . .

I now have a few questions:

  1. is the back garden big enough?
  2. will the dog mind?; and,
  3. is who is going to go out on poo-patrol?
  4. could you eat the calf above after having it as a pet?

Manga Avatars

I have just had a few entertaining minutes playing over at faceyourmanga.com [^].  An avatar is a visual representation of yourself, or what you stand for, across the internet.  Faceyourmanga allows you to create your own Japanese cartoon-style avatar.

CannibalRabbit Manga

CannibalRabbit Manga

Although it is a highly customisable website there was no opportunity to include rabbits!  Most disappointing, to say the least.  This is perfect for those moments when you think you need a photo, but don’t have one handy – Facebook springs to mind.  Updating profile now . . . .

Classic Photo Redux

Here at BrizBunny we vear dangerously between the macabre and the sublime. 

Today I stumbled across these Lego revisits of classic photos by Mike Stimpson (Flickr User Balakov [^]).  With the Olympics being in China right now this twist on Jeff Widener’s “The unknown rebel” from 1989 seemed appropriate.

Tiananmen Square - the lone rebel

Tiananmen Square - The unknown rebel

This is no one-off there is a massive collection of these painstakingly recreated photos, check them out on flickr [^].

Photo Credit: “Tiananmen Square” – Flickr User Balakov [^]
Original Photo: “The unknown rebel” [^] Jeff Widener.