Things that make you go.......WTF?

[Wokko]

Can we get back to business?

Australia is open for business HAL, haven't you been paying attention?

[HAL]

I think [quote]

Australia is a lot of things.

[David]

If something's popular enough to be successful in its own right, why support it with an arts grant at all? Surely it would survive in the popular commercial channels.

The fact is, art generally isn't popular. How many people watch Big Brother every year as opposed to visit the National Gallery? How many people listen to Classic FM as opposed to Kyle and Jackie O?

In a purely capitalist world, interesting art wouldn't stand a chance. It invariably relies on philanthropists or government funding. Even though I accept that the majority of people aren't interested in art, I think our society is a better, richer place for it.

[swoop42]

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/2013/1 ... eter-fraud

Given the occasion I can't believe this.

Just as well that he didn't have any sinister intentions.

[stui magpie]

This is a serious WTF

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-l ... 6780575248

It was an early winter's day last year when officers from the NSW Police and Community Services turned up on one of the blocks which lie around 30km out of the town between large established farms and the untamed scrub of old bushranger territory.
They found 40 adults and children living in two filthy caravans, two sheds and tents on an unsewered block with no running water.
Dirt caked the surfaces of stoves and cooking facilities, rotten vegetables lay in a refrigerator and a kangaroo was sleeping on one of the children's beds.
Exposed electric wires, bags of rubbish and chainsaws lay about.
There were no toilets, showers or baths.
The children were unwashed and wore dirty clothes.
They were shy and made little eye contact.
Few were capable of intelligible speech; almost all had fungal infections in their feet.
Some had oddly-formed features, which scientific tests would later reveal was a result of "homozygosity" or identical gene patterns of both of the children's parents.
The police and welfare officers were taking in the squalor, the deprivation and the fact some of the children seemed developmentally delayed or cognitively impaired.
What they didn't realise was the children were the result of intimate relations between brothers and sisters, and uncles and nieces and fathers and daughters. Their family threw back to a set of great-great grandparents who were a brother and sister.

Read the full article at the link.

[Tannin]

^ Crikey! I'd better call. Sounds like there is trouble at home!

[HAL]

What does there is trouble at home sound like?

[David]

For those complaining about relatively tiny arts grants, what do you think of this?

http://www.magpies.net/nick/bb/viewtopic.php?t=72956

COLLINGWOOD pocketed more than $600,000 in interest after banking a controversial $10 million federal government grant last year.

The grant - for community facilities at the Magpies' Olympic Park base - was announced in May 2012 and came as a surprise to the State Government, which through the Melbourne Olympic Park Trust owned and managed the land.

[think positive]

This is a serious WTF

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-l ... 6780575248

It was an early winter's day last year when officers from the NSW Police and Community Services turned up on one of the blocks which lie around 30km out of the town between large established farms and the untamed scrub of old bushranger territory.
They found 40 adults and children living in two filthy caravans, two sheds and tents on an unsewered block with no running water.
Dirt caked the surfaces of stoves and cooking facilities, rotten vegetables lay in a refrigerator and a kangaroo was sleeping on one of the children's beds.
Exposed electric wires, bags of rubbish and chainsaws lay about.
There were no toilets, showers or baths.
The children were unwashed and wore dirty clothes.
They were shy and made little eye contact.
Few were capable of intelligible speech; almost all had fungal infections in their feet.
Some had oddly-formed features, which scientific tests would later reveal was a result of "homozygosity" or identical gene patterns of both of the children's parents.
The police and welfare officers were taking in the squalor, the deprivation and the fact some of the children seemed developmentally delayed or cognitively impaired.
What they didn't realise was the children were the result of intimate relations between brothers and sisters, and uncles and nieces and fathers and daughters. Their family threw back to a set of great-great grandparents who were a brother and sister.

Read the full article at the link.

OMG that poor kangaroo

[5150]

This is a serious WTF

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-l ... 6780575248

It was an early winter's day last year when officers from the NSW Police and Community Services turned up on one of the blocks which lie around 30km out of the town between large established farms and the untamed scrub of old bushranger territory.
They found 40 adults and children living in two filthy caravans, two sheds and tents on an unsewered block with no running water.
Dirt caked the surfaces of stoves and cooking facilities, rotten vegetables lay in a refrigerator and a kangaroo was sleeping on one of the children's beds.
Exposed electric wires, bags of rubbish and chainsaws lay about.
There were no toilets, showers or baths.
The children were unwashed and wore dirty clothes.
They were shy and made little eye contact.
Few were capable of intelligible speech; almost all had fungal infections in their feet.
Some had oddly-formed features, which scientific tests would later reveal was a result of "homozygosity" or identical gene patterns of both of the children's parents.
The police and welfare officers were taking in the squalor, the deprivation and the fact some of the children seemed developmentally delayed or cognitively impaired.
What they didn't realise was the children were the result of intimate relations between brothers and sisters, and uncles and nieces and fathers and daughters. Their family threw back to a set of great-great grandparents who were a brother and sister.

Read the full article at the link.

There is no mention of a banjo playing mute on the front porch.

Pretty messed up situation.

[David]

Pretty crazy stuff. I wonder what made the grandparents withdraw from society in the first place? Some kind of religious cult, or what?

[stui magpie]

This is not quite a WTF but sort of a "Wow".

A video of what happens when you pour molten aluminium into an ants nest, or more correctly, what you make.

http://digg.com/video/what-you-get-when ... n-ant-hill

[5150]

This is not quite a WTF but sort of a "Wow".

A video of what happens when you pour molten aluminium into an ants nest, or more correctly, what you make.

http://digg.com/video/what-you-get-when ... n-ant-hill

No ants were harmed in the making of this hillbilly art...

Personally, I'd have like to see the molten aluminium poured into the wool fanny knitter.

[stui magpie]

This is not quite a WTF but sort of a "Wow".

A video of what happens when you pour molten aluminium into an ants nest, or more correctly, what you make.

http://digg.com/video/what-you-get-when ... n-ant-hill

No ants were harmed in the making of this hillbilly art...

Personally, I'd have like to see the molten aluminium poured into the wool fanny knitter.

LOL.

[think positive]

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!