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When cartoonists humour themselves

By That's life

speech bubble vs thought bubble

Sometimes I can’t help myself and play with the notion that the cartoon is real. I think it stems back to my childhood days where I spent hours watching Looney Tunes with the likes of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. One of my all time favourite cartoons was Duck Amuck where Daffy was brought to life as a living and breathing animation that could converse with his animator – or should I say tormentor, who subjected the poor actor to animation trickery. So if you have 7 minutes to spare, do yourself a favour and watch this classic.

So, did you enjoy Duck Amuck?

 

February 23, 2018
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Farewell Starmen

By Space and Aliens

February 14, Valentines Day, marked the farewell of Starman and his cherry red Tesla. Off to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter (Ooops! A slight hick-up during launch with an estimated overshoot from the original planned trajectory of Mars), one final viewing of Starman was made possible by viewing it through the power of the Virtual Telescope project.  Unfortunately for all the space and sci-fi junkies, the viewing was not a close up of Starman. Millions of miles away, though the telescope, he appeared as a small white dot skimming across the backdrop of the MilkyWay. Below is the last official photo of Starman after his successful and mesmorising launch.
SpaceX and StarmanSo Starman, farewell. I salute you and in the spirit of your extraordinary and quirky launch into space, armed with a friendly reminding ‘Don’t panic’ sign mounted to your dashboard, I say ,

‘So long, and thanks for all the fish’ 

What would your farewell message be?

 

February 15, 2018
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It’s the elephant

By Animals

I was involved in a three day workshop this week where we tackled the elephant in the room head on. Much to all our surprise after ten minutes of open discussion, he quietly left the room, pleased to be released out into the open at last.

Have you ever confronted the elephant?

 

February 2, 2018
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Holidays can be fun…

By Animals, That's life

Stomach bug

…but sometimes they go to the toilet – literally

Luckily for me and my family we all managed to avoid a bout of gastro this holiday trip to Myanmar. Having been a former girl scout in my younger years I was fully armed with a medical kit and was just about prepared for any holiday sickness. Bugs must have seen it and decided to attack another tourist instead.

So, did the holiday bug visit you these holidays?

 

 

January 19, 2018
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William Tell

By That's life

William Tell and the iPhone

Hear the words ‘William Tell’ and probably the first thing that comes to mind is the apple on a head and Tell shooting his arrow through its centre.  Well, at least, that’s how it is for me. But after drawing this cartoon I realised I knew very little of this Swiss folk hero.

Tell was a 14th century crossbow marksman who assassinated Gessler, the tyrannical Austrian bailiff of Habsburg (royal house of Europe).  Gessler’s demise unwittingly started with the very first action he took when first placed into power. Symbolically, he put his hat on a tall pole and demanded all that pass bow to show their respect. When William Tell and his son visited the town, Tell refused to bow. Outraged, Gessler set a punishment. A choice of execution or Tell could shoot an apple from the top of his son’s head. Tell suceeded and was granted pardon. However, the plot thickened, as Gessler was curious as to why Tell had two arrows, instead of one. Tell indicated it was a spare, should the first miss, but later the truth was revealed. The second arrow was marked for Gessler, in the event Tell missed the apple and killed his son instead.

Upon hearing this, the pardon was overruled and Tell was captured. A ship was to take him to the castle Küssnacht dungeon. However, a storm broke and the seaman fearing their own safety allowed Tell, an accomplished sailor to steer the ship to safety. Naturally, he chose to return to a ‘dungeon free’ shoreline, where he jumped ship. Gessler tried to hunt him down, but was assassinated by Tell.  This spurred others to start a rebellion to the Austrian rule. Eventually, the Swiss won and formed the Old Swiss Confederacy.

So, a rather long preamble, but I’m interested in understanding…

How far would you go to save your phone?

December 1, 2017
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Growing pains

By Animals, That's life

Grow chart

I fondly look back at the early days when both my daughters were young and keen to get measured using the door frame to record the results.  Standing on tippy toes was a trick both tried regularly. I could laugh at the time because for me there was no competition…yet. However, I knew the time would come that they would surpass me and surpass me they did this year. At the tender ages of 13 and 15 they now tower over their tiny 5 ‘7″ mother. However, I’m not the shortest in the family. Our pet golden retriever Ollie will always be the shortest. 🙂

What height stories do you have?

November 21, 2017
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The end of the rainbow

By That's life

Same sex marriage

For overseas visitors, you possibly aren’t aware of the result from the recent vote by Australians on ‘same sex marriage’. I’m so happy that the final vote was in favour with 61.6% Yes.  Now all we need is the government to pass the legislation in parliament to make it official.

November 16, 2017
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The internet

By IT and Computer Stuff, That's life

National broadband network Australia

This is one of those cartoons where context is all. So if you don’t live in Australia, you probably are not aware of the National Broadband Network (NBN) debacle currently going on here. According to NBN’s website, NBN

“was established in 2009 to design, build and operate Australia’s new high-speed, wholesale local access broadband network. Underpinned by a purpose to connect Australia and bridge the digital divide, nbn’s key objective is to ensure all Australians have access to fast broadband as soon as possible, at affordable prices, and at least cost.”

It’s fair to say it has not lived up to their bold vision. Rather than go into the nitty gritty details, I thought these Newsline headings would provide a flavour of the issues faced.

“ACCC to review NBN after complaints about network soar… THE consumer watchdog has launched an inquiry into NBN Co’s standard of service as complaints about the network continue to rise.” News.com 2 Nov 2017

“NBN’s constipation: Problems go much deeper than a lack of fibre…EVERYONE thinks they know the problem with the NBN. The truth is, it goes far deeper than we know – and it can’t be fixed.” News.com 25 Oct 2017

“Almost half NBN users report problems, with delays and slow speeds top hurdles.” Courier Mail 23 Oct 2017

“NBN director Michael Malone says complaining customers should be sent ‘to the back of the queue” Business insider, 30 Oct 2017

From my perspective, I only wish we hadn’t converted. Our internet drops out regularly (2-3 days vs once a month on the old system) and often when it’s running, the bandwidth is so tight that only one person can use it at a time.  Bring back the good old days, I say…

What do you miss from the ‘good old day’?

November 3, 2017
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