Press conferences going Japanese

Following the shoe incident with Bush in Iraq, press conference organizers are thinking of instituting new rules and manners. All participants will be asked to take their shoes off and wear paper-thin slippers. The measure is expected to improve the hygiene and ambience of the press room and make everyone relax and feel more comfortable.

Initially the idea was to ask participants to tie their shoes and hang them on power lines and phone wires outside the venue to give it western-style semantics but the fear this could be interpreted as a gangs-in-town sign or a drug dealer's marking made everyone revise and adopt symbolism-neutral Japanese manners on room hygiene.

I guess the most symbolic and heard-out-loud kind of peaceful protest to a future Bush-style US president, might be to hang shoes from power lines and telephone poles everywhere in town so that the message is visible from everywhere no matter what route the presidential motorcade will take to get in and out of town. It will be a spectacle to remember and the number of shoes hanging in protest a new Guinness world record countries will compete in!

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Mobility aid for the impressionist painter

Impressionist paintings seem hard to paint because the artist has to move back and forth all the time to see what the painting looks like from afar. Stand too close and the painting looks like a messy patch of strokes. Take one step back and the pieces come together. A joystick-controlled, wheel-powered stunt for the artist to stand on when he draws and move him back and forth can spare extra walk and save energy. I don't know if such an aid exists but if it doesn't, why not?

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Beware Greeks inspiring sex strikes!

I read on the news that women in Kenya are on sex strike to force the government and opposition to stop bickering and look after the interest of their country. Although I've never been to Kenya, I think the news tell us that women must have no political power in that country. Why would they use sex to bring political change otherwise? In the article I read that the strike was inspired by Ancient Greece. In Aristophane's comedy Lysistrata, the ladies of 5th century BC Athens withheld sex from their menfolk to force them to put an end to the Peloponnesian war!

I must admit I haven't read Aristophane's original guide to a sex strike, but I have the following two observations to make. First, it is well known that homosexuality was strongly practiced in Ancient Greece, so how effective could a sex strike really have been? Second, assuming the strike can be very effective, could It have been the culprit that drove men into homosexuality?

If Aristophane's comedy was an inspiration to women in Kenya, my advice is to be careful about how long they carry out the strike. Ancient Greece was the bastion of homosexuality so it might not be the best example to follow :)

http://www.thinkaloo.com