Are You A Pick Up Artist, or Would You Like To Be One?

I don't know why there is all this backlash about this Julien Blanc guy in the media? I've never heard of him before, and haven't viewed any of his works, but it sounds like he's being given a rough time.

I fancy myself as a bit of a pickup artist, myself. Not that I think I am good enough to make a career out of it, but I do like to try my hand on the weekends. Here is my latest attempt:

Pickup Art: Drawing #47 (not to scale, not a photo)

I know, it's good. You're probably saying it's a travesty that this isn't hanging in a gallery or somewhere significant for the world to appreciate. But I do it for myself, and am happy with that.

My pickup doodling reminds me of the great things the American people are doing to save the environment in lowering carbon emissions. I discovered one such thing whilst on an educational tour of America with my fellow scientists (arranged through Contiki holidays).

Ah, America. The land of the free ... ride home.

On our educational exploration of America we discovered that, at least in them Southern parts, they offer free bulk travel. This comes in the form of a pick up truck. 

Free. Mass people car pooling. Brilliant.

We took up this offer on many occasions, always seemingly late at night. Or early in the morning. 

Safety is imperative. You know when to get out when the driver finishes his bottle of bourbon and shoots his rifle in the air. It is important to have a clear signal for all people regardless of your spoken language to tell your passengers when to disembark the vehicle.

Just a word of caution: when out on the pickup it is dangerous so make sure you wear some form of protection (rubber shoes, or some form of shoes with grip, helmet, etc), do it in groups and hang on tight.

Last week (or longer, dependant on the day you read this i.e. Saturday) I travelled back in time with my beautiful wife (I left the ugly one at home - not because I am shallow; just that there were a lot of chores for her to catch up on). While we enjoyed our time in Tasmania, I did become a little worried about the wildlife. Seems they breed them big down there.

Particularly the kangaroos. On steroids. There are plenty of warnings not to cross these roid raged beasts. Not that it happened to us, but from all reports they will lift a car up by it's little malformed hands.

Warning Signage in Tasmania: Beware of
Kangaroos with Super-Animal Strength that
can Travel at Speeds of 45km/h at Night.
(Photo: Ron Acme)

Though Tasmania is only a small island off the South Coast of Australia with a couple of hundred people we still managed to get lost a couple of times. Surprisingly, in this day and age we struggled to find a map of Tassie anywhere. I blame the Brazilians.

Map of Tasmania: Prior to deforestation
(Drawing: Ron Acme)