Monday 31 May 2010

Corruption & Autostereograms


Bugger me, but both Tory and Lib Dem politicians are heaping praise on David Laws following his resignation for having used £40k of public money to pay rent to his partner. Surely that’s like heaping praise on corrupt councillors who pass contracts to family members?

The fact is that David Laws paid tax-payers’ money for rent to his partner, which has been against the rules of engagement for MPs since 2006. The fact he kept the money within the relationship makes him corrupt. To praise him and suggest he will be back in office before much longer suggests to me that MPs have not yet learned the lessons of the expenses scandal and think themselves untouchable and a cut above the Joe public.

Former Liberal leader Lord Steel said: "His mistake did not cost the taxpayer a penny since he could have been paying to rent a room elsewhere.” That is not the point, Lord Steel – a corrupt councillor passing lucrative contracts to family members also does not cost the tax-payer any additional money, yet it is nonetheless corrupt.

Ever heard of autostereograms? An autostereogram is a single-image stereogram designed to create the visual illusion of a three-dimensional scene from a two-dimensional image in the human brain. In order to perceive 3D shapes in these autostereograms, the brain must overcome the normally automatic coordination between focusing and vergence. That’s usually achieved by focussing beyond the image and then allowing the brain to do the rest.

See if you can read the message hidden in this autostereogram – but click on it first to enlarge it. It may take a minute or so to appear.


If you get it, let me know.


11 comments:

The Irascible Fairy said...

I understand that some people feel unable to come out as gay - it takes a great deal of courage and you never stop - David Laws has staunch Catholic parents so perhaps that's why he felt unable to - but to use his inability to "come out" as an excuse for greed and theft is despicable and at the end of the day that's what he is - a cowardly, greedy thief!

Chairman Bill said...

Richard: His sexuality has no bearing on the matter. If he had a dilema because of his sexuality, then he should have arranged to live elsewhere with his partner and pay the rent to an independent 3rd party.

The Irascible Fairy said...

That's not very nice - "Stop wasting your time" and "Get a life"

Richard x x x

Chairman Bill said...

Richard: I see you have the knack. Hay can't see it. I told her to just stare at it vacantly, but she replied that that was easy for me.

The Irascible Fairy said...

I would agree that David Law's sexuality has no bearing on the matter - except that in 2006 when it became against the rules to pay a partner or family member for accommodation he should have stopped - instead he kept on claiming and paying because he wanted to - as he said - "Keep his sexuality private" - for private read secret!

Avus said...

Bill: I wish you would "stop wasting our time and get a life" !
These politicians still don't get it, do they? What an incredible mindset they have.
I think anyone who expressed a wish to be a politician should automatically be excluded from becoming one.

Kabbalah Rookie said...

Corruption and Politicians? Why, Chairman, surely this is an honest and innocent mistake?!

Yeah, right.

I had no idea that these autostereograms existed. I went sufficiently crossed eyed to read the message within a minute or so. I would have been quicker, but I thought you had said "automatic coordination between focusing and vengeance", and thought that the solution was to have a stern conversation with my brain, telling it not to be such a bitch...

Paul Hulbert said...

I first saw something like these autostereograms in a Scientific American article in the 1960s, though I think the result was a picture rather than revealing words.

Fletch said...

I, too, got the "stop wasting your time" - "get a life" bits after spending an enjoyable wasted half hour.

However, I think (only THINK, mind you) that it is meant to depict some Can-Can type chorus girls from something like the Folies Bergère.

Stare at it long enough and a pattern emerges from the word spacing ...

Geo. said...

The trick seems to be in 'not focusing' or intentionally concentrating your vision on one spot. Get Hay to direct her eyes to the top edge of the screen image and then think about something else and let her eyes go out of focus!
Some good examples here..
http://acidcow.com/pics/1694-autostereogram-100-pics.html
I found that once you've got one going, you can just scroll down and all the others are immediately visible.

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