Write here, right now - great typography!

Take a look...don't try this at home....with a permanent marker!

What's in a name...

I was reading one of my favourite french blogs - Why Travel to France, and came across this today....two flavours of jam - 'Arse scratch' and 'Old boy' - mmmm wonder what's inside? France has a knack of producing products with interesting names...how about French Rabbit wine - sold in a tetrapak! Or Le Freak and Elephant on a Tightrope, developed for English speaking audiences to help flagging sales of French wine. What do you think of this strategy?

Has John McCain gone Branding Bonkers? He wants to literally 'brand' democrats!

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (CAP) - Republican presidential hopeful John McCain is refusing to back down from incendiary statements he recently made suggesting that registered Democrats be branded with a letter 'D' in order to tell them apart from "real Americans." He made the suggestion at a campaign stop in St. Paul.

"My friends, these Democrats - they walk among us, and we don't even know it," McCain said at a town hall meeting. "They wear our clothes. They eat our food. They pee in our toilets.

"And if there's anything that Vietnam has taught me, it's that you don't pee in another man's toilet," McCain added after a lengthy pause.

Under McCain's proposal, every voting precinct in the country would be assigned a Precinct Branding Officer, who would be equipped with a steak branding iron containing a 1 1/2" high letter 'D' on a 10" long handle. As voters declare their party affiliation at the polls this November, they would be branded as appropriate before being allowed to vote.

"It's really not as archaic as it sounds," said McCain spokesperson Sylvester McBean during a phone interview with CAP News. "I mean, they can pick where they want to be branded; it's not like we're gonna slap a 'D' on their forehead if they don't want. And we will have registered nurses on hand in case things don't go quite as planned.

God help us if he gets into power!

Fun Ice Breaker

Need to energise your meeting? Having a team building meeting? Need to add small snaps of creativite to a workshop?
This is just the exercise for you! This is more suitable for small groups of say 5 or 6 people

Icebreaker Game - If I were a...
A fun icebreaker game to encourage creativity, best for smaller groups.
Ask each person to say what they would be and why, if they were a...
• A piece of fruit
• An historical figure
• A household object
• A cartoon character
• Any other off the wall group you can think of!
I would be a pineapple as I am exotic, sweet and zingy.
I would be a whisk as I like to stir things up.
I would be Taz as I rush around like a crazy creature!
Time to allow for this activity 20 mins

IceBreaker Game...

This ice breaker game is best for 10 or so people.

Bring 5 random items to the meeting and place them in the centre of the group.

Each person is encouraged to come up with an alternative use for the item, or to
come up with a phrase associated with the item.

Item ideas; toy dog, cardboard box, chair, wooden spoon, picture, scarf or anything
else around the home or office.

Creative uses; e.g. use cardboard box as handbag,
Have a few ideas prepared to start the game off.

Brainstorming Activity 1 – Night and Day

Busy people need routines and shortcuts to make it through the day. If we had to
consciously think about the steps involved in making a cup of tea, we’d have
exhausting our thinking energy before we’d even left the house in the morning.
Routine thinking may save time and energy, but seriously hampers creative
brainstorming, so use this exercise to challenge traditional thoughts and encourage
creativity.

Make a list of common words e.g. night, smart, heavy, quick, apple. Get your team
to list the first opposite meaning word that springs to mind e.g. day, stupid, light,
slow, pear. This will flush out the obvious, routine words. Challenge your team to
come up with at least 3 further opposite words for each word e.g.

Night = day,sun,white,awake, .....
Smart = stupid, scruffy, shabby, in-elegant, clumsy, gawky

You’ll find some similar meaning words creep into your list – that’s fine as these can
spark further opposite meaning words. Remember ideas breed ideas and to keep
critical, analytical thinking in check. Limit the time spent on this activity to 10-15
minutes, to keep it fresh and focused.

Now it’s time to introduce the “real” brainstorming activity. Write your problem
statement clearly and simply, and let those creative minds go to work on generating
new and non-routine ideas to solve the problem.

Do schools today kill creativity? (Ken Robinson, TEDTalks)

This brings up some really interesting questions about the way we educate children...particularly in France.