Sunday, October 31, 2010

Obesity Awareness Poster Design

Obesity related diseases
Someone rightly pointed out that a couple more diseases are missing from the list. The omission was a design decision. Srsly, the list of diseases related to obesity is so long that I couldn't fit them all into the available space.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Li Ji Slays the Snake

Li Ji vs giant serpent
The tale Li Ji Slays the Snake (a more literal translation of the title is Li Ji Cuts Down the Snake) appears in "In Search of the Supernatural", a collection of ancient folk legends compiled by Chinese historian Gan Bao (?-336 CE).

Translation of original text:

In the Minzhong region of Eastern Yue, there was a Yong Mountain spanning a few dozen li. On its northwestern face was a crevice, in which dwelt a large snake about 15 to 18 meters long and more than 10 spans in girth. The natives were accustomed to fearing it. Many of Dongzhi County's governors and the mayors of its cities had been killed by it.

People sacrificed oxen and sheep to the snake, but received no respite. The serpent appeared in dreams to people and revealed to witches and wizards that it wanted to eat girls of about 12-13 years of age. The county governor and his district officials were troubled by this. But the severity of the snake problem persisted. Together, they procured a house-born slave or the daughter of a criminal, keeping the girl until the 8th month, at which time they delivered the sacrificial victim to the mouth of the snake's cave. The snake would come forth and devour the victim.

This went on year after year, until 9 girls had been sacrificed. There came a time when they sought a sacrificial victim in preparation for the annual event, but failed to find a candidate. In the Jiangle District lived a Li Dan who had 6 daughters and no sons. His youngest daughter was named Ji.