Accuracy in Labeling -- Property of the Bavarian Illuminati
One of my favorite authors is the late Robert Anton Wilson. His own particular brand of absurdism resonates well with my own and has given me inspiration for all manner of crazy things! My favorite works tend to be his fiction -- especially the Illuminatus! trilogy and its successor the Schrödinger's Cat trilogy. Illuminatus! in particular tells the story of the most fantastically absurd far-reaching conspiracy ever dreamed up in fiction or even reality. In short, it's pretty much got to have some truth to it.
In Illuminatus!, it's noted that you can tell where the Illuminati are exerting their influence by watching for subtle and recondite symbols they use -- the numbers 17 and 23, the images of the Ouroboros and the Eye in the Pyramid, and the phrase "Property of the Bavarian Illuminati! Ewige Blumenkraft!" Now, 17 and 23 I see everywhere. The Eye in the Pyramid is on the one dollar note. But I've noticed a disproportionately small number of property claims by the Illuminati, given their clearly far-reaching influence. In the spirit of accurate labeling, such as "antibacterial," "All-natural," and "Now SLOWER and with MORE BUGS!," I've made these "Property of the Bavarian Illuminati! Ewige Blumenkraft!" stickers. They should be placed wherever the Illuminati's influence is painfully obvious, yet conspicuously undeclared!
There's a developing Flickr set where those came from! If anyone wants to modify them or make their own, I've posted the source psd. I'll also have gobs at Maker Faire Austin this weekend (look for a gentleman in a top hat).
Ewige Blumenkraft!
O Hail Eris!
October 16th, 2008 at 11:48
It's harmless, funny vandalism, arguably more beneficial to the community than $75,000 state-funded art installations. I hope this takes off.
October 16th, 2008 at 13:11
What font did you use for yours? I didn't have it installed so it was substituted. Ohio welcomes the Bavarian Illuminati :)
October 16th, 2008 at 13:45
Hail Eris!
If you'd be willing to ship an couple of these to the UK I'll be willing to label any Illuminati propery I stumble across (and, cover your costs via PayPal!)
October 16th, 2008 at 13:45
Actually, it's not harmless as I realized after I plastered the San Francisco Triangle's parking meters with with some of Nate Van Dyke's monkey stickers. In the early mornings, some poor city employee has to come by and scrape them off and the city has to pay that person's salary. But that doesn't mean I don't want a shitload of your stickers.
October 16th, 2008 at 14:03
"...look for a gentleman in a top hat."
Like you'll be the only one ;o)
October 16th, 2008 at 14:46
Brilliant! I'm a big RAW fan too and will be off to make some of these stickers ASAP. Hail Eris!
October 16th, 2008 at 16:15
RIP, RAW! Good luck, love the stickers, its sort of a truth in advertising campaign
October 16th, 2008 at 21:41
0_o: Ah sorry for the oversight! ICBM SS-20 and Capitalis are the fonts I used.
Orlovsky: Absolutely! Email matt [at] cherem.org with an address!
Blake: good point ;) I'll have a couple stuck in the band!
October 17th, 2008 at 00:05
For added fun, you ought to add such ominous (but harmless) fine print such as "Removal of this property tag may be prosecuted. See local ordinances for clarification." Sure, the answer is that you can remove it at your pleasure*, but it's always good to make people reassess their assumptions.
Eigentum der Illuminatenorden
Propriété l'Ordres Illuminates
*well, in nigh all cases, but you can never be 100% sure...
October 17th, 2008 at 05:29
Bummer. Won't open in Gimp cause it's an in 'an unsupported color mode'
October 17th, 2008 at 10:57
[...] from Bad Ass, Texas) but he sells these dandy stickers that one can place anywhere appopriate. Biphenyl.org is where I found this tidbit (via Boing Boing). It’s been quite an intense week. The [...]
October 17th, 2008 at 13:08
DeepMonk: It's CMYK 8 bits per channel - Gimp doesn't support this? I can re-upload it as RGB if needed, the printing company I used wanted CMYK.
October 18th, 2008 at 12:39
Yeah, Gimp will open RGB photoshop files, but not cmyk for some reason.
October 18th, 2008 at 15:39
Gimp folks: I've re-uploaded the psd with RGB color instead of CMYK. Should work now, might need to clear your browser cache if you tried to download it before.
January 2nd, 2009 at 02:09
I need some of those stickers!
January 2nd, 2009 at 02:46
illuminati: send an email to matt [at] cherem.org. If you send a self-addressed stamped envelope, I'll send a few stickers your way!
June 24th, 2011 at 03:32
Clumpy, are you implying that state funded art installations are vandalism? I like that :-).
Nice stickers btw.