Cracking up

Somedays you just want a laugh or two:

"The Gates" by artists Jean-Claude and Christo were 7,500, 16-foot-tall structures arrayed along 23 miles of footpaths throughout the New York Central Park. It required more than 1 million square feet of vinyl and 5,300 tons of steel, at a cost (borne exclusively by the artists) of US$20 million.

"The Crackers" by parody profiteers Jane and Chris were 36 crackers, peanut butter or cheese, spanning nearly 23 inches along a footbridge in said same park. It required 26 minutes to set up and cost US$2.50 and was also borne exclusively by the artists with ulterior motive: "buy our t-shirts, tote bags, bibs, mugs and coasters here!"

A 19-year-old named Gary Brolsma sits in his New Jersey home and creates a video of himself lip-synching to the techno beat of a Romanian pop song and starts viral craziness on net called the "Numa Numa Dance" -- faster than you can say: "Macarena anyone?" MORE.

Google links to video: Here.

"Carly, you're fired!"

"Here's US$45 million to go away."

The payout for the hatchet woman of Hewlett-Packard Co is in the form of stock options and US$21m severance pay on top of her regular salary and cash bonuses after five years at the company.

America likes rewarding failures.

In the winter of our dis-content with dotcoms, during 2001 and 2002, CEOs who left their posts received an average severance of US$16.5million, according to a study conducted by Paul Hodgson, senior research associate at The Corporate Library. [Note: Recently ousted PeopleSoft CEO Craig Conway made US$16m and fit the average perfectly.]

In addition to the actual figures, Hodgson also discovered that most CEO employment contracts state that failure to perform is not grounds for termination "for cause", meaning that unless a chief commits an actual crime, they are entitled to their full severance package.

Freakingnews.com holds Photoshop contest and see what they come up with here.