Nisadas

While reading for my postgraduate qualification I came across Yahoo’s value statement as part of the coursework. Interestingly, they also include a separate page for what they don’t value.

One of the terms I came across in all of this, is the “Monday Morning Quarterback”. As always, Google helps us find out what that means:

Monday morning quarterback

a person who, after the event, offers advice or criticism concerning decisions made by others; one who second-guesses

Source: http://www.yourdictionary.com/monday-morning-quarterback

After Saturday, wonder how many you will encounter over the next couple of weeks?

The Island recently published an apology for stealing David Blacker’s interview with Dayan Jayatillake, misspelling the URL from where they had purloined it.

In the same paper, there was a Reply from a high ranking official in the police (I forget the rank) calling into question the authenticity of one of their articles on Sri Lankan cops. While I haven’t seen the article in question, it seems that it is very much the same thing that did its rounds via email and even ended up on Sigma’s blog (http://taurus19lk.blogspot.com/2009/07/sri-lankan-cops-useful-tips-to-up-date.html) Of course, Sigma had the sense to put a disclaimer on the authenticity of the whole thing.

All this from the same paper behind the Adult content  in the Kiddies paper? Why am I not surprised?

Then there are the various stories of theft of Intellectual Property – be it images uploaded on the net, or even complete posts – by the nefarious staff of the local newspapers.

I’m no journalist, but in my younger days I harboured some delusions of being one some day. The lack of any creative skill meant that my only ventures in writing would be limited to interviews (which nevertheless were a fantastic opportunity to meet some truly amazing people) and the occasional write-up. Therefore, the world has generally been spared the words of Dulan, apart from this blog.

Therefore, I am (like so many others) under the impression that this gives me the full right to criticise journalists writing to the newspapers. Which can sometimes be unfair – my wages don’t depend on my writing.

However, what I cannot understand is, why are there newspapers paying people to plagiarize? I’m no expert, but I’m fairly sure that Content is King. Be it a humble blog, a revered sports site or a national newspaper, you’re not getting very far if you don’t have something to fill the pages. As of late (I rarely read the newspapers, so perhaps I’m wrong) there’s been a large amount of internet content finding its way into the local papers, with IMHO very little quality control or fact checking. This just means that the paper in question loses credibility with those people who know what its been up to, while also developing a reputation for being poor in content.

This situation nevertheless covers up a fantastic opportunity. Instead of simply adding a circulated email to the newspaper, why not get someone to meet with an official in the Police to verify the situation and getting the whole truth? With the amount of absolute rubbish that circulates in our email systems, just debunking the myths could be a full time job, but what about creating a discussion based on the ideas they bring about?

The next time there’s an email on how forwarding it could result in a donation from AOL/Bill Gates, maybe some research on email methods could be employed? Perhaps an article on the unethical address harvesting by Email Marketing companies in Sri Lanka?

I guess the timeliness is what matters most. Why bother researching or interviewing someone when a simple Google search can yield so much information? Saves time and money, No?

Well, that’s for the journalists in Sri Lanka to figure out. I’ll stick to my rare and random thoughts (and the occasional rant) for the time being.

Since I started blogging, I’ve always kept an eye out on what Prabhath, Venushka, Indi, Ian and Neville have been upto. I’ve only actually ever met three of them, but being in the same age group meant that it was interesting to know what others my age were up to.

So it was with great interest that I read a post on Rose Tinted View. Apparently, an almost 18 year old guy is now feeling old when he sees the kids in clubs these days. Uh… Ok. Just a few months back, doing a workshop for young Interactors I realised that there was a good decade between us and that was depressing, if only for a little while. I mean, growing older is compulsory, but growing old is optional. Which leaves the question – where to go if one is not interested in sharing the dance floor with the pre-teens?

It’s amazing – I met up with some old school friends at a homecoming recently and we were all talking about our A/L year and the stuff we got upto as if it were yesterday. Then someone just had to put things in perspective and say “yeah, who’d think that was so long ago?”.

I guess life can just pass you by unless you’re careful. Of course, that’s such a cliche it’s not even funny. I guess how you deal with it decides how old you really are.

For instance, I was talking to an old friend recently about his experiences as a doctor and he mentioned something about a guy “who’s not so old, just 42″. When we were both in school, that’d count as old, but today it counts as not so far away that the definition of old is more like 70 and above (and more likely to hit 100 once we’re in our late thirties).

It was quite a coincidence that the two spambot comments I had to clear out just before writing this post were both supposedly links to sex tapes – of Kim Kardashian (born 1980) and Pamela Anderson (born 1967). Apparently the years have been kind enough for Pam, that she can still command the same attention (with no clothes on) as someone more than a decade younger than her. Then again, Hollywood’s probably crawling with Plastic Surgeons anyway.

So I guess I’m still only as old as I choose to be. For my pals, when we meet up it’s still like we’re in our A/L year. At work, I’m older than I really am, thanks to the beard and the thinning hair.

At home, I’m as old as I feel like, which has worked out ok so far. My wife still loves me more than I annoy her, so …

So that’s the latest from me, ladies, gents and spambots – go act your age!

Since I started blogging, I’ve always kept an eye out on what Prabhath, Venushka, Indi, Ian and Neville have been upto. I’ve only actually ever met three of them, but being in the same age group meant that it was interesting to know what others my age were up to.

So it was with great interest that I read a post on Rose Tinted View. Apparently, an almost 18 year old guy is now feeling old when he sees the kids in clubs these days. Uh… Ok. Just a few months back, doing a workshop for young Interactors I realised that there was a good decade between us and that was depressing, if only for a little while. I mean, growing older is compulsory, but growing old is optional. Which leaves the question – where to go if one is not interested in sharing the dance floor with the pre-teens?

It’s amazing – I met up with some old school friends at a homecoming recently and we were all talking about our A/L year and the stuff we got upto as if it were yesterday. Then someone just had to put things in perspective and say “yeah, who’d think that was so long ago?”.

I guess life can just pass you by unless you’re careful. Of course, that’s such a cliche it’s not even funny. I guess how you deal with it decides how old you really are.

For instance, I was talking to an old friend recently about his experiences as a doctor and he mentioned something about a guy “who’s not so old, just 42″. When we were both in school, that’d count as old, but today it counts as not so far away that the definition of old is more like 70 and above (and more likely to hit 100 once we’re in our late thirties).

It was quite a coincidence that the two spambot comments I had to clear out just before writing this post were both supposedly links to sex tapes – of Kim Kardashian (born 1980) and Pamela Anderson (born 1967). Apparently the years have been kind enough for Pam, that she can still command the same attention (with no clothes on) as someone more than a decade younger than her. Then again, Hollywood’s probably crawling with Plastic Surgeons anyway.

So I guess I’m still only as old as I choose to be. For my pals, when we meet up it’s still like we’re in our A/L year. At work, I’m older than I really am, thanks to the beard and the thinning hair.

At home, I’m as old as I feel like, which has worked out ok so far. My wife still loves me more than I annoy her, so …

So that’s the latest from me, ladies, gents and spambots – go act your age!

Let us talk of things
of cabbages and kings;
Brassica, it shall be.

It grows real slow
and hangs real low
from the topmost branch
of the coconut tree.

With many thanks to Angel With A Pitchfork and her new pal Eeyore. It is very rarely – if at all – that I have felt so light-headed without any alcohol being involved…

p.s.
Apologies to any real poets who might’ve been accidentally referenced by this wanton silliness.

Impulse.

An idea. A recommendation. Inspiration.

late night. dealing with terms I’ve heard but barely understand.

WordPress, NearlyFreeSpeech

PHP. mySQL, PHPmyAdmin, FTP

But after all that – there’s the satisfaction of seeing it work.