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This is Dave Farber, the Grandfather of the Internet. I was supposed to attend his talk today at the new SMU School of Accountancy, but work kept me away in the morning.
I did manage to sneak in after his preso to meet him informally and speak briefly to this really smart and unassuming man.
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This Mr Miyagi, so copycat one. I write for TODAY newspaper, he also must write for TODAY newspaper. Like hor, getting all the hot chicks swooning over him is not enough, he must also be a columnist. Some people, so greedy one.
But haha, my caricature nicer than his (they draw me got more hair). Ok lah, go and read his new regular Wednesday column anyway. It is quite the funny. Got talk about the Ingterneck and about blogging.
Excerpt:
For instance, you can say things like "Wah lao! That musical was so bad, pay me money also I will never watch again!", whereas you know a print reporter reviewing a musical, for instance, would not talk about walking out on a performance as he or she found it to be absolute rubbish.
One blogger titled a review "Gut-wrenching performance — in a bad way", so you can see that there is little mincing of words in the blogosphere.
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A magazine recently ran a "Dilbert quotes" contest. They were looking for people to submit quotes from their real-life dilbert-type managers.
Here are the top ten finalists:
1. "As of tomorrow, employees will only be able to access the building using individual security cards. Pictures will be taken next Wednesday and employees will receive their cards in two weeks."
(This was the winning quote from Fred Dales, Microsoft Corp. in Redmond, WA)
2. "What I need is an exact list of specific unknown problems we might encounter."
(Lykes Lines Shipping)
3. "E-mail is not to be used to pass on information or data. It should be used only for company business."
(Accounting manager, Electric Boat Company)
4. "This project is so important, we can't let things that are more important interfere with it."
(Advertising/Marketing manager, United Parcel Service)
5. "Doing it right is no excuse for not meeting the schedule."
(Plant manager, Delco Corporation)
6. "No one will believe you solved this problem in one day! We've been working on it for months. Now, go act busy for a few weeks and I'll let you know when it's time to tell them."
(R&D supervisor, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing/3M Corp.)
7. Quote from the Boss: "Teamwork is a lot of people doing what I say."
(Marketing executive, Citrix Corporation)
8. My sister passed away and her funeral was scheduled for Monday. When I told my Boss, he said she died on purpose so that I would have to miss work on the busiest day of the year. He then asked if we could change her burial to Friday. He said, "That would be better for me."
(Shipping executive, FTD Florists)
9. "We know that communication is a problem, but the company is not going to discuss it with the employees."
(Switching supervisor, AT&T Long Lines Division)
10. One day my Boss asked me to submit a status report to him concerning a project I was working on. I asked him if tomorrow would be soon enough. He said, "If I wanted it tomorrow, I would have waited until tomorrow to ask for it!"
(Hallmark Cards Executive)
via rx78ntx who got it via Inderjit Singh SOPS (whoever that is, heh)
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textrapolis has an interesting post on various Blogger Manifestos.
He points to Andrew Sullivan's piece on Why online weblogs are one future for journalism.
And also to David Weinberger's manifesto parody:
Life is uncensored, but my clients and my Mom may be reading my blog.
And also lists Sean Carton's Bad Blogger Manifesto:
dealing with them and the ugliness they bring isn't worth the effort.
you, pay me.
In other news, David Weinberger comes clean with the truth: he is not keeping up with your blog.
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Here are some other Father's Day posts from around the blogosphere:
Andrew:
Whatever happened, I hope he knows I've not screwed up badly in life and I don't blame him for anything that happened in the past.
vandice:
爸，您为了我们奔波劳累了那么久，也该休息了。过两年我就毕业了，让我扛下这个家吧。
Kenny Sia:
It's common practise for us kids to call out "Pa chi, Mi chi" (Dad, eat. Mom, eat) as a form of courtesy to our parents when we have our dinner. The day after the wake, I broke my own heart when I called my father to eat even though he's no longer around.
It's been 7 weeks, and I still miss him.
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This is my father carrying me in 1970. We were at the beach, at Pasir Ris. This was before they reclaimed the land in 1978 to build Pasir Ris Park. I was one and I was his first.
Decades later, I would get to know the feeling with my own two kids.
Pa was a quiet and prudent man, he never said much when we were kids, choosing to let his actions do the talking. It was typical of the fathers from his generation. But we never lacked for anything, and he did his best to provide for us all, the three boys.
His silent manner hides a childhood of struggle and poverty, of surviving the ravages of war and the seedier side of society.
We saw very little of him, because of his shift work. Forty years at the same job, and never taking a single day of medical leave the whole time. Really. Never.
Ok, except once, when he was almost about to retire, and he had to undergo surgery to remove a small piece of his lung that had developed a tumour. It took that kind of medical situation to make him take MC. He was, I think, a little upset that it marred his perfect attendance record.
That op made him slow down the drink and the smoking, which is just as well.
As I was growing up, we had our share of disagreements, my Pa and I, as kids and fathers tend to. For years, I thought he did not understand me.
Then I became a husband, then a father, and then a father again. And we reconnected, in our own very quiet way. No fanfare, no hugging, no drama.
My children brought out a part of him I had never seen before and he is the most doting grandfather to his grandchildren.
Faith, in particular, holds a special place in his heart, because she was the first and because of her autistic condition. Isaac runs him ragged, and gets many toys from him.
He was there with me when Faith was born, awaken by my phone call at 3 am in the morning, because my mom was in Australia. When I was checking us in at the hospital counter, he carried the bags and accompanied my wife into the delivery room. The nurses at first thought he was the father. It was a funny mixup. My father looks very young for his age.
He is enjoying his retirement years now. He has four grandchildren to play with, two from my brother and two from me. And another one from me, on the way. Our children are very blessed to have him as grandfather.
Happy Father's Day, Pa.
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Seems like there are quite a number of less than glowing reviews of the Phua Chu Kang (PCK) musical, Once in a Lifetime, if these reviews via Tomorrow.sg are anything to go by.
Even on Ebay, the bidding has not been fast and furious. Three $85 tickets for $120 also attracted no bids. So jialat ah?
The reviews:
Did I mention this was a government-supported musical? Well, the love was mutual, it seemed.
Case in point, a song and dance item within the first couple of acts in the musical on the importance of CIVIL DEFENCE (briefly mentioning TOTAL DEFENCE) in Singapore. Complete with cutesy re-enactment of emergencies where civil defence protected one’s family and loved ones blah blah blah. Please. This is not a f-king National Education school skit, people.
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Check out the spoof website of Huh? Corp, the world's most dynamic e-business marketing, design and consulting agency (according to them).
Excerpt:
huh? is an enclave of new-age e-movers. We use catchy names for our job titles, like Vision Guidance Leader instead of Consultant. Cool names make us sound smarter and more clever.
Our CEO is rarely in his office, and all female team members are expected to sleep with him, or at least pretend like they want to. Our designers ride Razor scooters around the office, while wearing mail-bag style backpacks to hold their iPods.
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Some responses to the Live radio conference Miyagi and I were part of on Friday morning.
From elusivedreams:
We had this 'conference' today.. It was part of 938 Live's Campus programme. Anyway, we had Chandra Mohan, Daniel Koh, Mr Miyagi & Mr Brown on the panel today. They raised the usual issues about legal stuff etc. Saw Mr Brown's expression when the words 'online diary' were mentioned.. Haha.. He seemed quite pissed whenever it was mentioned.
From zeenie:
Interesting points:
host: "Writing with a sense of humour is good, but with humour comes cynicism and sarcasm..."
mb: "what's wrong with that?"
Zing! LOL
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Latest TODAY column: IM chatting with myself and others
Excerpt:
RECENTLY, I started to use Instant Messaging (IM) more frequently. Yes! I am joining the ranks of the young people! According to another newspaper, it is the new addiction of the young (to which the young would reply: "Yeah, as recently as the year 2000!").
For the uninitiated (old farts, not like me, young fart), IM is a form of computer "chat" that allows one to have a real-time conversation with another IM user. It is like instant email, or talking with your keyboard.
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We are now going live on radio!
Update 2: One more repeat telecast will be aired on Sunday, 19th June 2005, 11.00am to 12.00pm.
Update 1: Repeat telecast of this program is available tonight at 9.00pm to 10.00pm. I will try to get a podcast up soon.
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Today, from 9:00am to 10:00am, Mr Miyagi and I will be at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, to be part of a live radio program on NewsRadio 93.8FM.
We are on a panel with Mr Chandra Mohan and Mr Daniel Koh, and together with Ngee Ann students, we will be exploring the topic: "Weblogs - private space or public platform?".
This will be followed by Mr Miyagi singing My Way by Frank Sinatra. Okay, that part is bluff one. Thank goodness, hor?
So if you can, tune in to 93.8FM at 9:00am to hear Miyagi and I being ripped to shreds on LIVE public radio. Should be fun.
More info on the program:
Campus which is hosted by Augustine Anthuvan and Mahesha Thenabadu (alternative months) airs on NewsRadio 93.8FM every last Friday of the month. It's a forum for the youth to engage with topics close to their heart, and the show is broadcast LIVE as it happens from 9am to 10am; that is the morning primetime belt which enjoys the highest listernership of the day. It's a different junior college/tertiary institute/university every month.
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Alert! Do not proceed if you do not wish to read potential spoilers!
It is nice to know that even Batman had to make his own Batarang himself with some metal and the machine shop, just like we did in Technical class (Americans call it Shop) at Swiss Cottage Secondary School. Poor Bruce Wayne, it must have been a bitch to make one. I bet he had to try and get them back whenever he threw one at the enemy.
And that memory cloth he used for his cape. What's up with that? Harry Potter ah?
Then there was the scene where he took the $30,000 body suit (No-Nipples model) and made it the Batsuit... by ownself spraying it black! Eh, what kind of super paint is he using, man? The minute you bend down to remove the (rather large) codpiece to take a Bat-pee, that paint is just going to crack and peel! At least get an IDAC or appointed workshop to do a decent 2k paint job on it lah.
And then he had to order the Bat Cowl from two places, Singapore and China, I think, so as not to arouse suspicions. Er, 10,000 Bat Ears shipped in, and no one will notice? Maybe they ship a lot of that kind of kinky stuff out of China often. And poor Alfred, how many nights did he have to spend glueing the ears and the face pieces together, I wonder?
I also noticed that Batman started with a full Skeletal Battle Order (SBO), but later removed the webbing (known in National Service as The Army Bra), and just kept the belt. Maybe the Harry Potter cape kept getting caught in the webbing buckles.
Of course the reason no one notices that a $30,000 prototype military power suit is missing from Wayne Labs is because it was in the drawer. When you have a whole floor of expensive military prototypes being looked after by one old man, it is hard to notice a thing like a military power suit missing, I suppose. Or a huge-assed armoured SUV-turned-Batmobile.
Isn't that just like those rich millionaire types? Have to drive an obnoxious fuel-guzzling carpark-lot-hogging SUV as a superhero vehicle. The one they used in the movie even had a huge anus at the back that shoots flames when it had to go turbo. I bet other drivers shout "Asshole!" whenever it does that.
And the highlight of the movie has got to be when the Batmo-tank was in a car chase being pursued by police cars and a police helicopter, and Batman presses a few buttons sending the vehicle into, ahem, "Stealth Mode" (complete with the sexy female computer voice saying, "Stealth Mode").
Er, a black armoured SUV just turned off its lights along a not-very-well-lit highway and that's Stealth Mode?
I will tell my wife the next time I want to elude police cars, "Wait, I off my lights and put my black Toyota into... Stealth Mode!"
The other question that bugged me throughout the movie was, if the Batman car is called a Batmobile, what is a Batman mobile phone called? Batmobilephone? Bathandphone?
My only real disappointment was that I could not see Bomb Blast Batman, Power Punch Batman or Roto Blade Batman anywhere in the movie. And not even a glimpse of the Armored Speedbike Batcycle, the Disc Shooting Jet or the Batcopter with Blade Action. They have the toys leh, but the movie never show them.
So sad. Bluff me, one. Sniff.
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The Tomorrow editors were having a little email discussion about Blogging Etiquette (I was asking the team if anyone wished to help some students with an article on it), and as fast as James can build a drupal-driven website, resident brain Daryl came up with this gem.
So for those of you who are new to blogging or want to know proper Blogging Etiquette, go check out Daryl's easy guide.
Excerpt:
1. Always bow before you blog.
2. When you blog, do remember that the knife goes in the right hand, and the fork in the left.
Thank you. It's been wonderful talking to all of you. Godspeed.
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How do you know if your boss is actually spying on you? Here are a few starters that might be of help:
Wherever you go you're followed by a potted plant in loafers.
The bracelet he gave you for Christmas blinks if you leave your work station/ cubicle.
Your name:"Ivan." Next to your parking spot: "Reserved for the guy following Ivan"
Your new secretary looks a lot like that chick from "Alias"
Instead of photos of wife and kids on his desk, he has a photo of you sleeping.
When you're alone in the men's room, a voice tells you to quit blocking the lens.
There seem to be a blinking red light inside the smoke detector.
The fax machine just coughed.
Shamelessly taken from Ivan's blog
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Wah lau eh, if I had known nipples would get this much press and grober buzz, I would have posted a shot or two myself!
But my son keeps me honest. A few days ago, it was a hot day and I was in my topless home-Ah-Pek mode. My 20-month-old Isaac ambled up to me, pointed at my tummy and said "Pa-Pa".
"Wah, Isaac! So clever! That's right, 'Papa'!" I said with delight.
He then pointed at my left nipple and said, "Mum-Mum".
That was when I knew I was not destined for Glamour Photography stardom. "Mum-Mum" is food in baby talk. Kua-kua.
The story about Sarong Party Girl and her nude shot (NSFW and Not Safe for Chewren, ok?), covered in the Straits Times and also in Zaobao, really caused a stir (sorry, cannot link, must pay... nair mind, here got). Her traffic got so hot and heavy, her blog's banner image could not be displayed for some time because she exceeded her bandwidth.
According to Asiapundit, blogger Gabriel Seah was quoted in that ST article saying:
"The Internet is a free society, there is no reason why anyone should not do this, because it doesn’t hurt anyone."
Gabe's full quote was:
"The Internet is a free society, there is no reason why anyone should not do this, because it doesn't hurt anyone. A lot of things that used to be considered bad are now acceptable, so maybe we shouldn't be so quick to judge and condemn."
Maybe the paper no space lah.
Bloggers like MercerMachine and SerialDeviant weighed in.
Across the Causeway, bloggers like Mack of BrandMalaysia and Kenny Sia had something to say too. Kenny even contributed his own version of the Sarong Party Girl photo, seen on the left (why Kenny, why? The horror, the horror!)
The news spread to news sites in Malaysia (The Star: Net group set abuzz by nude blogger) and Australia (SMH: Naked blogger attracts thousands). It even made The Inquirer (Naked blogger bends Singapore’s rules).
Maybe SPG's photo would be more acceptable to horrified conservatives if, like the Crazy Horse topless revue coming to Singapore soon, her breasts were "bathed in light".
Ya lah. Must be "bathed in light", then can be considered art. Otherwise, it is just a nekkid 19-year-old Singapore blogger.
Quick, call the Breast Police and ban the Internets!
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Wife: I had a very odd dream, last night.
Me: Oh, another one? What did you dream?
Wife (smiles): I dreamt I gave birth and my morning sickness stopped.
Me: Heheh, was it a boy or a girl?
Wife: I can't remember. It didn't matter. I was so happy my morning sickness stopped, I was telling everyone in my dream, "Look, I gave birth and my morning sickness finally stopped, isn't that great?"
Me (laughs): You seem to have all your priorities in the right place.
Wife (smiles): Yeah. I just want to get this kid out of me and end the nausea and the burping all day.
Me: I suppose that's a worthy goal too. (both laugh)
A wise husband, who knows what is good for him, never questions the dreams of his pregnant and pukey wife.
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Just some random stuff over the last week or so.
-Joelle, who is 7, and the daughter of an old friend, wrote this lovely parable about being diffrent, complete with drawings. Beautifully done.
-Huileng has a post on a mysterious chocolat family.
-Faith-T changed her blog name to something French and posted some incredible photos from a place that will surprise you.
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