Talking Shite

Would you be willing to donate time you already spent, to help give people more time to live?

This is international breast cancer month. It's why I actually started putting up the pink images here. At the time I joked about what would be done with Bowel Cancer Awareness month. Bowel cancer does not have any glamour to it. We are talking about a part of the body which we tend not to think about until something goes wrong.

Two things occured this week and it sparked an idea. One where I'll need your help.

I listened to the Podcast Sisters creating a book by re-using your blog (I'm paraphrasing). And I came across Chris Anderson talking about Blogging Heroes: Interviews with 30 of the World's Top Bloggers by Mike Banks.
Bank's book is a series of interviews with bloggers. Sales are presumably going to be based on the fact that everyone likes to see their name in print...

Which is where "Talking Shite" comes from.

A book of Irish bloggers (which means Bloggers in Ireland, from Ireland or about Ireland) by Irish bloggers doing what we do best. Talk and blog (same thing really).
This is about being a patron, not being patronising to a cause.

Would you be willing to donate a blog post for inclusion in a book which would be sold in aid of bowel cancer?

Would you be willing to donate time you already spent, to help give people more time to live? And would you buy the book? And get your friends to buy the book?

Let me know in comments and such?
Will Knott

tags : donate, cancer, charity, Bowel Cancer, Podcast Sisters, Chris Anderson, Mike Banks, book, writing, blogs, bloggers, irish blogs, irish blogers, Talking Shite

So the idiot does something stupid

... because I can.

As much as I would like to blame Grandad for giving me the idea I suppose I can't.

I entered the "Best Blogging Website" contest at The Golden Spiders, partially because I'd love to live blog the show, but mostly because I can.

I think every Irish blogger, and blogger from Ireland, and every blogger not from Ireland but living in Ireland should enter this. Why... because you can. And I'd love to see what happens next. (Besides, Mulley should win it, but since when does the "should-have" actually become the "did-it")

So I filled out the form and off went the entry.
I seem to be asked for a cheque for €0. I wonder if I should send one in?

take care,
Will

tags : headrambles, Best Blogging Website, Golden Spiders, blogger, Irish blogs, Ireland

Looking at your Johnson

Recently I posted about the short comings of stereotypes (and when they are necessary).

Well Lee Hopkins points out the shortcomings much better than I did, and gives a similar reason... attention span.

While I pointed out that a stereotype in necessary for a 30 second advert (even if you intend to show that the stereotype is incorrect) Lee does one better... he tells a story.

---quoting Lee Hopkins...
“Johnson!” barked the bulldog-like senior manager, “Get in here NOW!”

But Johnson failed to appear.

“JOHNSON!” screamed the bulldog.

Still no appearance of the missing subordinate.

Who immediately feels some sort of pity for Johnson? Who feels some form of anger towards the bulldog-like manager?

Why? You don’t know the context.

For all you know Johnson could have been away photocopying confidential information to pass to a competitor; the bulldog’s shouts might have been a cry for help because they’re having a heart attack — the screams no louder than a whisper to an outsider’s ears.

But this is the Age of the Instant Judgement, when we make snap decisions that can affect lives without taking the time to understand the context.

---

He goes on to point out that a lot of the blogging world and the entire Web 2.0 world means that there is a lot of first reactions. With the high output of posts and blogs, we skim posts. We skim information, a long post tends to be something put aside for later digestion (and might be removed from your reader, or memory when the next nugget of information arrives.

Slightly depressing, eh?

Will

tags : stereotypes, Lee Hopkins, story, Instant Judgement, attention, Web 2.0, blogs, skim

hate crimes and comments

People have a habit of telling me things. Sometimes it's things I don't want to know about.

In this particular case a post from 2004 about the Life of Brian being re-released brought forth a comment...

"I just kicked the shit out of a [derogatory term for a minority] after i followed him outside [Cork nightclub] on [day of the week] night"

Sorry about the censoring, but I have my reasons, which will become apparent below.

So what do you do when someone admits to committing a crime on your blog?
I took it down as soon as I saw it.

The next question is, what do you do next...

Well wither this assault is fictional or real. Worst case... its real.
If its real and I don't report it... am I liable?

Well, since it concerns a minority, there is a chance that an incident such as this would have crossed the desk of the Garda liaison for that minority... so I checked, and there was one.

I've dropped the details I have off (approximate time, place and minority concerned) and I'm leaving the investigations in the hands of the authorities.

Lets assume it is a real event, what is traceable?
Blogspot (or Google) have probably recorded the incoming IP address and time of the comment being recorded. This means that the commenter could be traced back to his (I think it's a safe assumption that an assault described above is more likely to be bragged about by a man than a woman) IP address assigned at the time of the post.

This IP address may belong to a household, public place or a company.
In most cases It should be possible to figure out who posted it...

However it all depends on if the assault took place.

What should I have done, and should I have done something different?

Will

tags : blogs, blogging, crime, assault, hate crime, comments