The Near End Of Wikipedia

It wasn't so long ago that Wikipedia was actually a nice source of information. You could find out about particular sciences, countries, history, companies, organizations, even people and you could reasonably trust what was written about each. Why? A number of subject matter experts (SME) would discuss what the text of a particular subject should convey, and come to a conclusion, being the final text available on the interweb.

However lately Wikipedia vandalism is actually making headlines:

• companies changing their corporate histories to hide their failures, or scandals
• people changing their own biographies to tell the story they want to tell, or change biographies of other's to insult them
• pictures and pages getting added, deleted, changed, just because people don't like the layout of the set
  

I guess by now the number of pages on Wikipedia has already passed critical mass, so that SMEs cannot feasibly keep track of everything, and prevent people from intentionally changing the information on the site for their own gain, instead of for the greater good: a wider, deeper distribution of knowledge, for free. The longer this keeps up, people will be less inclined to share information in the first place, undermining the very basis of Wikipedia.

Google Maps: Absolutely brilliant

Careful now, I'm going to sing the praises of Google Maps, so if you're a G-Hater you might want to turn away now, and come back another day.

Since this summer Google Maps is really becoming a fantastic tool to use, to the point where I don't actually need to have Google Earth anymore. I've learned to use several important skills that help me immensely find my way around town, even when I'm not a native.

• Of course the Google Maps find function has always been there, but I've learned to use it to find great places to eat, shop for gadgets, music, clothes and going out. Just zoom in on the area where you expect to be, search on e.g. "restaurant", and you'll find all the good stuff in the general vicinity. Furthermore, you get all the reviews and homepage links you want. And that's just the start.
  
• You can also immediately click to determine the best way to get there, simply by inserting your point of departure. Maps will google the best route for you... and if you don't like the route you can drag waypoints inbetween!

Sometimes people can be happy with so little...

How language shapes cultures, personalities

After getting introduced to a bunch of different language audiobooks, it's far easier to recognise why people in certain countries act in a certain way and how these differ between countries. A language organizes the collective mindset of a society, emphasizes particular aspects while deemphasizing others.

For example:

• the Chinese/Japanese languages stress the subjects, placing more importance on the topics and the content. Generally people speaking these languages do not have to bother with conjugation, or word gender. Why would you change a word if it already expresses what you want to say? This is quite unlike the Mediterranean (Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French) and Germanic languages (Dutch, German) which stress the flow of a sentence more, and utilize conjugations and genders in order to do so.
• in fact, for Asian cultures the subject is the most important, in such a way that the action (verb) that the subject does, is implied. It's not what you do, it's who you're talking about that is easiest to mention.
• For English, Dutch and German it's seemingly more important to speak about conditions and states of a subject. The adjective comes before the noun or subject.

What this means is that the nature of your conversations, the basis for humor, and thus the foundation of relating to a particular culture, change drastically from tongue to tongue. It means that in some languages small-talk is feasible, while in others it will not be, thus impacting the manner of creating relationships. It means that some languages are better suited to describe certain abstract topics, theories.

I am only able to order a beer in ten different languages.

Freakin' spies

Having neighbours comes with the territory. There's only a limited amount of space left that's actually appealing and affordable to live in, which more or less forces people to go to places with similar interests and life expectancies.

However neighbours also have a natural ability to be nosy. Precisely because of the similar interests and expectancies, going against the grain immediately brings your actions to attention. Try getting a shiny new car for example. Or hang a satellite dish. Or start wearing designer clothes. Or bring a different woman home every single night.

Anything different from the grain is notable, and is something to take advantage of, or something that threatens you. I would like people to be more subtle and positive about this, but I guess even I will lash out when some guy is bringing his goats onto my balcony.

The requirements mindset

Requirements are a means to an end; a way to instill confidence in the user that you've understood him, his concerns, and what to do to resolve them. These become concrete triggers and handle bars to manage in a business IT environment.

A professional should be able to clearly communicate what to do, either for himself or towards others. Requirements are helpful in doing so, by providing a mindset of prioritization and categorization. Whether you're a functional analyst, a technical architect, a consultant, a manager, or a programmer, being able to do requirements well allows you to understand what you do. A particular role, a particular person might be better suited to establish a set of requirements (e.g. a business consultant and business requirements; an architect and system requirements) than another, but the understanding is necessary to identify gaps, and to be able to get requirements as a whole to a proper level of detail.

Requirements will change. The further along you get, the tougher and the more expensive those changes become. This is no excuse to have bad requirements or not pay attention to them. Having good requirements change allows you to mitigate risks, have a clear view of impact, and establish confidence, control and a framework for change to the user.

Requirements are never written in isolation. They must be agreed upon/signed-off, and better still, be co-authored with the user and the stakeholders. Also requirements can be well-written on their own, but still be bad when regarding all the requirements.

Brasserie Park

Brasserie Park is a restaurant and party hall housed in a refurbished farm building on the edge of Park de Houtkamp near Leiden, and... a residential block. From the outside it looks quite vintage (as in old-fashioned), but once inside the hip and happening come flying toward you in a nice tight young blonde package. The furnishing's nice and post modern, which doesn't really fit the surroundings, but who's counting? There are large tables for big groups, a lounge area if you just feel like tapas and vino, and proper tables for small parties. The menu's great, and contains various exclusive dishes, which go above and beyond the standard grand cafe deals you would usually expect. A fine wine card accompanies the proceedings. Add to this timely service, and a very surprisingly decent price line, and I wholeheartedly recommend Brasserie Park in Leiderdorp for another visit.

Consultancies should learn from the NFL

Here are two quotes from people in the NFL, that also ring true in my neck of the woods...

You can be your own person, treat people with respect, be very demanding but demanding in a way that doesn't trample on people. And you don't have to give up your faith to win in the NFL.
-- Cam Cameron, sharing his opinions about Tony Dungy's book Quiet Strength

"If we don't do something about rookie salaries pretty soon, the salary cap will be meaningless. [Indianapolis defensive end] Dwight Freeney got $30 million in guarantees after leading the league in sacks over the past five years. [Cleveland rookie tackle] Joe Thomas got $23 million in guarantees for breathing.''
-- Anonymous, but wise, NFL general manager.

re: Peter King, SI.com

Sleepy tired

You could have sleepless nights about a lot of things. Someone you just met, but can't get out of your head. A contract you desperately want signed. A test result. A promotion you want. You sleep badly, and then you feel tired all day.

So here are some tips to stay energetic as much as possible.

Good luck!

Too bad I'm into Pumas now

Marketing is a tough business nowadays. You have to be really subtle and not lay it on too thick. The intention is to convince people to give their hard earned money to you, not tell people that they should.

One of the masters in marketing is Nike. Here is a link that showed exactly why.

(Of course, now that I'm not wearing Nike's anymore, my argument is a bit skewed... but still.)

Catfight! Catfight!

Relationships between women tend to be friendly, indifferent or downright hostile... Forget indifferent... Women are either a girl's best friend, or they are devil incarnate. Every so often you will hear a woman say that she gets along better with guys.

So for all women who can't stand the majority of females around her, there's this game.

Cutting loose

Sometimes you need space, and just want to clear out, get away. There are many ways you can do so. Going on vacation to a far away country. Stay in house. Turn off your phone. Change your identity. Block your relationships.

Each way has a motive behind it. It depends if you need space temporarily, or long term. If you want to go back to your old life when you come back, or if you want a desperate change. If you are disruptive and fickle in nature, or if you're harmonious and just don't want to trouble anyone else.

What is your motive to take a leave of absence?

More Personal Investments

I generally stick to the idea that - like stocks - every relationship requires personal investment. You spend time, effort, attention, perhaps a little bit of money, and that allows the relationship to blossom.

It hurts when an investment doesn't pan out, especially a significantly big investment. Even more so if the payoff you expected was important to you. And yet even more when that same payoff was almost reached and then cruelly taken away at the last possible moment.

Of course you will try to protect your investment, reduce risk, provide more incentives. Sometimes it helps, but like the DOW, there really are no guarantees. Results in the past, do not in any way predict anything about the future.

Comparing friendships and relationships to stock symbols is far fetched, but the comparison rings true. Does it help? Does it make you feel better? Unlikely. It helps to deal with human emotion by taking the emotion out of the equation, and being all business-like. Question is, would you want to?

Being Pretty Sells Games

Looks and attractiveness go a long way today. It's sad to see, but more true than you might admit. Actually, I will admit that when given the choice, all basic conditions have been met and all other factors being the same, I will choose superficial beauty and image over actual depth and longetivity.

Case in point: Assassin's Creed, a video game coming out on all the major gaming platforms, but also a game that by its very setting (medieval times, during the crusades) won't appeal to me, despite looking great and being free-form, and having all these subtle cues and immersive atmosphere... until I find out who the game's producer is...



Definitely, I would not even have considered giving this game a second thought, if it weren't for this pretty face. I'm not saying Jade's actually convinced me upfront to fork over my cash in November when Assassin's Creed is released, but she's got a far better shot than say Grand Theft Auto IV, Crysis or Rock Band.

Quiet For The Storm

Ever get the feeling that something's coming up real soon, a potentially big moment, milestone or event that could change your course in life quickly and severely, but in the mean time there's nothing to do? You're just waiting, keeping yourself busy, without really being very productive.

That time is here now.

Probably the best thing to do is take a long trip far away, and doing something else. At least when you come back, regardless of the outcome, you're doing your thing. Otherwise you leave after, and have to deal with the results then and there.

The anticipation is killing. The tension makes people do moves, that are at best ill-advised.

It truly is the quiet before the storm.