LankaLife

"Such Need in a Rich City"

"I worry that the colour of my new furniture isn't quite right. When I'm hungry, I say there's nothing in the house to eat when in reality my fridge is full." - Kristin Osbourne, teacher, on taking so much for granted. Like most of us. Read the Star stories (1 & 2) that made her want to help a former teacher from Sri Lanka and her two boys.

Rock n' Roll & Politics

Bono continued his public scolding of the Prime Minister last night during U2's Vancouver concert. He was preaching to the converted, but The Star and others say he flashed the PM's phone number on a giant screen and urged the audience to call: "Get out your phones. Dangerous little devices, these cell phones."

Bono hasn't given up on the PM though, and urged his fans not to either. He said Martin is "a great leader for Canada" and he says he thinks Martin will listen. Read more.

Bono's Challenge to Canadians

Bono is not happy with the Prime Minister. The U2 front man is ticked off that the recent budget didn't live up to Martin's committment of a 0.7 percent allocation of Gross National Income to foreign aid -- something promoted by Lester B. Pearson and held up since as a model for all developed countries (though only a handful of countries accomplish it).

You might recall that Martin cozied up to Bono during his pre-election campaign. At the time, Bono said he didn't mind if it raised HIV/AIDS awareness.

But Bono is sounding off now. In the national (CBC, Canadian Press) and international (BBC, Sunday Times) media and in an inbox near you.

If you keep in touch with the Make Poverty History movement, you should expect a friendly "Call Paul" email this week. There, in bold, and in bright orange is Bono's year-old warning: "I'm going to be the biggest pain in his ass," referencing his own promise to hold Martin accountable for his foreign aid committment. Well, it seems he's just warming up.

Tomorrow night, U2 takes the stage in Vancouver for a two-night appearance. There's no doubt that Bono will be using the opportunity to be a bit of a pain in Martin's ass.

You can read Bono's challenge to Canadians on the Make Poverty History Canada site.

Shortening History

Shortening, simplifying, getting to the point - it's always a good thing to do when you're writing. Contractions are handy, particulary if you want to add a bit of casualness to your writing. Jon Stewart over at Comedy Central showed a particularly creative, and just a bit tacky, use of the quasi-contraction last night, hoisting up yesterday's New York Post with its article entitled "Mike's H'Caust Honor." Seems that a lack of column space led to the interesting short form.

Hey, September 11 became 9/11. The World Wars became WWI and WWII. Perhaps it was inevitable. What's next? The V'War, the Great D, the C'War and S.Rev?

Media Manners

A small newspaper chain, Seacoast Newspapers, has an article worth reading on telephone manners and the importance of knowing how to deal with the media. Colleen Lent's latest business profile subject must have pushed the boundaries of rudeness just a bit too far (something most writers have encountered at some point), and the result is this article. Some good advice here, particularly on having an internal plan for dealing with media calls. Interestingly, this article applies far beyond good media manners -- it applies to everyday business, like not taking cell phone calls in meetings.

Bet You Didn't Know...

Sometimes, studies tell us the darnedest things don’t they? Towers Perrin just released a report that says employees who believe senior management care about them are more likely to trust what they say. Those employees also want a communication exchange (read: two-way) that is open and honest, and information that is clear and understandable. Towers Perrin calls it a groundbreaking study because it is the first attempt they know of that studies communication effectiveness across many organizations.

Golly Bob, That Guy's Shooting at Us

Al Tompkins over at The Poynter Institute has a great column for today’s Morning Meeting on the refusal by at least 20 U.S. ABC-affiliated TV stations to air Saving Private Ryan for Veterans Day. They’re running scared due to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules on indecency, but not because of the movie’s extreme but realistic violence -- because of the use of the F-word.

Saving Private Ryan has aired twice before, but Tompkins says that recent “regulatory decisions on profanity” indicate the FCC prohibits airing the “type of profanity used in the movie”. Apparently, warnings to viewers about the movie’s content and subject matter wouldn’t make a difference to the FCC.

So, those stations will instead air the edited version of the R-rated Eddie Murphy film, Coming to America.

Saving Private Ryan is considered by many to be a difficult but realistic portrayal of war yet a valuable educational tool for those mature enough to deal with it. Not even the Parents Television Council finds it indecent. While veterans are angry about the stations’ decisions to pull the movie, others should be concerned that it’s the F-words the FCC is so hung up on.

Apparently, "I Want Your Money" Doesn't Cut It

Usability guru, Jakob Neilsen just released his study of the messages Bush and Kerry sent to their electronic followers and found a noticeable difference in strategy that seems to have backfired for Kerry.

Neilsen ranked the usability scores for both candidates’ electronic newsletters fairly evenly (and low, considering budget sizes), but he thinks that Bush’s “wise use of email newsletters contributed to his victory”. According to his analysis of e-newsletter content sent by both candidates the week before the election, Kerry inundated his subscribers’ inbox with requests for money (57% versus 8% by Bush), while Bush focused on issues and events (54% versus 14% for Kerry). Both candidates urged people to get out and vote, but given that Kerry needed the increase in voters to come out in his favour, one might have thought that he would have emphasized this more strongly (29% versus 38% for Bush). Bush apparently did a better job at asking supporters to get other voters out to the polls.

Neilsen also claims Bush’s newsletters repeatedly referred to current events, a “good strategy: offering newsworthy content makes subscribers more likely to continue opening newsletters” and “up-to-the-minute arguments are classic use of email and gave Bush supporters fodder”.