Age Is Irrelevant in the Daniel Bru Scandal
Posted Monday, February 8th, 2010 2:00 am by Dave Moyer
The recent uproar over Daniel Brusilovsky’s termination from TechCrunch due to extortion and bribery allegations has been a hot topic this weekend.
I’m not writing to share my opinion about TechCrunch, Daniel or what many have been calling the “BRU-ha-ha”. I want to write about a bigger issue, something that’s upset me.
Far too many have written off Daniel’s actions as “a sign of how corrupt Silicon Valley is these days” and “proof that teens shouldn’t be allowed to have such high media positions.” They use his age and his relative achievements as justification.
This post is an open plea to the media, tech and business communities, those involved in the recent events surrounding TechCrunch, and those who have ever worked with or come across myself or other young people setting their sights higher than their peers.
Take age out of the equation.
Age is simply a number. It does not apply to the things one can achieve or the internal drive that one possesses. The more you focus on age, the more those achievements and that drive become completely irrelevant.
People are people. People screw up. There are adults who have committed similar if not worse crimes, and there are kids who have been in similar if not higher positions and upheld an incredibly professional reputation. This is true regardless of “how messed up and corrupted Silicon Valley is these days.”
Daniel’s age is no excuse for his actions. His actions are not worsened because of his age. By choosing the entrepreneurial path and by placing himself in a journalistic position, he put himself on a level playing field with the adults that surrounded him, and accepted all connected responsibilities, liabilities and risks.
When I see coverage saying that Daniel is an example of what happens when youth are allowed to succeed, I am extremely disheartened, because this directly insults the simply outstanding work that so many people under the age of 20 have done, in addition to my own. Age simply is not a factor in this, or any similar situation.
It is entirely inappropriate for anyone to pull out a single instance and use the actions of one individual as justification to invalidate an entire community. Daniel is not the only teen involved in the tech or business space (his company and conference prove that), and his screw-up does not mean that anybody should be denied the chance to be successful simply because of their age.
Teens in the media, tech and business spaces everywhere should take this as a warning. Though some protest this notion (I’m protesting against those protesters), Daniel Brusilovsky is being held to the same standard any adult journalist would, as he should be.
When one rejects the norms society puts in place, they cannot expect to revoke that rejection when things suddenly turn bad.
Though those who are underage and “working” should absolutely have supervisors – mentors or guides to help them along the way – your actions are entirely your own.
If you make a mistake, you are responsible. You face the same consequences the rest of the world does. Even if your “inexperience” or “lack of understanding” played a role, they cannot and will not act as a pass of any kind. If that is the case, maybe you should have thought more carefully about sitting down at the big kids’ table.
I want to send one more warning to wunderkids everywhere: Do not, under any circumstances, make your age the key to your success or notability. That card expires, and fast.
You can and will gather buzz because of your age. That’s natural, that’s good, and you should take advantage of it while you have it. That buzz is unique to this space and not many people get that privilege.
However, age is a number. You are a person, not a wunderkid. You are a person whose actions must stand for themselves.
What is left after, one day, your “look at the adorable youngster in a suit” bubble finally pops will be the true measure of your value and success.
I’ll Take My Mini Plaza Now
Posted Thursday, September 17th, 2009 11:17 am by Dave Moyer
I’ve recently gotten into the habit of wandering my neighborhood at 9-10ish at night, talking to various folks on my cell phone. Sometimes we talk about important business, other times we’re just chatting. It’s a nice way to end the day.
On one of these walks, I noticed a strange truck parked by the curb at a quaint little park, connected to an extremely old trailer with peeling paint. Both the truck and trailer read:
UNWANTED APPLIANCES HAULED AWAY
The trailer is also kind enough to note that it is IRON MAN who is providing this service, and that Mr. Iron Man collects such things as:
- BQ GRILL (should be “BBQ GRILLS” but a B and S have peeled off)
- LAN MOWS (I believe this is “lawn mowers” missing a W, an E and an R)
- BIKS (“bikes” missing an E)
- CRAP MEAL (most likely “scrap metal” missing an S and a T, though I find this version much more amusing)
(I regret that it’s been too dark to take a picture of this truck every time I’ve passed it.)
Somehow, in the time between the night before, when that space on the curb was vacant, and the time at which I was reading the extensive list of junk that this man of iron will take off of one’s hands, this truck had arrived, and one or more people had taken notice and hauled over (from what I could see):
- Multiple bicycles
- A rake
- A freezer (or refrigerator… is there a way to tell the difference?)
- At least three barbecue grills
- A slide from a children’s playset
- Rectangular metal tubing that appeared have been an air duct at one time
- The mower portion of a push lawn mower (apparently this person had another use for the handle)
- Some strange plastic tube thing that I couldn’t possibly identify. However, it was plastic, leading me to believe that someone had confused this truck for a PLASTIC MAN vehicle.
Over the next week of nightly outings, the truck continued to fill (one day a different truck, clearly from the same “fleet”, had taken its place). Iron Man was obviously hauling away these unwanted appliances as he promised, because the contents of the truck continued to fluctuate.
At least a week later, I was going about my walk and passed by what is called (at least according the stone dictating its dedication to Evelyn something, a “super” president on my neighborhood’s board of directors) a “mini plaza”. (It’s two benches on opposite sides of the sidewalk… how this is a plaza, even of the mini variety, I don’t know.) I just happened to notice, conveniently illuminated by a lamp post, a large sheet of metal laying in the street. This metallic rectangle was at least 2.5 by 5 feet, with two rows of little holes running neatly down the middle.
I couldn’t just leave this hazard where it was, obstructing our suburban road! That would make a bad resident of me, and I certainly needed as many points as possible if I was ever going to earn a mini plaza dedication. Suddenly, I knew what to do.
This was a job for Iron Man.
Within thirty seconds, I was walking the four block distance to the parked truck, metal in hand. Of course, I was also walking my dog, and I couldn’t just cut off my phone conversation!
So, I slowly shuffled down the sidewalk with the incredibly dirty metal in my right hand, held in place by my left elbow. My left hand was busy holding both my dog’s leash and my phone up to my ear. Also, did I mention that I was wearing flip flops?
Who knows what went through the mind of the five or six drivers who went by me as I made this trek, but I’m fairly sure it was something like, “Look at that wonderful resident of our fine neighborhood, clearing the road of superfluous metal. They’ll most definitely build a mini plaza in recognition of his efforts one day.”
Turned out it was difficult to lift this metal into the truck with only one hand, so it ended up resting, somewhat skewed, partly in the bed of the truck and partly on top of the hitch connecting this truck to its trailer. Despite this, I returned the next day to find the truck gone, and the scrap metal with it.
I had performed my duty as a resident. I hope those black stains come out of that t-shirt. And those jeans. And my hand. I’ll take my mini plaza now.
What’s with the extraneous shower curtains?
Posted Wednesday, August 5th, 2009 4:00 am by Dave Moyer
ATTENTION HALF OF YOUTUBE: Just because iJustine recently showed you how to add cute little sidebars in place of black letterboxes on the sides of videos filmed with non-widescreen cameras (in her case an iSight), like this:
…it does not mean that you should add these sidebars on top of your videos when you already have widescreen footage.
Unfortunately, this is a practice I have seen a lot of lately, even to the point where some people have posted entire videos asking their viewers if they would prefer to have these sidebars on the side, or to have widescreen video with nothing covered up instead.
Evidently, these people do not understand the fact that the purpose of these bars is to make the empty black space sucking the chi out of the rest of a video a little less empty and black. That’s all they are there for. If there’s something to see on the sides that you have filmed in widescreen that is not empty and black, I would like to please see it.
Dear YouTubers, what you are doing is the equivalent of adding a shower curtain over a shower that already has a glass door. That glass door is already there. Though shower curtains are nice and pretty when there is nothing else to shield water from splashing all over your bathroom, if you have a glass door, that works even better. That’s why it’s there. And adding a shower curtain over it is just going to make it annoying to get in and out of your shower.
Please stop it with the extraneous shower curtains. And also with the unnecessary sidebars. Thanks. (Oh yeah, and Justine? No worries. We all still love you.)
I won nothing, and neither will you! (Sorry)
Posted Monday, July 20th, 2009 12:08 pm by Dave Moyer
I got yet another phishing email today, from THE MR ARTHUR ALGANZO. He has an email address hosted at hotmail.com, and the subject was “Confirmation Ticket Number:X-3007333284″.
The message dictated to me that, first of all, “this is not a spam or contains virus”, simply a notification from “free lottery INTERNATIONAL”. I read on to find…
Your electronic email address emerged as one of the Free Lotto Daily Jackpot on-line winning email sweepstakes program held on the 20th of July,2009 in Amsterdam The Netherlands., hence your email address attached to a cash award of €1,000,000.00 (One Million Euro Only).
The message, (sent from THE MR ARTHUR ALGANZO) was signed
Kind Regards,
Mrs. Elizabeth Den Bach,
Promotions Coordinator,
Now, for those of you who are unaware (and if you’re unaware I fear for you), this was a phishing email. It was not real. Ever. However, when I sarcastically Twittered about the message:
GUYS! I won 1,000,000 euros in a lottery in the Netherlands! It says so in an email from THE MR ARTHUR ALGANZO! Woo!
I got ten responses. Two were sarcastically acknowledging it being a scam and laughing at my insightful wit, one was angry yelling at me that it was fake, and the other seven were inquiring about whether or not I entered, wondering how much money that was in US dollars, and congratulating me on what I thought was an obviously fake lottery jackpot.
It’s those last seven people I’m concerned about.
You see, if these people were to get one of these emails, I find it highly likely that they would respond in an attempt to collect their millions, giving away all sorts of bank, credit card, and other highly personal information, and become broke identity fraud victims. To these people: This was not real. If you did not enter a lottery in a strange European country you will not win a lottery in a strange European country. Also, no lottery will email you with a form attached to collect these winnings. Thank you.
Then again, maybe we should let these people drown in phishing scams so we can weed them out. Then I wouldn’t have to deal with them when they’re blabbering in line in front of me at Starbucks. Just saying.
