Non-practice

A child’s right to eat is not equal to a meal plan for all children in school.

You can have a speech: „We don’t know why we are debating the right to eat a proper meal for all children, even poor ones”.

Well, that’s not what we’re debating, we’re debating the meals for all the kids at lunch at school.

The two things are not the same.

See, if you say „Poor children deserve to be well fed”, that’s a subject, but if you say „All the children need to be fed at school”, that’s a different topic.

For the first scenario, there are some specific solutions (like just some kids to eat at school, or giving money only to the poor children), for the second scenario, there are other solutions (food in school for all of the children).

Framing the question correctly is highly important.

Citește mai departe

I watch, from time to time, what’s on the Romanian weather forecast on TV.

Some observations:

• Lots of emphasis on Europe – what’s the weather in France for the next 24 hours? But they only show a map of Europe, and, of course, it’s got little details. If you show „Sun” in France for the next 24 hours, there might be some differences that you didn’t catch.
• For Europe – I would appreciate both a more detailed look and, also, a longer timeframe.
• When they present Romania, again, there’s little shown – just a few counties, not all of Romania.
• Again, the weather forecast for 10 days? You’ll likely not see it.
• Sometimes the presenter stays on the screen in such a way that they’re obscuring the view.
• I’m not sure what the role of the presenter would be. If they would just show a map of Europe, with evolution for 10 days, then a detailed map of Romania, with evolution for 10 days, then I wouldn’t need the presenter.
• Whenever I want to find the weather, I go to the Internet and find it a much more reliable source than watching TV at so-and-so-hours. TV is more entertaining, but for speed, usefulness, and ability to understand the broad image – online is much better.

Citește mai departe

When someone comes to your blog, saying „We want a review!”, what they really mean, a lot of times, is „We want a praise!”.

It’s not 100%, of course, but it happens more often than not, that when people ask for a review, they mean they only want to hear the positive parts.

It’s natural, I don’t blame anyone, all I’m saying is you need the ability to make a distinction between the request and the actual request (they’re different, as similar as they can appear).

Citește mai departe

I try to listen to new people, to get different perspectives.

On the other hand, if I am to follow someone on various channels, they need to give me good ideas – it’s rare to find someone to reach this single criterion.

Notice, I didn’t say the person I listen to needs to be smart. I met some speakers who gave me ideas, but, at the same time, I don’t consider all of their ideas valid.

Also, you can be a good mathematician, but you need some presentation skills to get the message across.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt to have a broad knowledge on the world, or the ability to connect ideas. But they’re not mandatory.

So, when listening to a presentation, I try to put a single criterion – „The speaker gives me ideas”.

Two types of focus:

• Listen to as many new people as possible.
• Listen, again and again, on repeat, to the people that give me ideas.

Citește mai departe

It’s quite easy to go and watch a movie. Also, watching sports. Also, browsing the Internet.

It’s hard to get to work – create a script, do a review of a movie, make a comparison between movies. Doing sport, coaching others, create a team strategy. Writing things for the Internet, composing music, creating videos, or writing blog posts.

You need to read in order to be a good writer. Watching other people play sports can improve your skills in that sport. Browsing online may give you some ideas on what the trends are.

But if you never stop consuming, and avoid creating, you might find you’ll grow slower.

Citește mai departe

I know a person who once told me – „But I already saw all the good movies! There’s nothing to do anymore.”

I didn’t have a good answer for that person at that time.

My answer, now, would be: „Do different things. Don’t just watch movies, get involved, take part in events, volunteer, travel, meet new people, start projects, work extra, read, compose songs, or do sport. By doing different things, you’ll see that watching movies will be a more enriching experience. You’ll learn to appreciate different kinds of movies, to understand better the movies you saw. And just by focusing on a few of the actions above, you’ll likely fill up your time.”

Get some action, and the action will bring results.

If you shift the perspective (going from watching movies to doing other activities), when you return (come back to watching movies), you’ll be a different person. The movies will be the same. You won’t.

Citește mai departe

I tend to focus on the small, tiny, little details. It’s hard for me to see the big picture, but easy to see the details. This is an example for this.

On the other hand, a lot of things in life, in general, are about the eagle’s eye view – the ability to see the stack, not the needle. The forest, not the trees.

To some degree, this is a specialization that is useful. Still, the ability to draw conclusions and focus on the big picture is also important.

Where does the ability to see the big picture come from? Partially, from experience in life.

Citește mai departe

I find this a rather disturbing argument.

Sometimes, self-development trainers give this as an example – „Look, you have persons A, B, C. If they could do it, you can, also!”.

This starts from the assumption that I think I’m better than A, B, C.

A rather disturbing fact.

Citește mai departe

It may look like an obvious choice – for UEFA Champions League matches, for example, to only watch matches in the final stages of the event.

I doubt this choice – yes, if you want to watch just a match, it’s likely that the final match will be more exciting than a lot of group matches.

But, most likely, the difference between two such matches will not be that high.

I think you can get a good show watching group-stage matches, also.

Citește mai departe

My view on Will Smith and the Oscars?

The real issue is that there are two opposite evils:

• It’s wrong to make fun of someone’s health issues.
• It’s wrong to use physical aggression as a response to an oral comment.

The thing is, you need to compare the two evils and notice that Will Smith did the „wronger” evil, if there’s such thing.

It was a poor night for artists everywhere, but especially for the people who were awarded an Oscar that night, and the spotlight was not on them anymore (via Jim Carrey).

Citește mai departe