Renaissance of the blog, or is it?
I have not been posting here for already…what? 2 months…? yeah 2 months. I think I can trace the underlying cause for this back to the first days of my online black-board. I never wanted to be a successful blogger. Boosting my stats and having high visitor counts excites me as much as last year’s snow…(not very much for those of you who don’t get the comparison). I didn’t look at it as a project nor as a challenge, it was a mental game for my drunken summer brain which went offline as soon as I graduated. We’re being reminded time and time again, most recently by Steve Jobs’ death about the gruesome truth – that this game called life ends certainly…The game is rigged, and what matters is not who wins in the arena, but who puts on a better show for the eternally changing crowd. Who will go from man to legend, to myth and leave the spirit in a bronze helmet walking earth in eternal after-life? Is that what counts? Is country what counts, is religion what counts? Or is it the bunch of shit we buy on credit on a daily basis to satisfy our egoistic, hedonistic needs? Looking at it from the different school of thought perspective, I am of opinion that there is potential in every single person out there. What makes it beautiful is that we’re all good in different things, what’s bad is the single personality trait our generation shares… we’re not connecting the dots. An educational system that produces batches of the same pathetic, average, ignorant population. We’re not people anymore, we’re the labor force. A labor force in a world where there’s no labor to do. The fairy-tale that companies recruit a person for a job? Please…companies need a unit of labor to execute tasks and fill in a role…All the creativity is lost. There is a need for euthanasia on a bigger scale… on the scale of whole nations and worlds…
Back to where I started…I liked that I could put down my, at times over-emotional thoughts mixed with bittersweet self-loathing and impulsiveness and make it available for a wide audience and piss on all unwritten norms of conduct. I liked that I could also share some not so mainstream ideas and have feedback from people. Actually it was feedback and the conversation that I had going on with people that kept me here…(of course self-glorification played a big role, although I was trying to hide my ego-trips). Am I an exhibitionist? Perhaps…although my writing isn’t something to show off with or be jealous of. I shamelessly (hah, or do I) express my thoughts, and keep a conversation going for the sake of the conversation. This is small talk, ladies and gentlemen. Why care about prejudice and judging? Are they not obvious parts of our day-to-day life… I’m sick of fake objectivity, and people attempting the impossible, staying rational at all times. Is man “a piece of work, noble in reason” as Shakespeare stated (ironically) or are we yet another “predictably irrational” race as Dan Ariely states? If I always took care (cognitively) of what I say, and how I act I wouldn’t be doing or saying too much. Public scrutiny for errors and biased remarks? Is that not hypocrisy at it’s peek? Judge the judging.
The Wizard of O
How to successfully identify and differentiate a despotic, criminal dictator from a democratically elected legitimate country leader?
Inspired by recent developments in North Africa and some additional reading about the Israel-Palestine conflict, the dictators in the Central American/Caribbean republics of Haiti, Nicaragua and Guatemala, then a bit more about the Middle East (who remembers Saddam?) as well as life experience generated in the related topic I came up with a short helpful list enabling every common citizen and reader of my blog to identify with ease the freedom fighters from the terrorists, the good dictators from the bad…
This is a check-list for all the democratic, legit and aspiring leaders out there:
1. If you are funded by the US or any other Western European government on an annual base you’re safe
2. If your electoral campaign has been engineered by US companies you’re good too
3. If the election/plebiscite had been overlooked by US peacekeepers or “international watchers” and you won – you’re good again
4. If you won the election after it had previously been repeated because in the 1st one you lost badly to the opposition – you’re pretty safe again
5. If you provide USA, France, UK, Germany with steady supplies from your oil basin – that’s a winner
5.ii If you support food-for-oil programs
6. If you allow building of NATO bases or HQs on your soil
7. If the government preceding you is being trialed on International Court
8. If the government preceding you had been illegally and anti-democratically overthrown by you in a military coup/putsch helped by your Western allies
9. If you’ve been helped in completely re-engineering your country’s past – score!
10. If you’ve been studying in schools abroad funded by US taxpayers money together with other “revolutionaries”
11. If you’re striving to completely destroy your nation’s conscience and make your people feel subordinate to the West
12. If you’re being supported in “illegal but legitimate” actions
13. If ethnic cleansing isn’t banned for you
… And the list goes on…
If you satisfy most of the above-written then you meet the requirements to be recognized as a legit democratic leader! Congratulations! That is…until democracy in which you’re the leader doesn’t stop paying off for your Western masters and they decide to overthrow you in another bloody coup.
Back to Warsaw
Guess who’s back, back again… Ozren’s back – tell a friend…
I got back to Warsaw this weekend which means I’m going back to my old friends who always listen – the laptop and the Internet. Right now I’m in the middle of a cultural shock and an adaptation period which means I’m still too nervous/agitated/anxious to post anything in my usual style. Hopefully I’ll manage to quench my inner demon’s thirst for rebellion and counter-productive behavior fast and go back to my usual self. Right now I feel like a woman during her period which means that I hate the world from 8-16, and the rest of the time I hate myself. I got through this before so I’m waiting it out again… And as Avon Barksdale said, “there’s only two days in prison, the day you go in and the day you come out”.
That’s all from me for tonight, I’ll be back!
Summer Notice
From tomorrow I’m moving my HQ to Belgrade for a month. That means I’ll be spending a lot less time online and probably won’t post till September.
I wish you all a nice summer, and see you in September with more posts on whatever interesting I find out in the meantime.
Ozren
Using complicated language to confuse people
When on a day to day level I judge the level of English (richness of vocab) of my conversational partner in order to adapt my own English for mutual better understanding – I only pay attention to the oral, spoken part. Why? Because cheating-for-chatting on the web became too easy with all the online dictionaries and glossaries (thank you Wikipedia and Google Translate). Now everyone gets the real-time opportunity for manipulating and communicating at a seemingly higher level, leaving an illusion of someone who’s read a lot. Speeches which took days to prepare – can now be done within minutes.
You might ask “So, where’s the harm in that?” On a personal level – when trying to leave a specific mark (impressing a girl for example) – sure, there is none. But, let’s look at all the deceiving, confusing talk in the business/advertising world that makes us look inferior, puzzled and provokes a feeling of ”I’m too stupid for this product – so it’s got to be good” (if the advertiser is lucky) or a “what the hell is this product all about” (if he’s not).
Take a look at for example the technological sector and the language used by marketers there – the so-called TechnoLatin.
“TechnoLatin is a vocabulary of vague but precise-sounding words that you can use anywhere, without any real value.” – The Cluetrain Manifesto
An example I took from Honda’s website: http://corporate.honda.com/innovation/hondajet.aspx
“HondaJet is transcending the standards in light jet travel. Rethinking technology to maximize performance, comfort and quality. Redefining convention to enhance human mobility.”
The message here is simple – improving transportation means, but look at the last sentence: “Redefining convention to enhance human mobility.” – that’s about as vague as it gets and what it means is “making travel easier”.
This website: http://www.buzzphraser.com/ is home to a phase generator that lets you play with TechnoLatin and lets you create your own buzz-phrases.
This is the explanation of TechnoLatin on the website: “BuzzPhrases are built with TechnoLatin, a non-language that replaces plain English nouns with vague but precise-sounding substitutes. In TechnoLatin, a disk drive is a “data management solution.” A phone is a “telecommunications device.”
Just lovely…
Another funny example I took from The Cluetrain Manifesto:
“A veterinarian using TechnoLatin might say that a dog serves as a platform for sniffing, is an open environment for fleas, and that it supports barking.”
Point is: Keep it clear & simple, because that’s what’s really valued and scarce today. Try to sound unnaturally smart and you might actually end up looking dumber because no one else really gets what you’re saying, including yourself.
P.S. It might work on girls though 
God made everything out of nothing, but the nothingness shows through
What’s up people? I haven’t kept up to the frequency of posts I’ve set in June – I had less time, and decided to explore other parts of life outside of this black 15″ glowing box. But now I’m back for a couple of days before continuing my lonely journeys in life (here a quote is ringing in my head that I’ve read on one of my friend’s (Giorgos Tagkoulis) twitter account – “The traveler hasn’t found his destination yet” – those words reflect my life in the past couple of years and I really don’t know where I’m heading yet… and I’m stuck. Not that I’m complaining about it, but the silence in between my journeys and meeting other souls similar to me sometimes bangs louder than any noise, and envelopes me.
“If you are alone you belong entirely to yourself….If you are accompanied by even one companion you belong only half to yourself, or even less, in proportion to the thoughtlessness of his conduct; and if you have more than one companion you will fall more deeply into the same plight.”
Leonardo Da Vinci
These words help me get through my days. And the occasional talks I have with random people I meet in my journeys. For example yesterday on my way back from Lithuania to Poland (thank you again Mindaugas for the hospitality) – on the same bus in front of me sat a Hungarian-Lithuanian guy who lived 1 street away from me in Budapest – but we’ve never met before. I had a chance to use my Hungarian after a long time – had loads of fun. The funny looks of the Polish/Russian/Lithuanian people when they heard us speak Hungarian were priceless. Or the French guy from Nice who I’ve met last week when I took my driver’s license theory exam, or for that matter the Turkish guys I’ve met owning a cafe downtown Warsaw… All interesting people who I would not have met had I had anything else to do with anyone.
I’m ready to read, a lot, ready to further broaden my horizons, ready to get the expertise in that one area Seth Godin’s been talking about in his last post http://sethgodin.typepad.com/ - but I am lacking the inspiration to write… Why? Because every day I keep learning how little I know. I want to keep up with this blog because it definitely does help me with my writing skills, consolidating my thoughts and keeping me in shape during the summer – but the material, the content - I still need to big up on that by a long shot. Other than that the world is buzzing about Google +, the Facebook vs Google war, Italian austerity plan, the stress test for EU banks, the downfall of Euro, the second bailout package for Greece, the fact that Argentina and Brazil didn’t make it past 1/4 of Copa America, transfer rumors, the crappy weather in Poland this summer, hating on Justin Bieber and more…
I just had a talk with my dad recently about what he thinks would make a good business consultant – since I know some people who are into this area and are young. The thing you have to know about my dad is that in his attitudes and opinions he is very critical and pragmatic, and what he told me is that “business consultants have to be successful managers, people who have already achieved and proved themselves in the field – and therefore have the necessary ground to advise others”. I thought this made sense, and I think it works that way in the blogging world too. I do know that I articulate some of my ideas not as well as I’d like to, but I also do know that some of my observations are totally spot on. The issue however is that, I don’t have the necessary experience nor ground to be confident that others will consider what I write as useful or not…I am writing for myself, but I am the kind of person who does care about the feedback of the audience, and does listen to opinions of others – the more perspectives I hear the more I can understand the problematic. In the end of the day we do live in anarchy – there is no hierarchy in life apart from the one we create in our companies, or sub-cultural societies. There’s 7 billion of us and we all like to think that we’re right – it’s in our nature…
Anyway, these are just some random thoughts on a Monday afternoon, and by putting them down I broke a bit of my post abstinence and did create something… Have a nice week everyone!
Saying “No” in business and private life
The Man and His Two Wives
In the old days, when men were allowed to have many wives, a middle-aged Man had one wife that was old and one that was young; each loved him very much, and desired to see him like herself.
Now the Man’s hair was turning grey, which the young Wife did not like, as it made him look too old for her husband. So every night she used to comb his hair and pick out the white ones. But the elder Wife saw her husband growing grey with great pleasure, for she did not like to be mistaken for his mother. So every morning she used to arrange his hair and pick out as many of the black ones as she could. The consequence was the Man soon found himself entirely bald.
Moral of the story:
There are different types of saying “No” in life. This is the more difficult one, the game-changer one.
Sitting on two chairs can make you drop on your ass! I’m not promoting monogamy, but what I am saying though, is that the hero of the story found himself with no hair left because of his inability to say “No” to either woman.
Your surrounding is consisted of leeches. We all are leeches in our own way. Leeching affection, feelings, energy from each other. We as humans need it like water, and through symbiosis we give it and take it from each other. Control the people and activities that suck you dry, and be able to remove the “bad” leeches, the parasites.
Being able to give up conformity and obedience for the sake of breaking from the shackles of indecisiveness is an important ability of any self-confident manager and individual alike.
You will take hits either way, but when you need to “swallow a frog” in life, swallow it fast and without thinking.
Premature Burial – The Cluetrain Manifesto
Today I am going to quote an abstract from “The Cluetrain Manifesto”, Das Kapital of the 21st century. A collection of thesis put together in a manifesto describing how the Internet changed and revolutionized the business world.
Great read so far! Available here in PDF:
http://anarcho-capitalist.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/the-cluetrain-manifesto.pdf
“Premature Burial”
We die.
You will never hear those words spoken in a television ad. Yet this central fact of human existence colors our world and how we perceive ourselves within it.
“Life is too short,” we say, and it is. Too short for office politics, for busywork and pointless paper chases, for jumping through hoops and covering our asses, for trying to please, to not offend, for constantly struggling to achieve some ever-receding definition of success. Too short as well for worrying whether we bought the right suit, the right breakfast cereal, the right laptop computer, the right brand of underarm deodorant.
Life is too short because we die. Alone with ourselves, we sometimes stop to wonder what’s important, really. Our kids, our friends, our lovers, our losses? Things change and change is often painful. People get “downsized,” move away, the old neighborhood isn’t what it used to be. Children get sick, get better, get bored, get on our nerves. They grow up hearing news of a world more frightening than anything in ancient fairy tales. The wicked witch won’t really push you into the oven, honey, but watch out for AK-47s at recess.
Amazingly, we learn to live with it. Human beings are incredibly resilient. We know it’s all temporary, that we can’t freeze the good times or hold back the bad. We roll with the punches, regroup, rebuild, pick up the pieces, take another shot. We come to understand that life is just like that. And this seemingly simple understanding is the seed of a profound wisdom.
It is also the source of a deep hunger that pervades modern life — a longing for something entirely different from the reality reinforced by everyday experience. We long for more connection between what we do for a living and what we genuinely care about, for work that’s more than clock-watching drudgery. We long for release from anonymity, to be seen as who we feel ourselves to be rather than as the sum of abstract metrics and parameters. We long to be part of a world that makes sense rather than accept the accidental alienation imposed by market forces too large to grasp, to even contemplate.
And this longing is not mere wistful nostalgia, not just some unreconstructed adolescent dream. It is living evidence of heart, of what makes us most human.
But companies don’t like us human. They leverage our longing for their own ends. If we
feel inadequate, there’s a product that will fill the hole, a bit of fetishistic magic that will make us complete. Perhaps a new car would do the trick. Maybe a trip to the Caribbean or that new CD or a nice shiny set of Ginsu steak knives.
