tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11467565Mon, 22 Dec 2008 20:33:28 +0000Current and personal thoughts: on past experiences, current issues, Romania, the world, education, research and very importantly, meaning.http://www.ciprianman.net/blog/reflections/structures.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ciprian Man)Blogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11467565.post-116280613269897128Mon, 06 Nov 2006 09:29:00 +00002006-11-06T13:21:29.903+02:00 The Note was last night's host. Whether we (the audience) were the guests to Mike Stern and his band's musical universe or whether they were guests in our town is a tough one for me. Technically it's both, but I know nothing of their time in Timisoara so I have to stick to us being their guests... I took just one picture, you can see it here, using my phone which can't take great pictures in http://www.ciprianman.net/blog/reflections/2006/11/mike-stern-band.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ciprian Man)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11467565.post-116232318763585720Tue, 31 Oct 2006 18:56:00 +00002006-10-31T22:05:03.150+02:00Today I woke up, emailed out a schedule I'd forgotten about yesterday, took my grandfather to the hospital, outsourced some typing work to be done for the department at university, did some shopping (food and the like), talked to Flo about her job and looked over a document she was sending out to a prestigious prospective employer, answered email and sent out a contract, did translation work and http://www.ciprianman.net/blog/reflections/2006/10/overly-busy.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ciprian Man)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11467565.post-115286723430604705Fri, 14 Jul 2006 08:45:00 +00002006-07-14T13:09:13.113+03:00It's been a long time since my last post here, and much has happened. I hope I won't forget anything I wanted to write about, but anyway there's so little time to tell any stories now that I better just give the briefest briefing: I've been super-busy providing language services (highest-quality-possible translation and transcreation services, mainly from Romanian into English); we (at EBIG, sitehttp://www.ciprianman.net/blog/reflections/2006/07/its-been-long-time-im-getting-married.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ciprian Man)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11467565.post-114502762984788427Fri, 14 Apr 2006 15:08:00 +00002006-04-14T18:20:48.443+03:00The personality of people who are bilingual changes depending on which language they use, lending credence to the Czech proverb “Learn a new language and get a new soul”.Is this for real? Looking at my own experience, I am reminded of how I used to sense myself as though I were a different person according to the language I spoke, English or Romanian. Over time, an integrating effort took place http://www.ciprianman.net/blog/reflections/2006/04/language-and-personality.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ciprian Man)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11467565.post-114475950978322458Tue, 11 Apr 2006 12:28:00 +00002006-04-11T15:45:09.820+03:00Andrei Plesu is a pretty cool guy. He writes nonchalantly, elegantly and sometimes incisively about current affairs, but is fundamentally a man of culture. One story that sprung to mind today while reading about European funding coming to Romania over the next few years was a reflection of his on recent Romanian politicians' names. While old-timer Communist-era politicians had pretty grim names (http://www.ciprianman.net/blog/reflections/2006/04/you-only-need-get-burnt-once-to-learn.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ciprian Man)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11467565.post-114400967694881447Sun, 02 Apr 2006 20:12:00 +00002006-04-02T23:39:52.403+03:00 A few weeks back while walking around in the Departures lounge at Brussels Airport, I passed one of those car exhibits that manufacturers put up. A car in a funny position with displays and information around it, actually. I was intrigued by the whole 'hybrid' thing that was coming up on the displays, so I stood and watched. Became interested. Left there 25 minutes later convinced to look into http://www.ciprianman.net/blog/reflections/2006/04/earth-friendly-i-love-it-for-gadget.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ciprian Man)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11467565.post-113490334601887873Sun, 19 Mar 2006 20:39:00 +00002006-03-19T03:20:58.803+02:00Some time ago I finished 'reading' (listening to while walking would be more appropriate) Ray Kurzweil's The Age of Spiritual Machines. Today I came across a story called Turing's Cathedral by George Dyson who visited Google in October this year and felt like he was entering a 14th-century cathedral — not in the 14th century but in the 12th century, while it was being built. Everyone was busy http://www.ciprianman.net/blog/reflections/2006/03/fairly-deep-future-speculation.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ciprian Man)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11467565.post-113759643649940611Wed, 18 Jan 2006 14:59:00 +00002006-01-18T17:00:36.526+02:00Apparently, people think this is the ultimate, best ever, hilarious blonde joke ever! I wonder.http://www.ciprianman.net/blog/reflections/2006/01/best-best-bestest-blonde-joke-ever.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ciprian Man)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11467565.post-113744626498051864Mon, 16 Jan 2006 20:56:00 +00002006-01-16T23:17:45.063+02:00There is no future, only now. If we think only of the now, the present, the moment, all is well. What do I want, right now? Feel, sense, express, need, do, carry, mean, think, understand, generate, receive, request or reward? Right now and no future brings me to my knees, to the bare bones of what I am truly, deeply about and there can be only one answer for each of us. True, it's more of a 'http://www.ciprianman.net/blog/reflections/2006/01/there-is-no-future.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ciprian Man)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11467565.post-113518496559948477Wed, 21 Dec 2005 17:09:00 +00002005-12-21T19:09:25.643+02:00 We’re at the end of 2005, and it’s been full of events and stories. Let me offer a swift update on what my year has been like, in the hope that we’ve not been out of touch for too long so that you don’t know what I’m doing writing all this to you.   To start with, it’s slightly inappropriate to say ‘my year’ since all along I’ve been surrounded by people who are important to me. Anyway, herehttp://www.ciprianman.net/blog/reflections/2005/12/christmas-and-new-year.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ciprian Man)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11467565.post-113485383881073440Sat, 17 Dec 2005 20:35:00 +00002005-12-17T23:10:38.896+02:00I watched a movie this afternoon, Der Untergang; it's about the last few days of Hitler's reign. Then I cooked myself a Chinese meal and ate it while watching TV (unusually enough for me). TVR 1 (Romanian National TV's main channel) was showing a German documentary of Ceausescu's final days. Indeed, it is the 17th of December, the day when 16 years ago people in the town I'm in right now, were http://www.ciprianman.net/blog/reflections/2005/12/der-untergang.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ciprian Man)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11467565.post-113429262100658733Sun, 11 Dec 2005 08:48:00 +00002005-12-11T11:38:30.390+02:00 Steven D. Levitt posts about having babies on Freakonomics this morning. Here's an excerpt from his original source (Slate , Fri 9 Dec 2005): "On average, [...] a woman in her 20s will increase her lifetime earnings by 10 percent if she delays the birth of her first child by a year. Part of that is because she'll earn higher wages—about 3 percent higher—for the rest of her life; the rest is http://www.ciprianman.net/blog/reflections/2005/12/joy-of-not-having-babies-too-soon.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ciprian Man)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11467565.post-113354272082887229Fri, 02 Dec 2005 16:33:00 +00002005-12-02T19:23:20.766+02:00It's true what they say at www.pandora.com: when talking to friends, one way of starting to really know someone is by asking what their favourite music is. If similarities in taste are found, a kinship is established and suddenly you're looking at the other person as though they were somehow closer. OK, this may have been more obvious during my teens (because yes, I am talking about myself here http://www.ciprianman.net/blog/reflections/2005/12/my-new-digital-best-friend.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ciprian Man)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11467565.post-113330792832620736Tue, 29 Nov 2005 23:41:00 +00002005-11-30T01:51:39.786+02:00Raz's blog includes a post made yesterday which points to a series of photos that really tell stories... On the subway the photographer sees the darker side of our world. Take a look at New York City's underground underground underground. Under-ground.http://www.ciprianman.net/blog/reflections/2005/11/moody-late-night-reflection.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ciprian Man)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11467565.post-113243929833638794Sat, 19 Nov 2005 22:14:00 +00002005-11-20T00:28:18.350+02:00Funnily enough, optimal behaviour on the road is altruistic, as is the behaviour that usually tends to result in better results for everybody (economists know this from game theory). Steven D. Levitt (co-author of Freakonomics) tells the story of a New York City traffic jam he was stuck in the other day, and his cab driver cut in from an exit lane. Just down the road, however, police officers http://www.ciprianman.net/blog/reflections/2005/11/optimal-road-traffic-behaviour.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ciprian Man)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11467565.post-113233698629411264Fri, 18 Nov 2005 17:14:00 +00002005-11-18T20:03:06.333+02:00I've been listening to more audiobooks over the past few days. A few conversations between David Bohm and Krishnamurti included: on "The Transformation of Man," "The Future of Humanity" and such. Interestingly, I found these on a peer-to-peer search, almost by accident. I'm not going to summarize any of the ideas here, debates on "the future of humanity" are many and there's even an Oxford http://www.ciprianman.net/blog/reflections/2005/11/future-of-humanity-be-part-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ciprian Man)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11467565.post-113091538372032016Wed, 09 Nov 2005 18:34:00 +00002005-11-09T20:44:28.386+02:00Being the Leuven alumnus that I am, my postbox regularly receives something called "Campuskrant International," KU Leuven's magazine for international alumni. The current issue includes an article on what makes a marriage satisfying. It seems that basically it's the man that makes the marriage: not in any traditionalist or misogynistic sense, though! Rather, "a family-oriented man with a http://www.ciprianman.net/blog/reflections/2005/11/satisfying-marriage-courtesy-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ciprian Man)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11467565.post-113140424342959498Mon, 07 Nov 2005 22:49:00 +00002005-11-08T01:01:04.506+02:00 This is my first post to include a photo taken using my mobile phone. I have been against putting cameras on phones... I'm beginning to think otherwise: it opens up opportunities for picking up and sharing bits of information that would otherwise never be 'digitized' as it were. Here's my latest take in a Romanian household appliances store: Metalica is not the same as Metallica, you see?http://www.ciprianman.net/blog/reflections/2005/11/talica-r0ckz.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ciprian Man)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11467565.post-113076180493963140Mon, 31 Oct 2005 12:15:00 +00002005-10-31T14:35:51.223+02:00Funny thing this weekend in Cluj-Napoca: I took part in a conference together with nearly all of the rest of our 'gang' from Timisoara (Marketing department colleagues). It was well-organized and interesting. No surprises, just interesting papers and presentations, good food and so on. One thing speaks novels about the mechanism of WOW!-ing your audience though: at the end of the programme, the http://www.ciprianman.net/blog/reflections/2005/10/cluj-october-2005.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ciprian Man)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11467565.post-112955069658461607Mon, 17 Oct 2005 11:46:00 +00002005-10-20T22:07:36.566+03:00An observation in my previous post on China is proving very significant: the Chinese savings rate is very high (over 30%, according to US News). That has a major impact, a recent research (working) paper points out: while it was previously thought that the higher taxation needed to finance social benefits for an aging population would lead to capital shortages in the developed world, that outlookhttp://www.ciprianman.net/blog/reflections/2005/10/interesting-tidbit-on-chinas-saving.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ciprian Man)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11467565.post-112929085351594031Fri, 14 Oct 2005 11:54:00 +00002005-10-14T16:04:18.956+03:00Today I took part in my friend's PhD defence ceremony. Lucian Prodan started working on bio-inspired computing in a project called "Embryonics" in Switzerland at EPFL (the world's most "international" university, according to the Times Higher Education supplement) and continued his research at UPT in Timisoara. Truly the scholar, he is also a family man and an awesome person to know. <?xml:http://www.ciprianman.net/blog/reflections/2005/10/scientist-places-timisoara-romania-on.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ciprian Man)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11467565.post-112907515743936045Tue, 11 Oct 2005 23:58:00 +00002005-10-12T03:04:33.983+03:00Not even a good picture... but what I like is the fruit and the ladder in the space between us--grapes, hinting at symbolic pagan-like roots in fertility and nature, and the enabling upward steps, grounded yet linked to seemingly imaginary heavens. http://www.ciprianman.net/blog/reflections/2005/10/grapes-ladders_12.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ciprian Man)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11467565.post-112878943046909659Sat, 08 Oct 2005 16:37:00 +00002005-10-08T19:37:10.476+03:00 Imagine wings of destruction Streaks of light so hot matter vanishes beneath them Tearing at the world   Nothing left but the sea of light and darkness, then we shall   start again.   Is this our favourite scenario? Is it necessary? I think not, though I constantly hear advocates of “radical solutions” all around. It is easy to talk about extreme (ridiculous) so-called solutions when http://www.ciprianman.net/blog/reflections/2005/10/solutions-to-changing-worlds-problems.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ciprian Man)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11467565.post-112878820261739272Sat, 08 Oct 2005 16:16:00 +00002005-10-09T17:12:08.203+03:00Which one is your church? http://www.ciprianman.net/blog/reflections/2005/10/which-one-is-your-church.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ciprian Man)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11467565.post-112837311656362082Mon, 03 Oct 2005 20:58:00 +00002005-10-05T15:59:21.676+03:00Moonlit night: magical sea. http://www.ciprianman.net/blog/reflections/2005/10/moonlit-night-magical-sea.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ciprian Man)2