Sambamaa

Ilma pikema sissejuhatuseta kannan siis ka käesoleva infokanali kaudu ette, et olen ilusti Brasiiliasse kohale jõudnud ning ennast ka Florianópolis sisse seadnud. Ma ei hakka hetkel pikemalt oma eluolust või sekeldustest/seiklustest pajatama ... lähiajal ehk siiski.

Meeleolu loomiseks lisasin postitusele video, mis sai üles võetud lõuna ajal ühes kesklinna baaris ... ja täpselt niisugune ta siin ongi ... see Brasiilia

on the road again

As the temperature goes down in Estonia it's time to head south again. This time it will be further than Göteborg. I'm going to Florinanópolis, Brazil for one year. Will explain the details in future but the keywords could be Brazil, AIESEC internship, surfing (well, hopefully) ... sounds good enough.

I will start posting here more in Estonian (you better read it, mom). Also just bought a camera so you might see some photos uploaded here as well and who knows ... maybe even some video clips.

Also on one of those nights I made twitter account (@siimsaarlo) and it seems reasonable to keep/start that one in English.

My plane leaves tomorrow(today) so ... até logo

Targeting superstar shows

As I don't have a TV I'm not really up to date with latest trends in media. But on a recent skitrip to Sälen a couch in front of the TV was one of the places where to drop dead after a day on snow. I discovered fascinating show there - top chef.

People are actually watching chefs to prepare food and getting criticised by judges. I started to think if that is a sign of traditional cooking shows getting to a new level or specialisation of traditional "however-you-call-those-big-brother-and-looking-for-talent-originated-shows". In latter case I can propose a theme for another one - top software engineer (alternative titles are "Country X is looking for super programmer", "Who has got talent in IT" or just "ITguy"). In every episode participants get a IT related challenge (create a driver, library, UI, plug-in or what ever to smth. what ever else). Their efforts and explaining of the solution (what language, patterns, security tweaks etc. were used) fill most of the screen time and in the end judges make their decision. Bulletproof, isn't it?



Pros:

• Large target audience - there actually are lot of people who know more about computers than cooking
• Interesting and educating plot, challenges - I admit that this might be bit biased opinion
• Want to promote IT/engineering education (as it is the case in Estonia)- here's your chance
• Probably would be possible to involve different companies who would pay for the right to compete for the title of "Employer of most brilliant engineer"

If someone got inspired here and has necessary resources - go for it. I don't want any credits just would really enjoy the show... Just don't turn it into another "beauty and the geek". Aiming for a target audience is a key here!

Reisid vabadusse / Travel to freedom

My good friends and co-fighters-workers-searchers have started a travel-company. Check it out from www.reisidvabadusse.ee. I can back-up what they say about Croatian nature and people but haven't been to Kazachstan. Then again "When Deniss says it, it must be true".

Scientific papers

I am currently writing my thesis. If anyone else is doing something similar and sometimes needs some more sophisticated distraction than regular bang-your-head-against-the-wall session then read how to interpret statements in scientific papers. Level two of that exercise would be to go through your work and reflect on usage of similar statements there. That might lead to another head-banging session of course.

What floats that boat?

As I have said before, I try to be empathic. I really do, and "60% of the time it works, every time" (Brian Fantana, Anchorman). I think of curiosity as a catalyst for empathy - urge to know what's going on, what's the reason things are as they are, people act like they do.

During one course in university I heard a lot about "the shadow system in organizations" (not talking about the IT term here) - research on people's habit to act in a way you would never expect them to do. And for sure it is certainly not only work place where you can experience unfamiliar situations to cope with.

How does curiosity/empathy fit in here? Asking questions helps to learn a lot. Act by being curious before reacting - make an effort to understand! It will be harder to get stressed out or pissed - it is not so easy to be mad at someone whose intentions and reasoning you actually understand.

So - traveling somewhere - leave some room for curiosity and empathy in your head besides Lonely Planet facts and pick-up lines in native language. Working somewhere with other people being closer than 20 meters - you probably can make use out of it as well.

What would you think if you see a boat floating in air?

simple solutions

Saw an interesting posting in slashdot that referred to original article about the potential of checklists in medicine. It was intriguing to read about simple and smart solutions applied successfully on relevant and critical problems.

Made me think about the importance of striving for excellence, why small flaws matter and how brilliant solutions are often the most simple ones.

Some food for thought anyways