European Trademark Attorney, Mediator, IP Strategy Consultant, Founding Partner at Wynants&Co Strategic IP Solutions, Partner at Starks IP and International Trade Law firm
If you are following my page on Facebook you might have seen me post a picture of the weeds that completely covered our beautiful lilac bushes at the end of the garden. I spent a whole morning pulling those things out and still I only managed to do just one side. Tedious job, but necessary. In the process I remembered the quote from “The Little Prince” about the nature of baobabs and thought about how often we forget that baobabs unattended happen to grow very fast.
A baobab is something you will never, never be able to get rid of if you attend to it too late. It spreads over the entire planet. It bores clear through it with its roots. And if the planet is too small, and the baobabs are too many, they split it in pieces… (Antoine de Saint-Exupery “The Little Prince”)
Whether we are talking about the actual weeds or about metaphorical baobabs such as the negative thoughts or bad habits the advice is the same: take care of them as fast as possible before they ruin your garden, your personality or your life.
“We be of one blood, ye and I” (“Mawgli”, Rudyard Kipling)
Nowadays, the term “friend” is used rather loosely. We refer to all those hundreds of people with whom we connect via social networks as “friends”. In general, the English word “friend” is fairly frequently used to call somebody who is a mere acquaintance. In this sense, I like the “gradation” that exists in the Russian language: you call somebody a friend (“droug“) if you are really “of the same blood”, if there is a deep connection. Then you have “priyatel“, which is translated into English also as a “friend”, yet in the Russian language this word has a different connotation than “droug“. You would say “priyatel” about somebody with whom you occasionally spend time, who is a nice guy or gal, but the connection you have is less strong than with “droug”. After that comes “horoshij znakomij” (good acquaintance) and “znakomij” (acquaintance). Thus, following this logic the majority of social network “friends” are actually mere acquaintances (if at all).
But who are friends actually? Are these people whom we know very good? Are these people that share our vision of the world? Do we call somebody a friend if we meet up on a regular basis? Can we be friends if we only met a couple of times in real life? In general, how fast do we call somebody a friend? Continue reading Friends: Social networks vs. real life→
Some consequences we are aiming for, some others we get by chance. I saw a post shared today about efficient ways how to get rid of moles in your garden. And then I looked over our perfectly done lawn and thought about unintended consequences. Since we bought our robotic lawn mower (which I already bragged about in My favorite stuff: Household items that simplify my life) moles don’t dare to dig in our garden. I don’t know if they are scared of the sound or of the vibration, but the point is – they don’t touch our lawn. From time to time you can see that they started digging in a corner, but a footstep later that trace just stops. It was not intended when we bought this lawn mower, but it is a nice unintended consequence.
The choice of education for kids is something that is at the back of my head basically from the moment of getting pregnant (like it is with many other parents out there). This not only in the context of choosing the right school or opting for homeschooling, but also in general how to equip kids for life in the best way possible. I started talking about this subject in two previous posts – about future-proofing kids (link) and about choosing extracurricular activities (link). Today I would like to elaborate on my list of essential everyday life skills to teach a kid before he or she is off to a grown-up life, namely somewhat before the age of 18 years. Continue reading Equipped right for a solo-flight: Essential everyday life skills to learn before eighteen→
Did you know that statistically at least 1/4 of all apps downloaded are opened only once and then never used again? I can totally relate to that. A whole bunch of apps has a catchy description, nice layout and if on top of that they are free you think “why not?” and press the “get” button… only to delete it shortly after, or just let it hang in your smartphone if space allows.
Family Life CEO 