Photo of a tree.

A Journey to the Levant
Saw yesterday the play Hedda Gabler at Bunkamura Cocoon theater.
It has been a while since I went to see a play, especially in Japanese.
Obviously missed a few words here and there, but luckily (?!) actors speak clearly, so it was not that difficult for me to understand.
Terajima Shinobu was great, but also enjoyed the stage design, the See-Through Mirror which is used twice in the play. First Scene and last Suicide Scene. The colors and light coming from the windows.
It is good to remember how a good play is much better than a movie.
Less important to mention, I was the only foreigner in the theater, many people watched me, none approached.
Bumped into this Blog post and wanted to share :
Researchers must be seitsu (精通, “familiar with” in Japanese) all aspects of computer science.” We have always had this requirement since the times of PFI because we truly believe in the importance of having a deep knowledge of not just one specific branch but various areas when doing research on computer science.
The field of computer science is making rapid progress and we must always pursue its advancement
With Facebook, twitter, Instagram, news, Line News and more I feel I have information overload.
It is not only the time spent viewing, skipping, but the amount of Data I am exposed.
Rough estimate, I believe 95% (or more) of it is redundant.
What to do about it?
Disconnect from a source and “risk” missing valuable information (FoMO), or trim the sources.
I am currently trying the second approach. Unfollow/Hide information or sources I feel are less valuable to me.
Obviously, I am sometimes too busy to read/check which means I just ignore all sources for a while. Did not experience any loss or problem with that, so hopefully soon I will be able to disconnect from sources.
ヒヨドリ (Hiyodori) or a “Browned Ear Bulbul” is not that pretty, but I enjoy it, especially during the spring when it visits our garden to drink from the plum flowers.
The photo was taken in Nakameguro area, the Meguro river:
By the way, the Israeli Bulbul is called White Spectacled Bulbul and is much prettier.
Previous posts:
Last post and a summary (?)
It was an interesting book, but I did not enjoy the way it was written. I am guessing I will be holding my breath for the next book by Nassim Taleb.
Collected some notes and quotes:
people need to be equal, at least for the purpose of the conversation, otherwise it fails. It has to be hierarchy-free and equal in contribution.
I fully support this, and also relates to my experience in Japan. While in Israel the hierarchy is there but less strong, it is maybe too strong in Japan. Going to drink or eat with a customer and the conversation feels superficial. That unless there is a strong and long relationship between the members. I am lucky enough to be a foreigner and able to break these walls of hierarchy.
People who are bred, selected, and compensated to find complicated solutions do not have an incentive to implement simplified ones.
Maybe not directly related, but I am almost allergic to the use of the word “elite” in Japan, the branding of people according to their education. It means nothing to me and it does feel sometimes like “smart” people are acting the act and trying to talk or act in a complex way.
Traders, when they make profits, have short communications; when they lose they drown you in details, theories, and charts.
Same goes for Sales. If all goes well, nobody cares. If not, the excuses, finger pointing and theories prevail: “Political instability”, “Competition is doing this or that” and more
Several years ago, while reading “Bad Girl” by Mario Vargas Llosa, I opened a gmail account with the name of one of the characters.
Not quite remember why I did it, not sure I remember the password to that account, but the emails there are forwarded to my standard account.
There was no activity until a few weeks back when I started getting emails. Surprisingly, these do not appear like SPAM, but actual emails sent to the wrong address.
Now I have a dilemma, do I let the senders know it is a mistake, thus risking getting on a Spammer list, or just wait quietly till the sender figures out the mistake.
I think I will risk the Spam, I just need to figure out the password first.
Continue to reading “Skin in the Game”. As previously wrote , it continues to read like a Blog entry, or rather a collection of Blog Entries.
But nevertheless, I still enjoy reading Nicholas Taleb.
Now reading a Chapter about companies and employment. Why companies choose to have employees over contractors and the “Skin in the Game” for the employees as well as employer.
Example was given about the “Expat” status, which Taleb claims resembles Slavery. Relocating a person to a foreign country and giving a very good package/standard of living for the employee to complete a task which he is unlikely to abandon.
Love this way of thinking.
Overall employment in modern companies is one-sided, where employees get a false sense of security.
Some social countries and regulations enforce more “Skin in the Game” for companies, but there is no equality in the pain of separation and balance of power.
Not sure why, but had suddenly an urge to watch the movie “Naked Lunch”.
As I could not find it in the Streaming platform I am using (Netflix, Amazon Prime), decided to read the book.