English – Page 3 – Picatura de Fiere

TED – Ideas worth spreading

What is TED? I do not really know how to explain it!

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design and brings together people from this field in a conference. A conference where the beauty of all ideas come together and if you have the curiosity to explore the site …. you will find plenty of beautiful ideas.

Today I have lost some time on the site but I think that I have actually gained a lot of ideas. What can I compare this site to ? Well, the best comparison I think are the boxes of old stuff in your grandparents attic. There you always find interesting things. So go on, start digging!

Here is a sample about city architecture. It is given by a Brazilian architect and … well , I’ll just say that people living in Bucharest might learn a thing or two about what a city is supposed to be.

Jaime Lerner: Sing a song of sustainable cities

Tre’ sa spun

Da, nu mai pot ! M-am saturat si trebuie sa imi scot fierea din mine! Nu ii suport pe cei care vorbesc ca sa se auda singuri! Cei care ajung in starea de a le fi frica de disparitie, disparitia lor din lumea asta daca tac, daca nu scriu, daca nu sunt auziti. Sunt cei care in clasa sunt tot timpul cu mana pe sus indiferent daca stiu sau nu raspunsul. Cei care comenteaza pe bloguri doar ca sa isi faca simtita prezenta fara a transmite de fapt nici un mesaj. Cei care scriu pe bloguri doar fiindca si astazi trebuie sa aiba un post. M-am saturat de stiristi care trebuie sa isi umple spatiul de emisiune cu moarte unei gaini in malaxorul de paine din fabrica din Cucuietii din Vale si ca sa se vanda mai bine incep povestea cu oul din care s-a nascut gaina.
Unde sunt vremurile in care sa spui ceva era un privilegiu care ti-l foloseai cu cap? Acum stii ca poti sa vorbesti de dimineata pana seara, sa te bagi in seama pe unde vrei … dar mai comunici ceva ? Mai transmiti un mesaj sau esti doar contribui la zgomotul de fond?
Cantitatea inainte de calitate , atata mai este pana cand o sa dispara calitatea de tot. Asa se face ca ajung unii sa improaste in toate directiile cu tot ce le trece prin cap. Daca e multime ca la circ in jur spun ca au succes. Ar trebui sa ii lasam pe acestia sa se ingroape singuri in propriul rahat.

An outstanding dictionary

A concise dictionary
I have a disease. Every time that I travel somewhere I take a book from home to read on the road. This is not the disease! It is that every time I also feel an urge to buy at least one other book in the airport. Sometime this brings me in touch with books that otherwise I would not read. I guess this disease comes from my habit back in Romania when I was picking up rather random books from a bookstore or library.
On Friday my eyes felt on the cover above. I do not know if it was about the red color, or about having the female body, or about being a dictionary. It was love at first line reading. I immediately went and bought it and it did not leave my hands till I got in Chicago. A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers is about one year spend in London and Europe by a Chinese girl in order to learn English. The book is written as a diary and a dictionary in broken English, an English that is improving as you go on reading.
It is a journey of meeting the West through the eyes of a village Chinese 23 years old girl. Meeting the “filthy water” , the baked beans that look like having been chewed by someone and then spitted back on the plate. A girl that leaves China to find the London fog, but finds love and discovers a totally new world, a world in which she was used to be part of a family back home and now she learns that the western way is to be alone. Overall is a book about meeting different cultures, trying to learn new languages things that people not living abroad for a long time will never know. Probably this was the reason why this book touched me so much.