Welcome to the weekend,
This week, I started reading one of a few travelogue books I plant to read over the next few weeks. This one is a missive from Mark Twain on his travels through Europe. I started with an appendix in the back on the German language, which has been hilarious given how fickle the language is. So many technicalities and rules, but then so many exceptions to those rules!
My purpose in reading these travel books is to inform my eyes and ears as to what to note during my own travels. To begin with, though, what are things I already notice? I do pay attention to what people wear, especially the older crowd, women my age, and teens (I’m always curious what is making its way back into the youth culture). I appreciate scarves. I also keep an ear out for languages.
I pay attention to where the crowds are; in restaurants or outside, browsing the shops, or lounging on the grass? How are people entertaining themselves? Hopefully, I’ll be armed with a few more questions in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, here is the best from around the Internet this week:
The Japanese concept of Zanshin, an art of attention and focus. A literal translation means, “the mind with no remainder.” Another way to state this idea is, “Everything is aiming,” meaning that how one prepares for the task is the most important consideration, not the final burst of action. How you prepare to write, run, or shoot an arrow, in this case, is the point; hitting your target becomes a side effect of preparing well.
“It’s been said that ‘news is the first rough draft of history.’ But maybe it’s actually Google Reviews.”
The books on the Chinese President’s shelf.
To improve a skill, practice doing it wrong. Sometimes amplifying the error helps us to find a correction, with physical and mental skills.
If we are only demanding superficial skills of students, easily replaced by a machine, what is the point of demanding them in the first place? What are we trying to impart to, or better yet, bring out of these students? Seth Godin weighs in on the AI – writing conversation.
Currently reading: A Tramp Abroad by Mark Twain
Have a creative weekend.
Image: Croegaert, Georges. Taking Tea, 1848 – 1923.
