Get Firefox 3! Help set a record!

Have you ever taken part in something big, like setting a Guinness World Record? Would you like to do that now? Then come and click the logo above!

The aim of Download Day is to set a Guinness World Record for the most downloaded software in 24 hours. The date set is TODAY, June 17th, starting at 10AM SF time. All you have to do is to click the logo and pledge, NOW! Then download Firefox 3 during the right 24 hours. You will not only get a great piece of software, but also help set a record, with the tips of your fingers, clicking here and there. Simpler than this it cannot be.

Are you still waiting to click??

Check out here your local time when Firefox 3 will be available for download.

I wonder..

... whether most of the Italians have 'bought' their driver's licenses from Coop. From the way they are driving, it seems most likely.
... at what time they get up, the mothers that are all 'made up' at 8:30 when they deliver their kids to school.
... why most of the people don't take their jobs seriously, or why they don't look for a job that they could be serious about instead of the one they are doing just for the sake of doing it.
... if a mentally ill person can ever become 'normal' again after a therapy. Someone that I know says that it is possible, and it did happen, but I have my doubts..
... when real spring is coming. I am fed up with rain.
... when my sweety is going to take me to Paris. I have waited long enough! Not that I cannot go alone, or with someone else, but I want to go with him for the first time. OK, we were at the Charles de Gaulle airport this Xmas, but that doesn't count, does it?
...

... why you are reading this post that makes no sense :-P

A fairy-tale from the blog world

Once upon a time in a country far far away there was this 50 year old child. He was bragging about being a communications and public relations expert, but was full of bull. He had this blog where he claimed to be doing a 'service' for the big country that he was living in (which was not his own) because he was bringing people with different views on issues related to that country. He was preaching that freedom of speech was the most important thing on earth, and that country did not give that right to his people. That he was open to different ideas.... Bull, bull, and even more bull... One day one of his co-authors, the one who was always not only cleaning up the mess of his blog and his English, but also editing his articles for online dailies, did the mistake of criticizing him. Oh my God! What a mistake it was! His highness preached about freedom of speech but not everybody was entitled to have that freedom! How could a co-author criticize him??? He was the infallible, the one who was always right, the one who knew everything, the ultimate one. He could easily point out when some person was writing sensational posts in his blog, but when his co-author said the same thing about him he just couldn't take it. He got very pissed off. Began insulting the co-author. Sent threatening short messages to her mobile phone. Left threatening voice-messages claiming that she had blocked him from his own blog!! He was so ignorant that he didn't know that a co-author has no administrative rights on a blog other than posting. In the mean time the co-author did not even respond to his rootless claims and threats. She just canceled her authorship from the blog of that arrogant child and left. The threats lasted two days. After some time the arrogant blog-owner who could not tolerate to be criticized and therefore was spreading nonsense rumors about his co-author, sent a message of apology to the mobile phone of the co-author saying that he was wrong in thinking that she had blocked him from his own blog. She did not respond to that message either. Some weeks passed after these episodes until someone on his blog has asked him what happened to the co-author, why she is not posting any more. And the shameless arrogant child who claimed to be an expert in communications answered, lying: "She could not handle some critics and as a co administrator, before she left, she took all my administrator features away. So I can not change one thing on this blog." Lie no.1: It was not she who couldn't handle critics but him. Lie no. 2: She was not a co-admin but a co-author of that blog. The x-co-author had no idea how the arrogant communications expert had lost his admin privileges on his own blog, all she could do was guess. He was either too high or too drunk to remember what he had done that day and did something wrong while he was playing with the settings of his blog.. She could not believe the ease the 50 year old child was lying about things and spreading lies about someone who had done nothing but helped him in the past (which she regretted dearly). The x-co-author had a clean conscience knowing that her only mistake was having helped someone she did not know well. All she wanted was that her name and e-mail address were removed from the blog of the arrogant 50 year old child....

The lessons we get from this fairy-tale:
- Never help people that you do not very well, on internet.
- Stay away from people who claim to be communication experts. They can be experts in lying.
- Never believe in everything you read in a blog/comments of a blog without questioning the facts it claims to be giving. If these 'facts' are about 'people', ask those 'people' first before making judgments about them. There can be a totally different story behind the so-called facts that are offered to you.

Disclaimer: As the title says this is a fairy tale, told to give some lessons. Any resemblance to actual people or events are only coincidental.

The 187th page

There is some kind of game going on among the Turkish bloggers... They write about a specific thing, like the cities that they have been to/want to go to/want to live in, or 3 recipes that they have tried, or some other stuff and they call 3 (5) other bloggers which are supposed to write about the same thing. I have been called by Alp&Ege'nin annesi to write what stands on the 187th page of the book that I am reading these days.

I usually read many books in parallel (I am so used to doing parallel computing ;-) ). But right now I only have one book (and many magazines) on the table next to my bed: Leyla'nin Evi (Leyla's House), by Zülfü Livaneli. It is about Istanbul, about three people who do not know each other, whose lives would normally not cross. They belong to different worlds. But something causes them to get involved in each other's lives.. Zülfü Livaneli is one of my favorite authors and I loved this novel, too.

On the 187th page (which I was reading last night, by the way) there is a very short paragraph of three sentences. It finishes as: "Cünkü ne de olsa adab-i muaseret kurallarini bilen koklü bir aileden geliyordu." (I do not translate, sorry)

Other than this book the magazine that is always in my hands nowadays is the 2008 catalog of IKEA, and on its 187th page there are furnitures for children.

Now I want to pass the torch to B5, müzi and archi*sugar.

1987-2007

Just finished looking through around 130 photos of my classmates from high-school. This year it is our 20th anniversary of graduation. Hence, my friends, most of whom are still living in Istanbul, organized a dinner last Saturday. I couldn't be there, of course. Today I saw the photos they had placed at our mailing group's site at Yahoo. It took me back many years. Many memories came before my eyes after each photo. Most of the people have changed, and there are some that have changed so much that I had difficulty in recognizing them. The guys have lost hair and had gotten fatter.. The girls have a few wrinkles here and there and they also seem to be 'bigger'.. There are some, though, that look exactly the same as they did 20 years ago, impressive!

When I look in the mirror I don't think that I have changed that much. I am sure everybody could recognize me easily. I still have the curly/wavy hair that I had. I am still wearing glasses. I am neither too thin nor fat, as I was then (I cannot say 'as always' because during the years in Norway I was Thin, also too much for my taste now) and what is more I am still wearing braces on my teeth ;-)

Looking at those photos made me recognize once more that time is passing.. too fast. And I have no time to do anything that I want to or have to do! Help!

A comment about the comments

There are some people out there that have nothing to do but visit blogs and pour out their venom in the comments area. I wonder what is passing in their little sick minds when they are leaving their comments anonymously, writing about things they have no idea of, about people they don't know and will never get the chance to know, pretending to be something and somebody but only proving to be just the opposite of what they claim to be, writing comments without reading the whole post and getting the message/topic of the post, and most probably are not even capable of understanding what actually is written.. I guess that something or things are missing in their lives and this is the way they try to compensate that 'missed' whatever...

Anyway, my blog is not here to be the outlet for your anger/hatred/envy or whatever it is that you are missing. I will still keep the comments area open to everybody without moderation, but whenever one of you sends a comment that I don't like I will simply delete it. Hey, this is my blog, I decide. And I decided that I will not come down to your level to answer you. You are also free to open a blog to write down all your sick comments as posts if you want ;-)

Weekend of sun, rain, wine and flowers

Last Friday after picking Iris up from school we went to visit a friend of hers. In fact the aim was to take the present they had made on her birthday which was too small and the mother had to change. But since the weather was extraordinarily beautiful the kids were invited for a couple of hours' swim in the little pool our friends place in their garden every summer. While Iris and her friend were playing in the pool Sander got a 'pool' of his own as you can see in the picture :-)

After more than a week of sunny and hot weather yesterday it got dark in the middle of the day as if it was winter and it began raining.. raining as if it had never rained before, that the clouds were so anxious to pour down water enough for a whole month for the plants in our gardens and the fields... In just five minutes water was coming through all the windows and doors of our house! We were running around the house with my husband to close all the blinds and dry the floors. Yet, in the afternoon it was sunny and the streets were all dry.

This weekend all the wine producers in Italy had their cellars open to public. It was possible to visit the estates, see their cellars and taste their wine. Having a house right in the middle of vineyards we decided to visit the Poggio Casciano Estate, which is across the street to our house and the owner of all the vineyards around us. Clicking the link you can see the beauty of this estate. They have a classical cellar which is very stylish and well kept. This was my first time in a guided tour to a cellar and I learned that:

- though they harvest the grapes usually in September this year they are planning to do it one month earlier due to the early arrival of summer
- once the grapes are picked up by hand they are placed on a huge table and chosen grain by grain if they are to be used for the production of Brunello (one of my favorites; my first choice, however, is Nobile)
- the grapes are left in huge fermentation tanks for about 2-3 weeks
- in these tanks the temperature is kept constant using a layer of water between the metal tank and the grapes inside, which can be heated to the desired temperature
- there is constant current in these fermentation tanks in order to avoid the formation of a crust of the skin of grapes on the top since it is the skin that gives the color and most of its taste to the wine
- Sangiovese type of grapes don't have a skin that can give color, so some percentage of other types of grapes are added as 'colorant' to this kind of wine during fermentation
- after fermentation the wine is transfered to wooden barrels. It is the contact that the wine has with these barrels that gives the odor and taste of different fruit, tobacco etc taste that we get in our mouth when we drink the wine.
- the smaller the barrel the more contact wine has with it and the more concentrated the bouquet will be.

After our short visit to the wine cellar we went to Antella, where they had a little market of plants. I couldn't stop myself as usual and we came back home with 4 new flower pots. Our tour out lasted less than two hours but it was a refreshing change before starting another routine week...

This afternoon there is the End of the Year Show of Iris' class at her school. I will write about it tomorrow.

Rose, vino e pane

Rose, vino e pane (roses, wine and bread) was the theme of the weekend in San Casciano, a little village near Florence. The narrow streets of the village was filled with different kinds of roses, in all colors, for sale. I chose a beautiful little bush of white roses to take home and place next to our other roses by the gazebo. The stands of the local bakeries with their delicious cookies, cakes, bread and other types of pastry were placed side by side with those of the rose cultivators and wine producers. We tasted (and bought) a couple of cookies. I also bought and ate immediately 4 pieces of delicious fried pastry, mmmm :-) Gabriele tasted some Chianti and wanted to buy some bottles but to our surprise they were not for sale, only for tasting... strange.

Walking lazily on the streets of San Casciano, shopping a little, chatting a little, enjoying the sun, then later in the evening a barbecue dinner under the gazebo... This is what we did on Sunday with our visitors from Sweden on their last day here in Florence. They arrived late Thursday evening. On Friday we strolled around Florence center. Saturday was relaxing; leaving the kids with their fathers at home, me and my friend went to the supermarket, and afterwards took something to drink at a cafe... This was the top of everything for me because I miss doing simple things with old friends, like going for a walk, window-shopping, chatting over a cup of tea. When you meet an old friend even after a long time, you just pick up where you had left and continue as if you were never separated. You don't have to pretend anything, don't have to re-introduce yourself, don't have to weigh your words and sentences too much before uttering them.. It is not the same with new friends, the ones that you have met after your thirties, the ones with which you have not shared years in high-school or university, the ones with which you didn't cook together in a dormitory, the ones who don't know your family, your x-es, your past... (When does a new friend become an old friend?? Can all the new friends become old friends one day??)

I wish I had more of my old friends visiting me...

The 48 laws of power

I found this list here. If only I could follow half of these laws...

Law 1 Never Outshine the Master
Always make those above you feel comfortably superior. In your desire to please or impress them, do not go too far in displaying your talents or you might accomplish the opposite – inspire fear and insecurity. Make your masters appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power.

Law 2 Never put too Much Trust in Friends, Learn how to use Enemies
Be wary of friends-they will betray you more quickly, for they are easily aroused to envy. They also become spoiled and tyrannical. But hire a former enemy and he will be more loyal than a friend, because he has more to prove. In fact, you have more to fear from friends than from enemies. If you have no enemies, find a way to make them.

Law 3 Conceal your Intentions
Keep people off-balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no clue what you are up to, they cannot prepare a defense. Guide them far enough down the wrong path, envelope them in enough smoke, and by the time they realize your intentions, it will be too late.

Law 4 Always Say Less than Necessary
When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control. Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinx-like. Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less. The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.

Law 5 So Much Depends on Reputation – Guard it with your Life
Reputation is the cornerstone of power. Through reputation alone you can intimidate and win; once you slip, however, you are vulnerable, and will be attacked on all sides. Make your reputation unassailable. Always be alert to potential attacks and thwart them before they happen. Meanwhile, learn to destroy your enemies by opening holes in their own reputations. Then stand aside and let public opinion hang them.

Law 6 Court Attention at all Cost
Everything is judged by its appearance; what is unseen counts for nothing. Never let yourself get lost in the crowd, then, or buried in oblivion. Stand out. Be conspicuous, at all cost. Make yourself a magnet of attention by appearing larger, more colorful, more mysterious, than the bland and timid masses.

Law 7 Get others to do the Work for you, but Always Take the Credit
Use the wisdom, knowledge, and legwork of other people to further your own cause. Not only will such assistance save you valuable time and energy, it will give you a godlike aura of efficiency and speed. In the end your helpers will be forgotten and you will be remembered. Never do yourself what others can do for you.

Law 8 Make other People come to you – use Bait if Necessary
When you force the other person to act, you are the one in control. It is always better to make your opponent come to you, abandoning his own plans in the process. Lure him with fabulous gains – then attack. You hold the cards.

Law 9 Win through your Actions, Never through Argument
Any momentary triumph you think gained through argument is really a Pyrrhic victory: The resentment and ill will you stir up is stronger and lasts longer than any momentary change of opinion. It is much more powerful to get others to agree with you through your actions, without saying a word. Demonstrate, do not explicate.

Law 10 Infection: Avoid the Unhappy and Unlucky
You can die from someone else’s misery – emotional states are as infectious as disease. You may feel you are helping the drowning man but you are only precipitating your own disaster. The unfortunate sometimes draw misfortune on themselves; they will also draw it on you. Associate with the happy and fortunate instead.

Law 11 Learn to Keep People Dependent on You
To maintain your independence you must always be needed and wanted. The more you are relied on, the more freedom you have. Make people depend on you for their happiness and prosperity and you have nothing to fear. Never teach them enough so that they can do without you.

Law 12 Use Selective Honesty and Generosity to Disarm your Victim
One sincere and honest move will cover over dozens of dishonest ones. Open-hearted gestures of honesty and generosity bring down the guard of even the most suspicious people. Once your selective honesty opens a hole in their armor, you can deceive and manipulate them at will. A timely gift – a Trojan horse – will serve the same purpose.

Law 13 When Asking for Help, Appeal to People’s Self-Interest, Never to their Mercy or Gratitude
If you need to turn to an ally for help, do not bother to remind him of your past assistance and good deeds. He will find a way to ignore you. Instead, uncover something in your request, or in your alliance with him, that will benefit him, and emphasize it out of all proportion. He will respond enthusiastically when he sees something to be gained for himself.

Law 14 Pose as a Friend, Work as a Spy
Knowing about your rival is critical. Use spies to gather valuable information that will keep you a step ahead. Better still: Play the spy yourself. In polite social encounters, learn to probe. Ask indirect questions to get people to reveal their weaknesses and intentions. There is no occasion that is not an opportunity for artful spying.

Law 15 Crush your Enemy Totally
All great leaders since Moses have known that a feared enemy must be crushed completely. (Sometimes they have learned this the hard way.) If one ember is left alight, no matter how dimly it smolders, a fire will eventually break out. More is lost through stopping halfway than through total annihilation: The enemy will recover, and will seek revenge. Crush him, not only in body but in spirit.

Law 16 Use Absence to Increase Respect and Honor
Too much circulation makes the price go down: The more you are seen and heard from, the more common you appear. If you are already established in a group, temporary withdrawal from it will make you more talked about, even more admired. You must learn when to leave. Create value through scarcity.

Law 17 Keep Others in Suspended Terror: Cultivate an Air of Unpredictability

Humans are creatures of habit with an insatiable need to see familiarity in other people’s actions. Your predictability gives them a sense of control. Turn the tables: Be deliberately unpredictable. Behavior that seems to have no consistency or purpose will keep them off-balance, and they will wear themselves out trying to explain your moves. Taken to an extreme, this strategy can intimidate and terrorize.

Law 18 Do Not Build Fortresses to Protect Yourself – Isolation is Dangerous
The world is dangerous and enemies are everywhere – everyone has to protect themselves. A fortress seems the safest. But isolation exposes you to more dangers than it protects you from – it cuts you off from valuable information, it makes you conspicuous and an easy target. Better to circulate among people find allies, mingle. You are shielded from your enemies by the crowd.

Law 19 Know Who You’re Dealing with – Do Not Offend the Wrong Person
There are many different kinds of people in the world, and you can never assume that everyone will react to your strategies in the same way. Deceive or outmaneuver some people and they will spend the rest of their lives seeking revenge. They are wolves in lambs’ clothing. Choose your victims and opponents carefully, then – never offend or deceive the wrong person.

Law 20 Do Not Commit to Anyone
It is the fool who always rushes to take sides. Do not commit to any side or cause but yourself. By maintaining your independence, you become the master of others – playing people against one another, making them pursue you.

Law 21 Play a Sucker to Catch a Sucker – Seem Dumber than your Mark
No one likes feeling stupider than the next persons. The trick, is to make your victims feel smart – and not just smart, but smarter than you are. Once convinced of this, they will never suspect that you may have ulterior motives.

Law 22 Use the Surrender Tactic: Transform Weakness into Power
When you are weaker, never fight for honor’s sake; choose surrender instead. Surrender gives you time to recover, time to torment and irritate your conqueror, time to wait for his power to wane. Do not give him the satisfaction of fighting and defeating you – surrender first. By turning the other check you infuriate and unsettle him. Make surrender a tool of power.

Law 23 Concentrate Your Forces
Conserve your forces and energies by keeping them concentrated at their strongest point. You gain more by finding a rich mine and mining it deeper, than by flitting from one shallow mine to another – intensity defeats extensity every time. When looking for sources of power to elevate you, find the one key patron, the fat cow who will give you milk for a long time to come.

Law 24 Play the Perfect Courtier
The perfect courtier thrives in a world where everything revolves around power and political dexterity. He has mastered the art of indirection; he flatters, yields to superiors, and asserts power over others in the mot oblique and graceful manner. Learn and apply the laws of courtiership and there will be no limit to how far you can rise in the court.

Law 25 Re-Create Yourself
Do not accept the roles that society foists on you. Re-create yourself by forging a new identity, one that commands attention and never bores the audience. Be the master of your own image rather than letting others define if for you. Incorporate dramatic devices into your public gestures and actions – your power will be enhanced and your character will seem larger than life.

Law 26 Keep Your Hands Clean
You must seem a paragon of civility and efficiency: Your hands are never soiled by mistakes and nasty deeds. Maintain such a spotless appearance by using others as scapegoats and cat’s-paws to disguise your involvement.

Law 27 Play on People’s Need to Believe to Create a Cult-like Following
People have an overwhelming desire to believe in something. Become the focal point of such desire by offering them a cause, a new faith to follow. Keep your words vague but full of promise; emphasize enthusiasm over rationality and clear thinking. Give your new disciples rituals to perform, ask them to make sacrifices on your behalf. In the absence of organized religion and grand causes, your new belief system will bring you untold power.

Law 28 Enter Action with Boldness
If you are unsure of a course of action, do not attempt it. Your doubts and hesitations will infect your execution. Timidity is dangerous: Better to enter with boldness. Any mistakes you commit through audacity are easily corrected with more audacity. Everyone admires the bold; no one honors the timid.

Law 29 Plan All the Way to the End
The ending is everything. Plan all the way to it, taking into account all the possible consequences, obstacles, and twists of fortune that might reverse your hard work and give the glory to others. By planning to the end you will not be overwhelmed by circumstances and you will know when to stop. Gently guide fortune and help determine the future by thinking far ahead.

Law 30 Make your Accomplishments Seem Effortless
Your actions must seem natural and executed with ease. All the toil and practice that go into them, and also all the clever tricks, must be concealed. When you act, act effortlessly, as if you could do much more. Avoid the temptation of revealing how hard you work – it only raises questions. Teach no one your tricks or they will be used against you.

Law 31 Control the Options: Get Others to Play with the Cards you Deal
The best deceptions are the ones that seem to give the other person a choice: Your victims feel they are in control, but are actually your puppets. Give people options that come out in your favor whichever one they choose. Force them to make choices between the lesser of two evils, both of which serve your purpose. Put them on the horns of a dilemma: They are gored wherever they turn.

Law 32 Play to People’s Fantasies
The truth is often avoided because it is ugly and unpleasant. Never appeal to truth and reality unless you are prepared for the anger that comes for disenchantment. Life is so harsh and distressing that people who can manufacture romance or conjure up fantasy are like oases in the desert: Everyone flocks to them. There is great power in tapping into the fantasies of the masses.

Law 33 Discover Each Man’s Thumbscrew
Everyone has a weakness, a gap in the castle wall. That weakness is usual y an insecurity, an uncontrollable emotion or need; it can also be a small secret pleasure. Either way, once found, it is a thumbscrew you can turn to your advantage.

Law 34 Be Royal in your Own Fashion: Act like a King to be treated like one
The way you carry yourself will often determine how you are treated; In the long run, appearing vulgar or common will make people disrespect you. For a king respects himself and inspires the same sentiment in others. By acting regally and confident of your powers, you make yourself seem destined to wear a crown.

Law 35 Master the Art of Timing
Never seem to be in a hurry – hurrying betrays a lack of control over yourself, and over time. Always seem patient, as if you know that everything will come to you eventually. Become a detective of the right moment; sniff out the spirit of the times, the trends that will carry you to power. Learn to stand back when the time is not yet ripe, and to strike fiercely when it has reached fruition.

Law 36 Disdain Things you cannot have: Ignoring them is the best Revenge
By acknowledging a petty problem you give it existence and credibility. The more attention you pay an enemy, the stronger you make him; and a small mistake is often made worse and more visible when you try to fix it. It is sometimes best to leave things alone. If there is something you want but cannot have, show contempt for it. The less interest you reveal, the more superior you seem.

Law 37 Create Compelling Spectacles
Striking imagery and grand symbolic gestures create the aura of power – everyone responds to them. Stage spectacles for those around you, then full of arresting visuals and radiant symbols that heighten your presence. Dazzled by appearances, no one will notice what you are really doing.

Law 38 Think as you like but Behave like others
If you make a show of going against the times, flaunting your unconventional ideas and unorthodox ways, people will think that you only want attention and that you look down upon them. They will find a way to punish you for making them feel inferior. It is far safer to blend in and nurture the common touch. Share your originality only with tolerant friends and those who are sure to appreciate your uniqueness.

Law 39 Stir up Waters to Catch Fish
Anger and emotion are strategically counterproductive. You must always stay calm and objective. But if you can make your enemies angry while staying calm yourself, you gain a decided advantage. Put your enemies off-balance: Find the chink in their vanity through which you can rattle them and you hold the strings.

Law 40 Despise the Free Lunch
What is offered for free is dangerous – it usually involves either a trick or a hidden obligation. What has worth is worth paying for. By paying your own way you stay clear of gratitude, guilt, and deceit. It is also often wise to pay the full price – there is no cutting corners with excellence. Be lavish with your money and keep it circulating, for generosity is a sign and a magnet for power.

Law 41 Avoid Stepping into a Great Man’s Shoes
What happens first always appears better and more original than what comes after. If you succeed a great man or have a famous parent, you will have to accomplish double their achievements to outshine them. Do not get lost in their shadow, or stuck in a past not of your own making: Establish your own name and identity by changing course. Slay the overbearing father, disparage his legacy, and gain power by shining in your own way.

Law 42 Strike the Shepherd and the Sheep will Scatter
Trouble can often be traced to a single strong individual – the stirrer, the arrogant underling, the poisoned of goodwill. If you allow such people room to operate, others will succumb to their influence. Do not wait for the troubles they cause to multiply, do not try to negotiate with them – they are irredeemable. Neutralize their influence by isolating or banishing them. Strike at the source of the trouble and the sheep will scatter.

Law 43 Work on the Hearts and Minds of Others
Coercion creates a reaction that will eventually work against you. You must seduce others into wanting to move in your direction. A person you have seduced becomes your loyal pawn. And the way to seduce others is to operate on their individual psychologies and weaknesses. Soften up the resistant by working on their emotions, playing on what they hold dear and what they fear. Ignore the hearts and minds of others and they will grow to hate you.

Law 44 Disarm and Infuriate with the Mirror Effect
The mirror reflects reality, but it is also the perfect tool for deception: When you mirror your enemies, doing exactly as they do, they cannot figure out your strategy. The Mirror Effect mocks and humiliates them, making them overreact. By holding up a mirror to their psyches, you seduce them with the illusion that you share their values; by holding up a mirror to their actions, you teach them a lesson. Few can resist the power of Mirror Effect.

Law 45 Preach the Need for Change, but Never Reform too much at Once
Everyone understands the need for change in the abstract, but on the day-to-day level people are creatures of habit. Too much innovation is traumatic, and will lead to revolt. If you are new to a position of power, or an outsider trying to build a power base, make a show of respecting the old way of doing things. If change is necessary, make it feel like a gentle improvement on the past.

Law 46 Never appear too Perfect
Appearing better than others is always dangerous, but most dangerous of all is to appear to have no faults or weaknesses. Envy creates silent enemies. It is smart to occasionally display defects, and admit to harmless vices, in order to deflect envy and appear more human and approachable. Only gods and the dead can seem perfect with impunity.

Law 47 Do not go Past the Mark you Aimed for; In Victory, Learn when to Stop
The moment of victory is often the moment of greatest peril. In the heat of victory, arrogance and overconfidence can push you past the goal you had aimed for, and by going too far, you make more enemies than you defeat. Do not allow success to go to your head. There is no substitute for strategy and careful planning. Set a goal, and when you reach it, stop.

Law 48 Assume Formlessness
By taking a shape, by having a visible plan, you open yourself to attack. Instead of taking a form for your enemy to grasp, keep yourself adaptable and on the move. Accept the fact that nothing is certain and no law is fixed. The best way to protect yourself is to be as fluid and formless as water; never bet on stability or lasting order. Everything changes.

The wisdom of "The Little Prince"

I have serious reason to believe that the planet from which the little prince came is asteroid known as B-612.

This asteroid has only once been seen through the telescope. That was by a Turkish astronomer, in 1909.

On making his discovery, the astronomer had presented it to the International Astronomical Congress, in a great demonstration. But he was in Turkish costume, and so nobody would believe what he said.

Grown-ups are like that...

Fortunately, however, for the reputation of Asteroid B-612, a Turkish dictator made a law that his subjects, under pain of death, should change to European costume. So in 1920 the astronomer gave his demonstration all over again, dressed with impressive style and elegance. And this time everybody accepted his report.

From "The Little Prince", by Antoine De Saint-Exupéry

Yes, the grown-ups are like this. It doesn't really matter what you say, or do, as long as you do it the way they want you to do it, obeying their rules and formats.

You can remove the grown-ups / they in the former sentence and put Europeans / the-western-world / the- ones-that-think-to-know-everything / the-ones-that-have-the-power / the-ones-that-have-the-money etc., and the sentence will still be sound.

I love "The Little Prince". His wisdom is universal and ever valid. You will find more of his wisdom in my blog in the future. In the mean time, maybe you want to check out the book below :-)