Read With Kacper

Well, I don't know if this qualifies for this assignment, but I need somewhere to share my reflections on this clip. Having watched both "Blade runner" movies prior, and always spending long hours on reflections afterwards, I love looking at them through different eyes every time I watch an interpretation like this. And I strongly agree with one of the points this guy has been making - that it's a waring message to us, not to follow easy paths as we tend to do, because it makes us shallow, routine-based, and we lose life opportunities by not taking any risks. The movie appeals obviously to far future, but its warning is applicable even now - don't overuse commodities like Tinder, where you can discard a person at the first sign of slight obstacle between you and just seek the applause for who you are, but go out into the world and live for real, because when we replace our real life with technological one as priority no.1, that's when we're on the lost sid...

The Big Brother is watching your every step, your every internet activity, your every purchase, and what's most important your every crime, even as prosaic as crossing the street on the red light. It used to describe only fictional dystopian worlds, but it's now starting to describe even the real ones, like Shenzhen in China. Obviously this deep state lies behind the curtain of conveniences, like centralized payment method, which you praise, as long as you don't get your absurbtly-not-serious-crime fee charged directly from it. Whoops, turns out face recognition system doesn't sleep when you're being careless. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydPqKhgh9Mg jaywalker I almost run over the jaywalker, who was carelessly crossing the highway today! turmoil After bombing, the whole city turned into turmoil you know the drill Every time my ol' pa goes to the pub, he gets a drink and... you know the drill. We always find him lying wasted in our front the nex...

When I encountered this video today, I was very surprised because it matched quite tightly with what I have been thinking about this matter over some time lately, that behind all this leave campaign must have been some very serious business. However, as I was watching the clip, I was stunned, just in how cunning and malicious manner has this business been conducted. Turns out no laws apply for those who have enough power to make key politicians benefit. It's very disheartening to see on such blunt example. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht40yrt3VrY concede Even though I believed in Maduro, I must concede that he is a terrible president. early indicator Grim clouds and moist air are often early indicators of a hunderstorm gloom People trapped in a bunker were increasingly filled with gloom as the hope of rescue declined

When I was little, I used to spend a lot of time reading books, that very often featured people living on cost-effective space stations, but each of them presented the topic as a vision of far future. Now here we are, 13 years later, and I get to see Bigelow Aerospace getting serious about making this vision come true not just within my lifetime, but within my youth. I keep my fingers crossed for those guys, because seeing space technologies like this come to life is a childhood dream come true. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nE3UO1kqv0&t=716s&index=5&list=PLDWWUBP0_qxVZfO-CXOnKmXTIHsRU3y7k inflatable Inflatable space modules have this advantage over rigid ones, that their volume can be expanded after launch to space viability Viability of a spacecraft is often measured by cost of lifting a pound of cargo

Few days ago, I stumbled upon this clip on Liam Neeson's confession about him wanting to kill a black guy as a revenge for raping his close friend. As I really like Trevor Noah, not surprisingly, his comment on this case really appealed to me. I agree that it was both overreacted by society because Liam Neeson is who he is, and heartening to hear he was ashamed afterwards and seeked help. As much as the urge to kill itself isn't a behavior you'd like see copied, I appreciate him showing remorse for it, which might set an example to people, that overall racism even in small doses really isn't a mindset worth copying. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBy0FLAAwKQ&list=PLDWWUBP0_qxVZfO-CXOnKmXTIHsRU3y7k&index=2&t=0s phrases: onslaught D-day invasion on France was an onslaught on Nazi forces admission Not showing up in the court after being sued might be seen as an admission of guilt bastard My friend - that lucky bastard - won the championship again

I watched an excerpt of "Last week tonight with John Olivier" episode on Brexit. And although I've watched and read a lot on the subject since the vote has happened, his programme made me rethink again my opinion on the case. From thinking that it was a shitty decision of the British people who were hugely manipulated to do so (which is shown bluntly in the fragment where the flower importer says he didn't really think before he voted), shifted to thinking how stupid and irresponsible idea was to leave this decision to the people who couldn't have considered even half of the aspects that should be considered upon taking such decision. I'm glad LWT is back up, I missed John Oliver's unique way of delivering news. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaBQfSAVt0s

I do not feel wise enough to give a simple "yes" or "no" answer to this question,  because both sides of this debate have some convincing arguments, so my answer would preferably be somewhere in the middle. That is, I disagree with supporters' claim that possessing a gun would be an only way to protect yourself if there was such need, because even now there are numerous non-lethal defensive measures, like tasers or pepper sprays. On the other hand, I agree that current interpretation of law should be changed, to allow victims to defend themselves if attacked, because prosecuting such people for injuring attacker in self-defense is something sick. Then again, I neither agree completely with the other side. I don't perceive the idea of making guns more available as fundamentally wrong. I believe introducing it in a well-controlled and orderly way could be beneficial for the society, but sadly I don't see any politician I would trust to do it properly, ...

Few days ago, I stumbled upon this clip on Liam Neeson's confession about him wanting to kill a black guy as a revenge for raping his close friend. As I really like Trevor Noah, not surprisingly, his comment on this case really appealed to me. I agree that it was both overreacted by society because Liam Neeson is who he is, and heartening to hear he was ashamed afterwards and seeked help. As much as the urge to kill itself isn't a behavior you'd like see copied, I appreciate him showing remorse for it, which might set an example to people, that overall racism even in small doses really isn't a mindset worth copying. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBy0FLAAwKQ&list=PLDWWUBP0_qxVZfO-CXOnKmXTIHsRU3y7k&index=2&t=0s

A Man of great manners called Mike shouted at boys he didn’t like. At the sound of his yell, All the windows fell, And the boys’ heads exploded alike.

As December started, so did the reflections on what we've achieved this passing year, opportunities we missed, mistakes we made, and whether we are happy with how we live our time here on Earth. Just like every twelfth  month of the year. But not until now have I realised how the time slips through my hand without me noticing it. I, and most likely not just I, live an active life, doing my best to prepare for the future, learn at school, on extracurricular classes, at home. In free time I watch some entertaining things, or read, but basically it all comes down to a four-word summary: Always busy with something. I dare say it might be a motto of modern times, we scarcely sit down and catch up with the important things, like real-world friendship, reflecting upon your actions, thinking them over. We always think we'll still have time for that in the future. But the problem is the future we're expecting might never come if you don't let it start in the present. Period.

Yesterday I read a book from the genre pointed in the headline, by a polish author with a chilly sounding surname :) It was the third and last part of a trilogy, which was meant to represent a fictional polish politics, and indeed it is such, but what made me wonder is how many parallels you could draw between it, and real world. With this in mind I start to wonder, how dark, sinister, and rotten on the inside is the top level politics in Poland, not to mention the one in US for instance...  I hope I'll never in my life be forced to come anywhere near this sphere.

In recent days, as we are nearing the shortest day of the year, and the night falls quicker and quicker, I couldn't help but wonder about how strong are our lives tied to daylight. Every year when the day gets shorter, we get lazier, less productive, less active in general. I observe this on the example of myself, but not only. As we get to this time, when it's 4pm and it's already dark outside everybody thinks of the same - when at this time in summer we were just heading off the beach, or going out to spend some time on fresh air. It doesn't matter that we no longer have to rely on daylight, as we have artificial light, because the need for sunlight is so deeply embedded in our nature as humans we cannot bypass it.

The election of Bolsonaro marks next milestone in sad chapter of world’s swing to the political right. This trend worldwide has very different reasons, but I do believe that one of the key ones might be mass-media induced misinformation and spread of fake news, which fuel the rising tensions between native inhabitants of countries and the immigrants to those countries - no matter of what background. We’ve seen this before Trump’s election, before Polish general election 3 years ago, before Brexit referendum, before French presidential election (luckily lost by Marine Le Pen’s National Front), and I wouldn’t be surprised if it also was a case before Brasilian elections. These misleading campaigns, teamed up with micro targeting on social networks resulted in many people being convinced slyly that the central-liberal/cosmopolitan views can only lead to chaos, ,devastation and despair. Now those people often regret voting for alt-right options as it can be seen during demonstrat...

Today's reflection will be on advertising, and some extremes of it that I recently found while browsing the depths of internet. To start, the ad, that made me reflect on this topic was by a Polish tech e-shop called "x-kom". They were made popular for their campaign advertising left-hand profiled computer mouses. Sounds dull, right? Nothing abnormal. Yes, indeed. However, it gets weirder when you find out, that those ads were displayed on the main page of porn site... Often visited porn site, to be honest. A coincidence? I doubt so... And here my question arises, why do advertisers tend to do weirder and weirder ads, just to draw public attention? Why can't they go for advertise their products in a way that makes people think highly of them, just like a polish pop singer, Dawid Podsiadło did? He set up a newsagents' stand in the centre of Warsaw, where you could go and be sold the new album by the artist himself. This action made all youth (and youth in soul :P ) ...

Today the thought that has been stuck in my mind is how much there is to the saying that you can never really appreciate someone’s work unless you do it yourself. I got to experience this by myself by being in quite little time both teaching somebody, and being taught English. Not until I started teaching my sister this language I could truly understand how astonishingly hard it is to direct a good, interesting lesson, and establish a connection with your student(s). Of course I always thought highly of all my teachers seeing how much effort they put into trying to teach us both English, and some important life lessons at a time, but there always came moments when I’ve been critical of their work or materials they prepared. Now, my point of view has changed drastically, because every time I even try to think this way, I immediately see how would I feel in they position, because I know now how much effort, time and energy it takes to conduct even the most boring lesson, which has any p...

This week we’ve been really into politics, so it’s also a thing I’d like to reflect on today. The other day, I found myself watching yet another time “Last Week Tonight” with John Olivier, only to switch later to “The Daily Show” with Trevor Noah, and later to yet another domestic TV programme, which summarises national politics in a satiric way. And at some point I saw the peculiar truth, that, the modern day politics is for me unbearable in a raw form. The satirical take on it is the only way I’m able to process it without losing my temper. I guess that’s because the amount of hypocrisy and lies in it is unfortunately only suitable to either distaste or mockery, of which the second one is less harmful and thus more common.

I was on a classical music concert today(Sunday) and there was playing a great violinist I know, who is now turning 79. But when you look at him when he plays, how lively he is then, how energetic, that’s just magic. You’d never say he is that senior. This observation made me think in a slightly more general way about how the musicians seem to never grow old. Barbra Streisand, Jeff Lynne, The Rolling Stones, the examples don’t seem to end. Those musicians, even if they are in their 80’s they seem to drain life energy from the music they make. And what more, they not only live active professional life, but personal too. The Violinist I know swims a kilometre every morning, Mick Jagger is known to run 10 km every week. So, is it, that these artist found the  widely seeked elixir of youth in their passion for music? ;) 

Of all reflections I have on many things every day there’s this one, that occures to me the most often - just how fragile are we, as humans. It struck me again today, following these events:   Yesterday I was on a outdoor picnic for several hours, and it was really cold outside. No wonder I felt a little sick today, since yesterday I never bothered to clothe myself well enough not to be cold. Yet it didn’t interrupt me in making yesterday arrangements for today, and having to call it off due to poor well-being. And here I am. Thinking how our health and well-being are so easily deteriorated, yet how easily we forget about it as long as it doesn’t regard us. We make future plans, arrange our lives with no place left for unexpected obstacles, like sickness, and when it eventually ruins our plans it is like a bolt from the blue.  

This week, the reflection I had was caused by my weekend trip to Gdańsk. I went there with my parents, who once studied in Gdynia, and used to visit Gdańsk’s old town on regular basis - but it was 20 somenthing years ago. Since then the only place they’ve been to in Gdańsk was the Long Street and one or two close to it, because they never really planned on spending more time for visiting the old town, as they were so sure there’s nothing more worth seeing than the places they go to. Now, after so much time, they (and I) have spent more than an hour in this city’s old town and were simply charmed by its beauty, style, and atmosphere, especially the riverside, which they always thought was not worth seeing, because 25 years ago, from when they remembered it it wasn’t. This led me to a conclusion, how commonly such scheme can be seen - Judgement once set isn’t so easy to be change, which may cost you losing some many incredible aspects of life just because you once got a bad impressi...

Today I’ve been to my good old friend’s 18th birthday dinner. It was the first time we've seen each other since his last birthday, and it’s not anything bizarre for us - usually we only see once a year, because we both have hectic lifestyles and can’t match dates to meet some other time. However, when we finally meet, you couldn’t tell that we’ve not seen for this long - we immediately get along perfectly, find topics to talk through, things to do together. As if we’ve never stopped seeing each other. And today when I got home and finally sat down, I started to think about it.   The reflection I had on this was that true friendship can withstand even long periods of not seeing each other, because deep inside, nothing’s changed between you. I have also other friends my relations with whom confirm these thoughts, one of them left to other school, another to foreign country. With both of them I could not see for ages, and still act as if no time has passed at all since we’ve la...