Author: Rauf Aliev

Please provide the text you would like to be translated into English.

Mark Ryden, 1999

This evening I am in Bruges. A very picturesque little town. A peculiarity of Bruges and Antwerp is that there’s an entrance fee at every corner. And there are crowds of tourists. You can only get a picture of an empty street in the morning. There were fewer people in Ghent. Unlike Brussels, they are more tidy. Brussels in the morning looks like a dumpsite, and walking around late at night feels slightly scary (though it’s actually quite safe). I will post my photos later.

Currently reading Nudge (English version available – let me know and I’ll send it). The book is an excellent continuation of two books by Dan Ariely that I really love – Predictably Irrational and The (honest) truth about dishonesty. Written in the same style, but slightly about something different (still along the same lines). https://www.ozon.ru/context/detail/id/141277009/

The main idea of the book is simple. People either make choices rationally, after thinking, or automatically, without much thought. Therefore, it is often possible to steer someone in the desired direction by making their choice automatic.

Read it in one go a week ago. Thanks to those who recommended it. Great book. The only downside for me was that there was so much new and interesting material that I can’t remember half of it now. The book is simply packed with interesting facts. Don’t regret spending three hundred rubles on LitRes. It’s worth it. Currently reading another, more on that in the next post.

https://www.litres.ru/uval-noy-harari/sapiens-kratkaya-istoriya-chelovechestva/

To programmers: A useful trick. If you need to pull updates from a slow source after logging into the system. For example, refreshing the account status or CRM profile. Well, the best way

– is to display a page with some kind of hot deal and a “No, thanks, I don’t want it” button (and a want-it button, of course). While the user is pondering which button to press, everything from the slow systems has already loaded in the background.

Much better than showing a loading spinner.

Tomorrow I will be in Riga, from two in the afternoon till about nine in the evening I can do something cultural. What to do? What to see?

Friends, I invite you to my masterclass at SAP, September 28 at 2 PM. It is open to all who are interested, but registration is mandatory, and the number of spots is limited. Also, it will be a chance to meet, as I am in Russia for a short time. https://events.epam.com/events/sap-hybris

I just wanted a sausage with mashed potatoes

— If you study and get A’s, I’ll buy you a black Mercedes. If you get B’s, I’ll buy you a white Mercedes. And if you get C’s, I’ll buy you a green Mercedes, and drive around in it like a fool!

In this case, it’s not a Mercedes, but a BMW “five series.”

He went and bought a green energy car, as it’s fashionable these days.

I won’t be surprised if those other two cars are also his, because of the traffic light.