All good meetings are similar, but each bad meeting is shitty in its own way. I could also say that it's hard to formalize elements that make meetings ineffective, but that's not true: I have a neat list. All summarized to one point is: being lazy. Organizing a good meeting …
What is a Javascript Promise? When I was documenting the Neo4j Javascript driver, I did not know. So let's find out, and in so doing tear to pieces explanations I found online. My favorite past time.
In JavaScript, a promise is a unique object linking the "producing code" and …
It is difficult to argue that the current, wide popular 8-hour workday in cognitive-demanding jobs is in any way efficient. It is bad both for employees and employers. Quoting the Harvard Business Review,
Many of today’s organizations sabotage flow by setting counter-productive expectations on availability, responsiveness, and meeting attendance …
Posted on Tue 24 March 2020 in music, table tennis, meta
As a fellow table tennis player and piano player, I have noticed some interesting spiritual similarities between the two arts. I'm pretty sure they are also common to other sports anyway.
In table tennis, one should not think about scoring a …
Posted on Wed 18 December 2019 in public speaking, tips, meta, teaching
I have listened to so many talks in so many different fields and topics, that I feel confident enough to provide advice on how to give a proper talk. I have listened to talks ranging from public speaking contests to PhD level seminars. I draw mainly from science talks, but …
For a second, stop to think about how many languages you know. With languages, I do not mean verbal languages: rather, any means of expressing thoughts and feelings, or of expressing a dialogue. I am here do advocate for the learning and teaching of more than just one.
Our western …
Posted on Fri 01 November 2019 in mathematics, teaching, meta
As a mathematics PhD student, I have seen a lot of mathematics teaching. I have been lucky enough to witness some (very) good teaching, but I have also been inflicted with so much bad teaching. Sometimes, I just wondered whether the people do even realize that their teaching is horrible …
One of the very few things I learnt in art class is what the role of Jackson Pollock was in his art. Because, we were asked, what is the role of the artist, if the only thing he does is let paint drop on a canvas? His role is to …
If you are a tech company, and your people commit code, then you probably have some code review policy. And if you do not, you definitely should: you want to have an extra pair of eyes on the code that goes live. You certainly do not want a mistake to …
Posted on Wed 18 April 2018 in meta, mathematics
A small tale with a topological soul, with the aim of providing a very high level intuition for the notion of density and dense set in topology.
Smally Open was a cheeky youngster of the Open family who lived in a large meadow. It was a very nice and green …
Posted on Sun 18 May 2014 in public speaking, meta
From 12th to 17th May I took part to the International Public Speaking Competition (IPSC) 2014 in London, representing my country, Italy. The topic was Imagination is more important than knowledge, and the title of my speech, which follows, was The largest dancing floor. The video of the italian version …
Yesterday it was my birthday.
My family phoned me or just met me. Then there has been a handful of people who texted me on my mobile, mostly in the morning. I do not care how they remembered my birthday's date, what I care about is that they took the …
I've just had a quick look at the Windows 8 developer preview. Not screenshots, rumors or reviews around, I've actually installed it on VirtualBox and tried it myself. Yeah, it's still early beta, developer preview, whatever you want... but what a crappy thing!! It's not really up to bugs, instability …