50 Is the life of teenagers in stressful?

I honestly thought that the life of Hungarian high-school students is really stressful, but I’ve just seen a video about Japanese teenagers, which changed my mind completely. In Japan these children are known as the 7-11 kids, because they get up at 7, go to school, leave school at about 5, following which they go to cramming school, where they study until 8. This means they have to study in a highly competitive, exhausting environment. They don’t even have time to have a decent meal, they just grab a bite to eat on the way home or to the cramming school. They are under a lot of pressure to succeed both from home and school. At  the age of 15 they have a series of rigorous exams, which 80% of the students fail. This creates a lot of suppressed pressure in teenagers, who have no free time to nourish their emotions or pursue some hobbies. This lies at the heart of the problems with Japanese kids.

51 What’s the best travelling experience you’ve had?

It’s hard to say, really. I’ve been abroad several times, but I still have to choose a biking tour I was on last summer around Lake Velence (Lake Balaton etc.). The weather was just perfect – warm but not overwhelmingly hot (except for a few days when it was absolutely sweltering). There were also occasional showers to cool us down. I was actually glad that we were on this biking tour as we always had something to do even if the weather was bad. I’m not really one for the bike, so it was my first real encounter with the wide and comfortable bike lanes around the lake, with courteous – sometimes even downright friendly – drivers in towns. There was also the idyllic countryside to keep us entertained. The best part was that biking freed me up to eat as much as I wanted to. It was a holiday and work-out in one.

49 What will the cities of the future look like?

This questions has been asked so many times in the past few decades and was answered inconclusively – saying there’s only one thing we can be sure of: no one can predict with any degree of accuracy what cities will look like in 50 or 100 years from now. The reason is simple, cities are in a continual state of change. Many of the older residents today might feel 50 years ago their city belonged not just to another era but to a different dimension. This phenomenon is true of both planned and unplanned cities. Planned cities (e.g. New York) and unplanned cities (e.g. London or Tokyo) are expanding at such a rate that they are bursting at the seams. Their centres remain pretty much the same but their suburbs are spreading like the tentacles of an octopus. Economists say this is actually a good sign, as expanding cities attract international investment, which is a sign of a healthy economy.

48 What do you think about fancy titles given to people in business organisations?

I’ve heard some really weird names for different jobs, like Media Distribution Officer for a Paperboy, but there are some serious ’politically correct’ titles for positions (e.g. the linesman in football is called the assistant now). I’ve read an interesting article about the story behind the secretary – personal assistant issue. The articles said the name ’secretary’ comes from secretarius (in Latin), which means ’something hidden’. So, it seems secretaries started out as those members of staff with knowledge hidden from others, they were the silent ones mysteriously operating the machinery of organisations. Later on, it simply meant ’out of sight’, so secretaries were tucked away with all the other secretaries and typists. A good secretary was an unremarkable one, efficiently obeying orders and then returning mouse-like to their desks. Nowadays, with the advent of new technology, the job of the secretary has become a lot more complex and demanding. Some even claim that the secretarial staff these days need some management skills as well.

47 Do people still read ’real’ books?

I believe they do, although the appeal of the Internet and e-books is undeniable. Actually, there’s a great initiative I’ve just read about in Britain (I think we have something similar in Hungary as well) called Bookcrosing. The basic idea is that you ’lose’ one of your books on purpose. Here’s how it works: first you register with the site, tag one of your books with a special number generated by the site, and then ’release it to the wild’. With any luck, your book will be rescued (that is, found, or as they say ’captured’) by someone. Next, the book-catcher is invited, via use of the special number, to update the travels of the book. This way all the previous owners can get in touch with the latest ’rescuer’ and they can exchange impressions of the book, then pass it on or ’losing’ it – in true Book Crossing spirit.

45 What does your taste in music say about your personality?

I’ve read an absolutely gripping article on this topic, which was really surprising for me. There was a huge study which suggested musical tastes and personality type are closely related. To my astonishment, it suggested classical music fans were shy, while heavy metal aficionados were gentle and at ease with themselves. The research could have many uses in marketing as if you know a person's music preference you can tell what kind of person they are, who to sell to. One of the most surprising things is the similarities between fans of classical music and heavy metal. They're both creative and at ease but not outgoing. The general public has held a stereotype of heavy metal fans being suicidally depressed and of being a danger to themselves and society in general. But they are quite delicate things.