Blog assignment 3

The Good Husband of Zebra Drive
by Alexander McCall Smith
ISBN 978-0-349-11773-7

This book is the eighth title in a series about The No.1 Ladies’ detective Agency, written by Alexander McCall Smith. I have read the first seven already, but there are still a few titles left for me to read.

The stories take place in Botswana. The central character is Mma Ramotswe, who one day decides to start her own detective agency. Her starting capital is the cattle she inherited from her late father. Through her stories you can follow how her life goes on. She gets married and divorced, later married again. She decides to sell her beloved house and moves into the house already owned by her second husband describing lots of situation such a change can bring about. You can also follow the development of her company as, her working methods well as her employees situations of life and experiences .

I got a tip, from a male dinner partner a few years ago, to read this series of books in English. At that time I was quite inexperienced in reading books in English language so I decided to make a try. He thought the books were written in a way that made them easy to read and enjoy, especially if you are not used to read in English language. I agree with his conclusion.
When I now decided to read this book, I have tried to focus on what reflections I make when I read.

First of all I realize that I read the book smiling. The story gets me in a very nice and calm mood. The tempo is low through the story, and Mma Ramotswe always express her thoughts and reflections in different situations described in the book. Maybe is this way of writing the explanation to why I as a reader experience the books so nice and relaxing to read.

Another reflection I have made is how the surroundings, the people and the country are described. I have made my own pictures of the characters and the facilities of The No.1 Ladies’ detective Agency. Several descriptions are very detailed and give the reader information on shape, smell, colors and sounds. Let me give you one example from page 49 in this book:

“They left his office and walked down a green-painted corridor. There was a hospital smell in the air, that mixture of humanity and disinfectant and, in the background, the sound that seemed to go so well with that smell – voices somewhere, the sound of a child crying, the noise of wheels being pushed……”

This short text give me as a reader quite a clear picture in my mind of how it could look like, sound like and smell.

The typical choice of book for me is a detective story, but the ones I usually read differs a lot from this one. The next challenge for me will be to read a more traditional detective story or a thriller in English.

Blog assignment 2

The Story of Electronics
www.storyofstuff.org

One of the very first reflections I made when I saw this short movie was how nice it was to see a movie made in a plain format. That is likely a smart way to make the viewer interested in the movie itself as well as its important message. I also made some thoughts about what target group the producer of this film has, I felt not being a person in the main target group. In my point of view it could have been produced to try to make young people aware of the consuming of electronic products, and maybe also to create a debate between producers and organizations exporting used electronic equipment to third countries.

This is an issue that I´m personally interested in. All producers, of whatever they produce, must take their full responsibility of a product over its whole lifecycle. I doesn´t matter if it is a computer, a car or processed foodstuffs. I´m sure that major producers worldwide have put corporate social responsibility on their agenda, but the question is if that is enough to make a change.

In addition to that I think we all have to think about our own habits concerning consumption.
Think of how many mobile phones and computers you have consumed in your already? Could you make a difference by changing your own behavior?

Blog assignment 1

Thoughts about the article Snooping Bosses

The society changes and develops all the time. The citizens are a part of this change, and they are to a considerable degree contributing to this development. Most people using a smartphone do not even reflect over if it could have any negative consequences to let the phone operator use your position. Personally I have a careful strategy on how to behave on the internet, and I try to avoid giving my position without restricting the information to my nearest friends and relatives.

Internet privacy in a profession could be complicated. At the company I work there are restrictions in how to use the internet and some webpages are blocked. My employer give me the right conditions to a sound approach to internet. The company management has established and communicated an IT policy to all employees. It is of course not possible to predict all upcoming situations there are always doubtful cases. Based on my experience from my employers and my knowledge about companies here in Sweden, I do not think that a typical company management actively monitors their employers. I´m however convinced over that the behavior of an individual employer on the internet can be monitored by a company management if they find it necessary to protect their knowledge. A good recommendation could be to inform yourself about a companys IT policy before you sign for a job.

Common sense is useful also on the internet and when using your smart phone. If you want to claim your right to privacy, you need to consider your own behavior and be aware of all electronic fingerprints you make.

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