Prologue*. A colleague that had bought 700-euro headphones about four years ago said this was his only way to really listen to music because he couldn’t afford proper speakers. Coming from someone driving a brand new Audi A6 and living in a design apartment in the centre of Tallinn, that felt like showing off to me.

I’m writing this post as I’m listening to the new U2 album through the 25-euro Sennheiser headphones. It sounds exactly like the 6 out of 10 review I just finished reading gave it. And yet the new album may actually be worthy of a 8 or 9 out of 10 review, if listened right.

By “listening right” I don’t mean opening the right kind of wine before putting on the CD nor staring out the window expressionless in a semi-trance state while listening. You have to have the necessary short circuits, lamps and kilowatts for something like U2.

I learned that about a month ago when listening to music at a friend’s place through his state-of-the-art sound system that probably costs about as much as a German family car. A vinyl player that weights 70 kilos to ensure smooth rotation of the disc, voltage stabilizer, three amplifiers and speakers the size of an overweight 12-year old kid surely look impressive. But it’s the sound these boxes are capable of producing that blew my mind. I put on a CD and was surprised to learn this was the first time I heard these tunes, though I had listened to a disc with exactly the same name and album art before. Music sounded completely different, especially U2 (which I have never really been a huge fan of, by the way). I’ve rarely felt more out of words than I am now, trying to explain how exactly this sounded. Maybe 3D soundstream that filled the room with armor-penetrating waves of pleasure sounds about right. Or that “Sunday Bloody Sunday” was the closest manifestation of flames expressed through music I have ever felt.

Anyway, you don’t really have to have a sound system that costs the price of a car to listen to No Line On The Horizon. But if it costs less than a Vespa scooter you have every right to believe the critics and not buy it. And if you are one of the unfortunate with a stereo that costs less than a bicycle (as is the case in the rental flat of yours truly) I recommend sticking to electronic music and in addition turning down every offer to comment on music.

I have no idea what the music critic mentioned in the beginning of this post used to listen to U2. He was perhaps using the bestest audioporn technology out there and he just didn’t like the album. I am merely recommending here to give it ago on a Vespa- or BMW-class sound system before declaring an album average.

* Thanks for pointing the mistake out, Jaanus. Copied this from the end to the beginning and didn’t change the word.

You are what you share, said the mood message of a good colleague the other day.

I now share more. If you update the RSS-feed for this blog to http://feeds2.feedburner.com/andrus you’ll not only get a feed with less CO2-emissions, but a range of unwanted goodies on top.

Namely the occasion photo on Flickr, a few timeless quotes, some tried and tested links and Pledgehammer blog posts. I used Yahoo Pipes to mash it all together, added salt and pepper, cooked for half an hour – and so far all seems to work nicely in this feed casserole, mind the initial chronological mess after subscribing.

Let me know if this feed doesn’t work for you (and advise how can I fix the bloody thing).

Had a truly enjoyable dinner conversation with a friend this Sunday evening. You know the kind where you start from random trivia but somehow make your way to the very important topics in life. We started from snowboarding destinations, made our way to the economy (as you do these days) and then ended up defining the pillars that support the sanity of a man past his 65th birthday. Four things are worth being written down here as notes to self and as my endevour to win the title of The Most Random Blog Post of 2009:

Defining yourself in more than one way. It’s great if you love your work but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pursue additional ‘careers’ – academic, relating to a hobby, playing a role in society; whatever makes you tick.

Having kids.

Staying physically active. Just look at our fathers. My father can still probably beat me in rollerblading and his father has been featured on posters of Tartu cross-country skiing marathon. Say no more.

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Continuing to learn new things. My 82 year-old grandfather is regularly improving his vocabulary in English (a language he never learned at school) and can use Skype better than most people. It’s only a matter of time he posts his first tongue-in-cheek comment here.

Let’s see in about 40 years whether we were right or not.

Outliers is a book about people that achieve outstanding things, about what sets them apart from everyone else. It doesn’t give you “5 proven techniques that will guarantee success” but it highlights some very useful ideas . My quick notes to self:

It takes 10.000 hours of work become outstanding at something. Almost anything. And these 10.000 hours go easiest if you’re enjoying what you’re doing.

It doesn’t matter whether your IQ is 115 or 170 to be successful, one just needs to be ‘smart enough’

IQ or skills of a genius can’t be put to use without social intelligence ie. expressing oneself clearly, solving tough situations etc.

The environment plays a hugely important role. Where, when you are born, family situation and the wider social arrangement around it eg. Jewish immigrants in New York in the beginning of the twentieth century. (While you can’t change this for yourself you can do so for your kids.)

My blessing to this book. Read or listen as I did (read by Gladwell himself).