Vasil Kolev

“(From an interview with Daniel Kahneman)

Q. Is it possible that one barrier for women trying to work in male-dominated fields is that such an environment demands extra mental effort on behalf of the women?

A. Being self-conscious takes up mental capacity and is certainly not good for performance. Furthermore, the more self-conscious you are, the more likely you are to interpret (and sometimes misinterpret) the attitudes of others as gender-based, which is bound to make things worse. However, there is hope: self-consciousness is likely to diminish when you are in a stable environment, interacting with people you know well. The trend appears to be favorable: improving attitudes of men, rising representation of women in many male-dominated occupations, so the future is likely to be better than the past.”
― Stephen D. Levitt Stephen J. Dubner

“As the years go by, it has become increasingly apparent to me that legislatively reforming the surveillance regime of the country of my birth won't necessarily help a journalist or dissident in the country of my exile, but an encrypted smartphone miht.”
― Edward Snowden, Permanent Record

“You learn to appreciate the fact that what drives you is very different from what you’re told should make you happy. You learn that it’s okay to prefer your personal idea of heaven (live-tweeting zombie movies from under a blanket of kittens) rather than someone else’s idea that fame/fortune/parties are the pinnacle we should all reach for. And there’s something surprisingly freeing about that.”
― Jenny Lawson, Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things

“What in Britain is called the Special Relationship, in Germany is called treason.”
― John le Carré, The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories from My Life: NOW A MAJOR APPLE TV MOTION PICTURE