Tag Archive for 'Training & Education'

Je Suis un Flâneur

This falls in the category of:

What They Don’t Teach at Detective School.

Flâneur (feminine, “flâneuse”) translates literally as  a loafer or a person who loiters,  but the poet Charles Baudelaire defined it as a passionate observer.

“There is no English equivalent for the French word flâneur. Cassell’s dictionary defines flâneur as a stroller, saunterer, drifter but none of these terms seems quite accurate. There is no English equivalent for the term, just as there is no Anglo-Saxon counterpart of that essentially Gallic individual, the deliberately aimless pedestrian, unencumbered by any obligation or sense of urgency, who, being French and therefore frugal, wastes nothing, including his time which he spends with the leisurely discrimination of a gourmet, savoring the multiple flavors of his city.” (Cornelia Otis Skinner, Elegant Wits and Grand Horizontals, 1962, Houghton Mifflin, New York)

The essential elements of the flâneur are also the essential elements of being a good investigator, reporter, researcher, and any other job that requires a well-developed ability to observe and report.

How to Detect Deception

Two excellent posts on detecting deception:

BYOD: How to Detect Deception, Part I

BYOD: How to Detect Deception, Part II

The Autodidact Private Investigator

Autodidact (au·to·di·dact , -tō-ˈdī-ˌdakt, noun) is a person who has learned a subject without the benefit of a teacher or formal education; a self-taught person.A private investigator, is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigations.

The economic downturn has left a lot of Private Investigators moaning about a lack of work. That’s an economic hardship, if you haven’t planned for it, but it is also an opportunity. Now is the time to learn some new skills. Here are two great blog articles on how to go about it:

The Cheapskate’s Guide to Educating Yourself

How to Set Up Your Personal University