Category Archives: Uncategorized

There are libraries full of self-help books about professional-improvement, showing how one should behave to get ahead. This blog produces a shortcut on how to assess the generic contribution of oneself but also of other people. The most basic indication … Continue reading →

Introduction The political ‘discourse’ on political refugees overshadows and blocks unemotional (not to use the word ‘rational’) thinking on a topic that is closely related but significantly different, that of economic migration. In discussions on refugees I hear many a … Continue reading →

Introduction Current communication knowledge dictates that because of the short attention span of the average reader a blog should be ‘front loading’ to enlarge the time spent on the piece. That fits with the current apparent ‘shallowing‘ of idea exchange: … Continue reading →

Introduction When I went to college I noticed a significant cultural difference between the US and The Netherlands: in The Netherlands one would study Law if flunked out on something else or did not know what to study at all … Continue reading →

Europe is such a wonderful ideal. Loss of insurance In a previous blog I already apologized for being over-insured like any other Dutchman. When doing my taxes here in Germany I noticed that I paid a monthly amount to a … Continue reading →

I Follow because of Content, I Unfollow because of Spam. Spam adds ego to the sender but adds no value to the follower. Obvious commercial messages are spam An RT of an RT’d own tweet is spam Foursquare, runtastic notifications … Continue reading →

The Eskimo’s have many different words for ice, since these differences are significant for them. Similarly, in customer service we make a distinction among end-users who (might) pay the customers who pay the client who pays the outsourcer, who responds … Continue reading →

Let’s not waste it. Feedback Giving feedback is easy, you just indicate what you think about it. Droves of people do nothing but exactly that on Twitter or fora, revelling in self-expression and self-importance expressing the injustice that has happened … Continue reading →

(Originally posted on April 20, 2013) Sometimes, I do not understand the world – and no, I do not mean all those new features Microsoft has hidden (‘automated’) into its office suite that prevent me from writing a normal letter … Continue reading →