The weather has turned dismal, a uniform colorless grey, dim, misty drizzle; the boats are ghosts along the water, the bridges only faint lines in the mist.  The streets are vacant, only the occasional  pedestrian blows by, umbrella flattened to...

I read an interesting essay by one of my business professors last night, concerning the tension between getting things done and getting things right.  In some ways, it’s a restatement of the Principal of Good Enough, or of Pareto’s Principal: the...

‘fully engaged with the process of getting a UK Tier 1 work permit now, supplemental to my Dutch DAFT application.  The requirements are straightforward but the execution is miserable. Tier 1 of the Points Based System is designed for...

On the radio last week, my daughter and I debated the nature and instantiation of touchstones. A touchstone is a point of reference, a standard for judging other, unknown substances and circumstances.  Classically it was a slate tablet that could...

It’s been a week for soul searching, back in Maastricht after a hectic road trip, then tired and sleepless getting readjusted. Dead plants and live problems to sort out, flopping around a bit in the quiet apartment.  The days have gotten very short,...