“The cost of preventing errors is often far greater than the cost of fixing them.”
Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull (in Creativity, Inc.)
Author Archives: Jan Van Haver
Song of the day: The Flying Lizards – Money
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The Flying Lizards is an English band you might never have heard of before, and there’s really not all that much to tell about them. Those amongst you that do know them, probably have a New Wave Classics compilation album lying around somewhere, featuring the song Money.
The history of the song is actually more interesting than the history of the band. Money was written by Tamla Motown founder Berry Gordy (together with Janie Bradford) at the time when he was foudning the record label and originally released in 1960 by Barrett Strong. It can therefore be considered to be the first hit record for Motown. The most famous cover was released in 1963 by a Liverpool-based band called… The Beatles (as the final song on their second album With The Beatles).
The song was covered quite a few times, and in 1979, this catchy cover version by The Flying Lizards brought the song again to the charts (as high as number 5 in some countries).
Quote of the day #33
“You can’t stop me, you can only hope to contain me.”
paraphrased from the American sportscaster Dan Patrick
Strengths & weaknesses
For quite a few of us, one of the phenomena returning each year at work, mainly in December and January, are yearly appraisals, evaluations, or whatever you want to call them (hint: if you want to give the impression of knowing something about the topic, use the term 360° in the description). If you’ve ever come across a person who feels comfortable beginning these (either from the side of the interviewed or from the side of the interviewer, for that matter), do let me know, as it would no doubt be great to get to know such an exceptional person.
In a lot of companies, some kind of form is provided by the HR department Continue reading
Song of the day: Laura Mvula – Green Garden
In need of something to cheer you up? From her debut album Sing to the Moon (2013), let me please present you Laura Mvula with the spectacularly goodvibed song Green Garden.
Quote of the day #32
“Even a broken clock is right twice a day.”
English proverb (pointing out that a source is not necessarily
reliable about everything, when proven right about one thing)
Is it wise (and healthy) to buy generic medicine?
As consumers we are being offered, in an increasing number of domains, the choice between ‘big brand’ products and store brands or ‘white labels’. A nice way to save some money, right? Especially since more and more research is showing that the quality is very much comparable (if not completely the same, or at least being manufactured in the same production facilities), why not choose the cheaper alternative for everyday products such as milk or paper tissues?
But if your health is at stake, things might be a bit different Continue reading
Song of the day: ELO – Mr. Blue Sky
Let me present you one of my favorite songs of the 70s: Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra.
I doubt those types of haircuts will ever be in style again (the clothes of course will, as all clothing styles eventually do), but a great song is timeless, so never mind what the performers look like at the moment of the original performance.
Quote of the day #31
“We all need to take some risk or risk being left behind”
Linda Rottenberg stating the reason why she wrote
her book Crazy is a Complement, a plea for everybody
to think and act like an entrepreneur
Are men smarter than women?
Look at Nobel laureates (especially in the scientific domains), inventors, creative geniuses, brilliant scholars, or any other category of people that are considered to be extremely smart. Almost all of them are male. 
There are some females in all of these categrories, of course, but the male/female distribution is nowhere near the 50/50 one might expect when starting from the assumption that men and women have on average equal intellectual capacities.
In the days of extreme feminism one could not even point out that men and women are different in obvious ways Continue reading
THE SECOND HALF 