“Memory is attention in the past tense: what you remember now, is what you noticed before.”
Daniel Goleman in Vital Lies, Simple Truths – The Psychology of Self-Deception (where he points out that memory therefore has 2 possible sources of skewing: errors made during the original perception and additional errors during the recollection)
Looking outside the window makes me wonder why exactly this season is called summer (for those living in other parts of the globe: temperature at least 10°C below what might be expected and rain all day instead of sunshine). I’ve heard claims that this might still be due to the Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption in 2010 (as such hugely disruptive events can have an effect on the climate years after the fact).
Perhaps spreading a song with the word ‘sun’ in the title might improve the situation? I’ve decided to give it a try with this nice Supergrass song!
Undoubtedly the most striking novelty at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil is the spray can used by the referees (the illustrious goal line technology being a good second, but we’ve already known that for years from tennis, so @FIFA: there was no reason to show off like that). It’s not really completely new, as tests have been done with it before, but it’s new 
in the sense that this is the first time the audience at large gets to see it. For those who have somehow managed not to watch any of the matches (inexplicably some TV-channels have been broadcasting other shows during the matches, and I’ve also heard rumours about Continue reading
“A statute is written to entrap meaning, a poem to escape it.”
Hilary Mantel (in Bring Up the Bodies)
You might have noticed the 2014 FIFA World Cup is being held these days in Brazil. As I work for a company thay happens to sell products and as I am often in touch with some of our customers, I have no choice but to keep on track about the topics that our customers might want to talk about (in a lot of sales situations, small talk is quite an essential part of relation building). So I sacrifice loads of my free time these days watching those soccer matches, out of respect for our customers (which reminds me: shouldn’t I try to report these hours as working hours?).
As there are 2 more matches starting in less than an hour, I will consequently have to keep this blogpost short. I just want to point out a wonder cure that most people in the medical sector somehow have not discovered yet Continue reading
There’s a controversial clip on Belgian TV these days to warn people not to run on or near train tracks. It shows a young guy being brutally run over by a train.
Quite a different approach is used in this Australian counterpart, whereby humour is used to deliver the same message. The song is titled Dumb ways to die and watch carefully: some of the ways they came up with are hilarious.
“If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.”
sometimes incorrectly attributed to Mark Twain, but actually paraphrasing a French statement from Blaise Pascal (in Lettres Provinciales, 1657)
Ever come across the following situation? You’re in the room with another person who is engaged in an activity that requires her/his full attention and impedes her/him to communicate clearly and directly with you. Let’s say (s)he is engaged in a telephone conversation on a land line that (s)he is unable or unwilling to interrupt. Then all of a sudden Continue reading
If you’ve never heard of Donald Fagen, you might still know Steely Dan, the band he is half of (together with Walter Becker). During most of the 1980’s and the early 90’s Fagen released some solo albums, some being the meaningful word there, as he is notorious for taking loads of time to complete an album (both the solo albums and the band’s albums).
The Nightfly, released in 1982, is my personal favourite – and in fact one of my favourite albums overall. Please take a few minutes to enjoy New Frontier, the song to I would like to present to you. And please try to listen to the entire album at some point in your life. I’m confident you won’t regret it.
“Don’t accept a no from someone who doesn’t have the authority to give a yes.”
I was not able to attribute this quote to any particular person, but I heard it in a the radio show The Change Agent’s Dilemma from Enclaria LLC (available as podcast on iTunes)
THE SECOND HALF 