23 Oct, 2024
The average Dutch house in 2024 Q2 has a price of Euro 468,000 (NOS), while the average annual Dutch salary is "only" Euro 44,500 (Manpower). Hence, an average house will cost you about 10.5x of your average annual salary. That 2024 multiplier of 10.5x was about 5x when I bought my house in 1994. The doubling of that Dutch multiplier - or the home price-to-income...
14 Aug, 2024
There are several words in our lives for which we have no precise definition, like consciousness, friendship, life, and love. Still, we know what we mean with those words. Another word for unknown knowns is instinct or intuition. No scientist can explain consciousness. In my view, our individual consciousness might well relate to a universal mind or universal...
19 Feb, 2024
In an episode of TV series Endeavour (eg, IMDb, video), there’s a phrase that goes like this: there comes a time when you need to make a choice. That phrase struck me as very valid, and in probably everyone’s life. The Martin Luther King quote below adds an important element: conscience. I suppose that most of our choices are almost fully automatic, and hardly ever...
31 Oct, 2023
I grew up in a small village in the 1960s. I suppose that most villagers knew about each other's reputations. We played outside all of the time, with no supervision. Nevertheless, my parents seemed aware of our activities. Back then, they didn't seem to worry about our independence. A 2023 WaPo article (below) suggests that children develop a mental health crisis...
22 Aug, 2023
Several of my blogs stated that life is like a roundabout (eg, 2017 and 2023). Sometimes, its exits are a one-way street (my 2023 blog), or even a dead-end street. Marriages and/or relationships show similar exit features (eg, a break-up or divorce). The main question is: when to get off. The other 5 main questions (ie, How-What-Where-Who-Why) have - usually -...
2 Aug, 2023
"The May 2021 American Perspectives Survey [found] that Americans report having fewer close friendships than they once did, talking to their friends less often, and relying less on their friends for personal support." The number of American men with no friends increased from 3% in 1990 to 15% in 2021. This survey got lots of international attention (eg, CNN-2022, El...
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