Month: March 2023

Today for lunch: Jianbing. Filled with an egg, pickled vegetables, a fermented sauce and a cracker, this pancake makes an unpretentious but nutritious meal. For just 5 RMB you can buy one. Two is enough for me. In silence, dough is spread over a hot plate of about 50 cm in diameter, so that a…

Something arises out of nothing. This is often accepted with hesitation, as if that new something is not really possible. Or if it were, then its creation was in a place (if there was space) and time (if there was time) with little relevance to us, here and now. In any way, whether the big…

I (didn’t) make it to my train by a hair’s breadth. Gasping for breath, I’m in the G2781, checked in for the next train. Because the G2781 departs on the same platform and was still there when I ran up, I could still sneak in. As I write this, the tickets are being checked. I…

On a Monday like this, everything seems to slow down inside my skull. Both the left and right hemispheres seem to be pushing their way out. It’s subtle, but the pressure is noticeable. Painless, thankfully. But not without effect. Living in a country where the new year comes twice a year has advantages. Two times…

The train to Shanghai was almost empty. A few remaining travelers are making their way home, to parents or relatives, to spend the holidays. In these last days of the year of the dog, the stream of travelers has been more pertinent than any other new year season I’ve spent here. Shanghai Central has been…

Today while reading the CNN website (in a state between sleeping and waking I always mindlessly jump up and down between the NOS and CNN websites, which are both free) I came across an article about deep fake videos – videos about events that never took place, with the potential to distort reality in an…

Typical day at the lab today. My first experiment looks like nothing: I tested different concentrations and cells on the so-called Ambit2 module. These cells are supposed to be sensitive to ampicillin, but they never show this in today’s staining assay. Whether ampicillin is added or not, after a scornful 2 hours at 37 degrees…

So, let’s start this week a bit heavier again and then hopefully end it light. There are boxes in my head, they come and go, some stay for a long time (always) and some show up sporadically, or perhaps opportunistically. Love for my wife and love for my daughter? Rock-solid. Dutchman? Check. Entrepreneur? Recently. Liberal?…

Friday night and my head is empty. Been on the road again for about 18 hours this week to work 4 days in Suzhou. Achieved nice things with my intern Kelly, made a start on setting up a calibration curve in buffer Y (our “own” buffer for the E. coli we have growing in the…

And so begins 2019 with divorces. In the weekend of January 6, Kim (B) suddenly hears from his wife that it is over. The love is over, at least there is another, the relationship is over, and if it goes as she planned, the children will also pass over without too much resistance. Right. The…