Time for some in-house updates as I owe you all a brief note explaining the relative silence here. There are two reasons really. The first one is that there is quite a bit of activity on the business side and my clients deserve my time above all else. There simply hasn’t been the time to do any meaningful blogging.

More or less related is the second reason. I have decided to not only do a full Peaktalk redesign and upgrade – currently in the works with the help of our good friends at Sekimori – but once that is complete to change the nature of the site. It will revert to fewer updates, longer pieces and a broader range of subjects. So stay tuned, a rebirth is in the making.

To my chat with Fausta Wertz on Blog Talk Radio which starts in about ten minutes, here.

UDATE: Always fun to do these radio chats. What is important to highlight is the context in which certain things happen and sometimes that gets lost in radio conversations, purely because of a lack of time. Here are a few comments that I wanted to add:

It is important to understand that failed Muslim integration to a large extent has resulted from the long held belief that allowing different religious pillars to exist in The Netherlands would contribute to a solution like it had in the past for the Catholic-Protestant divide on which the nation was built. The problem is that a template for neutralizing religious tensions between a culturally and economically largely homogenous group has limited use to integrate a group that both ethnically and economically occupies a different and separate world. Add to that the fact that Catholic and Protestant structures have largely become defunct in one of Europe’s most secular nations and you can picture the divergent tracks in Dutch society.

Secondly, following on caller Siggy’s questions – check out his blog here – the EU has gone through very different stages. From an economic project to a political “counterweight to the US” effort and now that its sheer size makes it impossible to foster a single European identity, a rather uncertain future. Again, the years of a Franco-German axis setting a largely political agenda appear to have waned, but it is not unthinkable that a possible Merkel-Sarkozy alliance could breathe new life into it. They could however shift the attention towards more economic reform and growth, but that is hopeful speculation on my part.

Dutch emigration numbers are released by the Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics and require close examination. I will continue to follow these and interpret them and while they may not be as dramatic as you break them down, the trend of increasing emigration stands.

Also, as some of my readers have no doubt noticed I am increasingly annoyed at the hyperventilating over the notion that ‘Muslims are taking over Europe’. Yes, immigrants from Muslim nations will make up an increasing and significant portion of Western Europe’s population, but so will Eastern Europeans and other immigrant groups. Many measures are being taken at different levels to curb or streamline immigration. At the same time early evidence indicates that immigrant birth rates are trending towards those of native Europeans. The reason for the latter is economics: it requires two spouses working to maintain a decent lifestyle in urban Western Europe and that will impact on the number of offspring one has.

In short, we are witnessing fundamental social and economic change in Europe the outcome of which remains highly uncertain. In my chat I alluded to a decade of uncertainty and it seems that old Europe is not terribly adroit in adapting to the rapid sequence of events that is changing their continent. The ‘passive contentedness’ of both citizens and political elites do not really help here.

Also, remember that we haven’t even talked about the competitive economic pressures from outside Europe and the graying of the native population combined with the sustainability of the welfare state. The Dutch case above all is so interesting because they have as I pointed out in my original column all of the social, demographic and economic challenges compressed into one small nation. Consequently they have become a sort of laboratory for the new and changed Europe of tomorrow. Nations that are on a similar track are Britain, Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria and most of the Nordic countries.

Related Posts
The Church and the Nation – Background on how 'pillarization' helped to build the Dutch nation and mitigate religious tensions in the past.

The Pragmatic Revolution – Explaining that the Dutch are not tolerant or overly liberal by nature as is often suggested, but rather pragmatic and sometimes indifferent people as a result of the cards geography and history have dealt them.

Next Monday I will be Fausta Wertz's guest on Blog Talk Radio, April 9 at noon EST, 9:00 AM PST. The plan is to talk about my latest column, Europe and related issues. You can call in with questions too.

Fausta's blog is here.

The traditional spring break is coming up and I have made some non-negotiable family commitments for the coming week. Blogging consequently will be light to non-existent.

The Year of the Pig is upon us.

We had a minor tech issue today. Stacy at Sekimori helped, as always.

To see how conservative or liberal you are, go here. It is quite dated, but still fun.

It turns that with 26 I am as conservative as Sullivan, which also means that I stand to the right of a center now populated by Ann Althouse and Glenn Reynolds.

Also, via Stephen Bainbridge you can take this test, which qualifies me as a Moderate Libertarian Conservative, close to Bainbridge on the grid.

So in order to see if that's all more or less accurate I took the Political Compass Questionnaire, which indeed underlined the notion of a conservative with strong libertarian instincts.

You might as well take all three of them if you've got the time.

So, the Christmas and New Year break is pretty much over and it has been one quite different compared to previous years. For one, there was quite a bit of time devoted to work. And, probably more important, concern over my mother who on top of an intense radiation therapy had to undergo surgery right after Christmas to release her of a tumor the kind of which our family seems to have a subscription for. Only months after the death of her youngest sister that was not easy for her, but she is recovering and showing an amount of strength and determination that I find admirable.

But, we found time to celebrate Christmas with the kids and devote our time to gingerbread houses, family games, good food and some fine wines. By New Year’s Eve we were tired enough of it all to fall asleep well before the fireworks welcomed a new year, another first for us.

I enjoyed the break from the blog; it is always refreshing to keep some distance from the news and commentary and block out the need to comment for a little while. It was tempting to prematurely interrupt the break following Saddam’s execution, but I thought better of it. So, we’re sort of back to normal here, 2007, let’s get going.

And the best wishes for the New Year.

As opposed to previous years we won't be traveling to Southern California, but I will still be taking a break from the blog. This year was another record year for Peaktalk in terms of visitors, which given the summer hiatus and some interruptions during the fall is remarkable. And encouraging. So, I want to thank all of you again and especially those that have turned into regular contacts by giving comment and ideas via e-mail.

This was also the year that some longer pieces came to fruition for other outlets and I plan to do more of that next year. Enjoy the Christmas and New Year break, I hope to be back in January.

Not sure if the song itself was ever intended to become a lasting Christmas classic, but the video ensured that this Frankie Goes To Hollywood hit will forever be part of the festive season.

Great song, moving video. Enjoy.

Every Christmas season consists of the usual rituals and in the Dorsman house the festive period always starts with playing Band Aid's classic 'Do They Know It's Christmas'. And every year I enjoy this great serving of 1980s nostalgia.

But it's been years since I last saw the video and to be frank, it made me even more nostalgic. To see Bono and George Michael at a time when we could not have imagined that they would turn out to be enduring musical talents capturing new generations is revealing. And it was saddening to see the late Paula Yates as a proud young mother, full of life. And yes, in a way it's equally sad that very little has been accomplished in Africa so far, things have actually deteriorated for the world's most troubled continent since 1984.

This year we've adopted a child through WorldVision as a way to contribute and help, but also to instill a sense of responsibility and awareness in our young daughters. Today they were thrilled to open the mail and find a photo of Elisa Menayame Nkembi from the Democratic Republic of Congo. This blind four year old is now being considered a part of our family and the first letters and postcard to her have already been drafted. Will it make a real difference? Maybe, I am not overly optmisitc on that front. But at the very least we can make an effort and share it with a next generation, here and in Africa.

The lack of posts this week is not an early Christmas break, but rather the result of a mad dash to get to the holidays in one piece. And having everything done and in place so that we can actually take a decent break. So posting will be somewhat intermittent in the weeks ahead, a bit of a shame as there is an awful lot to comment on.

Especially the situation in Iraq, and with The Gathering Storm Andrew Sullivan has written a piece that should be consumed by both the left and the right. It’s not high end foreign policy analysis, that is not Sullivan-territory, but it suggests a few thought provoking scenarios. Moreover, it underlines my basic theme that the larger conflict we are facing today is one within the Muslim world and one with deadly potential to spill over into our streets. We may have to sit through a number of X-masses where the ‘Peace on Earth’ theme may be further out of reach than anytime in the past fifty years.

And yes, around 3:00 AM this morning power was down again as a result of the extreme weather conditions. Luckily things were up and running this evening, but combined with limited online access at one of my key clients, it was all in all a highly unproductive day. Back to normal tomorrow. Hopefully.

Things to be thankful for, here and here.

And, if you haven't seen it already, especially this one.

I will be talking to Rob Breakenridge of The World Tonight at 7:05 Pacific Time this evening. Topics will be the Dutch election and related issues such as the burqa ban.

It took five-and-a-half days but the lights are back on. While most of the neigborhood disappeared to hotels and family, we managed to keep the spirits up and brave the cold and discomfort. And that actually was not only a useful epxerience, it was a lot of fun too.

The power outage is continuing over here, in fact it got worse this morning when another storm knocked out numerous trees and power lines. Of course, this has attracted media attention and on Fridaynight we got a visit from a local TV-crew interested in how we were making out.

They came at the right time, we had just grilled some great chicken on the BBQ, opened up an Australian Shiraz and getting ready to enjoy our dinner in front of the fireplace. The interviewer was trying hard to find bad news or some discord over our predicament, but even our children confirmed that we were doing fine when the camera lights were directed on them. I’ve not been interviewed on TV much, but it occurred to both me and Irene how hard some of these media outfits thrive on the negative rather than the positive. Only this afternoon some other journalists were in town soliciting quotes about how poorly the local power utility was doing in restoring services, but the contrary is true: they’re working around the clock to make things work again.

And yes, we were and are still doing fine; the absence of internet access is the only main irritant. We have cleaned up our fridges – a long overdue exercise – and been getting a lot of sleep. I am not sure if I remain as upbeat about this situation as the outage goes on into the new week, but I feel sort of pleased that we’re hanging in there.

We had a massive storm here yesterday with strong winds and huge amounts of rain. Power was knocked out in our neighborhood not long after I posted my Giuliani piece below, and it looks like we will be without it until at least Saturday. The streets here resembled a total wasteland, lots of trees knocked down with most of them destroying powerlines. Our house escaped most of it thankfully, but many neighbors incurred significant damage. The rescue and reconstruction effort is impressive and having witnessed the debris and disruption I can understand why we will have to be in the dark for a bit longer. So with limited power resources, blogging will be light until at least Sunday.

Peaktalk experienced some glitches over the past 24 hours, largely due to me tinkering with the main index template last night. Well, it's all back to normal now.

All condensed into my latest column over at PJM's Politics Central.

So, an at times unreal and emotional week has come to an end and I managed to get back home safely after another ten hour flight. Thanks again for all your e-mails.

In between family business I did manage to find some time to get up to speed with developments in The Netherlands, and needless to say it was a week in which there was no shortage of interesting stuff. Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner commanded the headlines with his suggestion that if two-thirds of the Dutch electorate wanted sharia they should get it and, the election campaign is slowly switching into gear. I will return to Donner later, but first let’s take a look at an interesting meeting I had at Pim Fortuyn’s former residence, below.

The blog interruption this week is the result of an emergency visit back to The Netherlands to support my family back home in dealing with a tragic loss this week. However sad the circumstances, it was encouraging to experience, and contribute to, the resolve and strength that the family displayed in dealing with the loss of my aunt, my mother’s youngest sister. As most of you know, I have been away for a long time but the emotional bonds are deep and above all worthwhile preserving, no matter the distance.

Internet access is sporadic, we’re camping out at my aunt’s house and she was no fan of technology. Still, I do find time to catch up with events here in The Netherlands and later next week will probably brief you on some interesting developments. Thanks for the e-mails, links and suggestions, I read them all and will use most of them when regular updates resume.

There is one snippet that I want to share with you before the weekend starts:

Hirsi Ali considers it paradoxical that she is seen in the US as a bridge-builder between the West and Islam, but in the Netherlands as a polemicist. "The Dutch have difficulty with dissenters. They prefer to team up with the like-minded."

Lots more of this in the months ahead.

Enjoy, see you next week.

Yes, I had prepared a “light blogging ahead” warning, but forgot to actually post it before I took off for the countryside, my apologies. An impression of my week away below.

It appears that I wasn’t the only blogger holidaying out in a Canadian red state: Roger Simon spent some time in Alberta, the Dorsman family traveled north to visit the Blackwater Spruce Ranch in central British Columbia like they did last year. And our hosts Dale and Yvonne Dunn did everything to let us enjoy horseback riding, wilderness, ranch life and their excellent cuisine which given their line of work meant lots of beef, the type which you won’t find at your average butcher. Again, if this is your kind of holiday then this is your address, probably one of the best of its kind in North America.

Given the ranch’s remote location I was put on a harsh diet of no news, no internet and lots of sleep, all of which should help contribute to a refreshing start now that the summer is drawing to an end and life will start to get back to normal. Of course, some impressions:

The stables as seen through the eyes of my four-year old daughter Maeve after getting hold of the camera. As you will see, wildlife is part of the scene here and I can attest to having encountered one moose and calf, a black bear and numerous deer. For a big city person like myself, still major news.

In the truck - me with sunglasses – on our way to Titetown lake.

Titetown Lake, civilization miles and miles away.

Irene and Pieter and their horses during a five hour trailride doing parts of the Alexander Mackenzie Heritage Trail.

Colts. Beautiful colts.

Well, the one office where I am spending quite a bit of time these days. On a clear day, you see forever.

Probably, yes. I have been incredibly busy over the past few months, on the business side, but also with family and lesser important issues such as cutting trees on my property, watching the World Cup soccer (loved it but glad that it is over, as always) and of course enjoying the summer which doesn’t last very long up here.

More seriously, shortly after the Ayaan Hirsi Ali crisis – which brought lots of new readers to this site - and my Dutch sojourn I was all of a sudden overwhelmed by a deep need to take a break from the blog. Holidays allow you to take that perspective, but they also take you out of the daily posting mode which is hard to get back into if you’re somewhat unmotivated and distracted. It also felt that the blog was becoming repetitive despite many protestations from various readers who tried to convince me otherwise. A general feeling of ‘drop the blog’ was furthermore reinforced by this excellent post from Donald Sensing – one of the early blogging stars – who pretty much slams the medium as a single-person venture. He is very right, but at the same time he isn’t because a blog is not just a media venture, it is also a passionate effort that enables and opens the door to incredible networking experiences and can provide the stage for further activities. It is never an end in itself, and that ultimately made me decide to get back into swing of it, although don’t expect any mega-posts soon. There will however be no shortage of material, the Dutch are gearing up for an early election in the fall and as I write this the Middle East is in deep turmoil, so stay tuned.

Oh yes, the other thing I did during the break was read this book. Giving up the blog? How could I ever have thought that to be possible?

OK, I have been quiet for a bit longer than I planned initially. Things have been fairly busy since my return and my mind has been on other things than updating you on current affairs and my view on them. Thanks for all the e-mails inquiring about my whereabouts and health, but yes, things are fine over here. It will just take a bit longer to get back to the output levels most of you were used to.

The deserted beach at Hoek van Holland where I spent a lot of time as a kid and that I always visit during Dutch trips.

Thanks for the e-mails checking if I was still around. The resounding answer to that is: yes.

I have been back to The Netherlands for a vacation and the annual family tour. The first week was spent on a farm in the east with no internet access and the second week was primarily fun and family. And there are times when the blog just has to take a backseat to all other activities and this was one of them. More later.

I will be on Rob Breakenridge's The World Tonight at 6:30 PST to talk about, yes, Hirsi Ali.

The month of April set a new visitor record for Peaktalk. The trend for this blog continues to look good, steady growth with long term upside potential. Thank you all, I mean it.

It's a busy day, so there is little time to get any meaningful posts up. More later.

No, this was not a Peaktalk hiatus, rather an extended Easter weekend with a lot of outdoor activities despite the appalling weather. The latter turned to sunshine today and my attempts to cut a few branches to improve our views turned – as always – into an extended project where a few trees did not survive to see the end of the day. It is the biting off more than you can chew syndrome the result of which is that the view hasn’t improved that much, but there is now a few weekends worth of clearing and cutting brush ahead of me. Needless to say, my wife Irene rolled her eyes in amazement and retreated to the house to do some real work. Regular blogging will resume soon.

Today with lots of sun and my youngest daughter's birthday to celebrate. Regular posting will resume sometime tomorrow.

Still, it's a busy day and there is family from across the pond in town, so little blogging in the next few days. One thing worth noting: today sentences were handed out in the Hofstad terror trial.

I've just updated the contents of the right sidebar in order to let it reflect my daily reading habits which change over time. So, some necessary adjustments and at the same time they are recommendations for you. The brand new feature is the 'Commentary' section with some of my favorite columnists, I never really understood myself why these sidebar rolls were exclusively reserved for bloggers. No more, change!

For the many new visitors coming to Peaktalk - and in light of this week's events - there is a comprehensive file on Pim Fortuyn as well as on Theo van Gogh. Both men by the way recognized early on that Europe would be the principal battleground for the conflict that is now unfolding.

Thanks to Norm Geras, it turns out this well known American blogger has a lot in common with your Dutch host. And it comes from the Merseyside:

Thanks Paul, consider yourself on the roll.

It has become a Friday institution, the Normblog profile. This week it's my turn. I've probably read most of them but if you haven't or feel like re-reading them, Norm has consolidated all the profiles in one archive post here.

Today is the first day of the Year of the Dog. In the past I have ignored the various predictions for the new year, a practice that I will continue. Still, I can’t ignore to highlight how some of the world’s leaders will fare in the coming year:

Osama Bin Laden - He is a weak metal person and he needs the support of earth and metal. His current luck is strong earth, which is favourable and protects him. In 2005, his month and hours of Rabbit clashed, so it was correctly predicted that his deputy and followers would have problems but he would be protected by his strong earth luck. In 2006, the year of fire and earth, he has favourable elements. He will still be protected under the umbrella of the Earth element. As such, it seems he will continue to hide in 2006 without any dramatic change in his luck. However, his current luck of earth will expire in one or two years and his situation will become more difficult.

President Bush – The American President is a weak metal person, who needs the support of earth and fire. The year 2005 was turbulent for him as the Rooster metal activates his water luck to challenge his fire element, which is symbolic of his power and status. The Year of the Dog sees his favourable elements of fire and earth returning to give him support and harmony. Yang fire is a poor element and it combines with his yin metal, symbolising harmony with other world leaders and colleagues. The Dog is earth, which is his resources element, providing him with support and giving him a more conservative and cautious attitude. As such, 2006 is expected to be less turbulent, with President Bush adopting more cautious and harmonious policies, which will bring more control and security to his position.

Condoleezza Rice – U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is a strong yang wood person, which symbolises a person of strong principle and someone who does not find it easy to compromise. She needs fire and earth elements as outlets for her strong winter wood energy. At the age of 52, she is just entering the new luck of fire and earth, which is favourable for creativity and money. The Year of the Dog has her favourable elements of fire and earth. So it is a good year for her to display her intelligence, with her even getting involved in economic matters and achieving respect and success. It will be a year in which she demonstrates her strong ability to handle international affairs.

There are more here, and on this site you will find more more background on the sign of the Dog itself.

Happy New Year to you all – I’ve just returned from my annual sojourn in Southern California after another spectacular drive, narrowly avoiding the massive flooding in Northern California and Oregon. I will be back with some more comments about my adventures, but give me a few days to get back into the swing of things.

Thanks to Ginna Dowler who has taken care of the site over the past few weeks and who did write the post below which just got linked on the Pajamas Media site. I’ve asked her to continue to contribute to Peaktalk in the months ahead.

For now I will leave you with my favorite photo from the trip taken in Joshua Tree National Park:

You know those little silver balls you use to decorate cakes and cookies? Well, they have a name - dragées. And apparently they are bad, bad, bad for you. They contain silver! Which is almost as bad as mercury, except not really!

Some guy in California (of course) has apparently dedicated his life to the eradication of this evil menace, and is merrily suing bakers and decorators across the land.

How bad for you are they? Well Jim Hu did the math:

So...if you ate a 25 g package (which has hundreds of individual dragées), you'd ingest about 20 mg of silver. The amount of silver in a bunch of cookies would be more in the range of tenths of mgs.
emedicine writes:
The normal human body contains approximately 1 mg of silver; the smallest amount of silver reported to produce generalized argyria in humans ranges from 4-5 g to 20-40 g. Silver at 50-500 mg/kg body weight is the lethal toxic dose in humans.

So you'd really have to go crazy on these puppies to do any damage. And although I'm sure there are destructive individuals out there who would eat entire packages, the danger to your children seems small. And if you are letting them eat that many cookes anyway, you have other problems.

On the bright side, a society in which the toxicity of cake decorations is seen as a major threat is a comfortable society indeed.

On that note, have a Merry Christmas (insert other holiday here). I am going to my parents' for a few days, where there is only dialup internet access.

I plan to spend the time reading Virginia Postrel's book, which is fitting since I found the dragée story her site.

Posted by Ginna Dowler
(Cross-posted to Gin and Tonic)

Yes, I’ve lamented the Euro-mentality on this blog more than once, but when it comes to taking a break I do revert to some of my native habits. And that means, like last year, a two week Christmas and New Year holiday.

But as opposed to last year, I have been able to find a very talented guestblogger who has been willing to mind the store in my absence. So welcome Ginna Dowler of Gin and Tonic, and if you want to learn more about here she is one of the fortunate ones to have been the subject of a Normblog Profile (number 64 to be precise). Keep e-mailing and keep linking; I will see you all again in the New Year. Take care.

Busy day ahead, here are some quick links:

John Hawkins lists the 40 Most Obnoxious Quotes For 2005. My favorite:

"[My new dog] Gudrun is named after the infamous Gudrun Ensslin who was the female leader of the Baader-Meinhof Gang, an art terrorist group from the 70s. Terrorism was different then. It had a chicness to it, which made it seem less like a dangerous menace and more like fashion. -- Margaret Cho

In Holland, the Hofstad Group trial is underway. Emerson Vermaat has a good round-up of the proceedings. Chilling excerpt:

Beheadings became an obsession for the Hofstadtgroup. Nouredine el Fatmi, another prominent member of the Hofstadgroup and also on trial in Amsterdam, told his 16-year old girlfriend Malika Shabi: “If you behead someone, you must do it slowly and cut the throat first, but not entirely. This is more painful and it will prolong the suffering of your victim.”

An instructive post at the Belmont Club about the lethal crackdown on villagers protesting land seizures in the village of Shanwei in China’s Guangdong province. Are we, by spurring investment and economic growth in China, complicit?

And another car bomb killing in Lebanon, Michael Totten reports.

And, with the passing of last Saturday's deadline there is still no word on the fate of the four western hostages in Iraq.

More later.

November has turned out to be the third best month in terms of traffic for Peaktalk, right behind the hectic November and December months of 2004 (Van Gogh and US elections). Again, thanks for visiting and returning. If you want, you can always show your appreciation by hitting the PayPal button on your left with a little Christmas token or click a few Google ads. In the weeks ahead this blog will start to feature Pajamas Media ads - no, I won’t be able to relinquish my day job just yet - at which time I will also change a few things on the both the right and left sidebars of the blog. As for comments, all e-mails get a response and the better or pointed ones get added to a post, or if they’re really noteworthy they become a stand alone post.

But without my cellphone which mysteriously disappeared between La Guardia and Toronto where I had to transfer. I am catching up with business and many e-mails today and hope to get back to regular updates as well as some afterthoughts about the OSM launch over the weekend.

Van Gogh and Europe's immigration troubles will be the topic of my radio chat with Rob Breakenridge of the World Tonight at AM 770 CHQR Talk Radio, at 19:00 Pacific Time. You can listen to it here at that time.

It's a busy week, so there is not that much time for updating the blog. And if I do, I am running behind the main news cycle, as well as some of the other noteworthy stuff. The good news to which I was a bit late is that Pajamas Media has appointed its man in Europe, Franco Alemán aka Jose Guardia or better still, Barcepundit. In his Pajamas Profile he explains what drives his blogging quest:

The angle the media chooses to report has consequences, because people can only build fully informed opinions and then make fully informed decisions when they get two sides of the issues. This one-sided coverage helps to explain, for example, the overwhelming anti-war sentiment in Spain, and at least partially explains Zapatero's surprise victory in the polls right after March 11.

I read the various Pajamas Profiles religiously, not only are they an entertaining read, there is actually something to be learned from the various life histories and opinions that have now assembled themselves under the Pajamas umbrella. If you haven't read it already, my profile is here.

I’ve been glued to the screen for the better part of this week – not just blogging, I work too – so time for a little weekend break. Given what was discussed here over the past few days, a fitting thought from a regular reader:

One of the things that draws me back to your blog is your sense of a moral compass. I don't always agree with your reading of it, but I definitely agree it is something Western culture is losing. And I feel as well it centers around the fragmentation of our family structures. For example, I've definitely decided, when I have kids, my nights-work-day-college schedule has got to end. I want a 'family dinner' time. Like I had growing up, when we all ate together and the TV was off. And I've definitely decided I will ask my children each day, everyday "What did you learn today?" Because the only way they will survive and prosper is if they dedicate themselves to learning and growing. And they will definitely need to learn how to manage risk, I have a terrible feeling the world will be more risky for them than it has been for me.

Very likely. See you Sunday.

It’s my birthday today and blogging will be light. Not that I celebrate or anything, really, there’s just quite a bit going on today. There’s one person however who is enjoying a big bash for her birthday, her 80th no less, and that is Margaret Thatcher.