This Fairyland

On courage

Earlier today I played a prank on my middle son.

Jan 27

1

Pathological stability

Why organisations become busy, fragmented, yet strangely stable.

Jan 25

Five minutes

A household waking up one Saturday morning.

Jan 13

2

The boundary of being human

The following is a reproduction of a conversation between a human, ChatGPT and Claude.

Jan 9

2

2

The trick we didn’t notice

A magician once said that magic is “making the hard look easy, and making the easy look pretty.” But what happens when we stop looking for the trick?

Jan 7

1

December 2025

Adopted inevitability

Persuasion occurs when acceptance is free. Yet when an individual freely accepts an idea it achieves what coercion never can—a genuine sense of…

Dec 25, 2025

December 2024

A failure of facts

One conversation topic I frequently have with friends is “why do work organisations fail?” Some see the root cause as having the wrong person is in…

Dec 13, 2024

1

November 2024

Good morning

In recent years I noticed that my dad gets touchy if I don’t reply to his morning greetings on Signal, or if I arrive at their place and forget to say…

Nov 30, 2024

2

On the right track, but on the wrong lane

I quietly crossed the milestone of changing a thousand nappies. I could say I am a confident nappy-changer. But pride goes before a fall, and those who…

Nov 9, 2024

1

October 2024

Lessons from trading cards

The two large supermarket chains in our city have a regular system of enticing children with collectibles. Over the years I noticed the two supermarkets…

Oct 26, 2024

1

The unexpected problems of gratitude

The other day I came across an article which recommends gratitude as an approach to improving one’s resilience and mental-wellbeing. The article…

Oct 11, 2024

1

September 2024

On sourdough and rice

It was in my early adulthood when I had that rapturous experience that had been the common lot across the ages from ancient Egypt to modern Rome.

Sep 28, 2024

1