This is an archive version of my newsletter. If you’d like to receive this kind of email as well, you can sign up here.

Good morning sweethearts,

On Wednesday I left my colleagues in Marbella and I took the train to Cordoba. After a week of work, parties, and golf, it was time for me to go on a special expedition. In Cordoba I will be researching Islamic geometric patterns of a.o. La Mezquita-Catedral. I’ll tell you more about that next week.

For now, I have this ready for you:

  1. Thought – Baader–Meinhof phenomenon
  2. Art – On female authors
  3. Quote – Conversations with friends
  4. Sport – Summiting La Concha
  5. Picture – Golf
mitsubishi pajero junior

1. Thought – Baader–Meinhof phenomenon

Last week I brought up the example of Urban’s car in my article about learning new skills. After learning about this type of car, I started seeing it everywhere. You’ve probably experienced something similar in your life before.

Well, I did some digging and apparently it is called the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon (or frequency illusion). It’s assumed to be a combination of selective bias and confirmation bias.

On female authors

2. Art – There is something about the way she writes… (on female authors)

Last week I hit my 2023 target of reading 10 books by female authors. Did I learn anything? Can I confirm that women can only write cheap airport novels? And what is the influence of the patriarchy on the New York Times bestseller list?

Find all answers in the article.

3. Quote

‘By refusing to admit that I was sick, I felt I could keep the sickness outside time and space, something only in my own head. If other people knew about it, the sickness would become real and I would have to spend my life being a sick person. This could only interfere with my other ambitions, such as achieving enlightenment and being a fun girl.’

Conversations with friends (Sally Rooney).

Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss! I thought this was a very funny, yet disturbing quote from the book. Also: yes, this is my second Sally Rooney book in two weeks. I think I kind of like her 🙂

4. Sport – Summiting La Concha

Here is a picture of me at the top of La Concha. I’m smiling awkwardly because honestly I was quite scared. Very steep mountain. Hiking to the top was challenging to say the least. It was a 7h roundtrip (only 15KM, but 1300 meters of elevation, and pretty technical terrain).

As the sensible person that I am, I did this on 3h of sleep and after a night of heavy drinking (Champions League final). As icing on the cake I also ignored all warning signs that said that mountaineering skills were required for this hike.

My God, I can’t express how happy I was to fall asleep in my apartment that night.

In hindsight I realise it was quite stupid to go on this adventure alone. Not very safe. I also didn’t realise that I walked up via the steepest side of the mountain, which definitely explained why I didn’t meet a single living soul on this hike.

Link to Strava activity.

golf marbella

5. Picture

Are you even allowed to call it a ‘business trip to Marbella’ if you don’t play golf with your colleagues? I don’t think so. This place is infested with golf courses. Some of the best of Spain if I have to believe my colleagues. But as you might’ve deduced from this picture, I certainly was not the best player on the course.