A busy week with very light blogging as a result. This week I

• Having returned from a week in the snow, I used Monday to get back into things, did some admin and had a conversation with colleague Emily about the EU study we’re doing on High Value Datasets. Just before I left I submitted a first report and we prepared for the upcoming discussion of it with the client.
• Caught up with colleague Sara about the work we’re doing for a province, and made plans for the coming few weeks
• Had a client meeting for the EU study, in which I participated remotely and presented our current findings on meteorological data, and earth observation and evironmental data.
• Discussed the same study and the Dutch position on it with the Dutch Ministry for the Interior’s responsible civil servant.
• Was interviewed by our intern Shivani on the way The Green Land operates, and the experience, skills and knowledge I bring to the mix.
• Checked and improved our household’s preparedness w.r.t. a potential further spread of Covid-19. Ensured I have enough of my prescription meds, and we have enough food and household material for a month. It’s less a precaution against the virus, although self-quarantine is now easily done if needs be, and more resilience against sudden runs on certain items, or apothecaries being overwhelmed by other things than my regular meds. The Italian outbreak saw immediate empty shelves in supermarkets, and the 10 current cases in the Netherlands have already led to hand soap being in short supply in shops around the country.
• Installed a new microwave in the kitchen with E. It broke down a day before we left for the French Alpes last week, and E ordered one upon our return.
• Had a management team meeting/breakfast with my business partners
• Had our monthly all hands meeting with the company, followed by a group dinner.
• Met up for a few beers with two members of my old fraternity. We all live in the same town, but we’ve never gotten around to catching up until now. A next date is set in 8 weeks or so.
• Y last Sunday couldn’t believe you could see space from the ground, as we were walking home in the dark. Especially not that a bright start was actually a planet. But planet’s are in space! And space is far away, you can’t see that from here! As a consequence we drove to Eise Eisinga’s Planetarium, the oldest still working mechanical one in the world, and discussed planets, the sun and the moon. Added bonus is that this 18th century planetarium is in Friesland, giving us opportunity to acquire some local treats, not available elsewhere in the country.

This week in …… 1879*

Dutch architect Jan Frederik Staal was born. He designed several iconic buildings in Amsterdam. One of which is the 12-story house, the second highrise of its kind in the Netherlands and the first in Amsterdam, with spacious 6-room apartments. It was placed at the head of the 1920s built ‘Rivers’ neighbourhood designed by Berlage, in Amsterdam. The building came with fast elevators, a trash chute, and window hinges placed so that windows when opened could be cleaned from the inside. (see the open windows top left in the image below)

Photo by JPMM, license CC BY NC ND

In the 3d map image below you can see how the building is positioned in the neighbourhood.

(* I show an openly licensed image with each Week Notes posting, to showcase more open cultural material. See here why, and how I choose the images for 2020.)