At a late dinner with new friends, and the talk turned to the internet, and search engines. In a trice, given that half the assembled company were teachers of one sort or another, we were on plagiarism, and how the internet both makes it easier to do and easier to detect. I raised the Laura K. Krish...

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Don't believe anything you hear about banking in Italy. It is far, far, worse than that. No wonder they're terrified of letting in competition. It would blow away one of the cosiest scams for parting fools from their money.

I realize I am particularly sensitive about this right now, having just returned from the bank to pay my rent. But it is outrageous. A charge of more than 4 euros to make an electronic transfer. The landlord will not accept a cheque. And the total varies from month to month (heating &c) so a standing order (also expensive) is out of the question.

As for internet banking, fuggeddaboutit.

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I’ve only just started reading Open Loops, as I get to grips with GTD, and today's post made me squirm a bit. Not so much because of the content -- everyone does need a hobby, it’s true, and practice does make perfect -- but because of a TV show it referred to: Dancing with the Stars.

I’m not go...

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The always excellent Whiskey Bar sends me scurrying to Human Events online, where I am saddened to learn that The Origin of Species does not make the list of Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries. Shame on the 15 conservative scholars (oxymoron, anyone?) and public policy leade...

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... were a significant other (or whatever the weasel phrase is these days) he or she would have dumped me long ago. I mean, lack of commitment, useless trinkets, and always the excuses: I'm tired, my wrist hurts, I've got nothing to say, I've had visitors, there's this other web site.

The fact is, I can see there's a pattern of abuse here.

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