So Alitalia managed to lose our two bags on the way home from Montpellier on Saturday. On Sunday they called to say my bag had been found and would be in Rome at about 4 pm. They would phone to arrange delivery. They didn't. Early next morning, Monday, we phoned to ask if they could deliver it to wo...

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On duty travel, in Montpellier. Arrived late last night at a very new hotel on the edge of town and discovered that there was nothing to eat. That would be fine if airlines still served a meal, but they don't, just a flimsy snack designed, I suspect, more as a diversion than anything else. I'm old e...

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43 Folders has a post about Rules of Thumb, a series of books containing, er, rules of thumb.

Like:

Keeping Yourself in Shoes - If you switch back and forth among three pairs of shoes, they will last as long as five pairs of shoes worn out one pair at a time.

There’s a plea for the books...

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George Monbiot has an alarming piece about the ramifications of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill, which has just passed its third reading in the UK’s House of Commons. Read George for the full story. I can only marvel that handing a leaflet to two people will soon constitute harassment,...

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A fascinating article in PLoS Biology talks about the origin of the Mlabri, "an enigmatic hunter-gatherer group from northern Thailand". These people have no diversity in their mitochondrial DNA and very reduced diversity elsewhere in their genomes. The evidence points to a recent origin, perhaps...

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