Escaped from the meeting rooms for lunch, which has been declining ever so gradually from day 1. So four of us ended up at the Bamerette diner, part of the Hotel Bamer, just up the road. Neat-o! Very fifties, with a dude in the corner -- shades, slim tie, guitar -- who was just passing time. We ate...

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In Mexico City, after a considerable scare. Somewhere over Atlanta, en route from Paris, the plane dropped like a stone. People screamed. It was far and away the worst turbulence I have ever experienced. And one of the stewies, in a brave attempt at reassurance, said that in seven years flying this...

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fimoculous directed me to Malcolm Gladwell's excellent story about ketchup. Well, it isn't just about ketchup. It's about ketchup, and mustard, and, most importantly, consumer preferences and measuring them. Along the way, Gladwell quotes Andrew Smith quoting Elizabeth Rozin:

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Not entirely unexpected, I don’t suppose, although our hosts were remarkably reluctant to confirm it. Mine was delicious, stuffed with some sort of plum or prune. And there was good rice too, mixed with steamed or boiled giant corn kernels. All in all considerably more exciting than the chifa I've...

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To Lima, via Amsterdam. A long, but deeply uneventful flight, which is as it should be. Just two complaints. First, my super-duper reclining seat had a broken footrest, which made it pretty uncomfortable when fully reclined. And second, with a rinky-dink little personal screen one has no way of know...

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