I wish that I had this sign years ago when I was selling used books and collectibles at a flea market. While I’m not hawking any secondhand books here, I do have some stuff to share as usual.

Overall European rail operators do not deliver satisfactory services. But differences between them show that strong improvements are possible. The sector has not managed to sort things out on its own, which is why policy change is urgently needed. from Mind the gap! Europe’s Rail Operators: a Comparative Ranking . I was shocked to see how well Trenitalia fared in this survey.

Now Serving: Drinkable Mayonnaise

Lawson’s, a convenience store in Japan, has begun selling Nomu mayo, a drinkable mayonnaise forgetting the important adage: all mayo is drinkable if you believe in yourself.

The only catch for pedantic mayonnaise lovers is that the label clarifies that Nomu mayo is a “mayonnaise-style drink” and “not mayonnaise”. Currently in a “test sale period”, it still remains to be seen if Nomu mayo actually appeals to Japanese customers, who are used to the thicker and richer taste of Japanese mayo, as opposed to more Western varieties.

The Best Book Covers of 2024: Or at least ‘the 100 best book covers of 2024 according to Print Magazine’ – those slight caveats don’t make this any less of a great selection of design work though. I think, based on the fact there are occasionally multiple editions of the same book, that this covers the wider world rather than just North America – there is such a wonderful breadth of work here .

In 1944, the US Office of Strategic Services—now the CIA—published the “Simple Sabotage Field Manual,” a top secret guide teaching the average citizen-saboteur how to fuck shit up without specialized tools or equipment or association with an “organized group.” Declassified in 2008, the guide encourages clogging up toilets, letting “cutting tools grow dull,” and dumping rice into gasoline engines. Now, a creative agitator has produced a new version of the document in the form of a lovely website: “Specific Suggestions: Simple Sabotage for the 21st Century.”

“Today’s wars are fought from computer consoles; climate disinformation campaigns are planned in web conferences; decisions to deny healthcare are codified in software,”

Here are some of the many suggestions for saboteurs:

• Send unnecessary meeting invites then cancel them last-minute
• Remove or insert empty batteries in remotes and slide advancers
• Use images of unnecessarily high resolution
• Delete or misfile important documents
• Require additional approvals for sign-offs
• CC a large email list instead of BCC (or reply-all to one that was sent
• Hire the wrong people for the job

Once again, we here at Travel Between The Pages World HQ  want to wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday by sharing this Christmas poem by John M. Morris:

The Christmas Letter –

Wherever you are when you receive this letter
I write to say we are still ourselves
in the same place
and hope you are the same.

The dead have died as you know
and will never get better,
and the children are boys and girls
of their several ages and names.

So in closing I send you our love
and hope to hear from you soon.
There is never a time
like the present. It lasts forever
wherever you are. As ever I remain.