A note to subscribers

Hello everyone, I hope your end of summer/getting ready for fall plans are going well, with sympathies and bon courage to those with kids in school or going back to work in the office.

I’m back from taking a week or so of vacation, but there are a number of things coming up.

— A deep dive into the controversies over the remains of what appear to be one or two children killed in the 1985 Philadelphia police bombing of the MOVE house, which have been housed at the Penn Museum ever since. Lots of charges have been aimed at two anthropologists involved--are they justified?

— As frustrated citizens and politicians increasingly support vaccine mandates, some are still hoping that the “vaccine hesitant” (a euphemism in the eyes of many) can be persuaded to get that shot and stop putting themselves, their families, and those around them at risk. What does the science say about the effectiveness of public relations campaigns to convince the unvaccinated to get with the program?

— Feedback from readers indicates that the occasional travel pieces and series are popular. That will continue with some longer features from far-flung places including Rhodes, Lanzarote, Jerba, the Channel Islands (the ones off the coast of France, not California), and much more.

So please stay tuned for these and other posts, at a pace of roughly two per week. And if you like the newsletter, please share it with others and/or give a gift sub to those you think might like it. You can do that by using the buttons below.

Back soon!

All best, Michael