In my previous editorial I was a bit too enthusiastic in summing up the contents of the issue, leading wise guy (pun intended) Larry Peery to the following remark: "[This] is not the place to trumpet your wares. It's a better place for administering medicine." A surprisingly succinct formulation. Well, medicine has been applied in many places in the hobby. Not a month went by without someone announcing his medical bulletin, from Parkinson's over heart disease to the mother of all, cancer. Any of these is horrible enough for the people involved, including their nearest of kin, and my heart goes out to them. But that things can go even worse gets proven by the case of Pitt Crandlemire. The Big Dipper, as he's affectionately known in these pages, not only is incapacitated and bedridden, he's also brought to financial ruin because of it. We all have heard that the social welfare system in America is pretty primitive compared to many other developed countries (they call it "liberal" and then stack it with all kinds of political overtones). But Americans have their own ways of solving their issues, which is why they are the number one donors in the world. You can read Pitts heart rending story and ways to help here. To be shackled to a bed is not the only way to see your freedom of movement impaired. Doug Kent, known for his editorship of Diplomacy World and Eternal Sunshine, relates his survival in the bowls of the American prison system in the epic "It's their house; I'm just a guest", available on Amazon. That title phrase would serve equally well as a stratagem from a Diplomacy version of Sun Tsu's "The art of war". If you're ever in a minority position and are pampering to the big guys for a comeback, keep this phrase in mind. The last people to lock themselves up did so out of their own free will. Which somehow makes it more acceptable. I'm talking about the participants of the WDC in Milan. While the rest of the city geared up for the opening weekend of the World Expo (on Food) in the same city, they happily stole the food from each other's plate for a place at the top board. As suits the occasion, the one with the greatest hunger won. Food would have been a great theme for this issue, and very Italian, but apart for the odd picture, there's not much food on display. What is on display is the WDC itself, and that then became the theme. Enjoy the stab. Mario. Enjoy the Pouch! Mario Huys The Editor ([email protected]) If you wish to e-mail feedback on this article to the author, and clicking on the envelope above does not work for you, feel free to use the "Dear DP..." mail interface.