Chatwin did indeed die of AIDS, but regarding the earlier point raised about Chatwin passing it off as something else, I note that it was not uncommon for AIDS sufferers of an earlier era to maintain they had something else (or nothing at all) for a variety of reasons. For example, a number of countries, including our own, enacted travel restrictions related to AIDS victims so for some not admitting the condition was a practical necessity. And the social stigma was of course considerable. I don’t know of Chatwin’s specific circumstances, but he may have had good reasons for not telling the truth. It was very hard for many even to talk about back then.

Yes, he was a terrific writer, but "In Patagonia" was presented as non-fiction , where it turned out to be anything but.

<OCF>: Regarding your (tre)decimation problem, for which innumerable analogs exist, the simplest way to get the answer is to write the numbers 1--13 consecutively in a circle and go round and round, crossing out each in turn according to your prescription, until only one is left.

Let's generalize the problem. Suppose there are N participants, and it is desired to eliminate all but one of them by the process of decimation (or as one might say, N-imation).

Arrange them all in a circle; count off N in order; instead of removing the victim from the circle, have him sit down; count off N again, starting at the next one, and again have the Nth one sit (this is always the one with whom the count originally started); and continue in this manner until only one is left standing.

We can imagine doing this for any number N > 1. Suppose we do it for some big number, say, N = 100. After each one sits down, have him count how many people are sitting at the time. That is his own personal number, which he memorizes. Thus, the first one to sit down will be number 1 and the last one to sit will be number 99. The one still standing at the end will be number 100.

Now it is desired to eliminate n-1 out of some smaller number n < N by the analogous process of n-imation. Do we have to go through the process from the beginning? No!

There is a quasi-universal rule ("quasi-" because it works only for n < N) for determining the result of the n-imation process: Have all N stand up again, arranged in the same order as before. Now tell those whose numbers are bigger than n to leave. If the count is started at the same place as before, *including only these n participants who still there*, the one who will be left at the end is the one whose personal number, as previously determined, is n.

The proof, which is easy, is left to the reader.

** **

Dare to harm me, I'll make you cry.

Cut short my life and before end of day,

Your family and friends: I'll make them pay.

Pure white my heart, brown is my dress.

Just who am I? Bet you can't guess.

I came to know from the bus company they had only five hundred buses numbered from 1 to 500. From this I was able to deduce the number.