About a week after the theft, the professor returned home to find an envelope containing a USB memory stick which had been taken along with the computer.
The professor was shocked to discover the thief had copied all the documents and personal files from his laptop to the memory storage device, a process which likely took hours.
All things considered, the professor is delighted at the outcome, despite the loss of his computer. He hopes, however, that other thieves can learn to be as compassionate.
http://www.thelocal.se/29636/20101015/ via Glenn Reynolds | Photo by Flickr user Ambuj Saxena used under Creative Commons license
His bag was stolen and he was upset over the loss of a calendar (perhaps a journal of sorts) that he had been keeping the past 10 years. That, along with the bag was returned soon after. The usb later returned contained personal documents and files, which he admitted to being bad at backing up, but it was NOT "10 years of research."