I am not a number. I am a free man!

Patrick McGoohan dead at age 80.

Sherlock Holmes

I am currently revisiting the Sherlock Holmes canon via my iPhone. I particularly like the radio version with Sir Ralph Richardson as Dr. Watson and Sir John Gielgud as the master detective.

MP3 versions of these adventures may be found at the essential repository of ephemera known as Archive.org.

The Holmes versions mentioned may be found at:

http://www.archive.org/details/sherlockholmesOTRkibm001

The Heretic is back

Having gone somnolent during the recent election unpleasantness, the Heretic has returned in time to record the impending coronation of his Holiness, St. Obama.

Pedigree dogs are becoming stupid as we breed them for looks, not brains

Pedigree dogs have become increasingly stupid as they are now bred for their looks, not their brains, according to new research.

Here in the US we have been running the same experiment with the Kennedy family. Results are similar.

As a start, let them pay U.S. taxes first

World wants Obama as president: according to BBC poll

US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama may be struggling to nudge ahead of his Republican rival in polls at home, but people across the world want him in the White House, a BBC poll said.

Culture Trumps Class Everytime

Financial Times columnist Clive Cook nails it.

http://tinyurl.com/6ge6z5

The Dog That Hasn't Barked

In a week that has seen an amazing assortment of charges thrown at Sarah Palin, it occurs to me that the Democrat's natural attack dog should be Hillary Clinton.

A Google search with the terms - Hillary Attacks Palin - reveals many pleas for Hillary Clinton to do so, but precious little otherwise.

Is Hillary playing the waiting game? Perhaps she is holding her fire for the inevitable Clinton/Palin clash of 2012?

Palin Rumors Addressed in One Spot

Check out the disposition of the latest Sarah Palin rumors in one convenient location.

“Even if I want to take them away, I don’t have the votes in Congress.’’

Barack Obama offers his best argument against a Democratic Congress.

Dr. Laura doesn't support Palin

"I am extremely disappointed in the choice of Sarah Palin as the Vice Presidential candidate of the Republican Party."

This clinches the deal for me!

New McCain Ad

Biden Threatens Criminal Pursuit of Bush

Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden said yesterday that he and running mate Barack Obama could pursue criminal charges against the Bush administration if they are elected in November.

I wonder if these highly educated politicians have ever heard of Marius or Sulla?

Dave Winer's Time Machine

Dave Winer, in full throated roar (and not a little panic) regarding Sarah Palin, remembers the injustice that he was facing the draft in 1972 yet unable to vote. Of course, since he was born in 1955, he missed being eligible for the draft by two years. Some things are simply seared into the brain. Even if they never happened.

Update: Winer has deleted the comments pointing out his space-time incongruity. Look for him to drop the whole issue into the memory hole. Screen capture is safely stored.

Sunspot Activity Dropping

45th consecutive day without a sunspot. Can you say Maunder Minimum?

Gott Mit Uns

Democrats everywhere are channeling Pat Robertson and James Dobson. God is their weatherman.

Former chairman of the Democratic National Committee actually uses the phrase "God is on our side." in reference to the approach of Hurricane Gustav.



Update! Fowler apologizes; classlessly blames "rightwing nut-case" for capturing him saying what he actually said.


Donate to the Red Cross and designate it as a tribute to Don Fowler.

Michael Moore picks up the meme in a yuk-fest with Keith Olberman.

Dude! Where is my recession?

The economy grew at twice the rate of the previous quarter.

When flasks are outlawed, only outlaws will have flasks

The State of Texas has listed various items of glassware as "controlled items" requiring a license. The war on chemistry continues.

Wire heads - Depression abates with constant electrical stimulation, study finds

Of 20 patients with chronic major depression resistant to drugs, a dozen were helped by stimulation in a part of the brain believed to regulate sadness.

Larry Niven dealt with the ramifications of direct brain stimulation in his short story "Death by Ecstasy" as well as in his Ringworld series.

Via Instapundit.

Give that man a dollar!

Around my house, whenever we hear of a good deed performed, someone will exclaim, "Give that man a dollar!"



This is the story of the man who saved the 2nd Amendment.

Dog bites man: New Yorker weighs in for Obama

The New Yorker with this cover seeks to render opposition to Barack Obama illegitimate.

Change We Can Believe In!

Jesse Jackson get medieval with Barack Obama.

Dog bites man. Obama frightens seniors over Social Security.

GRESHAM, Ore. (AP) - Hours before being greeted by the biggest crowd of his campaign, Democrat Barack Obama quietly told a small group of seniors Sunday that Republican John McCain would threaten the Social Security they depend on because he supports privatizing the program.

When boys were allowed to be boys

Grits lovers should mark their calendars

The 2008 World Grits Festival to be April 11, 12 & 13, 2008. I was raised on Adluh grits.

Note to Yankees: grits do not require sugar.

George MacDonald Fraser

2 April 1925 – 2 January 2008

I must take belated notice of the passing of George MacDonald Fraser, OBE. Author of the Flashman series of comic historical novels, he had a deft hand explaining the underpinnings of the British Empire of the 19th century. His protagonist, Harry Flashman (the bully of Tom Brown's Schooldays, all grown up) turns up everywhere, whether charging the battery at Balaclava or doing brown a young Otto von Bismarck.

The footnotes alone are worth an upper level course in European History.

The Economist has the obituary . Christopher Hitchens weighs in, as well.

Delay can't promise to support McCain

Remember that McCain was the chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee that unearthed much of the Tom Delay/Jack Abramoff dirt.

Zimbabwe bank issues $10million bill

But it won't even buy a hamburger. Only a national government has the power to reduce valuable commodities such as ink and paper into worthless trash.

Polaroid Closing Instant Film Factories

This is the end of an era. I once had one of the elegant SX-70 cameras.

Will there always be an England?

A row in Britain after an Archbishop says that Muslims might live, in part, by separate legal rules

Dave Winer wants us to be able to sleep

Protoblogger Dave Winer wants the Republicans to debate health care and leave the slogans and platitudes at home. He then invokes an old rhetorical chestnut.

"Whether we have universal health care or not, it won't change the basics of how health care works, and how unfair it is to be sick and fighting for your life. But there are some things we can change, and if you have a heart, and think about it, I don't see how anyone could be against universal health care and still sleep at night." (emphasis mine)

http://www.scripting.com/stories/2008/02/08/debatingHealthCareIn2008.html