Author: Dennis

A BBC story claims that the carelessness of cat owners in California is killing off sea otters like this adorable little guy: Seems reasonable enough. And this call comes from a genuine scientist: The Californian researcher has called for owners to keep their cats indoors. Cat faeces carrying Toxoplasma parasites wash into US waterways and…

That’s what Brady Bunch patriarch Jim Brady said in a press release yesterday: James and Sarah Brady made comments today related to Vice President Cheney’s reportedly accidental shooting yesterday in Texas. “Now I understand why Dick Cheney keeps asking me to go hunting with him,” said Jim Brady. “I had a friend once who accidentally…

Ironically enough my nephew happens to be a Richard III and yesterday was his birthday. I think he’s rather enjoying the snow, but I just spent a few minutes trying to take my girlfriend to a babysitting gig and after two blown stop signs and subsequent skids aided by the comfort of snow banks (more…

Not so fast. I’m no cartographer, and I don’t study the history of Chinese exploration, but I’m not buying this map that purports to be a 1763 copy of a map drawn in the year 1418. It’s believed by some to substantiate the claims made in Gavin Menzies’ 1421: The Year China Discovered America. Why…

Hm … I’ve got to work on my titles. It’s hard to believe I’ve been blogging here for so long, but almost a year and a half ago I wrote a couple of posts about the outcry (in the form of an e-mail petition) over the U.S. refusing to contribute to the U.N.’s population fund…

I’ve got the flu and loads of research and writing to do, but I came across the stories circulating about Alito and the Princeton alumni group he joined back in the 70’s, CAP (Concerned Alumni of Princeton). After a cursory glance there are two easy conclusions: (1) Alito is a racist, and (2) Alito is…

I was just thinking the other day about the politicization of scholarship and how people who inject their work with an agenda create enemies in the process. For example, I know of a ‘feminist reading’ of a poem by Catullus, published in a major classics journal, the stated goal of which (right there in the…

Let me begin with a disclaimer: I consider myself a non-practicing atheist. (i.e., I don’t believe in gods, but I’m not evangelical about.) What follows is only logical. A british artist has pulled one over on the Jesuits at America (a Catholic weekly magazine), buying an ad for a sculpture of the Virgin Mary in…

I see that the voting is still open for the Weblog Awards, and I take umbrage with Eric’s previous post on the matter … this is without a doubt the best site around featuring Libertarian Guys Blogging Things. Oh … you mean … I get it now.

The progressive promised land to which deserters still flee and to which sore losers threaten to move is once again far ahead of the curve. What do you do when convicted criminals engage in unsafe behavior contrary to the rules of incarceration? Enable them to do it more safely, and on the cheap too! Canadian…

The new UK citizenship test is now being bandied about in the culture war across the pond: Being British is not about whether you know the lyrics to God Save the Queen or can order tea in a cool accent. It’s not about your familiarity with Shakespeare, your knowledge of the Restoration or your command…

In opposing GooglePrint, Pat Schroeder and Bob Barr are guilty of the same kind of old-world idiocy that has been making the record industry look foolish for the past few years: And so we find ourselves joining together to fight a $90 billion company bent on unilaterally changing copyright law to their benefit and in…

I’ve heard young would-be scholars dismiss Harold Bloom as an old, conservative dinosaur (they call him Brontosaurus in the title of this interview), but that could hardly be the case. Not the conservative part anyway. Resolve this: I have many enemies in the English-speaking world, in and out of universities and the media, because I…

Ever wondered just what Scientology is? Like a poorly written script, this person did: When asked what she thought of Scientology, Ashley Ferrell, a junior in criminology and sociology said, “What is that? It almost sounds like some sort of religion.” Yes, Virginia–I mean, Ashley–, there is a Xenu. But you’ll have to shell out…

Hard as it is to accept, a U.S. Marine was spying for Philippine politicians while working in the White House. Federal investigators say Aragoncillo, a naturalized citizen from the Philippines, used his top secret clearance to steal classified intelligence documents from White House computers. In 2000, Aragoncillo worked on the staff of then-Vice President Al…

‘Sitcom writer’ Jack Burditt recently attended a NASCAR event on a fact-finding mission and three things happened: (1) He learned that race fans are people too, by virtue of the fact that some of them don’t speak English: Weird, I thought, it didn’t seem very red state-esque. But we should note that the race was…

A review of medical evidence by a group of researchers in California concludes that fetuses likely don’t feel pain until the final months of pregnancy, a powerful challenge to abortion opponents who hope that discussions about fetal pain will make women think twice about ending pregnancies. And just now a mass of fascistic christers busily…

The couple’s eldest son, Casey, was killed in April 2004 in Iraq while serving in the U.S. Army. His mother has emerged as a leading critic of the war in Iraq by pitching a tent near the Bush ranch and refusing to leave until he speaks to her. Quoth a nameless Reuters writer. Pardon me.…

The government is creating jobs and aiding industry! Social! I mean capital! “Highways just don’t happen,” Mr. Bush went on. “People have got to show up and do the work to refit a highway or build a bridge, and they need new equipment to do so. So the bill I’m signing is going to help…

This just in from Drudge: Helen Thomas will kill herself if Dick Cheney runs for president: Veteran wire reporter Helen Thomas is vowing to ‘kill herself’ if Dick Cheney announces he is running for president. The newspaper HILL first reported the startling claim on Thursday. MORE “The day Dick Cheney is going to run for…