Meh, I am completely over Vampires, Werewolves, and especially Zombies; and the less said about the Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter film, the better.

Even my favourite monsters  such as Great Cthulhu have become nothing more terrifying than a pair of  plush slippers

http://fashionablygeek.com/nightwear/cthulhu-slippers/

When we dumb down the horrible parts of fairytales (the stepsisters in original Cinderella cut of their toes and heels to try and fit into the glass slipper), we aren't protecting children, as denying them an ability to experience fear without any real physical risks.

Thought I recalled this item, so whilst we are looking for cost savings in the Budget, and subsides to contraception, how about starting here by removing this item:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/mar/25/obamacares-subsidy-for-the-sexually-depraved-viagr/

$600 per year?

Of course Sebelius has omitted the large number of union employees, government oversight and associated cost from her statements, but I assume that is one of the motivations for government in the bedroom. Strange, I thought we wanted the government out of the bedroom, as the liberal left demands.

How about 36 condoms for 9.95 at Walmart. IE 27.66 cents per condom

Generous assumption about frequency of sex of once per day = 360 times per year.

Let us assume 10 % of condoms thrown out, misused in application, so require a new one to be used.

Total condoms use per year = 1.1 x 360 =  396

Total cost using the Walmart link below per year,  396 x 27.66 = $109.45

I cannot see many men balking at the cost given the above

Yes there are people who are allergic, condom breakages occur etc, but using the above my calculation yields an inexpensive 1/5th of the estimate provided by Czarina of Contraception SEBELIUS. I should be nominated as its Czar as I can save the Government and Insurers a fortune.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Trojan-Magnum-Large-Size-Lubricated-Condoms-36-ct/10319356

 WH Auden - SEPTEMBER 1, 1939

http://www.poemdujour.com/Sept1.1939.html

C. Cavafy - The God Abandons Antony
http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=12&cat=1

(Lawerence Durrell does a great transalation in the Alexandria quartet notes, but cannot find an online version to link)

Geothe's Wanders Nachtled II

http://german.about.com/library/blwander.htm

(It is so beautifully simply; even I could translate it with my poor German)

In Melbourne enjoying a BBQ with friends in the warm sun, iced beers, cold wine, salmon, & lots of red meat. Dozen kids under 7 running round happy safe and free in a land of common decency with a generous heart. Off to watch Nadal vs Federer in the Semi final Australian Open. Love my country even with all its faults that are raised every year at this time by the left media and their loathsome self hatred. Oh, and cuz it's Friday tomorrow, I am taking a four day weekend as a true blue Aussie should.

DocJay - very clever and love the covert reference to John Locke .

All snakes in Australia (the top ten most deadly are all Aussie) are protected species and you are not permitted to kill them. You have to find and pay a reptile specialist to live capture and release them safely elsewhere. In the interrim, better hope fido is not killed when the snake comes over to drink from the dog's water bowl.

Of course if your father happens to be using hedge clippers in an urban garden,and comes across two small brown snakes (number 4 in terms of deadliness) he may use the shears  to shorten their lives.

Don't get me started on the possum fights during long summer nights on my bedroom wall. Or the locals who love the fruit bats (carrying deadly lissa virus) that have ruined our Botanical gardens with their overbreeding and guano.

I remember this film from my youth, the synopsis of which sounds like the coming Republican National Convention and its collection of RINOs...

"A group of hapless victims is invited to an island estate crawling with evil frogs."

 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068615/

 "3. Imagine that you're in a small car with each candidate, and the car gets stuck in a snowdrift for a full 24 hours. Food, water, and air are plentiful. Which candidates would you prefer for this scenario?"

Those candidates that frequently bathe, immediately came to mind ...

" If I had my life to live again, Jeeves, I would start it as an orphan without any aunts. Don't they put aunts in Turkey in sacks and drop them in the Bosphorus?
Odalisques, sir, I understand. Not aunts."

- The Code of the Woosters, PG Wodehouse.

 Is that Trotsky in a cap in  background on the left of the picture. And we thought he was done for all those years ago in Mexico...

I assume that your reference to hard drive examples is to the transistor gates being set to logical positive for high (more positive valued-voltage). Not sure about the negative voltages though?

I await my succesors asking. "tell us about the PDP-11 Grandad", much like your story of the Postive logic, with Negative voltages.

 Especially the Palmated Newt ...

"... but after all, here today, gone tomorrow, and all flesh is as grass, and what not, but that wasn't what I wanted to say. What I wanted to say was this--and I say it confidently--without fear of contradiction--I say, in short, I am happy to be here on this auspicious occasion and I take much pleasure in kindly awarding the prizes, consisting of the handsome books you see laid out on that table. As Shakespeare says, there are sermons in books, stones in the running brooks, or, rather, the other way about, and there you have it in a nutshell." (Gussie  Fink-Nottle) Right Ho Jeeves, P. G Wodehouse.

 Some of us work in left dominated industries, where a simple google search of our name, may be deleterious to our careers. Either that , or we like the pretension of a nom de plume.

Congratulations Claire, push your valuable work on Thatcher hard as you can now, in all the forms of media, and reap your rewards.

BTW As ( α < β < ε ) in most Greek letter versioning, your latest release is the one further along the alphabet, and not the closest to the start (alpha). I retire to sleep in Pedant's corner for the night.