The iconic author and great humanist Kurt Vonnegut has died. His attitude to life, and the inspiration for his greatest work, came from his experience as a POW in world war 2, imprisoned at Dresden, when the Allies, preferring a classical city with little military signifance as a target, to the by then well-known locations of the Nazi death camps, flattened it in a one night fire storm than killed 100 000 civilians. Vonnegut survived because the prisoners had been temporarily held in an underground meat storage facility - hence "Slaughterhouse 5".

One of his lesser known jobs was that of a car dealer specialising in SAAB's. This enterprise failed, and he blamed this on the crap product. SAAB's have improved in the meanwhile, and I dedicate my trusty chariot (above) to his memory. I hope GM will belatedly recognise him as one of their more illustrious salesman. He also joked that because of this, he never received the (Swedish managed) Nobel prize for literature..

He seemed to have had writer's block in later life, not producing much. However, when the president incumbent of the White House incumbed, probably the worst President since Franklin D. Pierce, the ensuing outrages forced him to come out of retirement for his last work - "A man without a country" which says it all. It applies (or should apply) to many. Read it.