Back in the early Pliocene of personal computing, when a 1200 baud modem was pretty damn hot, there was something called Compuserve. Compuserve was to the internet what a spear is to a smart missile. Primitive. So primitive that they had to invent a way to include images into what had been a text-only information…
Commentary / Law / Trump
Donald Trump has demanded that U.S. Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotamayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg recuse themselves from cases involving the President. There are so many things wrong with Trump’s latest attack on the U.S. Constitution that WC will temporarily put his lawyer hat back on and have a look at what’s really going on.…
Arriviste — someone who is just beginning to arrive, esp. an ambitious or ruthlessly self-seeking person, who has recently acquired wealth or social status. You may think that “arriviste” is a strange term to apply to a geologic terrane, but stay with WC on this and he will explain himself. An exotic terrane is a piece of…
The Environmental Protection Agency released its 2018 Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) earlier this month, part of the EPA’s TRI National Analysis. Since 1986, the TRI has reported the release of substances that carry a material risk of hurting humans or the environment upon which humans depend. The TRI is information. It is data. That’s all.…
Shortly after the first Macintosh Computer was released, Tanana Community College instructor Joe Dart somehow persuaded Apple Computer programmer Bruce Horn to come to Fairbanks – in mid-winter, no less – to give a talk on the new Mac Operating System and teach a short course on programming. Bruce Horn was part of the original…
It’s been aeons since WC did a genuine book review. After all, it says “Reviews” on the masthead. So WC will review four books here. WC’s writing teachers – you may be surprised that WC had had writing teachers – taught him not to use “that that” and “had had.” Even if Abrahahm Lincoln, in…
One of the charms of hummingbirds is that some of them have wonderful names. One such hummingbird is the Bearded Mountaineer. It’s called a “Mountaineer” because it’s a high elevation hummingbird, found exclusively between 2,500–3,900 meters in a few intermontane valleys in central Peru. Think about it: this is an area at 9,160 feet, a…
With sincere apologies to the late Eddie Lawrence: [Cue funeral music] You say you you were indicted for stealing $200,000 from the IRS? And you say the jury was out for less than an hour and found you guilty on all 22 counts? And the judge sentenced you to 14 years in the federal penitentiary?…
WC was at CJ Strike Reservoir Tuesday, one of the seemingly numberless dam-created pools on the Snake River, south and a little east of Boise. There’s a spot down there that’s off the main roads, where flocks of songbirds reliably appear to feed on the numerous Russian Olives and native Rosehips. It can be a…
Idaho has child protection laws. If there are reports by police, teachers or neighbors that children are being badly abused, the State of Idaho has the power to remove the children from their parents of guardians. A judge can even order medical treatment necessary for the health of the child. Unless the children are dying…
John Mitchell had set the benchmark for U.S. Attorney General misconduct. Back in December, WC warned that William Barr, Trump’s toady Attorney General, was in jeopardy of taking that prize. Well, it has happened. It’s not just the sham investigations into Trump’s enemies. It’s not just his unwillingness to enforce the rule of law. He’s…
Let’s recap. Mike Dunleavy is the governor of the State of Alaska, elected in 2018. In just one year, he has taken the trophy for Worst Governor in Alaska’s history from the likes of Keith Miller, Sarah Palin and Sean Parnell. A remarkable, if appalling, achievement. Dunleavy has been so bad that the Recall Dunleavy…
