Despite the wretched outcome of his wishes for 2010 and wishes for 2011, WC will once again set out his wishes for 2012. While it is tempting to moderate those wishes, WC is not inclined to lower his expectations in the hope of greater success. So here they are: WC’s wishes for 2012: Overpopulation. Among the crises facing the…
The following chart, from New York Times reporter Teresa Tritch’s editorial of July 11, 2011, is WC’s pick as Chart of the Year. It demonstrates that the deficit that Neocons whine about so incessantly is overwhelmingly a Bush issue; the Bush tax cuts, which the Republicans refuse to repeal, amounted to $1.8 billion, larger by…
However much humankind may injure and maim the planet, we don’t control nature. Nature bats last. WC introduces a new category of year end reviews, noting instances in this calendar year when we’ve had to be reminded of that lesson once again. One of WC’s all-time favorite books is John McPhee’s The Control of Nature (Amazon…
As WC did in 2009 and 2010, WC will undertake a brief review of religion in 2011 before we mercifully leave the poor, maimed calendar year behind. Reverend Harold Camping predicted the world would end on May 21, 2011. Oops. Oh, a math mistake. Reverend Camping predicted the world would end October 16, 2011. Oops again. Is it fair…
As WC did in 2009 and 2010, WC will undertake a brief review of politics in 2011 before we mercifully leave the poor, maimed calendar year behind. Politics this year involved less “hiking on the Appalachian Trail” and more Republican presidential wannabes. But it was depressingly the same as the last few years. Some low points: The Teabaggers…
As WC did in 2009 and 2010, WC will undertake a brief review of sports in 2011 before we mercifully leave the poor, maimed calendar year behind. The Chicago Cubs finished 25 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central, in next-to-last place. Nine games worse than last year. Sigh. Bless the Houston…
As WC gets older, he finds death is claiming more and more of those he respects and admires. As we head in to a new year, WC wants to pause and note the loss of those who in one way or another, enriched WC’s life. In no particular order: Ronnie Gaubert: WC posted earlier on…
The late Carl Sagan created this, which captures pretty well WC’s view on such matters. It seems especially appropriate for December 25. A tip of the hat to Gryphen at Immoral Minority for the idea.
Happy Holidays All the best in 2012 from Wickersham’s Conscience
Once again, WC opened the year with wishes for the upcoming months. And once again, WC’s hopes were mostly dashed. But with just a week or so left in 2011, let’s look at the specifics: 1. WC wishes that the Republican House and the Democratic Senate recognize that health care reform isn’t a political football, or…
It turns out that pigeons (Columba livia) can rank items by numbers; they recognize, for example, that three is larger than two. On the evidence, this makes them brighter than House Republicans.
WC was brought to believe that Henry David Thoreau, under-bathed proto-hippy and general rabble rouser, was America’s first environmentalist, with Ralph Waldo Emerson in a supporting role. WC was taught wrong. Teabaggers, presumably, will be appalled to learn that the man who on May 12, 1818 said: [W]e can scarcely be warranted in supposing that…
In celebration of 16 more seconds of daylight today, WC offers this very brief clip of solstice sunlight, courtesy of Todd Paris and the University of Alaska Marketing and Communications office. Hey, it’s a start.
Meet Michael Morton. Mr. Morton was just exonerated after being wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife. He spent 25 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Just another case of Texas justice, you say? Perhaps this time it’s a little worse. There are very strong indications of very serious prosecutorial misconduct in…
In memory of one of WC’s favorite writers, WC presents here Christopher Hitchens’ version of The Ten Commandments: Do not condemn people on the basis of their ethnicity or color. Do not ever use people as private property. Despise those who use violence or the threat of it in sexual relations. Hide your face and…
Republican presidential wannabe Gingrich was on CBS’s Face the Nation this past Sunday. He said, There’s “no reason the American people need to tolerate a judge that out of touch with American culture,” referring to a case where a judge ruled that explicit references to religion were barred from a high school graduation ceremony. And Gingrich recently…
WC’s photography buddy Richard Ditch was kind enough to forward WC a link to still more bad news about Olympus: apparently, the cops and regulatory authorities will be raiding Olympus’s office on Monday morning. You’ll recall Olympus, which manufactures WC’s preferred camera equipment, has been in a slow motion catastrophic avalanche. First, WC has to…
Vali Chandrasekaran recently had a nice demonstration that correlation doesn’t imply causation in Businessweek. WC will indulge his taste for good graphics and reproduce it here in full: Be wary of anyone insinuating two lines and a leading question support an inference.
It is WC’s thesis that there is not and never has been a crisis facing America, not one, that hasn’t failed to attract some small-minded, noisy, mildly charismatic stooge who will pander to America’s worst reactions to the crisis. Communism gave us Joe McCarthy. The Great Depression gave us Huey Long. 9/11 gave us Dick…
In November, WC harshly criticized the Illinois prosecutors for their irrational rejection of DNA evidence that strongly supports the innocence of the wrongly convicted. The Appellate Court of the Second District of Illinois just agreed. In a December 9 decision in the case involving Juan A. Rivera, Jr., the court, not to put too fine…
WC doesn’t consciously model his writing after anyone’s, except possibly the late, great Dom LaRusso. But if WC were to select a writer to emulate, it would have been Christopher Hitchens. In the early 1980s, it must have been, WC was a frequent customer of Baker & Baker Booksellers when they were still in Northgate…
The late Robert Heinlein, writing in Time Enough for Love, said that there were three kinds of lies: (1) the simple statement of an untruth, by far the most common lie; (2) telling part of the truth and stopping, creating a lie by omission, and (3) the most difficult and least common, telling the truth but…
Commonwealth North is a strongly pro-development Alaska group, whose membership substantially overlaps with the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce. That would be the same Chamber of Commerce that recently gave Alaska Senate President Gary Stevens an “F” for failing to pass Governor Parnell’s repeal of Alaska’s oil and gas tax structure, “ACES.” Commonwealth North supports…
The late Robert Heinlein, writing in Time Enough for Love, said that there were three kinds of lies: (1) the simple statement of an untruth, by far the most common lie; (2) telling part of the truth and stopping, creating a lie by omission, and (3) the most difficult and least common, telling the truth but…
The late Robert Heinlein, writing in Time Enough for Love, said that there were three kinds of lies: (1) the simple statement of an untruth, by far the most common lie; (2) telling part of the truth and stopping, creating a lie by omission, and (3) the most difficult and least common, telling the truth…
The P.T. Barnum Award goes irregularly to the most outrageous email WC receives proving Barnum was right, that a sucker is born every minute. This email requires the you to enjoy bidding at auctions to the exclusion of successfully purchasing anything of value at that auction. Oh, and really, really bad customer service. [Note: you follow any…
Readers may have noticed WC sometimes titles blog posts, “Says It All, Really.” In an unusual fit of scruple, WC wants to provide the source for the quote. In Terry Pratchett’s novella, Faust Eric (Amazon link), the protagonists encounter Ponce da Quirm, who is looking for the Lost Fountain of Youth. And finds it! Met…
Interior Alaska has numbers of shorebirds in spring migration. Nothing like the populations you can find in some winter habitats, and certainly not the breeding populations you can find in the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge during breeding season. But the spring numbers can be good, and the birds are in their extravagant breeding plumage.…
As a part of an amazingly eclectic 2011-2012 season, Fairbanks Concert Association brought a Christmas show by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy to Fairbanks on December 10. A swing revival band, BBVD features nine members, including electric guitar, piano, two trumpets, two saxophones, trombone, double bass and a full drum kit. Any dust left in the rafters of…
WC isn’t much of a portrait photographer, but he can recognize superb work when he sees it. This photo is lifted from Andrew Sullivan’s Face of the Day. The photo takes WC’s breath away. The woman’s story is as or even more compelling than the portrait itself. From Andrew Sullivan’s The Dish: Indonesian widow Wanti…
Wickersham's Conscience 
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