Even for the shortest month, February seems to have been a short month. But even with just 28 days, we’ve reached the end of them, so it’s time for WC to have a look back at stuff that didn’t get written, stuff that shouldn’t have happened and stuff involving the Magpie Principle. Rest assured, Craig,…
WC’s mailbag is bulging, and includes several followup emails asking why WC hasn’t responded to earlier emails. There’s the usual collection of threats, obscenity-laced criticism, inquiries far beyond WC’s pay grade and implied questions. WC has selected a few to answer. Why are you picking on skunks, rabid or otherwise?WC compared U.S. Rep. George Santos…
It was probably okay to complain about the weather in the first month of 2023. To use a technical term, it sucked. Not that it did or will make any difference. Whatever the weather, it’s time for the monthly look back at stuff WC has written about, not written about or failed to notice earlier.…
Traditionally here at Wickersham’s Conscience we wrap up the calendar year with the Hypocrite of the Year contest and WC’s Year in Review series. But before we turn to December, we need to take a look back at a month that, if you will forgive the phrase, was a real turkey. As ever, the Magpie…
Today marks the 14th birthday of this blog. In celebration, WC will offer some statistics and a few thoughts. At this date, there are 4,975 published blog posts. All but seven of them written by WC. That’s a lot of words. In fact, at an average length of about 750 words, that’s over 3.7 million…
WC has shoveled out the email box and recently found his list of questions posed in comments to earlier posts. As the year and our republic stumble through Dark Times, WC will answer a few of the many readers’ questions. Before we do the, WC invites you to celebrate Veteran’s Day, our annual acknowledgment of…
As WC struggles with a sugar-induced, post-Hallowe’en hangover, it’s time to have a look back at the spooky events of the last thirty-one days. As ever: (1) the Magpie Principle strictly applies, and (2) no journalism has been committed in this blog post. Wasilla’s neo-Nazi legislator, David Eastman, faces trial on his (dis)qualification for the…
September has gone by for WC in a haze of surgery recovery, painful physical therapy, days chained to a recliner and an icing machine – a wonderful invention – and little more. WC will get back to that, but it’s also time to have a look back at the month just passed, follow up on…
Five months before he died, Terry Pratchett wrote five letters, sealed them in envelopes and locked them in the safe in his office to be opened after his death. This was the one he addressed to me. Wiltshire 4th October 2014 Dear Rob, So. I have gone. There were days when I felt I had already gone…
August set a record in Boise, Idaho for the greatest number of days hotter than 100° F ever, beating the record set in 2017. Happily, WC’s central air-conditioning system worked pretty well. WC dealt with the blast furnace temperatures by huddling around his AC vents. But, hotter or hottest, August is done, maybe way past…
Neil Gaiman is one of WC’s favorite writers, partly because you never, ever know what Gaiman’s next book or creative effort is going to be about. In a long interview (paywalled) of Gaiman in the New York Times on August 1, David Marchese asked him about fan expectations after Gaiman’s hugely popular, hugely influential Sandman…
WC had summer afternoons in Junior High School last longer than July 2022. Of course, that was partly because time always goes by too fast when you are having fun, and July had some fun trips. Never mind that the end of July was baking hot. Fun or not, hot or not, it’s time for…
WC is huddled by an air conditioning vent, working through an endless list of busted software and failed data transfers attendant to upgrading to a new computer and a modern Mac operating system. It’s put WC in just the right mood to sort through the stockpile of email questions from kind readers, ignorant critics and…
We’re halfway through 2022 and WC can’t even get the year right in his documents. Heck, half the time WC can’t even get the day of the week right. But, ready or not, it’s time to have a look back at the last month, touching on developments, worrying about missed stuff and working through whatever…
May is behind us. Spring this year has been a thing of fits and starts – and spring weather is still a emerging concept in southwestern Idaho. We suffered two more mass shootings this month and, in response, Congress again did nothing. Another elementary school shot up, and but the Republicans in Congress continue to…
Several readers have asked WC what he thinks is at the heart of all the problems facing America. It’s more than one thing, of course. But with this post, WC introduces a new, semi-regular series, using only photographs to illustrate the problem. When ignorance is held out as desirable, by persons in authority, yeah, it’s…
If you blinked, you missed April, as well as a lot of mighty fine birds. But it’s already time – past time, in fact – for a look back at stories that didn’t make blog posts, or require follow up, or just meet the Magpie Principle. As ever, absolutely no journalism has been committed in…
Wait, it’s the end of March already? How did that happen? WC is still struggling to remember to write the current year and it’s already a quarter over? WC has summer afternoons in junior high school that lasted longer than March 2022. But here we are, the month gone by, and time for a look…
It’s an 11.5 hour flight from San Francisco, California to Tokyo, Japan. Technically, it’s a day long flight, since you cross the International Date Line and arrive a full day later than you started. Here are some notes from WC’s flight. WC left Boise, Idaho. That town is located on the Boise River, which flows…
WC’s end of the month review is a little shorter than usual. WC is focused on birding in Thailand and not current events or the usual outré tidbits. There will be some catchup in March’s Following Up post. Readers may recall that Alaska Governor Dunleavy’s stupid loyalty myth program has cost him two lost lawsuits.…
WC got a “special message” from Reese Witherspoon recently: “In the (near) future, every person will have a parallel digital identity,” she told WC. “Avatars, crypto wallets, digital goods will be the norm. Are you planning for this?” Huh? WC isn’t packed yet. WC doesn’t have a ticket for this train. Heck, WC didn’t even…
WC might have been critical of the Internal Revenue Service from time to time. WC might have suggested they were vengeful and incompetent. Partly that’s because at one point in WC’s legal career, WC developed a specialized practice in discharging what is supposed to be undischargeable federal income taxes. Ordinarily, if you file bankruptcy you…
It’s time to have a look at WC’s email inbox again. Here are a few questions from readers, responses to emails, selected from among the digital detritus. As always, no journalism has been committed in writing this blog post. What are your views on the Oxford comma and why you don’t use it? For those…
It’s a new year but it’s the same old same old. See for yourself: Convicted criminal and Idaho Governor wannabe Ammon Bundy has been in the news. Reportedly, he wants to use his gubernatorial campaign efforts as his court-mandated community service. After Bundy’s conviction in July of misdemeanor trespassing and resisting or obstructing officers at…
A brief photo story, without much explanation beyond the photo captions. Mrs. WC enjoys jigsaw puzzles and is very good at them. An example. This is “The Garden of Earthly Delights,” the most famous – and strangest – painting by Flemish artist Hieronymous Bosch: She worked on the puzzle only intermittently, not continuously. Patient, skilled…
For those who may be interested, here’s an annotated blog post illustrating how WC’s mind works in finding topics for and writing this blog. We start from one of Howard Weaver’s Facebook posts: That’s a nice meme. Wonder if it’s true? (A few minutes on Google) Huh. Hans Island, in the Kennedy Channel, between Ellesmere…
WC understands we just spent a week looking back, but a few items didn’t make the cut for the year end summaries. So here are just a few more things that WC wants to mention: updates, notes and head-shakers. As always, no journalism has been committed in writing this post, and the Magpie Principle has…
Harry Badger arrived in Fairbanks, Alaska before it was Fairbanks, when there was little more there than E.T. Barnette’s recently erected trading post, Barnette’s Cache. Newly appointed Territorial Judge James Wickersham described Barnette’s cache: A rough log structure, with spread-eagle wings [that] looked like a disreputable pig sty, but was in fact, Barnette’s trading post,…
So much for October. WC is still trying to recover from a sugar-rush haze that’s a consequence of left over Hallowe’en candy. But here’s the usual month-end summary of followup, overlooked and discarded info that’s made its way into WC’s short-term attention span. As ever, no journalism has been committed in writing this blog post.…
Didn’t we just do this? Oh. Yeah. That was three months ago. Okay. Time to clean out the email bin again. Why do you pick on Wasilla?WC will resist all of the answers that immediately spring to mind. Instead, let’s look at the numbers. Since the “Tales from Wasilla” series began in 2003, WC has…
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