The chronic slowness of my site is because my Web host is awful. I owe everybody a heartfelt apology for being a complete sucker, patsy, and nincompoop. And guess what? My publicists tell me my Web host notorious for being unable to handle WordPress. I went to this host at the recommendation of my Web…
On the “Worst Obituary Ever”
September 12, 2023
Marianne Theresa Johnson-Reddick died at the age of seventy-eight. One of her daughters authored the following obituary: Marianne Theresa Johnson-Reddick born Jan 4, 2024 and died alone on Aug. 30, 2013. She is survived by her 6 of 8 children whom she spent her lifetime torturing in every way possible. While she neglected and abused…
Pat Wictor the folk singer
September 12, 2023
Though my brother Pat Wictor calls himself a folk singer, he’s a lot more. Probably a roots-music singer, I guess. He was once my little brother, but that doesn’t mean much anymore. I know a lot of families retain the “older-younger” dynamic, but when you get into your fifties (Pat’s not there yet!) that’s kind…
The Bird Stole Fruit
September 11, 2023
Twelve years ago I lived in Tim’s house. At about 7:30 on the morning of September 11, 2001, I suddenly heard, “Tom! Tom!” As a child I often heard my name called perfectly clearly, in a voice that was neither male nor female. I still remember the timbre. I’d go find Mom and ask her…
Classic Self-Negation
September 10, 2023
I love when people blow their own foolishness right out of the sky. Self-negation, as opposed to Stephen Jay’s Self Avoiding Random Walk. Stephen is the only super-technical player whose chops never distract from the song. Anyway, read the short article, titled “Richard Dawkins defends ‘mild pedophilia,’ says it does not cause ‘lasting harm.’” Just…
How to recognize fake videos and liars
September 10, 2023
I knew the Worst Twerk Fail EVER - Girl Catches Fire! video was fake even before Jimmy Kimmel announced that it was his brainchild. It wasn’t the fact that you can’t catch on fire by falling on candles, or the fact that the top of your leg won’t catch on fire when the underside of…
A gateway of sorts
September 10, 2023
In my author photo, I took the lenses out of my glasses. Compare the author photo to the photo in the triptych. Tim and I wanted my eyes visible for the author photo but obscured in the triptych. Putting the lenses back into your glasses is almost impossible when you have horrible eyesight. To do…
I feel bad, but I also don’t
September 9, 2023
Richard Lewis has made some great art. Some of his jokes are exceptional, and his movie Drunks is really top notch. (I may have liked the movie because I’m a drunk, so I might not be the go-to guy on whether or not it’s a good movie.) The ending is one of the best I’ve…
How could she do that?
September 9, 2023
It isn’t clear if Mom will be able to come home. Although she’s beaten lung and ovarian cancer—there are no tumor markers in her blood—she’s refusing to eat or exercise. This is making her weaker and weaker, of course. I understand why she’s doing this. She’s very angry at the loss of control. All she…
The Elephant in the Room
September 8, 2023
Some of us see the elephant in the room. It takes many forms. I found a great article titled “Feminism: Unpopular because of bad marketing?” by Meghan Murphy. In it she says: And it isn’t only men who might react negatively to the argument that perhaps there is something troubling about the fact that, while…