Events

Over the next 10 days I have four long flights, one round-trip to Los Angeles and one to London. Even though I'll have to work a bit on all four of them, I'm also getting ready to have some quality reading time. (In fact, there will be at least one afternoon in London spent reading and drinking beer, as usual.) To start, I've added two challenging books to my Kindle: Cervantes' Don Quijote (in the original Spanish) and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (in the original Middle English). I've never read either...

Vox's Sarah Cliff reports some data from health gadget maker Jawbone about when we go to sleep, and for how long: Jawbone's data shows that, on average, no major American city gets the National Institute of Health recommended seven hours of nightly sleep. You see that in the light green areas [on the interactive map], which tend to surround large populations. Jawbone also put together a map of when people go to sleep. And there you see mostly people who live in large cities and college towns staying up...

On Monday, the Supreme Court denied certiorari to lower-court rulings upholding marriage equality in five states, effectively ending the fight in 14 states. Yesterday, the 9th Circuit, which covers the Pacific Coast and much of the Mountain states, ruled in favor of equality, making it the law in 35 states plus DC: The Ninth Circuit already was on record for striking down California’s ban, “Proposition 8,” although that decision did not remain on the books because of a procedural flaw when the case went...

Last night's lunar eclipse had reached totality when I dragged Parker and myself out of the house around 5:30 this morning. Eclipses are always worth seeing, especially on a perfectly clear morning like today. Now if I could just do something about the streetlights next time...

The earth will blot out the sun tonight, if you're standing on the moon, but the earth's atmosphere will bend red light just enough to put on a great show: Much of North America will have front-row seats for this special sky show, which will particularly favor the western part of the continent. Sky-watchers there will be able to see the entire eclipse unfold high in the western skies; East Coast observers will see much of the first half of the eclipse. For early risers in the East, the full moon will be...

While I'm up to my eyeballs at work, I've got a backlog of articles to catch up on: Why 12-foot traffic lanes are bad, which people have known for decades but policymakers are just starting to notice. It's related to the fading distinction between city and suburb that Richard Florida notes this week. Loop invariants are a good thing. Not that many Daily Parker readers will care, but it's still interesting. Reviews for the Lyric Opera's production of Don Giovanni, have gushed. I'm excited to see it this...

I'm on another diligence effort in Indianapolis today, and possibly going back to L.A. tomorrow. Posting, therefore, will be light. Will this be the month the Daily Parker goes below 40 posts? No!

Krugman this morning reminds everyone that Clinton and Obama are better than Bush at growing the economy: Both administrations began with a period of falling employment thanks to a burst bubble — but can you see how much more vigorous private job creation was after the Bush trough than after the Obama trough? Neither can I. If job growth has seemed slow under Obama, it’s entirely because of public sector austerity. But of course, Republicans hope that repeating the lie that tax cuts spur job growth will...

Yesterday, Chicago had its third earliest snowfall in recorded history. The previous record was 22 September 1995. Yesterday morning's low of 2°C just barely missed the record—0°C in 1989—and felt pretty damn cold for October when Parker and I went out first thing in the morning. The forecast calls for seasonal temperatures Tuesday and Wednesday, but crappy rainy cold November-like weather tomorrow and Thursday. Wonderful. Because what Chicago needs in October is November weather. On the other hand, we...

Yesterday morning I griped about how dark October mornings seem. Today it's raining. This causes a minor additional problem as Parker has a vet appointment in a little more than an hour, and I'm pretty much committed to walking him up there. So I guess we'll both get wet. What can you do? The weather these days. Actually, all of this is just getting into the spirit of London ahead of my visit in two weeks. The English call this "having a moan." I still need some practice, clearly; a good English moaner...