Events

Therefore, another link round-up: How to reach anti-vaccine idiots believers. Why it's difficult to determine whether 2014 was the hottest year ever for the planet even though it was 4th coldest ever in Illinois. ("While the global numbers are not in yet for 2014, the January – November results indicate that the central US was about the only cold spot in an otherwise warm world.") The Economist's Gulliver blog thinks Marriott still sucks in the way it handles wi-fi. Wait, the Euro is at $1.19 and...

Today is my first full day as CTO of Holden International. And this is Fennec E. Fox, who apparently will be sharing office space with me: (It makes sense when you know a little about Holden's history, and that the flagship software offering right now is called eFox.)

Isn't this pretty? Yes. Yes it is. But taking the picture almost caused my fingers to freeze off, because it's this bloody cold: And it's going to be colder this week: -15°C is forecast for Wednesday—as the high. I expect to have dismal Fitbit numbers for a few days, too. Ordinarily Mondays my schedule allows me to walk quite a distance. Today, as you can see above, I said to hell with it and drove.

Writing in today's Times, Richard Florida explains the long-term costs of red state/blue state differences: The idea that the red states can enjoy the benefits provided by the blue states without helping to pay for them (and while poaching their industries with the promise of low taxes and regulations) is as irresponsible and destructive of our national future as it is hypocritical. But that is exactly the mantra of the growing ranks of red state politicos. Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, a likely 2016 G.O.P....

Today's Fitbit numbers will probably not wow anyone, owing to the 2°C rain keeping our layer of slush from solidifying entirely. Enter next week's forecast to put things into perspective: Tuesday A 30 percent chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near -6°C. Tuesday Night Partly cloudy, with a low around -18°C. Blustery. Wednesday Mostly sunny and cold, with a high near -16°C. Blustery. Wednesday Night Partly cloudy, with a low around -20°C. Thursday Mostly sunny, with a high near -10°C....

Simple: Go down to Amundsen-Scott Station and walk around the pole. But if you don't want to cheat, get a very fast airplane: Jeremy Newton is an Air Force veteran who flew F-18s, but, when contacted by e-mail, suggested the F-22 for a variety of reasons. First, it can fly at 1.5 Mach (about 1,000 mph) without using its afterburner, meaning it burns much less fuel. It tops out at 2 Mach, though that burns more fuel. Second, it can refuel in 10 minutes -- in mid-air while traveling at 400 mph. And third...

At the beginning of 2014, I took a look at some of my personal numbers in the preceding year. I also predicted I'd travel more. Well, here's the update: To last year's 9 trips, this year I took 26 and flew 49 segments, visiting 11 states and 5 countries*. All but the number of states visited is a new record. (I visited 36 states in 1991. That will be tough to beat, ever.) I flew 122,776 km, also a new record. The Daily Parker had 512 posts, so the daily mean dropped to 1.40, a slight decline from 2012...

Just passing through Inner Drive Technology World Headquarters after a mini-vacation for the new year...and realizing I haven't posted anything since 2014. Tomorrow I'll have 2014 end-of-year stats, and possibly one or two other ideas from the 143 unread emails I have in various Outlook folders.

Here's the semi-annual Chicago sunrise chart. (You can get one for your own location at http://www.wx-now.com/Sunrise/SunriseChart.aspx.) Date Significance Sunrise Sunset Daylight 2015 4 Jan Latest sunrise until Oct 29th 07:19 16:33 9:14 28 Jan 5pm sunset 07:08 17:00 9:53 5 Feb 7am sunrise 07:00 17:11 10:11 20 Feb 5:30pm sunset 06:40 17:30 10:50 27 Feb 6:30am sunrise 06:29 17:39 11:09 7 Mar Earliest sunrise until Apr 12th Earliest sunset until Oct 30th 06:17 17:48 11:31 8 Mar Daylight savings time...

We woke up this morning to a brisk -16°C with an even brisker wind chill around -25°C. It hasn't been this cold in Chicago since the -19°C we had on March 3rd, 303 days ago. And still, no measurable snow in December, which has happened only four times in recorded history. Even Parker didn't want to go for much of a walk this morning. And I'm not confident about my Fitbit numbers for the day... Also: Happy New Year to Australia, Papua New Guinea, Japan, and in less than an hour, Singapore.