Events

Since Obamacare took effect, millions of Americans have gotten health insurance: The percentage of uninsured Americans has fallen from 13.9 percent to 10.2 percent since Obamacare coverage took effect, according to new data from the Urban Institute. The difference is even more pronounced in states that expanded Medicaid under the law. In those states, the uninsured rate dropped from 12.6 percent to 8.4 percent from the second quarter of 2013 to the third quarter of 2014. In states that didn't expand...

This happens all the time, so to speak, but every winter there are proposals to scrap daylight saving time in various state legislatures. The latest one that passes the laugh test is Oregon's, especially since it wouldn't take effect until 2021. It probably won't go anywhere. Once people start thinking about 4:30am sunrises in June with 7:30pm sunsets, daylight saving time makes more sense. But we'll keep watching.

So, I'm sitting here, generally unperturbed by the blizzard yesterday, and it turns out it was the fifth-worst in history: After further review and the addition of the storm’s last flakes that fell early Monday morning, the final numbers for the historic Super Bowl Blizzard are in. It is interesting to note that this storm fell exactly four years to the days after the city’s 2011 Groundhog Day Blizzard. The addition snowfall that fell late Sunday and early Monday morning now makes this storm the city’s...

Chicago officially got 450 mm of snow yesterday; here's Lincoln Park this morning: Fortunately, my car is parked on a stretch of street that acts as a wind tunnel during typical Chicago blizzards, so I'll actually be able to move it today: The car has all-wheel drive and the "winter package," and handles beautifully in snow. Unlike this poor Beetle just a few meters away: In other news, Punxsatawney Phil saw his shadow, which means mostly that there is a very irritated rodent in central Pennsylvania.

I was out with some old friends yesterday who wanted to know about my new job. A couple of them have missed my earlier posts showing the view from my office window. So just for you, here's the view from Wednesday afternoon:

A slow-moving winter storm has moved into the Chicago area. Compared with the truly awful storms we've had over the years, it doesn't seem so bad, so far: only 150 mm so far with another 150 mm predicted through tomorrow morning. This comes, of course, with falling temperatures and increasing winds as the low passes to our south, but again, nothing we can't handle. As usual, Parker enjoys it: As usual, my car doesn't: And new this year, but most likely a usual problem in the future, my Fitbit numbers...

There have been interesting developments in two stories I've mentioned recently: Exploding Kittens continues to, ah, explode. They have 122,900 backers and have raised over $4.8 million—with 20 days to go. They're going to be rich in about three weeks. Nicely done, guys. Fallows has video from ABC News from the SR-22 ditching off Hawaii that happened last week. The Atlantic has a note about Andrew Sullivan, who announced he's quitting his blog soon. Otherwise, it's just work work work. But fun work.

I may have time to read these over the weekend. Possibly. Chicago Public Radio is grading Rahm. The Atlantic's CityLab says never host the Olympics and public transit can't be free. After 11 months, the search for MH370 has been called off and the crash officially declared an accident by the Malaysian government. TPM Media's Gaby Dunn is legit friends (but not um-friends) with adult actor James Deen, so she went as his date to the AVN Awards. In other news, J's Lincoln Park will close Sunday night, the...

The Kickstarter campaign I mentioned Friday (and that I've backed) has become the most-backed campaign ever with 112,250 backers raising $4.4 million. Their original goal, mind you, was $10,000. I think "Exploding Kittens" might succeed, y'know?

Andrew Sullivan, one of my favorite bloggers, announced this afternoon he's moving on from blogging: Why? Two reasons. The first is one I hope anyone can understand: although it has been the most rewarding experience in my writing career, I’ve now been blogging daily for fifteen years straight (well kinda straight). That’s long enough to do any single job. In some ways, it’s as simple as that. There comes a time when you have to move on to new things, shake your world up, or recognize before you crash...