Events

A massive effort to rebuild the hundred-year-old El tracks between Howard and Lawrence moved forward this week with the CTA's announcement that work will start in 2017: Construction will be divided into two segments: The first is expected to keep the Lawrence and Berwyn stations closed for about 18 months; the second will involve closing the Berwyn, Argyle and Lawrence stations and restricting the Bryn Mawr station to southbound boarding only for 18 months to two years. The station redesigns are...

I had my office door open most of the day and people kept walking in and speaking before I could acknowledge them. Hilarity ensued. Then I closed my office door and people who had appointments to talk to me simply walked away without knocking. While that fun was happening, I didn't read any of these: Baltimore violence has a long fuse Don't travel with this stuff Internet security marketing is crap Josh Marshall's brush with greatness incarnate Azure service monitoring and diagnostics in depth Baltimore...

To read: Pepsi is dropping Aspartame, which, by the way, doesn't stop obesity. Bad urban planning exacerbated the destruction in Kathmandu and puts other Asian cities at risk. Indian food is delicious, and now we know why. (My bet was on turmeric.) American Airlines rejiggered its operations in Chicago and Dallas in March, which is a good thing. The Economist reports that Chinese scientists have changed the genome of 86 zygotes, which, had the zygotes been viable, could have resulted in...

Yesterday, owing to having a dog and not passing out from exhaustion after writing a blog entry, I blew out my Fitbit steps so far past my old personal record that I'm not sure I'll surpass it for a very long time. Yesterday's total was 30,496 steps over 27.7 km. Apparently I drank enough water yesterday that I'm not a raging ball of sore muscles today. And so far today, I'm over 8,000 steps, with another few thousand pretty much guaranteed before dinner.

This was the view at the top of North Pond on my walk this afternoon:

Today's gorgeous weather encouraged me to go outside. A lot. In fact, I hit a new record today: almost 27,000 steps and more than 24 km—so far. I still have to take Parker out at least twice tonight, though he's a little tired from the 5½ km he and I walked earlier today. Next up on the agenda: lots of water, starting to prepare food. For some reason I'm really hungry...

After seeing Carousel yesterday, I'm going to take advantage of really gorgeous weather today. Parker will also benefit. Updates as the situation warrants.

Microsoft's Scott Hanselman blames us computer professionals for users thinking they don't know computers: In my recent podcast with UX expert and psychologist Dr. Danielle Smith the topic of "user self-blame" came up. This is that feeling when a person is interacting with a computer and something goes wrong and they blame themselves. I'd encourage you to listen to the show, she was a great guest and brought up a lot of these points. Self-blame when using technology has gotten so bad that when ANYTHING...

Wow, I have a lot of things on my Kindle. And I'm adding more: The roots of the Flash Crash of 2010 go back a lot farther Chicago's yellow night sky (see below) may be turning...black? Via Schneier, an investigation of an insecure voting machine by Virginia's elections board. Back to debugging... Photo: Chicago at night. Note the yellow-orange sodium vapor lamps.

First, a not-so-smart car: I'm not sure what amused me more, the disproportionate tow truck or that the Smart Car driver parked in a rush-hour tow zone long enough for Streets & Sanitation to remove him. Then, for everyone who takes his dog to work, there's this food truck: I didn't pick anything up for Parker yet. ($2.50 per biscuit? Did I read that right?) But if it comes back, maybe.