Events

Since development of DasBlog petered out in 2012, and since I have an entire (size A1) Azure VM dedicated solely to hosting The Daily Parker, I've been looking for a new blog engine for this blog. The requirements are pretty broad: Written in .NET Open source or source code available for download Can use SQL Server as a data source (instead of the local file system, like DasBlog) Can deploy to an Azure Web App (to get it off the VM) Still in active development Modern appearance and user experience See?...

Twenty years ago today, Microsoft released Windows 95. It's hard to explain how revolutionary the OS was at the time. To celebrate the anniversary, Microsoft is offering a free Rolling Stones song. Trust me; it makes sense. And here, for your listening enjoyment, is the Microsoft sound.A And C-Net's coverage of the day:

I am not a food writer, so I don't have the vocabulary to describe dinner the other night at 42 Grams. Let me just reproduce a few items from our meticulously-presented, precisely-timed courses: Carabinero: finger lime, phytoplankton, kelp, and lacto-fermented vegetables Sweet pea custard: bacon, whey, brown butter, herbs & lettuce Summer corn: corn silk, roasted corn broth, polenta Organic Irish salmon: tea smoked with fallen pine, muhroom dashi, spent grain toast, nastrurtium Lamb neck: smoked yogurt...

Via DNAInfo, this is awesome:

Yesterday I mentioned that the extreme El Niño underway in the Pacific right now is making long-range climate predictions a little easier. Also yesterday, the Climate Prediction Center released their December—February Outlook: The NWS Climate Prediction Center released their latest seasonal forecasts today. Here are the results for Illinois. The biggest news is that Illinois has an increased chance of above-average temperatures and below-average precipitation for the winter months of December, January...

CityLab and Slate are sharing an article today about how the warm Pacific surface temperatures are helping climatologists—because they're so extreme: Now that the event is in full swing, we have an even better idea of how U.S. weather will be affected over the next nine months. That’s because El Niño acts like a heat engine that bends weather in a predictable pattern worldwide. Typically, the stronger El Niño is, the more predictable its influence. And this year’s event is on pace to be one of the...

Crain's reported this morning that the MacArthur Foundation has started making grants to help curb climate change: Initial grants will help continue and accelerate U.S. greenhouse gas reductions, increase and sustain U.S. political consensus for climate action, and provide incentives for a low-carbon economy. The climate initiative is the second big bet MacArthur has announced in pursuit of transformative change in areas of profound concern; the first was a $75 million initiative to reduce...

W00t! [M]any of the 4m Britons who travel to the United States each year will no doubt be delighted to hear of a plan to station American immigration officers at two British airports, London Heathrow and Manchester. These will process travellers before they leave the country, and with luck considerably speed up entrance at the other end. And, as the Telegraph goes on, processing people before they board the plane would be popular on both sides of the pond.... Pre-arrival clearance has been available for...

With Apollo Chorus auditions set for September 10th and 13th, it's great that Slate just ran an essay explaining the benefits of singing: Music is awash with neurochemical rewards for working up the courage to sing. That rush, or “singer's high,” comes in part through a surge of endorphins, which at the same time alleviate pain. When the voices of the singers surrounding me hit my ear, I'm bathed in dopamine, a neurotransmitter in the brain that is associated with feelings of pleasure and alertness....

The point of the Illinois State Fair is food. Despite most people in the state living in urban or suburban areas, most of the state's area is agricultural. So when one goes to the fair, one eats. A lot. That said, a remarkable proportion of food choices at the fair are fried meats. Even in the "ethnic village" section, where ostensibly they have about 20 different cuisines represented, things aren't quite...ethnic: At least this year the Romanian kiosk wasn't covered in vampires. But still...not sure...