Events

Via Babylon 5 actress Patricia Tallman's Facebook feed:

I haven't had time yet to go through all my photos from this weekend, complicated by my refusal to pay $13 for Internet service at my hotel. So until I get some free time, here's one photo from Saturday's game:

I exaggerate. I'm going to Minneapolis, which has cooler temperatures than Chicago but should not require a heavy coat this time of year. Eight years ago I visited Turner Field in Atlanta, the 14th park on the 30-Park Geas. Target Field, where I'm heading tonight, will be 27th. After this, only five remain, including the anti-Wrigley in St. Louis. Going into tonight, the last-place Twins (46-70) will face the third-place Royals (56-59), who, interestingly, bracket the fourth-place White Sox (55-60). So...

Amazon this month launched the first of what it plans to comprise a fleet of 40 cargo planes to support its Prime delivery service. From their blog: Now, we see the same opportunity to innovate in transportation. I'm very excited to introduce Amazon One, a Boeing 767-300 that is our first ever Amazon branded plane which will serve customers by adding capacity to support one and two day package delivery in the US. Adding capacity for Prime members by developing a dedicated air cargo network ensures there...

Sometimes, when I'm really busy, I click on articles I want to read. Right now I have a lot tabs open: Business Insider cites a (dubious) study that says smart people are more likely to stay up late and take illegal drugs. The Washington Post thinks airline frequent-flyer programs are about to get regulated. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that O'Hare runway 9C/27C, which began construction this week and will open in 2020, is a tremendous win for the mayor. Josh Marshall does the math and shows that, with...

WBEZ's Curious City audio blog explains that Chicago hoped to be America's aviation hub all the way back in the 1920s—for airships. But it's not the ideal environment in which to dock them: When it comes to Chicago buildings that may or may not have had airship docking infrastructure, we encounter only a few leads. One involves the Blackstone Hotel. In a 1910 article from Chicago’s Inter-Ocean newspaper, the Blackstone’s manager confirms plans to build “Drome Station No. 1” on the rooftop — big enough...

Every day that I'm in my office (about 3-4 times per week), I take a photo out the window. Here's today's: We're on the 35th floor of Willis Tower. But we have access to the 66th floor lobby, so on really clear days I'll sometimes post something like this:

Members of the Apollo Chorus backed up Josh Groban at Northerly Island last night. I wish they'd been on stage longer, especially after they sweltered all day without air conditioning backstage. Sarah McLachlan was one of the opening acts, and the weather, once it cooled down, was superb:

The world's most recent nuclear attack on 9 August 1945 immediately springs to mind, as does Richard Nixon's resignatoin on 9 August 1973. But 9 August 1991 may be almost as important: On this day 25 years ago the world's first website went live to the public. The site, created by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, was a basic text page with hyperlinked words that connected to other pages. Berners-Lee used the public launch to outline his plan for the service, which would come to dominate life in the twenty-first...

We had nearly-perfect weather this past weekend, so I'm just dumping a bunch of links right now while I catch up with work: Foursquare reports that Trump's presidential campaign is really, really hurting his businesses. Chicago's U.S. Cellular Field (the minor-league park on the South Side) will be getting more events now they've worked out a deal with the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority. Wired reports on how scary-easy it is to hack electronic voting machines. Paul Krugman puts out the economic...