Events

It's really real: Now all they need to do is update this sign:

Holy shit. They did it. More later; still absorbing it.

Still busy. So busy. Some intrepid Tribune reporters went to every bar in Wrigleyville so you don't have to. Meanwhile, Crain's went to a bunch of breweries and wineries in Southwestern Michigan so you can also. Do you want to hear Trump's self-immolation at last night's Alfred E Smith dinner? Better yet, just go back and re-watch last night's Cubs game. They're one away from their first pennant since 1945. This could happen... And now I have to set up a development environment.

Recaps of the debate comprise just a few of the things I haven't had time to read today: Who hated Trump's caginess on whether he'd accept the election results if he lost? Everyone: The Economist, The New Republic, The National Review, Talking Points Memo, everyone.  Trump's debate performance is being compared to book reports by kids who haven't read the book. Pilot Patrick Smith says Trump's airline wasn't that bad for customers, but it never made a profit either. Meanwhile, the Cubs beat the Dogders...

Sigh. Here we go again. 21:14 EDT: Fifteen minutes on the 2nd Amendment, argued by someone who has never read the thing. And now, abortion, which apparently will be overturned "automatically" if he appoints pro-life judges. 21:19: No, Donald, you can't rip the baby out of the womb in the 9th month. I mean, FFS. 21:22: It took fully 15 minutes for him to descend into a stream-of-consciousness. That's pretty good self-control. (Did he just say "bad hombres?") 21:24: This, from my cousin. 21:26: No score...

A couple of milestones today. First, just a couple of days before my 2-year anniversary with Fitbit, I've earned what they call the "Africa Badge:" I've walked 8,046 km since I joined, which is approximately the north-south length of Africa. More interestingly, today is the 235th anniversary of Cornwallis' surrender at Yorktown, an anniversary Alexander Hamilton may have been aware of when, 15 years later, he slyly accused Thomas Jefferson of having an affair with a slaves. The allegation was true...

Why am I not super-excited about the Cubs being in the playoffs? Well, take tonight's game, for example. Right towards the end, Fox Sports' color guy pointed out that in 200 postseason appearances, the Dodgers have never had back-to-back shutouts. Until tonight. You know what? Call me when the Cubs win their third game in this series.  

I'd planned to wear a Cubs hat every day during the NLCS and World Series this year. Yesterday, however, Hamilton took precedence. I won't make that mistake again. The Cubs are now 1-1 with the Dodgers, and they still have to win 7 more games this year. I'm also swamped at work.

James Fallows says something that I've been thinking for a while: To a first order of approximation, everything that Donald Trump has said about his opponents should be understood as projection, in the psychological sense of the term. That is, any defect Trump has complained about in his primary or general-election opponents, is more likely to seem an obvious flaw in himself. Trump called Ted Cruz “Lyin’ Ted,” and Cruz has his moments. But no other politician of any party approaches Trump’s level of...

First, from Crain's, an exploration of the ghost town inside Naperville, Ill., where millions of dollars evaporated when the housing bubble burst in 2008: At the height of the building boom, Novack estimates, there were 88 homebuilders working in Naperville. "Everyone was building homes then," he says. "It was the best business to be in." The bust took that figure down to "maybe a dozen," Novack says, though in recent years it's grown back to around 30. Homebuilding has been in a trough throughout the...