Events

New research suggests that men insecure about their masculinity tend to support the president more. No, really: We found that support for Trump in the 2016 election was higher in areas that had more searches for topics such as “erectile dysfunction.” Moreover, this relationship persisted after accounting for demographic attributes in media markets, such as education levels and racial composition, as well as searches for topics unrelated to fragile masculinity, such as “breast augmentation” and...

CityLab describes new Daily Parker bait: When a new rail or bus line gets built in the United States, its mere opening is often cause for celebration among transit advocates. That’s understandable, given the funding gaps and political opposition that often stymie projects. But not all trains are bound for glory, and it’s often not hard to see why. In the new book, Trains, Buses, People: An Opinionated Atlas of U.S. Transit (Island Press, $40), Christof Spieler, a Houston-based transit planner, advocate...

With Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel retiring this spring, we now have 21—count 'em, 21—people running to replace him: For now, the list of 21 candidates includes: state Comptroller Susana Mendoza, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown, state Rep. LaShawn Ford, former U.S. Commerce Secretary Bill Daley, City Hall veteran and attorney Gery Chico, former Chicago police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas, former...

Of note: Bruce Schneier discusses how propaganda is related to weakening trust in government. Former George W. Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson calls President Trump a "clownish caricature of Nixon." Paul Krugman calls Republican climate-change denial "depraved." The Atlantic outlines "the three most chilling conclusions" from the Trump Administration's report on climate change. Writer Lance Ulanoff has just a few weeks to move thousands of pictures off Flickr, reminding us that terms of service can...

Overnight, a major blizzard hit Northern Illinois: As of 7 a.m., 188 mm of snow was recorded at O'Hare International Airport, the city's official measuring station. Crystal Lake got 193 mm and some areas of McHenry County got 333 mm, according to the National Weather Service. The north suburbs and southern Wisconsin bore the brunt of the storm. A winter storm warning remains in effect after blizzard warnings issued Sunday night expired early Monday morning. It was the fifth-worst November blizzard in...

Sometimes it's fun going through some stock shots and giving them another go with Lightroom. Here's a digital photo from July 2004 that needed minimal tweaking: This one needed lots of help, and unfortunately it probably needs another scan. I haven't checked the slide in a while; I hope the problems are with the scan (from 2009) and not with the slide (from 1984): By the way, I took this photo here. Check out what that looks like today. Finally, a slide that came out OK, though again it seems the scan...

I've been working on a personal project all day, except for walking Parker a couple of times, so I have largely avoided the drizzle and rain. Tonight, however, things will change: The National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning for the Chicago metro area Sunday afternoon. The warning is in effect from 6 p.m. Sunday until 9 a.m. Monday. Issuing a blizzard warning is not common, said National Weather Service meteorologist Ricky Castro. “The last time we had one out for Cook County was in February...

We can all be thankful for things this Thanksgiving weekend, but few will be as thankful as Parker, who got his cone off yesterday:

Yesterday was my [redacted] high school reunion. We started with a tour of the building, which has become a modern office park since we graduated: The glass atrium there is new, as of 2008. The structure back to the left is the Center for the Performing Arts, which featured proudly in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I didn't get a picture of the Michelin-starred student food court, but this, this I had to snap: So, at some point I'll post about Illinois school-funding policies and why one of the richest...

Craft distillers in the U.S., like home-town FEW Spirits, are getting creamed by the European Union's retaliatory tariffs: Following the European Union's June implementation of a 25 percent tariff on bourbon, the popular U.S. whiskey variety, the impact has been clear. One American producer said his exports have "dropped to zero" as a result. Last year, they made up 15 percent of revenue. "Every U.K. buyer backed off," said Paul Hletko, the owner of Evanston-based Few Spirits. "They may want to buy it...