Events

The plan for today I announced Friday has gone without a hitch, though I decided not to take a nap. And, unfortunately, I had to do one productive thing: laundry. Cassie has enjoyed every moment of couch time while I binge Sandman, so that's a plus. Regular posting resumes tomorrow.

Indiana sits at the "crossroads of America," interposing itself between Chicago and points east like that old racist yutz at the end of your block that you hope isn't sitting on his porch when you walk by. Yesterday, with much fanfare, they became the first state to ban almost all abortions after Dobbs, for many of the same reasons that they once declared pi to be equal to 22/7: Indiana became the first in the nation to sign new restrictions into law – stripping away a right afforded to Hoosier women...

However, to get to Sunday, I have to finish a messy update to my work project, rehearse for several hours tomorrow, figure out a marketing plan for a product, and walk Cassie for hours. I also want to read these things: Canada plans to ban handgun imports. Andrew Sullivan reflects on "the joy of doing nothing." James Fallows reflects on Dick Cheney's heart(s). Recent demolition work has uncovered 100-year-old advertising signs on the side of a building in Lakeview, which the developer will allow...

Today, though, I've got a lot of debugging, and several chorus meetings on various topics, plus a condo association meeting that I really don't want to attend. Since I'm president of both the chorus and the condo association (one voluntary, one voluntold), I can't shirk either. Meanwhile, some of the grain silos that remind Beirut of the massive government incompetence that led to a massive aluminum nitrate explosion two years ago today collapsed, fortunately before the memorial began. And one of the...

At least I don't have an opera rehearsal tonight. That means I might, just might, have some time to read these once I finish preparing for a 7am meeting tomorrow: Robert Wright warns that the war in Ukraine could lead to war in Taiwan if we aren't careful. As if we needed reminding that right-wing conspiracy propagandists and competence by definition don't co-exist in the same people, Alex Jones's lawyers accidentally sent opposing counsel the contents of his phone, which uncovered a remarkable amount...

We've got a (soft) product release tomorrow afternoon and I've got an opera rehearsal tonight, so a real post will have to wait. I did like Matt Ford's brief note that we've taken the gloves off in the Senate, which is about time. I might have to declare news bankruptcy tonight, though, and return to the world after we launch.

James Fallows highlights a new US government website that maps how bad the climate will get in your town: Let me give just a few illustrations from the first such climate-based public map the White House has released, HEAT.gov. The main points about all this and related “digital dashboards” (like the one for Covid) and maps: They are customizable. You can see your immediate neighborhood, or the entire world. They are configurable. You can see the “real” weather as of 2020, and the projected weather as...

But someone did after buying a ticket at a Speedway gas station in nearby Des Plaines, Ill.: Someone in a Chicago suburb beat the odds and won the $1.28 billion Mega Millions jackpot. According to megamillions.com, there was one jackpot-winning ticket in the draw Friday night, and it was bought at a Speedway gas station and convenience store in Des Plaines. The jackpot was the nation’s third-largest lottery prize. It grew so large because no one had matched the game’s six selected numbers since April...

Somehow we got to the end of July, though I could swear March happened 30 seconds ago. If only I were right, these things would be four months in my future: We all knew Justice Samuel Alito (R) is an arrogant prick, and now the rest of the world knows as well. The Post sums up what the Schumer-Manchin climate bill will actually do. (Yay! A substance story from the paper that only seems to write about process!) The block of Lexington Avenue at 59th Street in New York looks just like it did in April 2020....

So, what's going on today? Emma Green explains "how the Federalist Society won," which actually kept awake in the middle of the night on Tuesday. As a reminder that the true goal of the Federalist Society—and right-wing governments in general—is actually to transfer wealth from the poor to the rich, the Times explains how Alabama's criminal justice system essentially creates indentured servants from impoverished inmates. David Jolly, Christine Todd Whitman, and Andrew Yang have formed a centrist...