Events

Welcome to stop #76 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Soundgrowler Brewing, 8201 W. 183rd St., Tinley ParkTrain line: Rock Island District, Tinley/80thTime from Chicago: 37 minutes (Zone E)Distance from station: 1.4 km When I visited Hailstorm Brewing in March 2021, I really should have gone to Soundgrowler next, as they're just a short walk from each other and I'd never have to go to their industrial park in Tinley Park again. They're both great in their own ways, don't get me wrong; but now...

One of my favorite local breweries, Urban Brew Labs, will close when it runs out of beer in the next week or so: Owner James Moriarty announced on Instagram the brewery and taproom, 5121 N. Ravenswood Ave., will close by the end of the summer. Moriarty did not give a specific end date for the business, but thanked fans, neighbors and employees for keeping the business going for so long.  “We’ll keep the lights on as long as we have beer to serve, but this will be our final summer season,” Moriarty...

I mentioned that I went to Ribfest Chicago this past weekend. In years past I have reviewed the vendors and posted photos, but I didn't this year. Simply put, the fest hasn't recovered from Covid. Two things especially disappointed me: first, the festival of ribs had only 5 dedicated rib vendors, not the 15-20 of years past. Wrigley BBQ closed during the pandemic; Fireside, Piggery, Q, and Smoke Daddy didn't bother to come; and Smoque, one of the best rib places in the city, has never bothered because...

So I'm going to have to postpone reading all of these: Isaac Chotiner interviews UT Law professor Steve Vladeck about whether former presidents deserve special treatment. Does the Republican Party even have a message this election cycle? Julia Ioffe argues that Vladimir Putin's "triumph of the will" turned out better than most people realize. Your mental model about what causes traffic is almost certainly wrong. From 2016, author Cixin Liu (The Three-Body Problem) examines contemporary Chinese science...

In her last column, the Washington Post veteran warns that journalists still have a long way to go to properly deal with the anti-democratic party to the right: Here’s the good news: The media has come a long, long way in figuring out how to cover the democracy-threatening ways of Donald Trump and his allies, including his stalwart helpers in right-wing media. It is now common to see headlines and stories that plainly refer to some politicians as “election deniers,” and journalists are far less hesitant...

From around now through the middle of October, the days get noticeably shorter, with the sun setting 2 minutes earlier each day around the equinox. Fall is almost here—less than 8 days away, in fact. But that also means cooler weather, lower electricity bills (because of the cooler weather), and lots of rehearsals and performances. Before any of that happens, though, I'll read these: Damon Linker warns that "there is no happy ending to America's [XPOTUS] problem." Anthony Fauci has announced he'll...

I tried three rib samplers yesterday, and I'll probably try a couple more tomorrow. Today I had a ton of errands to run and I didn't feel like eating ribs in the rain. Full report with photos (probably) tomorrow.

The XPOTUS can't seem to attract effective legal counsel for some reason: “Everyone is saying no,” an anonymous source told the Washington Post. Alan Dershowitz, the former Harvard Law School professor who has advised Trump in the past, didn’t seem too encouraging either, telling the Post that “good lawyers should have been working on this case for months.” But clearly, such “good lawyers” have eluded Trump as he sinks further into a legal hot mess. Perhaps lawyers aren’t touching the case with a...

If Cassie could (a) speak English and (b) understand the concept of "future" she would be quivering with anticipation about going to Ribfest tonight after school. Since she can't anticipate it, I'll do double-duty and drool on her behalf. It helps that the weather today looks perfect: sunny, not too hot, with a strong chance of delicious pork ribs. Meanwhile, I have a few things to read on my commute that I didn't get to yesterday: Remember when psychiatrist Bandy Lee got shouted down when she warned...

We have some intense aurora activity this week: The Northern Lights may be visible in the mainland U.S. this week due to a strong geomagnetic storm, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The phenomenon, known scientifically as the aurora borealis, typically occurs closer to the North Pole, near Alaska and Canada. But the storm could push the aurora lights farther south Thursday and Friday, and if weather conditions permit, could be seen in regions of Pennsylvania, Iowa and...