Events

The Washington Post Fact Checker digs deep into the allegations of mishandling classified material against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and finds, nah, she good: The Justice Department investigation of classified documents found at former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club has brought inevitable comparisons to the controversy over Hillary Clinton’s private email server that she used while secretary of state. The FBI investigation into her emails arguably tipped the close 2016...

Every time I commute to work from the Ravenswood Metra station, I get annoyed. Metra has yet to finish the inbound platform after almost 10 years of delays. So I emailed the alderman to ask why, and CC:d Block Club Chicago, the local news outlet. Reporter Alex Hernandez called me the next morning, and ran this story today: The Ravenswood Metra station overhaul that began more than a decade ago is hitting yet another bump.  The $30 million project to renovate 11 bridges along Metra’s Union Pacific...

With the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the British National Anthem has changed back to "God Save the King" for the third time in 185 years. In other news: The Guardian explains Elizabeth's funeral and other events that will take place over the next 10 days. James Fallows takes a second look at President Biden's speech from last week, in the context of the predictable reaction cycle about anything he does. Dana Milbank doesn't worry the MAGA folks want a Mussolini, since some of them keep going on about...

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has died aged 96: Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning monarch in British history, has died. Prince Charles, heir to the throne since the age of three, is now king, and will be officially proclaimed at St James’s Palace in London as soon as practicably possible. Flags on landmark buildings in Britain and across the Commonwealth were being lowered to half mast as a period of official mourning was announced. As Queen of the UK and 15 other realms, and head of the...

A farmer in northeastern Nevada has capitulated to the "highly skilled environmental engineers" beavering away on his property: Last year, when Nevada suffered one of the worst droughts on record, beaver pools kept his cattle with enough water. When rains came strangely hard and fast, the vast network of dams slowed a torrent of water raging down the mountain, protecting his hay crop. And with the beavers’ help, creeks have widened into wetlands that run through the sagebrush desert, cleaning water...

I took Friday off, so it felt like Saturday. Then Saturday felt like Sunday, Sunday felt like another Saturday, and yesterday was definitely another Sunday. Today does not feel like Tuesday. Like most Mondays, I had a lot of catching up at the office, including mandatory biennial sexual harassment training (prevention and reporting, I hasten to point out). So despite a 7pm meeting with an Australian client tonight, I hope I find time to read these articles: The Chicago Bears have revealed a preliminary...

The UK Conservative Party has elected Liz Truss its new leader, making her the new Prime Minister. Just over 81,000 of the 67.22 million citizens of the UK voted for her, giving her even less of a mandate than the last two PMs had: The foreign secretary, who won 81,326 votes (57.4%) of Tory members to the former chancellor’s 60,399 (42.6%), takes over from Boris Johnson, who was ousted by his own MPs earlier this summer. Britain’s fourth Tory prime minister in six years declared “we will deliver, we...

Earlier this year I asked a friend if he would answer a couple of questions about his experience with firearms. Rich P. is a competitive pistol shooter living in Connecticut. He and I have agreed about some things and disagreed about others since we were first-years at university. I thought he'd have a reasonable presentation of firearms regulation that differs from mine, and he did not disappoint. I have edited his responses only for Daily Parker site style and by adding links for context. Otherwise I...

As I feared, yesterday my body really did not want to walk a full 42.2 km marathon. In fact, around 14 km, I decided to turn around and get a beer: I maintained a great pace, though: 8'54" per kilometer (14'24" per mile). But wow, it was exhausting: I sense a nap in my future...

As I did the Friday before my birthday in 2020 and 2021, I planned today to walk a marathon (42.2 km). Alas, my body doesn't seem as into it as it was before. I did everything right, I thought: lots of sleep all week, no alcohol at all for a few days, keeping active but not too strenuous. That worked well in 2020: And in 2021: But last night, not so restful: In the week before the 2020 walk my BB averaged 70, and 72 in 2021. As of today, my 7-day average is 47, even though my 7-day sleep average is 8:06...