Events

Molly White would like major news outlets to treat the accused fraudster like the grown-ass adult he is: [R]eading headlines and news stories, you would be forgiven if up until now you had thought he was a teenager still driving around on a learner’s permit, who picked up cryptocurrency trading to avoid the types of high school summer jobs that might force him to go outside. SBF is being extended the benefit of the doubt that many are not so lucky to get. He is affluent, white, male, and accused of...

Eli Dourado takes a deep dive into the engineering and economics that could raise a fleet of 25,000 autonomous cargo airships, each two Chicago city blocks long floating just 1,500 meters over your head while carrying 500 tons of cargo: Let’s say airships captured half of the 13 trillion ton-km currently served by container ships at a price of 10¢ per ton-km. That would equal $650 billion in annual revenue for cargo airships, notably much bigger than the $106 billion Boeing reports for the entire global...

Just in time for spring, the City of Chicago has just announced the winning names for seven of our beloved snowplows: Da Plow Holy Plow! Jean Baptiste Point du Shovel Mrs O'Leary's Plow Salter Payton Sears Plower Sleet Home Chicago From the Chicago Tribune: Nearly 7,000 potential names were submitted in 17,000 suggestions from Chicago residents. Initially, the city planned to name six snowplows — one for each snow district — in its fleet of almost 300 baby-blue “Snow Fighting Trucks.” (During a major...

I finished a couple of big stories for my day job today that let us throw away a whole bunch of code from early 2020. I also spent 40 minutes writing a bug report for the third time because not everyone diligently reads attachments. (That sentence went through several drafts, just so you know.) While waiting for several builds to complete today, I happened upon these stories: The former co-CEO of @Properties bought 2240 N. Burling St., one of the only remaining pre-Fire houses in Lincoln Park, so...

The last Boeing 747 rolled off the assembly line Tuesday. Sam Howe Verhovek gives it a eulogy: Remarkably, barely three years after a handshake agreement, the Boeing 747 rolled out of a giant factory a bit north of Seattle. It quickly made global air travel more affordable than it had ever been, fulfilling Trippe’s vision of a world where plumbers and schoolteachers, not just the well-heeled, could think about taking their families to London or Rio de Janeiro or Tokyo. This week, 53 years after the...

Welcome to stop #79 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Bungalow by Middle Brow., 2840 W. Armitage Ave., ChicagoTrain line: CTA Blue Line, California Time from Chicago: 14 minutesDistance from station: 600 m I had plans to meet a friend who lives in Logan Square last Thursday, so why not combine it with the Brews and Choos Project? The friend loves Bungalow by Middle Brow, and I understand why. It's really cool. I tried a sip of my friend's Cottage Mexican Lager (4%), and put it in the category of...

It got practically tropical this afternoon, at least compared with yesterday: Cassie and I took advantage of the no-longer-deadly temperatures right at the top point of that curve to take a 40-minute, 4.3 km walk. Tomorrow should stay as warm, at least until the next cold front comes in and pushes temperatures down to -18°C for a few hours Thursday night. I'm heading off to pub quiz in a few minutes, so I'll read these stories tomorrow morning: London plans to build an elevated rails-to-trails park...

It's official. Last month had the lowest percentage of possible sunshine (18%) of any January in history and the second-lowest percentage of any month in history. The month also had more overcast days (18) than all but two of the 1,791 months in the historical record. Only January 1998 (20) and November 1985 (19) had more. (Records go back to October 1871.) One interesting tidbit: 3 of the 5 least-sunny Januarys happened in the last 6 years. But as I write this, there isn't a cloud in the sky. (It's...

I have no idea. But today I managed to get a lot of work done, so I'll have to read these later: A whopping 78% of voters in Rep. "George Santos" (R-NY) district think he should resign. Who should I vote for in the upcoming Chicago Mayoral election? National Geographic explains the science behind seasonal depression. Via Bruce Schneier, it looks like ransomware payments have declined 40% since 2021. Writing for Strong Towns, Michel Durand-Wood compares urban planning to...pizza. James Fallows describes...

I can't describe how much better I feel today after weeks of gloomy, cloudy weather. WGN's Tom Skilling confirms it's not all in my imagination: It's official—despite today's sun, January 2023 will go down on the books as the cloudiest January since sunshine records were taken starting 129 years ago in 1894. That's the word from Frank Wachowski who reports the month hosted only 18% of its possible sun--eclipsing the 1998 record of 20%! On the other hand, the temperature outside Inner Drive Technology...