Events

I don't watch a lot of YouTube videos, mainly because I can no longer concentrate on two things at once with any useful comprehension like (I thought) I could in my 20s. Today at lunch, though, I watched two short videos by well-respected creators that are worth passing on. First, former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich reminds us, "The purpose of a government is not to turn a profit, it's to achieve the common good:" Second, Strong Towns executive director Charles Marohn points out the flawed...

Inner Drive Technology World HQ hit 34.3°C yesterday afternoon and only cooled down to 25.7°C by 6 this morning. As we do on hot days, Cassie and I started our long walk just before 7am, doing exactly 5 km in 50 minutes while the temperature (and dewpoint) rose a full degree. Fortunately, it looks like a much-anticipated cool front went through just after 10. I wouldn't know; I've been in meetings. So I'm about to take Cassie out again before the thunderstorms hit. I might even have time later today to...

I got in a bit early this morning to beat the heat. Good thing, too, as my train line partially shut down upstream of my stop just as I got on the train. It's up to 34°C at O'Hare and 33°C at Inner Drive Technology World HQ (feels like 42°C—107°F), with a forecast of 36°C and continued horrible heat indicies for this afternoon when I walk Cassie home from dog school. Chicago isn't the only place getting this awful weather. The record heat will affect over 200 million people this week with similar...

On my flight yesterday, I finally read Nicholas Confessore's explanation of how US v Skrmetti got to the Supreme Court, and...wow. I am actually shocked at how illiberal and extremist the ACLU's leadership has become, and how far the transgender rights movement has moved to the left: For Chase Strangio, the stakes were both personal and political. He joined the A.C.L.U. in 2013, a few years after undergoing top surgery, or a mastectomy, a procedure that “saved my life,” as he later wrote. “When you...

Barret Hansen, better known as Dr Demento, has announced his retirement: “It’s been a blast,” he wrote in a message to fans, “but I have come to the decision that I need to hang up my top hat soon.” Throughout the course of his long career, Demento introduced several fantastically silly songs into the public consciousness, including “Fish Heads” by the comedy duo Barnes and Barns, and “Shaving Cream” by Benny Bell. But his greatest achievement took place in 1976 when he dug out a cassette mailed into...

I almost never fly out of the L concourse at O'Hare, mainly because American only has a handful of gates there. (Most AA gates are in G, H, and K.) Also, the lounge is kind of sad. But at least with a 30-minute flight delay I've got time to download the stuff I forgot to download at home, and to get Second Breakfast. Next post from Seattle, where it promises to rain the entire time I'm visiting.

Jaws came out fifty years ago today: The story of a great white shark that terrorizes a New England resort town became an instant blockbuster and the highest-grossing film in movie history until it was bested by 1977’s Star Wars. Jaws was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Picture category and took home three Oscars, for Best Film Editing, Best Original Score and Best Sound. The film, a breakthrough for director Spielberg, then 27 years old, spawned several sequels. Jaws put now-famed director...

I'm flying tomorrow and Sunday, giving me a few uninterrupted hours to read between now and Monday. So I'm just queuing some of these things up: The US Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee law that prohibits certain medical interventions for minors who want to transition genders. As the opinion came from Justice Samuel Alito (R) and the dissent from Justice Sonia Sotomayor (I), I have a feeling both it and the dissent will satisfy no one. The Times characterizes the decision as setting back "the movement" a...

I'm cleaning out some old boxes, and in one from my college years in New York, I found this gem: I clipped it because I found it shocking at the time. Here was this buffoon demonstrating the corollary to the proverb "even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise," spending whatever it cost to get a full-page ad on page A13 of The New York Times, yearning for the halcyon days when we could just string 'em up. When I saw the performance-art piece "Imbecile Descending on an Escalator" ten years...

We live in the weirdest era of the past 150 years. It's so weird, I agree with almost everything former US Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) said about Iran today: Let’s call this what it is: Iran has been in a slow-burn war against the United States for decades. Whether through Hezbollah, Shiite militias in Iraq, or direct attacks on oil infrastructure and U.S. assets, the Iranian regime has made its hostility clear. And they've never hidden their intentions. From “Death to America” chants in Tehran...