Events

I'm glad to report that Cassie's face looks pretty much like it did before surgery. But for the next few days she's going to look like something out of Buffy. Here's the before, last night: And here's a few minutes ago: Her left ear is now a bit back of her right ear and slightly closer, but it does look like the surgeon did a great job taking out only the minimum. Right now she's napping on the couch. We'll try going for a walk before dinner, where we'll work on her not smacking me in the bum with the...

I dropped Cassie off at the hospital a little before 7 this morning. The surgeon called me just before 10 to say that the operation went well and Cassie is recovering normally. I'll pick her up at 2 this afternoon, after which I'll post before-and-after photos.

I'll skip the usual political screeds today. Enjoy these: The Nielsen/Norman Group wonders aloud why the "Save" icon continues to be a 3½" floppy disk? Could this intersection redesign in Fairbanks, Alaska, have made the crossing worse than what came before? Oh yes, it could: "traffic improved partly because people now avoid the area altogether." Chicago Street Blog's Nik Hunder rode 230 km through all 77 Chicago Community Areas in this year's Tour de Chi on June 28th. That's it. I have to continue...

The temperature dropped 7.7°C in the last 90 minutes, and yet it still feels sticky. I had hoped to take Cassie to the beach one last time before her surgery Tuesday; unfortunately, the lines of thunderstorms accompanying the cold front did not allow it. So, at least she'll get another decent walk today (she's already had over an hour, including a 5 km walk before breakfast), and tomorrow it looks like it'll be cooler and drier. Also, I fixed a long-standing architectural problem with the way Weather...

I've been slowly going through Buffy the Vampire Slayer again and cleaning out some boxes that I've stored for a similar length of time, so I've thought a lot about the 1990s recently. Apparently so has author Glynnis MacNicol: Had I gone to sleep on New Year’s Eve in 1999 and waked today, Rip Van Winkle style, much of the world I left behind that night would still feel familiar. Fast-fashion hubs like Urban Outfitters are peddling baby tees and baby-doll dresses. Point-and-shoot cameras, like the one I...

I started today a bit earlier than I usually do because I woke up somewhere between dawn and my usual time of 6:30. So, with the extra morning time, the day still cool enough to enjoy, and the rain still about an hour away, I took Cassie on a 3½ km walk before 7am. Then I sat down and refactored how Weather Now stores personal weather lists. Sometimes you just have to run with your creative energy, you know? Cassie needs another walk, and I've (mostly) finished the feature, so I'm now going to enjoy the...

Jamelle Bouie makes the point that, even though the OAFPOTUS is a narcissistic, infantile, horrible human being, his policies look exactly like those of most other Republican presidents: As nearly every commentator under the sun has observed for the past decade, Trump is unique — and to his critics, transgressive — in ways that defy traditional categorization. And yet, the most salient detail about Trump as an actual officeholder is that he is a Republican politician committed to the success of the...

As promised, here's a roundup of some reactions to the tax bill with the infantile name that the Senate passed yesterday with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote. The Economist: "Despite Mr Trump’s talk of helping the least well-off, the bill’s biggest beneficiaries would be the rich. Analysis of the House version by scholars at the University of Pennsylvania suggests that Americans earning less than $16,999 would lose about $820 a year—a 5.7% reduction in median income for that group....

I'll get to the ABBA—sorry, OBBBA—reactions after lunch. Right now, with apologies, here is a boring link dump: The Clown Prince of X is in the "finding out" phase, learning what happens to oligarchs who cross autocrats. Adam Kinzinger calls out the bribe that Shari Redstone's Paramount/CBS agreed to pay the OAFPOTUS to settle a bogus libel lawsuit stemming from a 2020 60 Minutes interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris. After the US and Israeli attacks on Iran temporarily shut down Internet...

What a day for right-wing Republicans! Early this morning they managed to pass the OAFPOTUS's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" through the Senate, with every Democrat and three Republicans (Rand Paul, KY; Thom Tillis, NC; Susan Collins, ME) voting against it, forcing Vice President Vance to get out of bed before 6am: Vice President JD Vance cast the tiebreaking vote for the measure, which would extend trillions of dollars in tax cuts from Trump’s first term and implement new campaign promises — such as...