Events

A few weeks ago I gathered up the dewpoint statistics for Inner Drive Technology WHQ to show that, yes, this summer really sucked. I promised the final numbers after summer officially ended Sunday night, and here they are: Jun 1 to Aug 31 (UTC) 2024 2025 Avg temperature 22.6°C 23.1°C Avg dewpoint 17.9°C 18.7°C (June) 16.8°C 16.8°C (July) 18.9°C 20.8°C (August) 18.4°C 18.4°C Total days dewpoint ≥ 20°C 27 42 Total readings dewpoint ≥ 20°C 3,791(33.5%) 5,856(45.0%) Total readings 11,317 13,009 The average...

The Christianists in Florida, clearly getting bribes from Big Microbe, have ended the requirement that students get vaccinated in order to attend public schools: Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo, the Florida surgeon general, made the announcement on Wednesday alongside Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican. Mr. DeSantis rose to national prominence during the coronavirus pandemic, and over time he has espoused increasingly anti-vaccine views. “Who am I to tell you what your child should put in their body?” Dr. Ladapo, a...

After a lovely weekend that included not one but two long walks with Cassie, not to mention the only baseball game I've attended this season and what is likely to be the last of 10 consecutive days and nights with the A/C off and the windows open, work has returned. I'm mulling a number of different topics to attack this month, but first I have to finish the massive storage locker reorganization I began June 15th. I'm happy to say it looks like I'll have reduced the volume of my own and my mom's things...

After winning 9 straight on the road for the first time since 1998, the New York Yankees (76-61, 3 GB) lost to the Chicago White Sox (49-88, 30.5 GB) yesterday at Rate Field in Chicago. And yet, it was a beautiful day for a baseball game! My cousin got the tickets for $32 each, and they came with a hot dog, chips, cookie, and bottled drink. Each. He also said he popped for a 10-ticket package, good for any home games next season (except against the Cubs), for $14 each. Desperate times! We also discussed...

Meteorological summer ends in just a few hours, so this weekend I'm spending lots of time outside. Today, unfortunately, Cassie can't come with me. So yesterday, she and I left the house at 1:15 and didn't get home until 9:15. She got almost 3 hours of walks (including this 8.7-km hike to the Horner Park DFA), tons of pats, lots of treats, and extra kibble for dinner. And perfect weather. She also met new friends: And had some time to chill while I read my book: Isn't she pretty? Like I said, she can't...

Welcome to stop #133 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Pilot Project Brewing, 3473 N Clark, ChicagoTrain line: CTA Red Line, Addison Time from Chicago: 18 minutesDistance from station: 450 m Even though Pilot Project doesn't actually brew beer at their new Wrigleyville location, thus technically not being eligible for the Brews & Choos list, I liked the place enough and found it a little oasis in the maelstrom surrounding Wrigley Field, so I'm overruling my own rules. It helped that my Brews...

Welcome to stop #132 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Guinness Open Gate Brewery, 901 W Kinzie, ChicagoTrain line: CTA Green Line, Morgan Time from Chicago: 6 minutesDistance from station: 300 m Somehow, I pictured the second US-based Guinness experimental brewery differently, having seen their original brewery in Dublin, Ireland. The building Guinness renovated just north of the Fulton Market District has existed for a century or more, though from as far back as I can remember until last year...

While on a Brews & Choos mini-adventure yesterday, I learned that US Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) has leaked that she won't seek re-election. This comes just a day after Democrat Catelin Drey flipped Iowa Senate district 1 from +20 OAFPOTUS to +5 Democratic. (Drey's win also breaks the Republican Party's supermajority in the Iowa Senate.) You may also remember Senator Ernst responding to her constituents alarm at HR 1* and its effects on their ability to remain breathing by saying "we're all going to die"...

The forecast today looks perfect: 21°C under sunny skies. Perfect for a Brews and Choos trip! And while one of the stops will be to a brewery that could under no circumstances be called "craft," the other stop will take us to a brewery incubator suspiciously close to Wrigley Field. Fitting, then, that Crain's reports today about how craft breweries have had to evolve to stay in business: After a decade of unbridled growth, the industry hit a rough patch in the years following the pandemic. Ten percent...

This weekend, I expect to finish a major personal (non-technical) project I started on June 15th, walk 20 km (without Cassie), and thanks to the desperation of the minor-league team on the South Side of Chicago, attend a Yankees game. It helps that the forecast looks exactly like one would want for the last weekend of summer: highs in the mid-20s and partly cloudy skies. I might have time to read all of these things as well: Jeff Maurer, who watched (some of) this week's televised cabinet meeting so we...