New hints about dog domestication
Via Deeply Trivial, a new study published last week provides new evidence that only a few genetic changes made wary wolves into friendly dogs:Not much is known about the underlying genetics of how dogs...
View ArticleYes, it's getting hotter
We have lovely weather in Chicago today—24°C and sunny—but summer has been pretty warm so far. It's been worse in other places. The Times demonstrates today that this is a worldwide trend:During the...
View ArticleSo long, big guy
Yesterday around 7pm, as I dropped a friend off at O'Hare, I was lucky enough to see the last United 747 take off from Chicago:Chicago-based United still has 14 747s in operation that typically only...
View ArticleA classic from McSweeney's
There is one musical play, out of all of them, that I loathe more than any other. My hatred of this play far exceeds my antipathy towards Mitch McConnell, such that I would gladly prefer an evening...
View ArticleAugust 21st
Via Eclipse2017.org, Xavier Jubier has created an interactive map showing all the data for the eclipse that takes place three weeks from today.I'll be staying here the night before, and I'm planning to...
View ArticleWalking home from work
My office to my house is just over 7 km, so I try to walk home when I can. This week, I have walked home every day, which is not hurting my step count. I have no idea how much I'll be able to walk next...
View ArticleEt tu, Anchor?
The cashing-out consolidation of craft breweries continues with today's surprise announcement that Japan's Sapporo Holdings will acquire San Francisco's Anchor Brewing:According to Keith Greggor,...
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Everyone loves Steampunk
It'll take some time to sort through the photos I took at the Bristol Renaissance Faire today, especially since I've got a 9am flight tomorrow and haven't really started packing yet.This one, though. I...
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Yesterday and today
At the Bristol Renaissance Faire yesterday I caught my friend Megan trying on earrings:Today, though, I'm getting on this gorgeous machine and flying to the Ancestral Homeland:I'm also operating on...
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The perils of travel
It's not really that perilous to travel from the US to the UK, unless you're in a step challenge.This past week, I was traveling for almost 40 hours—including 14 yesterday thanks to ordinary aviation...
View ArticleThe history of Eddie Lampert's crimes against Sears
This past Sunday's New York Times magazine summed up the decline and imminent death of Sears. It's worth a read, though long-time readers of this blog know it's an old story.
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Economics 101; or, why taxi fares are regulated
Yesterday, a man reportedly threw himself in front of a CTA train at the Fullerton El stop, shutting down the three busiest lines in the system during the morning rush hour. Commuters faced hours-long...
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About those statues
Via Mother Jones, the Southern Poverty Law Center has published a report that examines the statues to Confederate heroes of the sort that sparked last weekend's violence in Charlottesville, Va. It...
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All this and a butter cow too
I'm heading to Missouri tomorrow to get into position for Monday's eclipse. Since Springfield is on the way, I spent the day at the Illinois State Fair. Again. So, naturally, we had to make a...
View ArticleForty years ago today
...the United States launched a space probe that is now one of the three fastest-moving and farthest human-made objects in the universe.Voyager 2 lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 9:29 CDT on...
View ArticleYes, that was the coolest thing everh
I'm in Wildwood, Mo., where I saw my first total eclipse of the sun. It was well worth the trip. I'll have at least one photo when I'm back home tomorrow.(We stayed an extra day because of traffic.)
View ArticleACLU changes its policy after Charlottesville
The organization will no longer defend armed hate groups:The change in policy followed the ACLU of Virginia’s decision to file suit to ensure that an assortment of white supremacist groups could hold...
View ArticleJust add water
...to your whisky:[A]dding water releases molecules that improve the flavor. Water and ethanol don’t make for a perfectly uniform mixture. Aromatic compounds could become trapped in ethanol clusters...
View ArticleExistence proofs and military robots
Via Bruce Schneier, an essay on how the fact that something appears in nature means it can exist, and what this means for military robots:In each of the [Planet Earth II] documentary’s profiles of...
View ArticleHave a Zima with your Zestimate
On Tuesday, a Federal judge in Chicago dismissed with prejudice a case against Zillow that alleged its "Zestimates" made houses harder to sell:In the suit, first filed in May, Glenview homeowner and...
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