Take this job and help me get out of my status-quo bias
In his subscriber-only newsletter this morning, economist Paul Krugman speculated about why so many people have left their low-wage jobs recently:The experience of the pandemic may have led many...
View ArticleThe Empire State Trail
The kids today don't know how good they have it. When I lived in New York more than 20 years ago, I would have gotten on a bike and ridden this trail:Last December, the Empire State Trail — a...
View ArticleGonna make me sweat, gonna make me groove
In the "how old do I feel now" department for this week, fifty years ago today, Led Zeppelin released their fourth album:Led Zeppelin‘s fourth album is variously known as Led Zeppelin IV, Untitled,...
View ArticleFun start to the day
My 8am meeting with colleagues in London had to wait until 9:30 because Comcast screwed the pooch this morning:Reports indicate the system was down, or at least unsteady, in areas stretching from...
View ArticleOn the road again
I'm leaving the country today, for the first time in almost exactly two years, and I couldn't be happier. I miss my Ancestral Homeland. And the list of Covid-related travel requirements, while...
View ArticleIt's alive! It's alive!
Just in time for my visit this week, a new report declares the River Thames no longer dead:In 1858, sewage clogging London's Thames River caused a "Great Stink." A century later, parts of the famed...
View ArticleCashless
Just a quick observation: since I last visited London two years ago, almost every business I've encountered has gone cashless. Coffee shops, pubs, the Transport Museum, all cards-only. In 2019, most of...
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Yesterday in London
My lunch spot, the Trafalgar Tavern in Greenwich:Lincoln's Inn Fields, by the Sir John Soane Museum:Lincoln's Inn Fields gazebo:Today: Hampshire and Gospel Oak.
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Hampshire and Gospel Oak
Lunch yesterday, at the Iron Duke in Hampshire:The place is so named because it's on the Duke of Wellington's estate. The current Duke lives just a few kilometers away in a somewhat modest house (at...
View ArticleDefault judgement against Alex Jones
Few people in the history of broadcasting have managed the heights of soulless putrefaction that Alex Jones has achieved, and I'm including Father Coughlin and that German guy who opened the 1936...
View ArticleFish stories
I reported on Friday that angler Jarrett Knize caught a 34 kg carp in the Humboldt Park Lagoon earlier this month. Block Club Chicago explains how the Fish of Unusual Size might have wound up there:As...
View ArticleThe busy season
I've spent today alternately upgrading my code base for my real job to .NET 6.0, and preparing for the Apollo Chorus performances of Händel's Messiah on December 11th and 12th.Cassie, for her part,...
View ArticleSomething new, something old
A nearly-all-white Kenosha, Wis., jury acquitted Killer Smurf Kyle Rittenhouse of all charges today, which will have the immediate effect of turning Kenosha into a war zone, and the long-term effect of...
View ArticleI mean...
The richest person in Illinois has bought one of the only remaining original copies of the US Constitution at auction for $43 million, and I think this says a lot about where America has gotten in the...
View ArticleLet's talk turkey
Washington Post columnist David Von Drehle has some theories about cooking an entire bird for Thanksgiving:The time is here again when millions of Americans anguish over a nearly impossible culinary...
View ArticleShort-term license agreements
Today is the 50th anniversary of DB Cooper jumping out of a hijacked airplane into the wilds of Washington State. It's also the day I will try to get a Covid-19 booster shot, since I have nothing...
View ArticleProfessional vs amateur
John Scalzi is a professional writer, and I am not. That's why he can encapsulate the past year in one paragraph better than I could do in three:Biden’s not perfect by any stretch, and clearly his...
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Productive day so far
Having a day off with no real responsibilities gives me the space to take care of some niggling projects I've put off for a while. First, I finished updating a document for the Apollo Chorus that lists...
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Stewie
The stew turned out fine, except I used just a touch too much chipotle powder:I also made a lot. Including what I ate, I made about 4½ liters, including the one jar (front row, second from right) of...
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Photos from Sunday and Monday
Cassie and I took a walk by Montrose Harbor on Sunday afternoon at just the right time:And yesterday, at my downtown office, I also got the timing right:Winter begins tomorrow, but we can still enjoy...
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