Spring, at least in some places
Canada has put the Prairie Provinces on a winter storm warning as "the worst blizzard in decades" descends upon Saskatchewan and Manitoba:A winter storm watch is in effect for southern Manitoba and...
View ArticleIt's 5pm somewhere
Actually, it's 5pm here. And I have a few stories queued up:Oklahoma has a new law making abortion a felony, because the 1950s were great for the white Christian men who wrote that law.Monika Bauerlein...
View ArticleThirty years ago
On 13 April 1992, damage to a tunnel under the Chicago River caused a billion liters of water to flood the Loop—entirely underground:The Great Chicago Flood paralyzed downtown — shutting down power and...
View ArticleRussian Navy buys glass-bottom boat to inspect its fleet
Ukraine has sunk the Russian guided-missile cruiser Moskva:Ukrainian officials said they had used Neptune anti-ship missiles to hit the Moskva, a 10,000-tonne Slava-class cruiser which was 60-65...
View ArticleThe military GOP chickenhawks want
Max Boot draws a straight line between the military Republican politicians say they want and the awful military Russian actually has:Right-wingers have long claimed that the U.S. military should not be...
View ArticleAll the holidays
In a strange confluence of lunar calendars, today is Easter, and also the second day of Passover, and also the 17th day of Ramadan.So...Pesach Mubarak, He is Risen?
View ArticleNo leaf blowers!
Jessica Stolzberg hopes to follow the success of Washington, D.C.'s gas-powered leaf blower ban elsewhere:The gas leaf blower is by all measures, and without dispute, harmful — to the environment, to...
View ArticleReadings over lunch
I mean...Josh Marshall takes another look at the astonishing bribe Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler paid to Jared Kushner and concludes it's not just a one-off favor; it's an ongoing relationship.Joan...
View ArticleWhere have you been all my life?
How did it take until a year into the pandemic for someone to write this song?Art, software, writing, anything creative. It cost that much because it took me fucking hours.
View ArticleFlorida wedding goes to pot
Authorities in Florida have charged a bride and her caterer with food tampering and the delivery of marijuana, both felonies, after they laced olive oil at the wedding reception with THC:Investigators...
View ArticleEarth Day
Today we celebrate the big rock that gives us days in the first place. One out of 364 is pretty good, I guess. And there are some good stories on my open browser tabs:The Twisted Hippo Brewery has...
View ArticleThis happens in no other country
More children died from gunshot wounds in the US in 2020 than from any other cause, according to new statistics from the New England Journal of Medicine:Guns became the leading cause of death among...
View ArticleFree money!
The Illinois State Treasurer sent out an email blast this week trumpeting the new ICash portal, which enables anyone to search for unclaimed property held by the State. Curious, I ran a couple of...
View ArticleI broke something
When I deployed Weather Now v5 recently, I set about deleting a lot of stuff that cost money to run in Azure but no longer served any purpose. The upgrade was always going to be a one-way trip, which...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Great moments in copy editing
This headline made me laugh so loudly I scared Cassie:The article explains:The building at 2222 N. Halsted St. went up in 1808 and is considered “orange-rated” in the Sheffield Historic District,...
View ArticleThe new guys
I spent today bringing two new developers up to speed on our software and architecture, and in a little bit we're going to a project kickoff dinner. So while I recognize that News have happened, I have...
View ArticleSure Happy It's Thursday vol. 2,694
Some odd stories, some scary stories:Microsoft has released a report on Russia's ongoing cyber attacks against Ukraine.Contra David Ignatius, military policy experts Dr Jack Watling and Nick Reynolds...
View ArticleDo not do these things, UK edition
Two surprising stories out of the UK involving public figures who behaved badly and got caught. First, former tennis star Boris Becker will spend 30 months in jail for hiding assets from the UK...
View ArticleStudent debt relief won't go to the rich
But instead I'm reading this note (sub.req.) by Paul Krugman, pointing out that college degrees no longer have anything to do with wealth or income:[M]uch of the backlash to proposals for student debt...
View ArticleGloomy spring in Chicago
Last month we had the second-gloomiest April on record, with only 34% of possible sunshine reaching Chicago all month. Normal is 51%.I realize May is only 34 hours old, but we haven't gotten any...
View Article