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Wild weather phenomena yesterday
We seem to get a lot of pneumonia fronts lately. Here's yesterday's:The temperature at IDTWHQ was 23.5°C at 17:35, 22.6°C at 17:45, 20.9°C at 18:00, and down it went, to 15.9°C by 19:00. (For the...
View ArticleWednesday afternoon potpourri
On this day in 2000, during that more-innocent time, Beverly Hills 90210 came to an end. (And not a day too soon.) As I contemplate the void in American culture its departure left, I will read these...
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Even smokier
As the wildfires in western Canada continue to burn, we in Chicago continue to live under the smoke plume, going on four days now. NASA's Earth Observatory has art:Raging fires filled the skies of...
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The roof repairs continue
Today they got through about half of our flat roof which doubles as an upstairs patio. Imagine how much noise all this made:Note that all the crap on the roof off to my left was at the other end of the...
View ArticleThe grammar of Great Andamanese languages
Linguist Anvita Abbi studied the language family on Great Andaman (just south of Myanmar in the Andaman Sea) and made a fascinating discovery:Somehow my extensive experience with all five Indian...
View ArticleCicadas this weekend?
The 17- and 13-year cicadas will both emerge next year, together for the first time since 1803. But this year, possibly as early as this weekend, a relatively small number of Magicicada septendecim may...
View ArticleNot helping my productivity, guys
The roofing project continues apace, taking advantage of an exceptionally lovely bit of weather this week. So, yay us, new roof and all. But I'm trying to work at home today—my last WFH day until June...
View ArticleFoxy babies
A family of red foxes has taken up residence in Millennium Park, Chicago:The fox family “just walked right in” to the popular downtown park a couple weeks back, said Kathryn Deery, head...
View ArticleDefault of the Republicans
As the right featherweights of the right wing of the Republican House delegation play chicken with the world economy, a Federal Court in Boston weighs a lawsuit demanding the President's chicken starts...
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Jsem v Praze
I'm in a European-sized hotel room in a European-sized city. I'm also exhausted. But I did get out of Heathrow for about an hour and a quarter, and walked around Ealing a bit:And now I'm here:More...
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Staré Město, Karlův most, a Senát Parlamentu České republiky
I took a short (5.5 km) walk and ended with a Czech open-faced egg sandwich:For the record, I didn't stop in the Sex Machines Museum, tempting as that sounded. Stopping ever few meters to take photos...
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Královská zahrada a Pražský hrad
I have discovered the tram network, so I took it to the Royal Gardens and the Castle. (Also, apparently, to the president's residence, but the Czech army dissuaded me from exploring that area.) I wish...
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Country #28
I chose not to poke into Hungary, but I did pop over to Bratislava, Slovakia, and took a quick stroll around the Presidential Palace:I'll have more photos possibly later today. Since I walked 3.5 km...
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Quick photo dump, Vienna and Bratislava
There's a line in The American President, when President Shephard (Michael Douglas) is trying to intimidate lobbyist Sydney Ellen Wade (Annette Benning). He says, "the city planners, when they sat down...
View ArticleThe Elizabeth Line, a year on
The billion-pound London rail project called "Crossrail" when it began opened a year ago as the Elizabeth Line. I rode it for the first time to West Ealing last Sunday, and thought it absolutely the...
View ArticleDifferent words for the same thing
I learned on this trip that the German word for the small computer you carry everywhere is "Handy." That got me thinking.In the US we call it a "cell phone." Most of the rest of the Anglosphere calls...
View ArticleCorruption, War, and Crabs
Just a few stories I came across at lunchtime:In an act that looks a lot like the USSR's scorched-earth retreat in 1941, Ukraine accuses Russia of blowing up the Kakhovka Dam on the Dnieper River,...
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How to avoid traffic, United Airlines style
United Airlines flight 2546 avoided traffic getting from O'Hare to Midway on Monday by taking the shortest route possible for an airplane its size:The 13-minute flight got all the way up to 4,800 feet...
View ArticleWhich circle of Hell, I wonder?
Televangelist and horrible person Pat Robertson has died, after a long career grifting true believers for billions:Rev. Robertson, the son of a long-serving U.S. congressman and senator from Virginia,...
View ArticleWhat a great car
I filled up my car this afternoon, which doesn't sound like anything special until you see the numbers:Last filled up: August 21st, 292 days agoTotal distance: 3,115.6 kmTotal fuel used: 32.8 LFuel...
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