First, yesterday's temperatures at Inner Drive Technology World HQ gave us whiplash:
Not shown: the violent thunderstorm that hit around 2:30, while I was driving up to Evanston where I made a critical error in the final trivia round that cost us the win.
Yesterday I also came across this graphic, which says so much about how North America screwed up its built environment while showing us how we can fix it:
Really, if we wanted to, we could get back to the 1920 pattern in my lifetime. Too bad we're busy trying just to keep our democracy.
The cold front that pushed through yesterday has moved north again, giving us this today:
As you can see from this map, we're now in the warm sector of a classic continental low circulation:
When the low pressure center passes over us later today, the temperature will plummet once again, and we might actually have a few snow flurries.
Because, you know, it's March.
Welcome to a special stop on the Brews and Choos project.
Brewery: Tennessee Brew Works, 809 Ewing Ave., Nashville, Tenn.
4 stars
Train line: Wego Train, Riverfront Nashville
Time from Chicago: 2 hours
Distance from station: 1.7 km
Neither Tennessee Brew Works nor New Heights Brewing is a particularly pleasant walk from the WeGo station, but I would visit both of them again. TBW decided to give us two drink tokens each instead of worrying about pouring and distributing 40 flights. I chose two of their IPAs, the Hippies & Cowboys (6%, 35 IBU) and the River Drifter (6.2%, 45 IBU). (I didn't notice at the time that they also had a hazy on the menu, but when a bunch of professional drinkers from England are behind you in line, you don't waste time.)
I liked them both. More I cannot say, as my boss and I were discussing what we need to do in April for the two teams I run and I thought it would have been a bit suspect if I took detailed notes on my beer at the same time.
I liked the beers, though, and would have gone back for more if I'd had time. Between our leisurely time at New Heights, our lunch at Puckett's BBQ, and Nashville traffic, we got about 35 minutes to quaff our two pints before heading back to the hotel to clean up before our off-site dinner. (Wednesdays are always a hoot at this conference; Thursdays I always feel bad for the people who have to present at 8:30 am.)
Like I said yesterday, if I ever spend time in Nashville again, I'll come back to both of these places, plus three others I found. Meanwhile, I still have about 25 more breweries to visit in Chicago...
Beer garden? Yes
Dogs OK? Outside
Televisions? Avoidable
Serves food? Full menu
Would hang out with a book? Yes
Would hang out with friends? Yes
Would go back? Yes
Good thing I was inside and could close the windows when the temperature dropped 8.3°C (15°F) between 3:35 and 4:35 pm:
I got the dogs out around 2 (I'm dogsitting Butters again), and they have fur coats, so they did not mind at all. It's now just over 9°C outside with a forecast low of 5°C tonight, yet I had the windows open last night. Spring in Chicago continues apace.
Welcome to a special stop on the Brews and Choos project.
Brewery: New Heights Brewing, 928 Rep. John Lewis Way S., Nashville, Tenn.
4 stars
Train line: Wego Train, Riverfront Nashville
Time from Chicago: 2 hours
Distance from station: 2 km
I had the option to go to two breweries and get some good ol' Southern BBQ as the team-building activity during my work conference this past week. We started with New Heights Brewing, which I had already identified as a possible Brews & Choos destination before I knew which breweries the field trip would visit.
Because the tour included 40 or so technology professionals (plus our head of HR), and because many of those people were English and thus born with two livers, the brewery created a standard flight for all of us. We started with the Nothing Fancy blonde ale (5.6%, 20 IBU), then the Coffee & Cream "coffee and vanilla cream ale with Crema coffee" (5.6%, 20 IBU), then the house IPA (6.9%, 101 IBU), and finished with the Navel Gazer Imperial stout (9.2%, 65 IBU).
I took notes in a draft email that I apparently deleted before copying. Dammit.
I did like all four of them, though I have to say, 101 IBUs really gets your attention. The Navel Gazer has a particularly inspired name, because after two pints, you will be gazing at your navel.
I went more than half a century without spending the night in Nashville, so it's not likely I'll be back. But if you visit Nashville, New Heights is worth a stop.
Beer garden? Yes
Dogs OK? Yes
Televisions? Avoidable
Serves food? BYO
Would hang out with a book? Yes
Would hang out with friends? Yes
Would go back? Yes
But I must, must share this ad from Canada's Liberal Party. Wait for the end:
I completed two surveys related to my work conference this week. The first one included the question, "To confirm that you are still reading this, please select 'Disagree.'" The second one assigned point values to the multiple-choice questions, so that the three items I answered "Somewhat OK" instead of "Excellent" brought my grade down to a B-minus.
These are the kinds of things that make one wonder how valuable the survey data really is.
Meanwhile, I've got a ton of things to do today, including getting Cassie her lunchtime walk before a line of storms comes through around noon.
More later, including two Brews & Choos reviews from Nashville.
I've had a good conference. For a variety of reasons, today will be my busiest; usually Thursday has just one or two things and a flight home. Regular posting will resume tomorrow.
The Wednesday schedule for this work conference is always the fullest, so I don't have a lot of time to post. One of the teams I manage started the day at Nashville's best breakfast spot, Biscuit Love, which means I don't have to eat again until April. And since we met in the hotel lobby just 15 minutes after sunrise, I got to wake up to this:
Again, kudos to the conference organization staff and the hotel for giving me exactly the room that I wanted.
Meanwhile, Cassie seems to be doing all right:
I am planning no less than a solid hour of couch time tomorrow night, though.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who you should remember as a Fox News presenter with no knowledge of the military, added Atlantic Editor in Chief Jeffrey Goldberg to a group chat on the only-kind-of-secure messaging app Signal:
On Tuesday, March 11, I received a connection request on Signal from a user identified as Michael Waltz. Signal is an open-source encrypted messaging service popular with journalists and others who seek more privacy than other text-messaging services are capable of delivering. I assumed that the Michael Waltz in question was President Donald Trump’s national security adviser. I did not assume, however, that the request was from the actual Michael Waltz.
Two days later—Thursday—at 4:28 p.m., I received a notice that I was to be included in a Signal chat group. It was called the “Houthi PC small group.”
A message to the group, from “Michael Waltz,” read as follows: “Team – establishing a principles [sic] group for coordination on Houthis, particularly for over the next 72 hours. My deputy Alex Wong is pulling together a tiger team at deputies/agency Chief of Staff level following up from the meeting in the Sit Room this morning for action items and will be sending that out later this evening.”
I have never seen a breach quite like this. It is not uncommon for national-security officials to communicate on Signal. But the app is used primarily for meeting planning and other logistical matters—not for detailed and highly confidential discussions of a pending military action. And, of course, I’ve never heard of an instance in which a journalist has been invited to such a discussion.
Josh Marshall points out that these people using Signal instead of a secure channel likely means they are violating recordkeeping laws as well: "How many of President Trump’s conversations with foreign leaders are happening on these apps? It’s the obvious place for bribes, various kinds of criminal conduct, asking foreign governments to do dirty jobs, maybe against American citizens, that Trump doesn’t dare try himself."
Incompetent, malevolent, and corrupt. We have another 16 months of this crap before we can even get Congress back. Marvelous.
Even better: Former US Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) pointed out that one of the members of the group chat was physically in Moscow at the time. It just keeps getting worse.