The Daily Parker

Nancy Aishton, 1946-2007
I love you.

In lieu of flowers, please make a contribution in her name to the Les Turner ALS Foundation.

Note from the dog walking service yesterday: "He was great, as always. He looks real good in red. Went #2." (There were no hyperlinks in his note, of course.)

Sometimes the vignette on the ParkerCam makes me almost as happy as Parker. Like, seeing him just before the dog walker arrives:

But then there's a twinge when he's gone. At least he's happy:

And then he's back:

That is all.

He loves the open office window. Not too many days of that left, though.

Via Bruce Schneier, Cory Doctorow: "The DRM business model is the urinary tract infection of media experiences: all of the uses that used to come in an easy gush now come in a mingy, painful dribble..."

The Cubs and Brewers remain tied for first place, one game ahead of the Cardinals, in the National League Central pennant race. I should point out that the Cubs and Brewers are one game above .500; the Cardinals, at .500. So, yes, the NL Central pennant will go to a mediocre team this year.

Sigh.

A larger-than-usual bunch of news stories piqued my interest this morning:

• Scientists may have a break in the case of the mysterious bee die-offs;
• The Cook County, Ill., Clerk is putting public records online all the way back to 1871;
• A German company has started piecing together Stasi documents the East German security service shredded in the final hours before the Berlin Wall fell; and
• An Australian comedy troupe successfully infiltrated the APEC conference by—how else?—dressing up as Osama bin Laden and walking in the front door.

More from Saturday's Wright Way Rescue reunion: Schona, a 7-year-old Lab that Parker met:

At the Wright Way reunion on Saturday, the shelter had a number of puppies up for adoption, like this one:

Parker, like any teenager confronted with babies, seemed to show benign indifference:

(He wanted to see the grill instead. Go figure.)