The Daily Parker

Politics, Weather, Photography, and the Dog

Sunny days

Despite everything awful happening around the country, here in Chicago we've had unusually gorgeous weather. We've had 81% of possible sunshine this month, well above the normal 43%. And we've also had near-record heat, with today predicted to be 22°C, a whopping 14°C above normal.

Of course, tomorrow a cold front will come through to give us our first freeze since April, but hey, it's November.

Time to fall back

For those of us in the northern hemisphere in places that observe daylight savings time on U.S. rules—that is, for most of the U.S. and Canada—this morning's sunrise was (or will be, west of the Rockies) the latest sunrise until 6 November 2027.

I've got to say, the sun rising around 7:30 has not helped my mornings. Tonight we return to standard time, putting tomorrow's sunrise at 6:30, and making it easier to get out of bed Monday morning.

Of course, from Decmeber 1st to February 4th, the sun will rise after 7 here in Chicago. And by this time next week we'll have less than 10 hours of daylight.

At least I'm not in places along the western edge of a time zone, like Lafayette Landing, Mich., where the sun didn't rise until 8:48 local time this morning. I'd bet they've been ready for a change for weeks now.

Second of two posts: Sportsing!

You couldn't script the game better: tied at 6 going into the 9th, then the 10th, then a rain delay, then a 2-run homer top of 10 followed by a nail-biting run and out to end the game. The Cubs won the World Series for the first time in 108 years. And Chicago went nuts.

There are, as you can imagine, a ton of stories about it. The best I thought came from the Guardian, but of course the Chicago Tribune, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the New York Times, the Atlantic, and Chicago Public Media all had things to say. And let's not forget the Onion.

The New York Times explained how the Cubs did it. Crain's Chicago Business said the curse is finally dead. And the Washington Post provided context around how the world has changed since 1908. 

AdWeek highlighted a Nike commercial that aired right after the final out. Crain's reported that the game had the highest ratings of any baseball game since 1991, and the highest-rated sporting event in Chicago history, with 40 million people watching.

DNAInfo chuckled that more people called in sick today than usual (myself included). We'll probably miss some more work tomorrow because of the parade, which starts at Wrigley Field and ends at Grand Park. Metra, our local heavy-rail system, is throwing every locomotive and rail car they have into the morning commute and tossing their schedules tomorrow, and asking people to work from home if they can.

It was an incredible night. I'm still amazed and agog. And hung over—but that's another story.

AC000000

I'm having trouble typing these words: The Cubs have won the World Series.

I'm sure I'll have more to say later.

But: the Cubs have won the World Series.

Where do you go from there? A woman president, maybe?

Holy fuck.

I hope against all the evidence I see that 2016 isn't the best year of my life. And I will sweat day and night to ensure this is merely the landing on the staircase.

Meanwhile, my neighborhood is all sirens and shouting, so...I'll leave the wordsmithing until later.

But the Cubs have won the World Series.

The Cubs.

Have won.

The World Series.

I don't even know what to do with that fact yet.

Some thoughts about tonight

The Cubs' World Series Game 7 tonight in Cleveland may be "the biggest game in Chicago sports history," according to Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville. I agree.

But still, I'm trying to maintain perspective:

  • This is the only the second time in franchise history they've played in November. Last night was the first.
  • They won the National League pennant after a 71-year drought. That's not trivial.
  • If Cleveland wins, maybe they'll be so happy there it will tip Ohio into Hillary Clinton's column.
  • They have played some amazing baseball during this series, and during this season.
  • They'll be back next year.

So let's see what happens. And go, Cubs, go!

Living to fight another day

The Cubs won last night's game so they get to play Game 6 tomorrow night in Cleveland. Whew!

Last night also set a few records:

  • It was the latest Cubs home game ever (October 30th).
  • It ended the longest period in Major League Baseball that a team went between World Series home-game wins (25,955 days).
  • It set the record for highest attendance at Wrigley Field in a season (3,232,420).

The Cubs are still favored to win the series, but it'll be tough. I'll be watching.

So, this happened

Folks, if you have to evacuate a burning 767, leave your fucking bags in the plane. That would have prevented most of the injuries sustained when this happened yesterday at O'Hare:

The plane's 161 passengers and nine crew members scrambled down emergency chutes on the left side of the plane while flames flared and thick black smoke billowed from the wing on the right side, according to the airline and video from the scene.

Twenty people were taken to hospitals with minor injuries, mostly bruises and ankle problems, according to fire Chief Juan Hernandez, head of emergency medical services at the airport.

The aircraft experienced an "uncontained engine failure," in which engine parts break off and are spewed outside the engine, a federal official said. The official wasn't authorized to speak publicly about the incident and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The danger of such a rare and serious failure is that engine pieces effectively become shrapnel and can cause extensive damage to the aircraft.

Scary, and they can't use the plane again, but since everyone survived and there were only minor injuries, this counts as a good flight.

Meetings all day

All of these articles look interesting, and I hope I get to read them:

Oh, fun! Another meeting!