The Daily Parker

Once again, I have too much to read:

• After Florida governor Ron DeSantis (R) tried to end Disney's control over the municipal area around Disneyworld, the outgoing board added a series of restrictive covenants completely neutering DeSantis' hand-picked replacements, including a rule-against-perpetuities clause tying the covenants to the last living descendant of King Charles III.
• Robert Wright observed ChatGPT expressing cognitive empathy.
• An anonymous source provided a German reporter with 5,000 pages of documents from NTC Vulkan, a Russian disinformation and espionage group, showing the extent of the Russian government's involvement in disrupting Western political systems.
• "No way to prevent this," says only nation where this regularly happens, because it has a Supreme Court that wants it to happen.
• The Chicago and Illinois Departments of Transportation have gotten closer to redesigning the Oak Street curve.
• Pamela Smart, the inspiration for the 1995 dark comedy To Die For, lost her final appeal for parole for hiring her teenage lover to kill her husband in 1990.

Finally, it was 20 years ago tonight that Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley had city workers vandalize Meigs Field so that he could sell the land to his pals. The Tribune has a photo history.

The Lebanese Government has capitulated after the massive outcry and international ridicule that followed their asinine decision to postpone daylight saving time on two days' notice:

ميقاتي: قررت دعوة مجلس الوزراء لعرض ما سبق وكان النقاش هادئاً وتقرر اعتماد التوقيت الصيفي ابتداءً من ليل الأربعاء - الخميس.. لمتابعة البث المباشر:https://t.co/ZPB5WFwPTA

— Al Jadeed News (@ALJADEEDNEWS) March 27, 2023

Translation:

Mikati: I decided to invite the Council of Ministers to present the above. The discussion was calm and it was decided to adopt daylight saving time, starting from Wednesday-Thursday night...

Uh huh. Perhaps that's because most large institutions, including airlines and banks, told Mikati where he could stuff his decision?

After having the 4th-mildest winter in 70 years, the weather hasn't really changed. Abnormally-warm February temperatures have hung around to become abnormally-cool March temperatures. I'm ready for real spring, thank you.

Meanwhile...

• ProPublica reports on the bafflement inside the New York City Council about how to stop paying multi-million-dollar settlements when the NYPD violates people's civil rights—a problem we have in Chicago, for identical reasons—but haven't figured out that police oversight might help. (One Daily Parker reader suggested taking the money out of the police pension fund.)
• A bill moving through Florida's legislature would address suburban sprawl by redefining it. (Want to bet a real-estate developer lobbied for this one?)
• A ransomware attack a few weeks ago has affected up to 130 organizations, according to researchers and online boasts from the attackers.
• United Airlines wants to start air-taxi service between the Loop and O'Hare by 2025, using electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) airplanes.

Finally, I laughed out loud at the YouGov survey that found 46% of American men who have never flown an airplane think they could land an air transport with only some help from Air Traffic Control. I laughed because I do know how to fly a plane, and I don't think I could land a 787 well enough to use the plane again under any circumstances without a few dozen simulator hours. In fact, I would probably spend several crucial minutes trying to figure out how to change the radio to 121.5 and the transponder to 7700. But hey, the United States put Dunning and Kruger on the map, so this seems about right to me.

I'm arguing with the Blazorise framework right now because their documentation on how to make a layout work doesn't actually work. Because this requires repeated build/test cycles, I have almost no time to read all of this:

• The US Surface Transportation Board has approved a merger between the Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern railroads, which will almost certainly bollix up commuter rail traffic in Chicago's western suburbs.
• A Russian warplane downed a US drone over the Black Sea.
• George Will tut-tuts Stanford Law students for shouting down a judge from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
• Sierra Sheppard explains how lazy humans and bad software misallocate tax money to the detriment of urban development.
• Julia Ioffe accuses Republicans of using a desire to confront China as a "veil to abandon Ukraine."

Finally, a group of Chicago aldermen have proposed that the city clear sidewalks of snow and ice when property owners don't. Apparently the $500 fines, which don't happen often, don't work often either.

Welcome to an extra stop on the Brews and Choos project.

Brewery: Greenwood Brewing, 922 N. 5th St., Phoenix
Train line: Valley Metro Rail, Roosevelt/Central
Time from Chicago: 3½ hours by air
Distance from station: 350 m

I walked just a couple of blocks from Pedal Haus and found the kind of taproom where Cassie and I would hang out often: the woman-owned Greenwood Brewing. I enjoyed all the beers and found their space comfortable and inviting.

Once again, I had a flight and took notes.

Emera Easy Hazy IPA (3.6%): fruity, hoppy, bitterness comes around the back, nice low-alcohol beer. Herstory Pale (5.5%): bursting with hops, long finish, well-balanced. Warrior Hazy IPA (6.5%): grapefruit, blackberry, Citra, balanced, nice flavor. Rosemary IPA (7.2%): wow, lots of complexity, depth, the rosemary adds something interesting, strong, lingering finish. On second tasting, even better. Yum.

The next evening, one of the partners in my company organized a brewery tour that included both Pedal Haus and Greenwood. I tagged along but didn't drink anything except for one Rosemary IPA. That would probably be my go-to beer in Phoenix if I were exiled there.

Beer garden? Yes
Dogs OK? Yes
Televisions? No
Serves food? No; BYOF
Would hang out with a book? Yes
Would hang out with friends? Yes
Would go back? Yes

Welcome to an extra stop on the Brews and Choos project.

Brewery: Pedal Haus Brewery, 214 E. Roosevelt St., Phoenix
Train line: Valley Metro Rail, Roosevelt/Central
Time from Chicago: 3½ hours by air
Distance from station: 350 m

I discovered last week that Phoenix built a light-rail system between my visits in 2015 and 2023. And it goes past a bunch of breweries. So when I had a few hours between my flight landing and the conference welcome dinner, I went to two of them.

Pedal Haus Brewery has multiple locations, including a production facility in Tempe. The downtown Phoenix location has two levels, most of which are outside. (They don't get a lot of snow or rain in central Arizona.) I found my way to the roof and ordered a flight and took notes on my phone.

I started with the Kölsch (4.7%, 19 IBU): light, crisp, honey, pear, lingering finish. Not too bad. Next, the White Rabbit wheat WCIPA (6.5%, 48.6 IBU): subtle, some fruit, much lighter than expected. On to the Desert Classic APA (5.9%, 36 IBU): malt, apple, light banana notes, very drinkable. Finally, the Haus IPA (6.4%, 58 IBU): hoppy, nice balance, long finish. 

I also had just a taste of the Day Drinker Light lager (3.46%, 11.9 IBU) and wrote: "nose is like a Bud Light or Old Style, as is the taste, but with some complexity and flavor. Not for me, but could be life-changing to a Miller Lite drinker."

In all, not too bad, though the unavoidable TVs put a damper on my enjoyment.

Oh, and they clearly like dogs, even if fully a third of their rules concern pee:

Beer garden? Yes
Dogs OK? Yes
Televisions? Yes, ubiquitous
Serves food? Full menu
Would hang out with a book? Maybe
Would hang out with friends? Yes
Would go back? Maybe

After my work conference this week, and flying home yesterday, I had a rehearsal this morning and I've got a performance tomorrow. I'll try to catch up on some posts tomorrow morning.

We had several options for group activities today. I did not choose the golf or spring training options. I chose this:

I should have photos of this and other bits (including two extra Brews & Choos stops!) over the weekend.

Why set an alarm when your hotel room looks east?

And hey: Arizona has topography! Also not something we really get back home.

I'm in the desert southwest for a company event. They gave me this (East) view:

Since I last visited Phoenix in 2015, they've added a light rail system. It got me from the baggage retrieval carousel at the airport to the hotel (which is by the convention center, pictured above) in 32 minutes, which I appreciate.

The first airplane they had us on to get here broke, so I got to Phoenix two hours later than planned, which I did not appreciate.

I've got nothing scheduled for the next two hours so I'm going to explore. Unlike the 39°C that baked my last visit, right now it's about 22°C and pleasant, and I need 3,000 more steps for today.