Events

In the Northern hemisphere, yesterday's was the earliest sunset of the year. Kieron Taylor, writing for the Sheffield Astronomical Society in the U.K., has a pretty good explanation of why this is so. Suffice to say, it's because the earth's orbit around the sun is elliptical. Here, then, is a quick chart of the shortest days of the year, for Evanston, Illinois: Date Significance Sunrise Sunset Daylight 4 Dec Earliest sunsets start 07:02 16:19 9:16 13 Dec Sunsets get later 07:10 16:20 9:09 21 Dec...

Figure 1: Figure 2:

I have never, as far as I can remember, in all my years, seen a traffic report like this. I can't imagine it's accurate, showing as it does five hours from Northbrook to the Loop (a distance of 40 km, 25 mi.):

As I mentioned earlier this week, my friend Danielle is returning today from Peace Corps duty in the Republic of Kiribati. For her entire tour she has lived in a place that almost never gets below 30°C (86°F). At this writing she's waiting at LAX for her flight home. Here is what home looks like as of 15 minutes ago: The airline claims her flight is on-time. I guess I'll find out later tonight... Update, 3:56pm CST/21:56 UTC: The airline now reports a two-hour delay, so technically Danielle won't be...

Yesterday at the gym's coat check, I got claim check 404. The coat-check guy didn't find this nearly as funny as I did. Even more funny—to a software nerd, anyway—was that when I gave him check #404 after working out, he found my coat. One can imagine other possibilities. But 404 is the best, I think.

The record-breaking 2005 hurricane season may finally be over. National Hurricane Center forecaster Avila writes this hour: CONVECTION HAS VANISHED AND EPSILON IS NOW A TIGHT SWIRL OF LOW CLOUDS. THE CYCLONE IS WEAKENING RAPIDLY.... I HOPE THIS IS THE END OF THE LONG LASTING 2005 HURRICANE SEASON. Good news for North Atlantic shipping, I suppose. In Chicago, however, we have a good winter storm on its way. I'll keep you posted. Look for art around lunchtime (1:00pm CST/19:00 UTC).