Events

Just so I can keep track, my month so far: Mon Dec 1, Messiah dress rehearsal, Millar Chapel, EvanstonTue Dec 2, chorus fundraiser planning committeeMon Dec 8, Messiah rehearsalThu Dec 11, Messiah tutti rehearsal, Holy Name Cathedral, ChicagoSat Dec 13, Messiah performance, Holy Name CathedralSun Dec 14, Messiah performance, Millar ChapelTue Dec 16, Messiah sing-a-long, EvanstonWed Dec 17, Christmas Eve rehearsal, EvanstonSun Dec 21 (morning), 4th Sunday of Advent service, EvanstonSun Dec 21...

Well, some of it is interesting, anyway: Adam Kinzinger uses the Great Drone Panic of 2024 to remind us how right-wing media spin people up over nothing. O'Hare may reclaim its title as the World's Busiest Airport if the Federal Aviation Administration confirms flight-tracking company AirNav Radar's statistics next month. Sam Kahn explains "how the New Yorker became irrelevant." Duke evolutionary anthropology PhD student Hannah Salomons conducted a study of how puppies learn that has recently been...

Cassie and I went out right at sunrise (7:14—two more weeks before the latest one of the winter on January 3rd) just as the temperature bottomed out at -10.5°C (13.1°F) after yesterday's cold front. Tomorrow will be above freezing, Sunday will be a bit below, and then Monday through the end of the year looks like it'll be above. And the forecast for Christmas Day is 11°C (52°F). Meanwhile, as I sip my second cup of tea, these stories made me want to go back to bed: As much as we want to ignore the...

First run

Cold fronts in Chicago do not mess around: At least it's not raining, and the roads haven't frozen over. Yet. Meanwhile, in the "stopped clock" category, the OAFPOTUS did something I approve of today: President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday to fast-track the reclassification of cannabis, which would pave the way for the Food and Drug Administration to study its medicinal uses. "It doesn’t legalize marijuana in any way, shape or form or and in no way sanctions its use as a recreational...

With about an hour to go before a squall line hits Chicago ahead of a serious cold front, the warm-sector temperature keeps going up: Ah, but look what's coming: Meanwhile, winds at O'Hare have hit 65 km/h in the last hour, and will very likely get windier when the squall line hits. Fortunately, Cassie has already gotten 51 minutes of walkies today, so I'm confident she'll get a full hour once the rain abates late this afternoon. It's all part of the fun as the global average temperature creeps up in...

It looks like our above-normal temperatures will continue probably through the end of the year, but the next few days look nuts: And yet, the weather isn't nearly as nuts as the OAFPOTUS and his administration: The Times reports that White House Budget Director Russel Vought is pushing to close the National Center for Atmospheric Research, because it's the premier climate research center in the world and Vought is a climate-change-denying tool. Francis Fukuyama thinks the OAFPOTUS is losing steam, and...